Thankfully for all concerned, the weather was gloriously beautiful today in the town of Canterlot. And within its titular high school, things were settling down after a long school day, with boys and girls from every class leaving the main building, ready to head off for whatever activity they wanted to do with their friends. And speaking of friends, an entire group of them now gathered near the once-magnificent horse statue out at the front of the school, which, sadly, remained a blasted wreck thanks to the recent events at the Friendship Games. Sunset Shimmer, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie all stood or sat near the thing, looking a combination of nervous and excited. After a silence of many minutes, it was eventually Pinkie who, naturally, was the first to break the silence.

“Argh! This is so exciting! I can’t believe Twilight’s coming back!”

Turning to her ecstatic friend, a smile crept upon Sunset’s face.

“I know. It’ll be good to see her again.”

Although she looked like she agreed with that, Applejack turned to the former unicorn and raised an eyebrow as she spoke.

“So…any idea what she wanted us here for?”

To that, Sunset merely shrugged her shoulders.

“Dunno. Her message was kinda brief. All I know is that it was urgent.”

Looking to the rest of them, Rainbow, while placing her hands firmly on her hips, smirked a little as she added her own voice to the mix.

“Well, whatever it is, I’m sure it’ll be something pretty interesting. I mean, this is Twilight we’re talking about, remember?”

There was a general murmur of agreement over that, and before long, Sunset looked like she was about to say something else. Unfortunately, she was interrupted when, all of a sudden, the surface of the nearby portal began to ripple and glow. This, as one might expect, caught the interest of the girls immediately, and those who were sitting got to their feet as soon as possible. They waited for a moment, then two, then three, but eventually, there was an emergence. There, passing through the once-stone surface, was Twilight herself, followed shortly by her now-canine companion, Spike. As was common at these gatherings, the girls allowed the young princess a moment to get herself used to walking on two legs once more, but this time, that took only a few seconds, after which she looked to them with a smile upon her face.

“Um…hi.”

Her words were like permission granted, and every girl there instantly rushed forward, embracing their friend in a tight hug. Although taken aback by this, Twilight soon regained her composure, smiling to them and returning the embrace. The hug only lasted a moment or two, and soon afterwards, they parted form her, allowing her to get her words out.

“It’s good to see you all again. How have you all been?”

Shrugging her shoulders slightly, Sunset was the first to speak.

“Nothing of note really. Things here have been pretty much exactly how you left it.”

Nodding at that, a look of realisation crossed Twilight’s face, and before long, she was scouring not only the group before her, but also the surrounding area.

“And…is she here?”

Understanding her meaning immediately, Sunset chuckled a little before shaking her head.

“Afraid not. Twilight had some work she needed to get on with in the library. But she said she’d meet up with us later.”

Twilight nodded at that, after which she gave Sunset her full attention before speaking up again.

“I see you got my message?”

Sunset nodded before replying.

“Yeah, but…you didn’t really say what was going on.”

Stepping forward, Fluttershy took on a look of worry as she spoke.

“Is…is it something…scary? Like a monster from Equestria?”

Before Twilight could answer, Spike let out a brief scoffing sound.

“Ha! You’ll wish it was something like that.”

Taking a moment to frown at her assistant, Twilight regained her smile when she looked up at her friends again, clearing her throat before giving them their answer.

“Actually, it’s nothing as dangerous as that, although…it is something I feel needs sorting out.”

Walking closer to her, Rainbow slapped a hand down on her shoulder with a confident look on her face.

“Well, whatever it is, we’re here for you, Twi!”

Twilight looked around, seeing the smiles and nods of agreement after Rainbow had said that, and in this moment, she afforded herself a second or two to just enjoy the feeling of camaraderie. But, this moment didn’t last any longer, as she soon spoke up again, looking more than a little sure of herself as she did so.

“Great! So, what I need from you is to help me with some research on why I have a crush on Flash Sentry!”

And, just as soon as she’d spoken, it was as if all of her friends looked as if they’d immediately become as still and unmoving as statues. Twilight, for her part, couldn’t really understand this reaction, and as for Spike, he simply did his best to cover his eyes, practically dreading what was going to happen next. Eventually, her friends began to move again, blinking a few times as they all looked to her, almost as if they were waiting for her to just say “gotcha” or something.

“Um…Twilight? Are you okay?” Rainbow asked.

Raising an eyebrow at that, Twilight nodded.

“Er…yeah? Why? Is there something wrong?”

The other girls all looked to each other, as if daring one another to be the first to tell her. But, in the end, it was Rarity who elected to speak out, clearing her throat before she did so.

“Darling. If I may say so, this…this doesn’t seem like the kind of thing that should be the subject of…of research.”

Shaking her head, Twilight placed her saddle-bags, which had been slung over her shoulders during her transformation, upon the ground, after which she looked to her fashionista friend.

“Believe me, Rarity, this needs to happen. It makes no sense to me whatsoever that I like the guy as much as I do! I need to study him as much as I can to get a better grip on things!”

Despite her earlier shock, Sunset, to Twilight’s irritation, actually laughed at that, though one look at Twilight’s disapproving face caused her to raise a hand as she spoke.

“I’m sorry. It’s just…doesn’t that seem a little bit silly to you?”

Frowning, Twilight shook her head.

“Not at all. In fact, I was hoping you’d all help me do it.”

Yet again, a silence fell between them, and again, they looked to each other with nervous expressions. After almost a full minute of nobody saying anything, Rainbow let out a sigh before looking to her royal companion.

“Well…we did kinda say we’d help you no matter what.”

Before anyone could say anything else however, Pinkie jumped in-between them and spoke in that bubbly manner of hers.

“Technically, Rainbow, only you said that!”

Needless to say, this earned her a scornful look from the athlete, but, thankfully, Rainbow calmed herself enough to address Twilight once more.

“We’re your friends, Twilight. If you say you’d want us to help you with this, then…I guess we’ll help.”

The reluctance in her voice was clear, and all around the other girls it was obvious that, while willing to help, they were by no means as sure of themselves as they were before Twilight made her purpose known. As for Twilight herself, who was oblivious to the less-than-happy feelings of the girls, broke out into a massive smile, clasping her hands together before picking up her bag and slinging it over her shoulder.

“Thank you, girls! I really do appreciate this. No let’s go! We’ve got science to do!”

As the young princess began to make her way past the group, Applejack, scratching her head, spoke what was perhaps on all of their minds.

“Um…Twi? We’re not gonna be doin any…ya know…weird stuff in all of this, are we?”

Giggling at that, Twilight waved a hand at her farmer friend.

“Of course not, Applejack. We’re just going to be following a boy around, observing him in secret and possibly conducting a few experiments. There’s nothing weird about that.”

Naturally, all the other girls looked just the tiniest bit disturbed by their friend’s declaration, but stayed quiet as she made her way to the school. As they stood there, however, Spike, who had been watching silently this whole time, walked past them with a small smirk on his face.

“Yeah, welcome to my world.”