Does Friendship Conquer All?

[Fluttershy]

Her head tilted slightly as Twilight mentioned that Pinkie had been worried they'd have to fight. That... in spite of the fact that she knew the fights were commomplace, the idea seemed just a little silly to the yellow pegasus. Not just because they wore the same uniform - athough knowing Twilight was in her own circle did make Fluttershy feel a slight little bit better - but because, well, they were friends. Friends didn't fight each other. The thought of any of the girls here arrayed against her felt like the last thing that would ever happen. "Oh, Twilight, I don't think that-"

The rest of the sentence abandoned her as the lavender unicorn spoke up again.

"F-f-f-fight e-each other?" Her voice was barely a squeak. Fluttershy's teal gaze flickered between Twilight and Pinkie, and the poor nervous pegasus shrunk down even lower to the ground and began to tremble uncontrolably. No, they... they were friends, they couldn't be made to hurt each other! It just... it was so completely wrong. She could hardly imagine Twilight and Pinkie going up against each other, but even if they just stuck to kicking each other with hooves, Fluttershy was sure some serious damage could be done. And if Twilight used her magic--

"W-why would anypony make you do this?" She focused on Twilight, eyes wide and pleading - even verging on tears - as she silently begged her circle-mate not to hurt Pinkie - or get hurt by her. Fluttershy couldn't bear the thought of either of her friends being injured - and even less, for one of the other of their number to have done the injuring. She wanted to suggest that they just find whoever was in charge and ask them to change the list - but Twilight would surely have already thought of that, so if the fight was still on the idea must have been a bust. No point in bringing it up. Instead, she continued on the track of whoever was behind all this.

_{"They've got to be an even bigger meanie than Discord."}

[Rainbow Dash]

Rainbow became very worried when she saw Fluttershy walk up. And was even more worried when she saw that Fluttershy was not in her circle. That meant that Fluttershy would have to face RD or AJ or Pinkie, at any given moment. At least she knew that Twilight and Fluttershy wouldn't be fighting anytime soon. "Don't worry Fluttershy , we're all gonna be fine. Twilight just might be the most smartest Alicorn in all of Equestria. With all the books she reads, surely she can come up with some sort of idea, that doesn't involve Pinkie Pie getting too hurt....right Twilight"? Rainbow said putting a consoling hoof on Fluttershy. Frankly Dash didn't know how they were gonna do this, but, as long as they weren't fighting each other, they needed to stick together somehow.

[Twilight Sparkle]

Was she really that clever? She may have been Celestia's student, but still... Twilight didn't have spells meant for just dealing light damage. She'd never really bothered to learn much in the form of attacking spells. Celestia had taught her that magic wasn't meant to hurt other ponies, and if it was it was only to be used if absolutely necessary. Twilight couldn't think of a single spell that would be meant for only doing light injuries. Maybe she could improvise, though, or do as Rainbow had suggested and only make it look like she was attacking Pinkie. But there was the lingering memory of how she had gone about tricking Nightmare Moon... Luna into thinking she was going to attack her on the fateful night they'd all gotten their respective Elements of Harmony. Maybe the same could... No, it probably couldn't work. All she'd done to trick Luna back then was zap herself behind Luna.

Fluttershy had asked why they would want to make them fight, and Twilight was brought back to reality. She hung her head and sighed moments later.

"I wish I knew, Fluttershy. I don't even know why anypony would want me and Pinkie to fight each other. The best plan we seem to have right now is to make it look like we're fighting when we're really not. Just to keep from hurting Pinkie," Twilight said. She was beginning to doubt herself, though. Even with Applejack's reassurance that she was still clever and Rainbow's statement that she was the smartest unicorn ever, Twilight found herself doubting her every potential plan to keep from hurting her friend. Pinkie's pleas weren't helping, either. What was she supposed to do?

"Maybe the best thing to do would be to really fake some attacks. The problem is that I'm not really sure how to do that. The best I can do is shoot out some blasts of magic like I did when we were fighting the changelings."

[Fluttershy]

A weak smile quirked the corner of Fluttershy's mouth ever so slightly as she felt Rainbow's hoof on her shoulder, but it disappeared just as quickly. She knew the other Pegasus was speaking the truth when she said Twilight was smart, and Fluttershy didn't doubt her unicorn friend, but... she was just so scared. For Twilight and Pinkie, both. Neither would willingly hurt the other, she knew; but the fact remained that it looked like one of them was going to have to in the end. The pegasus' ears flattened against her skull, and her gaze danced from Twilight to Pinkie, and then back as the lavender mare spoke.

Once Twilight had finished, Fluttershy shuffled a little closer to her. The winged mare looked down at the ground, tapped her forehooves together, swallowed nervously, and then finally spoke in her quite voice. "But you're really good with magic, Twilight. You could shoot out some spells that look scary and dangerous, but are really just harmless lights and colours and don't actually do anything at all. Um, couldn't you?" She wasn't entirely sure, all told, if Twilight had spells like that at her disposal; Fluttershy's knowledge of unicorn magic was limited to only what she'd actually seen in action so far. Even if it wasn't much, and Fluttershy wasn't sure it was, it was the only contribution she could manage.

"I mean, if you are going to fake the fight after all. It would be safer than trying to stage something physical. Then, um, Pinkie can pretend to be knocked out, and nopony gets hurt. But, you know, I'll understand if you don't think that's a good idea, I know it's not really up to all that much..." the volume of her voice had been dropping lower and lower and lower ever since she had started speaking, and now it finally faded out into a mutter that was too soft to be heard at all as Fluttershy seemed to sink in on herself until she was drawn up in a tiny little ball of yellow fur, feathers and academy uniform.

What more could she even say, after all? She wasn't clever like Twilight, so she doubted her ideas ammounted to much, and she certainly wasn't brave like the rest of her friends; certainly not brave enough to handle the thought of what might happen between them that very afternoon. She was just good with animals, and that was it.

[Applejack]

Applejack sighed as she put her ears against her head as she saw Pinkie cry. It wasn't fair for either Twilight or Pinkie. No, it wasn't fair for any of them to be separated at that. They shouldn't have to worry about having to fight each other - and that wasn't mentioning having to do. Applejack had to agree with Fluttershy's statement. Whoever had set up the school's system couldn't have been in the right of mind, making friends fight against friends.

Applejack looked towards Fluttershy, listening to her ideas on how not to fight Pinkie and fake it. It sounded a bit better than the tickling idea... "Yeah, do what that show-off Trixie did... a light show... and maybe you can cast some kind of sleeping spell on Pinkie here?" Sure, it might not have been the best solution to the problem at hand, but Applejack knew that were now running out of options to do. "Make it look like you knocked her unconscious without actually hurting her?"

Applejack knew it was probably going to be shot down also. Would a sleeping spell even be allowed? Applejack hadn't exactly seen a list of exact rules.

[Twilight Sparkle]

As much as she hated to admit it, Twilight realized that putting on a light show would probably be safer than doing something physical in the end. The very idea of it, however, succeeded in leaving a bad taste in Twilight's mouth. That sort of magic was what Trixie excelled at, and the last thing she wanted to do was actually imitate the pony that had done all that bragging back in Ponyville. On the other hand, though, it wasn't as if she had a lot of options. It was either that or actually hurting Pinkie. Applejack and Fluttershy had both agreed that the idea was a good one, and Twilight really couldn't fault them for that. Still...

"That may be our best bet, girls... Even if doing something Trixie would do doesn't sound that appealing," Twilight said. She had to resist the urge to wrinkle her nose at the mere mention of Trixie's name. The braggart unicorn surely would fake a fight in that manner. After all, she'd used light shows to impress the ponies back home. ...Who was to even say that it had been bragging at all? What if showy magic just was Trixie's special talent and all that going against her hadn't been... No. Twilight couldn't think about that. She had to focus on the task at hand. A soft sigh escaped through her nose and she shook her head a bit.

"I'm sorry... I'm just making things difficult for myself, aren't I?" she asked. She didn't even give much of an opportunity for the others to answer.

"I really don't feel like myself at all right now. This whole thing's just thrown me for a loop, and I just don't know what would be best. You may be right. Faking a fight with light shows and all that would probably be the safest thing to do. But... What if they - whoever they are - realize something isn't right?" she asked. Twilight may have just been going on a groundless fear with that assumption. She realized that much. Still... They needed to have all their bases covered, didn't they?

"I'll fall back on the light show idea if all else fails. That's not to say that I'm going to hurt Pinkie, though. We all know how much I don't want to do that. I just... Maybe I'm biased, but I don't really want to fall back on something Trixie would do unless I'm really out of ideas. It's a great idea, though! ...Probably the best we've had this whole time."