//------------------------------// // Just Girls Watching Cartoons I // Story: Just Girls Talking // by MythrilMoth //------------------------------// "Do they ever learn one another's identity?" "Not yet. We think they might in season two, but that's still a ways off." A blue-skinned woman with long, wavy midnight-blue hair, wearing a flowing black gown and shining silver high heels, sat on a sofa between a teenage girl with bubblegum-pink skin and poofy pink hair like cotton candy and another girl with a curvy figure, amber skin, flashing pale green eyes, and long, shiny copper and gold hair. Each had a bowl of popcorn and a bottle of soda in front of them. Across the room, a large HDTV mounted on the wall displayed a CG-animated cartoon in which two teenage superheroes were locked in battle with a garish mime-themed villain. One of the teens was a dark-haired, blue-eyed girl in a skintight red costume covered in black spots; the other was a blond boy in a shiny black leather costume with a faux leather cat tail and ears, acid green slit-pupiled cat eyes, and a bell around his neck. The woman leaned forward with interest as the costumed girl, Ladybug, concocted a strategy for defeating the Mime that involved projecting an image on the side of the massive Eiffel Tower. Popcorn flew across the room as she erupted in boisterous cheers once the heroes proved victorious. "HUZZAH!" she exclaimed. "Such excitement! Such brilliance! This entertainment is truly grand!" The redhead next to her smirked and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, it's a fun show," she said. "A lot of kids at CHS are addicted to it. We've got a huge Miraculous Ladybug fanclub. Some of us even dress up!" "You should see Sunset's Cat Noir costume," the pink girl added slyly. "She caused a lot of nosebleeds with that one." "PINKIE!" the redhead cried, blushing. Shaking her head, she glanced at the elegant woman next to her. "Still...I seriously doubt your 'cultural study' of our world is supposed to involve binge-watching Miraculous Ladybug, Princess Luna. Shouldn't you be visiting our libraries and museums and landmarks?" Princess Luna snorted. "That 'cultural study' excuse I fed Twilight Sparkle was a load of old horseapples. I am bored, Sunset Shimmer! I have heard such interesting things about this world, I wished to see it for myself! And now I have! And your television entertainment is by far the most interesting and wonderous thing I have seen in many moons!" She tossed a handful of popcorn in her mouth. "Besides, this show is most engaging! I wish to see all of it! Every episode!" Sunset Shimmer laughed. "Well, okay. It's not like we have anything better to do." "I'm always up for a Ladybug binge!" Pinkie Pie said, pulling a box of licorice pellets out of her hair and offering it to Princess Luna. "Still, it vexes me, watching these two foolish children pine away after one another unawares," Princess Luna said as she accepted a handful of licorice. "Ugh, you and me both," Sunset groaned. "I mean, it's so obvious, you'd think they'd have figured it out by now!" "Yeah, especially after Horrificator," Pinkie said. "I mean, duh! The school was sealed off! How did neither of them realize they had to have already been there in the first place and figure it out then?" "Truly, it is a mystery," Princess Luna said as the next episode began. "If only I could get my hooves on them and knock some sense into them..." The doorbell rang. Sunset sighed and got up to answer it. She found Twilight Sparkle standing on the other side—the pony princess from Equestria, not the bespectacled nerd from this world. Starlight Glimmer stood beside her in all her ripped jeans and beanie glory. "Hey guys," Sunset said. "Didn't expect you here. What's up?" "Well, we decided we needed a break from things," Twilight said. "Starlight wanted to see more of this world, I thought maybe we could join Luna in her museum to—" She cut off mid-word as she heard a boisterous laugh from inside. She blinked. "Is...is Princess Luna here?" Sunset scratched the back of her head. "Aheh...yeah," she said. "About that—" "Oh, hey Twilight! Hey Starlight!" Pinkie called from the couch, waving. "Come on in, it's a party!" "Indeed, join us, Twilight Sparkle!" Luna called cheerfully. "Come enjoy this most wonderous and amusing entertainment with us!" Twilight groaned. "She found out about television, didn't she." "Yep," Sunset said. "She's...gotten a little addicted to Miraculous Ladybug." Starlight blinked. "Miraculous what now?" Sunset motioned for the other girls to follow, then turned back to the couch. They entered; Twilight closed the door behind them, and they found seats in plush easy chairs on opposite ends of the couch. "What happened to your 'cultural tour' of this world, Luna?" Twilight asked. Luna snorted. "Please, Twilight. Equestria has museums and libraries. I want to see fun things!" Twilight started to protest, stopped, and shrugged. "Fair enough," she said. "I mean, I think museums and libraries are plenty of fun, but..." She shook her head and smiled. "So what are we watching?" Starlight asked as she studied the TV screen in confusion. On it, a pale-skinned, blue-haired girl was acting like a goofy dork while a dark-skinned redhead with glasses looked on in exasperation. "Miraculous Ladybug," Sunset repeated. "It's a superhero cartoon." She tilted her head in thought for a moment. "It's about these two teenagers who get these magical jewels from a mysterious old man, and they use them to transform into costumed superheroes. They use their superpowers to save the city from a bad guy who also has a magical jewel and has the power to turn regular people into supervillains that go berserk." "Yeah, every episode, Hawk Moth—that's the bad guy—finds some poor schmuck who's been screwed over, bullied, or is just a real jerky-pants, sends out an Akuma, and turns them into a villain who goes on a rampage. Then Ladybug and Cat Noir show up to stop the villain and turn them back to a normal person and undo all the damage they cause." She paused. "Oh, and there's also the love square, which is one of the biggest reasons people love this show so much." "The love square?" Starlight asked. Sunset took a deep breath. "Okay, so Ladybug's secret identity is Marinette, and Cat Noir's secret identity is Adrien. They don't know each other's secret identities because they were given the impression they're not supposed to share that information." "Which seems counterproductive," Luna put in. "I mean, they are meant to be partners, are they not? Would it not be easier for them to work together if they could communicate and train and plan when not actively engaged in battle?" "It sure would!" Pinkie said. "They're lucky they work together so naturally or they'd be in real trouble!" "Anyway," Sunset continued, "Marinette and Adrien are in the same class at school. Marinette has a huge crush on Adrien." "More like she's stalking him," Pinkie put in with a giggle-snort. "Well, yeah," Sunset said even as a particularly cringe-inducing example of exactly that played out on the screen before them. "It's so bad she completely spazzes out around him and can't even talk straight sometimes." "But Adrien never catches on," Pinkie picked up. "And he's madly in love with Ladybug..." "Wait, let me guess," Starlight said in a dry tone. "As Cat Noir, but Ladybug keeps shooting him down because she's in love with Adrien and has no idea they're the same person?" "Exactly," Sunset said. Twilight blinked. "Wow. That's...a mess?" "It is a GLORIOUS mess!" Luna declared. "But vexing to watch. If they but knew one another's identities, they could couple and court and be happy! But nay! They continue to pine for one another anon, never suspecting!" "Wow, that must get frustrating after a while," Starlight said. "So...how long is this show?" "We've got 27 episodes on Streamthis," Sunset said. "The whole first season plus the Christmas special. The second season is coming pretty soon." "And we shall watch ALL OF THEM!" Luna stated loudly, throwing a fist in the air. "Uhh...sure, why not," Twilight said, settling in. "I mean, I've never just sat and watched television in this world. It could be fun!" An hour later... "So...that 'Lucky Charm' thing just gives her some random piece of junk and she has to figure out how to use it to win?" "That's the most random, bizarre superpower ever." "Yeah, it's pretty weird, but somehow or another she always makes it work." "Wow, Cat Noir really loves puns." "Yes. Yes he does..." Another hour later... "So what does Hawk Moth even want with the Miraculouses?" Starlight wondered. "I mean, what's he gain from all this?" "Well," Pinkie said, "nobody's really sure yet, but there's a lot of speculation." She glanced at Sunset. "Umm...should we say anything right now? I mean, they haven't seen Origins, Simonsayz, or Volpina yet. I mean...y'know...spoilers?" Sunset nodded. "Yeah, they need to see those episodes before we get into the spoilers and speculation." Twilight, who had the remote, went over the episode guide. Her heart sank. "But...but those episodes are all the way at the end," she moaned. Pinkie shrugged. "Eh, we could watch 'em out of sequence. I mean, the rest of the season is pretty much just one Akuma after another with love square stuff and silly bits in between." "Yeah, those are the major episodes that really do anything to address the bigger picture," Sunset agreed. "I'm up for skipping ahead if you girls are." "Works for me," Starlight said. "Let's do Simonsayz first," Pinkie suggested. "It's kinda the one that starts the big tangle of spoilers." Twenty-two minutes later... Twilight gasped as the episode ended. "Adrien's dad is Hawk Moth," she said quietly. "Isn't he?" Starlight blinked. "Wait, what?" "Aye, it does seem that way, from certain things he said," Luna agreed, arms folded and brow furrowed in thought. "His mention of risk, the absence of Hawk Moth's rant after the defeat of the Akuma..." "That's the prevailing theory," Sunset said, nodding. "Although some of the teasers for season two are kind of...ambiguous." Starlight frowned. "Now that you mention it, Hawk Moth does look a little like him." She shook her head. "And he was interested in Ladybug's earrings and Cat Noir's ring..." "And freaked out when he saw Adrien's ring at the end," Twilight pointed out. "But to what end does he seek their Miraculous?" Luna wondered. "What could a man of such substantial wealth, fame, and power gain by turning to base villainy and wreaking havoc upon the city?" "Well, Origins and Volpina have some more clues," Sunset said. "Before we watch, though, I'll just say that the main theory floating around? Is he wants the power to bring back Adrien's mom." "Yeah, nobody knows what actually happened to her except she 'disappeared'," Pinkie said sadly. "Everyone thinks if Hawk Moth is Gabriel, he's doing all this because he's obsessed with getting his wife back." "That's...that's so sad," Starlight said. "Misguided villainy," Luna offered soberly. "I can relate." "But...but if that's his goal...doesn't he realize if Adrien finds out the truth, he'll never forgive him?" Twilight asked sadly. "Oh, girl, there are thousands of pages of fanfiction about that," Pinkie said. Several hours later... "Okay you know what? I really, really hate Chloe," Starlight said. "They seriously should've let Kung Food kill her. Paris would be a hell of a lot better off without her." "No kidding," Sunset muttered. "I mean, there's being the mean girl for a reason, and then there's being a shrieking, entitled, self-absorbed twat-waffle." "And Chloe's supposed to get a Miraculous in season two," Pinkie said, blowing on her curl in irritation. "PINKIE! SPOILERS!" Sunset cried. "Oh, like you didn't know!" "Yeah, but THEY didn't!" "WHAT?" Starlight cried. "THAT spoiled brat, a superhero?" "Or a new supervillain," Twilight pointed out. "I mean, just having a Miraculous doesn't make you a hero." "I can't see the biggest cause of Akumas in Paris being any kind of hero," Starlight muttered. "I mean, at least half the Akumas are her fault!" "Well, to be fair," Pinkie pointed out, "Marinette causes a lot of them too." She paused, then dug a finger in one ear. "Umm...actually, in season two, she's even worse than Chloe." The room went silent. "Wait...what?" Sunset asked. She stared incredulously at Pinkie. "You've been watching leaked episodes?" "I can't help it!" Pinkie cried. "I'm surprised you haven't!" "I've been waiting to watch them in English!" "They've been leaking in English!" "Seriously?" Sunset blinked, then shook her head. "Don't say any more. It...it isn't that long. I can wait. Just...no spoilers!" "Aww, you're no fun..."