Bitter Memories and Sweet Music

by Bookpony579

Chapter 2

After school, the Rainbooms found themselves bussed to the Canterlot theatre where the contest was being held to formally register.

When they got to the lobby, they found a few other schools who had picked their bands early waiting to register too.

"I'm going to get forms for the contest. You girls just wait here and I'll be right back." With that, Celestia walked off into a crowd of students and Principals.

"Wow." Fluttershy observed nervously. "Look at all the other bands. They look pretty good."

"Please!" Rainbow waved off her concerns. "We're the best ones here. Right Twi?"

Twilight wasn't listening, as she was looking around the lobby and out the window as though searching for something.

"Twilight?" AJ asked, with no response.

"TWILIGHT SPARKLE!" Rainbow shouted, finally getting the girl's attention.

"AH!" Twilight jumped before realizing it was just her friends. "What?"

"Are you ok Twilight?" Sunset asked. "You seem a little...distracted."

Twilight eyes quickly darted around the room, at anywhere but her friends, and she gave a nervous laugh. "D-distracted? Me? No way! I'm just...scoping the competition and all that...yeah..."

Sunset put a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder. "Are you sure you're ok? You seemed upset on the drive over."

"Are you just nervous about meeting your old friends again?" Rarity asked.

"Uh...actually...." Twilight tried to speak up, only to be interrupted.

"It's understandable your nervous since you competing against them now instead of with them, but I'm sure if we all act like civilized people, we can get though this." Rarity stated.

"Besides, your part of the Rainbooms now! We've got this in the bag!" Rainbow gloated.

"Don't be too sure about that, dearie."

The band turned to see another group of girls standing nearby. There were five of them, each clad in a pristine purple and dark blue uniform slightly customized for each of them.

Twilight gulped when she recognized the girls.

One of the girls stepped forward, she had yellow skin and pink hair with a green streak in it. She gave Twilight a huge, totally-not-fake-at-all smile. "Twilight Sparkle! It's so good to see you again!" The she mumbled under her breath. "Not!"

Twilight felt her heart trying to pound it's way out of her chest.

"Twilight?" Rarity asked. "Do you know these girls?"

"Well....they...uh..."

"Oh don't be shy!" A girl with electric blue hair and goggles walked up to her and wrapped an arm around Twilight's shoulders. "We're old buds from Crystal Prep! Right Twi?" She squeezed a little tighter, making Twilight even more uncomfortable.

"But we're not-"

"Oh! Allow me to introduce ourselves!" The first girl spoke again. She had light blue skin and purple bobbed hair. "I'm Sunny Flare. That's Sour Sweet." She pointed to the Pink haired girl before moving on to the one next to Twilight. "That's Indigo Zap." She pointed to a girl with glasses and two huge light blue pigtails. "That's Sugarcoat." Finally, she pointed to the girl with light pink skin, green hair and headphones. "And that's Lemon Zest. We're the band representing Crystal Prep." She gave the CHS a critical look over before smirking. "I suppose your the band representing Canterlot High?"

"Yer darn tootin!" AJ smiled, walked up to Sunny Flare and shook her hand energetically. "Name's Applejack. Nice ta meet ya."

Sunny managed get her hand out of AJ tight grip. "Charmed." She said unenthusiastically.

"I am Rarity. Keytarist and costume designer for the Rainbooms." Rarity curtsied.

"I-I'm. Fluttershy." Fluttershy whispered, hiding behind her hair.

"Names Rainbow Dash!" Rainbow introduced while pointing a thumb at herself. "Best athlete at CHS and probably in all of Equestria."

That statement caused Indigo to let go of Twilight and walk up to Rainbow. "Oh really? Ready to make that bet?" She smirked.

"Whenever your ready." Rainbow smirked right back.

"I'm Pinkie Pie!" Pinkie announced cheerfully, not noticing the slight tension in the air.

"And I'm Sunset Shimmer." Sunset finished.

"You mean the girl who turned into a demon and tried to take over the world?" Sugarcoat asked in a deadpan voice.

"Yeah...that's me." Sunset answered nervously with a fake smile.

"Hmph, nice to see Canterlot High still has the same standards for competitors as before." Sunny said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rainbow asked, glaring at the CPA girl.

"Just that your school's standards aren't quite....on par with our school." Sunny said with a smirk.

"Why I never!" Rarity humphed.

"Just because you girls saved the world a few times doesn't mean your suddenly good enough to compete with us." Indigo said.

"Exactly!" Sour Sweet smirked. "Our classical orchestra has won several out of town competitions already. How many have your school's won?"

The CHS girls only glared.

"Just what we thought." Sugarcoat stated with a shrug.

"Sorry girls, but I'm afraid it looks like our school is going to take home the prize...again." Sunny said as she flipped her hair.

Lemon Zest snorted. "Specially not when you have Dorkle on your team!" She pointed at Twilight, who looked away in embarrassment.

"That's Sparkle!" Rainbow said, getting in Lemon's face and glaring at her, prompting a similar response from the girl.

"Now let's just settle down here." AJ said, pushing Lemon and Rainbow apart before something started. "Now let's try to have a civil and fair competition, alright?"

Rainbow turned back to Indigo. "Fine. May the best team win."

Indigo smirked back. "Oh. We intend too."

"Come on girls, Principal Cinch must have the forms ready by now." Sunny commanded, causing the other girls to start following her away. "Good luck in the show on Saturday Canternots!"

"That Canterlot!" Rainbow shouted as the CPA girl laughed.

"Well they seem friendly." Sunset sarcastically noted.

It was, thankfully, at that moment that Celestia returned with a form for the girls to sign. "Hello everyone. Making friends with the other schools I hope?"

Her question was only responded with a series of grumblings and 'mehs'.

---

That night while laying in her bed and staring at the ceiling, Twilight thought about everything that happened that day.

"What am I going to do Spike? I know I've faced actual monsters, but facing Crystal Prep again? I just feel so nervous!" Twilight confided.

Spike looked up from his own bed. "Well you not facing them alone this time! You've got your friends right by your side!"

Twilight sighed. "I know, but...." Twilight took a deep breath. "I know this sounds silly, but...I don't want them to know how much of a loser I was a Crystal Prep."

"You weren't a loser!"

"Thanks Spike, but I have so much now. I don't want them to know what I was like or what happened before I met them." Twilight reached over to the night stand and picked up a framed picture. It was of the seven of them at the county fair. They were gathered together and smiling, despite all the chaos earlier in trying to meet up in time to take pictures and perform. "With the other threats, besides Sunset, they didn't really know me. We didn't have to go to school together or experience any unpleasant memories together. It's just....embarrassing."

"Well, they were gonna have to know about it sometime, right?"

"I guess...."

"Besides, they're your friends! You've literally saved Equestria like, half a dozen times already. That's not something those Crystal Prep girls can claim right?"

"Yeah..."

"Exactly!" Spike hopped onto Twilight's bed and looked her in the eyes. "You're worth more than all of them combined!"

Twilight smiled and hugged her pet close. "Thanks Spike. What did I do to deserve a friend like you?"

"Well....you could sneak me some of your leftovers once in a while." Spike gave a sly smile.

"Nice try."

"Worth a shot." Spike shrugged before nuzzling his owner and friend. "Just try to forget about those girls, ok? They don't know you like I do and I think you're great!"

Twilight blushed at this comment.

Spike hopped back to his own bed and settled down for the night. "Now try to get some sleep. You've got a lot of practicing with the girls before the show on Saturday."

"You're right. Good Night Spike."

"Night, Twilight."

But as Spike drifted off to a good night's sleep, Twilight's mind still help uncertainties and worries.

Comments

[Comickook]

Thanks very much for getting the next chapter up. I really appreciate that. Anyway, wonderful job on the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up in all the right places. And, yeah, Twilight's reaction to seeing some of her old classmates/former bullies was fairly understandable. And I ESPECIALLY loved Spike's pep talk.

Applejack: I might not be the psychic that you are, Twi, but I can still sense when I'm not getting the full truth on something.

Twilight: Yeah. You're right. Back when I was at Crystal Prep, well, to say I was even more socially awkward than I am at Canterlot High would be an understatement. I did well academically and in terms of magic, but as far as physical sports or anything relating to social stuff went - I'll be generous and say I was, and still am, terrible. In fact, I got bullied A LOT. Those five were some of the ones who bullied me the most.

Rainbow: Really? But you're so good at magic even BEFORE getting connected to the Element of Magic. They HAD to know that pushing you too far would probably be a bad idea.

Twilight: Yeah, but I was ALSO trained to NOT use my powers for petty reasons AND I have a healthy respect for the law.

Fluttershy: Even so, having a lot of self-control is NOT being a loser. Exactly the opposite in fact.

Rarity: Quite right. NONE of us considers you a loser. Especially not after everything you've helped us with. (thinks silently to herself) In fact, the only one who has an even higher opinion of you than we do is Flash.

Sorry about that. Got carried away again. :-D

At any rate, I'll very certainly be looking forward to more of this.

[Bookpony579]

9027259
Wow, you should really start writing your own stories. That was pretty good!

[Comickook]

9027268
Tempting, but I rarely have the time for writing and inspiration does not come consistently enough for me to do my own writing.

[CSC]

And just like that, the Shadow 5 are hated in my book again.

[Snowdrifter]

"Besides, they're your friends! You've literally saved Equestria like, half a dozen times already. That's not something those Crystal Prep girls can claim right?"

So Princess Twiight does wear glasses and went to Crystal Prep?

[Bookpony579]

9410117
Alternate Universe.
This is this world's Twilight Sparkle, but she doesn't wear glasses.