> CMC: The Third Generation
>  by PhoenixTDM
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> First Day of School
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sun Ray woke up to the sound of the blaring horn. She was staying at her Uncle Thunder Dash's house, and Sun Ray HATED his morning wake up routine. "WAKE UP KIDS, IT'S TIME FOR SCHOOL!" He yelled into Sun Ray’s eardrums. 

Icy Breeze and Waterfall Mist, Thunder Dash's son and daughter, were in the beds next to her. Sun Ray always stayed the night at their place on the first day of school. "UGH!!!" Sun Ray, Icy, and Waterfall screamed, not wanting to wake up so early. This was the worst part of the school year, the wake-up routine - especially when it was Uncle Thunder, whose favorite phrase was “The early pony catches the hay.”

"It's time for your first day of school! START STRETCHING!"

They knew EXACTLY what to do. First, they stretched their wings, ran in place, and did 20 push-ups. Finally, it was breakfast time.

Sun Ray, Waterfall Mist, and Icy Breeze flew downstairs to find delicious first day of school waffles! Sun Ray’s five-year-old brother and sister were sitting at the table. Since they were so young, they didn’t have to do the morning workouts. Icy Breeze was starting fifth grade - Sun Ray and Waterfall were starting second grade, and Sun Ray’s siblings, Thunderstrike and Lightningstrike were starting kindergarten.

“Dad, why do we have to work-out every single morning?” Icy Breeze complained. Thunder Dash replied, “My mom used to make my sisters and I do an even worse morning wake-up routine. You three should be grateful that you don’t have to do 50 pushups!”

The three ponies all rolled their eyes and sat down at the table to start eating their waffles.

“Okay everypony, storytime!” Thunder Dash announced. “When I got married to Apple Blossom…” 

“UGH!!” groaned the five kids. “You’ve told us this story a million times!” Icy said

“Well, you can hear it again.” Said Thunder.

“Anyways, When I got married to Apple Blossom, we wanted to move into a house. She HATED seeing me so upset that I couldn't live in Cloudsdale anymore, so she pleaded with Discord to give her wings, and he finally said, ‘Yes.’ This is why Apple Blossom has wings.”

The thought of going to a brand new school made Sun Ray excited (and a little nervous!). She had gone to the Cloudsdale school before, but her parents made her move to the Ponyville school to be with her cousins. Would she make new friends? Would she get a Cutie Mark? Would she get bullied? She had no idea what would happen this school year.





Sun Ray, Icy Breeze, Waterfall Mist, the twins, and Apple Blossom just landed at school. Sun Ray heard the bell ring. "Uh-Oh," She thought, "School's starting."

“Bye, Sun Ray! Bye, Waterfall! Bye Thunderstrike and Lightningstrike! I hope you two have an amazing first day of second grade. I’m going to go to my classroom now,” Apple Blossom said. Icy Breeze also said goodbye to them and then followed his mom to class. The twins flew to a different class.

Sun Ray followed her trotting cousin into the classroom. . Waterfall went over to a blue pegasus colt with a lime green mohawk standing next to a peach-colored earth filly with a gradient of lime and yellow hair. She noticed a giant pink bow in the back of her mane. Sun Ray didn’t want to look like she was following her cousin so she took a seat next to a pearly white filly with a pink and purple mane, with no cutie mark. "Oh my Celestia!" She thought. "Why does that filly have spiral eyes!? She looks like a freak!"

Sun Ray looked at the filly next to the white one. She was a normal red earth pony with a brown mane and tail and green eyes. She didn’t have a cutie mark, either.

She looked around the classroom and saw regular fillies and colts in their class, but no one took a second look at the filly with weird eyes. She wondered why no one cared that someone who looked so weird wasn’t noticed by everyone. She didn’t want to sit next to weird-looking ponies, so she looked for an open seat. She saw one in front of her by her cousin, Cinnamon Apple. She was about to get up and move next to him, but Mrs. Cheerilee came up and class started before she had a chance.

"Hello, fillies and colts!" She said. "Welcome to your first day of second grade! We have a new student this year. My very own grandniece, Sun Ray Dash!" Everypony turned and looked at her. She started sweating and shrunk back in her seat.

“Um… H-hi, everypony… I’m Sun Ray…” She stammered. Everypony turned back over to the teacher who started to hand out worksheets. When Sun Ray got hers she saw that it was just some fun puzzles like word search and dot to dots. She figured that it was like this because it was the first day of school. She got out her pencil from her saddlebag and started working on the fun activities.







About 30 minutes later the teacher let the students roam around the classroom to talk to each other and Sun Ray walked over to Cinnamon Apple, who was talking with an orange earth pony with a red mane. She tapped on his shoulder and he turned around.

“Hey, Sun Ray! It’s so cool that we’re in the same class now!” He said, with his southern accent. Sun Ray always liked that she was related to the apple family. She loved their silly accents and the delicious cider and pies and other treats they made all the time.

“Yeah! It’s awesome!” She responded. They hugged for a few seconds and started talking about some random things. Then the recess bell rang! Sun Ray loved recess but she had never experienced it on land before. She flew outside and found Waterfall talking to the peach-colored earth filly from before. Waterfall turned around and said, “Hey, Sun Ray! This is my friend, Violet Sparkle.” Sun Ray shook hooves with Violet and replied, “Hi, Violet. My name is Sun Ray Dash.” Violet smiled and said, “Nice to meet you!” The three fillies were playing with a ball for a little bit when Sun Ray noticed the white filly and the red filly playing alone.

“I wonder why the red filly is playing with her. She has spiral eyes like a freak!” Sun Ray thought. But she wanted to go introduce herself so the red filly wouldn’t have to play with that pony with the creepy eyes. Sun Ray flew over to the two fillies and they looked scared that somepony was approaching them.

“Hi, I’m Sun Ray, what’s your name?” She asked, facing the red filly and ignoring the white one. The filly looked nervous and replied, “Oh, umm… My name is Fluffball and this is Jany.” Sun Ray looked at Jany who was smiling, but Sun Ray scowled and turned back to Fluffball. 

“Fluffball do you want to play with me and my friend Violet Sparkle and my cousin Waterfall?” Sun Ray asked. Fluffball still looked nervous. “Well… Umm… I want to play with Jany. She’s my only friend and she is my cousin.” Sun Ray’s eyes widened.

“Your COUSIN!? But… You two look nothing alike! And… and she has freak eyes!” Fluffball and Jany both gasped. Jany started sobbing her eyes out. 

Fluffball yelled, “How dare you speak to my cousin that way!? She was born that way and she is special because of it! Her father and aunt have the same eyes as her because of their amazing chaotic powers!” 

Sun Ray realized she shouldn't have said those mean words. “I’m sorry, Jany. I shouldn’t have said that” She said. Jany looked up at her.

“I forgive you,” Jany replied. Sun Ray held out her hoof. “Friends?” She asked. Jany smiled and shook her hoof.

“Friends,” She reassured. The three fillies were playing for the rest of recess until it was time to go inside. 






When school was over, the fillies and colts were waiting for their parents to pick them up. Thunderstrike and Lightningstrike found their sister, who was talking to her two new friends. Then something appeared out of nowhere.
“Grandpa Discord!” Fluffball and Jany yelled and they ran over to him. As they were hugging Sun Ray asked, “That’s your grandpa!?” 
“Yeah!” Jany replied. Sun Ray had never actually seen the Lord of Chaos before. He looked pretty scary and was hard to get used to, and her brother and sister looked terrified and they hid behind Sun Ray.
“Sun Ray, do you wanna go to my house with me and Fluffball?” Her house is right next to mine. Well, mine isn’t exactly a house, it’s a castle.” Sun Ray’s eyes widened.
“You live in a castle!?” She exclaimed. Jany nodded. “Yeah! But I have to ask my mom first.” A few minutes later a cyan pegasus with lime-green eyes and a rainbow mane flew down to them.
“Hi, mom! Can I go to my friend, Jany’s house?” She asked. Her mom looked at Jany, Fluffball, and Discord. She flew over to Discord saying, “Uncle Discord! I haven’t seen you in ages!” She hugged him and he replied, “Prism! Are these your kids?” 
“Yep! These are my youngest kids, Thunderstrike Dash and Lightningstrike Dash. I named them after my brother and sister. This is my oldest kid, Sun Ray Dash. Her mane kinda looks like Fluttershy’s, huh?” Discord looked at Sun Ray. “Yeah, it actually kind of does!”
“Uncle!? You’re related to him!? Wait… If you’re related to him, that means I am, too, and it also means that I’m related to Fluffball and Jany!” Sun Ray yelled. Prism and Discord laughed.
“Sorry Sun Ray, but he isn’t actually my uncle. My mom and his wife are best friends so that’s why I call him uncle. But you can go to their house, though!”
“Yay!” Sun Ray replied.






Discord teleported himself and the three fillies to the Castle of Chaos. Sun Ray stood in the house and looked around in awe. The floor was checkered in pink and purple, and the walls were chaos. Sideways fireplaces, upside down stairs, and so much more.
“Wow, you live here!?” Sun Ray turned to Jany who giggled and nodded. Sun Ray was still astonished. 
“Do you wanna see my room?” Jany asked. Sun Ray nodded and then was suddenly teleported into a new room.
“GAH!” Sun Ray yelped. She still wasn’t used to all this teleportation. She looked around the new room she was in and saw a bed with purple blankets and a pink pillow. There were plushies and toys everywhere. There was also a huge box in the corner that had a label “BOX OF PRANKS” Sun Ray had never seen a room this colorful before and not made of clouds.
All of the rooms Sun Ray had seen before had been made of clouds since she lived in cloudsdale. She hadn’t actually expected to see any pegasi at her new school except for her cousin Waterfall, but she saw two pegasi colts. She wondered if they lived in cloudsdale, as well.
“Sun Ray,” Fluffball started, “Umm… Do you want to see what I actually look like?” She asked. 
“What do you mean?” Sun Ray was confused. Suddenly, a bright green light flashed and fluffball looked different. She was light purple now, with fluffy teal and white hair. She had green spiral eyes and small fangs. She also had really weird looking wings, like a bug’s but with holes in them.
“What… Are you?” Sun Ray asked.
“I’m part changeling. But since I’m related to grandpa Discord, that’s why I have swirly eyes like Jany. My mom and her dad are grandpa Discord’s kids! And my mommy is half pony half draconequus, and my daddy is half pony half changeling. Even though he looks full changeling, since he is a royal changeling it means he has a pony dad. Also, he’s a different kind of reformed changeling. He doesn’t look all colorful and stuff, like King Thorax,” Fluffball happily responded.
“Woah… That is SO COOL!!” Sun Ray yelled. Jany and Fluffball exchanged a relieved look. 
“Wait... Why were you disguised all day? Can’t you just be yourself?” Fluffball frowned and replied, “Well… don’t you remember what you said to Jany this morning? Both of us thought you were going to be the second bully in our class.” Sun Ray still felt terrible about how she had treated Jany.
“I don’t know why I said that this morning. I saw you and just didn’t like you because I thought you didn’t look normal, but then I realized that even though you have swirly eyes, you’re still normal! Everyone has their own unique features and abilities! Heck, everyone is so unique they get a cutie mark.” Fluffball and Jany both smiled.
“Actually... The three of us don’t even have our cutie marks,” Jany noticed. 
“Yeah, I guess we don’t,” Sun Ray said, “Wait, I just remembered something! My mom used to be in a group she told me about called The Cutie Mark Crusaders! She and five of her friends were the second generation of the CMC. Maybe we can be the next group! CMC: The Third Generation!” 
“Yeah! Actually, I think I remember my Aunt Gemstone telling me about that, too! She was in it, too! That means all of us are related to them!” 
The three fillies jumped up and yelled, “Cutie Mark Crusaders forever!!”
> Time Traveling Adventure
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sun Ray and her two younger siblings arrived at school for their second day. Sun Ray was very excited to see her brand new friends again.
“Hey, Sun Ray!” Waterfall, Sun Ray’s cousin, exclaimed. Sun Ray looked over and saw her cousins, Waterfall and Icy Breeze waving to her. Sun Ray excitedly galloped over to them.
“Waterfall! Icy Breeze! Yesterday I had the most amazing day. Me, Fluffball, and Jany all became the third generation of the Cutie Mark Crusaders!” Sun Ray beamed.
“The cutie mark what?” Waterfall asked, confused.
“My mom and her friends were the second generation of Cutie Mark Crusaders. It’s a group where we try to get our cutie marks! Great-aunt Scootaloo and Great-Aunt Apple Bloom were two of the original members! Along with Fluffball and Jany’s Great-Aunt Sweetie Belle.” Waterfall gaped in astonishment and Sun Ray smiled. 
“That is so cool!” Waterfall said. 
“Yeah,” Icy Breeze agreed. 
Sun Ray was looking for her two new friends but didn’t see them anywhere. Although she knew that her family was always early for things. Suddenly, she saw two ponies flying.
“Are those them?” Sun Ray asked. She pointed to the two figures flying towards them. When they came clearer into view, she realized that they were two pegasi, not an earth pony and a part-changeling.
“Hey, PhoenixTDM” Icy Breeze waved to one of them. She had teal fur and blue wings, and her mane was turquoise and pink. There was a younger colt flying next to her, and Sun Ray recognized him from her new class. 
The female pony, who Icy Breeze had called PhoenixTDM, landed next to Icy Breeze.
“Hi, Icy! You look nice today,” She complimented. Icy Breeze blushed and responded, “Thanks. You look really pretty.” 
“Awww,” Waterfall said, “PhoenixTDM, Icy Breeze has a huge crush on you. He talks about you all the time at home!”
Icy Breeze’s expression turned embarrassed as he quickly responded, “NO I DON’T!”.
“I know that my sister has a crush on Icy Breeze!” The blue colt said. PhoenixTDM looked at her brother and whispered, “Shut up!”
“Well, Icy didn’t even hear me, anyways,” He responded. Sun Ray looked to Icy Breeze, and sure enough, he wasn’t paying attention. He was staring at a tree, which Sun Ray knew meant he was daydreaming. Icy Breeze always stared at something really intently when daydreaming. 
“Icy Breeze, let’s find Light Heart and Mac!” PhoenixTDM said. Icy Breeze agreed and they both walked away. 
“Sun Ray, have you met Lucas yet?” Waterfall asked.
“No,” Sun Ray responded. Waterfall turned to the blue colt and said, “Lucas, meet Sun Ray. Sun Ray, meet Lucas." The two shook hooves and introduced each other. 
“So, when do you think Icy Breeze and PhoenixTDM are going to get together?” Waterfall asked.
“Hmmm, I dunno. But it’s obvious they like each other. Maybe on Hearts and Hooves Day? It’s September right now, and Hearts and Hooves Day is in February… How many months apart is that?” Sun Ray asked.
“Can’t you count? It’s really easy” Lucas asked. Sun Ray looked down, embarrassed.
“Lucas, she has a disability called dyscalculia. It’s where you have trouble with math and struggle with the concepts of it. She has a hard time doing basic math because of it,” Waterfall explained.
“Oh! I didn’t know that. Sorry, Sun Ray! That was rude of me,” Lucas apologized. Sun Ray smiled and accepted his apology. She now felt even worse about what she said to Jany the day before. She had forgotten what it was like to be treated differently for something “not normal”.
“Also today is the 6th of September, so the 14th of February would be in 5 months plus a few days,” Lucas said. 
“How did you do that so quickly!?” Sun Ray asked.
“I’m really fast at mental math. I inherited that trait from my dad, who always says he has a calculator brain ,” Lucas explained. Sun Ray nodded and wished she had the same trait. It was very annoying to not be able to do simple calculations, like 7+6 off the top of her head.
“Hi, Sun Ray!” She heard. Sun Ray turned around and saw Jany and Fluffball. Fluffball was in her earth pony form again, like the last day at school.
“Fluffball and Jany! Hi!” Sun Ray said. She hugged her two friends. Then, Sun Ray introduced them to her cousin and her new friend, Lucas.
“Wait, you two don’t have cutie marks, either!” Sun Ray exclaimed, “Would you like to join the CMC with us?”
“Nah, I’m not really worrying about getting my cutie mark,” Lucas told them. 
“Me, neither,” Waterfall said. Sun Ray was disappointed but was still happy that she had new friends.
Fluffball’s expression turned confused. “Waterfall? I’m not trying to be rude, but why do you have a muzzle like a colt?”
“I have a condition where I was born with colt parts and filly parts. And about one in every 400 foals are born with this condition. But I identify as a filly,” Waterfall explained. 
“Ohhh okay,” Fluffball responded, smiling.

“Sun Ray!” Somepony called. Sun Ray turned around to find her younger twin siblings standing next to a red pegasus filly with magenta hair and azure-blue eyes and a brown earth colt with dark brown hair and light green eyes.
“Look, these are our new friends!” Thunderstrike exclaimed. Sun Ray smiled and said, “Hi, I’m Sun Ray! What are your names?” Lucas looked over at the four young foals and said, “Oh, hey, Kaia.” 
“Hi, Lucas!” The red pegasus exclaimed.
“You know her?” Waterfall and Sun Ray asked at the same time. Lucas nodded, “She’s my cousin.”
“Cool!” Sun Ray exclaimed. She turned to her siblings and their friends, “Nice to meet you, Kaia! And who is this colt?” She asked.
“I’m Bullseye!” he yelled. Sun Ray noticed a scar under his right eye.
“How did you get that scar?” she asked.
“Last year I was at my aunt and uncle’s farm way out in Dodge Junction. A bull charged at me and his horn hit my face - right under my eye! Then, it started charging at me again but I grabbed a red flag that was on the fence and held it up and the bull stopped! Then I got my cutie mark.” He explained.
Fluffball, Jany, and Sun Ray all gaped in astonishment. Jany was the first to speak, “You’re only like 5 years old and you already have a cutie mark!?” Bullseye nodded.
Kaia spoke up, “I'm 5, too, and I got my cutie mark when I was 4! I got the winning goal for my peewee soccer team!” 
“Woah…” Sun Ray said, astonished that such young kids already had their cutie marks. Finally, the bell rang for school to start.



After school, Sun Ray, Fluffball, and Jany all stood outside of school with all the other fillies and colts, waiting for their parents to come to pick them up.
“I was wondering… Since we heard two cutie mark stories today, we should go around asking ponies we know how they got their cutie marks!” Fluffball said. 
Sun Ray liked that idea, “What if we ask my cousin, Icy Breeze? He got his cutie mark a long time ago, I think. I was only two or three years old and barely remember him telling me about it.” Her two friends agreed with her and they started looking for Icy Breeze. 
“There he is!” Sun Ray pointed towards the light purple pegasus colt, who was talking with PhoenixTDM and two unicorns. The three fillies trotted towards him.
“Hi, Icy!” Sun Ray greeted. 
“Hi, Sun Ray! These are my friends, Light Heart and Mac. You met PhoenixTDM this morning. Guys, this is my cousin, Sun Ray,” He introduced. The three fillies explained to them how they wanted to hear cutie mark stories to help them better understand how cutie marks work and how they appear.
“I got my cutie mark when PhoenixTDM and I became best friends in kindergarten. My special talent is friendship and spreading love and kindness,” Light Heart explained.
“I got mine the summer before fourth grade when I made mac and cheese for the first time! My special talent is making mac and cheese,” Mac said.
“I got mine a few months ago when I realized that I have three special talents, art, Minecraft, and scootering!” PhoenixTDM said. The three fillies were amazed that somepony could have three special talents.
“What about you, Icy?” Sun Ray asked.
“Well, I got my cutie mark when I was five on the first day of summer vacation and-” He was cut off by Sun Ray’s Aunt Apple Blossom, who was Icy Breeze’s mom, saying, “Icy, Waterfall, it’s time to go home!” 
“I guess I’ll have to tell you later, then,” Icy told them. Icy Breeze and his sister flew off with their mother towards Cloudsdale. Sun Ray turned to her two friends, “What should we do now? I really wanted to know how he got his cutie mark!”
“How about we go back in time!? Fluffball and I have chaos powers so we can do it!” Jany suggested. Sun Ray and Fluffball absolutely loved the idea.
“Okay, so how many years ago did he get his cutie mark? He said it was when he was five. How old is he now?” Jany asked.
“Uhh… He’s 10. So uhh four years ago? I don’t know.” Sun Ray guessed. 
“Five years,” Fluffball corrected. Sun Ray felt extremely stupid and dumb because her friends could do simple subtraction and she couldn’t.
“Let’s go to the past!!” Jany yelled. Suddenly, All of the fillies and colts were gone. Sun Ray looked around in confusement. It was sunny and warm. The trees were green instead of fall colors.
“Did we just go back in time?” Sun Ray asked. Jany nodded, happily. Sun Ray led the two of them to Icy Breeze’s house in Cloudsdale. Luckily, Jany could land on the clouds since she had chaos powers.
The three fillies looked in the window of Icy Breeze’s room where he was sleeping. 
“Icy Breeze looks so tiny!” Sun Ray exclaimed. Jany agreed, “Yeah! Well he is only 5 years old!” Suddenly he woke up, yawned, and left his bedroom.
“He’s leaving! We have to follow him!” The three fillies flew over to the front of his cloud house and it abruptly opened, with Icy Breeze flying out.
The friends quickly darted behind a cloud so he wouldn’t see them and he started flying down to Ponyville. 
They silently followed him and then he landed in a park. The three fillies landed close behind him and hid in a nearby bush. 
They watched him as he started strolling in the park. Sun Ray was getting uncomfortable. The bush was scratching her and the sun felt hotter than lava.
Icy Breeze was standing in front of a puddle and said, “I wish this was ice!” He dipped his hoof into the puddle and then it turned into ice! Sun Ray was amazed and saw that Icy Breeze looked startled. He put his hoof in the water again and the whole entire puddle turned into ice. Sun Ray saw Icy Breeze’s blue ice cube cutie mark appear on his flank.
Icy Breeze looked very startled and surprised at the ice, but then flew off back to Cloudsdale without noticing his new cutie mark.
“THAT WAS SO COOL! Pun intended” Jany jumped out of the bush and onto the ground. Fluffball and Sun Ray both climbed out of the bush.
“Ew, I’m covered in leaves,” Sun Ray said. She started brushing off the leaves from her body and hair, when suddenly the leaves on her and her friends all disappeared!
“Woah! Where did it go? Oh yeah, you’ve got chaos magic,” Sun Ray said. Jany giggled. The three fillies walked over to the ice and marveled about how amazing it was. Fluffball stomped on the ice until it broke into little bits, and then Jany lifted it with her magic and poured it onto the three of them.
“Brrr that’s so cold!” Fluffball said. Sun Ray thought that the freezing cold bits of ice felt great against the intense heat of the sun beating down on her. But that thought left her with a question:
“I wonder how Icy Breeze made ice? He’s just a pegasus, not a unicorn,” Sun Ray said.
“Maybe we should ask him! Jany, can you take us back to the future? I can’t because I have weaker magic than you and also I haven’t learned time spells yet,” Fluffball asked. Jany nodded but then she asked, “Wait… How many years do we go? I forgot...”
“Four!” Sun Ray said, proudly. She was almost 100% positive that it was the right amount of years.
Jany smiled and said “Thanks, Sun Ray! Okay, time traveling to the future four years on the second day of school!”
Suddenly, Sun Ray was back in front of the schoolhouse. All of the fillies and colts were still gone, but that was because it was way after school ended. The trees were back to being the beautiful fall colors and the weather was nice and cool again.
“Let’s go find Icy Breeze!” Sun Ray said. The three fillies flew up to his house in Cloudsdale and knocked on the fluffy cloud door, but there was no response.
“I wonder where he is,” Jany asked.
“Maybe he’s in Ponyville!” Fluffball suggested. So, they started flying down to Ponyville.
When the three fillies landed, they started walking around looking for Sun Ray’s older cousin. This was one of Sun Ray’s first times walking in Ponyville. She had only really flown above it and looked down, all the ponies looking like ants. Ponyville was so much different than Cloudsdale. Ponies were buying things at the stands, planting flowers, and she saw two colts climbing a nearby tree. 
“Look, there’s a big crowd over there! Let’s go see what they’re looking at,” Fluffball pointed towards a large group of ponies. Sun Ray noticed that Fluffball had changed back into her disguised form, a dark red pony with brown hair.
The three fillies galloped towards the crowd and pushed their way to the front. There was the filly that Sun Ray had met earlier that day, PhoenixTDM. She was riding a shiny blue scooter. 
“The great lightning soars on her scooter, doing backflips and amazing tricks!” she shouted. PhoenixTDM then opened her wings, put her back hoof on the ground to kick off, and her scooter started going lightning fast. She steered the scooter towards a ramp and went up it, soaring in the air and landing a perfect backflip. 
The whole crowd started cheering for her, and Sun Ray and her friends were amazed. Then, Sun Ray saw PhoenixTDM look at her flank, which was blank! PhoenixTDM said something Sun Ray couldn’t hear because of all the cheering and flew away with her scooter, disappointed.
“That was PhoenixTDM! Without a cutie mark! But we just saw her today and she told us how she got it!” Sun Ray said.
“What the hay?” Jany responded, “Did we go back to the wrong year?” Suddenly, Sun Ray remembered something. When Jany had asked Icy Breeze’s age, she said 10. He was five when he had gotten his cutie mark and she had said it was four years ago, but Fluffball had corrected her saying five! 
“We’re one year off! It was five years, not four! I remember now,” Sun Ray told them.
“Oh, yeah! You accidentally said four this morning and I corrected you,” Fluffball responded. Then, the ponies around Sun Ray were different. There wasn’t a giant crowd anymore and there were different ponies everywhere.
“Are we back?” Fluffball asked. 
“I hope so,” Jany answered. The three fillies decided to go find Icy Breeze and ask him. They flew back up to Cloudsdale and luckily he was actually at his house this time.
“Icy Breeze! Did we just ask your friends how they got their cutie marks earlier today?” Sun Ray asked as soon as he opened the door.
“Uhh yeah. Why?” He answered. Sun Ray, Fluffball, and Jany all sighed in relief. Icy Breeze looked confused, “What happened?”
“We went back in time and watched you get your cutie mark! But then when we tried to go back we went to the wrong year and then we saw your marefriend PhoenixTDM do a backflip on her scooter trying to get her cutie mark and then we came back to this year,” Sun Ray explained.
“Okay, first of all, she’s not my marefriend! And second of all, how did you guys go back in time? And how are those two earth ponies standing on a cloud?”
“Fluffball and I have chaos powers cause we’re related to Discord! Fluffball is also part changeling but she is disguised right now,” Jany told him.
“Ohhh, okay,” Icy Breeze said.
“Icy, how can you turn water into ice? You’re just a pegasus,” Sun Ray asked.
“Honestly, I don’t know…” Icy Breeze replied.
“Is there any form of magic in your family? Like did anypony enchant you or something?” Fluffball asked.
“The story! The one that Uncle Thunder Dash tells us all the time!” Sun Ray realized.
“Oh my celestia! That’s it!” Icy Breeze turned away and yelled, “MOM! Can you come here?” A light green pegasus flew towards the door.
“Sun Ray! What a nice surprise. What brings you here? Oh, I see you’ve brought some friends, too! Aww, hi, Jany! I met you when you were a little foal! My husband and I grew up being best friends with your aunt, Screwball!”
“Hi! Also, this is my cousin, Fluffball, but she is in a disguised form right now,” Jany said.
“Aww, I’m so glad that you two are friends with my niece!” Apple Blossom said. Sun Ray was also glad that she met Fluffball and Jany.
“Mom, you know how Discord gave you wings? Do you think that some of that chaos magic got passed down to me and that’s how I can freeze things?” Icy Breeze asked. Apple Blossom looked at him, deep in thought.
“Well, it sounds like the most reasonable explanation!” Apple Blossom said.
“Wow, you’ve got a tiny bit of chaos magic! That’s so cool!” Sun Ray said.
"Yeah, it is!" Icy agreed. Sun Ray was excited that her friends had something in common with her family. Maybe in the future they would find out more things that the chaos family had in common with the Dash family. 
> Bullies, Trees, and Cheese
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Fluffball, it’s time for school!” Fluffball woke up to the sound of her mother, Screwball, who was standing at the door to Fluffball’s room. The purple filly smiled and hopped out of bed.

Fluffball had told her parents two nights before about her and Jany’s new best friend, Sun Ray Dash, and how they all became the new Cutie Mark Crusaders. Last night she had told her parents all about their time-traveling adventure and how cool it was to see Sun Ray’s cousin, Icy Breeze, looking so young.

Screwball and Mothball both were very excited that their daughter had great friends and that they all had something in common: they all wanted their cutie marks

Fluffball grabbed her saddlebag and flew downstairs to see a plate of chocolate waffles!
“Chocolate waffles, my favorite!” She said. She ate all of the waffles in one bite and then she saw Mothball standing next to her.
“Good morning, Fluffball! I’m glad you liked the waffles I made!” He said. Fluffball smiled, “Yeah! They were so chocolatey and  delicious!” She hugged her changeling Dad and he hugged her back. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Fluffball said bye to her dad and ran over to the door. She opened it and her cousin, Jany, was standing there.
“Good morning! How are you doing today?” Jany greeted. 
“Good morning! I’m doing fantazzlistic!” Fluffball responded. The two fillies giggled at the made-up word. Back when they were toddlers, Fluffball had made up that word when Jany asked how she was doing, and they had both used the word ever since.
“Should we fly to school or teleport there?” Jany asked. Fluffball didn’t even have to think about her answer.
“Fly, duh! My parents always say that I need to exercise! Well, that’s mostly my Dad saying it. My Mom just says that chaos magic is the coolest thing ever but sometimes you still need to do things yourself.”
“But we flew there yesterday!” Jany whined. Fluffball rolled her eyes and then looked back at her own house. It was a tall brown cottage with forest trees surrounding it. Fluffball absolutely loved her house, especially because of the trees.
“Fluffball, are you daydreaming about getting married to your house again?” Jany teased. Fluffball turned to glare at the pearly-white filly, who started laughing.
“Kids, you’ve got to go to school! It starts in just a few minutes, so you should just teleport!” Fluffball heard her Uncle Zany’s voice. She looked around but didn’t see anypony.
“Wait, I just heard Uncle Zany’s voice but didn’t see him…” Fluffball said, confused. Jany had a mischievous look on her face that only Fluffball could interpret. t
“Seriously, Jany? Fluffball said with a raised eyebrow. You just tried to trick me into teleporting to school by making me hear your dad’s voice,” Fluffball said, annoyed. Even though it was annoying, Fluffball thought it would be a really good prank to play on other ponies. Then, she noticed Jany doing the puppy-dog eyes look at her. Those adorable blue swirly eyes, those chubby little cheeks. Fluffball couldn’t resist it.
“Fine, we can teleport to school,” Fluffball agreed reluctantly. Jany jumped up and down with joy and then they both used their chaos magic to teleport in front of the schoolhouse.
Fluffball looked around the schoolyard to find Sun Ray. She saw a rainbow of fillies and colts scattered everywhere chatting and playing, and then she looked up at the tree. Fluffball loved that tree. She would stare at it often during recess and absolutely loved how it looked during the fall. Those red, yellow, and orange leaves falling from the tree. She loved the sound they made when they crunched under her hooves as well.
“Fluffball! Quit making heart-eyes at that tree and transform to your disguise! You can kiss the tree later. I know it wants to marry you,” Jany teased. Fluffball rolled her eyes and then transformed into her disguise, the red filly with a brown mane. How had she forgotten to transform? It usually was the first thing she did before she arrived at school.
“Good job. Now you can go back to fantasizing about you and that tree,” Jany said.
“Stop shipping me with inanimate objects!” Fluffball hissed. Jany giggled and then Sun Ray walked up to them.
“Hey, guys! How are you? I didn’t see you guys arrive today,” Sun Ray greeted.
“We just teleported here. Oh and Fluffball has a crush on that tree,” Jany said.
“I do not!” Fluffball angrily yelled. Jany laughed again and Fluffball rolled her eyes. Fluffball’s obsession with trees had always made Jany tease her about having a crush on anything made of wood, which was very annoying. Fluffball couldn’t wait to get a coltfriend so she could finally prove that she wasn’t attracted to trees.
Sun Ray looked confused at Jany’s comment and Fluffball really hoped that Sun Ray didn’t think that Fluffball actually had a crush on the tree.
“...Anyways, do you guys have any ideas on how we should get our cutie marks?” Fluffball asked to break the silence. Jany immediately forgot about teasing Fluffball and responded, “Yeah! We should be mountain climbers!”
“Mountain climbers? But we’re in school, dummy!” Fluffball protested.
“Oh yeah,” Jany turned to Sun Ray, “Do you have any ideas?” Sun Ray looked deep in thought when she finally spoke, “What if we try to climb the tree instead! Since there’s no mountain. Cutie Mark Crusaders tree climbers!” 
“Yeah!” Fluffball yelled. She yelled it a little too loud because other ponies were looking at her with funny looks on their faces. Fluffball chuckled and her cheeks got a little red before they looked away.
“Oooh, Fluffball has a crush on the tree!” Jany said. Fluffball glared at Jany, “If you say that one more time, I will turn you into a chocolate waffle and then eat you!” Jany looked startled from the serious tone in Fluffball’s voice, and then the bell rang. Fluffball snickered and then the three fillies trotted inside of the schoolhouse.
“Good morning, fillies and colts! Wow, the first week of school is already halfway over! Go ahead and take your seats. Today, we’re learning about multiplication!” Cheerilee exclaimed. Cheerilee looked so old. She had graying hair and walked awkwardly, but she was one of the most cheerful and enthusiastic ponies Fluffball had ever met.
Fluffball took her seat and looked to her right, past Jany, and saw Sun Ray sitting at her desk with a nervous and scared expression. She knew that Sun Ray had trouble with math, so she felt bad for her friend. She wondered what it was like, not being able to do math like that. Fluffball found math simple and easy, but she knew that Sun Ray found it one of the most difficult tasks..
“Psst. Sun Ray!” Fluffball heard. She saw Jany whispering to Sun Ray. Fluffball assumed that she was going to help her with math since she had already learned this before. Fluffball started paying attention to the teacher, who made math fun. She didn’t know how any teacher could make anything about learning fun, but Cheerilee was amazing at it. Another reason why she was the best teacher.

The class went by in a breeze and before they knew it, it was time for recess. Fillies and colts from their class poured out of the building toward the playground. Fluffball, Jany, and Sun Ray stayed in a group and walked over to the tree.
“Jany, thanks for helping me with my math!” Sun Ray said.
“No problem! I already learned this before last year. I was held back a year since I failed science. Science! How am I supposed to remember what the electrolytes and the microbiolgies do!?” Jany ranted. Sun Ray laughed in response.
“Okay, girls! It’s time to climb the tree!” Fluffball excitedly said. Jany gave her a smirk which Fluffball responded to with a glare. But then she saw a light brown earth pony walking up to them. Uh oh. She knew that colt. That yellow mane. Those blue wall-eyes. It was Cinnamon Apple, their bully.
“Hey, Sun Ray!” He greeted. Sun Ray turned towards him and visibly became happier. Did Sun Ray know him? Was she friends with this pony?
“Cinnamon! Meet my best friends, Fluffball and Jany! Girls, this is my cousin, Cinnamon Apple,” She introduced. Cinnamon turned to the chaotic cousins with his eyes narrowed.
“Oh, I know these two fillies. They’re freaks, I tell you! They are heartless beings! Evil and cold-blooded,” He said, coldly.
Sun Ray narrowed her eyes, “They are my FRIENDS! And if you can’t accept them, then I won’t consider you as a part of my family anymore. You are now my LEAST favorite cousin!” Cinnamon Apple looked offended.
“YOU TAKE THAT BACK, SUN RAY! OR I’LL TELL EVERYONE ABOUT YOUR STUPID DISABILITY!” He yelled. Sun Ray looked hurt and Fluffball became very angry, “DON’T MESS WITH MY FRIEND! Or I will knock this tree down on your head!” Fluffball screamed. She started transforming. She didn’t know what she was changing into, but she knew it was something big and evil. Or at least she hoped so.
Her hooves turned black, holes appeared in them, her pupils turned into slits and her tongue turned long and slithery. She felt bug-like wings growing on her back. Her mane turned into a cob-webby texture, similar to her normal mane, but even more cob-webby, like her father’s. She knew exactly what she had turned into. A real un-reformed changeling.
“Get away from my friends, or I will EAT ALL YOUR LOVE! Well, it’s not like you have any,” She hissed. Cinnamon looked terrified and he galloped away, tripping over the sandbox as he ran. Fluffball was exhausted. She turned back into her default form, the purple filly with changeling wings and swirly green eyes.
“Woah… That was SO COOL!” Jany said, hugging her cousin, “Wait, why didn’t you turn back into your disguise? Oh, I know. It’s because you used up all your energy to turn into a changeling! Do you want some of my power so you can change back?” Jany offered. Fluffball smiled. Since both fillies had chaos power, they could “transfer” it to each other when one of them became exhausted. It wasn’t like they were actually giving away their power, just letting the other recharge. 
Suddenly, Fluffball felt normal again. She wasn’t tired at all anymore, so she knew Jany had given her some chaos power. Fluffball quickly transformed back into her disguise and then looked over to Sun Ray, who was sitting on the ground looking sad.
“Sun Ray, what’s wrong?” She asked. Sun Ray looked up to her and responded, “I can’t believe that my favorite cousin is a bully! I’ve known him forever and he’s always been the sweetest pony ever. And… He made fun of you guys! And my disability…”
Fluffball hugged Sun Ray, “Aw, it’s okay, Sun Ray! At least you have us and your other cousins, Waterfall and Icy Breeze!” Sun Ray smiled and then Jany joined the hug.
“You said you’ve known him forever and he was nice to you, but we’ve also known him forever and he’s always been mean to us. Fluffball’s parents and his parents are best friends, so we’ve known him since we were in diapers,” Jany explained.
“Yeah. He thinks we’re creepy and doesn’t like our parents either, but he always acts nice around them and then turns mean when they aren’t looking,” Fluffball added.
“Wow. I’ve never known him to be like that! But this means our families have even more in common!” Sun Ray said happily. Fluffball guessed she was trying to brighten the mood again.
“Guys, who’s that?” Jany asked. Fluffball and Sun Ray turned towards a handsome dandelion-colored colt with a curly sun-colored mane and bright orange eyes. He was the most good-looking colt Fluffball had ever seen. His handsome face dazzled her and it was like she was in a trance.
“Hi,” He greeted. His voice was enchanting. It was the most perfect voice Fluffball had ever heard. It was adorable like a kid’s but also sounded a little deep, like a stallion’s. He said something else, but she didn’t hear it because it felt like she was cast under a spell.
“Hello? Earth to Fluffball?” Jany was waving her hoof in front of Fluffball’s face and Fluffball shook her head.
“Huh?” She asked. Jany chuckled and responded, “This colt was talking to you.” Fluffball’s head moved toward the colt as quickly as lightning strikes the ground, and she made her attention 100% towards him. He smiled and repeated his statement, “I saw you turn into a changeling and scare off that bully. It was really awesome.” Fluffball blushed at his compliment.
“Th-thanks,” she stuttered. Jany and Sun Ray looked at Fluffball with a confused expression. They were probably wondering why she was acting so weird.
“My name’s Cheeseball. What’s your name?” He asked. Fluffball’s eyes widened and her mouth fell open.
“What? Did I say something wrong?” He asked, sounding worried.
“No! You said nothing wrong! It’s just that my name is Fluffball! Our names match!” She cheerfully said. Cheeseball smiled and responded, “Wow, that’s so cool! Usually, ponies think my name is odd.”
“Yeah, me too, especially since I’m not fluffy. Well, I guess my hair kind of is,” She said. He looked up at her main, confused. She remembered that she was in her disguise.
“Oh, oops! I’m disguised as an earth pony. I’ll transform to my default form,” She said. She knew he wouldn’t mind her look since he had complimented when she turned into a changeling. She looked down at her hooves as they turned purple and felt her wings grow back and her mane change its shape.
Cheeseball looked at her in astonishment, “Woah. You’re even more pretty than you were in your disguised form. You should be un-disguised more often.” Fluffball blushed once more and responded, “Aw, thanks. But I just don’t want to get bullied.” Cheeseball nodded in understanding and said, “Well, I think you look as lovely as a spring flower.” 
Fluffball giggled in response and replied, “Thanks. You’re really handsome.” She saw a blush appear on Cheeseball’s cheeks.
“He isn’t a tree,” Jany whispered. Cheeseball looked confused at Jany’s comment and Sun Ray giggled at it.
“Shut up!” Fluffball whispered back to Jany, who laughed in response.
“Oh, by the way, this is my cousin, Jany, and my best friend, Sun Ray,” Fluffball introduced. They said hello to each other and then the recess bell rang signaling that it was time to go back inside.
“Well, I’ll see you around,” Cheeseball flashed a smile at Fluffball which put her back into a trance.
“Why do like him? He’s goofy and looks weird,” Jany asked.
“No he doesn’t! He’s the most handsome colt i’ve ever met. And why are you saying he looks weird? We’re the ones who look weird,” Fluffball responded. Jany laughed and then said, “Somepony’s in love!”
“No, I’m not!” Fluffball protested. 
Jany smirked, “Then why were you making heart-eyes at him and blushing when he complimented you?”
“I wasn’t!” Fluffball said. Jany knew she was lying, even though she didn’t have Screwball’s 6th sense to tell when other ponies were lying. Fluffball was just too flustered to tell a good lie. But she didn’t have a crush on Cheeseball, did she? They had only just met.

Throughout the rest of the school day, she was staring at Cheeseball who happened to sit in front of her to the left. After school ended, Cheeseball walked up to Fluffball and her two friends, who were chatting in front of the schoolhouse.
“Hi, Fluffball!” He greeted. Fluffball blushed and responded, “Hi Cheesy!” She changed back into her regular form and he smiled. The two kids talked while Jany and Sun Ray gave them knowing looks.
“Hey, Cheeseball!” Fluffball heard. She looked towards the voice and saw a yellow-orange stallion with a floppy orange mane and dark orange eyes. Cheeseball waved and said, “Hi, Dad! This is my new friend, Fluffball!” Fluffball smiled and then Cheeseball’s dad looked angry.
“Is that the half-changeling!? You can’t talk to her! Changelings feed off love! She’ll kill you!” He yelled. Cheeseball looked confused and then Fluffball became mad.
“My dad is a reformed changeling! He’s just a different type of reformed changeling who looks like an un-reformed one. He eats chocolate, not love! And I don’t even know how to feed off love! It’s a dumb thing to do,” Fluffball explained.
“You’re lying, filly. I know that only the real reformed changelings can’t feed off love. The fake ones are just pretending,” He sneered. Fluffball shrank down and felt sad. Cheeseball was still confused but now he looked mad, too. Fluffball really hoped that he was mad at his dad and not at her.
“Dad, we learned about this in History class! I know she isn’t faking it,” Cheeseball said. His Dad rolled his eyes and then looked a different direction. His eyes narrowed and he looked even angrier. Fluffball was confused and looked to where he was looking. She saw her dad flying towards them.
“Hi, Fluffball! How was your day at school?” He asked. Cheeseball’s Dad glared at Mothball and said, “You’re only here to feed off the love of all the fillies and colts having fun! I can’t believe I let my son come to a school with un-reformed changelings.” 
Mothball looked offended, “I am a reformed changeling! I just am a different type than the one you’re used to! Ever since I was a little kid I thought that feeding off of love was wrong and then I met Screwball, who helped me realize that I actually have a heart.”
“You’re just lying to Screwball. It’s obvious that you just feed off her love and teach your daughter to do the same,” He retorted.
“What!? But I eat chocolate! And Fluffball does, too! And I love my wife and daughter with all my heart,” Mothball said. 
“I want you and your family to stay away from my family!” Cheeseball’s dad yelled. He stormed off with Cheeseball sadly following him.
“Can I still be friends with Cheeseball? He’s super nice and I don’t think that he believes a word that his dad is saying,” Fluffball asked. She was nervous that her dad wouldn’t want her associating with someone who’s Dad hated their family.
“And Fluffball has a crush on Cheeseball,” Jany added.
“No, I don’t!” Fluffball responded, blushing. Mothball smiled, “Of course you can still be friends with him! I remember when Screwball and I met. Our parents hated each other and we weren’t allowed to talk. I don’t want my daughter to live through the same thing,” He explained. Fluffball hugged him, “Thanks, Dad!”
“Now, who’s up for some gigantic chocolate Milkshakes?” Mothball asked.
“Me!” The three fillies yelled. They all laughed and started flying towards Fluffball’s house to make some delicious milkshakes.
> Talking About Feelings
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cheeseball sat down on his green bed. He was really sad about what happened that day at school. He had met a really nice filly, but his father had ruined it by saying she was evil when obviously his dad couldn’t read a history book.
“I guess I’ll just do homework,” Cheeseball sighed. He opened his saddlebag and took out his sheet of math homework. But then, a small piece of paper fell out of his bag. He looked at it and smiled. It was from last year when a nice stallion, Mr. Valentine, had come to their school and given every student a lecture on love. Cheeseball wasn’t the lovey-dovey type of pony, but neither was the lecture. 
The lecture taught Cheeseball that there are different kinds of love — friendship and romance — and that little foals his age couldn’t really experience real romantic attraction until they were older. Before they start maturing, they only have schoolhouse crushes.
Cheeseball knew that most of the other ponies were daydreaming or talking to their friends when Mr. Valentine was talking, but Cheeseball absolutely loved the lecture. It was one of the most interesting things he had ever heard, and he took a lot of those things into account in his everyday life. Mostly the friendship things, though, since he was way too young for romance.
“Angel Valentine is here to give you all a lecture on love and friendship,” the paper read. It had a giant heart on it, and in the center of the heart was Mr. Valentine’s face. He was a purple unicorn with green and gray hair, and Cheeseball remembered his cutie mark being a giant heart with angel wings coming out of it and a chocolate in the center.
Cheeseball put the flyer back into his saddlebag and started working on his homework. He didn’t even get finished with the first problem when somepony interrupted him.
“Hi, Cheeseball!” He saw a yellow filly with green eyes and curly light green hair with orange streaks in it. His younger sister jumped on his bed before he could tell her to leave.
“So, whatcha doin’?” She asked.
“I was trying to do my homework, but you interrupted me. Lucky, can you please leave?” He asked in a very annoyed tone.
“Aww, what’s wrong, Cheesy? Cat got your tongue?” She asked.
“Do you even know what that means?” He responded. Lucky shrugged and Cheeseball rolled his eyes.
“So, why are you so sad?” She questioned. Cheeseball internally debated whether he would tell his younger sister about Fluffball, and the “tell her” side won.
“Well, I met this filly today-” He started, but she interrupted him, “Oooh, is she pretty? What’s her name? Are you two in love?” Cheeseball was startled by all of the sudden questions.
“Woah there! One at a time, please,” He said.
“Oops! Okay, first, is she pretty?” Lucky asked. Cheeseball nodded his head. Fluffball was the prettiest filly that he’d ever met. She had the most beautiful green swirly eyes, cute wings, and pretty hair. Her hair sort of reminded him of cotton candy.
“Oooooh! Okay, second, what’s her name?” She inquired. Cheeseball wondered if he should say Fluffball’s name out loud. He feared that his dad would hear and get mad.
“Fluffball,” He answered in a low voice so his dad hopefully wouldn’t hear. Cheeseball definitely would be able to hear what he just said, but that was only because his hearing was his strongest sense. He could hear the quietest sounds when others couldn’t.
“Oh My Celestia! Your names match!” Lucky squealed.
“That’s exactly what she said!” Cheeseball said. Lucky smiled, “Ooh, I like her already! Okay, last question. Are you two in looovvveeee?” Cheeseball got uncomfortable at this question. Of course he wasn’t in love! He was only 7 years old (almost 8)! He would start to contemplate things like this at age 13, at the least!
And he had just met Fluffball today. Sure, he loved how she talked and how pretty she was, and her adorable personality. But he definitely didn’t want to be in a romantic relationship at age 7. It would make him unbelievably uncomfortable, mostly because of how strongly he believed in the words of Mr. Valentine.
“Uhh hello? Earth to Cheeseball?” Lucky said. Cheeseball shook his head, “Hey, that’s exactly what Jany said to Fluffball! Anyways, to answer your question. No, we’re not ‘in love’. Ponies my age can’t be in love; we’re too young. And besides, I definitely don’t want to have a marefriend until I’m at least 13.”
Lucky looked absolutely shocked at his words, “But… I have a marefriend! I’m not too young!”
“You- WHAT!?” Cheeseball gawked. He was absolutely stunned that his 6-year-old sister had a marefriend! She was SIX YEARS OLD!! How the hay did she have a marefriend?
Well, it’s not like they’re literally in love. They are only in kindergarten. It’s just a schoolyard crush, he told himself.
“What’s wrong?” Lucky asked. Cheeseball looked at her and responded, “You’re… You’re only six! How the hay do you have a marefriend?” He knew that his sister wasn’t actually in love with another pony, but he didn’t want to make her mad by explaining how that stuff works.
“Because we love each other!” Lucky beamed. Cheeseball rolled his eyes but still kept his mouth shut because didn’t want to make her mad.
“Okay… Well, what’s her name? What does she look like? Does she have any siblings?” Cheeseball flooded her with questions.
“If you don’t like it when I ask you a bunch of questions, then why do you do it to me!?” Lucky scoffed. Cheeseball laughed, “Well, now you know how it feels!”
“Okay, well. Her name is Lightningstrike Dash, she’s a green pegasus with brown eyes, and her hair is red, orange, and yellow. She has a twin brother named Thunderstrike Dash and his hair is green blue and purple. Their hair colors match to make the rainbow! Oh and also they have an older sister named Sunbeam or something,” Lucky explained.
“Sun Ray?” He asked. Lucky nodded in confirmation.
“I know her! She’s Fluffball’s best friend,” Cheeseball smiled. 
“Wait, why were you sad earlier? It seems like Fluffball is a nice filly!” Lucky asked.
“Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention she’s part changeling. But her Dad is a reformed changeling! Just another type of reformed changeling. But Dad doesn’t believe that she and her dad are reformed! It’s so dumb. Can’t he just pick up a history book and read it!?” He ranted.
“Oh… Well, I believe you! And I support you, big brother!” Lucky hugged Cheeseball, who hugged her back, “I support you too, Lucky.”
“HEY, are you two hugging without me!?” Cheeseball looked towards his door and saw a filly who looked just like Lucky but without curls in her mane.
“You can join us, CC!” Lucky called to her twin sister. Carrot Cheesecake smiled and jumped onto Cheeseball’s bed and joined the hug.
“What’s all this talk about supporting?” Cheeseball’s Dad, Nacho Cheese, was walking into Cheeseball’s room, looking skeptical.
“Oh uhhh we were just ummm…” Lucky couldn’t think of a good lie, and neither could Cheeseball. CC didn’t even know what they were talking about.
“You were telling your sisters about that changeling, weren’t you?” His Dad said. He said the word “changeling” with pure disgust, which made Cheeseball have an awful feeling in his stomach.
“I’ve got to teach you three some real history, not what they tell you in school. The only reformed changelings that exist LOOK like reformed changelings! They’re colorful and have colorful horns and dragonfly-like wings. The fake ones look like unreformed changelings! If you ever meet one, you’ve got to run! They’ll feed off your love and convince you that they are your friend! Cheeseball, I don’t want to see you EVER talking to that evil filly ever again, or you’ll be busted,” His dad lectured. Cheeseball’s heart sank as he heard the last sentence his dad said.
Nacho left the room and Cheeseball heard his sisters say, “Oooh, you’re gonna be busted!” Cheeseball glared at them and said, “I thought you said you support me.”
“We do, but we also want to see you get BUSTED!” CC grinned. Cheeseball forced them out of his room and then continued on his homework, thinking about Fluffball the whole time.



The next morning, he arrived at school. His family was always early for things, so they were always one of the first families there. He saw his sisters run towards a pair of green pegasi and assumed that those were the twins, Thunderstrike and Lightningstrike. He also saw Fluffball’s friend, Sun Ray Dash talking with a light blue pegasus and an older light purple pegasus.
Since he had nothing better to do, he trotted over to Sun Ray and decided to tell her about Lucky and Lightningstrike.
“Hey, Sun Ray!” He called out as he approached them. Sun Ray looked startled that he was trying to talk to her. The blue pony she was talking to was a filly with a squared muzzle like a colt’s, and she had a mane that looked like a waterfall from green to blue.
“Sun Ray, that colt wants to talk to you! You should go with him! Maybe you can get a coltfriend!” The filly whispered. Cheeseball was startled at what she said, and then Sun Ray responded to her.
“What!? No! Fluffball has a crush on him!” Cheeseball blushed at Sun Ray’s comment.
“Look, he’s blushing! See, he likes you!” Cheeseball rolled his eyes and then the waterfall-maned filly shoved Sun Ray towards him, their faces almost touching.
“Gah!” Sun Ray yelped. Cheeseball and Sun Ray both blushed in embarrassment and quickly put some distance in between each other.
“So… Why did you want to talk to me?” Sun Ray asked.
“Oh, yeah! Did you know that-” Cheeseball started to tell her, but then saw that the filly with the colt muzzle was staring at him intently.
“Do you mind?” He snapped. She looked surprised and turned away to talk to the older light-purple colt.
“Wow, you’re good at making ponies mind their own business!” Sun Ray complimented. Cheeseball smiled and replied, “Well… I don’t really like it when other ponies hear my private conversations. I have insanely good hearing. I can hear ponies having conversations when they’re whispering and they aren’t anywhere near me!. I try not to listen to them but I still hear everything they say, so I always feel like ponies are listening to me when I talk, too.”
Sun Ray nodded and then asked, “Wait, could you hear what Waterfall Mist and I were just saying about you…?” Cheeseball giggled and nodded yes. Sun Ray hoofpalmed in embarrassment.
“It’s okay! I don’t mind. I honestly thought it was funny,” Cheeseball said. Sun Ray smiled and then asked, “Oh yeah, you were about to tell me something! What was it?”
“Oh, right! Okay, did you know that my sister and your sister are in a relationship?” He asked. Sun Ray looked surprised, “Wait, what? You’re talking about Lightningstrike, right? And I didn’t know that you have a sister.”
“I have two, actually. They’re twins and in the same class as your younger twin siblings. Their names are Lucky and Carrot Cheesecake. CC for short. Last night, Lucky told me that Lightningstrike is her marefriend,” Cheeseball told her.
“...Wow,” Sun Ray responded. Cheeseball chuckled, “Yep, that’s what I thought, too.”
“They’re way too young to be in a relationship,” Sun Ray said.
“That’s exactly what I thought!” Cheeseball agreed. Sun Ray giggled. He was surprised at how much Sun Ray’s thinking was similar to his. It wasn’t common that he found somepony who agreed with him on these kinds of things.
“So… do you have a crush on Fluffball?” Sun Ray asked. Cheeseball thought for a few moments and responded, “Well… can I tell you something? It’s kinda personal, but you seem like the kind of pony who would actually listen.”
“Oh uh sure,” She replied.
“Let’s go over to the tree. I don’t want anypony to eavesdrop,” Cheeseball said. The two kids walked over to the tree and sat down.
“Okay, so… I don’t know if I have a crush on Fluffball or not. I’m the kind of pony who believes that you need to be older to know what a real crush feels like and be in a real relationship. That’s why I think it’s so weird about Lucky and Lightningstrike. And I literally met Fluffball yesterday, so I don’t want to rush into things, like at all. I don’t want to be in a relationship with anypony until I’m at least 13,” Cheeseball explained.
Sun Ray nodded in understanding and Cheeseball let out a relieved sigh. He was glad that he met somepony who understood him.
“Can I tell you something? It’s something that I’m confused and worried about, but you seem to know a lot about this stuff,” Sun Ray asked. Cheeseball nodded, happy that she was willing to share things with him, too.
“Well… I’ve never had a crush on anypony before. Even a small crush or just a silly one that little kids like us get. Like Lightningstrike and Lucky, or Fluffball’s crush on you-” She covered her mouth with her hoof.
“It’s fine, I know. I heard you say it to Waterfall earlier,” Cheeseball laughed.
“Okay, good. So anyway, I’ve never had a crush on anypony. Everypony that I know has had a crush on somepony before, even if it’s not a ‘real’ one like when we’re older. Is something wrong with me?” Sun Ray asked. She seemed really worried.
“Nothing is wrong with you! There’s actually a thing called ‘Aromantic’. It’s where a pony doesn’t experience any romantic attraction. And also it exists on a spectrum, so there are ponies who only experience it occasionally, some who only experience it when they are really good friends with the pony, and the list goes on and on. But if I were you, I wouldn’t label yourself as Aromantic, because you’re not even a teenager yet,” Cheeseball explained.
Sun Ray smiled gratefully and hugged him. It caught him by surprise, but he hugged him back.
“Thanks, Cheeseball! I’ve felt so weird for a long time, but you’ve helped me realize that it’s normal to feel this way,” She said. He broke the hug and put a hoof on her shoulder, “Hey, everypony is unique in their own way. It’s normal to be different.” He said this in the most reassuring and kind voice that he could, so she would know that he really meant it. Sun Ray smiled again.
“I wonder where Fluffball is?” He asked, looking around. He noticed that other ponies were starting to arrive at school
“Well, we were here pretty early. And also Fluffball and Jany usually arrive way later than I do. My family has this saying, ‘The Dashes are always early’,” Sun Ray said.
“My family says, ‘The Cheeses are never late’!” Cheeseball exclaimed. They both laughed.
“Do you wanna know something funny? Fluffball has a crush on this tree!” Sun Ray said.
“What!? Wait, I thought she has a crush on me,” Cheeseball responded, pretending to sound hurt. Sun Ray laughed, “Well, I don’t know for sure if she has a crush on you, but she told us that you’re the most handsome pony she’s ever met and that it felt like you were putting her under a spell with your good looks.” 
Cheeseball blushed, “She really said all that?” Sun Ray nodded. Cheeseball was very flattered that Fluffball thought he was so handsome.
“Aww, you’re blushing! Did Fluffball put you under a spell, too?” Sun Ray teased. Cheeseball chuckled and replied, “Well, I definitely feel something for her. Don’t tell her I said that.” He added. Sun Ray giggled and said, “Don’t worry, I won’t.”
Cheeseball smiled, “Sun Ray, you’re a really great pony to talk to. It feels like I can say anything to you and you won’t judge, and I’ve never had somepony who I can say anything to. Would you like to be friends?”
“I feel the exact same way! And you didn’t have to ask, I already consider you as a friend after this conversation! Even more like a best friend!” Sun Ray responded.
“Really? Yay!” Cheeseball yelled, hugging his new best friend.
Cheeseball heard a voice saying, “I don’t have a crush on the- Wait, Cheeseball and Sun Ray!?” He looked up and saw Fluffball and Jany standing in front of them. Both of them looked shocked, and Fluffball looked a little jealous. Cheeseball and Sun Ray broke the hug, standing up.
“Hi, Fluffball and Jany!” Sun Ray said, at the same time Cheeseball said, “Hi, Fluffball!”
“What are you two doing together?” Fluffball asked suspiciously. Cheeseball and Sun Ray exchanged glances, their expressions confirming that they both wanted to keep their conversation confidential.
“We were just talking about things. We actually both have a lot in common and are really good friends, now!” Sun Ray said. Jany smiled, but Fluffball still looked jealous. Then, the bell rang and they all walked inside to start their school day.
> Cinnamon Cake
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A month had passed since they met Cheeseball. Each day before school, Sun Ray and Cheeseball would have conversations under the tree and then Fluffball would get jealous of them. Sun Ray definitely didn’t have any feelings towards Cheeseball. 
The idea of being his marefriend was very gross, and if she had to have a special somepony, she’d prefer a filly. But, she was only 7 years old.

It was October, and Nightmare Night decorations were everywhere in Ponyville. The trio of fillies were talking in the schoolyard, with Cheeseball standing next to Fluffball, who was undisguised.
“What are you guys going to be for Nightmare Night?” Cheeseball asked.
“We should go as a prince and princess! You can be my knight in shining armor,” Fluffball replied. Cheeseball blushed and Jany said, “Awwwww!!!”
“Wait, what about my dad? He would be suspicious...” Cheeseball frowned. Fluffball was sad, too.
“Well, what if the three of us go as something matching?” Sun Ray proposed.
“Yeah!” Fluffball and Jany agreed.
“What can we be?” Jany asked. The three fillies thought for a few moments. Fluffball was the first to answer, “What if we go as the Power Ponies?”
“No, there are like 6 of them plus their sidekick. So that wouldn’t work. How about the PowerPuff Fillies?” Jany suggested.
“I don’t like that show. What if we go as the original Cutie Mark Crusaders?” Fluffball prompted.
“I want to be something scary!” Sun Ray protested. The three fillies started arguing, when Cheeseball interrupted, “What if you all just go as what you want to? And Fluffy and I can find a way to go as prince and princess.”
“I want to be Nightmare Moon!” Sun Ray said.
“I’ll be a candy pony and decorate myself with candy!!!” Jany yelled.
Fluffball put her hoof around Cheeseball’s shoulder and said, “We can be prince and princess! And Cheeseball can just pretend to be something else and when he leaves his house, I’ll use my chaos magic to put us in our costumes!”
“That’s a great idea, Fluffy!” Cheeseball complimented.
“Thanks, Cheesy!” Fluffball replied.
“Fluffball and Cheeseball sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G!” Sun Ray teased. Jany giggled, while Fluffball and Cheeseball blushed.
Suddenly, a dark blue pegasus with red eyes and a lime green mohawk walked up to them, holding a stack of pink cards.
“My birthday party is next week on October 23rd! Come to my house for a Nightmare Night themed birthday party!” Lucas said to them. He handed each of the four ponies cards that had the words, “Lucas’ 7th Birthday! Come to 142 Unicorn Street, Ponyville, Equestria on October 23rd for an awesome party!”
“You’re only 6? But we’re in 2nd grade!” Jany replied.
“Says the one who’s 9,” Fluffball retorted.
“I’m turning 7 next week, guys. And also I’m advanced for my age so they put me a year ahead,” Lucas responded.
“Ohh, okay. I’ll be at your party!” Sun Ray replied. Her friends confirmed, too. Lucas smiled and then the bell rang.

At recess that day, Lucas trotted outside towards his best friends, Violet Sparkle and Waterfall Mist, who were sitting down on the ground. Lucas didn’t want to admit it to anypony, but he had small crushes on them.
“Hi, Lucas!” Waterfall said, standing up. Violet stood up and greeted him, too.
“Are you excited for my birthday party? Now I’m finally going to be the same age as you guys!” Lucas said. Waterfall ruffled his mane, “We don’t mind that you’re younger than us!” Violet agreed with Waterfall and Lucas blushed. He was happy to have such great friends.
“By the way, I got my bow cleaned and now you can see the sparkles on it!” Violet exclaimed. Lucas and Waterfall looked at the big bow in the back of Violet’s mane and sure enough, it was sparkly.
“I like it! It makes you look pretty! Although you’re always pretty,” Lucas complimented. Violet blushed at his compliment.
“It puts the sparkle in Violet Sparkle!” Waterfall teased. Lucas and Violet laughed. 
“So, what are you guys going to be for Nightmare Night?” Violet asked.
“I’m gonna be a spider!” Lucas replied.
“I’m going to be a witch!” Violet said.
“What about you, Waterfall?” Lucas asked.
“I want to be Daring Do! I LOVE THAT SERIES!!!!” Waterfall yelled.
“Waterfall, I think EVERYPONY loves that series!” Lucas agreed. The three of them all laughed again.

Meanwhile, the cutie mark crusaders and their cheesy friend were all sitting at the tree. The three fillies were discussing ways to get their cutie marks, while Cheeseball was piping in with suggestions.
“What if we get our cutie marks in flying? We can have a race!” Sun Ray yelled, “And maybe I can be a wonderbolt like my grandma Rainbow Dash and grandpa Soarin! They retired as wonderbolts when I was a foal, but I’ve seen really awesome pictures and videos of them!”
“Flying really fast hurts my wings,” Fluffball said, fluttering her bug-like wings.
“Your wings are so cute!” Cheeseball complimented. Fluffball blushed.
“Fluffball, I noticed that for the past month you’ve been in your normal form a lot more instead of your disguise,” Sun Ray pointed out.
“Oh, yeah. Ever since you stood up for me against Cinnamon Apple and then I stood up for you and scared him off, it made me feel more confident in my form, even though he still bullies us,” Fluffball explained. As if on cue, the light brown bully with blue wall-eyes started walking up to them.
“Hey, look, it’s the freaks!” He barked. The four friends glared at Cinnamon and Sun Ray replied, “What do you want?”
“What I want is for you to leave this school! Only normal ponies belong here,” he sneered. Jany cowered down in fear, and Fluffball transformed into her disguise. Cheeseball put his hoof around Fluffball to comfort her, and Sun Ray was offended. She wanted to join in her friends’ fear, but she decided that she had enough of her cousin always bullying them.
“Oh yeah? Says the one with wall-eyes! You can only look at me with one eye! I hope you fall and get a concussion!” Sun Ray retorted. Cinnamon’s ears went down and he became very sad. His eyes started tearing up and he quickly turned around so no one could see, he galloped away.
Sun Ray knew that his eyes were something he was self-conscious about, so she never brought it up before. This seemed like payback for bringing up her dyscalculia a few months back. But now, Sun Ray wasn’t so sure. She felt awful to have said something that hurt another pony’s feelings in that way, even though he always bullied them.
“Wow, that was awesome, Sun Ray!” Jany complimented.
“Yeah! I can’t believe you stood up to him like that!” Fluffball said, transforming back to normal. Sun Ray turned to them and they saw that she wasn’t happy.
“What’s wrong!?” Jany asked, “He got a taste of his own medicine!”
“Well… I feel really bad about it. Even though he’s a bully, it doesn’t give us the right to bully him back,” Sun Ray replied. Fluffball and Jany didn’t look convinced, but Cheeseball did.
“Yeah, I agree. I do think we should stand up to him, but not in a mean way like that. He seemed really sad,” Cheeseball said. Fluffball and Jany now matched Sun Ray’s guilty expression.
“I guess it’s not the right thing to do,” Jany agreed.
“I should go and apologize,” Sun Ray said. She started to walk in the direction that Cinnamon went when she felt a hoof on her shoulder. She looked back and saw Cheeseball smiling at her.
“Do you want us to come with you?” He asked. Sun Ray shook her head, “No, I want to do it myself. He’s my cousin, and I’m the one who yelled at him.” Cheeseball nodded his head in understanding.
“Alright. Good luck, Sun Ray!” He said. Her other friends wished her good luck, too, and Sun Ray continued in the direction of where Cinnamon ran off to. 
Sun Ray found Cinnamon sitting down alone, away from everypony else. He appeared to be crying, but trying very hard to hide it.
“Cinnamon?” She said as she approached him. He wiped his tears with his hoof and turned to look at her.
“What do you want?” He snarled.
“I came over to apologize. I’m sorry for saying that. I know how self-conscious you are about your eyes. I shouldn’t have said that,” She apologized. Cinnamon stood up and looked at her suspiciously. He was also pretty confused.
“Why are you apologizing after all I did to you? I deserve it. I’ve been mean to you since the beginning of the school year, and you basically did the same thing that I did to you when I brought up your dyscalculia…” He said.
“Well… Do you want to be friends again?” She held out her hoof. Cinnamon seemed to be seriously considering it. He looked over at Sun Ray’s friends, who looked worried about her.
“Wait… Does that mean I have to be friends with those weirdos?” He asked. Sun Ray narrowed her eyes and put her hoof back down.
“Seriously!? After all that, you still think they’re weirdos!? You’re the weirdo! You’re the one who makes fun of us! And if you don’t think of them as normal ponies, then I’m not going to be your friend!” Sun Ray turned towards her friends and stormed off.
Cinnamon extended his hoof and opened his mouth to say “wait!” but the words never came out. He closed his mouth and turned away.
Sun Ray walked back to her three friends. She explained to them what happened, and they all agreed she was better off without her cousin.

One week later, it was Lucas’ birthday. He was eagerly awaiting the guests, even though there was still an hour before they arrived. There were Nightmare Night decorations in their house, and there were also Nightmare Night themed birthday decorations. Black and orange balloons floated around the house, there was a game of “pin the tail on the black cat”, and there was a birthday cake shaped as a spider. 
Lucas stood waiting in front of the door, not caring about the fact that he had to wait for a long time. His older sister, PhoenixTDM, walked up to him.
“Happy birthday, Lucas!” PhoenixTDM said. 
“Thanks!” He replied. He kept his eyes glued to the door and didn’t even turn to look at her.
“Why are you staring at the door? You know the guests are coming in an hour, right?” PhoenixTDM asked.
“I’m just so excited for my party! I wonder what presents I’m gonna get! And I’m excited to see my friends, Violet Sparkle and Waterfall Mist,” Lucas explained. He blushed when he said the part about his crushes, but PhoenixTDM didn’t notice.
“Well, there’s no fun in staring at a door for an hour! We should do something to kill time,” PhoenixTDM said.
“Like what?” He asked. 
“What if we take turns playing Minecraft on the computer in my room!” PhoenixTDM suggested.
“Yeah!” Lucas replied. The siblings galloped up the stairs to play the game.

An hour later, the doorbell rang. It was Lucas’ turn to play Minecraft on PhoenixTDM’s computer, but as soon as he heard the doorbell, he flew as fast as he could down the stairs. PhoenixTDM shut off her computer and followed him down.
“THEY’RE HERE!!!!” Lucas yelled. He yanked open the door and all his friends were there. Violet Sparkle, Waterfall Mist, Sun Ray, Jany, Fluffball, and Cheeseball. His little cousin, Kaia, was there, too.
“Happy birthday, Lucas!” Violet and Waterfall yelled. They both jumped at him and hugged him. It caught him by surprise, but he hugged them back. His other friends wished him a happy birthday, too, as they walked inside the house.
The party was filled with fun games like skull shaped piñatas and celebrations. Everypony had such a fun time. But at last, it was time for cake and presents.
Lucas sat down at the table and looked at his big spider-shaped cake. It had a lit candle shaped as a 7 sitting on top. Everypony gathered around the table to sing the happy birthday song.
“Make a wish, now!” His mom said, after they all finished singing. Lucas looked down at the candle and thought about his wish. Once he decided, he closed his eyes to make it.
I wish that Violet and Waterfall will like me back. He thought. He opened his eyes and blew out the candle. Everypony cheered and then started to eat the delicious chocolate cake.

After the cake, Lucas’ mom started bringing presents over to the table.
“Present time!” She announced. 
“Yay!” Lucas cheered.
“I can help with that!” Jany said. She teleported all the presents from the living room over to the table.
“Thanks!” Lucas’ Mom replied. Lucas started opening presents. He opened the small ones first.
He got a toy robot from Fluffball and Jany, a board game from Cheeseball, a cloud ball game set from Sun Ray, a sparkly pink bowtie from Violet, and a glow in the dark frisbee from Waterfall. At last, it was time to open the biggest present.
“This one is from the whole family,” Lucas’ dad said. Lucas eagerly started tearing apart the Nightmare Night themed wrapping paper. Inside, he found an xbox and a video game!
“OH MY CELESTIA! AN XBOX!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!” Lucas screamed. He ran over to the living room and started setting it up. After a few minutes, he set up the xbox and turned it on. Then he put the game CD into the slot.
An amazing-looking title screen with the words “The Revenge of Nightmare Moon” popped up on the screen.
“Woah, this is so cool!” Lucas exclaimed.
“Oh, look at the time! It’s getting late. You guys should start heading home, now!” Lucas’ mom said to the guests. Everypony started leaving and said their farewells to Lucas.
“Bye, Lucas! Happy birthday!” Violet said. Waterfall was standing next to her and said the same thing. The three friends shared a hug, and then Violet and Waterfall walked out the door.
Lucas turned back to the game and continued playing. His parents let him stay up for the whole night since it was his birthday. He played it until 6am the next morning, beating the game with a highscore on the worldwide leaderboard.
“YES!!! I WON!!!!” Lucas screamed. His screaming woke up his parents and PhoenixTDM, who all came downstairs.
“Have you been playing all night!?” His dad asked.
“Yes, and I WON!!! THIS IS SO AWESOME!!!” Lucas yelled. PhoenixTDM noticed a black mark on his flank. Was that smeared chocolate cake or was it…?
“Is that a cutie mark!?” PhoenixTDM pointed to his flank. Lucas looked to where she was pointing. Sure enough, there was a cutie mark of a black video game controller on it.
“I GOT MY CUTIE MARK!!!” He screamed.
“Yay! I’m so happy for you!” PhoenixTDM said. His parents congratulated him, too.
“Now, you should go to sleep. You stayed up all night! Luckily it’s a Saturday,” His Dad said. Lucas yawned and agreed with him.
“Goodnight,” He yawned again, and fell asleep on the couch.
> The Night of Nightmares (Part 1)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was Nightmare Night in Equestria. The whole town was decorated in spooky decorations, and foals were going door to door dressed in costumes to get candy. Jany was standing in her room trying on different costumes with her magic. 
She originally wanted to dress up as a pony made of candy, but she quickly stopped being a fan of that idea when she saw herself in the mirror with the costume. It looked really ugly. It looked like she fell into a cauldron full of candy.
“Hmmm what if I go as a dragon?” The superhero outfit she was wearing instantly changed to a green scary-looking dragon costume.
“No, I don’t like this, either!” She groaned. A knock at her door surprised her and she almost forgot about her costume-debacle.
“Can I come in?” Zany, her father, called from outside her room.
“Yeah,” Jany responded. Her door opened and Zany walked in. He was a gray earth stallion with spiky pink hair and red swirly eyes, and his cutie mark was a black and white swirl.
“Are you ready for Nightmare Night!? The best night of the year! Wait, I thought you were going as a candy pony, not a dragon,” Zany said.
“It looked hideous! But this dragon doesn’t seem right, either. I want to go as something cool and maybe scary, but I don’t know! I originally said a candy pony because I love candy, and candy is what you eat on Nightmare Night, but now I’m thinking something more scary,” Jany explained.
“Hmm… What are your friends going as again?” He asked.
“Fluffball and Cheeseball are going to be a prince and princess, and Sun Ray is going to be Nightmare Moon,” Jany told him.
“Well, since Sun Ray is going to be Nightmare Moon, what if you be Daybreaker? Then you can match,” Zany suggested.
“Yeah! That’s the best idea ever! Thanks, Dad!” She hugged him. He hugged her back and said, “You’re welcome, Jany! Now, let’s see that Daybreaker costume!”
There was a bright flash of light on Jany’s body, and her dragon costume turned into the coolest looking Daybreaker costume she had ever seen. Since she had chaos magic, her mane and tail started flowing and looked like fire, and her eyes turned dark brown and bright yellow like Daybreaker’s. She had a horn, wings, fangs, and dark orange armor with sun patterns.
Jany looked in the mirror and saw her awesome costume, “THIS IS THE MOST AMAZING THING I’VE EVER SEEN! I LOOK EXACTLY LIKE HER!” Jany shouted.
“Wow, that is SO COOL! You really do look just like Daybreaker! Your friends are going to be so impressed! It’s a wonder what our chaos magic can do!” Zany said.
“Yeah! Sun Ray is going to be so jealous when she sees how awesome my costume is! Fluffball, too,” She said.
“I’ve gotta finish setting up the Haunted Graveyard with your mom and Applespike! The trick-or-treaters are gonna be so scared! Bye, Jany! Go to your Aunt Screwball and Uncle Mothball’s house,” He teleported away, and Jany looked at herself in the mirror again.
“Wow, this is so amazing!” She squealed. Jany grabbed her trick-or-treating bag with her mouth and teleported to the wooden cottage next to the Castle of Chaos. She knocked on the door and her Uncle Mothball opened it, holding a bowl of candy.
“WOAH!” He stepped back when he saw her costume, “Jany, is that you!?”
“Yep! Isn’t this costume SO COOL!?” She grinned.
“Yeah! I thought you were the real Daybreaker for a minute there,” Mothball agreed.
“Is Fluffball here?” Jany asked. Mothball nodded, “She’s putting on her costume. Your Aunt Screwball and I are going to go help your parents and Applespike with the Haunted Graveyard! You guys should come and visit it when you’re done!”
“Is Grandpa Discord helping you guys, too? He told me that he has an extra special surprise for Nightmare Night,” Jany asked.
“Actually, I’m not sure what Discord’s doing. I think that he’s doing something else instead of helping us this year.”
“Oh, okay. I wonder what?” Jany pondered. Fluffball and Screwball walked up to the front door and Mothball stepped aside. Fluffball was wearing a fluffy pink dress and a pink hennin and holding her green trick-or-treating bag in her mouth.
“OH MY CELESTIA! JANY, YOU LOOK SO AMAZING!” Fluffball yelled.
“Thanks! And your princess costume looks so pretty! It looks way cooler than the ones in the store,” Jany complimented.
“My mom and I made it with our chaos magic!” Fluffball told her.
“I made mine with my magic, too! Now, let’s go and find Sun Ray and Cheeseball so we can go trick-or-treating!” Jany said.
“Yeah! Bye, Mommy, bye Daddy!” Fluffball said to her parents.
“Bye, Fluffy, Happy Nightmare Night!” Mothball put the bowl of candy he was holding on the ground in front of the door. It said “Take as many as you like”.
“Bye, Fluffball! Make sure to scare some little kids!” Screwball and Mothball started walking to the Castle of Chaos next door.
“Let’s go to Cheeseball’s house, now! Sun Ray is meeting us there,” Fluffball said.
“Yeah! And she’s gonna be so surprised that I decided to be Daybreaker!” Jany replied.
“Weren’t you going to be a candy pony?” Fluffball asked.
“Well it looked really weird so I changed my mind!” Jany explained, “Now, let’s teleport to his house! If we fly there, there won't be any candy left! Wait… Where is his house? Sun Ray never told us!” 
“Huh… I have no idea,” Fluffball replied.
“Aw, now we do have to fly there! Wait, what if we make a portal to where Sun Ray is?” Jany suggested.
“That’s a great idea!” Fluffball agreed. Jany used her magic to make a portal in the air. They could see Sun Ray dressed as Nightmare Moon walking in Ponyville. Her younger twin siblings were walking behind her and they were dressed as Shadowbolts, the Nightmare version of the Wonderbolts.
“C’mon, Fluffball!” Jany jumped through the portal and Fluffball followed her. The portal closed and the cousins arrived in Ponyville.
“AAAAHHH!” Sun Ray and her siblings screamed. They all fell backwards when the two fillies appeared in front of them.
Jany and Fluffball started laughing hysterically and Sun Ray realized who they were, “Jany? Fluffball?”
“THAT WAS... SO FUNNY! WE WEREN’T... EVEN TRYING TO SCARE YOU,” Jany said between laughter.
“Wow, Jany, your costume is SO AWESOME! I didn’t know you were going as Daybreaker! We’re matching now!” Sun Ray said.
“WOAH! How does your mane look like fire!?” Thunderstrike asked.
“Is it real?” Lightningstrike asked. Jany chuckled, “No, I used my chaos magic to make it look like that.”
“My costume looks so lame compared to yours. You look like the real Daybreaker!” said Sun Ray.
“Yours looks cool, too,” Jany replied.
“Come on, guys! Let’s go to Cheeseball’s house!” Fluffball interrupted. Jany smirked and Sun Ray responded, “Yeah! His house is right over there.” Sun Ray led them to a nearby house. The house had a carrot garden growing in the front lawn, and the Jack-o-Lanterns at the front door had carrots sticking out of the top like horns.
“Okay, Fluffball and Jany, you guys hide so Cheeseball’s dad doesn’t see you. And Thunderstrike and Lightingstrike, don’t mention them!” Sun Ray said.
“Okay!” The twins replied. The chaotic cousins hid beside the house and Sun Ray knocked on the door.
“Nightmare Night! What a fright! Give us something sweet to bite!” Thunderstrike and Lightningstrike sang as the door opened.
“Happy Nightmare Night, everypony!” Nacho Cheese was dressed as a vampire and put candy in the three siblings’ bags, “Cheeseball and the twins are just in the living room! I’ll call them out.”
He turned away and called their names, and the Cheese siblings all ran outside to greet their best friends.
“Happy Nightmare Night, Sun Ray!” Cheeseball was dressed as a knight. He had a toy sword strapped on his side, and his “armor” was sparkly. Lucky and CC were both dressed as Shadowbolts, too, and they had fake wings strapped to their backs.
“You, too!” Sun Ray said. The two pairs of twins were giggling with each other and complimenting each other's costumes.
“Okay, kids, don’t stay out too late! And don’t go into the Everfree Forest. Even though it’s not as dangerous as it was when I was younger, there are still some evil ponies out there,” Cheeseball’s dad said.
“Evil ponies?” Thunderstrike asked.
“Yes. There’s an evil creature named Discord, who tried to take over Equestria years ago! He has chaos powers that he uses for evil, and so do his kids. One of his kids married an unreformed changeling! They all live in the Everfree Forest, and try to kidnap little foals at night!”
“WHAT!?” Thunderstrike and Lightningstrike shrieked. They were hugging each other and shaking.
“Be safe, kids! And do not set hoof in the forest!” He warned.
“Okay. Bye, Daddy. Happy Nightmare Night!” Lucky said. Nacho Cheese shut the door and the Dash twins were still holding each other in fear.
“Guys, none of that was true. Discord is Fluffball and Jany’s grandpa!” Sun Ray told them. They stopped shaking and looked at each other.
“Oh,” Lightningstrike said. The twins stopped hugging and stood up.
“Yeah! Stop being such babies,” CC teased, looking at Thunderstrike. Lucky stood in front of the green pegasi defensively.
“Hey! Lightningstrike isn’t a baby! You are,” Lucky said in an angry manner. 
“No, you are!” CC yelled. The earth pony twins started arguing back and forth.
“Cut it out, you guys!” Cheeseball snapped. His sisters immediately stopped their bickering.
“Sorry, Cheeseball,” They said simultaneously.
“Now, CC, say sorry to your friends,” Cheeseball said. CC turned to Thunderstrike and Lightningstrike. 
“Sorry, guys,” CC said. Fluffball and Jany got out of their hiding spot and went to their friends.
Cheeseball complimented Fluffball’s princess costume, “Wow, you look so pretty.” Fluffball blushed and replied, “Thanks. You look really handsome.” Cheeseball blushed as well. And that wasn’t the last time either of them blushed that night.
“I’M TELLING DAD!” Lucky yelled.
“Oooooh you’re gonna get busted!” CC said. Cheeseball scowled and turned to his sisters, “You can’t tell Dad! Besides, if I get in trouble, then I can’t take you guys trick-or-treating!”
“Huh. I guess that’s true,” Lucky sighed, “Also wow, Cheeseball’s friend, your costume looks so cool!” 
“Thanks!” Jany replied.
“Where did you get it?” CC asked.
“I made it with my chaos magic,” Jany told her.
“Chaos magic? Are you one of the evil Discord things that our dad told us about?” Lucky questioned.
“Uhhhh…” Jany didn’t know how to answer that.
“They aren’t evil, and you know that. Now, let’s go trick-or-treating! The candy is probably almost all gone by now!” Cheeseball said.
“YEAH!” The four foals exclaimed. They all started galloping ahead and their older siblings and their friends followed.

The eight ponies went door to door asking for candy, and Jany got compliments on her costume and extra candy at each house. When they finished the last house, they all went to the Ponyville town square for the annual Nightmare Night carnival. There were games like bobbing for apples, throw the pumpkins in the cauldron, whack-a-zombie, and much more. There were also rides like the Skele-Coaster, the Haunted Ferris Wheel, and the Apple Family’s Corn Maze.
“So, what should we do first?” Sun Ray asked as they arrived at the carnival.
“LET’S GO ON THE SKELE-COASTER!” Thunderstrike shouted.
“Yeah!” Lightningstrike, Lucky, and CC agreed.
“Are you guys even tall enough to ride that? It’s a big kids ride. You guys should go on the Haunted Ferris Wheel,” Cheeseball said.
“No! We’re big kids!” Lucky protested.
“Well, let’s see if you’re tall enough to ride,” Cheeseball compromised. The younger foals started cheering and they all started walking towards the Skele-Coaster. It was a large rollercoaster with a giant skeleton in the middle. The wooden structure holding up the ride was painted to look like bones.
“Ooh, what if I use my magic to give us all free tickets,” Jany smirked mischievously.
“Won’t we get in trouble?” Cheeseball asked.
“Don’t worry, chaos magic is perfectly reliable!” Jany reassured him. Suddenly, everypony had 50 black-and-orange tickets in their bags of candy.
“YAY!” the younger foals cheered.
“Wow, this is awesome! Thanks, Jany,” Sun Ray thanked her.
“You’re welcome!” Jany replied. The friends all went in line for the rollercoaster.
The line for the rollercoaster wasn’t that long, and the eight ponies all reached the front of the line pretty quickly. Near the entrance to the ride, there was a wooden sign with a skeleton of a pony on it, and it said “You must be this tall to ride” on the top of its head. The skeleton was around the height of Jany, the shortest of the older kids.
“Okay, guys, you have to measure yourselves on that sign,” Sun Ray told her and Cheeseball’s siblings. Lucky, the tallest of the four (by just a little), stood in front of the sign. She was shorter than the requirement by about 5 inches.
“You’re too short, Lucky. And the others are shorter than you, so they won’t meet the height, either,” Cheeseball said.
“NOOOO!!!!” Lucky whined.
“I really wanted to go on it!” Lightningstrike said. 
“Me, too,” Thunderstrike and CC said at the same time.
“Well, you can’t. And we’re almost at the front of the line, so you guys should go on the Haunted Ferris Wheel!” Cheeseball said.
“Okay…” Lucky replied reluctantly. The four foals all walked away from the line and towards the small Ferris wheel.
> The Night of Nightmares (Part 2)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A stallion dressed as a skeleton was standing at the entrance to the ride, “Step right up, everypony! Give me five tickets and you’re free to ride!” 
The Cutie Mark Crusaders and their friend gave the skeleton-stallion five tickets and walked through the gate that said “Enter”.
“Put your belongings in this basket so they don’t fall out during the ride,” He pointed at a black basket. The four friends put their bags of candy into the basket, and other ponies in line put theirs in, too.
“Let’s sit in the front!” Sun Ray shouted. She immediately took a seat in the front of the skeleton-themed rollercoaster cart, and Fluffball and Cheeseball followed. Jany was about to go on, too, but realized that there weren’t enough seats.
“Aw, there’s only three seats!” Jany looked for an open one, and saw that the only free seat was a row in the back with two seats. She sat down next to a colt around the same age as Fluffball wearing a costume of a changeling. He had a mask over his eyes, a hood over his head with a horn and small antlers on it, and a black suit with holes on the hooves and changeling wings on his back.
“Wow! How does your costume look so amazing!? Where did you buy that?” He asked. His southern accent sounded familiar, but Jany couldn’t quite put her hoof on it.
“I made it with my magic,” She told him. He looked up at her artificial horn, and nodded in understanding. He must have thought that the horn was real. Jany buckled her seatbelt, and then the stallion dressed as a skeleton talked again.
“Please keep your hooves, wings, and tails inside of the ride. Do not try to fly out of the ride or use your magic to tamper with it. Enjoy the Skele-Coaster, everypony!”
The rollercoaster cart started moving upwards, and the colt next to her started shaking.
“Are you okay?” Jany asked.
“I’m… I’m scared of roller coasters,” he told her.
“Then why are you on one?” She asked.
“Well… I wanted to prove to my best friend that I'm not a chicken… He said that I’m a foal for being scared of the roller coaster and he doesn’t want to be friends with somepony who ain’t brave…” He admitted.
“He doesn’t sound like a good friend. And also, you can hold my hoof if you’d like,” She offered. He hesitantly took her hoof. Jany could tell how scared he was by how hard he was squeezing it. The cart was reaching the peak of the slope, and he clutched her hoof with an iron grip.
The mystery colt was trembling as the roller coaster was at its peak. As the ride dropped, everypony started screaming and putting their hooves in the air, but the colt had his eyes squeezed shut and was holding onto her like his life depended on it. He shrieked and shakily embraced her. She returned his grasp, and the two ponies screamed.
The ride went on, and he trembled less and less. He let go of their embrace, but was still holding her hoof. At the next slope, his screams sounded less like he was terrified of the ride and more like he was finally starting to enjoy it. 
As the ride ended, Jany could tell that the colt was having a blast on the ride and conquered his fear of rollercoasters.
“That was AMAZIN’!” He shouted as they got off of the ride.
“It was! So, have you overcome your fear?” Jany asked.
“Yeah… I think I have!” He said.
“That’s so great! I’m so happy for you. What ride are you going to go on next?” Jany inquired. The two of them were already out of the cart.
“Well, I’m gonna go help my family with our Corn Maze. Wanna come? It’s the best Corn Maze in all of Equestria!” He told her.
“The Apple Family’s Corn Maze!?” Jany suddenly realized why his voice seemed so familiar, “That means you’re… You’re…”
“I’m… What?” He was confused.
“You’re Cinnamon Apple! I can’t believe I let you hold my hoof!” Words couldn’t explain the look of disgust on Jany’s face. Cinnamon was still confused.
“Uh… Do I know ‘ya?” He asked.
“Jany, that ride was awesome!” Sun Ray walked up to her, Fluffball and Cheeseball following close behind. Cinnamon’s expression turned surprised and angry.
“JANY!? I CANT BELIEVE THAT I…” He galloped away towards the exit without finishing his sentence. Fluffball, Sun Ray, and Cheeseball were all very confused at what they had just seen.
“Was that… Cinnamon?” Sun Ray asked. Jany looked at her friends and nodded slowly .
“What was he yelling about? If he hurt you, I swear, I’ll actually turn into a changeling and eat his non-existent love,” Fluffball said.
“No, he didn’t hurt me…” Jany replied. And I think he does have love, she silently added.
“Then what happened? He seemed really angry,” Cheeseball asked.
“I… don’t want to talk about it,” Jany said. She grabbed her candy bag and walked towards the exit of the ride. Her friends followed her back to the main fairground, still confused. She could tell that they wanted to ask more questions, but she wasn’t sure if she could give an answer.
Jany saw Cinnamon running towards two colts dressed as witch characters from a show she didn’t watch. They were twins from her class named Cloud Watcher and Colt; Cloud was a blue pegasus with curly light-blue hair, and Colt was a red earth pony with spiky red hair and yellow hooves.
Colt high-hoofed Cinnamon, who looked visibly happier. Cinnamon’s gaze turned to Jany. The two of them looked at each other from afar, remembering what had just happened.
“Are you okay?” Fluffball asked, snapping Jany back to reality. She turned to her cousin. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
Her friends eyed her suspiciously, and Jany decided to change the subject, “C’mon, let’s go to the Haunted Graveyard!”
“Yeah!” Fluffball and Sun Ray yelled.
“The what?” Cheeseball asked.
“Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you! Our family makes a Haunted House each year for the trick-or-treaters, and this year’s is a Haunted Graveyard!” Fluffball explained.
“That sounds awesome! But isn’t your house in the Everfree Forest?” He asked.
“Yep! C’mon, let’s go!” Jany turned towards the forest.
“My dad said I can’t go in there, though!” Cheeseball said.
“And what about mine and Cheeseball’s siblings? We can’t just leave them here!” Sun Ray replied.
Cheeseball turned towards the Haunted Ferris Wheel to try and spot the foals, “Do you think they’ve finished the ride?”
“Probably. But they’ve got tons of tickets! And besides, won’t your sisters tell on you if you bring them to the forest?” Jany asked.
“I guess so.”
“Then, it’s settled! We’ll go without them,” Jany turned towards the dark forest again and started walking. Fluffball followed her, and Cheeseball and Sun Ray trailed close behind.
“Do you think our siblings will be alright? I don’t feel good leaving them,” Sun Ray asked Cheeseball.
“Me, neither, but if they come with us, I’ll get grounded for sure,” Cheeseball replied. The four friends all reached the edge of the forest. The trees looked spooky and grim, and the trail was dark and creepy.
“Do we have to go in there? Can’t you just teleport us to your house or something?” Cheeseball asked the cousins.
“Are you scaaaaared?” Sun Ray teased.
“What? No!” Cheeseball replied, “I just don’t want to get eaten by timberwolves or manticores or something!”
“Timberwolves and manticores won’t eat you, silly! Like your dad said, the Everfree Forest isn’t as dangerous as it was a long time ago! Grandpa Discord made it so none of the creatures in the forest would be a threat to anypony! And besides, it will be really spoooooky to walk in the forest on Nightmare Night,” Fluffball explained.
“I guess so…” Cheeseball said.
The ponies started walking along the trail through the forest. There were hoots from owls and twigs snapping, which scared them, but they all kept on walking. After a few minutes, they could see the Castle of Chaos looming in the distance. They arrived at Fluffball’s house, which had some Nightmare Night decorations on it.
Each of the foals grabbed a hoof-full of candy from the bowl, which reappeared once they took it, because of Screwball’s chaos magic.
“C’mon, let’s go to the castle now!” Jany galloped next door to her house/castle, which was covered in tons of Nightmare Night decorations. From jack-o-lanterns to strobe lights to headstones.
Right before the entrance to the castle, there was a huge graveyard. Skeletons were poking out of the ground, and bats were flying around them. There was fog drifting around. And it was real—not made by a smoke machine.
Suddenly, Cheeseball let out a terrified shriek. A sickly-green hoof sticking out of the ground was clinging onto Cheeseball’s hoof.
“ZOMBIE!!! AAAAAAAHHHH!” Cheeseball screamed. His friends laughed at his panic.
“Relax, it’s not actually a zombie,” Fluffball said.
“Yeah, are you a scaredy cat?” Sun Ray teased. Cheeseball yanked away his hoof and stood bravely, “I’m not scared!”
The green hoof clutched to the ground. A head poked out of the ground and the body of the zombie started rising up. It had purple hair and one red eye, the other one being missing. One of its hooves was missing, too, and its bones were showing. 
“AAAAHHHH!” Sun Ray and Cheeseball screamed. They both started running in a different direction while their friends laughed. A skeleton loomed out of the shadows.The two terrified ponies ran straight into it.
“AAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!” They screamed again, and ran the opposite direction back to the zombie. Fluffball and Jany were laughing their tails off when something came up from behind them. A hoof was set atop both their heads.
The two of them yelped and turned around. There was a yellow batpony flying above them with red eyes, fangs, and black hair. It hissed at the two fillies and they started backing up.
Three figures jumped out of a nearby bush. One was a red demon, the second was a green demon, and the third was a purple one. They all had black eyes with red pupils, pointed tails and wings, and long sharp fangs.
The demons roared at them, and the four friends were cornered. They all cowered in fear as the six monsters grew closer and closer until…
“BOO!” The monsters all screamed. Sun Ray, Jany, Fluffball, and Cheeseball all looked up at them.
“OH MY CELESTIA THAT WAS AMAZING!” Fluffball jumped up. 
Jany sprang up, too, “Wow, this has gotta be the best Haunted House so far!” Cheeseball and Sun Ray slowly stood up.
“Wait, this was all part of the Haunted Graveyard? I THOUGHT WE WERE GONNA DIE!” Cheeseball yelled.
“Of course it was!” Sun Ray said, “And you guys gave me quite the scare. That was awesome!”
“Thanks! We worked hard on it this year,” The red demon took off its head and was revealed to be Zany underneath the mask. The green one was Applespike, and the purple one was Jewel. Applespike was a half-stallion-half-dragon with orange fur, green slit-eyes, and a green mane. Jewel was a white unicorn with purple hair and blue eyes.
“Uncle Applespike!?” Sun Ray said with a look of surprise on her face.
“He’s your uncle?” Fluffball and Jany asked simultaneously. 
“Yeah! I’m related to the Apple Family, remember?” Sun Ray replied.
“Oh yeah,” Jany said.
“How scared were you guys?” Applespike asked.
“Did we do an amazing job?” Jewel asked, obviously talking about herself. The crusaders and Cheeseball all nodded. A green light came over the zombie, and he turned into a changeling with faded-jade colored hair.
“Oh my Celestia, you guys were so scared,” Mothball beamed. The batpony took off the spiky black wig, and was revealed to be Fluttershy, Fluffball and Jany’s grandma.
“I’m sorry for scaring you all! It wasn’t too much was it?” She asked. The skeleton flashed white and turned into Screwball, Fluffball’s mother.
“Mom, how many times do I have to tell you that it’s Nightmare Night!? Ponies are expecting to get scared!” She said.
“Well, I hope I just didn’t frighten them too much,” Fluttershy replied. Fluffball gave her a hug, “You didn’t, Grandma!”
The sounds of foals’ voices were in the distance. The six ponies who were running the Haunted Graveyard put their disguises back on and started getting back into their places.
“There’s more ponies coming! Bye, kids! You can go back to the carnival if you want,” Mothball said.
“Bye, Dad!” Fluffball said at the same time as Jany said, “Bye, Uncle Mothball!” The fillies turned back to their friends.
“Let’s ride the Skele-Coaster again!” Sun Ray shouted.
“Yeah!” Fluffball, Jany, and Cheeseball agreed. The three of them started racing towards the trail back to Ponyville.
The trail was perhaps even more creepy now, because it had gotten even darker. The full moon shone above them, but they only caught glimpses of it because of the shroud of the forest. There were still sounds of owls hooting in the distance.
“Wasn’t that awesome!? What was your favorite part?” Fluffball asked.
“Mine was when Grandma Fluttershy came up behind us!” Jany said.
“My favorite part was when-” Sun Ray stopped mid-sentence. Two pairs of hoofsteps stopped, too, and Fluffball turned around.
“Guys? Guys!? Where did you go!?” Fluffball and Jany were alone in the Everfree Forest.
“What the hay? They were right behind us!” Jany said.
“I know you’re just hiding to try and scare us! I’m not scared!” She yelled out into the trees. A branch snapped and she turned to her right, “Guys, we can hear you. Just come out already!”
A pair of green glowing eyes appeared in the darkness in front of her. Fluffball rolled her eyes, “Guys, we know that’s you! I’m not scared.”
A revolting stench filled her nostrils. Fluffball’s hoof dashed upwards to cover her muzzle. The luminous eyes edged closer and closer. A brown wood-like claw stepped on the trail in front of her, and she jumped back.
“Guys? This is a prank, right?” She asked with a scared tone. A gigantic creature loomed over her. It had piercing green eyes, and was made out of dark tangled wood.
“TIMBERWOLF!” Fluffball screamed at the top of her lungs. Fluffball and Jany turned around and started galloping away as fast as they could. The timberwolf chased at their heels  and its barks roared in their ears.



Sun Ray and Cheeseball were both on their own. One moment, they were walking behind their friends, and the next, their friends had vanished into thin air.
“What the hay? Where did they go?” Cheeseball asked. Sun Ray was also baffled, “I have no idea. Do you think they’re pranking us? They do have chaos magic.”
“Yeah, they probably are,” Cheeseball agreed.
“Fluffball? Jany? We know you’re there,” Sun Ray called. There was no response, and the two foals decided to keep on walking.
The sound of galloping was ahead of them. Four smaller foals were running towards them. As they came into view, Sun Ray and Cheeseball recognized them.
“Thunderstrike? Lightningstrike? What are you doing here?” Sun Ray asked, worried.
“Lucky? CC? You can’t be here!” Cheeseball said.
“HELP!! THERE’S A MANTICORE CHASING US!” Lucky screamed. A huge Manticore ran towards them. It had sharp fangs and its scorpion tail was arched above its head, ready to stab them.
Everypony screamed. The pegasi started flying and the earth ponies were galloping away. The Manticore roared as they ran and flew for their lives. Cheeseball and his sisters jumped over scattered twigs and rocks while Sun Ray and her siblings dodged branches in the air.
All of a sudden, the sound of the manticore behind them was gone. The six ponies all slowed down to catch their breath, the pegasi landing back on the trail.
“Are you guys okay?” Cheeseball asked. His sisters hugged him and Sun Ray’s siblings hugged her.
“What are you guys doing out here in the forest?” Sun Ray asked.
“Mom gave you explicit instructions not to set hoof here!” Cheeseball said. A twig snapped behind them. Everypony jerked their head towards the sound. A chicken popped its head out of the nearby bushes and everypony sighed in relief that it wasn’t the manticore and just a harmless chicken.
The chicken walked out of the bush and it had a green scaly body. Wings popped up from its back and it had a long tail with red spikes.
“Is that..?” Sun Ray started.
“OH MY CELESTIA, THAT’S A COCKATRICE!!!” Cheeseball screamed. Cheeseball’s parents had taught he and his sisters about all the dangers of the Everfree Forest, one of the most dangerous being the Cockatrice. If you looked into its eyes, you would turn into stone.
“GUYS, DON’T LOOK AT IT!!!” Sun Ray shouted. But it was too late. All four of their little siblings were turned into stone.
“THUNDERSTRIKE! LIGHTNINGSTRIKE!” Sun Ray shrieked as Cheeseball yelled, “LUCKY! CC!” The two friends started crying as they stood in front of the statues of their younger beloved siblings.



As the Timberwolf chased after Jany and Fluffball, Jany remembered something, “Wait, we have chaos magic!” Jany stopped running and stamped her hoof on the dusty trail. The timberwolf disappeared.
“Oh my Celestia, thank you Jany! That was so scary… I don’t know if I can look at wood the same way ever again…” Fluffball said in between breaths.
“You’re welcome… Yeah, that was terrifying. Wait… Do you hear that?” Jany replied. Fluffball perked up her ears and realized she did hear something. It was a rushing sound getting louder and louder. Fluffball and Jany turned around and saw a tsunami heading their way.
Jany’s eyes widened. She was terrified of water. And also, how the hay was there a tsunami in the middle of the Everfree Forest?
“RUN!” Fluffball yelled. Jany couldn’t run. All she could do was cower in fear. The giant wave would reach her any second and she would drown. The ginormous wave, black in the reflection of the night, was coming straight towards her. Jany squeezed her eyes shut, about to brace for impact. Why wasn’t anythig happening?
Jany opened one eye and saw a dark green forcefield around her and Fluffball, the water rushing past them. Jany let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding and noticed her heart was pounding. The water finally slowed down and rushed away. The forcefield went away and Fluffball sighed. Jany turned to Fluffball and hugged her.
“Thank you!” Jany said.
“It’s the least I could do after you saved me. And what is happening tonight? How did a tsunami get here?!” she put her hoof on Jany’s shoulder, “and I’m sorry you had to go through that, I know how scared you are of water…it's like all of our worst fears are coming to life tonight.”
“Fluffball? Jany? Is that you?” a voice called. They turned around and Sun Ray and Cheeseball were standing there.
“Cheesy! I was so worried about you! Where were you guys?” Fluffball ran to Cheeseball and gave him a hug. They both blushed.
“We got chased by a manticore and then our siblings got turned to stone by a cockatrice!” Sun Ray yelled, turning to point, “wait… Where did they go?!”
Lightning struck the sky and thunder boomed in everypony’s ears. A tall black figure loomed above them with red eyes, evil laughter filling the sky. Everypony screamed.
“HAPPY NIGHTMARE NIGHT!” The figure stepped out of the shadows. It was Discord. Everypony’s eyes widened and they all gasped. Discord’s beard bounced as he cackled.
“GRANDPA DISCORD?!” Jany and Fluffball shrieked.
“Was this the extra special surprise you told me about?!” Jany asked.
“It sure was! Wow, I think that was the best Nightmare Night scare I’ve ever done. Did you ponies like it?”
“Where are my sisters? Are they okay?!” Cheeseball interrogated.
“Relax, relax. Everything I did to you ponies was an illusion! You were all just standing here in the cold and it was all happening in your minds. Your siblings are perfectly safe and on rides at the carnival.”
Cheeseball and Sun Ray let out sighs of relief.
“That has got to be the scaries thing I’ve ever experienced,” Sun Ray said. Her friends all agreed.
“Grandpa, I think you went a little too far…” Fluffball said.
“Yeah,” said Jany.
“Oh, come on, don’t you know how to have a little fun on Nightmare Night? You’re supposed to get scared! Now, go along and enjoy the rest of tonight. The carnival is still open for another few hours.” Discord disappeared to go scare more ponies.
The four friends decided to go back to the carnival and have fun after the most terrifying experience of their lives. The rest of the night was a blast. They played games, got more candy, and went in the corn maze with Sun Ray and Cheeseball’s siblings, which wasn’t scary at all compared to what they had just experienced. Even though they all got scared out of their fur, the four ponies agreed that it was the best Nightmare Night ever.
> Cloudy Afternoon
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few weeks had passed since the terrifying Nightmare Night Jany and her friends had the worst scare of their lives. Jany was still having nightmares. She absolutely loved pranks, but she thought her Grandpa Discord went a little too far this time. Water was Jany’s #1 fear, and her grandpa made her even more terrified of it. 
Jany had also been thinking a lot about a certain cinnamon-colored colt with wall-eyes. Could he actually have a good side to him? He’d been avoiding Jany the past couple weeks and hardly bullying them. Her friends asked her a few times what had happened, but she couldn’t come up with an explanation that would make sense to them. It felt wrong to expose Cinnamon’s vulnerability, even though he was so mean to her and her friends. Although Cinnamon wouldn’t hesitate to embarrass any of them, Jany didn’t want to act anything like Cinnamon.



Fluffball and Jany were flying to the school. Fluffball was blabbering on about a new tree she found, but Jany had a hard time following. She was distracted. Yesterday, Cinnamon seemed like he wanted to talk to Jany, but her friends pulled her away for some (unsuccessful) attempts to get their cutie marks. She wanted to find him and talk to him today. She yearned to find out if he could actually be a nice pony.
As they landed and Fluffball, yet again, got jealous of Sun Ray and Cheeseball talking near the tree, Jany started to search for Cinnamon. She knew that he frequently hung out with Cloudwatcher and Colt on the side of the schoolhouse before classes started, so she walked over there. And there he was. Cinnamon was smiling and chatting with the two colts.
Jany slowly began walking towards them. They didn’t notice at first, but soon, Cloudwatcher (who was facing Jany’s way) saw her. He nudged Cinnamon who looked at Jany. As soon as he saw her, his eyes widened.
“Um… Hi,” Jany started. Cinnamon told his friends to leave.
“Hey…” Cinnamon looked down.
“So… Um…” Jany wasn’t sure what to say.
“Look, I’m sorry for yellin’ at ‘ya at the carnival. And I’m sorry for avoidin’ ‘ya. I just didn’t know what to say. Well… I do know what to say, and it’s thank-you. Thank ‘ya for bein’ there for me. I know you wouldn’t’ve done that if you knew it was me, and I definitely wouldn’t’ve done that if I knew it was you, but I appreciate it.” 
Jany wasn’t expecting an apology and a thanks. She wasn’t really even expecting anything. This must’ve been the nicest thing Cinnamon had ever said to anypony!
“Oh! Uh, you’re welcome!” 
“I bet you’re wondering why I’m bein’ so nice to ‘ya,” Cinnamon said. Was he reading her mind or something?
“I know I haven’t been nice to y’all… I’ve always been so mean for no reason besides of how y’all look, when I don’t even have normal eyes, myself… When I got home that night, I realized how terrible I’ve been actin’. I don’t know why I’ve been treatin y’all that way, I think I’ve just been projectin’ my insecurities onto y’all. But when you were kind to me on Nightmare Night and helped me get over my fear, I realized that you ain’t bad just because of how ‘ya look. And I apologize for how I’ve acted towards y’all.”
Now that was the opposite of what Jany expected to hear today. Was Cinnamon actually telling the truth? Did he actually feel bad for treating Jany and her friends so horribly?
“Wow. I’m not sure what to say, but… uh… thank you,” she said, “I don’t know if I can forgive you, though, until you apologize to my friends first. Especially Fluffball.” Cinnamon had always bullied Fluffball the worst. Jany’s Aunt Screwball’s best friend with “Aunt” Dinky, Cinnamon’s mom, so Fluffball saw Cinnamon more often outside of school, which led to him picking on her the worst.
“Yeah…” Cinnamon replied. The school bell rang and Jany teleported inside the building, not wanting to be seen walking in with the school bully.
“Jany, where were you?” Sun Ray asked when Jany sat down.
“Oh, um… I was in the filly’s room!” Jany lied. Sun Ray nodded and then Mrs. Cheerilee started talking. Today’s subject was on cutie marks! Just like the last few years in November, they learned about how cutie marks are a symbol that appear on a pony’s flank when they discover their special talent. Jany listened intently, hoping to hear something that would make her realize what she could try and do to get hers, but there wasn’t really anything.



After school, the four friends stood by the tree in front of the schoolhouse. Mrs. Cheerilee’s lesson had inspired the three crusaders to try more ways to get their cutie marks, and they were brainstorming ideas.
“Hmm… How about we go bowling?” Fluffball suggested.
“Or roller-skating!” Jany squealed.
“We should try things in Cloudsdale! We always do Ponyville things,” Sun Ray said.
“Yeah!” the cousins agreed.
“Cheeseball, do you wanna come, too? I know you already have your cutie mark, but I can enchant you to be able to stand on clouds!” Fluffball asked.
“Yeah! I’ve heard so much about Cloudsdale from this filly here,” he playfully nudged Sun Ray, “and I’d love to see it!” Fluffball shot a look of jealousy at Sun Ray, but quickly threw on a happy face and put a spell on Cheeseball.
“More magic, please?” Fluffball asked. Jany shared some of her chaos magic with her cousin, who looked visibly more energized afterwards. Just then, something, or rather somepony caught her eye. Cinnamon Apple was slowly walking towards them.
“C’mon, let’s go!” Fluffball changed into her red earth-pony disguise, but it had pegasus wings now. Sun Ray fluttered into the air.
“Wait, how will I fly?” Cheeseball questioned.
“Huh. I didn’t think about that. Jany, can you just teleport us to Cloudsdale?” Fluffball asked. Jany wasn’t sure about whether to wait for Cinnamon to talk to them or teleport her and her friends up to Cloudsdale. She looked back and forth between the colt and her friends.
He can talk to us tomorrow. It’s not every day we all have time after school to hang out! Jany smiled and teleported the four ponies up to the pegasus city.
Jany had only been in Cloudsdale once, when she, Fluffball, and Sun Ray went back in time to find out how Sun Ray’s cousin had gotten his cutie mark. She could actually explore the city much better now. All around them, Pegasi walked on the clouds and flew through the air as they talked with their friends. Walking on clouds wasn’t something new to Jany, but it was odd seeing only clouds everywhere.
“WOAH! I’m actually walking on clouds!” Cheeseball shouted. The three fillies laughed. Yeah, walking on clouds felt a lot different than normal ground. It was as if you were walking on a damp, very fluffy pillow.
“Do you guys wanna come to my house?” Sun Ray asked. Jany realized she had never actually been there before! She’d only been to Icy Breeze’s house right on the edge of Cloudsdale.
“Yeah!” they all said. Sun Ray led them away from downtown Cloudsdale and towards a small neighborhood. There were a few small houses, but mostly medium-sized ones. Sun Ray stopped in front of a medium-sized house. The purple house had a lot of windows. There were two pillars in front of the pink door, and a rainbow connecting them on the top. The roof was made of clouds and there were bush-like clouds in the front yard.
“Here’s my home! I’ve lived here all my life. My mom’s grandparents gave it to her before I was born.” Everypony looked in awe at the cloud house. All the houses in their neighborhood were also separated by rainbow-like gates. Sun Ray’s friends now understood why Sun Ray was so surprised at Ponyville culture; they were all amazed at how different the Pegasi in Cloudsdale lived.
Sun Ray opened the door and they all walked inside. The walls were a nice cornflower-blue color and the carpets were purple like grapes. There were a lot of photographs hanging on the walls of Sun Ray and her younger siblings. Fluffball went back to her undisguised form.
“Sun Ray, is that you?” a stallion’s voice called.
“Yeah, and I brought some friends!” Sun Ray said. A green pegasus stallion with dark red hair and freckles walked into the living room.
“Hi, Dad! These are my friends, Jany, Fluffball, and Cheeseball!”
“Oh, nice to finally meet you guys! I’ve heard a lot about you. I’m Kicks,” he said. Just then, a light blue pegasus mare with rainbow hair flew into the room. Jany recognized her as Sun Ray’s mom, Prism Dash.
“Hey, fillies!” she ruffled Sun Ray’s mane, “And who is this young stallion?
“Oh, I’m Cheeseball!”
Prism smiled, “I’ve heard a lot about you!” Fluffball shot another jealous look at Sun Ray, and Jany giggled.
“So, what are you kids gonna do this afternoon?” Prism asked.
“We’re gonna try and get our cutie marks! Speaking of cutie marks, can you guys tell my friends how you got yours? We love hearing cutie mark stories,” Sun Ray asked.
“Of course! Y’know, I was a past Cutie Mark Crusader, too! Almost all of my friends had already gotten their cutie marks, and it was just me and my best friend Gemstone who hadn’t gotten ours, yet.”
“Gemstone’s my aunt!” Jany said. Prism nodded, “She sure is! Anyways, one day, our school had an art contest. Gem and I decided to work together on it. Since her mom worked in the boutique, we got inspired from her to make a dress. I drew the design and Gem made the dress. When we won first prize, we both got our cutie marks!” She pointed to her flank and her cutie mark was of a paintbrush painting a rainbow. Everypony gave oohs and aahs at it.
“What was Gemstone’s cutie mark?” Cheeseball asked.
“Ooh! I know! Her cutie mark is a blue gem with a needle and thread in front of it!” Jany said, “I never knew how she got it until now. How did the other crusaders get it?”
“Well, Lemon Drop was the first to get his. He got it from helping organize the post office during Hearth’s Warming Eve; his cutie mark is a stamp with a lemon in the middle.
“Raspberry got hers second. She wrote a beautiful story about how her parents met, and got her cutie mark of two pencils curving into a heart with a raspberry in the center. 
“Blueberry got hers next: one of the foals in our class went missing and she solved the mystery of where he went (he’d gotten lost in the Everfree Forest). Her cutie mark is a magnifying glass with a blueberry in the middle.
“And lastly, there was Cherry. She got her cutie mark a little while before Gem and I did. There was a talent show coming up, and Cherry decided to do a ballet dance. She’d danced with Gemstone before, but this time, she came up with her own dance. I still remember that stunning performance to this day. When she won first place, she got a cutie mark of two ballet shoes with a cherry in between them.”
“Wowwww!” the four foals said.
“I remember, too. I was there for all of those except for the Lemon Drop one,” Kicks said.
“How did you get your cutie mark again, Dad?” Sun Ray asked.
“It’s not nearly as impressive as those other stories, but I got my cutie mark when I won my first boxing match,” he pointed to his flank and his cutie mark was a red boxing glove.
“Hearing cutie mark stories is so cool!” Jany said.
“Yeah!” Fluffball agreed, “Next time we all go back to the Castle of Chaos, we have to ask everyone how they got theirs!”
Everypony nodded, and then they went out into the backyard to try and get their cutie marks. Cheeseball tagged along because he wanted to experience pegasus things. The backyard had a rainbow fence surrounding it. There were a few more bush-like clouds scattered about the cloud floor.
“So, what should we do?” Fluffball asked.
“Well, we could play Cloudball! I have a set somewhere… But, wait, there needs to be at least three players per team…”
Suddenly, two small green foals flew into the backyard.
“HI, SUN RAY!” her siblings shouted.
“Oh, hey, guys! Do you wanna play Cloudball with us?” she asked.
“Yeah!” they said. Sun Ray, Jany, and Thunderstrike were on one team, and Fluffball, Cheeseball, and Lightningstrike were on the other. The six foals had a blast learning the rules and playing the new game, but none of them got a cutie mark. They did many other activities, too: collecting thunderclouds and rainbows in jars, mowing the cloud-lawn, making cloud sculptures, and trying to control the weather. When it started to get dark, everypony went inside for dinner.
“Are you sure your parents won’t mind you staying over for dinner?” Kicks asked the foals.
“I know my parents won’t, and neither will Jany’s, but will yours, Cheesy? I know they’re pretty strict,” Fluffball asked.
“I’m sure they won’t mind. They told me I could play with my friends after school,” he replied. The six foals sat down at the dinner table. Kicks brought a bunch of hayburgers over to the table and they all ate a delicious dinner.



When they had all finished dinner, Fluffball offered to teleport Cheeseball back down to his house in Ponyville. She went back to her regular earth pony disguise.
“Wait, Fluffy, I think you should go into a different disguise in case my parents get suspicious. They might’ve seen you at school before and know who you are,” Cheeseball said.
“Yeah, that’s true, good thinking, Cheesy,” Fluffball replied. Cheeseball watched as a green light flashed over Fluffball and she turned into a light purple unicorn with blue eyes and curly green-and-purple hair. This new filly disguise had a cutie mark of two dolphins.
The door opened and a yellow earth pony with curly orange hair like Cheeseball’s stood in the doorway. She had green eyes and her cutie mark was a carrot. Fluffball recognized her as Carrot Top, the mare who sold carrots at the market.
“Cheeseball, where have you been?” she asked, a piercing look in her eyes.
“I was at my friend, umm… Dolphin Blaze’s house for dinner!” Cheeseball pointed to Fluffball, who gave a small wave and a sheepish grin.
“What have we told you about asking first before you go to a friend’s house? We don’t want you to be kidnapped!” Carrot Top said.
“I’m sorry, Mom…” Cheeseball replied. He turned back to Fluffball, “Bye, Flu- I mean- Dolphin.”
“Bye, Cheesy,” Fluffball turned around and walked away. Cheeseball walked inside and saw his dad sitting on the couch with a glare.
“You are grounded, young mister. For the next two weeks,” his Dad growled.
“Wh-what?!”
“You know the rules—we can’t have you staying out until dark without asking, first! We don’t want anything bad to happen to you, especially since there’s changelings around. They come out in the night and feed on your soul!”
Cheeseball sighed and went up to his room. He didn’t think any of this would happen. His parents had told him he was allowed to play with his friends after school! His sisters bounced into his room.
“Oooooh, you’re busted!” They sang. Cheeseball glared at them.
“Not right now,” he replied, putting his head in his pillow.
“Are you okay?” Lucky asked. Cheeseball sat up and shook his head no.
“Wait… Were you with Fluffball?” CC teased. His sisters looked at each other and smirked.
“No!!!” Cheeseball replied.
“Suuuuure…” Lucky said. Cheeseball shoved them out of his room and closed the door. He reluctantly went to his desk and started doing his homework. It was gonna be a long night.
> A Cheesy Birthday
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fluffball sat in her room trying to think of the best birthday gift for her crush. It was the middle of January, and Cheeseball’s birthday was coming up in a few days. He was going to turn 8, which would match her age. She was trying to plan the perfect birthday, or birthdate (as she hoped).
First, she would give him a statue of himself made out of cheese and they would eat it together. Then, they would go to the movies and see Nightmare on Pegasus Street so she could cling to his arm when she got scared, and finally they would go watch the sunset and she would give him a special gift. But the thing was, she had no idea what that special gift would be! What kinds of things did Cheeseball like? She knew he liked cheese and carrots and Sun Ray and…
Wait, Sun Ray! Cheeseball and Sun Ray were best friends, she would know the perfect gift for him! Fluffball galloped down the stairs of her cottage and opened the front door, running out.
“Fluffball, where are you going in such a hurry?” her mother, Screwball, asked.
“Oh! I was going to go to Sun Ray’s house in Cloudsdale!” Fluffball replied.
“And you didn’t think to ask me or your dad first?”
“Uhmm… Sorry, I just really wanted to ask her something.”
“Okay you can go, just make sure to ask me or your dad first, we don’t want to think you got foalnapped or something! And also put on your hat and scarf, it’s freezing out there. Especially in Cloudsdale,” Screwball said. Fluffball nodded and put on her dark green hat with a light green poof ball and her dark-and-light-green-striped scarf.
She stepped outside into the snowy forest. There wasn’t that much snow on the ground because the canopy of trees blocked it, but her house and the next-door Castle of Chaos were built in a clearing, so there was tons of snow all around.
“Snow!!!!” Fluffball yelled. She pranced through the snow and to the castle, where she saw Jany and her parents building a snowpony. 
“Fluffball! Hi!!” Jany called as Fluffball approached them.
“Hi!” she replied. Jany was wearing a blue hat and scarf. Fluffball’s Uncle Zany was wearing a red hat and scarf, and Aunt Jewel wore blue ones that matched Jany’s.
“Wait, I just realized all our hats and scarves are the colors of our eyes!!” Fluffball said.
“Woah, yeah!” Jany replied, “it does make it look good though, and it brings out our eye colors.” Fluffball nodded in agreement.
“Do you wanna help us build this snowpony?” Zany asked.
“Oh, that sounds like so much fun. But I was gonna go to Sun Ray’s house!” she remembered.
“Aww okay I’ll see you later,” Jany said. They hugged and Fluffball teleported to Sun Ray’s house. After they’d all visited her a few months back, the four friends frequently went to Sun Ray’s house and played (they were mostly trying to get their cutie marks). Fluffball was upset that she still had no mark!
Her mom was right, Cloudsdale was super cold! She walked up to Sun Ray’s cloud home and knocked on the door. After a few moments, the door opened and a sky-blue pegasus with rainbow hair stood in front of her.
“Hi Mrs. Dash, is Sun Ray home?” she asked.
“You can call me Prism, y’know. And yes, she’s in her room. C’mon in!” Fluffball trotted inside and felt a rush of warm air. She went into Sun Ray’s room. The pegasus was sitting at her desk doing homework. Fluffball looked around at the room. It was her first time in Sun Ray’s room.. The walls were painted blue and her bed had red covers. She had a few Wonderbolts posters and a bunch of Daring Do books, presumably given to her by her grandmare Rainbow Dash, the famous Wonderbolt. 
“Hi, Sun Ray!” Sun Ray jumped and turned around.
“Oh! Hi, Fluffball! What are you doing here?” she asked.
“Well… I wanted to talk to you about something…” 
Sun Ray went over to her bed and sat on it and Fluffball sat down next to her.
“What’s up?” Sun Ray asked.
“Well… It’s about Cheeseball… Don’t tell anypony this but I kinda have a crush on him,” Fluffball said.
Sun Ray laughed. “Well, obviously! Everypony knows that, even him!” she said.
“Wait, WHAT?!” 
“Yeah! You always call him a cute nickname, stare at him blushing during class, get jealous when he talks to other fillies, and you were even prince and princess for Nightmare Night!” 
“Oh… I guess it is obvious. But what I wanted to ask you is what should I get him for his birthday? You know him best. All I know is that he likes cheese and carrots,” Fluffball asked.
“Well… He doesn’t really like things that are too romantic because it makes him uncomfortable. He enjoys little trinkets and gifts because those make him know ponies care about him. He prefers savory rather than sweet, likes to bake, likes photography, and ummm I can’t think of anything else.” Fluffball noticed how Sun Ray smiled and gushed about Cheeseball’s interests. 
Fluffball got jealous again. She always knew how jealous she got of Sun Ray and Cheeseball’s friendship, but she couldn’t help it.
“Sun Ray, do you like Cheeseball?” she asked with a bitter tone. Sun Ray was caught off guard.
“What? No! He’s my best friend and he’s like a brother to me!” she replied. Fluffball eyed her suspiciously and nodded, although she still didn’t quite believe her.
“So what should I give him, then? And I guess I shouldn’t take him on a date like I was planning…”
“Wait what? You wanted to take him on a date?! But you’re only 8 years old!”
“I knew it! You do like him! Why would you not want me to take him on a date unless you wanted to first?!” Fluffball shouted.
“Huh?! No! He just isn’t ready for that kind of stuff!” Sun Ray replied.
“Yeah, because he’s too busy with you!” Fluffball yelled. Heavy hoofsteps came down the hallway and a green pegasus stallion appeared at the doorway.
“Hey, what’s all this yelling about? Are you guys okay?” Kicks asked.
“Sun Ray wants to take my crush on a date!” 
“No I don’t!”
“Yes you do!”
“No I don’t!” 
“Yes you-”
“GIRLS! Stop arguing! Let’s talk this out. So, Fluffball, can you tell me exactly why you are upset? Using kind words and without yelling?” Kicks asked, sitting in front of them.
“I want to take Cheeseball out on a date but Sun Ray has a crush on him too and also wants to!” Fluffball whined.
“No I don’t!!! Stop it!” Sun Ray yelled.
“Hey, let’s use our quiet inside voices, girls,” Kicks said, “Now Sun Ray, can you tell me why you are upset?”
“Fluffball keeps saying I like Cheeseball even though I don’t! I don’t have a crush on anypony! I’ve never even had a crush before! And I don’t like colts,” she said. 
“Oh…” Fluffball said, “I’m sorry… I should’ve been listening to you, I was just assuming things…”
“It’s okay, I forgive you!” Sun Ray replied. The two fillies hugged. Kicks smiled and left the room.
“Wow, your dad is good at that!” Fluffball said.
“Yeah, he always can resolve the fights between me and my siblings. He teaches foals how to kickbox so I guess that’s how he’s so good at it.” Fluffball nodded.
“Okay now, what do you think I should get for Cheeseball? You said he likes little gifts, what if I carved a little statue of him out of wood!” Fluffball suggested.
“Yeah, he’d love that!” Sun Ray smiled.
“Thanks, Sun Ray! And sorry again.”
“It’s fine. Do you wanna stay for dinner?” 
“No thanks, Jany wanted me to help build a snowpony with her.”
“Ooh, can I come?” Sun Ray asked
“Yeah!” Jany replied
“Okay, just let me ask my dad.” Sun Ray and Jany walked into the kitchen where Kicks was making dinner. Prism was sitting in the living room painting. Sun Ray asked their permission and they said yes, so the two fillies went to the Castle of Chaos and had the time of their lives playing in the snow.



Today was the day of Cheeseball’s birthday. Fluffball had spent the last few days carving a tiny statue of her crush out of wood from her favorite tree, and it ended up looking pretty good. Fluffball had carved things before, and it was one of her favorite hobbies. Ever since she was a little foal, she loved creating little figurines out of wood. It was a fun and challenging task to do without her magic, but she did use a tiny bit of magic for refinements. 
Fluffball decided that she would ask him out to the movies in a non-romantic way, and give him the wooden figurine afterwards. She didn’t want him to be uncomfortable with too much romance stuff.
It was too cold to fly to school, especially with her tiny bug-wings. Fluffball and Jany teleported to school and Fluffball looked for Cheeseball. She knew where to go, of course. He was with Sun Ray under the tree, which now had no leaves and was covered in snow. Fluffball looked up at the tree and smiled. It was a nice-looking tree, especially with snow on it, but her favorite tree in the recess yard was better. Fluffball remembered what she was going to do and shook her head to clear it.
“Happy birthday, Cheeseball!” Fluffball and Jany yelled. Jany used her magic to make party hats appear on all their heads and Fluffball made confetti fly through the air.
“Thanks!!!” Cheeseball said. Fluffball hugged him and he blushed. Sun Ray and Jany gave knowing looks at each other.
“Hey Cheesy, do you wanna go to the movies with me tonight?” Cheeseball frowned.
“I’m sorry, Fluffy, but my family is having a birthday dinner with me tonight. And my parents wouldn’t let me, anyway…”
“Aww…” Fluffball said. Her whole hopes and dreams for the day felt like they were  thrown into a dumpster and her sunny mood became rainy.
“We can still celebrate at school! We’re gonna have a class party, remember?” Cheeseball smiled.
“Yeah…” Fluffball forced a smile and then the bell rang. All the fillies and colts galloped and trotted inside. 



After lunch, it was time for the class party. The foals all sang Happy Birthday to Cheeseball and he handed everypony party favors with candy. He also brought carrot-cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.
“Yum, these cupcakes are so good, Cheesy!” Fluffball complimented.
“Yeah, they’re delicious!” Sun Ray agreed.
“Thanks! I made them myself! I love to cook,” Cheeseball replied, “it’s my special talent.”
“Wait, really?!” the three fillies asked. Cheeseball chuckled and nodded.
“I forgot you got your cutie mark before you met us,” Jany said.
“Yeah. I can’t believe we haven’t asked you how you got it!” Sun Ray marveled.
“I discovered it last year on my birthday when I was making snacks for my party. We were making cheeseballs! Just like my name! Once I tasted how delicious they were, I got my cutie mark!” he explained.
“Wowww, that’s so cool! I want to try some!” Fluffball gushed. 
Cheeseball smiled, “Yeah, I should make them sometime and bring them to school!” Fluffball grinned and hugged him. His eyes widened but then he hugged her back.
“Oooooh!” Sun Ray teased, as Jany sang, “Fluffball and Cheeseball sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!” The two quickly pulled away with red faces.
Jany continued singing and Sun Ray joined in, “First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a foal in a foal carriage!”
“Stooopppppp!” Cheeseball said. Sun Ray and Jany both laughed, and they enjoyed the rest of the party.
> Cinnamon Apple Cider
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After school, Fluffball disguised as Dolphin Blaze, the purple unicorn filly. When Cheeseball’s dad came to pick him up, Fluffball and Sun Ray asked if they could come over to celebrate his birthday, and he agreed! Jany sat far away from them in front of the tree, smiling sadly as her three best friends went off without her.
 Cheeseball’s dad, Nacho Cheese, would never allow Jany to come over. She had spiral eyes, and everypony knew that meant she was related to Discord. Luckily Fluffball could change how she looked, but although Jany had powerful magic, she couldn’t do anything like that yet. 
Jany sighed as her friends ran off to celebrate the light-orange colt’s birthday. She didn’t really have anything to do. Well, besides homework… And it was science, her worst subject! She let out another exasperated sigh as she prepared to teleport back home. But just before she was about to, she heard hoofsteps approaching her.
“Jany?” her heart skipped a beat as she recognized the voice of Cinnamon Apple. He still hadn’t completely apologized to the rest of her friends, but he wasn’t bullying them, either. And whenever he ever interacted with them, it wasn’t a rude interaction. 
Jany and Cinnamon had talked a little bit more and hung out sometimes, but there weren’t really any opportunities for them to, since she was always hanging out with the girls and Cheeseball and he was always hanging out with his own friends.
“Oh, hey, Cinnamon!” she said a little too enthusiastically. He smiled and sat down next to her.
“Where are your friends? Did they leave without ‘ya?” he asked, looking around.
“Yeah… They are going to Cheeseball’s birthday party. I can’t, though, because his dad would never allow it. I also wouldn’t want him to get in trouble by being friends with me…”
Cinnamon put his hoof on hers and her face heated up. “It’s okay, Jany. Do you wanna umm… Hang out with uh- me? Maybe it’ll help ‘ya feel better?” Cinnamon asked. Her heart pounded and he looked down in embarrassment, pulling his hoof away from hers.
“You don’t have to though!” he quickly added.
“No, I’d love to!” she said. He looked back up at her and smiled, “Really?” he asked.
“Yeah! Where do you wanna go?” she replied.
“Do you wanna go see a movie or something? I really wanna see the new Spider-Colt: Across the Spider-Verse,” he asked .
“Sure! I love Spider-Colt!” she squealed. She teleported them to the Ponyville Movie Theater past the tickets booth.
“AAAH! WHAT THE HAY?!” Cinnamon shrieked.
“Oh! Sorry, Cinnamon!” Jany said, “I forgot that you don’t normally teleport… I should’ve warned you.”
“It’s okay, but yes, please warn me next time!” he responded. Jany giggled and the two foals walked towards one of the theaters.
“Wait, don’t we have to buy tickets? And popcorn?” he asked.
“Well we’re already in here, so we don’t need tickets to get in! And I can conjure up some snacks when we sit down,” Jany smiled.
“Wow! That’s actually so cool! I dunno why I thought chaos magic was weird before, it’s AWESOME!” he shouted. Jany grinned and her face heated up again. Why do I keep blushing?! she thought. She shook her head to clear it.
“C’mon! Let’s go see the movie!” she said. They trotted into the theater and sat in the front row. Jany used her magic to make a large popcorn, two large icees, hot dogs, and soft pretzels appear.
“Thanks,” Cinnamon whispered as the movie started, “your magic really is wonderful. I'm glad we didn't have to spend 50 bits on that.” Jany’s heart rate raised again and she smiled a sheepish grin as she turned towards the movie. 



“That movie was SO AMAZING!!!” Jany squealed as they walked out of the theater. Cinnamon laughed and agreed with her.
“We should do that again sometime!” Cinnamon said.
“YEAH!” Jany shouted. She blushed, “I mean- um- Yeah!” Cinnamon laughed and her heartbeat quickened again. Aaah, why do I keep acting so awkward! And blushing! I don’t like him, do I?!
“Do you wanna go sledding? I think there’s only an hour until it gets dark!” Jany asked.
“Yeah! Let’s go to Sweet Apple Acres, there’s some amazin’ sleddin’ hills there!”
“Okay! I’m gonna teleport us now!” she replied. He grinned and they both appeared at the Apple Farm, now wearing their winter hats and scarves. Cinnamon’s was green, different from his eye color like Fluffball had noticed a few days ago.
“Follow me! There’s a huge hill over here!” he started galloping away and she followed. The sun was starting to set, casting an orange and purple glow over the snowy field. The apple trees surrounding them were all bare, but still beautiful with the snow atop them.
At last, they arrived at a hill. Cinnamon wasn’t understating. It really was a huge hill! Jany used her magic to make a two-pony shiny purple sled appear.
“C’mon, let’s get on!” she hopped on the sled and waited for him, but he was looking down the hill with his eyes widened and his ears folded back. 
“What’s wrong?” Jany asked.
“I’m… Scared,” he admitted, turning around in shame.
“Haven’t you done it before?”
“No… I’ve only done the short hills here. I’ve always been too scared to do the big ones,” he replied.
“It’s okay! Just hold onto me like the rollercoaster! You overcame that fear, so you can overcome this, too!” she said. Cinnamon smiled and hopped on behind her.
She looked back, “You ready?” 
“NoOOO AAAAAHH” he screamed as they started going down the hill. He screamed so loud just like when they’d gone on the rollercoaster a few months ago and squeezed her like his life depended on it. She threw her hooves up in the air and yelled “WOOOHOOO!”
It was way shorter than a rollercoaster, of course, so it only lasted a few seconds. When they got to the bottom of the hill, they slid across the snow for a while until the sled finally stopped.
“That was SO FUN!” Cinnamon yelled.
“Yeah!! And good job on facing your fear, i’m proud of you,” Jany said.
“Thanks! Let’s go again!” he shouted. Jany teleported them and their sled back to the top of the hill and Cinnamon screamed again.
“Oops, sorry, forgot to warn you about that. Do you wanna go in the front this time?” Jany asked.
“Ah’ dunno, that sounds really scary… But also, oh my Celestia, I love chaos magic! We didn’t have to walk all the way back up the hill!” 
“Yeah! Also it’s okay, you don’t have to go in the front. It’s so fun though!” Jany replied. 
“Hmm… Okay, maybe I will…” he said. Cinnamon hesitantly set hoof into the sled and sat down. Jany sat down behind him and could feel him shaking. She knew it wasn’t from the cold. 
“It’s okay, Cinnamon. I can go in the front if you want,” Jany reassured, putting her hoof on his shoulder. 
Cinnamon smiled and said, “No, I’m ready for this.” The sled started going down the hill again, and they both screamed.
“Wow, that was AMAZIN’!” Cinnamon shouted as they got off the sled.
“See, I told you it’s fun!” Jany grinned. The two foals laughed and they continued sledding until the sky was dark and the tips of their muzzles and ears were dusted pink from the cold.
“Brrr I’m freezin’!” Cinnamon was shaking and it looked like there were even icicles coming from his muzzle, “Hey, I know! We should go into mah’ house and warm up by the fire with some hot apple cider! We still have some from the fall!”
“Yeah!” Jany agreed, “I’m gonna teleport us there!” And she did. They appeared in the large wooden house built next to the main Apple family house and barn, and they  were hit with a rush of warm air. 
“Cinnamon? Is that you?” a gray unicorn with a blonde mane and blue wall-eyes like Cinnamon’s walked into the room.
“Hi, Ma!” Cinnamon galloped towards her and gave her a hug.
“Where have you been? And oh my Celestia, hi, Jany! I haven’t seen you in so long!”
“Hi, Mrs. Dinky!” Jany ran over to her and gave her a hug. Dinky was Aunt Screwball’s best friend. Jany and Fluffball grew up seeing the Apple family and they were like family to Fluffball, but not really to Jany. Her cousin saw them way more often, since both her parents were Dinky’s friends, but Jany saw her parents’ friends more often, and they were like family to Jany.
“We were out sleddin’!” Cinnamon told his mom, “And I went down the big hill!”
“Really?! Oh, wow! I’m so proud of you!” Dinky replied.
“Yeah! And it was all thanks to Jany,” he pointed to her and she sheepishly smiled.
“Aww, really? That’s so sweet, thanks Jany! We’ve been trying to get him to sled down that hill for years!” 
“Ma, can we have some hot apple cider? We’re both freezin’ our hooves off’!” Cinnamon asked.
“Of course! And let me get the fire started for you two,” Dinky replied. She pointed her horn towards the fire and used her blue magic to ignite it. The two foals sat down in front of the fire and Dinky levitated a quilt and put it over them.
“I’m gonna heat up some cider, now. It won’t be long,” Dinky walked over to the kitchen and poured some apple cider into a pot over the stove and started heating it up. Cinnamon turned to Jany.
“Thanks again for helping me overcome my fear,” he whispered, smiling.
“You’re welcome,” she smiled back at him and turned back to the fire. She felt his hoof on hers and her heart rate rose again. She leaned her head on his shoulder, sensing his body stiffen in surprise. But then he relaxed and gently rested his head on hers.
They both sat there in silence, enjoying each other’s presence and the warmth of the fire. This was one of the best days she’d had in a while. Needless to say—Jany really liked spending time with Cinnamon.
After a short while, Dinky came back with two hot apple ciders and they both began drinking them. It was so good! Probably the best cider she’d ever had.
“This is yumlicious!” Jany beamed. 
Dinky laughed and said, “Thanks, Jany! I’m going to go back to the muffins I was making, but tell your Aunt Screwball and Uncle Mothball I said hi when you go home!”
“Okay! Wait, MUFFINS?! Can I have some?!” Jany squealed. 
“Yeah! I’m making some cinnamon muffins, my favorite!” Dinky trotted back into the kitchen. Jany and Cinnamon chatted and talked about random things. School, their families, their friends. 
“Cinnamon, when do you think you’ll be ready to apologize to my friends?” Jany asked.
“I dunno… I really want to, but I’m just scared… I’m also scared that I’ve lost my favorite cousin for good…” he frowned.
“I can help you apologize! Well, I won’t say anything for you, but I’ll be there with you every step of the way! And I’m sure you haven’t lost her! She just needs to see the real you again. The one who’s sweet and kind and funny and-” she realized how lovey-dovey she was being and stopped talking.
Cinnamon blushed. “Aww, thanks, Jany. Okay, I will apologize to them tomorrow during recess!” Jany grinned and then Dinky brought out the muffins. They were so good! Especially with the hot apple cider.
“Yum, thanks Mrs. Dinky!” Jany said after she finished her muffin.
“You’re welcome, Jany! Are you going home now?” she asked.
“Yeah, it’s getting late,” Jany made a watch appear on her foreleg above her hoof, “it’s only 7pm?! Wow, it’s so dark out! But still I’ve gotta get going. Bye, Mrs. Dinky! Bye, Cinnamon!”
“Bye, Jany, see you tomorrow!” Cinnamon said. Jany smiled and then teleported home.
Jany appeared in the main hall of the Castle of Chaos. She smiled again at the familiar sights of her chaotic home. The pink-and-purple checkered floors, sideways doors and fireplaces, random colors everywhere. She saw her parents, grandparents, aunt, and uncle playing charades in the “family room”, aka the part of the castle with red fancy sofas.
“Hi, guys!” Jany said when she approached her family.
“Hey, kiddo!” Zany ruffled her mane and she giggled.
“Aunt Screwball, Uncle Mothball, Mrs. Dinky says hi!” Jany told them.
“Aww, were you over at the apple farm?” Screwball asked.
“Yeah!” Jany smiled.
“What were you doing there?” her mother, Jewel, asked.
“I was sledding with Cinnamon!” she replied. Suddenly, Fluffball appeared in the castle.
“Oh there you are! I was worried when I came home and didn’t see you!” Fluffball said to her parents.
“Sorry, Fluffy! I should’ve left a note or something,” Mothball responded.
“Jany, let’s go to your room!” Fluffball said.
“Okay!” she replied. They both teleported into Jany’s bright pink bedroom.
“Today was wonderful” Fluffball dramatically sighed in happiness as she flopped her back onto Jany’s bed. Jany hopped on next to her.
“Ooh, did you and Cheeseball kiiiiisss?” Jany teased. 
“No!” Fluffball blushed, “but he did love my gift!” As Fluffball told the story of her whole entire night, Jany was distracted with thoughts of Cinnamon. She smiled and felt giddy as she remembered how much fun they’d had.
“Jany? Hellooooo? Earth to Jany?” Fluffball was waving her hoof in front of Jany’s face.
“Huh?” Jany asked when she snapped back to reality.
“You were staring off into space! And smiling… Who were you thinking about?” Fluffball smirked.
“Oh, um nopony! Just the science homework,” she replied.
“Nopony smiles like they’re in love when thinking about homework, especially you! Oh my Celestia, do you like somepony?!” Fluffball yelled.
“What?! No!!” Jany shouted.
“OH MY CELESTIA! Who is it?!” Fluffball demanded.
“Nopony!!!”
“It’s not Cheeseball is it?” Fluffball bitterly asked.
“Ew no! You two are meant for eachother,” Jany replied.
“Ok, good. Who is it then? Is it Lucas?” 
“No! He just turned 7 a few months ago and I’m 9!” 
“Oh yeah,” Fluffball replied, “Is it Waterfall?”
“No!”
“Cloudwatcher?”
“No! I’ve never even talked to him!”
“Colt?”
“Um, no. And what kind of colt has the name Colt?!”
Fluffball laughed, “Is it Violet Sparkle?”
“No.”
“Oh my Celestia, is it Sun Ray?”
“What? No!” Jany yelled.
“OH MY CELESTIA!!! YOU HAVE A CRUSH ON SUN RAY!” Fluffball shrieked.
“WHAT?! No I don’t!!!”
“Ooooh! Sun Ray and Jany sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!” Jany blushed in embarrassment.
“Stop!!!!” Jany shouted, “I only like her as a best friend!”
“Then why are you blushing? Oh my gosh, Sun Ray told me that she doesn’t like colts, THAT MEANS SHE LIKES FILLIES! And that means she likes you!” Fluffball smirked.
“That doesn’t mean she likes me! And I don’t like fillies!” Jany replied.
“Oh really, then why are you always helping her with her math? And on Nightmare Night you wanted to see Sun Ray’s reaction to your costume and not mine!”
“Because she struggles at math! And because she was going to be Nightmare Moon and I was Daybreak! And how did you even know I said that to my dad on Nightmare Night?”
“Plot convenience,” Fluffball grinned.
“Huh?” Jany asked.
“Anyway, you two still wore matching costumes on Nightmare Night! And did you see the heart eyes she was giving you when she saw your costume?!”
“She was just admiring it! It was really cool!” Jany argued.
“Ooooorr, that was the moment she fell in love with you forever and wanted to kiss you and marry you and-” 
“Oh my Celestia, STOP! I don’t like Sun Ray and she doesn’t like me!”
“Suuuuure,” Fluffball replied. Jany rolled her eyes. Screwball suddenly appeared in front of them.
“Fluffy, we’re going home, now!”
“Okay! Bye, Jany! See you tomorrow!” She said, “And Sun Ray,” she added with a smirk. They teleported away back to their house and Jany groaned into her pillow. What had been a perfect night was now an uncomfortable one.
“Sun Ray doesn’t actually have a crush on me, does she? And why is Fluffball taking all those interactions between us out of context? And oh my Celestia, do I like Cinnamon?!” Jany thought out loud. She blushed again at the thought of the cinnamon-colored blonde colt. His eyes were so cute! They were weird eyes, just like hers. Well, not just like hers, but they still were abnormal. Just like her.



Jany woke up the next morning with a smile on her face. Today was the day Cinnamon was going to apologize to her friends, once and for all! She quickly brushed her mane and drank some strawberry milk for breakfast. Jany put on her blue hat and scarf and then knocked on Fluffball’s door like she did every morning.
“Good morning! How are you doing today?” she asked, like she did every morning.
“Good morning! I’m doing fantazzlistic!” Fluffball replied. The two fillies giggled and then teleported to school. They headed over to the tree like they did every morning. The one where Sun Ray and Cheeseball sat every morning. Oh yeah… Sun Ray… Jany remembered Fluffball teasing Jany about her supposed crush on the pegasus filly.
“Ooh, there’s Sun Ray!” Fluffball whispered, “You should go over to her and ask her out!”
“No!” Jany replied. As they approached their friends, Fluffball smirked and pushed Jany towards Sun Ray. Jany shrieked and landed face-first in the snow. As she sat up and shook the snow off her face, her friends all laughed. Sun Ray’s laugh was angelic. 
Wow, her laugh is really pretty. Wait, what the hay? Why did I just think that!?
The school bell rang and Sun Ray and Cheeseball both stood up.
“Need a hoof?” Sun Ray stuck her hoof out and Jany grabbed it to stand up.
“Thanks, Sunny- I mean Sun Ray!” Jany stammered. She blushed in embarrassment and Fluffball gave her a knowing look.
“Ooooh, you two totally like each other!” Fluffball teased.
“No we don’t! I don’t like fillies!” Jany hissed, pushing Fluffball into the snow.
“Hey! What was that for?!”
“Payback,” Jany smiled evilly and then walked inside the schoolhouse.



After a long morning of super boring science and staring at Cinnamon all class, it was finally time for recess. Everypony ran outside in their hats and scarves and the Cutie Mark Crusaders with Cheeseball all went to their favorite tree in the playground.
“Guys, we should try ice sculpting!” Fluffball suggested.
“What? Why?” Jany asked.
“To get our cutie marks, DUH!” Fluffball replied.
“Oh yeah,” Jany said.
“Did you forget we’re Cutie Mark Crusaders?!” asked Sun Ray.
“No! I’m just distracted,” Jany responded. Fluffball smirked again and Jany rolled her eyes.
She saw the cute colt slowly walking up to them. Wait- cute?! She blushed again and Fluffball smirked again. But then their friends all saw Cinnamon approaching.
“What is he doing here?” Sun Ray glared at him.
Cinnamon looked scared and he looked at Jany for reassurance. She gave him a smile and a nod, and he smiled back. 
“I wanna say somethin’ to y’all,” he started.
“It better not be another insult,” Fluffball said.
“No, it's not. I wanted to tell y’all that I’m sorry. I really really regret everythin’ I’ve said to y’all. I don’t know why I said any of it! Chaos magic is actually really great! I was just really insecure about my own looks and projectin’ it onto y’all. And Sun Ray, I’m so sorry for makin’ fun of your dyscalculia. I was a terrible pony. I don’t expect y’all to forgive me, but I hope that we could start over?” He apologized. Jany’s friends were all shocked. They sat there in silence until finally somepony said something.
“Do you really mean that?” Sun Ray asked, hopeful.
“Yeah. You’re my favorite cousin and you always have been, and I’ve been so sad not bein’ your friend anymore.”
“I don’t know if I can forgive you just yet, but I’d love to start over,” Sun Ray replied. Cinnamon grinned and hugged his cousin. She hugged him back.
“I agree, I also don’t think I can forgive you until I can see you’ve changed,” Fluffball said.
“Yeah, I understand. I don’t know if I would forgive me, either,” Cinnamon responded.
“I’m with Fluffball on this one,” Cheeseball said. Jany’s friends turned to her.
“What about you, Jany?” Fluffball asked.
“Umm… Yeah, I agree with Fluffball,” she replied. Fluffball smiled and Cinnamon walked away. The Cutie Mark Crusaders spent the rest of their recess trying to find their cutie marks in the snow.
> Hearts and Hooves Day! (Part 1)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jany’s POV:

It had been a month since Cinnamon Apple apologized to the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Cheeseball. He was on good terms with them, but none of them still considered him as their friend. Except Jany, of course.
She wasn’t going to admit it to anypony, but she had a huge crush on the colt. She hung out with him a few more times, but was still too busy with her other friends. Every time she saw him at school, she had heart-eyes, but Fluffball still thought it was about Sun Ray.
But ever since Fluffball had started shipping Jany with Sun Ray, she also started  noticing how pretty Sun Ray was and how she always stuck out her tongue when she was focusing on her math work and how her green eyes glistened every time she laughed.
Jany really had no clue what was happening to her. She knew she didn’t have a crush on Sun Ray (or at least she thought so), and that she really wanted to ask out Cinnamon for Hearts and Hooves Day. But she had no idea what her friends would think of that. Also, she knew Fluffball was trying to plan something for her and Sun Ray. She kept insisting not to, but her cousin wouldn’t listen.
The holiday of love was coming up in a few days, and everypony was tasked with making a card for each one of their classmates. Jany and Fluffball sat at Fluffball’s kitchen table making the valentines.
Fluffball was currently making a huge heart card for Cheeseball. It was orange, his favorite color, and had drawings of heart-shaped cheese on it. She was currently squeezing orange glitter-glue onto the card.
Jany was making a fake one for Cinnamon. She already made the real one for him. It was a poem about the time they spent together, and at the end it asked if he would be her special somepony. She blushed as she thought about it, and then wrote a fake message on the fake card.
“Oooh, are you thinking about Sun Ray?” Fluffball teased.
“Huh? No!” Jany glared at her cousin.
“Oh yeah? Then why are you blushing and smiling like you’re in loooove?” she asked.
“I don’t know, I just really like Hearts and Hooves Day!” Jany replied.
“Have you made a card for your Sunny yet?” Fluffball smirked. Jany hoofpalmed. Ever since she’d accidentally called Sun Ray that nickname, Fluffball had never let her live it down. 
“She likes you too, you know,” Fluffball said as she stuck some heart stickers to the valentine.
“Wait what? She does?” asked Jany.
“See, you do like her! Look how hopeful you were! And yeah, Cheeseball told me.”
“What? Since when is Cheeseball telling you Sun Ray’s private information?”
“Awww look how much you care about her!” Fluffball said.
“I care about everypony’s privacy!” Jany snapped. She turned back to the card she was writing for Cinnamon, which said “Dear Cinnamon, Happy Hearts and Hooves Day. Love, Jany”. She added a cute little heart at the end, folded the card, and put it in her pile.
Finally, it was time to write a card for Sun Ray. Jany didn’t know what to write that would be nice but also not make her cousin tease her.
“Dear Sun Ray, Happy Hearts and Hooves Day. Love, Jany”.
“OOOOH You wrote loveeee!” 
“Wait, I did?!” Jany looked down and saw she did indeed write “Love”. Why did I do that?! I only wanted to do that for Cinnamon’s, she thought. Jany quickly erased it and wrote “From”. Fluffball took one of the stickers from her sticker sheet and stuck it onto the card Jany was writing. The sticker was a pink heart that said “be mine”.
“What the hay, Fluffball!” Jany took the sticker off and stuck it to Fluffball’s card for Cheseball. Fluffball smiled at it.
“Do you think Cheeseball will like the card?” Fluffball asked.
Jany read it aloud, “‘Dear Cheeseball, you’re such a nice colt and I really really like you. I love spending time with you and I’m so glad I met you. Will you be my valentine? Love, Fluffball.’ Aww, yeah! I think he’ll love it!”
“Really?”
“Yeah!” Jany replied. Fluffball grinned and put her cards into a bag. Jany put her own pile of cards into a bag, as well. Then, the cousins started making their Hearts and Hooves Day boxes. Everypony in their class was also tasked with decorating a box for ponies to put cards in. 
Jany wasn’t great at art, so she just put a bunch of colored swirls all over hers. Fluffball drew trees on hers with red hearts on them and then put lots of glitter. Jany liked the idea of using glitter and poured a bunch of pink sparkles onto her card.
When they were finished, Jany went next door to the Castle of Chaos and spent the rest of her night at home with her parents.

Violet’s POV:

Violet Sparkle sat on her bed about to cry. Something was definitely wrong with her. She had a crush on two ponies! Everypony knew you could only like one pony! Her stomach was in knots and her heart ached with worry. She was making cards for everypony in her class, and was left on the last two. Waterfall Mist and Lucas.
“Hey, Violet! Are you okay?” Star, her older brother, was standing at the doorway to her room. He was an orange colt with wavy blond hair and green eyes.
“Oh! I’m fine,” she lied. She wiped a tear from her eye with her hoof.
“No, you’re not. What’s wrong?” he sat next to her, “Is this about a crush?” Violet looked up at him scared, but then nodded.
“It’s okay, you can tell me anything! I won’t judge you. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” he said, doing the motions as he said the words. Violet giggled.
“I think something’s wrong with me…” Violet said.
“Nothing’s wrong with you, Vi-Vi! What makes you think that?” he asked.
“I… I don’t wanna tell you…” she replied.
Star nodded, “Okay, you don’t have to. But I want to tell you something that I haven’t told anypony before. There’s a filly in my class named PhoenixTDM and I… I have a crush on her…”
“Oooh, really?! You have a crush?!” Violet squealed.
“Yeah, but… I’ve always been so mean to her. Since the day we met when I was in kindergarten. I knew I liked her, but I’ve always been a bully to her and her friends. I don’t even know why… I just didn’t want to be bullied like when I was in preschool,” he explained.
“Oh. Well I think you should apologize and tell her the truth!” Violet said.
“I don’t want anypony to know that I’m…” he looked away.
“No, I don’t mean that, I just mean tell her and her friends that you were bullied as a foal and that you regret being mean to them!” Violet replied.
“Yeah, maybe I will…” he said.
“Thanks for telling me that, big bro! Okay now I think I’m ready to tell you why I’m sad. But please don’t judge me or tell anypony!!!”
“I won’t! I swear,” Star responded. Violet smiled and then took a deep breath.
“I have a crush on two ponies!” she admitted. She closed her eyes and buried her head in her hooves because she didn’t want to see his reaction.
“Violet, there’s nothing wrong with liking more than one pony!” Star said.
“Really?! But in every movie and book there’s always only two ponies who get together! And when you see ponies on dates, it’s only couples!” Violet replied.
“Well, it’s not common, but there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it. Who are the ponies you like?” he asked.
“My best friends, Lucas and Waterfall…”
“Aww! You should tell them you like them!” Star said.
“No! They’ll think I’m weird!” Violet replied.
“I mean I've seen the way those two look at you when they come over for playdates.”
“Wait what! Do you actually think they like me?!” Violet asked.
“I dunno but you should see what happens! But just know, you can’t be with both of them unless all three of you agree to,” Star told her.
“Okay!” Violet grinned and her brother walked out of her room. She turned back to the valentines she was writing and wrote “Dear Waterfall Mist, you’re super pretty! I want to tell you and Lucas something at recess today! Love, Violet Sparkle.” She wrote a similar message to Lucas, but called him handsome. Violet put all her valentines in a bag and then sighed in happiness and relief at knowing her feelings were normal, not weird.

 Jany’s POV:

Jany woke up the next day with nervous pain in her stomach and her heart fluttered when she thought of Cinnamon. She jumped out of bed and quickly got ready. She was about to run out of the house when her mom stopped her.
“Happy Hearts and Hooves Day, Jany!” Jewel gave her a plate of pancakes that were heart shaped with strawberries and strawberry syrup on top.
“Thanks, Mommy!!! Happy Hearts and Hooves Day!” She scarfed down the delicious breakfast and gave her mom a hug.
“I love you, Mommy! Tell Daddy I love him, too!” Jany galloped out the door towards her cousin’s house.
“I love you too, Jany!” her mom called. Jany smiled and then knocked on her cousin’s door.
“Good morning, how-” Jany was interrupted by Fluffball saying, “Fantazzlistic! Now, I have a plan for you to ask out Sun Ray!”
“Oh my goodness, for the last time, I DON’T HAVE A CRUSH ON HER!” Jany yelled.
“Then why do you always give her heart eyes and get all awkward and stutter around her?” Fluffball smirked.
“I don’t know! And I don’t give her ‘heart eyes’!” Jany replied. Fluffball giggled and Jany remembered what her cousin had told her the night before. That Sun Ray had a crush on her? That wasn’t true, was it? Cheeseball would never tell her something like that. Or would he?
The fillies teleported to school and there was a banner on the front of the schoolhouse that read “Happy Hearts and Hooves Day”. They galloped towards their two best friends under the tree and Fluffball jumped towards Cheeseball to hug him. He yelped as they both crashed down onto the snow. Sun Ray and Jany laughed.
“Happy Hearts and Hooves Day, Cheesy!” Fluffball yelled.
“Happy Hearts and Hooves Day, Fluffy,” Cheeseball replied. Both of them blushed.
“Awwwww,” Jany and Sun Ray said. The two love-birds stood up from the ground and Fluffball looked at Jany.
“Jany, do you have something to say to Sunny?” she smirked. Jany rolled her eyes.
“Um… Happy Hearts and Hooves Day, Sun Ray,” Jany said.
“Thanks! You, too!” Sun Ray smiled. The school bell rang and everypony went into the schoolhouse.
“Happy Hearts and Hooves Day, everypony! Today is about celebrating the ponies you love and care about. Your family, friends, and for some ponies, their special somepony!” Mrs. Cheerilee announced. Fluffball looked at Cheeseball and Jany looked at Cinnamon. Nopony noticed, though, since the colts sat at the desks in front of them.
“Now, it’s time for the class party! Take out your card boxes and valentines for everypony! You can go around the class and drop off the cards, and I have snacks and candy for when you’re done!” All the fillies and colts jumped out of their seats and the four best friends all met up with their bags of cards. They all talked as they absent-mindlessly put cards in their classmates’ boxes.
The students had heart-shaped rice krispie treats, heart candies, and reeses pieces for snacks from Mrs. Cheerilee, and everypony had an amazing time. 

Right before recess, everypony opened their cards. Cheeseball blushed when he saw the card from Fluffball. He wasn’t sure what to answer, but he really really loved it. Lucas and Waterfall Mist both wondered anxiously what Violet had to say to them. Cinnamon smiled at the “love, Jany”, and she smiled at “love, Cinnamon”. 
But Jany also got another card. It read “Dear Jany, meet me at Sugarcube Corner after school. Love, your secret admirer.” Jany wondered who it was from. It didn’t match the writing on any of the other cards! She hoped that it was from Cinnamon. Jany didn’t show any of her friends the card she got in case it was.

Violet’s POV:

It was finally time for recess. Violet went to the playset and sat near the slide, waiting for her two crushes to get there. She saw her friends approaching and smiled, but was also nervous. She was scared they were gonna think she was weird or they would only like her as a friend.
“Hey, Violet!” Waterfall greeted.
“Happy Hearts and Hooves Day, Violet!! What did you wanna tell us?” Lucas asked. They both sat down in front of her. The filly and colt gazed at Violet Sparkle with hopeful eyes.
“Well… Umm….” Violet started, blushing, “I have a crush on both of you!” she looked down to avoid seeing their reactions. She slowly looked up and they were both blushing and staring at her with their mouths open in shock.
“Really?” Lucas asked with a smile.
“Yeah… Please don’t think I’m weird!” Violet replied.
“You’re not weird! I also like both of you,” Waterfall admitted.
“Me too! I thought I was the weird one,” Lucas said.
“Oh my Celestia, really?!” Violet beamed. Her friends both nodded.
“My brother Star said there’s nothing wrong with liking two ponies! I felt so much better after he told me that,” Violet explained.
“Guys, willyoubemyspecialsomeponies?” Waterfall blurted. Violet and Lucas both looked at each other, blushed, and yelled “Yes!!!” They all shared a group hug and played in the snow for the rest of recess.

Meanwhile, Cheeseball and Fluffball were having their own conversation under the tree while Jany and Sun Ray went off playing a game to give their friends time to speak alone.
“Fluffball, the card you wrote was so sweet, I really liked it,” he smiled.
“Thanks! So… What’s your answer to the question?”
“I don’t know… I mean I really don’t want to have a special somepony yet. We’re too young for that!”
“I’m not asking you to be my special somepony, just my valentine!” she grinned.
“Hmm… Well, okay,” he responded.
“Yay!” Fluffball hugged him and they both fell onto the snow again. Their friends walked back over and congratulated the two of them.
> Hearts and Hooves Day! (part 2)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jany’s POV:

After the fun day at school, Jany walked eagerly to Sugarcube Corner, Ponyville’s bakery restaurant. She was feeling more anxious than usual, with butterflies in her stomach. She opened the door and hoped to see her crush, Cinnamon Apple sitting at a table waiting for her. But when walked in, she saw the pony she hoped didn’t send it. Sun Ray Dash. The sky-blue pegasus filly sat fidgeting with her hooves at a table. 
Does this mean Fluffball was telling the truth?! Sun Ray actually likes me?! she thought. Jany walked up to her friend.
“Um… Hi…” Jany said.
“Jany?” Sun Ray asked. Huh, she seems surprised to see me!
“Wait, did you not write the note?” Jany asked.
“No? I got a note!” She pulled out an identical note to Jany’s, except it was addressed to Sun Ray instead.
“Fluffball…” Jany hissed. A pale yellow unicorn stallion with a blue mane walked up to them. 
“Hello, um- fillies! How are,” he snickered, “you doing this lovely Hearts and Hooves Day?” Jany looked into his purple eyes and saw a flash of green. Fluffball.
“Oh, we’re doing great! Can we have a strawberry milkshake?” she asked, “with two straws?” she smirked and Sun Ray’s eyes widened.
“Huh?!” Sun Ray cried. Jany ignored her and Fluffball disguised as the waiter grinned from ear to ear.
“Of course! You two make a lovely couple,” she walked away giggling and Jany turned back to Sun Ray.
“What the hay? No offense Jany, but I only like you as a friend,” Sun Ray said.
“Yeah I feel the same way. That was Fluffball disguised as the waiter! I’m trying to prank her, play along,” Jany replied.
“Ohhhh! That makes way more sense. Okay, this is actually really funny, now. But why did Fluffball try and set us up on a date?” Sun Ray asked.
“I don’t know, she thinks I have a crush on you for some reason,” she explained, adding a quick “I don’t, by the way.”
“Okay, good. No offense again but I’m glad you don’t. There’s nothing wrong with you, I just don’t like anypony in that way,” Sun Ray replied.
“Really? You don’t like anypony?” Jany asked.
“No, I’ve never even liked anypony before. I might eventually but right now I don’t even want to like anypony, it’s weird,” Sun Ray replied, “but do you like anypony?” Jany blushed, but then Waiter Fluffball came back to them levitating a giant strawberry milkshake the size of Jany’s head. It was topped with whipped cream and strawberries on top.
“Enjoy, fillies~” Fluffball said as she walked away. Jany and Sun Ray looked at each other and burst into a fit of giggles.
“How do we trick her even more? This is really funny,” Sun Ray asked.
“Ooh I see you’re coming to like pranks, now,” Jany smirked.
“Yeah, I guess I am. I never really saw the appeal about pranking until now,” Sun Ray replied. Jany looked around and saw Fluffball creeping closer and closer to them.
“Okay, I see Fluffball going closer to us, let’s act like we’re in love or something,” Jany said. 
“Okay!” Sun Ray raised her voice and dramatically said, “Oh, Jany, you’re soooo pretty!”
“You are, too, Sunny!” Jany leaned her chin on her hoof and looked at her friend with an “in love” expression. They both tried to hold in their laughter as Fluffball watched them, smiling from ear to ear. Jany put her other hoof on Sun Ray’s and Sun Ray smiled bashfully, all while they tried their hardest not to burst out laughing.
Suddenly, Cinnamon Apple walked through the door. Jany’s eyes widened as he looked from Jany, to Sun Ray, to their hooves touching, back to Jany and tears formed in his eyes. He turned around and ran out of the restaurant. Jany snatched her hoof away from Sun Ray’s and jumped out of the chair.
“What’s wrong?” Sun Ray asked.
“Nothing- I mean- I have to go to something. Bye,” Jany galloped away after Cinnamon. She followed his hoofsteps in the snow all through Ponyville and to his Apple Farm, and saw her crush sitting down crying by an apple tree at the front of the farm.
“Cinnamon?” she asked as she approached him. He looked up at her, sniffled, and wiped away a tear with his hoof.
“Oh… Hey, Jany. Why did you leave your date?” he asked. “With my cousin…” he added quietly.
“No, we weren’t on a date! Fluffball tricked us to be there for some reason, so we were trying to trick her back by playing along! I only like her as a friend! And I don’t even like fillies, at least I don’t think I do,” Jany explained, sitting down next to him.
“Really?”
“Yeah!” Jany replied.
“Um… Do you? I mean, do you like anypony?” he asked, touching the snow with his hoof.
“Yeah,” she admitted, looking away. He looked back up at her.
“Really? Who, um… Who is he?” Cinnamon asked. Jany summoned the card she made for him with her magic. The real card. She handed him the card and he read it aloud.
“For the first time, on Nightmare Night,
I saw your heart was full of light.
That night at the movies, and sledding in the snow,
My feelings for you began to grow.
Your eyes are strange, just like me.
Whenever I see you, I’m filled with glee.
Your cinnamon coat and blonde mane
make my heart go insane.
This isn’t a bunch of baloney
So will you be my special somepony?” Cinnamon looked at her with shining eyes and his face was red.
“I couldn’t think of a good rhyme for pony,” Jany laughed awkwardly.
“Wow, Jany, this is the best thing anypony’s ever done for me, I don’t know what to say!” Cinnamon replied.
“How ‘bout… Yes?” Jany smiled in a sheepish way.
“Yes!!! I’d love to be your special somepony!” Cinnamon grinned. Jany hugged him and he hugged her back.
“I really like you, Jany,” he smiled. 
“I really like you, too, Cinnamon,” she kissed him on the cheek.
“Oh, wow,” he said. Jany giggled.
“Hey, do you wanna go to the giant sled hill again?” Jany suggested.
“Yeah!!!” Cinnamon agreed. “But only if you promise to share a sled with me.” The two love-birds galloped away to go sledding.

Waterfall’s POV:

Waterfall was flying home after hanging out with her new coltfriend and marefriend at Violet’s house. She opened the door to her cloud-mansion and went into her and her brother’s room. Waterfall didn’t mind sharing her room with her older brother, but it was a little annoying not to have a room for herself.
Their dad, Thunder Dash, and his twin sister, Aunt Lightning, shared this room with their younger sister, Aunt Prism, when they were growing up and their dad wanted her and Icy to have that same experience. He said it “builds character”. 
“Hey, sis!” Icy Breeze ruffled her mane as she entered their room.
“Hi, Icy!” she replied.
“You’re happier than normal, did something happen today?” he asked.
“I have a new coltfriend and a marefriend!” she beamed.
“Oh, really? They both know, right?” 
“Yeah!!! The three of us are together!” she replied. 
“Who are these mystery colt and filly?” he asked with a smile.
“Violet Sparkle and Lucas!” she told him.
His smile fell. “Lucas? As in PhoenixTDM’s younger brother Lucas?”
“Um… Yeah?” 
“You can’t be with him! PhoenixTDM became my marefriend today! You can’t date her brother!” Icy yelled.
“What?! But I really like him!” Waterfall protested.
“You have to break up with him,” Icy said. He turned back to the homework he was doing and Waterfall’s eyes filled with tears. She ran out of her room and back outside. 
Waterfall Mist was flying. She didn’t know where she was flying, but she wanted to be alone. She forgot to put her hat and scarf back on. She was getting pretty cold. But she didn’t care. All she could think about was Icy yelling at her. Icy had never raised his voice at her before.
The pegasus filly flew and flew until she saw a blanket of snow-covered trees. I’m at Sweet Apple Acres already? She thought. Her wings were starting to grow frost and get stiff so she landed by a large hill. 
Waterfall saw two foals around her age sledding down the hill on a shiny purple sled. Once they reached the bottom, they both disappeared! They both reappeared in front of her and she shrieked.
“Waterfall? What are ‘ya doin’ here? And, wow, you look freezin’!” Her cousin Cinnamon Apple said.
“Cinnamon? Jany? What are you…” everything went black.

Waterfall Mist woke up with a pounding headache. She was laying on a couch in front of a fireplace, and there was a quilt on top of her. She sat up and looked around. She recognized this house, it was where her Aunt Dinky and Uncle Cinnamon Stick lived with their son, Cinnamon Apple. 
The wooden house was built right next to the Apple Family Barn and the house where the Apple Family originally lived. There were a few other wooden houses, as well, because they had a really big family.
Waterfall walked over to her cousin’s room where she heard laughter coming from the two ponies she had noticed earlier. The door was cracked open, and she peeked through. Cinnamon Apple and Jany were sitting on Cinnamon’s bed and laughing. Jany leaned over and nuzzled him, and they both blushed.
“What the hay?!” Waterfall shouted. The foals immediately pulled away from each other and Cinnamon went to open the door.
“Um… How much of that did you see…?” Cinnamon asked.
“Are you guys a couple?!” Waterfall shrieked.
“Um… Yes? But don’t tell anypony!!! Especially my friends,” Jany replied.
“How long have you guys been together?” Waterfall asked.
“Just since this afternoon,” Cinnamon said.
“I thought you hated each other!” Waterfall replied.
“We made up a while ago. But Waterfall, what were you doin’ outside like that without any winter clothes? You were so cold that you passed out! We thought you might have caught the ponythermia,” her cousin asked.
“I don’t really wanna talk about it… But thanks for bringing me here to warm up! How long was I out?”
“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. And you weren’t out for long, it was only like half an hour. We can heat up some apple cider for you if you’d like!” Jany said.
“Yeah!” Waterfall smiled. The three foals went into the living room and Cinnamon put a pot on the stove and poured some apple cider into it. He had to stand on a stool because he was too short. Hoofsteps sounded down the hallway and a brown earth stallion with black hair walked into the room.
“What are you doing, young stallion?” Uncle Cinnamon Stick asked his son.
“Oh, um, I’m just heating up some apple cider for Waterfall!” Cinnamon Apple replied.
“You can’t use the stove without adult supervision!” he snapped.
“Sorry… She was just really cold,” Cinnamon Apple said.
“It’s okay, kid, just ask me or your mom next time,” Cinnamon Stick responded. He moved the stool and turned on the stove to start heating up the cider. Cinnamon Apple and Jany sat down next to Waterfall on the couch. The three foals talked and had a nice night as they drank delicious hot apple cider.