//------------------------------//
// Our Way Home 
// Story: A Dazzling Trio 
// by Spyder27 
//------------------------------//


Chapter XXX: Our Way Home


Applejack strains against a box, trying her best to push it into the under compartment of the RV. The amount of items in the RV is pretty staggering considering just how many people we are transporting. All ten of us… Sonata has offered multiple times to find her own way to Canterlot City by using some sort of public transport, but both Applejack and I refused. It just wouldn’t feel right. I don’t know how to explain it. I finally have everything in my life back to order. I don’t want to be away from them or my other friends. 
“Alright, close it, Rainbow!” Applejack exclaims, holding the box as far in as possible. Rainbow Dash nods before pulling her leg up, kicking the door of the compartment. Applejack pulls her hands back at the last second, letting it close with ease. Finally, every box is inside the vehicle. 
“I could have rented a moving truck,” Fluttershy states with a cautious tone, making Applejack and Rainbow Dash both glare at her. 
“Then why didn’t you offer that sooner?” the two of them ask her at the same time, making Sunset giggle a little. Her hand holds onto mine tightly, reassuring me of her presence. It’s really nice to feel her touch again…
“I did, but you two were too stuck in your own heads to hear me out,” Fluttershy responds with slight annoyance, rolling her eyes. Is that the first time I’ve seen her so blatantly… annoyed? I’m used to Fluttershy being more reserved and kind. I guess she can be more blunt with us, but it’s still surprising. 
“You did sort of interrupt her, darling. We’ve talked about your issue of not hearing solutions out until the last minute,” Rarity states with a kind tone to Applejack. The cowgirl simply sighs to herself, accepting the outcome of the situation. With a nod, she takes a few steps away from the vehicle. 
“Well, it doesn’t matter now. We’re all packed and ready to go.” Applejack tilts her hat up, a few drops of sweat on her face. She smiles to us, but it is clear she still has something to say. “It’ll only be a few hours til we get back to Canterlot City, so I figured now is as good of a time as any to talk. Amongst ourselves. Our trip is almost done and a few of us may want to… keep some things private between us,” Applejack mentions with a small nod to Sunset and me. “Other than that, if y’all are feeling sad about this trip ending or want to talk about the fun things, we can do that now before we hit the road.” 
“Yeah, it’d probably be a good idea to keep Sunset and Adagio’s fallout between all of us,” Rainbow Dash responds with a slight shrug. “Especially since Apple Bloom is a friend of Adagio’s and all. No reason to get her worried over something like this.”
Both Sonata and Aria look over at me with curiosity. Aria looks more annoyed, but Sonata seems genuinely intrigued. I guess I forgot to mention Apple Bloom when I told them about my life. Then again, it is a more confusing aspect of the last few years… Giving them a small nod, I reassure them I will explain it later without saying a word. 
“Well, I really liked exploring the places we went,” Twilight mentions with a smile, pulling up her phone to show us the pictures she’s taken. Despite how much drama has been torturing my heart in the last couple of weeks, it has been nice to go to new places. I haven’t left Canterlot City since Appleloosa. New sights have been interesting at the very least.
“Actually, I don’t think we’ve had a group picture yet,” Fluttershy speaks up with a curious tone to her voice, pointing at Twilight’s pictures. “At least, not one where we’re all in it.”
“A group picture?” Aria asks in an annoyed tone, rolling her eyes. “Do we really have to do that? It sounds so… cheesy.” Aria’s gaze turns to Sonata as the blue siren pulls on her arm.
“Come on, Aria. It’ll be fun! A picture with our new friends sounds like a great memory.” Despite Sonata’s attempt to make it sound appealing, Aria seems more annoyed than before. 
“I wouldn’t call them my friends yet,” Aria grumbles with crossed arms, clearly pouting. 
“A picture sounds really fun!” Pinkie exclaims before turning to the RV, opening the compartment for our luggage. Within a second, a couple bags fall out, making Applejack and Rainbow Dash cringe. For a second, it looks like Applejack is angry, but she takes a deep breath just as Pinkie Pie grabs a pair of sunglasses from her bag. “Now, I’m ready!” Pinkie tells us with a pose, making Sonata laugh. 
“How much do you want to bet that Applejack takes Fluttershy’s offer after this?” Sunset whispers to me, chuckling to herself. Kissing her cheek, I decide not to answer her clearly rhetorical question. I smile a little as everyone stands behind me. Taking out my phone, I hold it above me, making sure to get everyone in the shot with the RV acting as our background. Rainbow Dash is giving the camera peace signs. Fluttershy has a peaceful smile, but she is giving Dash bunny ears. Sonata holds both Pinkie and Aria close. Aria simply looks at the camera with a raised eyebrow. Applejack smiles humbly, but Rarity is lying in her arms, bridal style. The fashionista looks like she’s straight out of a magazine photoshoot. Twilight makes a heart with her hands and Sunset… Sunset rests her head on my shoulder. 
Chuckling to myself, I smirk at the camera, full of confidence and high on this feeling called happiness. Maybe it is just the lighting, but the colors feel so vibrant. It would almost be annoying if I didn’t have Sunset with me to make the most out of every moment. It’s a blessing to call everyone here a friend of mine. This new support system. This new life. It feels so invigorating. So… powerful.
With a breath, I confidently state, “Say cheese, everyone~” 





The door of the RV opens, greeting my nose with the smell of dirt and trees. Taking a deep breath, I step out of the vehicle for the last time, looking around the farm that Applejack calls home. It’s been a while since I’ve been here. I notice Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo give me a small wave, prompting me to give her one in return. Huh. I thought Apple Bloom would be here to greet us as well. Especially since her friends are here. Maybe she’s b-
“Heya, Adagio!” a southern voice yells as soon as something hits my side. In a second, my body collides with the Earth. The sheer force of my body hitting the ground actually makes me bounce on the dirt a couple times. However, I can’t say I’m in that much pain. I actually feel… fine. Maybe a small ache, but nothing more. I forgot that my magic made me a lot more resilient. It’s been way too long since I’ve had these abilities. 
“Apple Bloom. Get off me,” I say before opening my eyes. It’s all too obvious who it is that tackled me to the ground. The teenager pushes herself off of me, a big smile on her face. She offers her hand to help me get up. 
“How was the trip? Did you take a lot of pictures? Did ya find Aria? How is my big sis? Ooh, did you get any souvenirs?” The vast amount of questions make my head spin, but I simply take a deep breath as I get to my feet.
“One question at a time. I may have my magic back, but I can’t answer questions that quickly.” Looking at her, I can notice her eyes dart down to my gem. Her gaze widens considerably, looking like she’s in disbelief.
“Wait. You got your magic back? Like fully?” Apple Bloom reaches out to touch my gem, inspecting it with a curious eye. After a few seconds, our eyes meet again with a skeptical look coming from her. Raising her fist in the air, Apple Bloom thrusts her hand towards me, only for it to stop an inch from my face. Technically, it isn’t just her hand that halts. Everything around me stops. Even the falling leaves.
Chuckling to myself, I shake my head. I should have guessed Apple Bloom would try something so blatant to test my magic. If I was lying about it, I would have been punched by now. Stepping away from Apple Bloom, I giggle a little. Slowly, I exhale the air from my lungs just as everything begins to move again. The force behind Apple Bloom’s fist makes her fall to the ground, a surprised gasp coming from the teenager. After her brief stunt at eating the dirt, Apple Bloom looks up at me with a laugh.
“So, ya weren’t lying,” she states with a thumbs up, getting up from the ground with my help. “Man, I have absolutely no idea what spells you can do now. You’ll have to tell me more about it later. I’ll make sure of it.” Before I can say anything, Apple Bloom turns her attention to the RV. As soon as she notices Applejack stepping out of the vehicle, she runs at full sprint towards her sister. However, tackling her doesn’t do much for the teenager. Apple Bloom’s body pretty much comes to a full stop as her sister doesn’t move an inch from the endeavor. Whether that is because of her magic or her raw strength, I will never understand.
“Oh, hello, Apple Bloom,” Applejack states as if she didn’t notice Apple Bloom’s attempt to knock her over. “I’m glad to see the farm hasn’t burned down.”
“Applejack,” Apple Bloom says in a whine, clearly annoyed by her older sister’s joke. “I ain’t that bad at watching the farm. Granny Smith and Big Mac are just fine as well.” As Applejack returns the hug from her sister, Rarity steps out of the vehicle. Her hand briefly touches Applejack’s shoulder. Opening her arms towards Sweetie Belle, the two of them embrace as well. 
“I trust that you didn’t completely destroy my boutique, right?” Rarity asks her younger sister with a skeptical tone. Sweetie Belle rolls her eyes at Rarity’s comment.
“Of course I didn’t. You specifically told me to ‘never, under any circumstance, touch your work.’” Sweetie Belle lets go of Rarity, reaching into her backpack. “I also brought Opal. I thought you’d like to see her.” 
“Opal darling!” Rarity exclaims before grabbing the cat, hugging her as if it has been years since she’s seen her pet. The cat is… less than pleased. It’s kind of funny to see the cat’s annoyance at Rarity’s embrace. “Oh hush. Mommy has been gone for weeks and you can’t even give me a proper hello.” Rarity gently pets her cat, trying to not set her off anymore. Twilight and Fluttershy step out of the RV, followed by the cocky athlete of our group.
“Heya, kid! How have you been?” Dash asks Scootaloo excitedly. Scootaloo’s face instantly seems confused by Dash’s demeanor. 
“Rainbow Dash? Weren’t you kind of depressed when you left?” the teenager asks, being brought into a hug by Dash. 
“That was weeks ago. Try to keep up, yeah?” Without saying another word, Dash pulls out her phone, posing for a selfie with Scootaloo. Something catches my eye, making me look over towards Applejack. The cowgirl is flipping through some papers Apple Bloom gave her, instilling a few questions in my mind. However, it’s their business, so I suppose it isn’t exactly my problem. If it’s not private, I’ll probably learn what they are eventually.
“Ow. Darn it,” Applejack utters while quickly bringing her thumb away from one of the pages. Bringing it to her lips, Applejack licks at her thumb, making Aria look at her with the wildest confusion.
“Did the cowgirl get a little papercut?” Aria asks in a condescending tone, laughing a little to herself. However, as soon as both Rarity and Applejack give her a nasty look, Aria’s expression becomes a little awkward. “Uh… Sorry,” she mentions quietly, moving away from them.
“Papercuts can really hurt, Aria,” Rarity tries to tell Aria with a small wave of her hand before moving her attention to Applejack. “Darling, we talked about this.”
“Talked about getting a papercut? When? And how am I supposed to avoid getting one?” Applejack asks her with a slightly sarcastic tone, watching her thumb with the care of a surgeon. Even from here, I can tell there’s some blood coming from the cut. 
“No… We talked about being more honest with yourself,” Rarity gently reminds her with a hand on the shoulder. “It’s not ‘darn’. It is ‘damn’. Say it with me. Damn it.” The way Rarity says that makes me chuckle a little, finding the whole scene a little humorous. Applejack looks at her as if she’s crazy.
“Sugarcube, I am trying to censor myself to be a little more… proper,” Applejack responds while looking at Apple Bloom and her friends. I’d say some of that censoring is probably because of her younger sister. I’ve never held back on my language on account of Apple Bloom, but I guess the fact that they’re a ‘traditional’ family, Applejack doesn’t want to cuss in front of her. 
“Darling, the mere fact that you are going out of your way to use such crass language like softcore swearing for a minor cut is already stepping over ‘proper’. To be more honest with yourself, you might as well go big or go home.” The way Rarity suggests this sounds… really reasonable. Never before did I think I would hear a rational argument for swearing from Rarity of all people, but every day brings some new lessons. Well… Not every day. Especially when you have lived as long as I have. There are bound to be some boring days in a few thousand years.
“Yeah, go off, Applejack,” Aria snickers, probably finding the idea of Applejack cursing like a sailor as funny as I do. Just as Aria says this, Sunset and Sonata leave the RV. Sonata looks pretty confused, but Sunset smirks as if she’s been listening from inside the vehicle the whole time. 
“How about no?” Applejack asks with a shake of her head. Apple Bloom kind of pouts at this response. Was she also looking forward to seeing her sister swear? “I’m gonna check on Granny Smith. I’ll be back to drive y’all home,” she says, referring to the majority of us. However, Rarity and Fluttershy have their cars here already since they left them here before we left. 
“I think I’ll probably just leave. I need to open my animal daycare tomorrow. After I get some sleep of course,” Fluttershy mentions with a small smile, opening the bottom compartment of the RV for her luggage. 
“I have to check up on my mom. And study a bit. God knows I wanna just hit the hay,” Dash mentions with a yawn, despite the fact that she slept a lot of the trip back. 
“I could drive you,” Fluttershy offers, but Dash quickly shakes her head.
“No need, Shy. I only have one bag and I’m faster anyway. Thanks for the offer though.” Picking her bag from out of the RV, Dash gives all of us a small wave. “See ya! I’ll text y’all tomorrow.” Without saying another word, Dash becomes a blur, disappearing down the driveway. 
“Aw, man. I was hoping she’d run me around town at super speed,” Scootaloo says with a disappointed tone, one that Sweetie Belle responds to by patting her shoulder. Maybe another day, Scootaloo.
Walking over to me, Sunset grabs my hand with a small laugh, making me wonder what she finds funny. Without saying a word, Sunset leans her head on my shoulder, making Aria cringe slightly. Sonata just seems to be happy for us.
“We need to stop by the supermarket before Applejack takes us home,” Sunset mentions quietly, only making me ask myself more questions.
“Why exactly?” I ask her with a little annoyance. I was getting really attached to the idea of going straight to bed when we got home. 
“If Aria and Sonata are going to stay with us for a while, we’re going to need a couple of air mattresses for them. Unless you want them to sleep on the basement floor,” Sunset states with another laugh, drawing attention from Aria. Yeah… The bedding situation. Kind of forgot about that issue. 
“We’re sleeping in the basement?” Aria asks, almost like she assumes the basement will be cold and dark. It’s actually quite nice down there. For now, we’ve been using the space for storage. There’s a main room down there, a smaller guest room off to the side and a closet area where the air conditioner is. 
“The basement is really clean, warm, and pretty spacious. You’ll be fine,” Sunset reassures her, chuckling a little more. The more I think about it, I can’t help but wonder what it will be like to live with Aria and Sonata again. At least for a while until they can get their own places. They can be annoying, but will it be hard to get them more acquainted with my friends? With Sunset? I know this will be worth it, but a small part of me can’t help but feel stressed. In a way, I’ve just given myself the challenge of getting everyone to accept two more sirens.
Looking at Aria and Sonata, I smile to myself. Even if it’s a challenge, it is one I’m willing to accept. At least they’re in my life again~





Flipping the switch, the god awful sound finally stops, giving my ears a break. I swear I can still hear the loud suction sound echoing in my ears. It’s a hallucination of course. I turned it off. At least, I think. Bringing my hand to my ear, I rub slightly, almost feeling pain from how loud this process was. The air mattress we bought has its own vacuum device to inflate itself, but in exchange, it basically makes you deaf in the process. 
“Well, that was pleasant,” Aria mentions with a slight shake of her head, rubbing her head just like me. I suppose her ears hurt from the sound as well. 
“Huh?” Sonata asks with an oblivious expression on her face. “I didn’t quite catch that.” Bringing her hand to her ear, Sonata prompts Aria to repeat herself, but the latter simply rolls her eyes. Thankfully, this was the second of the mattresses. So, no more loud sounds to deal with. Standing up from my seat on the floor, I sigh a little to myself, grateful to be done with that.
“Okay. So, we can figure some more stuff out later. For now, there are some blankets and sheets in the closet. I’m sure we all need some sleep after our trip,” I state with a small yawn escaping my lips. I won’t admit it, but the awkwardness between us does make me feel a little anxious. However, I fully expect it will stay awkward until we spend more time with each other. “We can all have lunch together tomorrow and talk more then. I hope you both go to sleep easily here, even if it is hard for one of you…” I turn my gaze to Aria, wondering what I should do exactly. Aria’s had insomnia for most of her life, so it almost guarantees that she won’t be able to sleep here.
“What? I have some melatonin,” Aria states with a bored tone as if she is trying to get me to not concern myself over her issue. I just wish there was a more permanent solution to this, but whatever. As long as the melatonin works for her. 
“It’s been so long since I’ve slept in someone else’s place,” Sonata mentions with wonder, making Aria sigh a little. 
“When have you actually slept in someone else’s place before? You have owned every place you’ve slept in so far except this one. Even the places you shared with Adagio and me.” Aria raises her hand in the air, asking her for an example. In response to Aria’s question, Sonata brings her finger to her chin, seemingly thinking to herself.
“Oh, yeah. You’re right. Does that mean this is my first sleepover?” Sonata asks with a gasp. In some ways, her naivety can be annoying, but in instances like this, it is kind of endearing.
“If you want to think of it that way, then yes. Just try to get some sleep, okay? If you two need something to eat in the middle of the night, feel free to look around the kitchen. Sunset and I won’t mind,” I reassure them with a small nod. Taking one last look at them to make sure they’ll be okay, I turn around and quietly walk towards the stairs up to the first floor. Walking up the steps, I can hear Sonata make some joke and Aria sighs to herself. As long as they behave themselves, I’m sure we will be fine. 
Closing the door behind me, I take a deep breath. My heart feels a little heavy with doubt. Those two can be a handful, but… It will be okay. We will figure things out. Later. Right now, this siren just needs a big glass of my favorite whiskey and some rest. This trip has beaten me down and I’m exhausted from it. Chuckling to myself, I walk towards the kitchen, peering into the living room. I notice Sunset sitting on the couch, facing away from me as she surfs Equestria+ for something to watch. Honestly, I’m a little surprised that she has enough energy to watch a show or a movie.
“Can you get me a glass as well?” Sunset asks me casually. The way she knows me so well is almost frightening sometimes. 
“Lazy, aren’t you, Shimmer?” I ask with a teasing tone, but my eyes are locked onto the back of her head. Her hair, while messy, is really pretty in moments like these. Although, I am tired, so these moments are kind of biased to begin with. Reaching into the cabinet, I pull out two glasses, almost tasting the whiskey now. Grabbing the bottle from next to the fridge, I gently pour it into the glasses, taking a moment to smell the drink. 
“I mean, we have had a really emotional couple of weeks,” Sunset says candidly, scrolling the streaming service a little more. Sitting down next to her, I give her one of the glasses. I can’t help but feel my tension leave my body, finally being able to rest in my own home again. After taking a sip, Sunset rests her head against my shoulder.
“Are you sure you want to watch something?” I ask her quietly, feeling my eyelids get heavy, my body resisting any idea of moving. Sunset simply nods her head, leaning into me. Drinking my whiskey, I watch the screen as Sunset picks a movie we’ve both seen a couple times by now. It has been a while since we’ve had a movie night, so I guess it can’t hurt. 
Reaching over, I turn out the last lamp, leaving the only light in the room coming from the TV. Sunset takes a deep breath as the film begins, turning the volume down pretty low. I still somewhat can’t believe this is happening, but… It is just nice to have her back.
“I love you so much, Adagio,” Sunset whispers, bringing her hand to mine. I think both of us can tell we’re going to have a stressful month ahead of us, but we’ll be able to get through it. Especially with her by my side. My wife to be.
“I love you too, Sunset~”