“Alright,” Indigo said to the gathered Shadowbolts. The five were standing around by the entrance to the school just after classes had ended for the day. “It took a while to narrow it down, but I think we have a strong candidate for our science fair entry.”

“Indeed,” Sugarcoat said, pushing up her glasses. “And we have the resources and just enough time to accomplish it. Our science fair project is going to be—”

“Excuse me, girls.”

The five Shadowbolts looked up to see Principal Cadance standing there. She flashed an apologetic smile.

“I didn’t mean to interrupt, but I wanted to introduce our new transfer student,” Cadance explained, stepping to the side.

Behind her was a girl around their age. She had creamy yellow skin, long, amaranth hair with purple and violet highlights, and dark purple eyes behind thick-rimmed black glasses. The bridge of the glasses were well taped, and a pair of bushy eyebrows were knit in frustration as she fidgeted with her Crystal Prep uniform. It was a lot like Sunny’s, only with pink socks.

“Girls, this is Moondancer,” Cadance said. “She’ll be starting classes with us next week. I’m just showing her around for now.”

The Shadowbolts all waved and muttered greetings, but Moondancer just gave an annoyed frown and offered a brief wave in return.

Cadance gently cleared her throat. “Ah, yes, well… on with the tour,” she said, gently leading Moondancer deeper into the school.

“Huh,” Lemon remarked once they were out of sight. “She kinda reminded me of someone…”

“What? The typical stereotype for the shut-in nerd?” Sugarcoat asked.

“And stuck up,” Sunny said, crossing her arms. “She’d have fit right in under Cinch.”

“No, I mean… she kinda reminded me of Twilight,” Lemon said. “When she first got here?”

A quiet fell over the group as the name sunk in. The Shadowbolts all shifted on their feet as they remembered their former classmate. How they never cheered her on during the Friendship Games and… everything that followed.

“Yeah…” Sour said quietly, rubbing her arm. “She does remind me of Twilight too…”

Indigo frowned. “Well, then that means we got another chance,” she said firmly.

“Another chance to do what, exactly?” Sunny asked.

“We never tried to be friends with Twilight,” Indigo said. “And under Cinch, friendship was a bit of a foreign concept anyway around here. But things are different now. We’re different.”

“What are you suggesting?” Sugarcoat asked, an eyebrow raised in intrigue.

“We try to be the friends for Moondancer we never tried to be with Twilight,” Indigo continued. “We welcome her with open arms instead of shunning her.”

“I dunno, that’s a pretty tall order,” Lemon remarked.

“We don’t exactly have this ‘friendship’ thing nailed down,” Sour agreed, before muttering. “Not that anyone wants to be friends with us…”

“Sour is correct. It seems unlikely, with our natures, that she would be willing to be friends with us,” Sugarcoat pointed out.

“C’mon. We’re Shadowbolts,” Indigo said. “We’re the best of the best… maybe with less of our old pride, but still the best. I know we can do it if we at least try our best.”

The other Shadowbolts shared uncertain glances. Indigo huffed and held out her hand in the middle.

“C’mon girls. We won’t know until we try,” she said.

One by one, the Shadowbolts reluctantly nodded and added their hand to the center before lifting them as one.

“So… how do we do this?” Lemon asked.

“We divide and conquer,” Indigo explained. “Next week, each of us try and befriend her.”

“But what do we do?” Sunny insisted.

“I… don’t know. But it can’t be that hard. Just… whatever we did with Twilight, do the opposite of it. We sneered, we cheer. We demean, we… ok, I ran out of rhymes, but you get it,” Indigo said. “At the end of it, who knows? Maybe we’ll have another member for our science fair team.”

“With a whole lot of hope and luck,” Sour muttered.

Author's Note

Date of Creation (D.o.C.): 09/10/24

Surprise, it's Moondancer!

-yours truly,
The Legendary Bill Cipher, Equestria Enthusiast