"You're fucking kidding me, right?"

Twilight and Bristle had walked into the school's library, prepared to do some research. Bristle had no idea what she expected to find, but he figured living in a library biased you towards them. He was not expecting how big a high school library would be.

"What kind of high school has a library this big? Mine had about 4 working computers, no useful books, and nice big windows that usually had dead birds in the view."

"Really? My library was always this nice back in school. I could spend all day and night in there doing research or just leisurely reading."

"Well then, let me offer two rebuttals. Number one, not all of us went to fancy schools under the private tutelage of Princess Celestia herself. And number two, NEEEEEERD!"

"Ooh, great rebuttal there, Bristle. I'm sure she's just aching inside, hurt by your genius. And because it can't be properly conveyed through text, that's sarcasm right there."

"And now that I'm done with insulting you, would you care to explain what you expect to find in a library? We're supposed to be researching ways to win a race for a meaningless high school title in order to win a crown, and more importantly, ways to take Sunset Shimmer down. We're not going to find that among books on the fall of the Roman Empire."

Twilight looked at him, shocked that he underestimated the power of books. "Don't you get it? We're in a library! Books are the greatest weapons there are!"

"You stole that from Doctor Who."

Twilight ignored him. "School libraries also contain various records on the school and the people in it. We could find something in here that gives us insight on Sunset Shimmer's past here, something we could use."

"Well, I'm already seeing a few flaws in that plan. First off, we don't know how old she is. She could be a freshman, and have absolutely no presence in the books. Or of course, she could be an antisocial asshole, preventing being photographed or listed in any groups."

"Somehow I doubt she's the kind to avoid attention. She seems pretty vain and power-hungry."

Twilight's bag started rustling and punched from the inside. She unzipped it, and Spike popped out, gasping for air. "Is it too much to ask you to leave it a little open for an air hole? It's almost impossible to breathe, and the smell of a stuffy bag is hardly nice."

"Oh yeah, Spike exists. Somehow, the role of 'comic relief dog' doesn't offer him much time to do anything."

"Anyway, from what I could hear inside a bag, there's something else wrong here. You're looking for information on Sunset Shimmer in a yearbook? What are you going to do, taunt her with her favorite quote?"

Twilight threw her hands into the air. "Fine, doubt my plan. But I'm going to put Sunset Shimmer back in her place, win the crown, and go back to Equestria even if you don't help!"

"What makes you think I'm not helping," Bristle asked. "I don't have anything better to do right now, and I'm always up for some knocking down pegs of...people...down. Lost my train of thought. Anyway, let's get to work!"

Smiling, Twilight tried to pull a book off the shelf. She kept running her fingers across it, not having enough mastery to perform the basic action. She gave up and grabbed it with her mouth, tossing it to Bristle that way, who made a point to wipe it off before opening it and reading. She grabbed another book using the same method and dropped it on the floor for Spike. Finally, with one more book out, they were ready to begin their investigation.

Twilight had been reading her book for 5 minutes before Bristle excitedly shoved the open book in her face. "I found something pretty good! We can work with this!"

She took the book and read the page he had open. Sure enough, it had a picture of Sunset Shimmer. She looked it over, but didn't find any useful information. "Okay, you found a picture. What does this prove?"

"Don't you see? Look at her shirt. Isn't there something suspicious about it? Maybe a marking that shouldn't be there?"

Twilight looked at the picture closer, at the more specific area Bristle had pointed out, but didn't find anything more. "No, I don't see it. What are you trying to make me notice?"

He sighed and put his finger on the image. "That, right there. It's a white splotch on her shirt, and those don't have many explanations. The way I see it, our Sunset Shimmer is a whore, plain and simple."

Now that Twilight did indeed see what he was talking about, she noticed it somewhere else on the page. "Well, what about this? This picture of Pinkie Pie has the exact same mark. How do you explain that one?"

"Well, when the subject is Pinkie Pie, the amount of possibilities opens up greatly. Perhaps she spilled some powdered sugar, or frosting. Maybe it's glue. Or she could be a slut too, did you already forget the "Panty Incident of Not Even 30 Minutes Ago"?

"If there was ever an event that deserved a statue to commemorate it, that would be a prime contender. I'll build it myself if I have to."

"Look, the point is, it doesn't matter what it is. We can claim that it's exactly what we think it is on Sunset, ruin her image, and guarantee a victory for us. Hehe, spreading dirty rumors is fun."

Unbeknownst to them, but knownst to us, Sunset Shimmer was watching from a distance, spying on them. "It sure is. By tomorrow morning, you'll both be so hated that you won't even be able to stay in this dimension." She slunk away, an evil plan forming and ready to be carried out.

Twilight, Bristle and Spike were continuing to look through the books on any more solid information. Bristle opened up to a new page and smiled. "Aw, what a cute picture of Fluttershy." He pulled out his phone and aimed it at the page. "And...saved." The click of the camera was drowned out by the ringing school bell.

Twilight looked up. "What do you think it's signaling?"

"I hope it's lunch time. I could eat. I always could."

"Lunch? It's 2:30 in the afternoon."

"I got 2:28."

"WE'RE NOT HAVING THIS DISCUSSION AGAIN!"

They put their books back and walked out of the library. Wandering around hoping to find the cafeteria, they happened to bump into Fluttershy again. "Well, hello again sweetie. Nice to run into you again. Where we going?"

Fluttershy blushed hard. "It's lunch time. Since you two don't seem to know your way around, do you want to follow me?"

Twilight nodded. "That sounds great, Fluttershy. Do you have anything else we should probably know about the school as long as we're here?"

Fluttershy started explaining as they walked together. "There's a lot you should know, but the most important thing is to stay in your own social group. People in the other groups can be nice, but it's not good to take chances." They entered the cafeteria, and Fluttershy pointed out the tables. "You've got the musicians, the actors, the geeks, the jocks, and the hippies. You can tag along with me and the other animal lovers for now."

"You kidding? The geeks are a prolific clique in this school? I've found my people." Bristle left to join his table.

Twilight stayed. "I think I'll stay with you, Fluttershy. Any more useful information?"

"The only other thing I can think of is to stay away from Sunset Shimmer, but it looks like you're already defying that one. I know you're brave enough to stand up to her, but please be careful. She's done some terrible things."

"Why does everyone keep saying that? She's a mean high school girl, it's not like she's going to grow wings and fangs with demonic powers if I make her mad."

"You don't understand. She's made other kids have to leave this school because they accidentally did something to her. She can dig up the worst and most private dirt on you and make everyone know it. There's a few rumors that she fakes the pictures she shares, but no one would dare call her out on it."

As the two girls got their food and sat down, Twilight continued. "Well, I think we might be able to give her a taste of her own medicine soon enough. But we're going to need a little more solid evidence first."

Fluttershy's eyes widened. "You WHAT?! No, nononono! You can't directly oppose her if you want to make it out with any dignity intact! Look, I want you to look over there. You see that girl over there?"

Twilight turned her head to look where Fluttershy was pointing. She saw a girl happily eating peanut butter crackers. "Is this just a thing with me today? This is the second time today I'm missing what someone else is pointing out."

"That is Trixie. Not too long ago, she used to be a magician. She was amazing, could draw a crowd and perform really impressive tricks. One little trick involving Sunset Shimmer later, she hates magic with a passion and doesn't want to be anywhere near it again. It gets that bad."

"Well, she's going to have a hard time finding anything to use against me. I'm clean and new here."

"That's not enough, she will..." She was interrupted by Twilight's backpack trying to force itself open. A paw stuck out of the hole and pulled the zipper up, letting Spike walk out and steal some food. Fluttershy forgot what she was talking about. "You have a dog? Oh, he's so cute! Are you hungry, little guy? Here, I've got some treats in my bag for you." She pulled out a dog treat, letting him eat it out of her hand while she pet him. "What's his name?"

Twilight was taken aback at the sudden change in conversation tone. "Oh, he's Spike."

While Fluttershy continued to pet and scratch Spike, Bristle slid onto the bench. "Alright, so I managed to get some information from my fellow geeks, and it confirms my earlier theory. That guy's Flareon isn't walking again." He noticed Fluttershy and Spike on the table. "Good thing no one in high school cares about much, or someone would probably notice the dog on the table."

Twilight turned to face Bristle. "So, what did they tell you?"

"Well, for starters, Sunset Shimmer pretty much controls the primary flow of information across the school. She finds out a lot of what people just tell each other, which makes others too scared to even talk about her in any capacity. But we control the encrypted channels, so the techies have got the most to share. Turns out, Sunset Shimmer has slept with half the guys here, even when she had a boyfriend. Flash Sentry broke up with her because he caught her blowing Soarin'. They even agreed to provide various pictures." A chime came from his pocket, and he pulled out his phone. "Ooh, that's one for the archives."

Twilight grinned deviously. "So, we go up to Sunset Shimmer, let her know we have these pictures, and we won't hesitate to share them if she gives us reason to?"

"Yep. It's a good thing we're the good guys here, or else we'd be insufferable dicks for blackmailing her."

"Took the words right out of my mouth."

Fluttershy pulled her hands back. "You can count me out of this. I don't want to risk my deepest secrets being made public because we pissed her off! You're suicidal for even thinking of it!"

Bristle grabbed her hand. "Don't you worry. I can take a little name calling, or being hated by all my peers. It's nothing new for me. But of course, it wouldn't hurt to have a little group behind us. Perhaps including someone popular enough that they can't excommunicate."

Fluttershy pulled her hand out of his grasp, though he noted it was done reluctantly. "As I said, there's no one popular enough to be safe from Sunset Shimmer's powers. But your best bet is Rainbow Dash, star athlete. The sports teams aren't going to give up their best player easy."

Twilight picked up her bag. "Then that's who we're going to talk to. You're an incredible help, Fluttershy. I don't know how far we would have gotten without you. Can I have Spike back now?"

Even more reluctantly, she handed Spike back, who also fought to stay. With some effort and a growl, he was back in the bag, and the trio of outsiders were off to the athletic field.

Author's Note

Yep. Bus ride gave me another chance to write. Final week of the semester, but then it's finals. I'm curious to see how much time that's going to give me.

The story will pick up pace a little bit once we meet the team. I don't remember anything important in the movie between meeting her friends and the Fall Formal.