I stood next to Rainbow Dash with my motorbike in hand. This is it! I just have to win this competition and CHS wins the games.

"Ready dude?" Rainbow asked me.

"You know it."

I got on and once prepared, took off, as fast as I could. I quickly sped past and managed to take the lead, but before I could get too far, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a vine, coming straight at me. I managed to move out of the way, but another grabbed onto my motorbike, and I jumped out of it. I looked around and saw the others trying to avoid danger. It was too late for me to move, when I noticed my motorbike coming straight at me. I was knocked back from the force and to my surprise, I began to float. I looked down at my unconscious body and gasped when I realized I've become a spirit. I saw Rainbow quickly pick up my unconscious body and place me on her motorbike. She then managed to pony up and took me to Rarity and Pinkie, before rushing towards the creature and taking it down. I floated towards Pinkie and Rarity, who were panicking with tears in their eyes.

"Pinkie, he has no pulse," Rarity told the girl.

"Do something!" Pinkie told her.

"What? He needs medical attention."

"Just try Rarity!" Pinkie insisted, "The meanie Cinch is keeping them from doing anything," She continued pointing at an angry Cinch, calling out CHS for cheating.

Rarity hesitated before trying her best at CPR. After minutes of pointless trying, she stopped and turned towards Pinkie with tears in her eyes.

"Pinkie, I tried," She stuttered the words out before taking a deep breath, "I'm afraid we are going have to accept that he's gone,"

"No! I refuse!" Pinkie shouted while sobbing.

Rarity embraced her in a hug, "I know darling, but we have to face facts. We lost..." She couldn't continue, as she began to sob too.

Suddenly, I woke up and nervously inspected my body. Upon noticing I wasn't a spirit; I took a relaxing breath. I noticed my dog cuddled right at me and gently hugged him. It was just a nightmare. Everything worked out fine, so no worries. I'm sure they will pass soon. At least I hope they do.

I nervously entered the school, feeling fearful, entering the place where I almost died. I noticed everyone looked at me and gave me concerned looks. Was I showing how nervous I truly am, or are they simply concerned for me? It wasn't long before I was embraced in a tight hug, by guess who.

"Marky!" Pinkie exclaimed, tightening the embrace, "Thank goodness you're still alive."

"Of course, I am."

"Well, I'm happy with that fact."

"Are you ok Pinkie?" I asked.

"Of course, I am silly," She giggled, "You are still alive, and I have nothing to worry about."

So, I'm not the only one who's been affected by the events of the friendship games. Before I could respond to Pinkie the rest of the girls appeared and like Pinkie seemed relieved to see me.

"Marcus, darling. It's great to see you among us," Rarity greeted me.

"Yeah, dude. What a close call, huh?" Rainbow asked, before getting punched in the shoulder from Applejack, "Ow. What gives AJ?"

"Rainbow, you really need to learn to watch what you say," Was the cowgirl's response.

"No, kidding," Rarity added, giving Rainbow a dirty look, "Honestly, Rainbow you need to learn to be more tactful."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm just happy he's still alive, you know."

Applejack and Rarity both shook their heads.

"Excuse me."

I turned towards Twilight who was sheepishly rubbing her arms.

"I'm sorry for..."

"Didn't I already forgive you?" I interrupted.

"Yeah, but..."

"Twilight, I've already forgiven you," I insisted, "Look, it's going to take some time to move past this. I won't lie about that, but I don't hold any hard feelings against you alright. Let's just start over and we can move on from here."

"Right, thanks," she said sheepishly.

"We should apologize too," Sunset told me, before the rest of the girls other than Twilight and Rainbow nodded.

"Why should we?" Rainbow asked, confused.

"Because we decided to leave Twilight with the device, until after the games, instead of taking it and preventing all of that from happening, Rainbow," Sunset answered.

"Well, it was his idea, remember," Rainbow responded, earning a harder punch from Applejack and glares from the rest of the girls, including Twilight, "Ow! What?!"

"Rainbow, we all went along with the plan. Sure, I hold more of the blame than the rest of you, other than Twilight," She began, glaring at Rainbow, before giving Twilight an apologetic look, which received a simple shameful nod, "I agreed to it, but you all had the opportunity to argue and change my mind, or even take it on your own!"

"Which I did."

"Yes, you did! But you still ended up reluctantly agreeing to it, before deciding it was the best choice of action and even if you didn't, it still happened because of your negligence. The same with us."

"Well... I... Ok I'm sorry," Rainbow tried to argue before apologizing in defeat.

"We all are," Sunset told me before the rest of the girls nodded and apologized in turn.

"Thank you, girls."

I entered my math class and was slightly surprised to find Twilight sitting next to my seat, with the teacher talking to her. When she noticed me, she gave me a nervous smile, which I returned. The teacher turned and called me over.

"Mr. Anderson since Ms. Sparkle is new and you are the head of my class, I figured you two would be the ideal partners together, since we are doing group projects. Since you and Ms. Sparkle are about even in this subject you might be the best person to match her with," He began explaining to me before turning towards Twilight, "I could see your skills clearly during the games, Ms. Sparkle, but If you need help adjusting, he's here."

"I understand." Twilight responded.

"Very good."

After class started and we got settled into our groups. Twilight and I looked over the worksheet and quickly got to work.

"You know during the first round I was both envious and impressed," She admitted talking quietly enough, so only we can hear.

"How so?" I asked.

Twilight sighed quietly, "Well, I have always been a loner at Crystal Prep and only managed to get by, by being the smartest one there. The only thing I was really great at was academics. Seeing someone who was just as good as me as what I'm best at was incredible but seeing him be popular for it was just terrible to see at the time."

"I'm sorry you had to go through that," I began giving her a kind smile, causing the girl to lightly blush, "Hopefully, you'll see things are better here."

"Oh. It already is. It will just take some time to get used to it."

Geez, what kind of school was Crystal Prep, where having friends or just people being friendly is something completely foreign. Goes to show what happens when you leave someone like Cinch in charge of anything. So many young people are corrupted into something terrible.

"It really is nice to work with someone smart for once," Twilight admitted as we got further into the problems, "The ones I got paired up were frustrating when they didn't understand me and those were the ones smart enough to work with me, instead of making me do all the work," She then sighed again, "It's just amazing despite after what I've done, I have been treated much better here, than there."

I see that she is talking all of her feelings out, so she can finally move on into a much better future.

"It's ok Twilight. You don't have to deal with that anymore."

"I know. I'm just happy for a fresh new start."

Twilight and I continued to work out the different problems, while she quietly vented out her horrible past at Crystal Prep. When the bell rang, she faced me with a smile.

"Thank you for listening. It feels great to get all of that out you know."

"No problem. Glad you are feeling better."

Great, first Sunset and now Twilight. Am I going to play amateur therapist for the rest of the girls?

I arrived at the usual spot, Wallflower, and I have lunch, to find the fellow introvert holding a flower, with a depressed look on her face. Before I could question her, she took a deep breath and tears formed in her eyes.

"I heard what happened to you," She stuttered while crying, before wiping her tears, "I... I'm sorry"

"You're sorry?"

"I was watching in the distance and when I saw the sign of danger from the creature, I got out of there. It was only through words of others, I learned snippets of what happened and almost all of them were what happened to you. I'm sorry for not being there and fleeing. I'm just a coward," She stuttered and admitted before sobbing.

"Hey," I said gently, approaching her, "It's ok."

"No, no it's not," She insisted before sniffing.

"Wallflower," I began before lightly embracing her, "Look, I don't blame you for looking out for your own wellbeing, alright," I responded, receiving only mumbles from her, "Please look at me," She hesitated for a brief moment before I saw her moist eyes and gently wiped them, "I'm not mad nor blame you for disappearing, alright."

"I just feel so awful you know," She insisted, "You're the only one to reach out to me and the only friend I have. Without you I don't know what I'd do."

"I'm here, don't worry and I promise I will try my hardest to make it stay that way, alright?"

She sniffed before giving me a small smile, "Ok."

"Now, let's enjoy our lunchtime together."

I left the school, happy for the end of the day, even more than usual. Hopefully, dealing with the aftermath of the games won't last too long and things can get back to normal, completely. From the nightmares to the girls apologizing, to Twilight venting out some frustrations, from her time at Crystal Prep, to Wallflower emotionally breaking down, today was a serious one to get through. I look forward to the days of normality.

"Hey Marky. Wait up," Pinkie greeted me, breaking me from my thoughts.

"Yes, Pinkie?" I asked.

"To welcome Twilight, we decided to throw a slumber party at Sunset's apartment and guess what?" Pinkie responded.

"I don't know. Am I invited?" I asked to play along.

"Yes, how did you know? Are you psychic?" Pinkie asked, giving me a once over.

"Common sense Pinkie. Since you asked, that was a likely reason why."

"Oh. You're good," She complimented, "Anyway, what do you say?"

A slumber party with girls at a girl's place, where she lives alone, due to her unique circumstances. This was a fantasy of many teenage boys, and I don't quite know how to react to it.

"I... don't..."

"Please, it will be fun. The others are willing to have you join," She insisted, giving me a cute look, "Some more than others," She finished in a neutral tone with a blank look, before returning to the former look.

"Ok... But I don't exactly have a sleeping bag," I told her.

"Oh," She began with a smile, that seemed to be a scheming one, instead of her usual cheery one, "That's ok. I'm providing ones for everyone. I have enough for all of us."

I think we all know where this is going, and it looks like I am going to have to deal with it. I don't really mind whatever she has planned. I'm hoping Rarity doesn't pull anything like this. Just one person trying it is bad enough. On the bright side, it might be fun to spend time with others. I do wonder what dear dad is going to say about this. At any rate tonight will be more interesting than usual.

The games may be over but they will still have quite an impact for quite a while.

Next chapter: Many male teen's dream. Taking part in a slumber party with seven attractive girls.