Burnt Bridges
The evening twilight soon cast its warm, loving calm over the entire city of Paris as Twilight, Marinette, and their friends traded stories about their adventures with each other. Marinette and Adrien told Twilight and her friends all about the duties they had as defenders. They told them how two months ago, two kids named Star Butterfly and Marco Diaz came to Paris for spring break. They also related how Adrien's biological father, the supervillain Hawk Moth, had been going after their Miraculouses to obtain ultimate power and rule the world and how he had succeeded two months ago in achieving his goal, revealing both of their identities to their peers in the process.
"Oh, my," Fluttershy squeaked, a bit terrified. "How horrible."
"Yeah," Marinette admitted. "But the forces of good eventually prevailed, as always. Star and Marco became a couple, and so did Adrien and I."
Twilight listened to the story in amazement. These two have been on so many adventures together, just like she and her friends have.
"You guys must be pretty proud of yourselves, saving the city at least a hundred times," she said at last.
"Got that right," Adrien agreed. "Though, to be honest, now that Hawk Moth is out of commission, Marinette and I are kinda at a loss for what to do now. I don't suppose you can help us, can you?"
Twilight paused, trying to think of an answer. At last, she said, "Not at the moment. But we'll let you know." She and her Equestrian friends turned and headed into the College Francois Dupont.
"Where are you girls going?" Alya called after them.
"Into the school, of course," Twilight answered her. "To spend the night there." The four of them could only watch on as they disappeared inside, then looked at each other in confusion.
"You know," Tikki started, flying up to Marinette, "our apartment still has the extra floor from when Star and Marco were here. We should ask them to spend at least one night at our place."
"You're right, Tikki," started Marinette. "We should."
"Speaking of night," Sabrina yawned, "I'm going home to get some shut-eye. Shall the four of us get together again to get our outfits for the dance together?"
"Okay," Alya said. Adrien nodded his head in agreement.
"'Kay. 'Night, guys. See you tomorrow." Sabrina started walking back home. Just then, a car beeped, and the remaining three friends turned to see that it was Adrien's driver/bodyguard, come to up. Adrien and Alya turned around to face Marinette and Tikki.
"See you girls, tomorrow," Adrien said. "My driver will drop Alya off at her place before we go home." On his shoulder, Plagg waved goodbye to them, before disappearing inside the car with his master and Alya. As the car drove off, Marinette and Tikki turned around and went back into their apartment.
The next morning, Tikki woke Marinette up. They quickly got dressed after they both had their breakfast. As they went down the stairs, Mr. and Mrs. Dupain-Cheng called Marinette over to give her everything she needed to go shopping.
"Now, be sure to come back by around noon," Mrs. Cheng said to Marinette, giving her a surprisingly large amount of money.
"Mom, that's quite a lot," Marinette noticed. "Where did you get this?"
"The royalty checks," her mom said simply.
"Wait, what royalty checks?" Tikki asked, surprised.
"The ones we get weekly for being the face of the Ladybug action figures, Tikki," Marinette reminded her. "You were there, remember?"
"Oh yeah," Tikki said. "Now I remember."
As they walked out of the bakery, they turned and headed straight for the College Francois Dupont, fully intending to wake Twilight and her friends up, but they soon found out that the front doors were locked, as it was a weekend.
"Where is he when you need him?" Marinette muttered.
"Who are you talking about?" Tikki questioned.
"That . . . creature we met at the park yesterday," Marinette answered. "What was his name again?"
Tikki's expression quickly soured. "Discord," she said at last. "And what would you need him for, anyway?"
"I need his help unlocking these doors to wake up Twilight and her friends."
"Leave that to me," Tikki responded. She phased through the lock. A few minutes later, the locks clicked and the door swung wide open. Marinette entered the school and saw Twilight and her friends approach the front of the school. For some reason, Twilight looked a bit more tired than she was yesterday.
"Morning, girls," she greeted them. "I take it your night in here went well?"
"Well," Applejack started, "our night was okay and all, but it woulda gone a lot smoother if somepony here didn' keep talkin' in her sleep!" She motioned over to Twilight.
"Somepony?" Marinette asked, confused by this figure of speech.
"We use that term when we address fellow ponies, darling," Rarity responded. Marinette was still a bit confused, but shrugged, as if to say, Oh well. "And as Applejack was saying, Twilight kept muttering in her sleep about caves and Canterlot. Don't know where she got that idea."
"Yeah, you're probably right," Rainbow Dash admitted in an off-handed, casual manner.
Just then, a car horn sounded. Marinette and Tikki turned around. There was Adrien, waving over to the girls, accompanied by Alya and Sabrina. Plagg was perched on his shoulder.
"Ooh, our ride's here!" squealed Rarity, delighted. The girls entered the limo, squeezing in the backseat area to provide room.
"Take us to Madame Chanel's, please," Adrien told his driver. Within minutes they were off.
Madame Chanel's was a quaint-looking store that was situated not far from the Agreste mansion or the Grand Paris hotel. As soon as the party entered the store, the general activity of the store lowered to a hush, and Marinette and Adrien felt many pairs of eyes fall on them.
"Why is everyone looking at us like that?" Adrien whispered to Plagg.
"It's us," he whispered. "We're famous." He waved to a young girl who was holding action figures of Ladybug and Cat Noir. The girl blinked at him, not saying anything.
"Forget that," Marinette reminded him. "We need to start searching for dresses." She turned to Adrien. "And a tuxedo for you."
The group started searching the entire store for things that could be worn to a dance. Throughout their trip, they came across an aisle with a section devoted to Ladybug and Cat Noir merchandise, which Plagg just happened to come across.
"Hey look!" he chuckled, motioning over to a Cat Noir action figure, then pressed a button on the side of its neck. "Claws out!" the action figure said, in a manner exactly like the real deal.
"Wow," Spike chuckled, peeking out from Twilight's backpack. "I always knew that Paris loved you two, but I didn't think that it would go so far as to make action figures of you guys!"
Twilight agreed with him. She turned around, looking for what else the aisle had to offer, until her eyes spotted something: it was a plastic crown that looked exactly like the Element of Harmony she used to wield-the Element of Magic. This would make a perfect gift for Flurry Heart, she thought to herself.
"STOP!"
The group froze, then turned to the source of the noise.
A young man with sleek blond hair, a pointed chin, and very icy blue eyes wearing a servant's uniform was standing in front of them, wearing a very severe expression on his face.
"You Marinette Dupain-Cheng? You Adrien Agreste?" he addressed the pair of them.
"Um . . . yes?" Marinette replied, grinning nervously.
"Come with me," the young man replied curtly. "Madam Chanel herself wants to speak with you." He eyed the group behind them. "And bring them as well."
The young man led the group to a secret office at the back of the store, then opened the door for them. Instantly, a large blast of scented perfume walloped them in their faces, and a few of them coughed. Twilight was nervous. She and her friends didn't do anything wrong! What could Madame Chanel herself possibly want with them?
Behind the desk in front of them, a chair swiveled itself to meet the group, and in it sat a curly silver-blonde woman in her thirties wearing pink evening gloves, a dress to match, and enough makeup to rival Chloe. Upon seeing the group, her face broke out into a very wide grin.
"Bless my stars!" she exclaimed. "I can't actually believe that Ladybug and Cat Noir are actually in my store!" She turned to the young man who had escorted them. "Hans, be sure to fetch refreshments for our guests and their friends!" The young man bowed to her and departed.
"All right, but bring me some camembert slices!" Plagg proclaimed, poking his head out of Adrien's pocket.
"And some cookies for me!" Tikki added.
"And if possible, some dog treats for me?" Spike added. Madame Chanel looked at him in surprise.
"Uh . . . woof?" Spike grinned nervously, but Madam Chanel shrugged it off. She motioned for Marinette and Adrien to sit down in two comfortable chairs in front of her desk.
"So," she started, "what brings you two to my humble little store today?"
"Thank you, Madame Chanel, but you're being too generous," Adrien chuckled in a self-deprecating manner. "Marinette and I are just doing our job as this city's defenders."
"Nonsense, darling!" Madame Chanel dismissed. "You two have served our fair city for so long. It's only natural that we repay our debt." Hans had come back with a plate of hors d'oeuvres for everyone, along a platter of camembert slices for Plagg, cookies for Tikki, and dog biscuits for Spike. "Now, let's get down to business. How may I be of service?"
"Well," Marinette started, "next Friday, our school is having its annual end-of-year school dance, and my friends and I need the proper attire. I don't suppose you could help us?"
Madame Chanel clapped her hands together. "But of course, darling. You came to the right place. Hans!"
"Yes, Madame Chanel?" Hans responded, ready to serve.
"Escort our guests here to the finest attire that we have to offer. Nothing less than the best! Understood?"
"Yes, Madame Chanel." Hans bowed respectfully.
"And as a way of saying thank you, I'm letting the two of you take the clothes for free! Your friends, in the meantime, will get discounts on their dresses as well!"
The guests stood up to leave, ready to get the full shopping experience. "Oh, and would you mind doing one last thing for me?"
"What is it?" Marinette asked.
"You two wouldn't mind signing this photo for me, would you?" Madame Chanel asked, holding up a photo of Ladybug on one of her exploits. "It's for my kids. They're huge fans of yours."
"Sure, no problem," Marinette obliged. She picked up a pen, signed the photo, then handed it off to Adrien, who also signed it.
"Oh, and Adrien," Madame Chanel addressed him, "tell your father that if he needs a store to supply is clothing line, I would be more than up for the job."
"I'll tell him," Adrien assured her.
"Good luck darlings!" Madame Chanel cheerily called to them as Hans escorted them out to get their attire. "And thank you so much!"
Soon, everyone had found a suitable dress for the dance (except for Rarity, who lamented the lack of diamonds on hers, which Marinette offered to remedy), and Adrien found a tuxedo that he looked absolutely dapper in. Hans escorted the party to the checkout counter.
"I'm surprised no one has commented on our appearances," Twilight said to Alya. "Or Spike being able to talk, for that matter."
Alya chuckled. "Trust me, when you live in a city that has had more supernatural encounters than what is considered normal, you kinda shrug off anything people usually consider out of the ordinary."
Twilight giggled. "So I'm guessing that if we went to your school on Monday, no one would-"
But she never got to finish her sentence, because she walked straight into someone- a girl about her height, with honey-blond hair, a black-and-white outfit and white shoes, who was carrying an armload of dresses, which she dropped immediately.
"Oops! My bad!" Twilight said to the new girl.
"Sorry, sorry, sorry," she replied in return, not bothering to make eye contact with any of them, but instead picking up the dresses she had spilled. Marinette peered at the girl's face. Even underneath all that smeared makeup on her face, she still somehow looked familiar. And then it hit her. It was-
"Chloe?" Marinette asked, surprised. "What are you doing here?"
"What does it look like?" Chloe answered, not looking at Marinette or Twilight, but instead at the floor. "Buying a dress for the dance next week. I'm guessing you and your friends are doing the same thing as well?" She eyed the new girls in front of her with mild curiosity.
"As a matter of fact, we were," Alya snapped.
"Tell me, Chloe," Sabrina said very acidly, "how is your father doing these days? I'm guessing he loves the new attention that his actions as mayor have earned him?"
Marinette knew at once that Sabrina had hit a very sore spot with Chloe, because her eyes were dangerously starting to quiver. At last, Chloe faced her former best friend with the closest thing that she could muster to a murderous glare.
"How could you do this?" she screamed. "We've been friends since elementary school, and this is how you treat me after all these years?"
"We were friends," Sabrina viciously corrected her. "Then I find out that your pettiness almost cost my father his job and his sanity! Do you think of anybody but yourself?!"
Chloe paused, trying to think of a response, but failed to come up with one.
"Why am I not surprised?" Sabrina shook her head. "You're never going to change, as the many kids in our school can attest."
This remark finally managed to pierce through Chloe. Her eyes watering up, she dropped all the dresses and ran off, not looking back at all. Sunset turned to the group.
"Isn't anyone gonna go after her?"
The entire group stood still, not knowing what to do. Sabrina seemed to have definitely made up her mind, because she shook her head, crossed her arms, and closed her eyes. Marinette and Alya looked at each other, uncertain. Even Twilight was conflicted. As the Princess of Friendship, she knew that it was her duty to reach out to others. But it was clear that this girl did terrible things in her past. Sure, she may not have turned into a raging she-demon and tried to invade Equestria, but her crimes might have been just as bad, if not worse.
When it became clear that nobody was going to go after her, Sunset groaned in frustration and ran after Chloe. After she disappeared, Sabrina turned to Twilight and her friends.
"Your friend is weird," she said at last.
Twilight didn't respond. She kept wondering what it was that Chloe had done in the past that earned her the enmity of Alya, Marinette, Sabrina, and Adrien.
"Marinette, you know that girl?" she asked Mari.
Marinette chuckled sardonically. "Trust me, we go way back," she replied, in a tone that indicated that she was much closer to Chloe than she would have liked to have been.
A few minutes later, Sunset had come back to the group, and she was wearing an absolutely livid expression on her face.
"I hope you're happy," she snarled to Sabrina. "She's crying her eyes out in the dressing room thanks to you. Do you realize that she's trying to become a better person, but you're not giving her any opportunity to prove it?"
Sabrina responded with a hollow laugh. "Trust me, when you've been around her as long as I have, you eventually come to realize that people like her never change."
"You have a lot to think about," Sunset said to Sabrina, cold fury etched in every syllable in her voice, then stormed off. Sabrina didn't appear the least bit fazed by this statement. On the contrary, she turned to the rest of the group, clearly confused. "What's her problem?"
Everybody shrugged except Twilight, who knew exactly why Sunset was defending Chloe: Sunset herself had gone through a similar situation after she had been dethroned as the queen of Canterlot High, when she had to put up with abuse and humiliation until the Battle of the Bands. But whatever she had to endure was apparently nothing compared to what Chloe had to deal with.
Marinette noticed that Chloe left behind a ball of paper. She picked it up, straightened it out as best as she could, and read aloud. "'The only reason you didn't get run out of town yet is because your father is still in charge of it'."
It was clearly the note that Kim gave to Chloe in class the other day. Now she knew why Chloe had acted out.
"Harsh," Applejack commented, peering over Marinette's shoulder. Fluttershy nodded in agreement.
Sabrina snorted scornfully. "Yeah, right. Considering the mayor's recent drop in popularity, I don't think he'll be in office much longer. A few people are even starting to speak of running him and his precious princess out of town."
"Why is that?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"They're responsible for a good chunk of the akumatized supervillains that ran amok in Paris in the past," Adrien answered.
"Akuma-what-now?" Rainbow Dash responded.
And so, Marinette and Adrien explained to the group how in the past, Hawk Moth had akumatized people into supervillains by feeding off their negative emotions using butterflies corrupted by the Moth Miraculous. By the end of it, Twilight and her friends all had varying degrees of shock and surprise on their faces, but none more so than Fluttershy. She couldn't believe that the harmless little insects she had grown so fond of were used for evil purposes in the past.
"And the worst part?" Marinette continued. "The Miraculouses aren't even supposed to be used for evil purposes."
"Was that Miraculous ever used properly?" Twilight asked.
Marinette sighed. "I can think of only one instance where it was used to create superheroes in the past," she said, thinking immediately of Marco, Jackie, and Nathaniel.
After everyone had paid for their dresses and tipped Hans for his service, the entire group stood outside waiting for Adrien's driver to pick them up. Sunset had still not come back from whatever it was that she was doing, and Marinette had already sent a text message to her telling her to meet at her place as soon as she was finished. She put the phone back in her purse when she felt something else inside it. At first, she thought it was Tikki or maybe even Plagg who was in it, but Tikki took a look inside it and her expression stiffened.
"It's Plagg, isn't it?" Marinette asked.
"Nope," Tikki shook her head.
Marinette nudged Alya and Sabrina, and motioned for them to follow her. The three girls went around the corner of the store and Marinette opened her purse to find that a miniature Discord had been sleeping in it and was now fully awake.
"Oh hey, Marinette," he started. "How's everything?"
"Discord!" Marinette shrieked. "What are you doing in my purse?!"
"I needed a place to sleep," the draconequus replied in a bored, almost nonchalant tone. He disappeared in a flash of white light, and reappeared before the girls in full-size. "And I couldn't help but overhear that you're having an argument with one of your classmates."
Marinette snorted with disbelief. That's putting it mildly, she thought to herself. She highly doubted that Discord knew anything of what was going on between her and Chloe.
"Yeah," she agreed grudgingly. "So?"
"It's seems as though she's trying to prove to you that she's changed for the better," Discord continued, a more pressing tone in his statement.
Marinette turned around, checking to see that Chloe was not around, then turned back to face Discord. "So?" she started, her voice and temper rising. "Give me one good reason why she should be our friend after everything she has done! Not only is she responsible for ten people turning into supervillains, one of whom is my great-uncle, but she has been bullying me for four years! On top of that, she apparently loves to use her status as the daughter of the mayor of Paris to step all over people left and right! What were me and Alya thinking when we promised her that we'd help her?"
"That explains so much," Applejack's voice interrupted. Both girls turned around to see that Twilight and her friends, sans Sunset, had joined them. Instantly, Marinette blushed.
"How much of that did you hear?" Alya asked.
"Enough to find out that you have a hostile relationship with that girl back there, darling," Rarity answered simply.
"Yeah, well, Sabrina had a point back there," Alya admitted. "When you've been around crazy brats like her for a long time, you'd lose patience with them, too."
"Yeah, well," Discord interjected, "I understand the course of action you're taking with this, but believe me when I say that it might not be the best long-term idea. What if she decides to just give up on being nice to you and become an even worse person than she previously was? It's not like you ever cared about her to begin with."
Alya laughed incredulously. "So the spirit of chaos and disharmony is suggesting that we go over to her and say, 'Chloe, we forgive you for causing mass murders on a weekly basis, can you please come over and be our BFF?' Give me a break!"
"Never thought I'd say this, but Discord has a point," Twilight intervened.
“And you know this how, exactly?” Sabrina responded, raising an eyebrow.
“Let’s just say that we went down the road you’re going on, and it led to disastrous consequences for Equestria,” Twilight replied, thinking immediately of Tirek’s rampage.
“You should at least try giving her a chance,” Fluttershy added. “Sometimes, we all deserve a little kindness.”
“Easy for you to say,” Sabrina snapped.
“Well, I think it’s a pity that none of you guys support the idea of second chances,” Discord crossed his mismatched arms together. “Who knows, she may prove helpful to you in the future.”
“Yeah, we’ll be sure to contact her when we need to steal someone’s lunch money,” Sabrina sarcastically remarked, then chuckled. Alya, Marinette and Adrien, however, looked uncertain. Twilight sighed. It was clear that these four still had a lot to work on in friendship, never mind the fact that they were already very close to each other.
“If you’ll excuse us,” Marinette said suddenly, grabbing Alya’s arm, “we forgot something.” She pulled her into the store.
“All right,” Adrien called. “But come back soon before the driver gets here!”
“We did?” Alya asked, confused.
“Actually,” Marinette said, lowering her voice to a whisper, “we need to go apologize to Chloe. For how we’ve treated her.”
“We are?” Alya asked, still confused.
“Of course!” her friend whispered furiously. “He brought up several good points that I can’t seem to shake off! After all, he must have done terrible things in his past, and look where he is now! He’s the guardian for Twilight and her friends!”
Alya paused. At last, she sighed, then said, “Fine. I hope it works, for our sake.”
Sunset entered the dressing rooms to look for Chloe. She wondered where she would have to go to find her when she heard a subdued wailing in the background. She listened, then kept following the sound until she approached a locked room where the wailing originated. She gently knocked on the door, and the wailing got quieter while the locks unlocked and the door opened. There stood Chloe, who was now in a worse shape than she was out in the store itself. Her eyes were red and bloodshot from crying so much. She had taken off her designer jacket, which was now dirty from cleaning up her face. And her face was now only slightly cleaner after she had done so.
"What do you want?" Chloe snapped at Sunset. "Here to revel in my humiliation?"
"Of course not," Sunset said flatly. "I wanted to see if you were all right. But from what I can see, it's clear you aren't."
"I am officially a loser," Chloe gasped in between sobs, burying her face in her designer jacket. "I have no friends. Everyone in school hates me. My father is in danger of losing his position. On top of that, not only has Sabrina turned against me, but those two aren't giving me a chance to help them."
"Anything I can do?" Sunset asked her.
"I'm not sure what can be done," Chloe answered bitterly. "I'm so alone."
Sunset let out a small gasp. This girl was in a far worse position than she, Sunset, was back at Canterlot High. At least there, she had the benefit of a few friends who were willing to help her pick up the pieces. But it was clear that Chloe had literally no one to turn to in her darkest hour. She smiled warmly at Chloe, and held out her hand, which Chloe gratefully accepted.
"My name is Sunset Shimmer, and I think it's time you made some real friends around here."
The two girls went to the back of the store, where they saw Sunset escorting a clearly miserable Chloe out of the dressing room, her eyes bloodshot from crying so much and her face dirtier from the ruined makeup. Chloe looked up and saw them approach her, a fiery spark in her eyes.
“What do you two want?” she snapped. “Here to revel in my humiliation? Well, you can forget it!”
Marinette took a deep breath. “Actually, Chloe, we’ve come to work out an agreement.”
“What is it?” Chloe asked.
“We’ve realized that we’ve been acting like complete jerks to you, but at the same time, we’re also uncomfortable with how you’ve treated us in the past,” Marientte started.
“So basically, we’re gonna just talk to you every now and then, more often than we did in the past two months,” Alya said.
“Sounds good to me,” Chloe muttered.
“There is one thing you can do for us,” Marinette said.
“What’s that?” Chloe answered.
“Wash up your face,” Alya added dryly.
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You know what I think? Here’s what I think: Marinette, Alya, Sabrina and Adrien are being complete ****heads, and Chloe is better off without them.
In thinking about what's been written so far, I've come to an inescapable conclusion: I think there are 2 main characters in this story, and I don't think either one's a pony. Not really.
But let's take it from the top.
We begin in the aftermath of the long walk the ponies and humans took together. My guess is that Twilight and her friends did a lot of the talking, since based on what you mention later, during this whole walk, Mari and Adrien never told Twilight and her friends about what Akumas were specifically? I mean, how do you talk about Hawkmoth without talking about how he would attack others? As I mentioned though, my guess is that a lot of the talk from Twilight and the others were the small personal stories from their lives. Cause the story of how they met probably needs to be saved for later.
More importantly though, the prequel is very important to this part of the story. Namely that for all their work in defending paris, Star Butterfly and Marco Diaz are the pivot point for their work. That after Hawkmoth's actual success there, so much has changed and that's caused a shift in how they work, including the admitted unease that a partial triumph brings. Still, fighting crime isn't a bad way for them to pass their time.
Also, I'm guessing Twilight taking her friends in to sleep at school probably hearkens back to what she did normally at canterlot high. Sure hope this doesn't set off any school burglar system. Though judging from Tikki's comment, I'm thinking unlike the season 2 finale, when Star left Paris, she didn't remove her "sparkle glitter bomb expand". That could just be her being absent minded, but I like to think of it as a sign of star's heart. That when she sets up shop with that spell, she won't take it away as long as she considers it a home. And that means she considers Marinette family to want a home to stay there at regular times. So maybe it's time for the Dupette-Changs to host a new group.
The next day gives me a slight chuckle. Namely, that just like Marco in his world, being famous has financial perks. Ladybug being unmasked means that being a hero also gives them some financial security too. Helping with rent, college in the future, etc. And having her face on different parts of Paris makes Mari secure in her dress shopping to so they don't have to skimp at all.
On going to pick up Twilight and the others, there's a hint of a subplot developing here too. Namely, the relationship between Discord and the kwamis. How does Tikki know him so well? Is she jealous at all of Cord's abilities having Mari try leaning on him? Suspicious of him for various reasons?
Whatever the case, seems Tikki's phasing powers do give her lock bypass powers. And in meeting the others, seems Twilight was having nightmares. Foreshadowing?
Do the ponies even know what cars are? I'm guessing the squeal was at the novelty more than anything. Although given the kind of story you're telling, that's not that important a detail. 😜
So they went off on a shopping trip. And we get a quick visual confirmation that the royalties aren't for imagined things. They really do have merchandise now.
Also, is Madame Chanel OC for you? I can't find her character page in the shorthand tvtropes. She seems eccentric. And I'm not sure of her wider purpose in the story, but at the very least, she seems to be demonstrating that after all the akumas, and the reveals and so forth, the people of paris are use to magic these days, and the fame of its heroes is showing the privilege the 2 have now. It's also showing that there's an ethic of gratitude from some in the city that not every public hero gets in fiction. That because they do such good work in the world, it's only fair for the world to give a little back in return in thanks. Humility aside, it's not something you see too much for simplicity or the burden or what have you.
It might also be a physical sign of the temptation Mari and Adrian always have to face now. Trying not to let their positions go to their heads and cause them to be arrogant or dismissive towards others.
So once they were done with their shopping, that's when the plot began to kick in. Twilight gave some direct foreshadowing into the story. Namely, "I'm guessing that if we went to your school on Monday, no one would-"
You want to go back to school here? Why would you (I read further down below) Oooohhh. Oh, now that makes sense. Also, why are the ponies just deciding to drop in on the dance? They're on vacation. Why are they so interested in the dance? I get them being interested in some of human fashion, but why the dance?
But before we go any further on that motivation, let's get to the anchor of this chapter: the ponies first meet Chloe. My first observation is that Chloe must look pretty different without her preening in makeup. I mean, Chloe's known Marinette for at least 4 years, so the fact Mari didn't recognize her at first must mean she's in a pretty different state.
The 2 month gap between the last story and now though does raise an interesting question. Was Chloe's slow decline a gradual thing? Did she accidentally fall into old habits in between so the others became mistrustful of her intentions from all that time and the backsliding? It's not too unreasonable a conclusion given her treatment so far and her behavior at times as well. What especially seems to be clear is that Sabrina waking up to her treatment makes her openly hostile to Chloe, like when a close friendship goes sour. Which is precisely what their issue is. So much history now turned to poison due to hard truths being exposed.
However, despite her hostility, Sabrina does seem to hint at the most inherent flaw Chloe is going to be wrestling with in this story.
It's the Cars question. Would you prioritize others over yourself? Or is it still after all this time all about you. The fact Chloe doesn't answer it must have her realizing that her misery is still inwardly focused. So for all her posturing, a part of her recognizes that she's still not the selfless hero she thought Ladybug was. And Sabrina was ready to use that to dig at her, hurting her bad.
I'll get to talking about Sunset's part in this chapter later on, but for now, it's clear that despite being unfamiliar to the situation, the Mane 6 do care about what's going on. Seeing that this is something the magic of friendship is going to need to help with. AJ and Shy's comment of "Harsh," really getting at what is to come later in the chapter.
The discord moment does allow for a brief flash of comic relief. Though I got a bit of a "Oh right" moment in the fact that there are actually 2 ex villains out to mentor the others here. Given Marinette's rant, it does show that there's a LOT of buried anger at Chloe. And this is where the theme of forgiveness is about to come in. The HARD cost of trying to let go of all that with Chloe. Also, where's Adrian in Discord's conversation? With the equestria ladies?
Also, clearly Mari's recognizing there's something going on with the pragmatic stance to forgiving, but mind can never truly surpress heart, and despite her wanting to begin to move on, she can't do it entirely. That's why I see her as one of the main characters of this story. She's needing to have heart, head, purpose and compassion all come together to help her grow.
Now as for the other main character? Well, I think it's actually Chloe. The lady needing to grow and redeem herself to her school, to her victims, and most importantly, to herself.
And it's here that Sunset really comes into her own as the lead on this situation. First off with confronting Sabrina on her insensitivity, but then branching into reaching out to someone else. Sunset knows guilt. Knows isolation. Knows getting a slap in the face for changing her behavior. Knows the road of redemption is long and hard. And so of course she would be the one to really see Chloe with her masks off. Scared, scarred and Alone.
And so she extended the hand of hope to Chloe. And gave her a promise that it's time for her to know how Friendship is magic. "I think it's time you made some real friends around here." She's now going to be messenger to the others about seeing someone in need, and the ponies needing to intervene to help all involved.
As for the agreement? Well, it's a start. Making an attempt to be better, though as I mentioned, the emotional connection still isn't quite there yet. But all good friendships have to start somewhere. And given the rumors for season 2 of ML, I'm thinking I know the endpoint for the journey. 2 words: the bee.
But, we'll just have to wait and see. After all, the road is long, and far from over.
Some characters who started out bad but turn good I can forgive. But ones like Chloe I can't say I have. Especially since she was responsible for half the villains.
Chole will give up trying to be nice and somehow get the moth miraculous from whoever will have it. And then pray on Princess Twilight because of her hidden anger at the girls. Maybe sunset might get a turn a bit?