Equestria Girls: A Friend For Lifeby StudentofHistoryChaptersNew Day, New Student Part 1New Day, New Student Part 2The Welcome PartyNew Day, New Student Part 1A young man with blue hair is drinking coffee as a rushed shuffling noise is hear coming from upstairs. "Come on Teeny!" he calls as a irritated bark echoes through the house, "You're going to be late for your first day of school if you don't hurry up!" Hurried footsteps come down the stairs along with shouts of, "I'm ready, I'm ready!" Into the kitchen runs a teenage girl with purple hair, follow by a purple and green dog. Sitting down to breakfast she takes a moment to catch her breath and then punches her brother in the shoulder, "I told you to stop calling me that!" Feigning injury the young man continued to drink his coffee while his sister tried to finish her breakfast as quickly as possible. "Slow down," he cautioned, "you'll make yourself sick if you keep eating like that." Chugging down the last of her juice, the young girl took her dishes to the sink for her brother to wash later. Rushing back up the stairs with her dog, the young man finished his coffee and waited by the foot of the stairs to see his sister coming down the stairs rummaging through her bag. "Pen? Check. Back up pen? Check. Back up back up pen? Check." she muttered and not watching her step slipped, but was steadied by her brother catching her in the nick of time. "Thanks Seth." she said blushing at her own obliviousness. "Careful now," he chuckled, "wouldn't want your first day of spoiled by broken leg." Opening the door he turned back on his sister, "Are you sure you don't want me to give you a lift?" Shaking her head, "No its fine, Candace said she was going to give me a lift already." As if by magic a black Sonata pulled up driveway. "See? I'll see you after school." She then hugged her brother before crouching down to her dog she petted him on the head, "and Spike be a good boy while I'm gone okay?" Spike just gave a happy bark in response. Running out the door with her bag, she hopped in the car where a young woman her brother's age, Candace, waited. "Excited for your first day at Canterlot High, Talia?" she asked as she pulled out of the driveway. "Yeah!" nodded Talia, but then a contemplative look came over her, "but I also want to find out who posted those videos." Candace gave a light laugh, "Yeah, that was weird," on seeing Talia looking a little dejected she patted her shoulder comfortingly. "don't worry about it, I'm sure no one at your new school is going to even recognize you." Jerking, Talia began to, in only the most generous terms, visually spaz, "Don't worry? Don't worry!? I have a mystery twin who can't figure out a computer and dances worse than I did at homecoming! Do you know what Miranda said when she saw that!" Candace again put her hand on Talia's shoulder. "Talia, honey," she said calmly, "breath. I'm sure you're just overreacting." When she saw her young friend had visibly calm down Candace continued, "That was months ago, Principal Celestia has assured me that the entire matter has settled among student body. No one will even notice you." Driving up to the school, they noticed the rather large amount of scaffolding above the main entrance. Upon seeing it Talia muttered, "Bad sign number one." While Candace just offered a nervous smile. The moment the new transfer student walked into the main hall with the new student teacher, every eye turned to them and then the whispering began. Talia turned to Candace, "No one will notice?" Understandably embarrassed Candace quickly and as quietly as possible ushered Talia to the Principal's office. In their hurried pace they did not notice a pink haired girl gasp, rather loudly too, and run off. Once there they were met with the Principal, who seemed amicable enough to Talia. "Ah, Miss Candace Amritzi I presume?" she greeted shaking Candace's hand. "I'm glad that you can join as here at Canterlot High, and to you as well, Miss Sparks." Nervous, Talia eventually took the Principal's hand with a muttered thank you. The Principal explained to Talia the expectations and code of student conduct at Canterlot High as well as giving Talia her schedule for the semester. After explaining all of this the Principal asked, "Do you have any questions Miss Sparks?" "Just one," Talia twiddled her fingers before asking, "There's a student here...who..who looks a lot like me. May I speak to her? Its about some videos online." Talia was nervous because to her Principal Celestia held this air of authority that made you want to try you hardest to avoid disappointing her. Raising her eyebrow, the Principal examined Talia closely before answering, "I'm afraid that particular student is no longer attending this school." Talia deflated a little, "However, I can assure you that the entire matter related to the videos has been settled and the students responsible have been sufficiently punished." Talia sputtered, "B-but, shouldn't I at least hear it straight from them? By all accounts that is me in those videos even if it is supposedly a different person." Fixing her gaze on Talia, the Principal sighed, "Very well, though not directed at you I can see that, indirectly, you have been affected." Writing three names on a slip of paper, Celestia handed them to Talia, "But I must warn you Miss Sparks, as the school considers the matter closed, I must ask that you settle accounts after school hours, is that understood?" When Talia nodded the Principal adopted a much more relaxed and friendly tone, "Good, now if I'm not mistaken, your first class will be starting in five minutes. Run along." It was lunch time and the entire school was already abuzz with the news of the new transfer student, who is the exact twin of a earlier transfer student. The school's own famed "Sailor scouts"* showed the most interest in the transfer, but by some crazy twist of fate, none of them shared classes with her. This drove no one more crazy than Paulina who was always eager to make a new friend. Leading to our current scene in the cafeteria. "Oh come on!" exclaimed Paulina raising her arms, "You mean none of us shares a single class with the new girl?" "Its freaky, sugarcube," admitted Amelia, "But what are we gonna do? Walk right up to her and say, 'Hi, we're friends with an alternate universe pony version of you and thought it be swell if we were friends with you too?' I'd chuck anyone who said that to me in the loony bin for that!" "But its true!" protested Paulina, "Everyone here saw it!" She then pulled out her puppy dog face, "Besides, she's new here and if she's new, that meant she hasn't met anyone yet, and if she hasn't met anyone yet, she must not have any friends, and if she doesn't have any friends then she must be lonely, and that made me so sad, then I had an idea, and that's why I went huuuh! I must throw a great big ginormous super-duper spectacular welcome party and invite everyone in school! See!" The four backed off slightly as Paulina ran off into another party rant and pulled out extremely detailed party plans to be held at the Cake's Bakery, "Then she'll have lots and lots of friends!" Roxy just rolled her eyes at her remade friends antics muttering, "Yeah that won't scare her off." Rowellina gave a chastising look to the resident tomboy before turning to Paulina, "Paulie darling, maybe we should just treat her as someone we don't know yet. Instead expecting her to act exactly like Twilight?" "What makes you say that?" asked Paulina still going over her plans for this party. Gently, Rowellina looked over the plans before pointing at a draft menu, "Well for one thing, I doubt that, unlike Twilight, she would like to eat hay." Any further planning was put to a halt when Faith gasped, "Look!" pointing to a secluded corner of the cafeteria. Turning around the "sailor scouts" saw that subject of their conversation was talking with Susan Shelby, formerly Sunset Shimmer, it seemed they were talking for quite a while and were long finished. The transfer left the cafeteria while Susan just kept eating her lunch, but much more subdued than earlier. Looking at each other the five made their way over to their new and rehabilitating friend. It was Faith who asked, "Um Sun-Susan?" gently laying her hand on the former pony's shoulder, "Are you okay? Did she say something?" "Oh," Susan began somewhat dejected, "yeah, she just wanted a explanation for those videos I had Steve and Stan take in September." "She didn't say anything to hurt your feelings did she?" asked Rowellina, joining Faith on Susan's other side. Surprised, Susan looked at both Rowellina and Faith, "Wait, your worried about me after all I did, I-I thought you would take her side, you are her friends." "That's where you're wrong sugarcube," offered Amelia taking Susan's hand, "Twilight's our friend and she asked we take care of you." "Yeah!" smiled Paulina jumping in front of Susan with her infectious smile, "She's not our friend until I throw her a super awesome welcome party!" She gasped again as an idea popped into her head, "We should totally throw a "Welcome to Canterlot High/We forgive you Sunset Shimmer" mega party for the both of you!" The Pinkette was soon off deep into more party plans leaving Roxy to pick up the slack. "Amelia's right! No one says Roxy Dodgers doesn't look out for her friends!" and looking directly into Susan's eyes, "And you're our friend Susan." Teary eyed, Susan just choked out a "Thank you." After drying her eyes she asked, "But what are we going to do about Talia? She want's me to meet her after school with Steve and Stan." She then gazed down into her lap and twiddled her fingers, "I'm afraid she won't be as forgiving as Twilight." Smiling it was Rowellina who took both of Susan's hands, "Don't you worry about this, Talia was it, just take her somewhere that we can watch out for you. Like the Cake's bakery. We'll even get Felix to help out." She looked around to the rest of the girls who nodded in agreement. For the rest of lunch and the day they, with the help of Felix, prepared Susan for her confrontation with Talia Sparks. Author's Note * Well what would you call five girls who transformed in elaborate sequences set to music from no where? "Pretty cures"? New Day, New Student Part 2The rest of the day passed quickly enough for all involved. During the last period of the day Talia was walking through the halls looking for that girl she talked to at lunch, Susan or something like that. Mentally she kept listing how many times someone nearly called her Twilight Sparkle, and a fully separate but somehow larger list of people that just called her Twilight Sparkle. Looking around and not seeing her in the main hall, she decided to find those two freshmen that took the videos. Walking outside she saw the two boys trying to make it home without attracting any attention. They were hilariously failing by the way, the both of them had tripped into the bike stands and were arguing on who was at fault. Shaking her head, Talia made her way over, when the freshmen saw her coming they scrambled to get up and make a run for it when Talia shouted, "Hold it!" Nervous the shorter of the two cowered, "W-w-we a-al-already told you. Suns-Susan made us take those videos." turning to his lanky friend and nudging her in the ribs, "T-t-tell her Steve." "Yeah! It was all Sunset Shimmer's fault!" he nodded, "Please don't hurt us Twilight!" covering his head with his arms. '123' mentally ticked Talia, 'Sunset Shimmer? Must be a nickname?' Getting the two idiots to calm down from their groveling, "Just tell me where I can find Susan or Sunset or whatever her name is." Jumping up, the short one scratched her chin, "I think she said something about going to the Cake's Bakery." Then his face became more nervous at Talia's questioning stare, "But that's all I know, sorrygottagobye!" he then sprung into a full on sprint leaving his friend in the dust. By the time he figured out what had happened he nervously waved at Talia before going after his friend, screaming "Wait up Stan!" Talia had managed to get a thank you out before they ran off, but when she saw them halfway down the block she remembered what Steve had called her and screamed after them, "And my name is TALIA!" She asked around the school yard for directions to the Cake's Bakery, it seemed to be a popular hang out for students. The girl she asked even offered to "humbly and graciously guide you to the Cake's herself!" Talia politely declined the offer saying, that she couldn't possibly keep up with her energy. As it was Talia was confident she could find her way from here. For the past ten minutes Talia walked down 8th St, looking for Cake's when she wasn't looking ahead of her and ran into someone going into the opposite direction. Talia fell back with a grunt, she looked up, and saw a blue haired boy offering his hand to her and asked, "You okay?" helping Talia up. "Uh yeah and thanks," said Talia after dusting herself off, and offered her hand in return, "My name is Talia, and you are?" For a briefest moment he seemed surprised, but did shake her hand, "Felix, Felix Sharp, are you looking for anywhere in particular? You seem a bit lost" Grateful for having run into someone normal for once, Talia nodded, "I'm looking for the Cake's Bakery, I'm supposed to be meeting someone there." Smiling Felix just walked past Talia, "You missed the turn a half a block ago, why don't I walk you the rest of the way? I'm meeting some friends there anyway." Just returning a small smile in turn Talia moved to catch up to Felix, after a minute something clicked in Talia's head, "Have I seen you somewhere before?" Felix's eyes rose in surprise and turned to Talia with a nervous grin, "What do you mean? We've only just met." After another minute of looking a sort of devious look came onto Talia who snapped her finger, "Oh yeah! Your that guy dancing with my clone in the video." Shocked Felix nearly stumbled, "Videos? I wasn't in those videos." Pulling out her smartphone and quickly searching through youtube she quipped, "Oh no? Then what do you call this?" Felix stared in a expression that lay somewhere between surprise, embarrassed and horrified what he saw on the phone screen.* Speechless, he missed Talia pulling back her phone, and admiring the video herself. "I have to say I'm impressed though, how did you make those wings look so real?" Chuckling and somewhat blushing Felix just rubbed the back of his neck, "Let's just say its a long story. Oh hey look we're here!" he pointed out with some relief. He gestured for Talia to go in before him, but was interrupted by the sound of her phone going off. Looking at who it was Talia gestured for him to go in first while she took the call. Walking over to the table Susan was sitting at he offered a comforting smile, "Are you gonna be okay doing this by yourself? If not we can move it over to the booth with the rest of them." He offered pointing to a corner where the "sailor scouts" sans Paulie were gesturing encouragingly. Shaking her head Susan smiled in return, "No, its alright, this is something I have to do on my own." Felix didn't look all that convinced, but any protest died when Talia walked inside and came over, "Sorry about that," she apologized, "it was my brother was just checking up on me." turning to Felix she asked, "Will you be joining us?" Shaking his head, Felix gestured to the empty seat, "She's all yours." then turning to Susan he whispered a quick "Take care." before joining the rest of them a reasonable distance to observe and step in if necessary. Looking around Felix then asked, "Where's Paulie?" Rowellina pointed over to the counter where she was talking animatedly with Mr. Cake, "Still making plans for Talia and Susan's party, but never mind that, when did you run into the new girl?" "On the way here, she was a little lost, and I thought I'd give her a hand." Felix answered as they watched as Mrs. Cake brought over a couple of milkshakes, Susan and Talia had ordered after they sat down. Silently the five of them watched as the two began to talk things out. Susan seemed to be making an impassioned case for forgiveness, but because of the way they were seated, with Talia facing away from them, it was hard to see if it was having any effect. They were distracted when Paulina came over with a worried look on her face, "Um guys, we have a problem!" pointing over to the door where three boys, two of them wearing football jackets, and the third a blond clearly full of himself, walked into the shop. "Crap!" swore Roxy, "What are they doing here?" Rowellina agreed, "Those ruffians make it hard enough for Susan as it is." Trembling Faith whispered, "W-w-what d-d-do we do?" Amelia tried to be optimistic and calm everyone down, "Maybe they won't even notice her." Though by her tone you could tell she didn't believe that for a second. Narrowing his eyes, "Too late." he whispered when the three purposfully went over to Susan's and Talia's table. "Well, well" drawled the blond, standing over Susan and Talia's table, "if it isn't demon girl, I'd stay away from this one Twilight. Never know when you might get burned." Susan flinched at 'demon girl', a detail that did not go unnoticed by Talia, and glared at the blond, "What do you want Brian?" "Oh nothing," shrugged Brian, snaking a arm around Talia's shoulders, which also clearly made her uncomfortable, "Just warning the new girl, wouldn't want you to go all fire and brimstone on her." Brian then laughed, the one where you think you said something clever, but really didn't. The 'sailor scouts' and Felix moved to intervene, but stopped when Talia spoke. "How dare you speak to her like that." she whispered her bangs covering her eyes. Surprise showed on both Susan and Faith's faces, who remember who else had also said those words. "Huh," wondered Brian looking at Talia, "what did you say Twilight?" "I said, How. Dare. You. Speak. To. Her. Like. THAT!" punctuated Talia as if talking to a five year old, which wouldn't exactly be wrong. She then stood up, throwing off Brian's arm, grabbing her milkshake, and in one swift motion, kneed him in the gut and then poured her milkshake when he doubled over. "And my name" she spat, "is Talia." Even in pain Brian managed to choke out, a "Bitch" before being brought to his feet by his jock lackeys. "you think you could take us all on? By yourself?" "Maybe not alone, but she's not alone is she?" declared Rowellina as she, Felix and the rest of the girls gathered around Talia and Susan. Looking around Brian noticed that most if not the entire shop was on its feet glaring at him. Admitting defeat, Brian dusted himself off and ran off, trying to preserve what microscopic shreds of dignity, followed by his two goons. The entire shop broke out in applause over Talia's actions before resuming what they were doing before. After things had calmed down Susan, prompted by Felix and Rowellina, invited Talia to sit with them. "That was a really noble thing you did for Susan, Talia considering." congratulated Amelia, "couldn't have done it better myself." "Hell yeah!" exclaimed Roxy nearly jumping out of her seat, "What you did to that jerk was so AWESOME!" Smiling Talia just waved it all off, "It was nothing, no one deserves to be talked to like that. No matter what they did. And Susan" She said turning to Susan, offering a comforting hand. "For what its worth, I forgive you about those videos." The look on Susan's face held utmost relief and thankfulness at Talia's acceptance. "But, I still want a full explanation on why you did it," before Susan's could become dejected, Talia continued, "until then, I hope we could become good friends." Susan's face at those words were the biggest any had seen in a long time. "Me too." Smiling Talia pulled Susan into a tight hug as the girls all cooed and Felix just smile softly, a look that did not go unnoticed by those at the table. Checking the time Talia began to make her goodbyes as she had to go home, "Um Talia," Susan called after her before she reached the door "Paulie here, was thinking about holding a party," she began looking nervous and slightly flushed, "to fully welcome you to Canterlot High on Friday." biting her lip Susan asked, "Do you think you can make it?" Talia looked surprised at the invitation, but just smiled, "Sure, why not? And call me Tali." Nodding to each of the girls Talia then left and made her way home from the Cake's. After Talia left, Felix visibly relaxed in his seat and said, "Well that went better than expected." after receiving odd looks from the rest of the table he asked, "What?" Snickering Amelia whispered to the rest of them, "Looks like someone has a crush on the new girl." Seeing the teasing smiles and nods he sputtered. "What no I don't" crossing his arms across chest and straightening up. Rowellina looked closely at his face before beaming, "Oh, but I think you do, you absolutely do!" Huffing, Felix leaned forward, "Don't be ridiculous. I. do. not. have. a crush. on. TALIA. SPARKS." Paulie lean over the rest of them and whispered in a sing-song voice, "Someones in denial!" Susan smiled at the flabbergasted expression on Felix's face. She didn't know when, but she started to giggle, and honestly, it made her feel better than she had in a long time. Author's Note * You know which video I'm talking about The Welcome PartySince the Fall Formal, and by Twilight's encouragement to learn about friendship, Susan kept a diary that she carries with her everywhere she goes. Within that diary lay every lesson on friendship Susan had learned and cherished. It started rather simple, and over time she found friendship meant more that what she previously taught, and why Princess Celestia valued it so. Two days had passed since the incident at the Cake's and Susan was meeting Talia at the library of a study session an hour before school started. It was a routine with which she was not unfamiliar with, she was Princess Celestia's star pupil after all, once upon a time. She was writing in her diary while waiting for Talia to show up. When she did show up, she put her diary aside so they could focus on their studies. "So tell me," Talia begins while their were completing the homework for their respective math classes, "Paulina tells me that my Welcome Party after school is also a 'We Forgive You Susan Shelby'," Glancing at Susan before continuing on her work she asked, "Forgive you of what?" Susan just scratched her cheek thinking of an excuse, "Well its kind of a long story." "Does it have to do with the hole in the front of the school?" Talia asked still focused on her math homework. Smiling nervously, Susan just said, "Yeah." Checking the clock and seeing it was ten minutes before first period began, "Class is starting soon, gotta go!" she excused herself, grabbing her books and getting up to leave. Checking the time herself Talia agreed and began to gather her own books. Saying their goodbyes and going on their separate ways neither of them did notice the notebook left behind on the table. It wasn't until after second period when Susan first noticed her diary was missing. Retracing her steps and asking everyone in her past classes, Susan eventually came back to the library. She was getting worried too, the further back she went to look for her diary, the more likely it would be long gone leaving her to hunt down whoever had it. Despite looking around the table she and Talia used to study, she still couldn't find it and asked the Librarian, "Have you seen a notebook that was left behind on the study table by the Classics section?" Grimacing, 'cause she clearly felt she wasn't being paid enough to deal with student's problems, the Librarian thought about it for a second before replying, "I believe I saw that little henchman of yours, Mr. Taylor, was around that area before leaving for second period." Susan thanked the librarian and calmly leaving the library, the moment she left she ran to where the girls usually met up for lunch, and explained the situation, agreeing that the contents of the diary would make things worse for Susan, not better the set off looking for the amateur magician and former henchman. "Susan, darling," called Rowellina as the 'sailor scouts' followed Susan as she stalked the halls, "Calm down, I'm sure Stan and your diary will turn up sooner or later." "Sooner or later?" breathed Susan turning around on the girls, "That diary contains everything I learned in the past four months! If any of that got out I would die!" Pausing and taking a deep breath she continued, "We have to find Stan before my diary disappears again." Looking between the rest of them Rowellina nodded, "Very well, seeing as its lunch why don't we break off in pairs and look for the diary that way?" Susan agreed and was paired up with Faith and each pair went their separate ways looking for Stan or at least Steve. After ten minutes of searching they found him with Steve coming out of the boys restroom on the other side of the school. Immediately, Susan grabbed Stan and pushed him against the wall and glaring hard she asked. "Where. is. my. diary?" "I got it! I got it!" answered a panicked Stan, "please don't hurt me." reaching into his bag he pulled out the object in question and moved to give it to Susan. When she held it in her hands she let go of Stan and sighed in relief. "Is there a problem here?" asked a new voice. Turning around and hiding the diary behind her back, Susan saw the new student teacher looking at them questioningly. "None at all, Ms Amritzi" lied Susan gently elbowing Faith, who nodded in agreement, while sending a look to Steve and Stan that said, 'say anything and I'll go fire and brimstone on your asses.' Seeing as the two were at least possessed a sense of self-preservation they kept quiet. Ms Amritzi looked suspicious, but just shrugged it off and let them go their way. In fact the moment she turned the corner, Stan and Steve broke out running in the opposite direction. Turning to Susan, Faith asked, "Um was that really necessary?" looking at the retreating backs of Stan and Steve as the rounded the corner. Susan nodded, waving her diary in front of her, "This can't possibly fall into the wrong hands, and they were definitely the wrong hands." Suddenly the diary was snatched out of Susan's hands accompanied by a voice clicking, "The wrong hands, eh?" turning around Susan glared at a girl with dark cerulean hair. "Then you won't mind if I take a look at it then?" "Christina," Susan growled and even Faith seemed to glare at the girl as she held the diary with a elegant, but sinister grip. "Give that back." "Oh, I don't think so, Susie." taunted Christina, who broke into a run for the cafeteria when Susan jumped at her intent to retrieve her diary. Looking at Faith, Susan said, "Call the others and tell them Christina has my diary and is headed to the cafeteria." Nodding Faith pulled out her phone and began to text the others while Susan went after her diary. Susan met up with Amelia and Roxy first on the way there while the others made headed directly to the cafeteria. They did find Christina waiting for them at the doors with the diary still in hand. "Give it up Christina, don't make us come over there." threatened Roxy as the three made their way cautiously towards her. "Oh don't worry, I will" smirked Christina who laid a hand on the cafeteria door's push bar. "But first I'm sure everyone is curious at what secrets, Miss Fire-n-Brimstone are keeping to herself." "Don't you dare!" yelled Susan making a direct shot for Christina, who entered the cafeteria and quickly closed the door behind her. "Oh, but I do." laughed Christina, backing off from the doors as it was clear Susan, Amelia and Roxy meant to burst in. Christina positioned herself near an empty table in the centre of the cafeteria as she was surrounded by the girls and Felix, "Well, if it isn't the 'sailor scouts'" she observed, "and our resident Tuxedo Mask! I'm deeply honoured," giving a brief laugh, "is this the part where you shout Pony Prism Power or what ever it is?" she mocked though they were having none of it. "Just give my diary back Christina, you're cornered," Susan said as she and the rest closed in on her. "Cornered? Yes, but I still hold all the winning hand," With a triumphantly malicious smirk Christina stood on a table with the diary in her hand, opening it to a recent page she began to read, "Listen to this everyone! Of all the landing sights of D-day, The Canadians' site of Juno Beach was one of the most heavily..." When she saw that everyone was confused, Christina took a good look at what she was reading and said, "What is this?" "That," a voice called out from across the cafe, "Is my history notebook." Turning around the girls looked perplexed as Talia walked up to Christina and snatched the notebook from out her hands. "And if you needed it you could have just asked." She and Christina had a brief staring contest before the latter huffed and walked out of the cafe, without so much as a how do you do. Sighing in relief, Talia went over to Susan while placing her note book back in her bag and pulled out a identical notebook and handed it to Susan, "Here, you left this in the library when you went to class." Grateful, Susan took her diary back and asked, "You didn't read it did you?" Shaking her head, Talia said, "Of course not, it was clearly private, I would never do anything like that without your permission." Thanking her Susan then asked, "Wait, if you had it all this time, why didn't you call me?" "You never gave me your number." shrugged Talia as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. You could hear a pin drop from the self realization. Face palming, Susan, and all the girls really, finally exchanged phone numbers, so something like this didn't happen again. Paulina then pulled both Talia and Susan into a hug and shouted, "Yeah! Now that its over with, come on we have a party to prepare for!" Jumping and cheering Paulina and the rest of the girls started to leave the cafeteria, while and Felix, Susan and Talia looked on confused. "Girls!" called Felix getting their attention, "Its only lunch! School doesn't end for another two hours." As realization crept on the girl's faces, they had the decency to look embarrassed, "Oh yeah. Oopsie." admitted Paulina rubbing the back of her neck. The party at the Cake's was in full swing and as usual Paulina was in top form with planning the celebration. Since out of all of them only Felix, Susan and Talia, did not have the final period of the day as a spare, the girls were able to leave early enough to prepare the upstairs rooms of the shop for the party. After a while Talia was chatting with Faith on how to better take care of Spike, when she noticed something, well someone to be honest, was missing. Looking around she asked, "Has anyone seen Susan?" Looking around as well Felix answered, "Last I saw her she said she had business to attend to in private." Concerned for her new friend Talia excused herself to look for Susan. "Susan?" Talia asked, finding the young blond red head sitting quietly in the corner, "What are you doing here by yourself?" Looking down on Susan's lap, Talia raised an eyebrow, "What is in that diary anyway?" Closing the diary in her lap Susan tried to wave it off, "Its nothing really," seeing that Talia was still curious she tried to change the subject, "Um, shouldn't you be enjoying your party?" Chuckling Talia sat down by Susan's and put a comforting arm on her shoulders, "It's your party too, you know." Glancing back at the banner, with the words "Welcome Talia Sparks/We Forgive you Susan", that hung over the shop, she chuckled, "What ever you did, it had to be a doozy for them to forgive with a party like this!" Pulling Susan into a hug, Talia added, "You have some really great friends. You know that right?" Smiling and thinking back on the past four months, Susan nodded, "Yeah, they are pretty great." But she looked at Talia with a sort of apologetic look and said, "But they're your friends too!" Shaking her head, Talia took her hands off Susan's shoulders and turned to face her directly, "Not really," but did concede, "Not yet, anyway. I'm friends with you, and they're friends with you. Therefore they're not really my friends. More like friends of a friend" The two of them shared a smile and just chatted for a while. When the music started playing a smile came over Talia, "Come on," taking Susan's hand and dragged her over to Felix who was chatting with Rowellina and Paulina. "You free to dance?" she asked while Susan was wondering why she was dragged over. Ignoring the looks he was getting from the girls he answered, "Uh, yeah, why?" Devious smirk still on her face Talia took Felix's hand, dragged him and Susan to the centre of the dance floor and said, "Because you are going to teach me and Susan that dance you did with my clone." Surprised Felix barely managed to say, "I-I-I am?" Switching his gaze between Talia, who beamed, Susan who shrugged and the "sailor scouts" who just gave him thumbs up. "Yes you are," nodded Talia, before a smirking, "Unless you're too embarassed?" Calling her bluff, Felix smirked, "Not at all," he said going down on all fours, "I'm just worried you won't be able to keep up." Sensing a challenge Talia nodded to Susan and both got on all fours and followed Felix in dancing like a certain pony in a girl's body. Of course it didn't last thirty seconds before they all collapsed into a laughing pile, regardless they seemed determined to learn that dance. Off in the corner both Paulina and Rowellina both shared a conspiratorial smile. "Paulie, Darling?" "Yes, Rowie?" "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" "Valentine's Day Party?" Asked Paulina pulling a pen and pad already planning the party in her head. "Exactly!" she nodded beaming widely. "Your Place?" "Perfect!" "Seven Minutes in Heaven?" "A Must!" "Rig it so those two end up together?" "Why else?" As the two matchmaker's made plans to bring two close friends together, Amelia looked over to Roxy and Faith who seemed nonplussed about the whole affair. "Should we be worried?" Roxy just shrugged, "Its not my ass their looking to pair up." Amelia then looked over to Faith who softly shook her head and then focused her attention on her shake.
New Day, New Student Part 1A young man with blue hair is drinking coffee as a rushed shuffling noise is hear coming from upstairs. "Come on Teeny!" he calls as a irritated bark echoes through the house, "You're going to be late for your first day of school if you don't hurry up!" Hurried footsteps come down the stairs along with shouts of, "I'm ready, I'm ready!" Into the kitchen runs a teenage girl with purple hair, follow by a purple and green dog. Sitting down to breakfast she takes a moment to catch her breath and then punches her brother in the shoulder, "I told you to stop calling me that!" Feigning injury the young man continued to drink his coffee while his sister tried to finish her breakfast as quickly as possible. "Slow down," he cautioned, "you'll make yourself sick if you keep eating like that." Chugging down the last of her juice, the young girl took her dishes to the sink for her brother to wash later. Rushing back up the stairs with her dog, the young man finished his coffee and waited by the foot of the stairs to see his sister coming down the stairs rummaging through her bag. "Pen? Check. Back up pen? Check. Back up back up pen? Check." she muttered and not watching her step slipped, but was steadied by her brother catching her in the nick of time. "Thanks Seth." she said blushing at her own obliviousness. "Careful now," he chuckled, "wouldn't want your first day of spoiled by broken leg." Opening the door he turned back on his sister, "Are you sure you don't want me to give you a lift?" Shaking her head, "No its fine, Candace said she was going to give me a lift already." As if by magic a black Sonata pulled up driveway. "See? I'll see you after school." She then hugged her brother before crouching down to her dog she petted him on the head, "and Spike be a good boy while I'm gone okay?" Spike just gave a happy bark in response. Running out the door with her bag, she hopped in the car where a young woman her brother's age, Candace, waited. "Excited for your first day at Canterlot High, Talia?" she asked as she pulled out of the driveway. "Yeah!" nodded Talia, but then a contemplative look came over her, "but I also want to find out who posted those videos." Candace gave a light laugh, "Yeah, that was weird," on seeing Talia looking a little dejected she patted her shoulder comfortingly. "don't worry about it, I'm sure no one at your new school is going to even recognize you." Jerking, Talia began to, in only the most generous terms, visually spaz, "Don't worry? Don't worry!? I have a mystery twin who can't figure out a computer and dances worse than I did at homecoming! Do you know what Miranda said when she saw that!" Candace again put her hand on Talia's shoulder. "Talia, honey," she said calmly, "breath. I'm sure you're just overreacting." When she saw her young friend had visibly calm down Candace continued, "That was months ago, Principal Celestia has assured me that the entire matter has settled among student body. No one will even notice you." Driving up to the school, they noticed the rather large amount of scaffolding above the main entrance. Upon seeing it Talia muttered, "Bad sign number one." While Candace just offered a nervous smile. The moment the new transfer student walked into the main hall with the new student teacher, every eye turned to them and then the whispering began. Talia turned to Candace, "No one will notice?" Understandably embarrassed Candace quickly and as quietly as possible ushered Talia to the Principal's office. In their hurried pace they did not notice a pink haired girl gasp, rather loudly too, and run off. Once there they were met with the Principal, who seemed amicable enough to Talia. "Ah, Miss Candace Amritzi I presume?" she greeted shaking Candace's hand. "I'm glad that you can join as here at Canterlot High, and to you as well, Miss Sparks." Nervous, Talia eventually took the Principal's hand with a muttered thank you. The Principal explained to Talia the expectations and code of student conduct at Canterlot High as well as giving Talia her schedule for the semester. After explaining all of this the Principal asked, "Do you have any questions Miss Sparks?" "Just one," Talia twiddled her fingers before asking, "There's a student here...who..who looks a lot like me. May I speak to her? Its about some videos online." Talia was nervous because to her Principal Celestia held this air of authority that made you want to try you hardest to avoid disappointing her. Raising her eyebrow, the Principal examined Talia closely before answering, "I'm afraid that particular student is no longer attending this school." Talia deflated a little, "However, I can assure you that the entire matter related to the videos has been settled and the students responsible have been sufficiently punished." Talia sputtered, "B-but, shouldn't I at least hear it straight from them? By all accounts that is me in those videos even if it is supposedly a different person." Fixing her gaze on Talia, the Principal sighed, "Very well, though not directed at you I can see that, indirectly, you have been affected." Writing three names on a slip of paper, Celestia handed them to Talia, "But I must warn you Miss Sparks, as the school considers the matter closed, I must ask that you settle accounts after school hours, is that understood?" When Talia nodded the Principal adopted a much more relaxed and friendly tone, "Good, now if I'm not mistaken, your first class will be starting in five minutes. Run along." It was lunch time and the entire school was already abuzz with the news of the new transfer student, who is the exact twin of a earlier transfer student. The school's own famed "Sailor scouts"* showed the most interest in the transfer, but by some crazy twist of fate, none of them shared classes with her. This drove no one more crazy than Paulina who was always eager to make a new friend. Leading to our current scene in the cafeteria. "Oh come on!" exclaimed Paulina raising her arms, "You mean none of us shares a single class with the new girl?" "Its freaky, sugarcube," admitted Amelia, "But what are we gonna do? Walk right up to her and say, 'Hi, we're friends with an alternate universe pony version of you and thought it be swell if we were friends with you too?' I'd chuck anyone who said that to me in the loony bin for that!" "But its true!" protested Paulina, "Everyone here saw it!" She then pulled out her puppy dog face, "Besides, she's new here and if she's new, that meant she hasn't met anyone yet, and if she hasn't met anyone yet, she must not have any friends, and if she doesn't have any friends then she must be lonely, and that made me so sad, then I had an idea, and that's why I went huuuh! I must throw a great big ginormous super-duper spectacular welcome party and invite everyone in school! See!" The four backed off slightly as Paulina ran off into another party rant and pulled out extremely detailed party plans to be held at the Cake's Bakery, "Then she'll have lots and lots of friends!" Roxy just rolled her eyes at her remade friends antics muttering, "Yeah that won't scare her off." Rowellina gave a chastising look to the resident tomboy before turning to Paulina, "Paulie darling, maybe we should just treat her as someone we don't know yet. Instead expecting her to act exactly like Twilight?" "What makes you say that?" asked Paulina still going over her plans for this party. Gently, Rowellina looked over the plans before pointing at a draft menu, "Well for one thing, I doubt that, unlike Twilight, she would like to eat hay." Any further planning was put to a halt when Faith gasped, "Look!" pointing to a secluded corner of the cafeteria. Turning around the "sailor scouts" saw that subject of their conversation was talking with Susan Shelby, formerly Sunset Shimmer, it seemed they were talking for quite a while and were long finished. The transfer left the cafeteria while Susan just kept eating her lunch, but much more subdued than earlier. Looking at each other the five made their way over to their new and rehabilitating friend. It was Faith who asked, "Um Sun-Susan?" gently laying her hand on the former pony's shoulder, "Are you okay? Did she say something?" "Oh," Susan began somewhat dejected, "yeah, she just wanted a explanation for those videos I had Steve and Stan take in September." "She didn't say anything to hurt your feelings did she?" asked Rowellina, joining Faith on Susan's other side. Surprised, Susan looked at both Rowellina and Faith, "Wait, your worried about me after all I did, I-I thought you would take her side, you are her friends." "That's where you're wrong sugarcube," offered Amelia taking Susan's hand, "Twilight's our friend and she asked we take care of you." "Yeah!" smiled Paulina jumping in front of Susan with her infectious smile, "She's not our friend until I throw her a super awesome welcome party!" She gasped again as an idea popped into her head, "We should totally throw a "Welcome to Canterlot High/We forgive you Sunset Shimmer" mega party for the both of you!" The Pinkette was soon off deep into more party plans leaving Roxy to pick up the slack. "Amelia's right! No one says Roxy Dodgers doesn't look out for her friends!" and looking directly into Susan's eyes, "And you're our friend Susan." Teary eyed, Susan just choked out a "Thank you." After drying her eyes she asked, "But what are we going to do about Talia? She want's me to meet her after school with Steve and Stan." She then gazed down into her lap and twiddled her fingers, "I'm afraid she won't be as forgiving as Twilight." Smiling it was Rowellina who took both of Susan's hands, "Don't you worry about this, Talia was it, just take her somewhere that we can watch out for you. Like the Cake's bakery. We'll even get Felix to help out." She looked around to the rest of the girls who nodded in agreement. For the rest of lunch and the day they, with the help of Felix, prepared Susan for her confrontation with Talia Sparks. Author's Note * Well what would you call five girls who transformed in elaborate sequences set to music from no where? "Pretty cures"?
New Day, New Student Part 2The rest of the day passed quickly enough for all involved. During the last period of the day Talia was walking through the halls looking for that girl she talked to at lunch, Susan or something like that. Mentally she kept listing how many times someone nearly called her Twilight Sparkle, and a fully separate but somehow larger list of people that just called her Twilight Sparkle. Looking around and not seeing her in the main hall, she decided to find those two freshmen that took the videos. Walking outside she saw the two boys trying to make it home without attracting any attention. They were hilariously failing by the way, the both of them had tripped into the bike stands and were arguing on who was at fault. Shaking her head, Talia made her way over, when the freshmen saw her coming they scrambled to get up and make a run for it when Talia shouted, "Hold it!" Nervous the shorter of the two cowered, "W-w-we a-al-already told you. Suns-Susan made us take those videos." turning to his lanky friend and nudging her in the ribs, "T-t-tell her Steve." "Yeah! It was all Sunset Shimmer's fault!" he nodded, "Please don't hurt us Twilight!" covering his head with his arms. '123' mentally ticked Talia, 'Sunset Shimmer? Must be a nickname?' Getting the two idiots to calm down from their groveling, "Just tell me where I can find Susan or Sunset or whatever her name is." Jumping up, the short one scratched her chin, "I think she said something about going to the Cake's Bakery." Then his face became more nervous at Talia's questioning stare, "But that's all I know, sorrygottagobye!" he then sprung into a full on sprint leaving his friend in the dust. By the time he figured out what had happened he nervously waved at Talia before going after his friend, screaming "Wait up Stan!" Talia had managed to get a thank you out before they ran off, but when she saw them halfway down the block she remembered what Steve had called her and screamed after them, "And my name is TALIA!" She asked around the school yard for directions to the Cake's Bakery, it seemed to be a popular hang out for students. The girl she asked even offered to "humbly and graciously guide you to the Cake's herself!" Talia politely declined the offer saying, that she couldn't possibly keep up with her energy. As it was Talia was confident she could find her way from here. For the past ten minutes Talia walked down 8th St, looking for Cake's when she wasn't looking ahead of her and ran into someone going into the opposite direction. Talia fell back with a grunt, she looked up, and saw a blue haired boy offering his hand to her and asked, "You okay?" helping Talia up. "Uh yeah and thanks," said Talia after dusting herself off, and offered her hand in return, "My name is Talia, and you are?" For a briefest moment he seemed surprised, but did shake her hand, "Felix, Felix Sharp, are you looking for anywhere in particular? You seem a bit lost" Grateful for having run into someone normal for once, Talia nodded, "I'm looking for the Cake's Bakery, I'm supposed to be meeting someone there." Smiling Felix just walked past Talia, "You missed the turn a half a block ago, why don't I walk you the rest of the way? I'm meeting some friends there anyway." Just returning a small smile in turn Talia moved to catch up to Felix, after a minute something clicked in Talia's head, "Have I seen you somewhere before?" Felix's eyes rose in surprise and turned to Talia with a nervous grin, "What do you mean? We've only just met." After another minute of looking a sort of devious look came onto Talia who snapped her finger, "Oh yeah! Your that guy dancing with my clone in the video." Shocked Felix nearly stumbled, "Videos? I wasn't in those videos." Pulling out her smartphone and quickly searching through youtube she quipped, "Oh no? Then what do you call this?" Felix stared in a expression that lay somewhere between surprise, embarrassed and horrified what he saw on the phone screen.* Speechless, he missed Talia pulling back her phone, and admiring the video herself. "I have to say I'm impressed though, how did you make those wings look so real?" Chuckling and somewhat blushing Felix just rubbed the back of his neck, "Let's just say its a long story. Oh hey look we're here!" he pointed out with some relief. He gestured for Talia to go in before him, but was interrupted by the sound of her phone going off. Looking at who it was Talia gestured for him to go in first while she took the call. Walking over to the table Susan was sitting at he offered a comforting smile, "Are you gonna be okay doing this by yourself? If not we can move it over to the booth with the rest of them." He offered pointing to a corner where the "sailor scouts" sans Paulie were gesturing encouragingly. Shaking her head Susan smiled in return, "No, its alright, this is something I have to do on my own." Felix didn't look all that convinced, but any protest died when Talia walked inside and came over, "Sorry about that," she apologized, "it was my brother was just checking up on me." turning to Felix she asked, "Will you be joining us?" Shaking his head, Felix gestured to the empty seat, "She's all yours." then turning to Susan he whispered a quick "Take care." before joining the rest of them a reasonable distance to observe and step in if necessary. Looking around Felix then asked, "Where's Paulie?" Rowellina pointed over to the counter where she was talking animatedly with Mr. Cake, "Still making plans for Talia and Susan's party, but never mind that, when did you run into the new girl?" "On the way here, she was a little lost, and I thought I'd give her a hand." Felix answered as they watched as Mrs. Cake brought over a couple of milkshakes, Susan and Talia had ordered after they sat down. Silently the five of them watched as the two began to talk things out. Susan seemed to be making an impassioned case for forgiveness, but because of the way they were seated, with Talia facing away from them, it was hard to see if it was having any effect. They were distracted when Paulina came over with a worried look on her face, "Um guys, we have a problem!" pointing over to the door where three boys, two of them wearing football jackets, and the third a blond clearly full of himself, walked into the shop. "Crap!" swore Roxy, "What are they doing here?" Rowellina agreed, "Those ruffians make it hard enough for Susan as it is." Trembling Faith whispered, "W-w-what d-d-do we do?" Amelia tried to be optimistic and calm everyone down, "Maybe they won't even notice her." Though by her tone you could tell she didn't believe that for a second. Narrowing his eyes, "Too late." he whispered when the three purposfully went over to Susan's and Talia's table. "Well, well" drawled the blond, standing over Susan and Talia's table, "if it isn't demon girl, I'd stay away from this one Twilight. Never know when you might get burned." Susan flinched at 'demon girl', a detail that did not go unnoticed by Talia, and glared at the blond, "What do you want Brian?" "Oh nothing," shrugged Brian, snaking a arm around Talia's shoulders, which also clearly made her uncomfortable, "Just warning the new girl, wouldn't want you to go all fire and brimstone on her." Brian then laughed, the one where you think you said something clever, but really didn't. The 'sailor scouts' and Felix moved to intervene, but stopped when Talia spoke. "How dare you speak to her like that." she whispered her bangs covering her eyes. Surprise showed on both Susan and Faith's faces, who remember who else had also said those words. "Huh," wondered Brian looking at Talia, "what did you say Twilight?" "I said, How. Dare. You. Speak. To. Her. Like. THAT!" punctuated Talia as if talking to a five year old, which wouldn't exactly be wrong. She then stood up, throwing off Brian's arm, grabbing her milkshake, and in one swift motion, kneed him in the gut and then poured her milkshake when he doubled over. "And my name" she spat, "is Talia." Even in pain Brian managed to choke out, a "Bitch" before being brought to his feet by his jock lackeys. "you think you could take us all on? By yourself?" "Maybe not alone, but she's not alone is she?" declared Rowellina as she, Felix and the rest of the girls gathered around Talia and Susan. Looking around Brian noticed that most if not the entire shop was on its feet glaring at him. Admitting defeat, Brian dusted himself off and ran off, trying to preserve what microscopic shreds of dignity, followed by his two goons. The entire shop broke out in applause over Talia's actions before resuming what they were doing before. After things had calmed down Susan, prompted by Felix and Rowellina, invited Talia to sit with them. "That was a really noble thing you did for Susan, Talia considering." congratulated Amelia, "couldn't have done it better myself." "Hell yeah!" exclaimed Roxy nearly jumping out of her seat, "What you did to that jerk was so AWESOME!" Smiling Talia just waved it all off, "It was nothing, no one deserves to be talked to like that. No matter what they did. And Susan" She said turning to Susan, offering a comforting hand. "For what its worth, I forgive you about those videos." The look on Susan's face held utmost relief and thankfulness at Talia's acceptance. "But, I still want a full explanation on why you did it," before Susan's could become dejected, Talia continued, "until then, I hope we could become good friends." Susan's face at those words were the biggest any had seen in a long time. "Me too." Smiling Talia pulled Susan into a tight hug as the girls all cooed and Felix just smile softly, a look that did not go unnoticed by those at the table. Checking the time Talia began to make her goodbyes as she had to go home, "Um Talia," Susan called after her before she reached the door "Paulie here, was thinking about holding a party," she began looking nervous and slightly flushed, "to fully welcome you to Canterlot High on Friday." biting her lip Susan asked, "Do you think you can make it?" Talia looked surprised at the invitation, but just smiled, "Sure, why not? And call me Tali." Nodding to each of the girls Talia then left and made her way home from the Cake's. After Talia left, Felix visibly relaxed in his seat and said, "Well that went better than expected." after receiving odd looks from the rest of the table he asked, "What?" Snickering Amelia whispered to the rest of them, "Looks like someone has a crush on the new girl." Seeing the teasing smiles and nods he sputtered. "What no I don't" crossing his arms across chest and straightening up. Rowellina looked closely at his face before beaming, "Oh, but I think you do, you absolutely do!" Huffing, Felix leaned forward, "Don't be ridiculous. I. do. not. have. a crush. on. TALIA. SPARKS." Paulie lean over the rest of them and whispered in a sing-song voice, "Someones in denial!" Susan smiled at the flabbergasted expression on Felix's face. She didn't know when, but she started to giggle, and honestly, it made her feel better than she had in a long time. Author's Note * You know which video I'm talking about
The Welcome PartySince the Fall Formal, and by Twilight's encouragement to learn about friendship, Susan kept a diary that she carries with her everywhere she goes. Within that diary lay every lesson on friendship Susan had learned and cherished. It started rather simple, and over time she found friendship meant more that what she previously taught, and why Princess Celestia valued it so. Two days had passed since the incident at the Cake's and Susan was meeting Talia at the library of a study session an hour before school started. It was a routine with which she was not unfamiliar with, she was Princess Celestia's star pupil after all, once upon a time. She was writing in her diary while waiting for Talia to show up. When she did show up, she put her diary aside so they could focus on their studies. "So tell me," Talia begins while their were completing the homework for their respective math classes, "Paulina tells me that my Welcome Party after school is also a 'We Forgive You Susan Shelby'," Glancing at Susan before continuing on her work she asked, "Forgive you of what?" Susan just scratched her cheek thinking of an excuse, "Well its kind of a long story." "Does it have to do with the hole in the front of the school?" Talia asked still focused on her math homework. Smiling nervously, Susan just said, "Yeah." Checking the clock and seeing it was ten minutes before first period began, "Class is starting soon, gotta go!" she excused herself, grabbing her books and getting up to leave. Checking the time herself Talia agreed and began to gather her own books. Saying their goodbyes and going on their separate ways neither of them did notice the notebook left behind on the table. It wasn't until after second period when Susan first noticed her diary was missing. Retracing her steps and asking everyone in her past classes, Susan eventually came back to the library. She was getting worried too, the further back she went to look for her diary, the more likely it would be long gone leaving her to hunt down whoever had it. Despite looking around the table she and Talia used to study, she still couldn't find it and asked the Librarian, "Have you seen a notebook that was left behind on the study table by the Classics section?" Grimacing, 'cause she clearly felt she wasn't being paid enough to deal with student's problems, the Librarian thought about it for a second before replying, "I believe I saw that little henchman of yours, Mr. Taylor, was around that area before leaving for second period." Susan thanked the librarian and calmly leaving the library, the moment she left she ran to where the girls usually met up for lunch, and explained the situation, agreeing that the contents of the diary would make things worse for Susan, not better the set off looking for the amateur magician and former henchman. "Susan, darling," called Rowellina as the 'sailor scouts' followed Susan as she stalked the halls, "Calm down, I'm sure Stan and your diary will turn up sooner or later." "Sooner or later?" breathed Susan turning around on the girls, "That diary contains everything I learned in the past four months! If any of that got out I would die!" Pausing and taking a deep breath she continued, "We have to find Stan before my diary disappears again." Looking between the rest of them Rowellina nodded, "Very well, seeing as its lunch why don't we break off in pairs and look for the diary that way?" Susan agreed and was paired up with Faith and each pair went their separate ways looking for Stan or at least Steve. After ten minutes of searching they found him with Steve coming out of the boys restroom on the other side of the school. Immediately, Susan grabbed Stan and pushed him against the wall and glaring hard she asked. "Where. is. my. diary?" "I got it! I got it!" answered a panicked Stan, "please don't hurt me." reaching into his bag he pulled out the object in question and moved to give it to Susan. When she held it in her hands she let go of Stan and sighed in relief. "Is there a problem here?" asked a new voice. Turning around and hiding the diary behind her back, Susan saw the new student teacher looking at them questioningly. "None at all, Ms Amritzi" lied Susan gently elbowing Faith, who nodded in agreement, while sending a look to Steve and Stan that said, 'say anything and I'll go fire and brimstone on your asses.' Seeing as the two were at least possessed a sense of self-preservation they kept quiet. Ms Amritzi looked suspicious, but just shrugged it off and let them go their way. In fact the moment she turned the corner, Stan and Steve broke out running in the opposite direction. Turning to Susan, Faith asked, "Um was that really necessary?" looking at the retreating backs of Stan and Steve as the rounded the corner. Susan nodded, waving her diary in front of her, "This can't possibly fall into the wrong hands, and they were definitely the wrong hands." Suddenly the diary was snatched out of Susan's hands accompanied by a voice clicking, "The wrong hands, eh?" turning around Susan glared at a girl with dark cerulean hair. "Then you won't mind if I take a look at it then?" "Christina," Susan growled and even Faith seemed to glare at the girl as she held the diary with a elegant, but sinister grip. "Give that back." "Oh, I don't think so, Susie." taunted Christina, who broke into a run for the cafeteria when Susan jumped at her intent to retrieve her diary. Looking at Faith, Susan said, "Call the others and tell them Christina has my diary and is headed to the cafeteria." Nodding Faith pulled out her phone and began to text the others while Susan went after her diary. Susan met up with Amelia and Roxy first on the way there while the others made headed directly to the cafeteria. They did find Christina waiting for them at the doors with the diary still in hand. "Give it up Christina, don't make us come over there." threatened Roxy as the three made their way cautiously towards her. "Oh don't worry, I will" smirked Christina who laid a hand on the cafeteria door's push bar. "But first I'm sure everyone is curious at what secrets, Miss Fire-n-Brimstone are keeping to herself." "Don't you dare!" yelled Susan making a direct shot for Christina, who entered the cafeteria and quickly closed the door behind her. "Oh, but I do." laughed Christina, backing off from the doors as it was clear Susan, Amelia and Roxy meant to burst in. Christina positioned herself near an empty table in the centre of the cafeteria as she was surrounded by the girls and Felix, "Well, if it isn't the 'sailor scouts'" she observed, "and our resident Tuxedo Mask! I'm deeply honoured," giving a brief laugh, "is this the part where you shout Pony Prism Power or what ever it is?" she mocked though they were having none of it. "Just give my diary back Christina, you're cornered," Susan said as she and the rest closed in on her. "Cornered? Yes, but I still hold all the winning hand," With a triumphantly malicious smirk Christina stood on a table with the diary in her hand, opening it to a recent page she began to read, "Listen to this everyone! Of all the landing sights of D-day, The Canadians' site of Juno Beach was one of the most heavily..." When she saw that everyone was confused, Christina took a good look at what she was reading and said, "What is this?" "That," a voice called out from across the cafe, "Is my history notebook." Turning around the girls looked perplexed as Talia walked up to Christina and snatched the notebook from out her hands. "And if you needed it you could have just asked." She and Christina had a brief staring contest before the latter huffed and walked out of the cafe, without so much as a how do you do. Sighing in relief, Talia went over to Susan while placing her note book back in her bag and pulled out a identical notebook and handed it to Susan, "Here, you left this in the library when you went to class." Grateful, Susan took her diary back and asked, "You didn't read it did you?" Shaking her head, Talia said, "Of course not, it was clearly private, I would never do anything like that without your permission." Thanking her Susan then asked, "Wait, if you had it all this time, why didn't you call me?" "You never gave me your number." shrugged Talia as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. You could hear a pin drop from the self realization. Face palming, Susan, and all the girls really, finally exchanged phone numbers, so something like this didn't happen again. Paulina then pulled both Talia and Susan into a hug and shouted, "Yeah! Now that its over with, come on we have a party to prepare for!" Jumping and cheering Paulina and the rest of the girls started to leave the cafeteria, while and Felix, Susan and Talia looked on confused. "Girls!" called Felix getting their attention, "Its only lunch! School doesn't end for another two hours." As realization crept on the girl's faces, they had the decency to look embarrassed, "Oh yeah. Oopsie." admitted Paulina rubbing the back of her neck. The party at the Cake's was in full swing and as usual Paulina was in top form with planning the celebration. Since out of all of them only Felix, Susan and Talia, did not have the final period of the day as a spare, the girls were able to leave early enough to prepare the upstairs rooms of the shop for the party. After a while Talia was chatting with Faith on how to better take care of Spike, when she noticed something, well someone to be honest, was missing. Looking around she asked, "Has anyone seen Susan?" Looking around as well Felix answered, "Last I saw her she said she had business to attend to in private." Concerned for her new friend Talia excused herself to look for Susan. "Susan?" Talia asked, finding the young blond red head sitting quietly in the corner, "What are you doing here by yourself?" Looking down on Susan's lap, Talia raised an eyebrow, "What is in that diary anyway?" Closing the diary in her lap Susan tried to wave it off, "Its nothing really," seeing that Talia was still curious she tried to change the subject, "Um, shouldn't you be enjoying your party?" Chuckling Talia sat down by Susan's and put a comforting arm on her shoulders, "It's your party too, you know." Glancing back at the banner, with the words "Welcome Talia Sparks/We Forgive you Susan", that hung over the shop, she chuckled, "What ever you did, it had to be a doozy for them to forgive with a party like this!" Pulling Susan into a hug, Talia added, "You have some really great friends. You know that right?" Smiling and thinking back on the past four months, Susan nodded, "Yeah, they are pretty great." But she looked at Talia with a sort of apologetic look and said, "But they're your friends too!" Shaking her head, Talia took her hands off Susan's shoulders and turned to face her directly, "Not really," but did concede, "Not yet, anyway. I'm friends with you, and they're friends with you. Therefore they're not really my friends. More like friends of a friend" The two of them shared a smile and just chatted for a while. When the music started playing a smile came over Talia, "Come on," taking Susan's hand and dragged her over to Felix who was chatting with Rowellina and Paulina. "You free to dance?" she asked while Susan was wondering why she was dragged over. Ignoring the looks he was getting from the girls he answered, "Uh, yeah, why?" Devious smirk still on her face Talia took Felix's hand, dragged him and Susan to the centre of the dance floor and said, "Because you are going to teach me and Susan that dance you did with my clone." Surprised Felix barely managed to say, "I-I-I am?" Switching his gaze between Talia, who beamed, Susan who shrugged and the "sailor scouts" who just gave him thumbs up. "Yes you are," nodded Talia, before a smirking, "Unless you're too embarassed?" Calling her bluff, Felix smirked, "Not at all," he said going down on all fours, "I'm just worried you won't be able to keep up." Sensing a challenge Talia nodded to Susan and both got on all fours and followed Felix in dancing like a certain pony in a girl's body. Of course it didn't last thirty seconds before they all collapsed into a laughing pile, regardless they seemed determined to learn that dance. Off in the corner both Paulina and Rowellina both shared a conspiratorial smile. "Paulie, Darling?" "Yes, Rowie?" "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" "Valentine's Day Party?" Asked Paulina pulling a pen and pad already planning the party in her head. "Exactly!" she nodded beaming widely. "Your Place?" "Perfect!" "Seven Minutes in Heaven?" "A Must!" "Rig it so those two end up together?" "Why else?" As the two matchmaker's made plans to bring two close friends together, Amelia looked over to Roxy and Faith who seemed nonplussed about the whole affair. "Should we be worried?" Roxy just shrugged, "Its not my ass their looking to pair up." Amelia then looked over to Faith who softly shook her head and then focused her attention on her shake.
