//------------------------------//
// Navigation 1, Part 3 -その粉砕された星を... That Shattered Star... 
// Story: ARIA Special Navigation: The Magic of Friendship in the City of Miracles 
// by Planetarian 
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Navigation 1, Part 3 -その粉砕された星を... That Shattered Star...

I've been picking up the pieces, but I don't think I can put things together as they were.

Four-score men and Four-score more, Could not make Humpty Dumpty where he was before.

That's it. That's how I feel like. Things change regardless of what I do...

I don't even get to feel that things can ever last. Hooves of time have been cruel to me.

If you are caught up in the sorrows of the past and couldn't see the fun now, it would be terrible, wouldn't it? Think of what is fun now to get the most of now!

You can change from within so that you can enjoy anything, because living each day is wonderful.

Maybe I'll try that.


\\-----//


Dinner got inevitably delayed.

The talk went on till sunset, with nobody the wiser until the whole of Neo-Venezia was covered in an orange tint... as if it were hearkening to the days when this planet was orange and not blue. 

Sweetie Belle realized that she needed time to absorb all of this information. There was simply so much about this world and the old world that it was connected to for her to take in all at once. 

The other thing that was dawning on her was the charm of the Aquamarine. This momentary break from intense exchange of ideas had given her the chance to reorient herself, and she found that it was no exaggeration that the pink-haired Undine did command the magic of friendship. 

The filly had opened her heart to this human In mere hours after being hurled into the world of Aria company and Neo-Venezia. The Undine took this alien along into this watery world of wonders, while treating the pony as she would of the innumerable splendours that exist on this planet. 

The Undine's field of effect was so strong that those around her came to view the alien as something that was quite familiar. In fact, it was difficult for even the alien (Sweetie Belle) to think of the human as being fundamentally different from that of a pony. 

Mizunashi Akari did not express herself through magic on a horn as did Twilight. She was the magic in and of itself.
Akari saw not of strangers, but of friends, and apparently this was felt reciprocally. 

None in the group could convince another to do nothing. Sweetie found herself using her telekinesis to set the table, and to move food from the kitchen below to the floor above. Ai travelled from the kitchen to stairwell frequently, while Akari, Alicia and Akino kept themselves in the kitchen. 

Sweetie looked at the table as she allowed her memory to recall her life in Ponyville. Ponyville was a small, rural and rambunctious place, with larger-than-life persona driving the daily lives of the settlement. The ponies there were really a happy, simple bunch.

This city had such an illustrious past, yet it did not fall victim to the sort of decadence that Canterlot was known for. These Undines were very conscious of the past, but they were not beholden by it. It was somewhat unfortunate that Canterlot could not stop being pretentious of itself really.

Twilight Sparkle was a sure avenue for intellectual examination of things in Ponyville, but she was empirical and did not explore the philosophical questions significantly. 

Applejack was too stepped in pragmatism, and could only infer to the immediate now. 

Rarity relied on persuasion and not of wisdom or intellect, while Pinkie Pie was simply too abstract. 

Lastly, Rainbow Dash did not concern herself with rationales, as she was only willing to entertain her own perception of things mostly.

The passage of time would tamper these mares, but that thought was sobering to the filly. 

Sweetie had no bond with Princess Celestia or Princess Luna that would allow her to hold engaging talks with them on the foibles of sentient beings or the daily idiocies of life and such. The filly found that the only solace to be had was that the Undines of the Aria company were very introspective and would not shy in exchanging their feelings and their thoughts with the unicorn.

It was nice having ponies... people to talk to.

Smiling in the face of her reality was a bit hard. Sweetie Belle was born an optimist, but her own apprehension had casted a dark cloud over her psyche. 

The unicorn lined the chairs up out of reflex. Somepony or somebody to talk to would be great right about now.


\\---//


Down in the kitchen below, the Undines were cooking away and kept the chitchat away from the festival planning, which was the most important subject for the Gondola Association as of late. 

Having Sweetie Belle the unicorn to talk about was an interesting departure from the usual topics on Undines, their extended family, self reflection and the life of the city.

Alicia chuckled once more as she placed one of the lobsters to the side. "I think that Akari-chan and Ai-chan did superbly for humanity's first contact with ponykind!"

She turned to President Aria. "Aria-shaachou is a fine representative of Martian cats! You were so understanding throughout the meeting!"

"Puipui-nyu~"

Ai was busy getting the utensils ready. "Alicia-san and grandma would be the high level representatives! This is really too perfect."

Grandma chuckled.  "Ara ara. I didn't do anything. That was all just happenstance. I was only here to visit everyone at Aria company. You and Akari-chan did all the work, Ai-chan."

Alicia was rather contemplative. "Akari-chan, Ai-chan, it was a good thing that you two were there for Sweetie-chan. She would have no one to open her heart out to, and that can lead to many misunderstandings. I can't help but to think of how lost she must have been, having found herself in a totally strange land."

Akari dismissed any credit on her conduct. "Nonono, Alicia-san! Sweetie-chan was the one that found us! She was so lost and so sad... and it was Ai-chan that really reached out to her!"

"You did way more for her, Akari-san." Ai had a bit of a frown on her face. "I don't think that Sweetie-chan is much older than I am. She had many worries though. She is very smart, and she isn't shy, but she is lonely."

Akari shared the same expression as Ai. "She had the same look of lament and melancholy as Adelina-san. Only someone that have gone through similar pain would react the way that she did over the fate of old Venezia. That powerlessness and the heartache on her face... it's not something that a little girl should have come to known."

Alicia opened the oven and took out a few plates of Gratin. "Sweetie-chan is a good girl. She really cares about her sister, and I can tell that she wants to help others in need. I hope that we can understand her better though. You said that she's been through several worlds already, Ai-chan?"

Akari nodded. "Sweetie-chan had been through some sad worlds, but she didn't say anything on the details of those worlds. She said that she would take over her alternate selves in worlds where she exists..."

Ai stepped in. "She would use the body of her alternate selves in those worlds, and get a whole new body in worlds where she doesn't exist or had already died. She wasn't happy about this when she talked about it with us in the morning."

Grandmother voiced her opinion as she rinsed her hands. "Let us give Miss Unicorn all the attention that she deserves. She has chosen to accept out our rude invitation to our city, so that's the least we can do to compensate her for her burden. It is very important that she doesn't feel that she has nowhere to turn to or that she is trapped here."

Akari concurred with grandma, as Alicia slowly moved the gratins onto a tray. Ai moved in and lifted the tray.

"Sweetie-chan, incoming tray!"

"Ok! I am coming to the stairwell!"

The handover went without a hitch as Sweetie Belle took telekinetic hold of the tray. She levitated the tray without rocking the contents and then moved the gratins to their assigned positions. Ai watched Sweetie levitating the empty tray to her and shook her head in slight disbelief the moment that the tray returned to her.

"I don't think I can ever get used to seeing this." Ai said aloud.

"Telekinesis is a basic unicorn skill." Sweetie had a matter-of-fact tone in answering Ai. "I had to learn how to do this of course. I had to use my hooves and forelegs to hold things, and still do. It's nice that I can just use telekinesis for hot stuff though."

"Not every pony is a unicorn right? You said Pegasi before."

"There's also the Earth Ponies. They have strong bodies and have this special connection to the land. A small number of ponies have horn and wings."

"Wow...thank you. I will ask you more about Equestria when we eat dinner, Sweetie-chan."


\\---//


The meal went without a hitch. Sweetie enjoyed the Gratin.

The unicorn made a comment about her diet. "We ponies do fry hay and use flowers in our dishes. Twilight for one practically swears by Daisy for sandwiches."

Alicia was highly interested. "How about sweets and other confectioneries?"

Sweetie's expression was bright. "Macaron, éclair, cake, tiramisu... ice cream as well. We have fancy stuff too, but Ponyville's a small town so we don't get all the best stuff. There's a confectioner called Bon Bon in Ponyville, so there's no shortage of specialized licorice flavour and so forth."

Ai gave Alicia a conspiring glance, with Alicia returning in kind.

"We'll have to treat you to a gelato here. There's this boutique nearby the Rialto Bridge that makes exceptional gelato. Neo-Venezia is an excellent place for your palette."  

Akari quickly added her own two bits. "We also have a Pâtissier that occasionally makes this gorgeous heart-shaped chocolate that are placed in glass bottle! He's normally over Piazza San Marco. He will be there when the Acqua Alta has come to pass!"

Ai tapped Sweetie on her left shoulder, as she showed Sweetie a photo of the Pâtissier and his stand. "The Piazza is a must-go destination, so we always buy a jar or two. His work is very gentle and warm, as is his personality. You'll get to see it in no time."

Sweetie looked at the plates longingly. "Ponies work with their hooves to produce all the foodstuff in Ponyville, down to the very wheat used to make flour. Everything that we eat came from the hard work of somepony that poured out her time and love into making the food or the ingredients..."

The unicorn didn't used to ponder that hard about the fruit of hard labor when she was in Rarity's care. "It's as Akari said. They worked, hoping for better lives. The very food itself is a miracle formed of those labour that the farmers had, all under the blessing of Celestia's sun."

"I guess we really don't stand alone. We depend so much on the efforts of others just to live in the world." She said to them all, but to grandma in particular.

The perceptive elder  inquired. "Miss Unicorn, are some of your friends farmers?"

Sweetie Belle looked down on the leftover crumbs of an apple cake. "Apple Bloom and Applejack of the Apple family. Sounds funny isn't it. They are apple farmers. Applejack is the Element of Honesty, and her sister Apple Bloom happens to be one of my closest friends.  They make an honest living and are selfless to a fault."

"How did their food taste like to you?"

"Unbeatable." Sweetie Belle said with absolute conviction. "Applejack knew every tree at the Sweet Apple Acres. If that's not dedication, I don't know what is."

Grandma asked. "How much does she love her work?"

"Her family is that work. She can be stubborn as a mule with how she does things, but she truly loved her farm with all of her heart. Rarity told me of how that she loved her own apple tree to the point of reading it bedtime stories... as silly as that is,  that's the kind of love she has of her work and livelihood." Sweetie played with the plate as she recounted the paragon of rustic virtues that was Applejack.

"No wonder you treasure your friends so much." Alicia spoke. "They are the bedrocks of what makes you who you are. Everything that they did have etched deeply into your mind, and you're carrying those thoughts with you all this time."

Akari had a word to share. "You always feel those genuine feelings from your friends, and they in turn enter into your soul and form a part of your feelings. This is why when you think of Applejack-san, you think of their values and how they have affected you. Their happiness, success and lives become part of your own."

Ai looked at Akari with dreamy eyes. "Akari-san's life at Neo-Venezia was real to me, even when I was on Manhome and could only hear her or see her words. I never did leave Neo-Venezia, even if I couldn't be here physically until I got older. It was through her words that I first met everyone at Aria company, Aika-san, Alice-san, Akira-san and so many others."

"But I am growing apart from all of the friends that I've made. I can't talk to my Rarity, and poor Twilight is literally in pieces. I don't know how I can reach out to those friends that I keep saying goodbye to..."  The unicorn was emotionally spent, so she made this retort in a listless fashion.

Akari went over to Sweetie and stroke her mane. "There must be a way. There has to be a way for those feelings to cross dimensions. I know that those feelings on letters can cross space and time, so don't despair, Sweetie-chan!"

"How..."

Ai moved to Sweetie Belle. "Because the cats here have taken us across space and time to deliver and to receive those feelings that living being have had over Aqua in the past and in the present day. You understand what we meant, Alicia-san?"

Alicia nodded. "I saw those feelings transcending space and time with my own eyes. Akari-chan's magic made it possible to see to see something that would've been impossible for me to see."

Grandma looked at President Aria. "A big thank you for you, Aria-shaachou! You had a hand in this, didn't you?"

President Aria was blushing as he shyly dismissed the praises heaped by Akino unto him. The girls in the room had a hearty laugh over this, and the gloominess was forgotten by all.


\\---//


"Both  Applejack and Rarity lost their parents, so they had to raise their little sisters. Apple Bloom and I came out of that sort of background."

"But Rarity and Applejack don't always get along because of their radical differences in lifestyle?" Ai reasoned.

"Yea, you can say that. Applejack and Rarity would put their lives for each others' sake, but they are both too stubborn to cave in to the little differences that they have. Rarity really appreciates the fine things and all the efforts that have gone into making those things, but Applejack couldn't understand the value behind them. On the other hoof, Applejack and her unwillingness to treat herself well really hurts Rarity. That's the sort of relationship that they have."

The Undines were forming mental pictures of the farmpony and the fashionista from the alabaster unicorn's narrative. 
"You girls are horrible." Sweetie Belle declared. "The last time that I cried so much in the course of one day was over my alternate sister doing something tragically stupid to herself..."

The humans had the "we're listening" look in their eyes.

"You really want to hear this?" 

The filly sighed. "In this one world, it turned out that being bearers meant that you turned immortal. I got there when it's been 300 years since they defeated Nightmare Moon, so most the friends that I would have know have died out in that world. Only the two princesses and the Elements were alive."

Sweetie kept the fable going. "Rarity there tried to live her life through me, and she didn't try to achieve her own happiness. When I... when her Sweetie died, she had the great idea of cutting her wrists, but it did nothing except leaving her with scars."

"I saw my sister being broken by having nothing to fill her life with after losing me. I got a bad feeling that my Rarity may have done the same to herself, but that's beside the point." Sweetie had to collect herself at that point.

"All of her fellow Elements there had to suffer through the consequences of being immortal, but Rarity made things that much worse when she didn't make live a life for herself. That whole experience was really painful to go through."

Sweetie's mental floodgate was wide open, so she allowed for yet another memory to be shared.

"And then there's the case of one of my poor mentor's fragments being driven to insanity from loneliness. Getting thrown three hundred years back into the past, can't get a physical body, forced to live in an imitation of Ponyville... it's terrible for Twilight Sparkle, an obsessive-compulsive perfectionist. Her own insanity made her kill me time and time again as I tried to get to her shard."

She noticed that she had finally managed to lose the comprehension of the Undines.

"This broken shard of Twilight channelled her loneliness and desperation with her intellect to the protective measures put forth by this pony that looked after her fragment, and I had to live through being killed by own mentor a couple hundred times to get to her. I was a loop immortal since I was in a time recursion, so I only had to suffer emotionally through the whole thing. Twilight had much worse."

"But that's not what you all are wondering about. Basically, each shard of Twilight moves me to another world when I find it." Sweetie pointed to the broken star on her flank. "The shard is in this dimension, but I have no idea as to where the shard would be in this dimension."

"So, returning on topic. This loneliness can kill, and I it... and it's been scaring me. I don't want to become a monster from my sorrows, and I don't want to sink into that kind of despair and live like a walking dead."

"And that's really the heart of my problems." Sweetie noticed at just how uncomfortable her audience were over the agony and ecstasy of Sweetie Belle. "I saw ponies die in agonizing manner, I saw power-hungry monsters, I saw devastation, I saw regrets... all bad, but nothing scares me more than losing myself."

"But I feel a lot better now." She turned to the morose Undines. "All of you have reminded me of what is it that I am trying to do. I am trying to put the magic of friendship back together and return it to its rightful place in my home."

Everything came to a halt for about a minute.

Finally, the youngest Undine came forth. "You cannot do that without accepting the magic of friendship into your own heart. I think you know that too. The moment you stop believing in the magic of friendship is the moment that you become truly lost in space."

Sweetie gave a solemn acknowledgement, after a few stiff seconds. "With all that's been said, I can only close by saying that I am in your care."

The filly's expression softened. "I am in the care of the magic of friendship that runs within you, Akari-san, and in the friends that are right beside you."

Alicia looked on. "I am very happy that you could finally see your heading so clearly. You've been on this course since the beginning of your voyage, but to have discovered it and to realize this endpoint is a very incredible thing."

Sweetie elegantly curtsied to her gracious and beautiful hosts. I Quattro Elementi training had given the unicorn a mean to return the graceful Undines in kind.

Akari and grandma had elected to a deep, sincere bow to address the unicorn. Alicia bore formal courtesy, while Ai opted to kneel on one knee as she held the little unicorn's forelegs.

Sweetie addressed gratefully. "All of you are so good and wise, and have taken so much of your time to hear out a total stranger's troubles from worlds that really shouldn't have met. I don't know how to possibly thank you all enough."
Akari waved her hand in disagreement.

"Sweetie-chan, I do think that meeting you is a miracle, a wonderful one. Any miracle has to be understood and taken to the heart, and be treasured. Some miracles only last for a fraction of a second while others are nearly time immaterial, yet they all need to be cherished. That's why you have nothing to be sorry about."

Ai saw grandma moving toward Sweetie. She tried to stand to assist the elder, but she was waved to stay as she were while the greatest water fairy of all came to the unicorn's eye level.

"Little unicorn, don't deny the possibilities ahead of you." Akino said. "Everything moved so very hectically around you that you barely had the time to pause and to rest your weary soul, and that sort of pacing is making you forget about the possibilities that exist from being alive."

Akino glanced at President Aria, as the azure eyes of the cat gazed back. The elder then returned her focus onto the unicorn.

"You hold the key to how miracles will unfold. You will be content if what you do makes you happy. The little things around you will surely lead to that distant goal, but it is very easy to forget about those simple things."

"That is why, little unicorn, you have to find enjoyment in things and allow those things in life to show you the path to your goal." 

Akari moved to Ai's side. "We'll have to find Twilight-san using our magic of friendship. I think this is going to be another grand adventure like the one Aika-chan, Alice-chan and I did to reconstruct the scripts and the scores of The Water Fairy."
Ai hadn't let go of Sweetie's forelegs. "Being an Undine of the Aria company is unlike being an Undine anywhere else. This company is magical after all. So do we start tomorrow?"

Alicia shook her head. "It started the moment that Sweetie-chan met you, Ai-chan. It's just like what Akari-chan has said... we are in the midst of a miracle right now.

Alicia and grandma exchanged a glance, and Alicia made her address to Akari as she hugged her precious junior.

"Akari-chan, your Aria company is more wonderful than what I have ever imagined it to be. That magic that you have which had transformed my world is now taking us beyond this world. My Aquamarine..."

Akari allowed the warmth to soak into her soul, and said nothing while locked in Alicia's arms.

Grandma had some words for Ai. "Ai-chan, I am very thankful that you chose to be with Aria company. Our company has had the pleasure of having you on our side since you first came to Aqua as our guest. We are in your care."

Ai was flabbergasted when Akino bowed to her. Grandma didn't let the Single stand up. Alicia was the one that righted Akino's posture.

Akari, while hugging Alicia, admitted her own gratitude to her seniors. "I am very grateful to have Ai-chan as my junior and to be in grandma's Aria company. I am so thankful that I had the beautiful Snow White as my mentor, and this company has given me endless wonders."

She then spoke to Sweetie Belle. "We too are in your care, Sweetie-chan. You are at the heart of this wonder. Please lend us your trust, abilities and wisdom."

Sweetie was a little dazed. "Does that mean that..."

Akari smiled brightly. "Hahi! We welcome you to stay in Aria company with us, for as long as you like. Will you allow us to undertake this adventure with you?"

The unicorn's eyes were moist as she moved her muzzle to Akari. She consented by nuzzling the Undine.


\\---//


The Neo-Adriatic sea reminded Sweetie of its all-encompassing presence by a slightly salty breeze.

The unicorn took a moment to look at the deep blue that was reflecting the lights from the city on the blanket of water beneath her. 

Sweetie found the tranquillity to be very soothing. She had never lived over a lagoon before.  Then again, this was the first time that she had to live  in an alien city in every sense of the word.

Many things were different, yet they were so very familiar. The food, the atmosphere, the outlook on life... they were not foreign to the filly.

"I wonder why is it that my friends at Ponyville are so hyperactive? It wasn't just Scootaloo, but even Applejack and Twilight are more prone to overreaction than any of these Undines."

Sweetie Belle started to think of what would've happened Ai was the one that ended up in Ponyville.

Ai-chan will run into us Crusaders or Rainbow. It doesn't matter who comes first. 

Rainbow Dash will cause a ruckus, and then Applejack will be called to action. Cheerilee may or may not be involved, depending on whether if she was teaching us or not.

Pinkie Pie will beat Twilight to the punch and loudly proclaim that a party shall be had.

Twilight Sparkle will send Pinkie away for a time as she acted as the straight, sane pony and exchange some pleasantries, and get her first round of questions in. A letter will be made out to Canterlot afterwards.

Ai-chan will then face the full Pinkie treatment, and the day will be totally used up as Crusaders circle around her like a pack of hungry timberwolves. Ai-chan will eventually fall asleep in the library or the barn, where the party was likely to be held.

The letter will reach the Princess before dusk, and Celestia will arrange for royal audience at some later date.

The second day will start with Ai-chan getting grilled by Twilight. She won't have a chance to ask Twilight questions until Twilight's done with her questioning.

Given Ai-chan's knowledge of things, this round of questioning will keep getting long and longer, and ponies that were interested with the alien will lose their interest in the conversation before long. I can think of Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo as prime examples of this.


"Ara ara. Is something on your mind, Sweetie-chan?" The blonde lady  pulled the unicorn away from her imagination.
The filly's face turned slightly flushed. "I was... just... thinking about how things would've gone if it were in reverse... how Ai-chan might've reacted if she was in Ponyville."

"Ara ara ara. That would have been very amusing. Many little girls would be envious of her for one."

"Hehe. I wouldn't envy her." Sweetie added. "My friends would've meant well, but they would've been too much for her as they overwhelm her with loud parties and non-stop questions."

"Ara ara, ufufu." She bent her back a bit toward the unicorn. "Let's be with the others. You have to allow your heart to rest after all. It's been a long day for you."

Sweetie banished her mental projections away. The filly left her spot over the balcony as she and the woman returned to the Undines that were sitting over the dormant fireplace. 


\\---//


"Well, welcome to Aria company!"

Ai was in pajama. Akari, Alicia and grandma left the company together after having cleaned up with Ai and Sweetie.
Sweetie had laid bed sheet on the floor. A pillow was fetched telekinetically.

"Thanks." The filly gazed at the semi-spherical window that adorned the attic. "This is actually the first time that I've been invited to work at a company."

"Didn't you do some work for Rarity at the Carousal Boutique?"

"Not the same. I mean she's my big sis and that I was painfully inept in anything really." Sweetie noted.

Ai nodded at her. "I know how that's like. Onee-chan got married and had a kid when I was still in elementary school. I felt pretty useless around her at the time, honestly. This is partly why I hate Neo-Venezia and the Undines when I first came here."

The girl kept the confession going. "Onee-chan got married and her honeymoon was over Neo-Venezia. She was under the care of Alicia-san, and she wouldn't stop heaping praises about the service. I came with my mom and dad, partly with skepticism, and partly with bitterness about my big sister growing up and leaving me."

"Thankfully, my run-in with Akari-san had turned my perception of the city around totally. She made me stop feeling bitter and showed me the everyday wonders that this city had. Things that Manhome had lost... Akari-san didn't just turned around my view of the city, but rather my whole world view that day."

"That's partly why I am an Undine for this company. All the friends that I have made on Aqua came about from Akari-san and how she had made me into a part her friend's lives. She is truly special. I came to know of all of the Undines that you saw today while having been on Aqua during the holidays. I only started to live here a year ago."
Sweetie looked at Ai with sympathy. 

"You know," Ai mused. "Unlike other companies such as Himeya, Aria company normally can only train one Undine. Only in exceptional circumstances did we have two Undines under training, as it were with Agnes-san."

Sweetie lifted her brow. "There's only you and Akari. I am not an Undine."

"That's not the point." Ai continued. "Undines of Aria company have to practice with friends or Undines outside the company, since Akari-san won't be around all the time to supervise me. This was the same with Akari-san when Alicia-san taught her."

Ai had a bit of a frown. "I spend a lot of time with Akari-san and her friends. I think that made Single or Pair keep their distance from me. This is why I would like to ask you to come with me so that I can practice courtesy and touring! You're very intelligent and I think that you are the best choice in grilling me on Neo-Venezia."

Ai let air out of her lung, then took a breath. "We need to explore Neo-Venezia if we are to have any chance in finding Twilight Sparkle's shard, and I think you want to know Neo-Venezia as much as I do. That's what I felt about you."

The green-haired girl grabbed the alabaster unicorn's forelegs again. "How does that sound?"

The unicorn hugged the girl. "You're a dummy to think that I'd pass on something like that. I'll jump on that opportunity to find out about Neo-Venezia and get any clue about where Twilight's shard might be. I thought about going out on my own at that."

The unicorn added. "Thanks. It means an awful lot to me for you to offer something like this."

Ai smiled. "The feeling's mutual."

The unicorn didn't break from embrace. "So, what else other than rowing, tourism and courtesy do you need to worry about?"

Ai winced slightly. "There's Canzone. I have to sing."

"Really!" The unicorn lets loose a snicker. "That I can help you with. My callings are in songs and magic."

"Well that's just.... you are a miracle."

"I feel the same way right now. Running into somepony that knows as much as you do is really a blessing."

"It's really cute when you say pony. I can understand it, but it's just..." Ai was giggling to an unamused Sweetie Belle.

"VERY FUNNY."

Ai changed the topic. "I kind of have an idea about where to take you and Akari-san to tomorrow."

"Really? You hardly had the time to think by yourself... today was..."

"I know. Today was very, very intensive. A normal day on Aqua would've been very carefree. Everyone was struggling to keep up with you today."

Sweetie was a little defensive. "Well I didn't expect to pour my  guts out when I started the day.'' "If anything, I felt very overwhelmed by today."

Ai made chortle. "Akari-san and I didn't expect that a unicorn will show up at our doorsteps. We only get miracles this extreme when we look for them." 

The unicorn was not amused. "This extreme?"

The giggling didn't stop for the Undine. "You'll see. I am going to sleep now."

Ai moved to the floor and it was obvious that she intended for the unicorn to sleep on the bed.

"This is your bed, I can't..."

Ai looked at Sweetie.

"Then let's sleep together. I am too tired to demand you to sleep on the bed."

The unicorn found the human hugging her as Ai covered the two of them with bed sheets haphazardly. Rarity would've never approved of such sloppiness, but she was nowhere to be found.

Sweetie Belle's eyelids got heavy, and sleep overtook her. 


End Navigation 1