I pull into a parking space, grab my bag, and exit the car. The beach isn't as packed as I expected. Then again, it's not the middle of summer.
I get out my phone and text Flare.
"Where u guys at?"
A minute later, I get a response.
"Far left side"
Okay, then. I put my phone away and head off in that direction.
I'm wearing a light blue tank top, short dark grey shorts - stopping at the first knuckles of my middle fingers with my arms at my sides - and the socks and shoes I normally wear. Every time I went to the beach before my accident, I wore either sandals or water shoes. My prosthesis doesn't have a slit for a sandal strap, and I'm not going in the water, so I have to wear normal shoes.
I recognize a few students from school, but they don't notice me. Not that that's been a concern since returning, but with her running things, I still get nervous. Thankfully, I don't see her anywhere.
I spot Twilight messing with a drone. AJ and Flare are watching her, while Rarity and Rainbow are looking at several white beach towels laid out on the sand.
"Hey, all!" I say. "Is that the selfie drone?" I ask Twilight.
"Uh-huh," she says, trying to keep the drone from flying off. "It hovers into position whenever it detects a selfie opportunity."
"Still not sure why you wouldn't just take it yourselfie."
"I already used that one," AJ says.
"Well, I wasn't here, 'kay?" And I thought I was being clever...
"Yeah, but you gotta admit," Flare says, "it's much better than seeing a selfie stick at the bottom of every photo. And you can do full-body selfies without a mirror." He walks over to me. He's wearing red swim trunks and a white short-sleeved shirt.
"Eh, I guess you have a point."
He kisses me. "Not what I expected, but you look great."
"Thanks. It's not exactly beach clothing, but even a one-piece swimsuit would've looked strange with knee-length socks. And with her still around, I'm in no hurry to show off my prosthesis to the world."
"That's too bad. I was kinda hoping you'd wear a cute swimsuit."
"And I was hoping you wouldn't be wearing a shirt," I say with a bit of sarcasm. "We can't always get what we want." I mean, it would've been nice...
"Ocean monster!" Pinkie suddenly yells.
I look in that direction. Pinkie and Spike are running away from... something that does kinda look like a monster.
Or it's just Fluttershy wearing a sheet of some kind. She takes it off.
"Quincy the sea turtle says the tide's coming in. We should take the picture soon or risk having damp ankles."
"Wetsuit, huh?" I say to Flare.
"It suits her," he says. "She doesn't like drawing attention to herself, so she wears the least revealing beachwear."
Twilight's drone flies over to us. I smile and put an arm behind Flare's neck, and he puts an arm around my waist. It then flies over to Rarity.
"So it flies around on its own?" I ask.
"Twilight's an evil genius," Flare says.
It flies away from her and nearly hits somebody else.
"Oh. Twilight! You got the selfie sensor working?" Well, it was fun while it lasted.
"Speaking of evil..." Flare says in a hushed tone.
I get behind Flare, trying to stay out of her view as much as I can.
The drone flies back to Twilight and hides behind her. I wonder if she had to program it to run away from her.
"O...kay," Sunset Shimmer says. "So, who's ready to take a Best Friends picture?"
This is... unlike her. She never wants to do anything with anybody. Unless she's trying to sabotage what they're doing. I peek out from behind him.
"Uh-oh, what did I do?" she says, crossing her arms, narrowing her eyes, and grinning.
I really hate that expression. It's the same one she had when she confronted me on my first day back at CHS.
"Should... we do it now, or... do you want to swim first? How's the water?"
"Sunset Shimmer?" AJ says. "Asking to be in our Best Friends picture? Now I've heard it all!"
"Am... I missing the joke here?"
"The only joke here," Rarity says, "is whatever this is you're playing on us, acting all nice like you're our friend."
"And it's not funny," Fluttershy says, hiding behind AJ.
"'Cause you aren't nice!" Rainbow says.
"And we ain't friends!" AJ says.
"Wait... What?!" Shimmer says... surprised?
"You got applesauce in your ears?" AJ says, pointing at her. "I said, we ain't fr–whoa!"
Shimmer grabs her wrist and her eyes go white. Not opening her eyelids wide, but literally completely white. It's... kinda scary, and not in the way she normally is.
A few seconds later, they return to normal. She lets go of AJ and gasps. "It's like I've been... erased!"
Uh... "Erased?" I quietly say. What is she talking about?
"Pinkie Pie, what about when I came to your sleepovers before and after the Battle of the Bands?"
"Ha! The closest you've ever come to a party of mine is freshman year, when you pretended to be Applejack and texted me, 'Yer party is lamer than a hungry duck in snow boots'."
"Like I'd ever say that," AJ says.
"What does that even mean?" Flare asks.
"It doesn't mean anythin'."
"It... really hurt my feelings..." Pinkie says.
"And it wasn't very nice to the ducks, either," Fluttershy says.
"I imagine the ducks were just as confused as I am," Flare says.
"That was a long time ago!" Shimmer says. She grabs Flare's arm, eyes going white again for a couple seconds. "No, no, no! Flare, you asked me out after the Friendship Games! We kissed at Camp Everfree!"
"Why the hell would I ever date some pony who made my best friend so miserable," Flare angrily says, "she had to transfer to Crystal Prep, of all places?! If it weren't for these girls, I'd still be everybody's target! And I'd rather make out with Trixie again than kiss you!" Could've worded that better.
From how panicked she sounds, I don't think she's lying...
She looks at Twilight. "Twilight! You remember me, right? We've been through so much together! Please..." Is she... about to cry?
"I only met you once, when you yelled at me at the Games."
"Olivia?!"
...But I'm the only girlfriend Flare has ever had. "What they said."
"Doesn't anybody remember that I've changed?!"
Maybe in her mind, not being feared quite as much anymore counts as changing, but she's still just as mean.
"Maybe not anybody. Be right back!" She runs away.
"Don't hurry back, darling!" Rarity yells.
Flare pulls me into a hug. "It's okay now."
I sigh. "I wish I didn't become a nervous wreck every time I see her."
"It's okay," Rainbow says. "As long as we're here, you have nothing to worry about."
I don't want to rely on all of them, though. It makes me feel helpless, like I'm some delicate flower that needs constant protection. I'm not like that anymore.
Flare and I separate. "Now that the inaugural Biggest Meanie is gone," he asks me, "what do you wanna do?"
"Uh..." After Sunset Shimmer's surprise appearance, I don't really feel like doing anything right now.
***First day back at CHS***
I stop at my locker, open it, put one of my books inside, and put a couple others in my backpack. "It feels so strange being back at CHS, especially with nobody making fun of me anymore. It's kinda refreshing." I grab my backpack and close the locker.
Someone chuckles behind me. I... recognize that laugh. I slowly turn around. Sunset Shimmer is standing there, arms crossed, with a sly grin.
"Uh.. H-hey, Sunset," I nervously say. "Long time no see."
"Returning to the school that shunned you? You've got guts, Cripple. I can respect that."
"You're... You're not gonna break me so easily this time."
"Don't worry." She moves a hand to the hair behind my right shoulder, causing me to tense up. "I'm not interested in ruining you again. You'll do a good job of that on your own."
"Wh-what are you talking about?" I could sure go for my friends showing up right about now.
She starts playing with a few strands of my hair. "The students here don't like the Shadowbolts. What do you suppose they'll think of a traitor?"
"They d-drove me away! They're not gonna care I went to a rival school."
"You were on Crystal Prep's team for the Friendship Games, were you not?"
"Yeah, and so was Twilight. If sh-she's not gonna be teased, neither will I."
She moves her hand away and shrugs her shoulders. "Suit yourself. Don't say I didn't warn you." She walks away.
I see somebody hasn't changed. Although Flare told me the students don't take as much of her crap as they used to.
***Present day***
Flare and I are lying on a couple beach towels, with me cuddling up to him. Lying on my side, my right hand is resting on his chest, and his right hand is on my waist. Ever since he said he loved me a few weeks ago, this has become my favorite thing to do with him. We try not to overdo it in public, sticking to hand holding, hugging, and at most a couple quick kisses, and saving the sappiness for when we're at his house or mine.
"We've been out here a while," Pinkie says, holding a cupcake. "Time to reapply~!" She smears the icing on her arms, legs, and face. Uh... What?
"Did she just..." Flare starts to say.
"I'm... fairly certain icing doesn't offer UV protection," I say.
"This icing does!" Pinkie says. She leans over to me. "It's edible sunscreen," she whispers.
E... Edi...
"Well... Now I'm glad I didn't have a big breakfast today," Flare says. I've probably lost my appetite for the day.
"I've been thinking," Twilight says. "Should we be worried about Sunset Shimmer?"
"Yeah, worried she comes back!" Trixie? When did she get here? I look in her direction, but Rarity and her chair are blocking my view, and I don't feel like separating from Flare just yet. "I think it's a shame the way she's treating you, pretending to be your friend." She loudly whispers, "She's obviously up to something." Yeah... Up to something... "Sunset thinks the whole school exists just to serve her." I hear her snap her fingers. "Water, please." Thing is, Shimmer has never done that before. I mean yeah, she used Flash to make herself more popular and tried to sabotage Princess Twilight's bid for Fall Formal princess, but pretending to be our friend doesn't benefit her in any way. "You know, seeing as how the yearbook president seems to be having a little identity crisis, I believe that means the vice president takes over. And, why..." She gasps. "That's you, Rarity!"
"If this is your way of asking to be made 'The Greatest and Most Powerful'," Rarity says, "the answer is no! And didn't we have this conversation yesterday? I can't quite remember."
Uh... Hmm... I... sorta recall something to that extent? Flare and I were voted Class Couple, then... Um... Wait... What did happen next?
"Maybe we did, maybe we didn't," Trixie says. "Memory is such a fickle thing. You never know when you'll forget something important, like how Great and Powerful I am, which is why I need to be in the yearbook!"
Rarity groans. "I'll think about it."
"That's all I ask." She walks over to us. "By the way, 'FrostFlare'," she says with finger quotes, "do you two know why you were voted Class Couple?"
"Nnnnnnnooooo..." Flare says, "and does it really matter?"
"I suppose not. I just thought you'd like to know the entire school feels bad for how they treated you, and that's why they voted for you."
"So?" I say. "I already figured as much, but like Flarey said, it doesn't matter."
"Even if we didn't win the pity vote," Flare says, "it wouldn't change how much we love each other." We kiss.
"And we don't need our photos in a book to remember that." I look at Flare. "So if Lyra and Sweetie were voted Class Couple, you wouldn't have been jealous?"
"Well, I would've been a little disappointed."
"Lyra Heartstrings and Sweetie Drops?" Pinkie asks. "Those two aren't dating."
"Told you!" I say.
"What? Of course they are!" Flare says. "Have you seen how much time they spend together?"
"All of us spend time together every day," Twilight says, "but we're not going out with each other."
"We don't lock our arms together everywhere we go."
"Neither do you and I," I say.
"Well. uh... mmm... maybe..." He sighs. "Never mind. Not gonna finish that thought."
***Camp Everfree***
"Okay, everyone!" Gloriosa says. "It's time to watch your lanterns fly!"
I stand up and grab my lantern, which has various horizontal color stripes on it: Yellow, white, blue, pink, purple, red, and light orange. The orange stripe is slightly wider than the others and in the middle of the lantern. I walk over to Flare. His lantern is red with cutouts of different parts of a drumkit on it.
He looks at me, then my lantern. "That's an... interesting design."
"It's not supposed to be fashionable. Each color represents the friends I've made in the past month." I point to the orange stripe. "This one's you."
"Why is it wider than the others?"
"Because you were my first friend in years. Probably my best friend ever."
"I mean that much to you?"
"Of course. You were the only person who wanted anything to do with me." I sigh. "If only you were in my school when I lost my leg..." I probably could've had somebody to talk to that didn't keep asking about it... and I wouldn't have gone through all that crap with Sunset Shimmer.
"Ready..." Gloriosa says. "And... Go!"
We all release our lanterns into the sky. They all stay airborne, except for Pinkie's, which crashes to the ground from the weight of all the marshmallows.
"Aw... Oh well! Now I get to eat it!" She grabs a couple marshmallows and shoves them into her mouth. "Yup. Beautiful and delicious."
I look at Flare. Every time there's a moment like this, I'm kicking myself for not making a move on him. Unfortunately, I can't make a move on him. I need to wait for him to ask me out. He's made it clear he doesn't want to get back together, but I'm hoping he changes his mind.
***Present day***
"I'm not holding back this time!" Rainbow yells.
"That's what I'm afraid of...!" Fluttershy says, scared. I'm kinda surprised she's playing against Rainbow, of all people.
"Bring it on, Rainbow Dash!" Pinkie says. She pulls the net down. "You and Rarity just bought your team a one-way ticket on the express train to you're going down!" That's one... hell of a game face.
"And I thought Rainbow was scary when she got competitive," Flare says.
"Eh, Rainbow's not that scary," I say.
"Well, maybe not scary, but she is intimidating."
"Isn't that right, little baby camera?!" Pinkie grabs Twilight's drone. "You're in my house now!" The drone flies over to Twilight, then Spike starts chasing it.
"Twilight programmed it to have emotions?" I ask. "I thought that only happened in sci-fi shows and movies. Talk about weird science."
"Weird Twi-ence?" Flare says.
"Weird –" I chuckle. "Well, she's got magic from the hands."
"Voodoo dolls and chants?"
"That would be too weird."
Rainbow serves the ball. Fluttershy cowers, and the ball bounces off her head. Pinkie leaps and attempts to hit the ball back, but it ricochets off the net and smacks her in the face... then flies over the net. Rainbow runs back to return it, but it goes over her head and hits the ground as she falls onto her back.
"Wonder if that was intentional," I ask Flare.
"Knowing Pinkie, it probably was."
"Great news, guys." And... she's back. "I figured it out! Someone erased your memory with Equestrian magic! You don't remember, but we're still friends!"
"She's still going on about that, huh?" Flare whispers.
Shimmer gets a piece of paper out of her bag. "This is the memory stone. Do you recognize it?"
Flare stands up. I do the same, hiding behind him like before, but looking over his shoulder. There's a drawing of... something oval-shaped with an eye on it. I think I've seen a commercial for a toy like that.
"Uh... Right, guess not." She puts it away and gets out her phone. "But look. See?" She scrolls through several pictures of us... with her? "This is proof! We are friends!"
I mean... She does have photos, even though I know she wasn't with us when they were taken.
Everyone else doesn't sound too certain.
"Ah, please..." Oh right, Trixie's here. "This is the girl who made flawless, fake photos of your friend trashing the gym!"
Pinkie grabs the phone. "Yeah, wait a minute... Is that supposed to be me making such a ridiculous face?" She shows the phone to Shimmer. "Ha! I'd never make a face like that!" She makes a... pretty ridiculous-looking face at Shimmer. "Preposterous! Fake, I say!" You always make ridiculous faces in your selfies, Pinkie. But yeah, faking the photos makes a lot of sense.
Trixie laughs. "My work here is done! Trixie... out!" She throws one of her smoke bombs on the ground. When it clears, she's on the stairs at the back while Snips and Snails, who were carrying her stuff, are standing where they were before and dropped everything. "And don't forget, Rarity! You promised to put me in the yearbook!"
"Wait, you did what?" Shimmer takes a step back and stumbles on the volleyball. She staggers back, stepping on Twilight's drone.
Twilight gasps and runs over to it.
"Yeah. Nice, huh?" Flare says to me.
"It was an accident!" Shimmer says. "I can help fix it!"
"I think you've helped enough..." Twilight says.
She looks at us... concerned? What is going on with her? It sounded like she actually regretted breaking the drone. Normally she's hella sarcastic with her apologies, but that was the most sincere she's ever been about anything.
I remove my prosthesis, turn off the light, lie down on my bed, and pull the blanket over me.
This has been a bizarre weekend. Sunset Shimmer acted completely out-of-character. When she fakes being nice, it's very easy to tell, but there was none of that this time. She also said someone used Equestrian magic to make us forget she's our friend. Could that really be true? If it is, then either there should be a gap in my memory or something doesn't make sense. Let's see...
Friendship Games, the girls were able to stop Twilight from going magic crazy. Camp Everfree, Twilight and I stumbled across the cave with the geodes, and Twilight worked out what Gloriosa was doing. Mirror thing with Juniper, Starlight was able to talk Juniper out of –
Wait... How did we contact Starlight? Princess Twilight doesn't keep the portal open 24/7, she almost never visits, and we can't exactly text her when we have a problem. I mean, maybe Starlight wanted to check out this world and the princess left the portal open, but that would be a little too convenient. Then again, a lot of the magic stuff that's happened this school year has been pretty convenient. Is there something else...?
Hmm... Sunset Shimmer showed us some photos on her phone. If those are real and what she said is true...
I grab my phone and go to my photos. I tap the first one and scroll through them. Selfie, selfie, selfie with Flare and I lying on his bed... Sunset Shimmer and Pinkie? Sunset and I posing with her wearing my glasses... Sunset, Flare, and I... Why is she in all of these? Sunset jamming with the rest of the Rainbooms, Sunset at a sleepover with everyone in PJs, Sunset and the rest of them ponied up...
"Was she... telling the truth?" The fact that those pictures are on my phone makes her story at least somewhat believable. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'll try to ask her about it tomorrow." If I can overcome my fear of being around her.