As was so often expected during the lunch hour of Canterlot High, the school's cafeteria was abuzz with activity. Boys and girls from all over CHS had come together, now hanging out with their friends and cliques, enjoying their lunches and just generally hanging out with one another. But, amidst all this activity was one notable table, that of the Rainbooms. Though these girls, heroines of the school, were largely known for extraordinary goings on, even they had their quiet days. And today was just such an occasion, as all of them seemed content to simply sit together and eat. Some, like Pinkie, were more enthusiastic about their food than others, wolfing it down with little regard for etiquette, which got on Rarity's nerves no end, but, all-in-all, things were relatively peaceful. That is, until Rainbow decided to break the silence at long last.

"So, Sunset. How's that sciency thingy you were going on about?"

Chuckling slightly, the former unicorn looked up from her meal before giving her answer.

"It's fine actually. Thanks for asking. There are a few things I need to sort out, but otherwise, it's pretty much done."

Rainbow nodded at that, turning her attention back to her meal. But, after downing a few bites of it, she looked up, noticing something a little odd. Fluttershy, who, as most would expect, hadn't said anything for a while, was in the process of drinking quite a large glass of water. One by one, her friends began to notice this also, and soon, all of them were staring at her as she just drunk the whole thing, never once coming up for air before it was done. When she finally did finish, she gently placed her glass down, letting out a deep sigh as she did so. Unfortunately, it was here that she noticed the eyes of her friends, causing her to blush a little as she meekly spoke up.

"Um...yes? Is something wrong?"

Looking left and right, Rainbow cleared her throat a little before replying.

"Well...it's just...you seemed really thirsty just now, Flutters."

As one would expect of a girl like Fluttershy, this led to a more fierce blush on her part, but, rather than shy away, she instead poked her index fingers against one another as she tried explaining herself.

"Oh...um...well...I was just feeling a bit thirstier than normal. I mean, it's probably just me, but...um...it's been feeling a little warm lately."

None of the other girls seemed to look down on her for her reasoning, and in fact, many of them seemed sympathetic, especially Applejack, who took this moment to start speaking up herself.

"Well shoot, sugarcube. That ain't no reason ta fret. Ah'm feeling rather baked mahself lately."

To emphasise her point, the farm girl took off her famous Stetson hat and started gently fanning herself with it. Rarity, but contrast, simply swept aside some of her purple hair before adding her own voice to the mix.

"Yes, well, my guess is that the school's air conditioning must be faulty. There have been a few reports of bad equipment about as of late after all."

There were a few general nods of agreement to that, but, before anyone else had a chance to say anything, they were interrupted by the sound of somebody clearing their throat. Turning in unison, the girls all saw that, to their slight surprise, one of their fellow students, a boy, had arrived at their table. Sporting green dreadlocks and a distinct beanie hat, this boy earned himself a few smiles from the girls when they realised who it was.

"Hey there, Sandalwood. What's up?" Rainbow asked.

Shrugging his shoulders and smiling back, Sandalwood slipped off his school back-pack and placed it on the girls' table, opening it up as he started speaking back to them.

"Nothing much. Just got back from watching Flash's band play."

To that, Sunset raised an eyebrow.

"Really? I mean, don't get me wrong, Flash's music is good and all, but how can you guys stand to be playing in that practise room when it's so hot today?"

Turning to her, the boy gained a look of confusion.

"Er...hot?"

Rainbow let out a brief cackle before speaking up.

"Yeah! It's like a hot summer day right now!"

Sandalwood heard that, looking to each of the girls, before reaching up and scratching his head briefly.

"Um...maybe I'm not feeling it, but...it's actually not that warm today. I actually had to come to school in a coat and everything."

Naturally, the girls all seemed rather taken aback by such a comment, and while some might have wanted to refute the boy's point, they instead began to look around them. Sure enough, as they looked around at their fellow classmates, they noticed that none of them seemed to look as if they were suffering any kind of severe warmth. No fanning themselves with their hands. No beads of sweat. Nothing. This was, of course, an odd moment for them all, but mostly, they just looked to each other as if it was something not worth worrying about, instead looking over to Sandalwood as he began to speak again.

"Anyways...I thought I'd pop over and give Pinkie a little something."

Hearing that, Pinkie's eyes widened, she clasped her hands together, broke out into a massive smile and let out a loud gasp as she regarded the boy.

"Oooh! Is it that super-special-awesomely-super thing?"

The girls, naturally, seemed confused by such a remark. But Sandalwood, simply letting out a hearty laugh, reached into his bag and pulled out a small box, after which he handed it over to the pink girl.

"You know it."

Taking the box, Pinkie immediately got to opening it up, revealing its contents; a very special-looking mixing bowl, perfect for the kinds of baking she normally did in her spare time. Needless to say, Pinkie looked to the gift with her usual amount of enthusiasm.

"Wow, Sandy! This really is super-special!"

Folding his arms, the boy laughed again before replying.

"No problem. After all those parties you helped me set, it's the least I could do."

Putting her gift down, Pinkie looked up to the boy, still maintaining her big smile, and leapt forward, embracing him in one of her customary friendship hugs. The boy, perhaps not used to such a thing, found himself very nearly winded by such a cuddly attack, which actually amused the rest of the girls a great deal, with giggles abound on the table. Fortunately, the boy soon composed himself enough to return the hug, which ended soon afterwards, with Pinkie parting from him. Then, before anyone could say or do anything, Pinkie leaned in close and, in a move that shocked all of them, planted a tender kiss upon Sandalwood's cheek. The area around heir table fell deathly silent, with nobody believing their eyes. Sandalwood especially seemed practically frozen by this turn of events, almost like he were a statue. As for Pinkie, she simply smiled sweetly at him, patting him on the shoulder.

"Thanks again, Sandy!"

And with that, she took her seat once more, resuming her lunch from earlier. Sandalwood, by contrast, remained dumbfounded for a few minutes, to the point where the rest of the girls actually started to worry about him. But, thankfully for all concerned, he soon shook himself out of it, blushing a great deal before giving a nervous chuckle, after which he started to move off, looking over his shoulder to Pinkie the whole way. Now knowing they were out of earshot of the boy, Sunset leaned in closer, keeping her voice almost to a whisper as she spoke to her friend.

"Pinkie? Wha...what was that all about?"

Pinkie, looking to Sunset, and then to the rest of her friends, only now seemed to really grasp what had just happened, turning over to where the boy had been a few minutes ago. After looking as if she was deep in thought for a while, she started to gain a small blush of her own, but nevertheless kept her smile as she shrugged her shoulders.

"Dunno. Guess I was just feeling really friendly today."

Hearing that response, Rarity looked to her with a raised eyebrow.

"Pinkie, darling, I'm well aware that you're probably more affectionate than most, but you should be a bit more careful. Don't want to give the poor boy the wrong impression after all."

But Pinkie looked to her, seeming barely fazed by her words.

"Silly! It's not just him. I don't know why, but I've been getting this...I dunno...this feeling today. Like I wanna hug every boy I see. I know it's kinda weird, but hey, when have hugs ever been bad?"

Chuckling slightly, Applejack leaned in closer to her friend.

"Well, there was that one time ya tried doin it ta mah brother during his last birthday. Poor fella still ain't the same."

Looking a bit guilty, Pinkie looked to Applejack.

"Yeah, sorry about that."

But, none of them seemed all that troubled by the event in question, with all of them simply laughing together about it all. That is, except for Sunset, who looked to Pinkie with some curiosity, and even, so a small degree, some concern.

"Pinkie...this feeling you've been having. It...it wouldn't, by any chance, have started yesterday afternoon, would it?"

Pinkie turned to her, her smile fading just a little, as she started pondering that for a moment.

"Well...yeah, I think so. Why?"

Sunset, at this moment, noted that all of her other friends were starting to look to her, bearing similarly curious looks. For a brief moment, the former unicorn seemed reluctant to speak, almost to the point of being embarrassed by something. But, as time went on, and the stares of her friends persisted, she simply slumped her shoulders and let out a sigh.

"Because...in all honesty...I've been getting those feelings myself lately."

Needless to say, the other girls seemed quite surprised by such news, but, rather than what Sunset was expecting, they all started to look at each other with varying degrees of nervousness. As for Pinkie, she seemed, by contrast, rather eager about the whole thing.

"Wow, Sunset! That's incredible! We can be, like hug-buddies or something!"

Knowing that Pinkie was completely sincere in such a remark, Sunset couldn't help but smile and give a brief laugh in response to such a statement. But, before she managed to get any further words out, Rainbow, who was scratching the back of her head in an obviously-nervous way, started speaking up.

"Um...yeah. I think...well...that I may have...you know...kinda started feeling that way myself...a little."

Sunset looked to her with surprise, but again, she couldn't say anything, as Applejack now added her voice to the mix.

"Yeah. Same here too."

Sunset regarded her with equal shock at that, and soon afterwards, she turned to her last two friends. While Fluttershy, naturally, bore a fiercely red face over this issue, Rarity tried her best to remain as dignified as possible.

"Well...I suppose I may have been feeling rather...warmly to the boys of late. Of course, a lady wouldn't simply act on such feelings willy-nilly like that."

Applejack and Rainbow both rolled their eyes at that remark, and as for Sunset, she sat there, scratching her chin, looking deep in thought for a few moments, muttering a few words here and there.

"Hmmm...all of us getting strange feelings...all feeling warmer than it actually is..."

Looking to her, Fluttershy noted that, just for a moment, Sunset's face bore a look of recognition, like the kind of expression one would wear when meeting someone familiar.

"Um...Sunset? Is...is everything alright?"

Turning to her quiet friend, Sunset broke into a small smile, trying to sound as reassuring as possible.

"Don't worry, Fluttershy. Just thinking out loud. I mean...I was just thinking this whole thing felt somewhat familiar to me, that's all."

Looking down to her still-uneaten lunch, Sunset chuckled a little.

"You know, it's funny. If I didn't know better, I say I was about...to go...into..."

She stopped mid-sentence, leading to all of her friends looking to her with confusion. Sitting there, Sunset regained her thoughtful expression, muttering a few things under her breath, while her expression was one of incredulity. Then, slowly, it morphed into one of confusion. Then, it was shock. And finally, it was a look of great concern. Gradually, she looked up at all of her friends, many of whom started to seem worried about her. When she spoke, she kept her voice as quiet as possible, despite very much sounding like she'd rather speak at the top of her lungs.

"Girls...we need to get to the music room...right now."

As one would expect after such a statement, the girls all looked to each other with confusion, culminating with Rainbow looking back to Sunset.

"Er...Sunset? What's going on?"

Looking over her shoulder, Sunset seemed to be making sure that nobody else could hear her, before looking back to Rainbow.

"It's just...I need to talk to you all...right now."

Again, the girls looked to one another, and again, one of them spoke. This time, it was Rarity.

"Sunset. What exactly do you need to talk about that's got you so worried?"

Biting her lip slightly, the fiery-haired girl gave her answer, though not one that filled them with any confidence.

"Girls...if I'm right...we have a very, very big problem!"