Beaten, bullied, cursed

"So... You want me to help you pick out a new motorcycle for the friendship games?"

"Yup." Sunset said cheerfully.

"And you can't use the motorcycle you have for what reason now?" Michael said putting his hands in his pockets.

"Well, my current "bike" isn't really a bike." She said.

"Then what is it?" Michael asked, cocking his head to one side.

"It's a faggio." Sunset braced her self for a laugh, but one never came. Instead there was a sigh, and Michael was pinching the space between his eyes.

"A faggio?" He asked.

"Yep."

"I.... You know what, I'm not gonna get into what's wrong with that. Let's just go get you a new bike." He said.

"Wait, really? I figured you wouldn't want to help after you found out I own a faggio." Michael put a hand over her mouth.

"SSSHHH!!! Not so loud." He said. He removed his hand and signed. "I'm only helping you because you're a friend, and I was planning on getting a new bike. I'm not sure what type I want, but I know it has to be a streetfighter." Sunset raised an eyebrow.

"What's a streetfighter?" She asked.

"It's basically a sportbike, except with out all the fiberglass paneling to make it aerodynamic." He said. "Let's just get going."

The two walked into a Honda dealership, and looked around at the enormous amount of bikes on the show room floor.

"That's a lota bikes." Michael said.

"Yeah..." Sunset gulped. "I don't even know the first thing about picking a new bike!" She said, mouth hung wide open. Michael slowly looked over at sunset, she looked at him for a moment. "What?"

"Really? You don't know step number one?" He said.

"Nope, why."

"You are very shielded aren't you? Well the first step is sitting on it to see if it feels comfortable, once you have that down you judge it on its looks. If you like the feeling but you don't like the look just move on." He said.

"Why would you move on?" Sunset asked, raising one eyebrow.

"Because if you don't like the look of it, your not going to enjoy riding it. All you'll be thinking about is how silly your bike looks." He looked at the first row of sport bikes. Some had the farings, and some didn't. The first bike sunset sat on, was a CBR1000RR. She seemed to like the look, and so far the seat felt nice and soft. Michael sat on one as well, except this one had the farings removed. He liked the feel so far.

"Um, what do we do from here?" She asked.

"We test ride them. Don't worry, I'll pay for the test rides. Let's go talk with the people at the register about test riding these bad boys." Michael said.

They talked with the people at the register and they handed them some forms. Michael filled out the two slips of paper and handed them back to the people at the register. He made sure to include the payment for the test rides. The shop employees put tracking boxes on the bikes and handed them the keys.

"Have fun, but don't do anything stupid." The employee said with a smile. Sunset looked at the plastic box they attached to the forks of the bikes.

"What are these?" She asked.

"Gps tracking devices, they're to make sure no one steals the bikes and gets away with it. Anyway, here is your key." He tossed her the key to the bike, she caught it and put it in the ignition. She pressed the startup button and the bike came to life with a low growl. The shop keepers opened a set of speacial doors that were big enough to fit the bikes through. Michael started his bike and put his helmet on. Sunset put her helmet on and turned on the built in Bluetooth headset. "Can you hear me sunset?" Michael said over the Bluetooth.

"Loud and clear. We ready to roll?" She asked.

"Yup, let's roll." Michael said. They put their kickstands up and gave the bikes the tiniest bit of gas to get the bikes rolling out the large doors. They pulled out of the store and began to pick up speed as they drove off. "I say we take these babies to the local race track, this way we can see what they're made of." Michael said.

"Agreed." Sunset said. They pealed off down the street, zipping by shops and cars alike until they reached the track. They pulled into the unusually empty track and positioned the bikes.

"Alright alright alright, let's open these bitches up." He twisted the throttle and he sped off. Sunset followed shortly after. After only three seconds, they had both shifted the bikes into fifth gear. They both zipped around the first turn. The bikes were now at their maximum speed of 169 miles per hour. They sped down the straight away and pealed around the second turn at top speed. Within moments they were back at the starting line.

"WOOHOO! I think I've found my new bike!" Sunset said. "What about you?"

"Meh, it's fast but I want something with an engine that I can't really feel. I want to be able to feel the vibrations of the engine, I barely felt the engine on this one. I want to be able to feel the power of the engine, this thing seems to be doing this effortlessly." Michael said. "We'll go back and pay for your bike, then you can leave if you want. But I'm gonna look at a few other dealerships to see if they have anything I like."

Sunset decided to go with Michael to these other dealerships after paying for her new bike. They went to places like Kawasaki, Yamaha and Suzuki, but they didn't seem to have enough engine vibration for him. Finally, they went to a Ducati dealership. He looked at all the nice looking bikes, sat on a few, until he came across a black Ducati streetfighter 848 with a red painted frame. He sat on it and he seemed to smile. After another few minutes he was ready to test ride the bike. He pulled out of the dealership and put his helmet on.

"Hey sunset, let's see how fast this baby is compared to your bike." He said.

"Your on!" She said. They took the bikes to the track, and after a 3 lap race, sunset had lost. The bike Michael was test riding could reach a top speed of 200 mph, faster then her new bike. Michael took his helmet of and turned toward sunset with a smug grin on his face.

"What was that you said earlier? You'll never keep up was it? Ah yes, that was it. Well it would appear I just wasted your smug ass." He said with a smile. Sunset gave him a sarcastic smile.

"Are you happy with the bike?" She asked.

"Oh yes, very much. Hehe, come on, let's go pay for this bike."

For Michael, the friendship games were a disaster. Not only did the principle tell him that he couldn't compete last minute, he was stuck on the side lines, sweating amoungst the people in the crowd. He noticed some strange light coming from out front of the school, he got up and went to check it out. He saw the twilight from this world holding something, and a large amount of purple light was coming off of it. It looked like it was getting ready to blow. Michael did the only thing he could think to do. He ran up, grabbed the device and started absorbing the energy. Michaels cries of agony were audible, but he was not visible inside the purple ball of light.

The group of people outside shut their eyes and looked away. They heard the energy disapate, and they heard Michael breathing heavily. The group looked up to see, two michaels. One was different, he had long black hair, and what appeared to be a very detailed full body tattoo of a skeleton on him" His skin was white where the bone was on the tattoo, the eye sockets, nasals and other gaps were colored in with black. He was the one breathing heavily. The other one was looking around, shocked.

"Michael?" Liela said.

"Yeah?" The fully tattoo'ed one said.

"Richard?" Rainbow dash asked.

"Yeah?" The normal one said. The two suddenly looked right at each other. Michaels eyes were now visible, they were black with the exception of the colored parts of the eyes, they were orange."Michael?" Richard asked.

"Richard?" Michael asked.

"The hell happened to you man?" Richard asked, staring at michaels new look.

"Eh, magical shit I don't understand. So how have you been? I mean, I thought you were destroyed!" Michael said.

"Nope, I was always watching what you were doing. I see you have a girl friend, I'm glad it's not rainbow dash cause uh...." He paused. "I've kinda got eyes on her." He whispered. Liela ran up to Michael and looked into his eyes.

"Oh my god your eyes!" She said.

"What about em? Anyone got a mirror?!" One of the girls from crystal prep handed him a mirror. He looked into it. "Holy shit I just scared myself! Damn! Look at my eyes! Look at my eyes.... Look at... My eyes....." He studied his face and other body parts, he chuckled and gave a smile. "I actually don't think it's that bad, I kinda like it. Let me just check to see if it's a full body tattoo or not." He pulled the front of his shirt collar and looked down his shirt. He did the same for his pants, gloves and socks. "Yep, it's a full body tattoo. I've got this skeleton pattern everywhere on my body." He said. He looked over to see that Richard was hugging Rainbow dash, who had run straight up to him.

"Hey, why are you crying Rainbow?" Richard asked.

"I just- *sniff* missed you- *sniff* so much." She said. "I don't ever want to lose you again."

"If it makes you feel better, I need a place to stay because of this. could I stay at your place?" He asked. She released him and looked into his eyes, she hugged him again.

"Yes. Yes! Of course you can!" She said.

Liela and Michael were sitting down together.

"I hope this new look isn't a deal breaker." Michael said.

"Nope, I actually think this is a good look for you. It was shocking at first, but I still love you all the same." She said. Michael kissed her on the forehead and hugged her.

"That's my girl." They were Interrupted by Richard, who was now standing in front of them.

"Hey, I was wondering if I could keep the Harley. You can keep the Magna and the Ducati, but I really love that Harley, so can I have it back?" Richard asked. Michael smiled.

"Sure thing bud, I prefer the Magna anyway." Richard chuckled.

"Yeah, I can tell by how often you ride it. Do you got the keys to the Harley on you?" Michael smiled, let out a sigh, and Rolex his eyes as he reached into his from pocket. His pulled out a key and tossed it to him. "Thanks man. I'll stop by with you to pick up the bike, then I'll be heading to Rainbows house."

"Wait, what about clothes?" Michael asked.

"Well, it's a Friday, so I have a whole weekend to let Rarity make me some new clothes. So, I'm covered."

"Great to hear it man. Now if you don't mind, I would like some alone time with my lady." He said. Richard just nodded and walked back toward the group of girls, while Michael and Liela just sat there in relaxation.