A Study of Smart & Social
The Life of a Lonely Genius
I was born on September 1st, as the second child of Night Light and Twilight Velvet. Shining Armor, who is seven years older than me, is my only sibling.
Shining and I grew up in, well, the nicer parts of town. Our house is this big three-story building, decked out in purples, pinks and blues. We have this beautiful front yard and a shed that was mostly used for storage. In our backyard, we have this amazing gazebo where my family and I have tea every Sunday.
Mom is an author. Self-published and goes by an anonymous pen name that we have promised not to reveal. Dad works for the Planetarium on the edge of town. Shining is currently a Lieutenant in the cityʼs police force.
You’ve met him before, haven’t you, Sunset?
My family is amazing. Mom and Dad were always supportive of my interests and ambitions, even when they did not seem to match up with what most children my age would want. They would always get the gifts I asked them for, take me anywhere I wanted to go and still encourage me to be more social and enjoy life. When we were younger, Shiny was envious of my intellect. He never did anything about it or even let it show, but I could tell. He’s my BBBFF.
BBBFF. Big Brother Best Friend Forever? It’s a Light family thing.
As a child, my interests differed from everyone else’s. While other kids wanted to play with dolls or cars, I wanted that new chemistry set. While they watched cartoons, I watched documentaries about planets and stars. While they read children’s books for fun, I was reading 5th grade math textbooks.
My hobbies and passions alienated me from my peers. They considered me weird. The things I found fun were never fun for them. I never got along with the children in my kindergarten and elementary schools.
Recess was Twilight’s favorite time of day. Morning classes always dragged on forever, since she already knew most of the material the teachers were droning about.
But recess meant that, for the next hour, Twilight could do whatever she wanted. And at that moment, she was sitting on one of the benches outside, enjoying the sun and her copy of Geology 101.
A voice interrupted Twilight’s quiet reading time.
“Hey, Twilight,” said Minuette, one of the girls from her class. “Do you want to join us for arts and crafts?”
Twilight’s face lit up. “Oooh, are we going to make scale models of the solar system?”
Minuette blinked. “What’s the solar system? You’re weird. I knew I shouldn’t have invited you.” And with that, she was off to join her friends.
Twilight went back to her reading, trying not to feel sad. Trying not to cry.
It went on like this for a while. Sometimes, I’d try to join in on my classmates’ activities, but they quickly became boring, so I stopped. At one point, my classmates stopped asking, too.
To combat my loneliness, I turned to books. I read for fun, read for comfort, read for knowledge. My grades went from ‘good’ to ‘excellent’ to ‘perfect’. I was on my own, in my own bubble. That was the way I liked it.
Until things changed.
When I was about nine, Mom’s book sales were at an all-time high and Dad got a promotion. That meant they both worked longer hours as well as on Saturdays, which meant less time to spend with me. Shining was always busy with school too, so they couldn’t ask him to watch me either.
They needed a babysitter.
Enter Mi Amore Cadenza, better known as Cadence. Yes, Dash, I am talking about the Dean of Crystal Prep. Well, she was their English teacher back then. But she had the time and needed the extra money, so she was hired.
Cadence was amazing. I loved spending my after-school hours with her. We’d read together, bake cookies together, go to the park together. She was the older sister I never got to have.
She was also the first person to notice, and question, my lack of friends.
Cadence waited in the foyer, impatiently glancing at her watch. “Twilight!” she called out. “We gotta get going! Are you almost ready?”
“Coming!” came a voice from upstairs.
Twilight Sparkle came down a few minutes later. She and Cadence then headed out the door.
Cadence was taking her to the city park. Twilight was ecstatic as it was her first time in the park since her parents had started working on Saturdays. Canterlot’s Garden Park was among Twilight’s favorite places ever. The calming trees, the lovely flowers, the comfortable benches, the vendors and their good food - what was there to not love?
After a few hours of walking and friendly chatter, the two girls sat on the bench, enjoying their ice cream cones.
“Hey, Twilight,” Cadence said as she spotted a group of familiar girls playing with kites. “Aren’t those your friends from school? Go say hi.”
“I’d rather not,” Twilight said quietly as she avoided Cadence’s gaze.
“Why? They’re your friends; I’m sure they’d love to see you.”
“We’re not friends,” Twilight whispered.
Cadence looked at her charge for a moment and then sighed. “Alright. I won’t force you.”
Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. She was grateful that Cadence had dropped the issue. With any luck, the subject of friends wouldn’t be brought up again.
It was brought up multiple times.
Everytime Cadence came to work after school, she’d insist I join a club. Everytime we went to the park, she’d insist I talk to my classmates. Everytime we sat down for lunch, she’d insist I put in the effort to make friends.
Behind my back, Cadence talked to my parents and brother about it. Up until then, I had managed to keep them from knowing that I was mostly by myself at school. But once they knew, they wouldn’t let it go.
It’s not like I didn’t try to make friends with the kids at school. It’s that, no matter how hard I tried, none of them gave me a chance. I was the weird girl, obsessed with science and books, and, to a bunch of elementary school children, that was reason enough to not be friends.
Elementary came and went. Middle school was no different. I continued to ace my classes. Straight A’s and the highest score on every test and assignment. My brain kept craving more knowledge and I kept isolating myself from my peers. Halfway through seventh grade, I was the smartest in the entire school.
So my parents went for a different approach. Instead of trying to befriend students who had nothing in common with me, they decided it would be best if I was surrounded by people who were similar to me. I skipped eighth grade and started high school at age fourteen.
Crystal Prep Academy was my entire family’s alma mater. Mom, Dad, Shining and even Cadence had graduated from there. Shining had participated in the Friendship Games and won more medals than any student in the school's history.
My parents’ reasoning was sound enough - if my intellect alienated me from my peers, then surely in a school full of high achievers, I wouldn’t stand out as much. You all know how that turned out.
But fourteen-year-old me didn’t know that. The prospect of having a sense of belonging was too good to pass up on. I prepared for my new life as best as I could. I researched all there was to know about the school.
And in September that year, I stepped through the gates of Crystal Prep for the first time.
Say what you will about the school, girls, but it is gorgeous to look at. The crystalline design, the polished floors, the gleaming windows, the state-of-the-art furniture. Every window offers this magnificent view of the city. Every classroom was pristine and new, no matter what time of day it was. The cafeteria food was so good and-
You’re right. I should continue.
On my first day of CPA, I tried my best to put on a smile and be friendly as can be. I was excited; there was no reason not to be. And at first, everything was fine.
Twilight stood in the foyer, clutching her new books for comfort. Today was a new day. The start of her new life. She took a deep breath. You can do this.
She walked through the crowd of students, heading for the auditorium where all freshmen were directed to go.
After what felt like forever - the school really was big - she reached the imposing double doors. The auditorium was huge, but looked empty as there weren’t many students. Twilight took a seat in the front row.
Next to her was a yellow-skinned girl with two-tone green and pink hair. She smiled sweetly at Twilight. “Hi there. I’m Sour Sweet. Nice to meet you.” She held out a hand.
Twilight shook it. “Twilight Sparkle. It’s nice to meet you, too.”
My first few days at CPA were really good. I got along with the other freshmen and we even sat at lunch together.
In the first few weeks, everything was perfect.
Until it wasn’t.
“Now who can tell me the first step of the polynomial long division?” asked Mr. Sombra, the math teacher.
Twilight immediately raised her hand. “Ooh! I know!” she said excitedly.
“You know, you should really give someone else a chance to answer,” said Sugarcoat, who was seated to Twilight’s right.
“Yeah. You’re doing on purpose, aren’t you? To make everyone else look dumb?” said Sunny Flare, seated to Twilight’s left.
“Don’t think you’re better than everyone else here, smarty pants,” said Indigo Zap, seated behind Twilight.
Twilight put her hand back down.
At Crystal Prep, you were always encouraged to be the best. However, when you were the best, everyone else envied you because that meant they weren’t the best. It was just this vicious cycle repeating itself.
Learning was always the thing I was best at. I wasn’t trying to show anyone up or trying to prove anything. It’s just who I am. But the Crystal Preppers had bought into this mentality that winning was everything. And since I was winning at everything, the rest of the student body was jealous. Deeply jealous.
Picture it this way. If I got a 98 on a test and my classmate next to me got a 92, you can bet that they would retaliate after class. Despite 92 being an excellent grade, the mere fact that I had scored better meant I was trying to show them up. I was pointing out how much smarter than them I was. Which I swear I wasn’t.
Pretty soon, the unfriendliness turned to outright hostility. It was subtle and I was never able to point out who was responsible. I would be roughly shoved aside, my books would mysteriously fall, I would be cut in line at lunch. At the beginning, I reported these incidents to the teachers, but not only were they indifferent, they also said there was no proof. Eventually, I just stopped reporting them.
But that didn’t mean no one witnessed anything.
One morning, Cadence, who had since been promoted to Dean, saw a group of juniors harassing me in the front courtyard where they thought no one was looking. Faster than I could react, Cadence was in the bullies’ faces, handing out detentions and threatening to call their parents. In that moment, I felt grateful for her help. I even felt hopeful. Surely no one would mess with me anymore if I had the Dean’s protection, right? Right?
Wrong.
Twilight furiously stormed into the foyer of her house, Cadence trailing behind her.
“Twilight, please. They were tormenting you. I couldn’t just stand there and not do anything,” Cadence said in that soothing voice of hers.
“I can take care of my own problems, Cadence,” Twilight said through gritted teeth, not turning to look at Cadence. “You don’t need to baby me.”
“I don’t understand where this is coming from. I thought you were glad for my help.”
Twilight finally turned around. “That was before they started mocking me for being the ‘Dean’s pet’! Your supposed ‘help’ just made my life worse!”
For a moment, everything was silent. When Cadence next spoke, her voice was a tiny whisper. “I’m sorry, Twilight. I was only trying to help.”
“Yeah, well, you didn’t.” Twilight crossed her arms and turned around again. “I need you to back off and let me deal with my own problems. Okay?”
Cadence was at loss for words. She didn’t have to say anything, though, because Twilight was already heading upstairs.
“I think you need to go home, Cadence.”
I had turned from this bright, chipper student who was excited to learn to this irritable, awkward loner. Mom and Dad searched high and low for a way to make me feel better. They even tried to get me into therapy, but I refused, citing that I had better things to do with my time. Cadence also distanced herself from me. We were no longer sisters, but just student and Dean. I was miserable, in every sense of the word.
After an entire month of this misery, my parents had had enough. I needed a friend; someone I could talk to, someone I could hug for comfort, someone I could play with; someone who would be there for me through thick and thin. I desperately needed a friend; even I could admit as much.
And that’s when I met Spike.
My parents had taken me to the nearest animal shelter near our house, Friendly Furry Friends. Spike was the tiniest pup there - he’d been brought mere days prior. He was so cute, so tiny, so adorable that I just couldn’t resist. Isn’t that right, bud?
We brought him home that same day. From then on, Spike and I did everything together. He would sit by my desk every time I did homework, would cuddle up with me whenever I would watch TV and play fetch with me whenever we went to the park. At night, he slept in my bed, and I slept sounder knowing that my best friend was right next to me.
When I went to school, I would feel even lonelier because I missed Spike so much. I knew he waited by the door from the moment I left to the moment I returned. So one day, I purposefully left the door slightly open. Guess what he did?
Yup. Spike followed me to school and hid in my locker before classes started. I found him right before lunch. To be honest, I was really happy that he followed me, because that meant I wasn’t so alone anymore.
Eventually, the students stopped shoving me or knocking my books out of my hands. Dean Cadence had called an assembly and made it crystal clear that physical altercations would not be tolerated. My classmates’ disapproving gestures became disapproving looks and words. I felt better in a way; it was comforting to know that I wasn’t going to be literally pushed around anymore.
Besides, Spike was coming with me to school every day. Things were finally looking up.
But as my mental health was getting better, I became dissatisfied with school. Classes had become boring, tedious and repetitive. I enjoyed learning, but I wasn’t really learning anything since I already knew the material the teachers were droning about.
Straight A’s and the highest score in every test and yet, I was still dissatisfied. So, I turned my attention towards applying my knowledge. Remember that old shed in my backyard that was used as storage space? Dad and Shining converted it into a lab that I could use for my inventions and experiments.
I’d finish my homework during my free periods at school, and then come home to work on a new device. Spike was always with me, offering company and cute barks. I also got a lab at school, courtesy of Cadence, who wanted me to feel at home in Crystal Prep.
Oh, and if you’re wondering, we did eventually make up. I apologized to her and Cadence was very understanding.
I settled into a routine. For my sophomore year, it was class, homework, dinner with my family and lab work. I was happy. I wasn’t so lonely anymore and I had found something challenging to satisfy my brain. Things were finally looking up.
And then they got even better.
“Everton Independent Study Program,” Twilight read out. “The place to be for young ambitious talents. Further your knowledge and career right now.”
Twilight squealed and jumped out her chair. “Ooh! This place was made for me!”
Spike barked excitedly and jumped on the chair.
Twilight reached down to pet him. “I’m glad you agree, Spike.”
I applied to Everton immediately and soon, it became my only reason for living. I became obsessed and searched everywhere for that one breakthrough that would land me into the university.
Two months later, I found it.
“No doubt about it, Spike. There’s definitely something strange going on at that school.”
Spike barked in agreement.
Twilight stepped back from her board to examine it. First that strange light show the night of their school dance, then another strange light show at the concert. Whatever was going on at Canterlot High School, she was going to figure it out.
Twilight went over to her desk and examined her research on CHS so far. If she could analyze the energy coming from the school, then she’d have found a new energy source. Twilight got out her materials and got to work.
I saw CHS as my key to entering Everton. I spent more time than I dare admit looking up the school, analyzing its most recent data, the students and staff.
Sunset, do you remember my first trip to the school? When you chased after me?
The data I had collected that day is what allowed me to build my magic-absorbing pendant. I had planned on using the Friendship Games to collect more, but obviously, that’s not what happened.
Cinch blackmailed me into joining the Games. She threatened to have my Everton application revoked if I didn’t contribute my intellect to winning the Games for her. She told me to spy on you girls to obtain information on why CHS was doing so well. She pressured me into releasing magic I didn’t understand.
You get the point.
Cinch might be out of my life now, but her actions had far-reaching consequences.
At 02:34 AM, Twilight Sparkle shot upright in bed, screaming and sweating.
Spike awoke with her. “Wha-? What’s going on? Whoʼs hurt?” He looked up to find Twilight sitting in bed, crying.
“Twilight? What’s wrong?” he gently asked as he climbed into the bed.
“Sp- Spike,” she replied in between sobs. “I c-can’t sleep. Mid- Midnight is in my… in my dreams.”
“In your dreams? But… didn’t Sunset get rid of her today?”
“I don't think she’s gone, Spike,” Twilight spoke quietly. “I don’t know if she’ll ever be.”
I haven’t had a decent night’s sleep since the night of the Friendship Games. Everytime I’d go to bed, she would be there. Sometimes she would forcefully take over my body and other times she would make me watch as she tormented everyone I held dear. The worst nightmares were the ones where she would succeed in destroying this world to access the magic of Equestria.
But now...
Now, the nightmares are gone. I’m here, surrounded by all of you and I’ve... I’ve never felt happier. CHS is wonderful, your friendship is wonderful and you girls... are the best. I love you all so much and...
Thank you for being my friends.
Author's Note
A big thanks to Trellia for being my editor, proofreader and beta reader!
