Flash applauded slowly when he entered his room and saw Sunset sitting on his bed. "Congratulations," he laughed. "You know, you had me worried with your little confession in the cafeteria, but you pulled it off. Best place to hide is right in plain sight."

Sunset glared half-heartedly at him. "I wasn't trying to hide," she said flatly.

Flash continued as if she hadn't interrupted him. "Why did you have to go and mess with Sonata Dusk, though?" he demanded. "One more dead Dazzling is a good thing!"

Sunset stood up furiously. "She's my friend!"

"Oh, OK." Flash looked unimpressed. "If she's such a good 'friend', why let Aria Blaze live? The bitch made Sonata want to kill herself! I told you, nothing ever changes!"

"Hey! We are out of the change business!"

"So it doesn't bother you that -"

"It bothers me! But this isn't the right -"

"So you're content to just live with this? In this shithole world?"

"That's not what I'm saying, don't talk over me! You promised me." Sunset gazed at him desperately. "You promised you'd change."

"Hey, Pop, I didn't hear you come in. I was too busy playing grab-ass with my girlfriend," Crash Sentry's voice interrupted them.

Flash turned away from his father. "You know the rules, young man: the bedroom door stays open when company's over." His voice had the same cold quality it always got when Crash entered the room.

Crash didn't seem to notice, or if he did, he didn't show it. "So the judge, God bless him, told those Sapphire Shores groupies to 'slurp shit and die'. I loaded the upper floors with Thermals… set the whole thing off with a Norwegian in the boiler room. Kaboom," he laughed. He held up a VHS tape. "Got the whole thing on video… gonna need my drawstring pants for this one." He turned to go, still chuckling.

Quick as a - well, flash, Flash pulled a gun out of his waistband and fired it at the ceiling. Crash paused in the doorway.

"Goddammit!" he snapped. "No firearms in the house!" He stumped off to watch his video. Meanwhile Sunset looked at Flash in horror.

"Why are you carrying a gun?"

Flash looked unruffled. "It pissed my dad off. It's funny."

"It's not funny!" Sunset snapped. "Why are you carrying a gun? You promised me there would be no more death."

Flash shrugged. "Hey, it's a dangerous world out there."

Something inside of Sunset finally snapped, but instead of unleashing a river of anger, all she felt was cold disappointment. "Because of you," she said quietly. She shook her head. "Don't… don't call me. Don't talk to me."

"Sunset, what -"

"You don't know right from wrong," Sunset said clearly. "We're over." She turned to go."

"Sunset."

"Over." She walked to the door.

"Sunset, come back!"

"Over." She opened it.

"But I love you!"

Sunset turned back to face the boy in the trenchcoat. He was reaching out to her desperately with both hands - but he was still holding the gun. She shook her head sadly.

"Goodbye, Flash Sentry."

The door shut behind her. Flash collapsed onto his bed. "Fuck."

"Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh!

Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh!

Hey yo, Wondercolts, tell me, what's that sound?

Here comes Canterlot, coming to put you in the ground!

Go! Go! Wondercolts! Give a great big yell!

Canterlot will knock you out and send you straight to Hell!"

There was going to be a pep rally at Canterlot High School on Friday the thirteenth of October, and the cheer squad was busy practising the Canterlot Spirit Chant. It was Thursday, and Twilight had to admit that it rather worried her when she heard Sonata yelling at someone that the words were "what's that sound?" rather than "what's going down?" She padded silently down the corridor to her locker; it was after school had gone out, but she'd stayed late to do some work in the chemistry labs. As she rounded a corner and crossed to the stairs, she heard the familiar clip of high heels on lino - the kind that meant all nerds evacuate immediately for your own safety. She dived back around the corner and peaked around it.

"I now know thee, clear spirit," said a male voice, and it was so close Twilight nearly jumped out of her own skin. It wasn't coming from behind her, though; it was coming from the corridor she was peaking into. The high heels stopped, and she figured the boy must have been addressing the wearer.

"That's from Moby Dick," Aria Blaze's voice said uncertainly. Sure enough, when Twilight glanced around the corner again, there was the new queen bee of the school, clad in a white skirt suit with a wide red belt at her waist. As always, Adagio's ruby necklace glittered at her collar. There wasn't a trace of green on her.

A boy in a dark coat got up from the stairs and offered her an envelope. "I appreciate a well-read woman," he said, and Twilight realised it was Flash Sentry. Sunset's boyfriend. Potentially hitting on another girl.

Aria didn't see it that way though. "What's in the envelope?" she asked suspiciously.

"You're going to want to see it."

Twilight watched as Aria took the envelope and carefully slit it open. Her violet eyes widened. "Shit. Oh, shit!"

Flash shrugged. "Just a tangible reminder that, at around age six I'm guessing, you and Twilight Sparkle were friends."

"Where did you get these?" Aria demanded. "Did Sunset give them to you?" Flash simply continued to look at her in an unnerving manner. Eventually she cracked. "What do you want? Money?"

Flash grinned. "A favour."

Aria looked disgusted. "No way."

"Not that kind of favour," Flash snapped, sounding disgusted himself. "I need a petition signed. Check it out." He showed her another piece of paper. She raised her eyebrows at it. "See, no one listens to the psycho-trenchcoat dude. But they'll listen to you. Of course, if you don't want to do it, that's fine too. But I bet Wallflower Blush, the yearbook editor, would love the pic of you, Twilight and Timber in the bath together as much as I do. It's adorable, isn't it? Bet it would get a nice spot in the yearbook. Hell, she might want to do a whole spread with these!"

Aria stuffed the pictures back into the envelope and snatched the petition away from him. "I don't know why you bothered to go to all this effort to blackmail me," she muttered. "This petition idea isn't half bad. And those photos are ancient history. No one cares about the past. No one cares about Twilight Dorkle." She dropped the envelope and flounced away with the petition clutched tightly to her chest.

Flash was bending down to pick up the envelope when he noticed Twilight. They briefly made eye contact, and he knew immediately that she'd heard the whole thing. He left the envelope on the ground and turned to leave. When he reached the double doors, he glanced over his shoulder. Sure enough, Twilight had padded down the stairs and had picked up the envelope. For some reason, the sight made him feel incredibly sad, and he left quickly.

Twilight walked through the town, not stopping until she got to the Old Mill Bridge. She stood in the centre of the arching stone walkway, and gazed into the water rushing past beneath her feet. She realised after a little while that she was crying.

In kindergarten, all those years ago, there had been a sweet little boy named Timber who said that Twilight was smart. He was good at sports and people liked him, and at naptime once they'd shared a mat. Twilight hadn't slept; instead she'd sat and watched the rise and fall of his chest as he dreamed for nearly half an hour before he woke up.

One time he'd pulled a scab off during a game of kickball, and ran up to her, pressing it into her hand and quickly kissing her before running back to the game. Twilight carefully put the scab into a locket, and she'd worn it around her neck for a year. The scab was long gone but Twilight still held onto the locket; the metallic weight over her heart was comforting. It reminded her of when Timber hadn't cared if his girlfriend was thin or pretty or wore cool clothes. He'd been hers until they'd hit first grade - and then he'd woken up to the real world.

She knew it was stupid to have carried a torch for him all this time, especially now when he was both gay and dead, and apparently hadn't thought of her in years other than as a joke, but last night she'd dreamed that a beautiful white Alicorn (who'd looked weirdly like Principal Celestia) had flown down into her homeroom with Timber on its back. He'd held out his arms to her, and helped her on behind him, and together they'd sailed above the gym and the faculty parking lot.

It was unrealistic. But it had been lovely.

Of course, now it was obvious how the world worked: certain boys were just meant for kindergarten, while certain girls were just meant to be alone. Timber was dead. Sunset didn't care. Twilight was that certain girl.

A strange sensation came over her just then; a completely overwhelming desire to see Timber. He'd been the only one who'd ever cared, even if it had been a long time ago.

And there was only one way to do that.

Pulling a spare piece of paper out of her pocket, along with a pen and a plastic wallet (the kind you put in a ringbinder to keep your papers dry), she scribbled the following note.

Dear Canterlot -

I believe that any dream worth having is a dream that should not have to end. So I'm going to build a dream that I can live in, and this time I'm never waking up.

I'm going to a new kindergarten - somewhere where what you wear and like doesn't matter.

And naptime is going to be centuries long.

- Twilight Sparkle

Twilight carefully tucked the note into the envelope, next to the pictures. Then she swung her legs over the railing, and let go.

She couldn't wait to see her Timber again.