Kiwi Lollipop felt like she was on top of the world. She and her best friend, Su-Z, were together on a massive stage located within a colossal stadium, rocking out before a crowd of tens of thousands of fans like there was no tomorrow. The feeling of strumming her guitar, the sound of her voice and Su-Z’s drumming echoing throughout the large venue, the nearly-deafening roars of adulation from her fans; they were all so intoxicating, they were what made her feel truly alive. She just soaked it all in like a sponge as she and Su-Z continued to give the performance of a lifetime, silently wishing that it would never end.
But then, without explanation, the sound of her playing and the audience’s cheers were suddenly drowned out by the barking of a small dog. And that was when the popstar’s beautiful and perfect dream came to an abrupt end.
As soon as Kiwi opened her eyes from her night’s rest, she was greeted by Su-Z’s dog, Princess Thunder Guts, who was standing on top of her chest and barking right in her face.
“Alright, alright, I’m awake,” She aggravatedly told the petite pooch. “You can stop now.”
Princess Thunder Guts, in response, gave Kiwi a small, affectionate lick on her left cheek, much to the girl’s chagrin. Kiwi loved Princess Thunder Guts, she truly did, but there were moments where she found the small, energetic dog to be a bit of a nuisance. Moments like this one.
After having thoroughly moistened part of Kiwi’s face with her tongue, Princess Thunder Guts got down off of her chest and proceeded to climb onto Su-Z, who was laying on the other side of the bed. Once atop her owner, she proceeded to once more bark frantically until eventually she too awoke from her slumber.
“Huh, wah,” Su-Z somewhat drowsily said as she slowly regained consciousness and realized that her dog was trying to get her attention. “Oh, good morning, Princess Thunder Guts.”
Like with Kiwi, once Su-Z was awake Princess Thunder Guts gave her an affectionate lick on the cheek. Though unlike with Kiwi, she didn’t stop at just one. But Su-Z didn’t mind in the slightest. In fact, she almost seemed to be enjoying the somewhat gross display of affection.
“Okay, settle down, little girl,” The art school dropout giggled as she sat up and wrapped her arms around the furry creature in a hug. “I love you too.”
Despite her current feelings of irritation towards Princess Thunder Guts, Kiwi couldn’t help but give a small smile at the heartwarming scene between the dog and her best friend. She then got out of bed and stepped on over to the dresser to check herself out in the mirror. Not surprisingly, she looked rather ragged on account of her severe case of bed-head. After giving an almost inaudible sigh at her less-than stellar reflection, she quickly changed out of her pajamas into some more casual clothes and wondered how some girls were able to look so prim and perfect first thing in the morning, and why she wasn’t one of those girls.
It wasn’t long before Su-Z put Princess Thunder Guts down, got out of bed as well, and joined her in front of the dresser mirror.
“Is today the day we start working with the emu,” The younger girl started to ask as she too changed out of her pajamas. “Or am I thinking it’s Thursday when it’s really only Wednesday again?”
“Well, today is the day we start working with the emu,” Kiwi confirmed. “But it’s also still only Wednesday.”
“Huh, why was I thinking we started on Thursday?” Su-Z curiously asked.
“You got me,” Kiwi simply replied.
As Kiwi began to work on her hair, she started to think back to about a week ago. Specifically, back to when she and Su-Z were still living in a van down by the river, and how they’d met the Dazzlings. It had been a seemingly normal day like any other since the two of them had started living in the van, or rather about as normal as a day can be when that’s your living situation. They had simply opened the door to take Princess Thunder Guts out for her daily afternoon walk when they found the three sisters standing not more than ten feet away from them. After introductions and explanations as to why everyone was down by the river the way they were, the Dazzlings offered them the spare bedroom they were currently occupying as well as jobs working on their emu farm for a small monthly stipend, at least until some real money generated from the emus started coming in.
Neither she nor Su-Z had hesitated for a second to accept the offer, mostly because both of them were so desperate to get out of that cramped, hot, and taco meat scented van. Of course, this hadn’t meant that she was entirely without suspicion about the whole thing, as it seemed too good to be true, so on the way to the emu farm she’d asked the Dazzlings why they were doing all this for them. The response she’d been given was simply, ‘It’s because of the magic of friendship’, and while she didn’t quite understand what that meant, for reasons that were unknown to her it was enough to quell her suspicions.
Not only that, but ever since she and Su-Z arrived at the farm the Dazzlings had treated them practically like family. Right from the start they’d been accepted as part of the household and never made to feel like strangers or intruders. They each had a say in what went on the shopping list, they were both added into the rotation for who got to pick the movie on movie nights, and they’d even become privy to some of the Dazzlings’ more…intimate secrets through a bit of girl talk. It was all so strange, but all so heartening as well.
“Do you think it’s alright if I wear my heart hairclips,” Su-Z suddenly inquired, snapping Kiwi out of her train of thought. “Or do you think the emu might mistake them for food and try to eat my head.”
Kiwi resisted the urge to stop styling her hair and facepalm. Sometimes she just didn’t understand how her friend’s mind worked.
“I’m sure it won’t be a problem if you want to wear them,” She answered just as she finished putting on her purple bow and gave herself a spritz of Vita Parfum Flamma Santai.
All Su-Z did in response was give a small, happy squee as she began attaching her various heart-shaped hairclips to her hair. She loved wearing those hairclips. Even though they’d started out solely as accessories for her PostCrush outfit, she found them so cute that eventually she began wearing them even when she wasn’t performing. Now they were practically part of her everyday attire, and when she wasn’t able to wear them for one reason or another she felt practically naked.
“Are you…nervous about today?” Su-Z then inquired, clearly sounding nervous herself. “I mean, neither of us really has any experience with emus or farming.”
“Not really,” Kiwi answered confidently. “Compared to everything we went through when we were touring, working with a bunch of emu should be a breeze.”
“I hope so,” Su-Z tentatively replied.
While she didn’t say it out loud, in her mind Kiwi hoped so too. She didn’t even want to think about what might happen to her and Su-Z should today turn out badly and the Dazzlings decided to kick them out as a result.
It wasn’t much longer that both Kiwi and Su-Z finished with their hair, and that was when they heard a couple of knocks on the door.
“Kiwi, Su-Z,” Sonata Dusk’s voice cheerfully said from out in the hallway. “Breakfast is ready.”
“We’ll be right out,” Kiwi replied.
“Hurry before it gets cold,” Sonata buoyantly said back before the sound of her walking away could be heard.
Deciding to heed Sonata’s advice, Kiwi and Su-Z both came to the same conclusion to wait until after breakfast to finish getting ready for the day. Wasting no time, they headed out into the hallway and down it towards the kitchen. On the way, they each got a surprisingly strong whiff of something that was vaguely familiar to them, but that they couldn’t quite place. It wasn’t until they reached the kitchen a few seconds later and saw what was on the table that they realized what it was they were smelling.
“Sheepherder’s Breakfast!” Su-Z joyfully exclaimed just before rushing over to the table and nearly started to drool over the dish.
“Okay, take it easy, Katy Perry,” Aria Blaze said as she came up behind Su-Z and gently pulled her away from the dish before she really did start to drool over it. “It’s just breakfast.”
“This isn’t just breakfast,” Su-Z replied as she broke free from Aria’s hold, grabbed the spatula out of the pan, and took a bite of the food that was on it. “It’s breakfast heaven!”
As Su-Z blissfully enjoyed the delicious assortment of tastes dancing across her tongue, Adagio Dazzle, who was sitting at the other end of the table irishing up her cup of coffee, looked on with a somewhat distressed expression on her face before shifting slightly to her left so she could address her pig-tailed sister.
“Aria, could you get another spatula out of the drawer please,” She very plainly requested.
“Yeah,” Aria replied in a manner that suggested she shared the same feelings as Adagio in regards to the spatula currently within Su-Z’s hand.
Despite having literally been in the middle of Adagio and Aria’s brief conversation, Su-Z hadn’t heard a word either of them had said. She was too spaced out to notice anything that was currently going on around her, including Kiwi coming up behind her to get a better look at the dish the Dazzlings had prepared.
Sure enough, the large pan that Kiwi was staring down at was indeed a true Sheepherder’s Breakfast, filled with eggs, onions, hash browns, bacon bits, and cheddar cheese, just like she always remembered it being. As she stared at it, she couldn’t believe that she hadn’t recognized the smell of it as soon as it hit her nostrils. She and Su-Z used to love making and eating Sheepherder’s Breakfast when they were first starting off in their musical career, so much so that they would occasionally joke that they ought to be sheepherders on account of how much they loved it. Once their musical career took off though they didn’t have the time to make it anymore, so it had been some time since they’d had it last. Which she figured was the reason why she was unable to identify the dish simply by its aroma.
“You’re not going to go all crazy over this too, are you?” Aria jocosely asked Kiwi as she stepped around her to place the new spatula in the pan.
“N-No,” Kiwi gingerly answered, having been caught off-guard by Aria suddenly appearing next to her. “I’m just…surprised is all. I wasn’t expecting to have Sheepherder’s Breakfast today.”
“Well we wanted your first day of work to start off on a good note,” Adagio amiably replied. “So we figured making your favorite breakfast would help with that.”
Kiwi involuntarily dawned an expression of genuine surprise when she heard Sonata’s explanation. Had she understood the pony-tailed Dazzling correctly? Had she and her sisters really done all this just for her and Su-Z?
“But, how did you know we like this so much?” She inquired.
“Su-Z mentioned it while we were walking Princess Thunder Guts the other day,” Sonata chimed in as she took a seat to Adagio’s left.
Just then, Su-Z gave a muffled noise that indicated she was either agreeing with what Sonata had just said or that she was still enjoying the food in her mouth. It was difficult to tell which.
To say that Kiwi felt touched by the Dazzlings’ kind and considerate gesture would be putting it mildly. She felt moved by it, almost to the point of becoming physically emotional.
“T-Thank you,” She heartfully told the Dazzlings, clearly trying to hold back her growing emotions.
“Don’t get all sappy on us, Lady Gaga,” Aria facetiously replied as she took a seat on the other side of Adagio. “Just dig in already before Su-Z eats the whole thing herself.”
If there was perhaps one thing Kiwi didn’t like about living with the Dazzlings, it was when Aria would refer to her as ‘Lady Gaga’ or ‘Taylor Swift’ or some other female pop singer. She’d never liked being compared to other pop music artists when she was one, and she liked it even less now that she was a former pop music artist. But she didn’t want to make a big deal out of it or anything. She knew Aria was never trying to be mean or malicious when she did it, so each time she’d just let it slide without any fuss.
“Yeah, good idea,” She lightheartedly replied as she took a seat next to Aria and got herself a plateful of Sheepherder’s Breakfast, making sure to use the replacement spatula that the Dazzling had gotten to get it.
For the next few minutes, the PostCrush and Dazzling girls all enjoyed a nice and delicious breakfast together. There was little conversation during the meal, but no one seemed to mind the relative silence. At one point though Princess Thunder Guts entered the room and began barking up a storm in a desperate attempt for some table scraps. Most of the girls simply ignored the small dog, but Su-Z acknowledged her and told her that she wasn’t getting her greedy little paws on any of her heavenly food. Sonata, however, decided to share a tiny bit of what was on her plate with Princess Thunder Guts, which successfully got the petite pooch to cease her barking and leave the kitchen in peace.
Eventually everyone finished eating and they all began to clear the table. That is, until Adagio looked over at the clock on the wall and realized what time it was.
“I should get going,” She stated as she made her way out of the kitchen and over towards a small table located near the front door. “Don’t want to be late for my first day as librarian.”
Part of the reason that today was Kiwi and Su-Z’s first day working with the emus was because it was the first day since they’d moved in with the Dazzlings where any of them were available to teach them their job. Recently, the three sisters had gone through a bit of a career change themselves. They were to become the new librarians at Canterlot High School after being laid off as motivational speakers there when the school board had determined their job to be ‘unnecessary’. As part of their training they all had to go in everyday to learn how to do the job, including Saturday and Sunday so that they could start as soon as possible. But today was the first official start day of their librarian job and Adagio had elected to be the one to go in, which meant that Aria and Sonata would be available to teach the two new farmhands about the emu.
“Later, Adagio,” Aria yelled out to her sister.
“Yeah, have a good day, Dagi,” Sonata then genially added. “And don’t forget to get the pizza on your way home!”
“Sonata,” Adagio yelled back, in a manner that suggested scorn, as she picked up the car keys from the small table. “That was supposed to be a surprise!”
“Oh, right,” Sonata more quietly responded in embarrassment before turning to address Kiwi and Su-Z. “We’re, um, having pizza tonight. Surprise.”
Both Kiwi and Su-Z just sort of looked at one another for a second before giving a few soft giggles, much to the confusion of the three Dazzlings.
“It’s fine, don’t worry about it,” Kiwi assured Sonata.
“Yeah, we don’t care if it was supposed to be a surprise,” Su-Z added.
Sonata, in response, simply gave a small sigh of relief that her blunder hadn’t ruined anything for either of the PostCrush girls. Aria gave no visible response.
“Alright, well, I’m out of here.” Adagio said as she opened the front door. “See you girls tonight. And Kiwi and Su-Z; Good luck today.”
Perhaps it was the somewhat impish tone in Adagio’s voice when she’d wished her and Su-Z luck, but Kiwi found the Dazzlings’ well-wishes to be a bit…disconcerting. She felt like Adagio had been trying to convey something else within her words without actually saying it. Something along the lines of, ‘You’re going to need all the luck you can get’.
The thought quickly crossed Kiwi’s mind to ask Adagio about what she really meant by her remark to them, but she just as quickly disregarded it. She was just misinterpreting things, imagining hidden meanings that weren’t really there. And besides, even if she had decided to ask Adagio she was already too late to do so, as the Dazzling was already out the door.
“Okay, the sooner we get started the better,” Aria addressed her and Su-Z as she finished putting her dishes in the dishwasher. “We’ve got a lot to go over today, so you two finish getting ready and then meet us in front of the barn.”
“Well, like Dagi said, good luck today, girls,” Sonata chimed in just before she pulled out her phone from her pocket and started heading towards the hallway.
The youngest Dazzling didn’t make it to the hallway though, as Aria grabbed ahold of her left shoulder as she passed by her.
“Where do you think you’re going?” The Dazzling asked her younger sister, sounding more like she was the girl’s mother.
“Uh, to my room?” Sonata half-answered, half-asked. “I want to call Dashie and talk to her before school starts.”
“You’re already dressed and everything,” Aria said as she let go of Sonata’s shoulder. “You can call Rainbow Dash from out by the barn.”
“Why would I do that?” Sonata confusedly inquired. “My room is much nicer than outside by the barn.”
Unable to help herself, Aria gave a facepalm that was so loud it echoed throughout the room for a second.
“Because you’re helping with the emu today too,” The pig-tailed Dazzling bluntly stated as she lowered her hand. “Honestly, Sonata, when I told Kiwi and Su-Z to meet us in front of the barn, who do think the other person I was referring to was?”
Sonata didn’t say anything in response right away, but instead gave an awkward-looking smile accompanied by a light chuckle.
“I…don’t know,” She eventually, and very embarrassingly, said.
Neither Kiwi nor Su-Z knew what to do other than continue standing silently to the side and watch the sisterly drama between Aria and Sonata unfold. It was the first time either of them had seen any of the Dazzlings in such a situation. They had seen them disagree and get slightly snippy with one another a few times, but this was the first time they’d seen something like this.
“Just…come on,” Aria said as she took Sonata’s right hand in her left and started dragging her towards the front door.
“Okay, okay, you don’t have to be so forceful,” Sonata replied in mild irritation as she pulled her hand free from Aria’s and continued to follow her.
“We’ll, um, be out in a bit,” Kiwi spoke up just before the two Dazzlings reached the door and exited the house.
Once again, Kiwi and Su-Z just sort of looked at one another for a second or two, as if silently asking each other about what they’d just witnessed. During which time, Princess Thunder Guts came up and parked herself in-between them, clearly looking for some attention.
“Well that was an interesting fight,” Kiwi eventually said to her friend.
“Pfft, are you kidding? That wasn’t a fight, that was barely a squabble,” Su-Z surprisingly replied as she bent down and picked up her pet. “Believe me, I know. My sister and I used to fight all the time.”
Hearing Su-Z mention her sister was perhaps the last thing Kiwi had expected. In fact, it was so unexpected that she nearly dawned a visible expression of surprise. In all the time she’d known Su-Z, she’d only ever heard her bring up the subject of her family a handful of times. And of those handful of times she’d only ever mentioned her sister once, maybe twice.
“I guarantee you, if that had been me and Eclipse just now, there would’ve been a lot more yelling, swearing, and we wouldn’t have left on speaking terms,” Su-Z concluded.
“Hmm,” Was all Kiwi was able to say, finding herself unable to think of any other reply.
“But enough of all that,” Su-Z then said in a cutesy voice as she held Princess Thunder Guts up to her face. “How about we get you some treats before we head outside, little girl.”
Princess Thunder Guts simply gave a couple of happy-sounding barks before Su-Z put her back down, at which point she immediately ran over to her food dish like a bat out of hell, causing Su-Z to giggle in amusement before following her. Kiwi, meanwhile, decided to head straight back to their room to finish getting ready so as not to keep Aria and Sonata waiting out in front of the barn for too long. She didn’t like to keep people waiting, probably because she didn’t like to be kept waiting herself.
“Come on, Su-Z,” Kiwi impatiently called out from the living room. “We can’t keep Aria and Sonata waiting much longer.”
“I just need one more minute,” Su-Z called back from their bedroom.
Naturally, Kiwi had been the first of the two PostCrush girls to finish getting ready since Su-Z had decided to get some treats for Princess Thunder Guts, which meant that she was now being forced to wait for her friend and make Aria and Sonata wait for her. A truly undesirable situation for someone so particular about waiting. True, she could’ve just left without Su-Z, but the thought of doing that never even crossed her mind. Su-Z was her best friend after all, and for as much as she hated keeping people waiting, she would never dream of disrespecting her best friend in such a manner.
In an effort to help keep her mind off of all the waiting, she decided to look out a nearby window for anything that might offer her a distraction for a bit. Alas, there was very little to look at aside from a view of the front yard, driveway, and street. But there was one thing of mild interest located in the driveway that she could see; the van she and Su-Z had been living in only a week ago.
After a couple of days with the Dazzlings, both she and Su-Z had each expressed an interest in retrieving the nearly broken-down vehicle from the river bank to them. This wasn’t because either one of them was particularly attached to it, far from it in fact, but since they’d spent what little money they’d had left on it after the IRS audit they didn’t want to just abandon it down by the river. None of the Dazzlings had a problem with this, so the next day they all went down to the river bank together and managed to get the hunk of junk back to the house in one piece…barely.
All-in-all, Kiwi found that the van actually looked kind of nice sitting out there. She felt it added a bit of character to the driveway. After all, by all outward appearances it was in pretty good shape, it was just everything on the inside that was rubbish.
“Okay, I’m ready,” Su-Z said as she emerged from the hallway, drawing Kiwi’s attention away from the van. “Let’s go meet some emu!”
Kiwi was intrigued for a moment by Su-Z’s sudden enthusiasm for going to see the emu, but she didn’t really give it much consideration. She was just happy that Su-Z was finally ready.
“Alright, let’s go,” She said as she headed for the front door, with Su-Z not far behind her.
As Kiwi and Su-Z made their way from the house to the barn, they saw that Aria and Sonata were indeed standing out by the front of the barn like Aria said they would be. Though interestingly enough, they appeared to still be carrying on their conversation from earlier inside the house.
“I just don’t see why I have to help with the emu too is all,” They heard Sonata say once they were close enough. “I mean, you’re the one who knows everything about them, why do you need me?”
“One, because it’ll be better for Kiwi and Su-Z if there’s two of us teaching them,” Aria replied. “And two, you’re still being punished for having sex with Rainbow Dash on our desk at work, remember?”
Both of the PostCrush girls stopped dead in their tracks when they heard this, and for the third time this morning they just sort of looked at one another for a second.
“Do you think that’s the same Rainbow Dash who’s friends with Sunset Shimmer and Pinkie Pie?” Su-Z softly inquired.
“Maybe,” Kiwi just as softly replied as she started walking again. “Though frankly I’m more curious about the ‘having sex on the desk at work’ part.”
“Yeah, sounds kinda kinky,” Su-Z then remarked, sounding somewhat sultry.
All Kiwi could do in response was give a small ‘ugh’ in annoyance as she pinched the bridge of her nose with her right hand. Sometimes she really didn’t understand how her friend’s mind worked.
“What? It does,” Su-Z retorted innocently.
Before Kiwi could genially ask Su-Z to get her mind out of the gutter, Aria and Sonata began to meet them half-way, prompting her to lower her right hand and quickly dawn an expression of steadiness and acuity.
“Okay, you two ready to get started?” Aria asked them once she and Sonata were close enough.
“We’re ready,” Kiwi said confidently.
“Yep, ready Freddie,” Su-Z cheerfully concurred.
“Um, her name’s Aria, not Freddie,” Sonata chimed in, causing Aria to roll her eyes in a derisive fashion.
“Ignore her,” The pig-tailed Dazzling told them as she turned around and started heading back towards the barn. “This way.”
Kiwi and Su-Z did as instructed and followed Aria, and Sonata, over to the front of the barn, stopping only once they reached the large doors that led inside. Wasting no time, Aria began to open them but abruptly stopped after only about a quarter of the way.
“Uh, quick question,” She began to say as she turned around to face them. “Have either of you ever been inside a barn before?”
“I haven’t,” Su-Z answered first.
“Neither have I,” Kiwi then answered.
“Ooh, Ooh, let me get my phone out,” Sonata eagerly spoke up as she reached into her pocket, pulled out her cell phone, and pointed it at them. “This should make for a good post to my MyStable page.”
The amount of confusion that Kiwi and Su-Z felt in that moment was indescribable. Why in the world would Sonata think that recording them going into a barn would be a good social media post?
“You might want to brace yourselves then,” Aria advised them just before finishing opening the door enough for them to walk through.
After yet another quick look at one another, Kiwi and Su-Z followed Aria inside. And as soon as they entered the barn they instantly realized what the two Dazzlings had been getting at.
“Oh my god, the smell,” Kiwi queasily stated as she instinctively brought her hand up to her nose to try and block the foul odor assaulting her nostrils.
“Ewww, ewww, ewww,” Su-Z declared as she did likewise.
Both of the PostCrush girls were so distracted by the smell of the barn that they failed to notice Aria and Sonata having a few chuckles at their expense.
“Yeah, the smell’s pretty bad the first time you come in here,” Aria spoke up once she’d finished chuckling. “But you’ll get used to it fairly quickly.”
Sonata didn’t say anything right away. Instead she just continued to point her camera at Kiwi and Su-Z for a few more seconds before eventually putting it down.
“I think I’ll title this video, ‘Two Girls Entering a Barn for the First Time,’” She said as she put her phone back into her pocket.
Kiwi would be lying if she said she didn’t have a strong desire to grab Sonata’s phone right out of her pocket, throw it to the ground, and smash it into a million pieces so that she couldn’t share the video she’d just taken of her and Su-Z. But since the Dazzling was technically her boss, she resisted the urge to act on that desire.
“Alright, enough fooling around,” Aria said as she started making her way towards the other end of the barn. “We’ll start by letting the emu out so they can get some exercise.”
In an effort to abate the offensive smell of the barn. Kiwi tried to recall other smells that she’d encountered in her life, ones that were much more pleasant. Flowers, the ocean, the Sheepherder’s Breakfast she’d had not more than an hour ago, anything she could think of in the hopes that somehow the memory of such refreshing smells would replace the smell of the barn. And much to her surprise, her little mind over matter trick actually seemed to work to a degree. It wasn’t by much, but it was enough to make being inside the barn at least tolerable now.
Once Su-Z appeared to have gotten over the smell of the barn too, or least gotten used to it, both her and Kiwi started to have a look around the place. They each found it to be bigger than it had looked from the outside and noticed that it had a number of stalls in it, one for each emu, though they couldn’t help but get the impression that they’d been designed more for horses than for emu. As they strode through, they also noticed that all the stalls had a nameplate on it and one emu inside of it. All of the stalls, that is, except for one that had a nameplate with the name ‘Glen’ on it.
“Why is there no emu in this one?” Su-Z curiously asked as she pointed to the empty stall.
Aria turned around to see which stall Su-Z was referring to, and quickly dawned a look of melancholy when she realized which one it was.
“There just isn’t,” She somberly replied before swiftly turning back around and continuing to head for the back doors.
It wasn’t difficult for either Kiwi or Su-Z to pick up on Aria’s sudden mood change.
“Did I say something wrong?” Su-Z quietly asked Sonata with a noticeable hint of concern in her voice.
“No, it’s just…Glen was Aria’s favorite emu,” Sonata dourly explained. “He got really sick awhile back and we lost him while she was at work one day. When she came home that night and Adagio and I broke the news to her, she ran off crying into a thunderstorm. It was really hard on her.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Kiwi sympathetically spoke up.
“Thanks,” Sonata replied. “Anyways, he’s still a bit of a touchy subject with Aria, so just try not to bring him up or anything if you can, okay?”
“Okay,” Su-Z assured the Dazzling.
Kiwi simply nodded her head in confirmation.
“Hey,” Aria suddenly shouted over to the group of girls from over by the back doors. “What’re you guys talking about?”
“Oh, um, just telling Kiwi and Su-Z to watch out for emu droppings,” Sonata quickly shouted back.
“Uh, yeah, I almost stepped in some,” Su-Z then shouted.
Even from half-way across the barn, the three girls could see that Aria was giving them a look of skepticism in response to their claims of discussing emu droppings. But the look quickly faded as she started making her way over towards them.
“Whatever,” She told them in a very tsundere manner. “Let’s just get the emu outside.”
It was then that Aria turned to her left and stopped in front of one of the nearby stalls. When she did, the emu within it came right up to the stall’s gate, as if knowing that it was going to be let out.
“You just unlock the gate like this and open it,” Aria instructed as she demonstrated to Kiwi and Su-Z what they needed to do.
Despite the gate now being open, the emu inside who’d seemed so anxious to be let out didn’t move, much to Kiwi and Su-Z’s confusion.
“Some of the emu will run out on their own once you open the gate,” Aria said as she took a few steps closer towards the large bird. “But most like Brie here you’ll need to sort of guide out, like this.”
Kiwi and Su-Z watched in amazement as Aria placed her left hand on the back of Brie’s neck and wrapped her right arm around her back and started leading her out of the stall, with no resistance at all from the large bird. It was something neither of them had ever seen before. Something that, in a way, was beautiful and heartwarming. It wasn’t long after the two of them stepped out the stall though that Brie gently broke herself free from Aria’s hold and made her way outside on her own.
“Wow,” Kiwi softly commented.
“Yeah,” Su-Z added in admiration.
Once Brie was outside, Aria turned around to address the two girls once more.
“You won’t be able to get close to the emu as easily as that right away, but that’ll change with time,” She told them. “For now though, you’ll need to let them check you out first so they can make sure you’re not a threat.”
“And…what if they see us as a threat?” Kiwi asked, a twinge of fear in her voice as she asked it.
“Don’t worry, that shouldn’t happen,” Aria assured her. “Emu are fairly peaceful animals and don’t get violent unless they’re provoked. So as long as you don’t get aggressive with them you’ll be fine.”
Kiwi gave a small sigh of relief at Aria’s assurance. She didn’t know much about emus yet, but she did know that they had some pretty sharp toe claws. And given the size of some of the emu in the barn, she figured those sharp toe claws could do some real damage to a person.
“Okay, Sonata, you and Su-Z go let Leo out,” Aria then instructed. “Kiwi, you and I will get Cole.”
“Okie doki!” Sonata merrily said as she took ahold of Su-Z’s right hand. “Come on, Su-Z, you’ll like Leo. He’s really friendly.”
Su-Z didn’t say anything in response as Sonata essentially started to drag her over to Leo’s stall, leaving Kiwi and Aria alone.
“So, can I ask you a question?” Kiwi inquired of the Dazzling.
“Sure,” Aria said as she started heading towards Cole’s stall. “What’s on your mind, Britney Spears?”
Without even realizing it, Kiwi gave a low, thankfully inaudible growl at once again having been called the name another pop music singer by Aria.
“I was wondering if this was always an emu farm,” She asked. “I mean, it just seems like this barn and these stalls were built more for horses.”
“Honestly, I have no idea,” Aria nonchalantly replied. “When I was conned into buying the place it was sold to me as an emu farm, and frankly I don’t give a damn what it might have been before. It’s an emu farm now and it’ll continue to be and emu farm as long as I’m here.”
A few follow-up questions to Aria’s answer entered Kiwi’s mind, specifically as to how she’d been conned into buying the place and why she seemed so passionate about keeping it an emu farm, but she put them in the back of her mind for another time.
“Alright, like Brie, Cole probably won’t come running out of the stall,” Aria said as they arrived at Cole’s stall. “So after you open the gate just let him check you out for a bit before trying to make contact.”
“Got it,” Kiwi confidently replied.
Remembering how Aria had opened the gate to Brie’s stall a moment ago, Kiwi did likewise with the gate to Cole’s stall and, sure enough, he didn’t come running out. So Kiwi carefully approached the large bird and just sort of stood there for a few seconds while he stared at her.
*RRMMOO*
Cole gave out a small cry before taking a few steps backwards away from Kiwi, much to both hers and Aria’s surprise.
“O-kay,” The Dazzling confusedly said. “Didn’t expect that.”
Kiwi couldn’t help but feel a twinge of rejection from Cole having backed away from her. It wasn’t as though she’d expected him to warm up to her immediately or anything, but she certainly hadn’t expected him to essentially try and get away from her.
“Try holding out your hand when you get close to him,” Aria suggested.
While Kiwi did still have a bit of fear that the emu might attack her, her desire to get Cole to trust her far outweighed that fear. So she did as Aria suggested and extended her right hand out to him as she once again approached him, but as soon as she got close again he backed away from her.
“It’s okay, Cole,” She tried to tell him in a very calm manner. “Don’t be afraid.”
It made no difference.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” She then said as she tried to move closer to Cole once more, only for Aria to take hold of her shoulder and prevent her from doing so.
“Best just leave him be,” The Dazzling told her. “For some reason he doesn’t want you near him. If you keep encroaching on him like this he may get defensive.”
“But...but I…” Kiwi tried say but started to feel choked up, desperately not wanting to give up.
“Look, it’s okay, these things happen,” Aria compassionately tried to assure her. “Some of the emu were wary of me when I first tried to get close to them too. We’ll just try with another one.”
“Y-Yeah, sure,” Kiwi dejectedly agreed as she backed away from Cole and out of his stall.
As Kiwi and Aria stepped out of Cole’s stall and closed the gate behind them, they each noticed that Su-Z appeared to be doing fairly well over with Leo. She was petting him and talking to him and everything, and he was letting her. Neither of them could make out what it was she was saying to him, but Kiwi figured that it was the same kind of stuff she often said to Princess Thunder Guts. And deep within her subconscious, it made her sick with jealousy.
“Come on, let’s go try with Blake,” Aria said as she led Kiwi towards another stall.
But things went exactly the same with Blake as they did with Cole. As did they with Tom, Pat, Drew, and every other emu Kiwi tried to get close to. Every single one wouldn’t allow her to get within five feet of them, and by the time lunch rolled around it was really starting to get to her.
Unlike with breakfast and dinner, the Dazzlings didn’t have anything planned for lunch, so everyone just made whatever they wanted from what was available in the kitchen. Aria and Sonata made a family-sized chicken pot pie that they split and took to eat in Aria’s room so that they could talk privately, Su-Z made herself some creamy spaghetti, and Kiwi was just finishing up microwaving some vegetable lasagna.
“I think I like Leo best,” Su-Z remarked in between bites of her spaghetti. “I mean, I liked all the emu that Sonata and I worked with, but Leo was my favorite.”
“Uh-huh,” Kiwi replied in a very impassive yet also irritated manner just as her lasagna was ready.
“I don’t know why I was so nervous earlier,” Su-Z then said, oblivious to Kiwi’s obviously sour mood. “The emu are so nice and friendly.”
“Yeah, friendly,” Kiwi sarcastically said as she took her lasagna out of the microwave.
As she headed over to the table, Kiwi grabbed the bottle of Jim Beam off the counter that Adagio had left out after irishing up her coffee at breakfast. She sat down across from Su-Z and took a swig of whiskey straight from the bottle, earning her a very confused and dismayed look from her friend.
“You’re drinking?” Su-Z asked her with mild shock.
“Uh-huh,” Was all Kiwi answered as she put the bottle down.
“B-But you always said we shouldn’t drink because it would ruin our voices,” Su-Z reminded her.
“Well what does that matter now, Su-Z?!” Kiwi practically snapped. “Our singing days are over and I need something to help drown out the morning I just had!”
“W-What do you mean?” Su-Z innocently asked. “What happened while I was with Sonata?”
The continued callowness of her friend did little to improve Kiwi’s mood. In fact, it only made it worse.
“While you were making friends with every emu you met, I couldn’t get even one to let me get close to it,” Kiwi shouted as she vehemently got up from her seat. “No matter what I tried every single emu just kept backing away from me like I had the plague or something!”
The loudness of Kiwi’s voice and the anger on her face was enough to make Su-Z wince a bit in her seat. She’d seen Kiwi get upset before, but never like this. And it scared her.
“Are you guys okay out here?” The two of them heard Sonata say from over by the hallway.
The two PostCrush girls turned their attention towards the hallway and saw both Sonata and Aria standing just outside of it staring at them. There was a look of concern on Sonata’s face, while Aria’s expression simply gave the impression of intrigue.
“Oh, what, you came out to record this too?!” Kiwi heatedly asked Sonata. “You want to add another post to your MyStable page?! Maybe title this one, ‘Former Popstar Goes Crazy’?!”
Like with Su-Z, having Kiwi’s fury directed at her made Sonata wince, which caused her big sister to come to her defense.
“Okay, just settle down, Miley Cyrus,” Aria calmly yet firmly told her.
And that was the straw the broke the emu’s back.
“MY NAME IS KIWI,” The girl yelled at the top of her lungs as she swiftly swung her left arm across the table, sending her lasagna and the bottle of Jim Beam flying.
After the pasta and whiskey bottle hit the floor, an extremely uncomfortable silence filled the room. Kiwi just sort of huffed and puffed as Su-Z, Aria, and Sonata all stared at her with looks of shock and fear on their faces. After a few seconds Kiwi started to calm down a bit. Not much, but enough for her to realize what it was she’d just done, and when she did she ran out of the kitchen and out the front door like a bolt of lightning.
It was difficult for Su-Z to tell for certain, but she could’ve sworn she saw a tear or two run down Kiwi’s cheek as she left.
As soon as Kiwi was outside, she headed straight for the van parked in the driveway without hesitation. Consciously she wasn’t sure why it was she’d decided to head there, but subconsciously she knew she just wanted to be somewhere where there wasn’t anyone else around, be they either human or emu. Once she’d reached the van, she swung open the door, stepped inside, and closed the door behind her.
“Nice job, Kiwi, you big idiot,” She began to say to herself as she felt her anger turn to anguish. “You just screwed up royally, again. It was bad enough when you let your pride and your ego cause you to lose your recording contract, now you let your jealousy and anger possibly cause you to lose your second chance.”
The more Kiwi spoke, the more her emotions started to get the better of her. Tears began to form in the corners of her eyes and run down her cheeks like rivers, and her body began to feel weak all over until she felt she needed to sit down.
“What the hell is wrong with me?” She asked as she took a seat on the futon, bringing her legs up to her head so she could bury her face in them.
Kiwi just sat there alone in the van for a minute or two before she heard the sound of someone knocking softly on the door.
“Go away, Su-Z,” She said through her tears, assuming it was her best friend. “I don’t want to talk.”
“It’s me,” Aria’s voice replied just before the door opened and the girl stepped inside. “And I know that’s not true.”
“What are you talking about?” Kiwi said as she turned her away from Aria.
“When you said that you don’t want to talk, I know that’s not true,” Aria explained as she closed the door behind her. “I’ve been where you are now more times than I can remember, and I know that when you’re like that and say you don’t want to talk you actually mean the opposite.”
As much as Kiwi wanted to refute Aria’s claim about what she actually wanted, she found that she couldn’t. After all, just a minute ago she’d been talking to herself.
“I’m sorry I lost it back there,” She apologized as she turned her head back around, though not enough to look directly at Aria. “I’ll clean up the mess later.”
“Don’t worry about that,” Aria told her as she took a seat next to her. “It’s not important right now. Plus I’m pretty sure Sonata and Su-Z are already taking care of it as we speak anyways. Just…tell me what happened to set you off like that.”
Although she knew exactly what had set her off, it was difficult for Kiwi to say it out loud. So she took a short, deep breath as she prepared herself to admit some hard truths.
“Everything,” She solemnly said. “The fact that I can’t get close to the emu, the fact that Su-Z can, the fact that I have to work on this farm instead of being able to perform on stage anymore, all of it. It all just finally came to a head.”
“I see,” Aria affably said.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m eternally grateful to you and your sisters for helping us,” Kiwi quickly clarified so that Aria didn’t get the wrong idea, looking the girl straight in the eyes as she did so. “It’s just…I hate that this is my situation now. I used to be on top of the world and then it all came crumbling down around me. I mean, I had a penthouse in Baltimare with a window that had the most amazing view of the city, and now all I have is a window that has a view of a plot of dirt with a van parked in a driveway. No offense.”
“None taken,” Aria assured her.
“And what’s even worse is that it’s not even my window,” Kiwi continued. “It’s yours. I just happen to be living in the house it’s a part of.”
“It’s your house too, Kiwi,” Aria compassionately said as she put a supportive hand on her shoulder. “Your name may not be on the deed or anything, but it’s still as much your house as it is ours.”
Aria’s kind words and supportive gesture helped bring a small smile to Kiwi’s face, but it wasn’t enough to snap her out of her funk completely.
“I just miss my old life,” She continued, reburying her head in her legs. “I just…wish I could go back to it.”
Hearing Kiwi say this brought back memories for Aria of when she and her sisters had been living in the van, and even some from right after they’d been banished to this world. Both times she remembered feeling the same way as Kiwi, wishing she could return to the life she’d had before. She’d never really gotten over those feelings after being banished, but she had after the Battle of the Bands. And she knew why too.
“Do you know how me and my sisters ended up getting out of this van?” Aria asked.
“No,” Kiwi replied.
“It was because Sunset Shimmer took us in,” Aria informed her.
Before she’d even had time to fully process what Aria had just said, Kiwi brought her head back up and looked at Aria with astonishment on her face.
“Yep,” Aria then said, picking up on Kiwi’s astonishment. “And considering that she was the one who indirectly put us in the van I wasn’t too keen on the whole thing at first. But as time went on, I came to accept my new life. And then later on after spending some time with Pinkie Pie, I learned that life can be weird sometimes and that it’s best to just roll with it. Like when you accidently buy an emu farm, you just start raising emu.”
Kiwi’s astonishment only continued to grow as she listened to Aria’s story. Sunset and Pinkie had been the ones who’d helped her and Su-Z learn that nothing was perfect back at the Starswirl Festival, and now it almost seemed like they were helping her again through Aria.
“My point is; don’t dwell too much on what used to be,” Aria continued. “Because if you do you’ll miss out on all the interesting things life still has in store for you.”
Part of Kiwi knew that she would always long for her old life as a popstar back, but after hearing Aria’s advice to her she felt that maybe she could accept that that life was over and move on from it. She didn’t know what kind of life awaited her on the emu farm, but she was willing to stick around and see what it might be. And of course, she wouldn’t be going through any of it alone either. She’d have Su-Z and the Dazzlings right there with her.
“Thanks, Aria,” She wholeheartedly said as she lowered her legs down off the futon.
“Don’t mention it, Kiwi,” Aria replied as she stood up. “Now come on, let’s get back inside.”
“Yeah, good idea,” Kiwi agreed as she too stood up, realizing that she still needed to apologize to Su-Z and Sonata as well.
“One other thing,” Aria said as she opened the door. “If you didn’t like my nicknames for you, you could’ve just asked me to stop.”
A tiny blush of embarrassment crossed Kiwi’s face after Aria said this.
“Y-Yeah,” She awkwardly replied. “I’ll try that next time instead of exploding in everyone’s faces.”
Both of the girls shared a small laugh as they exited the van and started heading back up to the house. Once they got there, they opened the door to see that Su-Z and Sonata were indeed cleaning up the mess that Kiwi had made when she’d lost her cool, just like Aria had predicted. When they noticed that Kiwi and Aria were back inside, they stopped what they were doing.
“H-Hey, girls,” Kiwi timidly said as she approached them. “I…I’m really sorry for what I did. I let my emotions get the better of me and I took it out on the two of you and Aria, even though none of the reasons why I was upset was in any way your fault. I promise it won’t happen again.”
“It’s fine, don’t worry about it,” Sonata immediately replied. “These emotional moments happen to us a lot, so I’m used to them.”
Su-Z, though, didn’t say anything for a few seconds. She simply put the cleaning instruments she’d been holding down on the table and slowly bridged the gap between her and Kiwi, a stoic look on her face the entire time.
“Su-Z…I-” Kiwi started to say before being wrapped up in a surprise hug.
“You don’t need to say it again, Kiwi,” Su-Z softly told her. “I forgive you.”
Moved almost to the point of tears, Kiwi returned the hug with gusto just as Princess Thunder Guts came up to the two of them and started nuzzling their legs.
After the emotional display between the two friends and their dog ended, Kiwi helped finish cleaning everything up and getting the kitchen to look spotless once more. As she and Aria finished sweeping up the last of the broken glass from the Jim Beam bottle though, a thought occurred to her. Despite having made amends with everyone, there was still one major problem that hadn’t yet been resolved.
“You know, we still have the issue of the emus avoiding me,” She reminded the Dazzling.
“Don’t worry,” Aria replied as she dumped all the broken glass in the trash can. “We have a friend with years of experience working on a farm who might be able to help with that.”