An unexpected friendship

by Shadow SSS

Rating: teen
Tags: Shadowbolts (EqG), Romance, Drama, Anon, Second Person, Comedy, Equestria Girls, Sex, Twilight Sparkle (EqG), Slice of Life
Length: 47843

Being a new student is never easy... Being a new Shadowbolt is even worse. This is the story of your new life as a Shadowbolt

A new town, a new life, a new school. Your parents got you your very own apartament for you to live in and finally get some independance from them. They of course enlisted you to one of the best schools in town since they want you to have the best eduaction there is, but there is a cost to having such a great education.

Crystal Prep Academy is not really known to be too social and accepting to strangers, but there are some students who are not as bad as they look once you get to know them, who knows, maybe you can get more than just a friend?

Warning: Violance, Innapropiate Language, Bullying, Blackmailing and a few other minor things. The list might grow as time goes on. Sex tag is there for suggestive content and conversations.

Got inspired to try and write my own fics by Holy You should totally go check their stories if you want some quality content.

Published 2016-08-29 01:50:01 UTC
Last updated 2017-03-15 20:46:32 UTC

Chapter 1 - Getting zapped

The buzzing of the alarm. It always annoyed you to hear it. Another buzz, another day of school, another day without a friend… yet this buzzing was different. Instead of filling your head with all negative thoughts it did quite the opposite, and you had one particular person to thank that… well, in all honesty two.

If it wasn’t for the first person, Sour Sweet and your clumsiness, you would have probably never talked to Lemon the day before, and while it was just a casual, somewhat friendly chat, it was a pretty cool one as well. Unlike other students, Lemon had not grunted, glare or even flat out ignore you the moment you exchanged more than two words. Not only that but she gave you half of her lunch without asking for anything in return. Most students would have at least make you pay them in one way or another.

It was settled… you were going to talk to Lemon, you were going to make a new friend, and you were definitely not going to run over Sour Sweet again.

After a quick shower and a nice big breakfast, you decided to kill the time you had left to prepare a little something. Considering that you wanted to repay Lemon somehow for yesterday… and even get something for Sour Sweet for the troubles you caused her, you managed to bake a dozen of cookies for both girl… who will probably share them with their friends on lunch time, which brought yet another problem. Unlike last time, where three of the group of five had stormed off to help Sour with the cleaning, leaving Lemon and Sugarcoat to deal with, this time around you will need to face all five girls if you want to have a chance to talk to Lemon alone.

That was certainly something you were not looking for, but there was no backing down now. The morning went on, and while you wish you could have caught Lemon either by the entrance of her locker all alone, you had not seen her at all that morning, almost as if she had vanished. Was she sick? Was she late? And why were you getting so worked up over a girl who barely knows who you are? You don’t even know if she is interested in being your friend or not. Still it was pretty hard not to get worried for her for some reason.

Luckily for you, she finally showed up and met up with her in class, but she did not take her usual desk this time around. Instead as soon as she spot you, to your surprise, she went straight and sat down next to you with a smile, though she did not seem to be listening because as soon as you greeted her, she just looked forward, pulled her books out and kept on trashing her head around with her big pink headsets on, it was not until the very moment that the ring bell that she decided to pull them out of their ears, face you and grant you a wave of her hand accompanied with a warm smile.

However, before you could say anything, the teacher put a piece of paper in front of you on your desk and carried on to hand this papers over all around the class… You could not remember the last time you hand in an assignment and were given back the results, and that has a logical explanation. This was no assignment that the teacher was given back with the grades. This was a test that you totally forgot about and there was no beating around the bush with this one since it was Algebra. If it was history or even geography, you might be able to cheat a tiny bit with your phone, or even ask for the answer to one of your classmates, but Algebra was a whole different level. The teacher specifically said that she wants to see the whole formula written down, even if you can tell what the answer is by just looking at the problem, you cannot just write down the result. You need to prove her that you know how to do it and even how you get to said result.

For the next hour, you pretty much just stared at the piece of paper in front of you. You could solve a problem here and there, maybe make an excuse of formula with one or two of them to try and squeeze some extra points in your favor, but in the end it was fruitless. The bell rang and you were certain that you were going to fail. Accepting defeat, you walk up to the teacher just like everyone else was doing and before leaving the classroom, your hand over your paper and avert her gaze at all cost.

The situation only got worse once you were outside. Some students were of course nervous about the test just like you, but unlike them, you did not have any friends to discuss about the test or anything, no one to try and reassure you that you did your best and that maybe you will make it, or so you thought. As you were caught in your own thoughts, someone tapped your shoulder, making you jump and quickly turn around.

Standing there behind you, a bit startled at your reaction, was Lemon Zest. You were almost a head taller than her due to her being so small, and you being taller than average so it felt a bit awkward being so close to her and having to look down a bit, but she did not seem to mind, or at the very least that big smile painted across her face did not show any signs of negativity whatsoever.

“There you are! I was looking for you, you forgot this” As she reached out with her hand, you could see what was on her grip. It was your car keys. It seemed that in your inner struggle about how you did in the test, you forgot to pick up your keys after you left your desk.

“Oh, hey, thanks… loosing this would be bad” Not only would be bad, your parents would probably kill you if they find out that you lost the car keys.

You were not used to carrying them around, since you live only a few blocks away from school, you usually just walk back and forward between your apartment and here. Only on rainy or bad days you actually bother to get your car.

“Anon was it? Just so you know… you should not mess with Sour Sweet today. She is… sour today, I mean like… all sour”

Sour, Sour Sweet… you can’t really say that is new since she is always flipping between both sour and sweet moods, but you never saw her be fully one or the other “Mhhh, that is a shame. I was hoping I could make up for running into her yesterday with this” As you search inside your bag, you pull out the bag of cookies you had prepared just a few hours ago “Roger that and well, this were for you as well, so I guess, you can have them all today? I'll give Sour their's some other time”

At first, Lemon did not seem to like the idea. She frown looking at the cookies that were given to her and then up to you “Me? Why would you give me cookies? Wait, is this for the sandwich?”

With a shy nod, you could not help but blush a little bit as you looked to one side and rub the back of your head “Yea, you really didn’t have to give it to me, and still you did, so I wanted to repay you”

It did not take much more convincing than that for Lemon to smile again and even wrap her arms around your neck for a quick hug “Ahhhh dude cool! You didn’t have to! Thanks” The blush on your face only grew bigger not really exactly sure on what you should do. Should you hug her back? Pat her head? Do nothing? But the answers to this questions was soon answered as both of you were interrupted by a third person.

“Who’s the guy Lemon? Your new boyfriend?” Lemon’s best friend Indigo walked up to you and poked the girl’s sides making her quickly retract her arms and push her friends hand away. Why would she think they were a couple? You did not look like a couple… did you? Not that you were against the idea but still.

“Stop that Indigo. No he’s not my boyfriend, he is just a friend. Anon, this is Indigo, my best friend” As Lemon was introducing you to her best friend, you could not help but notice that the sports girl was eyeing you up and down making you a bit stiff and nervous.

A few seconds later Indigo snapped her fingers and pointed at you with her index finger “Hey I know you. You are that guy that pissed Sour Sweet off yesterday by dumping all your food on her cloth”

Here we go again. Was this going to be a reoccurring thing now? Considering how big of a scandal Sour Sweet made that small scene from yesterday and how everyone in school took notice of this, or at least those in the cafeteria, then everyone was probably going to know you for ‘the guy that made a mess of Sour Sweet’

“I guess I am… sorry about that”

Your apology did not affect Indigo at all, she just shrugged it off and smile “You should apologize to her not… hey are those cookies? Give me one!”

Without waiting for permission, Indigo quickly snatched the bag from her friend’s hands and stuffed her mouth with two cookies.

Of course Lemon did not take this lightly and reached out with her hands for the bag once again “Hey! Give them back dude! They were made for me not you!” It was like watching two little kids fight over who gets to use a crayon for a drawing or who gets to seat in the front seat on a car ride, but eventually Indigo hand the bag back, to which Lemon hold with both arms into a tight hug. She took a cookie, closed the bag, put it away on her backpack and then gave the cookie a bite.

Both girls immediately melt down as the taste of your cookies melted down on their mouths.

“Mhhhhh this are goooooood. Where did you get them?”

“I actually made them myself” You said proud of your work, you were not the one to brag about the things you do, but considering that in this school you need to point out whatever you can get in your favor, you could not pass this opportunity.

But your moment of glory was short lived. Indigo took only a moment to think of what to say next before her face grew the biggest mischievous grin you have ever seen in your life.

“Trying to ask Lemon out? You know, since you made them for her?” Usually Lemon and Indigo tease each other like this when they are alone or when they are with one of their close friends, but never with a stranger, in this case you, or someone who is not part of their ‘circle of friends’, but this question was clearly more than just a little prank.

That totally caught you off guard, making you and Lemon blush madly. You opened your mouth to try and explain why you made the cookies… but nothing came out.

Indigo did not waste time after that. She chuckled and turned around “Well I will see you two later” You could not debate if this was good or bad. You did not want to get a girlfriend or a date. You just wanted a friend, but now that you looked at Lemon… she was not half bad. In fact she was pretty cute.

Neither of you said anything for a few seconds making things even more awkward as both of you were now averting each other’s eyes, until Lemon cleared her throat and pointed down the hallway with her finger “I… should go to class. See you around” As she walked away, she waved at you and went on her way. Just before turning the corner, she looked at you and smiled meeting your eye with her face still bright with a small blush.

Part of you was glad she was gone since it would avoid this getting even more awkward between you two, but another part of you was yelling at you for not taking the chance of asking her out, though it was for the best. You did not want to drive the only potential friend you can have away. Once you broke out of your trance,u finally got back on track and went on with your day. From that point on it was pretty uneve

ntful, classes were boring, lunch was normal and lonely like usual, and after school, you head straight home.

There was one thing however that keep on constant in your head, and that was Indigo’s voice

“Trying to ask Lemon out?”

To be continued…

Author's Note

Here's the first Chapter of many to come! I know I should have probably waited a little longer to publish it, but I might upload this every two or three days so the wait is not too long.

Let me know guys what you think. Should I upload them every two/three days, or should I make one chapter per week?

Remember to leave your opinions on the fic in the comments! Rating is appriciated! Let's me know if I am doing a good job, or I should improve, don't be afraid to tell me whatever is in your mind!

Thanks for reading!

Chapter 2 - It's all in good fun - Part 1

If only you would have just shut your mouth, go along with it and not question it...

The days went on and talking to Lemon was getting harder each day. With the Friendship games around the corner everyone was working extra hard to make sure they are at their finest so they can make sure to stomp all over the Wondercolts. Your strongest talent was archery for sure, but only being talented in one skill did not mean you would make the cut for the final team. Sure you would be skillful enough to surpass almost everyone in school, only Sour Sweet was better than you in this particular sport, but after that, you were blank. You were not smart enough to face anyone, you were not all that athletic outside of the skill previously mentioned, and you never liked crafting things with your own hands. While this last one was doable, it was not your first choice.

Maybe you could try to go and practice your cooking skills since those were pretty decent as well, but in the long run you knew what was best, not only for you, but for the whole school. You decided to just sit out of this games and let others handle this situation with their own hands. It would be a shame if you actually make it in the team that would be composed of the best of the best to compete against the Wondercolts, only to let everyone down since your strength just relies in two skills.

And because of this decision that you took, that was pretty much the last thing you saw from Lemon or her friends for quite a while. She was too focused with her training just like everyone else. She was smart, crafty, athletic and pretty good in all the activities that the games would cover. She was going to make the cut for the team without a sweat, you were sure of that, but that still did not stop her from training harder every day.

One particular day, you were just chilling on the back of the school under the sun doing some homework. Your day was already over and you could leave for your house if you wished to do so, but you decided to hang around and finish homework first, since you knew that sitting down to actually study and do your homework once you get home was not going to happen. You would probably get distracted easily with something in your room or even just take a nap and oversleep till next morning.

You were currently sitting on the bleachers overseeing the tracking field that was neatly prepared for anyone to go and use it if they wanted to. Professor Iron Will was there making sure no one was slacking about if they are actually using the field, and those who were indeed slacking, were quickly thrown out of the way to make room for those who never give up. Since you were too focused on your papers, and books, you did not notice the people around you sitting down, having a chat and taking a breather from running and training presumably all day, and frankly, you did not care. You were probably going to get rejected if you tried talking to any of them anyways like they always do.

That was until you felt the presence of another person. Someone sit down by your side on your right, and it was not just a group of people that just so happen to sit down nearby and you were just in the way. This girl was completely alone and looking at your homework before looking straight forward once again.

Light purple skin, a long and smooth silver hair braided into two big pig tails coming out from the back of her head, orange glasses to help her see and her cold and serious stare. It always looked like her stare alone could freeze anyone in place if she stares for too long.

“The argument you used for the third question is pretty pointless. Everyone knows that Bleda supposedly died on a hunting trip with Attila, but it was in fact a trap to kill Attila all along. Attila was simply stronger and smarter than his brother, that’s why he survived the surprise attack Bleda prepared. You would know this if you actually read the book for once instead of searching for the information on the internet” How did she even know that you did not use your book for this part of the homework was beyond your knowledge, but you decided not to question it, she was the smart one after all.

Of course she was going to make a remark of your homework. Arguably the smartest girl in school right after Twilight Sparkle, Sugarcoat was cold and direct. She did not like beating around the bush for too long and she is not exactly the kind of person to ‘open up’ to anyone, but for some reason she was talking to you just now.

With an eyebrow raised, you quickly correct your answer and then face the girl confused. You open your mouth to protest, talk or anything really, but for some reason, you could not mutter any kind of sounds.

Almost like if she had scanned what you were trying to say with just one quick stare, Sugarcoat frown and sigh as she shook her head “Just because I am sitting with you doesn’t mean we are friends. I am just here to support my friends and that is it. I only sit with you because Lemon has been talking about this ‘new guy’ for almost two straight days and I wanted to see what the big deal was about… I frankly don’t understand why she is freaking out, you don’t look special at all”

Such sweet words from such a sweet girl, but deep down she was right. There was no big deal about you, just an average person trying to get on with life as best as you can. You were not that smart, funny nor athletic. You were not that social nor talented either, so when the girl said that Lemon has been talking about you was kind of shocking. Sure you did screw up with Sour Sweet, but that was a conversation that would probably die in just a few minutes, and the cookies you offered her the day after that was no big deal either.

“What does she say about me?” Curiosity killed the cat, but in all honesty, you were a really curious kitty at the moment. You would be lying if you said you were not a bit excited as well, but you put on your best poker face and remain cool.

It almost felt like hours had passed before Sugarcoat would speak again. The tension was killing you, and the answer… let’s just say it left you wishing for more, because all that Sugarcoat said about the topic was “She just finds you interesting”

Just interesting… that was not enough. You wanted to know more “Care to elaborate?”

Another eternity went on and the silence grew tenser by the second “So?” you insisted to the girl on your side but she still did not say anything. The silence that followed after this was broken by a really loud whistle from Iron Will and a small race began. Everyone who was competing were using roller blades at the moment, speeding through the track to get the upper hand.

Your mind quickly side tracked and focused its attention on those who were competing. From this distance you could tell a few students apart. Gilda, Neon Lights, Sunny Flare and there she was. Considering how difficult it must be to hide that big beautiful emerald hair inside a helmet, most of Lemon’s back hair was sticking out and flowing along with the wind as she speeds forward. It was no surprise that Sunny Flare and Lemon took the upper hand. They have practically been practicing together all week whenever they get the chance, though you feel like they have been doing so for years if you would have to take a guess. There is no way they could get this good in such a short amount of time.

The race ended just as fast as it had started, or at least it seemed like it did since all you could focus while it was going, was watching that girl skate around, even tease the students she would lap occasionally. It was only time for her to catch you staring, and as soon as she was through the finish line, she took a moment to breath in and out before spinning around with a lout cheer and throwing her arms in the air. As soon as she stopped, she ended up facing you and your eyes meet hers.

You just stared making her a tad nervous and still you did not notice… if any time you have been or looked like a creep… this was the time. Sugarcoat however snapped a finger in front of your face as she stood up “You are creeping her out. If you are going to ask her out, that is not the way to do it”

Ask her out… wait why would Sugarcoat suggest that? That is the second person that has assumed that you want to ask Lemon out or something like that “Wait a minute! Who said anything of asking Lemon out?”

Sugarcoat stopped, tuned around and gave you an ‘are you serious?’ look “Indigo told me you like Lemon. Just one thing. Hurt my friend, and you will be dealing with me”

Well that did not sound too… promising, or nice “I don’t wanna ask her out! I just want to be friends! I swear”

Sugarcoat was not falling for that “Then why were you staring at her the whole time?” With that, she turned around once again and left for good, heading down towards the track to meet with her friends. Why were you staring at Lemon all that time? She is kind of cute and she does look pretty nice in that outfit, and that happy smile drawn on her face with her victory over the rest of the students, and those beautiful eyes filled with hope and sunshine… Come on get a grip of yourself, you can’t screw up this friendship so fast with a silly crush.

Ask her out. No it was too risky… but then again, she was quite friendly and open minded, but what if it fails? And if it doesn’t? And if she actually says yes? But it would be worse if she said no… Why is it that Indigo and Sugarcoat had to pressure you like this? You are not even sure if you like Lemon that way yet!

Well regardless of what you are going to do, you were not going to just be the creep who stares from afar. Just like Sugarcoat, you picked up your stuff and began to walk down towards to the girls. Lemon, Sugarcoat and Sunny were already having a chat before you showed up. The last two girls almost seemed like they had plotted this because as soon as you reached them, Sunny Flare smiled and left along with Sugarcoat, leaving the two of you alone once again.

This time you were not going to let this get to your head again… you were not going to screw this up and make an awkward silence like usual, so you decide to break the ice with a simple “You were pretty amazing out there. I’m sure Cinch is going to pick you to be on the team on the games”

Lemon was certainly happy to hear that. As friendly as she might be, she also has that competitive side inside of her. While it is not purely hate towards the other school, it is a side of her that wants to win and bring the cup back to school. School spirit maybe? “Thanks dude. My friends and I are working really hard to make it so that we can kick some asses”

“I don’t get it really”

“What?” Not being specific with your statement would certainly make anyone confused. Say something before you lose her!

“Oh, well, the whole rivalry thing. Is it really that important to win?”

It seemed that this had stuck a nerve on Lemon or something, because her smile quickly fade away and was replaced with a frown “What do you mean if it is important? Of course it is! The Shadowbolts had never lost against the Wondercolts and we are not going to be the first ones to loose against them!”

“Well, losing is not such a big deal either. I mean, it’s all in good fun, right?”

Lemon’s frown did not leave her face. She was staring deep into your eyes looking to see if you were messing with her or not, but when she came to the conclusion you were serious, she shock her head “You don’t get it do you? You are new and all, but we are the best, and we are not letting anyone win against us. Goodbye anon”

You were speechless. You did fear that Lemon would be like the others when it came to the competition, but deep down you kind of wish this was not true... You just wanted to see her laugh it off and not worry about it, but it seems you were wrong.

Just like that… you screwed up. Lemon began to roll away from you with her arms folded. As hard as it may seem to believe, it looked like everyone in Crystal Prep was infected with the ‘competitive bug’ except for you, not even the happiest and most cheerful girl in school was able to avoid getting competitive.

You could tell it right here, right now… this was going to be a long week, and if you are going to talk with Lemon again tomorrow… you better expect to be rejected, unless you get involved in messing with the Wondercolts somehow as well.

To be continued…

Chapter 4 - A friend in need

The friendship games were right around the corner now, and just when you thought that things could not get any more chaotic as they were at the moment, Principal Cinch decided that is was time to show up and ruin the little moment of peace you found in your free time between classes.

Calling all the students to the GYM room, Cynch had prepared some sort of small theater in the middle of the room like she usually does when she is ready to give a speech… this was going to be fun. The place was already crowded, from senior students, all the way to freshman, there was hardly any room to move around comfortably. Lets not mention that the amount of noise that all the students were making was pretty bad as well, making it really hard to talk to the person next to you… not that it really matter since you had no interest in talking to those around you, and neither did them have any interest in you yet. It only took a few more minutes before Cynch would finally dare to show up, stand in front of the microphone next to dean Cadance and cleared her throat as she looked around.

The room went silent almost immediately. The sooner they could get over with this, the better. You did not like Cynch, and you doubt anyone likes her really, not even Sunny Flare, and Cynch is her mother. It must be pretty terrible and annoying to have a mother like her, but it does has it perks. You get free education and you get to live with the ‘high society’, but that is a topic for another story.

“Students of Crystal Prep, we have gathered here today to announce a few things. As you all may know, there are only 30 more days until we face Canterlot High in the Friendship Games. This past two weeks, dean Cadance and I had tested all of you in different activities that will be included in this games and we have finally came to a decision. The students who will be participating have already been chosen, so please, if your name is called, step forward and form up a line”

You always hated her voice. Ever since you went to meet her the first day with your parents or your first day of school when she showed you around, it was pretty annoying to say the least. Good thing you only have to listen to it on the morning announcements and the occasional meetings like this one.

One by one, the students were called and they formed up a line in front of all the students so everyone could see them. Trenderhoof, Jet Set, Indigo Zap, Lemon Zest, Sunny Flare, Neon Lights, Royal Pin, Suri Polomare, Upper Crust, Sour Sweet, Sugarcoat and Twilight Sparkle. You were not surprised to see any of them in this group really, after all, all this students are the best of the best in almost everything that Crystal Prep covers.

“All of you have been chosen because you are the best students this school has to offer. With this team, victory is assured, and we will take the trophy and honor back to this school. My… I mean, our reputation depends on it. We will be ruined if we lose this games, so give it all you got!” Cynch finally stopped talking and began applauding. Most students cheered for those who were chosen as well.

It was hard to tell if what Cynch said in the end was more of a threat or an inspirational speech. Maybe both? There’s no wonder this school is so focused in winning with this principal. As soon as the applauses died down, Cynch told the students to go back to class and everything resumed like normal. You quickly looked around for Twilight to congratulate her for her success on making it to the team, having no idea that well, she was basically blackmailed by their very own principal on your back, but there was no way you could find out about that now.

Despite your best efforts, you could not find your nerdy friend anywhere. She just simply vanished. One moment she was there, standing in line along with the other students, and the other one she was gone. That girl was like a ninja.

She truly was a sneaky one. Speaking of sneaking around, as you were poking your head on top of the crowd to try and find Twilight, a hand creeped up behind you, reached out for your shoulder and grabbed you firmly making you jump scared at first. As soon as you turned around, you discovered who the owner of the hand was.

Standing right there in front of you was the number 1 athlete of the school, with her signature orange googles on top of her blue hair. Her big gamboge eyes locked on you in a frown as she began folding her arms once she retracted them away from you. Things could only get worse from here on out.

You were really nervous, things might be cool with Lemon after she gave you a second chance and you give her one and what not… but her friends were a complete different story. They could easily still hold a grudge towards you, or they could have already forgiven you, but by the looks of Indigo’s stare, you could tell she did not forgive you. You did upset her best friend after all.

“Hey Indi-“ Before you could even finish she placed a finger on your lips and stopped you right on track.

“I’m gonna be forward with you, so shut up and listen” she said calmly looking straight into your eyes. You could see the fire inside hers, just like if she was trying to burn you with her gaze at the moment “Lemon might have forgiven you, but that doesn’t mean we will, you heard me? I am willing to give you another chance as well, but if you ever hurt my best friend again, I will be coming for your ass, and not in a kinky way, you got that?”

You wanted to laugh at her last sentence… but you knew she would kill you if you would. All you could do at the moment was nod slowly averting your eyes from her. With that, she smiled again and let go of your lips “Glad you understand. It’s nothing personal fam” She said punching you in the shoulder trying to look friendly and all, but frankly… it did hurt a bit.

She was in the boxing club after all, or at least you think she was, and finding out about it now was not a good idea. You waited until she finally turned around and leave before reaching out with your hand to rub the spot where you were hit. The good news at least is that maybe the most dangerous one of Lemon’s friends has forgiven you… now as for the other three… those were going to be hard. Sunny Flare should be the easiest of them, but how the hell were you going to convince Sugarcoat and Sour Sweet? You knew for a fact that one of those two girls already hates you, and the other one… She just simply shows no emotions, or not ones that you can read at the very least.

Before you could duel on this little predicament you are at the moment, the bell ran once again signaling the beginning on your classes. You were already late, you did not even have your books ready… surely your teacher would understand why you are a tad late to their class thanks to this little ‘act’ that Cynch came up with, right?

Wrong… not only he scold you for being late, but he also assigned you a report on chemistry due to the next day. You had no idea what you were going to do! You were not good at all here, but you had to do it unless you want to fail the class!

It is said that when a door closes, another one opens up… luckily for you, you found your next door, or rather, it found you. As soon as classes were over, Twilight met up with you at the parking lot just as you were getting on your car. You rolled the window down and looked up at her as she leaned forward holding her books in her arms

“Hey Anon… I heard you got in trouble with professor Sombra today and he hand you over an assignment” She said casually. You were not entirely sure where this was going and frankly, you wanted to leave, the sooner you could start this assignment, the better, but you did not want to be rude to Twilight.

Of course she should know… you share the same class… regardless, you nod and sigh “Yea, you know… I spaced out and was a little late. My bad, but I’m kinda… screwed now, I have no idea how to do this homework”

“I could help you”

Twilight Sparkle was offering her help? To you? Well that was a first… usually people go to Twilight for help “I wouldn’t want to be a bother”

“I insist, besides, I love chemistry” She said with a smile and a small blush. She always gets embarrassed whenever she sounds too nerdy and she knows it.

“Well, sure! Thanks a lot Twilight… umm, need a ride?”

Without hesitation, Twilight began walking around the car and climb up on the passenger seat. Once she had her seatbelt on, she looked up at you and nod.

The ride to your house was fast and short, it hardly lasted enough for the two of you to talk about anything really, but you would have plenty of time to talk later. After you parked your car, went inside your house and locked the door behind Twilight after she went inside, you looked at her and rubbed the back of your head “Sorry for the mess… I was not expecting visits”

Your house was a complete chaos. There was cloths all around the place, luckily nothing too embarrassing… boxes of empty pizza on the table, and some dirty dishes on the sink in the kitchen, not to mention the complete mess on top of the couch.

However Twilight didn’t seem to mind. At least she did not want to be rude and say anything about it “Don’t worry… I guess that school is keeping you busy, eh?”

No… you are just lazy “Yes… school, homework, studying… you know how it is”

Without further ado, both of you sat on your table and got to work almost immediately. You were quite lucky on this one, after doing a little bit of research, you quickly realized that you had no idea what you were doing. If you were alone, you would fail this so hard, that your mother would probably sense this and immediately call you to scold you or something, but Twilight was here to save the day.

In no more than an hour after you cross your front door, you already had 4 full written pages on this topic… if you knew you would be writing this much, you would have probably just used your computer and then print down your work, but instead you had the brilliant idea to do it manually… genius, but it was too late now. It was done, and it was pretty good. You were sure to get an A for this work with Twilight’s help.

“Well, that was not so hard, was it now?” Twilight asked with a genuine smile on her face as she put her books away and looked at the result you two worked so hard on.

“Couldn’t have done it without you” You admitted as you stood up and head to the kitchen “Would you like something to drink?”

It was time to relax… no more tests, no more homework, no more nothing, just free time from here on out. At least until tomorrow when you need to get back to class that is.

“Some water please” Twilight said moving from the table to the couch

Returning with a few snacks and two glasses of water, you sat down on the opposite side of the couch and stretch your arms after handing out the glass “Thanks a lot Twilight. I don’t know what I would have done without you”

“Oh it was nothing, really. Besides, I really enjoyed it… usually people ask for my help, but I end up doing all the work. It was nice to have someone else to actually help me this time around” She said taking a sip of her glass and adjust her glasses.

And now it was time for silence. None of you said anything for a good minute or so… were things always gonna be like this with her? Or with you? You could not hand over all the blame to Twilight since you are usually a quiet person as well.

“So Twilight… You were chosen to represent our school… congratulations” You said raising your glass for her.

With a nervous chuckle, Twilight looked down and nod “Yea… chosen, right”

That was not a good sign, but maybe asking her about it was not too good.. she did not sound so ‘happy’ but again, you already had this conversation. She did not want to be part of the games… which raised another question “I thought you said you were not interested… what changed your mind?”

Twilight muscles stiffen once she was asked this and quickly looked at you with wide eyes “Oh… umm, I don’t know? I guess it was my brother. He already graduated from this school, and he always participated in the Friendship Games… I guess he persuade me?”

Not knowing the big fat lie this was, you simply nod and smile “Makes sense” You replied as she fidget in place “Everything alright?”

“Yes, yes, don’t worry” She said trying to relax before taking a deep breath “I’m just a little nervous”

“The games?”

Her answer was a simple nod. You felt kind of bad seeing her gazing at the ground with a sad face, almost like if she was trying to escape reality right now.

“Hey Twilight… you know what? You are going to do just fine, I know it. You are the smartest girl I’ve ever known! You have nothing to worry about” You tried cheering her up.

To your surprise it worked. She was already smiling again “Thank you Anon” She said as she stood up and began heading towards the front door “I should go. I forgot to feed Spike and he will get cranky if I don’t feed him in time”

“Who’s Spike?” You asked as you followed her to the door and opened it for her.

“Oh right. Spike is my dog. Maybe one day you can meet him if you come to my place?” She asked taking her backpack and ended up hugging you.

As you hugged her back, you nod and smile “I would love to. I love dogs”

After a short hug between the two of you, Twilight backed away and head outside. Once there, she looked back and waved “Bye anon”

“Bye Twilight” You should probably give her a ride back, be a gentleman for crying out loud! “Hey Twi, you need a ride back to your house?”

To your surprise, she shook her head “No thanks! I actually live 2 blocks away from here, but thanks! See you tomorrow”

“See you tomorrow” With that, she began walking down the road without a second opinion. You didn’t mind, if she was fine with it, then you would not oppose it. As soon as she turned the corner, you went back inside and sighed. Not exactly how you planned to spend your afternoon… but it was not bad.

Author's Note

Chapter 4 is up and running!

I will bother you for just a moment. I need your help! I am looking for someone who is willing to proof read the stories and chapters I upload before I do so to make sure the grammar is good and what not.
You see, english is not my first language and sometimes I have a few slip ups and mess my spelling a tiny little bit, so in order to avoid this I need some help!

If you are intrested in helping me, and of course getting a preview of the story before anyone else for your help, just sent me a mail! All I ask is for you to have a good english level!

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this Chapter, there are more to come soon!

Shadow out

Chapter 5 - Amending Fences

The results were finally back. This past two days you were dying to see how you did with the project you made with Twilight, and finally it was here. A+, you could not believe your eyes. This was your very first perfect grade in all your life. Sure Twilight did help you quite a lot, but the fact that it belonged to you was what you were happy about. You did not want to abuse Twilight’s patience and friendship, but you were hoping she could help you further in the future.

You did not want to push her too far because you were well aware of how people had treated Twilight in the past. Just going to talk to her to get help with their homework or tests and then let her go like if she is nothing. You were not like the others, you really wanted to be friends with her, the fact that she could help you with school as a plus, but not mandatory.

This grade was going to boost your grades exponentially, and boy did you need this small boost. You could finally take it a little easy and maybe focus your studies in some other subject.

Now that Chemistry was taken care of, you would need to see what you will do… and since History was your next class, why not work towards getting better grades in it. You were both glad and kind of nervous. Miss Chrysalis was bound to give those weird, unexpected group projects that you would either end up doing alone because no one ever wants to pair with you, or you would be stuck with a group that just leaves you out of the team basically and end up working alone anyways… but this time was different. Surely Twilight would not mind working with you now that you are friends?

While that was a nice thought and all, luck was not on your side this day because instead of letting you choose your own partners, Miss Chrysalis decided to make the pairs herself this time around. It was a simple project, make a history line with different events that occurred during the World War 2. You knew quite a lot about the subject, so you were not worried with who you would be paired with. Of course deep down you wished she would pair you with Twilight… like probably almost anyone else in class, but you were not. Instead of Twilight, your new partner was going to be the daughter of the principal herself, Sunny Flare.

You were not mad, just a little disappointed that you could not work with your friend, but at the very least, Sunny was not one to slack around and do nothing. She is the third smartest student after all, right behind Sugarcoat and Twilight. If you both work together, you could probably get this work done in less than two hours and it would easily be worth at least an A.

If it was any other class, you would try and see if your professor would change their minds and let you choose your own partners, but Chrysalis was not a person to change her mind easily, so your hopes were gone pretty fast. There was nothing you could do at the moment sadly.

It did not matter, you simply accepted the fact your partner was Sunny Flare and smile. Right after the class was over, you walked up to her with a wide smile on your face… maybe too big… she was probably going to think you are creepy or something.

The fashionista was just placing her books inside her bag before looking up and meeting your gaze. To your surprise, she actually smiled back at you, and it looked genuine, not a fake one! This was off to a good start!

“Look who it is. If it isn’t Anon, the guy who likes ruining perfectly good and lovely uniforms with their lunch” She said in a really sarcastic voice as her smile slowly fade away “Or even the guy who likes messing with my friends” No pressure, just a friendly chat… that is all.

At least you knew that things were probably not going to be as easy as you initially thought, time to find the right words to make this as easy as possible with both of you… and hopefully find common ground were both of you could be happy. Indigo and Lemon were just the beginning. Now you had to face the other three Shadowbotls, and this was the perfect opportunity to deal with Sunny.

“Ok, I get why you are mad, but hear me out… I am sorry, okay? I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. I didn’t want to ruin your perfect uniforms you designed or even drive Lemon away with what I said, but I promise I will do my best to make it up to all of you” It did sound kind of stupid that you had to deal with all five friends since you only screw up with two of them, but it was better to just get over with it with as little questioning as possible “All I am asking is for a chance to prove that I can do it” You said pleading trying to make peace with the fashionista.

“Alright, fine, fine. Look I am going to forgive you if you do a good work today, deal? I am not going to fail this class and I expect to see you give it your all” She warned as she began writing down something on a small piece of paper and then hand it over to you “This is the address to my place. Do not give it to anyone or you will be in big trouble. Come after school so we can get this project done” She said as she began to walk away finally “Also you will have to convince us that you mean what you just told me, do that and we will forgive you” With that, she walked swaying her hips one way to the other leaving you speechless.

It was a pretty good outcome… no yelling, no embarrassment, no anger… maybe a little anger but nothing too bad. In order to get in her good side, you would need to roll with this for now, and just like that, you left the class to head to your next one. About half way there it finally sink in. You stopped in the middle of the hallway, looked down and frown. What did she mean by…‘us’? She was not going to tell her mother right? Cynch was not going to be there with them now, right?

You did not need that. Occasionally seeing her walk down the hallways was more than enough interaction that you need with Cynch, you did not need to see her after class.

God you were really regretting not saying anything to Chrysalis when you had the chance… now you need to meet with Cynch yet again and that was no fun whatsoever. As you knocked on the door before you, you really hoped that it would be Sunny Flare the one to open. She wasn’t, but neither was her father nor mother. In fact, the one to open was Sugarcoat, who raised an eyebrow and just moved out of the way to let you in.

Did… Sunny Flare give you Sugarcoat’s address? No, she would not just let you walk inside like that if she did “Uhhh, this is Sunny Flare’s house, right?” You asked just in case.

Sugarcoat simply nodded and closed the door behind you, locked it and lead the way through the house. The outside of the house was huge. It was more of a mansion than anything, with at least 3 garages, a huge driveway inside the place, its own security near the front gates, a big garden with a fountain in the middle and all sorts of flowers you never saw in your life planted all around. The inside felt way bigger… you almost felt like you were on some sort of royal mansion. Statues of ponies, unicorns, manticors, gladiators and many other things decorated the walls along with quite a few paintings that probably cost millions. A white glittering floor below your feet, white walls on your sides with a few pinches of beige here and there, and a black ceiling on top of your head. The hallway alone felt eternal, but you finally walked inside the living room.

A table in the middle were Sunny Flare had already prepared her books, notebooks, laptop and utensils, along with a familiar face. Just across her was Sour Sweet, who was not happy at all to see you… so that is what she meant with ‘us’.

“Ah there you are” Sunny Flare said with a smile and pointed to a chair on the table that was empty “Let’s get started. I invited Sour Sweet and Sugarcoat over so we can all work together” Chrysalis did not specify if this project was strictly to just 2 people or it could be done by more.

Sour Sweet quickly protested folding her arms “Yay anon is here… HE’S PROBABLY GOING TO RUIN MY DAY AGAIN. OH WAIT, HIS FACE ALREADY DID THAT” Talk about Sweet…

“Look Sour, I am really sorry for what happened between us, but I really did not mean it! It was an accident” You quickly said trying to be as nice and calm as possible.

“Oh it was an accident, sure, JUST LIKE YOU RAMMED ME IN THE HALLWAY THAT SAME DAY?” You pretty much fucked up pretty hard with Sour Sweet, she was probably never going to let this down.

“That… was also an accident” You added as you rubbed the back of your neck. It was the truth, but you did understand why she was mad. You would not be all cheerful and happy if someone run you over twice in the same day.

“Guys, guys… there will be enough time for that later. Let’s get to work” Sunny Flare hold her hand up for both of you to focus your attention on her. It worked, and Sour Sweet did not oppose her idea. It was only a matter of seconds before all of you were ready and began working.

Just like you expected, this took no time at all. Having two of the brightest minds in school helped a lot but you could not help but notice how Sour Sweet would glare at you constantly each time you raised your view from your books to look at her. Sunny Flare and Sugarcoat at least did not seem the least interested in the topic that would eventually show up again, or at least Sunny wasn’t. Sugarcoat still had that serious expression on her face showing little to no emotions.

Time was ticking and you knew that sooner or later either Sour Sweet would present the topic once again as soon as she gets the chance, or you will have to, after all, Sunny Flare did tell you to convince them about this back in class.

The three girls began talking between them leaving you out of the picture. Well, you did not do much to get involved in the conversation either so it was also your fault, but as soon as you heard your name being called, you looked up and all three girls were staring at you.

“So?” Sunny Flare asked raising an eyebrow waiting for you to talk.

Have they been talking to you all this time and you just zooned out? You probably did “So… uhhh… Come again?”

Sunny Flare was not impressed and rolled her eyes “Don’t you want to say something to us?”

Something to them… now that you think of it, you had not given it any thought to what you were going to do, how you would apologize to them, so you had to wing it.

Taking a deep breath, you closed your eyes for a moment and relax. You could feel your own heartbeat, the silence in the room was like a cold breeze in winter giving you the chills. But you had to fight through it “Sour… I know what I did was wrong… I should have never run onto you in the first place, I should have been paying more attention… and the second time… well, I am just dumb sometimes, and I get why you are mad. You have the right to be, and I will understand if you won’t forgive me”

Sour Sweet huffed and fold her arms “Now the mister decides to be all gentleman like and act all apologetic ISN’T THAT JUST LOVELY?” She growled out that last phrase and looked down “Lemon gave me some of those cookies you made. If you give me a dozen of them per week for the next three months, I will consider forgiving you” She said not really giving you much of an option, but it was better than nothing.

With a quick nod, you smile and laugh “A dozen of cookies you will have” You had fun making them so it was a piece of cake… or in this case cookies. Besides, it feels nice to see others appreciating your hard work. If Sour Sweet is willingly going to leave this problems in the past for your famous cookies, you were not going to stop her.

Now… Sugarcoat. Have you even done anything bad to her? Was she even mad at you? Why did she have to be so… plain… show no emotions at all? It was frustrating, but you did not have to worry about that. She spoke before you and it was quite relieving actually.

“Just stop messing with my friends and we may get along. Then again you do tend to screw up everything, so it will be hard for us to even be close to friends” Straight to the point, that’s how Sugarcoat works, but you were not going to stop her. You prefer when people go straight to the point and avoid all the spinning around and making things complicated.

“Right… that I can do. I think. No, I will definitely do it!” You said with a huge smile, only gaining a shrug on her side.

Sunny Flare was happy enough with the results of this little conversation between you three “Well, I am impressed you did not shout at him even more Sour Sweet”

“I am surprised as well, considering how hard it must be to keep your anger controlled” Sugarcoat remarked making Sour Sweet go red with anger.

“YOU WANT ME TO SHOUT? FINE! I CAN DO THAT! I THOUGHT YOU WERE MY FRIENDS!” Sour Sweet shout at the top of her lungs making Sunny Flare laugh and to your surprise, Sugarcoat smile. It was not a huge smile, but it was good enough to at least know she is not some sort of robot programmed not to show emotions. Sour on her side just looked away from her friends and mumbled things to herself you were not quite able to hear, but you knew those were probably curses towards her two friends.

“Tell me something anon. Why us?” Sunny Flare finally asked looking up at you.

“Excuse me?”

Sugarcoat and Sour Sweet were a little confused about that question as well, so Sunny had to clarify what she meant “Why try to be friends with us?”

“Why not? You guys are cool, funny, some are pretty, and I kinda owed two of you an apology so… I took the chance?” Was it bad that you tried to make friends with them? Was it against some sort of rules? Was it because you were too weird?

“Just wondering… so… you think we are pretty?” She asked as a coy smile slowly grew on her face clearly without good intentions “Or is it that you like one of us? That’s why you tried to be friends?” You walked right into that one. That is why you need to think carefully before talking to anyone. You will only end up screwing yourself up even more.

“Uhhh… uhhh w-what? I mean…” Well, you were kind of interested with one of them, but you never thought you would get anywhere. You were not exactly a really good with any sorts of relationships. The only one you had in the past just died out after a week because she found you too… simple and boring. Of course you changed quite a lot since then, but still you were not confident you changed enough to get a stable relationship.

Sour Sweet this time smile and laugh “Oh my god… he totally does. I sure hope that you dropping your food on me was not your attempt to get closer to me, BECAUSE IF IT WAS IT DID NOT WORK” Like you didn't know that by now... if anything doing that would be the opposite of getting closer to her.

“No it’s not you” As soon as you realized you said that, you covered your mouth with both hands and realized you just gave them a wild card and a confirmation that you did indeed like one of them.

Sunny and Sour exchanged little mischievous giggles as Sugarcoat rolled her eyes. For some reason, you had the feeling all three of them knew who you were interested in… considering you came this far just to make it up to her.

Sunny slowly leaned forward and whispered in your ear “Oh don’t worry, we won’t tell Lemon… yet”

Author's Note

Hey Guys, sorry about the wait.

I've been having a lot of troubles lately and I am finding less and less time to write the fics down, so I will probably be delayed with a few uploads here and there.

Still looking for a few people who might be intrested in proof reading my chapters. Next chapter there might be someone to give me a hand, so look forward to it.

I was not all too glad with how this episode came out, but I still have a lot to learn, so please, don't forget to tell me what you think in the comments! Don't be afraid of telling me the truth whether you like it or not, and why!

Hope you guys enjoyed reading this chapter!

Shadow out

Chapter 6 - "Do you hate me?"

“Oh don’t worry, we won’t tell Lemon… yet”

Those words have hunted you ever since you left Sunny Flare’s house. You were not even sure if you liked Lemon that way. Sure she was pretty, cool and fun to be with, but you had no idea if you had any common interests or anything like that. You do like music, and she clearly does so that was one thing? She loves roller skating, but you never tried it, so that would be both funny and embarrassing to do, but that was not a common thing. Ugh, why were you even thinking about all this in the first place? Just because you liked someone doesn’t mean it will get you anywhere with them, right?

Well not with that attitude for sure, and neither if you do not do something for it to happen, but the real question is… do you want anything to happen? Look at your options here… you barely just made a few friends. Twilight was cute, but she was probably not interested in you, and you certainly did not want to ruin the friendship you have with her rushing things. Sunny Flare or Sugarcoat? They both know you are more interested in Lemon than them. Sour Sweet was a huge no… that only left you with two options. Indigo Zap, and Lemon Zest.

On the one hand, you had a really athletic, sports like girl who likes to have fun with some friendly competitions and a few bets and damn you were addicted to gambling. You could lose for sure some times, but you did not care. If the prize is worth, then you would take your chance, and Indigo was the kind of girl that would keep your life active with that gambling desire and not take it too far were you would actually do something really stupid you can’t fix, like betting money against the mafia or something like that.

On the other hand however, you had a fun party girl, with a really good sense of humor and a really cheerful attitude. Lemon was the soul party of Crystal Prep, and the designated DJ of course. Her taste on music was great, and her smile was almost hypnotizing. She was pretty cute as well, but there was the same problem you had with Twilight. You just began this friendships, and trying to reach for more than a simple friendship is a really big risk. You could potentially drive them away… and since you had almost no experience in relationships, maybe it was best not to risk the biscuit this time around.

No, that was going to be a problem for future you. Present you needs to focus on one thing, and one thing only… not screw up big time. You were still walking in thin ice with the shadowbolts after all.

Speaking of which, your phone suddenly began buzzing about in your nightstand. Who could it be this late? Maybe you forgot something in Sunny Flare’s house? As you picked up your phone, you frown and looked at the number. You did not have this number in your agenda and could not recognize it, so you hesitated for a moment before picking up “Hello?“

“Hello Anon, it’s Sugarcoat. Sunny Flare gave me your number” And knowing her, she probably gave it to her friends as well. The only reason why you gave it away was to make sure you could stay in contact just in case you want to go back to work on that history project, like if you’ll need to.

“Hey Sugarcoat… to what do I grant this surprise?” You asked casually as you smile. It was pretty rare to receive a call, especially from her.

“Don’t hurt Lemon” She said flat and simple waiting for your response.

You were a little confused and not all too sure what to say, or even what she meant “Uhhh, excuse me? Why would I hurt Lemon?”

“Do you like her or not?”

“Well… I mean… I guess she is pretty cool and all...”

Before you could finish your sentence, you were interrupted by her “It’s a simple question with a simple answer. Do you like her, yes or no?”

“Well… I guess… Yes?” It was more of a yes than a no at the moment to be honest, but you still had to give it some thinking.

“Then please, don’t be a douche like the last guy who tried to go out with her” Without any other words, she hung you up. Not only you were worried about why Sugarcoat would think you would try anything with Lemon, but you were also worried as to what happen in the past. From what you heard and seen, Lemon has never stopped smiling one day since she was in Crysal Prep.

Maybe she had some sort of problem before? Or she never let her bother it on the outside but was hurting her on the inside? Who knows. You would need to look into this ‘problem’ sooner or later, maybe if she feels confident enough with you once your friendship gets stronger, then you will be able to talk to her about that.

Finally Friday! Your favorite day of the week for obvious reasons… It was hamburger Friday! And who doesn’t like a big juicy and delicious hamburger? It doesn’t necessarily need to be a meaty hamburger either, vegetarian hamburgers are delicious as well! But there was a problem. Considering how popular they are, they run out pretty fast and you hardly ever get a chance to even get near one. First come first served and all that.

But you simply had to mess that up as well.

As you walked inside the cafeteria, you already began regretting your decision of staying longer after Algebra to ask your professor about any doubts you might have left about the new topic you just learned but at which cost? Sure, by doing this, it would help you in the long run, making it easier for you to pass your next exam, but now you were probably end up having no hamburger at all. All you could do now was pray to the gods of lunch to give you a hamburger.

Unfortunately your prayers were not answered and you could see how one student was taking the last burger away in his tray, leaving you and other students groaning in frustration because you did not even have a chance to take a good look at those delicious master pieces. At least there were other choices that were almost as good, at least in your book that is. Maybe some other students even hated those hamburgers.

Not many things fancy your eyes except for one thing. A simple bowl of Ramen was displayed on the corner almost like if it was left behind and no one seemed to be going for it. Either because it was bad, or people were not interested in it, you decided to take a chance and get those noodles. Once you had the bowl, a small bottle of water and an apple pie for dessert, and after making sure there were no SourSweets on the way to which you could accidentally drop your food, you head straight to your usual table to find that someone was waiting there for you there.

“Hey Anon, I was beginning to think that you were not coming or something”

“Hey Twi. Sorry about that, the line to buy the food was huge and I did not even get a chance to get one of those hamburgers everyone has been talking about all week”

Or at least that you overheard others talk about. No one has actually said anything to you about them personally and since Twilight usually doesn’t eat that kind of stuff so it was logical she did not said anything to you either. She in fact had her own food that she brought from her house right now. A salad Caesar with some orange juice. Twilight was the kind of girl who prefers to go for the healthier choice when it came to food, it was a rare sight seeing her with any sort of junk food as her lunch or dinner.

“Well, at least you are here now”

The way she said that was all not too reassuring. You could feel how this words were filled with both sadness and relief, but mainly, it seemed like she was angry… You were about to question what was that all about, but then it dawn upon you. You were her only friend, or at least you think you were considering she never hangs with anyone else other than you when you go and make homework or projects together, or rather… she does most of the work.

You could not think of a proper response to that so you just blurted out what came to your mind in a hurry, almost like you did not even mean it and sound a bit desperate.

“Of course I am! I will always be there for you? That’s what friends are for, right?”

Maybe it was a little cheesy, but it was the best you could come up with at the moment. At the very least, Twilight seemed to let out a weak smile. She did not all too convinced about your response and frankly, neither did you in a situation like this.

“Thanks”

That was all she said. Clearly something was on her mind, but you were afraid to ask what it was so you just remain silent about it. The rest of your lunch was pretty quiet, not only the tension had built up, but the few glances you both shot at each other, made it even harder to talk to one and other. Neither of you were really the kind of person to “open up” or were easy to talk to.

You had to say something… this was one of the few times you could spend with her… lunch, PE and well, when you need her help with studying. Those seemed to be the only times you could free up in your ‘busy’ schedule of playing games and wasting your time on the internet.

“So, I heard you got another perfect grade on Biology?”

You asked with an awkward smile trying to ease this silence into some sort of conversation. Even though you already knew the answer, you wanted to hear it from her… but she did not even grant you a nod nor a look. She was just staring down at her food, playing with it, pushing it around with her fork for a solid 30 seconds before she finally looked up at you. Her eyes were filled with pain and worry, and this, made you feel the same way.

“Why do people hate me and only try to use me?”

That was certainly something you were not expecting to be asked… you had no idea how to answer or even if you should answer. All you could do was stare at her, but she did not seem all to happy about that.

“Well?”

“I… umm, you see…. Well….”

“Do you hate me?”

“What? What kind of question is that?”

Was she thinking that you were using her as well? If you think about it… you kind of were. So far, all you did together outside of school was well… take her back to your place so she could help you with upcoming exams or homework, never to just, hang out or something like that.

The fact that you also avoided her question with another question did not ease her up, if anything, it just made her even angrier and her gaze was turning from one of sadness, to rage.

“You are just like the others, aren’t you? You are just trying to use me! That’s all you did so far!”

Of course not Twilight! You are my best friend That is what you would like to tell her, but as soon as you open up your mouth, something prevented you from saying those words and only air managed to come out from your mouth. The fact that she was questioning you and the fact that it took you by surprise, caused your brain to just shut down and not be able to give her a proper response.

“I knew it. The rumors were true! I did not want to believe them, but you just proven me that you are like them! Don’t even bother talking to me again”

With those sharp words stabbed through your heard, all you could do was stare as your friend stood up with her eyes covered in tears, taking her bag with her and quickly running away from you leaving her food behind. No matter how much you tried to move your legs to run after her or even shout her name to try and stop her, they would simply not answer. You were dumbstruck about this situation. You were only brought back to reality when other students began gossiping and whispering things about what just happened.

First you mess up with Sour Sweet, then with Lemon, now with Twilight… boy the planets were not aligned in your favor this week or something, or you were just stupid. Either way, you were back to being along, and not only that… people were talking about you, and most likely… not happy and fun things.

You could not bear with the pressure. You had to leave… this was too much to take in. Before anyone could even get near you to mock you, you decided to just take your stuff and leave. Who cares if your day was not over? You really did not want to go to class right now, and just like the coward you are… instead of looking for Twilight to solve this right now… you decided to run. Always running from the past.

Author's Note

Sorry about the delay... once again. But I promise it will be worth it in the long run! I've been working on a huge, and I mean HUGE fanfic with a friend. We will be uploading the Prologue shortly, and I really hope you guys enjoy it, because uhhh boy. We have a lot planned for that story.

Anyways, remember to tell me if you liked/disliked this chapter! It really helps me improve to see what people actually want to see and what not, or in what regards I should improve my writing!

TATA! -Shadow

Chapter 7 - "It was an accident" - Part 1

Author's Note

Hello there!

Just a quick note. This chapter contains blood and violance, so do be warned.

With that out of the way, I just wanted to apologize to all of you. I know that you might have been expecting a new chapter sooner, or maybe you don't care at this point, to which I would not be surprised, but still, if you sticked around, thanks!

Now I won't go into too much detail but I had a few accidents this past few weeks that prevented me from uploading much. Things got back to normal (hopefully) and I should now be able to upload more often!

The original plan is to be updating two to three times per week, but it all depends of course on how much time I have to write, and how much time my editors take to well, help me edit the story a bit!

On that note, I would like to thank REDMAMBA for proof reading and help me edit this chapter with a few details!

Anyways, I won't hold you back anymore, I know you are all anxious for this new chapter, so without further ado...

Enjoy the chapter.

Shadow out

Chapter 7 - "It was an accident" - Part 1

“This can’t be happening!”

There was no way that whatever was happening all around you could be true! Either you have gone completely mad, or the Ragnarök has finally commenced and this is the end. You are too young to die, you won’t accept this.

Weird monster like vines were going after students all around you, both from Crystal Prep and some from Canterlot Highschool. How could the games turn into this? Portals to other dimensions, killer looking vines, and you were in the middle of it all. There was no escaping this one, no matter where you looked, there was no way out.

For a brief moment, however, you were distracted by one particular person. Laying on the ground only a few feet away from you was Twilight Sparkle. There was no doubt that she had either hurt herself or did something while running from this things. That, or she had already been killed and you were just staring at her dead corpse. You really hoped it was not the latter. That is the last thing you need in your life right now.

Unfortunately, there is only one way to find out. You could easily confirm that she was holding completely still as you got closer, her eyes were closed and she didn’t seem to be breathing. Now you were nervous. You never got to apologize for hurting her… Did she just die having made no friends?

Luckily for you, as soon as you kneeled down next to her and picked her up, she shot her eyes open and began coughing like if she was granted a second chance on her life all of the sudden.

“Twilight can you hear me? You need to get up. We need to get out of here as soon as possible” Normally you would give a person who was laying on the ground like this a minute to breath and get back to normal, but this was no normal situation. Both of your lives could be ended now by one of those things if you were spotted.

As you were pulling her up to get going, she quickly pressed her hands against your chest and pushed you away from her with all of her strength and got up on her own. Maybe the initial shock of the situation had shaken her up? Or maybe she was still mad at you. Whatever it was, at least she could still look after herself it seemed, which meant that running away would be easier “Come on”

“... You caused this...”

Her words were cold and sharp like a dagger that was stabbing your ears. What did she mean by that? This was no time to be shocking around, but… her dead and cold stare on the ground confirmed that this was no joke. She probably meant those words, even though you had no idea how this situation even came to be.

“Don’t be absurd, we need to get out” You yelled trying to get some senses back on her brain as you reached out for her, but another gambogeish hand stopped you by grabbing your wrist and pulling you away from her.

Once you got a good look at who that person was, you could see that the hand belonged to Indigo Zap, who was glaring at you with Lemon behind her as she folds her arms. Neither of them looked happy nor worried.

“Haven’t you hurt her enough already, you jerk? Can’t you just leave her alone!?” Indigo growled as she stepped in-between you and Twilight to make sure you wouldn't get close to her again.

“And to think that I considered you cool and fun to be around. I realize now that the girls were right. All you want to do is mess with others. You are just a big jerk” Lemon grumbled, mainly to herself as she looked away, but it was loud enough for you to hear it as well.

“What? B-but… but I’m not a-“

“Oh save it" She spat "First you ruin Sour’s uniform, then you slam into her hurting her back when she hit the lockers on the hallway, offended me, lied and used Twilight just so she would do your work for you, and now you try and hurt her?”

Before you could answer any of that, Sour Sweet got in the picture as well with a big fake smile “Oh but dear, it was just an accident… THAT IS WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO SAY, RIGHT PUNK? I’M NOT BUYING IT! WHY DO IT TWICE IN A ROW IF IT WAS AN ACCIDENT?”

“The sooner you realize you are lying to both us and yourself, the sooner you will be able to just move on and let us be happy. Don’t you see that you ruin everything around you? I personally think that you should just leave. All you’ve done since you got here is fuck up... excuse my language” Sunny Flare and Sugarcoat where the last ones to join in.

At least Sugarcoat had nothing to say, but her stare was more frightening than any words that she could tell you at the moment. You guess that the phrase “One look is worth a thousand words” is actually true. Her mouth may not be moving, but you could feel how she was judging you.

And it wasn't pleasing...

“Girls I swear, it was all a big accident. I did not mean any of that to happen”

That is what you want to believe, but maybe you were wrong? It wouldn’t be the first time that you were wrong about something and you subconsciously avoid looking for a solution and changing your ways to be a better person.

And here is when Twilight lost it.

“Then why didn’t you say anything when I asked you if you were like the rest? Why haven’t you denied about using me when I asked you about it? If it was true that you were my friend and you were not just using me! Why hide the truth? Because if this is a matter of being an accident or not Anon, I need you to tell me?”

Twilight was inches away from your face right now. She was staring right into your eyes as flames fueled her soul. She wanted to keep on going, but she knew better. She knew she had to give you a chance to redeem yourself, and maybe she would forgive you. Maybe she would understand? All you had to do was tell the truth, explain that you just have a little social anxiety just like she does, and when she confronted you about this topic, you just got too nervous.

That is all you had to say… but once again, the words were caught up on your throat and you remain silent.

“So it is true…”

“No”

“You were just using me. You were just using all of us”

“No…”

“You were just using Lemon for her popularity right? You wanted to use her to become popular and then dump her? Or even use Sunny to get close to Cynch to make your life easier?”

“I wasn-“

“Where you going to use Indigo and Sour Sweet to fit in on the athletic and archery team as well?”

The fact that everytime you tried to explain to her that all this was a misunderstanding but she kept on cutting you off not giving you a chance to answer was annoying you quite a lot. You really needed to talk. You had to get it out of your system somehow.

“No, Twilight, I…“

“Sugarcoat is the smartest girl here. Were you going to dump me to go and seek her help once you were done with me?”

That’s it. If she was not going to listen you would need to be a bit more assertive. You had to make sure she stops interrupting you, so you close your eyes, took a deep breath and yelled as loud as your lungs allowed you.

“I. SAID. NO!”

What a mistake that was. If things were bad before, they would only get worse now. Sure you finally made her listen. Probably the whole school heard you said this as well, but what you were not expecting is to well… let allof that anger that was accumulating inside of you out as well. Your body had reacted on its own and as soon as you opened your eyes, you immediately began shaking with fear and regret as your heart sink into the deepest chambers of the underworld.

Twilight was once again on the floor, but this time, she was bleeding, her glasses were next to her completely shattered, the girls around her checking to see if she was okay, Indigo holding her up into a tight hug as Twilight cried her eyes out. Her nose was bleeding like a waterfall not giving signs of stopping.

To make things matter, you knew this time it was your fault… another ‘accident’ of yours. And you knew it was your fault for one particular reason. Your knuckles were in pain and covered with blood,and you know full well whose blood it was.

“WHAT THE FUCK DUDE?” Yelled Indigo as she rip part of her uniform to try and cover Twilight’s nose to avoid any more blood from spilling out as she rocked her back and forth to try and calm her down from the shock of being punched in the face.

“Oh great. He finally lost it. I KNEW HE WOULD ONLY BRING TROUBLE” Sour Sweet said as she did her best to try and help Indigo with Twilight’s treatment.

Sunny was too shocked to be able to do anything. She was just holding back, letting the girls do the work as she looked around for anyone to help them, but no one seemed to be close by, sadly.

Sugarcoat was not going to be so patient however “I’m going to get help” She simply stated as she rushed away to find a nurse, the principals, other students. Anyone would do.

“I’m coming with you, I don’t want to be anywhere near this freak anymore” Lemon said as she rushed next to Sugarcoat, putting as much distance between both of you as her legs allowed her.

You on your side, you were completely stunned. You didn’t want to believe it. You just punched Twilight in the face. Your probably broke her nose, and she was most likely never going to forgive you now. Maybe it was true what Sour Sweet said. Maybe all you bring into other’s peoples life is trouble.

You had to help her. It’s the least you could do. You began to approach her slowly so neither of the girls would flip out thinking you were going to hurt her again as you tried to remain calm and try not to crack your voice too much as you speak “Twilight… I’m really sor-“

“SHUT UP!” She yelled making you stop right where you stand as she slowly stood up even though Indigo tried to stop her so she would not hurt herself even more, but she was not giving in. She was determined to stand up and give you a big shove in the middle of your chest “Get… get away from m-me you… asshole”

She pushed you again, and even though this time it was weaker, for some reason it was enough to make you fall down on your back.

It was weird, but you could have sworn that she smirked. She was smiling as wings sprawled out of her back, a long flame looking horn grew out of her forehead and her glasses also turned firey along with her hair. She almost looked like a demon of some sort, but before you could give it a second look, you hit the ground and everything went dark.

Once you regained consciousness, no one was there. None of the girls were around. None of those vines nor students were running around. The screams of panic were gone and all you could hear is the soft ticking of a clock somewhere. You did recognize one thing however… you were in the middle of your room, next to your bed to be precise.

Had it all been a dream? Did none of this really happen? Part of you was relieved, but at the same time worried. It all felt too real… and those words they told you. Maybe they were right? Even if it all happen in a dream, maybe they were not wrong? You were just a mess up that only brings trouble and despair to those around you?

No

You had to stay positive… you can still fix this, there is still time. Speaking of which, what time was it?

Your phone almost blind you as soon as you turned it on the light hit your face, but as soon as your sight got used to the light level, you could see it showed 03:42AM. Too early to get up and head to school, and way too early to call Twilight… not like she will answer you. You had called her 7 times that afternoon when you could not find her anywhere after your classes were over, but all your calls ended up in her mailbox. You didn’t just want to leave her a message either. You wanted to tell her personally that you did not mean to hurt her like this, but you never could.

Maybe you should just let it go. But that would not be right. You can’t hold this back anymore, you have to tell her before it’s too late. She needs you, you need her, and both of you could use a moment to talk about this properly.

“Do it”

It was not too hard… you were unprepared last time, but not now… you had to get your shit together and…

“Just do it!”

Chapter 8 - "It was an accident, Part 2"

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 10 - The Dragon's Lair

“You heard me Anon, the way I see it you have two options. You either do this for me, or this video I have of your dear friend crying on your arms, is going to be all over the internet before you could even say ‘I’m sorry’. So what is it going to be, punk?”

Crystal Prep is full of self centered assholes who only care about themselves and their closest friends… even then you have your own doubts about that. If it means achieving Victory, even the closest of friends are willing to backstab each other. Doing this would certainly make you have no friends after this, specially with those who you’ve been trying to get closer to this past few days, but on the other hand, if you don’t do this, you will yield the same results for exposing Sugarcoat in such humiliating way. It was a lose lose situation for you, no matter how you try and solve it.

Why was Gilda doing this? Does she hate Sugarcoat that much? Maybe she hates you for some reason you still have not realized? Or is she just a jerk by nature? Whatever it is, you had to try and bargain a better deal than this one.

“Come on Gilda, isn’t there anything else I can do for you? Why are you even doing this in the first place?” You asked trying to get some answers out of her, but at the same time trying to be careful so you don’t make her even angrier and risk exposing Sugarcoat right here right now, and knowing Gilda, she would blame this on you somehow.

“Why? WHY? I’ll tell you why, because that little bitch of Sugarcoat is annoying as hell. Have you ever heard her? God the world doesn’t spin around her, and what the fuck is her problem with pointing everyone's mistakes all the goddamn time?”

Gilda did bring a good point about being a little annoying and well, her obsession on pointing everyone's mistakes, but you felt there was more than just it. Even though it is a little annoying, now that you were a little closer to Sugarcoat, you could tell she only does this because she cares about people and wants them to improve.

“Is that is? A lot of people do that you know?”

“ Of course that’s not it dweeb!” Gilda snapped at you annoyed and looked away “The real reason why I’m doing this to her is because she gave me no credit in a group project we had together”

Now that is a huge lie. Sugarcoat may be annoying and a little hard to be around at first, but when it comes to this kind of things, she always credits everyone for their efforts.

“That doesn’t sound like Sugarcoat to me. That’s not the kind of things she would do”

“Well flash news, she did. I let her come to my place and lend her my books so she could do the work”

… That was it? You gave her books and a place to study?

“And how was she supposed to credit you?” You asked a bit unsure on how Sugarcoat was wrong. Gilda did nothing by just that argument alone.

“I PRACTICALLY DID HALF THE WORK BY DOING THAT!”

“ Right, Right… Giving someone a place to work and materials to work with is so reasonable and fair” You said sarcastically folding your arms

Luckily Gilda did not caught up on your sarcasm. Instead, she took it quite on the opposite side “Finally someone who understands!”

Yea… You understand and you are with her 100%... lets go with that.

“So… are you going to spare me on this one?” Maybe since you ‘agreed’ with her, she will let you off the hook on this one?

Gilda laughed and shook her head “Fuck that, I still want revenge on that idiot”

Worth the shot… Before Gilda could say anything else about the topic, her bus arrived and she quickly hopped in “Tell anyone about this, even your useless friend of Dorklight. Get me in trouble, and you are going to pay for this, not to mention I will upload the video”

Just as the bus drives away, your hold your head and hold in a scream of frustration as you tried to calm down. Not only you have a pretty dire choice to make, but you also could not get any sort of help, perfect.

The next day was good for the most part. You had not met with anyone. Not Twilight, not Sugarcoat, not Gilda. You had some time for yourself but that still did not stop you from thinking what to do… God this was so frustrating. Maybe if you told Twilight, nothing bad would happen right? She can keep a secret right? No no… telling her this was only going to worry her and that is the last thing you want to do. Maybe the Shadow 5? Yea right, as soon as they find out Gilda has this video, they will want to take action with their own hands and that will make Gilda not only post the video, but unleash her rage on you afterwards. Dean Cadance or Principal Cynch? No, Gilda would get in trouble for sure and it would yield the same results.

“Come on, why does it always have to be me?”

Wait… did you just yell that or was that in your head? No… no you were pretty sure you yelled it, and if the looks of your classmates and even Mrs Harshwiny was not enough proof, then you had no idea what would. When did you get to class? Hell, how did you not realize you were in the middle of a book reading? You really need to stop spacing out and act on instinct.

Mrs Harshwiny looked up from the book she was reading for the class and stared straight into your eyes at your soul. If glares could kill, your would be dead to the core.

“Mr Anon, since you seem so eager to talk out loud, why don’t you summarize the chapter we just read in class?”

'Heir of Fire' by Shara J Maas, Chapter 22… You had no idea what this chapter was about. You are surprised you are even able to keep up with your classmates on this reading. Reading books of any kind was not your favourite hobby.

“I… I can’t not Ma’am… I was not following the reading” You admitted looking down ashamed. Best be honest than try to come up with some random thing and embarrass yourself even further.

“And why were’t you following the reading along with the rest of your classmates? What could possibly have you so distracted at a time like this, not only to interrupt my class, but also not to follow the reading?”

Maybe if she was alone you would have told her. Maybe if Gilda and the rest of the class was not there right there all paying their undying attention to you, you would have told her your problem with Gilda and Sugarcoat.

“I’m afraid I can not tell your that ma’am”

“And why can you not tell me?”

“I just can’t”

Mrs Harshwiny was of course disappointed at your response, but regardless, she seemed to be in a good mood… to some extent “Very Well. Mr Anon, please proceed to the principal's office and explain to her what happened right here” She said pointing at the door and wait for you to leave before continuing her class.

Gilda was not dumb. She quickly caught your attention throwing a small piece of paper without Harshwiny realizing and showed you her phone. The message was quite clear. You were not going to tell anything to Cynch if you know what is best for both of you.

Once outside the class, the quiet reign around you. There was no one to bother you, no one to tell you what to do, no one to do anything against you. It was the first time that you were at peace inside the school. Why can’t your days be more like this?

Even though the concerned looks of some of your friends were troubling you now because of your little outburst and your snap, you had to let them go and talk to them later, maybe when you are done with Cynch.

As you make your way down the hallway, you could actually see how well polished the crystal like floor and walls were. So clear that you could actually see your own reflection on them if you got close enough. Not only the crystal floors were appealing to the view, but the Quartz pillars supporting the ceiling along side the neatly laid down lockers on each side of the hall were showing how perfect this school is. You kind of wonder if it has always been like this or not. You doubt about it, perfection doesn’t come naturally after all, it does take a little work and time.

Occasionally on the empty walls, you could see paintings to fill in the blank spaces on the walls so they don’t look too dull if there are no windows to the outside. Speaking of windows, the ones of this school do tend quite big, allowing a lot of sunlight to come through them making the crystals surrounding you shine like diamonds. You could bet that a mere 2 meter of floor in this school was more expensive than your whole bedroom together.

Of course the nicest looking place in the whole school was the main tower. On the first floor was the entrance, leading up to the front yard and allowing the students to run free as soon as the ring bells signaling the end of a school day, while on the other side, you could find marble steps going up to the second floor where you would find two offices, the first one being Dean Cadance office, on of the most supportive and caring person you have ever met in your life, while the second one was Principal Cynch, contrary to Cadance, Cynch was mean and self centered. She only cared about the reputation of her school and her own. Not even her own daughter Sunny Flare was good enough for her despite being the third best student in the school.

One thing you had not noticed up until now was the thing in between both offices. A space dedicated specifically to show off all the trophies, medals and prizes the school has won through the years along with the winning team that got them. The first few pictures were not with Cynch. In fact, the old principal was there, smiling and cheering along with the students. Some say that Principal Discord was the best Principal in the world. He was both serious to keep up with the standards so the school could be considered to be on a good study level, but at the same time, he was cool and chill enough to mess around with the students and not be so uptight like Cynch is. Even in the last photo he appeared, Cynch was on his side. Clearly it was his last year and he was “training” Cynch in a way for when he is gone for her to take over.

To your surprise, Cynch was smiling and even looked like she was having a good time. Hell, for the first four photos when she was alone as the principal she seemed to be smiling in all the photos and having fun with all their victories. It was not until the fifth photo that she took a more serious manner and after that, the photos began to become gradually more serious and professional. The kids and teachers stopped cheering, they stopped taking silly poses and being random like most would be after a well deserved victory to the point that only a few years ago, all students lost their smiles to the point that the only difference between the photos was the students. They all had the same pose, the same faces, the same monotonous attitude. It was really sad to even look at. What happened all this years? Why has Cynch gone from being happy to well… being the serious woman she is now?

You had a feeling what it was. Right before she became her serious self, in one of the photos, Cynch had quite a big belly… Not from being fat, but from being pregnant, and she did not look happy. Was Sunny Flare a surprise? Was she not planning to become a mother?

Maybe you could ask Sunny later, but for now, it was time. There was no point in trying to avoid this anymore, you had to face her.

Standing in front of the door, you could feel your heartbeat raising.Facing the principal of any school had never gotten so worked up like this. The door slowly extended more and more, the door disappearing, leaving a black entrance right in front of you. The door frame turning from mahogany to stone and cobblestone.

Your journey had come to an end. The quest to slay the dragon was finally in it’s final chapter. With your sword and shield in hand, you were ready. Stepping forward into the beast's lair, you looked around and took a deep breath. The smell of Charcoal and burnt meat filled your lungs. The deeper you got, the worse the view was. Corpses of dead adventurers all around you, remains of armors scattered all over the place, and a few coins spread across the floor. So you were not the first one to confront the beasts, and god knows if you will be the last one or not.

Maybe it was best not to think about this. You had to set your mind that you would be the last one to confront the dragon. You had to believe that you would be the one to bring its head back to your village, victorious and with your head up in the air.

Kling Klang. The sound of your armor hitting the cold floor below your was echoing all over the cave. It was a surprise the beast has not come to meet you just yet, but your meeting was not going to wait much longer, because just as you come through a corner, you could see it in all of its glory. The dragon, on top of a horde of coins, gold ingots, treasure chests and all sorts of jewelry. Who knows how long she had been here to yield such treasure.

“Dragon! I have come here to slay you and bring an end to your reign of tyranny” You yelled bringing your shield up along with your sword ready for a fight.

The dragon did not even bother to give you a glance. It just yawned as it began stretching like if you were not even there “Twenty four” It said. You had no idea what it meant but you ignored it.

“You have threaten this land long enough. I will be the one who will bring your death”

“Fifthytwo” It said as it slowly walked up to you now granting you the gift of its gaze

You took a step backward as your knees and hand began shaking, but you remain in your fighting position nevertheless “You don’t scare me!”

“Nineteen”

“Right… What are you...” You began questioning, but the dragon raised it hand

“Oh no please don’t mind me, do go on” It said as it laid its head on the floor right in front of you

“Anyways… Prepare to die under my blade you foul beast”

“Seventy four”

“Alright, what the hell are you doing?” You said slightly annoyed at all this random numbers the beast is saying

“Ah you see, every week a new hero comes to my cave and began saying all this heroic speeches before our ‘epic fight’ that I began counting them as a fun little game before I slaughter them” The dragon explained happily it's devolic little game he does on situations like this one.

“You sicken me you, stupid… worthless… monster”

“Uhhhh… that’s a good one. Six”

“That’s it” You yelled and began charging forward for an epic fight, but before you could clash your sword against the beast snout, the voice of Cynch brought you back into reality in the blink of an eye.

“Yes?” She asked standing on the other side of the door. It seemed she was about to leave when she suddenly found you in the middle blocking her path.

“Oh… Principal Cynch… I’m sorry for interrupting you, but… I was sent here by Mrs Harshwiny for interrupting her class” You said tightening your books in hand afraid of her response.

Cynch raised an eyebrow and sighed before pinching her nose “Come inside Mr Anon” She said turning around to her back to her desk.

You followed right after her, closing the door behind you and sat on the other side of the desk as Cynch stared right into your eyes.

“Tell me Mr Anon, why have you interrupted your class today?”

Going straight for the point? Typical of Cynch. Not wasting any time or giving anyone a chance to think.

“It was an accident principal, I swear” You proclaimed knowing that you could not tell her the truth.

Cynch took a deep breath and leaned forward “Mr Anon. Accidents do not exist. An accident is an invention of the humans to try and avoid a problem. When there is a car crash, in most cases, there is someone to blame. Most cases are drunk drivers, some other cases it’s because of a flat tire. In both cases, the crashes are not caused by accidents. The first one is due to the incompetence of the person behind the wheel for not taking the proper measures before driving around. The second one is fault of both the owner of the vehicle and the mechanic for not keeping track of the conditions of the tire. Behind every… ‘accident’ there is a cause and someone to blame. Now, with that in mind… please tell me why you interrupted your class”

Cynch sure finds a way to bend the world around her. Who the hell thinks that accidents don’t exist. If she had one, she would most certainly say she had one instead of give this long as boring explanation. Regardless, you took a deep breath and look down “I… I can not tell you principal”

Cynch looked at you and smiled for a moment “Very well. Please, head outside my office and take a deep breath. Once you cleared your mind, come back inside” She said calmly as she head over to one of drawers on the wall to look for something.

Cynch just let you off the hook just like that? No… there must be something going on here. Regardless, you took your belongings and left the office to take some fresh air. A minute of just breathing and relaxing later, you decided to go back inside. Once there, you looked at Cynch and what she was reading. It was some sort of folder with… your name on it?

She let out an evil smirk as soon as you walk inside again and pointed at her chair. Taking her invitation, you sat down on it and look at the folder, but she quickly closed it so you would not have the chance to look at it.

“So, Mr Anon… I got quite a few reports from your teachers. Most of them are pretty good, In fact, if you work hard enough, you could one day make it to the Shadow 5, and maybe the group will change it’s name to Shadow 6”. She began saying slowly and calmly. The Shadow 5, the people you’ve been trying to befriend so far, the best of the best… What was her point?

“Well, I wouldn’t say I am at their level.. why are you telling me this?” You asked a bit skeptical

“Oh it’s nothing. You see, each year, I choose 7 exceptional studies and talk to them. We talk about them and what they want to do in their lives. What they plan to do after Highschool and which universities to attend. In case you didn’t know. A letter of recommendation from your principal will almost guarantee you an entry to said university”

“Well, I know that… but… are you trying to tell me you are gonna write a letter of recommendation for me?” That would be great, heck it will guarantee to get to the university you want

“Maybe. I could give a letter of recommendation to you, but I also have the power to prevent you from joining any university” There is it. Now she is showing her true colors. It was too good to be true, she never intended to be nice, did she? “It all depends on you Mr Anon. All I’m asking from you is to tell me what happened today in class”

Well great. You had Gilda against you, you have Sugarcoat reputation in your hands, or rather Gilda’s hand, but with your responsibility, and now the Principal was threatening you. What the hell are you supposed to do now?

“So… I… Have to tell you and that’s it?”

“You are a clever boy Anon. You know the answer to that”

Slaying a dragon is no easy task. Many heroes die in the process. Some are victorious… and others only manage to scrap them a little before they are forced back to escape. You were lucky enough to escape with your life out of that cave but sadly, the dragon was still alive. You were grateful for making it out alive, but at which cost? People around you were still at risk, and you… you ended up quite injured yourself. You might not be able to recover from this one.

Eating alone at your usual table, you were waiting for Twilight to come along and join you… but from what she told you, she would be working extra hard on that device to detect anomalys of the sort on CHS. You really could not bother to look too much into it. If you did, you would only slow her down quite a bit.

So this was going to be a lonely lunch, eh? Well that had its perks. You had no one to worry about, you had time for yourself, you really did not have to talk to anyone about your problem at hand.

It was just you, your glass of water, your salad and the Shadow 5 sitting around you. Wait, when the hell did they get here? Looking around surprised, they stared back at you in silence. For a brief moment there was an awkward were no one said one thing, that is until Indigo broke the silence and spoke up first.

“So?”

“So… So what?” You asked trying to play cool.

You were not fooling anyone. By now, all the school knew about your little freak out in literature class.

“Come on dude, stop messing around. You know… you freaked out in class today. What happened?” She asked nudging you a little encouraging you to open up, but you simply could not do so.

“Look, I just… have a lot on my shoulders and… I need some space” You said trying to be polite but at the same time trying to avoid confrontation… It did not work

Lemon immediately interrupted and put her hand on top of yours “Dude, we are your friends. You can trust us” She said with a smile

Sour Sweet frown and huffed “He may be your friend, BUT HE STILL HAS TO PROVE HIMSELF TO ME”

Well, at least Lemon, Indigo and Sugarcoat consider you their friends. Sunny and Sour were still on the balance and testing you, but even then… This five girls are the last people you want to tell whats going on. Luckily Gilda was not here so, maybe you could risk it… better not.

“I’m… sorry Lemon, but I can’t tell anyone. Not even Twilight. I don't want to put Sugarcoat reputation at risk” You said and immediately covered your mouth as soon as the words came out of your mouth.

Everyone turned over to Sugarcoat confused, but she… she was blushing slightly and even a little mad at you. Still she took a deep breath and frown.

“I am not telling you anything here” She said standing up and began walking outside of the cafeteria “Come with me. That includes you” She said pointing straight at you before leaving.

Sour, Sunny and Indigo left straight away while Lemon stayed behind for a moment “Dude, relax. We are not going to judge you. Come on” She said reaching out with her hand for you along with a smile.

You could not help but return the smile as you took her hand and began walking after the rest with her.

Author's Note

Hello everyone, I'm back! :yay: Yay!

I know, I know, you are probably all wondering, "Shadow, where have you been?"

Well my dear friends, the answer to that is simple. I went through a phase of depression, and lack of inspiration and I could not think at all. Luckily now, I am feeling a little better and I could finally continue the story!

"Shadow, how long until the end of the story?"

The end of this arc is about to finish. It's already planned and ready to be executed. I estimate two or three more chapters. This story? Pffft, I don't know. Until I get bored of writing? I'm not really planning of stopping this story. I have so many things I want to do and try that the answer to that right now is... never.

Your feed back is appreciated, so remember to comment! I will reply to all your comments so let me know if I'm doing good or bad! Be nice, be mean, every little bit helps!

Shadow out

Chapter 11 - Truth be told

God knows what Gilda was up to right now, you were just glad that she was nowhere near you and the Shadow 5 at the moments, or she would get really suspicious and probably post the video in the blink of an eye. She doesn’t tend to be too patient and if she feels threatened, she will not hesitate to retaliate however she can. But now the question was. What the hell were you going to do now?

Sugarcoat sure knows how to isolate from people. The Shadow 5 and you were now on the far back of the fields, way beyond the Futbol fields under a tree away from anyone sight. They would need to get quite close to even notice you hiding back there. Once she made sure no one else was around and that no one followed them there, she took a deep breath and looked at her friends.

She clearly did not want to tell them this, but she had no choice now since you sort of fucked up “Look, say whatever you want, but I don’t care. Yesterday, I had a little of… a break down. Despite to popular belief, I am not a robot, and I also have feelings. I might act all tough and all, but I also sometimes need to get things off my chest and well… What basically happen is that… that… Anon was there with me, we were talking and one things lead to another, and I sort of… cried in his arms for a few minutes until I calmed down” her serious and though act of perfect girls was gone. This was not the serious and monotone Sugarcoat talking. This was the real Sugarcoat, the one she always hides from everyone else because she is not all too social and is sometimes scared about what the others will think.

“I thought I could trust Anon to keep a secret, but I gave him a little too much credit” She finished giving you deadly glares as she fold her arms and looked away from the group “Go ahead. Say whatever you want, I don’t care. I am also a human, I am entitled to cry if I feel like it” She said in all seriousness once again. Damn this girl had some sort of switch to go from being a soft and caring girl, to a though and serious one.

Instead of laughing, making comments or doing anything that would probably humiliate Sugarcoat even more, all 4 of her friends got together and gave her a big hug without saying a word. Sugarcoat was a bit surprised and had no idea how to react other than blush a little and feel a few tears form up on her eyes.

“I… don’t understand” She said confused at her friends who were not making fun of her for crying on Anon’s, arms of all people.

Sour Sweet pulled out and chuckle “Oh please Sugarcoat, like if we would ever be bothered with you crying on Anon’s arms. SURE HE MAY BE A LITTLE CREEPY… but you are our friend and we respect your decision”

“Yes dear. Besides, who are we to say who you want to be intimate with and to whose not to be. It is your life, and we’ve been friends for what… 4 years now? More? Who cares if you cry a little over something. I cry all the time” Sunny Flare added to Sour comment we she didn’t let go of her friend.

Lemon and Indigo pulled out at the same time and nodded in unison “Yea dude, like, if we ever made fun of you for something like this, I don’t think we would ever be able to call you friends without being ashamed for our actions” Lemon said happily

“Besides if I am honest, I would be more worried if you didn’t cry ever so often than never cry at all. Holding up emotions like that is not good for you” Indigo was the last one to add to this supportive circle, but she was not less important than the rest of her friends for doing that.

Sugarcoat could not help but smile as a small tear drop run down her cheek “You girls… are making me feel special. I am just any of you, don’t treat me any different”

Indigo laughed and shook her head as she pat Sugarcoat on the back a few times “Oh don’t you worry, we are not going to treat you any different. You are still our monotonous robot friend who is constantly bothering us to be perfect” She joked around as all the girls burst into laughter. Even Sugarcoat let out a small chuckle.

The only one who was not laughing was you. Not only you were not part of this little circle of friends, but also, you did not feel it was right to laugh at a time like this. You had quite a lot of things in your mind to even consider laughing right now.

Once the tides had calmed and the girls got back to being themselves, it was time to face you. Sugarcoat was still a little mad because she was sort of forced to reveal this, but at the same time, she was really relieved she did so. I did take a big weight out of her back. Maybe now she would be able to take out off your back?

“I am still mad at you. Why did you have to bring this up?” She said annoyed walking up to you and out her face only inches away from yours with her arms folded. Looking behind her, the rest of the Shadowbolts were once again glaring at you with disappointment. It was a rollercoaster with them wasn’t it? One day they trust you and find you friendly… the next one, they are back to being enemies.

“Look Sugarcoat, I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to bring you up… I just… I’m just a little frustrated” You admitted as she tried to back away a little, only to bump with the tree that was giving you all a cool shadow along with the nice breeze that was blowing.

“Frustrated? Me crying in your arms really has you that frustrated? No wonder why you don’t have a girlfriend” She said rolling her eyes and took a few step backwards disappointed with your response.

“It’s not that Sugarcoat… well not entirely… I mean… look I can not tell you!”

“Why the hell not? I mean… it involves me right?”

“Well, yes it does an-” Before you could finish, you were interrupted with her argument.

“And if it does, shouldn’t I have the right to know?” She said tapping her foot on the ground getting a little impatient once again.

You just can’t catch a breath today can’t you? Well… Gilda was not around. No one was around other that you and the Shadow 5, so… Maybe it was safe to tell them. Might as well just let her know. If you are any lucky, she or her friends won’t tell anyone who might start gossiping about this. Hell what the heck are you thinking? The Shadow 5 going around telling how Sugarcoat cried in your arms? Sometimes you surprise yourself with how stupid you can be Anon, of course they won’t tell anyone!

Taking a deep breath, you looked up at her and sigh. This was not going to be easy, and you already expect them to get mad at you once again “Look Sugarcoat… as soon as you left yesterday… I found out someone was not only spying on us… but they also recorded you crying on my arms. They told me that if they wanted me to delete that video, I would need to do something for them”

Sugarcoat looked a bit confused and not all too sure she was believing your little story but regardless, she let you continue “Go on… and you better not be lying” She warned you as the other four nodded behind her.

“I’m not… I swear… anyways… Not only they told me that if I don’t do it, they would post that video, but they also told me that If I ever told anyone, especially not you, and she finds out or she gets in any sort of trouble, she would post the video anyways”

“Cut the chase Anon. Just tell us who it was already! At this point there is no reason for you to hide their identity!” Indigo said a bit exasperated and a little agitated. When her friends turned over to her to give her a glare, she just huffed and looked down “Sorry, it’s just… he can be so complicated sometimes”

Sugarcoat nodded and stared right back at you “Indigo is right. Just tell us who it was” She demanded already easing up on you with this story, but still not trusting you entirely. That was until you told them it was Gilda. Everyone immediately understood what the problem was. This was not the first time she had done something like this, and it was not going to be the last one, even if they go to Cynch and talk to her about this.

But it did do something. The girls smiled back at you for being honest and well, trying to help Sugarcoat “Thanks Anon for trying to cover me, but I think I can handle this on my own, don’t worry about it” She said with a genuine smile.

Indigo cracked her knuckles and smirked “Yea, and if anyone says anything about Sugarcoat for crying in your arms, they will have to go through me first” She said confident enough that she could take the whole school on her own, despite having 4 other friends to back her up.

But that still left the question… What was the other option?

“Hey Anon… Quick question tho. What had you so worked up and worried? What was the alternative?” Lemon Zest asked moving forward closer to you.

“The… alternative…”

“I can’t do that to her Gilda, if I even think about doing this to her, she will kill me. She will never want to talk to me again!” You said holding your head not believing that Gilda would even suggest something like this.

“Why do you even care dweeb? It’s not like she is going to go out with you or anything like that, I mean come on. She is one of the most popular girls in the whole school. Even though I hate to admit it, she is pretty cute as well. You have the same chances of going out on a date with her as finding a cat who likes swimming in water” Gilda said with a shrug not really caring what choice you would take.

Exposing Sugarcoat was one thing, but taking a pair of scissors and cutting down Lemon Zest hair while she is looking away without her consent? Yea, you are pretty sure there is a law that could send you to jail for doing that if Lemon decided to call the cops on you, and it’s not like you are guaranteed to get out so easy out of this one. Not only she would hate you for life, but Gilda could easily laugh and post the video anyways just to really fuck with you and make sure you never show up to school ever again. She is the kind of person who would do that after all.

“So… she wanted to… cut my hair?” Lemon asked a bit scared, backing away from you while holding her perfect green hair.

You nodded slowly and looked away “I couldn’t bring myself to do that. You are the first person who talked to me, who tried to be friendly and…” I kind of like you. Say it “And you are one of my few friends” Coward!

Lemon smiled and looked down thinking what to say but just ended up giving you a kiss on the cheek instead “Thanks Anon” She said with a giggle as soon as she noticed your cheeks turning a bright shade of red. Indigo and Sunny giggled as well while Sour Sweet rolled her eyes and spat out a ‘men’ in a whisper.

Shaking your head to try and calm down, you looked over at Sugarcoat and hesitated for a moment trying to get the right words out of your mouth “ S-so what are we going to do now? She… gave me until next monday to decide before she posts the video on the internet” You said a little nervous.

Sugarcoat looked around thinking how they can avoid having Lemon lose her hair and Sugarcoat lose her reputation as tough girl. The latter one might not be possible, but now she could prepare mentally in case her plan fails. For now, she looked at you and then at Lemon “I have a plan. If Gilda wants to play with fire, we will retaliate with fire as well”

Lemon raised an eyebrow and then frown “What do you have in mind Suggy?”

“I told you not to call me that. My name is Sugarcoat… and well, if she is blackmailing Anon, it is only fair we blackmail her back” She said as all the girls suddenly grew some sort of dark aura around them. As much as you like them and all, you should not forget that they are still Shadowbolts. In fact, they are the best at being Shadowbolts. If you ever mess with them, you better be ready, because they will have no mercy on your soul.

“We’ll get her on your party” She added and the rest of the girls nodded.

You were not too sure what party they were talking about, and you really doubt they will even tell you. Not like you would be invited to parties in the first place, you were not too popular. But fate had another path for you this time around.

After a little nudge and a fake cough from Indigo to Lemon, the musician reacted and nodded “Oh right. Hey Anon, this friday I am having a party at my place after school around 8PM. We are gonna party all night, you wanna come?” She invited you with a smile, full of energy and optimism.

Friday night. You did agree to have other plans “Well, Twilight and I were going to spend the afternoon together since we don’t usually do things. We are not really… popular, to be invited to this places”

“Well, tell her to come with you! Come on! You can’t miss the party! You are practically one of us by now!” She said bouncing a little. One of them… yea right, you were not even close to being even a quarter of what they are, but still you agreed “Alright… I will see what I can do with Twilight”

Lemon smiled and cheered as she jumped up and down from the excitement “Awesome! Don’t miss it dude! Oh oh, almost forgot, I have a pool, so, feel free to bring a swimming suit. Don’t worry, my parents are cool with it, they even hired a lifeguard to keep any drunk people from jumping on the pool and drowning”

Lemon parents sure were cool with her daughter savage parties. He was a really important businessmen who earns quite a lot of money and spoils her daughter to no end. Her mother was a housewife who is always taking care of things in their daily lives so that Lemon can focus on the things she likes and well, enjoy her youth while she has it.

A party… you were invited to a party, none other by the coolest girl is school… today was looking like a good day, not only that, but you also got the back of the Shadow 5. Right before you would split up, Lemon pulled you away from the group and waved at the girls”You girls go ahead, we’ll catch you up in a moment” She said with a smile.

The rest of the girls shrugged and just left you and Lemon all to yourselves. They didn’t mind at all really, not like they could stop you two, they had classes to attend to anyways.

Once you were alone with Lemon, you stared right into those big beautiful lemon colored eyes and could feel your heartbeat raising to the roofs. What could possible make her want you to stay behind with you, all alone, where no one else could see you?

“Hey Anon… I had an idea, and feel free to say no if it makes you uncomfortable or anything” She began saying slowly as she looked down at the ground while kicking the ground with her feet. Was she going to ask you out? There was no way she was going to ask you out just now…

“You see, I was thinking…” here it comes! “Why don’t you tell Gilda you will cut my hair in my party and humiliate me in front of everyone? That will be a sure way she will attend it and we can get out revenge” She said with an innocent smile. Did you seriously thought she would ask you out? Yea right. Keep on dreaming.

“Oh… well, maybe I could do that… She… wouldn’t get suspicious and she won’t post the video of Sugarcoat either” You said rubbing the back of your neck as you looked away with a small blush on your face.

“Alright cool! Well, see you around!” She said after giving you a big hug and just run off to catch up with her friends, leaving you all by yourself with your thoughts.

“It was the perfect opportunity to ask her out you idiot” You said to yourself and just hit your head against the tree a few times… You stopped after the third time so you wouldn’t give yourself a concussion.

Now there was one last thing to do in your to-do list of today, and maybe it was the biggest challenge of them all. Convincing Twilight to come to a party with you…

Back at her personal lab inside the school, Twilight was working hard on her little secret project not paying attention to the world. Just as you walk inside, you are greeted by a little dog who comes straight to you, tackles you down despite it’s tiny size and begins growling in your face for intruding inside of here where no one except Twilight, him or Dean Cadance are allowed in.

Twilight immediately stopped working and walked up to you, picking her dog up “Spike no! Anon is a friend, don’t worry” She said petting the dog on it’s head. Just like magic, Spike stopped growling and took a more friendly attitude towards you. It seemed he understood perfectly what Twilight just told him “I’m sorry about that” She said embarrassed as she let go of her dog on the floor to help you up.

“Don’t worry about it. Now I can knock ‘getting tackled down by a small dog’ out of the list of things I need to do in life”. You said with a smile as your brush yourself off.

Twilight chuckled at your silly joke and went back to work “Don’t you have class?” She asked focusing on her device once again.

You would ask the same to her, but considering she probably aced all her classes for the rest of the year, you just remain silent “I have a free period before my next class. I just wanted to ask you something”

“You can ask me anything Anon, we are friends after all, right?”

“The best of friends. Anyways… Well, Lemon Zest kind of invited us to her party next friday and well, I was wondering if you wanted to come with me” You said with a smile hoping she would not get mad or anything for not spending the night just with her like you two had planned.

Luckily Twilight was not mad, but she did a bit sad “Oh… thanks Anon, but no thanks… parties are not a thing for me… people don’t really like me, and they tend to take those opportunities to pull pranks on me” She said with a small sigh as she stopped working to face you “But don’t worry about me. You should go. I’ll be fine. I have a lot of work to catch up to anyways, I can use that time to finish it” She said in her friendly and caring voice.

Twilight was like a little sister to you. Always friendly, caring and doing what’s the best for you even if it means sacrificing a little of her happiness.

But you were going to pay her back, that was for sure “Thanks Twilight. I promise I will make it up to you somehow!” You said not sure what to do.

Twilight giggled and played with one of her locks “Well… that is this new book of J-”

Before she could tell you which book, you clapped your hands “It’s all yours. Just send me the name and author on a message on my phone because I will forget if you tell me now”

Twilight covered her mouth at your reaction and giggled “Alright, I will. Then we are even Anon” She said and went straight back to work.

Let’s Recap. Sugarcoat is not mad at you and she is even happier after revealing her secret to her friends. Lemon invited you over to a great party where you will have the chance to finally come out of your shy shell and actually socialize with more people. She even gave you the idea to make sure that Gilda attends the party so you can have your revenge and she doesn’t bother you for the rest of the week and last but not least, things are cool with Twilight. This was a good day….that was if it wasn’t for the fact that you still had to deal with Cynch… Great way to ruin the mood…

“Hey Twi… I need to go see Cynch for a moment so…. see you after school?” You said with a smile and waved at her

“Sure, see you around… oh, and you better tell me what happened in class” She said with a stern look with a mixture of worrisome.

“You heard?” You said with a shy smile

“Everyone heard Anon.You would be surprised how fast word gets around in this school. Promise me you'll tell me” She said determined to get the information out of you, even if she had to torture you… even though she was not capable of such thing. She would never harm you… or anyone. She could hardly harm a fly.

“I will Twilight, don’t worry. It’s all fixed now”

With that, you left the lab and head straight for the principal office for a second time today. Luckily she would not be super angry at you and you would still have time to remedy things.

Knocking on her door twice, you did not get an answer. You knocked a third time and still no answer. Maybe she was out? Oh well, time to turn around and-

“Mr Anon, what can I do for you now?” Cynch voice coming from behind you almost made your heart crash down to the floor from the scare she gave you.

“P-principal Cynch… I came about earlier” You said looking up at her

“Are you ready to confess?” She said raising an eyebrow

“Not quite… I mean yes…. I mean… I know it’s too much to ask, but please, you need to give me until next monday to fix something!” You pleaded her hoping that the gods would back you up on this one.

Lucky for you, it seemed that you caught her in a good mood because she nodded and looked down “Very well Mr Anon, you have until monday. But you will have to stay one hour of punishment after class for this”

Well, it was not all too fair, but it was the best case scenario coming from Cynch “Yes, yes Principal Cynch. I will. Thank you” You said bowing down to her.

She just dismissed you with her hand to one side “Now go on to your class. I don’t want to see you again today, is that clear?”

“Yes principal” You said quickly as you left her alone and head to your next class. Maybe things were finally looking up for you?

Maybe your streak of bad luck and misfortune was going to end? Only time will tell, for now, all you really had to do was survive until the party comes around and then you will see what you will do.

Author's Note

And here is the next chapter... it feels a little rushed, and I am not all too happy with the outcome, I feel like I could have done better, but I already worked on the next few episodes and I don't really feel like revising this one.

But you guys let me know what you think. Was it good, bad? Did you love it? Hate it? I read all your comments and try to answer them all as soon as I can!

Thanks for being patient those who stuck around. I promise I will be a little more active from now on.

Shadow Out

Chapter 12 - A joyful memory

So, Cynch you left you off the hook for now until you can solve everything right? Then why the hell are you still worried? There was nothing that could possibly bother you right now! You were doing good in class, you were in good terms with pretty much everyone, and there was still two weeks before the friendship games would show up? Then what was the problem? Why could you not sleep?

Well whatever it was, it had to stop because you could not miss another day of school from lack of sleep. Luckily your mother did give you a few sleeping pills for situations like this. You were always worried they would make you oversleep, but luckily, the times you took them, you would always wake up the next day to the sound of your alarm. What harm could it bring if you took one now?

Walking up to the bathroom, you rummaged around the medicine cabinet to try and find this blessed pills. You were never worried about the side effects. The worst thing that could happen is actually make you tired the next day instead of help you rest and have a good night sleep. That is if you don’t take into consideration the part were this pills could give you nightmares.

Whatever, there was only one way to find out. You took a glass of water along with a single pill, put them in your mouth and gulp it down normally. After emptying the remaining water on the sink, you head back to bed, laid down and waited for the pills to take effect, and waited, and waited, and nothing happens. In the end, you just ended up staying up all night long in your phone.

Before you could even realize the pill was not taking effect on your body, the alarm on your phone suddenly began buzzing, taking you by surprise making you jump five feet on the air before falling down on the floor “Damn phone” you said rubbing your head annoyed from the sudden scare. It was too early to be dealing with this things, not to mention that the lack of sleep had you super tired and you did not want to know anything about life right now.

There’s no time like the present! Standing up, you head over to your bathroom yet again and began brushing your teeth, splashed your face with some water and fixed the mess that is your hair. Once you were done with that, you felt surprisingly good and refreshed. At least for now, who knows how long it will last.

“Looking good Anon” You said to yourself trying to one up your self esteem. It was sad how you had to say this to yourself everyday knowing that no one will ever say this words to you, or so you think. You don’t know what the future holds for you, but one thing is for sure, not someone who will tell you that.

“Okay… Time to feed my little baby” You said walking over to a big glass cage on your room and looked inside. Right there, there was a silly “little” albino snake. A Ball Python no bigger than 90cms long to be precise, with white beautiful scales, deep red eyes and tiny fangs that she hardly ever uses but they are adorable nevertheless. You were not exactly worried of her eating you in your sleep because it was quite small. That was one of the reasons you chose this little guy. Some snakes tend to eat their owner at certain point in their life if they can, but your snake was not even close to being long enough to gobble you up.

“How is my little Silvy doing?” You asked gently picking her up out of her cage and gave her a little kiss on the snout.

Being the little snake of daddy, ‘Silvy’ had never done any harm to you nor the people near you. It was a pretty smart snake who was really caring as well. Maybe it was due to her old owner. A shy nice girl by the name of Fluttershy. You had never seen someone so affecting and caring about her animals before. Maybe that is why Silvy was so lovely.

“Are you Hungry baby?” You asked going down to the kitchen with her and looked around inside one of the cabinets for a little rat. At first you felt a little bad for having to feed her live animals. It was a shame she would not take dead ones. But after a few times of feeding her, and finding the little rats assaulting your kitchen one night making a huge mess, that sad feeling was gone. Now you just either capture rodents yourself with traps or buy them on a store to feed them to her. Two per day should be more than enough to feel her up.

The rats are securely put away in a cage so they don’t escape after they are captured. Putting on a safety glove on, you reached inside the cage, pulled one out carefully and hand it over to your snake, who grabbed it with its mouth in the split of an eye and the rat was gone.

Being so pleased with the rat, Silvy moved closer to your face and snuggled it for a moment before wrapping around you for a ‘hug’. At least that is what Fluttershy told you. You are pretty sure she just wraps around you for a better grip so she doesn’t fall down, but the hug deal sounded nicer.

“You’re welcome” You said with a smile and carried on to prepare your own breakfast. The usual, scrambled eggs with two toasts and a glass of juice. Simple, economic and fills you up just enough until lunchtime comes around.

Right as you were eating your breakfast, your phone began buzzing. It was pretty weird to get a call this early in the morning, but regardless your picked it up and answered.

“Anon speaking, who’s this?”

“Anon, it’s dean Cadance speaking. I was just calling you to inform you that there will be no classes today due to an accident on the water supply system” You never imagined that such a perfect school like Crystal Prep would have a problem like this. This might be some sort of dream, but you are not complaining. No school!

“Oh alright Dean Cadance. Thanks for the heads up, I was about to leave” You said with a smile as you sat down on your couch.

“No problem, now, I must call your classmates. Have a good day”

“Have a nice day”

With that, the call ended and you could finally contemplate the free had on your hands… You could do some homework, you could do some house chores, maybe you could call a friend, maybe hang around with them or maybe… It’s already 8PM and you wasted the whole day playing video games.

“I seriously should pay more attention in life” You said leaving your xbox controller on the couch and stood up. Your whole body was sore from being on the couch laying down all day long. Now that you think of it, you had not even eaten anything all day due to your addiction to gaming, and now your stomach was growling you louder than an angry guard dog protecting it’s house from an intruder.

“I know, I know. I will prepare something” You said patting your stomach and head over to the kitchen to prepare some food, but there was something amiss right now. That’s right, your snake was no longer around your neck. Now where did that little devil go?

You had to find her before doing anything really, you really did not want to spend the whole night looking for her, but it seemed you had no choice. Maybe it is looking for a rat to eat, after all, she does know where you keep them… but she was nowhere near the kitchen. Mhhhh, how about your bedroom? She does like cuddling on your pillow when you let her free around your house. Nope, she was not in your bedroom either. Luckily all the windows were closed so there was no way that she left the house without you realizing.

The bathroom? That sounded silly, but who knows? Heading over to the door on the end of the hallway, you slowly turned the knob and pushed the door open “Silvy, are you here my little baby?” You called out with a smile to find something… unexpected. Silvy was no longer little. In fact, she was quite big. Big enough to scare anyone who sees her. You were scared enough yourself. Your little snake of no more than 90cms long… or at least the way she used to be, was at least 3 meters tall and god knows how long now.

“Silvy? How are you this big all of the sudden?” There was no logical explanation for this. Snakes don’t suddenly just grow like this in the span of a day… not that you know of. The only logical explanation was magic, and as we all know, magic is as real as a dragon coming through a portal and end up in this world.

“Silvy?” You asked stepping back as the snake slowly began slither its way towards you, but her eyes were not the same as always. She was looking at you like if you were her pray. Like if you were one of those rats in your cage. She was not planning on eating you, was she?

You tried to reason with her, to try and calm her down, but all that came out of your mouth was a little squeak. Trying again to talk to her, yet another squeak came out. You quickly covered your mouth in fear, but as soon as you realized, your face had gotten longer and turned brown all of the sudden. Your hands got way smaller resembling little paws and what followed was the rest of your body. Your cloths disappeared, your ears grew out, your feet and body were suddenly covered in hair and you grew out a tail from nowhere.

You were no longer a human. You were now a defenseless little rat against your pet snake who had no idea you were her owner. The sane side of your brain was telling you this was a dream… no a nightmare, but the active part of your brain was telling you to run. Run for your dear life… and so you did. The fear of being eaten alive was way too strong for you to comprehend this was not real And you truly believed you were a rat.

You had no idea where you were headed. You did not care where your legs would take you. The only thing important to you right now was not to get eaten by your snake out of all things. The only reason you got a snake this small was not to get eaten by it, but life sure finds ways to fuck you up all the time.

Somehow, you ended up inside a little hole, cornered by three walls and the hole you came through behind you. You had to leave from this dead end. If Silvy finds you, you are dead for sure… on the other hand, she does have to find you. Maybe you are lucky and she won’t notice you.

But Miss Fortune was not on your side today. In the end, your albino snake found the little hole and just stared at you, almost enjoying the moment. Say your prayers anon because - BEEP- this is going to be the last thing -BEEP- you will see in your -BEEP- life.

The last thing you saw was your snake's mouth quickly opening as it approached you when all of the sudden, you hear a loud alarm that made your eyes shot open. Once you realized that you were still on your room in one piece and as a human, you finally understood, It was all a dream. The pills did have an effect on you and you did fall asleep in the end. Thank goodness.

You were never happier to wake up at 6AM in the morning.

After making sure this was not a dream by pinching your arm and actually feel pain, your went on with your daily routine. You brushed your teeth, combed your hair, splashed your face with water, feed your snake, had some breakfast and relax for a few minutes. The only difference right now, was that you did not get a call from Dean Cadance, which meant… another boring day of school

Hey… look at the bright side. You are still alive and you don’t have to run away from your snake.

“Be a good girl for daddy, okay Silvy? I will be back in the afternoon” Who knows if the snake really understands what you say or not. Fluttershy told you that speaking with your pets was good for them because it helps them recognize their owners if they ever get lost. Not only that, but it helps with the bond you two form. It may be true, it might not be, but whatever the truth was, you would do it anyways, after all. Silvy is a good listener.

Once you left Silvy back on her cage safe and sound, you took your belonging, picked up your phone and head out to the streets. It was a warm morning despite the sun barely peeking out on the horizon. It was no surprise really, you were in the last few days of summer after all, autumn was right around the corner.

Autumn, season for halloween, one of your favourites holidays ever. You get to go around, dress up and sometimes even spook little kids while they are trick or treating with your horrifying costumes. Maybe you will finally get invited to a Halloween Party? They do tend to get quite wild from what you heard. Some of them end up with crazy games, or great stories to tell your friends once they sober up and can actually remember things. That was one of the perks you had for never drinking and getting drunk in the process. You get to live the action and remember it… that is if you get invited to said places in the first place.

Right now you had a particular party to look forward to, and that is Lemon’s party in just a few days. Shoot you had not thought what you would wear! Should you bring a swimming suit like she told you? Maybe you could bring a swimming suit and some trousers to change into later once you are done swimming and what not? Maybe that was the best plan.

Speak of the devil. Waiting on the bus stop was none other than Lemon. Considering how much money her family has, it was weird to see her waiting for the bus and not driving her own car.

“Hey Lemon!” You called out to the musician who was bobbing her head with her eyes closed at the beat of her music. Of course, since it was so loud and she was not paying attention to the world around her, she did not notice you when you called her.

So you did the first thing that came to your mind once you got close to her. You tapped her shoulder and waved your hand at her. Of course, this time around she did turn around and saw you standing next to her

“Duuuuude! Hey!” She almost yelled making you jump from the loud scream in your ear. She quickly pulled her headphones down and giggle “Sorry about that, I didn’t mean to break your eardrums”

“It’s alright. So… I thought you would have your own car and what not”

Lemon shrugged and looked away “I’m not really interested in driving. My dad did offer me a car before, but I honestly don’t want to bother with driving around and all. I would rather skate with my rollerblades”

“You know how to use them?” Despite how much you like Lemon, you don’t see her as the type who would pick a sport and practice it

“Of course! I’ve been rolling ever since I was five. You see, my dad had no idea what to buy me then so he settled with a pair of rollerblades. At first I hated them because I would always fall and hurt my bum, but I was stubborn, and I was determined to not fall down anymore, and before I knew it, I was skating all over the place with a smile on my face” She explained as she stretched both arms up in the air and yawn “But, yesterday I had a weird nightmare that kept me up all night and I could not sleep… So now I’m too tired to go skating to school”

“Hey! I had a nightmare too… I was a little rat running away from my snake who was trying to eat me” You said with a giggle at how silly that sounded out loud.

Lemon chuckled and then gasped as soon as she realized something “You have a pet snake!? That is awesome! I love snakes! Dude, you have to show me one day! Promise me you will show me!” She said nudging you on your side

You could not help but giggle at her response and nod “Alright alright, I will show you to her. She’s a little white ball python with red eyes”

Lemon freaked out even louder and began punching you in the chest “Dude! How come you did not tell me earlier! Now I really wanna see it”

Lemon really seemed to like snakes. Maybe you could bring it to school if there ever is a ‘bring your pet to school’ day, but it did make you wonder…

“If you like snakes so much, how come you don’t have one yourself?”

Her happy attitude quickly shift over to a sadder one, maybe even slightly annoyed “Well, my mom and dad don’t really like animals. It is the one thing they don’t let me have, and it’s the one thing I really want… that is after my music” She quickly clarified in case you got the wrong idea. There was no doubt she loves her music over everything else.

“Well, you are free to come and visit Silvy anytime”

That took her a little by surprise “Who’s Silvy?”

“Oh right… My python is called Silvy. I really didn’t name her, when I bought her, she already had that name, but I found it so cute, that I kept it”

“Ahhhh” She said rocking back and forward with her feet “So, hey… don’t worry about Gilda, okay? We got you covered fam” She said giving you a friendly punch on the elbow.

It was reassuring to have the Shadow 5 on your side and not against you, but still, no matter how much she may tell you this, you were still worried. As soon as Gilda finds out you double crossed her, she is going to get quite poised, and who knows what she will do to you after the party.

“Yeah I know. Thanks Lemon… Oh, I talked to Twilight. She said she is not coming, I hope that is fine with you… not that she doesn’t like you or anything, is just… she just doesn’t enjoy parties… you know what I mean?” You said trying to explain this as best as you could while also trying to avoid harming her feelings.

Lemon shrugged and nodded “I understand. She does have quite a hard time every party she comes. One time, she came to one of my parties, and all the Futbol team picked her up and threw her into the pool… she did not appreciate it. I think that was the last time she came to one of my parties… or any party for that matter. It’s a little sad. Everyone treats her so bad but she is so good”

“Tell me about it. I just wish there was something I could do for her”

Even though she is the smartest, most patient and nicest person in this school, everyone treat her like she is shit

“Well, we’ll think about something Anon, you’ll see” She said as the bus stopped in front of both of you. Being the gentlemen you are, you let Lemon climb up first and you followed her right after. Since you did not know anyone, and Lemon signaled you to sit with her, you followed her lead and sit on her side.

“So Lemon… What do you have planned for Gi-” A pair of pink hands quickly cover up your mouth and shush you

“Dude, people can hear. Not here” She said whispering in your ear and looked around worried that someone might have heard, but everyone was preoccupied with their own business.

You quickly nodded and she finally pulled her hands away before looking down at her Ipod “So… Watcha wanna talk about?”

“What kind of music do you like?”

You were kind of expecting that question to show up sooner or later “Oh… well, I am not all too picky, I like listening to all sorts of music”

Lemon chuckled and hand you over one of her earbuds and smile “Well, if you had to pick one?”

Taking her offer, you put the earbud in your ear and thought “Mhhhhh, if I had to chose one…. I would have to say… classical music”

Lemon was a bit surprised by your response, but not at all disappointed “Cool, not many people can appreciate musical. I like it, but I am not a huge fan of it. Rock n Roll is my jam!”

Of course it is, She is always listening to rock as loud as she can

“But I also like Pop and Dubstep… I certainly love making mixes with my DJ mixer”

“Yea about that. You told me what got you into roller skating, but what about music?” The mystery behind the musician was one that not many knew, not everyone was worthy to know her secret.

You were one of the chosen few who would be allowed to know “Me? With music? Well, it’s kind of like a long story…”

“We have about 30 minutes before we get to school. Tell me” You encouraged her with a smile.

Not being able to contain her excitement, she turned to look at you and nod “Alright, well… It happen when I was little... ”

“Mom! I’m going outside to skate!” A young Lemon of no more than six or seven years old yelled to her mother on the living room who was talking with one of her friends not really paying much attention to get daughter. Of course, her mother was always preoccupied with someone else to spend time with her daughter. It was a little sad, but Lemon did not mind, it gave her more time for herself.

Not hearing any complains from her mother or anything like that, Lemon decided to take her helmet and walked over to the side walk with her brand new rollerblades on hand. Despite this being the fifth time she used them, she was determined to master this hardcore skill that was bestowed on her hands by the skating gods. This, tremendous and impossible task. Skate around without falling down for more than 10 meters.

Back then, little Lemon had no worries in life. She would just go with the flow, enjoy whatever time she had for herself and do whatever her heart would tell her to do since there was no one to stop her or tell her otherwise.

Luckily enough, the Zest family at the time, lived on a pretty isolated area where hardly any cars would go by and interrupt the child’s playing on the streets, so Lemon had all the street for herself to try and skate around without having to worry about incoming trafic or muggers or anything like that.

She put her helmet on, took her shoes off to make room for her roller blades and was finally ready to go. Almost. First thing first, sticking her tongue out along with a frown, she pushed her hands against the floor and slowly began pushing herself up in her two feet. Wobbling back and forward a few times, the fear of falling face first was covering her completely. It almost felt like her life depended on it… luckily she managed to stay up... a little shaky, but better than meeting the ground so soon. One thing down, a few to go.

Now came the hard part. No one ever taught her how to go forward. She would always push herself forward with a parked car or something, but this time around, there was nothing near her. Not a car, not a post of any kind nor someone watching over her that could give her a little boost or something.

“Bummer” She said once she realized that there was nothing to assist her with this hard task “Okay… Here I go” She said determined clenching her fists and began walking forward like she normally does thinking that is how skaters go forward in the first place. Not her brightest idea.

As soon as she lift her foot up to begin walking, little Lemon rolled forward and fall on her butt with all the weight of her body on it. Tears immediately began forming on her eyes from the pain, but she stopped as soon as someone picked her up and put her back on her two feet again. She was confused and looked around to see who her savior was.

A tall guy wearing a black leather vest, along with some torn up blue jeans and a shirt of The Beatles on. Wearing a pair of black converse and some shades covering his eyes.

“Bright Beat!” She said cheerfully and quickly hugged him, almost falling again from the sudden movement, but the person was holding her tight now.

“Hey cousin. What are you doing here all by yourself?” He question booping her nose and hold her arms out to begin guiding her around with the rollers.

Lemon panicked a little when she was moving against her will, but quickly relaxed and smile “I was… I… I was… I was just practicing! But, I don’t know how to skate, and my mom is not helping me”

“Mhhhh, well, I know how to skate. Want me to give you a hand?” He offered not really minding. Even Though teenagers usually don’t have time for little kids like Lemon, Bright Beat was not like every other teenager. He would always help his little cousin out whenever she needs it.

“You would teach me!? Yes!” She said with a nervous giggle as her legs would occasionally jerk forward since she doesn’t know how to balance herself just yet but lucky Bright Beat did not let go one second and made sure she would not fall down again.

“Relax Lemon. I won’t let you fall” He said holding her hand up over her head even tighter “See, I got you”

“A-alright”

“Now… Try to guide your legs like… like sound waves” He said not really considering that Lemon might not know what a sound wave is

“A sound what?” The confused child asked as she struggled to keep her feet from being too close to each other or even too far away

“Mhhh… Maybe not that example… I know” He said taking her back to the sidewalk and made her sit as he pulled out his MP3 player with the tiny stereo and put on some music “Here… you hear the music right?”

“Yea?”

“Well, now let it guide you… Let the sound and the notes guide your feet around. Close your eyes and just listen... almost like if you were dancing slowly. You think you can do that?”

Lemon scrunch her nose not really understanding it all but there was something that had her even more worried than anything “But if I close my eyes I won’t be able to see where I am going”

“That is true, but I will be guiding you along with the music, so you don't have to think through it too much” he said setting the MP3 player down to let it auto play and go help Lemon up once again.

Being the little scared child she was, Lemon doubted her ability to do what her cousin was telling her, but she tried nevertheless. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and just let herself go. Before she could realize it, she was skating around. Of course with the help of Bright Beat, but she was doing it.

“I did it! I’m skating cousin!” She said full of glee and happiness as she hold on tight and giggle.

“Of course you did Lemon! You are a natural at this!” He told her as they went down the street and back “Always remember. Let the music guide you” He reminded her, to which little Lemon nodded, and took that sentence quite literally.

“And so, he would come every saturday to my house and lend me his MP3 so I could practice. Eventually I did not need his help anymore and I was skating on my own. He would sometimes come skate with me. Four months later, he gifted me his MP3 so I could practice at any point… from that point forward, I’ve been listening to music and letting it guide me with pretty much everything” She said shuffling through the playlist and stopped at a particular song. “Move your Feet” By Junior Senior

“To this day I love this song. It was the one that started it all really… I don’t know where I would be right now if my cousin hadn’t helped me that day, or if I had given up on skating after he left” She said a tad sad with that last sentence. What did she mean ‘when he left’? You were a bit afraid to ask, so you thought it was best not to ask. Maybe later, when she trusts you a little further, but for now, this was more than enough.

“That was a really sweet and cute story. Thank you for telling it to me... I would love to hear more about you in the future” You said with a smile.

“Maybe I will tell you more... and I should be the one thanking you” She said with a small blush and looked away.

“Me? Why are you thanking me?”

“For listening” She said giving you a friendly punch on the shoulder and hit play on the player. She gave you no time to answer before she began singing the lyrics of the song. You joined her in a little chorus, and for the rest of the trip, both of you sing in unison to the lyrics of the songs she played.

Author's Note

And done. I might come back and give more little "flash backs" from Lemon, Anon or even the Shadow 5 if you guys liked it. Maybe I will even toy around with Twilight a little, who knows. It's all up to you guys, what do you think I should do?

More Flashbacks? Focus on the main story? A little bit of both?

Let me know in the comments, I read and try to reply to all of them!

Shadow out

Chapter 13 - The Nerd, The bully and the Mysterious Girl

The trip to school was pretty good, and it did make you get a little closer to Lemon as well, which was all sorts of good in it’s own. You are glad that you found her there in the bus stop, if not this would have probably turned into a pretty boring trip.

Why haven’t you hopped on your car and driver to school? The question to that my friend is a funny one… you have no idea where your car keys are, but there was no point in worrying about them right now. You would get to that problem when you are back home. You had classes to get to right now.

Lemon and you part ways once you were down from the bus, she was most likely going to meet up with the other Shadow 5, while you had pending matters with Twilight. She was probably worried sick for your freak out yesterday and since you had not explained anything to her, who knows what might be going through her mind? She does get a little paranoid after all. Ok, little is not enough to describe how worried Twilight gets about things.

Twilight… now where is your dear friend? You haven’t actually never met her this early in the morning before. You usually meet up with her at lunch time. Maybe she was at her little personal lab? No, she was most likely getting her stuff from her locker. Meh, you will find her eventually, better start by her locker.

Her locker was not so far away from yours anyways, so you could go pick up your stuff to yours in the way there. Inputting your secret combination to the lock you chose on your first day of school, you opened your locker and pulled out your books. Your locker was actually super boring. You had not decked it out with any sorts of decorations. No posters, no photos, no silly drawings, no stickers of any sort… Even in this school, all the students put their little personal touch to the inside of their lockers, small or big, they do something. Maybe you could put a photo of you and Twilight? Or maybe a photo of your little snake? You’ll figure something out. Your train of thoughts however was interrupted by what sounded like a heavy pile of books dropping on the ground followed by a familiar voice whimpering a little. You know who it belonged to, but come on, this early in the morning? Who could possibly be this annoying?

“Twilight” You said with a sigh, shutting your eyes close and followed the sound around the school, only to find out that your assumptions were right.

Twilight was on her knees on the ground, looking for her glasses with her books sprawled all over the floor. Right in front of Twilight was Gilda, who was laughing hysterically while pointing at her and making fun of how she can’t see or how clumsy she is. It made your blood boil when you saw her, but what irritated you even more is that no one, not a single student who noticed this, walked up to Twilight to give her a hand.

“Leave her alone” You yelled moving forward straight to Gilda and did something really stupid out of instinct. You shoved her with all your mighty making her stumble back until she lost her balance and fall down on her butt. Needless to say, she was not happy about this.

Gilda composed herself, stood up and glared at you “I’m going to let this one slide dweeb, but the next time you lay a hand on me, I am going to break your face” She said folding her arms and glared at you “You don’t want me to be against you, remember?” It made you wonder why she did not break your face in the spot. Maybe it was because you two were in school and Gilda wanted to avoid trouble or something? Whatever it was, you lucked out of this one this time, you would need to look out in the future.

She is right. It was a bold move from your side to do that, but you just could not stand anyone bullying Twilight like that “I know… about that… You should probably go to Lemon’s party?”

Gilda raised her eyebrow a bit suspicious and then squint her eyes at you not liking at all what you just told her almost smelling like you were trying to set up a trap against her “And why should I waste my friday night to go there?”

“Just… do it… I will do it… you know what” You said not really wanting to say anything out loud and just made a pair of scissors with your fingers. Gilda immediately understood what you said and her expression transformed completely, one from being annoyed, to a evil grin that spread from ear to ear.

“Well I’ll be damn. Alright dweeb. You better not disappoint me” She said pointing at you “But I’m serious. Touch me again, and you are dead. Consider yourself this a first and final warning… I don’t give them out too lightly”

“Right, right. I won’t”

“Good to know that you are a little bitch just like everyone else. See you next friday, dweeb” Her comment only fueled your anger towards her even more, but you had other things to worry about that Gilda right now.

Once she turned around and began walking away, you quickly turned over to Twilight, reached down for her glasses and then hand them over to her “Are you alright?” You asked in a soothing voice placing a hand on her back to try and show you are there for her. She jumped from the sudden physical contact, but then relaxed and took a deep breath trying really hard not to break apart.

She quickly took her glasses, cleaned them with a little napkin she took from her pocket and then put them on “No…” She whispered as she slowly reached for her books.

You picked most of them for her, hold onto them tight so she would not have to worry about them and took her hand with yours “Come”

She did not hesitate to hold your hand back and then began following you around once you began guiding her across the hall, most likely scared of being left alone after whatever just happened to her. Knowing only one place that would be safe for her right now, you head straight to her personal lab where no one would bother you. Not many know about the lab, and those who know, don’t really care to get there.

She opened the door with the key she was keeping safe on a little chain around her neck and then head inside, never letting go of your hand, in fact, her grip got even tighter and she began shaking a little as soon as the door began creaking open. As soon as you were both inside and with the door closed, she buried her face in your chest, pressed both hands against it as well and simply began crying her heart out. Poor Twilight… she probably goes through something similar almost everyday, if not everyday, and you only just now realize about it.

Doing the only correct thing to do, you reached out to leave the books on the table, wrapped both arms around her body, hugged her tightly and began rocking her back and forward “It’s alright Twilight. I’m here now. Don’t worry” Trying to calm her down seemed to help her a little since her crying did slow down a little, but the tears kept on flowing down her cheeks.

It was a good 5 minutes of crying before she was completely dry, or at the very least, she did not seem to want to cry anymore.

“Feeling better?” You asked in a whisper. Her only response was a weak nod of her head “Twilight… what happened?”

Nothing. She did not answer. Maybe she was not ready to talk about this just yet and even though you were just trying to help her, you understood it was better to leave things as they are and let her come out whenever she is ready “It’s alright if you don’t want to talk about it, but you can trust me. I’m your friend” You said hugging her even tighter.

Twilight closed her eyes, took a deep breath and sigh “I’m… tired of being bullied. I don’t want to go to this school anymore” She confessed to you and wrapped her arms around you with a grip tighter than your python has ever given you. She was holding to you almost like if her dear life depended on it.

“Well… why don’t you change of schools?” You asked unsure of why she hasn’t done that before. She did not look like the kind of girl that would put up with a school like this for no reason.

“Because… all my family went to Crystal Prep. My mom, my dad, even my brother… all of them graduated here and they expect me to do the same” She said in a torned up voice about to break down again.

That… was a little stupid reason. But you could not say it just like that… how to put it? “Have you told them how you feel? How everyone…. treats you here?”

It took Twilight a moment to answer, but she finally whispered “No”

“Why not?”

“Because… I don’t want to disappoint them”

This is when you had to step forward and change things “Twilight… Tell me what’s more important. Pleasing your family or your own happiness?”

She did not answer. How could she answer? It’s almost like if you just dropped a huge bomb on her that she can not diffuse and she accepted her fate.

“Does your family love you?”

“Of course they do!” She said a little mad you would even question it.

“Then if they do, they will not care if you want to change schools. They will not care what choices you make. Twilight, I’m sure if they know the truth of how you feel and how everyone treats you, then they will transfer you in a heartbeat to a better school” Maybe not a better academic wise since Crystal Prep was the best school in this town, but they would surely send her to a more friendly school.

“But… not everyone treats me bad” She said clearly referring to you and you alone… Maybe Lemon fits here, but you have not seen Lemon treat Twilight bad or good before so you are not too sure, after all, looks can be deceiving.

Even Though this made you smile, it was not enough “Twilight. I promise you, I am your friend and will always be, but… you should not suffer like this. If you change schools, I’m sure you will make more friends. They will accept you the way you are and you will be happier than what you are here”

Twilight was in deep thought about this. She had never considered changing schools. Crystal Prep may be one of the best schools there is but no one should go there if it means suffering like Twilight does, not from your point of you at least.

“But if I change now… I might lose the opportunity to go to the collage I want”

“Twilight… you are the smartest person I’ve ever known. I would bet all the money I have to say you are the smartest person in this whole city. If college is what you are worried about, you are just worrying for nothing. You will most likely get enlisted anywhere. You are probably gonna ace any exam that is presented to you”

Somehow, Twilight found the strength to hug you even tighter now. She closed her eyes and another streak of tears formed up on her eyes, but this were not tears of sadness. Instead, this were tears of happiness. No one has ever complimented her like this before, other than her family that is.

“Thank you Anon” She whispered.

“No problem Twilight. If Gilda ever gives you any sort of trouble, just call me alright, and I will come running as fast as I can”

“I will” She said finally letting go of you and let you breath once again… man, for someone as small and fragile as Twilight, she can sure hug you so tight that a simple breath is a huge relief on your body.

You reached out with your thumb and cleared a tear drop from her face and smiled “Now...I think I owe you an explanation, don’t I?”

This seemed to flip a switch inside of Twilight because she went from being happy, to shocked, to worried, all in one second. She opened her eyes wide open and nodded “Yes! I heard that you had some sort of break down yesterday during Mrs Harshwiny class! What was all that about, are you alright?”

“Relax… it’s fine… There was a little… incident, with Gilda” The simple calling of her name made Twilight mad and even more worried for you.

“What did she do now? Did she punch you? Are you hurt?” She said looking all over your body lifting your arms in the air and even your shirt to see if you had any stab wounds or anything, making you blush ever so slightly.

You quickly hold her hands to stop her and chuckle “Twilight. She did not hurt me. I thought she would hurt me just now after I pushed her away from you”

“You… did what? For me?” She asked surprised and confused… right, she can hardly see without her glasses.

“Of course Twi. I can’t bare seeing anyone hurt my best friend like that”

Twilight smiled and gave you another hug “Thank you for that… but it was dangerous”

“Yes it was… anyways… you have to promise not to tell anyone” You said a little worried that word might come out and you would get in trouble, not only with Gilda, but with the Shadow 5 as well.

“I promise” She said even though you can already tell she is going to make you tell Cynch or dean Cadance.

“Well… a few days ago… Sugarcoat kinda had a break down and began crying. I tried to help her to stop and Gilda just so happen to be there filming us in secret. Once Sugarcoat left, Gilda tried to use that footage as a blackmail on me, and told me if I told anyone about this, she would post the video” You began explaining. Needless to say, Twilight face was not a happy one with all this.

“Anon… We need to tell C-”

You quickly interrupted her “Twilight no… I… We already know how to solve this. Lemon, Sugarcoat and her friends already came up with a plan”

“Wait, so you told them?”

“I… kinda had no option. I accidentally told them a bit and then they wanted to know the whole thing…” You said poking your fingers together a little shy.

Twilight sigh and shook her head “Go on”

“Well… the deal I had with Gilda was simple. Either she posts the video, or I cut Lemon’s hair to ruin it”

“And you can’t do either” Twilight deduced since you were friends with both of them.

“Exactly… Lemon is my friend, and well… if I let this video get posted, I might lose her friendship and Sugarcoat trust”

Twilight looked away and nodded “Right… well I can’t really stop you from being friends with them” She said slightly annoyed.

“Why is that bad?”

“Nothing”

“Is it because you were friends with Sugarcoat?” You asked but as soon as the words came out of your mouth, you realized that might have been a mistake.

Twilight looked at you wide eyed “Who told you that?”

“Sugarcoat… that was the reason she was crying… she kinda regrets losing you”

Twilight frowned when she heard this, but then looked down and her face softened “I see…”

“What happened between you two?”

Twilight looked away and sigh “We just… grew distant”

“Why?”

Twilight closed her eyes and frown “I… don’t wanna talk about it”

Damn, Twilight is avoiding the topic just like Sugarcoat? Something big must have happened then “Alright, I won’t ask again”

“Thank you” She said with a smile since you understood “I… might tell you later I just… I don’t want to think about it at the moment”

“Alright. Well, anyways… me and the girls are gonna go to the party and ambush Gilda there. I’m going to pretend to cut Lemon hair in front of everyone, and Indigo will take care of Gilda somehow”

Twilight sighed and looked down “Alright…”

You hate seeing Twilight sad like this “Twilight. No matter what happens between both of us… you might leave the school, you might turn into a demon or whatever, but I will still be your friend”

Twilight giggled at the idea of being a demon “You know that demons are a myth created in the old times to excuse the things that religion could not explain or found to be ‘evil’ right?”

“I know… It was just a joke. There is no way that you would turn into a magical demon”

Twilight laughed and went to her computer to start working “Good one. If I ever turn into a demon, I will rip holes all over reality, I promise”

You laughed at her and pat her head “Then I will be right there, trying to stop you… probably falling through one of this holes you opened up”

Twilight looked up at you and nodded “Alright. It’s a deal, but I am not catching you if you fall”

As the ring bell echoed outside the door, you looked at the watch in the wall and sigh “Gotta run. If I’m late to Chrysalis class again, she is going to be mad”

Twilight waved at you and laughed “See you later Anon”

Few hours later, the day was already over and your mind was blowing with all sorts of new things you had to learn today. School might be good to learn things, but man they sure give you headaches.

Right in the front door of the school, Twilight stood, rocking back and forward not really going anywhere. Since you had nothing better to do, you sneaked up behind her, quickly tickled her belly with both hands on each side, making her jump both from the surprise and the tickles themselves. As soon as she realized it was you who was tickling her, she turned around and tried to push you away while laughing.

“Anon! Stop that! I’m really ticklish”

Not wanting her to have an accident, you let go and giggle before getting punched in the chest, making you lose your air for a moment. “Alright… I deserve that one” You said holding your chest and looked down at her “What are you doing here? I thought you would have already head home by now” You are pretty sure she finishes her classes before you do.

“I was wondering if you wanted to go and walk around with me” She said playing with one of her locks. Was Twilight crushing on you? You did not have feelings for her that way… this could be bad. Say no. Say no.

“Sure. Where would you like to go?” D’oh!

“Well, I haven’t taken Spike for a walk yet, so wanna go to the park?” She asked as she began heading towards it.

“I could go to the park. It’s been a while” One of the advantages of having a snake pet was that you did not have to take it out for a walk or anything.

“Awesome… so hey… I was wondering… what would you do if I transfer to another school?” So she did consider what you talked about earlier.

“I would be a little sad of course, but if it makes you happy, then I wouldn’t mind” You replied with a shrug. Twilight might be your best friend, but if she is unhappy and you deny her happiness by not letting her move schools, how could you ever call yourself her friend?

“Oh… Well… I…. gave it some thought… and I might… I might transfer schools” She said poking her fingers together.

You smiled at her and laid your arm over her shoulder for half a hug “That’s great Twilight… have you thought were you might want to go?”

Twilight shook her head and sigh “I don’t know… I have to find a school that is friendly and well… has a good education level”

“What about CHS?” You asked thinking about it. Your cousin Vinyl does go there and she had told you all sorts of stories that are a little hard to believe, but Vinyl does have quite the imagination.

“Canterlot High? I don’t know. Do you think the students there are good?”

You shrugged and smiled “Well, my cousin does go there, and she did tell me that students there are really friendly, especially now that the ‘bully of the school’ is gone, besides, she is quite popular, I am sure if I can get her to help you out, you will fit in before you know it”

Twilight thought about it and looked down “Well… Maybe I will see after this friendship games”

That’s right. In only a few weeks from now, you would be facing your cousin and her school on the friendship games. That was a good idea. She would be able to check out the school plus see how friendly the students are and all.

“Awesome” You said with a smile before Spike would pop his head out of Twilight’s bag and began barking.

“Oh, I’m so sorry Spike” She said reaching for her dog and pulled him out from the bag in order to put him down on the ground and kiss his snout.

“Oh I’m sorry, do you two want some privacy?” You said jokingly.

Twilight blushed and quickly stood up to slap the side of your arm “Anon! Don’t make jokes like that” She said mad and then looked away “Besides… I don’t exactly like boys”

“You don’t like boys?”

“Yes… I mean no. I don’t like them… you know…” Twilight said shyly not knowing what to say.

“I actually don’t understand. You like me, don’t you?” You said playing dumb even though you clearly know what she means.

“Yes I like you, but I don’t at the same time… I mean… I like you as a friend, I don’t like you like you like… ummm…” She was getting quite worked up over this topic, and it was kind of cute seeing her struggle with something she doesn’t know how to explain.

You could not help but to begin laughing at her.

“What?” She questioned you not really sure why you would laugh at her now.

“I understand Twilight, I’m just messing with you” You said in between giggles.

“Oh” She said blushing slightly and frown “Well, why would you do that then?!” She said pushing to to one side.

“Because it was funny” You said sticking your tongue out and began running before she could do anything else to you like punch or slap you again.

“Hey! Come back here” She said going after you with Spike barking right behind her.

In the end, Twilight was not crushing on you, and this does give you a little relief on this situation. You honestly would not know what to do if you end up with another girl and had to see Twilight heart crushing because you didn’t choose her. Not that you have anything against Twilight. She is cute and all, but you are not too sure if you want to date her.

Once you reached the entrance to the bark, you slowed down for Twilight to catch up to you, and man she sure doesn’t exercise at all. She was already panting and huffing even though you run for what, 20 meters or so?

“What’s wrong Twilight? Was this too much exercise for the week?” You asked playfully and to your surprise, she nodded.

“Yea… I don’t really… exercise that much… or at all really”

“Not at all? Really?” You could have never guessed. Someone like Twilight is the kind of person who would do 100 pushups, 100 squats, 100 sit ups and run 10 kilometers a day.

Twilight nodded and composed herself rather quickly as she looked around inside the park “Yea… Ever since I was allowed not to take P.E. I kind of been slacking a little” She said with a giggle as her little purple dog run ahead and began rolling around in the grass without worries in life.

Twilight and you giggled and kept on walking down the path next to each other “So Twilight… you are not into boys, I get that… but how about girls? Have you seen anyone that caught your eye?”

Twilight looked over at you and her face almost turned red like a tomato before she would look away and giggle “Well… There is this really good looking girl that I kinda like”

“Oh? Do I know her?” You asked trying to figure out who this mysterious girl might be, but Twilight shock her head.

“I doubt it… She doesn’t go to our school” Bummer, that makes it impossible for you to help Twilight to try and get a date with this girl.

“Ahhh, well, who is she?”

Twilight looked down and hold her hands together “I don’t… really know her… I just see her jogging ever so often”

So Twilight was into a random girl who just happen to be jogging near her sometimes. You don’t really know any girls who jog other than Indigo, and since your curiosity was quite big, you simply had to ask “Alright, then how does this mysterious girl look like?”

Twilight blush deepen a little by the sheer thought of this girl “Well… she has golden skin, with light teal eyes… her hair is both red as a flaming fire and yellow like the bright sun” She giggled and look forward “Now that I think of it… it kind of looks like bacon”

A girl with bacon hair, now that is something funny “Like bacon? Are you sure you were not just hungry when you saw her and you just wanted to eat her hair?”

Twilight rolled her eyes and stick her tongue out “No, I had already eaten a salad that day. Anyways… She usually comes around here while I go take Spike for a walk”

“Then that means we might see her?”

Twilight poked her fingers together and nodded shyly.

Then that’s why she was eager to come to the park. She did not want to go and take Spike for a walk or anything, but instead she did not want to miss her mysterious crush “Have you ever talked to her?”

“Me? Oh no… I couldn’t… I wouldn’t dare. What if she doesn’t like me? What if she finds me weird? What if-”

“What if she likes you, and you will never find out because you keep holding back?”

Twilight shut up and looked down “Do you think she might like me?”

“Twilight… you are pretty cute you know. Especially when you can’t solve something. That little panic face of yours is just adorable” You said poking her cheek. Twilight quickly pushed your hand away.

“Stop it, you are making me blush”

“You were already blushing as soon as you began talking about this bacon hair girl”

Twilight face turned even more red after this and she closed her eyes “That’s not true!”

“Should I take a picture and show you?” You teased reaching for your phone, but Twilight hold your arm to stop it from moving and yelled “NO!”

Twilight was such a cutie when she panics like this.

At this point, Spike came back covered in dirt, wagging his tail from one side to the other, barking up at the two of you. The owner of the little puppy let out a frustrated groan and covered her face with both hands “Spike, why?” She complained at the little dog who began running in circles around both of you.

As soon as Twilight tried to reach for him, Spike quickly run away and in his excitement, he did not see a person going in their direction in the paved path. The person sadly did not react in time either, and both of them collided, the person running fall to the side on the grass, while Spike stumbled forward and ended on his back.

“Spike!” Twilight yelled running after her puppy ignoring whoever tripped with her dog. Spike was luckily fine and unharmed. In fact, he even seemed happy and just licked Twilight face, making her giggle “Silly dog, you need to look out where you are going”

You of course followed Twilight, but instead of going for the puppy, you went for the person and reached out your hand to them “You alright?” You asked checking if they were fine.

The person on the ground was a girl. She was wearing a black sports bra, black leggings, a pair of purple arm sweatbands on each arm, and her hair tied up in a ponytail. You may not work out and you are in a pretty good shape for doing little exercise, but damn you can’t help but feel jealous when you see this girl. She has quite the muscles and if she wanted, she would probably knock you out with just two fingers…

“Yea, thanks. It was my bad, I was not paying attention” She said as you helped her up and she looked over at Twilight and Spike “is your dog alright?” She asked concerned for the little animal.

“Yea he is…. fine” Twilight’s voice almost cracked with that last word as soon as she realized who she was talking to. Golden skin, red and yellow hair, light teal eyes.

The mysterious girl chuckled and looked at Twilight “You look like you’ve seen a ghost” She said reaching out to help Twilight out this time around. Twilight took her hand and stood up. “I didn’t know you would be visiting us” The girl said going for a hug, leaving a very confused but happy Twilight.

Once the hug was done, you raised an eyebrow and pointed at both of them “You… two know each other?”

Twilight shook her head “I… don’t know...do we?”

The girl chuckled for a moment thinking that Twilight was joking, but then realized something. “Oh… Oh I’m so sorry! I thought you were a friend of mine, you two look identical” Quite literally. “My name is Sunset Shimmer” She introduced herself and shake your hand.

“Hi, I’m Anon” you said returning the smile.

Twilight hesitated for a moment and then came back to earth “O-oh. I’m Twilight Sparkle”

“I know” The girl accidentally said and giggle “I… know it’s time for me to go… I’m a little late for… something. It was a pleasure to meet you” She said and quickly run away before the questioning could began.

“Well that was weird” You said as soon as Sunset left. She seemed to know an awful lot of Twilight for some reason, but… who knows. Maybe they were child friends and Twilight simply forgot?

“Well Twilight…. there it is. You talked to her and introduced yourself, how are you feeling?” You said patting her back but Twilight did not show signs of being alive. She was holding still like a statue “Twilight?” You called out for her.

Twilight shook her head and looked at you “W-what?”

“I said, how are you feeling?”

“Fine… Fine, I don’t know why I wouldn’t be fine. Are you fine? I’m fine… it’s a little hot in here or what? I think I’m gonna go home now, bye” She said quickly walking away, presumably to her house with Spike on her arms.

You just rolled your eyes and looked in the direction that this Sunset Shimmer went “Who are you Sunset Shimmer, and why do you have such an impact on my friend? I mean… you are hot as hell, but I feel there’s more to it than what meets the eye”

Author's Note

And Done with the new chapter. I left out a few references here and there through out the chapter. Let's see if you can find them!

Anyways, as always, your feedback is appriciated! Let me know if you like this chapter, dislike it, love it, or can't stand looking at it! Every little bit helps!

Shadow out

Chapter 14 - The perfect model

With the friendship games right around the corner, everyone had their own designated tasks to make sure that everyone is prepared to be ready and with their spirits up. Sugarcoat and Indigo for example were enlisted with making sure every single student is eating healthy, is doing enough exercise to keep up with the tasks that the Games will include, and that no one slacks around with their studies when the time for tests come around. What you thought that the Friendship Games were only physical activities? No, it will include all sorts of things, like baking, crafting, knowledge tests, group activities, and more.

Lemon and Sour were told to prepare an anthem to make sure everyone's spirits are up when they are playing or even before they departe on the buses towards CHS. Not only that, but they were tasked with the important mission of keeping all the instruments checked just in case there is a musical show off between both schools. There are some pre made activities both schools agreed on such as baking and archery, but Cynch and Celestia do like a challenge and they add new activities neither of them had prepared before. Unlike Celestia, Cynch makes sure she always has an ace hidden under her sleeve in case things get quite… difficult.

You on the other hand, you got one of the most entertaining and enjoyable activities of all!

“No no darling, you need to hold still or I will not be able to stitch this right” Sunny Flare said raising your hand to the side so she could sew under your armpit the new uniform the futbol team would be wearing.

That’s right folks, you were a human mannequin.

“Sunny, we’ve already gone with four designs, and my arms are really getting tired. Can’t you just like… pick one of the ones you already came up with and go along with it?”

This seemed to be some sort of trigger inside Sunny Flare because you are pretty sure she pricked you on purpose this time around “Oops, sorry dear, I missed a little” She said still working on her sewing with a devious smile on “And to answer your question, of course not. Perfection doesn’t come on the first try, even if I do make it look like it”

“I never said that you were perfect, not even clo-… ouch!” Another prick? Maybe you do deserve that one for almost ‘insulting’ her work. It’s a good thing you are patient and don’t mind this treatment… for now.

“Now Anon, the more you talk, the more you move, and the more you move, the harder it is for me to work” She said with a smile across her face enjoying this a little too much.

But seriously, this was the fourth design already! The first design was a little simple. Just the same uniform they wear everyday for P.E. only this time, with their names on the back.

The second design was a more exotic one, with little crystals along the skirts of the girls, and a big crystal where the heart should be on the shirts of the guys, but while it was appealing to the eyes, it would cost the school too much to make one for each student, not to mention that they would weight everyone down.

The third design was the most reasonable. It was the same for both guys and girls. Blue pants or shorts, depending on each student preference and the activity they will be performing, with a small light blue line on the side. The shirt was a deep purple color, the same color of the regular uniform, and last but not least, the Prep shield on the back along with the name of the student on the bottom. This one was your favorite design of the three. Simple, appealing to the eye, doesn’t get in the way and it’s actually quite comfortable.

The fourth design, the one you were modeling right now, and Sunny was adding a few tweaks here and there was by far the most uncomfortable one. The leggings were blue and a bit too tight with feathers on the side to give them a more native look, the shirt was even tighter than the leggings colored purple yet again, hardly letting you breath at all, purple arm sweat bands and a headband colored purple and black to prevent you from sweating… Not that it would help you much considering how much pressure the fabric was applying to your body. God helps whoever has to try and move with this thing on. Girls would get their breasts crashed while guys would lose the chance of ever having babies… you doubt you will be able to have yours if you have to wear this tight leggings any longer.

“Sunny… please… you are clearly not going to pick this design, let me take it off” You said pleading her with your best puppy eyes. It was worth the shot, but it takes more than that to break through the fashionista.

“That face won’t work on me, and how do you know I won’t pick this one?” She said with both hands on her hips a little offended by your comment not even giving her the chance to have a second thought about the design.

“Because as soon as you wear the female design, you will realize it’s too tight to move” You said making her even more annoyed, but she sighed and turned around heading over to her drawing table. At least she was not making you model the girl’s uniform.

“Very well, you may take it off, and you can have a break of 10 minutes”

“Thank you” You said heading over to the bathroom to get changed faster than what Clark Kent has ever got in a phone booth and come out as Superman.

Sunny’s bathroom was actually pretty huge. Bigger on the inside, or so you think… I mean, who needs this kind of bathroom? A wall mirror four meters long, a jacuzzi on one corner, a shower on the other. Of course the toilet was there as well. Two drawers full of make ups and god knows what else, and a small wardrobe where she keeps fresh clean towels, another cabinet with medical supplies and creams all over the place. Who even needs those creams? Really, she may love to look good and all, but this is a bit of an overkill in your opinion.

“I swear Sunny, your bathroom is bigger than my bedroom” You whispered to yourself changing back to your uniform before heading out to Sunny’s bedroom. The bedroom at least was a little simpler. The bed was right below the window, a bookshelf on the side along with a small sofa for her to sit down and read. Her personal workstation where she was at the moment, decked out to have enough space to draw designs, a sewing machine and a big table which was currently occupied with lots of fabrics, needles and strings she had been using throughout the day. Her wardrobe was on a small door next to the bathroom. It was actually a small room of 3 by 2 dedicated specifically for her personal stuff. Lastly, tho it was temporary, there was a cloths hanger on the side showcasing the previous outfits.

You hang the new outfit on the hanger along with the other ones and walked up to her from behind to peek at what she was drawing, but to your surprise, the page was still blank. She was tapping the end of her pencil against the empty canvas and groan “I have no inspiration! I don’t know what to design!”

“Well, why don’t you take a break as well? You did ditch a few designs before” You said looking over at the overflowing bin with lots of paper balls next to her workspace. “Maybe you are just missing a spark”

Sunny Flare laid her pencil down and nodded “I suppose you are right dear, besides, we haven’t had anything to drink or eat ever since we got here, would you like something? Maybe a cup of tea?”

“Some tea would be nice” You replied with a smile and she took the lead down the stairs towards the kitchen.

You were lucky that Cynch wasn’t home yet. She was probably still handing down a few punishments to those students who have miss behaved, or maybe she was doing something worse. Who knows, all you know, is that you don’t have to deal with her right now.

“So Sunny… How do you and your mother get along?” You asked casually trying to be friendly and maybe start a simple conversation.

“Ugh, my mom is a workaholic, not to mention that she cares little about me” She said annoyed at that last statement.

“What do you mean?”

“That’s just it. Just because my dad impregnated her by accident, she hates me. She is always saying how much of a failure and an accident I am” She said with a little sadness on her voice.

So Cynch did not plan to have Sunny? Someone so perfect like Cynch made a mistake? Interesting…. but sad at the same time since Sunny Flare was the one who was suffering the most and you were not completely sure on how to help her. You kind of regret bringing this topic up now.

“But… you are not a failure… I mean, aren’t you one of the best students there is?” You asked unsure on why Cynch would say that.

“I am. I’m the third best, but just because Twilight and Sugarcoat are better, she won’t love me”

Well that was a stupid reason. A parent should never compare their off spring with anyone else, specially if they are already doing their best to impress you and all. Sure Sunny Flare may have not been planned, but that is done now, can’t she past that now?

“Well, you are not a failure. You are perfect the way you are” You said trying to comfort her, and it worked. Sunny looked back at you and nodded with a small smile forming on her face.

“Thanks Anon. Now, how about some tea?” She said as she began preparing two cups of tea, a few snacks to go along with them and then invited you over to the dining table.

Last time you were here, you were fortunate enough to not have the pleasure to meet Cynch, but… this time around you were not so lucky. As soon as both you and the Shadowbolt sat down on the table to get a little break, Cynch walked through the front door.

“Oh good. Mother is here” She said sarcastically to herself in a low voice for her not to hear, but you were close enough to listen to her.

“Good afternoon Sunny. Mr Anon. Are you two done with the new outfits for the Friendship Games?” She asked in her all so professional status of principal.

“We are taking a break from all the hard work we’ve done so far mother, is that so wrong?” Sunny asked looking up at her mother with a defying look, to which Cynch returned by squinting her eyes.

“Not at all, but it would be a shame to see my own daughter fail her task because someone is tired, even though all they have to do is hold still and try on some clothes” She said looking over at you. Of course she would find a way to blame this on you. Well, at least she was not blaming Sunny Flare, so you would take the bullet for her this time.

“This has nothing to do with Anon. I am simply not inspired right now”

Cynch did not seemed phased by her comment, if anything, she looked like she was ready to rain fire on her own daughter. Spoiler alert, she did.

“Oh I know dear. You are hardly ever inspired. You could not keep up with a simple store I bought for you last year because you lacked inspiration to come up with new outfits. You even let that Wondercolt beat you several times. You humiliated my family’s name with your ‘lack of inspiration’ ” Cynch was not playing nice anymore. She had taken the big guns out, and by the look on her face, she seemed to have more.

Sunny Flare gritted her teeth and took a deep breath “I told you I had a bad year mother. I can do better now”

“You are certainly not proving me you can do better if you are sitting here wasting your time” Cynch countered Sunny Flare argument, making her more annoyed and a few tears form on her face.

“Mother pl-!” Sunny was getting desperate by the sound of her voice, but Cynch did not even let her finish. She just raised her hand, looked away and hushed her.

“Not a word. Go on. Waste your time with Mr Anon here. When you decide to be productive, you can come and meet me in my room” She said and began walking away.

“Yes mother” Sunny Flare said defeated, hanging her head down.

That’s it? Sunny was going to give up so easily? After the four designs she prepared? Oh no, you are not going to let this one slide.

“Excuse me Principal Cynch” You said standing up to go after her.

Cynch quickly turned around and raised an eyebrow at you “Yes?”

“You are not giving nearly enough credit to your daughter”

“Pardon me?” What are you doing? This is a bad idea, abort. Abort. No… No more running.

Sunny Flare looked up from the table and looked at you trying to figure out what you were trying to get to.

“Your daughter has made some great designs that should be more than enough for the Friendship Games. I may not be an expert on fashion, but this is not a fashion contest. This is a competition, and let me tell you this. Your daughter not only made an outfit that is perfect and pleasing to the eye, but she has also made one that is comfortable, free and perfect to do any sort of physical activity” You said determined to stand your ground on this one. You were tired of Cynch and her bullcrap, and you were not going to stand her act like a principal with her own daughter. Not in her damn house. In school is one thing, but here, she is Sunny’s mother, not her principal.

“Is that so?” She asked looking at the stairs and back at you “Do you really think so?”

“With all due respect. Who is the one who is going to be competing on the Games? You, or the students? I as a student can honestly say that one of Sunny’s design is more than perfect for the games” She said folding her arms to show dominance… but quickly dropped them after seeing Cynch menacing face.

However, Cynch smiled at your determination. Not many students or even people in general were brave enough to confront her at all. She is a woman with a lot of power after all “You are lucky I am not your principal at the moment Mr Anon, or you would be in a lot of trouble” She said looking at her daughter and smirk “Very well, let’s make a deal. If none of the designs my daughter has come up with pleases me, you will have detention for the rest of the year”

Damn that was quite a lot of time wasted in detention, but you were confident enough on Sunny’s designs “Very well, but if you are pleased, then you will begin treating Sunny like she deserves?” You were not leaving this fight empty handed. Winning against Cynch is a reward on it’s own, but you had to aim up. You could not just settle with winning a simple argument like this against her.

Cynch raised and eyebrow confused and then frown “What do you mean, Mr Anon?”

“You will stop acting all mighty and start acting like a caring mother. You are always bringing her self esteem down”

At first, hesitation seemed to fill Cynch face as she looked around for an answer, but then composed herself once again and stared at you straight in your eyes. She was trying to intimidate you, you knew that...

“I have not done su-”

But you were not gonna have any of it. No more.

“Don’t lie to me. She told me the truth, and in all honesty, I believe her… I have my reasons to believe what Sunny told me it’s true. Just because Sunny is not the best student, or because she had a bad year, that doesn’t mean she is a failure. In fact, she is one of the most successful girls I’ve ever met” You said looking back at your friend who was both smiling, but was too scared and shocked to do anything against Cynch, so she simply remained sitted on her chair, averting her mother’s eyes, but occasionally glancing her way.

Cynch on the other hand took a deep breath and nodded “Very well then. We have a deal. I hope you are ready for a year of detention” She said leaving you and Sunny Flare alone as she head straight to Sunny’s room.

What the hell were you thinking? Cynch could easily say none of the designs are good! She could just ignore the designs to get away with this and screw you up, but.... she is not the kind of person who would risk wasting such good designs, would she?

The moment she was gone, Sunny stood up, walked up to you and slapped you on your right cheek with all of her might “Are you crazy?!” She whispered loudly with a frown before hugging you tightly and her face immediately relaxed “You are a fool. A stupid… kind… caring fool. Why did you do that?”

The slap might have sting a little, but you did not mind “I was not just gonna stand around and do nothing”

“Anon, my mother is never satisfied with my work. The only good thing I’ve done for her in her eyes, was come up with the uniform we wear every day”

“And isn’t that great? How long has this school worn this uniform you made?” You questioned her making Sunny think for a moment.

“Five years”

“And for five years, has no one else come up with a new uniform?”

“She… hired several stylists across the city” Sunny Flare confessed clearly annoyed that her mother had tried to replace her daughter’s work even tho this one was a really good one.

“And we are still wearing your uniform, which means, you had done more than great. You beat professional stylists… Sunny, I don’t care what your mother says, you have talent. A great talent, and you should be proud of it” You exclaimed hugging her back and hold her tight for a brief moment.

Sunny Flare blushed from all the praising she was getting and then smile again “Well, that may be true… but the designs I came up with just now are too simple… she is not going to like them. They are not at the same level of a professional stylist”

“Just like I told her earlier. This is a competition, not a fashion show. We don’t need something fancy and uncomfortable. We need something simple, easy to wear and something that will make all of us be at our top performance” You explained holding her shoulders with both hands “Everything is going to be fine, I promise”

Sunny Flare could not help but stare deeply back at you and her face slowly began turning red like a tomato. Had you said something that cheesy? Or was something else going on in Sunny’s mind?

Before you could try and solve this mystery, Cynch called both of you from Sunny’s room to meet with her. The stylist was a little nervous and was not moving, just staring at you almost like if she was waiting for something magical to happen between the two, but a little shove made the trick and she reacted immediately as she began walking towards the room.

Cynch was in the middle of the room, three outfits on the hangers in the order they were before, and she was holding one. She had the third design in hand. Cynch did not look happy… goodbye free time, hello detention.

“I owe you an apology” Cynch said looking straight at Sunny Flare catching both of you completely off guard.

“What?” Her daughter asked thinking this was some sort of dream. Her mother has never apologized to her before in her life.

“I’m afraid I was wrong to misjudge you. While the design looks simple and boring…. this fabric, the way it’s made, the soft touch with the skin. It blends perfectly. Not only that, it’s neither too loose so it would fall down, nor too tight to restrict any physical movement. You’ve done well” She said handing the new uniform for the games to you and looked at you in the eyes “You win this round Mr Anon, but I wouldn’t get used to it. It won’t happen again” She warned you and left through the door.

Sunny was too stunned to say anything, and you really had nothing else to add. You won against Cynch… somehow. Well it was not exactly you, it was Sunny’s skill that prevailed in the end.

“Anon” Sunny called staring at the three discarded outfits.

“Yes Sunny?”

“Hold me” That was an odd request. Did she want a hug or something? Just holding her for no reason seemed a little weird really.

“Uhhhh… sure? Why?”

“I think I’m gonna faint” She said as her legs began wobbling a little. You wasted no time and quickly wrapped her arm over your shoulder, swept her off the ground and made sure to have a good grip on her.

“Wow now, don’t go doing that on me now”

Too late, Sunny eyes were closed. Maybe it was the excitement? Maybe the fear of denial being washed away? Maybe the relief of victory? Maybe all together? Whatever it was, it certainly took an emotional toll on her mind and she could not bare with it.

You certainly did not want to go to Cynch right now, who knows how mad she is going to be with you, so you did the best second thing you could. You laid Sunny down on her bed gently, closed the curtains and sat down on the sofa on the other side of the room. How long could this take? 5, maybe 10 minutes? It’s better to wait for her to wake up…

Three hours had passed and you were not too sure if you should stay here longer or not, I mean, Cynch did not care when you told her that Sunny passed out about an hour ago, hell she did not even lift a finger, and Sunny’s father was still at work, so that left you with taking care of her, but… what would she think when she wakes up?

You did lay her down on bed and all, but you did not dare touch her further than that. Who knows what anyone would think if they see you messing around with your unconscious friend.

You had considered leaving a note on her desk and just head home, but if she doesn’t wake up soon? Crap, maybe you should call an ambulance now that you think of it. You had never had anyone just suddenly faint on you… but then again, if this was a situation for an ambulance, Cynch would have called one already… unless she truly doesn’t care at all about her daughter.

“Anon?” Sunny weak voice snapped you back to reality. You walked up to the side of the bed and waved at her “What happened?”

“You fainted after your mom apologized to you and pretty much told you that you did a good job” You explained giving her the short version. Hopefully that would suffice her to juggle her memories in place.

“Oh” She said slowly sitting up and looked out of the window. It was already dark, which meant you stayed with her longer than what you should have.

“What time is it?”

“Hold on” You quickly reached for your phone in your pocket and pulled it out “It’s… 9:17 P.M.”

“Did… you stay here all day?” She questioned you already feeling a little better.

“Well, your mother was not moving to even check on you once, and since your dad was not back yet, I stayed to make sure you were fine”

That made her both smile with a tiny blush across her face “Thanks… If you hadn’t stayed, no one would have looked after me”

“What about your dad? Is he like your mom?”

Sunny Flare took a moment before answering “My parents are divorced. They have been ever since I was born. He left town shortly after I turned 5. I hardly ever see him now”

Damn Sunny had it rough. Sure your parents live out of town as well, traveling the world and what not, but at least they are happy and do write to you everyday to see how you are doing and visit you at least twice per month.

“Sunny, I didn’t know…”

“That’s alright. At least you stayed here and made sure I was fine. Thanks” She said happily as she began to stand up.

“Well, I’m glad you are fine… I should get going. I have not fed my snake today, and she is going to be grumpy if I don’t do so soon” You said rubbing the back of your head.

Sunny Flare chuckled and rolled her eyes “Alright go feed your….. snake?” Out of all the pets you could have, Sunny Flare never imagined you would have such an exotic one.

“Oh yea… I have a python. One day my mom and dad came to visit me and we went to an animal shelter in town. She bought me a baby python” You said with a giggle as you remembered how tiny Silvy was back then.

“Right, well I would love to hear more of that story later… Right now, I will take a bath if you don’t mind” She said heading over to the bathroom but before she went inside, she looked back at you “You know… Even though you gave us a terrible first impression, you are a pretty reliable person Anon. Thanks… See you tomorrow?”

“Well, thanks for the compliment Sunny, and yes, see you in class!” You said exchanging waves with her and left the house without saying goodbye to Cynch.

Well now… you won a deal against Cynch, you managed to become better friends with Sunny and you got to keep a cool new outfit for free for the games. With Three Shadowbolts down in your good side, that only left Indigo and Sour before you can even be in good terms with all of them.

Maybe you should spend the whole day tomorrow with Indigo. Who knows… she might be fun to be around after all, she does have quite the spirit.

“Maybe you are more than just reliable… Damn” Sunny Flare said under the water of the shower. She could not stop thinking about you now “Why you of all people?” She said reaching out for something private with a deep blush on her face.

Author's Note

And this concludes the next entry for this story. If you are wondering what happend at the end of the chapter, I will let you guys fill that segment of the story with your imagination :trixieshiftright: (I may or may not do a separate story for this)

Anyways, remember to comment down below and let me know what you think! I will try to improve for each chapter that comes out so I can give you the best content I can offer!

Have a nice day!

-Shadow out

Prologue - Better than nothing...

It’s been almost three weeks since you joined this new school and yet you have not made one single friend whatsoever. Not that this task was easy to do in this school, Crystal Prep High was not known for its students being social and friendly. If anything, they were the opposite of it, only being nice to those who are close to them and then discarding the rest of the students in school like if they are not worth their time, but who could blame them with a Principal like Cinch?

Not only the Principal was scary and usually blackmails her own students to get what she wants, but she also makes sure none of them get along with each other so that they can focus mainly on their studies and not their social lives.

As sad as it may sound, that was the cruel reality, and you had to face it. Friendship might be the hardest thing to get around this halls unless you are some sort of super star of some sort.

It was ironic to think that your school would be participating in the ‘Friendship Games’ against Canterlot High. The name of the event itself was already hinting you that the Crystal Prep would probably loose since everyone is so distant from each other, but you were quite surprised when you found out that not only your school had one almost all the events when they are face to any school, but also that everyone seemed to be so much… friendly with each other when it meant competing against the Wondercolts and defeat them.

Fleur De Lis hanging around with Gilda as they smirk and plan out some evil plots to mess with Canterlot’s horse statue, or Trenderhoof, Suri Polomare and Sunny Flare coming up with a uniform every Crystal Prep student could use while in the games to make sure they mean business.

Maybe not all was lost? Maybe this was finally your chance to make yourself useful, to make sure others notice you and hopefully finally stick in one group? Yes, that would work… but before you could even execute your poorly thought plan, the bell rang indicating the beginning of class. On the plus side, this would give you more time to think what you will do once Lunch time comes around.

…

Yet your brain did not seem to work this morning… before you could give your plan a second thought, you noticed how everyone was standing up from their sits heading towards the cafeteria to eat. This was just great, not only you wasted half your day and you have made no progress in making friends nor thinking how you can make friends, but you have zoned out for almost all your classes staring into nothing. You were lucky that none of the teachers actually noticed this.

It seemed that it was going to be another lonely lunch by yourself today on your usual table by the corner. No one has ever bothered to approach you and talk, and you have not done so yourself out of fear of rejection. Maybe it was for the best, maybe the best way to get through school was just to endure your loneliness and just accept the fact that no one is going to like you… it did not seem like that was so rare either since there was a girl who usually just sits on her own while digging her nose deep on her books, occasionally looking up to adjust her glasses.

One would think that the smartest kid on a school like this would probably have tons of friends all around them just to take advantage of her, but she did not seem to have friends. Maybe that is why she had no friends, she was smart enough to see right through people’s intentions and just reject them before they can try anything… but then again, when you first approach her in your first week, she did not even give you a look before she turned over to the other side giving you her back followed with some unfriendly words.

“Sorry, not interested. Please leave me alone”

Not that you could blame her. You were not that smart and considering how you would constantly be failing classes left and right, it was no surprise she would probably think that you were just trying to befriend her for her brains.

Before you could continue thinking about your current situation, you were brought straight back to reality as soon as you bumped into a girl while walking aimlessly. Spilling your soda and food on the girls back, she quickly turned around with a furious look on her face.

The situation only got worse when you realized who it was. That pink pony tail, yellow skin, a few freckles on her cheeks and that sweet innocent smile that changes so fast that anyone can even barely process the sudden mood swings.

“Excuse me, but could you please, WATCH WHERE THE HELL YOU’RE GOING?!” Everyone knew Sour Sweet all too well. It was hard not to really, her mood swings are so often, that in more than one occasion she ends up being the center of attention… that and the fact that she is one of the top 10 students in all of the school “WELL DON’T JUST STAND THERE! MOVE OUT OF THE WAY SO I CAN GO CLEAN MYSELF!”

Before you could even mutter a sorry, she had already shoved you to one side and stormed off to the bathroom to get clean. Two of her friends quickly followed behind. You were left there, standing now without food, everyone looking at you funny and a mess. You looked back at the table she was about to sit down to find her other two friends.

A girl with silver hair and two big pig tails on each side of her head, her light purple skin and those big purple eyes. The cold and calculative Sugarcoat, and the DJ of school, rocking that mix of grin and yellow hair with a hot pink skin color. Last but not least, those big beautiful golden eyes with a light blue eye shadow making them stand out even more, Lemon Zest. Of course she was wearing her big pink headsets probably listening to her favorite music to max volume.

The first one did not bother to even grant you a glare, she just carried on eating like nothing had happened not acknowledging you existence, but Lemon on the other hand just stood up and looked at you with a smile taking her headsets off so she can talk with you without having to yell out and constantly ask what you said.

“Hey don’t worry about Sour Sweet. She’s just mad cause you spilled your food all over her”She said casually like if that was no big deal as if you already didn’t know that, but you did not want to be rude, so you just let it slide.

“Yea, I did not even get a chance to apologize before she would storm off. I feel kinda bad for her”

The girl before you chuckled and rolled her eyes “You can just apologize to her later… if you don’t mind her insulting you again” That is when it hit you… you were talking to someone, even if this is not anything how you planned on doing so, you finally managed to keep up with a conversation that actually included more than just morning greetings or something like that.

“Well I guess I should, tho now I don't have anything to eat” It was a shame. Today they were serving Pizza and unlike other schools… this one actually looked really nice and you were eager to eat as well.

“Oh, well here” Without hesitation Lemon reached down and picked up half a sandwich she brought from her house “You can have this, it’s no pizza… but it’s better than nothing. My name’s Lemon Zest by the way”

That was a sight not everyone gets to see on this school. A student helping a total stranger… of course there were still nice students in school despite its reputation and lucky for you Lemon was one of them. Friendly to everyone, as long as you do not rub her off the other way. Why you had not tried to talk to her before, not even you can answer that question, but you are now, and you better not screw up now.

“Name’s Anon” You presented yourself as you accepted the gift “Thanks… for the food”

“No problem. No one should go hungry… You should go. Sour Sweet will be back soon, and you don’t want to talk to her right now” Considering how pissed she probably was at the moment, you were pretty sure she would pretty much just insult and even assault you more than accept your apologize. Even later it would be hard to believe she was going to listen to reason and let you go off the hook, but it was worth the shot.

As Lemon sat back down, your face slowly grew a smile and began walking out towards your table, sat down and munched down on the sandwich. Tuna sandwich with olives and tomato… It was no pizza, but it’s better than nothing.

The day went on normally and while you did not manage to make any actual “friends” at least you managed to speak to one girl. It was something but now came another hard task.

As everyone was leaving school, now talking to their actual friends and not just a random student plotting on how to beat or mess with CHS, you spotted Sour Sweet all alone near her locker room. Quickly running towards her, avoiding the people in your way, you tried to catch up to her before she could leave, but you did not consider something… the floor between the both of you had a big yellow sign that read “CAUTION, WET FLOOR” and just as you reached the area, you could not stop in time.

You began sliding forward quickly approaching Sour Sweet who had her back towards you.

“Watch out!”

Your warning was too late. By the time Sour Sweet turned around and noticed you, you were already slamming against her yet again, bouncing back and falling on your butt. Luckily for Sour, she was fine, however your bump made all her books fall from her open locker “Oh great. You again… WHY DO YOU HAVE TO KEEP ON RUNNING INTO ME AND MESSING EVERYTHING UP!?” She yelled out frustrated as she picked her stuff up

With a small blush across your face, you rubbed the back of your neck and helped her with her books, but she would just jank them away from your hands “I just… wanted to apologize for earlier” Was all you managed to mutter.

“Oh how nice of you. THANKS FOR SLAMMING AGAINST ME JUST NOW!” As her locker slammed close, Sour Sweet began to walk away but stopped mid-way, looked back at you and frown “No need to apologize now. I DON’T WANT YOU TO RUN ME OVER AGAIN”

You could not help but feel sorry for her, but your thoughts were cut short by something weird. As you turned your head, you could see a familiar green haired girl with pink skin pressing her knuckles against her mouth, giggling at what just happened. Had she been staring all this time? And why did you feel your face heating up? Were you… blushing?

With an embarrassed smile, you waved at her, and she return the gesture before walking out of school, placing her headsets on her ears and began playing the air guitar as she walks and swiftly moves through the students.

She was the one. If anyone was willingly going to open up and give you a chance to be your friends, you know it was going to be Lemon.

To be continued…

Author's Note

Hey Guys, this has been my first fic and I hope it was good for you. I will try to make sure to do the best I can so that everyone enjoys my stories to the maximum!

It is still a WIP, but don't worry, I will try to update it as soon as I can. Let me know in the comments if you like it, or not, and what you liked/disliked about it!

Thanks for reading!

Chapter 3 - It's all in good fun - Part 2

It’s just a competition. It’s just a FRIENDLY competition. Why does a simple competition like the friendship games… should actually ruin a friendship? Why did something so trivial like a victory had to get in the way of two people trying to be friends and get to know each other? It just made no sense to you, where did all this come from? Where did it go? What would it take them? Maybe that is why students on this schools barely had friends at all. They are such close minded, only focusing on one thing, and one thing only… to be the very best, like no one ever was.

Only those who are strong prevail here, only those who have the strength to stomp on those who fall down are the ones who keep on walking forward. Only those who stop thinking about others can be accepted in this school…

If that was the price you had to pay, then you will not be part of it.

Only one day after the small discussion that you had with Lemon and things turned upside down. All the progress you made with her, all that time you spent with her, despite being so little, it was thrown to the trash. It almost felt like you have never talked to her in the first place. Like if Indigo and Sugarcoat had teased you to ‘ask her out’, like if you had never stumbled upon Sour Sweet, making your lunch fall all over her back.

One would think that a small discussion like the one you had would just go away with time. That eventually, Lemon would realize her mistake and just go to apologize to you about how competitive she got, but that time never came. Instead you were there, looking down at your food in your usual table, pushing a piece of meat from one end of the plate to the other with the fork. You had not even had one bite and you felt full. You had no hunger, no motivation. This was easily the worst week, if not day of all your time here in Crystal Prep.

More and more students began swarming the cafeteria. It was bound to happen, and eventually, Lemon and her friends walked inside, laughing and talking, at least most of them. Lemon and Indigo were most likely teasing each other, giving hell to each other. Followed behind was Sunny Flare shocking her head with a small smile next to Sour Sweet who was pretty much glancing around with a frown making sure no one would dare get close to her and spill all their food on them… so she was basically aware if you were nearby, and last but not least was Sugarcoat, who’s cold and serious face was hard to deduce. You were not sure if she was happy about her friends, annoyed at their constant teasing, or worried for Sour Sweet. Maybe all three at once? Maybe that is the reason why she was serious all the time, she had too much going on in her head that she showed no emotions whatsoever.

It was too late to ask that now, you were probably not going to find out any time soon, or at the very least, not until this whole Friendship Games Nonsense is over, and even then it is not certain you can attempt to talk to the girls again. As far as you know they could hate you with their very soul right now, and you are not far from that.

Only a few seconds later, Lemon eventually spot you in your usual table, but instead of waving or even offering a smile, she just frown and quickly avert her gaze. Their friends quickly caught up on her sudden mood change and all looked at you for a moment… Many times you wished for people to notice you, to pay you a little attention, but not like this. Not with death glares nor hate, but sadly that is all you got. Indigo and Sour Sweet narrowed their eyes at you followed with a frown. Sunny Flare only granted you a roll of eyes and quickly looked away. Sugarcoat for once showed emotions, although you wish she just remain cold and serious at the moment. Instead, you could feel her staring into your soul with an angry face. It almost felt like she was trying to crush your skull with her mind.

Despite all the chatter in the cafeteria, you could still hear them loud and clear. You were not that far, and unlike other schools, students here tend to be more quiet while eating so no one gets in conversations they don’t belong.

“Ughhhh, I can’t believe I actually thought he was cool” Lemon protested as she picked up her tray of food and form up on the line to get her lunch.

Indigo followed her shortly and laugh “I told you he looked lame, but you did not listen to me!”

“As far as I recall, you thought he looked cool as well” Sugarcoat interrupted making Indigo glare at her and frown.

“Shut up Sugarcoat”

“Girls, girls. Calm down. Let’s not fight over a guy who clearly doesn’t know what’s he doing nor talking about okay?” Sunny Flare was always the voice of truth and the one to keep the heat as low as possible between her friends… of course Sour Sweet was not going to remain silent despite Sunny’s request.

“I TOLD YOU HE WAS TROUBLE. I BET HE RUINED MY UNIFORM ON PURPOSE!” She was still pretty pissed at the accident of a few days back, maybe she will never let it go, especially now that Lemon seem to have given up on you.

“Please Sour Sweet, I already told you, it’s already fixed. I will give it to you tomorrow first thing in the morning” Being the stylist she is, Sunny Flare would never let one of her friends just have their cloths ruined, either uniform or personal cloths “Besides, he is already gone, don’t worry about him, I really doubt we will be seeing much of him”

“We share three classes and we will all be going to the friendship games in a few days. We will see him again” Sugarcoat remarked casually gaining a glare from all her friends “I was just stating the facts”

“Can we please change of topics?” Lemon blurted out a little annoyed with a hint of sadness on her voice.

Sunny quickly caught up to this “Oh Lemon dear, he was just a lost cause the moment he showed up. I mean seriously, who would dare ruin such fabulous uniforms? And I’m not just saying it because I designed them or anything”

“Yes. Yes you are” Sugarcoat did not hesitate to say.

“That’s not the point. The point is that we all make mistakes. I personally think we should just move along and forget this has ever happened. I mean, it’s not like he is going to be of any sort of influence in our lives now, is he?”

Sour Sweet, Indigo Zap and Sugarcoat all agreed with Sunny Flare, but Lemon just remain silent and went on to get to their table to eat. As soon as they left, you were no longer able to listen to what they were saying anymore.

Part of you insisted on giving up. Part of you was telling you to give it a break, start fresh once the friendship games were over. Sure Lemon or the girls would probably rule out, but there are more fishes in the ocean right? Maybe you could try to talking to Twilight Sparkle again? Treehugger? Maybe join one club after class and make friends there? That would be easy, but what could you join without running into this five girls?

Music? No you would probably meet Lemon there.

Tailoring? You would be surprised if Sunny Flare is not part of that club already.

You are pretty sure Archery is pretty much lead by Sour Sweet.

Maybe one sport? Though it will be pretty hard to find one where Indigo is not part of.

Sugarcoat is most likely going to be in almost any and every academic club there is, so those are pretty much ruled out as well.

Your train of thoughts was quickly cut by someone tapping your shoulder and bringing you back to reality. As you turn over, you could see who it was.

Standing by your side, a purple skinned girl stood with her backpack hanging from her left shoulder, holding a small tray of food with both hands with big black glasses to aid her with her vision along with a shy smile drawn across her face. Considering how harshly she turned you down not long ago when you approached her, it was hard to tell what she wanted with you. Maybe you had something stick to your back and considering how kind hearted she is sometimes, she wants to warn you?

“May I sit with you?” She asked pointing at the empty seat next to you.

“I’m sorry, what?” Was this really the girl who harshly turned you down a few days ago when you approached her?

“Oh, I was just wondering if this seat was taken, but I can just look for another one if you want” You could easily tell the disappointment and sadness on her voice when she thought you were rejecting her. Considering that pretty much every other seat was already taken and all the tables filled with students you could not turn her request down, besides, you would be lying if you said you didn’t want some company right now.

With a smile, you scotch over to give her a little more space for her to seat down next to you “Don’t worry, you can sit down, it’s free, my name is Anon by the way”

“Twilight Sparkle” She introduced herself as she sat down, set her tray down before reaching out with her hand as she looked straight into your eyes with kind smile “Thanks… I don’t know where I would have eaten if this place was taken”

You shook her hand and soon after went back to eating your pasta. One would think that school food is usually bad, sometimes not even worth buying, but not in Crystal Prep. Everything was freshly cooked, with top quality products. It was a nice touch for such an expensive Academy. You are lucky that your parents can support you financially or you would not be anywhere near this school.

You could feel the silence growing between the two of you, neither of you was looking at one or other. All that could be heard was the gossiping of other students elsewhere “So Twilight, eager for the friendship games?” You asked trying to be friendly and break the ice since it doesn’t look like she will.

This question made Twilight a little uncomfortable since she was now fidgeting on her seat “N-not really. I mean, everyone is taking this too far… I heard that some students are planning to mess with Canterlot High horse statue just to make the Wondercolts mad or something like that”

Messing with the school statue and mascot, did not sound so… friendly, considering what this games are supposed to represent “That is so stupid, I don’t get why people do this”

“Wait, you are not like the others?” Twilight asked a bit confused and surprised. No other student has ever shown this much disinterest in messing with the Wondercolts before other than you two.

“Do you see me gossiping and planning stuff with other students?”

“I… I suppose not” She admitted with a shy but relieved smile.

“Exactly, I’m not popular at all to do those things, and frankly I am not interested in this mischiefs even if I was popular and what not” You explained with a sigh looking at your food. You did not want this whole rivalry thing in your life, you just wanted to make friends and have a good time.

“I know how you feel… but I thought that you were friends with Lemon Zest, Indigo Zap and Sugarcoat. I’ve seen you talking with them this couple of days” You could not really blame Twilight for not knowing, since well, it was not her life, but yours. Only you know the truth.

“Well, I did try to make friends with them, but as soon as I said winning is not that all important, they kinda… pretty much ignored and avoid me after that” It was sad and hard to explain feeling the weight on each word. If only you had just roll around with it and said nothing, maybe things would be different.

Twilight looked down in silence as she hold her skirt and tug on it “Oh…”

“Everything alright?”

Still looking down at her lap, Twilight hold her hands together and frowned “Despite me… being the smartest girl in school, no one wants to be friends with me because of what you just said”

Even though you already knew that, or at least assumed that, you remain silent and just listen to her “They would always push me to think of ways to do harmful things to the other school, but I don’t want any of that. I just want to graduate and go to college, have a happy life… not make someone else’s life miserable”

You hesitated for a moment thinking that the right thing was to hug her, but you did not want to be too forward or anything “Yeah… that is pretty much what I’m aiming for. I just want to make friends, enjoy life and live a happy life”

After that, silence grew back once again. Things soon get too awkward to the point that it was just uncomfortable to be around her, you had to do something fun.

“We could be friends?” You suggested with a smile.

“What?” Twilight asked confused as she raised her gaze and meet your eyes.

“I said we could be friends… you know, if you want? I mean, I am trying to make friends after all” You said happily with a wide smile.

Quickly looking away, Twilight played with her food and smile “I… I would like that”

While it was not the way you had imagined you would make friends, it did work. Turns out you had to have a little fight with someone else before you could make a friend for real, or at least begin a stable friendship “Awesome!”

Twilight giggled and finished eating her food before standing up “Okay, well… I have to go now. It was nice talking to you” At least you could make one person happy today. Her smile was beaming all around the place feeling you with hope and confidence… if you could make one friend, then maybe you could make more?

After waving goodbye at your new friend, you looked down and thought for a while. This was actually pretty easy… in order to make a friend, or at least begin a friendship, you just need to find something in common with that other person!

The day went on normally after that, as soon as all your classes were done, you decided you would give friendship another go… hopefully the person you were walking towards to right now would be a little more… open and friendly this time.

Just before this person could exit the school doors, you tapped their shoulder making them turn around to see who was calling for them.

As soon as Lemon turned around, her smile quickly fade away and it turned into a frown. She was not wearing her headsets yet luckily so maybe she would listen to you? Or so you thought before she quickly turned around to walk away.

You quickly stopped her by grabbing her arm softly “Lemon wait please. Can we just talk for a moment?”

Jerking her arm off from your grip, the musical girl turned around once again and folded both of her arms over her chest, glared at you still frowning “What do you want?”

You could almost taste the spite in her words, but pushing that feeling away, you decided to take a deep breath and looked down “Look I know that you said that winning was important and all, but would you consider giving me a second chance? You are cool, pretty and fun a girl to be around, I would regret my whole life if I don’t stop you right now and let you walk away”

The pretty part made a small blush appear on her face but she quickly shrugged it off and looked away as she thought. After several seconds of thinking, she finally let out a sigh and looked at you dead in the eyes once again “Don’t make me regret this. Fine we can be friends… for now” She said with a defying glare at you.

You almost felt threaten, and maybe that was her intention at first making you quite nervous. You could feel how the sweat had begun running down your head with fear just thinking she is doing this to mess with you, but she wasn’t luckily.

“Besides, you are cool, fun and you look cute when you are nervous like now” She finished with a smile and tapped your shoulder “See ya tomorrow”

Before another word could be spoken, she quickly turned around and began walking away with a steady and fast pace leaving you speechless. Did she just say you look cute? She did, you were not imagining things.

Well this was going to be interesting…

Author's Note

Hello there! If you are reading this it means you read through the whole chapter! Or you just skipped it... or both, I don't know!

Anyways, I just wanted to apologize for the delay with the release of this chapter, I have been pretty busy with work and collage and I did not find enough time to write the story down, but things should be back on track now, I hope!

Anyways, remember to let me know what you think! Does it suck? Is it good? You want more? Should the chapters be longer (which means the upload will be less frequent) or be as they are now. Why do you think the story is good/bad?

LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS! I always read and reply them!

PS: Yes I did make a reference to Pokemon, good job if you got it

Chapter 9 - Sugarcoating the situation

“You look happier today Sugarcoat, what’s on your mind?“ Sunny Flare asked her friend, who was surprisingly smiling ever since lunch. Either the world was going to end, or something really good must have happened, because Sugarcoat hardly ever smiles for more than five consecutive minutes, or at least, in public.

Sugarcoat, however, quickly went serious again at this comment and furrowed her eyebrows at her friend. “I am a human being just like you Sunny Flare. I have the capability of feeling emotions just like anyone else. Can’t I be happy?”

That was not an answer that Sunny was expecting and of course she was not trying to mock her or anything like that. “I’m sorry dear, I was just surprised that’s all. You hardly ever show any emotion when we are out in public. You tend to be more reserved in times like this and only show your true self when we are alone with the girls when no one else around”

To that, Sugarcoat could not object or come up with a comeback. “Point taken,” she acknowledge as she took a deep breath and got back to the project at hand that the professor had given them to do in pairs. “I’m just glad that an old friend finally found someone to be there for them.”

“Oh? An old friend? Who might this be dear?”

At first, Sugarcoat was tempted to answer, but she just dismissed the question with a wave of her hand. “We’re working right here, remember. It is not time to be chit chatting.”

Darn the girl could be dense like a donkey at times, but Sunny Flare knew that once Sugarcoat is done talking about one topic, it is nearly impossible to get more information out of her. Well, she was not going to force the information out of her either, it was her life after all.

At the end of the period, just as the bell began ringing, Sugarcoat and Sunny Flare finished their assigned homework, walked up to the professor to hand it over and get it over with.

“That was pretty easy,” Sunny exclaimed with a satisfied smile. Working with Sugarcoat had its perks. While both girls are extremely smart, Sugarcoat, being the smartest student of the school, was able to add little details here and there that no one else knows and that gives them extra points on their work. “Say, dear, why don’t we go and grab a bite at Sugarcube Corner after school with the girls? We could all use a break after all.”

Each girl had been working extra hard the past few weeks to make sure that Cinch would not even dare to leave them out of the team for the Friendship Games. Despite the team already being chosen, there can be last minute changes that could surprise not only the students, but also the competition. It was a tactic that has been used in the past, and everyone knew it would not be the last time either.

“Sugarcube corner? You mean that place that is filled with sweets that will deteriorate your teeth and give you lots of cavities? I’m afraid I will have to deny your offer. I don’t want my dental care to be ruined,” Sugarcoat retorted.

“They have more than just sweets dear. Besides, you could always come along and just hang out with us, even if you do not order anything.”

Sugarcoat was still in doubt, but she did enjoy hanging out with her only friends in this school at least. “Alright fine. I will be there.”

Sunny Flare was happy that she managed to convince her. Now she only had to get the other girls to go too. It would be pretty awkward to just have Sugarcoat show up and waste her time. “Marvelous, I will see you there then. I have to go, my next class it about to begin.” With that, Sunny left and Sugarcoat was left alone.

She didn’t mind being lonely. No one bothers you like this, makes you waste time, or even ask for favors such as working with them in some project they can’t do and end up doing all the work herself. She may have been used quite a lot when she was in her first year in this school, but she quickly learned the hard way that each student is on their own in the end… or so she thought until she met the friends she has now.

Yet, that was it. She had no other friends. Everyone else was either too annoying, too shy or outright too stupid for her. The only other person that was her friend in the past was Twilight Sparkle, but that didn’t end so well.

There was someone else now, a potential candidate to become her friend… One that was smart and athletic, that was caring and a good listener, though they do tend to have a habit to mess things up somehow. A small detail that she was willing to overlook if they do promise to change and learn from their mistakes, and from what she saw so far, they had done just that.

“Hey Anon, can I speak with you for a moment?”

“Oh, hey Sugarcoat,” you greet. The small talk that you had with Twilight had ended quite a long time ago and things ended up quite well with her. Sure things were a bit awkward still, but better to have them being awkward that just outright lose a friend, right? “Sure, I don’t have any other class today so… what’s up?”

“Come with me,” she simply requested as she began walking away from you towards the exit.

You were not sure if she was done with her school day as well, but it didn’t really matter to you. Not like Sugarcoat was a dear friend of yours or whatever. She was just an acquaintance to you. After getting all your books from your locker, put them away safely on your backpack and made sure you had everything with you, you quickly trot up to Sugarcoat to catch up with her.

For a solid two minutes, it was just silence. Neither of you said anything, mainly because you had no idea how to approach her. She didn’t seem mad, happy, sad, and you did not want say something or offend her. You were still going through Lemon’s friends “test” to prove that you are not a complete asshole and that you really mean to be their friends.

After what felt like ages, Sugarcoat finally came to a stop by the gates of the school, turn her head to look over at you and frown. This could not be a good sign.

“You better not hurt Twilight like that again. Hurting Lemon is one thing, she is tough and forgiving, you could throw hell at her, and in the end, she will still forgive you, but Twilight is different. You will need to be patient with her. You will need to be careful with what you say and what you do. She is not the one to forgive and forget easily. I am saying this for your own good”

There she was again, concerned about Twilight. It made you wonder why she was doing this. Clearly something had happened between Twilight and Sugarcoat to get her all overprotective or whatever it is that she is doing right now, but what?

“Sugarcoat, I already told you… It’s alright. I talked to Twilight and well… we are good now… sort of… she still hasn’t forgiven me completely and still has her doubts, but she is slowly opening up to me.” This was another friendship problem you will have to be careful with. Twilight might have forgiven you initially, but that was just the eye of the storm. You caught her in a weak moment, after a small while, she sort of got mad at you again for a bit. You are walking on thin ice, but you were determined not to fall down and fall into the water.

Sugarcoat looked up at you and stared right into your eyes. It was weird to staring into those big light purple eyes as they judge you, but in the end, she smiled… again. The world must truly be coming to an end. “I can tell you are not lying, but still. Twilight is like a feather in the wind. Go too strong and she will lose control. Go too soft and she might fall and leave.”

“Hey, Sugarcoat… why are you so concerned about Twilight?”

Sugarcoat rolled her eyes and sighed. “I already told you. We used to be friends.”

“Yes, yes… I know that. But… what happened? You seem to know an awful lot about her.”

That shut her up. Had you touched a nerve? Or maybe you said something you shouldn’t have to? Oh god did you mess up again!?

“Why do you care?”

“Because you are my friend Sugarcoat, and I want to help you like you helped me”

That certainly threw her off the loop. Since when were you two friends? Sure you and Lemon might be friends, maybe you are also friends with Sunny, but the other three? You are not even close to friendship with them.

“There is nothing you can do.” She refused to tell you anything. She has not told anything to her actual friends, why would she tell you?

“Maybe there is,” you challenge. “You won’t know until you try me.”

“I told you, there is nothing you can do. I am not telling you!”

“But why not? I’m just trying to be friendly and help!”

“No. I don’t need your friendship.”

“Why though? Because you have your other friends?”

Sugarcoat was starting to lose her patience with your at the moment. She just closed her eyes, clenched her fists and turned her head away from you “No, it’s not that!”

“Then what is it?” All you wanted were answers. Answers so you could help others, in this case, Sugarcoat. She helped you with Twilight, it was only logical you would help her back, right?

“Because I don’t want to lose more friends!” She nearly screamed in your face as she teared up. Luckily there was no one around to see nor hear them because if they had been there, you would probably be in trouble… again.

Sugarcoat quickly took her glasses off, whipped the tears from her eyes and frowned as she looked up at you once again after fixing her glasses. “Just… stop. Okay? I’m not ready...” And that was that. She simply turned around and began walking away towards the bus stop. Clearly her day was over, but you weren’t.

You were sick and tired of just standing there. You were tired of not being able to help others. You were tired of always being the one that needs help but not be able to provide it as well. You were not going to let go.

“No,” you said to yourself and began walking towards her. You stopped her by grabbing her on the shoulder gently. She flinch for a moment before turning around and looking up at you. Her eyes were red again and she was at the verge of crying. “Sugarcoat, you need to stop. You need to stop closing yourself to the world. This is not good for you!”

Sugarcoat surprisingly didn’t push you away as you would have expected, nor she made some sort of comment to dismiss yours. Instead she just began crying. She couldn’t hold her tears back. All those years of bottling her emotions up were finally coming out. Sure it was not with someone she would have liked to be, but it was someone she could trust to some extent.

Wrapping both arms around her, you pulled her into a warm embrace and let her cry. It takes more strength to cry than not to cry, especially to someone like Sugarcoat who shows little to no emotion in her life. Both her hands went up to your chest and she pressed her fists on them. She wanted to punch you, she really wanted to beat you up on the spot for managing to crack open her bubble shell and make her cry.

And then it began. After a few minutes of just crying and standing there in the middle of the sidewalk, she began giving you soft punches on the chest just to get all her emotions out at once. Anger, sadness, regret, anything that has been haunting her and hadn’t been able to deal with properly until now. It was a little painful, but you knew better not to stop her. If you had done that then and there, she would probably not open up to you ever again.

What’s with you and making girls cry? Really, you came to this new town and already made a few girls cry for something you did or even said. Either you are doing something wrong, or girls in this town are a bunch of sissies. Luckily, the punching did not last that long. She eventually began pulling out and looked up at you, her eyes still watered up with your arms around her body. You were not sure if you had to let go or not, but the answer to that came pretty soon. “You can let go of me. I am not going to kiss your or anything. This is not a cheap romance, this is real life”

You quickly unwrapped your arms from her, she wasted no time in stepping back to fix her uniform, her eyes, even her pig tails a bit and then sigh. Part of you was glad to have Sugarcoat cry like that, but another part of you kind of wanted her to not do it ever again. It was weird after all, you did not mean to be rude or anything, but Sugarcoat is not the kind of person who cries. Not on your book at least. “Better?”

“Yes. Thank you for that… and I apologize for hitting you.”

“You can cut the formality, Sugarcoat. You just cried me a river and showed me a side of you I never imagined I would see.”

Sugarcoat took a little offense to that but she let it slide this time because, despite saying she did not need nor want help, she did get it, and it was good. “Very well… you will not speak a word of what happened today. If you really are my friend, you will respect this request I make you.”

Too bad, it would have been a nice anecdote to tell others, but then again, who would have believed you that she cried in your arms? Probably no one. “I promise I won’t tell anyone about this, unless you allow me.”

That was enough for Sugarcoat. She just nod and gave you a quick hug with a small smile. “Thank you Anon. You may be a cretin and a moron sometimes, but you are a really good person deep down.”

You could not help but to hug her again. Her compliment was sincere… even though it was accompanied with an insult. It was something. “Thank you Sugarcoat, and you are quite a baby despite being so careful and serious.”

Sugarcoat immediately pushed out and slapped you across the face. “Don’t push your luck Anon. That is something only you know and no one else. Understood?”

“Y-yes ma’am… so about Twilight?”

“That is a story for another chapter.”

“Another what now?”

“Nothing. Forget what I said… I will tell you what happened some other time.”

“Oh alright. Well, I guess… I will be seeing you tomorrow?”

“We go to the same school, don’t we?”

“Yes?“

“There is your answer… See your tomorrow.”

As soon as Sugarcoat turned around, she climbed on the bus and began to leave, the sting on your cheek began to really hurt. It was worth it though. Not many times you get to tease Sugarcoat and not end up on top of a flag post for it or something. Overall, this was a good day… that is until you turned around and noticed someone leaning against the wall nearby.

“Well, well, well… Sugacoat can be quite a cry baby. Who would have thought?”

Oh no… someone had seen it all… It was not really something bad for you, but for Sugarcoat… this could ruin her reputation. No, it was worse. Someone had recorded it all with their phone. Dammit why didn’t you pay more attention?

“You are quite the charmer Anon… making all the girls in Crystal Prep cry… I wonder what would happen if a video of someone as serious and tough as Sugarcoat crying on the arms of the new guy would suddenly spread out through the internet.”

Why, out of all the people that could have found out about this, it had to be her? There was no easy way out from this one. If you were going to take a bullet for Sugarcoat, you would need to do what she tells you.

“Let’s make a deal. Do something for me, and I will delete this video.”

You had to… sure, Sugarcoat and you were not all buddy buddy yet, but… if you ever want to actually be friends with her and even with the other Shadowbolts… you would need to play her game.

This was the only way…

“Alright Gilda… what do you want?”

Author's Note

And there we go. Guys, I really apologize at the lack of updates and how long it's taking me to upload the chapter... I BLAME OVERWATCH AND XENOVERSE!

Anyways, yea, hope you enjoyed this chapter. I really did not like how things went on Chapter 8 so I had to go back to Sugarcoat... Might go back to her in the future as well, but for now, this is it.

Remember to let me know what you like/dislike about the story and what should be changed if anything (no promises that this changes will appear in future chapters tho)

As always, thanks to REDMAMBA For helping me out with the edition of the chapter.

- Shadow out