Blue Sunny Days and Pink Lemonade

by Masterweaver

...and habits are hard to break...

Lemon Zest sat in the coffee shop, hand fidgeting around the warm paper cup on the table. Her eyes drifted over the various other patrons, observing them as they chatted, as they looked over their smartphones, as they simply wandered in for a snack before heading out.

For a moment, she looked toward the door.

Then, slowly, she let out a sigh, turning back to her still untouched coffee.

"Lemon. Lemon. It's a fruit, so egg of plant... yellow, I think. Sour yellow egg of plant. Yeah, that could work..." She tapped her pencil against the table. "That's progress. Sure."

She heard the front door swing open and looked up. For a moment--a brief, wonderful, terrible moment--she thought she saw Sunny Flare walking toward her.

Then she remembered that Sunny didn't have blue hair in a ponytail, and that the finned ears belonged to another aspect anyway.

"Oh, hey Sonata! You're... back. Did you find your sisters?"

"Mmmyep. We talked, we fought, we fucked, we fought again, then we talked for real, and we're back together." The siren grinned as she sat down. "Discord's even starting up some sort of talk news show for us, so we can earn money like real people!"

"...Sorry, did you just say you... uh..." Lemon motioned with a hand and a finger.

"Well, like you said, we're social mammals now. We should enjoy the perks that come with that."

"Um... I mean, sure, but... you call each other sisters."

Sonata rolled her eyes. "You do know that whole incest taboo thing didn't really take off until four or five centuries ago, right? Plus we're all girls, so it's not like we can get each other preggers."

"Uh... huh." Lemon Zest shook her head. "Right. Well. So... how are they doing?"

"Oh, Aria got a few new battlescars and is going to court to overturn the prison system for being too forgiving. Adagio's sort of grumpy and all, she got married twice and divorced three times while we were apart."

"Married twice and divorced three times."

"One of those was posthumous."

Lemon looked at Sonata's innocent smile for a moment or two.

"...You're making all this up to fuck with me."

Sonata gave her a sly smirk. "Would I tell you if I ~waaa~aaaas~?"

"I'll just ask uncle Dissy to give me the truth later."

"Oh, sure, if you want to take the fun out of it. I thought Sunny was supposed to be the boring one." Sonata looked around. "Oh, by the way, where is she?"

Lemon's face fell. "Probably back at her apartment."

"Really, she left already?"

"...more like she never came. I, uh..." Lemon bit her lip. "I might have pressed a button I shouldn't have pressed."

Sonata gave a low whistle. "I mean, I knew you had that casual antagonism thing going, but I didn't think you'd break off your friendship over it. Not after that whole 'family is who you care about' thing you gave me."

"Look, I screwed the pooch. And the pooch's mother. Hell, just call me a fucking furry because I've got a whole clan of half-human mongrels on the way."

"Oooo! Can I have one as a pet?"

"It's a metaphor, Sonata."

"Even better! I suck at keeping real pets alive."

"What even is a furry these days anyway?" Lemon grumbled. "I mean we're all part horse now. Or, uh, other."

"Don't worry, there are still plenty of furry fandom people out there. Oh hey, did I ever tell you about the time Aria ripped a new one into some fursuiter?"

"...What?"

"Yeah, the guy was dressed as a dolphin cause 'dolphins are friendly' and, I don't know if I ever told you this, but back in Equestria Aria used to hate dolphins. Like seriously, I mean, fuck them anyway they had their own song and they would always just steal our fish and all but Aria took it to a whole 'nother level. I think something happened between her and one of those shupliipegli sheperenn... I don't know, it was before she met us, she never talks about it. So anyway, this idiot says dolphins are innocent creatures who believe in love and peace and that just sets Aria off and... long story short, we were banned from furry conventions for two decades. Well, the bigger ones, anyway." Sonata chuckled. "I paid for the reconstructive surgery, cause you know, he was actually a pretty funny guy."

Lemon stared at her, mouth agape.

"So anyway, we were talking about what happened with you and Sunny?"

"Uh... yeah. We... right." Lemon Zest took a breath. "Right, so... I kind of, in a roundabout way, sort of built up to confronting her about... something. Something I was worried about. And apparently, I hit a trigger and... I don't know..."

"Trigger?"

"Like a trauma trigger. Not like one of those cheapo internet 'I don't like this' things but an actual trigger."

"Oh, did you ask her about her hands?"

The pink girl blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, they're well crafted, don't get me wrong," Sonata assured her. "Like, the only reason I spotted they weren't her original? I'm super old, and super good at spotting fake stuff, and I studied how hands worked like a lot after we came through the mirror. Freaky crab-fins, you know?"

"...okay, I guess I can get that." Lemon shook her head. "Yeah, I... didn't ask about her hands, directly. I asked about her wrist-dealies, which... if she really does have prosthetic hands, now they make a lot more sense."

"You can tell a lot about a girl by her wrist-dealies." Sonata fiddled with her own bracelets. "I had these forged back in the twelfth century, and I've been keeping them maintained ever since."

"I... wait, you had those... forged?"

"Mmmhmm. Purple aluminium with sapphire spikes." She shrugged. "Expensive, but we were harmony-damned queens at the point, and I needed a way to lethally backhand any suitors that weren't to my taste."

Lemon Zest rubbed her eyebrows. "See, you say things like that and I know you're this ancient predator and all, but part of me is wondering how much of this you're making up to unbalance me."

"My point is, my wrist-dealies are pretty and dangerous, like me. Sunny's wrist-dealies are technological and very complicated and can do a lot of things and hide a pretty deep and painful secret." She paused. "Also, I think they require like a lot of maintenance? They're not like the smartphone things everyone has these days."

"...That's very nice and metaphorical," Lemon allowed, "but I'm sort of at the point where I'm more asking 'what can I do to make things right?'"

"Well, what exactly is wrong in the first place?"

"...I don't know. I mean, I know I pressured her, but I don't know what trigger I hit, and I don't know... I don't know if it's something I can fix. More like... I want our friendship back."

"So... go be her friend."

"What?"

"Like, okay, I know it's super cheesy and you hear it a lot, but you would not believe how many times I saw people split apart and then get back together because somebody said 'I'm sorry, let's try again.' And I think that's... sort of like inevitable in a way?"

"The hedgehog problem."

Sonata blinked. "The..."

"Hedgehogs have spines, so if they cuddle together for warmth, they'll poke each other."

"But we're talking about humans--oh my gosh! Is that why that video game hedgehog is blue?"

Lemon blinked. "What?"

"Cause, you know, he got so cold his spines got frostbite! Maybe because he's running so fast all the time!"

Lemon Zest opened her mouth, paused, and stood up. "You know what, you've got a point. I should go be Sunny's friend. And that means apologizing." She took a long swig of her coffee. "But I'm going to do it in my own zany way."

"...What does this have to do with hedgehogs?"

"Absolutely nothing, but hedgehogs are fucking awesome. Thanks for the chat, Sonata, it was disturbing but surprisingly helpful."

Sonata beamed. "I try to be consistent."

Comments

[Talon and Thorn]

"Mmmhmm. Purple aluminium with sapphire spikes." She shrugged. "Expensive, but we were harmony-damned queens at the point, and I needed a way to lethally backhand any suitors that weren't to my taste."

How did she get aluminium forged in the Twelth century? As far as I know it wasn't possible to produce as a metal until the 19th century.

[FanOfMostEverything]

We talked, we fought, we fucked, we fought again, then we talked for real, and we're back together.

I'm just going to note that Getting the Band Back Together is rated E and I intend to keep it that way.

"...You're making all this up to fuck with me."

And in that moment, Lemon channeled me.

"What even is a furry these days anyway?" Sonata grumbled. "I mean we're all part horse now. Or, uh, other."

Someone else is going to have to tackle this one; I do not have a finger on that particular pulse.

Fascinating if disturbing insight from Sonata. Really, I should expect nothing less.

[Malandy]

This wasn't what I expected, mainly 'cause Sonata.

----

Lemon looked at Sonata's innocent smile for a moment or two.

"...You're making all this up to fuck with me."

And here I thought it she was serious, but I dunno...

We only know the

----

"You can tell a lot about a girl by her wrist-dealies."

----

dolphins

Sonata speaks Truth.

Aria's Heartbreak! WOAH! ... I think bit's actually true 'cause that's not about Sonata...

----

harmony-damned queens

Literally true.

----

"But I'm going to do it in my own zany way."

Interesting! ... Heart-song time?? ... If the ship is real and Sunny gets serenaded, I'll ROFL.

----

Typo:

back in Equestria(,) Aria used to hate dolphins.

[PiMan]

8641517
Very small amounts of aluminium were produced before then. Alloys have been used for many centuries, while pure aluminium production dates to the mid 18th century (although efficient methods would only be discovered from the 19th century).
It is likely that "purple aluminium" refers to an alloy, because we know it is not naturally purple before or after production.

[Breakfateschain]

8641550 8641517
According to Wikipedia, the best way to get a purple aluminum alloy is to make a substance called purple plague, also known as purple gold, which is a gold aluminum alloy of about 78.5% gold and 21.5% aluminum

However, it is unlikely that's the exact substance, given purple plague is forged at 1060 degrees celcius. That being said, the purple color does imply that it was alloyed with gold, though given the rarity of aluminum in the 12th century, it does make sense to emphasize the aluminum rather than the gold, though gold is now considered more valuable

[PresentPerfect]

"Oooo! Can I have one as a pet?"

"It's a metaphor, Sonata."

"Even better! I suck at keeping real pets alive."

Okay, now Sonata sounds more like Sonata. :)

[nlinzer]

Sonata rolled her eyes. "You do know that whole incest taboo thing didn't really take off until four or five centuries ago, right? Plus we're all girls, so it's not like we can get each other preggers."

Wow this Earth's history is so diffrent from ours. Only since 5 centuries ago having sex with a sibling was seen as wrong. I don't mean to be rude but I kinda want to read a sociology book on why it was seen as socially acceptable.