It was approaching dusk by the time everyone and everypony could be gathered together. They all met up at the statue-less plinth, where those Equestrian visitors who hadn’t gotten it yet practiced walking on two hooves, or feet. Then, after a few ‘hello’s and ‘how-ya’ll-doing’s, everyone and everypony were quite well and thoroughly acquainted.
Then, they went out to Joe’s…
Donut Joe had made his name in pastries… literally. His donuts were the talk of Canterlot City back in the day, and remained a popular treat with a hot cup of coffee, proprietary blends of course. But unlike ponies, humans could only eat so many donuts before becoming sick… allegedly, and so the human Donut Joe had expanded his business opportunities.
Joe’s Diner sold classic, home-cooking at affordable prices. He could afford it, considering his finances were still held up by Donut Money. So, the food would be good and cheap, which meant feeding some two-dozen people was a lot more manageable than one might have thought.
Donut Joe himself was astonished to get the call from the local Principal about a celebratory dinner in his diner. He was also astonished to hear just how many people would need accommodating, but that was the thing about Joe; he liked to deliver for his customers, so he said yes. Of course, it didn’t hurt that it was Principal Celestia asking.
Where Celestia was, there would soon follow her… beautiful sister Luna. Not that Joe was smitten, no. No! He was merely… courteous towards certain customers. Customers who bought his coffee like it was going out of style!
The extra, extra-large party arrived near sundown, and Joe and his staff had worked their metaphorical tails off to get a suitable seating arrangement set up in time. Yet, as soon as the party arrived, Joe was temporarily shocked and confused. It was like a Twins convention had settled into his restaurant. Almost each and every customer came in as a pair, give or take a few differences in clothing or hair-style.
Two stood out most to Joe. The first being a pair of extremely eclectically dressed young men, each with a pink-haired ‘hippy-chick’ hanging off their arms. They would spend the entire evening giggling whenever the Diner’s music switched to jazz, despite there not being a jazz playlist, and despite Joe having turned the music system off for the evening…
And the second, which took Joe’s breath away, were the twin Lunas who walked alongside the twin Celestias. Now… that was a sight indeed. Disappointing, however, was that one Luna seemed to drink cup after cup of coffee, one right after the other, while the other one seemed almost afraid of the stuff.
He wondered if there’d been a cloning accident somewhere? Then again, stranger things happened in Canterlot City all the time. For goodness’ sake, he’d been turned into a pony this morning! Not that he let that stop him dealing with the breakfast rush… no, the Donut revolt had done that all on its own. Ungrateful pastries…
Orders were made, and the long process of acquainting and talking chit-chat had begun as the party settled into the diner’s extended space made for them. Most had decided to pair off with their respective counterparts, if only because that seemed like the most obvious thing in the world to do.
A slightly older Applejack and Rainbow Dash sat with their younger, human selves, who decided to stick with AJ and Dash to keep confusion to an appropriate minimum. Applejack had come through the portal with a rather official-looking duster, now folded off to the side, while Rainbow had appeared with aviator glasses and a flight jacket that Dash assured her looked ‘flippin’ awesome’. The Princess Twilight had assured them it was just a reflection of their jobs as her closest friends and co-rulers.
They’d started talking lives and the differences therein, before it became clear that there really wasn’t much different at all save for details. So, they stuck to what all four would truly prefer talking about:
Gossip and shenanigans. And AJ had just finished retelling how Big Mac had to explain to the store manager exactly why he’d been about to pour gasoline onto his dear old granny.
Amidst the riotous laughter, Applejack finally asked the burning question, “So, eh, what exactly is a jalopy?”
AJ answered simply, “It’s an old truck we got stashed in the barn fer when we need it.”
“Ah, I see,” said Applejack, nodding along, “And a truck is a…?”
“It’s a type of car,” Dash said helpfully, “with space in the back for stuff.”
Rainbow nodded as well, and then asked, “Okay, so what’s a…?”
She was interrupted by the arrival of food. Two stacks of… something was set in front of the earth-pony-and-pegasus-turned-humans. They’d never seen anything like it, hot and greasy strips of something or other. And it smelled delectable.
“What… what is this?” Rainbow asked, her mouth watering from the smell alone.
“This,” Dash said, lifting a strip up with reverence, “Is bacon.”
AJ followed her friend’s example, “And it’s considered to be the greatest food in the entire world.”
Applejack, slightly upset that she just heard an Apple, herself no less, place anything above their fruitful namesake… could not deny the heavenly scent that filled her nostrils. That was something alright. Something scrumptious…
“Granny wraps some apples in bacon on special occasions,” AJ said in a hesitant, hallowed tone, as though she were revealing a family secret, “It’s kind of a tradition around these parts, if’n you know what I mean?”
Whelp. If it was good enough for Granny…
Applejack and Rainbow Dash took an experimental bite of the strange foodstuff… and their eyes snapped open wide as saucers. Each one hungrily took strip after strip in their newly acquired hands and began shoveling the most wonderful, most magical, heavenly bacon into their mouths as quickly as they could.
AJ and Dash, stifling their snickers as only professional pranksters could, high-fived each other under the table…
Vegetarians… heh.
“… so, then, Pinkie Pie said she could get me a job with her as a roller-waitress!” Cookie continued the story she was relating to her siblings, and new little cousin also. “I really like the idea of helping people by getting them tasty treats. Since most of my life’s been getting helped by Applejack and given tasty treats, it’ll be like paying that back to others!”
She licked her lips and began digging into the ice-cream and cookie sundae Joe had placed in front of her.
Applebloom smiled at this, and added, “And ye won’t mind helpin’ me out with my math homework when you’re not working with Pinkie?” As soon as Cookie had heard everyone’s orders, she’d instantly calculated the resulting bill, tip, and sales tax, treating it like a game. Seems as though being the one horse who could count to four by stamping her hoof had translated over… with a vengeance.
While she said nothing, the ice-cream-and-cookie-muffled affirmatives from Cookie seemed to please the freshman.
Cinnamon shook her head at her sister. “You’re gonna get fat.”
“Fat on ice cream and cookies!” Cookie laughed.
Sweetie Belle watched the girl inhale another scoop of chocolate with a mix of envy and horror. “Rarity says that a Lady should look out for her figure whenever possible.”
“Yeah, well,” Cinnamon threw a mocking scowl over towards Oakley, who was sharing a long, mutually blushing stare with the human Rarity across the table, “Tell Rarity to look out for some other things as well. Like romantic idiots…”
“You gonna start a band, Mr. Oakley?” Scootaloo eagerly asked the gentle cowboy. The handsome… gentleman cowboy. The handsome gentleman cowboy with a voice like velvet, hair like a movie star and a look that could melt ice cream…
“Oh, I got some notions,” Oakley’s rich timbre was noticeable even when he was just speaking, “Big Mac reckoned I could practice with the… my new cousins next time the reunion rolls around.” His eye contact hadn’t broken at all, “But uh, Miss Rarity? I heard you were in a band yerself? Could I… get some private lessons?”
“Now I do hope that you will be a lady in all things, my dear,” the elder Pony Rarity (that adjective would never come within a mile of her if she had anything to say about it) advised her human doppelganger, “As handsome as he may appear, that one is still a stallion, and I know how they think.”
Human Rarity was shocked, shocked at the insinuation, “Rarity, darling! How can you think so little of me?”
“Because, darling, I’ve been right where you are now, and I know myself well enough to know I am a hopeless romantic!” She sipped her water daintily, careful not to spill anything on the luxurious purple cloak of office that had appeared on her when she came through the mirror, “Besides, I trust you. I never trust men.”
The younger Rarity, blushing, glanced one more time at the former-stallion-turned-cowboy, then returned to their previous discussion. “I do still have some concerns about the fashion exchange.”
“Oh? Whatever for?”
“Well,” Rarity sighed, “I realize that we aren’t precisely the same person… or pony. But you have to admit, the resemblances are uncanny at times.”
Pony Rarity nodded sagely, “True, true.”
“Well… first off, what if the dresses we design don’t translate through the mirror? It would be a terrible waste not to be able to wear one of your, and I’m sure Twilight’s descriptions of your work are accurate, fabulous dresses because it had been designed for four legs…”
“Saddlebags, darling!” the other Rarity showed off her beautiful purple purse with diamond clasps, “If those change form when they cross the mirrors, then why not dresses? Or other clothes?”
The younger Rarity truly admired the handbag. It was so lovely, like it was designed for her more accomplished self.
“Well then,” she said, “I suppose the only other problem we may have is… well, the fact that you and I might wind up exchanging the same dress!”
The pony Rarity laughed in a very hearty, yet still lady-like fashion, “Oh darling! I would absolutely love to see that happen,” she leaned in and winked, “Afterall, that would be proof, would it not, that Great Minds do indeed think alike?”
“Oh my! He’s adorable!” cooed Fluttershy as she watched the two-toed sloth nibble on a small salad of leaves and apple slices. She had come through the portal dressed, as Disqord described it, as Earth-Mother Fluttershy, all-natural fringed coat and rosy-red sunglasses included. “Where did you find him?”
The younger Fluttershy smiled at the memory, “He was hiding from the metal concert in the rainforest, and he was curious about where I was from. The shelter has an exotic pet’s department now, so if Sprint wants to stay, he’s more than welcome.”
Discord sighed, “Sprint? Really?”
“He’s very quick for a sloth. See?” Sprint held up the bowler hat Discord had been using to distinguish himself from Disqord.
The Spirit of Chaos narrowed his crimson eyes at the little sloth. Then he turned his attention across the restaurant to where Pinkie Pie (both of them) and Cheese Sandwich (ditto) were animatedly talking about a ‘The Universe Wasn’t Destroyed’ party, and whether or not they should count today as Midnight’s birthday, or when she first appeared at the Friendship Games… for party planning purposes, of course.
The Pony Pinkie, distinguished only by a poofier, frizzier, crazier mane than her high school counterpart… as well as a small plastic novelty ring she held onto with a suspicious amount of care whenever she glanced towards her Cheese Sandwich… paused as she reached for another drag on her milkshake.
It had grown a goatee, you see.
“Pinkamena Diane Pie,” Discord warned, “I swear, if you gave that Sloth a taste of the Ponk, there will be me to pay!”
Not losing her sparkly demeanor, Pinkie tilted her head and said, “Silly Discord, that saying goes ‘there will be’…”
Discord snarled, “I think you know for a fact that I can be so much worse. Just promise me you didn’t! We had an acc…” he choked on such an orderly word, “an accord.”
The younger Cheese leaned across the table, one eyebrow raised so high it was barely on his face at all, “Don’t you mean, you had an… accordion?”
Groans filled that part of the restaurant, with the exception of both Pinkies, the pony Cheese, and Cookie, who laughingly added an, ‘I get it!’ to the general atmosphere.
Pinkie, however, returned her attention to her milkshake-turned-Chaos-Lord. “Discy, I didn’t give the sloth the Ponk. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye! Besides,” she grinned wickedly and pointed, “I already know who stole your hat.”
Discord spun about, catching sight of Disqord, bowler hat dancing merrily on the table before him.
“Betrayed by my own!” Discord snarled… then broke out into a mirthful grin himself, “They grow up so fast, don’t they?”
The pony Fluttershy, meanwhile, was still talking with the human one… when she got a strange premonition. It was while they were both doting on sweet little Sprint, and Fluttershy noticed her younger self’s eyes. Despite all the warmth and kindness and friendliness around her, she was still… sad?
“Is… is something bothering you, Fluttershy?”
“Oh,” she shied away, “No. Nothing’s wrong…”
The older stared at the younger. It wasn’t The Stare… but a long enough regular stare could really start to feel like it. Human Fluttershy began to sweat… until she cracked.
“It’s just, I thought you’d be… well, um, a pony.”
Understanding dawned for the other. “Ah,” she said.
Human Fluttershy looked away, “I was just… it was so nice being that adorable for once. It was like hugging a cute pony… but closer. Does that make sense?”
Pony Fluttershy nodded, and laid a comforting hand on the younger mare… uh, girl. “I do. And… if you’re okay with the idea… you’re always welcome to come to Equestria and visit. I have tea with Discord every week. I’m sure he’d be happy to see you and your Disqord there as well.”
“Oh, thank you,” the human Fluttershy smiled back.
Then, the elder Fluttershy thought of something. “Um… if you don’t mind me asking, what sort of music concert did you say it was? Where you found Sprint, I mean.”
The human Fluttershy’s eyes flashed for a moment, and she quickly scoured her purse for… ah! There it was. She held out her phone, earbuds synced up, and quickly pantomimed to the other Fluttershy how to put them in.
Disqord chuckled lightly, then watched in fascination as this Fluttershy stood stock still, eyes shrinking to dots. He could just hear the screeching music, the beat of drums, and the growling, grumbling, guttural vocals.
Eventually, the pony Fluttershy removed the earbuds, turned to the Discord sitting beside her, and declared, “We need to stop at the record store before going home…”
Princess Luna was on her fifth coffee. And it did nothing. The advert has said this was this universe’s Joe’s finest, blackest, and most energizing coffee. And it did… nothing.
“So… you slept for two weeks?” the Vice-Principal asked, nursing a cup of light tea in place of coffee this night.
“Indeed,” the Princess sighed. “I fear that it will be many moons ‘til Our coffee habits return to normal. I do not wish to be beholden to Pinkie’s… Good Stuff, as dear Twilight has done.”
“Mmmm,” Luna audibly agreed with herself, though internally she wondered if she’d have been in a similar boat right now had Discord’s Chaos Wave not made a mess of her morning joe, courtesy of Pinkie Pie. And if it might be worth it. “So… how goes the… dream-business?”
A mysterious smile was all she got. That, and the Princess soon began to hum an odd melody she couldn’t quite place. It would probably bug her all night, not knowing where she might have heard that one before.
Trixie Lulamoon’s ear twitched, but she was currently preoccupied with the Greatest and Most Powerfulest plan she’d ever devised. And it was all because she’d trusted in the Greatness and Powerfulness of the Great and Powerful Trixie.
Both of them.
“So,” the human Trixie was carefully counting out the dates in her phone’s calendar, “If your Hearth’s Warming was only a few months ago, and ours won’t be here for another six-months…”
“Then it’s possible,” pony Trixie nodded along, a serious expression causing her to frown in concentration. “We could actually do this, Trixie.”
“And all because of the time dilap… dimen… thing with the mirror portal, Trixie…”
They stared, determined, into one another’s eyes.
“Double Hearth’s Warming!” they cried as one, and then high-fived. Though Pony Trixie hadn’t learned to open her hand for those yet. Then, noticing the time, they both excused themselves early from the dinner.
While Starlight, clad in her younger, teenaged human form this time, protested, Princess Twilight simply asked the two azure humans to be safe. Well, of course they’d be safe. Not only was Trixie (either of them) in the care of the Great and Powerful Trixie (both of them), they would be with Trixie’s parents tonight.
Trixie was nervous. But with Trixie at her side, nothing could stop the Great and Powerful…
“She didn’t ask about the side effects!?” Principal Celestia was less surprised, and more laughing uncontrollably next to her immortal duplicate.
Princess Celestia found just as much humor in their conversation, at least in part due to hindsight. “And now the Gala is going to be ruined… so it worked out perfectly from my end!”
“Please,” the Principal asked, a gleam in her purple eyes, “Tell me you had a marker at hand, er hoof?”
The Princess snickered, “The guards took turns coming up with mustache designs until we found one we liked…”
The Princess Twilight was having an… interesting night. Yeah. She’d go with that. If Spike were here, he’d call her out on that, but since he and the other Spike were having a ‘Boy’s night’, whatever that meant for dogs…
She, Starlight, and Sunset sat together, observing all the other conversations around them, taking in the laughter, the collaboration, the sheer swelling of good humor and good friends. It was so relaxing for the Princess of Friendship… with the one exception of watching her other self and a walking apocalypse having a spat over fries.
“Wait… Midnight? Did you just pick that up with your left hand?”
Midnight, putting down the strange ‘Reformed Villains Club Card’ Disqord and Discord had given her, raised an eyebrow as she chewed on a fry. “Yeah? Is that important?”
“I just…” how to say it? “I thought I was losing my mind earlier. Usually I have no trouble switching tools from hand to hand, but then while I was cataloguing my lab, I kept fumbling with the calculator when it was in my left hand…”
“So?” Midnight said, taking another fry, “You think I, what…? Stole your ambidexterity?”
“… maybe. I’m just wondering what else got split between us when…”
Midnight munched another fry, “I wouldn’t worry about it. We both know I already got the lion’s share of the IQ.”
“That’s not how that… hey! Stop pilfering my fries! You have your own!”
“Mine are soft, yours are crispy. I claim yours by right of conquest…”
“Midnight, quit that…”
Midnight snatched another fry, but it was quickly snatched back by Twilight’s telekinetic grip.
“Oh, magic! How mature…”
“Well, I didn’t need magic to beat you before.”
“You beat me!? I won, as I recall!”
“Yes! You won through attaining Friendship! Which is like a win for me!”
“Take that back!”
“Death first!”
Princess Twilight might have stepped in another time… but she could practically feel the… sisterly love coming off the two. She wasn’t sure if that was it exactly, but whatever ‘it’ was, it was close enough. And only a day before, Midnight in this same position would probably have been tearing reality asunder.
But she wasn’t. Because reality was where her friends lived. And it took Twilight Sparkle, the high school student, to make her realize that.
Princess Twilight knew that a lot of ponies, ponies close to her even, were quite intimidated by her accomplishments and her… she guessed it was her demeanor. She sometimes wondered if Celestia had to deal with that sort of thing… before realizing that of course she did, especially as I was one of those intimidated…
Not the time to dwell. The point was, the Princess was very well aware of her own myth and how others tended to compare themselves to the legendary Twilight Sparkle. And now, she knew precisely how that felt.
Well done Twilight, she thought. I couldn’t be prouder.
She then took a huge bite of the burger she’d ordered, savoring every bit of it as she chewed. She even closed her eyes to focus entirely on the taste as the sauces dribbled down her chin…
“Uh, Twilight?” Sunset’s voice cut through the fog of tasty burger, “You realize that’s meat, right?”
She shrugged, not even opening her eyes. “Humans need meat to survive. Said so yourself.”
“I think she said humans can eat meat,” Starlight chuckled, “not that they must.”
Twilight sighed contentedly as she placed the burger back down onto her plate, “It’s fine. I’ll issue a royal pardon tomorrow.”
Starlight giggled, “You know, you’re being awfully calm today. What’ve you done with the real Princess Twilight?”
Smiling wistfully, Twilight thought about how best to answer. Happily, this took about as long as eating a hoof… handful of fries. Finally, with some hot, greasy potato in her stomach, Twilight said, “What do you think of when someone talks about the end?”
Sunset and Starlight were equally hesitant to answer.
“Like…” Sunset said slowly, “the End, sort of end?”
Twilight smiled softly, “No, just… endings in general.”
She looked out over the faces of her dear friends, human, pony, and Draconequus alike. Watching their smiling faces was almost like having another meal, warm and filling. “I suppose I’ve been thinking about endings a lot lately. My life in Ponyville will be coming to an end as soon as I’m coronated. You and the Rainbooms are all going off to college and careers. I suppose I’m just getting melancholy over something I can’t change.”
“Or something that doesn’t exist.”
Twilight and Starlight turned to Sunset. “Pardon?” the Princess asked.
The red-and-gold haired girl twirled a fork in between her fingers, and threw her teacher a smug grin. “Endings don’t exist, Twi. They just don’t.”
The Princess was intrigued, as was her school’s Headmare, who asked, “And… how do you figure?”
“Well,” Sunset leaned in while casting her eyes about the restaurant, taking it all in as Twilight herself had done, “I guess you think this is all going to end just because a few of us don’t go to the same school anymore? Sure, I think a couple of us won’t have time for the Rainbooms after school ends, but none of us are moving cross-country. And with you and your friends, I can’t imagine Ponyville is so far away that you couldn’t just pop over if you felt like it.
“I guess I just don’t see what makes it an ending,” she said, spearing another hunk of salad on the end of her fork and shoveling it straight into her mouth. “Everything changes, but we change with it. And then we change the world. It’s… kinda eternal? Like, the magic of friendship doesn’t just exist, begin, or end… it grows…
“I dunno, guess I’ve been thinking about this too.”
Sunset turned back towards the Princess, and nearly jumped from the huge, sparkling eyes that looked back at her.
“Um, Twilight? You okay?”
The Princess regathered a touch of her previous decorum, but just a touch, “Oh, sorry. It’s just… I’m supremely impressed, Sunset. You’ve come so far from where you started.”
Starlight added, smirking, “Literally.”
“I guess,” Twilight resumed, “I didn’t realize that while you’re graduating soon from CHS… you’ve also graduated in another way.”
Before Sunset could glance guiltily towards her back, where she still felt the phantom pain of alicorn wings… should really figure that out sometime… Twilight laid a hand on her friend’s shoulder.
Smiling down on Sunset, she said, “I no longer consider you my student or protégé… but rather my Friend. And one I’d trust with spreading the message and magic of friendship to this world.”
Sunset could see Starlight giving her a thumbs-down… but considering her broad and open smile, she probably just had it the wrong way up. Smiling herself, she could only nod at Twilight’s words. But before she could say anything else, the restaurant bell jingled.
And Rainbow Dash’s voice cut across the generally warm and inviting atmosphere, “Oh fer… who invited them!?”
It had taken a lot longer to walk back to Canterlot City than any of the Dazzlings remembered. With their van’s tires currently lying about in bits and pieces, either in the parking lot around their now immobile van or drifting half-digested in that pond… well, walking was the only solution. Even if Sonata complained the whole way about her stomach.
In the city itself, the Dazzlings got a good look at the chaos that magic had wreaked in their absence. Not every building had moved, but enough had shifted about, spun in place, or flipped end over end that it looked like a great, big Canterlot City model someone had dropped. There were a number of trees warped into strange and eerie shapes, and more than a few people who were still adjusting to not having hooves.
Especially weird was the smashed-up statue of a Draconequus they came across by the road.
“Hey, Sonata,” Aria managed a smirk though her aching feet and legs protesting the waste of oxygen, “looks like your old boyfriend.”
“Just because,” Sonata panted, “he had a crush on me,” pant, “doesn’t mean he was my boyfriend…” She, naturally, said this while blushing deeply. Or that could have been the miles-long march into town. Who knew?
Finally, after marching for what felt like hours, the Dazzlings gave up. No Sunset Shimmer. No Rainbooms. Nothing but rumor and speculation, and most of that merely overheard. No one would give Adagio or her sisters the time of day in this city. And it was no wonder, after all.
Adagio was the first to admit defeat, “Girls… let’s stop.” Her hair hung in tangles down around her shoulders, and she hadn’t really been able to clean out the muck from her clothing. She was hot, sweaty, and miserable. Not to mention, hungry.
She was done. She pulled out a crumbled bill from a hidden place in her shoes, luckily spared from the worst of her swimming adventure earlier in the day. It wasn’t enough for much. Maybe a glass of cold water and… toast? Maybe a toast.
She hoped it could split three ways…
Aria didn’t protest, didn’t tell Dagi that she was giving up too early. She just nodded, and managed to pull out the meagre coins she’d stashed into her wrist-bands. Sonata had about double that, but all in foreign currency.
Oh well. If nothing else… Joe’s was always a nice place to-
“Oh fer… who invited them!?”
…apparently run right into the people who you thought must have been avoiding you all day long. Actually, the universe may have been playing a cruel game on the Dazzlings, since there looked to be two of everyone they’d been looking for, and then some.
“Aria,” Sonata sounded nauseous, “I think I still got a bit of tire in my stomach… cuz I’m seeing double…”
Aria, wide-eyed and slow to blink, replied, “Y-yeah… I’m seeing them too.” The whole restaurant was looking back at them with a mix of shock, anger, and general confusion, and Aria briefly wondered just what in the hay was going on with all these doubles?
A pair of oddly familiar goateed men sitting by the two Fluttershys looked like they were trying to hide behind the same bowler hat. Sonata wasn’t sure who he reminded her of, but she was getting that sicky-sicky feeling again.
But Adagio seemed to take the whole sight in stride. Meaning, she was better at lying to herself than the other two. She took one step forward, and her glare dared the room to challenge her. Despite Rainbow Dash’s outburst, few moved or stirred, most being content to stare.
Except for Sunset Shimmer, who immediately rose to confront the three formerly-Siren sisters.
“Adagio,” she said, simply and without inflection.
“Sunset Shimmer,” Adagio answered in kind.
Sunset looked over the trio with a critical eye, then said, “So, what brings you back around here?”
Adagio struck a fighting pose, “Well, when we saw the Equestrian magic flowing over the city, we knew…”
Aria jabbed her in the side. Sonata in the other. Sunset had noticed, but said nothing.
“… we knew…” Adagio couldn’t really be doing this, could she? Surrendering? Prostration? It was the same as being defeated, beaten. She was not defeated! She was merely… biding time… which was another way of saying beaten…
Her ego was really, really desperate for a win. And realizing that, she knew she had lost. It was like finding a hole in a balloon, at about 1,000ft altitude.
Adagio sighed. “We… need help.”
Sunset wasn’t sure she heard that right. “What?”
But now that the confession was out, it came out like a bursting dam, “We’ve tried to make it on our own… and we’re failing. No one will hire us for gigs in the city, and nothing else pays well enough to live on, and our genre’s dying and Sonata ate our tires and I turned back into a fish and, and…” Crud, she thought. The tears were about to come flowing out. For the first time in one thousand years, she was crying.
This sucked…
A hand fell atop her shoulder. Adagio almost snapped at it… but there was such a warm, warm feeling. It was like a mother’s hand. But since that was weird, she mentally rewrote that to be a friendly hand. She looked up, catching the last flicker of white light in Sunset’s eyes.
The Rainboom tilted her head back towards the tables behind her. “Come on.”
“What?” asked Adagio, complete non-comprehension in her voice. Both Aria and Sonata just stared in silence.
“Let’s grab you a burger and fries. We can talk about that other stuff later.”
Did… did she just hear her correctly? Did Sunset Shimmer, the cause of Adagio’s fall from… no, Adagio was her own cause of failure. Sunset was just… the rock she landed on at the bottom of the cliff…
Sunset clearly understood their confusion. She chuckled, and then pointed over her shoulder, “You guys think you’re the only bad guys we ever reformed? Half a dozen of the people here have either attempted to destroy the world or succeeded at it at least once.”
With no small amount of anxiety, worry, and a little fright… though more at sitting with their old enemies as something almost like friends rather than the apparently apocalyptic nature of some of the girls themselves… Adagio, Sonata, and Aria went with Sunset to the table. And ordered burgers. And as they talked with their former enemies, and the mirror counterparts of their former enemies, and in Sonata’s case the human-world counterpart of her ex, there was a real, palpable sense that a corner had been turned.
It was almost like what Sunset and the Princess had been talking about. With two words, give or take an explanation, Sunset had allowed the magic of friendship… to grow.
Discord, looking on with a twinkle in his crimson eyes, counted out more membership cards for his Reformed Villains Club, punching a tenth hole into the one he’d tried to give Sunset way back at the castle.
“Way to go, Sunset,” he whispered to himself, “That’s gotta be worth a special all to yourself. Or a music video, at least…”
The End