After checking in, Silver Rose and the rest of the fencing team were informed that they would be able to put down their gear in a shed out by the playing field.

“I’m not sure why you brought all your equipment here,” Dean Cadance had said. “But I commend your willingness to help in the Games and your school spirit.”

“Thank you, Dean Cadance,” Quillion answered for the team. “It’s always good to be prepared, in case fencing has been chosen for the Games.”

“Hmm, that’s good.” Their dean smiled and looked over to the other students lining up to check in. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll have to go make sure everyone’s here. If you need anything, you know where to find me.”

“Got it. Thanks again, Dean Cadance.” Quillion led the team ahead, then walked over to Silver. “Silver Rose, if you would like, you could go find the others. We’ll take the bags from here.”

Silver slung the bag strap higher up her shoulder. “I’m already holding it. It’s no trouble, I’ll come along.”

They went around Canterlot High, looking for the way out to the playing field. Unable to navigate the corridors at the moment without a map, Fleur suggested they just head back outside and make their way around the main building. With everyone agreeing, they team made their way back to the school’s entrance, with Silver remembering the way they had come from. In no time, they were around the school and on the soccer field, which appeared to have been extensively remodeled. Now there were both wooden and dirt ramps around it, some kind of track in the middle, and at the center, several rope swings and some dartboard-looking things. Silver guessed that they were probably meant for archery, and the ramps for motocross, but the rest of the field’s implements were unfathomable to her.

“Wow, whoever had to dig this all out must be back home sleeping for the next few nights…” Silver scratched at her brow. She found it a little too much for a simple school event. Perhaps the Friendship Games were a lot more crazy than she had first expected. At least they now knew motocross was for sure a thing, or at least, it looked like it was.

At the back, they spotted a shed where a group of Canterlot High students were situated, placing carts of sports gear into the shed. Silver soon spotted a familiar face putting a cart of baseball mitts and bats back in the shed and had to control herself from running over there to give him a hug. After all, she wasn’t Moonglade right now, but Silver Rose.

When Quillion began walking over the field, Silver immediately followed, her eyes staying on Home Run after he exited the shed, dusting at his sleeves. They saw them approaching and stopped to look. Silver recognized the brown haired ponytail boy, Jetstream, standing by the shed’s wall, folding his arms and trying to look cool as the team approached them.

“Hi there, we were told to put our fencing gear here.” Quillion got straight to the point.

“Crystal Prep?” Jetstream mumbled, like he was trying to pretend he had something sticking out of his mouth. “Crystal Prep wants to share our shed space? Oh, the sky must be falling now, huh?”

“Good one, Jets…” A boy with long white hair and peach skin began snickering. “But seriously, you don’t have a more… posh place to put your gear?”

“We were instructed to bring it here,” Quillion replied stoutly. “All our gear is marked so it won’t get mixed up with your own fencing equipment.”

“Please, like we have time for fencing,” Jetstream snorted and narrowed one eye. “Fencing is for sissies, right, Lightning, my boy? I dare say we have better swordsmanship here. Real sword skills. Not something like fencing.”

“You say what you want, Jets.” A boy with silver-blonde hair shrugged, sitting over by a bench. Silver had seen them all before, but she only knew Jetstream and Home Run’s names. “I can’t be bothered to even insult these guys.”

“Aw, come on, guys.” Home Run stepped forward and turned to his friends. “We haven’t even started and you’re all already being so antagonistic. Come on, be more civil, huh?”

Atta boy, Home Run… Silver smiled. Trust him to be the nice one to try to bridge the rift between their schools.

“Home Run’s right, you know?” A girl with teal and grey hair agreed, wiping a drop of sweat from the side of her face. “We can be better than this. We don’t need to be so mean.”

“See? Velvet agrees.” Home Run motioned to the girl.

“That’s because both of you haven’t been to this school as long as us,” Jetstream rebutted. “You and your Shadowbolts have caused no end of trouble for us.”

“It’s not our fault we’re better at everything.” Fleur looked at her nails, unimpressed. “You can’t blame us for that.”

“What do you mean, better at everything?” Jetstream demanded, throwing his hands up over his head. “Did you hear what she just said, Lightning Rain?”

Lightning Rain shrugged, taking out a piece of gum and popping it in his mouth. “Hey, the evidence does support what she says. You might not like it, but you can’t deny she’s kind of right.”

“Hey, you shut your face!”

“Why’re you helping them?” A girl that looked remarkably alike to the peach-skinned boy pointed a finger at the silver-blonde boy. She had the same skin color and facial features. “Crystal Prep is our rival school. Even if it’s not just the competition, have you seen what they’ve done to our school?”

“What, they haven’t done anything, right?” Home Run looked between his friends and Silver and the fencing team.

“They put clown shoes on our statue!” the pink haired girl yelled. “I mean, how do you even do that?”

“You gotta admit, that was a sweet prank…” the boy with the peach skin laughed.

“Just a friendly reminder that we were better.” Royal Pin put a hand on his blazer’s collar. “No harm done.”

“No harm done!” Jetstream said, outraged. “Why I ought to-”

“And that’s enough out of you, man,” Lightning Rain came up from behind and put a hand on Jetstream’s furious mouth. “We’re going back inside. Feel free to put your equipment in the shed.”

The boy and his struggling partner then half-walked, half dragged themselves into the school.

“Quite the friends you have, huh, Home Run?” Silver said, then immediately stopped herself. Uh oh.

“You know my name?” The blue haired boy looked at her.

“Uh, um… I…” Silver’s cheeks turned red as she tried to find the right words to use. “You… uh, I’m Moonglade’s sister.”

“Oh.” Home Run’s eyes widened with recognition. “Silver Rose?” He stretched out a hand. “Nice to meet you. Moonglade’s told me quite a bit about you.”

“L-Likewise…” Silver smiled awkwardly and shook his hand. “Sh-she talks a lot about you. I mean, a lot.”

“This fellow knows your sister?” Fleur eyed Home Run and his attire. “He is so simple.”

“Well, umm…” Silver scratched her head. “He’s m… I mean, her boyfriend. And she really seems to like him a lot. I wouldn’t judge people just because they’re simple or not.”

“Your sister has a boyfriend?” Quillion raised an eyebrow and then turned his eyes to her. “She is homeschooled, is she not?”

“Yes, so?”

“So how did they even meet?”

“Look,” Silver said, growing irritated. “I don’t know the details of my sister’s personal life. She does her own thing and I do mine. We’re not the same person, you know.”

Except we kind of are… Silver crossed her fingers behind her back.

Home Run smiled and waved. “Umm… yeah, well, I think we better get back to the gym. They’ve got something planned. Um, nice to meet you, Silver.”

“I guess that’s that.” Quillion went over to the shed as Home Run and his friends began walking off.

Silver watched him go, a little sad that she couldn’t outright spend time with him, even if he was right in front of her, but she had no choice unless she wanted to blow her cover. Doing what she came to do, she placed her bag of swords by the other bags Quillion had put down in the shed, then walked on with her team towards the school again.

“I wonder if we’ll get the chance to use these,” Quillion sighed as he closed the shed door. “Otherwise we’ll have dragged all this here for nothing.”

“I’m sure some use will come of it,” Fleur said bracingly. “Perhaps I can challenge that rude boy to a round. Fencing is for sissies indeed,” she ended with a scowl.

Silver, for her part, remained quiet and contemplative. Home Run being here was going to inconvenience her slightly, whether she wanted to see him or not, as she would have to place stricter character restrictions on herself. She also partially agreed with Fleur. Someone new to duel might be just the kind of fun she wanted.

“Well, let’s go inside then! See what they have in store for us?” Silver skipped along.

They found a side door to the school building, entering back inside. It was also quite a close walk to the gym, which was nice. Silver didn’t want to get lost on her first day here.

Once they entered the gym, Silver noticed that most of her schoolmates were already inside, some of them drinking punch and standing around, some of them sleeping. She caught sight of Twilight tottering around, bumping into balloons and Indigo Zap. The air here smelled strange, like a blend of two different fruit juices that weren’t meant to be put together. One shot of Crystal Prep’s competitiveness and their arrogance, a shot of a more relaxed and friendly drink.

Must be CHS’s natural flavor… Silver thought, then realizing more sourly, Mother could have sent me here instead, it tastes and smells a lot nicer here. And Home Run goes to this school too. I could see him everyday instead of just the weekends…

Silver looked around, a little unsure of what to do. She decided to walk over to a corner, but as she turned, she always walked right into a girl whose hair reminded the changeling of pieces of bacon.

“Oops, sorry,” she said and carried on. Behind her stood another group of girls and Silver immediately recognized the rainbow haired one and the one with puffy pink hair. They had been caught spying on them back at Crystal Prep. They kind of looked like a big deal here; perhaps these were the Rainbooms she had heard so much about.

“No harm… done.” Silver turned back to the bacon haired girl and watched her go.

Just then, she had walked over to Twilight Sparkle, casting an accusatory eye at her. “Twilight, what have you been up to?”

Huh. They know her already? Silver thought to herself. By the way she approached her, they didn’t seem exactly like friends.

“Me?” Twilight stammered. “Oh, I was just-”

“Who wants to know?” Indigo Zap butted in, getting up in bacon hair’s face.

Suddenly, the rainbow haired girl was there and reciprocated the motion, her and Indigo’s noses almost touching. “Um, we do?”

“Alright, everyone,” the orange-skinned girl with a Stetson hat moved between Indigo and rainbow hair, parting them. “Let’s not get too competitive before the Games even start.”

Just then, Sugarcoat also decided to join in, adding, “The Games aren’t really competitive since we’ve never lost.”

Then another girl from the Rainboom group came over, the one with soft pink hair and a little butterfly clip. Silver didn’t know why she came over, because she looked like she was regretting it.

“That’s not a very nice thing to say…” the pink haired one said, almost in a whisper.

“Sorry dearie,” Sunny said, joining in as well, giving the Rainbooms her best condescending look. “But these games aren’t about being nice.”

Why did she say that? Silver wondered. It was right there in the name, ‘Friendship Games’. She felt a little dumber for just hearing it. She hoped Sunny wouldn’t make mistakes like that during the Games.

“Well, you might use a little tact,” the Rainboom with beautifully coiffed violet hair said. Silver made it a point to learn their names later. They seemed important to the sirens, and speaking of them, she hadn’t seen them around today.

Deciding to leave the conversation before it could get to a boiling point, Silver went around the gym, looking for the three girls her mother and aunt so adored. While looking, Silver also noticed that the Crystal Prep students were barely interacting with the Canterlot High ones. Both schools seemed to just be standing to their own sides, talking amongst themselves.

So much for Friendship Games.

Still unable to find the sirens, Silver eventually resorted to using her nose, sniffing out the three girls’ distinctive emotions. She took discreet sniffs, not wanting everyone in the gym to think she was some weirdo, eventually picking up on Aria’s extreme apathy. She didn’t smell the other two, but they were always together, so follow Aria’s trail she did.

And she was right. At the far end, behind a basketball hoop stand, Aria was bickering with Sonata again, with Adagio having a hand on her face.

“Surprise, surprise!” Silver said when she got closer, hoping to stop them from arguing. The smell and taste around them right now was terrible.

Sonata pushed past Aria and threw herself on Silver almost quite literally. “Silveeeer! You’re here!”

“Of course she’s here.” Aria scoffed behind her. “Crystal Prep is here for the Friendship Games.”

“Yeah. You girls not mingling with the others?” Silver asked, patting Sonata on the head.

“I don’t see a point,” Adagio said and rolled her eyes. “They’ll just try to push their friendship stuff on us again.”

“Aw, come on. Friendship isn’t that bad.” Silver smiled. “I’ve made a couple of friends myself. They’re not bad people. Mostly.”

“Well, we don’t really need anyone else…” Aria said bluntly. “What’s the point?”

“I mean, hanging out is fun and all. I have fun when I hang out with you girls too.”

Aria exhaled. “Whatever.”

Silver frowned at her. Whether it was related to their gems or not, Aria’s attitude was really getting unbearable. She really hoped Aunt Ivory would be able to do something about it. She didn’t want to have to toss Aria out a window one day by accident.

“Hey, Silver. Are these your friends?” Fleur walked over, casting a quick glance over at the sirens. “You sure know a lot of these Canterlot High students. More of your sister, Moonglade’s friends, I presume?”

“Oh, uh, no. They um… live with us.”

“You live with students from Canterlot High?” Fleur looked almost taken aback. “Why do they not just transfer schools?”

“Hey, you have a problem with us?” Aria snapped at her.

“Merely stating the convenience you would have.” Fleur flipped her hair off her shoulder. “And I would think you would rather be on the winning team.”

“Fleur, how about we just go over somewhere else?” Silver interrupted, afraid Aria would start something. She turned and gave the white-skinned girl a gentle push to move off. “How about some punch. You like punch? Um… I’ll catch you three later, okay?”

Sonata waved happily and Adagio gave a simple wave, while Aria just snorted and folded her arms.

“Such wild students they have here,” Fleur huffed, tilting her chin up. “Thank goodness we attend a more prestigious school.”

“Ha…” Silver said half in agreement, half in relief to just get Fleur away from the sirens. “You don’t say.”

The punch table was a safe distance away, currently occupied by a few Canterlot High students, but thankfully, they moved away when Silver and Fleur got there, except with one boy with brown hair and a brown jacket.

“Punch?” he asked when the two girls stopped by the table.

“Um… yes, we’re here for the punch,” Silver said sweetly. She didn’t want to sound antagonistic.

“Apple punch,” the boy said, taking a sip from his cup.

“Right. Thanks for the heads up.” Silver poured one for Fleur and herself.

“Charly.” He stuck his hand out. “I’m good on the swing.”

“Swing?” Silver shook his hand, while Fleur refused. “I’m Silver Rose. Nice to meet you, I guess.”

The boy, Charly, continued to stand by the punch table, drinking from his cup and refilling it. Silver lost count of how many times he poured more punch in his cup, but she didn’t want to judge him. Everyone was weird in their own way, though perhaps he was a little weirder than she was.

“So is this it?” Fleur blew up at her fringe and sighed. “Are we to just stand around? This is getting boring.”

“Hello everyone I’d like to take this opportunity to greet all of our visitors from Crystal Prep Academy and welcome them to CHS.” Silver turned towards the stage, spotting Canterlot High’s Principal Celestia standing by a mike. “And lastly, I would like to recognize the twelve students that CHS has elected to compete. I don’t think we could have chosen a better group to represent the excellence, sportsmanship, and friendship the Games stand for.”

“I’m sure they could’ve,” Fleur leaned over to whisper.

Silver raised an eyebrow in thought. Excellence, sportsmanship and friendship. She guessed the Friendship Games would involve characteristics like those, but from what she had seen so far, only excellence seemed to be a common trait everyone was trying to achieve. Sportsmanship and friendship, however…

Fleur and Silver wandered over to one of the tables that had refreshments on it. Mostly small finger food that didn’t look particularly appetizing. Silver settled herself against the gym’s wall and let her eyelids droop. After a few moments, she opened them again, idly glancing over to where Fleur was standing. To her surprise, the finger food had been replaced by an array of colorful cupcakes.

Now where did those come from?

Fleur was quick to take one of the new cupcakes, taking a bite out of it. Silver watched as the girl’s normal stoic expression soon turned into one of happiness as she took a second bite.

“Wow… What did they put into those?” Silver was about to walk back over and take one herself when the entire gym was plunged into darkness, except for a single disco ball near the center. “Hey! What?”

Suddenly, loud upbeat music filled the air around them and to her astonishment, students from both their schools started mingling with each other, almost like there was some magic to it all.

“Hey, Silver Rose.” Much to her glee, Home Run had walked up to her, leaning against the wall beside her. “Pretty interesting, isn’t it? I mean, the sudden cheery mood around here.”

Silver sniffed at the air, then smirked. “You can say that again. It definitely looks livelier than before.” Her eyes drifted over to her sleeping classmate, who was now awake and having a chat with another kid from Canterlot High. “Looks like it’s starting to look like a Friendship Games.”

“So, how’s your sister doing?” Home Run inquired. “She did say she’d be supporting both our schools today.”

Always about Moonglade. Does nobody care about Silver Rose? No one’s asked Silver how she is or what she’s been up to.

But on the outside, Silver smiled and said, “That’s what she said. It’s too bad she can’t come herself, what with this being a school event.”

And it would be extremely inconvenient for me if she was allowed here.

“Well… Yeah, I guess. Wouldn’t mind having her here.” Home Run put his hands in his pockets and began tapping one foot to the beat of the music. “She did say she’s hoping you guys win. You two must be close, huh? Oh hey, aren’t you two twins, actually? You’re born on the same year, right? That’s neat.”

That was where Silver noticed a flaw in Home Run meeting both her personas. She had never accounted for both their ages and as it was, Silver and Moonglade were the same age. She looked over to the main floor, where both Crystal Prep and Canterlot High students had begun dancing. It was nice to see their schools actually act friendly towards each other.

Silver eventually remembered she was still talking to Home Run and looked back to him, slightly embarrassed that she had forgotten. He was still standing there, waiting for her reply.

“Oh, hehe, yeah… Yeah, you’re right, it is pretty neat, isn’t it?” Silver laughed a little awkwardly, but thankfully, Home Run didn’t pick up on it. “Um, we went our different ways when we were younger though. I lived with my aunt until recently. Now we’re all back together. Yeah. Haha.”

“Oh. Well, I’d like to-”

There was a sudden screech of microphone feedback and the lights came blaring back on. Everyone looked up to the stage to behold Principal Cinch, standing in front of the microphone with her usual expression of aloofness on her face.

“I’d like to thank Principal Celestia for her unconventional welcome,” Cinch removed her glasses to polish them. “It’s been four years since the last Friendship Games, but it feels as though nothing has changed. Canterlot High continues to pick its competitors in a popularity contest, and Crystal Prep continues to field its top twelve students. It is a comfort to know that even after so many years of losses, your school remains committed to its ideals however misguided they may be.”

Silver watched as the Canterlot High and Crystal Prep students who had been previously mingling began to shuffle apart and into to separate groups. She scowled up at Cinch, a little annoyed at how she had spoiled the delicious soup of friendship so easily. The smell around her was slowly returning to one of hostility and pride.

“Wow…” Home Run whispered. “That’s one way to kill the mood.”

Silver looked around, realizing she was the only Crystal Prep student still standing beside a Canterlot High one.

“Oops,” she said and quickly scuttled over to the CPA side. “Sorry, Home Run.”

The boy gave a friendly wave as Silver found her way back to where Fleur and Quillion where standing. At least he wasn’t sour about it.

“I wish you all the best of luck,” Principal Cinch concluded. “In spite of the inevitable outcome.”

“She’s right.” Quillion lifted his cup of juice. “No way we’re losing this.”

“Inevitable indeed.” Fleur nodded.

So much for good sportsmanship… Silver sighed. She looked back over to where Home Run was standing. He was still by himself and she contemplated whether going over there would be a good idea. Perhaps not, at least not now.

It would also be bad if she were to lose control of herself and start kissing him or something. Silver Rose wasn’t in a relationship with Home Run. Moonglade was. Right, standing here was the better choice.

“Well, we’ve reserved the rest of the day for a bit of exploring around the campus,” Principal Celestia said in an attempt to sound upbeat after Cinch’s speech. “So just take it easy. And do try to mingle? This is the Friendship Games, after all.”

At least someone gets it.

“So what are we going to do now?” Fleur began tapping a foot slowly and unrhythmically. “Who would want to explore the campus?”

Just then, Canvas Splash popped up, carrying her sketchbook under one arm. “Hiya, Silver! I’m off to explore the campus and draw some scenes. I’ll see you later!”

“Yeah, see you, Canvas.” Silver watched her go.

“I guess people like her will want to go explore…” Fleur said.

Silver leaned against the wall as she mentally tallied up the benefits of going exploring versus the benefits of staying here where there was plentiful food and drink. While staying in the gym would provide nourishment, it would no doubt become rather boring, or worse, students might try to mob her once they realized who she was.

Spotting Sunny Flare and her friends leaving the gym, Silver waved goodbye to Fleur and Quillion, and skipped over to join them.

“Aw, what the hay, we’ll come too,” Quillion said, rallying the fencing team and joining Silver. “Not like there’s really anything better to do.”

Heading back out into the school’s hallways, Silver caught up with Sunny and the others, just in time to hear them complaining about something.

“Hey, girls. What’s up?” She joined in, looking at each of them.

“Just talking about our competition and how they don’t look like they should be competing against us,” Sugarcoat stated flatly.

“They’re all so cheery for a team that’s going to lose!” Lemon Zest snickered. “We’ve got this one in the bag.”

“Their campus seems pretty lackluster,” Sour Sweet commented. “Their fruit punch isn’t bad though.”

“Please. Their fruit punch isn’t going to help them win the Games.” Indigo said smugly. “I think we’ve got this one.”

Silver really didn’t like how they were so condescending towards CHS, but she didn’t know what she could say to change their minds.

“Well, well, well… If it isn’t the Shadowbolts.” Silver and the others turned to see Jetstream swaggering over. “I know you’re here to rub it in our faces and all, but trust me, you can’t. We’re better than that, you see.”

“Ugh, him again…” Fleur put a hand on her face.

“We’re just exploring your campus like your principal told us to,” Sugarcoat said. “If you’ve got a problem with that, take it up with her.”

“I have no problems with you exploring, no.” Jetstream rubbed a hand along his stubbled chin. "I just want to let you know you’ll be losing this time. We’re better than we used to be, you know? This school has been through much.”

“Are you even participating?” Indigo said with a raised eyebrow. “I don’t recall your face among those that your principal pointed out. Doesn’t matter anyway. We’re going to win this Friendship Games for CPA, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“You know, you talk big for a guy who isn’t participating.” Fleur stepped forward and frowned at him. “Care to put your money where your mouth is?”

“Trust me, if I had more money, I’d be doing just that.” The brown hair boy made a weird face.

Silver didn’t have good memories of him, seeing as he had outright told everyone in the cafe that she was Moonglade during her first date with Home Run. Thankfully, he didn’t seem to know who she was right now, and she would like for it to stay that way.

The hostility in the room seemed to have reached an all-time high. She could practically taste the electric currents that were in the hall right now. Silver clenched her teeth to stop her fangs from sliding out.

“You said fencing is for sissies?” Fleur took a step forward. Even that menacing action seemed graceful when she did it. “Why don’t you show me? One on one? Then we’ll see who the sissy is.”

Jetstream raised both his hands and grinned. “Believe me, I wouldn’t mind if I knew fencing. And I’m not going to hurt a girl. It would be unmanly of me to do so.”

“You’re just afraid of getting your butt kicked aren’t you?” Fleur stepped even closer to him, their faces almost touching now. “Why don’t you go out there and prove it, instead of running your jaw?”

“Ooooh…” Lemon Zest covered her mouth, her eyes going wide.

“I don’t need to prove anything to a Crystal Prep kid like you.” Jetstream was equally as hostile.

Just then, the door Silver and the others had come from was pushed open, followed by more Canterlot High students, including the Rainbooms and the other boy, the one that had dragged Jetstream away earlier, Lightning Rain.

“There he is…” the taller boy folded his arms. “Jets, could you not antagonize people when you’re on your own? Please?”

Jetstream stepped away from Fleur and pointed at Silver and the others. Silver found it rude. “I’m not the one at it! They are. Why are you so quick to point fingers?”

Speak for yourself. Silver folded her arms.

“You don’t need to add fuel to all this tension.” The violet haired one put her hands on her hips. “There’s enough as it is.”

“Yeah, but…” Jetstream suddenly walked over and pulled the rainbow haired one forward. “Ah, captain. You’re a girl. You can show Crystal Prep how good you are at fencing, right?”

“What?” the girl looked at him in surprise. “I don’t know how to fence!”

“You started this, ponytail boy!” Fleur stabbed a finger in Jetstream’s chest. “Now man up and face me, one on one.”

“Cool it, Fleur…” Quillion said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “He’s not worth it.”

“He’s disrespecting our sport.” Fleur still flashed him an angry stare. “You think you Canterlot High students can beat us in a fair game?”

“What?” Rainbow hair threw her hands up. “Of course we can! You may have won every other competition against us, but not this time.”

Fleur pointed a finger at Jetstream. “This buffoon spoke bad of our sport. If you think you can win, then take his place. Show me what you can do.”

“Well, I don’t know any fencing myself, but…” Suddenly, she dashed back a step and pulled Bacon hair forward. “Sunset here is really good! I bet she can take you all on!”

“Rainbow!” The one called Sunset complained.

“What? It’s true. You’re the best swordsman-er, swordsgirl I’ve ever seen, including from the movies! You even beat the Assa-ow!” Rainbow said as Sunset stood on her foot.

“I thought we agreed not to talk about the winter break in public?” Sunset said in a low voice while Rainbow hopped up and down, clutching her foot. No one seemed to have heard it, but Silver was sure she had heard it right.

“Best, huh?” Fleur inspected the new girl. “Then I don’t suppose you would like to prove yourself against me?”

“What, no, no, I don’t want to show off like that…” Sunset rubbed the back of her head.

“Come on, Sunset!” Rainbow patted her on the back. “We’ve got to show these Crystal Preppers just what you can do! They keep looking down on us, but once you demonstrate your skills, I just bet their jaws would drop right off their faces!”

“Ah, Fleur?” Silver said softly, noticing something from the conversation, touching her arm. “She said sword fighter, not fencer. Are you two even talking about the same thing?”

Fleur hummed, then clicked her fingers. “You, Sunset girl. How much do you know about fencing?”

“Umm… a little? I mean, I know the rules. I’ve never actually… fenced.”

“Hmph.” Fleur folded her arms and looked to the side. “She would not even be a worthy opponent.” Then her eyes seemed to settle on Silver.

Silver could see the gears turning in Fleur’s head and realized what she was planning. “Oh, no no, that’s not a good plan.”

“Silver Rose, you are the newest among us.” Fleur looked back at the Canterlot High group. “How about you show her how fencing is done?” Then she leaned closer and whispered, “And if you do forget the fencing rules during the match, don’t worry about it. After all, she hasn’t fenced. Maybe she won’t catch on.”

“Umm…” Silver looked down, now that all the eyes were on her. “I don’t know…”

Suddenly, Jetstream pushed past his friends and rubbed his chin. “New you say? Wait, I know you.”

Just then, the violet haired girl also pushed her way forward, light glistening in her eyes. “Wait, Silver Rose? The Silver Rose? Daughter of Ebony Wings?”

“Ebony Wings has a second daughter?” The soft pink haired girl muttered.

“Aha! No wonder I recognized that name!” Jetstream snapped his fingers. “The second daughter of the acclaimed actress!”

“Uh, ehehe…” Silver smiled sheepishly, a blush rising on her cheeks. Great. Just great… I guess it was inevitable someone would find out.

“Darling, I’m your mother’s biggest fan!” Violet hair was shaking on the spot. Silver smelt a lot of excitement coming from her. “I’m Rarity and oh, I’ve always wanted to talk to one of you! I can’t believe you’re actually in our school!”

“Rarity, focus!” The girl with the stetson pulled her back. “This ain’t some celebrity meetup. This here’s the Friendship Games. And she’s on the other team.”

“I still don’t know how our homeboy managed to start dating your sister, Moonglade,” Jetstream said. “I mean, that’s just amazing, isn’t-”

“Okay, I’ll do it!” Silver said very quickly, then disappeared behind Fleur and Quillion. “I’ll fence! Let’s go!”

“Then it’s settled!” Rainbow put a hand around Sunset’s shoulders. “The daughter of Ebony Wings against our very own Sunset Shimmer! Ooh, this is going to be so exciting!”

“Uh, do I get a say in this?” Sunset asked.

“You can say yes and show Crystal Prep we mean business.” Rainbow smiled enthusiastically.

“Not quite what I meant,” Sunset said with a sigh. “But if it means that much to you guys, I’ll do it.”

“Then let’s go.” Sunny Flare pointed for the door. “An early match between Crystal Prep and Canterlot High.”

“Dude, there’s no way you’re beating our Silver!” Lemon Zest began playing on an air guitar as she listened to her music. “You’re all going to be in for a big surprise!”

“Oh, we’ll see, won’t we?” The cowgirl tipped her hat and smirked.