Author's Notes:

Two days until the Friendship Games.

Lemon slowly got up out of bed and sighed, the memory of yesterday's loss still fresh in her mind. She got dressed and walked downstairs.

"Hi." she said as she entered the kitchen.

Her father frowned. "Still bummed out about yesterday, kiddo?"

Lemon nodded. "Yeah."

"I'm sure things will get better, hon." said Florid.

"I can only hope at this point..." said Lemon.

"Just remember, Lemon. You still have Twilight Sparkle." said Citrus.

"I know. I do have a session with Radiant Hope, so that'll help improve my mood at least." said Lemon.

Florid smiled. "There you go. Look on the positive side like you always do."

Lemon hugged her parents. "Well, I gotta go. Lunch is in the fridge as usual?"

Florid nodded.

"Great." said Lemon. "See you later."

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Lemon got off the bus and walked over to the school entrance. She opened the door to see a very, very tired Twilight Sparkle.

"Whoa...are you okay?" asked Lemon.

"Yeah...I'm fine..." said Twilight, nearly dozing off. Lemon quickly grabbed her and kept her from falling onto the floor.

"Come on...let's get you some coffee or something..." said Lemon as she guided her to the cafeteria.

After a few minutes and some caffeine in her system, Twilight perked up. "Sorry about that. I was up all night."

"Up all night doing what?" asked Lemon.

"Well..." said Twilight, slowly pulling at her hair.

Lemon raised an eyebrow. "Twilight...what were you doing?"

Twilight took a deep breath and exhaled. "Okay...before I tell you anything...we need to be in a secluded location."

"Okay." said Lemon. As they walked the halls, she looked back at Twilight. "Is there anything you can tell me now?"

"I don't want to take any chances, Lemon Zest. Let's just wait until we reach a quiet place." said Twilight.

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Once the pair reached a private area, Twilight leaned in closely to Lemon. "Okay...you know how I've been trying to cheer you up since yesterday?"

Lemon nodded.

"I realized it wasn't working, so last night I took...drastic measures." said Twilight.

"Drastic...measures?" asked Lemon. "What are you talking about?"

Twilight took a deep breath and sighed. "God, I feel so dirty." She began shaking.

"Twilight?" said Lemon. "Are you okay?"

"I...I don't know." Twilight sniffled. "I feel like what I'm about to do is the most vile, repugnant thing imaginable. But I want to see you happy. I don't like seeing you when you're sad."

"Twilight..." said Lemon.

"Hey...friends try to keep each other happy no matter what, right?" said Twilight. "Even...even at their own expense. Their own sacrifices." her voice cracked. "I...I..." she broke, and started crying into Lemon's chest.

Lemon hugged Twilight tightly and stroked her hair in an effort to calm her friend down.

After a few minutes, Twilight calmed down. She looked up at Lemon, her eyes red and puffy. She shuddered.

"Twilight, if it makes you this uncomfortable then I don't mind you not doing it." said Lemon.

Twilight gave her a sad smile. "Lemon. If I didn't want to go through with this, I wouldn't have bothered doing what I did in the first place."

Lemon smiled. "Okay. What did you do?"

Twilight took a deep breath and exhaled, shuddering again. "I overheard you telling Sour about your encounter with Sunny Flare. That got me thinking."

Lemon nodded.

"I know you're not normally the violent type unless you lose your temper...but I assume you've heard the phrase 'Knowledge is power.'?" asked Twilight.

"I do, but I don't see where you're going with this." said Lemon.

"Well, last night I did some...'digging'." said Twilight.

"'Digging'?" repeated Lemon.

"Yes." Twilight nodded. "I looked into the pasts of all of your teammates for the Friendship Games. Sour Sweet, Royal Pin, Suri Polomare...all of them."

Lemon raised an eyebrow.

"I wanted to give you an edge in case they harassed you. They know things about you, but you don't know anything about them." said Twilight.

Lemon's eyes shot open as she finally realized what Twilight had done. "My god...you know their deepest, darkest secrets now, don't you?!"

Twilight nodded. "This knowledge might come in handy, but I feel terrible about what I did."

"Twilight...you don't have to-" said Lemon

"I'm going to fucking tell you, Lemon Zest! I've gone too damn far for nothing, do you hear me?!" shouted Twilight, tears in her eyes.

Lemon backed up, shocked by Twilight's words. "Okay...I understand."

Twilight slowly held onto one of Lemon's hands. "I'm going to need this." she said. "I feel so terrible, divulging people's secrets like this, but if it helps you defend yourself, I'll do it. No matter how painful it may be."

The process, Lemon found, was startlingly akin to labor. Twilight had to control her breathing, hyperventilating to reveal the secrets she knew. Each time a secret was told, Twilight would wail in anguish while tightly squeezing Lemon's hand as both of them shed tears, fully aware of the pain they were causing each other. Twilight, because knew she was worrying her friend and the guilt she felt for snooping on the private lives of people she barely knew. Lemon, because of the emotional and mental suffering Twilight had went through and was still going through, all for her own sake.

After the last secret was revealed, Lemon was in shock. "Twilight...are you sure of all of those things?"

Twilight was still in tears. "Yes..." she said. "I had to double and even triple check...but yes. There's no doubt about any of them."

"Twilight...I don't know what to say..." said Lemon.

"Lemon...before we leave this room, I want to make something abundantly clear." said Twilight.

"Yes?" said Lemon.

"This will be between you and me, and we will both carry this to our graves if we can help it." said Twilight, giving Lemon a serious expression.

"I agree." Lemon said. "I can't believe you went to all that trouble just for me..."

"Hey." said Twilight, her voice quavering. "What are friends for?" she said as she hugged Lemon.

Lemon returned the hug and the two resumed crying until the warning bell for the first period rang.