//------------------------------//
// Truth Telling and Bloody Lips 
// Story: Three Little Visitors 
// by Daniel-Gleebits 
//------------------------------//

Three Little Visitors: Pt 5


The visit to Chrysalis’ office was satisfactory, if not unnerving. There was no way of getting around it; the woman was just plain creepy. Like, Cruella de Vil creepy. Sunset felt like holding onto the three children just in case Chrysalis suddenly decided to skin them and make a coat.
Nonetheless she made the falsified documents for them in double-quick time. She even seemed happy to do it. Sunset didn’t know whether this was because she was happy to be rid of owing Principal Celestia a favour, or because she just genuinely liked committing fraud. She doubted that she derived pleasure from doing Sunset a kindness somehow.
“You’ll receive your papers in the mail in three-to-five business days,” she said, leaning back in her chair once she’d finished a long series of questions. “Princess Pastel has already paid for processing.”
“Thank you,” Sunset said as pleasantly as she could.
“Oh believe me, dear,” Chrysalis said, smirking. “It was my pleasure.” As Sunset stood up to leave, she spoke up again. “Oh, just one thing though. These records will not stand up to a proper investigation. For instance, if the police or government establishment were to become involved. Too many loose ends that I can’t contrive to tie up. Do try not to get arrested now.” She chuckled a low, sinister chuckle, as though she was imagining the scene.
“I’ll, um... try. Not to, I mean.” She paused for a moment. “I don’t want to be rude, but why do you keep laughing?”
“Oh, nothing really,” Chrysalis said, grinning. “Just a thought of what Moonface’s reaction was to her sister calling after me.” She turned her bright green eyes from Sunset to the children. “They don’t talk much, do they?”
“They do amongst themselves,” Sunset said honestly.
“Strange clothes, too,” Chrysalis went on. “Especially for this weather.”
“Foreign customs,” Sunset said after a second or two of thought. It wasn’t like Chrysalis didn’t know the girls weren’t ‘legit’, but explaining their true background would only complicate things.
Chrysalis regarded Sunset for a moment or two. “I think that we’ll be seeing each other again at some point in the future.” She smiled that creepy, you-don’t-want-to-meet-me-in-a-dark-alley smile, and gave a polite little wave to indicate that they were dismissed.





Sunset had not liked the implied return to their lives Chrysalis mentioned, but she strove to look on the positive side. They had achieved a victory here, surely, and she was determined to keep that impression. In an effort to bolster her own optimism, she took the girls to a small cafe she was fond of near to the town square, and attempted to mime the use of a menu. Fortunately these menus had pictures of most of the foods, and Adagio seemed to grasp the concept quick enough for the other two to realise what to do.
Whilst Adagio and Aria squabbled over a chocolate éclair, Sunset sat stirring a coffee, absently adding a sugar cube to it every so often without really paying attention. Pondering her situation, she had the nagging, stomach-churning feeling that her life had made an irrecoverable change. That something, somewhere, had altered permanently, and that she was powerless to stop it, that she might not even have the power to see what it was. She looked over the three sirens, adding the sixth sugarcube to her coffee. Adagio and Aria had settled their fight, having ripped the pastry in half, and now both munching their respective pieces with their backs to each other. The sight was rather endearing, and made Sunset smile, but then she noticed Sonata just sitting aside from it, apparently without taking any notice or interest in the discord.
“Sonata?” she asked. The little girl looked up quickly, as though coming out of deep thought. Sunset nodded her head to the plate holding Sonata’s lemon muffin. Sonata forced a smile and picked it up, taking a bite from the cake. For her sake, Sunset feigned looking away, and saw out of the corner of her eye Sonata instantly put the food down, and start looking brooding again.
Sunset considered this odd behaviour, barely noticing Adagio’s hand shoot out of nowhere and swipe the rest of the muffin. Sunset watched Sonata closely for a while as Aria and Adagio fought over the muffin; for some reason she found this occupation in Sonata’s mind a little disconcerting. But it wasn’t as though she could talk to Sonata about it, so for the present she was pretty much stuck.
“Perhaps I could get Pinkie to teach me how to talk Greek,” she thought out loud. “Or get them to speak English. That’s probably be more helpful. Or maybe a little of both.”
She pushed the coffee towards Sonata in an attempt to engage her. Sonata picked up the cup in an uncertain grip, and sniffed at it.
“What’s wrong?” Sunset asked as Sonata gagged on the first sip. “It can’t be that bad.”
Sunset had to admit the truth of Sonata’s judgment however when she tasted the honey-like contents of the coffee. 
“Yah,” she rasped. “Bit too much sugar.”





Despite having a million and one things on her mind, Sunset managed to maintain her interest in Sonata’s unusual behaviour. It was admittedly hard not to notice it, since Sonata had developed a habit of detaching herself from her friends.
Friends? Sunset thought. Sisters? By birth or closeness?
Whatever the label, Sunset often found that whenever a fight or petty squabble broke out, Sonata would subtly remove herself, and more often than not seek sanctuary with Sunset. 
Whilst Sunset was going over the latest revision of her speech, Sonata suddenly appeared next to her chair, peering interestedly at the screen whilst Adagio and Aria fought over the remote control. 
When Sunset was readying herself to take a shower, Sonata appeared in her bedroom, dripping wet and naked, as Adagio and Aria had apparently tried to kick each other out of the bathtub. 
And when Sunset attempted to cook scrambled eggs and toast for dinner one night, she nearly tipped the contents of the frying pan on the floor as Sonata appeared suddenly behind her whilst Aria chased Adagio around the living room for pulling her hair.
This was becoming so frequent that Sunset began to unconsciously move around expecting Sonata to be standing right under her elbow. If she turned around to walk somewhere, she instinctively leaned to one side to avoid a hypothetical six year old that might be standing there. When she picked something up, she raised it high enough not to clip someone of Sonata’s height across the crown.
Several days passed, during which time Sunset stayed at home to make sure the sirens remained. There was no danger of Sonata leaving, in Sunset’s opinion, and Aria showed no inclination to move most of the time, let alone leave. Adagio on the other hand was very restless. She’d kick around the apartment most days trying to settle on some occupation, and whether consciously or not, staying as far away from Sunset as possible. Most if not all of her fights with Aria were initiated by her, and several times Sunset caught her trying to leave the apartment when Adagio evidently thought Sunset wouldn’t notice.
This last thing greatly concerned Sunset. She couldn’t watch Adagio twenty-four-seven, so what if Adagio was leaving sometimes? Perhaps at night?
Whatever the case, Sunset did her best, Pinkie’s words constantly in her ear.
If you’re going to be a mom now, does this mean you’re not going to school anymore?
“I’m not their mom!” she snapped at an imaginary Pinkie on the fourth day off, slamming her hand onto her clean kitchen surface.
A little squeak under her elbow told her that she’d scared Sonata with the sudden movement.
“I’m sorry,” she said quickly, ruffling Sonata’s hair. “Oh, that’ll be the mail,” she continued at the sound of the buzzer. 
Instantly Adagio leapt out of her tussle with Aria and sprinted for the door. Undoing the latch she swung out of the door and pelted down the hallway, Aria and Sonata in hot pursuit. Sunset repressed a smile as she felt the elephant herd charging back upstairs. As expected, Adagio had the letters in hand, and with one arm casually holding Aria back, she flipped through them. 
Quite why she did that, Sunset didn’t know; it’s not like she could read what was on the letters. She plucked the letters from Adagio’s hand, and tossed back a bright green one for them to fight over. 
“Bill,” she muttered. “Advert, advert, advert, aha!” she set down the first four and held two letters, both from the Department of Social Services. Then she paused. “Two?” she muttered. Had they perhaps sent only two of the girl’s papers? 
Opening the first one, she discovered that this was not the case. All three girls’ identification, social security numbers, and other official forms bulged from the envelope’s interior. So what was the second letter? Opening it up, she found only three sheets of paper. One, a folded letter with instructions, and the next a folded in half welfare check. 
Sunset stared at the check in bewilderment, her mouth slightly open. What was she getting welfare for? She’d never applied for it, and she had a job, so she wasn’t on the dole. 
She set these down on the kitchen counter and opened the third sheet of paper, and felt herself very nearly faint. This had to be a joke. There was no way that this could be true, it just couldn’t be. 
“Hi Sunset!” cried a loud, shrill voice.
Sunset leapt so much her feet actually left the ground. Without even thinking, she stuffed the letter into the nearest kitchen draw and slammed it shut.
“Neat, are we making loud noises?” Pinkie asked, closing the door behind her. “Wooooooooo—“
Sunset slapped a hand across her mouth. “No, Pinkie,” Sunset said through gritted teeth. “No, we’re not. You just startled me.”
“Oh, heh heh,” she chuckled. “Yeah, I do that.”
“Um, any reason that you’re here?” Sunset asked. “Not that I don’t enjoy your company.”
Pinkie snorted. “You so silly. Rarity asked me to give you these.” She held up some paper bags by their handles, the distinctive logo of Rarity’s family boutique emblazoned in purple across their fronts.
“What are they?” Sunset asked.
“Clothes, duh,” Pinkie laughed. “For the kiddies. How they doing?” She looked over Sunset’s shoulder and saw Adagio holding the green envelope out of Aria’s reach. “Fun!”
“Oh yeah,” Sunset said, half laughing. “She was going to make them clothes.” She set the bags down. “Hey Pinkie, I’ve got something to ask you.”
“Yuh huh?” Pinkie asked, plucking the envelope from Adagio and holding it up high.
“Do you think that you could teach me to speak Greek?”
“Sure could,” Pinkie answered, as Adagio clambered up onto her back and Aria punched her in the calf with her good arm.
Sunset waited. “Well, will you?”
“Oh, you want me to?”
“Well, yeah, I wouldn’t ask otherwise, would I?”
“I guess not,” Pinkie said thoughtfully, skipping around Aria and bouncing Adagio into dizziness. “I’ll bring the books over next time. But that’s the second thing I wanted to tell you.”
“What’s that?”
“Principal Celestia said to tell you that she’s letting the sirens into the school. In the elementary classes, but first she wants them to learn English.”
“Well that’s a problem,” Sunset sighed, putting a hand on her hip. “Who can teach them?”
“Maud can of course,” Pinkie chuckled, as though this should be obvious.
Sunset frowned. “Didn’t you say she was in Greece on an archaeology trip until March?”
Pinkie gave her head a scratch, looking puzzled. “Yeah, but for some reason they sent her back. Something about her being creepy.” She shook her head. “I just don’t get it.”
“Yeah...” Sunset agreed, crossing her fingers behind her back. “Me neither. But doesn’t she have to go to school?”
“No, she had all of her school work up till spring break with her, and Principal Celestia said it’d probably be better if she does that at home rather than starting in class half way through the semester.”
“I guess that makes sense,” Sunset considered, rubbing her chin. “So your sister’s going to teach them English at the school?”
“Badabingo!” Pinkie sang, shooting Sunset with two finger guns. “Principal Celestia’s even going to give her credit for volunteer work.”
“Sweet,” Sunset agreed.
“I’ve been meaning to ask,” Pinkie said, leaning on Sunset’s shoulder. “What does Twilight think about you being a mom now?”
“Pinkie, seriously,” Sunset said, instantly thinking of the letter in the drawer. “I’m not their mom. Stop...” she paused. “Twilight?”
“Yeah,” Pinkie giggled. “I mean, you totally told her, right?” 
Sunset blushed, her face turning red as her hair.
“You know, with the magic book?” Pinkie continued, grinning. “What with the pen, and the writing, and the magic.”
Sunset muttered something in response.
“What?” Pinkie asked, cupping a hand to her ear.
Sunset repeated herself a little louder.
“Sorry, one more time,” Pinkie said, leaning closer.
“I hadn’t gotten around to it,” Sunset admitted. “It didn’t occur... I’ve been kinda distracted.” She looked at the sirens. Having gotten bored of waiting for Pinkie to give the green envelope back, they’d retreated to the sofa to watch television. She noticed Sonata sat on one end of the sofa, whilst the other two occupied the other.
“Don’t you think maybe she’d be able to help with the whole Dazzlings-turning-young thing?” Pinkie inquired. “You know, magic and all.”
“I get it, Pinkie,” Sunset snarled. “Looking after three kids all day keeps you pretty occupied, you know?”
“Okay, okay,” Pinkie snickered, raising her hands in defeat. “Whatever you say, mom.”
“They will never find your body,” Sunset grumbled, shoving passed a chortling Pinkie into her bedroom. As she went to close the door, she made the mistake of peeking a last time into the living room, until she caught Pinkie watching her. Pursing her lips at Pinkie’s condescending grin, she shut the door to and sat down on her bed with more force than was strictly necessary. Taking the magical journal out of her dresser, she opened it to the latest page and set her pen to paper.
“So go on then,” Pinkie said eagerly, leaning into Sunset’s shoulder. “Write it. Go on!”
“What should I write?” Sunset asked.
“Um...” Pinkie hummed for a moment or two. “Good question. This is kind of a big thing.”
“What if I write that we found the sirens again?” Sunset asked speculatively. 
“Wouldn’t that make it sound like we’re in trouble?” Pinkie asked.
“I guess so... how do I tell her what we think has happened to them without making it worrying or confusing?”
As they puzzled over this, the door squeaked open, and a pair of magenta eyes appeared in the crack. Pinkie said something stern in Greek, and the eyes retreated for a second, followed closely by the sound of knocking. 
“I told her to knock,” Pinkie giggled. 
“What is it, Sonata?” Sunset asked kindly. 
Sonata stepped nimbly inside, instantly spotting the book on Sunset’s lap. Noticing this interest, Sunset asked Pinkie to tell her what it was. Once Pinkie finished, Sonata’s eyes sparkled with childish intrigue. She bounced onto the bed to look over Sunset’s shoulder as the latter pondered something to write.
After a few seconds, she seemed to get bored or impatient.
“She asked if she can have a go,” Pinkie explained as Sonata gently shook Sunset’s shoulder.
“Oh,” Sunset said, eyebrows raised. “Um, sure, I guess. It might get Twilight’s attention. Can you write?” she asked Sonata. Sonata took the pen as Pinkie translated, and she shook her head, but set pen to paper anyway. Without pausing or second-guessing herself, Sonata swept the pen across the paper. Sunset saw to her mild surprise that she wasn’t writing, but drawing something. It took a few moments before she could tell what it was, but eventually she saw that it was meant to be four people, one of them taller than the others. These people were all holding hands, and had the exaggerated smiles and eyes of a child’s drawing. 
“I think that’s meant to be you,” Pinkie pointed out, indicating the tall one. “Yep, that’s your bacon hair.”
Deciding to ignore the sleight against her hair, Sunset contemplated the picture. The smaller three figures had triangular shapes on their bodies that she immediately guessed to be the siren’s Greek-like dresses, and all of their hair was so distinctive that their identities couldn’t be in question. Sonata finished by colouring her own hair in the blue of the ink pen, and set it down, looking pleased with herself.
They all sat there looking at the picture, Sunset feeling something down in the base of her heart at the simple little scene. Which was then boomed into the open by Pinkie loudly cooing
“Awwww! She drew you as their—“
“If you call me their mom again, I’m going to slug you!” Sunset snapped.
Pinkie paused, apparently sensing real danger. “... How about their... big sis?” Pinkie asked tentatively. She leapt off the bed as Sunset raised her fist. “Okay, okay! Hey, I think Twilight’s talking back.”
The book was suddenly glowing with a magical aura, and juddering like a mobile phone on vibrate. Sonata jumped and ducked down behind Sunset’s shoulder, whilst Sunset and Pinkie looked at the words appearing on the page.


Hello,

Uh... thanks for the picture?


Sunset let a thin-lipped smile spread over her face. She set pen to paper.


Hey Twilight,

Yeah, sorry, that was Sonata. I didn’t know she was going to draw you something. Don’t worry though, she’s not the same Sonata you remember, she and the other sirens have undergone a little

She paused a moment, and then settled on a term

change.


They waited a moment, and then words began appearing on the paper.


Oh, that’s good!
Did you extend friendship to them? Have they accepted? That’s great to hear!


Sunset bit her lip


Well, actually, when I said ‘change’, I meant something of a more physical nature.


As she pondered how best to explain herself better, Sonata spoke up.
“She asked what you’re doing exactly,” Pinkie said.
“I’m telling a friend of ours that you’re living here,” Sunset said, Pinkie smoothly translating for her.
Sonata pointed at herself questioningly, and said something that Pinkie translated to be Sonata wondering why Sunset was doing so.
“Because it’s important to tell your friends things,” Sunset explained. “They’ll find out things sooner or later, and it’s best if they find out from you. It hurts their feelings sometimes when they find out from other people.”
This explanation seemed to have an effect on Sonata. Once Pinkie had finished speaking, Sonata sat looking troubled and thoughtful. Sunset watched her, expecting her to say something more. After a few moments however, she slid off the bed as though in a dream, and exited the room, all the while tugging at her fingers and staring into space.
Sunset and Pinkie looked at each other, both of them perplexed. Pinkie shrugged as the book buzzed and glowed again. Sunset looked down, expecting a question, but it said only one thing.


I’m coming


This was so unexpected that Sunset didn’t even have time to prepare herself for the neon pink explosion that erupted next to her. Leaping up, Pinkie let out a squeal of delight, accompanied by a mysterious burst of confetti.
“Twilight! Coming! Here!” she squeed loudly, bouncing on the spot.
“Yeah,” Sunset said with earnest pleasure. “It’ll be great seeing her again. And I’ll bet she’ll have some ideas about what happened to the girls. Pinkie, can you—“
“Already doing it,” Pinkie said, texting on her phone so fast that her thumbs were a bubblegum blur of movement.
“Brilliant, then all we have to do is get over to the school and wait—“
Sunset stopped as a sound from the other room sent a tremor of fear through her. 
“What was...?” Pinkie asked, looking up from her phone. 
Sunset bolted to the door and wrenched it open to find a shocking scene. Adagio stood off to one side, her face pale and devoid of expression, except for a sort of horror dancing in her eyes. On the floor not too distant away was Sonata on her back, Aria kneeling on top of her, repeatedly punching at every bit of Sonata she could reach with her good hand. With each strike she cried a throat-tearing howl of rage, her eyes sparkling with angry tears.
Without preamble Sunset leapt forward and pulled Aria back, enduring her flailing legs and fist as Aria shrieked in protest.
“What’s going on?” Sunset demanded in her most commanding voice, setting Aria forcefully down and standing between her and Sonata, sobbing on the floor.
Aria let out an animal-like growl and hurled a flurry of dialect words at Sonata around Sunset’s legs. Sunset didn’t dare take her eyes from Aria to ask Pinkie what was being said; Aria’s face was bright red, her eyes wide and her shoulders rose and fell with each shallow breath. After a short pause she threw out an accusatory finger at Sonata and shouted a question.
Sonata seemed unable to look at her, but through a bloody lip she sobbed something in response. Whatever she said, it seemed to break Adagio from her trance, and she suddenly looked coldly furious. She asked another question in a low, venomous tone, and when Sonata didn’t reply, she turned away with a sound of disgust. She grabbed the handle to open the door to the hallway.
“Wait a minute,” Sunset said suddenly reaching out. Adagio smacked her hand away, not looking at her, and she and Aria pelted out of the door.
Sunset cursed. “Pinkie, can you go after them, please?”
“S-Sure,” Pinkie stammered. 
Looking at her for the first time since coming out of the bedroom, Sunset noticed her eyes were over bright, and she wondered what could have been said to elicit such a reaction from the usually buoyant Pinkie Pie. She decided not to say anything yet as Pinkie left the room.
“Sonata?” Sunset asked tentatively. 
Sonata propped herself on one elbow, looking away from Sunset. She didn’t respond. 
“Come here,” Sunset said soothingly, placing a hand on Sonata’s shoulder. “Let me see—“
Sunset stopped. The look on Sonata’s face at that moment, so lost and full of remorse, sent a thrill of recognition into Sunset’s heart. She’d felt enough regret in her short existence to understand what Sonata was feeling, and what had just transpired. It explained Sonata’s unusual behaviour, her strange detachment from her friends that Sunset had noticed. 
Sonata remained where she was, tears cascading her face and blood from her lip dripping onto her dress. A livid bruise was growing on her right cheek, and her eye had gone a little puffy, but her arms had taken the brunt of the attack. 
Sunset sighed, a low and mournful sound. Standing up briefly she returned with a wet cloth. Lifting Sonata’s chin, she dabbed the blood from her lip and held the cold material there to keep the swelling down. Sonata didn’t struggle; she seemed too distraught to do much of anything but sit staring into space, occasionally letting out a small sniffle.
Pinkie returned a few minutes later, at which point Sunset had managed to carry Sonata over to the sofa, where she curled up into the cushions and gave herself over to a fit of silent crying.
“You couldn’t catch up to them?” Sunset asked dispiritedly.
Pinkie shook her head, blinking the tears from her eyes. “They got out of the front door and... they just... they were gone.” She wiped her eyes and sat down.
Sunset looked at her from her position on the sofa. Whilst stroking Sonata’s hair, she tried to build up the courage to ask the question she needed answering.
“Do you know what happened?”
Pinkie sat for a short while, gathering her thoughts. Eventually she sat up a little straighter, and seemed to attempt to look at Sunset directly, but didn’t quite manage it.
“She told them something,” Sunset prompted. “She said something to them that made them angry. Did you hear what it was?”
Pinkie bit her lip. “I did, yeah.”
Sunset waited. “Could you tell me what it was?” 
“You know the fire at the warehouse,” Pinkie said slowly, as though forcing her teeth and tongue to say these things against their will.
Sunset felt a sense of foreboding build in her chest. It couldn’t be possible. Sonata wouldn’t have...
“Well, she started it,” Pinkie mumbled in an almost inaudible voice, inclining her head towards Sonata.
Sunset could think of nothing to say. She’d pleaded internally, begged whatever powers might be out there with the capacity to prevent this awful truth from becoming a reality, but reality could not be changed by hopes or wishing.
“Why?” Sunset asked. When Pinkie didn’t reply, Sunset thought that maybe she had only thought the question, and repeated herself.
Pinkie hesitated for a second or two, and then once again forced herself to speak. “To... come here. To live with you, I think she meant.”





Waiting for Twilight to appear was one of the most depressing moments Sunset had ever experienced, and she had been forced to experience a fair few of them throughout her life. It wasn’t standing with the deflated Pinkie Pie, or the limp and unresponsive Sonata that made it an unhappy wait, although neither helped. It was that each time one of their friends showed up, all of them with broad smiles on their faces in expectation of seeing Twilight again, they all asked what the matter was. Every time Sunset explained the situation, their face fell into a look of utmost horror. Fluttershy indeed had been so overcome by the revelation that she’d nearly burst into tears.
“Poor Aria...” she gulped, both hands at her mouth. “Her arm burnt over something like that...”
“Aria tried to stop the fire,” Pinkie said tonelessly. “It didn’t... well...”
They all looked at each other uneasily. Sunset saw in their faces their imaginations forming pictures of a little girl on the edge of a fire. She shut her eyes hard as the imagining progressed smoothly into the fire suddenly erupting forward, and engulfing the girl’s outstretched arm. The phantom pain of it happening tugged hard at Sunset’s insides.
“So where are they now?” Applejack asked, her tone serious.
Pinkie only shook her head. Sunset croaked “We don’t know.”
Sunset looked down to her right. The bruise on Sonata’s cheek had bloomed into a solid purple, as had the ring around her eye. A scattering of bruises on her arms stood out against the dusky-blue skin, giving her the look of a colour-altered leopard. No matter who looked at her, or who spoke, Sonata didn’t react to any of them. She didn’t seem to want or be able to cry anymore, but a blandness lay over her eyes and face like a mask.
“Well then, we’re in the same fix as last time,” Rainbow announced, flinging her arms in the air. “It’s cold out here, and there’s a storm coming tomorrow.”
“I doubt they’ll do at all well in a storm,” Rarity muttered tremulously.
“Especially with Aria’s arm,” Fluttershy moaned. “It’ll be so vulnerable. What if she gets sick?”
They all looked to Sunset. For whatever reason, they looked to her as though for answers, but she had none to give. She didn’t know where the two sirens were, she didn’t know how to persuade them to come back. She didn’t even know whether it was the right thing to bring them back. For, what had come of her extended kindness? She’d bred into Sonata a desire to be with her, or at least a desire for the comforts Sunset could provide, such as they were. And what had been the result? A desperate plan to force her friends into begging at Sunset’s door, a plan with disastrous and potentially lethal results. They could have all died...
Then there was that... letter, sitting in her kitchen drawer. Sunset’s stomach churned at the thought of it. And then it churned a second time at the thought of what losing the girls meant now. 
“Darling?” Rarity asked delicately. “Darling, are you alright? Why are you crying?”
“Huh?” Sunset asked, her voice brittle. She noticed all of her friends still looking at her.
“It’s alright,” Applejack said robustly. “We’ll find ‘em. Ya’ll just wait, Ah got a whole family who’d sooner eat Granny Smith’s walker than let two kids sit out hungry on the street.” 
“I’d sooner freeze my own magic wings off than let that happen,” Rainbow declared. “I know Fluttershy’s with me, amiright?” She smacked Fluttershy companionably on the back. 
Fluttershy coughed but managed a small smile. “Y-Yes,” she stammered. “I’m sure we’ll find them. We just have to figure out where they’re likely to be.”
At this, Pinkie’s hair popped spontaneously back into its usual helium-light vigour. “That’s a great idea!” she announced. “We could totally find out where they usually stay and stuff.”
“We already knew that,” Rainbow Dash pointed out. “In case you don’t remember, it burned down.”
“Well that can’t have been the only place they go,” Pinkie said, undaunted. “We’ll find out where and get them back.”
“I don’t think they want to come back,” Sunset muttered miserably. “Adagio never wanted to come.”
Her friends evidently were at a loss for anything to say to this comment.
A strange, hollow tinkling sound as though of pixie dust being forced through a long tunnel sounded behind them, and a purple hand preceded the emergence of the entire body of Twilight Sparkle. Stepping out of the portal, she looked up and smiled widely, before noticing the mood of the group looking around at her. She blinked.
“Did I come at a bad time?” she asked uncertainly.


- To be Continued