“Wait wait wait! It was just a joke! I swear it was just a joke!”

Sunset Shimmer raises an eyebrow at you, having seen something completely different than what you just said, namely on the slip of paper she saw. She’s not so much smug as she is unamused and almost annoyed by your perceived dishonesty.

“My brain says things I don’t mean all the time! Doesn’t everyone’s brains do that?”

“The only person here who sees more in Trixie than you do is Trixie herself.” Sunset crosses her arms.

‘Yeah, so?”

“And it’s only by a little. Which is saying something. And that’s not including the love letter you wrote her.”

You fumble over your words and thoughts you attempt to string together into a coherent, presentable narrative trying to explain yourself. Such an unfortunate trait of people like you who begin to not even believe yourself when you know you’re telling the truth, as soon as you’re being put on the defensive.

“I don’t have a crush on her!” You defend yourself with a slight blush peeking its way onto your skin. “I wrote the letter as a joke!”

“If it’s a joke then why do you think about Trixie every Valentine’s Day?”

“I don’t!!”

Sunset grabbed your wrist again before you knew she was reaching for it. There seriously has to be a rule against her doing that whole mind-reading thing without someone’s consent.

“I noticed this pattern before!” Sunset tells you with sassily lidded eyes.

“That’s just my brain freaking out again! I don’t mean half the things I think! It’s only there because you implied it, and then touched me with me knowing you can read my mind.”

Sunset isn’t buying that.

“Listen, I’m not trying to shame you for it or anyth-“

“There’s nothing to be shamed here!”

“I just want you to be honest with me! Because Trixie is so lonely every Valentine’s Day! And I just saw you remember all the times during every Valentine’s Day thinking about her. What did you expect me to think of that coupled with you being the one who wrote the letter?”

The look in Sunset’s eyes silently blares out “How could you? Trixie could have been in a relationship with you all these years instead of spending Valentine’s Day alone”. And that look only makes your cognitive dissonance force the narrative she just fed to you even harder. This wouldn’t be a problem if you weren’t aware she was reading your mind, you’d just fantasize about Sunset herself or something like almost every other guy your age and move on.

Ah, who are you kidding? She probably caught you doing that too at one point and isn’t comfortable with admitting that she saw it. But your main concern is your brain intentionally sabotaging you at every turn, only thinking what you know is the last thing you want to be caught thinking, right as the mind-reader makes contact with you.

How in the world did humans survive through evolution with this BS going on? On the outside, you’ve been perfectly articulate and explaining your side of things, but your mind internally is not sound. And now Sunset doesn’t believe anything you say, because she can see everything you’re thinking… but not everything you’re thinking is reflective of what is actually true about you.

“Look. All I’m saying is that the letter was just supposed to be a joke. You weren’t supposed to find out it was me!” You repeat, raising your voice but not enough for the other students to hear.

“Not a very funny joke. You got her hopes up that someone else out there wanted to spend time with her tomorrow.”

“She. Wasn’t. Supposed. To. Find. Out. Who. It. Was.”

“Then why would you write it in the first place?! Entertaining YOURSELF with a fake love letter to a girl everyone knows is lonely?”

“It was supposed to be one of those open-ended mystery types of things! Where Trixie knew someone out there who wasn’t her was in love with her but could only speculate who it was.”

“I want you to ask yourself something. Does that really sound like a smart idea?” Sunset ripples her now tilted-forward forehead.

“No! It doesn’t, I have really crummy ideas sometimes, okay? Can we at least start there?”

“We can go there next if you can explain why you not only think about Trixie every Valentine’s Day, but also wrote her a love letter that’s supposedly a ‘joke’, one day before Valentine’s Day.”

She’s right about one thing: that really doesn’t even sound like a smart idea no matter which way you look at it. And now you’re stuck with the consequences. Though, it was your horrible luck that let Sunset Shimmer make physical contact with you and see you remember writing the darn thing.

The truth is, you just feel bad for Trixie and wanted to do a little thing to make her feel special. Erm… more special than usual.

You figured that if she saw that someone who isn’t her wrote a love letter to her, maybe she’d stop being so annoying trying to prove something every day, because she’d feel like she already proved that people love her. Why didn’t you think about all the ways this could have gone awry until after it was too late?

Maybe you really are just stupid.

Worst part is, if you tell the full truth, you’re still the bad guy anyway for not only not minding your own business, but also imply that you don’t think anyone actually likes to be around Trixie.

“Alright, well since you don’t have anything else to say right now, I guess I’ll just leave you with this since I don’t wanna be late to class.” Sunset resumes after your unfortunate silence that lasted longer than five seconds.

“I’m just thinking!”

“About what? You don’t have to think if you’re telling the truth! And I already saw what you were thinking anyway.” Sunset stops herself, feeling as though she’d gone too far.

“There’s just a lot to unpack, is all. I know you probably saw that as an admission by silence. But I really just don’t like being put on the defensive like this! Will you at least give me a second to get my story straight?”

“You’re right, you’re right. I’m sorry, maybe your thoughts really are jumpy because I came on so strong. It happens to people kinda often.”

“Then why didn’t you think of that first?”

“I know, I’m sorry. Let’s just… take a step back and start this over.”

“Okay, cool. Thanks.”

“Alright, so, you did write the love letter to Trixie. Yes?” Sunset begins.

“I did. But it wasn’t genuine, I just wanted to… I dunno, make her feel better.”

The distant sounds of lockers slamming and doors opening and shutting make you imagine which classrooms are empty enough to be better suited for a private conversation such as this.

“So it wasn’t a joke?” Asks Sunset with a more open-minded tone.

“No, I just said that because you kinda… It was the best way I could word it off the top of my head, okay?” You clarify with a sigh in your tone. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think it was something funny or anything like that.”

“Okay. Okay okay okay. Okay, so it still wasn’t a real love letter.”

“Correct.”

“…But Trixie still read it.”

“My idea was stupid. I’m sorry.”

“Okay well, this means you have to go up to her and tell her yourself what you really did. Before this turns into something more than what it really is.”

You groan, knowing full well that Sunset Shimmer is completely right in what she’s saying to you. And only now in this moment do you wish you didn’t get yourself caught up in this stupid mess you have no one but yourself to blame for.

“I’m sorry but there’s nothing else I can tell you. You brought this situation upon yourself. I’m not rubbing it in or anything, I’m just being honest.”

“I know. I know.”

“Okay, so you really should go talk to her. And like, now.”

“Now now?”

“Now now.” Sunset sharpens her tone back up. “It’d only be worse if you wait until tomorrow to tell her, and let her know her great… discovery… was actually false on Valentine’s Day itself.”

“Oh jeez.” You run your hand up your forehead and along the top of your head with an exasperated sigh and take a couple of mini steps as you look around.

Sunset shrugs at you, only further solidifying that yes, Trixie is her friend too and it’s not just the rainbow beam crew.

“Can’t I just wait until like a week from now and then tell her? So I don’t spoil the moment.” You suggest, not waiting to go out of your way to actually go through with this, and pray that everyone just forgets in a week.

There’s a long pause before Sunset answers you.

“Okay, hear me out. I don’t know if that’s a good idea.” Responds Sunset with a gentle rasp in her voice. “She’ll have made fond memories tomorrow thinking she had a secret admirer for real for the first time. Surely you know how… immersed she can get. Especially immersed in herself. Just imagine how she feels about the idea of someone else now being that immersed in her. It’s probably rocking her whole world right now, and the longer this goes on, the more solidified this will become in her head. And the more it’ll hurt when she finds out it wasn’t true all along.”

You curse to yourself under your breath.

“Look, I know it’s not something you want to do, but you gotta do it. Because it’s the right thing to do. If the crush really isn’t real, then you need to be genuine about it and tell her, otherwise, you might be setting her up for heartbreak if she somehow finds out the truth on her own. I don’t want that to happen to her, I hope you understand.”

“I see what you mean.” You internally give up on the hope that everyone will forget in a week.

The two of you nod to eachother, and a couple of other students can be heard meandering on by not too far away, hopefully not the kind who would have just been eavesdropping on other people’s conversations.

“Trixie has lunch next period. Can you tell her then?”

“You sure you can’t tell her?”

“You wrote the letter. She needs to hear it from you.”

You gulp, now feeling the guilt crushing you like a boulder. Curse under your breath again before nodding with reluctant eyes.

Sunset is no longer asking about why you had supposedly been thinking about Trixie every Valentine’s Day, however. Maybe she’s already sure you’re going to deny it whether it’s true or not.

~

Think to yourself in embarrassment and you get ready to get this over with and finally have it out of the way forever.

The thing that makes your idea even more ridiculously stupid is the fact that you’ve never been much of a celebrator of Valentine’s Day at all. Aside celebrating casual platonic love for friends and family. But nothing pertaining to romantic or god forbid sexual love. You’ve also never been the type to avoid relationships or even conversations with girls because it supposedly makes you cool or something (it doesn’t). Nor have you then turned around to sing the blues about being alone on Valentine’s Day anyway and blah blah blah…

In your case, your life is perfect the way it is and you simply don’t want to pop the bubble you got going on here, not even going out of your way to talk about it to your little circle of buddies. Not only do you figure that your approach definitely nothing unique, but you imagine there’s too much responsibility in being a boyfriend to someone. It’d get in the way of things you care about, and you’d rather not do that. Being only ever platonic friends with everyone you meet is an underrated thing.

Besides, you’ve had no trouble simply talking to girls platonically all the time. Talking to people and making friend with them ain’t rocket science, makes no difference to you whether it’s a boy or a girl as long as they’re not weird.

And because of all of the above, your little stint writing a fake love letter to Trixie to make her feel better makes even less sense to you. Why in the world did that idea pop into your head the way it did? Why did you actually go through with it? There was no reason for you to even remember where Trixie’s locker was, and you somehow just… knew. Why is that? Why did you suddenly believe you’ve thought about Trixie every Valentine’s day when confronted? Did someone out there hack your brain or something?

All these unanswered questions buzz around in your head like a swarm of angry hornets, or a school of piranhas biting away at something in your mind you can no longer identify.

None of this reflects who you even are, so why did you bother even going through with such a stupid decision that doesn’t even make sense? Your brain is nerfing you and itself on purpose, it seems. And even then, it’s not going to change who you actually are, as if you’re going to perform reverse-psychology on yourself and make yourself fall in love with Trixie for real. You’re already aware of that hypothetical scenario, and already know it’s not going to happen, even if someone like Sunset looking in from the outside may or may not think it will.

Just because she can read your thoughts doesn’t mean she can understand them. The same would apply to her reading anyone else’s thoughts, your case is nothing out of the ordinary. So it should be clear to her that what she assumed isn’t possible to happen, you’re just not interested.

There is nothing in this world that can change that fact, no one out there who can change how you look at the world around yourself and what you would like to do with it. Especially someone like Trixie, she’s too much of a handful to even talk to normally without going on and on about herself. You’ve even almost forgotten to go to lunch this class period and tell her. It really is that hard for it to even bother you, at a base level. Had Sunset not been a factor, this would have been one of those things the vast majority of the short-attention-span teenagers here forget after a week or two, yourself included.

But all things considered, you are who you are. And you’re just glad Sunset isn’t going to put you in the spotlight and make you prove that as though it’s necessary. And you hope everyone else will forget about these inevitable rumors after a short time like you’re going to. All of the above about you does indeed make you pretty stuck in your ways, but they are your ways.

There’s not a single person out there you’re aware of who can change that.

~

Principal Cadance sits at her desk at the end of the school day.

Every year on Valentine’s Day, she has made it a tradition to pair up as many students as she can ever since she became Principal of Crystal Prep. She’s always been sure to do it in a non-intrusive, non-invasive way; she vows to simply teach her students the value of love and togetherness outside of hanging out and being friends and teammates.

There’s a lot more focus, drive and enthusiasm in what one does when doing something for or alongside someone they’re deeply affectionate for, Cadance knows this and has seen it in real time. Love is a much more powerful thing than most people realize, even when they’re directly affected by it.

Love makes people stupid, love makes people smart, love makes people weak, love makes people strong. Love is the most potent catalyst built-in deep inside of everyone and only needs a bit of waking up to make them reach their full potential.

With this, Principal Cadance pairs her students up on Valentine’s Day every year to keep a string of nice and healthy romantic relationships so their hearts are more in it when they compete together in the Friendship Games. However, if the home team doesn’t win, that’s still okay. They had a great time doing these things with those they love dearly, and that is what truly matters at the end of the day. The power of love giving them a further boost in drive and all that is simply an extra perk in competing in the Friendship Games. Cadance will not end up like Cinch and make everything about winning and reputation. She will make it all about love and good spirit instead, with a side of hopefully winning (but it’s okay if you don’t).

All of which is at least what a lot of the students from both CPA and CHS understand about Principal Cadance to at least some degree. It’s become sort of a running joke amongst some boys about how she’s gonna make it easier for them to get girlfriends using some elusive love magic to make them want to be in eachother’s presence more often. The ancient Greeks did something similar to this in Thebes and it apparently worked.

But again, Principal Cadance’s methods are intentionally non-intrusive and non-invasive, at least as much as she can make them. It’s definitely a lot more laid back than some of the other bouts with magic that have gone on around these parts, and Cadance makes it crystal clear that she only uses it for good intentions. While on the inside, she’s developed this mantra that the power of love cannot fail no matter what.

Maybe things will take a different turn after the school district’s ethics committee emails Cadance back, depending on how they respond to all of this. For for the meantime, the power of love and its potent practices are full speed ahead as far as Principal Cadance is concerned.

And of course, some of the students might find this a little creepy, to put it lightly. Especially those like one student over at Canterlot High who may or may not have written a fake love letter to a classmate for a dishonest purpose.

The power of love cannot be topped, and Principal Cadance proved this again and again, which is why she’s excited for Valentine’s Day tomorrow.

Her phone rings.

“Hello? Luna! What’s goin’ on? … Oh you know, more of the usual. Getting ready for tomorrow and everything. … Mhm… Really… Really? … Which one of your students? … Uh-huh… Well what did he do? … Mhm? … Say what now?”

Principal Cadance’s eyes begin to form storm clouds of determination the more and more she hears about the blasphemous act that has been performed over at Canterlot High. One that has entirely to do with love problems, with a clear bad actor at fault who is refusing to be dealt with. He’s currently sat in one of the vacant classrooms with Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna doing everything they can to get through to him.

“Is Trixie Lulamoon okay?” Asks Cadance into the phone, her heart slowly breaking for one student at the other school and slowly revving up in disappointed vengefulness for the other. “Okay, well did she stop crying now? … That’s terrible! … How could he do something like that? … I know! … Didn’t he realize how much that meant to her? … I see… Okay, I’ll see what I can do.”

Principal Cadance soon hangs up the phone with urgency in her heart and a mission in her mind. It’s a good thing the students here will cooperate together without her presence; Cadance is going to be busy tomorrow on Valentine’s Day.

Author's Note

I will try to get the next part out TONIGHT.