Before the Friendship Games: Twilight Sparkle

"Don't think you can worm your way out of this one, Zest! There's no school staff to stop us," Sour said with a snarl.

"What are you even doing here, Sour?" Lemon said as she took out with her phone and began texting.

"Well, this is the neighborhood I live in!" Sour said sweetly. "What's your excuse?!" she yelled.

"I was jogging. Twilight here just happened to be in the area." Lemon said as she gestured towards Twilight, who waved shyly.

"Well good for the both of you!" said Sour, slowly walking toward them.

Twilight started backing away slowly. Oh god, oh, god...

"Oh, don't worry, Twilight! I won't hurt you..." Sour said sweetly. "It's her I'm after!" she gestured to Lemon. "We have a score to settle, after all!"

Twilight continued to back away slowly, fearful of getting caught in the crossfire.

"I don't want to hurt you, Sour." said Lemon.

Sour laughed. "Then what was yesterday's fight all about?"

Lemon's expression hardened. "You told Principal Cinch about my confession! You crossed the line and I was pissed! Of course I'd want to kick your ass! I lost my temper!" Just like I am now... she thought. Lemon had finished fiddling with her phone. "Twilight!" she said.

"Eek!" Twilight yelped upon hearing her name.

Lemon tossed her phone at her new friend. "Catch!" she said.

Twilight was momentarily stunned, but then surprised herself by catching the phone. She gave Lemon a look of confusion. "What am I supposed to do?" she asked.

Her temper at its limit, Lemon shouted "Just read the fucking note and do it! I'm losing control here!"

Twilight jumped, startled at her new friend's sudden outburst. She looked at the phone.

Call either my mom or dad. NOW.

Twilight nodded, grateful to get away from the conflict. She ran off to a safe spot, then got into Lemon's contacts. She tapped "Dad".

Calling: Dad

"Pickuppickuppickuppickup!"

There was a click, then a voice. "Hey, kiddo. What's up?"

Twilight exhaled in relief. "Oh, thank god!"

"Wait. Who is this," Lemon's father asked.

Twilight rapidly shook her head, snapping herself back to attention. "That's not important right now," she said. "Lemon and Sour Sweet are fighting at the corner of Zacherle and Faust!"

"What?! Okay, sit tight. My wife and I are on our way!"

Twilight again sighed in relief, then decided to see how Lemon was faring.

"Hey, I'm sure someone would end up sticking up for that person even if they didn't stick up for themselves!" said Lemon as she dove under Sour and grabbed legs, forcing her to topple to the ground. "CPA may be a hellhole, but I still have faith in humanity!"

Sour laughed. "Listen to you, you sound like a cliche superhero!"

"Said the cliche alpha bitch!" Lemon said.

Sour rolled her eyes. "Does anyone ever wonder why the alpha bitch is the way she is? Doesn't she deserve sympathy?"

Twilight felt a tap on her shoulder and held back a scream. She turned around and put her hand to her chest as she panted. Standing in front of her was a man with shaggy lime green hair. His amber eyes gave her a reassuring look as his light-crimson arm settled on her shoulder. "A...are you...?" The man nodded, then ran toward Lemon she assaulted Sour with several punches. A woman ran past Twilight whom she assumed was her mother.

Lemon's father grabbed her by the hands, and she screamed. She suddenly stopped, then looked at her hands, then up at her father. She buried her head in his chest. Now that Twilight knew Lemon was okay, she looked for Sour Sweet only to find that she had left.

Lemon Zest was seemingly inconsolable as her father walked with her to the car. The woman accompanying them stopped in front of Twilight and smiled warmly. "Thank you," she said. "You did the right thing."

Twilight smiled. "I just did what Lemon told me to do."

"Come home with us," the woman said.

"Well I'm not just going to leave her like that," Twilight said, then followed her to the car.

While Twilight waited for Lemon, she sent her parents and brother texts detailing all that had just happened and repeatedly assured them that she was fine. Moments later, Lemon walked into her view.

"Hey." said Twilight, sympathy on her face. "Are...are you okay?" she asked.

Lemon Zest sighed. "I'm sorry you had to see that, but..." she ran over to Twilight and gave her a big hug. "Thank you." she whispered.

Twilight returned the hug. "Hey, what are friends for?"

Lemon sniffled. "You have no idea how much hearing that from you means to me, Twilight Sparkle." her voice cracked, and she started crying again.

After Lemon stopped crying, she looked Twilight straight in the eye. "Feeling better now?" Twilight asked.

"Yes. Thank you." said Lemon as she wiped a tear away.

The sound of someone clearing their throat caught the attention of both girls.

"Oh!" said Lemon. "Sorry about that. You can come in, parentals!"

"Parentals?" Twilight snickered.

"It's what I like to call my Mom and Dad." said Lemon.

Twilight rolled her eyes and smiled. "Obviously. I've just never heard anyone refer to their parents as 'parentals'."

Lemon's parents entered the living room.

"Well, you can refer to them as Citrus Splash," she gestured to her father. "and Florid Abundance." she gestured to her mother. "Parentals, this is Twilight Sparkle." she gestured to Twilight.

Twilight smiled shyly and waved. "Hi." she said.

"Nice to meet you, Twilight!" said Citrus, extending his hand. Twilight accepted and shook it.

"Lemon told us we might meet you some day, we just didn't think it would wind up being the day after she said so!" Florid laughed and hugged Twilight.

"Do your parents know you're here?" asked Citrus.

"They do, and they're just as ecstatic about my friendship with Lemon as you are. I normally keep to myself at Crystal Prep, but Lemon and I just kept on bumping into each other and pretty much decided, 'sure, why not?'" said Twilight, feeling more comfortable.

Lemon smiled. "Hey, can I get you something to drink?" she asked.

"No thanks." said Twilight.

"Well, we'll leave you two to hang out." said Florid, as she and Citrus left.

Once Lemon's parents left the living room, Twilight looked at Lemon. "So..."

Lemon sighed. "I'm assuming you want to know about my history with Sour Sweet."

"Not if you're uncomfortable talking about it." said Twilight.

"No, it's okay." said Lemon. "You trusted me with Spike. I can trust you with this...even though pretty much all of Crystal Prep knows anyhow." she took a deep breath and sighed. "When I was in my Sophomore year, I discovered I was bisexual."

Twilight nodded in understanding.

"I...had a crush on Sour Sweet. But I suppose you gathered that from my rage earlier today."

"Yeah, I did." said Twilight.

"Well...you know she does that back-and-forth thing from being nice one minute to totally bitchy the next?"

"...Oh." said Twilight, remembering the last few words of Lemon's rant to Sour Sweet.

"Yeah." said Lemon, quietly. "I'm still pretty sore about it. I mean, I could have taken rejection. I would have healed eventually...but that. That was something else."

"I can only imagine." said Twilight. "The heartache and pain."

Lemon laughed bitterly. "That was one of the things that Sour and I yelled about during our fight at CPA yesterday." she sighed. "But enough about me. What about you? I know you mostly keep to yourself, but surely you've found someone attractive, hmm?"

Twilight blushed. "No, I haven't. Like you and I have established, I pretty much keep to myself outside of my parents, my brother, and...his crush."

"Huh. Well good for your brother!" said Lemon. "Do you think you'll ever find the right person?" she asked Twilight.

"My parents keep telling me that I will one day, but I think they're just saying that because they're my parents." said Twilight, rolling her eyes and smiling. "I'm sure they told that to my brother, Shining Armor, but then he found Cadence..."

"Wait a minute." Lemon's eyes shot open in surprise. "'Cadence' as in Dean Cadence?!" Twilight nodded. "Wow. Does she know?"

"I have no idea." shrugged Twilight. "I don't think I've even seen her outside of school before either. It's almost like she lives there."

"So hey, I noticed you play video games." said Lemon.

"Wait, how did you kno-" it was Twilight's turn to shoot her eyes open. "Zest_iz_best..." she laughed. "How did I not notice that until now?"

Lemon shrugged. "That was a tough match..."

Twilight smiled. "It was, but to be fair, I don't play video games all that often."

"That's kind of a shame. They're a blast!" said Lemon. "But, to each their own."

"Indeed." said Twilight, smiling. Her phone buzzed. "Oh! That's my...'parentals'." Twilight said, stifling a laugh. "They're almost here to pick me up."

Lemon smiled. "Want me to see you to the door, Twilight?"

Twilight smiled. "Sure."

They both walked outside, enjoying the fresh air. After a while, a car came to pick Twilight up.

"I promise I'll introduce you to my family someday." said Twilight.

"Sure it won't be tomorrow?" Lemon quipped.

Twilight giggled.

Lemon hugged Twilight. "Again...thank you."

Twilight hugged back. "Again...what are friends for?"

They broke the hug, smiled and waved their goodbyes.