Bullied

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"An independent study program?!" I said out loud to myself as I sat in my dorm. "Why didn't I see this before? This is gonna be perfect for my senior year next year. Let's see..."

I read through the requirements which I fit each one except for a research project of my choosing. So much for that. Where am I going to get an impressive idea for a research project?

As I leaned back in my computer chair to think, I noticed something outside the window that sparked an idea. Twin rainbow ribbons spiraling straight up toward the sky until they met, where they joined into one then moved toward the ground and then straight up into the sky again.

"What is that?" I said in awe.

Then it hit me. That was my research project. I needed to find out what it was and where it came from.

The next day, I looked online for any information on the phenomenon that I witnessed in my dorm. The only thing I found was some physics lab registered an EM fluctuation coincided with the exact times that the rainbow event (for lack of words) happened.

I'm going to need some kind of equipment to track those EM waves, I thought excitedly. That might be a little expensive though. Maybe I could check YouTube to see if there's a way to build one myself.

I looked at the clock and saw that it was almost noon. Lunchtime. The time where everyone the whole darn school gangs up on you and the adults just stand there while you get picked on.

I made my way slowly through the hallways to the cafeteria trying to avoid eye contact with anyone. As much as I tried to keep from running into other people, they would move closer to me and intentionally ram their hips or arms into me. I'll be honest, it hurts emotionally. Especially since I never did anything to them.

I finally reached the cafeteria and got my lunch. Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, corn and 2% milk. I went over to my usual corner to sit alone and was soon joined by Double Danger and her lackeys.

"You gonna eat that Twilight Dork-le?" she laughed.

"Um, yeah I had planned on it. Why?" I asked, knowing good and well she was up to something.

"Let's add a little flavor to this," said one of her friends.

"Hey! Give that back!" I yelled as her friend grabbed my carton of milk and began pouring it on my food. "Stop that!" I said as I began to cry.

"Oh I'm so sorry," Sour Sweet said as I got up and ran back to my dorm crying my eyes out.

"It's not fair, Spike," I cried to my purple haired dog. "The teachers, the cafeteria staff, even Principal Cinch has seen how the other students treat me. No one does anything."

Spike looked at me and whimpered as he tried to comfort me the best way a dog could.

"Just because I'm smart and get the highest scores, is that any reason to pick on me?" I continued to talk to my dear pet as a tear rolled down my cheeks.

Someday I'll show all of them, I thought as I drifted off to sleep.

Twilight Sparkle, please report to the front office!

After getting permission to leave the classroom, I ran as quick as I could to the office. It had been two weeks since I ordered the equipment for my project. Hopefully, that's what I was being called for.

I entered the office and sure enough, there were three large packages addressed to me. My level of excitement was at an all-time high.

"Twilight? Can you tell me what all this is for?" Dean Cadence asked me.

"It's for a research project, Dean Cadence," I responded with a big smile.

"What is the research project for?" she asked.

"For my entrance application to the Everton Independent Study Program," I cheered.

"Okay," Dean Cadence began slowly. "Do your parents know about this interest in Everton?"

"Sure they do," I told her. "That's how I was able to get this equipment. Hehe."

"All right. Please try to get these boxes to your dorm as quickly as possible," Dean Cadence told me.

"Sure thing," I replied as I grabbed one of the boxes.

I was so excited when classes got done for the day. It was probably the only time I can remember almost tripping over my own feet to get back to my dorm.

"This is it, Spike," I said with a huge grin on my face. "I can finally start recording the data I need for my research project. This is so exciting."

I got all the equipment set up, started the recorder and waited. And waited. And waited some more. I sat and stared at the recorder for five or six hours straight with nothing appearing on it.

"I hope I get something from this, Spike," I told him. "If that turned out to be a one-time thing, mom and dad are going to kill me for having them buy this stuff for nothing."

"Arf! Arf!" replied Spike.

Weeks passed with nothing happening. No detection of strange energy. No visuals of rainbow spirals. Nothing.

Then one day when I got back to my dorm from my morning classes, I found Spike inside going crazy. I couldn't figure out what he was so upset about. Sometimes I wish he could talk.

Then I saw it. The recorder had about fifteen minutes worth of data on it. No wonder Spike was so excited. I dropped my books on the floor with a thud and ran over to the computer to see if I could find the source.

"It looks like it came from somewhere in Canterlot," I said, adjusting my glasses. "But where? Hopefully, I'll be in here the next time it happens."

I tore the paper off the recorder and tacked it to my bulletin board and wrote the date and time on it. I had a feeling that this wasn't going to be the last time these readings were going to appear.

I didn't have to wait long for the next occurrence of the EM energy to appear. The next day when I was in the middle of my calculus homework when I heard the monitor beeping. So I quickly switch on the laptop to the tracking program and managed to find the source: Neon Light's Music Outlet.

I took the bus to Canterlot the next day to see if anyone that worked at the music store knew anything. I walked up to the counter to talk to the clerk. She had pale white skin, short blue hair, magenta tinted sunglasses and headphones.

"Hi, um, I'm Twilight Sparkle," I nervously said. "I'm doing a research project at Crystal Prep Academy and I was wondering if anything strange happened here in last couple days."

The clerk looked at me and gave a thumbs up.

"Great! Can you tell me what happened?" I asked her.

She gave me another thumbs up, pretended to play the guitar, made a flapping motion with her arms and made pretend ears with her index fingers. I stood there confused, wondering why couldn't she just tell me in words. I wanted to ask her if she was able to talk but I didn't want to possibly offend her.

"Um, thanks," I told her, not knowing what else to say. She gave me another thumbs up before pulling out her phone and showing me a picture of a girl with rainbow colored hair.

"Is this who was behind the strange event here?" I asked.

The girl responded with a fourth thumbs up and a smile.

"Thank you for your time. It was nice chatting with you," I told the clerk as I headed out the door.

"Space Case Sparkle. Heard anything from your home planet lately?" Double Danger teased as I got back to Crystal Prep.

"I'm not from another planet," I said weakly. "Just leave me alone, please."

"Not going to cry this time?" she continued to tease. "I thought all your species cried."

As hard as I tried to keep from crying, it just wasn't enough. I slowly walked past her and her group trying to keep my obvious tears hidden.

I can't wait to leave, I thought sadly.

Games

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"Oooh, this is so exciting, Spike," I told my purple furred dog. "This is the third time this week I picked up these EM readings. Let's see... this one seems to be coming from... The Flim-Flam Brothers' Everything Under The Sun Emporium."

Something was up with these EM readings. Considering Neon Light's and Flim-Flam Brothers' weren't too far from each other, I hypothesized that they had to be connected. I wanted to find out more but I didn't have enough money for another trip into town, so I did the next best thing.

"Thanks for calling The Flim-Flam Brothers' Everything Under The Sun Emporium. My name is Flam. How can I serve you today?"

"Um, hello. My name's Twilight Sparkle. I'm a student at Crystal Prep Academy involved in a research project."

"Well, yes. I see. We will be more than happy to provide you with anything you need. Provided you can afford it, that is."

"Thanks but I don't need any equipment, however, I do have a question to ask you."

"Hmmm, whatever could this question be? Prices, products, the legality of what we're doing?"

"What? No. I just would like to know if anything strange happened there in the last couple hours."

Mr. Flam regaled me of an incident with someone named Applejack coming in claiming to have sold them her bass by accident. It seemed like a fairy tale, the girl glowed and then grew pony-shaped ears and an extra long ponytail.

I thanked Mr. Flam for his time and entered the information into my data journal.

After weeks of picking up more strange energy readings, all of which coming from Canterlot High, I decided that it was time for a direct reading. So I built a spectrometer to scan for any energy waves and got on a bus headed towards the suburbs.

I stepped off the bus wearing jeans with a light aqua hoodie and began scanning the Wondercolt statue with the spectrometer. As I worked my way around the statue, the readings got stronger. The part I found most interesting was the side facing the school had almost a fluid feel to it. Was that a gateway to an alternate dimension? However, I was interrupted before I could fully test my theory.

"Hey!" shouted some girl with red and gold hair.

Scared of what might happen, I took off running from there. I mean, I was technically trespassing on the school property.

"What are you doing? Wait! Stop!" the girl continued to shout as she chased me back to the bus.

There was no way I was going to stop. Who knew what that girl was going to do if she would've caught me?

After being bribed into competing in the Friendship Games by Principal Cinch, I loaded up Spike and everything else I needed to compete in my backpack and headed toward the parking lot.

"You could try the end of the line," I heard behind me.

"What did you say?" I asked as I spun around to come face-to-face with Sour Sweet.

"Just that someone as smart as you should definitely go first," Sour Sweet replied.

"I... I didn't mean to... I was just asking..." I stuttered.

"This is the right bus Twilight," Dean Cadence told me. "Go ahead."

"I didn't mean to cut in front," I replied sadly.

"Well it's too late now," Sour Sweet remarked.

I climbed on the bus only to be ambushed by Indigo Zap.

"Are we gonna win?" she yelled.

"I... I don't know," I replied.

"Wrong answer! Try again!" she shouted. "Are we gonna win?"

I then proceeded to ramble a speech that mirrored what Principal Cinch had used to talk me into competing before she resorted to bribery. It would probably go down as the least motivational speech in CPA history and I was reminded of it when I sat down.

"That was a really bad speech. You should consider not speaking in public," Sugarcoat degraded me.

As I rubbed Spike behind the ears, Lemon Zest tried to deafen me with her headphones.

The mistreatment from my fellow CPA students continued after arriving at CHS. I tried sneaking off the bus unnoticed but that went as planned after Indigo Zap knocked me onto Sunny Flare.

"Seriously?" Sunny Flare asked, understandably annoyed.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to," I replied as I tugged on my hair nervously. Of course, I would run into Sour Sweet upon standing up. "Oh, sorry. Why don't you go ahead?"

"You are such a sweetie," Sour Sweet said before lowering her tone. "I am watching you."

"You are kind of being a doormat right now," Sugarcoat deadpanned after almost getting run over by her and Lemon Zest.

But in times of darkness, there is light. Just as everyone was lining up to check in, my pendant came to life and began blinking in the direction of the school.

As I followed the pendant to the location of the energy signature, everyone in the school was not only kind but somehow knew my name and then I bumped into some blue-haired guitarist who seemed smitten with me. You talk about awkward. After removing myself from the situation, I continued to follow the pendant down one of the corridors to just outside one of the classrooms.

After collecting the energy in my pendant, I figured I'd head inside the classroom to dig up any other information. I got the shock of my life when the red and gold-haired girl that chased me the day before was with five other girls, all of whom knew my name and Spike's.

I enjoyed the short, awkward conversation with the group but I wanted to scream when I heard my name come from Principal Celestia.

"This is getting ridiculous," I moaned.

After being dragged back to the buses the pendant began to light up again. Luckily I didn't have to go far as the readings were coming from the Wondercolt statue. After collecting the energy I had another encounter with the red and gold-haired girl.

"What did you do?" she asked me.

I didn't answer her. Instead, I joined the rest of my fellow Crystal Prep classmates upon Dean Cadence's encouragement.

"Where's the portal? Wh-wh-where's the portal?" I heard her shout as I ran back to the bus.

I picked up some more of the energy from a girl who introduced herself as Pinkie Pie before having to take a break to compete in the games. We didn't do too bad, sweeping everything except the baking competition.

My opinion of Canterlot High became more confusing when the entire school started cheering, even though they lost. You would think that after a defeat everybody would be sad but these crazy kids acted like they won. The six girls that I met earlier were the ones moving on to the second round, which meant they had to know something.

I followed them from the shadows during the next break to try and learn something from one of them, besides that red and gold-haired girl, obviously. One of them broke off from the group and snuck into the bushes so I figured I would follow her and see what she knew.

The yellow-skinned girl and I talked for a few minutes before she gave me a bunny to hold. That's when stuff got weird. Cool but weird.

She began to glow, levitate, sprout wings and an extended ponytail. I was awestruck from the sight but I hypothesized that these girls were the source of the strange energy that's appeared since last fall. The pendant had a mind of its own and started siphoning the energy out of the nice girl while simultaneously opening rifts in the space-time continuum. Spike decided to chase a jackalope through the rifts until he got zapped in the energy beam between the girl and my pendant. That's when I gained a talking dog.

I got paired up for archery with Sour Sweet (Yay!) and that worked just great. Sour Sweet hit a bulls-eye on the first try giving me the chance to go quickly. Of course, I fell flat on my face after the first hay bale, then almost fell in the mud after the rope swing. All the pressure was on me and the school's reputation was at stake. I couldn't let them down.

"Well, that's just fantastic!" Sour Sweet hollered causing tears to form in my eyes.

"I'm sure glad I don't go to Crystal Prep," I heard the yellow-skinned girl say to her friend.

"You said it," her blonde haired friend replied.

The stress was getting to me so bad that I tried firing on my knees before I heard Sugarcoat from the motocross starting line.

"You're really bad at this!"

"Ah can't take any more," I heard the blonde girl yell before she came over to my podium. "Ya hafta stop aimin' at the target."

"Oh, that makes perfect sense. Don't aim at the target. Thanks so much," Sour Sweet said.

"Ya hafta stop aiming where the target is an' aim at where it's gonna to be," the CHS girl said.

Much to Sour Sweet's objection, I took the blond girl's advice and managed to hit the moving target. It was then that I dropped the pendant on the ground causing more rifts and monster vines to appear. Canterlot High ended up winning the tri-cross relay but the confrontation afterward is something I'll never forget.

"Um, excuse me," I said to the group of friends, "I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I just wanted to learn about the strange energy coming from your school. I didn't know that it was magic or how it works."

"That's okay. Neither do we," a rainbow-haired girl with wings told me.

"No, no. No, no, no. Not again!" I protested as the pendant sucked the magic out of the girl. "I'm sorry. It just starting absorbing energy on its own but I'm not sure how."

The red and gold-haired girl approached me with a look to kill "What do you mean, you don't know how?"

"It also causes these corresponding rifts to appear. I don't know how that works either," I panicked.

"Is there anything you do know? Like how to get our magic back or how to fix the portal to Equestria?" she continued to yell at me.

"Equestria?" I asked.

"You're supposed to be so smart but did you ever think you shouldn't be messing around with things you don't understand?" she hollered.

"But I want to understand," I told her.

"But you don't," she continued. "And worst of all you put the lives of my friends in danger."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to," I cried as I ran off.

Scars

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Take my hand, Twilight. Let me show you there's another way. Just like someone once did for me.

I sat straight up in my bed, covered in sweat. Daydream Shimmer's words still echoing in my head. It had been a little over two weeks since the Friendship Games and I continued to have the same nightmare every night. I was so selfish in my research of the magic that the girls possessed, that it completely consumed my body and soul.

"You okay, Twilight?" Spike asked as he jumped on the bed.

"I don't know Spike," I cried as I held him close to me. "I don't know."

"Why don't you talk to the girls about your dreams?" he whispered softly.

"Do you really think they'll be able to help me?" I sniffed.

"It's worth a shot," he replied.

"Okay, Spike," I sighed. "I'll ask them."

I joined my friends after school the next day for a picnic beside the Wondercolt statue. It actually felt great having a group of friends to hang out with instead of being shut up in a dorm all day.

"Who's turn is it to host the next slumber party?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"I believe it's Sunset's turn," Rarity replied enthusiastically.

"Mine? I thought it was Rainbow Dash's turn," Sunset protested.

"What?! I hosted the last one," Rainbow Dash grumbled.

"Actually, Rarity's right," Applejack confirmed. "We ain't been ta yer place since after th' Battle of th' Bands."

"Fine..." Sunset relented.

"Sunset Shimmer, did I do something to you?" I accidentally blurted out, earning seven puzzled looks in my direction. ⁽¹⁾

"What do you mean?" Sunset asked me.

"Well, everyone else doesn't seem to be uncomfortable around me," I stated. "The rest of our friends have no problem approaching me and starting a conversation but for some reason, you always seem to avoid me."

Spike and the girls turned their focus towards Sunset Shimmer to await her answer. However, no answer came. Sunset nonchalantly stood up without saying a word and headed inside the school.

"What did I say?" I asked.

I stood outside Sunset Shimmer's apartment with Spike, a brand new sleeping bag and a new set of pajamas in my backpack. My first sleepover with my new friends and it's at the one person's home that doesn't seem to like me.

"Go ahead and knock, Twilight," Spike urged.

"I don't know, Spike," I hesitated. "Sunset Shimmer doesn't really seem to like me that much. I think I might be making a mistake by being here."

Spike just groaned as I turned around to head back to the parking lot. I almost made my way back to mom's car when I was ambushed by Pinkie Pie.

"Hey, Twilight! You know you're going the wrong way because Sunset's apartment is in the building behind you not in the parking lot in front of you," she rambled.

"I know, Pinkie Pie," I replied. "I don't think I'm ready to do this though."

"Oh, you'll be fine, Twilight," she reassured me. "Stick by me if you feel uncomfortable. I don't know if you know this but we were pretty mean to Sunset when she became our friend but we're not gonna make that same mistake with you because you're nice and you remind us of 'pony' Twilight-"

"Wait! Pony Twilight?" I interrupted.

"Yeah! That girl that came out of the statue the other day, she's actually not a human but a pony princess," Pinkie Pie explained. "So I call you Twilight and her 'pony' Twilight. It keeps me from getting confused so c'mon and let's go have ourselves a slumber party!"

After my pep talk, Pinkie Pie, Spike and I all headed back toward the apartment building.

I didn't sleep very well that night, waking up at almost every single noise but one noise, in particular, caused me to get out of my sleeping bag. It was Sunset Shimmer talking to herself while stumbling down the hallway toward the bathroom. I stealthily followed behind her and pressed myself against the wall outside the bathroom door while I listened to her ramble inside.

"Why do y-you have to-to be this way?" she quietly said as she bawled. "You've changed but... but why can't you treat Twilight with... with respect? She's done nothing to you."

I felt guilty about eavesdropping but I couldn't believe what I was hearing. One part of me said I should go back to bed but another part of me said I should go in and check on her. Taking a deep breath, I decided on the latter. I turned the doorknob to check if it was unlocked, and sure enough, it opened.

I was horrified at the scene in front of me. Sunset Shimmer had tears streaming from her eyes, a pocket knife in her hand and two freshly made cuts in each arm to go along with numerous scars that I had never paid much attention to before then.

"Sunset? Who are you talking to?" I asked as I tried processing the scene in front of me.

"I... I'm... nobody..." she wept.

"Are you okay?" I asked softly.

"I don't know, Twilight. I'm pretty messed up," she told me.

"Messed up? From what?" I inquired as I knelt down beside her.

"You know that girl that's a pony? I'm actually a unicorn from the same world as her," Sunset told me as tears continued to fill her eyes.

"Really?" I asked with wonder.

"Yes. I've been here for around three years. The first two and a half years I'm not proud of," she said as she wiped her eyes.

"Why? What did you do?"

"Well, I, uh, I bullied everyone in Canterlot High, mostly Fluttershy, um, broke up friendships... I was an all-around bad person," Sunset reflected.

Were my ears deceiving me? That explained why she acted the way she did during the Friendship Games. This also exactly what I needed after eleven years of being bullied, another bully in my life. She must've seen the look of anguish in my eyes because she began to break down again.

"I'm... I'm so, so sorry, Twilight. I-I've been a-a terrible friend to you," Sunset cried. "You-you don't deserve t-to have me as..."

I couldn't take it anymore. Even with blood leaking from her arms, I pulled Sunset into a tight embrace so she could let her emotions flow. I tried to emulate what Shiny used to do when I would get hurt and cry in his arms by holding Sunset's head against my shoulder and whispering, "Shhhh. It'll be okay."

"How... how can you be so... so sure, Twilight?" she asked.

"Because if you were still that bad person, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Spike and I wouldn't want to be friends with you," I assured her.

"I-I guess you-*sniff*-you're right, Twilight," Sunset whispered.

"Do you always cut yourself like this?" I asked as I held her slightly away from my body to look at her arms.

"Only if I-I feel hurt. I-I started doing it, *sniff*, a couple months ago during the... the Battle of the Bands," Sunset explained.

"Why?"

"I couldn't handle the amount of emotional pain I was feeling and just began cutting myself as an outlet. I came close to... to..." Sunset began to cry again before she finished.

"That explains all the scars I saw on your arm during the Friendship Games Welcome Party," I said as she leaned back into my shoulder to resume her outpouring of emotion.

"Mmhmm."

"Are you having those same feelings from a few months ago?" I asked gently.

She was crying so hard that she could only answer with a nod of her head.

"How about we try starting over again, Sunset?" I asked softly.

After another couple minutes of crying, she leaned back, looked me in the eyes and nodded her head once more.

Vacations

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Each of us woke up one by one as the morning sun filtered through the mini-blinds. Being the light sleeper that I am, and the fact I was worried about Sunset Shimmer, I ended up being the first one awake.

Apparently, Sunset and I weren't as quiet as we thought on our way back to the living room as Applejack confronted us after Sunset woke up.

"What happened to y'all this mornin'?" she asked us.

"They were probably getting busy back there," Rainbow Dash said laughing.

"No, we weren't," I said, slightly annoyed. "I was helping Sunset out with a personal problem that she was having."

Rainbow Dash, obviously having sex on the brain, burst out laughing like a hyena at my comment.

"I meant we were having a heart to heart talk, you pervert," I said angrily.

"How come, darling? If you don't mind me asking," Rarity said.

"Sunset, would you care to roll up your sleeves?" I asked her.

"Awww, Sunny. You didn't do that again, did you?" Pinkie Pie wailed.

Sunset didn't say anything. She just hung her head in embarrassment as she realized that the rest of our friends had figured out what happened.

"We talked 'bout this months ago, sugarcube. If y'all need ta talk ta somebody, we're available anytime. Just pick up th' phone or pull one of us aside. We'll talk ta ya. 'Kay?" Applejack told Sunset.

We all ganged up on Sunset to give her a group hug as tears began to roll down her cheeks.

"Twilight Sparkle!" Mom hollered from downstairs.

"Coming!" I called from my bedroom.

I made my way to the laundry room where Mom was holding the top to the pajamas I wore at the slumber party at Sunset's place.

"Where in the world did all this blood come from?" Mom asked angrily.

"I'm sorry, Mom," I apologized. "It was the middle of the night. I wasn't thinking."

"That doesn't answer my question," she deadpanned.

I took a deep breath before continuing, "I found one of my new friends in the bathroom with fresh cuts on her arms and I was consoling her."

"One of your friends is a cutter? Your father and I didn't make a mistake letting you go to that party, did we?" she asked.

"No, Mom," I responded. "She's working through depression and is trying to make amends for some of her actions from the last three years."

Mom's expression softened as I continued to explain Sunset Shimmer's first years in Canterlot High. She set the top on the washing machine and approached me with tears beginning to fill her eyes.

"I'm proud of you, Twilight," she said as she gave me a hug.

"For what?"

"For being there for your friend when she needed someone," Mom told me as she continued to gently hug me. "Can you do me a favor next time though?"

"What's that?" I asked, slightly confused.

"Get your friend's cuts to stop bleeding before you let her hold onto you," Mom requested.

"Sure, mom."

A couple of weeks later, all of the rising seniors finished the fundraising so that we could be able to go to Camp Everfree. Pinkie Pie was so excited that she began making plans for a party the week after school let out. The day after the last day of school we got a group text:

Who: The Rainbooms
What: End-of-School Party
When: 3:00 pm Friday until "whenever" Sunday
Where: Rarity's parents’ beach house, meet at Pinkie Pie's
Bring instruments, PJ's, sleeping bag, swimsuit, towel, and sunscreen.
Fun, music and pony-ups guaranteed! :)
-PP

I was so excited. Mom, Dad, Shiny and I had gone to the beach a few times when I was younger, but not in recent years and even when we went, it was only for the day. The seven of us (and Spike) all met at Rarity's house the Wednesday before the party to get fitted for swimsuits.

My swimsuit was a navy blue one-piece with purple trim and pink stars that matched the hair beret I always wear.

"Rarity this swimsuit is fantastic! I love it!" I told her as I threw my arms around her. "I can't believe how close this matches my favorite hair beret."

"I'm glad you like it, darling," Rarity replied. "I spent most of last night designing it specifically for you."

"How much do I owe you for this?" I asked her.

"Not a thing. This hug you gave me is payment enough," she responded with a light chuckle.

"Are you serious? This has got to be worth at least $35," I said in astonishment.

"Darling, I don't charge a thing for clothing and accessories I create for my friends. Never have and never will," she explained.

The only response I could come up with was to squeeze Rarity into another bear hug. I'm so glad to have friends like these.

"Are you going to join us, Twilight?" Rainbow Dash asked me after they got done playing "Shine Like Rainbows".

"Me? But I don't have any instrument to play, nor do I know how to play one," I stalled.

"Y'all ain't gotta play an instrument thar, Twilight," Applejack assured me.

After about fifteen minutes of me giving excuses as to why I couldn't be part of the band, I finally agreed to try backup vocals on the next song. About halfway through the song, I started feeling funny and began levitating about a foot off the ground. And then something caught my attention in the corner of my eye: wings. Not demonic wings like Midnight Sparkle, but plush wings like Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash gained.

"Twilight! You earned your wings!" Rainbow shouted as she pulled me into a tight squeeze. "This so freakin' awesome!"

The others quickly joined in embracing me in celebration of my newest accomplishment. I was at a loss for words as my new wings accidentally smacked Rarity and Fluttershy in the face, surprisingly eliciting giggles from the two of them. It was a surreal experience that I knew mom and dad wouldn't believe.

Unfortunately, we had to hang up the instruments for the night a little while later, due to noise ordinance laws but we ordered pizzas and held a tournament on Rainbow's Ponystation 4 instead. I'm proud to say I got my butt whipped in the second round by Rainbow Dash.

The next day was beautiful and after breakfast, we went out partied on the beach. Sunset, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Spike and I built a huge sandcastle, Rainbow Dash and Applejack competed on surfboards and Rarity laid out on her beach towel to get some sun. Everything was going great until I laid on my towel after lunch.

"You will never learn to control me! Hahahahaha!"

I recognized the voice instantly, Midnight Sparkle.

I heard a pounding on my bedroom door followed by Rainbow Dash yelling, "Twilight! The bus for Camp Everfree leaves in ten minutes!"

"Oh no, no, no, no. I can't believe I overslept!" I panicked while Spike let the girls in.

"Me neither," Sunset said. "That's not like you."

"I know," I said.

"Don't you have a super annoying alarm clock that goes EHH EHH EHH!" Pinkie Pie asked before lifting my pillow to reveal my alarm clock going off.

"It's going to be fine. We'll help you pack," Sunset assured me.

"We're gonna be out in th' woods. When's she gonna need that?" Applejack asked Rarity as she put a dress in my suitcase.

"If we were going to the moon, I'd insist she pack an evening gown. One never knows, darling," Rarity retorted.

"Let me just get changed," I said as Rainbow grabbed my bags.

I stood in front of the mirror holding my Camp Everfree t-shirt when a pair of demonic wings appeared behind me.

I spun around as we all shouted in unison, "Midnight Sparkle!"

"How is this possible?" I asked in fear. "Sunset Shimmer helped me defeat you at the Friendship Games!"

"You and your friends can never truly defeat me," Midnight Sparkle laughed maniacally as she somehow caused everyone to disappear. "Midnight Sparkle is a part of you. I'll always be there, waiting in the darkest shadows of your mind. I'll be back Twilight! And this time I won't stop until I have ALL the magic!"

"NOOOOO! STOOOP!" I shouted.

"Twilight, wake up," Spike said as he shook me. I looked around and realized I had fallen asleep on the bus to camp.

"We can't stop, silly. We're not there yet," Pinkie Pie giggled.

"Hey, are you okay?" Sunset asked me.

"I'm fine," I lied but judging by the look on Sunset's face, she didn't believe me. Before she could respond, Pinkie spoke up again.

"We are gonna have so much fun. We're gonna roast marshmallows and eat marshmallows and sleep on marshmallow pillows," she said.

"Yeah. Probably not going to do that," Rainbow replied with a smirk.

"Maybe you're not..." Pinkie said as she held up a pillow-sized bag filled with marshmallows. I don't think I'll ever get used to Pinkie's randomness.

After getting hit on by Timber, the male camp counselor, Sunset and I took our bags to our tent so we could get settled in.

I was in my own world, thinking about the emotions that Timber had managed to draw out. He was cute but I really wasn't attracted to him that much for some reason. Sunset asked me something that broke my concentration and all I answered with was, "Huh? Uh, I guess so."

"I just have this feeling that Gloriosa's hiding something," Sunset said quietly. "Her brother's pretty cute though, huh?"

After turning a slight shade of red I answered nonchalantly, "He's okay."

"Oooooh, now look who's trying to hide something," Sunset teased.

"No, I'm not!" I blurted out.

Sunset changes subjects almost as randomly as Pinkie Pie. She went from teasing to serious in an instant.

"Hey, you okay? You seemed a little freaked out on the bus earlier," Sunset asked me.

Big Mouth had to put his two cents in the conversation, "Probably had another one of her nightmares."

"I'm fine," I shot back before calming down. "I mean, what do I have to complain about? Ever since I transferred here, everyone at CHS has been really nice and accepting. Especially considering what happened at the Friendship Games."

Sunset gave me a short pep talk reminding me that the Friendship Games incident wasn't my fault. That cheered me up for about thirty seconds until I found Sunset's sunscreen. I pointed to it and it magically levitated to chest level and when I looked around the tent, everything was floating in the air. I had no idea what caused it but I was freaked out. Sunset on the hand was loving it.

After breakfast the next day, I went back to the tent with Sunset where she showed off a cute, new bikini for me.

"Can you give me a hand tying the strings?" she asked as she pulled her shirt off.

I was in shock at not only the sight before me but the feelings stirring within me. Was I really in love with my best friend?