Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tired eyes stared up at the ceiling. If looks could kill, then his would drop a griffith dead . No matter what he could do, it wouldn’t fix the matter at hand. There was no solution, no way to mediate or smooth the problem. Not unless you could time travel, anyways. His struggle was one that many felt for a long time. It was one that no one could overcome when faced with it, only avoiding it as long as possible. The true greatest enemy of mankind…

Waking up five minutes before your alarm goes off.

A groan escaped the young man as he covered his face with his pillow. Of course it had to have happened on the first day of senior year. It was his luck that’d always determine the most crap situations for him.

And of course, just as he was about to get up, his alarm went off. Another groan was let out as he slammed his head back on the mattress. His hand slapped over his clock as he silenced it. Begrudgingly did he get up and started getting dressed. He was so upset that he nearly put his gauges on incorrectly. 

Throwing on his favorite pullover, he slouched as he walked down the stairs and made his way over to the kitchen, where he found his mom getting ready for a jog.

“Good morning, Mordie! Is my little boy ready for his last year of high school?”

Mordecai let out an embarrassed laugh as he grabbed some pop tarts from the pantry. He opened the silver packet over the trash can, careful not to spill crumbs on the floor. “Yeah, I guess? Just gonna be another year of the— yawn —same old stuff.” He munched into the frosted pastry, hoping the sugar would help wake him up.

His mom laughed at that response. It was like her son to be so indifferent, even in his last year of school. “Well honey, guess you’re going to have to suck it up for another year. And who knows? Maybe you’ll find yourself a girlfriend this year!”

The young man shuddered at the thought. The last time that he brought a girl over was freshman year. Least to say…once was more than enough.

A quick glance at his phone told Mordecai that he should probably start heading out soon. The last thing he wanted was for Rigby to start spamming him with texts and complaining that he has to walk to school alone with Don. He jammed the rest of his breakfast in his mouth as he slid his feet into his shoes, sliding the strap of his backpack over his head and resting it over his shoulder. 

“I gotta go, see ya later mom.” Were Mordecai’s last words to her before making his way out the house. 

“Okay then, Mordie. Have a…” The door was already closing when she started responding. A small laugh escaped her lips, shaking her head slightly. “You look away for one second and they swear they’re an adult…maybe I should look at some Mordie moments before my jog…”

If the pop tarts didn’t wake him, that cold autumn morning should have done it. That feeling of being hit with a sudden chill never got old. Walking along the sidewalk, listening to music, brushing off crumbs; yep, same old same old. And if Mordecai was right, which he sometimes was, then—

“Uggggghhh! Why do I have to get up so early for school?!” 

As if on cue, Mordecai could hear his friend complaining already. He couldn’t help but crack a smile at it. Turning the corner, he saw the shorter Rickerson brother sitting on the curb while the taller one was simply standing there patiently. “Because you would sleep in if it was any later, dude.” Mordecai responded, taking off his earbuds and pausing his music.

Rigby perked his head up almost immediately, standing up and scoffing. “Would not! And it took you long enough!”

“Uh huh, sure man.” Mordecai rolled his eyes playfully before dapping up the younger sibling. “What’s up, Don? Gonna go for a student council spot this year?”

“Good morning, Mordo! Yeah, I’m going to try and run for president, but the vice president spot also works for me if I don’t get it.” Don flashed his pearly whites, a smile often seen and beloved. “Though that means I’ll have to get to school even earlier. So I won’t be able to—“

“Blah blah blah! Who cares about all that? C’mon, let’s go already, I wanna get this day over with.” Getting annoyed with his sibling, Rigby grumbled before adjusting the straps on his backpack. The poor thing was on its last legs yet still he treated it as if it was brand new.

The morning rolled by as the journey ended almost as quickly as it started. Don left to go to his class’s floor and despite Rigby’s protests, Mordecai had to go to his and not skip the first day again . Last time, he had no idea which class was what and made a complete tool out of himself. Though he couldn’t lie, a few games of Strong John and Cheezer’s did nearly sway him.

Plopping down in his seat, Mordecai sighed as he drummed his fingers on his desk. Surprisingly, he was one of the first students to arrive. He was going to look around before he accidentally scratched his pencil on his notebook. Looking down at it, he thought for a moment before laughing to himself.

He spent a good three minutes drawing on the first page.

“Heheheh, tanks…”

He did indeed draw a stick figure riding a tank while shooting a dinosaur. 

After he was finished drawing, he decided to finally take a look around to see who was in his class. So far, he could only recognize one person: Thomas. He was going to say hi, but then someone else caught his attention. Somehow, he had not noticed the girl next to him. 

Her hair was short and abnormally colored with shades of purple and pink, having a headband neatly placed on top. Those amethyst eyes of hers were focused on the journal she was currently writing in. There was this grace about her that made him feel like he was staring at a princess.

She was gorgeous. 

The girl eventually looked up to see if her hunch of being stared at was correct. She wasn’t expecting to lock eyes with the boy right next to her, however. Violet irises stared and blue ones, pupils shrunk in size, and hearts stopped thumping. Both of them said nothing, just sitting in stunned silence.

Eventually, Mordecai was the one to break the silence. Coughing into his fist, he also broke eye contact as he looked away for a split second. “Uh, hey…” 

“H…Hi there.” Responded the girl, soon getting her bearings straight after saying that. “May I help you?”

“Huh? Oh, uh—“ The boy scrambled to string the right words in his head before speaking. “I-I’m Mordecai, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around here before.”

Ah, an introduction. Despite how he looks, this boy seemed nice enough to return the politeness. “My name is Twilight, nice to meet you. And you’re right, I’ve never been around here before the schools merged.”

Mordecai’s eyes widened at the last sentence. He had completely forgotten about the school merger—something about taxes probably. What was the school called again? Something-lot? He didn’t really pay attention since all he was worried about during that time was beating Dig Doug with Rigby.

“Oh yeaaahhhh, with that one school north of here, right?” He might’ve not known much about the other school, but he’s passed by the area to know where it is. He also knew how rich it looked. Why on earth a school like that would want to merge with a school like this was lost on him. Felt more like they were losing money instead of gaining it by doing this, but what did he know?

Twilight nodded, offering a smile before turning back to her journal and continuing to write. However, Mordecai continued to stare. His head tilted to the side a little, waiting for her to give more than just a nod as a response. Twilight glanced at him and was about to continue writing until she realized that he was staring at her. She brushed some hair behind her ear as an embarrassed blush stained her cheeks.

“S-Sorry, I thought you were done.” Leave it to Twilight to misinterpret a social interaction. Wouldn’t be the first time, however. “Yes, it’s that one. I have to say, though, West Anderson is a little…smaller than I expected.”

“Smaller? How big was your school? I remember it looking like a castle and all. What, you guys also have knights and dragons there, too?” Mordecai grabbed a pencil and placed a finger over his upper lip. His eyes got serious as he stiffened his shoulders. “Don’t worry m’lady, I will make sure you get to English class safely. Hop upon my trusty stallion so we may arrive with haste.” 

And leave it to the resident slacker to make a stupid joke like that. Though to his credit, it did make her laugh. 

“Heh, no sadly. But it’s three stories tall and has a clock tower on the top of it. Does that help?” 

“Woah…that sounds awesome! Must’ve been really sucky to get to classes, though. Especially if they were on opposite ends of the school.” Mordecai laid back in his seat, setting the pencil down as he put his hands in his hoodie’s pocket. “But I bet the lunches were really good. The ones here kinda blow.” 

“Not really. My friend, Pinkie, got sick one time because of the cupcakes they served.” Twilight laughed to herself as she recalled the memory. “She kept— pfft —eating the cupcakes because she didn’t want them to go to waste!” 

“Haha, what?? No way! My friend kinda did the same thing. Kept eating lots of hot wings even though they were burning right through him.” Mordecai couldn’t help but crack an even bigger smile at the memory of Muscle Man trying his best to scarf down as many wings as possible because of a contest. It was funny…until he had to be taken to the ER.

Despite being almost entirely different, Mordecai and Twilight were able to start a connection. Twilight enjoyed his humor, while Mordecai enjoyed her being able to (kind of) match his energy.

The two continued their little chat for a while until the teacher came into the room. Soon the room became silent and the day sadly continued on. Eventually, lunch rolled around and Mordecai found himself walking to the lunch hall with Rigby by his side. Along the way, they saw more students that neither of them recognized, one even had blue hair like the taller of the pair. Mordecai had streaks of black in his hair, though, so his hair was cooler in his opinion. 

“A clock tower? Dang dude, that school must’ve been loaded with cash!” Rigby tried to visualize the scale of the school. In his head, it was at least double the size of West Anderson. “Why would they even think of going here?”

“Hmm, probably because they’re gonna build more stuff here. Or maybe they’re getting us used to one another. Some of these guys do seem a bit…off.” Placing a hand on his chin, he thought about the new students he’s seen so far. Some were chill, but others seemed like weirdos.

“Pfft, you can say that again. I saw some chick ‘cast a spell’ while using the vending machine. She even referred to herself in third person while wearing wizard stuff!”

“Haha, no way dude! You think she’s related to that one guy that sold us Realm of Darthon?”

“I wouldn’t be— oof!” 

Rigby felt himself run into something solid. It knocked him back on his rear end, causing a bit of pain. He let out a groan as he looked up to see what he bumped into. What he saw was a girl with a cowboy hat and boots staring back at him. She looked upset at first, but then worried when she realized he was on the floor. 

“Oh whoops, sorry ‘bout that. You alright there, friend?” The girl had a southern accent and looked to be only a few inches shorter than Mordecai. She extended a hand out to him, offering a smile. Rigby looked for a second before hesitantly grabbing it, feeling the rough texture of it. Then he felt himself being yanked up with sudden strength. Seems like she was also as strong as Mordecai, too.

“Woah!” Rigby said, regaining his balance before dusting himself off. “Yeah yeah, I’m alright. Nothing that can’t be shrugged off.”

Mordecai looked at the cowgirl, about to apologize for Rigby until he realized she was with a few other girls. One of them he recognized. “Oh, hey Twilight! Guess we have the same lunch schedule, huh?”

“Hi Mordecai! Yeah I suppose we do.” Twilight waved at the taller boy. She seemed a lot more relaxed and informal. Probably helped that she was with people who he assumed were her friends. “Oh, and is this your friend you told me about?”

Rigby looked over to see the purple haired girl his friend told him about. He waved a little before placing his hands on his hips. “Yep, I’m Rigby. You must be the chick that Mordecai was gush—“

WHACK!

“OW!!” 

Much to the shorter boy’s dismay, Mordecai decided to play punchies without telling him. 

“Yeah, that’s him. And who’re these guys?” Crossing his arms, Mordecai shot Rigby a look before turning back to the group of girls. He snapped a finger before pointing a finger gun at one. “Wait, I recognize you. I think we got pre-cal together.”

“Oh?” Another girl with purple hair tilted her head. She placed a finger on her lower lip before recognizing him. “Ah yes! Indeed we do, darling. I don’t think I introduced myself, though. I’m Rarity, a pleasure.”

“Huh, small world I guess.” Thought both Rigby and Twilight. 

“Well since I knocked your pal over, I guess it’d be rude not to introduce myself either. Name’s Applejack, nice to meet ya!” The cowgirl extended a hand out for Mordecai to shake, having a big smile on her face. Without thinking, Mordecai took her hand only to be met with a very strong grip. She violently shook it up and down with an ecstatic look on her face. “Always good to be making new friends! Any friend of Twi is a friend of mine!”

The intensity of the handshake was strong enough to leave Mordecai’s hand shaking for a second or two after she let go. He had to grab his own wrist to stop it. His eyes were wide open, staring at his hand for a second before looking back up at Applejack. “Uh, yeah. Nice to meet you, too.”

Twilight had to stifle back some giggles. She remembered when AJ did the exact same thing to her. “We were just about to meet up with our other friends at the cafeteria, did you want to join?” She quizzed, putting her hands behind her back. In reality, she was just being polite. She liked Mordecai, but she felt as if his and Rigby’s personalities clashed too much with her friend’s.

“Sorry, but we can’t. We have a hot date with some every meat burritos!” Rigby chimed in, throwing an arm on Mordecai’s shoulder. “Jimbro’s burritos! Jimbro’s burritos!”

“Yeah, what he said.” 

“Ah, well that’s a shame. Maybe next time then.” Responded Rarity, kind of curious about the burritos. Does it really have every kind of meat?

The pair said their goodbyes as Mordecai and Rigby made their way to meet their friends so they could drive to Jimbro’s. The shorter of the pair looked up to his friend, scoffing a little bit. “Man, that Apple chick was pretty weird, huh?” Rigby put on a mocking Texan accent, placing his wrists against his hips. “‘WeLl hOwdy doOo paRdaNer!’ Man, five bucks says she’s not even from Texas! She’s probably from Ar-Kansas.” 

“It’s Ar-kan-saw, dude. And she wasn’t that weird—well, not as weird as some other people we’ve met. Even you, man. Remember that time you ate so much junk food we had to take you to the hospital? I can’t believe you ate that fried cup of soda!” Mordecai laughed at his friend’s expense. If there was anyone who can out-weird someone with ease, it was Rigby. The guy was a little weirdo, but he supposed that’s just one more reason why he liked him. Weird was fun.

“Oh whatever, man! Not like you’re any better, Mr.I-like-to-simp-over-girls-who-don’t 

-even-like-me!” Rigby shot back, crossing his arms in the process. 

“Rigby!” Mordecai was tempted to sock his friend again, but restrained himself. Hitting him over something like that would just make the taller boy look like a complete and utter tool. He just sighed instead. “Whatever…” He thought to himself for a second before letting out a slight chuckle. “Y’know, she was a little weird. I felt like I was shaking hands with Skips!”

“Dude I know! Felt like she was gonna rip my freaking arm off when she helped me up!” 

The boys let out a laugh, feeling the good vibes again. There was a silence afterwards, which didn’t last long as Rigby spoke up again. “You think Muscle Man will notice if I put a packet of sauce under his seat?”

More time flew by and Mordecai found himself in his last class. It was astronomy, a class he signed up for because he heard it was easy enough. However, he wasn’t expecting to get that teacher for his last period classroom as well. Mordecai knew him as the boring and strict English teacher, he had no idea that he’d also teach astronomy of all things. He sighed in defeat, slouching his head down. He thought he was getting some chick named Luna as a teacher. 

“Good afternoon, class.” The teacher said, finishing up writing his name on the whiteboard. “My name is Benson Dunwoody, but please refer to me as Mr.Benson. This year I will…”

Benson made eye contact with the blue haired boy. Instantly he could feel his blood pressure rise. He made a gesture for Mordecai to come towards him, shaking his head. “Oh no no no, you’re not sitting in the back of my class, Mr. Cyanocitta. You’re going to sit in the front, right at this desk.”

“Aw what?!” Mordecai exclaimed, leaning forward in his seat. “But Rigby’s not even in this class!”

“Well you should’ve thought of that before pulling those stunts! Now come sit down in this seat or you’re getting an assignment tonight!” Benson responded back, his face growing a little red. Mordecai groaned, getting up from his seat and slumping down in his new one. 

“This sucks. It wasn’t even my fault!” He thought to himself. “Rigby was the one who put that chili sauce in his coffee! Ugh…” Placing his head in his hand, he was forced to accept defeat for now. Maybe if he showed that he wasn’t an issue, then…nah, probably not. 

Benson, satisfied with the boy’s seating arrangement, continued the introduction. Ten minutes passed before he handed out syllabuses. Take one and pass it down, make sure to get it signed, first grade, etc etc. Mordecai was glad this would be the last time he’d have to hear this. When he turned to hand back the syllabuses, he was surprised to see a familiar face.

“Twilight??” The boy jumped a little, surprised by her sudden appearance. Seems like he was running into her more often than he thought. She looked up at him with a similarly shocked expression. They said nothing but offered each other an awkward smile, Mordecai waving a little as he handed her the stack of paper. Twilight did the same back, nearly dropping the stack as she did. 

Honest to God, she didn't even notice he was sitting in front of her. This entire time, she was admittedly not paying attention to anything beyond what was necessary…which was just the syllabus and class rules/expectations. What gained the majority of her attention throughout the whole Mordecai moving seats debacle? A book . Albeit a really good one, When The Moon Was Ours. It was a surprise for sure, but a welcomed one.

After the papers were passed around, Benson decided it would be best if the class got acquainted with one another, so he let them talk amongst themselves as he sat back at his desk and secretly watched some cat videos.

Mordecai felt a light tap on his shoulder. Turning around, he saw Twilight with a bashful smile on her face. “Hey stranger, fancy meeting you here.” 

“Well hello there, person I have never met before, it is quite a pleasure seeing you.” Putting on a fake British accent, he did a little bow before chuckling to himself. “Seriously, I wasn’t expecting you to take astronomy, too. What’re the chances?”

“Pretty slim, all things considered. I didn’t take you as someone to be interested in learning about celestial bodies.” Twilight made sure her bookmark was placed correctly before closing her novel. 

“Uh, yeaaah . I saw it as an option and thought it was cool. Especially stars and comets, but black holes are, like, the coolest.” The only thing he knew about astrology was when he watched 21-12 Time Attack along with Star Wars and they mentioned suns being stars. Oh, and something about plasma in space. “I’m guessing you like it, too?”

She lightly scoffed, placing a hand underneath the star symbols on the chest of her sweater vest. Twilight had a smug and prideful look on her face, puffing up her chest with such ego. “Does this answer your question?”

“Uh…” Mordecai was confused, staring at the symbol but wasn’t able to make the connection. “No…?”

Twilight deflated a little, retracting her hand while playing with a strand of hair to soothe herself. “Oh uh…the— ahem —the answer is uh, yes…”

There was a small silence for a second. She had a darker hue on her cheeks from the embarrassment, wishing she wasn’t there. However, Mordecai let out a snicker before he laughed. At first, Twilight didn’t know what to do, but she eventually found herself laughing with him. She didn’t really find the accent he did funny, but laughing at her own embarrassment was hilarious. 

Benson looked up from his computer upon hearing the laughter. He thought Mordecai was up to no good, but saw that the boy was laughing with another classmate. Stitching his brows and squinting his eyes, Benson paid attention to how the conversation was going. 

Twilight allowed another giggle to slip from her lips, nearly snorting in the process. Eventually, she settled down enough to actually speak. “Wow, talk about embarrassing…”

“Nah, it would’ve been embarrassing if you tried to compare it to something. Like, if you said ‘I dunno, is a nebula a star’ or something, it would’ve been much worse.” 

“But a Nebula… isn’t a star. It’s a cloud of dust and gas that can nurse stars in it.” 

“…”

“…”

“Y- Yeah , I know that! I was just saying that you could’ve said worse! Haha…” Mordecai would’ve slapped his forehead if it wasn’t for the fact that she was still present. This was his lesson to think before he spoke about anything related to space with this girl. 

“Ah, I see.” Twilight nodded, crossing her arms. She knew he was full of it, she just didn’t want to embarrass him.

“Yeah…anyways, how’re your other classes? I got one with Rigby and another one with a girl who I think knows you. Blonde and red hair? Leather jacket?” He made a motion around his head to signify big hair. 

Forwarding her brows, Twilight thought for a moment before realizing who he was talking about. “Oh! You mean Sunset Shimmer? Yeah, she’s another friend of mine.”

“That’s her name! I knew it was something like that. She seemed cool, albeit pretty competitive.” Mordecai thought about how fierce she was in that pair based trivia game. There was no way he had a chance to win against her. Though, to be fair his partner wasn’t exactly going to help him either. She was too busy eating a muffin. 

“Yeah, that’s her alright…” It was Twilight’s turn to reminisce about Sunset. Seeing her grow from such a stuck up jerk to a good friend to have around was phenomenal. She was proud of her friend. 

Listening to the conversation, Benson was surprised at how the entire interaction was so innocent. Every time he had Mordecai in his class, Benson always had the displeasure of also having Rigby. He’s never seen how the guy behaves by himself. Maybe he’d been too hasty to judge him? Though, nobody could really blame Benson after the whole “setting up the chairs” fiasco. Regardless, maybe he should give Mordecai some breathing room first before he decides to punish him. 

RRRRIIIIIINNNNGGG!!!

Just like that, the last period of the day was over. Students immediately started packing their bags and making their way towards the door. Benson yelled out a reminder about the syllabus as Mordecai waited by the door for Twilight. They left and the classroom had only Benson in it now. Being alone with his thoughts, the teacher asked himself out loud, “It’s always something new every year, isn’t it?”

Walking down the hall together, Twilight was in the middle of explaining the plot of the book she was reading when she felt someone smack her hard right in the back. It made even Mordecai jump with how loud it was.

“Gah! What the–!” She shouted, about to confront whoever smacked her. However, she came face to face with a girl who had rainbow colored hair. That big grin on her face told Twilight everything she needed to know. “I hate when you do that.”

“ Pfft! Ahahahahahahahaha!” The girl laughed with a raunchiness that reminded Mordecai of none other than Rigby. She placed a hand on the purple haired girl’s shoulder, wiping a tear from her eye. “Man, you really never hear me running, do you??”

“Har har . Why do you always hit so hard, Dash? You know I’m not as hardy as Applejack.” Twilight’s flat tone was more than enough to convey her annoyance. If there’s one thing she wishes would change, it’s this.

“Aw c’mon Twi, you gotta admit that it’s pretty fu–eh? Who’s this?” Stopping her laughter for a moment, the girl turned her attention to Mordecai. She didn’t realize he was even there until just now. 

Mordecai realized he was involved in the conversation and not just a bystander. “Oh, uh, hi I’m Mordecai.” He awkwardly raised a hand to wave hello.

Looking him up and down, the rainbow haired gal took a moment to assess him before she let out a smile. “Name’s Rainbow Dash, but just Dash is fine too, or Rainbow, or RD.”

“Uhh, okay. That’s a lot of nicknames.”

“Yeah, I know. It’s what makes me about twenty percent cooler than everybody else. Well, y’know, on top of being just faster, stronger, and just better in general.” Rainbow Dash crossed her arms, having a prideful grin plastered on her face.

“Yep, like a slightly taller Rigby.” He thought to himself. He looked over to Twilight, who was gesturing to him to just play along. “That’s pretty cool. Why only twenty percent, though?”

“Well, I have to leave some coolness for everyone else. It wouldn’t be fair otherwise, duh.” She scoffed, answering him as if it was obvious. “Anyways, Twi, I was gonna meet up with the others right now for a hang out at Rarity’s. You coming?”

Twilight looked over at Mordecai with a guilty expression. She attempted to smile, tilting her head a little. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for the conversation to be cut short. I hope you don’t mind if I go?”

“Oh, dude yeah no that’s totally fine with me! Besides, I have to walk home with Rigby anyway, so it’s all good.” Secretly, he was sort of thankful that RD came and crashed the conversation. He kept spacing out during Twilight’s explanation. There was no way he could’ve kept up.

Twilight wasn’t sure how she felt about being called a dude by him, but she let it slide. “Alright then. See you tomorrow, Mordecai!” 

“See ya!” Mordecai waved after them, this time without the awkwardness. He let out a sigh, standing there for a moment before going to go find his best friend. God knows how pissed he’ll be if Mordecai lets him suffer Jablonski’s crap alone. 

One annoying gym jerk and a crappy walk home later, Mordecai found himself back in his room. He crashed on his bed, just feeling the softness of the cushion. He just stared at the ceiling for a moment before deciding to play some video games. Grabbing his iPod, he put on his headphones before turning on the game console sitting on the floor. 

His eyes tracked the main character on the screen, jumping around the enemies and kicking their butts. The songs in his playlist had suddenly shuffled from Jamiroquai and his Virtual Insanity to Daft Punk’s Revolution 909 and finally to The Used. 

Mordecai’s mind wandered back to how his day went while the song played over his memories. Even from the start of it, his day was different. Waking up five minutes before your alarm implied it was going to be a bad day. 

“My heart stopped beating—such a softer sin…”

But then first period happened. She was there in the seat next to him, writing notes in a class that hadn’t even started yet. Heck she didn’t even realize he was sitting right next to him even though she was probably there first. Though to be fair, he didn’t notice her all that quickly either.

“I’m melting…”

Twilight, in his opinion, was just as odd as the rest of her school. The immense interest in learning and books alongside her weird sense of messy organization. There were tons of papers in her binders already. On top of that, she had this nerdy sense around her that made it clear she was probably the smartest in the room. But…

“In your eyes, I lost my place! Could stay a while and I’m melting~”

She was also funny—maybe unintentionally, but still hilarious. And despite her mind numbing explanation, she did have his attention for the most part. Heck, he even somewhat remembered the book she was reading, which was something in it of itself. Twilight’s nerdy side was something else Mordecai liked about her. Plus, she was really nice and polite, and actually laughed at some of his jokes.

“In your eyes, like my first time that I caught—”

“Skip!” Said Mordecai as he pressed the button on his iPod. He liked the song, but he’d much prefer listening to Ace Balthazar right now. Bert McCraken’s voice just wasn’t clicking. Besides, he was reaching the boss right now and needed the hype. “What was I just thinking about?” He thought to himself.

“Oh yeah. Heh, Twilight is cool.”

Chapter Text

Stars, planets, black holes, galaxies. All things relating to space and its celestial bodies interested Twilight. Heck, even her namesake related to the scattering of light that happened when the sun was below the horizon. Obsession was almost an accurate way to describe it. Though that would imply that was the only subject she was heavily into. 

Every class she was in, Twilight gave it her one hundred percent. Especially her advanced classes, given that they were actually fun to her despite being torturous for others. Though sometimes it would—

“Twilight? Hey, Twilight!” 

“Huh?”

…cause her to get lost in thought. 

“Yoo-hoo~! Earth to Twilie! You there?” A girl with pink and puffy hair waved a hand frantically in front of Twilight’s face. Her face was a few inches away as those giant blue eyes stared right at her. “Do I need to pull you back to orbit, girl? Because I’ll yank ya down from there!”

“Gah!” After looking up from her notes, Twilight nearly fell out of her seat. The sheer surprise her friend gave her was enough to give an elephant a heart attack. “Pinkie, don’t scare me like that!”

Pinkie Pie giggled a little before backing up. It always gave her a good laugh whenever she scared Twilight that way. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and Applejack sighed while tipping her hat down. “Twilight, it’s way too early to be this much of a poindexter. It’s nuttier than a squirrel who lost his acorns while in a Texan heatwave.”

“I’m sorry, but I think Applejack is right.” Spoke up a rather quiet girl. Looking down at the floor beside her friend, she noted the poster board presentation that was there. “I don’t think you needed a poster for a speech.”

Pinching the bridge of her nose, Twilight let out an exasperated sigh of her own. “Fluttershy, I’ve already explained this. First impressions are a huge deal, and it’s senior year. I can’t afford even the slightest risk of failing.”

“Darling, you speak as if you ever failed at anything school related.” Rarity shot back. Although she was more focused on her nails than the conversation, she still knew when she smelled bull. “And before you say it, a ninety-six is not a failing grade. Rainbow Dash would call that a blessing from God if she ever got a grade like that.”

“Yeah, exactly what—hey wait!” 

There was a bit of laughter that swarmed the table. Never a dull moment with friends like these, at least that’s what Twilight thought. Speaking of thoughts, her mind wandered back to how she laughed at herself with Mordecai. The experience was embarrassing for sure, but it gave her a sense of self reflection. She tried acting smug and got karma rather quickly. Maybe this was another lesson? 

After calming her laughter, Twilight brushed some hair behind her ear as she smiled. “You’re probably right, girls. I guess I’m just worried that something bad will happen if I’m not giving my all.”

“Well I wouldn’t worry with a brain like yours, Twilie! You’re like, super smart and basically a computer!” Piped up Pinkie. “I don’t think I’d even know what geomancy is without your help!”

“Um, do you mean geometry , Pinkie?” Quizzed Fluttershy. 

“Uh, yeah. That’s what I said, Flutters.” Pinkie replied, saying it in a matter of fact way.

Letting out another giggle, Twilight found humor in her friend’s foolery. “That’s true, I just want to look my best for the teacher. Besides, it’s not like anything bad will—“

“Hey Mordecai! Think fast!”

A voice suddenly shouted out in the middle of the cafeteria. It was soon followed by the sound of food being smushed.

“ GAH! ”

And a shout of pain.

Looking up from their table, the girls were shocked to see a giant blue blur stumbling towards them. Upon closer look, it was actually a boy in a blue hoodie. Twilight was the first to recognize who the boy was.

“Mordecai?!” She screamed. Though it didn’t seem to help as Mordecai tripped and went crashing against the table. The bean burrito that was smothered against his eye was joined by pudding and a veggie sandwich. That wasn’t the worst part, however. A ripping sound echoed throughout the room, causing Twilight’s heart to drop and shatter.

Finally, Mordecai fell on his back, letting out a groan of pain. He did his best to wipe off the food from his face. “Ugh…my head…”

“Noooooooo! My pudding!!! Whyyyyyyyy?!” Cried Pinkie Pie, in utter shambles. That earned her a “Really?” look from Rarity. “What? It was cake batter pudding!”

“Sweet apple pie! Are you alright there??” Applejack was the first to snap out of the shock from his crash and offer to help. Fluttershy and Twilight then followed suit, the latter grabbing a napkin and wiping some of the food off of his mug. 

“Oh crap oh crap oh crap! Mordecai, are you okay?? I’m sorry I thought you’d catch it!” Rigby ran over, a worried expression on his face. 

Mordecai rubbed his eyes with one hand, reaching out the other whilst waving around. “Rigby…? Is that you, dude? Where are you?”

“I’m right here, dude!” His friend responded, tapping his hand.

WHACK!!!

The taller boy slammed his fist into the smaller boy’s stomach, causing him to wheeze as he reeled back in pain. The punch caused Fluttershy to jump back with an “Eep!” Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle. That earned her a look from both Rarity and AJ. Dash simply returned the looks with a simple “What?”

Opening his eyes after clearing their vision, Mordecai stood up with an irritated grumble. “What the heck man?! Why’d you… oh .” He looked around to see the havoc that was created because of him. He inhaled sharply, rubbing the back of his neck. “Uhh, hi guys…”

“Hi Mordecai.” Twilight said with a concerned tone. Her brows stitched together as she stood up. “Are you okay? What happened?”

“Well, we were sitting down for lunch and I forgot my spork, so I went up to get one. I guess Rigby thought it’d be funny to throw his freaking burrito at me like a football.” That last line held a lot of anger. He looked over at his friend and saw he was being checked on by Fluttershy, shaking his head at Rigby. He sighed in frustration before turning back towards the girls. Mordecai was about to apologize when he noticed he was stepping on something. Looking down, he saw a ruined poster board. “Oh…oh crap!”

Immediately did he step off of it and frantically try to fix it. As he did, his heart sank when he saw the name on it. “Crap, I’m so sorry Twilight!”

“Oh, it’s…fine. It was an accident! I know you didn’t mean to do it.” Her tone betrayed her. Although she attempted to brush it off, the fact her hard work was destroyed really bothered her. Twilight couldn’t blame him that much, but it was hard to get the image of him stomping on her work out of her head.

“If anything it was a favor— ow! ” Rainbow Dash felt a slight pinch on her arm. She looked up to see Applejack looking at her with annoyance. “What??”

“Jeez, uh…” Pulling out his phone to check the time, Mordecai saw they still had a little over half an hour left of the lunch period. He walked in place, debating on what he should do. It didn’t take long for him to come up with an idea. “Okay, when was that project due?”

“Huh? It was supposed to be due Monday. I was going to turn the poster in early so the teacher could put it in a safe spot and grade it sooner.” Twilight responded, confused as to what he was getting at. 

“Alright, I’m gonna go get another poster then. If the bell rings then I’ll see you in astronomy. See ya!” Without any hesitation, Mordecai left in a hurry in search of another poster board. 

Twilight was left in a somewhat stunned silence. The fact that he left fast enough for her not to protest was rather impressive, even more so his willingness to buy a poster to replace what he destroyed. It was touching that he’d do that. However, her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden voice that piped up.

“Hey guys, sorry I took a little bit. Had to fix my make…woah…“ Sunset Shimmer was in the middle of returning from the bathroom when she saw the mess of food and a currently hurt Rigby. “Um…what happened?”

Pinkie Pie’s inhale told her everything she needed to know.

The clock ticked by rather quickly after that. Twilight spent the rest of her periods thinking about how willing Mordecai was to help her out. She had barely known him for a little under a week, yet he went out of her way to get her a new poster. That wasn’t anything a regular person would do for an acquaintance. Well, at least that she knew of, outside her and her friends of course. It was honestly rather endearing that Mordecai did that. Though she was still a little on guard, seeing how she's dealt with liars and the sort before. Well, she’ll see when she finishes walking to her final class.

Twilight heard some footsteps behind her. She turned around expecting one of her friends, but was left disappointed by the sight of puffy orange-blonde hair. “Adagio.”

“Oh, well would you look at that? It’s the girl who got her lunch ruined and her silly little poster stomped on.” Adagio’s tongue was like a knife, slashing away at Twilight’s emotions. Her eyes were akin to a tiger staring down her prey. 

“Just a mean jerk as always, aren’t you?” Twilight responded. She crossed her arms with an irritated look upon her face. 

“Oh? You’re calling me a mean jerk? That isn’t very friendly of you, now is it Twilight?” 

“You’re not very friendly, Adagio.”

“Hm.” Adagio grimaced at that statement. However, instead of getting loud, she simply placed her hands behind her back whilst tilting her head. “Speaking of friends, I couldn’t help but overhear your little talk with that boy. What was his name again? Morde-cry?”

“It’s Mordecai.” 

“Ah, of course! Silly me.” Her feign apology visibly bothered Twilight, just as she planned. “Anyways, what was I going to say? Ah yes. You do know he’s not going to return with that poster, right?”

That got Twilight to stitch her brows together.  “What are you talking about?”

“Oh come on, Twilight. You cannot be so naïve to think that he’d actually do that for you. You’re not special enough for someone to care about you that way, nor are you even pretty enough for a guy to fawn over you like that.” Adagio circled around Twilight, a smirk on her face. “Or maybe he does? And even if he does, this school isn’t exactly home to the best of characters. Someone could be feeling mischievous and want a little fun.”

The purple haired girl scowled, not enjoying the bully’s words one bit. “Are you done yet? I have to get to astronomy and don’t feel like being tardy.”

Adagio simply smiled, backing off before finishing her little talk. “Just thought I should let you know. Wouldn’t want a friend to get her feelings hurt now, would I?”

Twilight simply scoffed as a response. “I’ll keep that in mind. Good day, Adagio.”

“Bye~”

As she walked away, Twilight couldn’t help but feel her mood souring. She didn’t like Adagio. Well, Adagio didn’t like her either, but she didn’t like Twilight from the get go. Twilight only started disliking Adagio and her friends when they started scheming and manipulating. Their antics almost caused her friends to split up, heck it even caused the staff to infight. She knew that those words were only meant to feed into her insecurities, but it was doing a darn good job at it. 

Out of all her friends, Twilight was the one who overthought the most. It wasn’t uncommon for her to dawdle on the little things. Heck, she remembered a time when she freaked out because she thought that there must’ve been a lesson to learn on a day one of her teachers had a lazy day. 

“What if he’s actually not what he’s made himself out to be? What if he’s actually a bad guy that’s just tricking me?“ She thought to herself as she sat down in her seat. “No, he isn’t. At least, I don’t think he is. He hasn’t done anything wrong to suggest that. I think…”

Even though she’s changed a lot, she still wasn’t as trusting as say Applejack or Pinkie Pie. So to stack overthinking with that was a huge burden, which was only made worse with every second that Mordecai wasn’t there. 

Luckily, she didn’t have to wait much longer for an answer. In the last few seconds before the bell rang, Mordecai stepped in the classroom. His breath was heavy and his look was rugged. In his hand was a three piece poster board, just as he promised her.

Twilight couldn’t help but be surprised at the sight. He looked like he had gone through a terrible hazing. Meanwhile, Mordecai just caught his breath before going over this desk, slumping in his seat. A sigh escaped his lips. He was clearly exhausted.

“Are you alright? You look like you just attended a party full of rabid unicorns.” Her voice was curious with a hint of worry. 

“Huh? Oh hey, yeah I’m okay. Just got a little caught up, y’know? Haha…” Mordecai scratched the back of his head, his face contorting to a forced smile. He held up the poster board and handed it over to her. “But look…! I got you the poster.”

It was indeed a poster board. The material was cheaper and there was some dirt on the back of it, along with one of the corners being bent. It was also smaller than her original one, too. But it was here, brought as promised. On a surface level analysis, it was disappointing. It was like buying a Hershey chocolate bar to replace Delafée. However, going beyond that, it didn’t take a genius to see that he went through quite a bit to get it. And that meant more to her.

“Wow, well, color me impressed! It’s a perfect replacement!” Despite lying about it being perfect, she was genuinely impressed. Her anxieties were lowering, Twilight cannot deny that. “Thank you, Mordecai. It means a lot to me.”

Mordecai stared for a moment before his face changed to a genuine smile. Pumping his fist, it was like he was full of energy now. “Aw yeah-yuh! Whoaaaaaaaaa!”

“Mordecai! Stop being disruptive or you’re getting detention!” Yelled Benson. 

“…woaaaaahhhhh…”

Twilight couldn’t help but giggle at his expense. Mordecai was and wasn’t like anyone she’s met before. He was upbeat like Pinkie, but wasn’t as hyper. Kept his word like Applejack, but wasn’t nearly as hard working. And he definitely was no Rainbow Dash, but he was at least ten percent cooler than some.

The class rolled on by and the bell eventually sang its song of freedom. Students started packing up and Twilight found herself to be one of the first ones out the door. She waited patiently at the door for Mordecai, feeling an odd sense of deja vu as she did. As soon as Mordecai finished packing, the pair started walking down the halls together.

“So…” Twilight started.

“So…?”

She looked at her school bag, fixing some papers as she spoke. “Do you mind telling me why you looked so rugged when you walked into class and still look like that right now?”

“Huh? Oh, that. Well you see…”

Mordecai spent about five minutes explaining the entirety of his journey from the corner store all the way to astronomy class. From a jerk of a lady who accused him of cutting, to having to fight off a full grown geese, his journey was anything but regular. It caught Twilight off guard from how bizarre his story was. It sounded like one of the tales from her books, and she was going to dismiss it as such. That was, until he pulled out a goose feather from his pocket. That’s when she started believing him.

“…and then I had to deal with Jablonski’s loser friends trying to mess with me! I dunno what snapped their crank, but it wasn’t cool having to outrun them.”

“Wow…you went through all that in half an hour?” Twilight quizzed, amazed at the boy’s resilience. 

“Pretty much. Uh, except for that last part though. That was right before class.” Mordecai spun the dial of his locker, trying to open it while talking to her but failing. He had to actually focus so he’d stop screwing up the numbers. 

She just stood there in silence. After hearing all that, she felt bad for doubting him in the first place. Adagio was wrong, and Twilight should’ve stayed by that from the start. “You didn’t have to go through all of that for me, Mordecai. I would’ve been okay with just an apology. The poster didn’t cost me a lot to get it in the first place.”

“Yeah but I would’ve felt like a loser if I didn’t help, y’know? Plus, it’s only, like, a dollar fifty at the corner store. Back to school prices are still up yo!” He said that last bit like he had just found five dollars on the floor. Mordecai also left out the fact that he stopped by a bakery to pick himself up a donut or two. Though he thought the lady at the counter had a weird haircut, she was super chill in his book. 

“That’s really sweet of you.” Twilight felt glad that she was able to make a friend with someone so selfless. “Hey listen, I have to go since I need to redo my project. But uh…”

She pulled out a piece of paper and scribbled something on it. She then extended it out to him. “If you need something or want to talk, feel free to text me!”

Mordecai looked up from his locker, closing it almost as soon as he registered the words. He grabbed the paper with a big grin on his face. “Alright, sure! I’ll definitely text you when I can! I mean—whenever I wanna chat. ‘Cause y’know, I’m not a weirdo like that or anything. Haha…”

“Riiiight.” Twilight almost felt like giving him her number was a mistake. He was lucky that she found him amusing, even with his awkwardness. “Well, anyways, I’ll see you on Monday okay? Thanks again, Mordecai.” 

Mordecai was left by himself, palming his head with a sigh. “ ‘I’m not a weirdo’? Dude that screams creep! Ugh, man I gotta work on that…huh?”

In the midst of his embarrassment, he had forgotten that he closed his locker. 

“Augh!”

The sound of nature peacefully echoed throughout the sanctuary. Birds chirped and sang while a dog lazily lied upon a lush field of grass. Fluttershy was tending to some rabbits as Twilight studied the butterfly that was currently resting on her pencil. The two shared a comfortable silence as they enjoyed each other’s company alongside mother nature’s. A sigh escaped Twilight’s lips as she noted the beautiful blue and white colors on the insect’s wings. She couldn’t help but be reminded of a certain boy. 

“Fluttershy?” Twilight made sure to speak in a gentle tone so as to not frighten any of the animals. 

“Hm? Yes, Twilight?”

“Is it wrong to have doubts about people you don’t know that well?” 

Fluttershy stopped for a moment, holding up a strawberry she was about to feed a bunny. She turned her head to face her friend. “Is this about Mordecai?”

“Wow, you’re scary accurate. Was I that easy to read?” 

“No. Well, I mean, a little. Sorry, was that mean…?” 

“Pfft, no you’re fine, Flutters.” Twilight laughed a little, watching the butterfly on her pencil fly away and into the horizon. “It’s just…I thought I’d be more secure with how I view my friends. Especially after everything we’ve been through. But Adagio’s words got to me. I feel bad for doubting him, but I don’t know him that well. At the same time though…”

“Twilight, I don’t think you’re wrong for your feelings. Especially with what happened.” Walking over to her friend, Fluttershy took a seat next to her friend on the old wooden bench. Her expression was as soft as a cloud, which was almost as soft as her voice. “Having your doubts isn’t wrong, and you’re entitled to how you feel. I know you think a lot more than any of us do. I also know that you’re not a bad person because you feel guilty for doubting him. Please, don’t think of yourself as something you’re not. The Twilight Sparkle I know is smart, kind, and a good friend.”

Purple eyes grew wide, a sparkle within that shined like a star. Twilight felt the chains of guilt around her shoulders drop upon hearing such heartwarming words. 

“Mordecai destroyed your poster. Even if it was an accident, that’s what happened. But he also proved your bad thoughts wrong, so I think you can use this as a lesson. I think…” Eventually, Fluttershy felt a nudge against her hand. She looked to see a rabbit trying to get the strawberry from her hand. “Oh! Sorry honey bun. Here you go!”

It took a moment for Twilight to process the words told to her. She wasn’t expecting that from her friend. “Wow Fluttershy, where did all of that come from?”

“Well, um, I kinda talked to Rigby with Pinkie Pie yesterday after walking him to sixth period. He mentioned to, um, speak my mind more. And I thought it would be good if I tried that right now. I hope you didn’t mind.”

 Ah, that makes sense. Fluttershy wouldn’t try anything like that without an outside influence, and she was glad that her friend felt comfortable enough to try it with her. Though she wasn’t expecting for her to hear that from Rigby of all people. What was the context of that conversation?

“Of course I don’t mind. You’re my friend! I always appreciate your input, no matter what.” Twilight leaned over and gave Fluttershy a hug. “And thank you, I really needed to hear it, Flutters.”

Fluttershy couldn’t help but feel happy that she was able to help her friend out. She gladly returned the hug, being as gentle as can be. “It’s my pleasure, Twilight.”

Eventually letting go, Twilight sighed in relief. She looked out into the pale blue sky, watching the clouds. But then something crossed her mind as she started thinking. “Hey Flutters, wasn’t Pinkie Pie supposed to be with us? Where is she?”

“I think she was over by…the…chickens…”

Fluttershy’s words slowly dripped away as she saw Pinkie with a chicken mask running across a field. The chickens were following behind her, like an army of trained birds following their general into battle. She seemed to be making chicken sounds while pecking at random things. 

“BAKAW! I AM THE CHICKEN QUEEN, AND WE SHALL OVERTHROW THE TYRANNICAL FARMS!” 

“…Did Rainbow Dash play truth or dare with her again?”

“Ohh…so that’s why she was doing a handstand earlier. I thought she was doing an impression of a spotted skunk.” 

It was at that point that Twilight almost wished she had gone apple picking with AJ or stream with Sunset Shimmer and play those games she rages at constantly.

On Sunday night, Twilight was staring at her ceiling whilst white noise played from her speaker. Currently, her parents had a date night while her brother had to cancel coming over due to his daughter having a tummy ache. So, Twilight was all alone. Again. She didn’t have motivation to do much, heck she didn’t even start on her presentation like she told Mordecai she would. At least she still had her dog Spike, who was cuddling against her legs.

Ding!

“Wha?”

The sudden sound caused her to jump a little, sitting up almost immediately and causing Spike to jump in the process. Looking to her left, Twilight saw her phone had lit up. She had received a text from an unknown number. There was an instinct to ignore it on the assumption it was spam, but her curiosity took over. One look at the text told her that was the right move.

“Hey, it’s Mordecai. This is Twilight and not some old dude, right?”

The question got a little laugh out of her. She wasted no time replying back.

“Yes, this is Twilight. Hi Mordecai. How are you?”

“Pretty gooooooood. I was just playing some video games. I’m prob going to order a pizza because it’s my parent’s date night. House to myself yo! :D”

“Haha, home alone too, huh? Right now, it’s just me and my dog, Spike.”

There was some melancholy behind that last text. Twilight felt lucky she was texting him and not calling.

“Woah, you have a dog? That’s awesome! What does he look like??”

The conversation continued as Twilight shared pictures of Spike, with Mordecai returning the favor by sharing a pic of his best brain freeze face. He even sent the one Rigby and Thomas took, which were even more hilarious. Though she liked Mordecai’s the best. 

“Oh yeah! How’s the project going? I bet you finished it, like, five minutes after you got home.”

She felt herself tense up a little at the question. Those purple orbs of hers wandered over to the unused poster board leaning against her closet door. There was a twang of guilt, and her mind began racing once again. What was she going to say? Would he get mad if Twilight told him that she didn’t even start on it? Then she started to reflect back on the past two days.

Having a poster in the first place for an assignment that’s just a speech? Thinking about it from an outside perspective, it was absolutely absurd for her to do so much for that. Maybe a different perspective was what she needed…perhaps this was a pointillist painting and she needed to take a step back to gain a better picture. And when she did take that step, Twilight could also see that it’s not only grades she had to worry about.

That’s when another thought came to mind. Just because she didn’t need to use the poster for the project doesn’t mean that she can’t use it at all. Instead of constantly focusing on school, she should focus on herself more—at least a little bit. And maybe she should focus more on her youth while she still has it. 

“Not exactly. I haven’t remade it, but I don’t think I will. In fact, I think I found another use for it.”

“?”

“You’ll see it when I’m finished.”

“Oh, okay then. Hope that turns out alright!”

Twilight couldn’t help but feel a smile tugging at her lips. She felt an odd sense of pride at her genius. Sometimes it was as if she was unfairly blessed, though that was just her hubris usually feeding into her ego from time to time. Luckily, she never let it linger or get to her head. Usually.

“Thank you. Oh, by the way, do you like frozen yogurt? I’m free on Tuesday, and I wanted to go try some after school with Rarity and Pinkie. Did you want to join us?”

“Whaaaat?? You’ve never had frozen yogurt??? Oh man now I gotta come! Which one is it?”

“It’s a place called Menchie’s, the one on Quintel street. Sorry to cut this short again, but I need to go and plan out my speech for tomorrow. It was nice talking to you, Mordecai. I’ll see you tomorrow!”

“All good here. Feeling’s mutual, Twilight. Good luck with your speech!”

Turning off her phone, Twilight looked out of her window for a moment to look up at the stars. She could see a few of the constellations in the night sky, glistening among the celestial bodies. No matter where she was or what she was doing, those lights in the sky could always provide some sort of soothing comfort, even when it wasn’t needed. There was no denying it. Twilight was the star girl, the one who was always finding ways to try and reach for them. 

She was thankful for her window not having any sort of mesh or barrier. The cool autumn breeze felt nice flowing from her hair to her face. It wasn’t cold enough to be winter, but neither was it warm enough to be summer. It was perfect. 

“Hey Twilie! Whatcha doin’?!” 

Well, almost perfect.

Purple eyes met blue ones as Twilight almost got a heart attack from a sudden appearance of a certain pink haired gal. “ Gah! Pinkie what're you doing here?? It’s about to be nine!”

“Weeeeell, I was walking Gummy and I got a little lost. I went down a random street and then I was like, ‘Hey! I know this street!’ So I thought it would be a good idea to go down it. And wouldn’t you know it, it was actually Miss Cheerilee’s! I knocked on her door but I think I caught her at the wrong time because she had runny makeup and was holding a tub of ice cream while I think The Bachelor was playing. Anyways I started talking to her and…”

Pinkie’s ramblings caused Twilight to crack a small smile on her face. She couldn’t help but adore her friend’s weirdness, even if it confused her and made her question reality a majority of the time.

“…Then I ended up here! Hope I wasn’t interrupting any special moments or you having a moment of self reflection or anything like that!”

“How did…? Never mind.” Twilight shook her head, letting out a sigh. “No, you’re fine. I was just going to start on some work.”

“Ohh. Hey you’re not, like, overdoing it again, are you? Because I will have the best party ever and drag you to it so you can have some fun instead of locking yourself to your books!” Pinkie’s “threat” was only made funnier by her holding up Gummy, who was “biting” her finger. 

“I promise I’m not. If I am, you can take me to one of your big blowout parties and I’ll even show my dance moves.” Twi couldn’t help but laugh at the thought of her dancing like a dork in front of everyone. Like heck she’d ever let that happen.

Pinkie Pie spent a few good seconds staring at her friend, getting close enough to where their noses almost touched. She stared, and stared, and stared. It got to the point where Twilight got uncomfortable looking into those sky colored eyes before Pinkie finally stepped back with a cheery smile. “Okay! If you ever need an ear to listen, I’m always around. See ya later Twi!”

Watching her friend leave, Twilight rested her head in her hand. Another chuckle left her mouth as she couldn’t help but feel thankful that she has such odd but amazing friends. Maybe that’s why she liked talking to Mordecai so much.

She was odd too, after all.

Chapter Text

School can be a bummer. Having to do work for six, or in some places, nine hours on top of having papers to work on at home is…unappealing to a lot of people. There was also the fact that some people just kind of suck. Whether that be the teachers or other students was random, sometimes they could be really cool, or really cruddy. It was really up to how merciful your school was when choosing your classes. Not to mention the seemingly useless yet incredibly hard lessons that are taught.

In other words, school sucks.

But you know what doesn’t suck?

“Frozen yoguuuuurt!”

Mordecai’s chant could be heard from inside the store, which was a little concerning as him and the others were still outside. Well, he wasn’t the only one being loud as Pinkie followed suit. At least he opened the door for her and the two other girls with them. A slacker he definitely was, but a gentleman was something he was as well. Mostly, anyways.

Twilight took in her surroundings, noting the cute mascot on the cups. She would like a plushie of one. “So I take it that you like this place, Mordecai?”

“Uh, yeah! This place is awesome! I came here after a pretty nasty dodgeball tournament once, I loved it. So I come here after games now.” Mordecai paused for a moment. He remembered how his face got smashed in with a ball, that feeling of burning rubber on his nose. A shudder erupted from his spine as he covered his upper lip as if he was bleeding. “Wish I learned about it another way, though.”

Rarity tilted her head at the boy. They didn’t really talk a lot despite both having a class together, so this was something new. Though to be fair, she hasn’t known him for very long. “Oh? I didn’t take you for an athlete. I didn’t even know that dodgeball was a sport.”

“You guys don’t have dodgeball at Canterlot?” Mordecai quizzed, now tilting his head.

“Oh no, we do have dodgeball. Just not on a competitive level. Not that I’d join, that dastardly game caused me to chip a nail and mess up my hair. Ugh.” Rarity’s disdain was written clearly all over her face. She still hated the fact that it happened the day after she had just gotten a manicure. She was more of a tennis girl, anywho. “Though it’s nice to know that you compete. It’s not everyday you meet someone who plays sports and isn’t head over heels for it. Speaking of head over heels…are you enjoying yourself there, Pinkie darling?”

If the hyperactive girl heard her, she made no sign of it. She was too busy filling up her cup with all sorts of frozen yogurt and toppings. Pinkie Pie’s giggles were nearly maniacal with joy, simply having fun with everything.

“Is she usually—“

“Yes.” Responded both Twilight and Rarity.

“And this is nor—“

“Yes.”

After choosing their flavors, with Mordecai helping Twilight out with the toppings, the four were able to take a seat outside and enjoy their froyo. On top of Pinkie’s monstrosity of a dessert, Rarity had her cheesecake flavor, Mordecai with his double chocolate and peanut butter, and of course: Twilight and her plain vanilla. 

It was almost a sight to behold, watching Pinkie shave away at her behemoth frozen treat. As she did that, Twilight was about to take her first bite, but stopped herself when she saw Mordecai and Rarity staring in anticipation. She raised a brow, moving the spoon away from her opened mouth.

“Um…May I help you two?”

“No no, we’re quite alright. Go on, take a bite already!” Rarity waved a hand towards her friend, gesturing for her to go ahead and enjoy her frozen delight. Mordecai just nodded.

Twilight looked at Pinkie Pie to see if she was on board with the other two. She wasn’t, but that’s because she was still stuffing her face. Twilight let out a sigh as she just accepted the other two’s weirdness about her taking the first bite. Shrugging her shoulders, she opened her mouth and tasted the vanilla sweetness. Her eyes shot open when the flavor registered. The ice cold creamy texture, that nice rich French vanilla flavor, and oh man, the soft crunch of the sprinkles she had put as a topping along with the sweet strawberries were nothing short of delightful. Twilight felt a smile tug on the corners of her lips. Now she understood why they were so eager for her to try frozen yogurt. 

“So?” Mordecai asked, raising his eyebrows in anticipation.

“So…what?” Twilight asked, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion.

“The frozen yogurt, darling. How are you enjoying it?” Interjected Rarity. She hadn’t even taken a bite of hers due to her waiting for her friend to try it first.

There was silence for a brief moment as Twilight stewed her thoughts. After a few seconds, she simply shrugged her shoulders with a nonchalant expression. “Eh, it’s alright.”

…

“ ‘Alright’? ” Piped up Pinkie Pie, now paying attention to the conversation. 

“Yeah. It’s just okay, you know? It’s nothing special, it essentially tastes like ice cream with a slight twist.” Waving a hand lazily, Twilight took another bite while having her eyes closed.

“That’s it?” Questioned Mordecai.

“That’s it.”

“What?! What’d you mean that’s it???” Pinkie nearly jumped out of her seat. She had slammed her palms against the table, scaring two of her three compatriots and causing them to jump a little. “Frozen yogurt is, like, one of the best things out there! Sure it’s not ice cream, but it’s still super yummy! You’ve got to be mucho coco loco to think it’s just—“

A snort interrupted Pinkie Pie’s little rant. Twilight couldn’t hold in her laughter anymore and soon bursted out with it. “Pfft hahahaha! I’m sorry it was just too tempting!”

The other three were silent for a moment, taking in the joke their friend had just made. Mordecai was the first to break it. He snickered before breaking out into laughter. Soon, Pinkie and Rarity followed suit. The slacker couldn’t help but enjoy the prank she pulled. After all, he pulled a lot of his own. “Wow, didn’t know you had jokes like that, Twi!”

“Oh you clearly haven’t known her for long, then.” Rarity chimed in, finally taking a bite of her frozen yogurt with a “nom nom nom” sound.

“Yeah! Twilie can get pretty silly at times! You should see her when she’s sleepy, it’s hi-lar-i-ous!” It shouldn’t have been possible, but Pinkie Pie managed to talk perfectly normal while having a mouthful of food. It was…curious to say the least.

“Ahaha, I’m not sure I’d call that silly, Pinkie…” Twilight felt some embarrassment creep up on her as she awkwardly laughed. She then focused her attention on Mordecai, lowering her eyelids as she put on a smug expression. “But they’re right, I am full of surprises Mr.Cyanocitta. I suppose you can say I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve.”

“Oh yeah?” Raising an eyebrow, Mordecai could feel his mouth forming into a sly grin.

“Mhm~”

“Alright, then I guess it’s safe to assume you’re ready for a few of my own.” Raising his hands, he covered his mouth and nose with them. The action garnered a few confused looks from the girls. 

“Darling, what exactly are you—“

SNAP!

What sounded to be bone popping boomed loudly from Mordecai’s face. The sound caused Rarity to shriek and freak out, while both Twilight and Pinkie jumped back in both shock and horror. If there was one thing that none of them were expecting, it was witnessing Mordecai breaking his own freaking nose.

“What the heck, Mordecai?! Are you crazy???” Shouted Twilight, obviously distressed by what she witnessed.

It wasn’t until she spoke that he lifted his hands from his face to show his nose was still in place. Now it was his turn to snort and laugh. “Oh man, I wasn’t expecting that! Hahaha!”

To say the three were stunned would’ve been an understatement. Rarity was the first to speak up, pointing at him with her spoon. “Y-Your nose…is okay…??”

“Woah, Mordie are you a wizard?” Questioned Pinkie.

“What? How did you do that?” Twilight’s panic turned into confusion. She tilted her head as she examined his nose, carefully examining to ensure there were no fractures. 

Mordecai let out one last chuckle before opening his mouth. Placing the bottom side of his thumb nails behind his two front teeth, making sure that they saw before flicking his thumbs outward. Once again, that snap sound exploded from his mouth. “Basically I just do that while pretending to break my nose. I saw it in a prank video once.”

Once it clicked for Pinkie, she let out an “ohh” before giggling up a storm. “Wow, you’re quite the prankster, Mordie!”

“Well I wouldn’t exactly call nearly giving me a heart attack a prank.” Rarity said as she lowered her eyelids, giving a semi-annoyed expression on her face. 

“Aw come on, if the shoe was on the other foot, you’d be laughing too!” The pink haired girl retorted. She was always game for a good laugh, even if it takes a little while for her to get the joke.

“Yeah, I have to admit, it was a little funny.” Interjected Twilight. “Have you done the prank before?”

“Once on Rigby, but I kinda overdid it by acting hurt. Poor dude was freaking out so bad, but it was still pretty funny seeing him trip over a trash can and having a doughnut from it end up in his mouth. Made it up to him by ordering a pizza and letting him be player one, though.”

“At least you learned your lesson and didn’t do that again. I don’t think Rares could handle something like that.” Not being able to hold back a giggle, Twilight looked over to her friend. Said friend simply scoffed.

“Well excuse me if I have a completely normal reaction to a horrifying situation.”

With the other three laughing, they were finally able to enjoy their frozen yogurt in relative peace. As much peace as you can get out of Pinkie Pie being hyped up on sugar, anyways. After they were done, both Pinkie and Rarity had to leave due to the former having an upcoming shift in thirty minutes and the latter having some sketches she needed to finish up for some dresses. So that just left Mordecai and Twilight to each other’s company. They both look at each other for a moment, wondering what to do next as an awkward silence brewed. 

“So, uh…” Mordecai starts.

“Yeah…?”

Checking his phone, the time read that it was a little past four thirty. “There’s still a little time left in the day, did you maybe wanna hang out for a little longer? I mean, only if you want to, that is!”

Those amethyst eyes widened in surprise. This is the first time in a while a guy has asked Twilight to spend more time by themselves. Not since…well, not since him anyways. She doubted it was for the same reason, though. “I’d love to, but I’ve got some studying to catch up on tonight.”

“Oh. Yeah, no that’s okay! School is important after all.” Despite being disappointed, Mordecai understood her and did his best to mask it. He knew it was a long shot anyways, since she might’ve taken it the wrong way and thought he was hitting on her. Which he wasn’t. At least, he thought so. 

“But I should be free this Saturday if you don’t mind waiting that long. I’m more than happy to spend more time with you then!“ Twilight offered a warm smile, patting his back gently. 

Looking back at her, he took a second to register what she had said before cracking a smile of his own. “Sounds good to me. I’ll be sure to clear up anything I got going on then.”

Mordecai never has stuff to do on Saturday’s this time of year. He just wanted it to sound like he wasn’t a loser who was just going to waste his Saturday gaming or lazing about like usual.

“It’s a plan then!” She was beaming at him, excited that her new friend wanted to hang out with her. Turning around, she gave him one last look as she waved before walking away. “I’ll see you tomorrow!”

“See ya!” He waved back at her, that grin of his still plastered on his face. 

Today was a pretty good day so far in his opinion. He got to enjoy frozen yogurt with Twilight, Rarity, and Pinkie, and he got the opportunity to hang out with Twi again the upcoming Saturday. Yep, indeed a good day.

Suddenly, Mordecai got the feeling that he was being stared at. He looked around to see if the feeling was true, and sure enough, he got his answer. Across the street, there was a guy who looked to be his age. Mordecai recognized him as the blue haired dude he saw on the first day, the one who’s hair he thought was not as cool as his own. 

Both pairs of blue eyes stared into one another. One had a surprised expression, while the other had more of a stern yet somber tone to them. Mordecai eventually regained his composure and furrowed his brow, gaining a hardened expression of his own. “Can I help you?” He asked.

Eventually, the boy across the street sighed before shaking his head, entering the music store behind him.

“That was weird, who was that guy?” Mordecai muttered to himself before deciding it would be best to just go home instead of letting any other weird things happen. 

The rest of the week wasn’t that eventful. Well, at least beyond Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday was obvious, but Monday was because astrology had one more surprise in store for both Mordecai and Twilight. Ms.Luna, the teacher who Mordecai thought was going to be teaching the class, was actually on an alternating schedule with Benson. On a biweekly period, the two would alternate between dealing with school affairs and teaching. This was at Luna’s request, funnily enough. It turns out that the fun of working at a school can be doubled when actually teaching instead of just being a vice-principal. That’s what she told Twilight, anyways.

Friday’s last class had just ended, and the slacker and poindexter were once again talking as they walked along the halls. 

“Man, Ms.Luna is pretty awesome! I didn’t pin her as a fan of sci-fi or video games.” Mordecai felt pretty happy to know that he had a teacher who liked the same stuff he did. Though he found the little pin she wore that looked to be a seal with writing and a skull stamp on it to be a little…odd. He wondered where it’s from.

Twilight let out a little giggle. She was happy to hear he liked their teacher so much. “Her and principal Celestia enjoy things like that. Moreso Luna, though.” She then put on a smug expression. “I also noticed you’ve been paying more attention this week. Does someone have a crush?”

“W-What?? No! I just…think it’s nice to have a cool teacher. That’s all.” Mordecai’s cheeks burned red with embarrassment. It’s true that he paid more attention, but it was mostly because she wasn’t Benson, who either teaches very cookie cutter like or tries being cool and fails miserably. 

“Hehe, I’m just teasing.” The purple haired girl couldn’t help herself when it came to teasing her friends. “By the way, did you come up with any plans for tomorrow?”

“Uhh…yes?” Seems like school wasn’t the only thing Mordecai slacked in. He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, letting out a nervous chuckle. “Well, I did. But the place I had in mind kinda had an accident happen, so now they’re closed for the time-being.”

“An accident?” Twi quizzed.

“Yeah, the mini-golf place had a guy go real crazy there. Broken props, smashed glass, someone even got hit with a putter! From what I heard though, he got his butt handed to him by some chick with a lasso…hey, Applejack hasn’t been mini-golfing recently, has she?”

“Nnnn…maybe? When did this happen?”

“Wednesday I think.”

“Oh, then no. I was helping her with some homework Wednesday.” Twilight was confident about that. Normally Wednesdays were when both AJ and Twi were free, and they were often used as tutoring days. Not that Twilight minded. She loved helping her friends.

“Huh, weird.” Mordecai wondered if there was another strangely strong cowgirl around. “But yeah, now I don’t know where to go now besides my usual spots.”

 “Then why don’t we go to one of them?” Twilight asked, tilting her head to the side with an expression that can only be described as “Duh”.

Once again, Mordecai found himself scratching the back of his head. He looked conflicted as he considered it. “I dunno, are you sure you wanna do that? I think we have different opinions of hangout spots.”

“Well…why don’t we both choose one for tomorrow?” Raising a finger, Twilight made that expression that Mordecai has dubbed “explanation mode”. “You can choose whichever spot you think we’d have the most fun in. It doesn’t matter where, as long as it’s a place you enjoy. Then I can choose where we go afterwards. We can also alternate for whose place gets to go first. I believe this is the most fair solution, don’t you think?”

Thinking about it for a second, the boy smiled. “That’s actually not a bad idea. Alright, I’m down to do that. I’ll shoot you a text later about the place?”

“Yep, I’ll see you tomorrow then?”

“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Going their separate ways, Mordecai felt a little lighter. He couldn’t explain why, but he felt as if he had more of a pep in his step. Maybe because he found someone to hang out with that didn’t always want to do dumb and dangerous stuff. Not that he didn’t appreciate Rigby, the dude is like the brother Mordecai never had. But sometimes he just felt like Rigby’s antics got him into some pretty deep crap that Mordecai could never think of getting into by himself. Heck, even Muscle Man, Fives, and Thomas got him into their own fair share of trouble. But Twilight? No chance of that. It was just…calm? He didn’t know how to describe it exactly, but it was a nice change of pace.

His thoughts were cut off once he was outside and he heard the loud smack of a volleyball, which was soon followed by a familiar scream.

“Oh crap, Rigby!” Mordecai bolted faster than he could finish his sentence. He felt like such an idiot for forgetting about Jablonski and the fact he just loved targeting Rigby for whatever messed up reason. He left his friend alone for just long enough to let something like this happen. If he could punch himself, he would. But now wasn’t the time for that. He had a friend to protect.

Turning the corner of the street, he finally caught sight of his friend.

“Rigby! Don’t worry dude I’m…here…” Mordecai’s words slowly stopped as he saw two of Jablonski’s friends laid out and the man himself sitting on the sidewalk, covering his jaw. Then, he noticed two other people there. One of them he recognized as Applejack, who held a volleyball in her right hand, but he didn’t recognize the behemoth of a man standing right next to her. He didn’t look that much older, but he was definitely bigger, and he’s sure he’s never seen him around before.

His shout caused the two to turn their attention towards him, giving Jablonski the opportunity to run away. Applejack immediately turned back around upon hearing the runaway footsteps. “Don’t ya forget yer ball now!” She shouted as she threw his ball at the bully, hitting him square in the back.

Jablonski stumbled quite a bit, but managed to recover. He shouted something along the lines of “This isn’t over!” before he continued running.

AJ let out a sigh as she dusted her hands off before placing them on her hips. “Guess there’s always gonna be varmints in every farm, ah reckon.”

“Eeeeyup.” Responded the bigger man.

Eventually, Mordecai got himself out of his stunned state as he went over to check up on his friend. “Rigby! Are you alright, man??”

Rigby, who had been staring in awe at the other two up until now, snapped his attention towards his friend. His expression turned to one of annoyance and frustration. He jerked himself away from Mordecai. “I’m fine! Dude where the heck were you?! I was waiting for, like, a bajillion years!”

“Dude I’m sorry, I got sidetracked.” Genuinely, Mordecai felt terrible. It wasn’t the talk with Twilight that made him lose track of time, it was the walk afterwards. He had been walking much slower and even took a few detours without realizing it. That said, he didn’t like being yelled at.

“Oh what, were you too focused on finding an excuse to ditch me or something? Maybe find a new way home?!” 

“I said I was sorry, man!” He could feel his temper rising. Of course he knew that his friend would be mad, but he hated when Rigby got like this.

Being the troublemaker he is, the shorter boy decided that Mordecai didn’t get enough reprimanding. “Maybe you were too busy being a massive simp like you were with Margret!”

Mordecai felt a vein pop out from his head. There was an anger in his chest swelling up as his expression changed from frustration to just pure anger. Those blue eyes of his shrank as he grit his teeth. That was too far.

“RIGBY!”

Before he could do anything, Applejack got in between the boys and pushed Mordecai back slightly. “Woah there pardner! Let’s reel ya back ‘fore you do some’n you’ll regret.”

Mordecai was surprised at the sudden intervention. He looked down to see AJ looking at him with a stern expression beneath that hat of hers. It caused the taller boy to back off, as something told him that if he kept pressing, he’d find out what his teeth would look like outside of his mouth.

“Yeah Mordecai, reel it back before you—ow!” Rigby flinched as he felt a flick to his forehead. He looked up to see the big cowboy-looking guy shake his head at him. “What was that for?!”

“For eggin’ ‘im on. Both of ya need to quit yer fightin’, friends ain’t supposed ta slug it out or be at each other’s throats when y’all do some’n y’all don’t like!” Applejack placed her hands on her hips, almost akin to a mom who’s scolding her kids. It’s like she was used to dealing with situations like this. “Y’all are like a buncha coyotes fightin’ ovah a whole buncha nuthin’!”

Neither of the boys said anything. Rigby scoffed slightly while Mordecai just looked away with an ashamed look, rubbing his arm. 

“Listen, it ain’t any of mah business, but ah don’t think y’all should fight like this. Mordecai, it ain’t right ta try n’ slug him cuz he said somethin’ ya don’t like. Words ain’t nothin’ compared ta a punch.” Applejack had a tone of voice that showed she cared, but was also disappointed in them. “And Rigby, ah get yer mad, but do ya really think kickin’ the man while he’s down is the right thing ta do?”

“If he’s an utter tool, yes!” Rigby was quick to respond. He was clearly still irate by the situation.

“Do tools apologize?” She responded back.

Rigby opened his mouth to speak for a moment, before closing it and grumbling. “No…”

“Exactly. Friends ain’t always plenty, so y’all gotta take care of one another, ya hear?”

If he didn’t feel like a jerk already, Mordecai definitely felt like one now. Applejack had a point about their bad habits, and yet he couldn’t help but still feel irate. She was right, it wasn’t any of her business. Not that he would say that out loud. He was dumb, not stupid. 

“Yeah yeah. Can I go home now?” Rigby asked, already over this entire situation. He just wanted to waste away his weekend with some Black Ops zombies and Alley Fight Dudes while chugging soda that could probably melt down a rat. 

Applejack let out a sigh, feeling like this was as good of a response she was going to get from them. Besides, she also needed to get home. Apple farming wasn’t easy after all. “Just try ‘n think about what ah said, alright?”

And Mordecai did indeed think about it…for about ten minutes after he got home. Him and Rigby weren’t really ones to get sentimental to begin with, and halfway through Applejack scolding them, they were already over it. So after that conversation, they both decided to go to Mordecai’s house for a jam session in Rock Band. Rigby was doing his best on bass while Mordecai doubled up on guitar and singing. He had to show off after Rigby said he sucked at the game.

“Make my way back home as I learn to fly high!” 

Surprisingly, the taller boy was pretty good at the game. His voice was distinct, but he was able to keep on beat and his tone was decent. Rigby wasn’t half bad either, though he did get a finger cramp at one point. Seemed like he was pretty fragile.

The song soon ended and the boys watched the screen with anticipation. The numbers rolled in, and soon enough…

“NEW HIGH SCOOOOOOORE!!! WOAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!”

The boys gave each other one of the loudest high fives they’ve ever done. Rigby let himself fall back into the bed while Mordecai just took a seat on the rolling chair by his desk, both laughing cheerfully. 

“Man, I told you I was the best at this game.” Mordecai said as he took a swig from his soda. He wished he had a Radicola right about now instead of Pepsi but eh, it was good enough.

“Is that why you nearly messed up the special notes?” 

“At least I didn’t actually mess it up, Mr.’Ohhh-my-fingers!’”

“Stop talking!”

Mordecai let out another chuckle before he heard his phone vibrate on the desk next to him. Picking it up, he saw he got a text from Twilight. He immediately started responding to her, feeling a little bad that he nearly forgot to text her.

“Who ya texting dude?” Rigby asked, somewhat curious as to who got his friend texting back so fast.

“Twilight.” The tall boy answered with a nonchalant voice. He didn’t even look up when he was asked.

Although it might’ve not been intentional, Mordecai now had Rigby’s attention. The smaller boy sat up in his seat, tilting his head a little. “What’re ya talking about? She your tutor or something?”

“No, I’m just letting her know where we’re gonna hang out tomorrow.”

“Woah what? I didn’t know you two were talking like that. Pretty fast if you ask–”

“It isn’t anything like that, dude.” Mordecai cut him off, rolling his eyes in the process. “It’s just a friend thing, y’know?”

“I dunno, it kinda seems like you’re over Mar–”

Rigby was once again silenced, but instead of by words, it was by a simple stare from Mordecai. Rigby threw his hands up defensively, backing up a little. “Alright, alright. It’s just a friend thing. Where are you two going anyways?”

“Well, I was thinking about the arcade. She came up with the idea of us both choosing a place to go hang out in; mine first and then her’s second.” Mordecai responded, looking back at his phone. He let out a low chuckle at Twilight accidentally typing “arcadia” instead of “arcade”.

Rigby thought for a second before flopping back onto the bed. “Is it just you two?” 

“I think so…unless you want to go with us?”

“Nah, I already decided I’m going to beat your record time in Battleblock this weekend.” The smile Rigby had on was so cheeky that you might have mistaken him for a raccoon or a squirrel. “Prepare to meet the new master of the theater!”

“Will the ‘master’ need a cast for his thumbs after they cramp again?”

“STOP TALKING!!”

Time flew by, and eventually a new day was foreseen. Mordecai decided to switch up his outfit a little, using a zip up hoodie of a similar design to his pullover with a faded blue t-shirt that had an astronomical design on it. He was sitting on the edge of the water fountain that rested in the middle of the mall. His hands were resting in his pockets, waiting for his friend to show up. If he were being honest, he was a little nervous. He couldn’t exactly pinpoint why, but he felt anxious. It was weird. Was it because he was hanging out with someone new? Or was it because he was hanging out alone with a girl?

“Why would that be it? It’s not like that, we’re just friends.” Mordecai thought to himself. He found it stupid he was even feeling this way in the first place. Giving an even stupider reason for it was just…well, extremely stupid. 

Eventually, his thoughts were interrupted when he saw someone come into view. Mordecai saw Twilight looking around the mall, most likely in search of him. She was wearing a lilac long sleeve and a black skirt. She also had on black converse instead of her usual shoes. Twilight looked different, but in a really good way.

“Hey Twi, over here!” Mordecai shouted, waving a hand over. To his luck, she was able to hear him and almost immediately spotted where he was. Twilight smiled and started making her way to him, with Mordecai having a smile of his own.

“There you are! Sorry, I don’t go here often unless it’s to visit Sunset at her job or the occasional shopping spree with the girls.” Twilight brushed a lock of hair behind her ear, readjusting her purse.

“Nah you’re fine dude. You ready to get your game on?” The boy stood up from his seat, just now realizing how much taller he was compared to her. He usually missed out on details like that. How he misses stuff like that is a mystery no one could solve.

Twilight still wasn’t quite sure how she felt about being called “dude”, yet she still held her tongue on it. She’d rather not spoil the fun. “Yep! I don’t think I’ve been in an arcade since I was in sixth grade, so I’m pretty excited.”

“Woah, for real? I usually go here with Rigby and the guys on weekends and play a few games of Strong John or Final Fight.” He was genuinely surprised by what she said. Though to be fair, he exclusively talks to people who play video games. So this was a first.

“Then can you show me them?” She placed her hands behind her back, leaning forward a little.

Mordecai felt a little…odd when she did that. He shook the feeling off quickly, however. “Yeah, gotta show you all the stuff you’ve been missing out on. Did you know that we actually have controllers that aren’t completely attached to the machine?”

Twilight let out a giggle, which caused Mordecai to smile a little wider.

The two entered the arcade and Mordecai immediately led them to the arcade cabinet of Street Fighter. At first, Twilight was struggling to understand how to play, but after just a few matches, she ended up pulling a perfect victory on him. He wasn’t mad, but he was pretty jealous that she was whooping him this badly already. Just another reason why Alley Fight Dudes was the better game. 

“Wow, for a game, it’s surprisingly complex and has a lot of mechanics that are intricate.” Twilight said as she managed to pull off a fifteen hit combo on Mordecai.

“Yeah, it’s interesting…” He mumbled, just accepting defeat at that point. His eyes wandered to a different game. Luckily, it was one he was actually good at. “Oh hey, you wanna give that one a shot?”

Twilight turned her head to see a game called Guitar Hero. She felt a little hesitant as she was never really good at rhythm games, but she may as well try it once. “Sure, just go easy on me.”

Mordecai just laughed as he walked over to the machine and grabbed one of the guitars and started looking through the songs. Twilight followed suit, awkwardly holding the controller. She chose the medium difficulty to not seem like a total scrub. A mistake she would soon come to regret.

“Why can’t I get any of the notes??” Twilight asked, struggling to get more than one note at all. 

At first, Mordecai felt good that he was actually winning at a game. But the more frustrated and upset he saw her get, the worse he felt. By the end of the song, Twilight looked quite discouraged. “I don’t know if I like this game, Mordecai.”

That hurt Mordecai to hear. He took off the strap of his guitar and walked beside her. “Here, lemme help. Pick a song and I’ll make sure you hit the notes.”

“Huh? Oh, uh, okay.” Twilight scrolled through the song list until she saw one she liked. Clicking on it, she was caught by surprise when she felt his fingers over hers. She was tempted to say something, but decided not to once the song started. At first it felt a little weird to have him press down on her fingers. However, she found that Mordecai’s guidance was helping quite a bit.

“Say it ain’t so, I will not go. Turn the light’s off, carry me home~” 

Mordecai subconsciously sang along as he played the notes, not noticing Twilight at all. Not that Twilight minded, she was actually doing good and having fun. Plus, she liked this song, so she found herself singing along with him. 

The song came to a close, and the score showed a massive improvement compared to what she had beforehand. A massive smile painted itself across her face. Mordecai felt himself draw a smile of his own. He looked down at her and saw that she was already looking up at him. They had their eyes locked on one another, and time seemed to slow down. There was this shine in her eyes that Mordecai felt himself getting lost in. He could hear his own heartbeat. A twitch of his finger reminded him that he was still holding her hand, and how close he was to her. His cheeks flared up and he backed off immediately.

“U-Um…sorry I didn’t realize I-I was, uh…”

“N-No no, it’s okay. I get it…” Twilight’s face was red as well, twirling a strand of loose hair around her finger.

There was an awkward silence for a few moments before Mordecai cleared his throat. “So uh…wanna play something else?”

Twilight’s nod was all that was needed for him to go to the next game.

The pair spent the next hour or two playing different games, just having fun and shooting the breeze. Mordecai doesn’t remember the last time he’s laughed like this with anyone other than his best friend. It was nice.

Eventually, Mordecai felt his stomach rumbling. He had forgotten to grab something to eat before leaving the house. To be fair, he didn’t feel like explaining to his parents that he was going to meet up with a girl at the mall. Oh the horror… “Hey, I’m getting kinda hungry. Do you wanna get something to eat?”

Twilight looked up at him with a grin. “Then let’s go to my hangout place next.”

“Oh sweet!”

“Exactly!”

“Huh?”

Twilight giggled before patting his shoulder. “You’ll see. Come on, I think they still have a special going on!”

Walking out of the mall, the two walked a few blocks before Mordecai recognized where they were going. “Oh I’ve been here before!” 

Twilight looked over at him with a curious expression “Oh? You’ve been to Sugarcube Corner before?”

“Yeah. I stopped here for a donut when I was getting that posterboard for you.” He remembered that absolutely delicious pastry he ate that day. It was probably the best thing during that entire ordeal.

“Is that why you took so long?” Twilight asked, having a smug expression.

“No comment.”

She laughed before entering the place with Mordecai following behind her. They were both met with the sight of a familiar pink haired gal, this time sporting a uniform. “Oh! Hi Twilie! Hi Mordie! Just have a seat over there, I’ll be with you two in a jiffy.”

Mordecai and Twilight took a seat at a booth, Mordecai getting comfortable in his spot. The seats were surprisingly soft. He looked around and actually took in the aesthetic of the place. He dug the sixties diner vibe, it felt really cozy. “So this is your usual hangout spot?”

“Mhm! It’s got the best desserts around, and it’s close by.” Twilight rested her head in her hands, letting out a sigh. “Lots of memories around here.”

“I feel that.” Mordecai grabbed a menu from the table and gave a look over. Everything looked really good to him. Though his train of thought was overran when Pinkie came over with a notepad in hand. 

“Hey guys, welcome to Sugarcube Corner! Is it just you two today?” Pinkie asked, flashing a giant smile at them,

“Yeah, just us two.” Twilight lifted her head up, smiling a little. “Can I get the usual, please?”

“Two chocolate eclairs and a slice of key lime pie with a vanilla shake, got it! And for you Mordie?” 

It had just hit Mordecai that Pinkie Pie was calling him that nickname. “Mordie?”

“It took him that long to notice?” Thought Twilight.

“Yeah! Since you’re a friend of Twilight’s, you're a friend of mine. And I give all my friends nicknames!” Pinkie explained, that enthusiasm of hers never leaving her face.

“Oh, uh, alright then.” He looked over at the menu once again before a certain menu item caught his eyes. “Ooo, can I get that waffle cake and a peanut butter chocolate shake?”

“Okie dokie lokie! I’ll be right back with those orders!”

She wasn’t lying. It wasn’t even five minutes before they got their orders in front of them. Mordecai's mouth watered at the sight of the waffle cake, not even waiting for Twilight to start eating for him to begin the total destruction of his meal. It might’ve been because he was hungry or that the food combined two of his favorite meals, but dang was this the best thing he’s ever eaten. 

Twilight chuckled upon seeing him ravage his food. “Is it good?”

“Mhm.” He said before taking a large sip of his milkshake. 

Another laugh was let loose until she heard the chime of the front door. From where she was sitting, she could perfectly see the entrance behind Mordecai. She stopped laughing once she saw who stepped in.

Mordecai was confused by the sudden silence, and turned to see who got her this quiet. Who he saw was the blue haired guy from the other day. It seemed like he was picking up an order. But why would Twilight be silent around this guy? Well, it seemed like he would have his answer as the guy noticed them and was walking towards their table.

“Hey Twilight.” He said with a tone of voice that had melancholy behind it.

“Hello Flash.” Responded Twilight with such monotone. 

“How’ve you been? I haven’t talked to you in a while.”

“I’ve been fine.” Her words were short and curt. It was obvious she didn’t like him all that much, which Mordecai picked up on.

Flash patted his jean pocket as he cleared his throat. “And uh, who’s this guy?”

“You can ask him yourself.”

Mordecai took this as an opportunity to enter the conversation and attempt to make this less weird. “I’m Mordecai, who’re you?”

“The name’s Flash Sentry.” He pointed a finger between the two sitting down. “Is this uh…y’know…”

“Oh, no dude, it's just a friendly hang out.” Mordecai waved a hand in front of his neck, having his eyes widening a little. 

“Well, if you say so.” Flash let out a sigh before waving a hand up. “Well, nice talking to you two. See ya.” 

“Later.” Mordecai said as he watched him leave. He turned back to Twilight with a somewhat worried look after seeing how out of it she looked. “Hey, are you okay Twilight?”

“Huh?” She snapped her head back up and looked at Mordecai with a bewildered expression for a moment. Twilight then sighed as she placed her face in her hands. “Yeah, I’m just…it’s a long story.”

“Well we’ve got time. Only if you want to, though.” Mordecai wasn’t the best at this, but at least he knew how to listen to people when they needed it.

Twilight picked her head up and stared at the boy in front of her for a good while before giving out another sigh. “That was my ex.”

“Woah what? You dated that guy?” Mordecai asked, pretty surprised at the revelation.

“Yeah. Long story short, we dated from sophomore to junior year. I loved him, and I thought he loved me the same way, but he ended up slowly ignoring me. It started small but got worse and worse. I…I know I can be a little obsessive, but it got to the point where I wouldn’t even get a text from him for days. And when we broke up, he acted like he didn’t care.” Twilight squeezed her arms as she talked. “But now every time he sees me, he wonders if we’ll get back together. And honestly? I don’t know, Mordecai. I still have feelings, but that hurt is just too much. And…ugh I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to dump this on you.”

Mordecai stayed quiet for a moment. He knew exactly how she was feeling, and honestly that made him feel obligated to comfort her right now. Sliding his plate to the side, he reached across and placed a hand on her shoulder. “It’s fine. I know it sucks right now, but whatever you’re going through, you got friends to take care of you. You’re gonna be just fine, Twi.”

Twilight looked at him, her nose growing a little red before she smiled at him. “Thank you, Mordecai. That means a lot.”

“Don’t mention it. Now let’s finish up these desserts because they deserve to be eaten.”

The pair finished their meals with a lot more laughs and cheer. After paying their tabs and saying bye to Pinkie, Mordecai decided to be a gentleman and walk Twilight home. They continued to talk as they walked, whether it be about school or even mundane stuff. When they reached her house, Twilight turned around with her hands clasped together.

“Today was a really good day. Thank you Mordecai. We should do this again sometime!” She said with a genuine tone in her voice. 

“Oh for sure! Just shoot me a text, or I’ll shoot you one whenever I’m free.” Mordecai placed his hands in his jacket pockets, feeling pretty good about today. 

“I will.” Twilight paused for a moment before giving Mordecai a brief but strong hug. “I’ll text you later, okay? Bye Mordie!” 

Mordecai stood there as he watched her walk into her house. He was stunned by what just happened, and it took a moment for him to register it. His chest felt like it tightened a bit, and felt the thump of his heartbeat once again. He couldn’t help but have a smile on his face.

“Rad.”

Chapter Text

Academics provide a challenge for everyone, no matter the walk of life they come from. Whether it be mathematics, science, or even English, there’s a subject that everybody struggles with. This is equally true for the top students of the school, especially for a certain bookworm who was nervously tapping her pencil against her hand. Her eyes traced the whiteboard, analyzing the words but having trouble actually processing them and their meaning. The teacher being a sort of odd person didn’t help at all, especially those star shaped glasses.

“And that, class, is the difference between rhythm and repetition.” The teacher said, clearing the board of his drawing and explanations. He then uncapped a marker and began writing down the words “self embodiment project” on the now empty space. “Now, I think it’s time that we apply what you’ve learned in these past few weeks”

“A project? It’s not my best subject, but it shouldn’t be too hard.” Twilight thought to herself. 

“You all shouldn’t find this assignment too difficult. Just like how it’s written on the board, this is a self expressionist project.” He capped the marker before tapping underneath the written words. “The goal is simple: you have to make a painting that is a reflection of yourself. A painting of your soul, if you will. This is meant to be a showcase of creativity, so please stray away from any self portraits unless it’s something in the same train of thought as Picasso’s own portraits. In other words, keep it abstract.”

“Self expression! That is definitely something I can do!” She may have not been the best at art, but she believed that she learned more than enough from Mr.Synthos to complete this task, even if she didn’t understand every term entirely.

“I’ll analyze the paintings one by one for the sake of privacy, but as extra credit, you can choose to have your painting displayed up in the classroom for everyone to see. You’ve got until Wednesday to complete it, so I suggest starting and working on it over the weekend.”

Twilight wrote down the requirements and the potential of extra credit. This was shaping up to be one of the easiest A’s she’s ever earned.

The school bell rang, a temporary sound of freedom to a majority of the students present. Twilight left the classroom with a smile on her face. She thought that this assignment was going to be a piece of cake, and even put off thinking about it until she got home after school. Once she got to her own personal desk, Twilight decided to pull out her sketchbook and sketch out some ideas for a painting. However, when she actually got to the creative process, a problem made itself known. Her brain struggled to actually come up with any sort of ideas, and whenever she attempted to sketch anything, it was objective rather than abstract. Even after half an hour, she came up with nothing.

Landscape? Wrong. Portrait? Wrong. The night sky as it was? Wrong.

The more seconds that passed, the more she felt her anxiety creep up on her. It felt like her brain began unraveling. Twilight’s eyes felt like they were spiraling, and that her skin was melting alongside her nervous sweat. She was supposed to be the best at anything relating to school, she was supposed to understand everything. Yet, here she was, struggling with what she understood to be the basics of art. Sure, she avoided taking art since middle school as she didn’t enjoy it all that much, but this should still be elementary. Why can’t she understand? 

Why? Why…?

“WHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHY?!” 

Twilight’s hands clasped around her head as her breathing became frantic. Her walls started caving as the air in her lungs shrank. She could hear laughter in her ears, the wicked sounds growing louder and louder. She couldn’t breathe. It was too much–she couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t. Couldn’t. Can’t. Can’t can’t can’t can’t can’t can’t can’t can’t–

“Woof!”

Like a bullet zipping through the air, the bark of Spike was enough to bring her back down from orbit. Twilight looked down at the floor next to her to see her dog staring back. Those green eyes held concern in them, and the terrier raised himself up to put a paw on her leg. Twilight stared for a moment before picking the dog up and holding him close. She felt a few tears trickle down, shaking slightly. Spike just laid his head on her shoulder, letting her hold him like that. Even amongst other dogs, Spike alone was the most emotionally intelligent and right now, he understood that she needed him. 

Twilight stayed like that for a good while. Eventually, she let go of him, wiping her eyes as she sniffled. “Thank you spike. You’re the bestest friend a girl could ask for.”

The pup simply licked her cheek before giving her a happy sounding bark.

Looking back at her failed sketches, Twilight inhaled before giving a deep sigh. She hated to admit it, but she needed help. This was going to be embarrassing to ask from her friends. Hesitantly, she picked up her phone and opened up the group chat that housed her friend’s numbers. There was this feeling of anxiety as her fingers hovered over the keyboard. Would her friends make fun of her? Would they think less of her intellect? She sucked in a deep breath once more before typing in the chatroom, taking that leap of faith.

Sci-Twi: “Hey girls, are you all free tomorrow? I…need some help with an assignment.”

Twilight quickly set her phone down after sending that text. She felt her anxiety building up once again, but did her best to suppress it as she waited. Lucky for her, it didn’t take long to get a response. She immediately picked up her phone and read the text message.

Dash20: “ha! good one twi! if u just wanna have a study group, u dont gotta lie u know. i am everyones favorite to hang out with after all”

PinkiePinkiePinkie: “Yeah Twi! I’ll even bring your fave cupcakes!!!”

Yep, she expected a reaction like this. But there wasn’t an option to back out of it now, she had to trudge on.

Sci-Twi: “I’m serious. I need help with an art project. I’m struggling to get a grasp on it and would appreciate the assistance.”

Sunset: “Oh, it’s for real.”

RaRaRa: “You’re serious, Darling? If that’s the case then I should be free in the afternoon.”

flutters: “oh my…the sanctuary has more than enough volunteers for tomorrow, i should be free then…”

Apples: “Sorry sugar cube, I got work tomorrow. But if y’all need any more help, just let me know and I’ll try to weasel some time in on Sunday.”

PinkiePinkiePinkie: “Ooo then I can bring some super duper scrumdiddlyumptious brownies!!!1!!1 :D”

Dash20: “i can bring sum extra paints i got after practice”

Sunset: “I got an early shift, so I’ll be there most likely around the same time as Rarity.”

Sci-Twi: “Thank you girls. This is so much more different than any science project or math equations I’m used to. Meet up at my house at 2:00?”

RaRaRa: “That works for me. Also, it’s the least we can do. After all, you’re always the one helping us with our work.”

All the other texts shared a similar sentiment. Twilight smiled at all of the responses, even giggling at a mini argument between Rarity and Rainbow Dash over which blue was the best one. Twilight decided it best to just turn off her phone and do her other homework in the meantime. After she easily got through the rest of them, there was still a lot of time left in the night. So she ended up doing one of her favorite hobbies: writing poetry and haikus. 

Twilight hummed as the pencil scratched against the sheet of paper. It was rather ironic that she couldn’t grasp the concept of painting yet was rather decent at writing. The irony was lost on her as she finished up the last of her writing.

“White dove in the sky

How wonderful your wings are

Oh to be so free.”

She had no idea why, but this one was her favorite so far. It was as if she was a prisoner in a cage, watching a bird soaring through the sky while she sat down in her cell, watching with such envy and longing. Her eyelids lowered as she closed her journal. Twilight lifted her hands up in the air as she stretched, letting out a yawn before getting up from her seat and slinking into her bed. As she covered herself with the blanket, her mind thought back to her friends.

Sure, they didn’t believe her at first, but they didn’t hesitate to offer their help once they realized she meant it. A smile crept up on her as she thought about what amazing friends she has.

“Tomorrow is another day…” Twi whispered to herself before drifting off into a cozy slumber.

Night eventually turned into day. Twilight sat on one of the barstools by her kitchen counter, drumming her fingers along it as she patiently waited for her friends to arrive. A show about an archaeologist exploring ruins in Central and South America played on her TV, it was based on a book series that Rainbow Dash liked. Well, it was the only book series RD liked, but still. 

A knock eventually came at her door. “Yooo, your fave athlete and animal expert is here!”

Speak of the devil. Twilight hopped off of her seat and made her way over to her front door. Opening it, she saw Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy standing right in front of her. The former held art palettes and tubes of paints while the latter had canvases in her arms. “What’s up Twi? Ready to paint something totally awesome and radical?”

“Hey girls. Yeah come on in, you’re the first to show up.” Twilight stepped aside to let the girls in. “Do you two want any snacks or anything?”

“You still have some of those Munchos?” Rainbow asked, stepping in before setting her stuff down all over the kitchen table. 

“No, I think I’m okay. Thank you, though.” Fluttershy gave Twilight a smile as she sat the canvases down as neatly and gently as possible on the table space next to Rainbow Dash’s supplies. “So what was it you needed help with? I’m not the best at art, but I can try to help out the best I can.”

“There’s still a bag on the second shelf of the pantry.” Twilight said before closing the door. She took a seat by the table as she let out a sigh, looking over the canvases that Fluttershy brought. “And it’s…well it’s an abstract art piece. I’m having trouble coming up with anything like that, and I feel like I need some new perspectives and trains of thought.”

“Oh that’s easy!” Rainbow Dash replied as she grabbed the bag of chips. As she opened the bag, RD took a seat down by Twi and placed a hand around her shoulders while flashing a smile. “Don’t worry ‘bout it Twi, this’ll be easy peasy lemon squeezy!”

“Mhm!” Added the shy girl.

Twilight sighed in relief. “Then let’s get started.”

As it turns out, it was not “easy peasy lemon squeezy.” Anytime Fluttershy tried drawing a sketch up for a painting, it ended up being an animal or some type of mythical creature; specifically a pegasus. Meanwhile Dash could barely focus for more than a few minutes at a time. And the minutes that she did focus, she would only come up with “awesome” things like lightning bolts and sports related stuff. Twilight had her head down with her hands covering her head. 

“Ugh, we didn’t get anything accomplished…” The purple haired girl moaned. 

“What’d ya mean, Twi? We got plenty done! Like…” Rainbow Dash sifted through the sketches and failed paintings. Her expression grew more and more worried as she continued on. She eventually picked up a drawing of what looked to be a toad shooting lightning while she drew a nervous smile on her face. “…this one…?”

The action that was meant to be positive only had a negative impact on poor Twilight. She buried her face in her arms while Fluttershy rubbed her back gently. 

“Aw c’mon Twi, there’s still hope! The others haven’t shown up yet. So maybe—“ As if on cue, the sound of a doorbell cut off Rainbow’s reassurance speech. Twilight instantly stood up and rushed over to the door, having a bewildered look on her face.

“Oh thank whoever gave you girls great timing.” Twi said as she opened the door. Behind it revealed Pinkie, Rarity and Sunset. All three took a step back upon seeing Twilight in such a disheveled state. 

“Woah, you alright there?” Sunset asked, moving the tray of cupcakes that Pinkie Pie had moved towards her after being surprised out of the way. 

“Yeah yeah I’m fine–come in!” Twilight practically dragged the girls in and slammed the door behind them. Before the three even had a chance to ask what was going on, the poindexter took a deep breath and… “Okay so the project is an abstract piece that reflects myself but I’m having a hard time grasping it and can’t make anything so I hoped a new perspective would help but so far Flutters and Dash haven’t been much help, oh no offense by the way, and I reallyreallyreallyneedsomehelprightnowbecause–”

Twilight’s rant was cut off by her shoulders suddenly being grabbed. Her eyes widened as she saw Sunset staring back at her, a face full of concern and sympathy. “You’re doing it again.”

Like a satellite crashing back down from space, Sparkle was brought out of her stress induced freak out. Her eyebrows curved upward as she clasped a hand around her own arm, those purple eyes looking away in shame. “Sorry I’m just…”

“Twilighting?” Piped up Pinkie, who had finally placed her cupcakes somewhere where they weren’t at risk of accidentally getting smashed into someone’s face.

“…Yes.” Although she disliked the fact that her friends made her a verb, she had to admit that it was accurate. Especially in this situation. 

“Just take a deep breath and relax, dear. We’re here to help you with whatever you need, just like we said we would.” Rarity chimed in, offering a kind smile.

“Yeah, no need to rush or feel like it’s the end of the world. Slow and steady wins the race, remember?” Sunset added.

“Yeah yeah! And then after you win the race, we can throw a party! Don’t think I forgot about our little agreement Twilie.” Pinkie said that last part with a hint of a threat. It caused Twilight to shudder, and that made the party animal giggle.

“Hey don’t leave us out just yet!” Yelled out Rainbow, feeling a little irritated. “We’re just getting started, you egghead!”

Twilight sighed as she recollected herself. They were right, she was stressing herself out way too much. Self destruction was her biggest weakness. “I’m sorry. I’m sure that with everyone here, I can get this done.”

They did not get it done.

Rarity had a lot of artistic talent, but it was all towards anatomy and clothing designs. The sketches were gorgeous yet had no abstract features. Pinkie’s drawings were actually rather abstract. However, the drawings were…well the only words to describe the mix of mushrooms, weird creatures, balloons, and lots and lots of cakes with a dancing roach wearing sneakers was pure chaos . Plus her explanations made no sense to her whatsoever. And Sunset…

“WHY WON’T THE COLORS MIX LIKE I WANT?!”

It seems as if she was on an even worse boat than Twilight was. She slammed her fist down on the table, which caused a paint brush to fly up and essentially slap her across the face, leaving a streak of green smeared on her cheek. This only caused her to grow even angrier, causing Pinkie and Fluttershy to have to calm her down with cupcakes and relaxing animal videos. Internally, Sparkle was glad that her parents weren’t home.

“Man, art is way harder than I remember it being.” Rainbow noted, spinning around a pencil in her hand. “When I took it, I had to just paint stuff like fruit and my favorite things to do.”

“When was that?” Rarity quizzed.

“Sixth…? No, seventh grade.”

“I believe that’s around when I took my art classes too, actually.”

Twilight planted her forehead against the table with a defeated sigh. “This is hopeless. I’m going to fail, be held back, kicked out of high school, and eventually be living the life of either a homeless person, mooch, or… that .”

All of the girls shuddered at the thought, but Rarity was the first to refute it out loud. “There’s no way I’m going let you go through with trying to marry and be a trophy wife to someone like Filthy Rich.”

“Then what do I do, Rares?” Asked Twilight, lifting her head up to show a desperate and sorrowful face.

“Well…I’m not quite sure, darling. None of us are really good at teaching art and my forte is in clothes but—“

“Have you tried asking Mordecai?” Interrupted Rainbow Dash. This caught all of the girls’s attention.

“Mordecai?” Asked Fluttershy.

“The same guy who said that George Bush was the first president?” Added in Shimmer, who raised a brow.

“Dash, you do know this is a graded assignment, right?” Asked Twilight, almost laughing at the suggestion. It’s not that she didn’t like Mordecai or didn’t find him reliable, it was quite the opposite actually. However, the more she got to know him, the more she realized that he struggled with his classes. He was passing, but not with high marks, unless it was English or PE. Even when she tried to help and tutor him, he had a hard time focusing and taking any of the history lessons seriously. Plus, it has only been a week or two since they started to hang out together.

“I’m being serious here guys. I saw some of the stuff he makes and he’s pretty good at it. I even got a quick pic of it before he noticed me, check it out.” Dash pulled out her phone and went to her gallery to show her friends the photo of Mordecai’s sketch she took. 

True to her word, the drawing was really well done. It had an irregular rhythm to it along with such a weirdness that it was hypnotic. The way the lines had no shakes to them, the shading, the composition, it was the word “abstract” essentially embodied.

“Woah, I didn’t know Mordie was an artist!” Pinkie exclaimed, looking rather intrigued by the art.

“I must say, he is rather talented. I don’t think I could replicate that sort of style even if I tried.” Rarity said as she placed a hand on her chin. 

“Um, Rainbow Dash? Why did you take a picture of his drawing?” Fluttershy piped up.

“Because it was cool and I didn’t know if I’d get the chance to see his art again, duh.” Dash scoffed, as if the answer was as obvious as her hair.

“Isn’t that a breach of privacy?” Quizzed Sunset. 

Twilight would’ve thought the same thing, but she was too distracted by the artwork. It was exactly what the assignment asked of her, and like Rarity said, there was talent behind it. She was surprised by this, though, since he hasn’t talked much about his hobbies beyond the ones that responsible adults hate. Once again, she found herself assuming rather than knowing. 

“So? Gonna call your boyfriend?”

Upon hearing that, the nerdy girl’s face went from a stunned look to a blushing mess in a matter of seconds. “Rainbow Dash! W-We’re just friends!”

“Really?” The tomboy raised a brow at that statement. Crossing her arms, she drew a mischievous smile on that smug face of hers. “Is that why you two have been hanging out together?”

“That’s all that is, Dash!”

“Okay okay, I think that’s enough, Rainbow.” Sunset interjected, placing a hand on the athlete’s shoulder. Her face had a smile that showed she was holding back laughter, but she still tried to protect Twi from any more teasing. Turning her head towards the scholar, she gave a more genuine smile before tilting her head. “Seriously though, you should give him a call right now if he’s good at stuff like this. The last thing we need is for you to spiral so much that you’d make a drill blush.”

Twilight gave a sarcastic laugh before sighing. Her friend was right, that call needed to happen and it needed to happen sooner rather than later. Pulling out her phone, she excused herself as she went into another room. Twi pressed down on the dial pad, skimming through her contacts until she found who she was looking for. She hesitated a moment, taking a breath before pressing the dial button.

Riiiiiing….riiiiiing…

Each passing second that he didn’t pick up only fueled her anxiety. Just as it was about to go to voicemail, however, the call was answered.

“He—Knock it off Rigby, I’m trying to talk!—Hello?”

“Did I call at a bad time?” Twilight asked with a giggle.

“Oh, hey Twi! No, it’s not a bad time at all. What’s up? Did you need something?” 

“Yes, it’s actually a little embarrassing, but…are you free anytime soon? I kind of need help with a project…”  She twirled a strand of her hair around a finger. Her head swayed from side to side slightly, having a little nibble on her lip. That anxiety was starting to creep up on her once again.

“Wait…what?” Mordecai’s voice sounded much more confused than he did when they went over his pre-calculus homework.

“I-It’s an abstract art piece about self expression and, well, I can’t really seem to get it down no matter how much I try and even though I invited my friends to help it didn’t really fare well and I feel like I don’t have much control and—“

“Woah woah woah, take a step back and breathe, Twi. Are you okay?”

Taking a deep breath, Twilight sighed as her shoulders slumped slightly. “Sorry, I’m just a bit stressed because this is the first time in a very long time I’ve failed to understand something.”

“You said it was an art project, right?”

“Yeah.”

There was a brief moment of silence from Mordecai’s end. If Twilight didn’t know any better, she would’ve assumed he was hesitating. “Alright, I should be free for tomorrow if that’s cool with you.”

“Yes! I mean—yeah, that’s okay with me. Does twelve o’clock at my place work?”

“Your place…?”

“Is that a problem, Mordecai?”

“No, no, just surprised, y’know?—Dude knock it off, I’m on the phone!”

“Well excuuuuuse me, but we’re in the middle of an important boss fight here so I need you to stop simping and—owowowowow stop!!!”

“Sorry, I have to go but I’ll text you la—Ow! What the heck man?! We said no more bit—“

The call shortly ended after that last exchange. Twilight was silent for a few moments before laughing. She felt like she was placing her future on a gamble, but didn’t feel like her chances were close to zero. Well, not that close anyways.

She eventually returned back to her friends in slightly higher spirits. They continued to hang out for the rest of the afternoon with the occasional tease from Rainbow or Pinkie Pie. Funnily enough, that got her thinking as to why Mordecai would question the tutoring session being held at her place. Was he embarrassed? The more plausible answer she came to was that he’s most likely never held a tutoring session before, much less at someone else’s house. It was only logical, after all.

The next day rolled around as Twilight prepared her kitchen table once again for another art session. Hopefully this time it’d be more successful. Meanwhile, her mom raised an eyebrow as she watched Twi. She was more interested in what she was doing than finishing getting ready for work. “Are you having your friends over again, dear?”

“Just one. He’ll be coming over in about an—“

“He?” 

Twilight felt herself tense up slightly. She messed up, and Twilight knew this was going to be uncomfortable if she didn’t defuse it quickly. “Yeah, he’s the friend from school I told you about. He’s going to help me with a project.”

Twilight Velvet paused for a moment, tilting her head while squinting a little. “You need help for a project?” 

“It’s an art project, mom.”

“Ahh, that makes more sense.” Velvet knew her daughter was smart, but had her faults in areas that didn’t involve equations when it came to school. There was once a moment in Sparkle’s early school career where she played a soccer game during a field day. It ended with Velvet having to buy her an ice cream to comfort the young kid’s face planted in the grass. “Is this the same one you went to the mall with?”

“That’s the one.” Twilight couldn’t help but smile fondly at the memory. She still had that song they played together get stuck in her head from time to time. 

“I see. Well I’m going to be heading into work now. Your father should be home around five, he’s going to be making his ‘famous’ lasagna today, so be sure to take it out of the freezer soon.” Velvet let out a slight laugh. She loved her husband, but had to admit it was funny that he had to rely on frozen dinners from time to time. Making sure she had her purse, she gave Sparkle a quick hug before walking over to the door. “Give me a call if you need anything, alright? I’ll see you later sweetie.”

“Bye mom.” Twilight let out a sigh once her mother left. She knew the conversation was far from over, but was at least glad that it wasn’t overly awkward. She took a seat as she stared at the blank pages in her sketchbook that she preemptively bought for the class. The pages that weren’t blank either had rudimentary sketches or failed plannings of her project. Those purple eyes of hers narrowed as a fist balled up. 

Her hand eventually relaxed, realizing that getting upset wasn’t going to fix anything. Instead, she grabbed a pencil and started sketching a few random doodles. Most of them were of miscellaneous things; birds, plants, poorly drawn hands, the works. Then she started drawing eyes. They were drawn relaxed, having more and more detail filled out the longer she sketched, such as slight bags under the eyes and even including some eyelashes. Twilight continued drawing as she added more facial features. There was a nose, mouth, eyebrows, and soon it was a full head. Once she added hair, she finally took notice of what she drew.

The messy swept back hair, that nonchalant smile, and those calming eyes? She realized too late who she drew, and Twilight could feel herself becoming confused and slightly embarrassed. Why did she draw him? How did he become the product of her work? She shook her head as she recollected herself, thinking back to other times where her friends were the subject of her creative works. This was just that, and was naturally bound to happen since Mordecai was aiding her.

That’s the conclusion she arrived at, anyways.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

Speaking of arrivals…

Twilight was quick to snap her book shut as she got up to answer the door. Fixing her hair and dusting herself off, she did her best to look presentable before opening the door. The other side revealed Mordecai as he held a sketch pad and an art supply case. His backpack was haphazardly slung over his shoulder, and he had on that smile of his that was friendly in the laziest way possible.

“Hey hey, ready to get this art-y started Twi?”

A giggle escaped from Twilight, finding the silly pun endearing. “I think so, come in before a fly tries to join us.”

Entering her house, Mordecai looked around with curiosity. He looked to be almost in awe. “Woah, nice place you got here! You even have a mounted TV!”

Another chuckle was let out. “Thank you. Unfortunately, though, we’re not going to be using it as—“

“Yip!”

A bark had interrupted her as they heard the sound of paws running against the wooden floor. Spike stopped in front of the two, looking between the two of them for a second before barking at Mordecai and running up to his leg. At first, the boy was a bit worried that the dog would bite him, but he soon calmed down after seeing it just sniffing him. 

Spike looked up at Mordecai, tilting his head to the side. He just stared for a few moments before backing up and walking over to the living room couch and hopping on, spinning in a few circles before lying down.

“Guess that means he likes me?” Mordecai asked.

“For now, until I decide to sick him on you. Mwahaha!” Twilight did her best to joke despite still feeling nervous about the project. 

Mordecai let out a laugh at the joke. He liked it when she was silly, it was a fun change of pace to her usual straight-laced self. “Then I guess I’ll just have to be on my best behavior.”

His eyes eventually wandered over to the art supplies on the table. Taking a seat, he placed his own supplies down before flipping open his sketch pad whilst grabbing a pencil. Twilight took a seat next to him, following suit and grabbing a pencil of her own. 

“So, where do we begin?” She asked.

The boy gave her a sly smile before pulling out his iPod. “With some killer tunes of course! Just gotta…pick the…right ones…” Mordecai trailed off as he tried to pick out what he thought were the best songs to warm up with.

Twilight’s smile shrank more and more the longer he spent trying to find the proper music. She checked the clock on the microwave to show that he had already wasted about five minutes by doing this. A small cough was let out by her, which caught his attention. Mordecai gave her a sheepish smile before finally choosing a song to start with.

“Sorry…anyways, it’s supposed to be an abstract project, right?”

“Yes.” Said Twilight, holding back a sarcastic “For the umpteenth time” .

“Okay, so just start sketching whatever you’re feeling.” Mordecai responded, tracing his pencil over the sketch pad nonchalantly.

“…”

He looked up at her when he didn’t hear her pencil being used. “What?”

“Please tell me there’s more to this than just that.” Twilight’s voice was deadpan. Her eyes were stone cold, giving an unamused and displeased look. “I’ve already done this so many times, and the results are always the same.”

Mordecai forwarded his brows slightly. “That’s probably because you’re doing it wrong.”

“Doing it wrong? ”

“Okay, that came out bad—here, let me show you.” Mordecai scooted over a little, flipping to a new blank page. “I think you’re going about it like there’s instructions or a set of rules. Art is all about freedom, so you gotta think with your feelings instead of your head.”

“But there are rules. I have it down in my notes, see?” Twilight opened her notebook to show Mordecai, which only caused him to push it away.

“They’re not rules as much as they are guides. They’re just there to help you out if you need it. It’s kinda like uh…like one of those things you use for chemistry stuff—a flask!”

“I’m not following. You need the flasks in order to conduct an experiment.”

“But do you use the same ones for every experiment?”

“Of course not! You use the…ones you…” The gears in Twilight’s head started turning. It was such an obvious thing, but she was so fixated on using everything that it didn’t occur to her that she should only use the ones she needed. “A-And for emotions? How do you draw that?”

Mordecai gave her a grin before sliding over his sketchbook. “Let me show you.”

His hand traced round and soft lines. The images being created seemed friendly and welcoming, like a friend saying hello. It was bubbly, lively, and fun. There were no definitive objects, but the sketch seemed to be in a fantastic mood. “Okay, now what emotion is it giving off?”

Twilight leaned a little to get a better look. Her eyes worked like a computer, trying to analyze and find the what, how, and why. “It’s giving off a happy tone…is it because of the round shapes?”

“Bingo!” Mordecai pointed a finger gun right at her, a goofy smile on his face. “Basically if you want happy or calm vibes, you use round and soft shapes. If you want something angry, use sharp lines. Sadness is basically just happy but you flip it.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow at that. If there’s one thing she knew for sure, it was that he wasn’t the best at explaining things. Though to be fair, she could get too into her explanations herself.

“Think of frowns and smiles; same shape, but one’s upside down. Er, well I guess that depends on who’s looking at it…but still.” 

“Oh! Ohhh, I see!” Little by little, she was surprisingly starting to understand more and more. “So rather than showing it outright, you’re supposed to keep the art sort of vague but making sure that the tone is obvious. Am I getting that right?”

“More or less, yeah. You can have things that resemble stuff, like faces and animals—actually, I brought just the thing to help. Do you have a VCR?” Mordecai asked as he pulled out a VHS tape, shutting off the music from his iPod.

Twilight nodded, pointing over to the entertainment center where it housed the VCR/DVD player. The teenage boy looked over at it and had to hold back the urge to geek out a little. He had always wanted one, but alas, they were sold out whenever he went to his local electronics store. Maybe he should try a pawn shop instead? He was getting off track.

Mordecai walked over to the player and quickly made sure there was no tape already in before slotting in his own. He took a seat on the couch, patting a spot on it for Twilight. “This usually helps me whenever I can’t get an idea for art. Prepare to meet the master of art!”

Tilting her head a little, Twilight walked over and took a seat next to Mordecai while grabbing the remote and changing the source. “You watch educational tapes? I didn’t peg you as the type.”

“I-I mean, it’s only the one. B-But it helps out a lot! Just wait and see!” Mordecai couldn’t help but blush a little. He felt a little embarrassed but she didn’t seem to judge much. Though, Twilight judging him for watching an art tape would feel weird now considering she knows about his low grades and a small amount of his nerdy hobbies.

The tape took a minute to process before it sprang to life. 

“Howdy there, folks! My name’s Benny Harris!”

The recording of a man with a gnarly afro and a hedgehog on his shoulder played on the TV. He went over the steps of painting with emotions with a calming voice, causing Twilight to pay more attention to it compared to her actual art teacher. It was amusing. But what was more amusing was how she didn’t realize that she had scooted a little closer to Mordecai. He didn’t notice either. 

“Wow, so the process is basically relying on instinct and what you associate with your feelings rather than trying to approach it logically. No wonder I didn’t get it…” Twilight muttered, taking notes as she watched. 

“Pretty much. Art doesn’t have a right answer, just a goal. At least that’s how I see it. You want an orange? Sketch an orange. If you want a weird monster? Go ahead and paint it. It’s a lot more libertal than something like writing.”

Twilight turned her head to him with a stifled laugh. “Libertal? Do you mean liberal?” 

Mordecai stopped for a moment to think about what he said before he palmed his head with a laugh. He pulled a Rigby. “Oh whatever Miss Arcadia!”

Now it was her turn to stop for a moment. She raked through her mind before remembering her typo. Letting out a giggle, she gently pushed his shoulder. “That was a typo!”

They shared a laugh—a laugh that she really needed. This weekend had been nothing but stress to her, and it had felt like it was creeping up on her and slowly consuming her life. Yet here he comes and one dumb mistake was all it took. Twilight felt lighter, like he had taken off a weight from her shoulders. Perhaps he was more special than she thought.

A few hours rolled by and although they didn’t get started completely on the project, Mordecai was able to get her to a good starting place. They agreed to meet up at the library Monday and Tuesday, with Mordecai even going as far as to write it down. He never writes things like this down unless they’re important, so it came as no surprise that he kept his promise to her. 

Twilight had learned so much in so little time. From proper brush stroking techniques, all the way to her getting down what abstract truly meant. And her learning from Mordecai made things fun for the both of them. His fun loving nature rubbed off on her, causing Twi to be a bit more playful when they studied together. She’d do things like tap his hand with the paint brush, draw a little cat on his paper, or even poking his side with the eraser of her pencil.

She was infected with his humility.

And by Tuesday evening, she was finally able to complete her project.

She stood back in pride at her work with her hands on her hips. Sure, it was still an amateurish and rudimentary painting, but it was hers. And that art of an astronaut holding earth expressed herself perfectly. Well, at least that’s what she and Mordecai thought. More so the latter but she didn’t disagree with it. Sometimes, it did feel like she was in awe of the world and just wanted to study all of it. So it suited her just fine.

“I think I did a pretty good job, Starlight!” Her voice was content, with joy accompanying it. 

“That’s great to hear, Twi! I didn’t think you’d find a subject that you needed help with, but I’m glad you had a friend who could help with just that!” Starlight’s voice spoke through the speakers of Twilight’s computer. “Sorry I couldn’t be of much help. These dorms they have us in are pretty strict on curfew.”

“Don’t worry about it Star. After December you’ll be back at Canterlot. Or West Anderson…you get what I mean.” Twilight covered her painting with a tarp before sitting down on the chair facing her webcam. 

“You really think Principal Celestia will welcome me back after what I pulled?”

The poindexter stayed silent for a moment. Just like Sunset, Starlight Glimmer was a friend who was once a foe. She had what was essentially a cult disguised as a club and was planning God knows what with it before Twilight and her friends stopped it. Of course, Glimmer didn’t stop there and went for a revenge plan that nearly ended in total catastrophe had Twi not talked her down and convinced both Celestia and Luna not to expel her. Now she serves a sentence of a semester at a juvenile school before returning back to Canterlot High. But before she left, Twilight was sure to get her number and email so they could stay in contact like she promised. Though she was surprised at how rather lax the school was about technology.

“Starlight, if they can allow the three witches in Canterlot, I’m sure you can come back.” She said with a chuckle.

The girl on the other side of the call sighed. “That’s true…hey shouldn’t you be in bed by now? You’ve got a big day ahead of you, y’know.”

“Oh crud, you’re right! Thanks for the heads up, Mordie! I’ll—“

“Mordie?”

Twilight stopped in her tracks. She didn’t realize that she had been influenced in more than one way. Although she had a red face, she quickly turned back to the camera. “I’ll talk to you later, Starlight. Goodnight.”

“Oh, uh, night Twi—“

She didn’t even get to finish her sentence before she was cut off by the sudden disconnection.

After an embarrassing night, Wednesday came about and although it was after school, Twilight stayed behind to present her painting to her teacher. She waited in the classroom with anxiety riddled all over her. Her mind started to flood with bad thoughts, but she was quick to snatch them away with a simple pinch to her thigh. Pain always worked when it came to distractions.

“Keep it together, Twi. You’ll be just fine. Mr.Synthos said he had a meeting, so you've just got some time to yourself is all…” The purple haired girl twirled a strand of her hair around her finger. Her knee bounced frantically before she stood up. “I need a book!”

Like a missile, she darted out of the classroom to her locker to retrieve a novel she had forgotten to grab. Once she got it, she hugged the book to her chest. Another self soothing method of hers. She stayed like that for a moment before looking at it. A slight laugh was let out. How ironic that the book she was calming herself down with was Perks of Being a Wallflower. Shaking her head, Twilight closed her locker before walking back to the art room. 

When she reached for the handle, she noticed the door was already open.

“That’s odd…” She thought to herself. “I could’ve sworn that I closed it on the way out.”

Walking through the open door, she let out a gasp as she let her book drop to the ground. Her pupils shrank as shaky hands covered her mouth. Twilight thought her sight was failing her for a moment, but the squeaky fan and sound of dripping paint told her otherwise.

“Mordecai…?” She asked, her voice small and vulnerable.

The tall boy was covered in paint. He was holding a brush. There, standing beside him, was her painting. Ruined. 

Streaks of purple, blue, and red slashed across the portrait. His eyes were bewildered, and he seemed to be just as surprised as she was. He took a step forward, attempting to form a sentence. She took a step back, attempting to comprehend everything.

“Twilight, wait!”

Liar.

“I-I can explain!”

Deceiver.

“I know how it looks but…!”

Heartless.

“There was someone here and—“

“SHUT IT!” 

Her voice boomed throughout the room, causing him to step back. Tears began falling, her expression a mix of anger and pure sorrow. 

“I…I trusted you…I opened up and allowed myself to be vulnerable around you…and now you go and do this…? What, was one project of mine not enough…? Did you have to go and ruin another one?!”

“Twilight, I…”

“I don’t want to hear it, Mordecai!” Twilight snapped. “Just!…just stay away from me…”

In a tear ridden run, Twilight ran out of the room with her face in her hands. She bolted right to the nearest restroom and locked herself in a stall. And she just let herself cry, and cry, and cry. The first guy she befriends in West Anderson and he just had to go and break her heart just like Flash. Way to go, Twi. You got your hopes up and you got them crushed. Sounds about right. 

She couldn’t help but feel like the world’s biggest idiot. Leaving her painting unattended was the worst decision she’s made in a very long time. If she could, she would disappear right now. Without a trace, without a sound

She stayed in that stall for a good while until she heard a knock on the bathroom door.

“Twilight? Are you in here?” It was Mr.Synthos. Despite his monotone voice, it was obvious there was some concern in it.

Wiping away her tears and fixing herself up, Twilight let out a sigh before walking out of the stall. “Yes sir, I’ll be out in a second.”

When she walked out the bathroom, she could see her teacher standing patiently, waiting for her. Despite his glasses, she saw the surprise in his eyes. Shouldn’t be that much of a shock. Twilight was sure she looked horrid right now. 

“Are you alright, Twilight?” He asked, knitting his brows.

Her mouth opened slightly. She hesitated to speak, afraid of the inevitable. But she couldn’t stall any longer, she just had to accept her fate. “I’m okay, just…can we just get this over with already?”

Mr.Synthos was quiet for a moment. He stared at her for what felt like an eternity before he spoke. “Okay, let’s go then.”

The walk to the classroom was silent. Nothing was said, but everything was understood. Twilight saw the door to the classroom was closed now. Either Mr.Synthos did that or the jerk had some common decency. Regardless, she opened the door with a sigh. “I’m sorry if it’s not the best. I understand if you’ll fail…me…”

Twilight’s words dripped away. Her painting was still there, but now it was no longer a ruined mess. Instead, there was an art piece of a girl who was crying stars. They dropped onto the universe she held in the palm of her hands. Her hair resembled that of Vincent van Goh’s Starry Night. It was beautiful. A beauty she could not recognize.

“Fail you for this? I think you should have some more confidence in yourself, Twilight. This is a gorgeous painting.” Her teacher said, grabbing a clipboard on his desk and writing something down. “I’d say this qualifies for full marks.

His words fell on deaf ears. The only thing that filled her mind was questions. The most important one was: who the heck painted this? Was it...?

No. She'd be delusional to still think he thought of her like this.

Chapter Text

There’s a saying in a book that Mordecai had once read. Quite a shock, that this boy who does nothing but play video games and goof off in his free time had read a book. But this wasn’t for himself. It was recommended to him by someone. And the saying that he had read reigns true for how his situation with that someone currently is.

“The marks humans leave are too often scars.”

Not only was there anger in the fact that the painting debacle turned out that way, but also due to the fact that it wasn’t his fault to begin with.

Turning back the pendulum, Mordecai was on his way back to his math classroom because he had forgotten a textbook again. He really needed to get better at keeping his things together. On his way, though, he had passed by the art room. He stopped in front of it for a moment, thinking back to what Twilight had mentioned about her project. Mordecai hadn’t seen it yet, and his curiosity was starting to overtake him.

“No, I shouldn’t peek at it until she wants to show me it…” He thought to himself. “Buuuuut…”

Mordecai laughed stupidly to himself as he approached the door, opening it. He was hoping to see Twilight inside and convince her to let him see the painting early, but instead was met with the sight of something more malicious. There was a hooded figure standing right in front of the painting. They had a paintbrush in hand, and the painting itself had already been defiled in an odd style. There was also a mask and sunglasses to hide their face, like a coward. Mordecai instantly felt anger rising. He wasted no time rushing towards them while shouting.

“What the heck are you doing?!” He interrogated, closing the distance and reaching out to grab them. This resulted in him and the stranger getting into a scuffle. The two were around the same height, so the perpetrator held their own rather well. It wasn’t enough to overpower Mordecai, however. So the perp ended up using the paintbrush to their advantage and smacked him with it multiple times. Mordecai was able to take away the brush, but not before being blinded by paint.

He groaned in pain as he tried to rub the paint away from his eyes. When he did recover, the assailant was gone. He didn’t even hear them leave, how quiet does one have to be to do that?

Mordecai shook his head before looking over at the destroyed art. His eyes widened as he tried to assess the situation. The paint streaked across it was bad, but maybe he could—

“Mordecai…?”

That was the moment his life started getting much, much harder. 

It had only been a day since then, but everything had gotten worse. Silent treatment from Rarity, subtle threats from AJ, mean faces from Pinkie, and now he sat at Wing Kingdom with a bandaged nose after Rainbow Dash had “accidentally” kicked a soccer ball right at his face. The worst part was no one would hear him out. The only ones who did were the friends he already had. 

Not to mention that Twilight didn’t even acknowledge his existence, and only did so when it was absolutely necessary. 

Mordecai let out a sigh as he stared at his wings, poking at them with a finger.

“Mordecai? Yo, Mordecai! You okay, dude?” Rigby asked, genuine concern in his tone. “You haven’t even taken a bite out of a wing yet.”

“Yeah bro, take a bite and you’ll feel much better! It’s what I always do.” Said a short and portly guy, who had buffalo sauce all over his face. “You know who else feels better after eating wings? MY MOM!”

Mordecai’s eyes flickered to them for a moment before going back to his food. He wasn’t really hungry, if he was being honest. And he barely felt like being around his friends. Pushing the plate away, Mordecai rested his head in his hands. “I’m not really in the mood for wings. Sorry.”

The three friends of his all looked at each other with worry in their eyes. The one with white hair was first to speak.

“Is it really that bad? I mean, you two didn’t even know each other for that long.” 

“That’s not the point.”

“Then what is the point?” Quizzed Rigby. “It’s not like you were dating her. What, did you have a crush just that massive or something? Is she just another Mar—”

WHACK!

“Ow!”

“I said that wasn’t it! Look at what happened to my nose, dude! I’m getting blamed for crap that I didn’t even do and suffering for it!” He stood up from his seat, an upset expression on his face. “Just forget it, I’m leaving.” 

Muscle Man wiped the sauce from his mouth as he furrowed his brow. “Where are you going bro? We just got here!”

Mordecai didn’t respond. He just walked out the door with angry stomps.

There was a brief silence before Rigby groaned, sliding down in his seat. “I hate when he gets like this! First it was with Margaret and now it’s this. I wish he didn’t act like a baby all the time!”

“Woah bro, that’s pretty harsh.”

“Yeah, you were kind of a jerk there, Rigby. I was just trying to say it probably wasn’t as bad as he thought it was.” Fives took a sip out of his drink, forgetting he had a straw. 

“Aw come on! It wasn’t that bad! Besides, it’s not like he’ll sulk over it for that long or anything. I bet by tomorrow he’ll be back to normal.”

Mordecai’s footsteps were heavy as his feet dragged along the concrete walkway. Something brewed inside of him as he wandered, and it felt even heavier with every step he was taking. Heavy and angry. Angry at the circumstances, angry at the total scumbag who ruined Twilight’s painting, angry at life for putting him in this situation, angry at everything. 

He was trying to do more than just be a screw up, and he was finding it harder and harder to not be that. The dark clouds that surrounded the sky overhead had to be life mocking him. He gritted his teeth as he eventually made his way to what seemed to have been a park. It actually caught him off guard that he ended up here, as Mordecai wasn’t aiming to go anywhere but a block or so. Was he really that bothered by his situation? Apparently so.

Mordecai allowed himself to wander around the park aimlessly. He let his thoughts run as he observed his surroundings, taking in the greenery and almost calming atmosphere. It felt nice. Almost made him forget his predicament, even. Almost. 

Taking a seat on a nearby bench, he let out a sigh as he leaned back in his seat. He was still angry, but it started to share its company with another emotion: sadness. Though, he adamantly denied feeling sad, even to himself. Digging that pit in his heart deeper and deeper, wanting to throw it away and just forgetting about it. To lie to himself and say everything was okay when it wasn’t. To take his anger out on the people around him. To not break again. Mordecai clenched a fist, shaking in fury before letting go. 

“God da—huh?” Before he could finish that curse word, Mordecai noticed another person sitting on the bench he was at. How he didn’t notice her was beyond him. She had dual tone blue hair tied up in a giant ponytail and an outfit that was different shades of magenta and pink. Her shoes were also pink too, but resembled knee high converse. She was looking down with her hands in her lap, sniffling slightly. Were those tears in her eyes?

Mordecai said nothing as he contemplated what to do. On one hand, he didn’t know this girl. He had no reason to care about what’s bothering her, he had enough on his plate as it was. Why should he help her? On the other hand…she was crying. Is Mordecai that much of a tool to ignore that? While he has the ability to at least try to help?

Screw it.

“Hey, uh…are you okay?” He asked, shifting a little in his seat. 

The girl looked up at him, wiping away her tears as she furrowed her brows. “What’s it to you? I’m– hic –not your girlfriend or anything.”

Mordecai moved his head back slightly, caught off guard by the sudden hostility. It caused him to adopt an annoyed expression. He stood up as he prepared to leave. “Uh, just trying to be nice here? But if you’re gonna be like that then I guess I don’t wanna know.”

“Wait!” The girl sat up, stretching out a hand as her face shifted from upset to worry. “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to say that! I’m just not in a good mood, please don’t leave!”

He stood there for a moment, taking a second to think about his next move before sighing and sitting back down on the bench. “It’s fine. I can understand that.”

Mordecai understood more than most in that regard.

The girl sat back in her seat, clasping her hands together as she looked at the floor for a moment before looking back up at him. Those pink eyes of hers stared with a longing of comfort and a need for company. “I’m…well no, I’m not okay right now.”

“...You wanna talk about it?” Mordecai asked, resting his arms in his lap.

She looked back down at the ground, taking in a deep breath before exhaling. “Do you ever feel like you’re not good enough, no matter how much you try to be good for someone?”

Talk about hitting too close to home. He stiffened at the question, clenching his jaw. However, he was able to power through that feeling of discomfort and answer. “Yeah, it sucks.”

“That’s how I feel with my sisters. I know I’m not the smartest or strongest or whatever, but I just can’t help but feel…what’s that word where you can’t do anything right?”

“...” Mordecai thought for a second. “Incompetent…?”

“Yeah, that. And today wasn’t any different. I was supposed to pick up some things from the store, but I guess I got Aria the wrong type of toothpaste ‘cuz she got really angry. Usually I can take it. Just sibling stuff, y’know? But this time she was extra mean and didn’t stop when Adagio tried to step in. She said some…really nasty things. And I just got so mad that I yelled at her and left. Now I’m here talking to you.” She brought her knees to her chest, holding them close as tears threatened to pour out once again. Her voice was shaky and unstable, it was clear she was emotional right now.

Mordecai just sat there in silence. Though he didn’t want to admit it, he related a lot more than she could know. A halfhearted smile carved its way onto his face. “I don’t have siblings, but I know how you feel right now. Your sister probably called you stuff like ‘slacker’ or something, right?”

The girl only nodded.

“She’s probably wrong then. Just because you mess up sometimes doesn’t make you good for nothing or some sort of burden. Just means you’re human. Alive. From what I can see, you probably try your best, right? That’s the best thing you can ask from anyone, and that’s all you can do.” Whether he was talking to himself or her was unknown. All he knew was that’s what he felt like needed to be said.

She sniffled, wiping the tears away once again. “You’re probably right…thank you. That helped a bunch, for realsies. What’s your name”

“Mordecai, and you?”

“Sonata.”

They both smiled at each other. For the first time all day, Mordecai could find some solace. No mean looks, no threats, no cheap attempts at cheering him up, and no pain. Just peace. 

GRRRRRRRR!!!

That peace, however, was interrupted by both of their stomachs growling. An awkward laugh was shared between the two as they both realized they hadn’t eaten yet. Mordecai almost punched himself for not eating the wings earlier. Then again, who still has an appetite when you’re eating with Muscle Man?

“Guess that’s my cue to get out of here, eh?” Sonata asked, a slight blush on her face.

“Yeah, I think I saw a taco truck earlier so I’m just gonna—“

“Taco truck?!” Sonata leaned towards Mordecai with a sudden burst of energy. There was a dazzle in her eyes as a smile bigger than California was plastered on her face. “There’s a taco truck here?? Can I come with???”

Mordecai jumped back a bit. The sudden burst of energy spooked him, not expecting the sudden shift in mood. “Um, sure?”

Jumping out of her seat, Sonata grabbed Mordecai’s hand and hopped up and down in excitement. “Come on, come on! Let's go before they sell out of tacos!”

He didn’t even have time to react before she started pulling him towards what she assumed was the right path to the truck. It actually was the right path to it as well, which surprised him even further. This girl really liked tacos, huh? Though he couldn’t blame her all that much. Him and Rigby are like that with Cheezer’s and Carter & Briggs. So he just went with the flow and followed the trail back to the taco truck. 

When they had arrived, Sonata wasted no time ordering about half a dozen tacos. Mordecai settled for two. However, there was an issue when Sonata realized that she didn’t have her wallet on her. She cursed herself silently and was about to begrudgingly cancel her order, but then Mordecai stepped in and paid for it instead.

 “Huh? You don’t have to do that, it’s—“

“Nah it’s all good. It isn’t that much anyways and I’d feel weird if I was the only one eating.” He waved a hand as he shrugged. In reality, he’d feel bad if she didn’t get to eat since she was so excited about the tacos and all. Besides, he had cash to burn after hearing about the game he wanted being total garbage. That’s why he doesn’t preorder.

Meanwhile, Sonata just stared in awe. It wasn’t often she was met with such kindness, and to have it come from someone she knew only for a brief period of time was crazy to her. She liked crazy.

After getting their food, the pair sat down at a nearby table and chowed down. Mordecai took casual bites while Sonata ate pretty quickly. Although not nearly as grotesque as Muscle Man, it did remind the boy of an animal. A shark maybe? Who knows? More importantly, who cares? He took another bite of his food as he tilted his head slightly. “So, do you go to school around here? Can’t say that I’ve seen you around West Anderson.”

“Mph?” Sonata looked up at him with a mouth full of food. She quickly made sure to finish her bite before answering. She wasn’t going to make the mistake of talking with her mouth full for the thousandth time. “No, me and my sisters go to Canterlot. Me and them switch out who stays at Canterlot and who goes to West Anderson. It’s kinda fun! I almost totes got in trouble one time for pulling the fire alarm but I’m pretty slick y’know!”

“Wait, that was you??” Mordecai’s mind flashed back to Monday morning when the school’s fire alarm went nuts. It was actually kind of a blessing in disguise as it got him out of a test but still. “Doesn’t that spray ink on your hand?”

“Pfft nahhh! That’s just a lie they tell you to tattle. Dagi’s done it tons of times and she’s never been caught.” 

“Dude…that’s pretty awesome.” 

“I know right?”

They continued talking until it started getting dark. It was then that they decided to part ways but would attempt to keep in touch via texts. Mordecai felt like he met someone besides, well, Rigby and her , that he could be himself around. A smile somehow found itself on his face. Though this fixed nothing and he’d still have to find a way to mend a damaged bond, it helped clear his head. Even if only a little.

Sonata hummed as she skipped through the park, her head swinging from side to side as a big grin formed. She felt like she could be on cloud nine right now. Long was the memory of her verbal lashing gone, and instead was replaced by thoughts of the boy she just met. Though her attention quickly shifted when she saw what looked to be a teenager, probably around her age, looking down as she texted someone on her phone while walking Sonata’s way. She also had on headphones.

Her grin widened to a smile, her feet carrying her to her target. Once she was close, she pretended to stumble and bump into the girl. “Whoopsie~!”

The girl’s eyes widened as she felt herself suddenly stumbling. As she fell, she turned to see that she was falling towards a bush of rose thorns. Her shouts of pain fell on deaf ears as Sonata continued to skip on by, looking back with a wicked smile. 

“Did I do that~?”

The next day came around and Mordecai found himself once again walking into the school he found to be his personal torture as of late. He still had his nose bandaged, as it still hurt. This was his lesson of how hard Rainbow Dash could kick, though he wished it could’ve been taught a different way. A sigh escaped his lips as he made his way to his first class. However, he felt a tap on his shoulder that made him turn around. And who was right behind him surprised him more than any soccer ball could.

“Hey, you got a minute?” Sunset Shimmer, one of Twilight’s closest friends, was standing before the tall boy. She wore a serious expression as those emerald eyes stared into his sapphire ones. 

Mordecai looked at her with contempt. All of her other friends were treating him like garbage, so was she here to get her lick in? If so, he severely misjudged how people at Canterlot were. “What, you wanna beat me up or something? Save it for after school and get in line. I already have enough on my plate.”

“No, no it isn’t anything like that.” Sunset shook her head, holding a hand up. “I’m not here to pick a fight. I just want to talk. Will you let me talk to you?”

“...” He squinted at her, taking a moment to study her body language. She wasn’t standing like AJ did when she threatened him, and she was actually talking to him which was already more than most. He clicked his tongue and exhaled. “Fine. What do you want?”

Looking around her surroundings, she made sure no one was around before looking back up at Mordecai. “I wanted to hear your side of the story.”

“Huh? You want to hear me out?”

“Yeah. Look I know how it feels to not be given a chance, and I know that you probably don’t trust me that much but I just can’t help but feel that there’s more to this than what Twilight knows. And while she’s usually good at this sort of thing, she’s, well, obviously not in a good mental space right now. And the others…well you already know. So that leaves it up to me to help with this friendship problem.” Sunset crossed her arms as she looked down with slight melancholy. This was bringing back some uneasy memories for her, but she still did her best to steel her nerves. She brought her eyes back up to him with a focus back in them. “So will you tell me?”

Mordecai had a mixed expression. On one hand, he really wanted to get his side out there. On the other, there was a good chance she wouldn’t believe him. It was a gamble. But was that really enough to deter him from telling her?

No. It really wasn’t.

Taking a deep breath, Mordecai looked at Sunset with the most calm face he could muster. “Alright, so I was just leaving class and…”

A few minutes passed by as he explained everything to the best of his ability to Sunset. The curiosity, the real culprit, him “fixing” the ruined painting, not a single detail was left out. And the entire time, Sunset was quiet, simply nodding and occasionally asking questions whenever she wanted more detail. She wasn’t judgemental nor did she ever display distrust, only listening to what he had to say.

“And now we’re here. Honestly I’m surprised she hasn’t told any teachers about it. She hates my guts so I dunno why she wouldn’t.” Mordecai crossed his arms as he leaned against a locker. 

“It’s because she doesn’t hate you, Mordecai. Everyone else, even Fluttershy, was telling her to report it. But she doesn’t want to hurt you even if, in her eyes, you hurt her. In her own way, she’s protecting you. Heck, she even disapproved of what Rainbow Dash did to your nose.” Sunset felt weird saying it, but there really wasn’t any other way to put it. “And that silver lining might give us a chance to clear your name.”

“What do you mean?” Mordecai raised a brow at that last sentence. He was just thinking of how he could fix all of this, and if she had the solution, then he was all ears.

“I don’t have a lot to work with, but I got a lot more connections than you think I would have. If we team up, we might have a shot at catching the actual scumbag here. So what’d you say we get to work during lunch?” She held out a hand for him to shake, now having a face full of confidence.

He looked down at her hand. Hesitating for a moment, Mordecai reached out and shook her hand. What other choice does he have that would be easier? “Deal.”

Lunch time couldn’t have come sooner for the taller boy. Having to sit next to Twilight during the first period was already tough enough, but getting judgemental glares by Rarity and having to avoid getting hit by another ball again really did not help. He just chugged on through and was already feeling his patience slip. And Rigby was not helping.

“C’mon dude, lemme help you with this!” Rigby begged, grabbing onto his friend’s sleeve. 

“I already said no, dude! This is something important and I can’t afford to screw this up!” Mordecai wiggled his arm away. He had on an irritated expression and looked to be moments away from punching Rigby.

“But I don’t wanna eat by myself today!”

“Then eat with Fluttershy! You two get along, don’t you?”

“Oh gee, that’s a great idea! Why didn’t I think of that? Golly, you’re so smart!” Rigby’s face contorted into a bubbly smile with big shiny eyes. His tone was sickly sweet and full of sarcasm. He then threw his hands up as he scoffed. “Fluttershy doesn’t care, but that doesn’t mean everyone else is cool with me! I have to deal with crap too! This is a me and you issue now!”

Mordecai glared at him. Although he didn’t want to admit it, Rigby brought up something he didn’t even consider. There were more than just two people affected by all of this. He at least owed him this much. “Fine. Just don’t mess anything up.”

“Oh c’mon, when’s the last—actually, save it. I already see you raising your finger.”

Mordecai couldn’t help but let out an amused huff before leading him to where he and Sunset agreed to meet. The girl in question was pacing back and forth with an annoyed look on her face, biting the tip of her thumb. Mordecai and Rigby approached her with slight caution on their faces, the taller of the pair being the first one to speak up.

“Hey Sunset. Is everything…goooood?”

Sunset’s head perked up when she heard his voice, some of the annoyance disappearing. “Oh hey Mordo. Yeah everything’s—Uhh…why’s Rigby here?”

“To help catch the jerk wad who messed with the painting!” Rigby waved a hand up as he put on a confident grin.

Mordecai just sighed.

“Um, okay…Anyways, we’ve got an issue here.” Sunset turned serious as she leaned back against some lockers. “You know that connection I told you about? Well, she’s sorta…not here today.”

“Aw what?!” The taller boy shouted, obviously not okay with this revelation.

“I know, I know. It’s not ideal, but it’s not exactly a step back.”

Rigby scoffed at that statement. “Yeah right. Dude, I don’t even have the full picture and even I can see this is a load of bull—“

Smack!

“Ow!”

Sunset pinched the bridge of her nose. This whole thing was probably, actually, was most definitely going to be a pain in her keister. But she already agreed to help, and she felt like she owed it to him. 

“Okay, okay. So I don’t have the exact details, but he did give me a general idea about a graffiti artist here in school.”

“Uh, Sunset it wasn’t spraypaint that messed it up though. It was regular paint.” Mordecai pointed out.

“I know it’s—!” She took a deep breath before slowly exhaling, calming herself down so that she wouldn’t say anything stupid. “I know, Mordecai. That’s why he probably used it so he could cover his tracks and be less likely to be a suspect.”

“Oh. Ohhhh…” The taller boy felt suddenly embarrassed. 

Rigby snickered despite thinking the same thing as him.

“Anyways, even though it’s not the most detailed lead, the number one suspect right now is a graffiti artist by the name of Park Avenue. Witness says that they’d seen him covered in paint like he got in a fight.  Apparently he’s a junior in this school.”

Mordecai perked up at the name. “Park Avenue? Hey that’s the guy who goes around tagging blank spaces wherever he can, right? I’m surprised he goes here, but I haven’t seen him do it much around the school, so why would he go and thrash Twi’s painting like that?”

“Your guess is as good as mine. But I have a hunch that this is most likely targeted, maybe he knew her or something? Whatever it is, we’ve got to get to the bottom of this.”

“Yeah, let’s try and catch this chump so we don’t gotta deal with this mess anymore!” Rigby raised a fist up, feeling pumped to catch this jerkwad. 

Mordecai felt more motivated. “Let’s do it.”

Thus ensued what felt like a wild goose chase to find someone who seemed to be untraceable. That’s one major thing that Sunset’s lead left out: Park Avenue was really hard to find, much less catch. Question after question, one person after the other asked about this mysterious figure, and all that they could manage to get were either rumors that someone else might know, or something stupid as an answer. In hindsight, maybe asking someone like Bulk Biceps or Johnny Skydiver wasn’t the smartest idea when it came to trying to catch a painting ruining turd. 

But they were desperate.

Rigby let out a groan as he threw his head back in frustration. “Ugggggghhhh! This is useless! No one knows a single thing about this stupid guy and where he could be! This sucks!”

He kicked a locker, which backfired immediately as he began hopping around in pain while grabbing his foot.

“Ugh…Sunset, did your informant give anything else? Even just a smidge of a hint of where he could be?” Mordecai asked.

“If he did, we wouldn’t be here, Mordecai!” Sunset paced back and forth, trying to collect her thoughts and composure. “Okay, okay, let’s just…think for a moment. If I were a graffiti artist in high school, where would I be? Obviously he skips classes to tag stuff, but he’s got to have somewhere here that he uses as a base or something. It’s the last place anyone would think of when it comes to that stuff.”

“Is it? Seems like kind of a stupid thought if you ask me.” Rigby snarkily remarked after recovering enough.

“Oh and you’d know all about stupid ideas, wouldn’t you, Rigby?! You haven’t done much other than complain and say stupid things or just–!” Sunset snapped, but quickly regained her cool, taking a deep breath. “Sorry, I…this is just stressful. I didn’t mean to snap at you.”

Rigby’s smug demeanor quickly shrunk after her outburst. She was a lot scarier than the other girls when mad. “Hey, it’s cool…”

“Look, going at each other isn’t going to solve this or help with my issue with Twilight. We have to keep focus.” Mordecai spoke up, being the voice of reason as he usually was when it came to anything that even slightly involved Rigby.

Sunset nodded, crossing her arms. “You’re right. We just got to–”

Doink!

“AH MOTHER FFFFFF–AGH!”

Sunset grabbed her eye as she shouted in pain. The other two jumped, with Mordecai hovering over her to see if she was okay while Rigby noticed the thing that had hit her eye. He tilted his head as he knelt down to pick it up. “Huh? A paper airplane?”

Once she had recovered, Shimmer turned her head to the smaller boy, a hand still clasped over her eye. “What?”

“Um…” Rigby unfolded it, noticing the writing on it almost immediately before reading out loud. “If you’re looking for Park Avenue, then try the janitor’s closet on the second floor near the elective classes. There’s a secret room hidden behind the supply racks. Be careful since there isn’t any cameras or anything in that part of the building. P.S. Tell Sunset that her ends are totally split and she should totes ease up on the cheese sticks.”

“Hey!”

“What? I’m just reading what’s on here!”

Mordecai snatched the note, giving it a once over before looking around but seeing no one else. “Who wrote this?”

“Dunno, but we should probably listen to it. Let’s go–”

“Wait, hold it Rigby.” Sunset looked at the note, squinting at it. “I don’t know if I trust this or not. It could be a trap or another set up. It’s awfully convenient that something like this pops up out of nowhere when we needed more info. We don’t even know who wrote it.”

“Well, do we have anything else? It’s not like I have much to lose now, so you can hang out outside of the closet while me and Rigby go check.” Mordecai responded, sounding ready to go.

“Hey why do I have to–!”

One quick smack to the arm shut Rigby up.

Sunset was quiet for a bit, contemplating it before sighing. “Hah…well if you’re so sure, then let’s go.”

After some walking, the three finally made their way to the janitor’s closet on the second floor. Mordecai looked around and took note of the lack of cameras surrounding the place. Whoever wrote that note must’ve really done their homework, because not even he knew about it. Probably since it’s in a spot he doesn’t go to often, but still. He looked at the supply closet door, checking if the coast was clear before he turned to Sunset. “Alright. Like I said earlier, me and Rigby will check it out while you stay out here. Sounds good?”

“Yep, you got it.” Sunset gave a thumbs up before leaning against a nearby wall.

Mordecai nodded before grabbing the door handle, glancing at Rigby. “You ready to do this, dude?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” The smaller boy was having doubts about this now, but it wasn’t like he could back out now. His friend would never let him live it down if he chickened out now.

Hesitating a moment, the door was slowly opened, allowing the boys to step inside before closing it behind them after turning on the light. The closet was exactly like how you’d expect it to look: cleaning supplies, brooms, mop buckets, and a shelf filled with miscellaneous stuff for the custodians to use.

“Woah, everything’s so old and dusty in here.” Rigby stated, looking at what was probably a five year old Twinkie sitting on a bottle of some random cleaning product. At least the closet was decently big.

“Okay, so I think the note said that it was behind the supply rack…” Mordecai looked behind the shelf and noticed that there was something…off about it. It almost looked like there was a tarp or something. “Hey, help me out with this real quick. I’ll pull it while you push.”

“Sure.” Rigby grabbed the sides of the shelf as Mordecai grabbed the opposite side. “So are we doing this three two one push or three two one go then push?”

“Go then push.” Mordecai made sure his positioning was good, not wanting to hurt himself. “Ready?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright, three…two…one—go!”

With a bit of muscle and a bit of grunting, the shelf was able to be moved to the side with relative ease. After which, they were able to take a good look of what was behind it.

“What the—it’s a sheet.” Mordecai grabbed the sheet that looked to be painted to match the rest of the wall. Had they not gotten that hint, they probably wouldn’t have guessed to move the shelf out of the way. That raised a lot more questions, but those would have to be saved for later.

“Looks like the note was right. Hey, let's check it out!” 

“Wait man!”

Too late. Rigby snatched the sheet and was able to yank it off. Behind it revealed a secret room that looked almost lived in. A couch, a table, spray painted white walls, heck there were even pillows and some snacks. It looked…lived in, almost. 

“Woah…dude this place is awesome!” Rigby didn’t hesitate to step inside as he looked around. It was surprisingly clean, all things considered.

“Dude, it’s like someone lives here instead of just being a base or something. It’s kinda creepy.” 

Suddenly, the sound of a toilet flushing could be heard from behind a door that they hadn’t noticed yet. Out stepped a hooded guy with a face mask and goggles, whistling as he texted something on his phone with his headphones on. He was about to grab a bag of chips, but looked up to see the other two boys there, which caused him to freeze.

Mordecai’s eyes widened as he saw the guy. A rush of memories from the other day flooded his mind. The painting being ruined, the scuffle, Twilight walking in.

That expression she had.

Surprise turned to anger as he furrowed his brows. “You!”

Park Avenue was quiet for a moment before grabbing a spray paint can and throwing it right at Mordecai’s face before rushing out the exit, pushing Rigby out of the way. Mordecai grabbed his head in pain before quickly recovering. He bolted after him, with Rigby not too far behind.

The door to the closet slammed open, startling Sunset as she watched a hooded figure bolt out with Mordecai and Rigby following soon after. She was frozen in place, wondering what the heck she just saw before snapping out of it and giving chase after them. She had no idea what was going on, but figured that keeping up was better than being left in the dust. She just wished that she wasn’t wearing boots.

The mad dash through the halls was something right out of a comic book or a teen movie from 2007. So many people were either dodged or shoved to get out of the way, and things were thrown that probably shouldn’t have been. So an overall normal day for West Anderson, especially if those two were involved.

Mordecai was catching up to him—he was so close. Park Avenue was literally in arm’s reach! But a sudden spray to the face from a secret spray can caused him to be stunned, and unfortunately for him, the other two were slower than he was. Crap, he was going to lose him. He was going to lose him, and there was nothing he could do about it. All of this would be for nothing. Actually, it’d probably make him look worse than he already looked. Great. Now he would definitely—

CRASH!!!

Wait, what was that noise? Mordecai furiously scrubbed the paint away and opened his eyes to see the painting ruiner against a wall of lockers with his face slammed into it. The tall boy’s eyes widened in shock, looking around before seeing a familiar face. It was Flash Sentry, his foot was stuck out in a tripping position. Both of them locked eyes with one another in a tense silence before Rigby came running in with a sudden yell, elbow dropping Park Avenue with Sunset subduing him soon after. 

“…You looked like you needed a hand catching him. Please tell me that he didn’t just owe money or something.” Flash broke the silence between them, letting out an awkward chuckle.

Mordecai shook his head to snap out of his confusion. He rubbed off the rest of the paint before looking at him with a confused expression. “Um, no it’s more personal than that. I think I kinda owe you big time for it now, though.”

“No, it’s okay.” Flash shook his head slightly. “You don’t have to owe me anything. It doesn’t take a genius to know that if three people are chasing down the same guy with righteous fury, then he probably deserves to be tripped.”

“Heh, yeah…”

…

“So uh, listen I got a thing I need to do but I just wanna say thanks. You’re a pretty cool guy for doing that.” Mordecai offered a small smile. Seems like this dude wasn’t as bad as he originally thought. Even if he and Twilight have a bad history, doesn’t mean that Flash was a bad guy. 

Flash returned the smile. “No problem. Gimme a shout if you need anyone else who needs a good trip.”

Mordecai let out a short laugh before waving a hand up behind and running towards the others. His smile soon soured into a frown as he looked at Park Avenue, who had his arms held behind his back by a victorious Sunset with Rigby standing to the side. Though Avenue struggled, it was all in vain. She definitely ate her greens.

“Alright dude, you’ve got a lot to answer for with all the crap you’ve put me through.” Mordecai said with such venom.

“Answer? Pshh, I ain’t gotta answer for nothin’! You bourgeois suckers can go eat dirt for all I care!” Park Avenue finally spoke. 

Mordecai narrowed his eyes, obviously not happy with that answer. “Rigby, you think that the school would be cool with knowing that secret room exists? He’s probably got a lot of stuff there he’s not supposed to have.”

“Oh dude, if he’s got a lot of stuff then we can probably go back there and pawn it all for like, a bunch of money!” Rigby wasn’t even going along with the bit. The thought of having enough money to buy the new Dig Champs game was more than enough to get him going.

“Hey hey hey hey hey hey hey! We don’t have to go there! I can play ball!” Avenue’s tone shifted from confident to nervous suddenly. He shook frantically.

“Then you’ll turn yourself in and clear this mess up?” Sunset interrogated.

“Yeah, yeah I’ll do it!”

“Before you do, I have a question to ask.” Mordecai walked up to him a bit closer, resisting all urges to beat the stuffing out of him right here and now. He still needed him to talk. “Why’d you do it?”

Park looked up at Mordecai, those goggles on his eyes reflecting back on him. He was quiet for a moment. “I was paid for it.”

Silence enveloped them. Mordecai’s eyes widened in shock yet again before quickly sharpening. “Who? Who paid you?”

“It was—“ Avenue cut himself off as he looked at something behind Mordecai. Something that scared him into silence.

Rigby looked at the graffiti artist confused, unaware of what he was looking at. “It was what? Out with it already man, I’m hungry and lunch is almost over!”

“I-It was anonymous. I didn’t see a face, only a fat wad of cash and a paper telling me what I had to do.” Despite his nervousness, Avenue reclaimed his confident attitude. He looked up at Mordecai with a cocky head tilt. “And heck, I’d have done it for free too! That painting was shi—“

A quick straight across the face from Mordecai shut him up. The face mask hurt to punch, but holy crap was that cathartic. He shook his hand a little as he spoke. “Let’s get this wannabe Cornbread down to the office.”

No other words needed to be said. After taking him to the principal’s office and explaining the situation while overlooking previously unseen footage that was recorded by the school cameras. Honestly, it probably would’ve been smart to go to an admin to talk about this, but Mordecai’s reputation would’ve somehow led to an even worse outcome than this one. Regardless, Vice Principal Luna had everything she needed to give the jerk some hefty punishment.

All that was left after that was informing Twilight about the situation. As Luna did that, Mordecai waited outside her office with Rigby next to him while Sunset was in the restroom. He bounced his knee anxiously, not knowing how he’d react talking with her after all of this. He felt a light punch from his shoulder, turning to see Rigby looking at him with a smile.

“Hey man, relax. We got the dude responsible for all of this and your name cleared. Talking to Twi will be a cakewalk, trust me.” Even if Rigby could be selfish and inconsiderate, he did care for his best friend. Rarely did he show it, but he did when it mattered.

Mordecai looked at him for a moment before a grin formed on his face. “You know dude, you’re probably the coolest guy I know sometimes. Thanks for helping out. I know it was to get some heat off of you, but it was still pretty awesome of you.”

“Don’t mention it man.” It seemed his little reassurance helped, if only a little.

Eventually, the door to Luna’s office opened. The vice principal looked at Mordecai before gesturing for him to come on in. “She’s waiting for you.”

Steeling his resolve, Mordecai gave a nod before standing from his seat and walking inside the office space. When he stepped inside, the first thing he saw was her, sitting there with her head down. She wasn’t fidgeting or moving, just completely still with her head hung low. It was almost jarring to see considering how confident she usually seemed with her head held high. He took a seat next to her, holding his hands together as his knee began to bounce again.

“I’ll give you two some privacy to talk things out.” Luna gave both of them a nod of understanding before closing the door. 

Silence brewed as neither of them could find the right words to speak. The one sided animosity had made things, well, extremely awkward now. And it really wasn’t either one’s fault for it. At least, it wasn’t entirely on her for how she reacted. He’d probably be the same way give or take if he was in her shoes.

Mordecai cleared his throat eventually, trying to come up with something. “So uh, how are you—“

“It was you, right? The one who fixed it and made it better?” She spoke in the same monotone voice she’s been speaking in for the past few days. Her eyes stayed glued to the floor.

He looked up at her with a surprised look before his eyes softened. He let out a small “mhm” as a response. 

“Why?”

“…Because I wasn’t going to let you fail when you worked so hard for that project.”

There was silence for a brief moment. It felt suffocating, being held in such a room trapped in quietness with someone who loathed him. He was about to speak again before she spoke up.

“Words can’t describe how sorry I am, Mordecai.” Twilight’s voice sounded so defeated and distraught. She couldn’t even force herself to look up at him while talking. Even then, she tried her best to stay steady. “I should’ve listened to you and-and I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions.”

His eyes widened at the apology. He tried to speak up, but was cut off again.

“You got hurt. Oh God, you got hurt—because of me. You don’t deserve that. It’s me who deserves it after what you went through. I put you through that mental anguish, and I…my friends they…” That steadiness of hers began to falter. Her shoulders began to shake slightly, and her voice cracked a little. She put her head in her hands. “I didn’t…I…I…!”

Guilt had been eating at her after Luna had informed her about everything. Deep down, she felt like he wasn’t responsible for it. But what she saw and those memories of betrayal from others clouded her judgment. Twilight should’ve heard him out, she was supposed to be the one to fix stuff. Yet her pain was just too much for her to look at him again. Tears began to spill out, her hands unable to hold them from spilling out. He must’ve hated her now.

“I’m so sorry…”

Mordecai felt frozen at that moment. This was the first time that someone was apologizing to him with this much remorse. It felt alien, and uncomfortable—this entire situation was uncomfortable. But he had to push through it. She was breaking, and he needed to act like the glue.

“Hey, wait, don't cry! It’s okay, I’m not mad at you.” He placed a hand on her shoulder hesitantly.

“I-I don’t care if you’re mad at me or not—you got treated like crap for something that wasn’t your fault!” The way Twilight was speaking was practically foreign. The last time she had broken down like this was probably when her and Flash ended things.

“But you protected me still, right?” 

That caught her attention. She finally looked up at him with runny eyes, tilting her head slightly. “W-What do you mean?”

“You didn’t snitch on me and stuff even though everyone told you to, right? Sunset told me that you didn’t want to hurt me, even though you thought I was a total jerk. Look, I know you probably feel like a tool, but trust me when I say that it’s okay. I got over it already.” 

In reality, Mordecai was still hurt by it all, but he knew it wasn’t her fault this happened. They caught the dude responsible and there wasn’t any reason to continue being moody over something that’s fixed now.

Twilight stared for a moment before her eyes began to water again. Without even a warning, she held him close with her head buried in his chest, sobbing quietly. Mordecai wrapped his arms around her, beginning to get a bit emotional himself but was much better at masking his emotions. He wasn’t ready for that. Ever.

They stayed like that for a minute or so until Twilight eventually broke away. She looked up at him, having all the hallmarks of a mess. Her eyes were slightly puffy and her hair was a mess. She continued to stare before her face shifted from a frown to a stifled laugh.

“What?” Mordecai asked, confused by the sudden change. 

“Pfft! You look like a bird with that bandage over your nose…”

…

“Alright, hug’s over.” He quickly let go of her and backed off, throwing his hands up.

“Aw, c’mon Mordecai! Don’t be like that!”

“It’s too late.”

“Oh come on, don’t do that!”

“It’s already in motion.”

“Put it out of motion, then!”

He folded his arms, putting on a faux annoyed expression. “You pissed me off.”

The two sat in silence before suddenly laughing. It had only been days, but goodness did they miss this. Miss each other. Mordecai was relieved he was able to clear his name, and Twilight, though still feeling guilty, was happy to have her friend back while learning an important lesson about hearing people out.

Both of them had grown fond of one another in such a short amount of time, it was almost unreal. It was a unique friendship for sure.

Outside the room, Rigby and Sunset had heard the laughter and respectively gained a grin and a smile of satisfaction. A sigh escaped Sunset’s lips as she sunk back in her seat. Looks like her work here was done.

“So…you think he likes her?” Rigby asked.

“Five bucks says she’ll ask him out first.”

“Deal.”