A Tale of Tails, Sunsets and Burned Bridges

by Ozone31

Life Goes On

(Kurama's POV)

"So..." the six-foot-five, tank of a techni-coloured human known as Bright Macintosh began - shuffling through some passport and medical papers hastily formed from, the solve-all macguffin, chakra. "Mr Sunspot Shimmer..." he said whilst squinting at the less than flattering image of me, taken only half an hour earlier with an instant camera, in front of Luna's stark-white garage door and fused with the chakra paper of my passport. "Ya'll new in town, huh?"

"Yessir." I answered hoarsely, nursing a cup of water between my palms - my seventh since my laughing fit about ten minutes ago. "Came in a coupla' days ago from Mane." A blatant lie, but it was the only place on this continent that had even a remotely similar climate to my storm scourged, forested homeland.

'Mac Sr' was a tough character to read, unlike his eldest daughter - Applejack always tended to wear her heart on her sleeve - so I found it tough to figure out exactly what his thoughts on my papers were, or me in general for that matter. At that moment, I was just the crazy guy who his daughter brought home.

"Ah'm assumin' that ya'ller here ta see that Sunset gal, am Ah right?" everything he said was blunt, conveyed with an even tone and a short, expressionless glance up over his far-too-dainty looking reading glasses. "Yer name would seem ta suggest so."

"Uh, yeah." I chuckled warily, taking a deep breath and preparing to test my lying skills as they had never been tested before (in this world at least). "I'm her uncle, ya see. I received a call from the school after the... uh... 'Incident', during this year's Fall Formal. So I pretty much dropped everything and flew over as quickly as I could." Pretending to be a member of Sunset's family had always been my go-to idea for a cover identity in this world, as it was pretty much the only valid, non-mystical reason I - a thirty-two year old man - could have for being around her so much and sharing a house with her. The next most viable option after that was being Luna's 'Boyfriend', and there was no way in heaven or hell that that idea would fly - for multiple reasons.

Luckily, I shared a similar colour scheme to Sunset - red & yellow/blonde hair, dark-orange skin, emerald-green eyes - so the possibility that we could be related wasn't too far-fetched.

Bright Mac was silent for a bit after my explanation, fixing me with a stare laced with the same blankness that had been occupying his face since we began this interview. I'd weathered worse gazes in my life... er, Lives. A Sun God, a highschool Vice-Principal and a military Grandfather to be exact - but the Chief Apple's glare was nothing to sneeze at and it was clear that he'd played this game many times before.

"So ya'll jus' dropped, pretty much yer entire life, an' rushed here - purely for the sake of a niece who ya'll can't have seen hide-nor-hair of in years? Is'at right?"

"With respect, sir." my voice taking a slightly firmer tone as I lent my elbows on the table before me - matching his hard stare with my own steely gaze. "I'd drop Anything and Anyone for my family."

"Even yer responsibilities here?"

"Yes, sir. In a heartbeat."

The atmosphere in Bright Mac's tiny office was so tense it was palpable and the air felt distinctly colder, however I refused to buckle - holding my glare against his.

Why am I even bothering with this? a little voice whispered in the back of my mind, the more malignant part of my personality rearing it's ugly head to voice it's opinion. I'm one of the strongest living beings in this realm. I could reduce this farm to nothing but a smoking crater with an errant sneeze. Why am I sitting here, being interviewed for a job I don't need? I could be asleep right now, or training or... oooooor... huh. Maybe I do need this job... I certainly need a hobby in the very least...

"Ah like ya." Bright Mac said finally and as soon as he did so, everything about him changed. His brick wall-shoulders slouched, he leaned back in his office chair, his brow lifted and a small, yet genuine, smile spread across his face. He relaxed completely and with him, so did the tension in the room. "Too many folks these days put work b'fore family - it's refreshing ta see someone who'd set me straight, if Ah tried to get b'tween him an' his family."

I found myself taken aback by his bluntness once again, but for completely different reasons this time. I could think of very few bosses who'd take particularly well to having one of their employees 'set them straight', let alone one who'd welcome such an action - under specific circumstances of course. This world is so bloody weird. I mused internally while returning to a semi-relaxed position myself, returning the atmosphere to the norm for a casual, mid-Saturday-morning interview.

"Well then, in that case..." Bright Mac said as he tapped the papers on his desk to straighten them all out, before laying them down flat on his desk surface. "Ah've got only one more question for ya."

"Shoot."

"Ya'll any good at Math?"

---

(Third Person POV)

"Wait... HE DID WHAT??!!" Sunset Shimmer screeched down the phone line, the shrillness and the volume of her voice together startling awake all of the remaining occupants of Vice-Principal Luna's plush living room.

Rainbow Dash woke with a, less than discreet, snort and shot bolt upright as a result of the sudden commotion. The athlete's violent awakening, in turn, startled Fluttershy awake - throwing herself into the air like a spooked cat with a frightened "Eep".

Rarity woke with far more grace than the other two occupants of her sofa, started into consciousness by Sunset's outburst - she rose slowly and with dignified composure. That was, at least, until Fluttershy returned to the ground - or, more accurately, the fashionista. With a muffled shriek she was smothered by the timid girl, sandwiched between her and the sofa.

Vinyl replicated Rainbow's explosive awakening, going from laying flat to sitting at a right angle in under a second. Unfortunately, her legs were tangled up with her adoptive sister's and Sunset's head was directly in the path of her own. Their foreheads collided, at an angle, with a dull *thunk*, causing Vinyl to collapse back onto the sofa and Sunset to topple off the sofa entirely.

Maud, Pinkie and Luna were all already awake and had wandered into the kitchen for breakfast - but the latter two came charging back into the living room in response to the commotion. They arrived to find Vinyl in the exact same place that she'd been set down the night before - albeit, now awake and groaning. Sunset Shimmer was also groaning, however, she was crumpled feet-over-head on the floor. Fluttershy was laying, shocked and dazed, on the close end of the sofa she'd been sharing with Rainbow Dash and Rarity. The former's feet were just visible on the other side of the armrest that she had, evidently, fallen over while laughing. What exactly she had been laughing at became clear to the two when they caught sight of the latter mentioned person's limbs, flailing out from under Fluttershy's prone form.

The final two things that Luna took notice of were; a distinct lack of a certain young Apple farm girl and a thick, country accent emanating from Sunset's phone, which had conveniently slid in right next to her foot when her adoptive daughter had fallen onto the floor.

"Sunset?... Sunset? Ya'll still there sugar-cube?" Applejack's concerned voice came from the sunset-orange electronic device as Luna plucked it from the floor and held it up to her ear.

"It's rude not to answer someone's question, Miss Apple." Canterlot High's Vice-Principal spoke with a voice colder than an ice-cube running down the back of the teen's neck, causing Applejack to physically shudder when she heard its sound come from her phone's speaker. "Who, exactly, has done, What?"

Sunset cringed as her adoptive mother walked back into the kitchen with her phone, leaving an icy-cold silence behind in the room as she went. A silence that didn't last long, as Rarity's muffled voice reached the world from under Fluttershy's... 'bulk'.

_{"Fluttershy, darling, I don't mean to be a bother, but would you mind please getting off me?!"} the smothered fashionista just about managed to force out before the meek teen finally stood up and away from the sofa with a quiet "Oh, sorry." With her face freed, Rarity was able to finally sit upright and suck in a huge gasp of air - as if she'd been trapped underwater for three minutes, rather than beneath her very light friend for a little under one.

"That-" Rainbow Dash began as she wandered around to the front of the sofa and plonked herself back down where she'd been sitting before, still giggling a little bit. "-was the funniest thing I've seen all week."

"Are you okay, Rarity?" Fluttershy asked softly, sitting down as well and beginning to examine her dazed friend for any visible damage. "I was going quite fast when I landed on you, do you feel dizzy, is your vision blurry, do you feel sick."

Sunset watched on, a little surprised at how vocal and forward Fluttershy was being, as she continued to question the alabaster girl about her health, to which Rarity eventually replied:

"Fine... I'm fine darling, just a little... breathless." somewhere deep in the recesses of her brain, a very childish and deviant part of Sunset laughed at that response - but she easily suppressed it, she didn't want to be labelled as a pervert. However, Rainbow and Vinyl were not as abashed by such things and laughed openly - although the laugh that came out of the latter was distinctly not right.

It was deep, bass and very.... Male. She clapped her hands over her mouth almost immediately and silence descended over the room once again, as everyone trained their gazes on the senior student. The room itself seemed to be stunned, the sound had been so loud and rumbling that even Maud slowly lent her head around the door frame with an arched eyebrow. Everything was so still that it started making Sunset feel very uncomfortable, all the eyes staring giving her a sense of nostalgia that she really only wanted to forget - even though none of them were looking at her. She had to move, she had to escape, she had to fix this.

"OH, hey Vinyl. Those clothes are absolutely filthy, lets get you to your room right now so you can change!" without waiting for a response from anyone she stood up, grabbed her adoptive sister from the sofa and bolted out of the door. "Stupid Tailed-Beast bullshit." she growled as she flew up the stairs, three at a time, and into Vinyl's room - kicking the door closed behind them.

---

(Kurama POV)

"Well, then it's all settled." Bright Mac said with a wide smile as he opened the door to his office and gestured for me to go first. I would normally play the 'Oh-no-I-insist-you-go-first' game at this point, but I could tell that it would be a futile effort with this guy, so I obliged with a simple:

"Cheers." I stepped out of the office into the corridor beyond, and was almost run over for the second time that day by a very tall man moving very quickly. Unable to move backwards, forwards or to either side I went in the only viable direction left to me - up. I didn't need to put much strength into the jump, as the ceiling was quite low, but at its pinnacle I reached out with both arms and latched onto the ceiling-rafters - hoisting myself up and clinging there like a cat. Less than a second later Big Macintosh came rolling past the office door, before sliding down the banister and charging through the house.

"Pa, she's breakin' for it again!" he called to his father over his shoulder as he went, disappearing quickly into the floor below. Bright Mac reacted almost instantly to his son's words, starting to make a run towards the stairs himself.

"YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE!!!" I hear a defiant, diminutive voice yell from outside - the voice of Applebloom, no doubt, making another desperate attempt at freedom.

"Ah'll see ya'll bright 'n early on Monday mornin', take care now." Bright calls back to me as he dashes through the house, hot on Big Mac's heels.

"You too..." I reply, knowing full well that he can no longer hear me, before unlatching myself from the ceiling, slowly descending the steps myself and returning to the house's dining room. I can hear Applejack's voice echoing from another room and decide that I'll stick around to bid her farewell before getting on my way. So I move towards the dining table, which Granny Smith is still sitting at the head of, and gesture if I can sit.

She smiles and nods to grant my request, returning to the newspaper she was reading. I pulled up the nearest chair and all but collapse into it - not even a week of sleep seems to be enough to hold back the exhaustion that follows me around everywhere I go like a bad reputation. I sigh and lean back into the chair, taking in the bloom-like ceiling pattern and the simple apple shaped lamp shade.

"Your family really does love apples, huh." I chuckled as I lazily swung my head around to take in more of the very appley homestead - everything from the wallpaper and picture frames to the skirting boards and even the whiskey decanters were apple themed. Aside from being a touch maddening to look at, it was a very nice place - cosy, homey, loved.

"Ya'ller a perceptive one, ain't ya sugarcube." Granny shot me a deadpan look over the top of her paper, although I could see a small grin spreading across her aged features. "There'd be no Apple Family without Apples." she continued, giving the paper a quick whip to set it back square. Assuming she'd follow up that rather obvious statement with some form of elaboration, I decide against saying anything in response - instead quietly waiting for the Apple Matriarch to continue.

Little did I know at the time, it would be quiet a some time before she finally explained that sentence to me. Before I could prompt her to continue, the world was suddenly engulfed in a flurry of hazel and white - all sound drowned out by excited barking and all sensation drowned in dog drool.

---

(Third Person POV)

"Yes ma'am. Ah understand. Okay. Guess Ah'll see ya'll soon then? Right. Ya'll too ma'am. Right, stop calling ya ma'am, got it. Bye now." after a gruelling fifteen minute conversation with her vice-principal, Applejack was finally able to end the call and stow her mobile away in the pocket of her denim skirt. With a heavy sigh she finally let her shoulders relax and slump a bit, leaning back against the mantelpiece in the house's main living room. She idly picked a photo frame from the top of said mantelpiece and began regarding it with a tired fondness.

"Heh, Ah can see why the two o' ya were so close back in Highschool, Ma." she chuckled to the beaming face of Pear Butter, smiling warmly back at her through the glass of the frame. It was one of the few photos that the family had of her on her own - in most of the others she was either with her children or Bright Mac, as well as one with Grand Pear which was stowed away in a desk drawer somewhere, out of Granny Smith's sight. In the picture that Applejack held now she was stood in front of a flame streaked, powerful hog motorbike - a long lost piece of a life that Pear Butter had willingly abandoned to be a mother. "Vice-principal Luna certainly can't be turned off a track she's decided to walk down, huh?"

The photo had nothing to say in response, the woman it captured remaining firmly in place - grinning devilishly at the camera and flashing a proud thumbs-up. She was clad from neck to toe in thick, heavy, black biker's gear and held a full-head helmet under her spare arm. A bright spark shone in her brilliant turquoise eyes - a spark of life that she took into every action she'd taken in her life.

"Miss ya, Ma." the young apple farmer whispered as she replaced the photo on the shelf, although she continued to regard it for a few moments more after doing so.

"Would it be out-of-line for me to say you two look a lot alike?" a slightly ragged sounding voice said from behind her, prompting Applejack to yelp and spin around arms raised. What she saw standing in the doorway immediately drained a majority of the shock from her system and in its wake she was left struggling not to laugh. Under the arch of the door stood the human form of Kurama, canine drool quite literally dripping from his face and with a very self-satisfied looking Winona cradled in his arms.

"Ah can see ya've met Winona." AJ snickered, holding one hand against her mouth and the other against her midriff in an attempt to stifle further laughter. It was such a contrasting image, the Tailed Beast's stoic face attached to a body that was holding a dog as if it was the most precious treasure in the world.

"Ya could say that." came his response, as even as ever - although his seriousness was undermined by Winona licking his chin. "Do ya mind?" he asked the pooch, leaning down to return her to the ground. She dropped to the floorboards willingly and made her way over to her bed near the large glass sliding doors that made up one of the room's four walls.

"Sizeable photo collection ya got going on here." Kurama smiled as he turned his attention back to the frames sitting on the mantel and hearth. He didn't approach them however, instead maintaining his position in the doorway - if she wanted to talk about anything she could do so of her own volition, he would not pry for answers she was not willing to give.

"Yeah, got a big family to keep a track of." Applejack mused as she looked back to the picture of her mother, sparing it one last quick glance, before turning back to Kurama. "Never mind that though, ya'll get the job?" eager to change the subject she moved to leave the room, prompting him to step back out in the living room, allowing her to figuratively and literally close the door on the things she didn't want to think about.

"Yep, you're currently speaking to the newest farmhand and finance coordinator of Sweet Apple Acres." he said proudly, flashing a grin and throwing his hands behind his head.

"Yer kiddin'? Pa pawned the finances off onto ya?"

"For better or worse, yeah." his expression quickly went back to his standard, relaxed look as he began to make his way back towards the house's entrance - he felt antsy, like every muscle in his body was tensed in anticipation. He felt like an over coiled spring, desperate to set free the energy built up within it and it was starting to consume his thoughts. "Ya mind if I head out? I need some fresh air, maybe a run."

"Sure, but there is somethin' I need to pass on, from Vice-Principal Luna." Kurama visibly shuddered at the mention of her name, but he didn't bolt instantly like she had expected him to, he just continued to walk steadily towards the front door. "Still not gettin' on with her?" Applejack asked as she followed him down the short hallway that lead out to the front of the house.

"I wouldn't say that... exactly..." he replied, trailing off towards the end as he became aware that he didn't wholly believe what he was saying. "We've hardly spoken since I woke up and each time we have the situation was... less than favourable, to understate it immensely. So I'd say it's too early to say for certain if we get on or not."

"Sunset told me she kicked ya in the face."

"That's... not untrue. But there's more to it than just that, ya know."

"Ah'm sure. Ya can tell me aaaaall abou'it tonight." Applejack chuckled, rolling her eyes in a good-natured manner as the two stepped out onto the porch of the Sweet Apple household. Kurama regarded the apple farmer with confusion for a moment, his somewhat addled mind struggling with what exactly she meant. Instead of waiting for him to figure it out, she simply chuckled again before explaining;

"Vice-Principal Luna has insisted that me, an' the other girls, have a 'proper slumber-party' over at her house tonight. 'Parently she thinks we might get a bad impression of her home after last night, so she wan's us to come back to make sure that doesn't happen." the whole idea sounded a lot like needless paranoia to Kurama, but with how stubborn Luna was - a fact he was already well aware of - he knew full well there was no point disagreeing vocally. "S'far as Ah'm concerned she's makin' a mountain outta a molehill, but there's no poin' arguin' with her-"

"Because she'll just ignore ya." Kurama rounded off, taking his turn to chuckle, before turning back to Applejack and smiling. She gave a hearty laugh and nodded her agreement - at least she wasn't the only one that saw how frustratingly inflexible her teacher could be. "Fancy heading back together then? No point travelling alone when ya have the option for company."

"Ah was jus' about to suggest the same thing." AJ continued to laugh as she clapped the farm's newest employee firmly on the shoulder. Although the gesture was meant to be a friendly one, she seemingly struck him with enough force to cause pain, as he winced and took a step away from her almost as soon as her hand made contact with him. "Oh, sorry 'bout that... Didn' mean to hit ya that hard..." she faltered as she took a step towards him to check if he was okay, suddenly very conscious of her every movement.

She took a step back herself, drawing her arms in close to her body and observing her open hands as they trembled ever so slightly. This had been happening a lot to her recently. In the last week alone she had shattered six glasses, broken the handles off two tea cups, popped three tennis balls she'd been throwing for Winona and shut one door so hard that it had broken clean through the frame, ripped free of its hinges and gone crashing to the ground.

Wha's happenin' ta me? she stressed, curling her hands into fists to try to stop them trembling. This only had the effect of transferring the involuntary tremors from her fingers to her lower arms. Her every individual muscle felt like it was trying to shake itself free of her skin, like they were all desperately attempting to gain the freedom to stretch out and move. She felt restrained, as though everything in the entire world had been replaced with cardboard cut-outs all of a sudden. How long before Ah do somethin like that an' really hurt somebody?. The thought genuinely terrified her, Applebloom, Big Mac, her father or frail old Granny Smith - she could accidentally put any one of them out of action for months... Or worse...

She was broken free from her spiralling train of thought when a strong hand clasped onto her shoulder, locking it in a firm grip and not moving when she flinched slightly. Her head flicked up to look her sole companion in the eye and for the briefest moment she thought she caught a glimpse of a red flash in the steely eyes that stared back at her. But then she blinked, only a quick flutter of the eyelids to clear out some faint moisture that had been welling up, and all she saw was emerald green.

Kurama smiled at the trembling Apple relaxing his grip and giving her a gentle shake.

"Ya may wanna work on reigning that strength of your's in." his smile grew into a slightly devilish grin, revealing his pointed teeth and slightly elongated canines. "Ya ever need any help with that, I'd be happy to lend ya a hand. I'd wanna get a handle on it as soon as possible if I were you. Anyone who wasn't tough like me, they could get really hurt ya know."

It was strange. To almost any other person, his words probably would have been quite reassuring - knowing that someone is there to support you is normally a very positive thought. But it only made Applejack more concerned. His tone was off, distant and unfocused - seemingly reciting the phrase without really thinking about it. His smile was strange too, it didn't exist beyond his mouth, stopping before it lit any form of emotion in his eyes - replaced, instead, by a glazed-over, thousand mile stare.

"A-Ah... Ah should go pack..." she stuttered, desperate to get away and clear her head - she had to be the strong one after all, she was always the strong one. She tried to turn and re-enter the house, tried to put this moment behind her, but she found herself stopped by the hand that was still affixed to her shoulder.

"Nope." the porch of the Apple Homestead was briefly consumed by a cloud of white smoke, which quickly dissipated into thin air. In its wake, the two inhabitants of the space had been joined by a third - another Applejack. "She will go pack. We are gonna go clear your head."

Before the young farmer could protest, the entire world seemed to flip on its head around her - the scenery bent and became distorted. All the colours around her seemed to mix and mash together, shifting around unnaturally in front of her vision. Her sense of balance failed her entirely, with only distortion in front of her eyes and nothing under her feet, she felt like she'd been thrown into the air by her Pa while she was looking through a kaleidoscope. This only lasted for a brief second however, as in the time it would take for a lightning bolt to return to the clouds, the pair had moved from the porch to the Sweet Apple Acres bus stop.

"So, we're currently lookin' south, Ponyville is to the west and mountains are behind us to the north..." Kurama rambled aloud as his companion tried her best to regain her balance and prevent herself from throwing up all over the pavement. She was only partially successful, while she was able to keep her light breakfast in her stomach, she had to collapse to her hands and knees to stop the world spinning. "Oh, right. Sorry about that... the Flying Raijin takes some getting used to."

"Ah'm starting to not regret hittin' ya'll jus' now." Applejack growled as everything began to return to focus around her, her nausea beginning to recede at a mercifully rapid pace.

"That's progress." he replied absentmindedly, his focus diverted on his planning. With all the finesse and gentleness of a walrus on roller skates he yanked her to her feet and held her in place until she could stand without wobbling again. With a satisfied nod when she didn't immediately topple over he continued speaking. "What's that way then?"

"The east?" she asked, following where Kurama's arm pointed towards the road heading away from Ponyville. "Canterlot City's that way."

"Really? Why's the school here then?"

"Ponyville's a district of Canterlot City." she replied with a small shrug, dusting off her knees now that she was confident that she wouldn't fall over again. "Ponyville an' Canterlot school were founded first an' when the next town over began gettin' pretty big, some brainiac decided to combine the two towns and call the resulting county Canterlot."

"Huh... how needlessly confusing." Kurama cocked an eyebrow in the city's general direction before he too shrugged and asked another question. "How far off is it?"

"'Bout three miles... why?" her query was answered by a gradually widening grin spreading across his face, a reaction which caused a pit to drop in her stomach. "No. Kurama, noOOOOOooooooooo." and with that, she was pulled off her feet once again and led into a stumbling jog down the road leading to Canterlot City.

---

Sunset was laying flat on her back on Vinyl's bed when her adoptive sister finally returned from the bathroom, clad in a fresh pair of long jeans and a loose-fitting white T-shirt with the phrase "Jack Jiro" sprawled across the front in dynamic black and yellow text.

"When did you have time to change?" Vinyl was the first to speak, shooting the question over while Sunset was sitting up on the bed. She'd switched into a simple attire she'd fished from the bottom of her wardrobe, a simple orange Tee with slightly ripped shin-length jeans. Her classic jacket lay off to the side near her, a little crumpled and neglected.

"You were in there for twenty minutes ya know. That's plenty of time to change, providing you aren't picky." the fiery haired teen answered nonchalantly, not particularly in the mood for a lengthy dressing session - she'd simply settled for the first things she'd spotted when rifling through the boxes at the bottom of her wardrobe.

"You're normally the pickiest person I know, besides Tavy anyway." there was a measured degree of caution in the young DJ's voice as she spoke, taking extra care not to come off as nosy - knowing how much her company particularly disliked it when people nosed into her business. Despite knowing this, she had to pry because if Sunset wasn't fussing for hours over her appearance, then something was seriously wrong. "You once took an hour picking out an outfit for a family trip to the park, on a Sunday no less!" she attempted to stoke some humour into the conversation to cover her probing and avoided asking questions directly, employing her arsenal of social skills to their fullest in an attempt to get something, anything, from her sister.

"To be frank with you Vinyl, I've just been trying to dress in any way that's different from how I used to dress."

"Trying to put some distance between you now and you from back then?" social tactics be dammed, if this was going to be a 'frank' conversation then Vinyl was going to just jump straight into the meat of this issue. She only received a nod in return, but it was enough of a response for her. "Then let's get you a complete wardrobe make over!" she exclaimed, pulling the two of them to their feet she began to drag her friend towards the landing.

"W-w-wait! What about the Eight Tails, that laugh earlier?!" Sunset attempted to pull against her pseudo-sibling's grip and protest, but found no purchase in either case - continuing to stumble along after her determined, neon-haired friend.

"Fuck that, we got shopping to do." the two were downstairs and heading for the door before Sunset could even formulate a response to that, reduced to little more than fumbling over half thoughts of resistance as she was 'escorted' to the exit of the house - barely managing to slip a pair of sneakers on before she was yanked up and along again. "Come on you lot, we're going shopping!" Vinyl called to Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Maud Pie on her way past the living room. They hardly needed to be told twice, having already changed into some day clothes (generously donated to them by the Luna Household as they hadn't had a chance to return home yet) they removed themselves from whatever it was they'd been doing and bustling to follow the two out of the open front door.

"Come on Auntie Luna, we're hitting up Canterlot for a shopping trip." the Vice-Principal in question was just finishing up a conversation with Bow Hothoof, the last of the parents who needed to be contacted in preparation for the 'Operation Slumber Party 2.0'. She blanched a little at her niece's call and was about to call out to oppose said plans, but decided against it.

"What would be the point? She's already halfway down the street anyway." she grumbled to herself before sighing and letting a small smile grace her features, jogging to catch up with the gabbing group before they got too far. "Hold up you lot, let's do a headcount before we leave!"

Author's Note:

'Kay, first of all, it's 1:30am right now where I am. So Good Morning All. Secondly, apologies (as per usual unfortunately) this took so long - I can only really write this stuff when I get a burst of inspiration on what I want to happen next. I don't like anything that I have to force onto the page, because it feels substandard to me and I want to give the best chapter I possibly can each time (spelling errors and all, I promise Engrish is my first language ).
I hope everyone has been keeping as safe as possible and that no one has begun tearing their walls down to get a sense of freedom. I'm sure we'll be back to relative normalcy before 2021, providing 2020 has no other curve balls to throw our way.

Until next time all

Random notes that I made for myself during writing, edited to make sense for readers (I typically leave myself cryptic messages that I then have to figure out later on):

I am aware that Maine isn't that stormy in reality, but gotta fit a tortured horse pun in there somehow.

Couch 1: Vinyl, Sunset.
Couch 2: Rarity, Flutters, Rainbow.

My Hero Academia's extensive musical collection was the soundtrack for writing this chapter for me. Long Hope Philia and Hero Too especially. As a result, I ended up putting a reference to MHA in here - not a particularly subtle one mind you.

Comments

[Nova Blaze]

Yay, a new chapter! Definitely worth the wait as always with this one.

[LEGION55]

YEY!!!!! Ps

"Ya'll any good at Math?"

This is my POISON.