Why won’t that pain go away? Not the pain in your back from when you fell earlier (although that hurts too, now that you think about it), but the one in your head, which has been eating away at you all day. It’s like all the fabrics that have been molded together to create what you saw as your self-image have been ripped apart, creating a version of you that’s more like a viscous doppelganger than a mirror image.

Plus, it hasn’t exactly been easy to get Vignette Valencia to stop asking for details about who this mystery person is. Of course, she respects your boundaries and would never press more than you’d feel comfortable with, but she probably thinks you’re just too shy to fill her in on the details. How the crap are you going to tell her that you developed feelings for your nine year old sister’s friend from school?!

You shake your head.

You still don’t know that you’ve developed feelings for this girl yet! You’ve spoken to her twice, after all, and both times were cut off before you could really talk to her about anything in detail. Can you really get a crush on someone after having such little interaction with them? Well, now that you think about it, she’s also mysterious, mature, easy to talk to, and those stupid glasses she wears make her just about the cutest girl you’ve ever laid eyes o--

This time you punch yourself in the face.

You immediately bring both hands to your nose, trying not to cry while simultaneously checking to see if your nose is bleeding. Then, looking around in all directions with a tear in your eye, you find yourself completely alone and allow yourself to breathe a sigh of relief, hesitantly lowering your hand from your face. Thank goodness no one was around to see that. Maybe that punch was a little too hard, but you needed to do something to get those thoughts out of your head!

Vignette was nice enough to let you go by yourself to the park today, despite how curious she’s been to meet this mystery person you mentioned earlier. You’re still not one hundred percent positive that Silver Spoon will be there in the first place, and even if she is, it’s not like you’ll be able to have a normal conversation with her while Cozy Glow is around anyway. Still, though, if Silver Spoon does show up, and if for some reason Cozy Glow decides to leave the two of you alone for a little bit…

Don’t hit yourself again, Anon. That last one still hurts.

Before you know it, however, you find yourself at the entrance of the park, looking around to see if anyone’s staring at the spot on your face where you punched yourself earlier. For once, you’re relieved that nobody’s paying attention to you and breathe another sigh of relief. Hopefully Cozy Glow will be by herself--or have found a completely new girl to manipulate--so that you can get that other girl out of your head altogether… OK, maybe now that you think about it, finding someone else to manipulate probably isn’t the best option either, but it’s still better than spending another minute thinking about--

“Silver Spoon! Over here!”

Horse feathers!! Why does life have to do everything you specifically ask it not to do?!

You put on your best nervous smile, trying not to sweat as your sister enters your field of vision, laughing and skipping with her silver-haired friend following behind her. Then, the moment you see her, all the anxiety in your chest disappears, leaving you relaxed, breathing normally, and smiling much more genuinely than you were before. It’s weird. You know you should be feeling way more anxious than you are right now, but you just feel… normal, like you can finally stop pretending. You can finally stop hiding.

“Hey, sis!” your sister exclaims once she’s finally within talking distance. “How was school tod--Whoa… What happened to your nose?”

You giggle nervously, first glancing at Cozy Glow’s quizzical expression before looking over at Silver Spoon, who tilts her head in curiosity. “Heheh. Funny story about that…”

“You aren’t getting bullied, are you?! My teacher at school says that if you’re ever getting picked on, you should always tell someone you can trust.”

“I dunno, Cozy Glow,” the other girl says, flashing a smirk. “I don’t know how anyone could pick on Anon. From what you’ve told me, she’s the kindest, friendliest girl in all of Equestria. Who would ever be mean to someone that perfect?”

She bats her eyelashes, and whether on purpose or not, it makes the air freeze up in your lungs while your cheeks begin to sizzle. You’d better change the subject quick before you faint from the lack of oxygen.

“I, uh… punched myself in the face. SO! We should get going! Mom will get mad if we goof off on the way home, after all.”

Just as you reach out to grab your sister’s hand, though, she puts her palms to her hips and raises an eyebrow. “Mom isn’t going to be home until like six o’clock tonight. She’s got that book club for old, grumpy ladies on Tuesdays, remember?”

“Yeah,” you say, rubbing the back of your neck, “but she’d still be upset if we didn’t go straight home.”

“Oh, she’s always upset. I’m sure she wouldn’t be mad if she knew the reason we took so long was so that I could make more friends.” Wrong! That’s the exact reason why she wants you to head straight home! “Plus, she’ll never know if we don’t tell her! What do you think, Silver Spoon?”

You quickly glance at the silver-haired girl, who once again gives you a devilish smirk. “Miss Anon, I know you don’t want to get in trouble, but she really has been waiting all day to talk to some kids from the next class over. Can’t she just stay for a few more minutes? Pleeeeease?”

Don’t punch yourself. Don’t punch yourself. Don’t punch yourself.

“Well…” You look away with a bashful look on your face, bumping your index fingers together while trying not to blush too hard. “I guess a few more minutes wouldn’t hurt…”

“Yes!” Cozy Glow cheers, pumping her fist. “Silver Spoon, you keep Anon company for a little bit. I promise I won’t be too long.”

Before her friend can even respond, though, your sister darts off in the other direction, leaving the two of you alone. You start to turn your eyes in her direction, but once you make contact with hers, you immediately look away, sweat dripping down your neck from the jitters in your stomach. You can’t tell why you’re reacting the way you are. She’s just a kid, after all, not much different than yourself. Still, though, whenever you try looking into her big, purple eyes…

“Phew,” Silver Spoon sighs. “I thought I’d never get the chance to talk to you. We never really got to finish our conversation last night, after all.”

Suddenly, your face snaps to hers, and all the butterflies in your stomach gradually begin to fly away. “Yeah, but I don’t know if there was anything else really worth talking about anyway.”

“Sure there is!” Just as soon as you gain the courage to make eye contact with the silver-haired girl, she femininely strolls over to a park bench and sits down, patting the empty space beside her. “You were telling me about your friend, remember?”

With a hard gulp, you walk over with much less confidence in your steps, your legs shaking as you fall down next to her. She’s so close that you need to monitor your breathing, just in case she notices how deep each breath is as it goes into your nose. “My friend? Yeah, about that. Maybe I was just overreacting, since an actual prince confessed to her and all.”

“And you wished he confessed to you instead?”

You look down at your knees. “Yeah, I guess so… Ugh. That’s so stupid! I mean, why would someone like him ever want a girl like me? I’m so embarrassed.”

Just as you bury your face into your hands, you feel her soft, delicate fingers trace down your back, sending shivers down your spine that you hope she doesn’t notice. “Honestly, I’d feel a little jealous too. I was kinda the same way back in Ponyville.”

You quickly jerk your face away from your hands so you can look at her with a shocked expression. “Wait. You’re from Ponyville too?!”

“Mhmm. I moved here last year. My best friend over there was this girl named Diamond Tiara, and she was adored by basically everyone in town. She was so popular that some of the girls even called her the ‘Princess of Ponyville’. I wanted to be happy for her since she was my best friend and all, but deep down, there were times I just wanted to get away from her. Even though people’s eyes were on me all the time, nobody was really looking at me.”

“It’s like… we’re invisible.” You see Silver Spoon crack a small smile, and your face freezes up again. “B-but yeah, that’s basically the same way I feel.”

“You remember those Barnyard Bargain commercials on TV?”

“You mean the one with that girl dressed up as a bunny rabbit?”

“That was Diamond Tiara.”

“...You’re lying right now.”

Silver Spoon giggles. “Nope. Her dad is Filthy Rich, the biggest distributor of zap apple jam in Equestria, so you can imagine why everyone admired her.”

“No kidding,” you say, kicking your legs back and forth. “Can you imagine coming from a rich family?”

“Would you believe me if I said that next to her, my family was the second-richest in Ponyville?” You turn towards her again, tilting a curious eyebrow. “My parents did business together. My dad had his mining company, and my mom used the materials he found to set up the Ponyville Premiere Jewelers.”

Your eyes go wide. Suddenly you look down at the necklace you’re wearing and then look back up at the girl sitting beside you, who sends you another feminine smirk.

“Yup,” she continues. “I’d recognize that emblem anywhere. It came from my mom’s shop, didn’t it?”

You nod your head slowly until a thought suddenly goes through your mind. “Wait! If things were going so well in Ponyville, why did you move out here?”

“My parents saw more opportunities here in Canterlot. Turns out, they were right. Now we’ve got more money than we could spend in a lifetime…” Despite how great her life sounds, though, Silver Spoon’s eyes fall to the floor as she pulls her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs. “But compared to the other kids at school, I’m still in someone else’s shadow. Your sister is just using me as a stepping stone until she can move onto the next most popular kid at school.”

You hesitate to even ask your next question. “Is that…?”

“Yeah… That’s what she’s doing right now.”

Your fingers suddenly curve into a fist, clenched tightly on top of your skirt as your face unconsciously turns into a scowl. “Dang that kid…!” you whisper to yourself.

“It’s not all bad. At least it means that someone noticed that I wasn’t invisible.”

As your eyes turn towards hers once again, you see a girly smile, making your heart flip backwards in your chest. Calm down, Anon! She’s talking about Cozy Glow, not you! Still, though, with the way she’s looking at you, it feels like her eyes are piercing into your thoughts, like she’s telling you that she’s not just talking to you; she’s talking about you.

“I… I’m sure there’s more people at school who know you exist than just Cozy Glow…”

“Oh, yeah. Don’t get me wrong. I’m still super popular, but I’m not like the most popular girl at school.”

“Huh?!”

Silver Spoon suddenly wraps her arms around her waist, kicking her legs violently as her laughter resonates throughout the park. You, on the other hand, are trying to figure out whether or not you just found yourself subjugated to part of some huge, elaborate prank that she and Cozy Glow have been plotting since yesterday. Probably the latter. You are kind of naive, after all.

“Sorry,” Silver Spoon says, wiping a tear from her eye once her laughter dies down. “I didn’t mean to sound rude there. Your expression was just so priceless! Hahaha!”

“Um… I feel like I should probably hide somewhere and never come out now.”

The girl beside you shakes her head. “No, I’m sorry. Will you at least stay with me until Cozy Glow comes back? I’m having so much fun with you.”

There she goes again! It’s so stupid how easily she can make your heart pound, and you can’t tell if she’s doing it for her own amusement or if she really means what she says. She does have an easy time reading you, after all. You want to keep a healthy emotional distance from her, but at the same time, she’s making it veeerry difficult to do that, especially when she looks up at you with that stupid smile and those stupid glasses! URRRGGHH!

“Say,” she begins, pulling your train of thought off of its tracks, “you wanna hang out sometime?”

“...H-huh?!”

“We probably wouldn’t be able to spend time at your house if Cozy Glow is gonna be there. How about my place next time?”

The face you’re making probably looks really stupid right now, but what else can you do?! You didn’t expect her to throw out a request like that! While you take forever to respond, though, Silver Spoon’s grin gradually begins to diminish.

“That is… unless you’d rather just stick to meeting up like we are now. It’s OK if you don't wanna hang out with a kid who only knows you through your sister.”

“I DO!” Both you and Silver Spoon flinch in unison before you frantically begin waving your hands around, trying to ease the sudden surprise on her face. “I mean, I’d be happy with that, but… don’t you think it would be weird hanging out without Cozy Glow knowing about it?”

Silver Spoon tilts her head. “You mean like what we’re doing now?”

A small droplet of sweat falls down the side of your face. Even if you didn’t go to her place to hang out, the two of you would still be having secret conversations both at the park and over the phone. Yeah, it’s kind of weird now that you think about it, but at the same time, it would be even weirder to avoid her just because she’s friends with your sister. Besides, the less your sister knows about your life, the fewer headaches she can give you.

“I guess you have a point…” you say, timidly scratching your cheek.

“Tell you what!” Silver Spoon sits up, straightening her back while looking confidently into your eyes. “Just text me tonight. We can just talk about you some more until you’re ready.”

Is… Is she talking down to you? The way she’s speaking makes it sounds like she’s the one doing you the favor by spending time with you, and yet for some weird, crazy reason, it makes you feel better. You can’t tell what’s drawing you to this girl so much… but it’s working.

“I…”

“There you two are!” Before you can completely blow your cover, you snap your body to attention, wearing the most authentic fake smile you have as Cozy Glow makes it into your field of vision. “I had a lot of fun with Fashion Glance! Hope my sister didn’t drive you crazy while I was gone.”

You scowl at your sister, which is quickly interrupted by the soothing sound of Silver Spoon giggling into her hand. “No, it’s fine,” she replies. “Does this mean you two are going to head home now?”

Cozy Glow looks up at you for your answer, and you quickly turn your gaze towards Silver Spoon. You may not want to leave her so soon, but there’s no way you’ll be able to continue your conversation with your sister around. Not only would she bug you, but she’d probably try sabotaging your friendship with her in general!

“Yeah,” you say in a low, disappointed voice. You hate keeping secrets from the closest member of your family, but what you have is too special for you to let her in just yet. Finally, turning towards your sister with an upbeat smile, you say, “You ready, Cozy? Let’s get going.”

*Click!*

As soon as the door to your room closes, you drop your bookbag to the floor and fall face-first onto your bed, laying motionless for several moments.

What a day. First you find out that you have a crush on a grade school girl, and then you spend the rest of the day trying to hide that from everyone, including yourself! Then that question she asked at the end… Is it really a good idea to hang out with her? If it turns out that you really do like her, and if somebody got the wrong idea, you might end up with a little more than a broken heart.

If only you had a stress salad right now. Wait, that reminds you. Have you received any messages from Vignette Valencia since you left school? The second you pull out your phone to check, though, your jaw drops awkwardly, seeing a total of ten new messages, all from the most popular girl of Canterlot Prep.

Each message basically says the same thing, just with different words. “How was your date with your future husband today? I can’t wait to hear all the juicy details.” Your eyebrow twitches. Part of you is thinking about ignoring her while the other part is dead set on making up some guy that you can use to quell her curiosity. Then again, if you try making up some guy, she’d never let you breathe without trying to get his social media accounts so she can look him up and see if he’s a good match for you.

Just as you think about how to respond, though, she sends message number eleven.

“I know it’s late, but do you want to grab a milkshake from Sugarcube Corner? It’ll be my treat! Heart, heart, winky face emoji.”

“Ugh…” you moan aloud. “Seriously? I just got home… Dangit. Fine, I’ll go! You’d better not pressure me into telling you about this afternoon, though.”

You try pushing yourself up from your bed, but fall down in defeat probably six or seven times, groaning in aggravation that someone is making you get up in the first place. As you wobble like a potato on your way up, though, you can see the door to your room gradually begin to open, revealing a curious blue-haired girl standing in the hallway.

“Sis?” she says inquisitively. “Are you OK?”

“No. The world is trying to make me move, but I don’t want to.”

Cozy Glow giggles, opening up the door completely while you finally manage to at least sit up on your bed. “You sure that’s all? From the sounds you were making, I thought you were getting eaten by a polar bear!”

Her comment makes you giggle back. “A polar bear? Why not something that actually lives less than a thousand miles away?”

“Because you don’t handle the cold well. You seemed suuuper uncomfortable.”

After another soft chuckle, you say, “Sorry if I worried you at all. Don’t worry! If I see one sneak into my room, I’ll make the same noise so you can come in and save me!”

“Golly! I’d probably let you get eaten at that point!” The two of you then share a long laugh, your cheeks nearly aching from how much you’re smiling until you see Cozy Glow’s eyes turn away, causing your smile to disappear. “Listen, sis… You wouldn’t do anything to hurt me, wouldja?”

“What are you talking about? I’d never--”

“I saw you and Silver Spoon talking earlier…” Your eyes go wide, a crater forming in your stomach. “I know I may not have made the best choices back home, but I really wanna make friends at my new school. I just wanna make sure you’re not gonna do anything to sabotage me.”

You have no idea what you could even possibly say to something like that. She has the wrong idea about you and Silver Spoon, but you’d be lying if you told her that you weren’t secretly hoping that she’d stop making friends. Could she even call them friends? If she’s just using her sweet, innocent charm to get people to like her while continuing to climb up the social ladder, shouldn’t you be trying to stop her? But it’s different with Silver Spoon!

“Sis… You’re taking an awfully long time to reply.”

“Huh? Oh! I’m sorry. It’s just…” Finally, steeling your resolve, you look Cozy Glow straight in the eyes and say, “I promise I won’t try to sabotage you.”

“Oh, thank goodness!” Suddenly, she rushes into your room and buries her face into your stomach, making you laugh quietly while you run your fingers through her curly blue hair. “You and Silver Spoon looked like you were having a pretty serious conversation back there, so it got me kinda worried.”

“No, we were just talking about how we both used to live in Ponyville, but there is something I wanted to ask you.” Cozy Glow pulls her face away from your stomach to look you in the eye, causing you to turn your gaze towards the floor. “If you already have Silver Spoon as your friend… why do you need more? How many friends do you need to have before you’re satisfied?”

Your sister stares at you uncomfortably, waiting for a punchline, but when nothing else comes, she tilts an eyebrow and says, “Well, that’s a silly question! It’s like asking how much money you need before you’re satisfied. I get that I don’t need a whole bunch of friends to have a good life, but don’t you think that life is always better when you have more of something?”

“I guess… I’m just worried about what you’re going to do once you’ve made friends with everybody.”

“You mean like declare myself the Empress of Friendship and try to get everyone at school to help me take over?”

“...I maaaaaay have been alluding to something like that.”

Cozy Glow groans, sliding her palm down her face in annoyance. “Seriously?! You’re gonna bring that up again? I’m reformed now, sis! You don’t have to worry about me so much anymore!”

“If you say so…” As your sister begins to raise a curious eyebrow, you finally pull yourself up to your feet and begin walking towards the door. “I’m heading to Sugarcube Corner. Did you want me to bring you something home?”

“No, I’m good,” she replies, making you raise your own curious eyebrow. “Just promise me that I can trust you, OK?”

As soon as you reach the doorway, you freeze. Meanwhile, as you’re trying to figure out whether or not you can even answer her truthfully, Cozy Glow waits behind you, probably getting just as anxious as you are. Of course the right answer would be to promise her, but if for some reason you ever needed to betray that trust, would she ever be able to forgive you after that? Would you ever be able to forgive yourself?

Finally, you turn around, meeting her nervous frown with a bright smile. “I promise. You can always depend on your big sister to have your back for you.”

Cozy Glow sighs, placing a hand to her chest, her face relaxing into a small grin. “Thanks, sis. Now, you go on and have fun with your own friends! You uh… You do have friends, right?”

Why were you worried about upsetting her again?

“Get out of my room!”

You plop down onto your seat with a thud, sighing lazily like you’re going soooo far out of your way to have your friend buy you a milkshake for you. Vignette is, as always, scrolling through her social media feed when you arrive, but even though her eyes are completely glued to the newest fashion trends, you can still tell that her main focus is you right now. Almost the second you sit down, Mr. Cake comes by and sets down two milkshakes in front of you, and even as Vignette reaches to grab her own, her eyes never leave the screen.

“Thanks, dear,” she says, bringing the straw up to her lip and taking a big sip. “Mmmmm. Raspberry coconut has always been my favorite. You wanted chocolate, right? I hope you don’t mind me ordering for you. I wanted to make sure it was ready by the time you got here.”

“Oh, it’s no problem! Thanks, by the way.”

“Oh, don’t thank me yet. This is just an investment, after all.” Suddenly, Vignette puts her phone down and places her elbows on the table, resting her chin on her hands as she leans in closer. You knew this was gonna happen sooner or later. “So! I can imagine you were in shock this morning after falling down. Don’t worry, girl, it happens to all of us. Now that you’ve had a bit of time to gather your zen again, I want to hear all the deets about this boy you met yesterday!”

Yup. Straight to the chase. That’s always been Vignette’s style for as long as you’ve known her. You’d love to talk to her about how you met this girl yesterday and how you had a great time talking with her today, but the best part about Silver Spoon is that you can talk to her about things you can’t talk about with Vignette Valencia. This is just another one of those things.

“It’s nobody,” you say, taking a sip of your own drink. “I just got somebody’s number yesterday, and it’s just been nice having someone else to talk to.”

Vignette gasps. “Oh. Em. GEEEEEE!! You skipped the social profile and went straight for his number?!”

“It really wouldn’t be all that weird if you knew the circumstance…”

“So what’s his name?!”

Vignette bobs her head side to side, waiting patiently with a smile on her face, but even with a name like Silver Spoon, you know she’d be able to tell you’re talking about a girl. Then that would lead to even more questions you don’t want to answer. Honestly, you knew this onslaught was going to happen, but you thought you’d at least get a milkshake out of the deal rather than wait for it to happen at school the next day.

“Heheh,” you mumble, taking another sip while your eyes fall between your knees. “Funny story about that...”

“Oops--Hold that thought! I just got a text.” You mentally wipe the sweat from your forehead as Vignette whips out her phone again, tapping the screen at mach speeds that would probably break your thumbs. Once she puts it back down again, though, she giddily cheers in her seat. “Ohhhh, Anon, you’ll never guess who that was! Go ahead and guess. You’ll never get it. You want me to tell you?”

“Uh… OK?”

“I just got a DM from Feather Bangs!”

You expected her to say some name you’ve never heard of, but to your surprise, your jaw finds itself falling just as you’re about to take another sip of your milkshake. “Wait! When you say Feather Bangs, do you mean that Feather Bangs?!”

“The one who was just featured on the cover of Canterlot Beat? YES!”

Great. Another celebrity talking to Vignette Valencia, and the worst part is that he goes to your school! If he confesses his feelings to her, there’s no way she’ll be able to turn down someone like him! Granted, you thought the same thing about Prince Blueblood, but how can someone turn down two celebrities in one lifetime, let alone in the course of one week?!

But wait! If she starts dating him, then she’ll feel so bad about you being alone that she’ll have to set you up with someone, and then your plan to marry a future billionaire will be back in action! Oh, wait. Crap. She still thinks you have the hots for someone who goes to a different school, which is tooootally wrong… right? You’re not quite ready to abandon this plan that you’ve been developing for months all because of some stupid crush, are you?

“W-what did he say?” you ask timidly, almost hiding behind your milkshake.

“He said that he wants to do a meetup tomorrow and take a couple selfies to cross-promote each other’s profiles! Ooooooooo, isn’t that just fantastique?!”

You give her a small, sincere grin. “Yeah. I’m really happy for you, Vignette.”

“Happy for me? Girl, don’t go acting like you’re not gonna be there with me tomorrow.”

You tilt your head to the side, trying to figure out how you could possibly contribute to two celebrities cross-promoting their social media following. “Uh… I don’t want to sound like I’m being ungrateful or anything, but… why am I going again?”

“How else can you BYBB, babe? Maybe being part of this once in a lifetime experience will help you get out of that little introvert shell you’re always hiding in and get your own following going! Just think of how much you could grow from this! I mean, you’re fine as is of course, but as I always say, ‘BY, BB.’”

Dangit. That means you have to do more makeup than just your eyeliner tomorrow. Ugggghhhhh--Wait! Hold the mother freaking phone! This could actually work out in your favor! Not just because actually putting effort into your makeup would probably get more guys to notice you in general, but also because if you legitimately started getting a following like Vignette Valencia, your plan to marry a billionaire might actually work! If she helps you get popular, maybe you’ll start having boys confess to you!

...But what about Silver Spoon…?

You shake your head, waving off your inner conflict and look into Vignette’s face with determination in your eyes. “I can’t wait!”

“Atta girl! Oh, shoot! I came all this way trying to find out more about your love life, but I have so much preparing I have to do now! You won’t mind if we postponed our little vis-à-vis for another time, would you? I promise I’ll totes make it up to you later.”

You roll your eyes and giggle quietly. “You’ve done enough for me already.” Plus now she won’t interrogate you about Silver Spoon anymore. “You go and get ready for tomorrow. I’ll see you at school, OK?”

“Thanks, girl!” Vignette doesn’t even wait until she’s made it out of her seat to reach over and wrap her arms around you in a big hug. “See you tomorrow at school! Don’t forget to look cute!”

You wave goodbye as she rushes out the door, smiling to yourself before taking another sip of your milkshake. As excited as you are about the photoshoot tomorrow, you’re more happy about your friend getting the chance to take her own career to the next level. She really does deserve all the success she has. It’s still a wonder why she decided to be best friends with you, but you’re not exactly going to complain about it. Even when she’s doing something for herself, she always finds a way to make you a part of it, and somehow, your life always ends up better because of her.

Still, though, even despite how excited you are to join her in her journey of influence, you’re a little at war with yourself, debating whether you really want to go through with it after all. Of course, on paper, it sounds like the best opportunity you’ve ever had, one that most girls your age would throw someone into traffic for! Not only are you getting to meet the newest face of music and fashion, but you get to take pictures with him and work with him behind the scenes! What kind of stupid girl would even think of blowing off an opportunity like that?

But you’ve had so much fun with Silver Spoon recently…

Oh, stop it, Anon! You’ve known her for like two days! Even if you do have a crush on her, it’s not like it would be the worst thing in the world if you were to develop feelings for a boy your own age too. In fact, maybe it would even be better this way! Yeah, that’s definitely the best decision you could make. Just forget about her for now and go back to your plan of marrying into a wealthy family where you’ll never have to worry about money or--

“Excuse me, miss.” You immediately blink, turning your face to see a very awkward-looking Mr. Cake peering down at you with a small piece of paper in his hand. “I’ve got the check for you whenever you’re ready.”

You blink again, looking down at the paper he’s handing you. Once you see the number written on the bottom of the page, though, your eyes grow wide and your face turns red.

“Vignette, you jerk!”

For the third time today, you collapse with a *thud* onto whatever is soft enough to catch you without causing you pain from the gravitational impact. In this case, it’s your bed, and it’s doing a very good job of making you want to stay there forever. You know that this is probably about when you should get started on your homework, but you can’t right now. Your bed is holding you hostage, and it won’t let you go without a get-away vehicle and some snacks.

*bzzt!*

Or a message from your phone. With your hair dangling over your face, you lazily lift yourself up and pull your phone off of your nightstand, unlocking the screen to see who the new message is from. You expect it to be Vignette Valencia apologizing for rushing off without paying the bill like she said she would, but the name on display makes your breath catch in your chest.

“Hey, Anon. Got a minute?”

You tilt an eyebrow as you curiously text back, “Yeah! What’s up?”

Then, just a few mere seconds after sending your message, your phone begins to vibrate, although this time, the entire screen is glowing. “Incoming call from Silver Spoon,” it says. As stupid as it sounds in your head, you’re kind of hesitant to answer her. You just promised yourself a half-hour ago that you’d forget about this girl and focus on keeping your feelings reserved for someone at Canterlot Prep. Still, though, even despite how firm your resolve was earlier, you see your thumb slowly moving towards the answer button, and before you realize what you’re doing, it’s already slid to the other side of the screen.

Shoot! What do you do now? You can’t just hang up on her. That’d be totes rude! Crap. Now Vignette Valencia is starting to rub off on you. Hopefully that doesn’t become a thing. You’re already awkward enough as it is.

“Uhh… hello? Is anybody there?”

“H-h-hi, Silver Spoon!” you mutter, pulling the phone to your ear out of reflex. Your hand is still shaking a little, but somehow, hearing her voice has at least calmed down your heart a smidgen. “Did you need anything?”

“Not really. I was just kinda bored. Diamond Tiara has ballet classes right now, and since our conversation got cut off earlier, I thought I’d see what you’re up to.”

Suddenly, your body stops shaking entirely. Just hearing that she wanted to talk to you for no reason in particular makes the tension in your muscles disappear altogether. With a smile on your face, you pull your hair behind your ear, lean back on your bed and pull a pillow into your chest, getting cozy like you’d normally do for one of your longer phone calls.

“Really? You wanted to talk to me? What about Cozy Glow? I’m sure she’d like to hear from you right now.”

“Cozy Glow? I don’t have her number.”

“Oh…” Your smile begins to fade a little, realizing that a conversation you were hoping to last a little bit longer might come to a halt already. “Did you want me to give it to you? I don’t think she’d mind.”

“That’s alright. I don’t think she’d get much from talking to me right now anyway.”

Yes! You pump a fist in victory before realizing that you’re celebrating one of your little sister’s friends wanting to spend time with you more than her. That’s probably mean, now that you think about it.

“So what about your other friends?” you ask, slapping your hand to your forehead as soon as the words come out of your mouth. “I mean, I’m sure there are other kids your age who’d probably be way more fun to talk to than me, don’t you think?”

“Mmmm, not really. I’ll get to see them at school tomorrow, so I’d rather talk to you right now.” Your cheeks begin to blush a bright pink, and even though you want to smile, you feel like your face would break if you moved it at all. “So what are you up to?”

“Well, I should probably be doing my homework right now…”

“Nah. You can do that later. Let’s talk about when you can come over. How does Saturday sound to you? That way you can come by without Cozy Glow getting suspicious.”

But that’s so far away!

“Yeah,” you reply. “I think Saturday works for me, but do you think Cozy Glow should come along?”

“You can bring her if you want. If she finds out you’re coming, it would be weird not to invite her, but I don’t think we’d have as much fun as if it were just you and me.” Everything she says makes you blush! Seriously, has anyone beside Vignette Valencia ever made you feel this important before?! “By the way, Anon, there’s something I wanted to tell you.”

You gulp. “Y-yeah?”

“You need to quit worrying, already! I promise I have friends at school, and I promise that Cozy Glow is one of them. You don’t need to feel weird about talking to me anymore.”

You pull your knees into your pillow and hug it tighter. “Yeah, maybe you’re right. I guess I’ve just had a lot going through my mind recently.”

“Like what?”

Like how my heart beats faster whenever I think about you.

“Like how today my friend invited me to take pictures with her and some guy named Feather Bangs tomorrow.”

“Feather Bangs?! You mean the one who was just on the cover of Canterlot Beat?!”

“I know, right?! Can you believe it?!”

“Wow. I can see why you’d have a lot on your mind. Are you nervous at all?”

You place a finger to your bottom lip, your eyes travelling up to the ceiling. “Now that I think about it, not really. I get that he’s supposed to be super famous and all, but this is really meant to be more about my friend than me. I’m probably going to be the one behind the camera for most of the pictures.”

“Is this the same friend that just had Prince Blueblood confess to her?”

“Yeah. Can you believe that? First she gets an actual, living prince to confess his feelings for her, then she has probably the second-most famous guy at Canterlot Prep DM her, telling her that he wants to start a business relationship with her! Why can’t those kinds of things happen to girls like us?”

“I dunno, Anon. It seems like you’re hanging around the right crowd. Maybe being popular just runs in your family.”

Suddenly, the smile you had on turns into a grimace as you inadvertently grit your teeth. “There’s no way I’m anything like Cozy Glow.”

“I know. That’s what I like about you.”

Sssshhhhhoooooooooooot! Just when you got your heartbeat under control again, she goes and makes your whole chest tingle! There has to be some way to fight off these emotions she’s making you feel so that you can go back to focusing on Canterlot Prep students again, but even if there is a way to stop feeling these things… is that really what you want?

“Anon, do you not like your sister?”

The question makes your whole body jerk in reflex. You’re about to blurt out how crazy that idea is, but at the same time, you realize not just how badly you’ve probably been talking about her, but also how many mean things you’ve thought about her recently. “It’s not that I don’t like her. I really do love my little sister, but... we haven’t always gotten along.”

“Let me guess. It has something to do with Ponyville, doesn’t it?”

You take a minute before you reply. “I’d rather not talk about it.”

“Then let’s talk about TV dramas!”

The comment makes you crack a half-smile, falling onto your side as you hug your pillow tighter. “You’re into dramas?”

“Duh! Dawson’s Creek, One Tree Hill, The OC.”

“Weird. I expected all of those TV shows to have horse puns in the name somewhere.”

“Why?”

“...You know, I’m not sure why.”

Suddenly, you hear the voice on the other end begin to giggle, and it makes your heart beat so hard that you don’t even feel how wide you’re smiling right now. “You’re so weird, Anon.” And now you’re laughing right along with her. It feels like it lasts forever, but maybe that’s just because time doesn’t seem to exist anymore. Your mind has blocked out literally all of your surroundings except for the sound of Silver Spoon’s voice. As you talk to her, you don’t feel so nervous anymore, like you can just say anything you’re thinking about without worrying about whether it’s stupid or not.

You feel… safe, like no matter what happens, you’ll be OK, and suddenly, all the homework you have becomes a distant memory. Before you realize what’s going on, your heart is filled up with Silver Spoon.

And the rest of the world disappears entirely.

Author's Note

A newcomer approaches...