> Selena and the Scar
>  by Mike728
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue: The Beginning
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When one hears the words ‘destiny’ and ‘fate’, they would think of different things for what the words could mean. Many think that destiny is something that is inevitable and something that can’t be avoided or changed and that one must follow that path no matter what, whereas fate is something that can be changed and a path that one can choose for themselves.

If many believe that to be the case, that is completely false. You see, fate and destiny are both the same thing and due to this, they are something that can’t be avoided, but they are something that can be prevented or changed. If one was evil but decided to change their ways, they can but it would prove to be difficult because others will always believe them to be evil and that being evil is what that individual will be fated and destined to be forever. Them becoming evil could have been prevented if certain actions were taken or something that could have been avoided.

Many believe that once something has been chosen for you, you must follow it and become something that others believe you have to be. However, was there ever a story where one tried to escape their fate and destiny for something that they believed would be the greater good? If not, you are about to experience that firsthand for this is the story of a filly who would grow up to be something great, a little filly whose actions and acts of bravery will change the kingdom and the entire land of Equestria for all eternity…
 
 
 
*APRIL 30TH 2014: PONYVILLE*
 
It was the dawn of a brand new day in the mid–sized town of Ponyville, a town that is bordered by a large forest known as the Everfree Forest and a large mountain where a large city was built on its side known as Canterlot, where it held a royal castle, thus making it the capital of Equestria.

In the center of Ponyville was a large stone castle that has now been left abandoned called the ‘Castle of the Nightmare’ where 8 months ago, Nightmare Moon took over Equestria and brought forth the castle from the depths of the Earth. She declared the small town ‘the true and beating heart of Equestria’ as a ‘gift’ to all of Ponyville to show that she had not forgotten the kindness they had shown her when she was ‘but a scared little filly’ and calling it a ‘great honor no other town or city in Equestria will share’.

For those who resided in the town, the residence of the town consisted of 3 different pony kinds: Earth, Unicorn and Pegasi. Ponyville is described by many as a town that is mainly peaceful and safe where a lot of the ponies knew each other and many of the ponies were friends to one another. The perfect nickname for Ponyville would be ‘The Town of Friendship’, since it would be the perfect place for anypony to find a friend.

Now, the morning of April 30th should have been like any other morning in Ponyville; just your typical uneventful morning. However, that wasn’t going to be the case for something happened on this particular morning.

This was the day where everything would change…



In the early morning of April 30th, two large ponies were walking down the empty streets of Ponyville and one of them held something in their magic. These were not ordinary ponies; they were the Royal Celestial Sisters known as Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, who happen to be the rulers of Equestria. Celestia and Luna are not just known to be the Princesses; they are also known for raising and lowering the Sun and the Moon; something that many have witnessed called it ‘breathtaking’ or ‘awe–inspiring’. The Royal Sisters were something what ponies called ‘alicorns’, a pony that possessed both a horn and a pair of wings and many saw alicorns as a sign of royalty, nothing more.

So many thoughts ran through Celestia’s mind as she and her younger sister were heading towards their destination, a frown and an expression of utter betrayal plastered on her face. What happened was that one of her most highly respected members of her Royal Guard was torturing and even experimenting on a poor foal, who was wrapped up in a light blue blanket that Celestia held in her magic. For six whole months, he did terrible things to the poor foal and it was happening from right under their noses.

Luna also had the expression of betrayal on her face as she knew this pony. The pony, who happened to be a unicorn stallion, went by the name of… Malice Lamar. Although nopony knew little to absolutely nothing about Malice’s past, he was recruited into the Royal Guard and went up through the ranks and became well respected by the members of the Castle.

Despite the fact that Malice was well respected, his tactics of dealing with those who had wronged the land of Equestria, especially when caught, were what really made others dislike him. The only thing that will be mentioned is his ways of interrogation. Malice’s ways of interrogating are what many called ‘brutal’ and even downright ‘abominable’ and it sent shivers down everypony’s spines whenever they all would think about it, including the Princesses. Some even went as far as calling him a ‘psycho’.

There was a long silence before Luna finally spoke, turning her head to face Celestia.

“I never thought Malice would be capable of something like this,” Luna said with clear hints of betrayal and anger in her tone. Celestia turned her head to face Luna as the two continued walking.

“Never did I, Luna,” Celestia said with the same hint of betrayal and anger in her tone. “A member of my Royal Guard, it’s sickening. I had a feeling that something wasn’t right, but I never imagined it would be like this.”

In truth, they did suspect that something wasn’t right when Malice had started acting strange one day; nervousness, wanting to go someplace and generally giving that vibe that he was hiding something, but they weren’t able to prove it. It wasn’t until a Royal Guard, who was also a Unicorn, caught Malice teleporting somewhere with strange devices the guard didn’t recognize. Curious, he teleported after him and found himself somewhere within some old castle that he didn’t recognize, however he did recognize the room he was in to be some kind of throne room.

Suddenly, a loud pain-filled scream echoed throughout the throne room, causing the guard to nearly jump out of his fur. After the echoing effects of the scream faded, the guard slowly recovered from his shock. When the scream happened again, the guard didn’t flinch and instead, he was able to pinpoint where it came from; behind a large red door with a round top, one that seemed to be way too intact. He walked up to it and opened the door, just enough for him to peek inside. His eyes widened in shock and disbelief when he witnessed Malice beating a foal that looked to be around 6 months old, one he didn’t recognize. The guard cringed every time the young foal would let out a loud scream of pure and utter agony as the foal was being restrained in the air by Malice’s magic.

When the guard could take no more, he immediately teleported back to the Castle and ran into the Throne Room where he informed Celestia and Luna about it.

Upon being informed, Celestia and Luna, along with members of the Guard went to the old castle and attempted to apprehend him, which had become difficult as he fought back with everything he got. During the struggle, he tried blasting a guard with a death–inducement spell but luckily, the guard leapt out of the way, but it came with a cost. The blast struck the foal in the forehead above the right eye and it fell to the ground. This caused Malice to freeze up in shock before he got tackled by numerous guards who took the opportunity when it showed and was ordered to be locked in the dungeons in the meantime.

After the Royal Guard took Malice away, Celestia and Luna investigated the foal, which turned out to be a mare, and they had found a few things that shocked them; the foal had dark gray fur, possessed both a horn and a pair of wings and had a rich blue mane and tail. But the most shocking of them all were the scars that the poor foal had; a vertical one that went from her chest to her stomach, one on her right hindleg and left foreleg, one that was in the shape of an ‘X’ on the right side of her flank and a horizontal one on her back.

Eventually, Luna asked Celestia what they were going to do with the foal. Celestia told her that they were going to be taking the foal to Ponyville, but where in Ponyville she didn’t say. Using her magic, a light blue blanket appeared in front of her. She wrapped the foal in the blanket slowly and carefully as to not wake her up. After wrapping the foal in the blanket, she told Luna that it was time to head to Ponyville, which led to where they are now.

Celestia turned her head away from Luna and saw their destination up ahead; a stocky hollowed–out tree with numerous amounts of windows, a beehive hanging from one of the tree branches, a candlestick sign on the front door, which was red, a sign of an open book outside the door, and two balconies, one of which had a telescope.  This tree was the Golden Oaks Library, the home of her faithful student and the Bearer of the Element of Magic, Twilight Sparkle.

“We’re here,” Celestia said. This caused Luna to turn her head in the direction of the library and she immediately put two–and–two together.

“Sister, are you sure about this?” Luna asked as they stopped at the library’s doorstep. Celestia turned her head at Luna and smiled a bit.

“Yes I am sure about this, Luna,” Celestia said. “The foal deserves to live a normal foal and fillyhood after what it has been put through these last 6 months.”

“I know but do you think Twilight can take care of a second alicorn?” Luna asked. “It has been 8 months since the incident, and we don’t know how Nyx would respond to the foal.”

For all those who didn’t know, Nyx was Twilight’s adoptive daughter who happened to be the recreation of Nightmare Moon as a result of an unfinished ritual conducted by members of the Children of Nightmare, a cult that was founded by a unicorn who went by the name of Spell Nexus, who happened to be under the influence of Nightmare Moon’s magic. Eight months ago, Nyx was transformed into Nightmare Moon and being overwhelmed by her memories and her feelings of betrayal, she took over Equestria, defeated and imprisoned both the Royal Sisters in the Sun and the Moon respectively and everypony thought it was over.

However, Nyx’s undying love for Twilight and her friends prevented her from becoming Nightmare Moon forever and she saved Ponyville from the beasts that dwelled within the depths of the Everfree Forest. After freeing the Princesses and being returned to normal by the Night Princess herself, Celestia and Luna gave Twilight the task of being Nyx’s legal guardian from that day on.

Celestia stayed silent for a moment, as the smile vanished, before she spoke once again.

“That is true but I think that it would do good for Nyx as she would have another pony like her to relate to,” Celestia said softly as she turned her attention to the foal that was still asleep. “Not only that, but it will also do some good for the foal for she will be in a happy and safe environment surrounded by those who will love and care for her. It’s far better off growing up that way, Luna. I have a lot of faith in Twilight, and I have a feeling that this foal will do great things and that she will be ready to take down the challenges along the way… when the time has come.”

Celestia turned her attention to the slumbering foal and a small smile formed on her face. She, indeed, had a lot of faith in Twilight and she knew that she was the best option for taking care of this foal… for the time being. She had many reasons for doing this; many… many reasons.

Celestia raised her left hoof and was about to knock on the door when Luna spoke up.

“Sister?” Celestia turned her head to her left to face her sister.

“Yes, Luna?”

“Are you really sure about having Twilight take care of the foal?” the Night Princess asked. “I’m not doubting Twilight’s capabilities because Faust knows she can, but why can’t we take care of her?”

Celestia took a deep breath, looked her sister in the eyes, and spoke.

“Because we can’t, Luna,” she said. “Foals require a lot of attention and love, something that our royal duties will prevents us from doing. Then there’s the nobles, who will demand us on doing something about her since she is an alicorn, and alicorn foals are something you don’t see every day. As such, it will be best that Twilight should be the one to take care of her.”

Luna wanted to object but decided against it. She knew, deep down, her sister was right. Her duties as the Night Princess required her to sleep during the day so that she can perform her duties at night, and Celestia’s duties during the day do tend to get quite busy. There was also no doubt that the nobles, including her and Celestia’s nephew, Prince Blueblood, would get on their flanks about the foal being an alicorn and demand the both of them to do something about it.

Luna let out a sigh before looking her sister in the eyes.

“If you think this is the way, then I trust you, sister,” Luna said.  “But I hope you realize that there will come a time where we will have to tell the foal everything, right?”

“I am very well aware of that, Luna,” Celestia said. “When the time does come, I will be the one to tell her everything but right now, she will live here in Ponyville like every other pony. Twilight will act as her mother and raise her, alongside Nyx.”

“Sometimes I wish to be a mother, sister,” Luna said, letting out a long sigh in the process. It took Celestia every bit of her willpower to not correct her sister for what she said.

The thing was this; Luna did get her wish but that was over a thousand years ago and Celestia doubted that Luna remembered for it happened sometime before she became Nightmare Moon. Celestia had a feeling that her sister lost her memories after she was purified by the Elements of Harmony, as well as a result of the 1,000-year banishment at the Moon. Celestia made a promise to herself that she would tell Luna everything once the time was right.

After a short while, both she and Luna turned their attention to the library’s door and Celestia, using her left hoof, knocked on the door a few times.

*KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK*


**********************


In the main lobby of the library, Twilight Sparkle was sitting by the reading table, the right side of her face resting down on the wide-open book that she was reading at the time. She was a Unicorn pony with pale mulberry fur, a dark sapphire blue with moderate purple and brilliant pink streak mane and tail, and moderate violet eyes.

The purple unicorn had pulled off an all-nighter and passed out from exhaustion 30 minutes prior. Her mane was messy and drool was pouring out of her mouth and onto the unfortunate pages of the book. The purple unicorn had no idea that she was going to have a visit 30 minutes later after passing out.

Unfortunately, this was a normal, and every day- or night, occurrence for the purple unicorn and for those who lived in the Golden Oaks Library would know that this wouldn’t be the last. Twilight had a habit of picking up and reading book late at night and pull off an all-nighter before passing out at the reading table. Once she picked up a book and started reading, it was almost impossible to snap her out of it or even get the purple unicorn to stop what she was doing.


*KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK*


Twilight let out snort before she quickly lifted her head off the book. She blinked a few times to clear away the fog that was building up in her vision before rubbing her eyes with her hooves. A loud yawn escaped her mouth, which was then quickly followed by another set of 3 knocks.

“Coming!!” she called out before she sat up from her spot and walked over to the front door. Grasping the doorknob with her magic, she twisted it before pulling it back. With the door opened, Twilight saw who it was that was knocking at her door.

Standing outside on the doorstep were Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Seeing the Princesses standing there had washed away all traces of exhaustion and Twilight went into full awake mode.

“P-Princesses, what a pleasant surprise!!” Twilight said, giving them a goofy smile in the process.

It took Twilight a moment to notice that both of the Princesses had serious expressions plastered on their faces, as well as something wrapped in a light blue blanket floating beside the right side of Celestia’s head.

“Twilight, we need to talk,” Celestia said in a somewhat serious tone.

For the next few minutes, the Princesses informed Twilight of the events that took place just a few hours prior before hoofing legal custody of the still sleeping foal. With their task done, the Princesses left the Library and headed back to Canterlot Castle.


This is how our story begins…
> Chapter One: The Sparkle Family
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It has been five years since that day; five years since Princess Celestia and Princess Luna came to the Golden Oaks Library and gave Twilight legal custody of the 6-month-old filly, and five years since the arrest of Malice Lamar.

For such a five-year gap, one would think that the small town of Ponyville might’ve change significantly or in some way. As a matter of fact, it didn’t. The town has remained the same, even after five years have passed. The many ponies of Ponyville had no idea that the Royal Pony Sisters had come to the small town at the dawn of April 30th of 2014 for they were still in the world of dreams at the time. If anything, they were all living their lives normally as if nothing big had happened.

While Ponyville hadn’t changed, the lives of the residents of the Golden Oaks Library certainly did…



*SEPTEMBER 2ND 2019: GOLDEN OAKS LIBRARY*

*RIIIINNNNGGGG*
 
 
The sound of a loud, and slightly annoying, alarm clock going off woke a young filly up from her slumber, ending her adventure in the dream world. She rolled onto her left side, reached out for the still ringing contraption that stood to the left side of the basket on the floor with her left hoof and a distinctive click echoed throughout the room. The hoof retreated back into the basket and the filly slowly sat up in the basket, her mane sticking up and messy from lying in bed.

She rubbed and then opened her emerald, green eyes as she let out a loud yawn and stretched to get her blood flowing. The filly removed the blanket from her body, the warmth immediately being replaced with the chills, and the filly felt the urge to get back under the covers, but she ignored it. She hopped out of the basket that was her bed and walked over to a small wooden dresser with a small mirror, which stood to the right side of the basket. She then hopped onto the small chair and began checking herself in the mirror.

The filly had dark gray fur, a small horn and a pair of wings, a long, rich messy and ragged blue mane and tail and had numerous visible, but faint, scars on her body. The filly had another scar and that was happened to be on her forehead and above her right eye. The scar above her right eye was in the shape of a lightning bolt; a rare and unique shape for a scar. Now, this young filly had a name; this young, little filly went by the name of Selena Sparkle.

Selena Sparkle was a 5-year-old alicorn filly with a personality that was rich as milk chocolate; loving, sweet and caring. She was the kind of pony that always put the needs of other ponies first and absolutely loved to give a helping hoof to those who needed it. Whether the problem was big or small, silly or serious, Selena was there and she always did her best to help. In every sense, Selena Sparkle was a pony that genuinely loved life and dreamed of making a big difference.

“Selena, are you awake?” called out the voice of her mother, Twilight Sparkle. Selena jumped slightly in the chair, slightly startled from the call, before she composed herself to call back.

“Yeah Mom, I’m awake.”

“What are you doing?” Twilight called out.

“Just checking to see if my mane is all good,” Selena responded back.

“Well, come down and eat breakfast, you’re going to be late for your first day of school.” Then, it went silent.

How could Selena forget? Today was the first day of school and yesterday, she learned that she was going to be learning at the same school that her older sister, Nyx, will be going to for her last year. Learning this was a very exciting and happiest moment of the young filly’s life. Selena always wanted to go to school because she loved the idea of learning, as well as the idea of making friends with other fillies and colts.

Selena looked to the top right drawer of the dresser and smiled before she pulled open the drawer halfway with her magic. Selena then levitated a small piece of jewelry from the drawer, one that was incredibly special to the little filly. The piece of jewelry was a Princess necklace that had a 20 inch shiny silver chain with a small green pendant adorning it. This very necklace was a birthday present given to her by her aunt, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, or better known as Princess Cadance, on her 3rd birthday. The filly would never forget the feeling of joy she felt when she opened the present, gave her aunt a teary smile, and gave her the biggest hug she could muster. The smile on her face grew even more at the memories.

Selena opened the clip on the necklace and fashioned the chain around her neck. She closed the clip and then shut her eyes as the magical effects from the spell on her necklace activated. She involuntarily shivered as she felt a chill run down her spine from the flow of magic that was coursing all throughout her body. Selena’s wings receded into her back as her fur changed from dark gray to pure white. Just as quickly as the changes began, they’ve stopped.

Selena opened her eyes and saw the reflection on the mirror. Instead of the familiar gray-furred filly, there was a snow-white filly and light gray mane and tail, possessed the same and familiar emerald green eyes. The spell casted on the necklace was an illusion spell casted by Twilight herself to make Selena appear as an ordinary pony. It was done in order to keep Selena’s status as an alicorn secret.

“Selena, what are you doing up there?” called out the voice of Twilight.

“I am getting myself ready,” Selena called back.

“Well, come on, your breakfast is getting cold.”

Selena checked herself in the mirror one more time before she hopped off the chair and walked out of the bedroom.


***********************


Selena entered the kitchen and she was struck by the overwhelming smell of breakfast. Sitting at the table eating breakfast was Twilight, Nyx and Spike and they were eating their breakfast. The smile on Selena’s face grew even more at the sight.

Nyx Sparkle was an alicorn filly who was five years older than Selena with regal black fur, possessed a small pair of wings with a small horn on the top her head. She had a rich, purple mane and tail and turquoise eyes with her pupils being dagger-shaped instead of being round-shaped. Out of all the members of the family, Nyx was the one Selena interacted the most and had the best and personal connection with. The five-year-old filly always looked up to her sister and dreamed of being just like her.

In fact, when Selena was only 8 months old, her first word happened to be Nyx’s name, but the way Selena said it was ‘Nyxie’. For the past five years, Nyx has tried to get her to say her name properly, but Selena always called her ‘Nyxie’. At some point, Nyx gave up trying to get her to say her name properly and accepted the nickname, sometimes taking it with amusement.

Spike was a baby dragon with light mulberry scales and light spring blueish gray underbelly, light lime green ear fronds, had moderate harlequin spikes on the top of his head and going down his back, and had moderate pistachio eyes. Being the oldest out of the 3, Selena always went to him for guidance and knowledge, always thinking him to be the wisest. Unbeknownst to Spike, Selena always thought of her brother as a green pufferfish. This was due to his round head and the spikes on his head.

Believe it or not, Selena’s second word happened to be Spike’s name. It happened about a month after Selena learned to say Nyx’s name. One day when Twilight went out to do errands and Nyx went out to play with her friends, Spike was tasked to keep an eye on Selena and to organize the books in the library. While he did this, he saw the little filly point at him with her left hoof and say ‘Pikey’. It took Spike about 3 years to get Selena to say his name properly, but every once in a while, Selena would call him ‘Pikey’, mainly just for fun.

Twilight Sparkle was a Unicorn Pony who taught Selena how to use magic at a very young age. Of course, being a young alicorn and not having control of her magic, it ended up with humorous results. When Selena turned 1 years old, Twilight had tried to teach Selena on how to levitate a book with her magic. Instead of levitating the book, Selena somehow managed to bring the book to life and it started chasing after Twilight with paper–like teeth that was razor sharp to the touch. At the time this happened, Spike was out helping Rarity collect gems that she needed for her new dresses from a bat–filled gem cave while Nyx was out playing with her friends, the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

When Nyx and Spike both returned home, they found Twilight desperately trying to pry the book that managed to bite her on the flank. It took some time, but they were able to pry the book from Twilight’s flank and return it to normal. After Twilight told them the whole story, Nyx and Spike spent the next 20 minutes laughing, while Twilight watched with no amusement. It was one of these moments that they would playfully tease Twilight, to which they would all laugh about. It was one of those memories where you all would just laugh at.

Twilight’s name was Selena third word and it happened about 2 weeks after Selena learned to say Spike’s name. The way Selena said Twilight’s name was ‘Ti-Ti’, saying it like how one would say ‘tie’. It took Twilight about two years to get Selena to say her name properly, but the filly would call her ‘Ti-Ti’ every once in a while.

Twilight, Spike, and Nyx turned their heads to see Selena standing in the doorway of the kitchen.

“Good morning, Selena,” they all greeted her at the same time.

“Good morning, Twilight. Good morning, Nyxie. Good morning, Spike,” Selena greeted back. She walked over to her favorite spot at the table, which was a chair to Nyx’s right, hopped onto the chair and then sat down.

“You excited for your first day of school, Selena?” Nyx asked her little sister, who nodded her head excitedly.

“You bet I am, Nyxie!!” she said excitedly.

‘Even at the age of 5, she still continues to call me ‘Nyxie’,’ Nyx thought to herself in amusement. After a while, Nyx snapped out of her thoughts and resumed eating. The rest of the family did the same.


*****************


After eating breakfast, Selena and Nyx stood on the ‘welcome’ mat and waited as Twilight levitated two saddlebags onto their backs with one being green, that one belonging to Selena, and the other being purple, that one belonging to Nyx.

Once placing the saddlebags onto their backs, Twilight proceeded to give both Selena and Nyx a hug, the fillies hugging their mother back.

“I hope you girls have a great day at school,” Twilight said and the three ended their hug.

“We will,” Nyx said.

“I will come pick you girls up after school so Selena, stay close to your sister,” Twilight said.

“Okay Momma,” Selena said and the two fillies turned to face the door. Nyx lit up her horn and opened the door. The two began walking out of the library before they turned to Twilight, who was standing in the doorway, and they began waving at her.

“Bye, Twilight!!” the sisters called out as they continued walking in the direction of the Ponyville Schoolhouse.

Twilight waved back at her daughters and stood in the doorway for a few moments, watching them head in the direction of the schoolhouse. After a few moments, they were out of sight. Twilight stood there as a small smile grew on her face.

The Unicorn thought it was crazy how time can fly by so quick. One second, the Princesses gave her legal custody of Selena when she was a foal and then the next, Selena was now 5 years old and going to school for the first time. Time can be cruel, but it does have its memorable times and there were many of them when both Selena and Nyx came into her life.

The smile on Twilight’s face slowly weakened. Of course, there was some bad memories that came with them. She would never forget the time that Nyx was taken from her, turning into Nightmare Moon, defeating both of the Princesses and how she almost lost her when she had defended Ponyville from the monsters that live in the Everfree Forest.

Selena was no different, but what happened with her was every parent’s #1 worst nightmare. She would never forget the day when she came home and found that Selena was nowhere to be found, only to discover that she had ran away. She, Nyx, Spike, her best friends, and the Royal Pony Sisters spent the past month and a half looking for her. When they had finally found her completely unharmed was the best day of their lives. She would never forget the relief and utter joy she felt when they found her and how she gave her youngest the biggest hug she ever gave her in her entire life.

Selena was only 3 years old when she ran away from home. When they returned home, Twilight obviously grounded Selena for running away and wasn’t allowed to go outside for a whole month. When her punishment finally came to an end, the young filly ran out of the library so fast that she left a cloudy version of herself behind. 

After that day, the mental scars of the traumatic event remained. Selena refused to talk about what happened to her the past month and a half and it has remained a mystery to this day. Despite that, Selena was still the same loving and carefree filly that they all knew and loved.

‘They grow up so fast,’ Twilight thought to herself. She stepped backward into the library and closed the door.
> Intermission 1: Luna and Malice
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

*SEPTEMBER 1ST: CANTERLOT CASTLE DUNGEONS – 1 DAY PRIOR*
 
At Canterlot Castle, Princess Luna was walking down the spiral concrete stairs with the only sources of light being the dimly lit candles on the walls that led to the castle dungeons. The Night Princess wasn’t alone for she had two Royal Guards with her, both of whom were unicorn stallions with gray fur. A few minutes prior to this, she was asked by her sister, Celestia, to go down into the dungeons and check on Malice.

Now, Princess Luna held an immense dislike to this for every time she went down to check on him, Malice would speak to her and say things that would make Luna feel sick to her stomach, things that she didn’t want to think about. She had no idea that this was going to be much different than the others…

It had been five years since Malice was caught and sentenced to the castle dungeons by Celestia herself for the crimes he had committed. It only made things worse when he showed no signs of remorse or even guilt for what he had done. Instead, Malice looked Celestia dead in the eyes like a deranged psycho and said these very words with a tone full of resentment and venom:

“When I get out, I’ll kill you and every single pathetic pony in this kingdom that you ever cared for!!”

After those very words left his mouth, he lunged at Celestia with complete lack of sanity but was immediately tackled by 5 Royal Guards and was dragged out of the Throne Room and taken to the dungeons. Malice’s threatening words continue to echo in Celestia’s mind, haunting her to this very day five years later.

Luna reached the bottom of the stairs, opened the large wooden door, and entered the castle dungeons, which were also dimly lit by the candles. She strode down the hallway, passing by empty cells until she reached the very end and stopped. Luna slowly turned her head to the right and saw Malice sitting there in the center of the cell, completely still like a lifeless statue.

Malice Lamar was a unicorn stallion with a short and spiky red mane and was missing his tail, had white fur and had the rarest eye color, red. He had an anti–magic brace around his neck, which bore as a sign of his imprisonment, but it didn’t matter to the unicorn stallion in the slightest.

Malice didn’t have to turn his head to know who was standing outside his cell. It was like second nature for him.

“Hello… Luna,” he said in a low tone, but it was audible enough for the Princess to hear. “Coming down to check on me as usual, huh? It flatters me really, even after what happened five years ago. Did you come down here by your own free will or did your sister ask you to do so?”

“A question like that is none of your business, Malice,” Luna said harshly, a somewhat angry expression plastered on her face.

Malice turned his head to look at Luna and the Night Princess instantly took notice of a blank expression plastered on his face. It didn’t take long for a wicked smile to form on his face.

“An answer like that tells me that your sister asked you to come down here,” Malice said wickedly before he let out a wicked and insane laugh. The laugh itself was capable of affecting the likes of the Royal Guards, who are usually stoic and unaffected by anything.

Luna, on the other hoof, did her best to not show her discomfort, which she knew would give Malice satisfaction knowing that he even disturbed the Princess of the Night.

Malice stood up and began walking around his cell slowly while still looking at Luna with an insane expression.

“I’m not surprised by that, considering how Celestia has been taking every bit of precaution to make sure that I don’t escape,” Malice said, that wicked smile still plastered on his face. “Very paranoid if you ask me.”

That statement alone had struck a nerve for the Night Princess. In all the years Luna knew her sister, Celestia was never one to become paranoid about anything at all, always able to stay calm no matter what. However, what happened with Malice when he threatened to kill those that Celestia ever loved and cared for after his trial has plagued the Sun Princess to this very day. Over the years, Luna had witnessed the horrendous nightmares that had plagued her sister and some of them were even enough to send chills down the Night Princess’ spine.

An angry glare formed on Luna’s face, her teeth bared aggressively as a low and threatening growl escaped her throat.

“You are a danger to all of Equestria, Malice,” Luna growled through grit teeth. “My sister taking every bit of precaution is her method of making sure you don’t escape and to keep our subjects safe.”

Malice stopped in the dead center of his cell while keeping eye contact with the Night Princess. The smile on his face grew so wide that both ends reached his ears. Luna absolutely despised it when Malice gave her that smile. It was like the smile itself was mocking her in a way, like it enjoyed toying with her.

“Sounds very paranoid, if you ask me,” Malice said. “But enough talk about your pathetic sister; let’s talk about that little foal that you and your sister delivered at the doorstep of the Golden Oaks Library.”

This instantly caught Luna’s attention. Her eyes widen a bit and she felt her heart skip a beat as the feeling of dread began forming in the pit of her stomach. Not even once at all during the duration of Malice’s trial did any of the Royal Sisters mention about what happened to the foal so to hear him mention that bothered Luna a lot.

“H-how did you-” was all Luna was able to say before Malice cut her off.

“How do I know that the foal’s name is Selena?” Malice began to ask with sadistic glee. “How do I know that Selena ran away from home when she was only 3 years old? And how do I know that tomorrow is Selena’s first day of school?”

Malice walked over to the bars of his cell, all the while taking in the pleasure of the Night Princess’ horror-stricken face. The expression on Luna’s face fueled his sadistic mood. Once he reached the bars of his cell, Malice arched his neck forward, his nose poking out from the gaps in-between the bars.

“Would you believe in a lucky guess?” he asked with sadistic pleasure, the wicked smile still plastered on his face.

Luna felt like she was going to throw up her breakfast. She wanted to say something back to the stallion, but she wasn’t able to. She was so overcome with horror that it made the ability to talk impossible. She had a feeling on how Malice knew this, but she couldn’t be too sure about it.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Luna had finally found her voice and her glare returned slightly.

“What does this have to do with Selena?” she asked with a slight tremor in her voice.

“Well let me ask you this, what do you think happens when the death-inducement spell backfires or fails?” Malice asked the Night Princess. “If by some dumb chance that you don’t know; something that belongs to me is buried deep in that little scar of hers. Once I escape from this cell, I will take back what is mine and then, I will kill her.”

Something clicked in Luna’s brain when Malice said this. She felt an ice, cold feeling form in the pit of her stomach as it confirmed what she was suspecting a short while ago. At that moment, Luna decided that she had enough of this psycho, and that it was now officially time for her to take her leave.

“I’ve had enough of this,” Luna said. “We are taking our leave and know this Malice; you will never escape and as long me and my sister are around, you will never get your filthy hooves on Selena.”

Luna turned away from the cell, away from Malice, and then began to walk away with the 2 guards following after her. Unfortunately, Malice would end up getting the last word from all of this.

“I wouldn’t count on it, Luna for I will escape, and once I retrieve what is mine, she will die by MY VERY HOOVES!!”

Those were the last words Luna heard him say before she exited the dungeons and slamming the dungeon’s door harshly, leaving the crazed stallion alone in the dark dungeons. Malice returned to the center of his cell and sat down, resuming to sit still as a lifeless statute once again.

“I will escape from this cell… Very, VERY soon.”
> Chapter Two: First Day of School
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

*OUTSIDE THE PONYVILLE SCHOOLHOUSE*
 
Nervousness consumed Selena like a wildfire as she stood beside Nyx and looked at the red building that stood proud and tall in front of them. It was a building that many colts and fillies went to be granted the gift of knowledge from the mulberry Earth Pony, a mare who went by the name of Miss. Cheerilee. It was the Ponyville Schoolhouse.

When she was told by Twilight the previous day that she was going to school, Selena was excited because of not only the interest to learn and meet new ponies, but it was also because of the fact Nyx goes to learn there as well. However, upon seeing the schoolhouse itself, all of her excitement was replaced with nervousness.

Nyx looked at Selena and noticed the nervousness on her sister’s face.  She couldn’t help but remember the first time Twilight had sent her to school. Much like her sister, Nyx was quite nervous when she first came to school, as well as terrified. In the end, her first day of school went well, despite what happened with the other fillies and colts, as well as her first unpleasant interaction with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, the local bullies of the school.

“Nervous, Selena?” Nyx asked. Selena turned her head to look at Nyx and then nodded her head.

“I don’t know what to expect,” Selena admitted, looking away from her sister. “What if the other fillies and colts are mean, Nyxie? What if the teachers are mean?”

Nyx responded by wrapping her right foreleg around Selena, which in return, she looked at her older sister, who happened to be just about an inch taller than her.

“You have nothing to worry,” Nyx said in an attempt to ease Selena’s fears. “Cheerilee is a genuinely nice pony and I have a really good feeling you will like her.”

“How long are we going to be here?” Selena asked. “Are we going to be here all day?”

“No, both you and me have the morning classes so we will be done around lunchtime,” Nyx answered.

Selena turned her attention back to the schoolhouse and couldn’t help but imagine what her sister felt when she was going to school for the first time. She imagined her nervous and scared starting her first day of school. Selena was just about to ask her sister that question when the sound of a bell ringing cut her off.

*RING* *RING* *RING*
 
“That’s the bell,” Nyx said. “Let’s go or we are going to be late.”

Nyx headed towards the schoolhouse, opened the door and entered inside while Selena stayed behind. She stared at the schoolhouse for a little while and hoped that her first day was going to be a great day. With a sudden burst of determination, Selena advanced towards the schoolhouse and went inside.


***********************


“Good morning, class!!”

“Good morning, Miss. Cheerilee.”

Selena stood next to the mulberry Earth Pony, Miss. Cheerilee, by her left with a small nervous smile plastered on her face. It was taking every fiber of her willpower to not shake from the amount of nervousness and anxiety that she was feeling, due to the amount of fillies and colts that all had their eyes glued to her. Selena felt like collapsing, but that too took every bit of her willpower to prevent it from happening and it was proving to be a very difficult task.

“Welcome back to the Ponyville Schoolhouse and before we begin, I have a small announcement to make,” Cheerilee said, motioning to Selena, who couldn’t help but blush for reasons she couldn’t think of at the top of her head. “We have a new student joining us this year. Her name is Selena and I expect you all to welcome her as you would any new student.”

Cheerilee turned her head to Selena, who still had that blush on her face, which Cheerilee didn’t notice.

“Go ahead and take a seat. Pick any desk you want,” Cheerilee said. The blush on Selena’s face vanishes and she looked to the mulberry Earth Pony.

Selena nodded her head once and she headed for the first desk at the far-left row and sat down, settling her saddlebags to her left, with Nyx sitting behind her. Now that she was fully seated, Selena now took this opportunity to take in her surroundings; the room was small with a total of 16 desks, 14 of them were occupied by small fillies and colts, herself included. There were wooden shelves with numerous books filling them and there were two large windows at the back of the room. 

A big smile formed on Selena’s face and she could barely contain her excitement, all of her nervousness completely gone as well her adrenaline rush finally receding. Selena had a feeling that her first day of school was going to be great and she truly thought that nothing was going to ruin this day.

That was until she started getting the feeling of multiple eyes looking at her. At first, Selena tried to shrug off the feeling, thinking that it was probably from the effects of being so excited, which then sounded really stupid if she really thought about it. Unfortunately, the feeling still lingered, and she decided to find out who was staring at her.

Selena looked around and saw that all of the fillies and colts were looking right at her. When they noticed Selena had caught sight of them staring at her, they all instantly turned their heads and looked away. All except for one, who was sitting at the desk to the right of Nyx.

It was an Earth pony with a magenta coat with a pale violet and white streaked mane and tail and cornflower blue eyes and she was wearing a tiara on her head. The tiara-wearing filly was just staring at her with a strange smirk on her face and it was starting to send shivers down Selena’s spine. Fully creeped out, Selena looked away and looked to the desk to her right. The moment her eyes caught sight of the pony sitting at the desk to her right, she felt them widen a bit.

Sitting at the desk to her right was an Earth Pony, this time, she had pale olive fur with a mane and tail that were both amaranth red, had a huge pink bow on the back of her head and gamboge eyes. The filly turned her head to Selena and when she did, Selena felt her heart racing for some reason. Never in Selena’s life had her heart race like this before and she couldn’t understand why it was. Not only that, but she also felt a strange feeling in her stomach, making her feel funny.

The two stared at each other for a while before Selena put on a weak smile and waved at the olive-furred filly, to which the filly responded with by waving back. At that moment, Miss. Cheerilee spoke up and everypony turned their heads to face her, the mulberry Earth Pony sitting at her desk.

“I hope you all had a wonderful summer and I can’t wait to hear all the fun things you did!! When I call your name, I want you to stand beside my desk, face your classmates and tell them about what you did over the summer. Shall we begin?”

The fillies and colts all nodded their heads and Miss. Cheerilee looked down to her desk, her eyes fixating at a clipboard with the names of the fillies and colts that attended the morning classes.

“Okay, let’s begin.”


**********************


Hearing about all the things that everypony did during the summer was both exciting and intriguing to the five-year-old filly. One by one, Miss. Cheerilee called out the names of the fillies and colts and each of them told the class about what they did during summer vacation. Many of them ranged to going to Manehatten, visiting Canterlot to go see family that lived there, watching the Wonderbolts’ latest performance at Cloudsdale, spending time at the beach, etc.

While some of her classmates were not giving any of this their full attention, Selena, on the other hoof, listened intently to what was being said with a smile plastered on her face. Because of her paying attention so intently, a few of her classmates stood out to her. Had she not been paying attention, she would have missed out on a few things.

The first pony happened to be the tiara-wearing filly, the very filly that Selena had caught staring at her and gave her that strange smirk earlier. Selena later learned that her name was Diamond Tiara and she was the second of her classmates to be called after Nyx, who went first.

As the filly told everypony what she did during the summer, Selena felt the familiar feeling of dislike swelling up in her chest. Although Selena is not one to feel anything like this towards any pony, she couldn’t help but feel a strong and instant dislike for the young filly. She didn’t like the filly’s attitude and she gave off the impression that she was one that Selena had to avoid.

The next pony happened to be an Earth Pony filly with cornflower gray fur with a mane and tail that had two shades of light azureish gray, moderate violet eyes and wearing a pair of opal glasses along with a very pretty pearl necklace. Selena later learned that her name was Silver Spoon.

Unlike the tiara-wearing filly, Selena didn’t feel a like nor a dislike for the silver-maned filly. Even as the filly spoke, Selena held mixed feelings for the silver-maned filly. Although Silver Spoon did act to a somewhat similar fashion to Diamond Tiara, her behavior wasn’t as obnoxious. Basically in a way, Selena didn’t like Silver Spoon, but also at the same time, she didn’t dislike her.

The third happened to be another Earth Pony filly with light amberish gray fur, a curly light brilliant scarlet mane and tail, light fuchsia eyes and wearing a pair of brilliant blue violet glasses. Selena learned that her name was Twist, who was the next of her classmates to have their name called by Miss. Cheerilee. As soon as Twist walked over and stood beside Miss. Cheerilee’s desk and turned around to face the class, Selena took notice of her appearance.

With just her appearance alone, Twist fitted the definition of what ponies would call a ‘nerd’, mainly due to her curly red mane and tail, pale fur coat, and the large glasses she’s wearing. Whether Twist was a nerd or not, Selena would have nothing against it. Celestia knew that she too can be a nerd sometimes, a really big nerd at best.

Upon the filly speaking, Selena took notice of something immediately. She noticed how the filly said certain words like ‘was’, ‘somepony’, ‘smile’, ‘is’, etc.  Instead of sounding like the way they were supposed to, they sounded more like ‘wath’, ‘thomepony’, thmile’, ‘ith’, and all.

‘She probably has a lisp or something,’ Selena thought to herself.

The fourth was the Earth Pony filly with the pink bow on the back of her head. Selena learned her name to be Apple Bloom. It came as a shocker when the five-year-old filly learned that Apple Bloom was Applejack’s little sister, something that Selena had no knowledge about.

‘I didn’t know Applejack had a sister,’ Selena thought to herself in surprise. Taking a closer look at the filly, Selena couldn’t help but find the filly… cute.

The fifth that stood out to Selena was a Unicorn filly with light gray fur, a mulberry and pale light rose streaked mane and tail and pale light harlequin eyes. Selena quickly learned that her name is Sweetie Belle and she was the next filly to be called by Miss. Cheerilee to talk about what they did over the summer.

As Sweetie Belle turned to face the class and began to speak, the five-year-old filly couldn’t help but be captivated by her looks. Sweetie’s looks were what many ponies would call ‘cute’, ‘adorable’, ‘beautiful’ even. Not only that, but Selena also took an instant liking to her personality; Sweetie Belle was polite, enthusiastic, full of life, and she appeared to be the kind of pony that always has a smile on their face. From this alone, Selena got the impression that Sweetie Belle was the care-free type of pony.

Just like Apple Bloom, upon learning that Sweetie Belle was Rarity’s little sister, Selena snapped out of her trance and was quickly surprised by this bit of information.

‘Do I really not know my mother’s friends as much as I thought I did?’ Selena thought to herself.

Finally, the last pony that stood out to Selena was a Pegasus filly with light brilliant gamboge fur, a moderate cerise mane and tail, and purple eyes. Selena quickly learned that her name to be Scootaloo and she happened to be the last pony Miss. Cheerilee called to talk about what they did during the summer.

As soon as Scootaloo began speaking about what she did over the summer, Selena instantly took note about her personality. Judging from how the Pegasus was acting, this gave Selena the impression that she was pretty much of a tomboy, much like Rainbow Dash. She also displayed being very energetic and somewhat cocky. If that wasn’t enough, Selena immediately took note of how much Scootaloo idolized Rainbow Dash like a LOT, which surprised Selena to a respectable amount to say the least.

‘She must be a huge fan of Rainbow Dash,’ Selena thought to herself.

“…and that’s what I did over the summer,” Scootaloo said, finishing off telling her classmates about what she did over the summer. A loud round of hooves clapping echoed throughout the room, Selena being one of those who clapped for Scootaloo.

“Thank you very much for sharing, Scootaloo,” Miss. Cheerilee said. “You may return to your desk.”

Scootaloo did as she was told. Once Scootaloo sat back down at her desk, Miss. Cheerilee cleared her throat and began to speak.

“With that out of the way, I think it’s time for me to start our first lesson for the day to start off the school year.”


***********************


*RING* *RING* *RING*

A few hours later, the school bell rung, signaling to all that it was time for recess. All of the fillies and colts instantly ran outside to go play like their lives depended on it. Nyx and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were the second-to-last of the class to exit out of the schoolhouse for recess. They walked over and sat down at their favorite spot to chat, which was underneath a tree that stood proud and tall on top of a well-sized hill that overlooked the front of the school.

Due to the size of the hill, the four fillies were able to get a good view of the whole school and the playground that surrounded it. In all honesty, it was a very nice and beautiful view for anypony who were to be at this particular spot.

As the four fillies sat by each other, like they were sitting by each side of a board game, Apple Bloom was the first to start a conversation, a conversation centering around the new filly, Selena.

“How does it feel to know that your sister will now be going to school with you, Nyx?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Honestly, it’s exciting,” Nyx said with a smile on her face. “Selena was very excited when she learned that she was going to the same school with me yesterday. However, when we arrived at the schoolhouse, Selena became very nervous and scared, behaving the same way I did on my first day of school.”

This earned a soft chuckle from her group of friends. Nyx, on other hoof, couldn’t stop a blush from forming on her face.

“Ah bet she was,” Apple Bloom said.

“The first day of school is never easy for anypony who has never been to school before,” Sweetie Belle added. “I remember my first day of school; I was a nervous wreck that day.”

“I sure wasn’t,” Scootaloo said confidently. Her friends simply rolled their eyes at this.

“Oh sure, you weren’t,” Apple Bloom said in a jokingly sarcastic way. Just before Scootaloo could retort, a loud and angry shout cut through the air like a stick of melted butter.

The sudden shout caused the four fillies to jump, their manes and tails to spike up, and their eyes to change size in a comical way; their left eye to be the size of a dinner plate and their right eye to the size of a golf ball.

“ARE YOU SERIOUSLY THAT STUPID?!?! WHAT IN EQUESTRIA MAKES YOU THINK THAT A CUTIE MARK IS, LIKE, A TATTOO?!?!”

Quickly recovering from the shock, they knew right away who the owner of the shout was; Diamond Tiara. The four friends turned their attention to the schoolhouse and saw 3 fillies standing about a few feet away from the schoolhouse steps. They immediately identified the fillies as Silver Spoon, Diamond Tiara and Selena Sparkle.

Even from a distance, they could see that whatever was going on over there wasn’t anything good. They could see an angry glare plastered on the tiara-wearing filly’s face and that Selena was leaning back with her right hoof up to her chest.

“Well?! Are you going to tell me how in Equestria you thought that a cutie mark is the same thing as a tattoo?!” they heard Diamond shout out loudly. From the distance, they saw Selena flinch from the shout, even showing signs of being intimidated.

Not long after that, they saw a wicked grin form on Diamond’s face and slowly walk over to Selena. When she closed the distance, she pressed her face up against Selena’s and, despite the distance, they could see Selena trembling with fear.

The sight of seeing her arch-nemesis terrorizing her little sister was enough for Nyx’s big sister instincts to take over, a livid expression forming on her face. Without a second of hesitation, Nyx stood up and began heading towards the 3 fillies. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo quickly stood up and followed behind after her.


************************


Selena was the last pony to come out of the schoolhouse for recess and when she walked out of the schoolhouse, she saw all the fillies and colts having fun. Although she knew the names of her classmates, she really didn’t have the courage to just walk up to any of them and ask if she could play with them. Selena was just too shy to ask so that idea was thrown was thrown in the garbage.

She then thought about playing by herself, but that too was thrown in the garbage. She didn’t like the idea of playing all by herself as she hated being all alone and have nopony to play with her.

As Selena stood near the schoolhouse steps, contemplating on what she could do, her head looking left and right, she heard a voice coming from up ahead.

“Oh look, Silver Spoon, the new filly is all alone.”

Selena looked in that direction and saw two fillies walking up to her. She immediately recognized the two fillies to be Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. As they stopped about a foot away from her, Selena noticed that the two fillies had sinister smirks on their faces. Seeing those smirks sent chills down Selena’s spine.

“Hi there, is there something you need?” Selena asked the two fillies nervously, unaware that they were the school bullies.

“Oh, not really,” Diamond Tiara said, shrugging her shoulders. “We just couldn’t help but notice that a blank flank such as yourself is all alone instead of playing with your own kind. Isn’t that right, Silver Spoon?”

Silver Spoon nodded her head in agreement.

“I agree, Diamond,” Silver Spoon said. “Like, shouldn’t you be hanging out with your fellow blank flanks?”

Selena was feeling more confused than insulted at being called a ‘blank flank’. She had never heard of the term ‘blank flank’ before so she had no idea that the term itself was used as an insult for those who didn’t have their cutie marks.

Selena arched her right eye and gave the two fillies a curious look.

“‘Blank flank?’” Selena asked curiously. “What’s a ‘blank flank’?”

Incredulous looks formed on their faces and the two fillies looked at each other for a moment. Did… did the new filly just ask what a ‘blank flank’ was? There was no way that the filly was this stupid, or she was just pretending to be stupid. To top it off, they’ve never had somepony ask them a question like that before so they were caught off-guard by this. After a while, the two fillies both turned their attention back to Selena with those same incredulous expressions still plastered on their faces.

“Are you actually being serious?” Diamond Tiara said in a snarky and disrespectful tone. “You seriously don’t know what that is?”

“I really don’t,” Selena said sincerity.

“Wow, you’re stupid,” Diamond said rudely.

“We are talking about you not having a cutie mark,” Silver Spoon said rudely and the silver-maned filly pointed to Selena’s blank flanks, to which Selena took no notice on.

“A ‘cutie mark’?” Selena asked curiously. “What’s a cutie mark?”

If the school bullies were incredulous about the new filly not knowing what ‘blank flank’ meant, then that was nothing compared to the disbelief  they were feeling, which was also displayed clearly on their faces, right now. The two school bullies stared at the filly with slack-jawed expressions with eyes widen to the size of dinner plates.

The school bullies turned to look at each other once again, both of them thinking the same thing.

  ‘This is not supposed to be happening.’

The school bullies turned their heads back to Selena, the young filly giving them an expression of curiosity.

“This is a joke, right?” Diamond asked in bewilderment. “You seriously don’t KNOW what a cutie mark is?”

Selena answered the question by shaking her head ‘no’. Diamond Tiara let out an annoyed groan before she twisted her body so that Selena got a clear view of her left flank, revealing her cutie mark to the oblivious filly. Selena instantly caught sight of Diamond’s cutie mark, which was in the shape of the namesake tiara that she was wearing on the top of her head.

“This is a cutie mark,” Diamond said while giving Selena a very nasty look, followed by twisting her body back around. There was a long moment of pause before Selena spoke.

“Um, are you sure that’s what it is?” Selena asked. “It looks like a tattoo to me.”

That statement alone was almost enough for a blood vessel to burst in Diamond Tiara’s brain, her right eye twitching violently.  Both Selena and Silver Spoon witness Diamond’s face become a shade of red and while the silver-maned filly became uneasy by this, Selena became confused by this.

“ARE YOU SERIOUSLY THAT STUPID?!?!” Diamond shouted loudly in anger, unaware that her angry shout caught the attention of four particular fillies. “WHAT IN EQUESTRIA MAKES YOU THINK THAT A CUTIE MARK IS, LIKE, A TATTOO?!?!”

Selena flinched a tad bit and she leaned back a little bit, her emerald, green eyes widening a little bit. The five-year-old filly simply stared at the enraged tiara-wearing filly, her face as red as the schoolhouse. There was a long moment of silence with the only thing disturbing it was the heavy breathing coming from Diamond Tiara.

“Well… um…” Selena attempted to speak but wasn’t successful due to the intense glare that Diamond was giving her, the glare itself starting to frighten her. Selena’s inability to respond only served to fuel Diamond’s anger and annoyance even more.

“Well?!” Diamond shouted once again, the shout causing Selena to flinch once again. “Are you going to tell me how in Equestria you thought that a cutie mark is the same thing as a tattoo?!”

At this point, Selena was starting to become intimidated by the enraged tiara-wearing filly and that was starting to show via her body language. She started shaking and her eyes had begun welling up with tears.

Diamond Tiara instantly took notice of this and her facial expression softened a tad bit. She realized that the new filly was starting to be afraid of her and this realization lightened her mood. All of the anger and annoyance she felt previously washed away like dried mud being washed off with water and it was replaced with sadistic satisfaction. With a sadistic grin plastered on her face and like a predator slowly stalking toward its prey, Diamond slowly began to walk over to Selena.

Selena instantly noticed that Diamond was slowly advancing towards her. Her eyes widened in fear as a result. She tried to will her body to move, but it refused to obey; her body was paralyzed with fear. It did not take long for Diamond to close the distance. When she did, she leaned her body forward to where her nose and face were pressed up against Selena’s.

“Oh, what’s the matter?” Diamond Tiara said in a low and sadistic tone, her wicked grin still plastered on her face. “Do I scare you?”

The tears that were welling up in Selena’s eyes were now trailing down her face and she began whimpering softly, her body trembling even more. Seeing Selena now in tears, trembling in fear, and whimpering only served to fuel Diamond’s sadistic mood.

On the other hoof, Silver Spoon was watching the whole thing with wide eyes and disbelief. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing right now. Over the years that she had known Diamond, she had never seen the tiara-wearing filly intimidate anypony before. It was one thing to just taunt and tease somepony, but it was a completely different story when it came to intimidating somepony to the point of just outright scaring them for their own entertainment.

Silver Spoon shifted her attention to the new filly and felt a stabbing feeling in her heart when she saw how fearful the filly was, the waterfall of tears that were trailing down her face, and the low whimpers that she was producing. She couldn’t give herself a concrete reason why, but all she knew was that she couldn’t stand to see the filly so scared any longer.

Just before Silver Spoon could make her move, a very angry shout caused her to stop dead in her tracks.

“HEY!!!”

Silver Spoon looked in the direction of where the shout had come from and she caught sight of Nyx and the Cutie Mark Crusaders coming this way and, judging from the expressions on their faces, they were angry.

The sudden shout had caught Diamond Tiara’s attention and the wicked grin that she had on her face washed away like dirt and was instantly replaced with an angry scowl. She removed her face away from Selena and took a few steps back, giving Selena her personal space back. Diamond caught sight of Nyx and the Cutie Mark Crusaders coming this way and the angry scowl grew more upon seeing them.

Selena turned her head to look behind her and caught sight of her sister coming this way, her friends following close behind her. A soft smile formed upon seeing her. She was so happy to see her sister that she had failed to take notice of the livid expression that was plastered on Nyx’s face.

Nyx and her friends finally reached the 3 fillies and Nyx immediately got in between Selena and Diamond Tiara, giving the tiara-wearing filly a very furious glare. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo stood beside Nyx while Sweetie Belle sat beside Selena and she gave the filly a soft expression, as well as giving the filly a hug in an attempt to comfort her.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t Nightmare Moon,” Diamond Tiara said in a very rude and disrespectful manner. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo let out annoyed groans at this response.

“You know that’s not her real name, Diamond,” Scootaloo said in a very annoyed tone. “How many times do we have to tell you that?”

“Until you realize that she’s pretending to be nice in order to gain our trust,” Diamond said before pointing her right hoof at Selena. “Like for real, is she really doing any good by coming to try and protect that pathetic excuse of a pony who probably has to be the dumbest pony in all of Equestria?”

Now, Nyx was livid as she already was after witnessing her arch-nemesis terrorizing her little sister just a moment ago, but after hearing what Diamond Tiara had just said about her sister fueled the flames of her anger to a much higher level. Her dagger-shaped pupils narrowed to much thinner slits and began bearing her teeth aggressively at the tiara-wearing filly.

“Take back what you said about my little sister,” Nyx growled through gritted teeth. This sudden revelation instantly caught the tiara-wearing filly off-guard.

Diamond Tiara gave Nyx a slack-jawed expression, her eyes widen to the size of beach balls. The new filly, who probably had to be the dumbest pony in all of Equestria, is Nightmare Moon’s sister?! The tiara-wearing filly was so stunned that she was having a hard time processing all of this.

“I-I’m sorry, what did you just say?” Diamond asked in a disbelieving tone.

“You heard me, Diamond,” Nyx snapped. “Take back what you said about my little sister.”

Diamond glared at Nyx for a moment before shifting her glare to Selena, the filly cringing from the intensity of it. She didn’t want to believe that it was true that the new filly being Nightmare Moon’s little sister. Just then, a sudden realization hit her like a ton of bricks and it was enough for her thoughts to become clear.

‘If that unicorn is Nightmare Moon’s sister, then she might be the key for me to get my full revenge on her.’

The all-too familiar wicked grin spread across Diamond’s face before she returned her full attention to her arch-nemesis.

“Your little sister, huh?” Diamond Tiara said in a wicked tone, which only served to infuriate the livid alicorn even more. 
“That makes things pretty interesting. You win this round but know this, Nightmare Moon; this is far from over and I am far from done with your little sister.”

After saying her piece, Diamond Tiara turned her back to Nyx, turning her attention to Silver Spoon, who was still as a statue while having a slack-jawed expression on her face.

“Come on, Silver Spoon. Let’s go.”

With that, Diamond Tiara began walking away from the group and she began walking down the pathway that led back to Ponyville. Silver Spoon eventually snapped back to reality and began following after Diamond Tiara, quickly catching up to the tiara-wearing filly. Once the school bullies finally left did Nyx fully relax, her anger washing away like dried dirt. Nyx turned around to face her sister, who has officially calmed down at this point and was resting her head on Sweetie Belle’s shoulder and walked over to her.

“Selena, are you okay?” Nyx asked her little sister in a soft tone as Apple Bloom and Scootaloo gathered around the five-year-old filly, her right hoof resting on her shoulder.

Selena lifted her head up from Sweetie Belle’s shoulder and looked her sister in the eyes for a moment before nodding her head.

“Yeah, I’m okay Nyxie,” Selena said, wiping away her tears from her face with her hooves. “Why is Diamond Tiara so mean… and scary?”

“Ah honestly wish I knew,” Apple Bloom said. “I’ve never seen Diamond ever terrorize a pony before and it’s concerning, to be honest.”

“Speaking of which, what happened between you, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon before we showed up?” Nyx asked curiously.

Selena hesitated for a moment before she recounted everything that had happened; from the moment that the two fillies showed up to when Nyx and her friends came to her aid. While Selena was recounting the events of what happened, Nyx was grateful for Selena’s innocent nature. If she had found out that it was an insult, things would have ended with a much different outcome.

After Selena had finished recounting what happened, Nyx, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo took in what had been told to them and they all nodded their heads, showing that they understood what happened.

“That explains everything,” Sweetie Belle said.

“It sure does,” Scootaloo said before she looked to Selena. “Just out of curiosity, what were you doing before they showed up?”

“I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do for recess,” Selena explained. “I first thought about asking some of our classmates if I could play with them, but I’m too shy to ask and I don’t know if they are actually friendly or not.”

She lowered her head to look at the ground and looked to the right, her ears lowered and pinned to her head. “I also thought about playing by myself, but I don’t like playing by myself so that idea was out of the picture. That’s what I was doing before Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon showed up.”

Apple Bloom began tapping her chin with her left hoof as she took in what Selena had just said. It was obviously clear that the filly wanted to try and make friends, but because since she didn’t know if any of the fillies and colts were friendly or not, that made things difficult for the five-year-old filly.

‘Maybe me and the girls can become her friends?’ Apple Bloom thought to herself.

As soon as that thought popped in her head, a small smile spread across her face. Apple Bloom lowered her hoof back onto the ground and looked back to Selena, who was still looking down at the ground with her ears lowered.

“Maybe me, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo can be your friends?” the farm filly asked in a hopeful tone. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo both nodded their heads in agreement.

“Yeah, I would like to be friends with you,” Sweetie Belle added.

“Count me in,” Scootaloo added.

Selena looked up from the ground and looked at Apple Bloom and all of her friends with wide eyes entered into a mild stupor. Their words echoed through her head, which only served to fuel her stupor even more. If Selena’s shock was any greater, she would have lost her balance and fall flat on her back.

Just before anypony could do anything, Selena recovered from her stupor just enough for her to do or say anything.

“R-really? You want to be my friends?” Selena asked in a soft disbelieving tone. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo all nodded their heads at the same time.

“We sure do!!” the three of them said at the same time with certainty present in their tones. Their answers brought Selena back into a mild stupor, only this time, she was in the right state of mind to think about what was happening properly.

At first, Selena was unsure about accepting their friendship. Despite the fact that they were friends with her sister, she was nervous about it because of the possibility of messing it up. They may seem friendly enough and they are showing genuine signs of wanting to be friends with her, she was afraid of the things that could cost her all of that.

First off, there were her wings, plus the fact that she was an alicorn. Although they seem okay with Nyx being an alicorn, as well as the fact that Nyx wasn’t wearing a disguise like Selena was, the three fillies had no clue that Selena herself was an alicorn as well. She had no idea how they would act if she was an alicorn, just like her sister.

Second off, there was the scar Selena had on her forehead just above her right eye. The scar is actually the one thing that she never told Nyx about. To this day, the scar on her forehead still hasn’t healed and the red flesh can still be seen. Selena didn’t want to think about how they would all react to it, including her sister.

Despite all of that, the offer of friendship was too tempting to pass up. Thinking about it now, Selena had always wanted to make friends with fillies and colts her age and now, an opportunity was presenting itself.

‘Maybe this could be the opportunity that I’ve been looking for,’ she thought to herself.

As soon as that thought passed through her mind, Selena had officially made her choice. A small smile spread across her face as she looked to Apple Bloom, the farm filly smiling back at her.

“I wouldn’t mind being friends,” she said softly, a single tear trailing down her left cheek and face. From that day on, Selena Sparkle befriended the Cutie Mark Crusaders.


***********************


As the two fillies walked down the pathway that led back to Ponyville, Silver Spoon thought back to what happened just a few moments ago. The silver-maned filly was still stunned upon learning that Selena, the new filly of the school, happens to be Nyx’s little sister. Out of all the things that Silver Spoon was least expecting, it was that.

Silver Spoon turned her head to her left, turning her attention to her friend and saw that she still had that wicked grin plastered on her face. Honestly, not only was Silver Spoon still stunned about learning the truth about the new filly, but she was also in disbelief about Diamond terrorizing somepony, something that Diamond never did before. If Silver Spoon had to be honest with herself, witnessing Diamond do that was… disturbing.

‘I have to talk to Diamond about this,’ the silver-maned filly thought to herself. ‘I think she went a bit too far back there.’

Silver Spoon took a deep breath before she proceeded to raise her left hoof and tap Diamond Tiara on the shoulder.

“Hey, Diamond?” Silver Spoon said as she tapped Diamond on her right shoulder.

Diamond Tiara turned her head to Silver Spoon, the wicked grin on her face softening to a smile. She didn’t notice the somewhat uneasy look that Silver Spoon had plastered on her face.

“Yes, Silver Spoon?” Diamond replied.

“I want to talk to you about something,” Silver Spoon said.

“Talk to me about what?” Diamond asked curiously, arching her left eye in the process.

“It’s about the new filly.”

“What about the new filly?”

“Well…” Silver Spoon hesitated for a moment before she finally asked the inevitable question. “Don’t you think that you’ve went a little too far back there?”

The question itself caught Diamond Tiara somewhat by surprise. She stopped dead in her tracks, Silver Spoon doing the same, and turned her body around so that she was facing her, Silver Spoon doing the same. In all of her years of being friends with Silver Spoon, Diamond Tiara wasn’t expecting the silver-maned filly to ask her such a thing. It was just, like, so out-of-character for her.

“A little too far?” Diamond asked. “What do you mean ‘a little too far’?”

“What I mean by that is; don’t you think you went a little too far by terrorizing the new filly back there?” Silver Spoon asked.

Diamond Tiara just simply stared at Silver Spoon like a lifeless statue for a long and tense moment. The moment was so tense that it could be cut easily like a hot knife cutting through a stick of butter.

Finally, Diamond gave Silver Spoon a response, but it wasn’t the kind of response that the silver-maned filly was hoping for.

“No, I don’t think I went too far.”

“No?” Silver Spoon said, giving the tiara-wearing filly an expression of slight disbelief. “What do you mean ‘no’? Didn’t you see how fearful she was? Didn’t you see the waterfall of tears that were trailing down her face? Didn’t you see how the filly was almost shaking like a leaf? How could you say that you didn’t go a little too far?”

“Because I didn’t, Silver Spoon,” Diamond said in a slightly annoyed tone. “And quite frankly, I don’t care now that I have the opportunity to get my revenge on Nightmare Moon for stealing Daddy away from me.”

Hearing Diamond mention an ‘opportunity’ instantly caught Silver Spoon’s attention and she gave the tiara-wearing filly a curious look.

“What ‘opportunity’?” Silver Spoon asked curiously as she arched her right eye.

“It’s quite simple, really,” Diamond said in a matter-of-factly manner. “Since the new filly is Nightmare Moon’s little sister, that means that she probably looks up to her since a lot of little sisters happen to do that. Because of that, that is where the opportunity comes in.”

“Which is?” Silver Spoon asked, cocking her head to the right.

“I’m going to have Nightmare Moon’s little sister turn against her,” the tiara-wearing filly said, the familiar wicked grin returning on her face.

The second those words left Diamond Tiara’s mouth, Silver Spoon felt her blood run cold. The silver-maned filly didn’t want to believe that Diamond Tiara is willing to go that low just to get revenge on Nyx for what happened all those years ago. She knew how low Diamond can be, but she never imagined that she would go this low.

Silver Spoon also knew how much Diamond Tiara was affected by her dad being taken from her and it has been something that the filly hasn't been able to fully recover from. From the countless times that she had sleepovers at her house after the incident, she can remember waking up in the middle of the night to Diamond Tiara whimpering, crying, and talking in a pleading tone to "please do not take Daddy away". Diamond Tiara was still plagued by those nightmares to this very day.

“W-why would you want to do that?” Silver Spoon asked in a slightly trembling voice.

“Because Nightmare Moon took somepony important to me,” Diamond said. “If Nightmare Moon took my Daddy away from me, then I will have somepony she cares about turn against her.”

“We can’t drag Nyx’s sister into all of this!!” Silver Spoon reasoned. “And by the way, turning Nyx’s sister against her?!?! That’s low, even for you Diamond and you know it!!”

“I don’t care!!” Diamond shouted. “That new filly is siblings with that monster so, like, I will drag her sister into this and I will have her turn against her!! Nightmare Moon will get her comeuppance very soon, you’ll see, Silver Spoon!!”

With that, Diamond Tiara turned and looked away from Silver Spoon and began walking down the pathway that led back to Ponyville, leaving the unnerved silver-maned filly alone.


********************


*AN HOUR LATER: ON THE WAY BACK TO THE LIBRARY*

“… and that’s what happened,” Selena said with a big smile on her face, the young filly wrapping up recounting what happened today at school to Twilight, the purple unicorn having a smile on her face, as the trio were walking through Ponyville heading in the direction of the library.

It had been about an hour since the ordeal with Diamond Tiara, as well as an hour since Selena had befriended the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Having fun with her 3 new friends was enough for the five-year-old filly to temporary forget about what happened with the tiara-wearing filly. Even after what happened with Diamond Tiara, it was safe to say that Selena’s first day of school went well.

Meanwhile, Nyx had a bad feeling form in the pit of her stomach. Her arch-nemesis’ words before she walked down the pathway back to Ponyville echoed in her mind and it made her feel very uneasy. The wicked grin that Diamond had on her face didn’t help matters either. Nyx knew that if Diamond had a smile like that on her face, she was up to no good.

‘I hope nothing bad happens for the duration of the school week,’ Nyx thought hopefully to herself.

However, as Nyx should have known, not all hopes can be answered.
> Chapter Three: A Talk Between Sisters
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

*SEPTEMBER 3RD: ON THE WAY TO THE SCHOOLHOUSE*
 
Selena walked down the long pathway that led to the Ponyville Schoolhouse with her new friends and her older sister walking alongside her; Apple Bloom and Scootaloo to her left and Sweetie Belle and Nyx to her right. The five fillies were talking, laughing, telling jokes, and just generally having a good time amongst themselves. Sweetie Belle was currently telling the five-year-old filly a funny story about what happened to Apple Bloom and Scootaloo during one of their attempts to try and earn their cutie marks, with Selena showing signs that she was going to burst into a huge fit of uncontrollable laughter.

A big smile adorned Nyx’s face as she watched her little sister getting along and having fun with the Cutie Mark Crusaders. It was nice to see Selena interacting with fillies other than Twilight’s friends. Not only that, but it was also nice for Selena to make and have new friends that she can hang-out and play with.

It wasn’t that Selena was in any way, shape or form a recluse, but it was because of the fact that Selena actually happens to be… an outcast amongst the ponies of Ponyville. Because of her sweet, innocent nature and behavior, interests, and views on certain topics, as well as beliefs, Selena has been looked down upon by the ponies of Ponyville, including that of the fillies and colts, as the town’s local outcast. It was because of this that many of the fillies and colts began to bully the poor filly due to her being much different from the rest of the other ponies. It was also because of this that Selena would tend to do things in order to impress other ponies just so that she could fit in, with many of them being outright dangerous.

It was actually because of this that Selena became insecure and unsure about herself, always doubting herself and her ability to make friends. It was due to these insecurities and the constant bullying that drove Selena to avoid other ponies and only feeling comfortable around others that she knew like Twilight, Nyx, Spike, and the other members of the Mane Six.

The smile that was plastered on Nyx’s face instantly vanished and was replaced with a frown. Since the day that the bullying had begun, Nyx had been acutely aware of her sister’s insecurities and she has expressed her concerns about them with Twilight. Nyx had also suspected that the bullying had some connections to what led her sister to run away.

‘I wish it never had come to that,’ Nyx thought to herself, the frown on her face growing at the thought.

“Are you serious?!” Selena exclaimed as she laughed. The sudden shout and laugh snapped Nyx out of her thoughts. She turned her head to her left to see Selena laughing in hysterics.

Sweetie Belle simply nodded her head, which only served to cause Selena to laugh much harder and louder than before.

“I’m serious alright,” Sweetie Belle replied. “It took Apple Bloom and Scootaloo about half an hour to wash off all the tree sap and unstick their flanks from each other.”

Both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo simply rolled their eyes in amusement as they watched Selena laugh uncontrollably at the story Sweetie Belle was telling her. It was a very embarrassing moment for the two fillies and it was one that they have been trying to live down. They were solely focused on the laughing filly that they didn’t pick up the light sounds of giggling coming from Nyx.

It took about 5 minutes for Selena’s laughing fit to finally come to an end. When it did, Selena began the slow process of calming herself down, taking slow, deep breaths and wiping away tears that were trailing down her face during her laughing fit. When Selena fully calmed down, she turned her head to Sweetie Belle and looked her in the eyes.

“That has to be one of the funniest stories that I’ve ever heard,” Selena said.

“Glad to see that you find it so amusing,” Scootaloo replied in a very sarcastic tone, to which Selena took no notice before something instantly clicked in her brain. “Speaking of which, I came up with an idea on how we can earn our cutie marks last night that we should all try out a few hours after school today.”

This immediately caught everypony’s attention and they turned their heads to the orange Pegasus. Before any of the fillies could utter a single word, their ears twitched for they have picked up the familiar sound of a bell ringing in the distance. They looked ahead and in the distance, they saw the familiar silhouette of the schoolhouse up ahead.

“Looks like we made it,” Selena said with a smile.

“Looks like it,” Apple Bloom replied.

“Last one there is a rotten egg!!” Scootaloo declared before she took off galloping down the pathway towards the schoolhouse.

A competitive smirk formed on Apple Bloom’s face before she too began galloping down the pathway towards the schoolhouse, quickly catching up to the orange Pegasus in the process. Both Sweetie Belle and Nyx smirked before they too followed after their two friends. Selena, on the other hoof, just watched with intrigue and curiosity.

‘Must be something they do all the time,’ Selena thought to herself as she continued walking towards the schoolhouse.


*************************


“Good morning, class!” Miss. Cheerilee greeted in her usually happy and cheerful manner.

“Good morning, Miss. Cheerilee,” the class said, some of them were out of respect, some were to just please the mare, while two members of the class said it in an excited manner; those happened to be Selena, who happened to have the biggest smile on her face, and Nyx.

“Today’s lesson will be about the foundation of Ponyville,” Cheerilee said with a smile on her face.

All of the fillies and colts, except for Nyx and Twist, let out a loud bored sigh at the mention of the subject. Miss. Cheerilee’s smile began to weaken slowly after that happened. Her students, for a majority of the time, never expressed interest in any of the lessons she taught to them, usually falling asleep at some point during her lessons. Although the mulberry Earth Pony never showed it, seeing her students react like this was… hurtful.

Ever since she was a little filly, Cheerilee loved the idea of granting the gift of knowledge to other ponies and had the big dream about becoming a teacher. When she earned her cutie mark when she was in her mid-adult years, Cheerilee began her journey of fulfilling her dream of becoming a teacher. Months later, Cheerilee’s longtime dream became reality when she got the job to become a teacher at the Ponyville Schoolhouse and has been granting the gift of knowledge to countless fillies and colts ever since.

It always hurt the mulberry Earth Pony whenever her students behaved like this.

Just before Miss. Cheerilee’s smile could fully weaken and disappear completely from her face, something happened; something truly remarkable happened that caught Cheerilee and all the fillies and colts by surprise and this surprise ignited a small spark of happiness in the Earth Pony’s heart.

“YAY!!” It was a happy cry that had come from the new student, Selena, who had the biggest smile on her face and was hopping on her chair with uncontainable and uncontrolled excitement. “I’ve always wanted to know about the foundation of Ponyville!! This is going to be fun!!”

The smile returned on Miss. Cheerilee’s face upon seeing the amount of excitement and enthusiasm that Selena was displaying. It was honestly a nice and refreshing change, to say the least; a change that was needed. Aside from Nyx, who would usually ask questions just before recess began, Selena was the first pony in a long time to display genuine excitement, interest, and enthusiasm at the prospect of learning.

The other fillies and colts, aside from Nyx, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and Twist, were looking at Selena like she had just gone completely insane and gave her weird looks. They couldn’t understand how their new classmate could be so excited about this. For all they knew, the lessons were boring since they knew about some of these subjects. In their eyes alone, their new classmate was downright… weird.

Miss. Cheerilee proceeded to the chalkboard and grabbed hold of a small piece of chalk before turning her head back to her class.

“Without further ado, let’s begin,” Miss. Cheerilee said as she began writing on the chalkboard.


*************************


A big smile adorned Selena’s face as Miss. Cheerilee continued on with the lesson, the five-year-old filly jotting down notes in the process. To your average filly and colt, the lesson would appear boring and many would just drown out their teacher’s words, while the rest of the class would pass out from boredom. Selena, on the other hoof, gave it her uttermost attention, like it was the most important thing in the world, and jotted down notes so that she can show Twilight what she learned in school.

As Selena was jotting down more notes, something hard, wet, and slimy struck her pretty hard in the back of her head, causing her head to jolt forward. She stopped what she was doing and began looking around to see if she could find whatever it was that had struck her in the back of the head. When she couldn’t find what she was looking for, Selena began on rummaging through her mane with her right hoof to see if whatever it was that hit her was stuck in her mane.

It didn’t take Selena to find what it was that struck her. Her hoof came into contact with something small, wet, and very slimy. She grabbed hold of the object and removed it from her mane. Moving her hoof away from her head, Selena held her hoof in front of her face and then began to inspect the object closely.

The object that hit her was about the size of a bit and it was covered in this slimy and foamy-like substance that looked to be saliva. Selena didn’t have the foggiest idea on what the object was, but what the five-year-old filly can tell was that the object appeared to be made out of paper.

Thinking nothing of it, Selena flicked her hoof and the slimy object came flying off her hoof and vanished. She wiped her hoof on her flank before she went back to jotting down notes. For the rest of the lesson, Selena kept getting struck by those slimy ball-like objects, but she did her best to ignore it and stay focused on her schoolwork.

Unbeknownst to the five-year-old filly, a certain tiara-wearing filly was snickering sinisterly as she continued on peppering the back of the filly’s head with spitballs. This particular action didn’t go unnoticed by a certain alicorn and three fillies; the alicorn, the earth, and the pegasus giving the tiara-wearing filly a hardcore glare.

Nyx, in particular, was absolutely livid with seeing the sight of her most hated enemy picking on her little sister by peppering the back of her head with spitballs whenever Cheerilee wasn’t looking. Nyx had no clue on how Selena could stay focused on her schoolwork while getting repeatedly struck by spitballs, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was first, getting all those spitballs out of Selena’s mane during recess and two, have a ‘nice’ little chat with Diamond Tiara.


*************************


A few hours later, the school bell rung and all the fillies and colts came charging out of the schoolhouse for recess like their lives depended on it, as they all usually did. As the fillies and colts played together in the playground, five certain fillies were sitting underneath the shade of the tree that stood on top of the hill that overlooked the schoolhouse.

Nyx was helping her sister on removing the spitballs that Diamond Tiara pelted her with. An angry expression adorned the alicorn’s face as each spitball was magically removed from her sister’s mane. Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo also had an angry expression plastered on their faces. Sweetie Belle also had an angry expression, albeit not as intense as the others.

“I swear, if I see Diamond Tiara pull something like this again, I’m going to buck her to next week,” Scootaloo growled through gritted teeth, her wings flaring as high as her temper.

“You and me both, Scootaloo,” Nyx said. After she removed the last spitball from Selena’s mane, her expression softened. “Okay Selena, I’m done.”

Selena turned her body around so that she was facing her older sister and her friends, and she gave Nyx a small smile.

“Thanks, Nyxie,” Selena said, and she ran her left hoof through her mane. The filly grimaced a little when her hoof came into contact with the wet spots that were left behind by the spitballs. “Though I’m going to have to take a bath when we get home.”

“We can worry about that later,” Nyx said as the angry expression had begun to slowly creep back onto her face. “Right now, I’m going to have a talk with Diamond Tiara.”

As soon as Nyx said that, Selena immediately went a bit wide-eyed and an uneasy feeling formed in the pit of her stomach. She didn’t like the idea of her older sister confronting Diamond Tiara for she knew how that was going to play out. 

Something in the back of her mind told her that it was best to stop Nyx from confronting Diamond and just simply ignore her and honestly, Selena couldn’t agree more with this feeling.

Nyx turned around and she began walking away to begin her search for Diamond Tiara. However, she was only able to take two steps before she felt a pair of hooves grab hold of her right hindleg firmly. She turned her head to look behind her, and to her uttermost shock, she saw Selena clutching her hindleg firmly in her hooves, a stern expression plastered on her face.

“Selena, what are you doing?” Nyx asked before she began shaking and tugging her hindleg to break free from Selena’s grasp, but Selena refused to let go.

Eventually, Nyx stopped trying to break free and she gave her sister a firm look.

“Let go of my leg, Selena,” she said sternly.

“No,” Selena said in a very stern tone, which caught Nyx a little bit by surprise. The black-furred alicorn had never heard her sister talk in such a manner like this before, and it took her aback slightly.

“No?” Nyx asked curiously. “What do you mean ‘no’?”

“I mean that I don’t want you to confront Diamond Tiara about this,” Selena replied. “The best thing to do is to just ignore her and forget about it. It’s not that big of a deal.”

“Not that big of a deal? Not that big of a deal?!” Scootaloo repeated before she snorted angrily. “Selena, are you out of your mind?!?! She pelted you with spitballs and you think that we should just ‘forget about it’?!”

“Yes, I do,” Selena said in that same stern tone. “It will become a big deal if any of you try to confront Diamond Tiara about it. It’s better to get pelted with spitballs than being called a freak or a creep every day.”

Scootaloo proceeded to give Selena the look that a pony would give if they saw somepony grow a second or even a third head out of nowhere.

“And how is ignoring Diamond Tiara going to get her to stop?” Scootaloo asked her curiously, her angry expression having soften a bit.

“Because by doing so, Diamond will eventually get bored, lose interest, and find somepony else to pick on,” Selena replied. “I’ve learned that after I decided to just ignore the bullying when I couldn’t deal with it anymore.”

Nyx, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo all looked at each other with surprise as they took in on what Selena had just said. Eventually, they looked back at Selena, who still held Nyx’s right hindleg in her hooves.

“Does that explain why you’ve stopped coming home down in the dumps for the past few months?” Nyx asked her.

“Yes, it does,” Selena replied and she finally let go of her sister’s hindleg.

“Well, now with that out of the way,” Apple Bloom turned her head to face Scootaloo, who was sitting beside her to her left, “Scootaloo, you said something about you coming up with an idea on how we can earn our cutie marks in our next cutie mark crusading trip that we should try out a few hours after school?”

Scootaloo turned to face Apple Bloom, a prideful expression plastered on her face.

“I sure did!!” Scootaloo beamed with pride. “We will earn our cutie marks for sure this time!! It will be so AWESOME!!”

Selena cocked her head to the left, a curious expression plastered on her face. She had never heard of this ‘cutie mark crusading’ before so naturally, she had become curious as to what that was.

“Cutie mark crusading?” Selena asked with immense curiosity. “What is cutie mark crusading?”

“It’s where me and my friends try out different things to try and earn our cutie marks,” Nyx replied. “Although me and Twist already have our cutie marks, we still participate in cutie mark crusading.”

Selena began tapping her chin with her right hoof as she took in on what Nyx said. The idea of cutie mark crusading sounded… really fun to the five-year-old filly, exciting even. Whatever it was that Scootaloo had in mind, she was making it sound like the most exciting thing in the world.

“Hey, Scootaloo?” Selena said. The Pegasus turned to face the filly in response to hearing her name. “What is it that you have in mind that you think will help you, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle earn your cutie marks?”

“I can’t tell you what it is for it is a surprise,” Scootaloo said, a smirk plastered on her face, “but what I can tell you is that it’s super AWESOME!!”

“Well, is it okay if I can join you girls in this?” Selena asked. “You are making it sound like a lot of fun and I really want to come along. Can I? Please?”

Selena gave her new friends the most adorable set of puppy eyes any of them had ever seen, along with the most adorable smile that has ever adorned anypony’s face before. The Cutie Mark Crusaders couldn’t help but lightly chuckle at the adorable display the filly was giving.

Nyx, on the other hoof, was a little bit nervous and apprehensive at this.  She had no idea or any clue on whatever it was that Scootaloo had in mind, but knowing her, it was going to be something… daring. To top it off, Selena is expressing the desire on joining them on what Scootaloo had in mind.

In all honesty, Nyx really didn’t want her little sister to come along for the fear that Scootaloo’s idea was going to be something dangerous. The last thing she wanted was for Selena to get seriously hurt, or worse. She really wanted to tell Selena that she couldn’t, but out of nowhere, a thought popped up in her head.

‘As long as I keep an eye on her, I can keep her safe from danger,’ she thought to herself. 

The thought did help ease Nyx’s nerves a bit, but the apprehension still remained. Nevertheless, as long as she stood by her sister’s side, then she can keep an eye on her to make sure that she stayed safe.

Nyx let out a small convincing chuckle before she placed her left hoof on Selena’s shoulder. The five-year-old filly turned her head to face her older sister.

“Well, I don’t see any reason to not include her,” Nyx said with a bit of a convincing smile. Selena turned her head back to her friends with a hopeful smile, silently hoping that they will allow her to come along.

Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo all looked at each other for a moment as Selena watched and waited with anticipation. Countless thoughts of them saying that she can’t join crossed her mind and they made her heart sink a little bit. She had been rejected many times by countless fillies and colts if she can participate in activities with them over the years, and she didn’t know what she would do if it happened again.

A long and tense moment later, the 3 fillies all looked back to the sisters and Selena’s hopes risen a little bit upon seeing the smiles on their faces.

“Sure, she can come along,” they all said at the same time. The moment that those words left their mouths, an overwhelming feeling of joy burst in her heart and a single tear rolled down her right cheek.

“YAY!!!” the five-year-old filly shouted happily as she began hopping with excitement.

Nyx watched this as a single thought played in her mind.

‘I hope that I don’t end up regretting this.’

Selena was so absorbed in her excitement and Nyx was so lost in thought that they failed to hear what Scootaloo said next, to which the Pegasus failed to notice. It also happened to be a very important bit of information and due to her excitement, Selena failed to take notice of it. If Selena had taken notice or heard this bit of what Scootaloo had said, then what would happen next a few hours later with the two sisters wouldn’t have taken place.

“We’ll be coming over to the library to come get you girls by 3:00 PM.  Be ready by then.”


**************************


*4 HOURS LATER: GOLDEN OAKS LIBRARY*

*KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK*

Twilight removed her nose from the book that she was currently reading and turned her attention to the front door behind her. She was curious as to who it could be that was knocking on the other side of the front door but nonetheless, she put a smile on her face.

“Coming!!” she called out. She placed a bookmark in between the pages of the book, closed it, and rested it on the table.

Twilight stood up from her seated position and walked over to the door.  Reaching the door, Twilight grabbed hold of the doorknob with her magic, twisted the knob, and pulled the door open. With the door fully opened, Twilight quickly found out who it was that knocked on the door.

Standing on the doorstep was Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo with helmets strapped on their heads; Apple Bloom was wearing a red one, Sweetie Belle was wearing a blue one, and Scootaloo was wearing a purple one. Parked behind them was Scootaloo’s scooter with a small wooden red wagon that looked big enough to hold at least 4 fillies attached to the back of the scooter.

The smile that was plastered on Twilight’s face grew a tiny bit more as she made eye contact with the three fillies.

“Hi girls,” Twilight greeted warmly.

“Hiya Twilight,” they all greeted back at the same time.

“Are Selena and Nyx home?” Scootaloo asked. Twilight nodded her head in response.

“Yes, they are,” Twilight replied. “Nyx is upstairs reading and Selena is in the bathroom taking a bath.”

“Is it okay if they can come out to play?” Sweetie Belle asked. “We are going to try out this new idea that Scootaloo had come up with that will help us earn our cutie marks and we said that we would come by at around 3.”

Twilight couldn’t help but smile at this. It just so happened that 4 hours ago when she came to pick her daughters up from school, Selena had excitedly told her that her friends were going cutie mark crusading a few hours after school and that she was allowed to come along. To hear that her youngest was going to hang out playing with fillies that she knew brought a great and refreshing feeling in her heart.

“I don’t see any reason why they can’t,” Twilight said before looking away to face the stairwell and call out her daughter’s names. “SELENA!! NYX!!”


**************************


In the upstairs bedroom, Nyx was lying in her bed on her back reading a book to help pass the time, waiting for her friends to arrive to tell her that it was time for them to go cutie mark crusading. Normally, Nyx was excited to go cutie mark crusading with her friends, as she usually did, but this time, it was different now that her little sister was going to come along.

Out of all the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Scootaloo was usually the one who came up with the more ‘daring’ and ‘awesome’ attempts on how she, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle can finally earn their cutie marks once and for all. Because of Scootaloo’s daredevil and thrill-seeking personality, many of her ideas consisted of activities that were more risky and a bit more dangerous. She was really concerned about whatever it was Scootaloo had in mind. She really hoped that it wasn’t going to be anything really dangerous.

“SELENA!! NYX!!”

The voice of Twilight calling out her and Selena’s name snapped her out of her thoughts. Nyx rested the book on her stomach as gently and carefully as she could as to not damage the pages.

“Yeah?” she called back.

“Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo are here,” Twilight replied back. “Can you go get your sister and let her know that they’re here?”

“Sure thing,” Nyx called back. She placed a bookmark in between the pages and set the book to the right side of the bed. She rolled out of bed and walked out of the bedroom, closing the door behind her.

“Oh, and can you make sure that Selena hasn’t fallen asleep in the tub again?” Twilight suddenly called out. “You know how she has the tendency to fall asleep whenever she is bathing or soaking in the tub.”

“Okay.”

Nyx walked down the hallway, stopped right by the bathroom door, turned to face it, and knocked a few times.


*KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK*


“Selena?” Nyx called out as loud as she could, hoping that it was loud enough for her sister to hear. There was no response, which instantly gave Nyx the impression that Selena had fallen asleep during her bath.

Letting out a soft sigh, she grasped the doorknob with her magic and then twisted it to the right. With the knob fully turned, Nyx slowly pushed opened the door and stepped into the bathroom.


**************************


If one were to walk into the bathroom, they would rightfully believe it to be vacant since there wasn’t any indication of anypony or anything in the room. However, that belief would be thrown out the window if one took the time to take a small peek inside the tub to spot the familiar dark gray filly lying down on her back completely submerged in water. Many would mistakenly believe that the filly was dead since she wasn’t showing any signs of movement as the filly was completely still as a statue, rightfully believing that the filly had drowned in the tub. However, the young filly was alive and well for the young five-year-old filly was smart enough to use a water breathing spell so that she can breathe while submerged in water, and if one were to look closely, they would catch the faintest sight of her chest rising and falling.

Selena was lying in the tub flat on her back with her eyes closed as she soaked in the water. She loved soaking during her baths because she loved the way the water felt and flowed around her body, as well as the warmth that permeated all throughout her entire body. It was the kind of warmth that could literally put anypony to sleep in a matter of a few seconds. It was also the kind of warmth that was capable of washing any negative emotions away and put their minds at ease.

That was exactly what has happened; at some point while she was soaking in the water, Selena had fallen asleep, and due to being a heavy sleeper, she didn’t hear the sound of her mother calling out her name, as well as the sounds of Nyx knocking on the bathroom door a few moments later nor the sounds of the bathroom door opening. She had no clue or idea she was going to be woken up by her older sister a moment later.



Once she fully entered the bathroom, Nyx slowly walked over to the tub as to not make too much noise. There were times where she was asked by Twilight to check up on her to make sure that the filly wasn’t sleeping. And some of those times, Selena had woken up and upon catching sight of Nyx, she would let out a small scream before she proceeded to whack her repeatedly on the head with the shower brush that was kept beside the tub until she left the bathroom.

Upon reaching the tub, Nyx grasped onto the rims of the tub and peered her head to see inside. Sure enough, there was Selena knocked out cold in the tub, her body completely submerged in water. Nyx couldn’t help but roll her eyes in amusement at this. She had no clue as to how Selena could fall asleep in such an uncomfortable place like this, but honestly, it wasn’t the time for her to wonder or question it.

Nyx turned her head to the right to see the shower brush was up against the tub. She grasped it with her magic, levitated it over the left side of her head, turned her attention back to her sister, and then proceeded to softly poke her with it. She saw Selena beginning to stir but wasn’t close on waking up so Nyx proceeded to poke Selena with the brush a bit harder.

After a few more pokes with the shower brush, Selena slowly sat up in the tub, her rich blue mane covering her eyes and face. Selena pushed aside the strands of her mane from her face and began rubbing her eyes with her hooves. After rubbing the fog of sleep from her eyes, Selena turned her head and looked up to see Nyx looking at her with the shower brush levitating by the left side of her head.

“Nyxie, what are you doing in here?” Selena said groggily. “You know I don’t like it when you walk in here when I’m soaking or taking a bath.”

“And you know that Mom doesn’t like it when you fall asleep in the tub every time you soak or bathe in it,” Nyx replied back in a jokingly tone.

“I can’t help it,” Selena replied. “The warmth the water provides is just so soothing that I can’t help but fall asleep. At least I’m smart enough to use a water breathing spell before it happens.”

“I’ll give you credit for that,” Nyx said and the two siblings chuckled for a little bit before calming down.

“So, why are you in here?” Selena asked curiously.

“Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo are here waiting for us and Twilight asked me to make sure that you didn’t fall asleep in the tub,” Nyx replied.

As soon as Nyx said that, Selena went a bit wide-eyed and she hopped onto her hindlegs, placed her front hooves on the walls of the tub, and she pressed her face onto Nyx’s, the latter moving her neck back a little.

“They’re here?!” Selena exclaimed in horror, which took Nyx by complete surprise.

“Uhhh… yes, they are,” Nyx said in a cautious manner. “Why are you so concerned about this all of a sudden?”

There was a very good reason as to why Selena was concerned about that all of a sudden; she was concerned because their friends didn’t know that she was an alicorn just like Nyx, and she was sincerely afraid that they could call off their friendship and shun her just like how the other fillies and colts have done.

Another reason was that she wasn’t wearing her necklace. She placed it on the table in the main lobby before she went upstairs to go take a bath before resorting to soaking in the tub. She couldn’t risk going downstairs to get it for the risk of them finding out her secret.

Selena looked Nyx dead in the eyes for a few agonizing moments before she finally broke it.

“Why am I concerned? Why am I concerned?!” she repeated frantically. “Nyxie, there’s a reason as to why this is very concerning!!”

Selena removed her face away from Nyx’s, moved over a little to the left and hopped out of the tub. She walked over to the towel rack that stood up against the wall a few inches away from the toilet, igniting her horn, and levitated a small gray towel from the highest shelf. As she began drying herself off with the towel, she expressed her concern clear as day.

“Nyxie, they don’t know that I’m an alicorn just like you, and I’m really afraid of what they will do or react if they find out about this. And second, I placed my necklace on the table in the main lobby before I came in the bathroom to soak. I can’t go down there to go retrieve it for the risk of them seeing me like this.”

After fully drying off her body, Selena began drying off both her mane and tail, and she continued expressing her concern to her sister.

“Nyxie, I’m really, really afraid of what they would do if they found out about this. What if they call off their friendship with me? What if they shun me just like the other fillies and colts? What if… they…”

The fear of what Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo would do upon finding out about her being an alicorn was starting to become too much for the filly. As Selena finished drying off her tail, the magic around her horn faded and the now damp towel fell onto the ground with an audible ‘plop’. Tears began welling up in her eyes as her lower lip began quivering slightly.

There was a short moment of silence before Selena broke it.

“I don’t know what I would do if that happened,” Selena said, her voice trembling slightly. “I know they have been my friends for only two days, but I don’t want to risk losing them. I don’t… want… to…”

Selena shut her eyes tightly as her body began trembling and the tears that were welling up in her eyes began trailing down her face. A frown formed on Nyx’s face upon taking in what Selena had said. She understood Selena’s fears completely and she could relate to them in a way, but she knew Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo well and she knew for a fact that they would never do such a thing.

She remembered how she revealed her wings to her friends a few years ago. She was afraid that they would get jealous of her having both a horn and wings just as Rarity told her sometime prior. To her shock, surprise, and confusion, they expressed that they weren’t jealous and accepted her for who she is, still remaining as her friends today.

After the memory faded, Nyx walked over to Selena, sat down beside to her left and wrapped her right foreleg around her. The sudden contact caught the filly by surprise. Her eyes shot wide open and she turned her head to Nyx, who offered a comforting smile.

“Selena, I know that you’re scared, but trust me when I tell you that they will never do such a thing,” Nyx said in a comforting tone. “I’ve been friends with them for years and they are the best group of friends you could ever have. When I became friends with them, I was afraid that they would become jealous of me having both a horn and wings. One night, we played a game called ‘Truth or Challenge’, which is our variation of the game ‘Truth or Dare’, and when it was my turn, I had decided to show them my secret and do you want to know what happened?”

Selena thought about it for a moment before nodding her head, curious as to what happened.

“They weren’t jealous at all. They accepted me for who I am and they remained as my friends to this day.”

“What are you trying to say, Nyxie?” Selena asked with uncertainty, tears still trailing down her face.

“What I’m saying is that there is nothing to be afraid of. I’ve been best friends with them for years and they are not the kind of ponies who will judge you for who you are. If they did, they wouldn’t be considered friends.  The point is that you can trust them, Selena. Just because they’ve only been your friends for like two days doesn’t mean that they don’t care about you as much as they care about me.”

Nyx removed her foreleg from her sister’s back before she wrapped it around Selena’s left foreleg and continued on with what she was saying.

“They care about you, Selena, and you can always trust them to be by your side and have your back. Just yesterday before we went home after school, they expressed to me on how much fun you were and how great it was to be around you. Believe me when I say this Selena; they generally like you and you don’t have to be afraid of them shunning or abandoning you because that is something true friends will never do. Do you believe me?”

Selena looked at her sister with wide eyes as she took in on what was said to her before looking away from her sister, her eyes looking down at the floor. Maybe Nyx was right; maybe they wouldn’t shun or abandon her over her being an alicorn. Maybe they might accept her for who she is and still remain as her friends. Maybe… they can be trusted. Maybe… there really is nothing to be afraid of and that everything will be okay.

As those thoughts played in her head, a smile slowly began to spread across her face. She believed and trusted Nyx completely. Why wouldn’t she? Nyx was her sister and she had been friends with those fillies for a long time. Not only that, but she also knew that Nyx wouldn’t lie to her just to help her feel better.

Relief flowed throughout her body and the smile on her face grew even more. Turning to look back at her sister, Selena removed her foreleg from Nyx’s grasp and lunged forward, wrapping her forelegs around her sister, giving her a hug. Nyx wrapped her forelegs around her sister, returning the hug.

“Thank you, Nyxie,” Selena said softly. “I needed that. I love you.”

“I love you too, Selena,” Nyx replied back before the two sisters ended their hug. Just as they did, they heard Twilight call out.

“Selena!! Nyx!! Is everything okay up there?”

“Yes Mom,” Selena replied. “Me and Nyxie were talking about something; nothing major or anything.”

“Well come on, your friends are waiting for you both!!” Twilight called out before everything went silent for a moment.

“Now let’s get out of here and get you ready,” said Nyx. “We shouldn’t keep them waiting any longer. And don’t even worry about your necklace. I will go retrieve it for you if that helps.”

“Okay!!” Selena said cheerfully and the two sisters exited out of the bathroom and closing the door behind them, inadvertently leaving behind a damp gray towel on the bathroom floor and a tub that was filled halfway full of water.


************************


Ten minutes after their conversation in the bathroom, and Nyx helping Selena getting ready, the two siblings came downstairs and entered the main lobby, to which they were greeted by a very annoyed Scootaloo.

“It’s about time you two came down,” Scootaloo said in an annoyed tone. “What took you so long?”

Selena and Nyx looked at each other as small smiles spread across their faces. After a moment, they looked back to their friends, with Scootaloo tapping on the floor with her left hoof.

“Well, me and Nyxie were just having a sister-to-sister conversation,” Selena answered truthfully.

“Well come on then, let’s go!!” Scootaloo said before she charged out of the library and hopped onto her scooter. The Pegasus turned her head to her friends and began waving them over with her right hoof.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle both walked out of the library and hopped into the wagon. Selena and Nyx shortly began heading towards the wagon before they were stopped by Twilight, who immediately stepped in front of the doorway. The purple unicorn had a bit of a stern expression on her face and upon seeing this, the two siblings knew that Twilight was about to tell them something.

“Before you girls head out, I want to talk to you both,” Twilight began to say. “For starters, I want you both home by 6 for dinnertime.”

“Okay!” they both said at the same time. Twilight turned her attention to Nyx and looked her in the eyes.

“Nyx, I need you to keep an eye on your sister and make sure she stays safe and out of trouble,” the purple unicorn said in a stern tone.

“I will,” Nyx responded as she nodded her head, quickly remembering her previous idea. Twilight then turned her attention to Selena, the young filly giving the unicorn the uttermost attention.

“And as for you Selena, do whatever your sister tells you to do and please try not to do anything risky,” Twilight said in a stern, but also pleading tone.

“Okay Mom,” Selena replied with a small smile. The stern expression left Twilight’s face, which was replaced by a small smile.

“With that out of the way, have a fun time,” the unicorn said and she stepped out of the way. Selena and Nyx both gave their mother a quick hug before they walked out of the library and hopped onto the wagon.

“Alright then, let’s roll!!” Scootaloo said before the scooter began speeding down the street and disappearing out of sight in just a matter of a few seconds.
> Intermission 2: Diamond Tiara's Evil Plan
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

*SUGARCUBE CORNER: 2 HOURS AND 30 MINUTES PRIOR*
 
The small gold bell that hung above the front door rung as Silver Spoon entered the bakery. The overpowering smell of the countless baked goods that permeated the air filled Silver Spoon’s nostrils, almost making the silver-maned filly want to drool but she had better control of herself. Silver Spoon wasn’t here to get a tasty snack, however. In fact, she was only here because a certain filly had asked her to meet her here after school.


**********************


*1 HOUR AND 30 MINUTES PRIOR: PONYVILLE SCHOOLHOUSE*


Silver Spoon was the second to last of her classmates to walk out of the schoolhouse for recess. Standing by the schoolhouse steps, Silver Spoon watched her classmates having fun with the playground equipment, laughing and generally having a good time. After watching her classmates for a while, her eyes drifted to the tree that sat on top of the large hill and caught sight of the familiar forms of the five fillies sitting underneath the shade of the tree. Even from a distance, she saw Nyx was behind Selena and she had a feeling that the black-furred alicorn was cleaning out the spitballs from the filly’s mane.

“Hey, Silver Spoon!!” came the voice of her best friend, Diamond Tiara. Silver Spoon turned behind her and saw the tiara-wearing filly stepping out of the schoolhouse and proceed on walking over to her. “How boring was that lesson?”

“Very boring,” Silver Spoon said, a smirk forming on her face.

“And did you see how the new filly acted when Miss. Cheerilee mentioned what we were going to learn today?” Diamond asked before making a face. “What a complete weirdo!! Hopping up and down on her chair like that? Double the weirdness!!”

“She also called the lesson ‘fun’,” Silver Spoon pointed out, “so that makes her triple weird!”

“So true, Silver Spoon,” Diamond Tiara said in agreement. “So anyway, I’ve come up with a plan to turn Nightmare Moon’s little sister against her and we will be discussing it at Sugarcube Corner after school.”

The smirk that was plastered on Silver Spoon’s face instantly vanished and a frown took its place. It seemed that Diamond Tiara was still bent on turning Selena against Nyx, and that alone scared the filly for some odd reason. Either it was because of this so-called plan the tiara-wearing filly had or how willing Diamond was to go this low, Silver Spoon didn’t have a clue or the answer. Nevertheless, it scared the silver-maned filly to no end.

“Oh,… you do?” Silver Spoon asked, trying her best to hide the anxiety she was feeling.

“I sure do!” Diamond said with pride. “Remember, meet me at Sugarcube Corner after school. You’re going to love what I’ve come up with, I’m sure of it.”

‘I have a feeling I won’t,’ Silver Spoon thought to herself.


*************************


*PRESENT DAY*

“Hey, Silver Spoon!”

The voice of Diamond Tiara calling out her name snapped Silver Spoon out of her thoughts. She turned her head to her right at where it had come from. Sitting at their usual spot right next to the window was her friend and she was waving her left hoof in the air as if she was trying to get her attention.

Silver Spoon walked over to the table and sat down at the far left end of the table. There was a long pause before Diamond spoke up.

“It’s about time you showed up,” she said in her usually snobbish tone. “What took you so long, Silvie?”

“Well… um…” it was all Silver Spoon was able to say before Diamond had cut her off.

“You know what, never mind. You’re here and that’s all that matters. Anyways, let’s cut to the chase.”

A wicked smirk spread across the tiara-wearing filly’s face and Silver Spoon felt an involuntary chill run up her spine. No matter how many times Diamond gave that smirk, it always gave her the chills. Whenever Diamond had that smirk on her face, it was never anything good.

“For 5 years, any plan to get back at Nightmare Moon has failed or has been thwarted by her friends, the Blank Flank Crusaders. I hate to say and admit it, but I began to believe that I’ll never get my revenge on Nightmare Moon. That is, until now.”

The smirk on Diamond’s face grew even wider than ever before, which made Silver Spoon become very uneasy. The uneasiness was now getting to the point where small beads of sweat were beginning to form on the silver-maned filly’s forehead.

“So last night, I came up with, like, a wonderful plan that will surely teach Nightmare Moon a lesson.” The smirk finally left Diamond’s face and a somewhat uncomfortable expression took its place, something that took Silver Spoon by surprise. “I’ll admit it, this plan is one that I had a pretty tough time debating whether to go through with it completely or not, but sometimes, you have to do things you don’t like in order to achieve your goals.”

This instantly caught Silver Spoon’s attention and she became genuinely curious as to why Diamond Tiara had a hard time on whether to go through with whatever plan she came up with or not. From what she said, this plan had something to do with doing something that she didn’t like, but what in Equestria that was is what Silver Spoon was currently trying to figure out.

‘Whatever it is, it must have been a very uncomfortable decision for her,’ Silver Spoon thought to herself, turning her head to the right to look at the floor. ‘If that is the case, what was it?’

Silver Spoon wasn’t an idiot; she knew that whatever it was Diamond had in mind, there could be a number of reasons as to why she had a hard time going through with it. The problem was coming up with those reasons as to why and that alone was difficult in itself. Whatever it was, the plan was great enough to make Diamond Tiara a bit uncomfortable. That was something that Silver Spoon thought and believed to be impossible.

“Hey, Silver Spoon?”

The voice snapped Silver Spoon out of her thoughts and she returned her attention back to Diamond Tiara, who was now giving her a very curious expression.

“Are you even listening to me? I was about to tell you my genius plan when I saw that you were just, like, looking out into outer space. Is everything alright?”

“Y-yeah, I’m fine,” Silver Spoon said rather quickly. Diamond looked her in the eyes for a bit before letting it go.

“Pfft, whatever,” she said before the familiar smirk reappeared on her face. “Anyways, here’s the plan, how it’s going to work, and why it’s going to go down this path.”

Diamond Tiara took a deep breath and began to lay out the details first before deciding to lay out her plan.

“Due to my… history with Nightmare Moon, there is no way in Celestia’s name that she’s going to let me get anywhere near her sister or even go as far as to try and speak to her, and no doubt those blanks flanks will be protecting her as well. That is where you come in, Silver Spoon.”

Once again, that uneasy feeling returned while at the same time, Silver Spoon felt a surge of curiosity become mixed with the uneasiness. The filly had no clue on how she was going to fit into all of this, but something deep down was telling her that it wasn’t anything good.

“What do you mean by that, Diamond?” Silver Spoon asked as she tried to hide her uneasiness as best as possible.

“I’m glad you asked, Silver Spoon,” Diamond said, her smirk growing a little bit. “I want to point out that I have been noticing you becoming less and less involved in my schemes to get my payback on Nightmare Moon. Well, you have been to a certain degree, but not like you used to do back in the day.

“On top of that, there’s also the fact that you weren’t standing beside me when I was terrorizing the new filly and all so that means that she will not be as scared of you as she is of me. With that in mind, we can use that to our advantage.”

“Like how?” the silver-maned filly asked, arching her right eye at the tiara-wearing filly.

“I’m going to have you pretend to be that blank flank’s friend and try to earn her trust. When you do, you will try to learn and find out Nightmare Moon’s most guarded and treasured secret, to which we will use to put an end to their little… sisterly relationship.”

As soon as those words left her friend’s mouth, Silver Spoon felt the sudden urge to vomit, but she held and fought it back with all of her willpower. Never in, like, a thousand years did the silver-maned filly ever expect to hear something awful like that come out of Diamond Tiara’s mouth. The very thought on pretending to befriend Nightmare Moon’s, wait no, Nyx’s, little sister in order to try and learn Nyx’s deepest secret and use it as a way to end the sisterly relationship between the two sounded, like, the most Celestia awful thing in the entire world. Out of all the things that Diamond Tiara has ever come up, this was the lowest of them all. Something in the back of her mind was refusing to believe that Diamond was willing to go this low, and she really hoped that this was all some kind of sick joke and if it was, it wasn’t funny by any means.

After a moment, Silver Spoon finally broke the silence.

“You’re joking, right?” she reluctantly asked.

“Um, no Silver Spoon, I’m not joking,” Diamond Tiara responded in a slightly offended and rude tone. “I’m being very serious here, Silver Spoon. I want you to pretend on befriending Nightmare Moon’s little sister, earn her trust, and learn Nightmare Moon’s deepest secret, one that Salon, Selene, or whatever that stupid filly’s name is doesn’t know, so that we can put an end to their time as sisters.”

Any hopes that this was all some kind of joke was thrown completely out the window after Diamond said this. Silver Spoon didn’t want to believe it, but it was very obvious that Diamond Tiara was very willing to go this low in order to get her revenge on Nightmare- no, on Nyx. There was no way in Celestia’s name that she was going to go through with this plan or even help Diamond Tiara in any way, shape or form. Silver Spoon wished it didn’t have to come to this, but she just couldn’t take it with Diamond’s obsession for revenge anymore. If anything, the tiara-wearing filly had this coming to her for a long time, for over 5 years to be exact.

“So, what do you think, Silver Spoon?” Diamond asked the silver-maned filly with sadistic glee. “Pretty great plan, huh?”

The silver-maned filly looked her friend dead in the eyes for a moment before she responded.

“No,” Silver Spoon responded in a low, monotone voice, her face showing no traces of emotion.

“‘No’?” Diamond asked slightly taken aback by her friend’s tone, her tone showing a hint of curiosity within it. “What do you mean by ‘no’, Silver Spoon?”

“What I mean is that I don’t like your ‘great plan’ and there is no way that I’m going to go through with it nor am I helping you with it,” Silver Spoon replied, still looking Diamond dead in the eyes. “This is very low, even for the likes of you, Diamond.”

Diamond proceeded to give her friend the kind of look that ponies would give to a pony when they thought they have gone insane by doing something that wasn’t… normal. She was having a hard time deciphering on what had come out of her friend’s mouth. Like, did she really just say what she think she heard? It couldn’t be, it just couldn’t be.

“I’m sorry, what did you just say?” the tiara-wearing filly said.

You heard what I said, Diamond,” the silver-maned filly said rudely with a slight hint of aggression, genuinely surprising herself, but she didn’t show it. “I refuse to go through with tearing two sisters apart just so you can get even with Nightmare-, no, with Nyx.”

Once those words left Silver Spoon’s mouth, Diamond knew that her ears weren’t playing tricks on her nor did she hear what she said wrong. A slight look of betrayal formed on her face as she looked at the silver-maned filly who was supposed to be her friend; a friend who would stick by her and agree with everything she says, does and even to the plans that she would come up with. This… this wasn’t supposed to be happening, not by a longshot.

Since last night, Diamond genuinely thought that Silver Spoon would like the plan and would, like, totally think that it was a great idea, do their special hoofshake, like they usually did, and set it to motion. Everything was NOT going the way that Diamond Tiara hoped it would now that Silver Spoon is refusing to go through with the plan.

As she sat at her seat, completely still like a statue, Diamond stared at Silver Spoon like she was now a complete stranger to her; like the filly that was sitting at the far end of the table wasn’t her friend at all. If anything, this wasn’t the Silver Spoon that she remembered when they first met back in the third grade. From Diamond’s perspective, it was like Silver Spoon was sticking up for Nightmare Moon, the filly who humiliated them in front of all of Ponyville just before summer vacation was about to start.

The mere thought of that caused a great feeling of anger to grow within Diamond and the betrayed look changed into that of great anger.

“Silver Spoon, have you forgotten that monster humiliated us in front of everypony before she defeated the Princesses and took over Equestria?” Diamond asked with a slight hint of aggression present in her tone. Silver Spoon shook her head in response.

“No, I haven’t,” she replied. “I still hate her for doing that, but that still doesn’t mean that we have to try and drift two siblings apart because of what happened over 5 years ago. It’s wrong and petty, and you know it, Diamond.”

“Are you forgiving her, Silver Spoon?” Diamond said, her tone becoming a bit more aggressive. Silver Spoon hesitated for a moment before she shook her head once again.

“No, I’m not but nevertheless, I’m still not going through with your plan, Diamond. If anything, I can’t take it with your stupid obsession on wanting revenge on Nightmare-, no, on Nyx. All you ever talk about all the time is revenge, revenge, REVENGE, and I’m sick of it.”

It was at this moment that Silver Spoon finally noticed that the tiara-wearing filly was now glaring daggers at her. She knew, at this point, that the filly sitting at the far end of the table was consumed by her need for revenge, and that alone caused her heart to ache. The blank expression turned into one of slight sadness, to which the tiara-wearing filly took no notice of.

“What… what happened to the filly that I once knew? The Diamond Tiara I knew would NEVER let the thirst for revenge consume her nor would she EVER go this low. If the need for revenge is way more important to you, Diamond… then I want nothing to do with you.”

“What is it that you’re trying to say, Silvie?” Diamond Tiara asked while continue to glare hardcore daggers at the silver-maned filly. Silver Spoon took a deep breath before letting it out.

“Either you give up on your need for revenge against Nyx or… we’re through.”

Diamond proceeded to give Silver Spoon an angry and shocked expression in response to what she just said. Did… did she just have the guts to say that to her? She, once again, wanted to believe that her ears were playing tricks on her, but she had decided that it wasn’t worth it. She clearly heard what Silver Spoon said and that alone fueled the flames even more.

“Are you joking?” Diamond asked as she glared at her once again. “I’ll never stop until Nightmare Moon gets what she deserves!! She humiliated us and took Daddy away from me!! That’s why we’ll drift them apart to teach her a lesson!!”

“Which won’t make you any better than her!” Silver Spoon retorted. At this point, she realized that nothing she will say will get through to Diamond and any attempts to dissuade her were futile. Diamond has left her no choice now; this had to be done.

“It’s very clear to me that revenge is way more important to you than anything else, so you’ve left me no choice.”  Silver Spoon once again took a deep breath and said the very words that she never thought would ever come out of her mouth. “Diamond Tiara, until you decide to let go of your petty need for revenge, we are no longer friends.”

And with that, Silver Spoon got up from her seat and walked out of the bakery, heading in the direction of her house. As the silver-maned filly walked, a feeling of lightness flowed throughout her body, as if a huge weight was lifted off of her; a weight that she had no idea that she had at all. She didn’t know why, but it was a wonderful feeling, one that brought forth a smile on her face.

Despite that, she couldn’t help but feel a cold pit forming in the pit of her stomach. Silver Spoon knew what Diamond Tiara was truly capable of, but whatever vengeful plan that the tiara-wearing filly will come up with, she will find a way to deal with it in time.

Her thoughts suddenly shifted to Selena. What Diamond said was true. Maybe she can try to befriend her and the Cutie Mark Crusaders now that she wasn’t Diamond’s friend anymore. Nyx, however, was something that Silver Spoon knew was going to be a problem. It was true that she hasn’t forgiven her for what she did, but what she didn’t know was that it was going to take a completely life-changing experience for that forgiveness to come into fruition.

‘It’s worth a shot,’ she thought to herself as she continued down the path to her mansion.


Meanwhile, Diamond Tiara remained frozen in her seat, trying to digest on what has happened, a shocked expression plastered on her face. Silver Spoon had ended their friendship and if that wasn’t bad enough, she even tried to get her to put an end of her ‘petty’ revenge. That filly, who she thought was her friend, had turned against her and that alone… was something that she wasn’t going to let go.

The shocked expression quickly transformed into one of anger and hatred and she aggressively clenched her teeth.

“You will regret this, Silver Spoon,” Diamond whispered to herself in a low, aggressive, and vengeful tone. “Mark… my… words…”
> Chapter Four: A Story from the Past
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

*HOURS LATER: GOLDEN OAKS LIBRARY*


‘I regret this,’ Nyx thought to herself grimly with a frown as she cleaned out a nasty cut that Selena had on her right hindleg with a wet towel. The five-year-old filly clenched her teeth and letting out a loud hiss of pain in the process.

The five fillies returned from cutie mark crusading about 10 minutes ago, and they were now tending to Selena’s injuries. The young filly had numerous cuts and bruises all over her body, many of her cuts leaking blood. Her nose was also leaking blood and Selena was holding a white handkerchief to her nose to help stop the bleeding. There was a massive bump on the top of her head that was about the size of her horn and it throbbed painfully. To many, Selena looked like she had the living tar beaten out of her but Nyx and her friends knew why she looked like this.

Nyx turned to face Scootaloo, who was cleaning out a large wound Selena had on her back. Scootaloo caught Nyx staring at her and she looked to see the alicorn giving her a disapproving look.

“Out of all the ideas that you can come up with, it just had to be bungee jumping,” Nyx said in a flat tone.

“It was the only awesome thing I could come up with,” Scootaloo replied defensively while she continued cleaning the wound on Selena’s back.

“And look what happened,” Nyx said and pointed to her sister’s injuries. “My sister got hurt because somepony didn’t bother to check if the elastic rope was wrapped securely to the tree or the harness was tightly secured to Selena’s waist.”

“I thought they were!”

“Well-”

As the two fillies bickered, Selena drowned it out, not wanting to listen to it. She absolutely hated when other ponies fought or bickered with each other. Selena was the kind of pony that preferred solving problems peacefully rather than bicker or fight. To put it simply, Selena Sparkle was a pacifist, which can be a good thing and a bad thing, depending on the situation.

Nyx and Scootaloo had been bickering for the next 15 minutes and at this point, Selena couldn’t take it anymore. Despite the pain, the filly managed to turn her body around, stuck out both of her hooves, and then placed them onto Nyx and Scootaloo’s chests.

“Nyxie, Scootaloo, stop it!!” Selena said sternly. “What happened was just an accident. The important thing is that, while I did get hurt, I am alive and well.”

Nyx and Scootaloo stared at her, the filly noticing that they were taking in what she said. It was a good thing too because she didn’t want things to get much heated or even worse than it already was. Eventually, the looks on their faces softened and they relaxed, much to the filly’s relief.

Nyx let out a sigh and looked her sister in the eyes.

“You know how I feel about you getting hurt,” Nyx said in a low tone.

“And I know how you get when that happens, as well,” Selena replied softly, understanding her sister’s feelings fully. “There will be some occasions where I might get hurt, although not as bad as I am right now. I still want to have fun.”

Nyx thought about that for a moment.

“Well, we’re going to have to find things that are a bit safer for you,” Nyx said before turning her head to Scootaloo, giving her a slightly stern look. “And hopefully something not very dare-devilish.”

Selena frowned a little bit at that but was still grateful deep down that she can still join her sister and her friends at cutie mark crusading. The 5-year-old filly hoped that whatever ideas that they might come up with for the next one won’t be something boring or unfun. Sometimes, Nyx can be very protective of her, especially since ‘it’ happened years ago.

‘I will never forget what happened,’ the filly thought to herself. Selena was snapped out of her thoughts when she felt a stab of pain shoot through her left wing, causing her to let out a loud gasp of pain.

“Oh, Ah almost forgot about somethin’,” Apple Bloom said suddenly. Her friends looked at her, curious as to what it was that the farm filly almost forgot about.

“What will that be?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Ah asked Applejack yesterday is Ah can have you girls over for a slumber party at the treehouse on Friday night,” Apple Bloom admitted with a huge smile. This little piece of information instantly perked Selena’s interest.

She has read about slumber parties, as well as sleepovers, in books many times and has always wanted one of each. From what she read, a sleepover was something where one or two ponies stayed at a friend’s house for the night, whereas a slumber party was something where more ponies were involved and they did many party games throughout the night. The filly never had a chance to experience any of those things and was beginning to grow excited at the idea of going to experience one of them for the first time.

“What did she say?” Scootaloo asked, clearly trying to hide her excitement. The smile on Apple Bloom’s face grew even more.

“She said Ah can,” she replied. Scootaloo hoof pumped the air, a big smirk on her face.

Selena, on the other hoof, was just barely able to contain her excitement, which is beginning to show itself as a huge grin. It was like a dream come in its finest form; the chance to experience her first slumber party, or so she thought.

“This is going to be fun!!” Selena exclaimed excitedly. “This will be my first slumber party!!”

After she said that, Selena saw smiles forming on their faces and also noticed Nyx trying to stifle a laugh. This confused the five-year-old filly a little bit.

“Actually, this won’t be your first slumber party,” Nyx admitted. This caused Selena’s excitement to die down greatly and tilt her head slightly left in confusion.

“Huh, what do you mean?” she asked.

“Your first slumber party happened when I brought my friends over 2 months after Twilight and Spike found you at the doorstep,” Nyx replied. “You can even ask Twist since she was there when it happened.”

This confused Selena even more as this was something that she couldn’t remember nor had any recollection about this single event at all.

“I… don’t remember that at all,” she admitted truthfully.

“I will tell you what happened, and I must say this, the things you did were funny, and we laugh about it to this day,” Nyx said and then began to recall the events of what happened during the first slumber party at the library.

An event that was still talked about to this day…


  *2 MONTHS LATER AFTER SELENA BECAME PART OF THE FAMILY*


“I can’t wait for this slumber party, Nyx,” Sweetie Belle squeaked with excitement, her saddlebags on her back. Nyx smiled at this as they walked closer to the library.

This was going to be the first time that the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Twist were going to be spending the night over at the library and have a slumber party there. It took a while for Nyx to convince Twilight to allow her friends to come over and have a slumber party.

Nyx was completely and utterly ecstatic when Twilight had finally said these very words.

“Alright Nyx, you can invite your friends over.”

The Sun was about halfway down the horizon when they reached the library, and just as Nyx was about to activate her magic to open the door, Scootaloo spoke up.

“Let’s try to avoid doing anything girlish,” Scootaloo said. There was no argument there.

Nyx ignited her horn, gripped the doorknob with her magic and turned it.  Nyx pushed opened the door and the five friends entered the library, with Nyx closing the door behind them. Twilight was reading a book and wasn’t paying attention when the door opened and closed. Nyx walked up to her mother and tapped her on her left shoulder. The small contact was enough to get Twilight’s attention. She turned her head and saw Nyx and her friends standing there and she smiled.

“Hi, girls,” Twilight said in a polite greeting tone. “Spike is preparing daffodil sandwiches and celery soup, and I will bring the food up to the bedroom when it’s ready.”

The five friends nodded their heads once, and they walked up the stair, heading towards the bedroom. They entered the bedroom, her friends putting their saddlebags next to the bedroom door. Letting out soft sighs, they all sat down on the large bed that Twilight always slept on.

‘I can’t believe this is happening,’ Nyx thought excitedly to herself and wanted to hop on the bed but decided against doing it.

“So, what do you girls want to do first?” Nyx asked her friends and they began to think about what they could. Nopony noticed that Scootaloo had an evil smirk on her face as she grabbed a large pillow and tossed it at Nyx.

The pillow hit Nyx in the face and she fell on her back. She sat up and removed the pillow from her face.  She immediately noticed Scootaloo laughing at her, pointing a hoof at her as she did this. Nyx smirked as she held the pillow in her magic and tossed it at Scootaloo. The pillow struck Scootaloo in the face, knocking the Pegasus onto her back. Scootaloo sat back up, the pillow falling off her face, and a smirk grew on her face.

“Oh, it’s on.”

This resulted in with the five fillies getting into a fun pillow fight, laughing, and just generally having a good time. They were so busy in their pillow fight that they didn’t hear nor notice the sound of hoofsteps coming up the stairs or entering the bedroom.

“Hey, girls,” the sound of Twilight’s voice caused the 5 fillies to stop their pillow fight and turn their heads in Twilight’s direction.

They saw Twilight walking up to them with something lying on her back. Although Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Twist had no idea what it was, Nyx did and saw that it was Selena, her baby sister who had a big smile on her face and giggling innocently.

“Is it okay if Selena can join you?” Twilight asked. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Bell, Scootaloo and Twist tilted their heads to the side and they all had curious looks on their faces.

“Selena?” the 4 of them said at the same time. “Who is Selena?”

Twilight lit up her horn and they saw something being levitated off of her back. Once Twilight revealed what was on her back, they saw a foal with both a rich blue mane and tail, dark gray fur, and emerald green eyes that they had never seen before. They noticed that the foal had a horn, which rendered her a unicorn. Nyx noticed that Selena’s wings were gone, telling her that Twilight must have used an illusion spell to hide her wings.

“Girls, this is Selena, my baby sister,” Nyx said. All of her friends turned to look at her with a surprised look on their faces.

“I didn’t know ya had a sister,” Apple Bloom said. Nyx tried to find the correct words to say as she rubbed her right foreleg with her other foreleg nervously.

Luckily, Twilight was able to explain it for her.

“Well, she is actually her adopted sister,” Twilight said, which came as a surprise to the four fillies. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Twist snapped out of their surprise and they stared at Selena, who still had that smile on her face and giggling innocently, flailing her tiny hooves around as she did.

Twilight put Selena down on the bed, and the magic surrounding her horn dissipated. The foal ran up to her big sister and hugged her left foreleg, nuzzling the foreleg affectionately. Nyx looked at her friends for a moment and, as if they all could read each other’s minds, nodded their heads. Nyx looked up at Twilight, who had a hopeful expression on her face, which was also present in her eyes.

“Yes, Selena can join us,” Nyx said. A smile grew on Twilight’s face and she walked out of the bedroom and down the stairs, leaving the 5 friends with Selena to continue their pillow fight.

When the five friends ended their pillow fight a few minutes later, Nyx looked around to see if Selena was still around. Her eyes widen a bit and panic began to build in her chest when she saw that Selena was nowhere to be seen. Nyx hopped off the bed and began searching the entire bedroom frantically but found no sign of her younger sister.

“Nyx, are you okay?” Twist asked her after seeing how frantic Nyx was.

“I’m trying to find Selena!!” Nyx said in a frantic and worried tone. “She’s nowhere to be seen!!”

It took a while for them to register what Nyx had just told them. When they eventually took in on what Nyx said and when the four fillies noticed that Selena was indeed missing, they began to help Nyx in the search for the missing foal. 5 minutes passed and there was still no sign of Selena.  Nyx began to fret and worry that she must have gotten bored and scampered away somewhere.

It wasn’t until she turned at Scootaloo’s direction, the Pegasus with her back turned to her, Nyx saw her baby sister. She let out a sigh of relief and at the same time, trying to stifle a laugh. Selena was climbing up the Pegasus’s back with Scootaloo somehow having absolutely no idea that she had an 8-month-old foal climbing up her back. It didn’t take long for the foal to fully climb up the Pegasus’s back and giggle a little.

“Nyxie!!” Selena said and she began softly nibbling Scootaloo’s left ear. The Pegasus flinched a little as a result from this sudden contact on her ear.

Nyx couldn’t help but chuckle slightly at this. The sudden shout instantly caught Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Twist’s attention and they turned to Scootaloo. They immediately caught sight of the 8-month-old foal softly nibbling Scootaloo’s left ear.

“Aww, I think she likes you,” Nyx said while chuckling.

“That is so adorable,” Sweetie Belle said with a goofy smile on her face, both of her hooves over her mouth and letting out small fits of laughter as it happened.

Apple Bloom and Twist, on the other hoof, were rolling back and forth on the floor laughing up a complete and utter storm. They were laughing so hard that tears leaked from their eyes and trailed down their faces.

“Ha-ha, very funny,” Scootaloo said sarcastically. “Can you please get her off me?”

Selena nibbled Scootaloo’s ear for a good 5 minutes before Nyx decided to use her magic to get her sister off of Scootaloo, and thankfully Selena didn’t resist. The five friends decided to play a board game as the next activity for the slumber party. It did prove to be hilariously difficult since Selena would randomly climb up their backs, shout out ‘Nyxie’ and then start nibbling on their ears softly.

At some point, they decided to play ‘Truth or Challenge’ and during the whole time, Selena kept playing with their tails like a cat, giggling in the process. Sometimes, Selena would nibble on their tails, making silly noises as she did. Nyx couldn’t help but laugh lightly when she saw her playing and nibbling on any of her friend’s tail like a cat.

When it was time to go to bed, with her friends sleeping in their sleeping bags from the sides of Nyx’s bed, Nyx was lying down in her bed and she happened to turn her head to where Apple Bloom was sleeping, which was to the left of the bed. What Nyx saw next nearly caused her to start laughing out loud and wake up all of her friends.

Selena was sleeping peacefully with her hooves dangling freely, but that wasn’t what had almost caused Nyx to laugh out loud. What made the situation humorous was that Selena was sleeping peacefully on Apple Bloom’s face with her flank just an inch away from her mouth!! It looked like the farm filly had no clue that she had a sleeping foal on her face with her flank just an inch away from her mouth.

It took every single bit of Nyx’s willpower to keep her laughing under control. Once she was finally able to get herself under control, she looked away and rested her head on the pillow, falling asleep soon after.


  *PRESENT DAY*


“I seriously did that?!” Selena asked loudly while laughing uncontrollably at the ending. She only laughed harder when Nyx nodded her head in response.

“But that’s not even the best part, Selena,” Nyx began to say. “Apparently, when she woke up the next morning and yawned, you slid down a bit and your entire flank slipped right into her mouth. Apple Bloom screamed so loud that it woke up everypony in the library but somehow, it didn’t wake you up. You continued on sleeping peacefully as if nothing was happening.”

Apple Bloom simply rolled her eyes at that while Selena was busy laughing her flank off even harder at that part of the story. It was an embarrassing moment for her, one that sometimes Scootaloo would tease her about several times on occasions.

“That has to be… the funniest thing… I’ve ever heard!!” Selena exclaimed loudly as she laughed, tears trailing down her cheeks as a result. Sweetie Belle was chuckling while Scootaloo was laughing teasingly at Apple Bloom, who once again rolled her eyes.

It took about five minutes for Selena to calm down from her laughing fit, wiping the tears away with her left hoof. A few chuckles escaped her as she did this.

“That story totally tops the one Sweetie Belle told me earlier this morning today,” Selena said and turned to face Sweetie Belle. “No offense, Sweetie Belle.”

“No worries,” Sweetie Belle said with a smile.

“Well, let’s get you bandaged up,” Nyx said before she began bandaging up Selena’s wounds, her friends doing the same. At least that night ended with on a good note.