Aria Blaze slowly closed behind her the door to the apartment she shared with her two siren sisters. The last thing she needed was for them to wake up and see that she was leaving. Not that Adagio would care. Sonata was the one that she was most worried about. She was a nosey and curious girl, whose curiosity not only annoyed Aria, but inconvenienced her too.
It was the dead of night though, and both of them were probably too gone into dreamland to know she had even stepped out. She just had to be back before they woke up, which wouldn't be a problem. What she was about to do wasn't going to take more than a few hours.
As she made her way down the street, she made sure to check and see if anyone was watching or was around at all. She knew no one was really walking about at this hour, but she could never be too sure. Her destination was only a few blocks away. She couldn’t have someone she knew messing up her plans.
The path she took wasn’t too popular anyway; her trek consisting of cutting through some open yards and in between houses. She knew the way like the back of her hand, and could navigate through the surrounding neighbourhoods easily if someone decided to follow her.
Her destination came into view after she had turned a corner, and she breathed a sigh of relief when the marquee shone as bright as moonlight against the otherwise abandoned streets of Canterlot.
The line for the ticket booth wasn’t exactly non-existent, but she could manage with what few people there were. She pulled her hood up over her head to disguise herself, just in case.
Aria’s wait wasn’t long, and when it was her turn to request a ticket, she mumbled, “Uh, one for the kiddie movie,” scratching her face.
Juniper Montage seemed confused. “Which one? There’s like, three playing right now,” she responded, pointing to the sign that was above her.
“The um, one with...” Aria couldn’t seem to look her in the face. “Ponies,” the last part of her sentence came out forced, almost as if it hurt her to even say it.
Juniper blinked. “Oh! You mean My Pretty Pony Princess?” she asked, smiling.
“Yup, that one,” Aria responded through grit teeth, noting how loud Juniper was being. She could almost hear the delighted and amused tone in Juniper’s voice. She was ready to jump the counter and strangle her, but she didn’t want to get arrested or miss her movie.
After what felt like years, Juniper finally handed Aria her freshly printed ticket, and smiled. “Enjoy the show!”
“Yeah, whatever!” Aria called back before stepping inside the cinema.
The smell of melted butter and warm, crunchy popcorn filled her senses and she almost calmed down. Almost.
After acquiring a tantalizingly greasy tub of popcorn courtesy of the equally as greasy teenager from the concession stand, she made her way into the designated room and sat down all the way in the back. Less of a chance of getting caught, she reasoned.
The lights dimmed, and she happily munched on her popcorn as the movie began.
Feeling proud of herself for not getting caught, Aria proudly strode out of the theater and into the lobby without a care in the world.
Her mission had been successful. She hadn’t been noticed by anyone, and she was going to make it home without bumping into any--
“Aria Blaze?”
She winced. So much for that.
Aria slowly turned around to face the ruiner of her night, and wasn’t pleasantly surprised to find out that it was Sunset Shimmer. The other girl had a confused yet intrigued look on her face.
Aria had two options: She could either brush the former baddie off, or she could curse her out, and cause a scene. And since the whole point of her coming here at night and in disguise was to avoid that, she grit her teeth and mumbled, “What do you want, Shimmer?”
Sunset put her hands up in surrender. “Whoa, trust me, I’m not here to gloat or anything,” she assured her quickly. “I was just wondering why you were here so late.”
“Why is it any of your business?” Aria snapped back.
“It’s not,” Sunset conceded, folding her arms. “But the way you’re reacting makes me believe that you’ve done something wrong and I won’t let you go until you tell me what you did.”
A frown made its way to Aria’s face, her triumphant mood being beaten behind an ally by her annoyance and disgust for Sunset Shimmer. Sunset and her friends had been the reason why she and her sisters lost everything, including the amulets that had made them as powerful as they were.
Aria couldn’t give a rat’s ass about what Sunset Shimmer thought of her, or what she thought she was doing. “I don’t have to tell you anything,” Aria stated, through grit teeth.
“No I believe you don't, but I bet you'd have some explaining to do if everyone at Canterlot High knew that Aria Blaze was a pony princess loving weirdo.” The smirk on Sunset’s face in that moment infuriated Aria.
Aria had two options. She could either indulge Sunset, or walk away and be known as a sissy for the rest of her time at Canterlot High.
Her nostrils flared. “Fine. What do you want?”
Sunset took her hand and lead her in the direction of a cafe down the street. “To talk.”
Aria’s brow quirked. “About?”
Sunset took her hand without a word and led her out the door of the theater and down the street to the diner that was open late.
It was pretty deserted save for an older man who seemed to be on his way to work, and a group of drunken kids Aria realized were from school.
Not that it was any of her business if any of her classmates got wasted. She wasn't going to tattle on them, but she was sure Sunset would.
They decided on a secluded booth in the back for some privacy. The very busty waitress that came to take their order didn't even look then in the face as she scribbled down what they wanted.
Once that was settled, she was off to the kitchen, letting the two teens be alone again.
“So,” Aria demanded after a long awkward silence. “What did you want to talk about?” she tapped her finger on the table impatiently as the group at the other table giggled at something.
“I know you went to go see that pony movie,” Sunset blurted, making Aria’s eyes go as wide as saucers.
“Sunset Shimmer, I swear-” Aria started, getting up from the table. Sunset stopped her, and made her sit back down.
“As much as you want to believe I would, I wouldn’t go telling everyone what you do in your spare time,” Sunset responded smiling wryly. “I moved on from that stuff a long time ago.”
“So I’ve heard,” Aria muttered, rolling her eyes.
Sunset was compelled to roll her own. “Look, I just wanted to know if you know...you saw it because you were homesick.” Her expression softened to a more compassionate one.
Aria’s mouth curled up into a snarl. “Thanks for the afterschool special, but I’m not going to confide in anyone. Especially not you.” She grinned when annoyance broke through Sunset’s kind smile.
“I’m just trying to relate to-”
“I don’t need you to try and relate to me!” Aria snapped loudly, making the group of kids from before look her way. Her ears burned but she could honestly care less. “I don’t need your pity party or your stepping on eggshells bullshit! Stop trying to act like we’re equals!”
Aria seemed to realize how loud she was being and curled up in her side of the booth. “Sorry,” she mumbled. “It’s been a rough couple months.”
“Well, me and my friends did take the magic you spent centuries trying to obtain and collect in a matter of seconds,” Sunset responded sheepishly. She was reminded of when she too had outbursts at the girls like that when they first took her hand. It was hard, but she wouldn’t be in the position she was in now without them.
Aria glared at her.
“To be fair, none of us knew what the Magic of Friendship would do to someone who wasn't me,” Sunset added, scratching her cheek. “I know it must have been hard to adjust, especially after all that time...” she couldn’t seem to look Aria in the eye and the former siren noticed.
Aria shrugged apathetically. “It’s whatever. It sucks but nothing we can do.” she thanked the stars when the waitress brought their food to stop their painful conversation. She didn’t think she could afford to embarrass herself for the second time.
Somewhere in between eating and making side comments about the kids at the other table, the tension at their booth had somehow dissipated, and Aria was almost enjoying herself. Almost.
“Look,” she said, surprising Sunset, who was swirling her milkshake. “Maybe I was...a little home sick. Sonata dragged me to see it like two days ago and I thought it was going to be some stupid kiddie movie, but it really stuck with me. I didn’t have a good family. The family I had used to make me sing for money. I hated it. I wanted to sing for me, not for them, you know? Not for anyone else,” The smile that faintly crossed her lips was almost unnoticeable in the dim light buzzing above their heads.
“So I ran away. And that’s when I met Adagio and Sonata. And annoying as they are, they’re my family. My real family,” she snorted a short laugh and looked Sunset in the eye. “You tell anyone this corny shit I will cut you, you hear me?”
Sunset shook her head. “Not a word.” Though she smiled. “Since you told me something that’s a secret from everyone else, I’m going to tell you mines.” she dug into her backpack and pulled out a small plush horse doll.
Aria snickered. “Seriously?”
Sunset couldn’t help but laugh too. “I know, I know. But sometimes when I’m all alone, and I miss Equestria, sometimes I stroke her hair and sing the songs my mom used to sing to me as a foal.” She looked down fondly at the doll. “She’s gotten me through more than you can believe. So trust me, some dumb kiddie pony movie isn’t going ruin your rep.”
“Sure, sure,” Aria dismissed. “But since you squeezed it out of me, I need to squeeze it out of you. What exactly were you doing at the movies this late at night?”
Sunset seemed to break out in a cold sweat at the question asked. “I uh...Twinkle wanted to see it too...” she mumbled.
“Twinkle?!” Aria cackled. “You’ve gotta be shitting me!”
Sunset pouted. “It’s not funny! She’s named after a doll I had as a foal!”
By then Aria was doubled over. “Tha-That’s even worse!” she managed to get out, banging her hand on the table.
“Aria!” Sunset whined, hitting the older girl with the stuffed horse.
The tiny, high-pitched squee of the doll harmlessly bouncing off Aria's head only made her laugh harder.