• Published 5th Feb 2018
  • 4,506 Views, 327 Comments

A Study on Chaos Theory - Amber Spark



Harmonic bonds aren't the most predictable of spells. Sunset learned this the hard way with Twilight. Involving Moon Dancer will make things either extremely complicated, or extremely simple. And that has nothing to do with harmonic bonds.

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Evening by Sunset

Sunset had to admit… Moon Dancer cleaned up pretty well.

It definitely helped they had a professional fashion designer providing the clothing and one of the biggest pop sensations in Equestria providing the makeup.

I’ve got some pretty impressive friends, she thought to herself as she followed Moon Dancer, Coco and Rara toward Restaurant Row.

Haven’t I told you just how useless you are by depending on other ponies?

Sunset wished she could glare at her angry little pony. But glaring at nothing in the middle of evening traffic of Canterlot was probably not the brightest idea. So, she rolled her eyes and moved on.

Look at how hard you’re working just to set up two of your so-called ‘friends.’ When you already have feelings for one of them! How screwed up is that? You really are broken in the head. I don’t know why I even bother with you. Why are you wasting your time on something as stupid and pointless as matchmaking?

Sunset gritted her teeth, focused on keeping her hooves moving and staying up with the other three ponies. They were chatting quietly ahead of her.

Who are you trying to impress? If you succeed, you’ll have thrown away your single chance with the one mare you actually like—for reasons that are still completely beyond me. And if you fail… all you’ll end up doing is hurting your friends. Either way, you’ll end up miserable and alone.

It took a significant force of will not to scream ‘shut up’ in the middle of the sidewalk.

She’s the only one, you know, her angry little pony continued. The only one who will ever have any feelings for you. You’re damaged goods. Broken. No one could ever love you, not like you want. You’ll end up forgotten and ignored. In the end, you’ll stand alone. Because that’s what you deserve. You turned your back on everything you could have been.

And now? Now, you’re as sad as the rest of them.

Sunset’s hooves stopped working. She focused her entire will on not screaming her lungs out at that very second. It took everything she had. Her body trembled. A few ponies looked at her oddly, but nopony did anything. That was a good thing, because if somepony had broken Sunset’s concentration, she would have lost it.

Sunset had long ago stopped trying to figure out how exactly panic attacks worked. Specifically, hers. For example, she couldn’t remember a single panic attack where she hadn’t been completely aware of everything happening around her. Even though they came and went—the last one had been at least four months ago—the results were always the same.

Still, she wondered if this was actually some desperate cry for attention… or if she really was somehow locked inside of her own body.

Sunset fought not to do something stupid. To stay in control. She gritted her teeth, closed her eyes and did her best to breathe. She would not ruin Moon Dancer and Twilight’s first date by passing out from lack of air. That would simply be rude.

Rude? Rude?! You little foal! What is wrong with you? I swear I’ll—

“Sunny.”

Sunset’s eyes popped open of their own accord. She could feel the panic in them as they darted around in their eye sockets. Finally, her gaze landed on Moon Dancer’s worried face.

“If I offer to just go home and call the whole thing off, it’ll just make things worse for you,” Moon Dancer said quietly. Her eyes bored into Sunset’s. “So, I’m not going to do that. But I will tell you that you don’t have to come. I can make my way to the Carriage House alone. We’ve been there before.”

She felt a hoof on her left shoulder and then one on her right. Out of the corner of each eye, she saw Coco and Rara flanking her. They didn’t say anything. They were just there. Making sure Sunset knew they were there.

You’re making the second biggest mistake of your life.

“I don’t have the magic words to snap you out of this,” Moon Dancer said when Sunset didn’t respond. “I wish I did. But I’ll stay here until you’re ready.”

You don’t need her! You don’t deserve her! Just like you don’t deserve any of them!

Something clicked in the very back of Sunset’s mind. Something was different this time. The voice… it seemed… wrong.

I’m the only one who can help you, Sunset. Me. Nopony else. They know how messed up you are. Can’t you see just how much they hate you? How much they pity you?

Sunset’s struggled to keep her eyes on Moon Dancer. Shame burned inside her chest like a bonfire. It physically hurt to breathe.

Moon Dancer took a step forward.

“We’re not leaving you,” she said in a quiet voice that penetrated even her angry little pony’s rants. She paused for a moment, as if searching for something.

Then Moon Dancer smiled. “And I am very, very proud to have you as my friend.”

With a short, strangled cry, Sunset collapsed into Moon Dancer’s hooves.

Moon Dancer just held her. Mere moments later, Sunset felt the loving hooves of her other two friends around her, too. The warmth in their hugs was enough to drive back her angry little pony. It wouldn’t last. It never did. But it didn’t need to.

It took about a minute for Sunset’s breathing to go back to normal.

“I don’t deserve you,” Sunset mumbled.

Moon Dancer lifted Sunset’s head and forced her to meet her eyes. “We’re not getting into this debate again. We’re your friends. We think you deserve it.”

“This was supposed to be a fun night,” Sunset muttered, her eyes going back down to her hooves. She ignored Canterlot moving around them. “And my own stupid issues have already—”

“They haven’t done anything,” Moon Dancer interrupted. “Sunny, you’re my best friend. You’re allowed to let your shields down occasionally.”

“Not tonight,” Sunset replied, still not looking up.

“Ponyfeathers,” Rara interjected beside her with a stamp of a hoof. “We’re your friends, Sunny. And we’re going to help you. You made a decision. A hard one, sure. But you made it. And we’ve decided to respect that.”

Sunset finally looked up, looking to all of her friends.

“Really?”

Sunset normally would have hated how small and weak her voice sounded in that moment. In fact, it was almost lost in the hubbub of the sidewalk. But that didn’t matter. What mattered is she knew her friends actually meant it.

“You’ve come a long way since I first met you, Sunset Shimmer,” Moon Dancer said with a smile. Sunset was surprised she actually used her full name. “And you should know by now that I’m always going to be there for you. No matter what. Even when you’re being an idiot. Especially when you’re being an idiot.”

Sunset smiled weakly.

“Am I being an idiot now?”

“Probably.” Moon Dancer shrugged. “You usually are.”

Sunset stuck out her tongue at her. Rara and Coco laughed and just like that, the tension, the panic and the fear evaporated like morning dew.

She knew it was only temporary. The peace this sort of thing gave her never lasted. Within an hour or two, the fear would be back. The effects were always temporary.

She’d never be rid of it. But that was her problem. Not theirs. And she wasn’t about to let it be Twilight’s. She wasn’t stupid enough to think she had to handle it alone. But she wasn’t going to let that thing inside of her get anypony else. It would never hurt anypony again. Well… anypony except her.

Sunset could live with that.

Finally, she shook her head. “I’m not making you late for your first date, Moony. Let’s go.”

And once again, they joined the flow of traffic through the streets of Canterlot. Sunset wondered for a moment how they had been in the middle of a sidewalk without getting shoved aside. Then again, this was Canterlot, not Manehattan.

It only took a few minutes to arrive at the bustling Restaurant Row. As dusk fell over the city, the streetlamps lining the boulevard flickered to life. Sunset stared up at one of them. The magic used inside of the lamp—which only converted the light of the sun into a magical fire that produced no heat—had always fascinated her. It was simple. Only a conversion of one type of energy to another. But there was something elegant in it as well.

Not unlike a few ponies I know...

That elegance spread to the street itself. The best dining establishments in all of Canterlot made their home on Restaurant Row. Each of them was wholly unique, designed to reflect the owner’s sense of style, from the architecture to the clothing of the staff. On this single street, a pony could sample food from Jeddahoof, Griffonstone, Las Pegasus or Manehattan. It was like a tiny slice of the whole world put in a single street.

But their target—something Sunset realized she’d been avoiding looking at—was something a little more urbane.

The Carriage House stood at the entrance of Restaurant Row. It was a two-story establishment, at least a hundred years old. It served classical Equestrian fare with an air of elegance, yet without the sense of pomp so much of Canterlot had. The staff was friendly yet professional and the chefs were second-to-none.

In other words, it was pretty much tailor-made for the perfect first date.

Sunset smirked a little as they came up to the concierge at the front of establishment. Even from here, Sunset could smell the tempting aromas. Still, tonight wasn’t about her. It was about her friends.

Which was why she used a little bit of her pull to get the two reservations. Nothing as crass as using her ‘royal prerogative.’ She’d learned that lesson after meeting Rara and Coco in Manehattan. It just so happened that the head concierge owed her a favor.

Sunset walked up to a young mare in a snazzy dinner coat with a name badge informing the world she was Satin Ribbon. As soon as the customer in front of her was gone, Sunset smiled at the cobalt-coated pony.

“Hey Satin,” Sunset said. Somehow, she managed to push all the baggage she brought with her to the side. After all, she needed this to go right.

“Sunset!” Satin said with a smile. “Finally cashing in, I see?”

“Something like that,” Sunset said with a shrug.

“Well, let’s see if I can swing you a bigger table…”

Sunset shook her head. “Nope. Won’t be necessary. Still going to be the balcony table for two.”

Satin’s eyebrow shot up so fast it nearly bumped her curly indigo mane. Then a sly smirk crossed her lips. “So, which one’s the lucky filly?”

Rara and Coco both laughed. Sunset glanced behind her to see Moon Dancer rolling her eyes.

Then she froze when she saw who was coming up behind them.

Sunset hadn’t seen the dress Twilight was going to wear. She really wished she’d seen it before. She wished she’d had some warning.

In truth though… it probably wouldn’t have helped.

It took everything she had not to just gawk. Okay, it took everything she had not to gawk with her jaw dropped. She still was gawking.

Twilight was fiddling with her glasses nervously while playing with one of her bangs at the same time. Both with her magic. She was barely watching where she was going. It was only by the talents of Minuette and Cheerilee that she managed to navigate through the increasingly-busy street.

The deep violet dress complimented her lavender coat perfectly. The embellishment along the collar a simple and subtle, perfect for the quiet librarian. The train was short, not even touching the ground, yet still wrapped her tail underneath the fabric. She wore no necklace, no earrings… nothing save for the dress and her trademark glasses.

Glasses that were staring down.

Glasses that, yesterday morning, Sunset had fished out from under a coffee table.

Sunset swallowed and forced herself to remember why she was doing this.

Twilight looked gorgeous.

She had to force the next thought into place.

And she’ll look perfect beside Moon Dancer.

Speaking of Moon Dancer, Sunset saw movement out of the corner of her eye. Moon Dancer had turned to see what Sunset was starting at.

Unlike Sunset, Moon Dancer didn’t manage to keep her jaw from nearly falling off.

Oh, Celestia above…” she heard Moon Dancer murmur.

There was a few other things that Moon Dancer may have muttered, but Sunset pointedly did not hear them. Despite Sunset’s blush, any claims that she did were simply facetious.

That’s when Sunset realized Twilight, Minuette and Cheerilee were only a few yards away. And the last thing she wanted to do was to have Twilight see her first. It would… complicate things. For both of them.

Sunset knew she really had only one shot at this. She needed to make sure this went well.

After all, once the two of them were together, they would definitely find something to talk about. They were both librarians. They had so much in common. Much more than Sunset and Twilight. It was perfect.

Everything was going to be fine.

Sunset still hid behind Rara and Coco.

“We’re here!” Minuette chirped.

Twilight finally looked up.

Moon Dancer was still staring at her, mouth hanging open. Sunset couldn’t help but smile as Twilight instantly went straight past scarlet and into some secret color of embarrassment only used in bad poetry.

Cheerilee tried tapping her chin at Moon Dancer, but it still took three tries to get Moon Dancer to snap her mouth shut.

“Hi,” Twilight murmured. Sunset could barely hear her.

“Wow,” was the first thing Moon Dancer could say. She blinked a few times.

Then she said “Wow” again.

Sunset rolled her eyes.

Gee, I wonder why you haven’t had a date in a while, Moony.

Granted, Sunset didn’t really get to judge. She’d only been on a hoofful of dates, despite Moon Dancer’s best attempts. But still, this was just silly.

Satin sidled over to her. “I’m guessing these two are your ‘guests’ for this evening?”

Even though Sunset wasn’t looking at the mare, she could tell she was smirking.

“Yeah,” Sunset muttered. “Don’t you start with me, Satin.”

“Me?” Satin giggled. “Whatever do you mean, Sunset? I’m a perfect gentlemare, as you well know.”

Sunset threw a sidelong glance at the mare. She’d been wrong. Satin wasn’t smirking. She was outright grinning. It might have even qualified as a leer. Minuette would have been impressed if she wasn’t trying to get the two other bookhorses to actually string together more than two words. That wasn’t going very well.

“I’m going to have to get in there, aren’t I?” Sunset muttered.

“Almost certainly,” Satin commented.

Coco and Rara were too busy stifling giggles to respond. Cheerilee was just smiling her normal warm smile while Twilight and Moon Dancer played tag with their eyes.

“I hate my life,” Sunset grumbled.

Satin giggled.

Coco turned around, a twinkle in her eye. “No, you don’t.”

“No, I don’t,” Sunset sighed. “Still, if we wait for them to actually do something, we’ll be here until next Tuesday.”

So, Sunset did something she hadn’t wanted to do. She’d been hoping just to sneak out and let nature take its course between the two mares. But obviously, that wasn’t going to happen.

Instead, she popped into existence beside them with a flash of teal magic.

“You know,” Sunset huffed. “If you two don’t stop gawking at each other, my friend is going to give away your table.”

This seemed to be enough to snap both of them out of their trances. Moon Dancer and Twilight both blushed, looked at her, glanced at each other and looked down.

You two were made for each other.

“Satin, you ready?” Sunset called.

“Table’s all set!” she declared.

With a shove of her magic, she pushed the two toward the smiling Satin Ribbon. Both of them squeaked in surprise. Twilight jumped and sent her glasses flying.

Before Sunset could act, Moon Dancer caught them in her magic before they hit the cobbles.

“Thanks,” Twilight murmured, then blushed harder when Moon Dancer settled the glasses onto the perfect spot on Twilight’s muzzle.

“Don’t mention it.”

With that, Satin escorted them both into the Carriage House.

Neither looked back.

Cheerilee, Minuette, Coco and Rara all turned to Sunset.

“What?” Sunset asked, glaring at her friends.

“So we going to watch or what?” Minuette asked.

“I didn’t say anything about spying!” Coco squealed.

“No one said you did, Coco,” Rara pointed out, but her eyes never left Sunset.

Minuette just smiled at Sunset. It was the annoying ‘I-know-you-have-something-planned’ smile.

“Ugh. You girls are the worst,” Sunset grumbled.

“We’re not wrong though!” Minuette singsonged.

“Come on.” Sunset sighed, turned around and stalked down the street back toward her apartment. “I set up the scrying spell this afternoon before we went to go get Moon Dancer.”

“Scrying spell?” Minuette asked with a smirk as she fell into step behind her. “Since when do you do scrying spells?”

“Since two of my closest friends refused to do anything about a relationship that needs to happen!” Sunset snapped. “I’m better at them now!”

“So, we’re not going to get a wonderful view into the depths of the Celestial Sea?” Cheerilee asked from behind her.

“I thought the squids were cool,” Minuette opined.

“No thank you!” Coco squeaked. “I’ll be happy never to see those kinds of things ever again.”

Sunset rolled her eyes.

It was going to be a long night.

As she turned the corner, she took one last look at the Carriage House.

Hopefully, not just for me.

Sunset almost tripped.

Well, I’m glad I didn’t say that out loud.

Author's Note:

And here we go! Next week, you finally get to see what happens on that balcony!


If you come across any errors, please let me know by PM!