19. Card Captor Sunny: Clear Cards
"To your left! No, right! Quick, shoot it!"
"I-I'm trying, I'm sorry, I'm so-"
"Less apologizing, more shooting!"
"I'm sorry, I can't, I don't know-"
"Reload! Quick, before it... argh, damnit!"
There was nothing else the last, lonely police officer could do, before crumbling on the ground, with her pistol empty and skin and flesh slowly torn off and eaten by half a dozen rotting, undead corpses, as she let the sound of her horrified, high pitched shriek out before her throat was ripped apart and she died a slow, painful death. The music went silent, the sounds of zombie grunting and chewing the only audible thing left in the alleyway, at least until a man's deep voice announced loudly:
YOU'RE DEAD!
"I-I'm sorry..." Said Coco, her shoulders and fake gun holding hand slumping lower.
"Stop apologizing!" Lemon Zest said, planting her palm to her forehead. She rolled her eyes and perked up, already reaching out for more quarters from her skirt pocket. "Heh, nevermind that, I wasn't any better the first time around. We'll get them next time for sure!"
Coco looked at her plastic, fake gun, then at the black cabinet with decaying zombies that it was attached to. Her body was still being tasted by the zombies, as the countdown to continue the game went down very, very slowly. "I don't want to play it anymo-"
Lemon Zest threw two coins into the cabinet and pushed the two start buttons, making the countdown disappear and respawning the fallen characters. "Come on, we got this!" She stated loudly and playfully smacked Coco's back.
"Meep!" Coco meeped and against herself pointed the gun in the general direction of the screen and started randomly pulling the trigger.
"Reload!"
"I-I'm sorry, I-I mean, ok!"
Away from the hopeless fight for survival in a zombie terror and other games filled with people, the rest of the Shadowbolts sat at the table of the juice bar section of "Juices&Arcades", an arcade parlor combined with a juice bar ran by a married couple,Mango Juice and Top Arcade. Their families ran their respective businesses separately and used to fight between each other for reasons time forgotten, but it all stopped when they found out their only children (conveniently of the same age) were in love with each other and forced their parents to either give them their blessings and end the war, or they would leave Canterlot and never speak to them again. Love won in the end and the two families combined their businesses and it flourished since. It's a lovely, but a completely different story.
"It's not quite what I expected when we decided to cheer her up," Sunny Flare spoke "but I guess it works." She shrugged, taking a sip from a multi colored juice that matched the colors of her hair and skin.
"Lemon Zest can bring levity to any situation." Sugarcoat nodded, her juice also colored after her.
"Heh, tell me about it," Sour Sweet rolled her eyes. She had the same beverage. And just like her juice, she soured. "Levity is about all she has to offer," then 'sweetened' "but this is fine!"
They watched the unlikely duo shoot down a horde of zombies with relative success, until they reached level 3, where overgrown, acid spitting mosquitoes quickly took the remaining half of their healths. They watched Lemon Zest loudly groan, before putting more quarters in the machine, while Coco looked like she wanted to run away, but was more afraid of the ensuing chase than being eaten by the zombies.
"That level is rigged," Sugarcoat coldly expressed "it is impossible to complete it with a single life."
The other three shrugged and hummed, before turning back to their respective "Yourself" (that's the name of the drink they somehow always customize to match the customer's color scheme and tastes. It was always absolutely delicious, too!) in relative silence.
There was no mall. There was no pop music running in the bowling range, nor were Rainbow Dash's friends or any other people anywhere in sight or mind. All that was left, was an eight pound, light yellowish ball, ten pins at the end of the sixty feet (give or take) long lane. And there was her, about to make or break all of the last hours of effort of her entire team. She took a deep breath, followed by a slow walk, then one swift hand movement sent the ball rolling for few seconds, until...
"STRRRRRRIIIIIKE!" She jumped cheerfully, as all ten pins crumbled upon her amazing skills, her teammates cheering as their score not only matched, but way surpassed the other team. "Yeah, told ya I'm a champion!"
Sunny shrugged. "I guess you did."
"I wanna see you try and beat that!"
"Yes, yes, I get it," she yawned, grabbing the nearest ball into her hands "you're the best thing that happened to this world, yadda, yadda, yadda!"
"Damn straight!"
"I was joking."
"But I wasn't!"
Shaking her head in exasperation, Sunny got a better grip on the bowling ball and prepared for her move. All the while being dressed as she was this morning during breakfast: simple, worn, long denim pants, an orange, zipped up hoodie (with an old t-shirt underneath, but she kept that hidden from the public), and hair tied up in a lazy person's ponytail. It took a few minutes, deep breathing and the promise of a makeover to avoid giving Rarity a heart attack. But once the initial shock wore off, they had something else on their minds.
"No more doubts about it," Rarity said, while Sunny corrected her grip on the ball "something is not right!" She announced, with Fluttershy nodding fervently.
"What do you mean?" Sci-Twi joined in on the conversation.
"For one," Rarity explained "she's being suspiciously... family friendly today."
Fluttershy nodded. "She didn't make any lewd remarks when Pinkie Pie accidentally sprayed whipped cream on my face."
"And when Rainbow Dash proudly exclaimed that she could 'take us all at the same time with hands tied behind her back', she didn't say 'that's what she said'!"
Twilight blinked. Knowing better to never question the connections between Pinkie Pie and whipped cream anymore, Twilight scratched her head. "That's... true, but-"
"And don't even get me started on what she's wearing!"
Not only Twilight, but even Fluttershy couldn't help but roll her eyes.
"So, why are they shooting a bunch of zombies in a post-apocalyptic setting, anyway?" Sunny Flare asked, with Sugarcoat quickly coming with an answer.
"It all started with a virus designed to be used as a biological weapon, but the experiment went out of contro-"
A loud facepalm interrupted Sugarcoat's explanation. "I meant, why are they playing a zombie shooter, instead of something more, well..."
"Girly?" Indigo Zap asked, raising a brow.
"Yes. Like a dancing game, karaoke or, I dunno, one of those fighters that keeps getting more female characters in their roster to the point that some of them have token male characters instead?" After a long pause, Sunny Flare rolled her eyes at the confused looks of her friends. "Yes Sugarcoat, I watched all those trailers you keep sending us!"
Sugarcoat nodded with approval.
Another batch of silence fell over the table, interrupted only by loud music, yelling of children and an occasional slurping of 'Yourself'.
"You know what I miss?" Sour Sweet interrupted the silence. "Shoes. In particular talking about them. We haven't been doing that recently."
"Tell me about it," Sunny Flare nodded "but it's hard to talk about clothes when someone is always whining whenever we bring it up."
Indigo huffed, turning away. "I'm not whining!" She protested through her teeth, not even trying to hide her usual grimace of 'stopping myself from whining about fashion'.
Sugarcoat also entered the conversation. "It's a stupid conversation anyway, because unlike some rich girls, some of us have to spend our money in a responsible manner, which does not include clothes we rarely get to wear due to changing seasons, trends and attending a school with uniform policy."
"Speaking of 'responsible money spending'," Sour Sweet smiled slyly as she asked "how many loot boxes have you opened this week?"
Sugarcoat remained silent for a while. She took a sip of her Yourself. "I only spent enough to get what I needed and I am done now."
"And what were you looking for, if you'd like to remind me?" The smile grew ever wider, as Sour Sweet leaned over towards the blue skinned girl, as poker faced as ever, except slightly turned away, slurping what at that point were regular, slowly melting ice cubes from an empty cup. "Well?"
Sugarcoat blinked. "It was... a maid outfit." She announced. Sunny Flare and Sour Sweet raised their eyebrows. "With cat ears."
"So," Sunny Flare tapped her finger on her chin "you're not buying an excessive amounts of clothes for yourself so you could gamble for digital clothes for a fictional chara-" she continued until she was interrupted by Sugarcoat's empty cup slamming on the table.
"I freely admit I lost this conversation and I request we change the topic."
Leaning on her chair, Sunny Flare smiled and nodded with satisfaction. "Yeah, we can do that." She extended her hand to her left, palm upwards.
"We sure can!" Sour Sweet nodded, low fiving her like minded friend, much to Sugarcoat's chagrin.
Indigo Zap rolled her eyes, but she did not whine.
"I do admit it's a strange experience not to be teased every five minutes," Sci-Twi admitted through her blushing cheeks "so what does that mean, exactly?"
"YEAH!" The three were interrupted by a loud yell. They saw Rainbow Dash as she jumped so high up in midair, they thought she'd sprout her wings and fly away (which, surprisingly enough, COULD happen). Thankfully it was just bowling, which apparently wasn't the most magical inspiring discipline, so she landed on her two feet, high fived her teammates and went on to trash talk the other team, in particular one fiery haired magical girl. Sunny only shrugged and smiled politely.
"Ooookay," Sunset Shimmer; the unicorn turned human, and Applejack; the human, joined the pondering trio "any idea what's bugging her?" She was only met with shrugging.
The awkward pause gave the Rainbooms (sans Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie) time to look at Rainbow Dash, STILL trash talking Sunny, who couldn't care less about being talked down, nor about Pinkie Pie playfully clinging on her neck.
"Girls, you don't think," Fluttershy started "that something, uhm, magical happened? I-I mean, it wouldn't be the first time magic influenced someone's mood..."
Pinkie gasped. "Shimmy got cursed!"
As everyone gasped, Applejack waved her hand as she explained. "Nah, come on now! Ah know she's bein' a lil' out of whack lately, but that ain't meaning she's cursed or somethin'!"
A few more hushed conversations started but quickly ended when Rainbow Dash finally left Sunny alone and turned to everyone else.
"Enough fooling around, who's up for a rematch?"
Sunny was the first one to raise her hand, thought not as enthusiastically as they expected.
"I'll pass, but you go on and have fun without me," she looked around her friends' dropped jaws, smiled sheepishly and pointed at the bar section "I'll get something to drink." And off she went, leaving the very confused friends behind.
Applejack coughed. "'Kay, so do we pony up ourselves, or should we call Princess Twilight first?"
Sunset sighed deeply and stood up. "I'll go talk to her."
Straight Spark had quite a reputation as a local casanova in his high school. It wasn't his fault that his charming, perfectly shaped face and mastefully modeled hair (not to mention his most up to date wardrobe) was too much for a single girl to handle. Feeling a bit more adventurous, he invited his two less charming (but quite loyal and dependable) friends as wingmen while he searched for new preysgirls worthy of him. And found them he did.
His two friends were a bit more skeptical. Recognizing the girls as Shadowbolts from Crystal Prep, they figured they were out of their league.
"Maybe out of yours." Straight said. "Watch how it's done!"
After making sure his hair was perfect, he made his way towards the table with four cuties, while his wingmen watched from a safe distance. During the five seconds walk, he made a few calculations regarding his targets based on first impressions and surface information. While all four of them were cute in their own way, by process of elimination he struck down the multi-pigtailed one, since her face never changed expressions, which meant she was crazy (and he wasn't a fan of monotones). The pink haired with freckles had the opposite problem, changing from angry to happy every two words, also crazy and not hiding it (hot, though). The goggled one was a tomboy and he wasn't a fan of dating someone who could outplay you in most sports. But the one that remained.... was perfect.
"Hey there, precious," he said, leaning over their table, trying to make eye contact with Sunny Flare, failing to grab her attention "what do you say we get to know each other better over, say, a cup of coffee?"
He was pretty sure he donned his million dollar smile and was loud enough for her to hear even in this rowdy environment, which made her non-reaction all the more confusing. Her friends noticed and looked at him with eyebrows raised, but he decided to ignore them.
Weird, this usually doesn't happen. Maybe she didn't hear me? He coughed and continued. "I know a really nice place, where we could spend some nice time, just you and..."
"Get lost."
"...I and nice--w-wait, what?"
Sunny Flare sighed deeply, firmly setting 'yourself' on the table. "I don't care enough to give you all thirty seven reasons why I'd rather date a poisonous viper..."
"Th-thirty seven?"
"...so I'll stop at two. One, I'm already in a stable, serious relationship, and two, your hair is stupid."
One blink. Two blinks. His brain stopped working for a solid several seconds, but regained some consciousness after shaking his head.
"M-my hair is... is..." he stopped himself from any further comments and decided to press on "Oh please, what can other men offer you that I cannot?"
An arm wrapped itself around Sunny Flare's shoulder. "Who said anything about a man?" The short haired tomboy asked, smiling slyly at Straight.
If the previous comment didn't crash his brain, then the view of two girls leaning on each other’s sides, hands over shoulders and heads touching, certainly did. Both smiled at each other, then at the stupefied boy, who didn't realize how wide his mouth was opened at this point, or what weird sounds were coming out of his throat. The three-tailed girl didn't say anything, while the freckled one facepalmed, not that he registered it anyway.
He scratched his head. "Oh... okay then..." he hummed, looking at the embracing duet. After some mental arithmetics, he took his chances. "You know... the three of us could--"
"Leave!"
"MEEP!" He meeped and turned on his heels and rushed toward his wingmen, who equally mocked and comforted their shot-down friend. Mostly mocked.
Once they disappeared, Sunny Flare and Indigo Zap finally broke into laughter, while Sour Sweet groaned and Sugarcoat wished she could.
"I will NEVER get tired of this!" Sunny Flare said.
"Me neither!" Indigo Zap nodded.
"On the risk of repeating myself for the sixth time this month, this stopped being funny months ago." Sugarcoat said and Sour Sweet nodded.
Indigo and Sunny (Flare) looked at each other and shrugged.
"Naaah!"
"He had it coming!" Sunny Flare said. "I have never seen a hairstyle that tried this hard to be cool and failed so much!"
Indigo nodded. "At least he wasn't unironically wearing an ugly sweater!"
"Ugh, don't even remind me!" She gagged at the memory, which then provoked another fit of laughter that transferred over to her 'occasional fake lesbian' roommate.
Sour Sweet stayed in her sour mood, the sweet side nowhere to be seen. "Sometimes I hate you two so, so, much!"
Sunny Flare crossed her arms. "You're just jealous you don't have your personal (fake) lesbian lover whenever some creep hits on you."
Sugarcoat crossed her arms. "Don't even think abou--"
"I'M NOT THINKING ABOUT ANYTHING!"
Indigo leaned over. "I think she's more jealous that boys actually hit on us."
"Ouch, shots fired!"
Sour Sweet's eyebrow twitched a few times, as she calculated the chances of commiting a first degree murder and getting away with it. Slim, but not impossible.
"Nah, we're just messing with you!" Indigo said. "No hard feelings?"
Sour Sweet groaned, then forced her face to smile in the sweetest way she could at the moment. "Think nothing of it!" The smile faded after two seconds. "You jerks."
Shrugging, Sunny Flare turned her head away in a dramatic fashion. "Well, if you have a problem with our relationship, then I'm afraid we can't be friends anymore!"
Indigo put a hand on her lover's (?) shoulder. "It's okay Sunny, yes you, for once, as long as we have each other, we don't need anyone else!"
Sunny Flare turned to Indigo, their hands joined. "Yes, you're right! Our love will overcome all hardships!"
"Always and forever!" She said, a chuckle escaping from her barely held composure. It didn't help that Sunny Flare was also on the brink of exploding, but neither wanted to be the first one to break.
Some time, barely a few seconds, had passed since the two joined hands. There was a cue. A missed cue. By now it was either Sugacoat's turn to say something incredibly snarky and insightful, or for Sour Sweet to continue her cringing (by now she should be withholding a desire to throw up herself... or 'Yourself'). Nothing. No usual reactions. Sugarcoat remained motion and emotionless as she usually was, but Sour Sweet... Sour Sweet's wide open eyes stared at them, while her mouth was slightly open, occasionally twitching. Indigo Zap and Sunny Flare blinked at them, then looked at each other. Back at their two friends, more specifically their eyes. It took them a moment to realize that their gazes weren't focused directly on them, but slightly higher, in the space between the two.
And then it hit them, at the same time, like a truck. A realization. A terrible, terrible one. They slowly, robotically turned their heads behind, to notice a short, teal haired girl.
Oh... Sunny Flare started the thought.
...crap! and Indigo Zap finished it.
Coco's mouth opened and closed a few times. She stood right behind the two, fiddling with her fingers, her head slightly tilted away.
"U-umm... we... we're done with... the game..."
In the distance, they saw their arcade cabinet, now occupied by some little kids, as well as Lemon Zest, busy with a crane machine nearby, oblivious to the situation at the table.
A sound of Sour Sweet's forehead slamming the table was heard throughout the mall.
Sunset sat down at the tall chair at the counter right next to her clearly depressed doppelganger, who sat in silence, waiting for her colored soda.
"So... food for thought?" She asked, but got only a shrug as answer. She swallowed and continued. "That's where you say you're not hungry, or something about going to food court or some other snarky remark..." Hearing no answer, she sighed "Sunny, what's going on? You're not acting like the usual you."
Sunny frowned. "Then how am I supposed to act? What am I supposed to do to appease everyone?"
Sunset blinked, opening her mouth for no sound to escape. Noticing her equestrian counterpart's confusion, Sunny turned slightly away, hoping for the conversation to just end, knowing full well it was only the calm before the storm. Before it was unleashed, the cashier returned with a cup of soda, putting it in front of them.
"Here you go miss, your... uh..." he said and blinked at his client, right next to another girl who, despite different clothes and hairstyle, happened to be an exact copy of her. His eyebrow raised as he continued staring for a few seconds, before Sunset chimed in.
"We're cousins!" She stated cheerfully, making the man blink a few times, before blushing furiously.
"I-I'm terribly sorry, I-I didn't me-mean t-to..."
"It's fine. We get that a lot."
The cashier waved his hands, before gently bowing and bowing out of there, finding himself something else to do. Sunset chuckled at him when he was gone. I still can't believe this actually works! Unfortunately, she was the only Sunset Shimmer around who found any amusement at the moment, the other one busying herself with slowly sipping her drink.
"Problems with school?" Sunset Shimmer asked. "Twilight told me that homework at Crystal Prep is no joke, at least compared to what we have in Canterlot High... no? Umm, then it's something about the, you know..." she looked around, making sure she wasn't being listened to "magical girl work? Is that what it's about?" The only thing in between the silence was the slurping sound coming from the plastic cup. Sunset cleared her throat and kept going. "Because if there's something wrong with your magic, I'd rather you didn't hide it from me-"
"My magic is fine." She interrupted her.
Sunset stared at Sunny for a moment, scratching her head. "Oh. That's good to hear, I guess. Then what is-"
"This was a mistake." Sunny interrupted her again, placing her now empty cup at the counter, standing up from her seat.
"What was a mistake?"
"I should've stayed home," she said, turning towards the exit and slowly walking away "I'm sorry for ruining your weekend."
Sunset blinked a few times, watching helplessly as her human counterpart closed the door behind her. She turned to the other Rainbooms, also watching the recently closed doors, until they turned towards her. Their eyes met and at once, they all shared a nod and hastily packed their things to follow their friend.
The tension at the Shadowbolts table grew denser with every second. Coco Pommel stood a few feet away, her hands twiddling in front of her, eyes slightly shaking, barely withholding her emotions and tears. Seeing as Indigo Zap and Sunny not her Flare were paralyzed after their recent faux pax of cataclysmic proportions, Sour Sweet realized that fixing this mess was her duty. And while her neighbour was far from the most compassionate looking person, Sugarcoat was critical to her plan.
"So, did you die in level 3?" Sour Sweet asked, smiling sheepishly, before turning sour. "Cause I heard that it's rigged!"
Coco's eyes opened slightly wider, as she scratched the back of her head. "Y-yes, we did. It was, uhm... I'm not sure how you're supposed to go through it without losing a life."
"You're not." Sugarcoat quickly explained. "That level was clearly designed to squeeze as many quarters from kids as humanly possible. In the console port, this level is significantly easier, with more health pickups and weapons spread around in more visible spots."
"Oh... I guess that explains... it..."
Sour Sweet sighed with relief, glad that the conversation went from "dangerous" to just "omg they're talking about video games again" territory. It was the lesser evil. Okay, now we just need to avoid any sensitive topics and everything should be ay-okay! She thought, smiling to herself, watching, but not listening, as Sugarcoat kept reciting video game trivia to a mildly interested Coco, while Indigo and Sunny sighed with great relief. Then Lemon Zest came back, interrupting the friendly chat by playfully smacking Coco's back lightly.
"MEEEP!"
Relatively speaking.
"Don't worry, newbie, we'll get'em next time!" She laughed, oblivious to the annoyed stares she was given. Before anyone objected, she pulled her other hand from behind her back and placed a small plush toy straight into Coco's hands. "Here, you go. A souvenir!"
Coco smiled lightly, honestly trying to match Lemon's cheerful attitude, with lukewarm results. "Th-thank you, Lemon Zest. You really didn't have to... to... to..." The tone of her voice steadily grew more quiet, until only tiny squeaks came out of her mouth, all the while looking deep into her new little toy.
To their credit, the four non-Zesty Shadowbolts had some context available, but were less familiar with the mind and life of Coco Pommel, thus unable to quickly grasp the reality of the current situation. One after another they finally started noticing the same thing. First was Sunny Flare, whose eyes grew wider and jaw slowly lowered. Nanoseconds after noticing it, her roommate had a similar reaction, as the synapses in her head connected the dots. Sugarcoat blinked and uttered a hushed "oh". Sour Sweet chuckled, then slowly touched her face, which only hid her disgusted reaction halfway. Only Lemon Zest kept her cheerful attitude this entire time, only raising an eyebrow when everyone went silent for a longer period of time.
Coco opened her mouth a few times, but her efforts to create a sentence went nowhere, as the sight of a plush toy in her hands paralyzed her ability to think and speak. She couldn't take her eyes off of... a small, bright orange unicorn plushie. Judging by her chest movement, her breathing slowed down significantly, her lower jaw shaking uncontrollably, while her eyes started tearing up. It was only a matter of time before something was about to blow, when...
"SHOES!"
Everyone at the table almost fell of their chairs when Indigo slammed her hands, as she suddenly stood up with the declaration. All eyes on Indigo, most of all Coco, who woke up from her depression and wasn't sure if she should cover her face right about now, for reasons better not explained. Indigo coughed nervously, desperately trying to create a believable cover story.
"I, uh... you see..."
Sugarcoat was the first one to respond. "I think Indigo is trying to say that she needs to buy a new pair of shoes to compliment her dress for the Homecoming that's happening in next two weeks." She said, Indigo quickly nodding, sweat still pouring from her face.
Lemon Zest tapped her chin. "Didn't you buy a pair last week?" She asked, unaware of all the murder intent directed her way.
"Yes, she did," Sour Sweet said sweetly, then soured and added "but that was, like, sooo last week!"
Indigo's eyebrow twitched as she forced a smile. "W-what she said."
"Aaaand," Sunny Flare stood up and approached Coco "we could use your advice, since you're the vice president of the fashion club!"
"Was." Sugarcoat corrected.
"Whatever! Come on, we're going shopping!" She stood up and rushed toward the exit, ignoring all the ensuing meeping as she dragged Coco with her, giving Indigo an opening to carefully snatch the plush pony out of her arms while she wasn't looking, hide it in Sunny Flare's handbag and follow the two.
As the trio blended in the crowds, Lemon Zest scratched her head. "What was that all abou-OW!" She was interrupted by a thankfully empty plastic cup hitting her forehead. "Ugh, why did you do that!?" She complained at Sour Sweet, whose sweet side was nowhere to be seen.
"You," Sour said while standing up from her seat and walking out of the juice bar "are the worst!"
Lemon Zest kept massaging her forehead in even deeper confusion. She turned to the only other one present. "What got into her? She's even more hostile than usual!"
Sugarcoat also stood up and fixed her glasses, but took a few seconds longer than usual to formulate a retort. "I... I am officially out of words to describe your incompetence."
"...what?"
"I recommend not saying a single word more for the rest of the day and doing your usual 'in another world' routine." She then turned away and rushed after her friends, leaving Lemon Zest alone and more confused than ever before. "At least then you won't ruin anything else."
Lemon blinked a few times. "What did I do?"
"Any luck contacting Coco?"
"Unfortunately, no. Her phone is still turned off. Or broken."
"And she hasn't been on MyStable for days! DAYS!"
"Is that why she didn't upvote Angel bunny's last album?"
"Guys, you don't think Coco's in trouble?"
"Ah doubt it. If she was, Sunny woulda been searchin' all over the city!"
"Come to think of it, she's been avoiding talking about her today. Do you think they had a fight?"
STOMP!
The Rainbooms jumped when Sunny suddenly stopped on her tracks just a few feet away from them and stomped on the ground, with or without magic bolstering the act. It shut them up, as well as attracted the attention of nearby mall-goers. She turned at them with bemused expression.
"Gossip all you darn want but could you please kindly STOP FOLLOWING ME!"
The seven girls took a single step back, but no more after that. After giving the innocent and uninvited people around the 'do you mind?' gaze, Rarity stepped forward.
"Darling, we're just worried about you and want to help."
"And I appreciate it, but I'd... I'd rather be alone."
Rainbow huffed. "Pfft, and that line is why we're not letting you go that easily!"
Sunny facepalmed. "Ugh, seriously... don't you girls have better things to do?"
The rainbooms looked at each other, then looked back at Sunny and replied in unison.
"No." An angelic chorus answered with great conviction.
After a long pause, Sunny blinked. "Should've seen that coming."
The rest of the conversation had to be put on hold when Sunny's cell phone started ringing much louder than usual, with an old school tune from some cartoon. Sunny raised a finger while answering the call.
"Yes, captain? ... ok, I'm on my way... yes, I promise I'll behave this time!" She hung up and looked at the rainbooms. "Captain Twi-Bro called. So, do you girls want to continue this or can I go save a hostage and stuff?" She asked. The Rainbooms shared a frown, but shook their heads.
"We'll continue this later." Sunset Shimmer said.
Sunny turned on her heels and ran away, leaving a group of concerned girls, fully aware that she'd have to face them again eventually. Not that she blamed them, she would've done the same to them, but still she wasn't looking forward to it, whether she was going to come clean or lie. It was the least important thing at the moment, as she was scouting the mall for a safe place to transform and teleport away. Where's the nearest restroom, again? This place is way too big!
She stopped on her tracks just as she turned around the corner. Of all the possible times and places, it was right here, right now, in front of the branch of one the largest line of shoe stores in the country. At the exact same time as the Shadowbolts. With Coco.
Time stopped for a brief moment when the eyes of the two former roommates met. Their respective mouths silently gasped at the same moment, then both quickly looked aside, away from each other's gazes.
The Shadowbolts also held their breaths and looked at each other, hoping for someone else to figure out a good first reaction, but only meeting with an oblivious shrug. The only one who didn't freeze was Lemon Zest, as she followed the others from a safe distance with headphones on her ears and eyes buried into her smartphone, only miraculously avoiding any obstacles on her way. Partially because she didn't want to mess anything up again, partially because she was bitter about her previous treatment, either way she wanted nothing to do with them for the time, but without completely abandoning them.
After a few unbearingly long seconds, Sunny shook her head and resumed her previous journey, walking right past Coco and other girls she didn't care much for. She literally had more important things to do than stay and awkwardly do and say nothing. Along the way Indigo Zap was about to stop her, but was stopped when Sunny Flare touched her arm and shook her head.
Once she was completely gone, all eyes went towards Coco, who didn't move an inch, just stood where she was with her head lowered and fists tightly gripping her own skirt.
Sugarcoat walked toward her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Do you want to go back?" She asked gently.
Coco nodded.
After who knows how many long hours of silence, Sunny's room was suddenly filled with sounds of magical teleportation combined with the annoying groaning of an underage superheroine. Fifteen or so minutes of playing a nice girl, smiling brightly, saving the day and spouting nonsensical heroisms earned her a raise. Or at least a cake, or a batch of cookies, with chocolate bits the size of acorns. And what did they give her for saving that middle school boy from a supposed fate worse than death? A pat on the back. Some kind words. A few photos that were sure to end up on her fanpages. Yes, plural. Along with approving looks from Captain 'I have a wife and I won't hesitate to use her against you'.
She yelled off the top of her lungs as she kicked a mannequin down, sending it plummeting on the ground. There wasn't any dress on it, because she was still wearing it, so it was okay to abuse the worthless, naked piece of plastic. She looked at her messy bed, then at the empty, tidy one across it. A closed laptop was still lying on it. After taking a breath, she started slowly undressing herself, not even in the mood to use magic at this point, instead throwing all the clothes on the spare, unused bed. One glove ended up on the floor, but Sunny decided to not care, instead flopping on her own bed in her underwear. If there was a time to care less about the world and ignore existence as a whole, it was right now. Her eyes slowly closed, when...
Her phone started ringing again. She groaned loudly, then put her pillow over her head, deciding to outwait whoever was calling her at this moment. It wasn't the ringtone of captain Armor, so she knew it definitely wasn't urgent. Not to her. Not now. Not even when it didn't stop ringing... until it finally stopped. Sunny took a deep breath with the intention to sigh, when it started ringing again. Nearly choking on the air, she groaned again and levitated the bloody thing out of her hoodie and looked at the screen to see the caller.
Sunset Shimmer.
She groaned yet again, burying her head in the pillow, before taking the call. She knew avoiding her for too long would only spell disasters, like friendly interventions, except with magic and stuff.
"What do you want? ...yeah, just peachy, I'm perfect, why would you ever ask? ...whatever gave the away? ...look, I'm sorry I'm being a bitch now, but I'm not in the mood, so can we please... no, really... look, I'm gonna hang up, so... yeah, I know... I know... ugh, fine, you wanna know? Coco is gay and I'm not! There, I said it! You happy? Satisfied? ... yeah, didn't think so... so, do you have any good friend advice to someone who accidentally broke the heart of her best friend? Any spells that could fix the whole fiasco? ...yeah, that's what I thought. So no, I'm not feeling good, I'm trying to sleep in the middle of an afternoon on a messed up bed in an empty room while Coco is having the time of her life with the frickin' Shadowbolts! Now please stop calling me and let me wallow in self pity! ALONE! BYE"
She hung up on the call and threw the phone on the floor. She bought it with her action life in mind, so it didn't break. Unlike Coco's phone just a few days ago.
Lying on her bed for the next several hours, Sunny tried to think of some silver lining to cheer herself up. Nobody called, which meant that Sunset took a hint and left her alone. Or prepared a huge party with Diane. On the plus side, she saved a life today. It didn't feel quite as satisfying as the first time it happened, if only because the little white haired boy she saved was a little too clingy and huggy for her taste, but what do you expect from someone saved by a superhero? She never even got his name. And she didn't care.
After dozens of slow paced episodes, the final fight with the superpowered mafia boss came to an end, as the protagonist punched him through ten different walls, literally, sending his unconscious body right into the middle of a civil war that stopped abruptly once everyone saw the most powerful man in the country lying on the ground motionless. There were cries of happiness and despair alike, but our heroes smiled through their wounds and sweat, glad to see the nightmare was finally over. It was a perfect climax, sure to be followed by one or two episodes of clean up and then another arc. And yet, it felt hollow, but not due to the cheap animation or the show's quality, but external reasons.
As the ending credits started rolling out, Sugarcoat turned towards Coco. Just as she was happy to see her improve and get more lively, one faithfull encounter was all it took to sap the energy out of her and revert her back to her unemotional, vegetative state, just sitting in fetal position, hugging her knees and a pillow while watching the show. Or rather staring in the general direction of the monitor, who knew how much she was registering.
Sugarcoat shook her head as she started playing the next episode.
I think I figured it out- I have a hard time writing depressing chapters! Well, good job figuring THAT out when the story goes through it's biggest downfall. Yay me. At least it can't get any worse than that. I mean, it's not like something bad will happen... right?
Also, sorry for Zestabuse. I promise I won't be mean to her anymore.
It's been a while since I talked about Card Captor Sakura, but it's clear as day that it's one of my main inspirations for this fic, despite not remembering much of the story. Recently they started running a sequel story and I've watched a few episodes.
The story continues shortly after original series ends. Sakura is now in middle school, most of her friends are around, she's dating Syaoran, Tomoyo is still best girl and there's a new magical plot- one that erased the old clover cards and turned them clear, so Sakura has to catch them again and gain new powers as she goes along. And then there's a lot of slice of life in between. A LOT. And a ton of cameos from previous series. A TON.
Dear lord, I haven't had nostalgia hit quite as hard in a while! This show is almost exactly as I remember it, except way prettier, like, holy geepers, it's sooooo pretty! And while the day to day life of Sakura and her friends can be a little saccharine and dull at times, I'm still enjoying it immensely. The plot could start moving a bit faster, but I'm only at episode 7 so I won't cast any early judgments. Also back are the action scenes, which mostly consists of Sakura (and sometimes a friend) figuring out some magical riddle before aquiring a new power she just defeated. No power levels, just wit and creative use of what she already has. Very JoJo'esque, now that I think about it, just less manly... actually, give her a few more episodes and Sakura could stand (haha) up to stand users on her own.
Overall, I like it and if you're a fan of old show/manga, then you owe it to yourself to watch this one too.
Next time... oh crap, I was supposed to talk about something else this time! Ugh, what was it... a, forget it, next time I'll talk about whatever the heck I want. Cause I'm a rebel, that's why.
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Great update chapter.
Poor Coco. That's all that needs to be said.
Great chapter, but seriously how long till Sunny and Coco make up? Or something happens that requires Sunny to save Coco (and the sunny finally returns Coco's love )
They made a sequel? Not gonna watch it since the whole romantic subplot for the first series is gone.
Anyway, what if Magical Girl Sunny went to Equestria to run away of her troubles?
That "oh, crap" moment was wonderful. I had to stop reading for a second so I could join Sour Sweet in face-desking.
8831148
Maybe she doesn't, ever, and Coco ends up with someone else like Sugarcoat. now that would be interesting.
Sunny was the first one to raise her hand, thought not as enthusiastically
1. Though.
Huh... Didn't realise that a sequel was out. Now I feel like I want to watch it too because that's was also one of my childhood shows. Most of CLAMP's shows are really.
I don't think she's interested.
I would not be surprised.
*snerk*
Maybe she has something on her mind?
A classic story of human stupidity.
Good, know when to fold them.
OK, what's wrong?
Ouch.
I disagree.
Ouch, shots-
Fired. Wow, just take my job.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!
OK, something's eating at you.
That'd about do it.
Eh?
You ARE dense.
You really should have.
This, hoo boy this is a whole problem.
This chapter came at the perfect time to save a terrible morning. Did I tell you that I love this story? But we need more Zestlove.
And, that was the end of the Alabasta arc from One Piece at the end, right?
The Shadowbolts are such fun, normal-ish person characters.
Not sure I buy Sunny's claim about her orientation, though, and not just because I can read the tags on the story.
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I was talking about an old cartoon show that was on cartoon network.
What the heck dude! We signed up to this fic for magical girls not this shonen stuff, unsubscribe!
In all seriousness nice One Piece reference. Loved it when Luffy beat Crocodile. 
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The Latin American Spanish version is an almost direct translation of that only the music is slightly different so it fits the opening.
I'm pretty sure the rainbooms are cooking up something. Or at least Pinkie. And it will be glorious and deeply embarrassing.
Good chapter, hopefully Coco can be happy again at some point in the story.
Now there is a show I've actively been watching recently. I never watched Cardcaptor back in the day, but I have watched other Clamp shows and have been rather enjoying this one. It has felt a bit like a friendlier, happier Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle.