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  A Preview of My Little Pony: Equestria Girls: Friendship Games

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  For Sophie, Katie, Edith, Seraphina, and Nickie—in memory of many a sleepover

  Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

  Twilight Sparkle couldn’t believe what she was seeing. One minute, she was enjoying a picnic with some girls at Canterlot High, and the very next, there was a sudden blast of light from the Wondercolt statue. Twilight Sparkle blinked at the girl who appeared. She looked totally like her. Twilight Sparkle was looking at her exact double.

  This girl had the same violet hair with pink streaks. She had the same round brown-purple eyes with long, dark lashes. She was even wearing the same plum skirt, blue blouse, and purple boots. It was like looking in a mirror, except this other girl wasn’t wearing glasses.

  Who was she?

  “I’m sorry I didn’t get here sooner!” the girl explained breathlessly. “I didn’t get your messages until just now because I was caught in this time-travel loop, and honestly, it was the strangest thing that has ever happened to me.…” The girl’s mouth dropped open. She stared at Twilight Sparkle. “Make that the second strangest.” She gulped.

  Confused, Twilight Sparkle gave the girl an awkward wave. The girls behind her burst out laughing.

  “Well, I’ll be.” Applejack grinned. “Twilight Sparkle, meet Twilight Sparkle.”

  “Princess Twilight Sparkle from Equestria, meet Twilight Sparkle, the new girl who just transferred to Canterlot High from Crystal Prep,” explained Sunset Shimmer helpfully.

  Pinkie Pie giggled and tossed her curly, pink locks. “Twilight—I mean, Princess Twilight—the new Twilight—I mean, the new girl—came to Canterlot High during the Friendship Games. She opened up a portal while investigating magic. Everyone nearly disappeared into it. Almost, but just in time, Sunset Shimmer helped Twilight Sparkle—the new Twilight—recover because she remembered what it was like to turn into a she-demon by accident and all the power in the world can’t teach you about friendship and…” Pinkie Pie paused to catch her breath. “And… well… Twilight—never-been-a-pony Twilight—what you need to know is that Princess Twilight Sparkle knows everything about friendship.”

  “Everything?” asked Twilight Sparkle, amazed.

  “Everything,” agreed all the Equestria Girls together.

  “That’s not true!” protested Princess Twilight. “Every time I make a new friend, I learn something new about friendship. Every friendship is special. Every friendship is different. It’s nice to meet you, Twilight Sparkle! I guess I always knew I had my double in your world, but it’s wonderful to see you in person!” She smiled. “I like your boots!”

  Twilight Sparkle blushed. “It’s nice to meet you, too,” she said shyly. “But how come we look alike?”

  How could the girls explain it?

  “There’s a world of magic—” began Rarity.

  “That’s the world you tapped into during the Friendship Games,” Rainbow Dash interrupted.

  “And everyone there is a pony, and each of us has a pony who shares our name and looks exactly like us, or only really looks like us when they come to our world like Sunset Shimmer and Princess Twilight did, only we’ve never met our pony pairs before. This is the first time for any of us,” gushed Pinkie Pie.

  “That’s about right.” Applejack nodded.

  “Oh,” said Twilight Sparkle. She was overwhelmed. How could she have a double who was the Princess of Friendship? Until she came to Canterlot High from Crystal Prep, she’d never even had one single friend. Not one. Except for her dog, Spike. She patted him on the head.

  “Spike!” said Princess Twilight.

  Spike looked back and forth between the two girls and rubbed his eyes with his paw.

  “How do you know Spike?” asked Twilight Sparkle.

  “I have a little dragon called Spike. He looks like a dog in this world,” said Princess Twilight. “But he can talk.”

  “Me too!” barked Spike. “But I’ve never been a dragon.”

  All the girls laughed. There was so much to catch up on. The girls talked at once as they told Princess Twilight about the Friendship Games. Everyone had been so mixed up when they had first met Twilight Sparkle from Crystal Prep. They had thought she was the Princess of Friendship who had gone to Canterlot High once upon a time.

  “Especially Flash Sentry,” said Rarity.

  “What’s he going to do when he sees two of you?” Pinkie Pie wondered.

  Princess Twilight’s face fell. “Oh, but he won’t. I can’t stay very long. Besides it looks like you’ve solved all your problems with the portal you wrote me about.”

  “We have,” said Rainbow Dash. “Still, we always have lots to learn about friendship. You have your own Twilight Sparkle now, and I’ve got a feeling that she knows a lot about friendship.”

  Princess Twilight smiled.

  The girls beamed happily at their new friend.

  But Twilight Sparkle suddenly felt worried. They might have the same hair and the same face and the same clothes and the same pet, but how could someone who had never had a friend or even had anyone to sit with at lunch possibly be like the Princess of Friendship? What did she know about friendship? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Less than nothing. In fact, at the end of the Friendship Games, she had turned into the won stevous Midnight Sparkle.

  Sunset Shimmer noticed that Twilight Sparkle was uncomfortable about something. “Are you okay?” she asked. “It can be hard being the new kid sometimes. Believe me, I know.”

  Twilight Sparkle smiled. Sunset Shimmer was so nice. All these Canterlot High girls were so friendly and forgiving. They hadn’t blamed her or held a grudge about her opening the portal or anything.

  But Twilight Sparkle wondered how to be a friend. What was she supposed to do? What if she turned into a monster again? It was all so confusing. If only someone could teach her what she needed to know.

  Brand-New Buddies

  Twilight Sparkle had been putting off returning to Crystal Prep to finish cleaning out her old locker. Her classmates there weren’t very nice. One afternoon, when school was over, she took the bus over to Crystal Prep, hoping no one would be around.

  She was putting some old pens and pencils in the front pocket of her backpack when she heard some giggling. She whirled around to see Sunny Flare, Sour Sweet, and Sugarcoat standing right behind her.

  “Well, well, well.” Sunny Flare smirked. “You’re back. Giving up on your new school already?”

  “I’m not,” Twilight Sparkle protested. “I’m just picking up some last things.”

  “You don’t want to forget a single homework assignment, do you?” sneered Sour Sweet.

  Twilight Sparkle’s cheeks flushed. She never knew what to say to these girls. “I’ve got to go. Bye,” she said, hurrying down the hall. But her phone pinged, and she stopped to check it. It was Sunset Shimmer. Do you know how to do the math homework? Want to come over and do it together? she’d texted.

  Twilight was just about to reply when Sugarcoat grabbed the phone out of her hand. “Ha!” she laughed, reading the message. “They alrea
dy know that you’re a brainiac.”

  “Here, dearie, let me help you,” said Sunny Flare, her voice oozing sweetness. Haven’t started yet, she typed back to Sunset Shimmer on Twilight Sparkle’s phone. Doing it later. Looks hard.

  Twilight Sparkle gulped. Were these girls right? Maybe she needed to make an effort to do things differently this time. After all, she was starting over at a new school.

  “Don’t be such an eager beaver,” said Sugarcoat bluntly. “Can’t you just try to play it cool for once?”

  When Twilight Sparkle was at Crystal Prep, she had been an outcast because she liked to study. The other girls teased her because she asked questions and cared about what she was learning. But at Canterlot High, her new friends seemed to welcome her curiosity. At lunch, the girls asked her about her favorite classes, and it seemed like they cared. Maybe they were only pretending.

  Ping! Sunny Flare looked at the text. She laughed. “Rainbow Dash is inviting you to go to the climbing wall with her.”

  “Could I please have my phone back?” asked Twilight Sparkle.

  “Dearie, I’m going to give you back your phone, but I’m also going to give you a little advice.”

  “We all are,” agreed Sour Sweet.

  “We’re just telling you these things because we’re your friends,” Sugarcoat added.

  “But you’re not my friends.” Twilight Sparkle looked confused.

  “We could have been. You just didn’t know how to act right,” Sour Sweet explained.

  The other girls nodded in agreement. They clustered close to Twilight Sparkle, Sunny Flare still holding the phone.

  “You’ve got to try to be cool for once,” explained Sour Sweet.

  “Yeah. Don’t be such a goody-goody. Don’t believe everything these girls tell you. They’re sizing you up. They might drop you tomorrow,” Sugarcoat warned.

  Ping! Ping! Ping! All kinds of messages were coming in on Twilight’s phone. Sunny Flare glowered at them. She seemed upset. “Boy, they can’t leave you alone, can they?” she said.

  “Look,” Sugarcoat ordered. “Pull out one of those pencils and write this down and study it, okay?”

  Twilight Sparkle took a deep breath. “Okay.”

  The girls let loose with a series of recommendations as soon as she was ready.

  “Don’t trust anyone, and don’t believe anything.”

  “For goodness’ sake, hang back a little. Remember, they’ve all known one another a long time. You’re the new girl.”

  “Just try to be cool, okay?”

  “And find an ally!”

  “An ally? What do you mean?” Oh, this all felt so confusing to Twilight Sparkle.

  “An ally. The person you share the dirt with.”

  “The dirt?” Twilight Sparkle stopped writing.

  “The gossip! You’ve got to gossip. That’s how you team up with your best friend.”

  “Are a best friend and an ally the same thing?”

  “Yes!” shouted all three girls together.

  Sour Sweet giggled. “You’re hopeless, aren’t you?”

  “I guess I am,” Twilight Sparkle admitted.

  The girls handed her back her phone, urging Twilight Sparkle to reach out to them for guidance.

  “We’re here for you!”

  “Bye!”

  “Bye!”

  Twilight Sparkle heard them laughing as she headed out the door. On the bus, she looked at her phone. There was a message from Fluttershy inviting her and Spike over to a special puppy spa, and another from Applejack wanting to plan a picnic. Twilight was so happy. She’d never been invited to do anything like that before.

  She’d never realized what a difference friends could make until she came to Canterlot High. She loved how the girls waited for her at her locker and how they would catch up at lunchtime and save one another seats on the bus. But maybe there were more things that she should be doing as a friend. She took out the list they had made her write and studied it.

  Ping! It was another message. Pinkie Pie was having a slumber party. Everybody in for tomorrow night? she texted.

  Yes! answered all the girls on the group message.

  Twilight Sparkle answered with a thumbs-up symbol. It was so cute! She hoped it was the right thing to do. She had never used one before.

  She looked down at her phone. Another message! Just for her. It was Sunset Shimmer.

  Pick you up before the party? That way you don’t have to show up by yourself. We can even get our homework done together before if you want.

  You bet! answered Twilight Sparkle without thinking. Oops! Was that uncool? Oh, she was hopeless.

  Twilight Sparkle thought of the time when she unleashed her magic at the end of the Friendship Games, sprouting wings and turning into Midnight Sparkle. She had become all-powerful but felt more alone than she had ever been before. Sunset Shimmer had rescued her from all of that. Sunset Shimmer had once made the same mistake, and the other girls had forgiven her.

  Hey, she texted Sunset Shimmer. Just let me know if I start to turn into a she-demon tomorrow night, okay?

  LOL! Sunset Shimmer texted back.

  Twilight studied the text. It certainly seemed friendly. Was Sunset Shimmer a potential best friend, or rather, an ally?

  She sighed. This friendship stuff was just so hard. If only it were as easy as math homework!

  Matching Mates

  Pinkie Pie had gone all out! She’d dipped balloons in glue and glitter, draped shiny streamers covered in silver stars across her bedroom ceiling, and decorated cupcakes with rainbow sprinkles. “This is a special celebration,” she squealed when all the girls had arrived. “This is our first sleepover with Twilight Sparkle!”

  “Yay!” screamed the girls together.

  “Awww.” Twilight Sparkle blushed. Sunset Shimmer squeezed her hand. They had put their sleeping bags next to each other on the floor of Pinkie Pie’s room.

  “It’s great to have one together before Camp Everfree,” said Rainbow Dash.

  “Totally,” agreed Rarity.

  “What’s Camp Everfree?” asked Twilight Sparkle.

  Rainbow Dash smiled. “It’s when we pack our overnight bags and go on a wilderness adventure together with camping and swimming and—”

  “Marshmallows!” interrupted Pinkie Pie.

  “And hiking and ghost stories and—”

  “More marshmallows!” Pinkie Pie laughed. “It’s going to be like having a whole week of sleepovers together.”

  Twilight Sparkled gulped. She didn’t have the heart to tell the girls this was her first sleepover. But at least she was going to have a lot of practice, thanks to Pinkie Pie and her parties.

  Each of the girls had come with a special game to play. Rarity opened up a big cosmetics kit. It was filled with all different colors of nail polish—red-hot reds, shiny silvers, perfect pinks, wonderful whites, and even vivacious violets. Twilight Sparkle had never seen so many wonderful colors.

  “Ooooh!” squealed Pinkie Pie. “I call pink for my toes.”

  “Not so fast.” Rarity laughed. “In this game, we don’t choose the colors; the colors choose us!”

  “That doesn’t make any sense at all,” said Applejack, scratching her head.

  “It does if you are playing Spin the Nail Polish!” Rarity announced.

  “I love that game.” Fluttershy clapped her hands.

  “It’s my fave!” agreed Rainbow Dash.

  “Let’s play,” said Sunset Shimmer.

  All the girls sat down in a circle on the floor. Twilight Sparkle was clearly confused, but she tried to play it cool. She didn’t want the girls to know how out of the loop she was.

  Luckily, Rarity filled her in. “When it’s your turn, you pick a nail polish color and spin it in a circle on the floor. When it stops spinning, it will be pointing toward someone—and that person gets one nail painted that color. We don’t stop until everyone’s nails are done.”

  “It’s like a magica
l makeover,” said Pinkie Pie. “Kind of.”

  “You go first,” said Fluttershy to Twilight Sparkle. “What color are you going to pick?”

  Twilight looked at all the colors in the cosmetics box, but she couldn’t decide. All of a sudden, she felt like it was a big deal and she might make some kind of mistake. Could you choose a wrong color? She took a big breath and picked a bottle of silver polish.

  “Oooh!” Sunset Shimmer exclaimed. “I hope I get that color.”

  “Give it a good spin,” suggested Rarity.

  Twilight Sparkle twirled the bottle. It spun ’round and ’round, finally stopping with its white top pointed at Applejack.

  “Oh geez!” cried Applejack. “Now I’m going to look like one of the Dazzlings!”

  “Are not!” said Rainbow Dash.

  “Never.” Fluttershy shook her head.

  “Who are the Dazzlings?” asked Twilight, confused.

  “It’s a long story. Don’t worry about it,” said Rarity. “You just paint one of Applejack’s nails.”

  “Okay,” agreed Twilight. But she felt a little lost, a little left out. Had Applejack said that on purpose? She didn’t think so, but she couldn’t get the Crystal Prep girls’ advice out of her head.

  Sunset Shimmer noticed. “The Dazzlings were these girls who came here from Equestria to sow discord among us.”

  “But Sunset Shimmer stopped them!” said Applejack.

  “Oh,” said Twilight, trying to follow along as the girls chatted about Battles of the Bands and the lyrics to songs she had never heard of. She painted Applejack’s left index fingernail very carefully.

  “That’s right pretty!” said Applejack admiringly.

  “Thank you.” Twilight Sparkle glowed inside. Maybe she was doing okay after all.

  With lots of giggling, the girls spun their bottles of nail polish. Rainbow Dash, who wanted nails of every color, ended up with every finger painted red. Fluttershy was happy with her hands a lively mixture of purples, golds, and reds. Pinkie Pie couldn’t stop laughing when she ended up with green fingers. She waved her hands back and forth to dry them.