I walked into the Sweet Shoppe for our weekly girls day out late as usual.

"SURPRISE!" yelled all my friends. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

As crazy as everything has been lately, between working extra hard to prepare for the Friendship Games, and band practice, I had completely forgotten my own birthday. I was glad that someone remembered for me.

"We got you lotsa presents and surprises and cake and more surprises and lots and lots of fun and..." Pinkie rambled before Applejack cut her off.

"Easy thar, Pinkie. We don't need y'all burnin' yerself out b'fore the party gets goin'."

"I can't believe you all remembered my birthday," I said with a warm smile on my face. "I guess me always being late to girls day worked out for decorating the place."

"How have you been?" I heard behind me.

"Twilight?" I asked teary eyed as I turned around. "How did you know it was my birthday? You've been in Equestria and I never told you about it during our chats."

"Well let's just say that I'm not the only interdimensional traveler here," she said as she winked at Pinkie Pie.

"Wait! What?" I asked with a confused look on my face.

"Oh yeah. That was really fun. It was all swirly and rainbowy and sparkly and then I was a pony and was lost in this huge castle and then..." Pinkie began rambling again before she was interrupted again.

"You went to the castle and didn't tell me you were going, Pinkie?" Rarity gasped in shock.

"Yeah, sorry but anyways, there I was wandering around naked until I saw a pink pony that was bouncing and had a mane that looked like my hair and she said, 'Oooo, you must be Pinkie Pie because you look like me and my names Pinkie Pie and you must be here to talk to Twilight because you don't have a book to talk to her so you had to come through the mirror to talk to her' and I was like mmmph..." Pinkie continued until Applejack covered her mouth.

My head was spinning from Pinkie talking in circles for the last five minutes. I sat down to recover only to get have a party hat strapped to my head.

"Before we get too far into the party I want to see your arms," Twilight whispered in my ear.

"Why? I'm doing great," I replied somewhat offended.

"I'm just checking on one of my best friends," Twilight said quietly.

"Okay but not out here," I said. "I'll show you in the restroom in a little bit."

"No Secrets!" Pinkie yelled as she appeared upside-down in between the two of us, knocking me out of my chair onto my head.

"Whoa, you okay, Sunset?" Rainbow Dash asked as she helped back to my feet.

"Yeah, I'm still not used to Pinkie Pie materializing out of thin air," I chuckled as I rubbed the back of my head.

I made my way back to my seat and adjusted the hat. Everyone brought the presents they got for me over to the table. Each one was wrapped in paper with their cutie marks on them.

I started with Pinkie's since it was the smallest. I tore open the paper and found a coupon book with one hundred coupons for free stuff at the Sweet Shoppe.

Fluttershy's was next. A medium sized box that contained seven plush ponies, custom made to look like the Equestrian forms of everybody.

Applejack handed me a box that had a hand sewn quilt, made by her and Applebloom. It had a rainbow pattern with my cutie mark in the center and everyone else's surrounding it.

My eyes began to tear up as I unwrapped Twilight's gift. There was two framed pictures, one of my parents and one of the seven of us after the Battle of the Bands. I sat there and slowly ran my fingers over the photo of my parents. I really missed them.

After wiping the tears from my face, I opened Rarity's gift. I knew it was some kind of clothing just by the shape of the box. I took off the top of the box and reached under the tissue paper inside to feel leather. I pulled the fabric out to reveal a brand new black leather jacket with orange chevrons on the sleeves.

Finally, I unwrapped Rainbow Dash's gift, a box that held a custom painted motorcycle helmet. It was beautiful but I didn't have use for it so I thanked her and we moved on to the cake and ice cream, a tradition that I still don't understand.

I had one of the best times of my life that afternoon. The best part was when we all piled in the bed of Applejack's beat up farm truck to take me home. The wind blowing through my hair felt awesome. We got to my apartment and I noticed a bright red and gold metallic painted motorcycle with a rainbow colored bow on it.

"Remember that fundraiser we did a few weeks ago?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Yeah, why?" I replied.

"This is what it was for," Rainbow Dash said smiling.

I was stunned. I had a mode of transportation finally and more especially my friends bought it for me. Now I had learn to drive it.

"Thank you everyone. I don't know what to say," I said excitedly. "I guess now I'm going to need motorcycle lessons."

"Perfect!" Rainbow Dash said. "I'll be over tomorrow after school."

I stormed into my apartment pissed to the gills. I went to take my driver's test, waited almost three hours for an evaluator only to be told that the evaluator for motorcycle licenses had the day off. Fucking DMV.

I have a brand new, custom painted GSX-R1000 in the fucking parking lot and I can't get a plate for it until I have my license. I needed someone, no, somepony to vent to. So I grabbed a Monster from the fridge and my journal from the bookshelf and sat down to vent to Princess Twilight. However, before I could open either the book or the Monster, I received the following text:

To: Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Sunset

Friendship 911. Meet in front of CHS. ASAP.

-Rainbow

"Are you kidding me? She better have an explanation for needing us after standing me up this morning," I fumed.

So I put the journal in my backpack, grabbed my jacket and headed out the door toward CHS at a steady jog.

I was a lot calmer when I got to the school having run my anger off. I saw Applejack was already talking with Rainbow Dash about something as Rarity and Fluttershy were jogging up to the school just ahead. Where Pinkie Pie was, I had no idea.

As I caught my breath I called out, "I got your text Rainbow Dash. Did something come through the portal? Is Equestrian magic on the loose? Did Twilight come back with a problem only we can solve?"

"Has a giant cake monster covered all the cakes in the world in cake?" Pinkie asked as she appeared with two cupcakes in her hands.

"Um, not exactly," Rainbow replied hesitantly.

"Uh, I don't understand," I said slowly.

A guitar string? Seriously? I thought as everyone, even Fluttershy, voiced their displeasures.

Rainbow's ego began to show through the cracks as she explained why she needed a guitar string.

After a chorus of groans from the five of us, I gave Rainbow Dash my last spare string. The rest of the girls went inside as I sat down to write a letter to Twilight.

What the...? I thought as I looked up from my journal. Feeling the statue was someone with purple skin, wearing blue jeans and a blueish-green hoodie with the hood up, and holding some kind of device. Is that...? Can't be...

I tried chasing after the girl but after I got blocked by a passing car, she managed to escape on the bus headed to the city.

"Who was that?" I wondered aloud.

We all gathered backstage after Rainbow Dash's semi-motivational speech during the pep rally. After Fluttershy and Rarity got their school pride sentiments out of the way, Applejack brought a serious point to the table.

"Is anybody else wondering how Dash ponied up without playing her guitar?"

"I know, right?" Rainbow said with a cheesy grin on her face. "It's probably because I'm so awesome!"

I rolled my eyes as I responded to her in an irritated tone, "Maybe. I mean, you are awesome. But there's gotta be more to it than that, right? It just seems so random."

"Well, it would nice if you girls could get a handle on it. We'd like to keep magic as far away from the Friendship Games as possible. We don't want to be accused of cheating. The Friendship Games are serious business. We don't want any surprises, especially the kind that could cause us to forfeit," Vice-Principal Luna sternly told us before focusing directly on me. "Sunset Shimmer, you came here from a world of magic. Perhaps you can get to the bottom of our magical development."

"I'll do my best," I said somewhat confident. Great! Now the whole competition rides on if I can solve this magic riddle. Ugh. Maybe I should've went back to Equestria.

The other five girls were speculating on what the events were going to be while had immediately began racking my brain for ideas.

"I'd really want to help, but I think I better go focus on figuring out why Rainbow Dash ponied up," I said nervously. "See you later."

A few hours later we took a short break from band practice to have a mini-meeting about the Friendship Games.

"We're supposed to keep magic out of the Friendship Games, remember?" I told Rainbow Dash after she commented about having a musical event.

"Easier said than done, darling," Rarity said. "I'm sure in Equestria magic does whatever you want, but..."

"...This isn't Equestria," I sighed.

Applejack tried cheering me up with a pat on the shoulder and a vote of confidence right before at least a dozen clothing racks appeared from nowhere.

"You really didn't have to do that," Dash said uneasily.

"I know," Rarity smiled.

"No. You really didn't have to do," Applejack retorted.

"I KNOW!" Rarity beamed.

"Uh, Rarity, these outfits are great, but why would ya put so much time an' effort into clothes we might not even wear? Yer gonna exhaust yerself b'fore the games even start," Applejack warned.

"Oh, pffft, don't be silly, darling," Rarity said excitedly. "Putting effort into clothes is what I live for. And spending time with my friends fills me with energy!"

"And magic too, I guess," I sighed disappointedly as we watched Rarity pony up.

After floating for about a minute, Rarity suddenly had a tired look on her face before suddenly powering down and collapsing into Applejack's arms. Then we got the surprise of our lives as the door opened.

"Twilight?" we all said in unison.

"Uh...yes?" she replied.

While I was happy to see her, I could tell there was something off. She didn't seem to have anything magical about her. My suspicions were confirmed moments later when Rarity asked about her uniform. This wasn't the Princess of Friendship.

Author's Notes:

I got the idea of Pinkie traveling through the portal from the end of the Friendship Games blooper reel.

GSX-R1000 is made by Suzuki Motorcycles

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