The month of February seemed to be the strangest for the Winter Solstice of the city of Canterlot this year.

    The temperatures would sometimes drop down way below the mid-twenty degree fahrenheit mark to either fifteen or below. The atmospheric conditions may have been unpredictable, but the position of the sun in the sky controlled how warm or cold the days were.

For example, it would be about somewhere in the high thirties during the afternoon; then by sunset, it would drop down to the low tens or less. If it happened to rain when the temperatures were right enough for it to come down as a cold liquid, the moisturized areas would become a thin sheet of ice when the day was ending. As a result, both sidewalks and roads would be transformed into areas perfect for ice-skating.

Commutes within the city would have to be delayed for a few hours or more until the salt and sand trucks were finished with thawing out the roads, so traveling to either work or school wouldn’t be difficult or dangerous.

This bizarre weather was obviously caused by a green-house effect that either originated from the polluting industrial smoke from Canterlot’s factories, or the jetstream-carried gases from the more industrial city of Cloudsdale which lied several miles northeast of Canterlot.

Despite all the chaos and inconvenience, one small benefit that came out of having this weird weather was that it sometimes brought joy to most students who didn’t really feel like attending school on a certain day--or ever, for that matter.

    For six high school senior-class girls, the aftermath of a Thursday night icestorm gave them an entire Friday off from classes to spend the entire day with each other, along with the following weekend.

One of their activities consisted of a common trip to the Sugarcube Corner Coffee and Sweets Shop. Thankfully, it wasn’t very busy since the main road leading to it was still frozen solid for the time being. The other activity would be a snowball war--if there was any snow at all for the moment, now.

As for what the girls did on a Friday night; well, it was none other than a slumber party of course. The place this time was over at Rainbow Dash’s house.

Rainbow Dash was playing against Applejack on her new Xbox One gaming console that she got for Christmas from her parents. Rarity and Fluttershy were giving each other a manicure. Pinkie Pie was on the phone ordering pizza for everyone, and Sunset Shimmer was currently writing a letter to her friend and possibly new teacher, Twilight Sparkle who resided in Equestria; but came around for visits every once in a while.

Dear Twilight Sparkle, she wrote.

You would not believe the crazy weather we’re having over here for this month. We get at least one inch of snow one day, then it melts because of a warm front the next. I bet the weather in Equestria is more stable and organised since it’s all done by the pegasi. Do you think it’ll be okay if we borrow your Rainbow Dash and her weather team for a bit to correct this world’s weather?

I’m only joking, of course. It would be hard to tell two Dash’s apart since they both have the same persona. Please don’t tell your Rainbow Dash I said that.

As for news about what’s going on at Canterlot High.

The Winter Formal is happening this month, and that it’s taking place on Valentine’s Day. That’s what Hearts and Hooves Day is called here incase you were wondering. It’s funny how the holidays for both of our worlds are celebrated the same way, but have different titles.

I don’t plan on running for Winter Formal princess, or get myself involved with any other popularity contest that the school has to offer. The old me already ruined other students’ chances to shine for the past few years already, so I think it’s about time that I just become a voter instead of a candidate. Our Rarity is one of the contestants, and she has my support already, along with the four of us.

As always, I wish you the best of luck in what you and your friends’ duties are to maintain harmony in Equestria. I also hope we can make plans for when I do decide to come back to Equestria for a visit of my own. Seeing Princess Celestia should be the first thing, of course.

Sincerely yours, Sunset Shimmer.

When Sunset closed her journal, she looked down at it with a look of contentment in knowing that Twilight would approve of her selfless decision to support Rarity to make up for her own mistakes--and for what happened at the Spring Fling, of course.

Sunset’s peaceful mind was suddenly interrupted when she heard Applejack let out a frustrated grunt when her virtual avatar soldier was killed by a bright blue sword, which Rainbow’s character wielded.

“Consarnit, Dash! Will ya stop campin’ with that damn sword already?” she fumed.

“It’s tactical. What can I say,” Rainbow smugly replied with a shrug.

“Feh!” Applejack uttered and put down her controller before she had the urge to break it. “Ah give up anyway. You win.”

“Heh. If you say so, even though I never thought you’d forfeit that easily, AJ.”

“Believe me. Ah’m full of surprises,” Applejack muttered.

“How about you girls give that game a break so we all can all have a nice conversation. Maybe even gossip a little,” Rarity suggested incase conflict was about to erupt between the prismatic athlete, and the usually laid-back southern belle.

“Fine by me,” Applejack nonchalantly replied.

“I definitely like the gossip part,” Rainbow added with a bit of interest.

“I don’t think I like to talk about other people though,” Fluttershy stated. “It seems kind of mean, doesn’t it?”

“Don’t worry, darling,” Rarity assured with a smile. “It only stays in between the six of us. Besides, it’s a common activity to do at a slumber party.”

“Okay. I guess that’s fine then,” Fluttershy said, still sounding unsure.

The girls formed an irregular circular formation with Sunset, Rarity, and Fluttershy sitting on the edge of Rainbow’s bed. Applejack and Rainbow sat in their gaming recliners, but turned them around so they could face over to where the bed was, and Pinkie seated herself on the floor between Rainbow and Applejack.

“So, what shall we talk about first?” Rainbow asked. She really had no subject of her own in mind except sports and bragging on how great she was at motivating her teams to be their best, and how much expectations for a great performance she had for each of them. It was interesting the first several times, but it soon got on her friend’s nerves that she was pretty much restricted from being a boaster at any slumber party when everyone was supposed to have fun.

For a brief moment, there was uncomfortable silence as each one of the girls tried to think of a topic that would hold some kind of conversation. Fortunately enough, Pinkie Pie was the one to speak up. Silence was never on the party girl’s agenda, after all.

“I know!” she chirped. “We should totally talk about who we want to take as a date for the Winter Formal! It is our last year anyway, so I think it’s about time we should each start finding boyfriends or something like that! That way, we’ll already have dates for the Senior Prom! *Squee*”

“Oh...my,” Fluttershy flustered with a small blush forming on her cheeks. This was yet another topic she was uncomfortable with.

“I suppose that could be an interesting subject,” Rarity stated with a slight chuckle and a blush of her own. “Plus, it would be nice to find a special someone before the year ends. How about you start, Pinkie, since you’re the one who brought it up.”

“Okie dokie lokie!” Pinkie chimed. “Well. You all know that new guy who works part time with me at Sugarcube Corner? Brown curly hair. Green eyes.”

“Ya mean Cheese Sandwich?” Applejack implied with a smug look. “Yeah of course we’ve seen him around. Ah gotta say you two look like the perfect couple since you both like to throw parties an’ make others laugh.”

“Shouldn’t you’ve asked him out already?” Rainbow asked with a raised brow. “Neither one of you don’t seem to be the type to hold back such an action.”

“I’m sure they're just taking things slow, Rainbow,” Rarity explained. “Courtship cannot be rushed, even if it seems like the two individuals have the same chemistry. Love isn’t an open door, you know.”

“I have made a move on him, you know,” Pinkie said with a prideful grin.

“Whaddya do, sugarcube?” Applejack asked, inquisitively.

“Well, while Cheese and I were baking several batches of chocolate chip cookies, I sucked him off with his consent.”

The friends gasped as the pupils of their eyes shrunk to dilated dots. The color in their cheeks turned a deep shade of pink that almost matched Pinkie’s hair.

“Pinkie!” Rarity cried, aghast.

“What?” Pinkie asked, completely oblivious. “He had some dough on his thumb and asked me to lick it off for him.”

“Oh,” all the girls uttered in relieved unison. The normal color of their skin returning to their faces. Rarity regained her cool and calm composure as well.

“Mind telling me why you all looked squeamish for a moment there?” Pinkie asked with a furrowed and suspicious brow. “It’s as if you implied I did something else to him.”

“Uh...no. Well...maybe. Gah. I mean,” Rarity stuttered, tripping on what words she wanted to say--but she couldn’t think of anything without it sounding accusatory.

“It’s nothin’, Pinkie,” Applejack quickly interjected with a forced expression of sincerity. Since she was a terrible liar, Applejack knew she had to get the main topic back on track.

“Anywho; Ah can’t really think of anyone certain Ah would go to the dance with. But Ah will admit Ah’m into someone who’s strong as Ah am. Maybe even more.”

Applejack was nervously stroking her ponytail and blushing a bit at this point.

“Pigskin Pete and Twister are so far the only strongest guys I know,” Rainbow stated with a cocky smirk. “Don’t know if they’re really into farm work though.”

“An’ jus’ what is that suppose ta mean?” Applejack demanded, clearly offended by Rainbow’s brash remark.

“Just saying. Pigskin is extremely dedicated to football, and Twister mostly loves to lift weights to keep his muscles in shape.”

Applejack glared at Rainbow with sharp daggers in her eyes while emitting an intimidating growl.

“But of course that doesn’t mean they won’t consider doing it. They’re quite helpful if someone really needs it,” Rainbow added, which made Applejack relax a bit.

“If ya say so; but now Ah think it’s your turn ta tell us who you would go with, Rainbow,” Applejack said, looking expectant.

“Oh, that's easy,” Rainbow stated smugly, “Anyone who is awesome as me has my attention--and believe me, when I say that’s a really high standard which makes me hard to get. Kind of like Rarity for example.”

“I beg your pardon?” Rarity scoffed. “I do not label myself with such an uncouth title. It’s true my standards of societal class are quite high, but that doesn’t make me a stuck up snob about it.”

“But it would be true you would rather go out with some famous dude like Trenderhoof than an egghead like Bright Dwight? Correct?” Rainbow implied.

“I refuse to answer such a judgemental question,” Rarity stated haughtily while crossing her arms.

“Whatever then,” Rainbow waved before turning to Fluttershy. “What about you, Flutters?”

“Huh?” Fluttershy asked. She appeared to have been lost in her own little world before Rainbow called her name.

“Who would you want to go with to the Winter Formal?” Rainbow rephased.

“Oh. Um. I..I’m not sure,” Fluttershy fretted while curling up a bit to show her already growing uncomfortableness.

“C’mon,” Rainbow pressured. “There’s got to be somebody that you’re interested in.”

Fluttershy shrunk back a bit further.

“Lay off of her, Rainbow,” Applejack intervened. “If Fluttershy says she doesn’t know who she wants to go out with, then she means it.”

“Okay okay,” Rainbow said, holding both of her hands up defensively. “Just thought I’d try to involve her in our discussion about dating and what not. But I’m pretty sure Big Mac would want to say yes if Fluttershy asked him.”

In hearing this, Fluttershy blushed profusely before completely going in to a fetal position while uttering clear meeping sounds of either embarrassment or flatterment.

“Ah’ll have ya know that every girl in the whole darn school gawks at him,” Applejack stated with a bemused expression painted on her face. She was no stranger to these kinds of incidents, after all. “Ah pretty much had ta be his bodyguard fer the entire time he was at school. Too bad Ah can’t do it since he’s now in college. Ah bet he’s already gettin’ swarmed by them sorority college gals already.”

“Well I have to admit that he does have that special kind of charm on him,” Rarity said with a light chuckle. “But consider it a gift, and not a curse.”

“Ah’ll take yer word for it,” Applejack grumbled.

The only one left in the group that hasn’t had a turn in voicing their ideal date was Sunset, who they all faced in unison. It was then that they noticed that Sunset had both her legged tucked up near her face with her arms acting as a support. The look in her eyes clearly expressed that there was something on her mind that was deeply troubling her. What the reason was: the friends weren't exactly sure, but it definitely had something to do with their current discussion.

“Is something the matter, Sunset?” Rarity asked, concern deep in her tone.

“What? Uh. No..um..nothing,” Sunset lied while trying to revert to a sincere attitude. “I’m alright.”

“No yer not, sugarcube,” Applejack protested, shaking her head in disapproval. She was clearly seeing past Sunset’s ruse. “Ah may be awful at lyin’, but that doesn’t mean Ah’m bad at detectin’ ‘em. If somethin’ is botherin’ you--ya shouldn’t have ta be holdin’ it back from the rest of us.”

“Well have you maybe considered that it may be my own buisness,” Sunset retorted with a slight defensive demeanor. “Just because we’ve all made nice doesn’t mean I’m going to allow any of you to poke into my head further. I’ll have you all know that I’m not going to turn into a demon or Miss. Queen Bitch again, okay?”

“But see here…” Applejack began, but was cut-off when Rarity raised up her hand and gestured her palm at the farm girl.

“What Applejack meant to say was that we all understand that you’re still not completely used to having a real friendship--and that you probably don’t trust us enough to fully open yourself up, which is completely understandable. But I believe I speak for Twilight when I say that holding back even the slightest of feelings is unhealthy for a true friendship. Your friends are what can help you through even the toughest of times. If you can just tell or give us some kind of hint of what’s bothering you, we’ll do all we can to help you, and that we won’t give up on you either.”

Rarity’s words clearly got through to Sunset because she did have to admit that Twilight, or even Princess Celestia, would probably say the exact same thing. Giving in, Sunset gave a sigh of defeat.

“Alright,” she said, her voice now calm but slightly soft. “I’m worried that Flash won’t consider going with me to the Winter Formal--even if I am a changed person.”

A moment of silence passed as the friends took in Sunset’s words with sympathetic, but understanding expressions.

“I don’t understand why he wouldn’t,” Rarity said, finally breaking the silence. “He and the rest of the entire student body saw how much good you did by helping us defeat the Dazzlings. With a deed like that, he should have a reason to respect you.”

“I wouldn’t call ignoring my existence, even after our victory, a way of showing respect,” Sunset deadpanned solemnly.

“It was pretty rude of him to do that,” Fluttershy stated.

“Ah’m sure he jus’ doesn’t know what he should say to ya,” Applejack theorized. Frankly, she knew that probably wasn’t the case, but there was nothing else she could think of. However, she really didn’t help Sunset feel any better.

“No. That’s not it,” Sunset said, shaking her head. She looked as if she was going to cry. “It’s super obvious that he likes Twilight now. I don’t blame him though because he deserves someone who always had a pure heart and soul. Him and I were never destined to be together in the first place. Even our separate worlds proved it.”

Sunset reached over to a box of tissues which rested on Rainbow’s bedside nightstand. She then plucked a few sheets to dry her eyes and blow her nose as her feelings began to pour out. The friends weren't hesitant to closely huddle around Sunset and do their best to comfort her.

“Just because you’ve made a lot of mistakes in the past doesn’t mean you aren't pure of heart, darling,” Rarity assured. “And yes, it does seem as if he has taken an interest to Twilight; but he should face the reality that she mainly lives in Equestria with her duties while you choose to reside here and live a normal and easy-going lifestyle.”

“Don’t forget that if there’s pony-versions of ourselves living in Twilight’s world; then there has to be another Flash,” Rainbow added. “It’s really convenient if you ask me. Besides, I bet Twilight would prefer Equestrian Flash for a pretty good reason.”

“Such as?” Applejack asked with a raised brow.

With a mischievous look that instantly gave the friends an uncomfortable feel, Rainbow replied, “Well since he would be a horse, he would have a way bigger and longer d

k of course.”

Rainbow then burst out laughing, but the friends were giving her unamused expressions since they felt that Rainbow was being a bit insensitive. Sunset, however gave a slight warm-hearted chuckle while still in the process of stopping her tears from flowing.

“I get what the both of you are saying, but I don’t know if it can help in the hopes of starting over for a real relationship.”

    “Everyone deserves a second chance,” Rarity assured. “Even you, Sunset. We all know that you’re a great person with a warm heart. All you have to do is to show Flash it yourself, then hopefully he may fall in love with you again.”

    “Maybe,” Sunset sighed, still looking and sounding doubtful.

    The silent and calming atmosphere of Rainbow’s room was interrupted by the sound of the doorbell ringing.

    “Yay! Pizza’s here!” Pinkie cheered out of the blue and rushed downstairs with money in hand.

    “Perhaps havin’ somethin’ ta eat might make ya feel a little better,” Applejack said with a small smile.

    “And maybe later you can take me on in an one on one match of Halo!” Rainbow added, while spinning a controller on her finger. A common smug grin was painted on her face.

    Applejack frowned.

    “Ah don’t think Sunset needs that kind of grief, Rainbow. She’s already havin’ a hard time enough as it is.”

    “No, no. It’s fine by me,” Sunset reassured while lifting the spirit of her voice up. “As long as I’m with outstanding friends like you guys, then I feel like I can overcome anything.”

    The friends smiled, flattered by Sunset’s compliment. They believed now that they could find a way to bring Flash and Sunset together in the hopes of kindling a real romantic flame between them.

    Sunset was true on her word about the girls being great friends to her, but she knew she was being a bit overzealous about being able to accomplish certain goals, which of course consisted of getting back together with Flash. It was a total longshot, or maybe even a missed hit in her mind.