CHAPTER ONE

Vandalism

Thursday night. Ponyville High's gymnasium.

The punk jerked the spray can up and down and then put the finishing touches on her disasterpiece. It was the middle of the Friday night; the security cameras were off during the weekend. She laughed to herself as she threw the last can of spraypaint across the floor. She then had her four other gang members cover their creation with the "Summer Sun Homecoming" sign that the art club had painted.

Their leader put her black hood over her midnight-blue hair and then hoisted herself up the wall with the rope attached to the window followed by the others, her deep voice echoing off the large Ponyville High walls.A giant black stallion was spray-painted across the front wall of the gym, with moons in its eyes and a smaller white horse under it. The words "Celestia's DOOM" were written in red.

CHAPTER TWO

A Request

Thursday evening. Teresa "Twilight" Sparkle's room.

"I know you're sad about transferring," said Celestia.

Twilight bit her lip. "I don't see why the office wouldn't take my scholarship," Twilight said, stuffing books in her backpack. She adjusted her glasses, and sighed. "I guess I'm not a good enough student…."

"Twilight, we've known each other since you were inkindergarten," she said. "I've seen you crying countless times because you got a B on some exam or another. Only real students cry over grades."

Lest was right: Twilight was the spitting image of a nerd. Her medium-length brown hair was dorked out by her round bangs, and her glasses were rounder than anything. She always wore sweater vests and Mary Janes on the weekends, and spent all her free time studying in her room.

"Ponyville High looks dumb," she said. "No uniforms, no organization, no order. That's the way I see it."

The two girls sat on the bed. Twilight looked down at her pink and purple pajama bottoms; this was their last slumber party where the two friends were going to the same school.

"You know how happy I'd be if Canterlot Academy decided they wouldn't have uniforms anymore?" Celestia laughed. "Ponyville doesn't look too bad."

Twilight shrugged. "I just don't see why you put me on Homecoming committee so soon. Thanks to you, I have to root around some school I don't even know the routes to and look for some random girls that I barely even know by the end of the night."

"They're a few of the schools' most trusted students," she said. "And I'm only going to be touring Ponyville High with my dad for a week. You know how the mayor loves to snoop around the schools and make sure everything's going okay and the teachers are actually teaching. Besides, Ponyville High has an awesome library, I hear. You can stay there until the dance; I already arranged you to have your Homecoming dress sent to you there."

"Do I really need a dress?" Twilight asked.

"It's the Summer Sun Homecoming DANCE. Of course you'll need a dress; I knew you wouldn't have one on such short notice, so I got the school's fashion club president to get you one of their dresses before the dance."

"Yeah, I guess Homecoming's kind of a big deal," Twilight admitted. "I'm just kind of nervous about bumping into your sister…"

"Let's not talk about Luna," Celestia muttered.

Ever since Luna had been expelled from Canterlot Academy for breaking numerous important rules and then was transferred to Ponyville High, Celestia and her dad had been extremely strict about not talking about her. Lest felt like it was her fault that her sister was expelled; she was the one who reported her to the office for someone even mentioned Luna's name to her, Lest would change the subject never showed up at school, before and after she was transferred to 's almost like she disappeared off the face of Equestriopolis.

"Sorry, Lest," Twilight mumbled, feeling awful.

"It's okay…" Celestia said. "I'm sure you're going to have a wonderful time at Ponyville."

"No I won't! I'm going to be away from you!"

"Twilight, I can't be your only friend. You have to learn to make some new ones. Spike doesn't really count."

The student fell back on her bed. Her little brother Spike would be going to Ponyville with her, and they had the closest bond ever, being only a year apart. "I go to school to study, not to make friends."

Her platinum-blonde friend burst into uncontrollable laughter.

"What?" Twilight asked, sitting up straight. "It's true!"

"I just don't see how you can just isolate yourself from people," Lest explained.

CHAPTER THREE

First Day

Friday morning. Ponyville High North Building.

Twilight decided to just stick with black pants, a white oxford tucked in, and a purple sweater vest. She wasn't used to wearing her weekend clothes during the weekday, so she replaced her usual jeans with more professional black pants and wore her eight-sided pink star brooch. Her friends at Canterlot Academy used to make fun of her for wearing "old lady" jewelry, but she could care less. She parked her car in the student parking lot, her purple backpack on her back, her books, notebooks and planner her arms.

She had her planner opened up to the list of girls she was going to have to find by the end of the day to talk about the Homecoming dance:

1) FOOD: Jackie Apple. Goes by Apple Jack. Her family supplies half of the cafeteria's food supply.

2) DECORATIONS: Rarity Diamond. President of the Ponyville Fashion Club.

3) CHOIR FOR THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF HOMECOMING QUEEN: Fiona Shys. Everyone calls her Fluttershy. Vice President of the Choir Club.

Twilight was happy that it was only three of them. They wouldn't be too hard to find, she didn't think. How many girls in the school were named and nicknamed Apple Jack, Rarity, and Fluttershy?

"I'll have to intercom them," Twilight said as she helped her brother out of the car. Spike was a freshman, but liked to act that he was on Twilight's level, since he was taller than her and helped her out with most of her organization. "I don't know how else I'll find them in this town of a school."

"It's not much bigger than CA," said Spike. "It has four buildings, just like Canterlot did."

The two students entered the school's north building to find a conundrum of students, scattered in the hallways either laughing or talking. Some of them had footballs and lacrosse sticks; others were holding play scripts and notebooks for drawing and writing. Twilight noted that everyone seemed to have their place; everyone but her.

On the bright side, she figured that her schoolwork was going to be a lot easier in a public school. She studiously shoved her thick-rimmed glasses up the bridge of her nose and walked down the hall, trying to find her locker number. Some students stared at her and waved friendlily, but Twilight ignored them and kept her eyes straight ahead.

Spike sighed. "Come on, Twilight; try to make some friends."

"I came here to study, Spike," she said. "Not to socialize."

"Everyone here's so friendly though!" he said. "Come on; at least talk to somebody."

Twilight capitulated. "Fine. One person, and then I'm going straight to class."

She looked around the hall. She saw a girl with huge blonde curls walking—well, more like bouncing—down the hall, books in hand, humming a little tune to herself through her smiling, pink-glossed lips. Twilight interrupted the party going on inside the girl's head to talk to her.

"H-Hey," said Twilight. "I'm new here, do you—HEY!"

The girl took one glance at her and then rushed off, seeming to be in a hurry. The dorky student harrumphed.

"I told you," Twilight said, defeated.

CHAPTER FOUR

Apple Jack

Noon. Ponyville High cafeteria.

Twilight looked at what the lunch lady was fixing her: a club sandwich with a sliced apple on the side and a milk carton. It was weird to see how nice and healthy this cafeteria was; it was no fancy Canterlot dining hall, but it wasn't a stereotypical public school lunch of mystery meat and whatever the heck they were serving. Everything at the cafeteria was fresh and delicious, from the crispy apples they gave everyone to the professional-looking cupcakes.

The new student looked around; she was dreading this time of the day. She didn't have a group, since everyone had made their groups and stuck with them since Freshman year. Just as she was deciding to head towards the library for lunch, a southern accent chirped from behind her.

"Looks like you could use a chair!"

Twilight turned around. A freckled girl with sun-kissed skin and messy blonde hair was sitting with a similar-looking older boy and younger girl at the table, holding out a chair for her. She was wearing a plaid shirt with jeans and cowboy boots, and had a cowboy hat on. An apple charm hung from her neck on a gold chain.

"No, thanks, I was just going to go to the library to—"

"Eat books?"

The three laughed like crazy. The girl with the cowboy hat sat her down at the table.

"My name's Jackie, but everyone calls me Apple Jack, because my family owns the apple farm on the outskirts of town."

"Oh!" Twilight sparked. She pulled out her list. "I'm Teresa Sparkle. I'm new here, and my friend put me on the Summer Sun Homecoming committee to confirm all of the plans for tonight. Your family's in charge of the food being provided, right?"

"Yes ma'am!" the cowgirl declared happily. "My whole family runs the food around here; we provide the cafeterias with all of our produce, but we specialize in apples. Everyone comes up with the funniest nicknames for me and my siblings; that there is Mac, but we call him Big Macintosh."

Twilight was surprised at the student body's cleverness. Apple. Macintosh. She laughed a little to herself. The large-framed, muscular senior on the opposite edge of the table waved silently with a smile. He had a red plaid, country shirt on that fit snugly against his large frame.

"And there's Apple Bloom," she said. "In 8th grade, we called her Apple Seed."

"Very funny, Jackie!" Bloom said. The freshman looked a lot like her sister, but paler and with dark red hair pulled back in a huge red bow. She looked a bit different than her brother and sister; instead of wearing a country shirt, she had a white t-shirt on with flowers on the front, and was wearing a red skirt that went to the top of her knee. She was wearing cowboy boots that looked a little too big for her; probably hand-me-downs from her sister.

"In Canterlot we all had funny nicknames as well. Does anyone go by their real names?" Twilight joked.

"A few. Do you have a nickname?"

"Twilight. My best friend calls me that."

"Twilight it is then!" she said. "That'd make since because of your last name. Ha ha ha! I think you and I are gonna be great pals!"

The bell rang for the next period. Twilight barely got to finish her lunch, so she wrapped her remaining apple slices in a napkin and stuck them in her backpack. The few slices she had were delicious; Apple Jack's family must be rolling in money from the way their produce tasted.

"Hey, Twilight, catch!" shouted Jackie, and through her a cupcake with green icing and a tiny apple slice on it.

"An apple flavored cupcake?"

"Sweet Apple Acres' and Sugarcube Corner's collaboration," she explained. "Pinkie Pie came up with the recipe. I'm sure you'll meet her later on."