• Published 7th Mar 2018
  • 1,967 Views, 159 Comments

Too Many Everything - Daemon McRae



Eighteen girls. A two-week trip to and from Miami Beach. Five cars. This story is about one of them.

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Car Talk 1

Sunset Shimmer liked to think of herself as a decent driver. In fact, she passed her test with flying colors. The second time around. With some help. Ok, she was an average teenage driver. Who was piloting a landblimp full of other teenagers. Yet somehow, she still preferred her chances over any of the other cars, except maybe Twilight’s. God have mercy on Limestone Pie.

Her own passengers seemed to be content enough keeping to themselves for the time being. Maud and Trixie were currently pouring quietly over a textbook about rocks, although Sunset had a suspicion that Maud was significantly more engaged than the magician was. Although she had to hand it to Trixie, if the girl was getting bored, she was doing a good job of pretending to be interested, for her friend. Sugarcoat had apparently figured out the monitors in the back of the seats, and had plugged in a set of earbuds to watch… something. Sunset couldn’ really afford to check, and didn’t want to yell over whatever volume she might have had it at.

Then there was Adagio Dazzle. The first few minutes on the highway weren’t terrible, as Adagio had occupied herself with ‘ooh’ing and ‘aah’ing over all the useful functions of the rental they were in. Then the reality of the length of the trip seemed to set in, as she started to become… restless. “So Sunset. I understand, although haven’t quite gotten over, your not exactly ill-gotten gains. What I haven’t figured out, however, is how you managed to get a rental company to let you drive off with such a high-end vehicle to a barely-licensed teenager. Let alone one full of other barely- or unlicensed teenagers.”

Sunset gave Adagio a sideways smirk. “Dagi,” she started using Sonata’s pet name for her, which caused the corner’s of her mouth to twitch, “You know how you spent years making people dance like puppets with nothing more than a song?”

Adagio looked out the window and sighed wistfully. “Yeah...”

“You can do exactly that with enough money. Seriously. I think you greatly underestimate the power of human greed. Lust, you have down pat,” she added, with a not-unfriendly glance at her… attire.

“Why thank you,” Dazzle chirped.

Sunset turned her eyes back to the road before her passenger became a dangerous distraction. “Here’s the thing: in Equestria, greed is obviously a thing. But for the most part, ponies have pretty much everything they need. Need a house? They build one. Need food? Literally just eat flowers off the ground. I’m not so blind as to say there’s no poverty, or corruption, or money-grubbing in my home world. But the humans dial it up to eleven every god-damn day. You wave a fifty dollar bill in a crowd and everyone goes absolutely nuts. So having a few kind words with a manager than include ‘hundred’ and ‘dollars’? I could have driven out of there with a damn Mustang.”

The ex-siren was starting to appreciate her fellow reformed villain’s propensity to bend the rules. “Is that why all of the other Rainbooms are in other vehicles?”

The driver barked a laugh. “HA. No. As much as I like them, the only girl in that group I can pull an 8-hour drive day with is Twilight, and she’s also driving. Speaking of which, what about those girls she’s riding with? What were their names?”

“Lemon Zest and Sunny Flare,” Sugarcoat piped up, startling them both. Sunset thanked the lack of drivers on the road as she kissed the median for a second, then corrected.

“Please GOD don’t do that again,” Shimmer begged, glancing in the rearview. “I’m still getting used to having more than two people in the car.”

“You know if you get pulled over you’re in a world of trouble. It’s illegal to have any passengers in your car that aren’t licensed drivers over 21 if you’re a teen driver,” Sugarcoat explained, somewhat disapprovingly.

Sunset glanced over her shoulder to make sure there was no oncoming traffic as she pulled into the carpool lane and sped up slightly. “That only applies if you’re under 18. Legal adults can shove pretty much anyone they want in the car.”

There was a dangerous purr from the passenger seat. “You’re an… adult?” Adagio asked slowly.

“Down girl,” Sunset chided. “Not while I’m driving.”

Trixie’s attention seemed to have drifted into the conversation. “Do… you two need a room? Like right now?”

Before Adagio could give the obvious answer, Sunset cut in, “No, Trixie, we’re good. I’m good,” she corrected, at a pout from Dazzle. “Although there’s probably going to be a bit more of that over the next few days,” she added with a dangerous smile.

Trixie whined a little. “Really? Like Trixie doesn’t have enough to feel bad about, you have to rub your sex life in her face?!”

“Don’t even, Dagi,” Sunset said quickly, hearing the wheels turning in her head from here. “If it makes you feel better, Trixie, I could move Sugarcoat up here and let you sit in the back with your best friend and Adagio.”

All Trixie needed was the predatory grin Adagio was casting her to see visions of an oncoming train. “Um, Trixie is fine. Please, do continue… whatever you’re doing.” She immediately returned her attention to the book Maud was reading. The Pie sister seemed not to notice her absence from their own discussion, or if she did, she was great at not letting it show.

As much as Adagio loved to flirt, and even more loved the things that came after, she did, in fact, value her now mortal life, and decided to turn her attention from the driver to the passenger behind her. “So, Sugarcoat. I believe I remember seeing you in that cute little dance video our friends made. I have to say I’m impressed with your ballet skills. You’re quite talented for your age.”

Sugar raised an eyebrow. “My age?”

Adagio shrugged. “Hundreds of years old, dear. Age is relative to me.”

“Hmm,” the Shadowbolt said quietly. She seemed to consider this, and decided against that line of inquiry. “Well, thank you, I suppose. Although, learning more about you, it surprises me a little that you weren’t involved. You look like the kind of person that would love to show off in front of the camera and win money for it.”

Adagio laughed quietly. “Well, yes, that does sound very much like me. Although at the time, my sisters and I were still on the fence about trusting the Rainbooms. Which, by the way, I’ve been meaning to tell you, is an atrocious name,” she directed at Sunset.

Who sighed wearily. “Yes, yes it is. But I came to the game late, and had no say in the matter. Believe me, I’ve had that conversation. But I mean, are you really in a place to talk? The Dazzlings? Seriously?”

Dazzle huffed. “Well, what would you have called us? We couldn’t exactly go around declaring ourselves The Sirens, could we? I mean, even without that giant red flag it was pretty easy for you to suss out what we were.”

“How about literally anything else? I mean, if you were so intent on using your last name, why not just go the full pop diva and call yourselves ‘Dazzle’?” Shimmer offered.

“Or the Eternals?” Trixie suggested. When Adagio turned to look at her, she added, “You know, cause you were immortal? And your whole thing was about being worshiped and remembered forever?”

The ex-siren seemed slightly impressed at that. “That… wouldn’t have been too bad. Although I think that’s more of a soft-rock band name than anything.”

Trixie made a face. “Ewww, soft rock. Trixie rescinds her suggestion.”

“There’s nothing wrong with soft rock!” Sunset protested.

“It’s slow death for your ears,” Sugarcoat interjected.

“See! The… other girl agrees with me!” Trixie yelled.

“My name is Sugarcoat.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

“We literally talked for half an hour before we got in the car.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I said my name a few times. So did they.”

“Trixie said she was sorry!”

“My name is on my luggage. Which you carried for two blocks.”

“TRIXIE APOLOGIZES!”

“Actually,” Maud spoke up, “I’m partial to the name Aquamarine. Not only is it commonly a sea-blue color, but thanks to it’s consistent resemblance to the sky and sea, it is commonly associated with eternal life. Plus there are a bunch of pop-rock and punk-rock bands that use precious stones or types of rock as their band name. Although the brooches you wore would kind of clash with that sentiment. The rubies you wore did have a thematic element to them that I could appreciate, as rubies are commonly associated with passion and good fortune, so if that’s what you were aiming for, good job. Although I think there’s already a band called the Rubies, or Ruby, or something. Not sure. I don’t listen to a lot of music.”

Adagio felt her mouth dry up as she made a conscious attempt to close it. It was the most she’d ever heard the girl say in the entire, however brief, time she’d known her. “Yes, well… they weren’t exactly rubies, but I appreciate the thought,” she said uncertainly. If Maud caught her uneasy tone, she ignored it. “Speaking of which, where the hell did you put them?” Adagio demanded, turning to Sunset.

Shimmer shrugged. “They’re in a box in a dresser drawer. They were kind of a scattered mess when we collected them, so I was never able to puzzle them back together. Even if I had, I didn’t really have a way to reassemble them without tacky glue.”

“There are invisible bonding adhesives, although the cracks are still apparent. I’d advise taking them to a jeweler. Shattered stones are extremely difficult to reconstitute, even artificially, given their propensity to collect fine dirt and micro fissures. I’d suggest taking the smaller pieces and turning them into settings around a larger stone,” Maud volunteered.

Again, Adagio found herself aghast at the normally stoic girl speaking up. She was able to keep her mouth closed this time, however, and gave the idea some thought. “As much as that idea makes sense, I can’t imagine letting our gemstones be second fiddle to anything else we wore. Those gems were literally out entire lifeblood for centuries. I wouldn’t be satisfied leaving them as accents to some other, foreign stone. Although at some point I would like them back,” she added with a soft jab in Sunset’s direction.

“Well,” the driver considered, “If you’re a good girl over the next couple of weeks, that shouldn’t be a problem. I mean, Twilight -by which I mean either of them- couldn’t find anything magical left in them. And even if there was, I doubt it’d be enough to turn you back into power-hungry megalomaniacs again.”

“Oh, sweetie,” Dazzle said dismissively. “Again?”

“...good point. Oh, hey, speaking of Dazzlings, there’s Limestone’s car!” Sunset pointed out, as they passed an almost nondescript grey sedan filled with relatively colorful characters.

Some of which seemed to be screaming at them. Adagio rolled her eyes and rolled down the window. “What the hell do you want, Sonata?!” she bellowed back.

Sonata yelled something, but nobody could hear it, as the girl hadn’t rolled down her own window. After a few seconds, it descended on its own (presumably because Limestone had lowered it from her seat), and Sonata leaned out the window. “HI DAGI!”

“Yes, hi, you moron! Get back in the car, you’re gonna get decapitated! And this time, it’ll take!” Adagio barked.

“Wait, what?” Trixie asked quickly.

Sonata leaned back in her chair, only slightly leaning out of the window. “Aria says hi!” she yelled.

“Yes, hi! What. Do you. WANT?!”

“TO SAY HI, DUH!” Sonata bellowed, and rolled the window back up.

Adagio blinked a few times, quietly rolled her own window up, and stared straight ahead. “Go faster. Please.”

Sunset rolled her eyes. “Oh, they’re not that bad.”

“...she’s got her mouth on the window, and is rolling her tongue around.”

“Ew.”

“I think she’s trying to spell ‘hi’.”

“...with her tongue?”

“With her tongue.”

“Hold on,” Sunset said quickly, and pushed the pedal. Soon, they were pulling away from Limestone’s car, and Sunset saw in her rearview a very distressed Aria trying to hold Sonata in the back of the car, and Limestone seemingly trying to crush the steering wheel with her bare hands. She couldn't tell for sure, but she seemed to be doing just that, little by little.

“I suddenly have absolutely no questions as to why you decided to ride with us,” Sugarcoat said simply.

There was a lull in the conversation as Sunset tried to eliminate the mental image of Sonata’s tongue drawings, and Adagio tried to unsee the actual image. Sugarcoat settled back in to her video, and Trixie and Maud chatted quietly about the book.

“Adagio, please take your hand off my thigh.”