Back In The Game

“And this is the lunch room,” I finished the tour of CHS for the Shadowbolts as Indigo stuck her hands in her jacket that had a large gold S on the left sleeve. For trying to blend in, this group really wasn’t trying hard enough in my opinion.

Back when I was a bully, blending in was key. That’s how I got practically everything I did done. Just act like you belong and no one raises an eyebrow your way.

“Right now it’s breakfast. Breakfast is about six dollars so just toss it to Granny Smith and you should be good. Between us though, she will most likely give it for free. Lunch is free, but extra stuff like chips or flavored waters costs money.”

“So like Crystal Prep,” Lemon Hearts mused as Moondancer tugged at her turtleneck sweater. “Oh, joy. Lyra!”

“Yo!” Lyra screamed across the room and we all jumped as the room fell silent, everyone’s eyes on us. Lyra bounded over with a large grin. “Sorry we split earlier. We had to use the bathroom.”

I wonder if that was a term for a quickie in the bathroom. Everyone knew Lyra and Bon Bon were seeing each other. It was the most well known secret in school.

Lyra hugged Lemon Hearts as the girl squeaked and I snickered as Bon Bon facepalmed.

“You guys should be careful,” Bon Bon crossed her arms and scowled at Sour Sweet. “You Shadowbolts aren’t the most well liked around here.”

“Oh someone doesn’t like me,” Sour Sweet commented and tapped a finger against her chin. “That’s cute.” Sunny Flare elbowed her with a frown and shook her head subtly as Bon Bon narrowed her eyes.

“You’d be wise to follow your friends instructions,” Bon Bon warned softly and shifted her stance slightly.

“Heyyy,” Twinkleshine interjected and wrapped her arms around Bon Bon and Sours necks. “We’re all friends here, right? The rivalry is over. You all proved to be better than us. Cinch is gone, Cadence is in charge. We don’t have to fight anymore. If it makes you all feel better, I’ll apologize on my classmates behalf.”

“Fine,” Bon Bon shrugged the other girl off after examining her for a long moment. “For the record, don’t touch me. I don’t like being touched.”

“Bons is reallllly finicky,” Lyra chuckled and elbowed Minuette who had been standing awkwardly to my left. “Come on, I’ll introduce you to Vinyl, Derpy and Octavia. Fair warning, Vinyl is uh unique.”

She had a damn point there. And I thought Lyra was crazy.

“See ya magic pony girl!” Lyra called out and gave me a friendly wave followed a grin, Bon Bon giving the gesture much more reserved way that was typical for her.

And there it was. The normal, crazy Lyra that we all knew and loved. Okay, the Lyra everyone knew and most loved. I didn’t really mind her when I wasn’t called the “magic pony girl”. At least she never called me “she demon”.

“Come on, let’s get breakfast. On me,” I waved Coco and the remaining Shadowbolts forward as everyone kept staring at us.

Rainbow had apparently wanted nothing to do with the Shadowbolts and Twilight quickly shared her sentiment. Rarity and Fluttershy were both indifferent while Applejack and Pinkie were too happy to extend an olive branch.

I had a feeling this wasn’t going to end well somehow.

I gave a loud curse and slammed my controller down as the other girls gave me startled looks.

“Easy darling. You don’t want to break another controller,” Rarity warned me as she and Fluttershy sat on top of my mattress doing their nails.

“Oh, that’s not a problem,” I reassured them and stood up.

“And pray tell what is that?” Rarity asked curiously and I stepped to my safe, spinning the combination lock around and opened it, revealing multi un opened Xbox controllers of various colors, wired and wireless sitting on top of each other.

“Ha!” Rainbow laughed and pointed at it. “Oh, uno by the way AJ.”

Applejack cursed softly under her breath and I chuckled, kicking my safe door shut.

“So,” Pinkie started and I jumped as my pink party friend appeared in front of me. “How’s it going with the Shadowbolt friends of yours.”

The room fell silent and I felt yet again everyone’s eyes on me. That was happening a lot recently.

“Good. Lyra is having a sleepover with her friends right now at her place. They’re pretty nice,” I answered and sat down back on my beanbag.

“I don’t know why you care so much,” Rainbow commented and gave me a look as she drew another card and cursed loudly. “They’re jerks.”

“I don’t see why you don’t care,” I shot back and frowned slightly as I restarted Skylanders. “What happened is in the past.”

“Because they were jerks to us all,” Rainbow retorted and I shot her a look.

“Yeah and so was I. What’s the point?”

“Because you were always a Wondercolt. You were always on our side, even if you were a bitch-” Rainbow started and Twilight kicked her legs as we all glared at her. “Key word is were, sheesh guys. Sunset isn’t that way anymore. They were jerks longer than we knew you. You never vandalized our Wondercolt statue. You never turned your back on the sports teams to beat us. They’re evil and they aren’t worth it. Why do you care so much? What’s in it for you?”

“Because they are just like me!” I snapped and Rainbow recoiled, dropping her hand of cards. “They were just like me, except they didn’t turn into a flying demon like I did. I see myself in them. If I don’t help them out, then what does that say about me?”

Fluttershy stood up and I felt her hand resting on my shoulder.

“And what do you see?” Fluttershy inquired and I sighed.

“I see a bunch of confused girls who’s entire world was turned upside down like mine was. They are trying to sort out their lives now, just like I tried to do after the Fall Formal. Aren’t we like, all about caring about friendship and all?”

“Our friendship!” Rainbow shouted and gestured around wildly at us all gathered in my room. “We don’t give a damn about no one else!”

“Rainbow Dash!” Applejack admonished with wide eyes.

“What?”

“We care about everyone, no matter who they are,” Applejack punched Rainbow in the shoulder. “Now knock it off. If Sunset trusts her gut on this, then so do Ah. And Pinkie does too. If Sunset is making more friends, than ah’m happy for her. Y’all should be too. We all have friends outside this group. Rarity has Coco and countless others. Ah got Pinks and mah family, Bon Bon. Rainbow has Cloudkicker and Baton Switch. Fluttershy got Treehugger and who the hell knows. Pinkie has Sunset, Lyra, Octavia, Bon Bon and Derpy. This is good for her and us.”

We all fell silent as we each found something interesting in my room to look at. Kinda hard for me to do, considering it’s my room and all. Applejack always was better than the rest of us at giving mom styled lectures. Reminds me of a certain princess I knew. Thank the lord my roommates were all out today, especially Lemon Zest.

“In other news,” Rarity coughed into a fist nervously. “How are you and Coco?”

Ah, the typical Rarity topic change. She was always good at that.

“Fine. We’ve been texting here and there. She’s nice,” I answered cautiously and eyed Rarity suspiciously. “I’m surprised you didn’t go for her.”

“Oh ho,” Rarity chuckled and sat forward. “Coco is not my type. We are friends, nothing more and nothing less. But she is your type darling. I’m doing this because I genuinely think you birh deserve some happiness in your life. We are your friends, but there’s a certain type of affection a partner can give that we cannot.”

“I did some thinking,” Rainbow licked her lips before I could reply to Rarity. “Sunset, you’re sure about this and them?”

“I am,” I confirmed with a curt nod.

“Then I’m in,” Rainbow answered after a moment. “I don’t give a damn what anyone else thinks. I got your back if you’re absolutely sure about it. And even then, I’m still on your side.”

“Thank you, Dash.”

I was pretty damn lucky to have these friends.