Silver Rose sat in her English class, not particularly interested in what Ms. Script had to say about poetry. It was just such a weird subject, even her aunt had trouble understanding it sometimes.

She resisted the urge to whip out her phone and message Home Run. It had become a thing she enjoyed since the night before. The two of them had chatted long into the night about various things like movies and the past. She had gone to sleep that night, thinking about the boy again.

But right now, she was Silver Rose, not Moonglade. She remembered what her aunt and mother had told her countless times and she didn’t want to disobey them. Moonglade and Silver Rose were not the same person and she really had to remember that.

“Psst.”

Silver Rose’s ears picked up the hissing sound and turned around, noticing it was Twilight Sparkle trying to get her attention.

“Sorry, but I kinda dropped my eraser down beneath your chair,” the lavender girl whispered. “Do you think you could get it for me?”

“Oh. Yeah, sure.”

Checking to see if the teacher was watching, Silver reached an arm down under her chair and swiped the eraser. Handing it back to its owner, she righted herself just as Ms. Script turned back to the class.

“Silver Rose.” Her teacher pointed at her. “What would the poet be referring to with the sentence, ‘I trudged down the muddy lane, looking back’?”

“Umm…” Silver put a hand to her chin. “He looked back at his path in life and wondered if there was anything good he had done?” It was a wild guess, but Silver just decided to say what was at the top of her head.

“Close, but not quite.” Ms. Script turned back to the screen and touched the line. “The poet was searching for a way out that he might’ve passed. A way out of sorrow and death.”

“Oh. Okay, Ms. Script.” Silver leaned back and frowned at the powerpoint. How in the world was I to guess that.

“Good effort, Silver Rose,” Twilight whispered from behind her again.

Silver shrugged and scratched her pink hair. “I really don’t get poetry… By the way, no offence, but you really have to stop dropping your stuff. It’s slightly distracting.”

“Sorry!” the bespectacled girl squeaked. “It’s just that I’m currently, um, tinkering with something.”

“You’re what?” Silver turned around a little more to get a better look. To her word, Twilight Sparkle had dozens of parts on her desk among her stationery, and a weird circular object in the middle. “What could you possibly be building? And in class? Shouldn’t you be paying attention?”

“My work is more important than class,” Twilight said flatly. “And this is not just some random object. I’m programming it to read spikes in energy.”

“You- okay.” Silver nodded, giving the girl a smile before looking back forward. What a looney. No wonder she’s got no friends…

Deciding to tune out for a few minutes, Silver thought about her next immediate problem: Sunny Flare. She knew what she had done to the girl was wrong and she really wanted to right that wrong. She knew approaching Sunny was going to be difficult, but she had to try. Her role here was to be liked by others, not to make others afraid of her.

She didn’t have any classes with Sunny until third period, but at least that gave her the time to come up with a way to approach the girl without her falling away in fear.

She took a deep breath in, then exhaled. You can do this, Silver. You can correct your mistake.

When the bell signalled their release for third period, Silver Rose said goodbye to Canvas Splash and quickly made her way to the chemistry room.

“Why do you even want to be friends with someone like her?” Canvas had asked earlier.

Silver had shrugged. She wasn’t too sure herself, but it was what her aunt would want, which was good enough for her.

Arriving there, she found she was one of the first few in class, with Mr. Beaker already scribbling notes on the whiteboard.

“No Indigo, no Sugarcoat, no Sunny Flare.” She made a face and decided to move to her seat. “Guess I’ll just have to wait.”

Other students began filing in, including Jet Set and Upper Crust, and finally, just two minutes before the bell, Sugarcoat, Indigo Zap and Sunny Flare all at once.

Steeling herself, Silver got up and approached them. Upon seeing Silver, Sunny’s eyes widened and she took three steps back into Indigo, her breathing already becoming ragged.

“Hi!” Silver put on her best smile, slowing herself down to give Sunny room to breathe. “How’s your day going?”

“N-No, no!” Sunny trembled, pulling Sugarcoat in front of her and using her as a shield.

Sugarcoat was less than impressed.

“Come on, Sunny. You can’t expect to avoid her forever.”

“I can’t do this… I can’t do this!” Sunny remained unmoving.

Silver sniffed, the smell of fear instantly filling her nose, coming right from Sunny Flare, along with a tad of irritation from both Sugarcoat, Indigo, and even Mr. Beaker, who was still at the whiteboard, his attention now on them.

“Yeah… I’ll just go back to my seat then,” Silver said quietly before retreating, though not before flashing the trio a grin that she hoped was more friendly than bloodthirsty.

Silver grumbled to herself all the way back. This was going to be so much harder than she anticipated. She had managed to talk to Sunny during detention, but since then, the girl had seemed to grow worse. Perhaps she needed to look at this from a different angle.

Silver Rose watched as Sugarcoat and Indigo walked Sunny to her seat, making sure everything was alright before looking for their own seats. Indigo went to sit down, but Sugarcoat detoured and began walking over to Silver.

“Silver Rose, I think we need to have a talk about Sunny,” the bespectacled girl got right to the point. “I know she’s been giving you trouble, but what you did to her, it’s unforgivable. Just look at her now. We can’t win the Friendship Games like this.”

“I already said I was sorry,” Silver said with a frown, pulling a pen out of her bag to take notes with. “And I’m trying to make up for it. What more do you want from me?”

“Well, you’re going to have to try harder.” Sugarcoat folded her arms. “Back there, it looked to me like you were trying to rub it in Sunny’s face.”

“I most certainly was not,” Silver said defensively. “How am I supposed to make up for it if she gets a panic attack every time I’m in view?”

“Well, try something else then. All we can do from our end is to tell her that you’re not some kind of monster, though after what you did to that door…” Sugarcoat stopped talking for a while, then shook her head. “Nevermind. What’s important now is that we get Sunny back to shape before the Games.”

“It’s not my fault the doors here are so flimsy,” Silver grumped. “Sunny had that coming anyway. It’s not like she’s completely innocent here either.”

The white haired girl sighed as the bell rang, signalling the start of class. “You’re right about that. But you better do something about this fast. We don’t have a whole lot of time left.”

Then she returned to her seat as Mr. Beaker turned around to talk to the class.

Silver Rose rested her head on a hand, her mind at work on how to solve this. She really wanted to solve this problem, she really did, but how was she going to be able to get anywhere if she couldn’t even talk to Sunny without freaking her out?

If only there was someone else I could ask… Oh wait!

She remembered Home Run. Home Run did mention his friends, the Rainbooms, were experts at friendship. Perhaps she could get some kind of idea from him.

Making sure Mr. Beaker wasn’t looking, she whipped out her phone, and brought up Home Run’s chat. Her fingers quickly got to work as she composed a message.

Hey Home Run. Sorry but this is kinda an emergency. I have a problem with a girl here in school. She’s afraid of me and I don’t-

Then Silver stopped herself. This wasn’t Moonglade’s problem. This was Silver Rose’s. She hit herself in her head for almost messing up. Deleting the message, she tried again.

Hey Home Run. Sorry but this is kinda an emergency. My sister Silver Rose has a problem in school I was hoping you might be able to help me out. She kinda scared this one girl and now shes trying to right that wrong but the girl is too afraid of her for her to get anywhere close. Maybe u have some suggestions? Thks.

Silver finished the sentence with a winking face emoji.

Now all she had to do was wait. Again. She decided to pay attention to Mr. Beaker, listening to him talk about sulphuric acid and its properties. She already knew a lot about chemistry because of her mother, but it was nice to get a refresher from time to time, just in case.

She glanced at Sunny Flare from time to time, trying to gauge how crazy she was now. It was like she had gone from one extreme to the other. First, she wouldn’t stop trying to get back at her and now she couldn’t even be close to her without breaking down. Right now, Sunny was paying attention, but there was something about her Silver couldn’t quite place. She wasn’t exactly paying attention, even if she was.

Maybe Aunt Ivory or mother will also have some suggestions.

Perhaps the best thing to do now was to wait for school to finish for the day. That way, she could approach Sunny without any time limits.

Also, she might need to work on her speaking too.

When Calculus class was over, Silver quickly packed her things, intending to go find Sunny before she could go anywhere else.

“What’s the hurry?” Sound Wave asked, watching her shove her books into her bag. “Got somewhere to go?”

“Something like that,” Silver answered as she zipped her bag and put it over one shoulder. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Sound Wave.”

“Sure thing.”

Silver quickly left the classroom in search of Sunny, hoping to find her in the halls or something. Using her nose, Silver found Sunny’s distinct trail of fear, following it down the halls, glad that she had such a heightened sense of smell. It didn’t taste very nice, but at least it helped her locate the mulberry haired girl, who was now standing at her locker, getting some books out.

“Here we go again…” Silver took a moment to breathe. She had enough time to plan a different approach and she hoped it would work better.

Sunny seemed to be having trouble holding her books, so walking over, Silver helped her take her chemistry book from the locker.

“Here, let me give you a hand, you seem to be having some trouble.”

At the sound of Silver’s voice, Sunny jumped, dropping all the books in her hands, scuttling back two steps, raising her hands to her face.

“Sunny, please.” Silver bent down and began picking up the girl’s books. “I’m very sorry for what I did, really. I don’t what this between us, I want to be friends. Could you not… run away, please?”

Her legs shaking, Sunny eventually fell to her thighs, the trembling spreading up to the rest of her body. “No…” She looked around, unable to find her the other Shadowbolts. “Please no, I don’t… I’m sorry for what I did. Don’t hurt me…”

“Ha, look at that.” Silver’s sensitive ears picked up the whispers of another student. “The Queen of Crystal Prep, all weak and wobbly because of the new girl.”

“It was really all a front, huh?” Another voice whispered. “In the end, if you push her, she’s a disgrace. We’re better off if she wasn’t a Shadowbolt.”

“Hey, Sunny Flare!” another girl with purple hair yelled at her. “I don’t think you belong in a school. I think you belong in a mental institute!” She ended the sentence with a snicker, followed by laughter from all the other watching students.

“What happened to the bossy and fearless Sunny Flare?” Another girl pointed at Sunny. “Out the window?”

One by one, the group of students began hurling different and some very creative insults at Sunny, all the while laughing at her for being so afraid of Silver herself. The young changeling stood there and watched as Sunny Flare seemed to shrink down lower and lower, looking like she was on the verge of tears.

In spite of herself, Silver Rose felt a flicker of indignation well up inside her.

“Okay, that’s enough,” she said loudly, getting everyone’s attention. “Stop.”

All the students around stopped laughing and turned their heads to Silver.

“Really?” Suri Polomare asked, wearing a rather skeptical face. “You wouldn’t rather see her break down? After all she’s done to you? I thought you of all people would enjoy this.”

“Well, I don’t. So cut it out before things get ugly.”

“She’s so weird…” Some of the students whispered, dispersing from the hall. By now, everyone must’ve heard of what Silver had done to the changing room door, so maybe getting on her bad side wasn’t such a good idea. “Let’s go before she decides to rip off a locker door or something.”

“Yeah, you better run,” Silver muttered before turning back to Sunny. “You okay there?”

Sunny wiped her eyes, then slowly looked up at Silver. “Why…? Why did you help me?”

“I’m not going to lie,” Silver said ponderously. “It would have been fun to stand aside and do nothing, but I couldn’t just stand by and let them pick on you like that. I’m here to hopefully make amends for my, ah, loss of temper in the changing room.”

Sunny continued to look at Silver confusedly, unsure of what to do now. “You-You’re not going to d-do anything to m-me…?”

“No…” Silver said, putting one hand on her waist and giving Sunny a borderline sultry look. “Not unless you want me to.”

Sunny cowered back again and covered her face, trembling.

“Come on,” Silver sighed, taking hold of Sunny’s arm and tugging her back onto her feet. “Up you get.”

“No, let-let go!” Sunny fell back against the lockers and closed her eyes, looking away. “I-I don’t get you, Silver Rose. I don’t know wh-what to do. Su-Sugarcoat! Anyone!”

“You’d be pretty special if you really did ‘get’ me,” Silver said with a small smirk, handing Sunny back her books. “But as much as I’d like to stick around, I’m late enough as is and my driver is probably getting worried. Have a nice day, okay?”

Sunny hesitantly accepted her books, still crouching in the corner as Silver walked away, holding her bag over one shoulder.

Once Silver was outside, she quickly spotted her mother’s car parked on the curb. Ignoring the stares of her fellow students, Silver Rose flounced to the car and got in. As usual, her aunt was in the driver’s seat, once again dressed as Ivory Wings.

“You took longer than usual,” Ivory observed. “What were you doing?”

“Just trying to correct my mistake, Aunt Ivory.” Silver put her things down, then pulled out her phone to see if Home Run had replied. Ivory tutted and put the car into gear.

“You see, this is why we avoid traumatizing people. It’s a lot of work to undo the damage.”

To Silver’s glee, the boy had replied her and judging from the time, likely sometime during last
period.

Hey Moonglade. Ur sister huh? I had a talk with some of the others and they said she shud just be nice and help her out. Show her her better side and things will work out. Give it some time. Hope this helps.

Silver Rose lowered the phone and tried not to look too unimpressed.

“Well that’s what I was doing anyway. And these people call themselves experts on friendship? Ha!”

“What’s that, sweetie?” Ivory said from up front.

“Just messaging Home Run, Aunt Ivory.” Silver waved her phone in her hand. “He gave me some advice on what I can do about Sunny Flare, but I already knew all of it.”

“Of course. You’re a smart girl, and I’m sure you’ll be able to get through to this Sunny Flare. I’ll make it clear; while I don’t exactly approve of your traumatizing of her, you did right to stand up for yourself. A princess has to make it clear that she is not to be trifled with.” Ivory stopped at a red light and hummed ‘This Day is Going to be Perfect’. “As a princess myself, I should know.”

“Have you traumatized anyone before, Aunt Ivory?” Silver asked, at the same time, typing Home Run a thank you note, adding a little red heart at the end.

Ivory let out a bark of laughter as the light turned green and she accelerated. “Certainly I have. The difference, however, is that the ones I traumatized were my enemies, and you’re trying to make friends.”

“Oh. That makes sense. I just hope Sunny gets over it before the Friendship Games. She’s supposed to compete.”

“When is that, anyway?” Ivory asked as she waited for the gates to the estate to open. “I might swing by and watch if I have the time.”

“It’s in about two weeks,” Silver said, hoping her memory was right. “It’s not going to be here though. We’re having it at Canterlot High.”

“I see. Well, you’d better check if they allow guests. If not, I’ll just impersonate one of the teachers or something.”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea… but you always know best, huh Aunt Ivory?” Silver smiled at her aunt through the rearview mirror. “I do hope we win. I heard that Crystal Prep wins every year, but Canterlot High’s been on the rise recently.”

“Is that so?” Ivory said. “Well, I shall be hoping for your victory then. But in the grand scheme of things, it’s not that important. So don’t lose your head in the excitement.”

“Oh, don’t worry, Aunt Ivory. I’ll just be cheering the Shadowbolts on. I’m not participating. Won’t be doing much cheering either, but hey, I’ll try and root for my school.”

“Just remember to keep up appearances, sweetie.” Ivory pulled into the front of the mansion. “You want people to like you, after all. And this Home Run boy’s going to be there, right?”

“Oh yeah, Home Run!” Silver squeaked excitedly. Then she coughed and recomposed herself. “I mean, yeah. Home Run will be there.”

Ivory squinted at her niece in the mirror. “Careful, young princess. Your affections for this prey should only manifest itself in Moonglade. Watch what you say and do when in a different persona.”

Silver nodded and opened the car door. “Yes, Aunt Ivory.”

“Well, I shall go park the car, then I will see you inside.” Ivory gave her niece a wink. “Perhaps after you homework, we can play more of your Neighstation? That little machine is quite the invention.”

“Silver Rose helped you out?” Lemon Zest pulled off her headphones for a little while. “See? I told you she isn’t bad.”

“But you were okay?” Sugarcoat pushed her glasses up her nose. “You didn’t get another panic attack?”

Sunny’s cheeks turned a tinge pink. “I-I did… I keep seeing it, Sugarcoat. I see Silver’s hands going around my throat, I see the ominous glow in her eyes…” She wrapped her arms around herself and shivered. “Why would she defend me if she tried to kill me…?”

“I think ‘kill you’ is an exaggeration. She’s used to living a cushy, pampered life. Would she even have the muscle to strangle you?”

“You saw the marks on my neck, didn’t you?” Sunny questioned. “And I felt it. I couldn’t breathe! You weren’t the one being choked!”

“Um, I didn’t see any marks,” Indigo said, fiddling with her goggles.

“They weren’t very visible, Sunny.” Sugarcoat pushed open the doors to the cafe. “She didn’t squeeze that hard.

“But you do raise a good point. She tore that door right off its hinges. I tried it myself. I couldn’t do it. And then she jumped over you in PE and shoot such perfect shots for archery on her first try? Things aren’t adding up with this girl.”

“Maybe she’s just that talented,” Lemon suggested, picking up a sachet of sugar and tearing it open. She then proceeded to tip the contents directly into her mouth. “Doesn’t explain the door thing though.”

“At least she’s not that bad of a person,” Sour Sweet added. “But what is she?”

“We can leave that till after the Friendship Games.” Indigo pulled up a chair and crashed down against it. “Right now, we need to focus on getting Sunny back to top shape. We need to win! Not just by a little, but we need to show them we are better.”

“Crystal Prep’s never lost the Friendship Games before,” Lemon Zest added. “We can’t be the first ones to let our school down!”

“Not to mention Principal Cinch would probably go ballistic if we did lose,” Sugarcoat said matter-of-factly. “Her school’s reputation is on the line here. And we all know how much her image means to her.”

“So Sunny, we need you…” Indigo gave her a firm pat on the back. “To get your head in the game and focus. Can you do that?”

Sunny looked around at all the expectant faces and cringed inwardly. She didn’t want to let any of them down, but she wasn’t at all sure how her performance would be, especially with her recently sprained ankle and this new, well-deserved fear of Silver Rose, nice as she seemed to be.

“I’ll… I’ll try,” Sunny said quietly. “Can I count on you girls to help me if I fall behind?”

“But you can’t fall behind, Sunny,” Sour Sweet said sickeningly sweet, then switched it up. “And we won’t have time to back you up. It’s every girl for herself. Our main goal is winning it for Crystal Prep, Sunny. You know that. We can’t afford to stop and help each other.”

“Yeah, this won’t just be some race around the track.” Indigo pumped a fist. “If any of us fall behind, it’s up to ourselves to catch up. The rest of us have to do our best and win it.”

“I know, I know…” Sunny clenched her fists. She couldn’t stand it. She couldn’t stand herself for being so afraid of a girl, just because she strangled her. It made her feel weak and easy to break. That wasn’t who she is. “I don’t want to be afraid of Silver Rose.”

“Then try harder.” Sugarcoat pushed her. “You have nothing to fear from her. She only retaliated because you kept pushing her. If you truly want to right that wrong, then you have nothing more to fear from her.”

“Al-alright…” Sunny sighed and looked down. “I’ll… I’ll speak to Silver Rose tomorrow. Alone. And I’ll overcome this fear.”

Thinking about the girl again made Sunny’s skin crawl and her body to grow colder, but she fought it off. She had to. The Shadowbolts needed her to win. She couldn’t get a panic attack during the Games and compromise everything their school had worked so hard to achieve.

“We have just two weeks left before the Games!” Indigo Zap mashed a fist on a hand. “Two weeks left to prepare, two weeks left to everything we’ve been training for. We can’t let Crystal Prep down!”

“Too true, Indigo!” Lemon Zest cheered. “But we can do this! Crystal Prep always wins! We’ve got this!”

“We’re not going to sit back and let Canterlot High win, that’s for sure.” Sugarcoat smirked and pushed her glasses up.

“Crystal Prep Academy all the way!” Sour Sweet said cheerily. “Go, Shadowbolts. Canterlot High can kiss our a-”

A car honked outside, blaring around the area.