Phoenix

9:03AM

“The first event shall be the Academic Decathlon.” Cadance stood in front of the two teams of students, who nodded in affirmation as they listened to their instructions. The two other groups of students, the senior year of both schools, stood a little distance away, obviously disliking of one another judging by the looks they were sharing.

“The event shall contain five separate heats, each focussing on a different academic study. The first team to win three heats shall be declared the winner of the first event, and earn their school a point. However!” Cadance looked around with a firm eye. “The two students from each team who score the lowest in each heat shall be eliminated from the remaining heats, until only six members of each school’s team remains.”

“We shall be starting with Chemistry,” Vice Principal Luna took a step forward as she address the crowd of youths, beckoning for them to follow her. “So if you all would please follow Us, We shall lead you to the first competition.”

“Chemistry, huh?” Indigo mentioned as she started scratching her chin in thought. “Wonder what they want us to do?”

“I hope it’s something explosive!” Lemon Zest exclaimed in hush tones, doing her best to avoid the now backwards turned gaze of Principal Cinch.

“I hope for all our sakes that that is not the case.” Sugarcoat muttered, her eyes focusing straight ahead as she followed the group of women leading the way.

Fireside tried her best to keep her own eyes forward, but found herself looking over to the CHS team, smiling when she saw Lyra and Bon Bon wave at her, her own hand coming up to wave back, only to pause when she saw five other recognizable girls, each of them trying not to stare at her. The other five members of CHS’s team were busy whispering, stealing odd glances at Fireside, causing the girl to quickly return her gaze to ahead of her.

They made their way through the halls and towards the chemistry lab, which Fireside remembered was on the third floor of the school, causing her to shake her head in annoyance. Why did her memories have to start coming back now? Why didn’t they come back months ago, when the doctors said they should have!?

“Um, Fireside? Why are you growling like that?” the amber girl blinked her eyes, reality snapping back into focus as she looked to her side, Lemon Zest wearing a bemused look on her face.

“Oh, um, sorry! Just, uh, clearing my throat is all!” Fireside tried her best to give a small smile, only to be rudely interrupted by a new voice.

“What the fuck are you doing here, Anon-A-Bitch?”

Fireside paused, her eyes opening before she let out a small shocked cry. Everyone around her were frozen, a metal like luster to their frozen, detailess bodies. She looked around, her movements sluggish, and when she looked the other way she saw afterimages of herself.

“Cause I’m here to offer you what you want…” came a tired voice, one sounding similar to the memory from the hallway earlier. It was drained, almost… dead sounding as it addressed the first voice.

“Heh, too late to stop posting now.” the first voice gave a bitter bark of laughter, before the sound of something smashing against the lockers around Fireside echoed harshly through the air.

“Five pm, the alleyway at **** and *****... You’ll get what you want…”

“Hey! Move it!” Fireside felt everything rush back to her, going along with her body shifting to the side as a Crystal Prep student moved past her, shaking their head as they went.

“Oh! S-sorry!” Fireside muttered, her head foggy as she strode forward unsteadily, trying to get into the Chemistry Lab without anyone noticing her sudden state of shock.

“Welcome, competitors of both teams, to Canterlot High School’s Chemistry Lab!” Vice Principal Luna had a large smile on her face as she looked over the two teams, though Fireside noticed how she flinched for just a fraction of a moment when the night hued woman’s eyes passed over her. “It is here, that you shall compete in the first heat! Make sure to grab yourselves a proper sized lab coat and a pair of safety goggles, then meet me by the lab benches.”

Fireside automatically turned and headed towards the labcoats, getting there before anyone else, yet she paused, her eyes passing over them. Leftmost hook, at the back? Her hands shot to the side and started to pick off lab coats in a mad frenzy, only to stop when only one remained on the hook. Down, along the hem, was an orangish brown stain, barely visible, but exactly where-

“Clover…” Fireside said softly as she reached out and grabbed the white fabric, pulling it towards her in uneasy hands. She carefully moved her hands up to the collar, sliding along until they were in the exact middle, where the size tag sat, before gently grabbing hold and flipping the cloth up. There, underneath, sat…

“Heya, Fireside!” Fireside pitched forward when she felt Lyra’s hand connect on her back, making the blood and gold haired teen look to her side, the strange markings still burned into her retinas. “How’ve you been?”

“Lyra! Careful!” Bon Bon chided as she walked beside her girlfriend, gently slapping the back of the mint girl’s head. “Sorry about that Fireside.”

“N-No worries!” chuckled Fireside, the girl smiling slightly. “I hope you all were well! My sisters let me know that they forbade you from talking with me, yet they forgot to tell me that.”

“Heh, sorry about that, Sun-Fire.” Lyra caught herself when Bon Bon leveled a deathly glare at the lyrist. “They’re real scary.”

“Really? I’m more scared of Bon Bon than them.” Fireside chuckled as the confectioners face erupted into an embarrassed blush. “Especially after that night.”

“S-Stop! Don’t bring that up!” the creme girl buried her face in her hands, causing more giggles to escape the lips of the other two girls.

“Best of luck, eh?” Lyra said, her hand shooting out as a smirk crossed her face. “Not like you’re gonna need it.”

“Hey, you never know.” Fireside chuckled as she took the offered hand, smirking as she felt Lyra start to squeeze fiercely. “Umm, are you trying to…?”

“What? I’m just shaking your hand?” the girl’s smirk grew into a full blown, all knowing smile, only to falter and switch to a look of pain as she tore her hand away. “Ow! Jeezus! Why’d you squeeze back!?”

“Hey, you started it.” Fireside chuckled, her emotions shifting away from worry and confusion towards happier thoughts. “Now get me some goggles, Lyra.”

***

“Welcome, competitors, to the first event… Chemistry!” Cadence called out redundantly, pleasant smile on her face as she greeted the twenty four teens before her. “In this event, all of you shall be working separately, so you are going to be unable to assist your fellow team members.”

Principal Celestia stood forward as she took over from the Dean of Students from Crystal Prep. “Now this will be a timed event, but don’t rush! We will also be scoring based on how well each of your finished…”

Fireside tuned out the yammering of everyone around her. She stood at the far end of the table from where Principal Celestia stood, Sour Sweet to her left, while Rainbow Dash and a massive, muscle bound boy with snow white skin stood across from her, the rainbow haired girl constantly stealing passing glances over at her. She paid it no mind, if Rainbow wanted to be distracted, let her. Fireside was here to make sure Crystal Prep Academy won, so as to make sure Cinch would keep her end of the “bargain”.

“...and remember! The two lowest scoring members of each team will be eliminated from the competition at the end of the round. Good luck!” Principal Celestia’s voice called out, followed immediately by the annoying wail of a blaring airhorn, signalling that the heat had started. Fireside’s gaze shot down, taking note of everything before her and scanning over the instructions, reading labels and starting to prep for the brewing of the coming concoction.

“Would you stop staring at her?”

Fireside’s eyes shot to her left, away from her frenzied yet calm hands as they were mixing and measuring the different chemical agents, and towards Sour Sweet’s venomous whisper, the air reeling from the cutting words.

“Why do you care?” Fireside heard Rainbow shoot back, the sounds of mixing and clattering threatening to drown the teen out. “What are you, her keeper?”

“No, but I figured that you should be focusing on your own work, sweetie.” Sour Sweet’s tone shifted to being condescending sweet as Fireside heard Rainbow Dash let out a muffled expletive. “You just keep focusing on your work, Fireside.”

The teen gave a small, appreciative nod before returning to calibrating the flame before her. Slowly everything came together for her, the vial cooling as Fireside worked on the second reagent, grabbing a small dropper’s worth of the fluid before depositing it into the vial and giving it a careful swirl, the glass pleasantly warm in her hands. Once it settled, calm overtaking the liquid within as the compound shifted to a crystal like clear colour.

“Finished!” Fireside called out calmly, finally pausing to look around and notice all the eyes of both teams focussed on her. The students of Canterlot High were a mixed bunch, some of them openly scowling at her as her eyes passed through their ranks, while others were still whispering and pointing towards her. At least Octavia and Vinyl waved and smiled at her, the girl unable to hold herself back from doing the same.

The Crystal Prep students, however? Most of them were too busy talking with one another or messing around with their phones, and Fireside had a sneaking suspicion that they had been like the whole time. Well, other than her sisters. Adagio had a proud smirk on her face as she nodded, while Aria was struggling to keep Sonata silent, the girl perfectly split between struggling to get free of Aria, and cheer loudly for Fireside.

“You are finished, Miss Sh-Glow?” Vice Principal Luna asked, alerting Fireside to the approach of the four women, the teen spinning around to stand at attention, her hands held behind her back. Cinch held an odd glint in her eye as she peered at the back of the Vice Principals head, disappearing the instant the woman turned to look at Fireside.

“Yes Ma’ams.” Fireside nodded, keeping her tone even and controlled, her face a pall of neutrality as she stepped aside to allow the four to judge her work. A small smirk threatened it however, when the two heads of CHS gave surprised looks as they studied the chemical work.

“Good work… Fireside.” Principal Celestia turned to look at the teen, Fireside noticing just how much the woman also stuttered when addressing her. “You not only finished first as well as a perfect job. You may join your peers on the sidelines after you wash up and return your safety equipment.”

Fireside nodded deeply as the four departed, the teen just barely catching the cold, dangerous grin on the face of Cinch as the four women left. Fireside stared for a moment, before shaking her head and deciding it was merely Cinch being Cinch as she stalked away, glad to be free of the first heat.

“Wooo! Fier-y! Fier-y!” Sonata had obviously escaped from Aria’s grasp, given by the fact that the girl was half cheering, half singing her sister’s name as loudly, and as proudly, as possible. “Woooo!”

“Sonata, dear, you are being incredibly rude right now.” Adagio snapped as Fireside passed them, the girl shaking her mass of orange curls as she started to follow after competing sister, a warm, yet predatory, grin on her face. “Congratulations, though I think you knew that was going to happen.”

“Thanks, Addy, but I don’t think we should count CHS out yet.” Fireside smiled as she stopped to watch Aria drag Sonata over to them, Sonata scrambling to free her head from the crook of Aria’s arm.

“Way to go, Glow.” Aria commented, holding a hand up with the palm facing Fireside as she approached her sister. “Good first showing!”

“Thanks, Aria.” Fireside smiled as she slapped a palm of her own against Aria’s, an air shaking shockwave crashing through the air as the two different shades of skin connected, the purple girl yanking her now reddening hand back with a quick curse.

“Fiery!” Sonata sang as she was freed from Aria’s hold, jumping towards her taller sister in an attempt to tackle her with love. “You are sooo amazing!!!”

“Heh, thanks, Sona, but uh, maybe keep it down?” the amber teen brought a hand down to pet the top of the energetic girl’s head, Sonata seeming to purr as she swung back and forth on Fireside. “The other students seem… not amused, shall we say?”

The four girls took a moment to look back at the groups of students from the two schools who were trying to make it obvious that they weren’t staring. At least those with some amount of tact. Or at least until a loud explosion rang out through the room, several students cursing and yelling as the wall eyed girl with the long blonde hair stumbled back, her concoction having had a rather energetic reaction.

“Er… why don't we go grab a drink?” Fireside said softly, noticing Octavia looking over at them. Fireside made a drinking motion, the charcoal hued girl nodding. “Alright, Octavia will let them know where we are should they ask.”

“Er… Won’t we get in trouble?” Sonata sounded very worried as she looked back over her shoulder towards the clamour around the lab stations.

“Oh! That’s right!” Fireside tore her lab coat off, flipping it around and she spun to look at her sisters again. “Do any of you three recognize what this means?”

The three girls watched carefully as Fireside flipped up the collar of the lab coat, showcasing the alien scrawlings underneath the thin band. Fireside watched as Sonata tilted her head, Aria looked up in confusion, and Adagio remained still.

“No, I can’t say that we do, Fireside.” Adagio said, an amused look coming to her face as she looked up at the taller girl. “Do you?”

“Clover! Though, I dunno how. Well, I mean, it came back with my memories.”

“Like that bout you had in the hallways just outside?” Aria looked at the girl, worry spreading across the crass girl’s visage, surprising Fireside.

“Maybe you should go home?” Sonata added, looking even more worried than her sister. “We can-”

“No!” Fireside backed away, anger flaring for a moment as she backpedaled, only to fade away just as fast. “Er, no, I mean. I’ll be fine!”

“That, uh… That don’t fill us with confidence there, Glow.” Aria said, crossing her arms as she watched the girl return to hanging up her coat and underhand tossing her goggles back into their box a little ways away.

“Look, I’m going to be fine and I’m going to stay.” Fireside rested a hand on her hip as she studied the three girls staring her down with a mixture of worried looks. “Are you going to come get a drink with me or not?”

“Do you even know where you’re going?” Adagio asked as her and the other two Sirens followed after Fireside, the girl making quick strides through the large double doors of the lab.

“Yup! Right-”

“Over here!”

“Get out of the way, *******!”

“Why’d you post again, Anon-A-Miss?”

“Haven’t you done enough damage?”

Contact. The sound of someone being shoved to the floor, followed by familiar crying.

“Please! I’m innocent!”

“-this way!” Fireside beamed as she pointed down the hall to her right, striding with half a skip in her step. Maybe she should visit her locker? It was close to the fountain if she.. Recalled… right?

Her locker? Fireside nearly tripped over herself, having to look back and reassure her sisters she was fine as she got back on her feet. Her lips drew thin when she looked away, her insides rumbling as she postured over her returning memories. This one could be an important one, it could prove whether or not she was this “Sunset Shimmer”. But what would that mean if she were?

“Heh, kinda weird walkin’ through these halls again.” Aria commented, pausing to look at the rooms to her sides before continuing on.

“Wasn’t so long ago that we were here.” Sonata added, Fireside catching a hint of remorse in the bubbly girl’s voice.

“Well I like to think that we ended up in a better spot.” Adagio said, her gaze still locked on the back of Fireside’s head, watching as the girl tried to continue her nonchalant facsimile.

“Ah, there it is!” Fireside called out as she rounded the corner just ahead of the Sirens, looking back and waving at them to follow. “Right over here, girls!”

The three made their way quickly to, and then around, the corner, pausing as Fireside leaned over to sip at the lazily spraying liquid coming from the fountain in the wall. Fireside finished quick, before stepping aside for her sisters, Sonata rushing over to be the first.

“Er… Just, uh… Just give me a moment here, alright?” Fireside turned around and continued a short way down the hall, leaving her sisters behind at the fountain.

“Can’t believe I didn’t recognize you earlier.” the once crying voice sounded confident, yet… Cruel… “I should have known Princess Celestia would send her prized pupil here after my crown.”

An image of a lavender girl flashed before Fireside, a look of determination on her face. Her long hair hanging free instead of being tied up in its usual bun. Her violet eyes flashed as she rested her hand on the strap of her backpack, a familiar purple canine with floppy green ears also stared back at her, its head poking out of the other girl’s backpack.

“And her little dog, too.”

“It’s my crown!” the girl pointed back at herself, her voice uncharacteristically bitter and assertive.

“Whatever. This is just a minor set back for me. You don’t even know the first thing about this place, and I already rule it.”

“If that’s so, then why do you even need my crown?” the purple girl faded away, leaving Fireside alone to stare blankly at the wall of lockers, row upon row of metal container lining the wall, only ever broken up when a door was needed to enter a room.

Except for the one in front of her.

It was covered over with a black garbage bag, its corners taped up against the top and bottom of the wall, though judging by the built up gunk, the bag had been replaced at least a few time. Fireside ran an amber hand along it, tracing the shape slowly, before reaching up to the tape securing the bag to the top of the wall, and giving a firm pull. The bag fell down to the floor, free of its captor, and allowing the amber teen’s aquamarine eyes to narrow in shock.

“Wow… And I thought CPA had colourful language.” Fireside spun around to find her sisters standing behind her, Aria grinning as she pulled out her phone, obviously attempting to take a picture of the locker door, scarred and covered in marker scrawls, a mixture of hateful words and weird insults defacing the metal face.

“Okay, so, I get the hate speech, if this indeed is Sunset Shimmer’s locker.” Fireside said, looking back at the marked up surface, face scrunching as she tried to understand what was written upon it. “But what’s with some of these other… Insults? Like, was she from another country? Go back to your own world, horsegirl! Go choke on some Buttercups and die! Like I am seriously lost on some of these.”

“Well regardless, maybe you should put the tape back up?” Adagio carefully rested a hand on her sister’s firm shoulder as she walked up beside Fireside. “Skipping out of the classroom was one thing, but CHS could take this as some kind of tampering, which I don’t think I should have to tell you is a bad thing.”

“I’ll put it back up, don’t worry. I just… Let me try something here…” Fireside reached forward, her hand inching towards the well used, almost rusty looking lock that secured the locker shut. It was different than all the others around her, the other locks had the traditional spinning dial, but this one instead had four little rotating disks in its face. She took a deep breath as she rested her thumb against the first disk, the metal fighting back as Fireside spun it down, before moving to the next, then the third, before pausing as she rested her thumb on the fourth and final disk.

“Are you really sure you should be doing this, Fiery?” Sonata came forward, resting a cyan hand on her sister’s, worry flooding from her eyes.

“I’ve got to, Sona.” came the soft response from Fireside, Sonata giving an uneasy look before removing her hand. Fireside shifted the last disk up, pausing before giving a small tug on the lock. The device separated, allowing Fireside to pull the metal arm around, out, and away from the locker.

“How’d ya know the code, Glow?” Aria asked, a look mixed between being impressed and worried on her purple features.

“It’s my birthday…” she said as she handed the lock to the girl, the digits zero four two one staring up at Aria, before returning her gaze to the door in front of her. This was the moment of truth. “One of the things that have come back to me…”

She grabbed hold of the door, her hand sinking in under the lip almost habitually, before pulling towards her. She finally noticed the smell in the air, the scent seeming to pour out of the opening door as it swung open.

“Ugh, gross!” Fireside commented as she shifted her feet back, a hand coming to cover her nose as something plopped onto the floor sloppily. She looked in the locker, noticing how messy everything was. “That’s fresh! Well, was at least”

“Who would waste a good cut like that!” Aria complained, sounding super nasally thanks to the girl pinching her nose shut.

“I’m more concerned with why it was left like that.” commented Adagio, the girl sounding sickened. “Look, why don’t we leave it and go back?”

“Just… Ah! There!” Fireside had buried her mouth and nose in the crook of her elbow, reaching in the locker and pulling some papers out. “Well, kinda… More hate words, all directed as this “Sunset”...”

“Ah! Girls, there you are!” Fireside froze in panic, her heartbeat exploding into a maddened frenzy at the voice of Dean Cadance. “You, er, seem to be doing more than just getting a drink.”

“S-Sorry, Dean Cadance!” Fireside shot around, her hands shooting to behind her back as she straightened to a military like posture as she addressed the woman, only to notice that Cadance wasn’t alone. Her heart plummeted into her stomach. “A-Ah, Vice-Principal Luna! This, er… Well, it is exactly what it looks like, but… Blame me! My sisters were telling me to stop, so this was all my idea.”

“Relax, Miss Glow.” the woman had a calming smile on her face as she approached the four teens. “No need to worry, it is simply in human nature to be inquisitive. Sadly though, it seems you found something We were hoping would remain hidden…”

“I’m sure you know about Anon-A-Miss by this point.” Dean Cadance cut in, looking over at the grim frown gracing the lunar woman’s face. “This is the locker of the girl who was wrongly accused of being behind the MyStable account. It seems that some students still believe she was behind it, even though the culprit was found.”

“We shall notify the janitors that someone got into the locker… Again… Please remove this from your memories, and We shall leave out that you were found her.” the four sisters nodded rapidly, eagerly accepting Luna’s offer. “Good, now if you four shall follow Us, We have to announce the results of the first round.”

“Is everyone okay? We just missed that bang.” Fireside said, a worried smirk coming to her face.

“Oh, yes, everyone is fine, Fireside.” Cadance wore a worried smile as she looked back at the girl. “Though Principal Cinch won’t let up about it… Er… You didn’t hear that.”

“Mum’s the word, Can Dance.” Aria snickered as Cadance shot the purple girl a playful grimace. “I think we can all agree that Cinch is a major bitch.”

Fireside noted the silence of the hallway after Aria’s comment, obviously everyone agreed as no one spoke up in defense of the woman. The six made their way back through the halls and stopped just in front of the large double doors blocking the way to the Chemistry Lab.

“Now, where did we find out?” Vice-Principal Luna said softly as she turned around to look at the four girls.

“At the water fountain down the hall. We got lost trying to find it.” Fireside said, nodding in response to the two women’s similar actions.

“Good. Now We recommend you look a little like you were scolded.” Luna smirked as she spun around back to the doors, pushing them open after steeling her expression.

“Come along, girls.” she called out as she opened the doors, motioning for the four to enter in front of her.

***

“Cooking?” Fireside heard Sour Sweet once again start to complain, even as she tied the apron around her neck. “Seriously, Sonata would ace this event by herself!”

“Cakes aren’t exactly her specialty, remember?” Fireside chuckled, watching as Sour’s face blanched instantly, a slight green tinge starting to overcome the paling.

“Should I even ask?” came Sunny Flare’s sickenly interested voice as she came to stand beside Fireside, her gaze split between the taller teen and Sour Sweet.

“Who the fuck thinks you can make tacos into a cake!?” the ponytail wearing girl screeched softly, Fireside erupting into laughter at her friends outburst.

“Well I doubt that we will have to worry too much.” Sunny Flare said as she looked away from the gagging Sour Sweet, her eyes locking on Firesides. “The only one that could give us trouble is that Bon Bon girl you introduced us to.”

“Yeah, she makes some killer sweets!” Fireside’s mouth started to water as she remembered back to earlier in the gym when the girl was offering some of her candies to the girls. Fireside nearly collapsed in taste filled bliss once she popped one of the delicate looking caramel cubes into her mouth, before struggling over the remaining ones with Vinyl.

“Everyone to their stations, please!” Fireside came to when she heard Princes-Principal Celestia’s voice ring out. Why was she still calling the woman Princess? She shook her head as she walked with Sunny Flare over to their kitchen setup. Thankfully there were just enough kitchens for each team after two students from each team were eliminated last round, with Fireside and Sunny taking the one closest to the CHS team, pausing as she looked across at the buttercream girl who hid behind her long pink mane of hair, and her pink on pink on pink partner.

“Er… Sunny?” Fireside said as she turned to face the four older women, her eyes shooting to her side momentarily. “I have a baaad feeling about that pink girl.”

“What are you talking about.” came Sunny Flare’s response, the girl’s mouth barely moving.

“Call me crazy, but I think she’s the one that’s going to win it for them…”

***

Sure enough, Fireside’s hunch was proven right as the pink girl took an unreasonably long knife and split her cake in half, revealing the Manea Lisa in cake form done in the interior. Everyone looked shocked, with Celestia, Luna and Cadance all dropped their forks simultaneously at the reveal, while there were shocked cries coming from the CPA students. Perhaps the most shocking result was that of Bon Bon and her partner, the spiky blue haired boy blushing embarrassedly as the two stood above their loaf of bread.

“Er, Bon Bon?” Fireside asked, uneasy smile on her face. “Are you alright?”

The confectioner buried her face even farther into her hands, shaking it back and forth as her voice was muffled by the fabric. The two gave knowing, understanding nods as Principal Celestia informed them they were eliminated, Bon Bon apologizing profusely to the boy who laughed as they put away their aprons.

“I am most disappointed.” Cinch said as she addressed her students as they gathered around her. “Suri, Neon, you two are done. Go join your fellows before you cause more harm to our Academy.”

“Hey, take it easy, Principal Cinch.” Fireside stepped forward, frowning as she looked at the woman. “Did you honestly expect them to make a cake like that, cause I doubt any of us did!”

“No, but I do expect you to keep your mouth shut about such matters, Miss Glow.” the woman gave a predatory sneer as she turned to look at the girl, a deadly glint in her eyes. “Now go clean up, and you had all perform better in the next heat.”

“Man, what’s her problem?” Indigo whispered as the eight remaining competitors of Crystal Prep walked towards the bin half full of aprons. “Like hell we coulda known they would do something like that!”

“And I doubt any of us could have done similar.” Sugarcoat was blunt as always as she threw her apron into the hamper. “I’m still wondering how she did that.”

“I have a feeling that, well… Nevermind, let’s just get ready for the next event…” Fireside muttered as she stashed away her own apron, images of the pink girl hosting surprise parties flashing before her eyes.

***

“So…” Lemon Zest grunted a she brought her hammer back down onto the head of the nail sticking out of the wooden board. “Want to talk about why you’re freezing up so much?”

Fireside glanced up from her knees as she held together the wooden boards that the pair were hoping would become a birdhouse. Both teams were surprised that the next event was based around Shop Class, with the object being to work together as pairs once more to make a birdhouse out of what was provided.

“What do you mean?” she asked the audiophile, her eyes shooting back to her hands as she prayed the distracted teen wouldn’t end up missing the wood and wailing Fireside along the hand and/or arm.

“Well you’ve been freezing up randomly, sometimes you even go walking off on your own and ignoring us when we call your name.” Lemon Zest paused to let out a sigh, brushing her sweat drenched forehead with the back of her equally sweaty forearm.

“Oh, that…” Fireside groaned internally. How the hell was she gonna explain this? “Just getting flashbacks is all.”

“From your amnesia, yeah?” Fireside grunted as Lemon returned to hammering the nail into the board, before placing another slightly further down. “I’m surprised it’s taken you this long to start remembering.”

“Welcome to the club.”

“Maybe it’s cause you're back here? I remember hearing that sometimes people with amnesia are shown things that they should remember, and that causes them to remember them.” Lemon Zest said in between hammer strokes.

“Maybe… All I know is I would rather be focusing on the games than these memories…” Fireside flipped the collection of wood around, attaching a new piece to the other two, making sure to apply a moderate line of the yellowish white glue first.

“Heh, yeah, I can bet it’s a bit distracting. Probably like how all the CHS students keep givin’ ya looks.” Lemon Zest chuckled as she looked around the room.

“Lemon?”

“Yeah?” the light pink girl looked down at Fireside.

“Think ya can keep hammerin’ in those nails?”

“Oh! Right! Sorry!”

***

“What. Was. THAT!?” Bellowed Cinch, the six teens recoiling from her fury. The spelling bee had been a disaster for both schools, with eleven of the twelve competitors failing on their first word, with Fireside being the only one to not mess up. “How could you fail such an easy event!? All of you shall be serving week and weekend detention for the rest of the year! I pray to whatever gods you worship that Fireside can win the Elimination Equation.”

“Well someone just hit menopause.” Indigo commented after Cinch stormed off without waiting for a response from the six girls, giggles erupting from the six at the teens comment once the woman was out of earshot range.

“Yeah, why is she so angry? It’s not our fault they chose such asinine words!” Lemon complained, throwing her hands into the air in frustration.

“I blame my phone having autocorrect.” Sour said coldly, “It does all the work.”

“Well I don’t know about you five, but I am stoked!” Indigo started up, excitement glinting in her eyes. “We get to see Fireside personally demolish some poor girl in whatever the Elimination Equation thing is!”

“I don’t know why CHS is even going to bother.” Sugarcoat said as she pulled her phone out and started madly tapping away at it.

“Thanks for all the high praise, but I’m not so sure it will be that easy. I don’t even know what they have planned.” Fireside said as she waved her hands in front of herself, slight blush coming to her features as Dean Cadance approached.

“Time to head up to the stage, Fireside.” the woman held motioned a hand across herself in a sweeping motion, the teen nodding and heading towards the woman.

“She, uh… I seriously hope she didn’t ream you out as well, did she?” Fireside asked, giving a worried look over her shoulder at the cerise woman.

“Nothing more than her… usual temperament, no.” Cadance responded before motioning for Fireside to walk up the stairs.

The gym had been repurposed while the two teams were busy competing, the entire stage having been pulled out to allow two booths to be set on either side for the remaining six students of each team to sit and wait for themselves to be called to the stage. Now, however, Principal Cinch and Principal Celestia were pulling out a pair of blackboards, their backs facing outwards to hide what was hidden on the other side.

Fireside paused as she started to cross the stage, though the whole world seemed to pause with her as everything around her, herself included, vanished, instead replaced with the senior students of CHS singing as they set up decorations, the girl who looked like Twilight walking around and helping everyone. Even the Rainbooms were there as Octavia, Bon Bon, Lyra, and even Vinyl were carting things around, only to vanish just as quickly as Fireside’s foot made contact with the wooden floor beneath her.

“Welcome, you two.” came Cinch’s coldly dry tones, barely looking at Fireside and the CHS student that joined her on the stage. “You two shall have five minutes to complete the equation on your respective board. The first one to answer correctly shall win. You shall start when you hear the air horn. She moved to the side, gently flipping the chalkboard over in time with Principal Celestia as the air horn rang out.

Fireside did her best to ignore Rarity, instead doing her best to focus on the equation in front of her. Nothing too complicated she noted, glad to be doing something easier than what she had been doing in her Advanced Math class. Her hand beat a steady path across the board, her chalk screeching as it continued its scrawling of her work across the greenish surface surface. Two minutes had hardly passed before Sunset finished, hands placing the delicate stick of chalk down and leaving it to sit on the boards tray. She studied it quickly before shrugging, no need to second guess what she knew was right.

“Fireside Glow is correct.” Cinch’s voice rang out a few moments later after the woman finished judging the girl’s answer, Principal Celestia nodding in time, causing Rarity to let out a tired sigh as she set her chalk down and walked off the stage, her azure eyes casted back to watch Fireside as she did so.

“Great work, Red!” Indigo said, clapping her arm across the taller girl’s back as she joined the rest of her team off of the stage. “I knew you would do it!”

“Indeed!” Twilight added, looking up from the device in her hands that had continued to grow noisier over the course of the day. “Though that was a lot easier than what Mr. Wave would give us.”

“Relax, Twilight.” came Adagio’s voice as the girl effortlessly split the small crowd around her sister. “Fireside was correct first, and that is all that should matter.”

“After tallying up the scores, Crystal Prep takes the win in the first event of the Friendship Games.” Celestia announced over the gymnasium’s audio system, earning the attention of everyone present. “We now welcome you to follow us outside for the next portion of the Games, the Tri-Cross Relay!”