As the sun, mostly blocked by clouds, began to dip below the horizon, the girls found themselves in Pinkie Pie’s bedroom. She lived with her older sister Maud in a townhouse in Uma District on the south-central side of the city, within walking distance of CHS, near the University of Aristeque. Pinkie finally allowed her squeeing to subside and, after taking a deep breath to try and restore some oxygen to her brain, said to the group, “Welcome, girls, to Party Central!!”
Indeed it was. The entire room was painted a pastel yellow, accented with bright pinks for maximum good feelings. The green carpet had several redundant circular purple floral patterned rugs, all of which were covered in large pieces of pink confetti. Several balloons floated against the ceiling, some of which had streamers attached for no real reason. In the middle of the side wall, flanked along it by magenta curtains that matched those of the room’s single large window, sat the bed with its heart-shaped headboard. The bedside table lamp continued the motif with its heart lampshade. Facing the bed was a decent-sized flat-screen television with at least one game console plugged into it. In the far corner of the room near the window sat a small circular table adorned with six pink cups, a bottle of pre-made non-alcoholic punch, and a massive pink bowl filled with popcorn.
As most of the girls looked around in awe, Pinkie smiled in self-satisfaction.
“Wow, Pinkie. You really went all-out!” Sunset said, slightly in awe.
“Only the best for my gal pals!” Pinkie replied proudly before a humanoid gust of wind blew by them both.
“Dibs on the games!!” yelled Rainbow Dash as she ran to, and plopped herself in front of, the television. “Someone wanna take me on in Magic Drive Racer 6 Deluxe?”
As Fluttershy happened to be standing closest, Rainbow Dash thrust a controller at her. “Here, Fluttershy. Try a round.”
Fluttershy shuffled her feet, unsure. “Um, but I don’t think—”
“C’mon! It’ll help you relax!” Rainbow Dash interrupted as Fluttershy sat on the floor without realizing it.
“Thanks, but—”
“Look! You can play as a fuzzy widdle (barf) bunny! With a monster truck!”
Fluttershy’s eyes went wide and lit up as a newfound fiery passion burned from deep within. “I shall destroy all my enemies!”
As Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash battled it out on the simulated racetrack, Pinkie poured Applejack a glass of punch, as well as three or four for herself. Meanwhile, Rarity, sitting on the bed, motioned for Sunset to sit at the side of the bed. Sunset, with a nod, reluctantly agreed. As soon as she did so, Rarity began braiding Sunset’s hair, a contented smile on her pale face.
Not much time had passed before Applejack sat down against the wall opposite Sunset while Rarity finished the first braid and began a second; evidently braided pigtails had been the goal from the beginning. Sunset sat back and took it; for all the finger dexterity she had built up over a decade living as a humanoid, she still failed at braiding hair, especially her own. She looked to her right as much as she could given Rarity’s grip on her hair to find Pinkie passed out on the floor near a pile of plush objects, likely from a sugar crash.
“So,” Sunset said to Applejack, “Is this what you do at slumber parties? Just… hang out? Mill around?”
“Pretty much,” Applejack confirmed. “Eat, gossip, watch movies, tell scary stories…” and then she was interrupted with a thrown throw pillow to the face.
“Don’t forget pillow fights!” interjected Pinkie, who had regained consciousness by about half and had instinctively found the nearest object to pitch.
Sunset stared at them. “Wow. At least she didn’t toss her alarm clock,” she said.
“…this time.” Applejack immediately replied flatly.
Just then, Rainbow Dash led a badly twitching wide-eyed Fluttershy across the room. “Uh, I think Fluttershy needs to lie down for awhile,” she said with a twinge of guilt.
“Jump the blue shell and drop the banana peel, Mister Fuzzles!” said Fluttershy in a wavering voice.
As Rarity was still using the bed to finish Sunset’s second braid, Rainbow Dash lay Fluttershy down on the opposite side of the room to everyone else, her yellow body still convulsing from the experience of extreme (by her standards) gaming.
About five minutes later came a knock on the door. Like a jack-in-the-box, Pinkie sprung upright, saying a bit too loudly, “Ooh! I got it!”
At the door stood Maud Pie, clad as usual in her drab cerulean dress, which nonetheless complemented her teal eyes, purple hair, and grey skin perfectly. She carried a stack of pizza boxes as tall as her.
“Hello Pinkie. The sixteen pizzas you ordered have arrived,” Maud said in her standard monotone.
“Oh Maud! You’re the best sister ever!!” cried Pinkie as she glomped her elder sibling.
“They’re dripping grease on my shoes,” said Maud in a not-so-subtle hint to Pinkie to please remove the cheesy burdens so she could get back to examining an unusual rock she’d pocketed on the way home.
As the night wore on and the pizza was consumed (mostly by Pinkie), the girls changed into their pyjamas, rolled out their sleeping bags, and split off into smaller groups. Rarity insisted upon giving Applejack, still wearing her cowboy hat, a manicure. Fluttershy took a nearby brush and began work the knots out of Rainbow Dash’s hair. Pinkie continued eating. Sunset, meanwhile, lay on Pinkie’s bed taking it all in, making a mental note to herself that some scientist really ought to study Pinkie’s absurd metabolism.
“Hold still, Rainbow,” said Fluttershy sweetly yet firmly.
“But it hurts!” Rainbow Dash near-growled. “I’m not used to this!”
“That’s because you’ve never really had long hair before now. I can tell you from experience: it mats up badly if you don’t take care of it.”
“Maybe I should just cut it short again,” Dash opined, “Even if it does make me look like a junior high boy.”
Fluttershy’s smile drooped. “Please don’t. You look so good with your hair long, a-and I don’t mind helping you maintain it.”
“Eh, whatever.”
Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, Rarity was finishing her work. “And… there!” she said as she put the finishing touches on Applejack’s nail polish. “Now don’t touch anything until they dry, okay?”
Applejack rolled her eyes before meeting Rarity’s own. “I don’t know how you can use this stuff all the time. Seems a mighty big hassle.”
“Well, dear, it is one of the sacrifices we must make for beauty.”
“Eh, gimme a clean shirt an’ a hair-tie an’ I’m good.”
From the bed, Sunset Shimmer, her hair still in braids, unmoored breasts prominent under her nightshirt, let out a loud, contented sigh. All the other girls turned to her.
“Thank you, girls,” she said, smiling. “I haven’t done anything like this in, well, ever. I never thought I would say this, but I’m glad to have some friends.”
“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash agreed with a yawn, which quickly spread to Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rarity. “I don’t know what my life would be like without you girls.”
Applejack, laying on the bed perpendicular to Sunset, nodded. “Same here. It means a lot to me. Havin’ friends to support me makes—”
The calm was interrupted by a tinny rendition of “Turkey In The Straw”. Sunset glanced at Applejack with a smirk.
“Consarn it, that there’s my phone. Could one of y’all get it for me?” Applejack asked.
Sunset reached over and grabbed Applejack’s cellphone, placing it between them and, reluctantly, pressing the ‘answer’ button.
“Whoever this is,” said Applejack with more than a touch of blithe sass, “Ya just ruined a gen-yu-wine heartwarmin’ moment.”
Sunset facepalmed at the schmaltziness of that line. The voice coming through the phone, high pitched and matching Applejack’s own rural accent, was unmistakable: Apple Bloom, the youngest sister of the Apple family, who was in her second year in CHS’s junior high division.
“Big Sis, y’alright? Where in the world are ya?!” Apple Bloom asked, her tone clearly upset.
“Hm? Oh, I’m doin’ just great, Apple Bloom. I’m with all my friends!” Applejack told her little sister bluntly.
“What?!” Apple Bloom nearly yelped. “You’re s’posed to help me with my homework tonight. I got that big social studies final comin’ up!”
“Oops,” Applejack said, almost nonchalantly. “Granny gave me the go-ahead; I figured she woulda told ya. See, we kinda had a thing come up, so all of us are at Pinkie’s place helpin’ Sunset get used to bein’ ‘round friends, since she ain’t ever had none.”
“Seriously?” Apple Bloom asked flatly.
“Yes,” Sunset interjected. “They even got AJ to wear nail polish! Hey, when is your test, Apple Bloom? I could help—”
Apple Bloom interrupted. “So yer sayin’ you’re choosin’ Sunset, former gang leader and she-demon, over yer own family?!”
“Well, when ya put it that way… Guess so,” Applejack said, her voice tinged with guilt. “Look, get Mac to help ya tonight, an’ I’ll see you at school tomorrow, okay?”
There was an audible growl on the other end of the line. Sunset looked to Applejack, concern writ large on her face.
“Well, some girls jus’ get surly when they’re growin’ up, y’know?” Applejack whispered to Sunset, who shrugged in reply.
“Have a good night, Piggly-Wiggly,” snipped Apple Bloom. Then silence.
Applejack shook her head in shame, though no one could tell for whom.
Sunset adopted a puzzled look. “Did your sister just call you ‘Piggly-Wiggly’?”
“Um, yeah. She did,” Applejack admitted to the assembled group, all of whom except herself and Sunset appeared tired but interested. “I was really hopin’ I wouldn’t have to tell this story again.”
“Oh, do tell,” said Sunset with a smirk.
Applejack began with a defeated, embarrassed sigh. “When I was real little, I used to follow Granny Smith ‘round the farm while she was doin’ chores. I always loved pig-feedin’ time. Dunno why, maybe the look an’ sound of slop hittin’ and sloshin’ ‘round the trough, or the pigs themselves. Smarter critters than most folks give ‘em credit for. Anyway, one day, I snuck into the pigpen and started playin’ with the pigs, gettin’ down and dirty with ‘em in the mud. Granny says I wouldn’t leave for the whole entire day. After that, Ma started callin’ me ‘Piggly-Wiggly’ and it stuck as a family nickname. Apple Bloom uses it when she thinks I’m gettin’ too big for my britches.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Sunset said, “I never had any embarrassing nicknames as a filly. Given what I was called, ‘embarrassing’ would’ve been preferable.”
“Well, that’s family for ya, I guess,” replied Applejack with a smile as she put her hand on Sunset’s shoulder. “Gotta take the good with the bad.”
A snore jogged the two out of their conversation. Pinkie had crawled into her bed and fallen asleep. Around them, Fluttershy, Dash, and Rarity had also passed out.
“I didn’t think your story was that boring,” Sunset whispered.
“Uh… maybe we oughtta sleep too. School night,” Applejack murmured as she carefully shuffled off the bed to avoid waking Pinkie. Sunset followed suit.
“Go ahead. I need to write,” said Sunset at her lowest volume as she reached for a book.
“What’s that?” asked Applejack.
“One of my journals. I’ve kept them since arriving in Aristeque to document my… experiences? Observations? Not sure how to explain it. I have an older diary too, but that one is… special.”
“Y’ain’t gonna write my nickname down in there, are ya?” asked Applejack with an accusatory glare.
“Please,” replied Sunset with a wave of her hand. “I have more respect for you than that. We all have secrets we don’t want getting out, especially me. I promise I won’t tell a soul.”
“I appreciate it. G’night, Sunset.”
Sunset nodded in reply. Once Applejack was out, Sunset began to write:
Status Update, Særraȝeola 11…