by Perdita Finn
“I just hope you brought some nail polish remover!” said Applejack, looking at hers.
Rarity shook her head. “Oh no! I forgot!”
Everyone laughed some more. Twilight was having a blast. Her fingers alternated blue and white. She thought they looked beautiful.
“Hey,” said Sunset Shimmer, noticing them. She held up her own hands. Her nails were also blue and white.
“Wow!”
“Cool!”
“Awesome!”
“How did that happen?” wondered Rarity.
Sunset Shimmer shrugged. “I don’t know. The Magic of Friendship, I guess!”
The girls laughed, but Twilight Sparkle was so happy. She and Sunset Shimmer matched! It was perfect.
“I love this game!” said Twilight Sparkle.
Rarity smiled at her. “Thank you, darling! I aim to please! Now, what’s next?”
Ready or Not, Here They Come!
“Sardines!” announced Rainbow Dash. “Who’s hiding?”
“Me!”
“Me!”
“Me!”
The girls were all jumping up and down excitedly.
“This is my favorite game,” whispered Fluttershy to Twilight Sparkle.
“I pick… you.” Rainbow Dash pointed at Sunset Shimmer.
Twilight Sparkle was baffled. She had no idea what was happening. Sunset Shimmer got to her feet, left the room, and shut the door behind her. Pinkie Pie turned on some music, and the girls began chatting.
“How long should we give her to hide?” Applejack wondered.
“Five minutes at least,” answered Rainbow Dash.
“It’s best when she finds a really tricky place!”
“She will. I’m sure of it,” said Fluttershy.
Twilight summoned her courage. “And what happens after she hides?” she asked.
The girls looked at her, amazed.
“You’ve never played sardines?” asked Rainbow Dash.
Twilight shook her head, a little embarrassed. Totally not cool.
“It’s called sardines because everybody ends up all squished in someplace secret together, like those little smelly fish that come in a can all piled up on top of one another,” babbled Pinkie Pie.
Twilight Sparkle’s eyes were wide.
Rainbow Dash burst out laughing. “I can imagine why you wouldn’t want to play that!”
“It’s easy,” said Fluttershy sweetly. “I like to think of it as playing baby squirrels hiding in a little nest in a tree. Except all the squirrels have to be very, very quiet so no one else will find them.”
Twilight Sparkle was still confused.
“Let me explain the rules,” Rainbow Dash offered. She was the captain of some Canterlot High teams and knew exactly how to get everyone up to speed. “It’s kind of the opposite of hide-and-seek. One person hides, but when you find her, you have to join her. One by one, we’ll all pile in with her wherever she is.”
“It’s a blast!” said Rarity.
It did sound like fun to Twilight Sparkle. But she worried, too, about being left out. If the other girls found one another first, what would they do without her? She hoped that wouldn’t happen.
“Okay,” said Rainbow Dash after a few more seconds had passed. “I think that’s enough time. Ready or not, here we come, Sunset Shimmer!” She flung open the door, and the girls dashed to all corners of the house, opening closets and looking under beds.
Twilight Sparkle stood in the upstairs hallway, thinking. Where would Sunset Shimmer hide? Somewhere tricky because she was so smart! Maybe she was behind the shower curtain in the bathtub. But she wasn’t.
Rarity raced by her, giggling. “Sunset Shimmer found a good spot this time.”
Maybe Sunset Shimmer was hiding under the stairs in the broom closet. Twilight waited for a moment when all the girls were somewhere else and opened the door a little tiny bit. She peeked inside. But there was just a vacuum cleaner and some cobwebs. No Sunset Shimmer. Where could she be?
Fluttershy was standing in the kitchen looking around. “I guess she’s not in here!” she said to Twilight Sparkle.
Maybe Sunset Shimmer waited until all the girls had left Pinkie Pie’s bedroom and then snuck back in and hid under the bed. That’s what Twilight Sparkle would have done. Twilight Sparkle raced back upstairs and checked. But Sunset Shimmer wasn’t under the bed. No one was. Twilight listened carefully. She couldn’t hear the other girls anymore. The whole house was very quiet. A clock ticked somewhere. Outside, the wind whistled.
“Hello?” called Twilight Sparkle. No one answered.
Twilight Sparkle searched from room to room. All the girls had disappeared. Everyone had found Sunset Shimmer—except for her. She tried not to feel disappointed. She tried not to feel left out. It was just a game, wasn’t it?
She heard a muffled giggle. Where was it coming from? She dashed toward the laundry room and noticed a big pile of dirty clothes. They were wiggling! The girls were underneath them. They had to be. She pulled away a towel.
“Surprise!” shouted the girls, tumbling out in a pile of laughs.
“We thought you’d never find us,” said Applejack.
“Phew!” said Sunset Shimmer. “It was hot under there.”
“That was the best hiding place ever,” Rainbow Dash complimented her. She pulled some lint out of her hair.
“You were brave to burrow under all those dirty clothes,” said Fluttershy.
“Sunset Shimmer’s always brave,” said Rarity. “Stealing crowns, battling Sirens—she jumps right in.”
Happily chatting, the girls skipped to the kitchen for cider and cupcakes.
“I love cupcakes,” said Applejack.
“I love frosting,” said Rarity, giggling.
“I love sprinkles!” Pinkie Pie laughed. She had some on her nose.
Twilight Sparkle had been feeling a little down, but the moment she saw Pinkie Pie, she burst out laughing. She was so funny and so happy. Maybe slumber parties weren’t so scary after all.
The Pony Posse
Back in Pinkie Pie’s bedroom, it was time to dance. Every girl had a favorite song and a special move.
“The way it works is you get to pick the music and the steps and the rest of us join in, as best we can!”
“No ballet moves, Rarity,” begged Rainbow Dash.
“Just a few.” She laughed.
Twilight Sparkle was worried that she wouldn’t be able to keep up, but she loved the songs the other girls played. They had such good taste in music. She let herself go and be silly. She wiggled her hips and stomped her feet and waved her hands and tossed her head just like everyone else.
“You’re a great dancer!” Fluttershy said.
“Love the way you lift your knees,” agreed Rainbow Dash.
“Watch me!” said Pinkie Pie, going wild and making everybody fall to the ground with laughter.
Applejack changed the song to a country tune. “Look at me riding a bronco and busting a move!”
The girls imitated her, flipping their hands over their heads like they were swinging a lasso to catch a cow.
When it was Rarity’s turn, she chose a catchy techno favorite. “Imagine you’re on the runway,” she instructed the other girls. “And show off your outfits!”
“You mean my pajamas?” Sunset Shimmer laughed.
Pinkie Pie put a pillowcase on her head. “Look how fashionable I am!”
Rainbow Dash challenged everyone to keep up with her fancy hip-hop steps. Fluttershy had them all strutting around to some pop music. Sunset Shimmer put on classic rock and roll, and the girls let loose. Twilight Sparkle was breathless from laughing so much.
She knew exactly what song she was going to play when it was her turn. She had it all planned out. It was perfect. She got it ready and clicked play. It began with a steady beat like stomping feet. The girls all stopped, listening to the familiar intro. Was it? It was!
It was their band, the Sonic Rainbooms!
“Hey, hey, everybody, we’re here to shout that the Magic of Friendship is what it’s all about.”
“Hooray!”
“Yay!”
The girls were thrilled. They tossed their hair and sang along.
“Great choice!”
“You’re the best, Twilight Sparkle!”
Happily, the girls posted silly photos of one another, “liking” each and every one. Later on, as they were getting ready to settle down, a message lit up Twilight Sparkle’s phone. It was Sunny Flare!
Saw the photos. Cute.
Thx, answered Twilight Sparkle.
You would let someone post a photo of you making a face like that?
Uh-oh. Twilight Sparkle hadn’t thought about that. Were the Canterlot High girls going to make fun of her dance moves tomorrow? No, they couldn’t. She looked up from her phone, and Pinkie Pie grinned at her.
Another message came in. From Sour Sweet. Bet your “friends” talked about things that happened before you came to Canterlot High.
Twilight Sparkle gulped. They filled me in on everything, she protested.
Sure, they did, came the return message.
What did the girls say about you when you were out of the room? asked a text from Sugarcoat.
Twilight Sparkle was about to explain that she was never out of the room when she remembered the sardines game. But they hadn’t been talking. At all. She would have heard them! Wouldn’t she have? But maybe they had been whispering very, very softly.
Twilight Sparkle suddenly felt terrible. Tears welled up in her eyes. She shoved the phone into the bottom of her backpack.
“Everything all right?” asked the ever-sensitive Fluttershy, sensing Twilight’s change in mood.
Twilight nodded. She didn’t want to believe bad things about her new friends.
“This is my first sleepover,” Twilight admitted.
Fluttershy wrapped an arm around her. “Oh!” she said. “We all get homesick sometimes, don’t we, girls?”
“Don’t you worry, darling,” said Rarity. “I once called my mother in the middle of the night to come get me.”
Pinkie Pie snuggled close. “Confession: That’s why I like to have the parties at my house.”
“If you get a bad dream, you wake me up, promise?” Rainbow Dash ordered.
“Promise.” Twilight Sparkle smiled. She didn’t have the heart to tell the girls what was really worrying her.
But later on, when the lights were out, Pinkie had stopped giggling, and Applejack had stopped squirming in her sleeping bag, Twilight still couldn’t sleep.
“What’s the matter?” whispered Sunset Shimmer beside her.
Twilight Sparkle took a deep breath. “I don’t know much about friendship,” she admitted. It felt scary to open up about this and it was probably very uncool, but it was dark and it’s always easier to talk in the dark. Besides, Sunset Shimmer was always so nice to her.
“Remember what Princess Twilight said,” whispered Sunset Shimmer.
“What was that?”
“We learn about friendship from one another. It’s something special, something magical that happens.”
Twilight Sparkle wished she felt more confident. If only she knew more about friendship. She had never thought it was something she needed to study, but maybe it was. She had certainly learned enough about magic to open a portal to another world. Maybe she could learn enough about friendship to get what she had always wanted—her very own friends.
Sixteen Signs You’ve Found Your Best Friend for Life
Twilight Sparkle hit the library the very next day. There weren’t many books about friendship in the reference section, but every teen magazine she opened seemed to have an article, test, or list about it. She was carrying an armful to a study table when she saw the girls from Crystal Prep saunter into the library. They were always together in their tight little posse, chatting.
“Shh!” whispered the librarian.
Sunny Flare exhaled loudly, blowing her long bangs across her face. Sour Sweet made a little snorting noise. “Hmmpf!” said Sugarcoat with a toss of her long white-blond hair. The girls spotted Twilight Sparkle and made their way over to her table.
They slid into seats beside her and began flipping through the magazines.
“‘Ten Ways to Identify Your BFF,’” read Sunny Flare.
“‘How Do You Know When Someone’s Really Your Friend?’” Sugarcoat pointed at the title of an article.
“‘Besties Forever!’” Sour Sweet opened up to a headline in another magazine.
“Looks like someone is doing some research,” observed Sunny Flare.
“Last night’s slumber party not quite as successful as you’d hoped?” Sugarcoat’s voice oozed with a nasty sweetness.
“I just wanted to… you know… make sure I was… you know… doing everything I could,” stammered Twilight Sparkle nervously.
“Let’s find out, then,” said Sunny Flare, her eyes skimming over one of the articles.
“Here’s a quiz,” said Sugarcoat. “You’re good at quizzes. Let’s see if you pass this one.”
Reluctantly, Twilight Sparkle answered the questions that Sugarcoat shot at her. But she hadn’t done any of the things friends were supposed to do. She didn’t make cookies. She didn’t try different hairstyles. She didn’t borrow clothes.
“But they have seen you at your worst!” Sour Sweet laughed. “That’s the last question: Do your friends still love you after seeing you at your worst?”
“You sure were scary when you turned into Midnight Sparkle,” remembered Sunny Flare.
Twilight Sparkle didn’t feel very sparkly all of a sudden. What should she do?
“You should add these things to your list,” said Sugarcoat. “You have the list we gave you, don’t you?”
“Somewhere,” said Twilight Sparkle.
“Invite Rainbow Dash over to make cookies,” Sunny Flare suggested. “I’m sure she’d love that.”
“And if she doesn’t, then you know she’s not your friend,” added Sour Sweet.
Twilight Sparkle sighed. This was all so complicated. As the Crystal Prep girls wandered out of the library, she heard them bickering over whose house to go to.
“We always go to your house on the weekend,” complained Sour Sweet.
“Maybe we should make cookies sometime. I love snickerdoodles,” Sugarcoat said.
“Ew.” Sunny Flare made a face. “Too sugary for me.”
Twilight Sparkle picked up her phone and looked at the photos from the slumber party. Just seeing the happy, smiling faces made her feel better. Should she invite Rainbow Dash over to make cookies? Something just didn’t feel right about that. She dashed off a text to Sunset Shimmer instead.
Hey! Do you want to come over and make cookies this afternoon?
Sure, came the immediate answer from Sunset Shimmer.
Twilight Sparkle sighed happily. This wasn’t so hard. Not at all. It would be fun to share clothes and style each other’s hair. They could do that, too. Maybe Sunset Shimmer wanted to borrow her purple boots.
When Sunset Shimmer arrived at Twilight Sparkle’s house, however, she wasn’t really that interested in baking chocolate chip cookies, which Twilight had already started. “We could just nibble on the chocolate chips,” Sunset suggested. “That way we’d have more time to talk about magic. I want to find out everything you’ve learned. There’s so much I still don’t understand.”
“You too?” said Twilight Sparkle, interested. “It won’t take us that long to make the cookies, and while we stir the batter, we can talk.”
“Okay,” agreed Sunset Shimmer reluctantly. “Do you ever feel scared of how much magic you’ve got inside you?”
Twilight froze, a dollop of batter on her spoon. “What do you mean?”
“I told you what happened to me.…” Sunset Shimmer expertly lined up a row of cookies on the tin. “But you clearly have special magic inside you. You sprouted wings and fl
ew up into the air—”
“And got ready to destroy everything.” Twilight sighed.
“Exactly,” said Sunset Shimmer. “You don’t want that to happen again, but…”
“I certainly don’t,” agreed Twilight Sparkle. “Hey, do you want to try on my purple boots?” she offered Sunset Shimmer.
“What?” Sunset Shimmer was confused.
“My boots. You can borrow them if you want.”
“That’s okay. I don’t need to, but thanks.”
Twilight Sparkle pursed her lips, thinking. “I have some fun hair ribbons if you ever want to wear one.”
“Okay,” said Sunset Shimmer. “Do you want to finish our homework together when the cookies are done?”
Twilight Sparkle bit her lip nervously. That was exactly what she wanted to do. But she didn’t want to be a show-off. Still, maybe Sunset Shimmer would understand.
“Yes!” she agreed at last, but she added, “We could braid each other’s hair afterward, too.”
Sunset Shimmer shrugged. “Rarity’s better at that than I am actually. Maybe we should invite her over? And Applejack. She’s great at baking.…”
“Oh no!” Twilight Sparkle was alarmed. Was Sunset Shimmer bored? Did she want to be with someone else? What could she do to show Sunset Shimmer she could have a good time? “Here, let me take a photo of us both. Hold up your spoon!”
Spike bounded into the room. “Me too! Me too!” he barked.
Sunset Shimmer laughed and picked him up.
Twilight Sparkle showed Sunset Shimmer. “Do you like it?”
“Yeah, it’s a great one of both of us.”
Later that night, Twilight Sparkle made the photo her profile picture. Sunset Shimmer “liked” it a few minutes later.
Twilight picked up one of the cookies, nibbling on it happily. She and Sunset Shimmer were really becoming friends. They were!
I’m glad we’re friends, she texted her.
Me too, answered Sunset Shimmer. And she included a little dancing-girl symbol with her message.
Twilight Sparkle pulled out her list and studied it. She checked off all the things she’d learned about in the library earlier. She wasn’t doing that badly after all.
