Twilight woke up feeling unwell. It was like she was sick but not quite. It felt like she had drank too much water. Also she noticed that her breast felt tender and sore. Maybe I have the stomach flu or something. I'll just tough it out, she thought to herself. It was Friday, the last day of the week, so if she could make it through today; she'd have 2 days to recover.

It had been a pretty amazing week though. After getting Spike's message Monday night, she had felt heart broken and like a failure. Surprisingly though, things on Tuesday and Wednesday just sort of feel into place. She quickly got the rhythm of her new life. Her classes, sitting and eating with the others at lunch, she even rejoined the Rainbooms. She and Flash kept getting closer and even her and Principle Celestia had started talking and becoming more like what she and Princess Celestia had been. Thursday, she and Sunset finally saw this world's Discord (just as obnoxious as her world's if not worse), and got her papers. Sunset took a big hit for that financially. She even said that the two of them might have to get summer time jobs to keep the apartment. But, overall, she found she liked her new life.

She remembered back to that Monday night when she had told Flash what she was. At first he didn't believe her. I mean, a talking, purple, pony with wings and a horn? - who would believe that. But after considering all the things that had happened, having seen her with wings in this form and the fact she was from another dimension; he accepted the fact. Even more surprisingly, he said he didn't care. She was human now and that was all that mattered. Now after two years, when the portal reopened, and he followed her to her realm, it might make a difference then, but that was a problem for down the road.

Everything was going well, so what right did she have to complain about a little tummy ache? Although she was noticing the pain and discomfort was migrating south to an area that shouldn't be experiencing pain. She got out of bed, got her shower, and dressed. Even that part of being human was becoming second nature. Yes she still cut herself shaving, but no where near as much as she did that very first time. But make-up, eyebrows, hair, no sweat.

She came out of the bathroom to the smell of breakfast. Sunset continued to prove she was a great cook. Sunset's breakfasts were always amazing. It made getting up early almost worth it. Today, she wasn't in the mood. She politely declined and explained she wasn't feeling well. Sunset asked if she wanted to stay home, but Twilight said she was ok enough to go on. By the time lunch rolled around, however, it was a decision she was regretting.

She sat down at her usual spot, second seat in on the left side. Flash sat down in the first seat beside her. On the left side with her was Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Sonata. On the right sat Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy. At the end of the table sat Sunset. Sometimes Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo would join them, but usually they sat at their own table.

Twilight just sat looking down at the table. She felt worse now than before. She was even starting to experience some cramping in her abdominal and vaginal muscles. More than that, she found herself becoming extremely short tempered. She had even lashed out at a student who had accidently bumped into in the hall. She decided it would be best to see a doctor as soon as possible. In fact, at this rate, she might not even make through the rest of the day.

As the rest of the girls talked, Sunset looked at Twilight. She was really looking bad now. She saw even Flash was looking concerned. He shot Sunset a look that said, is she ok? Sunset gently shook her head no. He looked back at Twilight and whispered something in her ear. She whispered something back. He whispered again in her ear, and then she jumped up and yelled, "I SAID I WAS OK ALREADY; DIDN'T I!"

The whole cafeteria stopped and looked at her. She grew bright red and sat back down. She couldn't believe she had done that. She felt so embarrassed. She just wanted to sink in her chair and disappear. Slowly everyone went back to their own conversations. The rest of the girls just looked at Twilight.

"Darling, are you ok?" Rarity asked.

"Yes, I mean no. I have a stomach bug or something. I feel bloated, my lower muscles are cramping up, even my breasts are sore. I'm sorry girls, I should have listened to Sunset and stayed home today." Twilight noticed that all the girls were suddenly looking at her with a funny expression on their faces. Why were they doing that? What had she said? She was getting annoyed again.

The rest of the girls let out a collective "Ooooohhhhhhh," and then turned to Sunset.

"Uh, Twilight, come to the bathroom with me." Sunset got up with her purse and started walking to the girl's bathroom.

"But I don't . . .," Twilight started to say but was cut off.

"Yes you do, now come." Sunset grabbed Twilight's arm and led her away.

Flash looked at the other girls, a bit confused himself.

"Flash, darling, I think it would be best if you finished eating at your old table for the rest of lunch," Rarity gently said.

"Why? What's going . . ."

"Girly business darling. Now off with you, shoo, shoo." Rarity waved her hands like she was chasing a bird away.

He still didn't understand what was going on but knew these girls cared about Twilight and were acting in what they thought was her best interest. So he got up and left. Hopefully Twilight would fill him in later.

***********************************************************************************************************

"Sunset, what's . . ." Twilight tried to ask Sunset as they got into the bathroom but was cut off again.

"Here, take this," Sunset said as she handed Twilight a small package from her purse. "I always carry a couple in case of emergencies."

Twilight took it. It was a small wrapper with the name TAMPEX written on it. Inside she could feel something cylindrical. She didn't understand what it was or what it was for. "What is this?" she asked.

"It's a tampon, you're getting ready to start your period. What you're experiencing is called PMS." Sunset's tone was matter of fact but tinged with a bit of big sisterly love.

"I still don't get it. What's a period?"

Sunset rubbed her forehead. "Oh Twilight, you should have done more research. A period is part of a human females fertility cycle. Their ovaries release an egg that implants to the side of the uterus. It stays there for about twenty-eight days or so. After that, the egg dies and is discharged from the body. It's accompanied by bleeding from the vagina, and some or all the symptoms you're feeling now. It last anywhere from three to five days. It's all part of your natural body workings."

Twilight was shocked and horrified. "I'm going to be bleeding, DOWN THERE! And this happens every month?"

"It's not pleasant, but it's nature."

Twilight was still in shock. Slowly she looked down at the package in her hand. "So what's this for?" she asked timidly.

"It's to keep the blood from staining your clothes and getting on seats. The instructions are on the side. Go in the stall and follow them. I'll go into more depth when we get home. For right now, though, that should be fine. You can get more from the machine over there by the sinks. They're free, so you don't have to worry about having change."

Twilight just sort of nodded and walked into a stall and closed the door. a little later Sunset heard Twilight yell, "It goes inside!"

"Sorry sweetie, but that's how it goes." Sunset laughed to herself. She knew exactly what Twilight was going through. A girl's first period, even when she knew it was coming, is traumatic. Well, "traumatic", might be a bit strong of a word, but it wasn't too far off. Now, being on the other side of the experience, it was funny to see how she had reacted through Twilight.

Twilight slowly came out, crying. Sunset put her arm around her and assured her it would be ok. They made their way back to the table and sat down. "Where's Flash?" Twilight asked.

"We thought it best if it was just us girls right now," Rarity said.

"So you all know?" Twilight asked shocked and embarrassed all over again.

"Only because we've all gone through it sugar cube," Applejack said gently.

Twilight shook her head and dropped it. "It's always like this?" She almost pleaded with the other girls to say it wasn't.

"Not always,"Fluttershy said. "It depends. It various from woman to woman. For some, yes. For others, there's almost no pain or discomfort. The first does always tend to be the worse though. I remembered when I had mine; I just cried and prayed to become a boy so I'd never have to go through it again. I'm glad that whatever's out there didn't listen."

"What makes it worse is how society treats it." Rarity started talking again. "A boys first erection or wet dream is treated as a cause for celebration. 'The boy's becoming a man' sort of thing. For us, we're almost shamed; like, 'how dare you, you're spoiled now, you're not innocent anymore.'"

"I'm lucky," Rainbow spoke up, "my parents both sat me down when I was about ten or eleven and explained things to me. It was straight, to the point, no "oh, um, well' stuff or touchy-feely 'your inner goddess has awoken' crap either. Just, this is your body, in a few years it will do this, it's all ok, it's all natural, you'll be fine. Honestly, I was more concerned when I started developing boobs. I thought they were going to throw my balance off in sports."

"You honestly thought that?" Applejack asked.

"Hey, sports and music are my two main loves. I don't want to jeopardize either one."

Rarity started speaking again. "And that's the problem. So little good information is available to women about their health and bodies. Sad to say, but even in this day and age, most of what we get is hushed, old wives tales and second hand gossip. Men, they get all their needs met. It's another thing that makes being a girl here so hard."

"I wouldn't say 'so hard' Rarity. I mean, I compete in sports, which are male dominated and I get respect from the boys." Rainbow was a feminist as much as Rarity, but felt she was going a bit overboard.

"They also think you're a lesbian dear," Rarity shot back.

"WHAT!" Rainbow shouted.

"Of course. Don't you know that men think any smart or tough or athletic woman is a lesbian? Look at how they talk about Peppermint Patty and Marcie from Peanuts or Velma from Scooby-Doo. Woman's tough, she's gotta be a lesbian."

"Bogus! I aint no darn lap licker!" Rainbow said in anger. Then her face grew pale and her eyes wide as she realized Sonata and Pinkie were sitting across from her. She slowly turned around to look at them. Both were giving her the death stare. "No offense," she said weakly.

Sunset leaned over and whispered in Sonata's ear, "You get used to it."

"All I'm saying is, well, girls, females, do not have it easy here Twilight. Not physically or emotionally. That's why we got to rely on each other for support," Rarity said.

"Unfortunately, we can be our own worse enemies," Fluttershy added, thinking of her mother.

"But not us. We gotch yer back," Applejack said.

"Thank you. All of you." Twilight was still in pain, still felt scared and embarrassed, but she also felt loved and at home.

The bell rang and it was time to go. They all got up and started walking out. Flash came up to Twilight and asked, "Twi, are you ok?"

Twilight smiled and then punched him in the crotch. "Are you ok?" she hissed out and walked off.

Flash looked at Sunset as he grabbed himself. Sunset just shrugged. "It's that time of the month," she simply said.

"Ok," Flash wheezed out before collapsing to his knees.

Author's Notes:

Some of you might be taken aback by the subject matter of this chapter. But as a parent, I feel it was important to bring up. Women's puberty is often over looked or down right ignored by most of our culture; which is really sad. Boy's coming of age stories tackle just about every aspect of their lives, yet girl's tends to omit certain aspects we as a culture don't like to address. I just felt it was important to address; as well other issues women deal with. Like I said, I wanted to write this with a feminist perspective for my daughter when she becomes old enough.