It was a peaceful, cozy night in Canterlot City. The stars twinkled as the light of the moon illuminated the empty streets. The majority of the houses were dark, with only a few remaining lights here and there.
Twilight was sound asleep in her bed, with Spike, her loyal dog, curled up next to her. However, her peaceful slumber was abruptly disturbed when Twilight found herself awoken by the sound of a text notification.
*DING!*
"*groans* Are you kidding m- who's texting me at this hour?!" Twilight grumbled to herself as she tossed and turned in her sheets. She really didn’t want to get up and check.
But on the slim chance that it was an emergency, she reluctantly decided to. Rubbing her eyes, Twilight groggily reached over to her nightstand and grabbed the phone.
Pulling her aloof arm back to the bed, she started to search for her glasses to see better, only to find them stuffed underneath her pillow.
"*sighs* I really need to stop doing that…" Twilight reminded herself while putting them on.
She looked down to see the name over the received text message and had to do a double take on the highlighted name.
"Lemon Zest? What could she possibly want?" She asked.
Lemon Zest was one of her old classmates from Crystal Prep. Twilight had mixed feelings about her. When she was still at Crystal Prep, they didn’t get along well or even interacted much at all, but after the "Chance to Prance" music video competition, they had since become good friends. However, Twilight knew that Lemon was still that troublemaker type of friend who always wanted to do something risky.
Not really knowing what to expect, she opened up the message and began to read it…
LemonZesty23
Sup Twilight! Uh I have this quick because were kinda in a hurry, but were on way to this school to host in airsoft thing, wanna come?
Okay, spelling and grammatical errors aside, Twilight went from being grumpy to being very confused. Needing answers, she immediately began texting back…
TwiSparkly10
Wait, what? School, airsoft… What kind of weird sports is Crystal Prep making you do?
LemonZesty23
No no no! This schools abandoned and we go there really late at night and just do these airsoft matches in the school.
Twilight was now even more confused. The idea of going to an abandoned school just to host an airsoft match seemed a little out there and possibly dangerous.
TwiSparkly10
Um, I might be the only person telling you this, but that does not sound safe whatsoever.
LemonZesty23
Well duh! Of course its not. but all im saying is that if you want to go you can!
Twilight rolled her eyes, knowing Lemon really needed to learn how to type proper sentences, but then she began thinking about Lemon's offer…
For a few minutes, Twilight laid in her bed, not sure whether to go or not. And it wasn’t a rare thing, she had heard of other kids going to these other abandoned buildings in the city to hold these illegal airsoft tournaments before, and while she had even been to one or two of them, she never really played, preferring to stand to the side and watch. She also knew it wasn't looked upon favorably either, and a couple of people had been caught and possibly arrested.
But before she could think about it any further…
SugarCotton
Wow, I bet you're real fun at parties.
TwiSparkly10
Wait, Is this a group chat?
LemonZesty23
Duh how else do you think we keep in touch?
IndigoReaper
Come on, just go Twi! What’s the worst that could happen?
Sweet&Sour
If you’re really that scared about getting caught, we’ll just leave if someone shows up.
TwiSparkly10
Alright, alright! When is it then?
LemonZesty23
Its going to be really late at night. We’re gonna go when nobodys there. Trust me we know how this work.
TwiSparkly10
But what if there’s security guards around the building?
SugarCotton
Only the janitor comes in the evening and leaves at like, nine. No one’s gonna be there, we’re gonna be there really late, like three in the morning. We'll play a quick game, maybe even two, and then we'll be out of there.
TwiSparkly10
Okay, but how are we actually getting in?
Twilight knew some abandoned buildings were easier to break into than others because some of them were so broken down, you could enter by just going through a window.
IndigoReaper
It’s on one of the second-story windows, so we’re gonna have to climb up the fire escape to get in.
Sweet&Sour
We’ve done this several times before and never once shut the window so we know it’s going to work. Now are you coming or what?
TwiSparkly10
Ugh, you know what? Fine. When are you picking me up?
Sweet&Sour
We’ll be at your house in about twenty minutes. Be ready by then or we won’t hesitate leaving you behind.
Twilight was left in an awkward spot. Not only did she have to get dressed, but also quietly sneak out of the house without anyone noticing.
Very slowly, she rolled out of bed, managing the land on her feet undetected. She then carefully removed the pillows and did the old technique of stuffing them under the sheets.
She knew the technique didn’t really work, but she did it anyway, just in case. "You can never be too safe." She thought to herself.
She then began the hardest part of the plan: reaching her closet. She carefully tiptoed over, almost stumbling multiple times with only the moonlight shining dimly through her window as her only light source.
She was almost there when at the very last step, the wood she stepped foot on made the dreadful squeaking noise. Twilight cringed hard at this, her heart was pounding when she heard Spike shuffling around on the bed. She slowly turned her head and was praying that he wouldn’t wake up…
"*snorts* I wanna ride the pony…" Spike said drowsily, eyes still closed, before turning over and falling asleep again.
Twilight relaxed and smiled a bit, watching Spike sleeping all tiny on the bed, dreaming dreams only dogs dared dreamt.
She then turned around and opened up her closet and began the very difficult process of trying to get dressed in the dark.
Since she was still sleepy, she didn't make much of an effort to find her usual clothes or even ones that matched, instead putting a light blue jacket over her nighttime shirt, her usual purple skirt, and sliding on a pair of sandals she usually only wore at the beach. She couldn’t even be bothered to comb her messy hair.
When she closed her closet door, she briefly looked at herself in the mirror. "Meh. I've looked worse." She whispered.
She quietly opened her bedroom door and made her way downstairs, almost tripping down the last two steps. At last, she grabbed her spare house key and made her way out the front door, remembering to relock it.
"Phew… That was a close call." She sighed in relief.
Twilight slowly made her way to the sidewalk, shivering in the chilly night air, waiting for her old classmates to arrive.
She then took out her phone, opened up her messages, entered the group chat with her actual friends and stopped. Twilight thought about possibly inviting them too but quickly decided against it. This invitation was meant for her only, and not to mention, they deserve a good night’s sleep.
As she continued waiting, Twilight couldn't help but feel a twinge of nervousness in her gut as she contemplated what she was about to do. She knew it was wrong, and she could get in trouble if caught, but she didn't want to disappoint her old classmates or be seen as a party pooper.
Finally, a car pulled up next to her, and the window rolled down, revealing Sour in the driver's seat and Indigo in the passenger’s seat.
"Get in, Twilight! We don’t have all night!" Sour said, impatiently.
Twilight opened the door and climbed into the backseat, greeted by Sugarcoat and Lemon, the latter of which was blasting music through her headphones.
"Oh hey, Twilight!" Lemon said, grinning. "You made it!"
"Alright, you. Sit in the middle." Sugarcoat said as she got out and egged Twilight in.
"Hey! Why do I have to be in the middle?!" Twilight retorted.
"You came last minute, therefore you get the honor of having the middle seat." Sugarcoat replied, cheekily.
"That means you get to be the little piggie in the middle!" Indigo joked, laughing.
Twilight forced a smile on her face as she very reluctantly settled into her seat.
"Indigo!" Lemon snapped. "Be nice…"
"What, I can’t joke around?" Indigo asked with an innocent tone.
Soon, the car pulled away from the house and soon was on the highway.
"So… is this going to be just us? Um, not to sound rude or anything, but how is this meant to be an event? I would’ve thought there’d be more people?" Twilight asked, trying to ease her anxiety.
"Oh, don’t worry, we’ve got plenty of people coming!" Lemon replied with a mischievous grin on her face.
Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Okay… exactly how many are we talking about here, because if we have over a hundred students in a school that’s abandoned, I’m pretty sure that’s just going to be a one-way ticket to us getting arrested."
Indigo chuckled. "Relax, Twi. We'll be fine. Just trust us."
Twilight felt her nerves tighten even more at Indigo's words. She wasn't sure if she could completely trust them, but it was too late to back out now. She took a deep breath and tried to push her worries aside, hoping for the best.
When they finally arrived, Twilight was relieved to see that there weren't hundreds of people there. However, she still counted around twenty or so people, which was still a lot in her book.
She nervously stepped out of the car and followed her friends and the twenty or so people to the fire escape, which looked like it hadn't been used in years. The old ladder was weak and rusty, and Twilight couldn't help but gulp as she looked up at it.
"U-Uh, do you mind if maybe I went… last?" Twilight stuttered, stumbling back.
Sour, who was already on the ladder, rolled her eyes. "Come on. Twilight! Just climb it already!"
"I-I know! I just feel much safer in the back for some reason!" Twilight hastily responded.
As the rest of the group made their way up the ladder, Twilight waited anxiously at the bottom. Finally, she took a deep breath and began her ascend up the ladder.
"Don't look down. Don't look down. Don't look down. Don't look down." Twilight told herself over and over, not wanting to see how far the ground was and just quickly made her way up and through the open window.
As soon as she landed and got to her feet, Twilight realized something was off: almost all the hallway lights were on. "Hey, girls, d-do people come in here? Why are the lights on?" she asked, feeling uneasy.
"Well of course they are, there’s janitors and they leave them on after they leave." Sugarcoat replied nonchalantly.
Twilight's stomach churned with anxiety. "Okay, but what if this building isn't even abandoned? What if they just come in here everyday to clean it and they're going to sell it?"
"Well, yeah, eventually they probably will." Indigo said with a shrug. "But for now, it's abandoned!"
"Alright, If you say so… Um, so… lead the way, I guess?" Twilight said.
As they made their way down the flight of stairs, Twilight could start to hear muffled music coming from somewhere in the school and another sound which was… roller blades?
"Wait, are there skaters in the building?!" Twilight asked, surprised.
Sour nodded. "Yeah, some of the skaters have started using the empty gym to skate. But don't worry about them, they usually keep it to themselves."
Twilight's heart began to race as she was not only fearing that this school wasn’t really abandoned, but also the potentially dangerous people that could be hosting or participating in these type of events.
But her thoughts were interrupted as she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her arm. She looked down to see small BB pellets bouncing off her skin, and let out a scream of terror.
As she ducked to the ground, she stopped when she realized the people in the building were already engaged in an airsoft battle. The majority of them had brought duffle bags of their own with their equipment, and some were even wearing masks and vests.
"Watch and learn, Twilight!" Lemon boasted to Twilight as she strapped on her vest. "Who knows, maybe one day you'll be able to join in and be as good as us!"
Twilight nervously chuckled. "Yeah, I think I’ll stick to watching from the side, thank you very much."
As her friends ran off to join the airsoft battle, Twilight decided to take this opportunity to explore on her own.
As she roamed the hallways, she was able to recognize quite a few of the players from not only Crystal Prep, but Canterlot High as well.
Suddenly, she spotted Bon Bon, who was seen effortlessly hitting players left and right, making up quick strategies on the fly while taking cover. Twilight hid herself behind an empty filing cabinet and watched as Bon Bon retreated into one of the trashed rooms with several other players on her tail.
For a brief moment, there was complete silence. The other players slowly lowered their guns as they approached the room.
Suddenly, in a moment's notice, Bon Bon unexpectedly rolled out of the room on a furniture dolly, shooting all the players to the ground.
"See what happens when you piss me off?!" She shouted triumphantly, before getting up to hunt other players.
Twilight was shocked, and was left there wondering just made Bon Bon so good at this game to begin with.
Eventually, she got up and made her way further down the hallway, there she watched in bemusement as Snips and Snails got bombarded left and right with BB pellets and them hitting everything but the players.
“Yeow! Ow! Ooh! Take cover, take cover!” Snails cried as he curled up, still getting hit by pellets.
“Oww! The pain!” Snips shrieked as he then slipped on all the pellets scattered across the floor and landed face-first.
When the barrage finally stopped, Twilight slowly approached the two on the floor and couldn’t help but laugh.
"You know, It must be real fun to wake up each morning knowing that you two are that much closer to achieving your dreams of complete and utter mediocrity."
"Augh, no fair!" Snails groaned as Twilight walked away.
Twilight soon came across an empty room with tables flipped over that the janitor didn't even fix, which pretty much confirmed to her that there were people in here every night just messing around playing airsoft or whatever they wanted because, on closer inspection, she noticed marks on the floor from skaters who decided to leave the gym.
Speaking of the skaters, the sound of the rollerblades skating against the floor was now louder than ever, which drew Twilight’s attention. She slowly followed the sound, which led her to the two-door opening to the gym.
Unsure of what to expect, Twilight cautiously pushed open the doors and stepped inside before stopping in her tracks. As she expected, she found people… skating. Really hardcore skating. She saw skaters colliding and tackling one another, as well as others viciously trying to pass one another.
And that’s when it dawned on her. These buildings weren’t just being used for skating , but also for these much competitive "roller derbies". Except that with no referee or coach on hand to oversee the game. to put it lightly… none of the rules were being followed.
But then, her eyes were drawn to a certain pink-haired girl in the crowd of skaters.
"No… That can’t be her." Twilight said. She didn’t want to believe what she was seeing but as she rubbed her eyes and looked again… Yep, It was definitely her.
What she saw was one of her closest friends, Pinkie Pie, but she looked almost unrecognizable in this context. Pinkie was skating with a fierce intensity, shoving other skaters out of her way and even dragging one behind her by the arm.
Twilight couldn't believe what she was seeing. Pinkie was always so bubbly and hyper; it was so… weird seeing her being as aggressive and competitive as Rainbow Dash.
It was at that moment that Pinkie saw Twilight and froze in her tracks, and their eyes met. For a moment, the two friends locked eyes with one another, both wide-eyed and unable to speak.
"T-Twilight? Whoa!" Pinkie began asking before suddenly being shoved by another skater.
Twilight winced at this, but that quickly turned to anger. Watching one of her best friends being shoved like that was enough for Twilight. At a moment's notice, she quickly entered the rink and began making her way over to Pinkie.
"Move it!", "Get the hell out of the way!", "Woah, heads up!" were all that she heard as she narrowly avoided being rammed by the other skaters, but she didn’t care.
Eventually, she had finally made it to Pinkie, quickly picking the pink-haired girl up and dragging her to the side.
"What are you doing?!" Pinkie asked in a sudden burst of anger. She had been enjoying herself.
"What am I doing?! What the heck are you doing competing in this roller derby… thing?!" Twilight asked, furiously. "Don’t you have any idea how dangerous this is?!"
"I know what I’m doing, Twilight!" Pinkie retorted. "I’ve been doing this for weeks now, and I’m good at it!"
"Good at it? You could seriously get hurt!" Twilight exclaimed, feeling her temper rise. "And what’s worse, you didn’t even tell us! We’re your friends! We could’ve helped you or at least made sure you were safe!"
"I didn’t tell you guys because I knew you’d freak out like this!" Pinkie shouted back, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
"I’m freaking out because you’re risking your life, Pinkie! And for what? Some underground roller derby? It’s not worth it!"
"So?! I’ll do what I want, Twilight! Don’t tell me how to live my life!" Pinkie screamed back, angrily.
"You’re still not listening!" Twilight shouted.
Before the argument could escalate any further, one of the skaters suddenly rammed hard into Twilight, knocking her down to the floor.
For a few minutes, Twilight was out cold. Then, as she began to wake up, her vision started to slowly return. It was blurry at first, but soon, she could see Pinkie crouching beside her, looking over.
"Ugh… W-Wha-? Pinkie? *sighs* What are you still doing here?" Twilight asked. She had fully expected Pinkie to be gone or at the very least, still be angry at her, but instead… she had a look of both regret and concern for her friend.
"I’m so sorry, Twilight. I didn’t mean for you to get hurt. I shouldn’t have been so reckless… and I shouldn’t have acted like such a jerk." Pinkie said, her voice barely above a whisper.
"No, no. It’s okay, Pinkie." Twilight reassured, slowly sitting up. "It’s my fault… *sighs* I shouldn’t have just started yelling at you like that… It wasn’t the right way to go about this."
Twilight paused for a moment before speaking up again. "It’s just… why? Why do you enjoy… that, so much?" She asked apprehensively, pointing back to the skaters.
Pinkie sighed before she began to explain. "Um, you remember back at the Friendship Games where I was on the speedskating team with Rarity?"
Twilight slowly nodded.
"Well, when I was on that track, the adrenaline kicked in and I never felt so alive! And so when I heard about these roller derbies being held here, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to show off my skills, and it was the coolest thing ever!"
Pinkie then smiled. "Look, I love doing this because not only is it actually really, really fun, but, I can be myself out there and show a side of me that hasn’t really been seen before."
"I understand, Pinkie. And I’m sorry for not understanding it. I promise I’ll be more supportive from now on." Twilight said, giving her pink-haired friend a warm hug.
The two friends hugged for a few moments before Twilight spoke up again.
"You do realize that you’re still going to have to tell the others about this, right?"
Pinkie nodded, looking with a tinge of nervousness. "I know. It’s just… I’m not sure how they’ll react!"
"They’ll definitely be worried, Pinkie. But they’ll also be there for you, we all will. That’s what friends are for." Twilight said reassuringly.
"O-Okay, I’ll tell them!" Pinkie said, happily giving her friend a thumbs up.
Suddenly, they heard a noise and this noise was not a good one. It was the sound of a key turning the lock of one of the exit doors and it starting to creak open.
Twilight and Pinkie looked at each other, silently communicating their thoughts. They knew they had two options, either, run upstairs, get to the fire escape, and hightail it outta there or scream that someone was in the building and then try to escape.
They both nodded at each other and chose the first option, they did not want to alert whoever it was that was in the building.
They quickly made their way through the doors and ran through the halls and as they approached the stairs, a little BB hit Twilight in the thigh from Lemon.
"Ow! Hey!" Twilight winced, trying to keep her voice down.
"Oh hey, Twilight! What’s up?" Lemon said casually, unaware of the danger they were in.
"Yeah, thanks for shooting me. Anyway, get your stuff, we’re leaving." Twilight replied in a hushed voice.
"Wha- why? What’s going on?" Lemon asked, still not aware of the situation.
"Look, there’s someone in the building and they’re probably coming up right now, get your stuff." Pinkie quickly explained.
Lemon slowly removed her headphones and looked down the hall.
"Cops…" She muttered as she ran to grab her backpack and immediately texted Sour, Indigo, and Sugarcoat.
LemonZesty23
cops got called. get to the car now!
Sweet&Sour
We’re already heading out the fire escape. It’s you and Twilight that need to get out now!
The three friends ran up the stairs, down the hall, and as they were making their way out of the fire escape themselves, they heard someone downstairs yelling:
"EVERYBODY, RUN, RUN, RUN! COPS CALLED CALLED! COPS GOT CALLED!"
This only made them go faster as panic started to really set in. They had managed to quickly descend down the ladder, made their way to the sidewalk, and began fast walking to the car with Twilight getting ahead of both Lemon and Pinkie.
And as she turned around, she noticed there were lights in the front parking lot, and she knew what they were, they weren't some strange lights, they were most definitely cop car lights.
"Nope. We are not sticking around for that." Twilight thought to herself as she began running.
To their relief, the cops didn't see them because the fire escape was more towards the back of the school and the cops had gone in through the little exit on the right side of the building, which was towards the front so it was easy to access and they didn't want to go right through the front because they'd be easily seen.
Soon, Twilight and Lemon found the car they had come in and quickly hopped in the backseat. Sour, Indigo, and Sugarcoat were already there with the car started.
"Where have you two been?!" Sour asked.
"It doesn’t matter, we need to get out of here, now!" Indigo shouted.
"Wait, don’t leave! We’re still missing someone!" Twilight said as she hurriedly climbed over Lemon and opened up the door.
"What do you think you’re doing, Twilight?!" Sugarcoat asked angrily.
"Come on, Pinkie!" Twilight called out as she held the door open.
Pinkie, who had fallen behind, was nearing the car and decided to make a bold move. When she got close enough, she quite literally leaped into the backseat and somehow managed to land somewhat comfortably on Lemon, Twilight, and Sugarcoat’s knees.
"Alright, let's go! Go, go, go!" Twilight shouted. With everyone accounted for, Lemon hurriedly shut the door and Sour stepped on the gas,
not slowing down until they were back on the highway.
At first, the only thing that could be heard in the car were the six of them panting, out breath. But soon after, they just began laughing hysterically over just how crazy of a night it’s been.
"O-ho, man! What a night!" Sour exclaimed.
"That was so cool!" Indigo quickly added, giggling.
"Well, Twilight…" Lemon chuckled. "How’s that for a night out?"
Twilight couldn't help but laugh alongside them, despite the chaos they had just so narrowly escaped from, she couldn't deny that tonight was certainly one she was going to be remembering for quite a while.
"Yeah, I’m never doing something like that ever again…" Twilight began, still catching her breath. "But… even I have to admit, I don't think I've ever had a night out quite like this!"
"Me neither!" Pinkie agreed. "But hey, it's not every day you get to go to an abandoned school, get tackled by random skaters, and narrowly escape the cops, am I right?"
The group continued to laugh and joke around as they drove away and as the car turned a corner and disappeared into the night, Twilight couldn't help but smile, feeling grateful for the friends she had and the adventures they shared together.
