Reunion (New)
Reunion
Sugarcube Corner sat, appropriately enough, on the corner of a very ordinary Atlesian street, about halfway between Atlas Academy and the drop-off. It was two-storey, like all the other buildings along the street heading off in either direction, with the Cakes living on the first floor and the actual café being on the ground.
A pink and fuchsia-striped awning covered the ground floor on both visible sides of the building, reaching as far as the edges of the adjoining businesses, while wooden tables — with white parasols rising out of the middle of them — and chairs sat outside. All of them were empty as Rainbow, Ciel, and Penny approached the café.
The shutters were down behind the large windows that covered most of the north and west sides, although in one window could still be seen the ‘Closed for a private party’ sign.
Pinkie was waiting for them at the door. She had tied up her hair into a massive high ponytail that rose up above her head and then cascaded downwards into curling waves like the product of an out of control candyfloss machine. She wore a short blue jacket over a white t-shirt with a cupcake on the front, a lavender sash tied into a bow around her waist, and a ruffled skirt of many shades of pink. Her legs were bare, but her blue boots rose up almost as high as her knees; little pink bows topped the laces.
“Hey, guys!” she cried out, waving to them as she saw them approach.
“Hey, Pinkie!” Rainbow shouted back, waving to her with one hand.
“I feel a little overdressed,” Ciel said softly. She was wearing a midnight blue dress with a halter top and a skirt that went down to her ankles; the fabric shimmered and sparkled, or at least it would have done if the sun hadn’t been going down and the moon not quite up yet, so there wasn’t a lot of light for it to shimmer and sparkle in. “Although perhaps I should have guessed when you didn’t bother to change.”
“I changed,” Rainbow replied defensively.
“Into the same outfit you wore while we were at Beacon,” Ciel pointed out.
“Which I haven’t worn since we got back to Atlas,” Rainbow replied. “Which means: I changed.” She grinned. “And don’t worry about it; nobody’s going to say anything.”
“Isn’t one of the lessons in etiquette class that nobody is ever embarrassed by being too well-dressed?” Penny asked. She was also wearing a dress, a green one that matched her eyes and left her legs bare below the knee.
“Far be it from me to criticise our curriculum, Penny, but I have my doubts about that particular lesson sometimes,” Ciel admitted.
“Don’t worry,” Rainbow insisted. “Look, I guarantee that you will not be the most overdressed person in there when we get inside. So relax. This is going to be great.”
“Does everyone know that I … what I am?” Penny asked.
“No,” Rainbow admitted. “But you can tell them if you want to. I didn’t want to decide that for you.”
“Really?” Penny said. “That’s okay?”
“They’ve all been cleared,” Rainbow told her. “You see— I’ll tell you when we get inside.” They had reached the edge of the road now. Sugarcube Corner — and Pinkie Pie — lay just a road away.
A truck branded with the snowflake of the SDC drove down the road, temporarily coming between them. There was no other traffic, however, so as soon as the truck had passed, Rainbow led the way across the road and jumped up onto the curb on the other side, where Pinkie was waiting.
“Pinkie!” Rainbow cried as the two of them grabbed each other simultaneously, each attempting to pull the other into the hug. Rainbow, the stronger of the two, actually succeeded, wrapping her arms around Pinkie, enfolding her, pulling her tight. She could feel the warmth of Pinkie’s cheek against hers; she could feel Pinkie’s fluffy hair against her temple. She could feel Pinkie making up for the fact that Rainbow had done the wrenching with the bone-crushing tightness of her embrace.
“I feel your hugs are as tight as ever,” Rainbow said.
Pinkie giggled. “No, they’re not.”
Rainbow laughed. “I’ve missed you.”
“I know,” Pinkie said with another laugh.
Rainbow let her go. “How have you been?”
“Now why would we want to stand out here and talk when there’s a perfectly good party waiting on the other side of the door?” Pinkie asked.
Rainbow chuckled. “Good point.” She gestured to Penny and Ciel. “You met my teammates, didn’t you, when you came to Vale?”
“Yep,” Pinkie chirruped. “Ciel Soleil and Penny Polendina, right?”
Ciel curtsied. “A pleasure to meet you again, Pinkie Pie.”
Pinkie smiled. “Thank you, for taking care of Dashie.”
Rainbow spluttered in wordless outrage.
Penny frowned a little. “We took care of her?”
“You were on her team, right?” Pinkie asked.
“Yes, but—”
“Then you took care of her,” Pinkie said. “Isn’t that what teammates do? Take care of each other?”
Penny looked away.
Pinkie’s face fell. “Oh. Did I say something wrong? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it, I only meant to say thank you; please don’t be sad.”
“It’s fine,” Penny said, then hiccupped. She let out a kind of growl of irritation. “Okay, I wish I really had protected Rainbow Dash, or somebody, but I…” She smiled. “Can we talk about something else?”
“Of course we can,” Pinkie said, stepping lightly closer to Penny and putting an arm around her shoulders. “We’re going to go in there, and we are going to have a great time.”
“Are we the last ones to arrive?” asked Rainbow.
“Yep,” Pinkie confirmed. “Everyone’s in there waiting for you.”
“Then I guess we shouldn’t keep them waiting any longer, should we?” Rainbow replied. She crossed the distance to the door in a couple of quick strides and pushed it open. The bell above the door jingled merrily as Rainbow held the door open for Ciel.
“Thank you,” Ciel murmured as she walked inside.
Rainbow gestured to Penny and Pinkie. “After you.”
Penny didn’t reply, but Pinkie nodded to Rainbow as she steered Penny in. Rainbow followed them, letting the door swing shut behind her with a soft thud. Despite the heating grid that kept Atlas at a liveable temperature, it was noticeably warmer inside the café; that was one of the reasons Rainbow had changed back into an outfit meant for southern climes; it didn’t matter so much when you knew you were going to be getting into the warmth of the indoors for a long time.
Sugarcube Corner was not huge, but it was big enough for the number of people who were inside; the ceiling was turquoise and decorated with swirls like air currents — or ocean currents maybe — tracing patterns across it, and in between the yellow spotlights that hung from the ceiling, and from the embedded lights that were embedded into the ceiling itself. The headboards were the same colour and had the same swirling patterns on them, alongside pink hearts that stood out a little more against the turquoise. The walls were unpainted wooden slats beneath the windows, and brown pillars in between them with leaves painted on in an unobtrusive brown. The floor was white and grey tiles, some of which looked black because of the shadows cast by the tables and chairs. Although most of the chairs were piled up on the tables, creating more open space in the middle of the floor.
And inside, waiting, were the best people she knew: Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Maud, and Blake.
And Spike, whom the jury was still out on.
“Hey, girls,” Rainbow said. “We made it.”
Rarity smiled. “And wonderful to see you, darling.”
As Rainbow had expected, the extravagance of her attire put Ciel to shame; she was wearing … okay, Rainbow had a hard time working out exactly what she was wearing. It wasn’t a dress, because it had legs like pants, but it was also a one-piece, like a jumpsuit or a onesie, except that Rarity would never wear anything like that. Except that she kind of was. Anyway, it was black, and it hugged her figure, and it had gems or crystals stitched into the legs all the way up to the knees, and her black boots were wearing crowns that glimmered under the light from the ceiling. She was also wearing a cape, black and studded with gems around the collar, clasped with the most enormous brooch that Rainbow had ever seen; it was bigger than Rainbow’s hand, it was bigger than Spike’s head, and it looked like a shellfish, a spiky crystal shellfish with sparkly spikes. Her arms were bare, but she had black gloves on her hands and bracelets of pearls and sapphires — or they looked like pearls and sapphires, anyway — around her wrists. She was wearing even more sapphires, or fake sapphires, in her hair, which looked a lot more windswept and wavy than normal without looking untidy.
Somehow. That was Rarity for you. Always pulling it off.
“And the two of you, of course,” Rarity added as she swept forward. “Oh my goodness, Ciel, what a lovely dress; where did you get it?”
“Nice to see you too, Rarity,” Rainbow said.
“Of course, dear, of course,” Rarity said, planting a kiss on Rainbow’s cheek. “But you mustn’t begrudge me the chance to exchange notes with a fellow fashionista.”
“Never,” Rainbow agreed. She looked over to the wooden counter, where Mr. and Mrs. Cake were standing, putting a few things away. “Thanks for letting us have the run of the place for the night, Mrs. C.”
“Not at all,” replied Mrs Cake, a slightly plump older woman with pink and fuchsia hair — the same colour as the streaked awning outside — that curled up on top of her head like the icing on a, well, cake. “It’s so good to have you back home. As I was saying to Twilight, this place is never so happy as when the six of you are in it. And of course, it’s an honour to host a bona fide hero of Atlas home at last,” she added with a glance towards Blake.
Blake tried to smile, but it ended up looking more like a grimace.
“Now, Pinkie knows how to work the drinks machines, and there’s plenty to eat so you won’t go hungry,” Mrs. Cake said.
“And Pinkie also has the keys to lock up when you’re all finished,” added Mr. Cake, a square-jawed man with a mess of hair as orange as a carrot, with a very large red and white bow tie obscuring the collar of his blue shirt.
“We’ll leave everything spotless, Mister Cake,” Twilight promised.
“I know you will,” Mr. Cake assured her. “You’re all good girls.” He lifted up the counter for his wife, who left first, heading towards the door. “Have fun!”
“Do you have anything planned for your night off?” Rainbow asked.
“Dinner and a show.”
“It’s been so long since we could have a night out like this,” Mrs. Cake said. “So this party really works out for all of us.”
“You have fun too!” Pinkie cried.
The Cakes smiled at them as they took their leave; the bell above the door jingled as Mr. Cake opened it for his wife, and then Ciel caught it as it closed and shut it gently after them.
“Alright!” Spike yelled, sticking one paw in the air. “Let’s get this party started!”
Everyone looked at him.
“What?” Spike asked. “I held it in while the Cakes were around. I talk now; at some point, you’re all going to have to get used to it.”
“How are you talking?” Maud asked in her typically unruffled tone.
Spike grinned. “Classified information.”
Maud stared at him for a moment. “I see,” she murmured.
“Spike does have a point,” Pinkie pointed out. She pointed at Twilight, arm outstretched. “Twilight! Hit the music!”
Twilight smiled and turned around to push a button on the boombox behind her. Instantly, music began to fill the café.
It was playing, of course, a Rainbooms number.
See how we made a brand new start, and the future’s looking up!
Oh-oh oh-oh!
Penny blinked rapidly. “That … is that you singing?”
Rainbow’s eyebrows rose. “Did I really not tell you that I was in a band?”
“No.”
“Really?” Rainbow asked. “Not once, to impress you with how cool I am?”
Penny shook her head. “Not even once.”
“Huh,” Rainbow said. “Well, then, yes, that is my band—”
“Our band!” chorused Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Twilight.
“The Rainbooms,” Rainbow continued. “Twilight is the lead singer—”
“All of us can sing, but they let me be the lead singer because I can’t play any instrument,” Twilight said.
“Nonsense, darling; you can play the piano beautifully,” Rarity said. “And the violin, for that matter.”
“I don’t play the piano as well as you,” Twilight said. “And whoever heard of a violin in a pop group?”
“Avant garde, darling,” Rarity insisted. “I keep saying that we should try it, but nobody believes it will work.”
“I think it could add some tone to proceedings,” Ciel declared. “Not that there is anything wrong with your current sound, but it might lend the odd song a touch of class, if you follow me.”
“Oh, I do, I do,” Rarity said.
“I’m the lead guitar,” Rainbow continued. “And I also do vocals on some of the numbers. Like Twilight said, everyone sings, but I’m the second lead vocalist after Twilight. Applejack plays bass guitar, Pinkie is on the drums—”
Pinkie patted her hands rapidly on the countertop.
“Rarity plays keyboard, and Fluttershy’s on the tambourine,” Rainbow finished.
Penny’s hands were balled up over her heart. “That is so cool! Could you teach me how to play the guitar?”
Rainbow grinned. “Yeah, I could show you a few things. Maybe if we have time, we could throw a number together. That’d be cool, wouldn’t it, guys?”
“Absolutely,” Applejack agreed.
“We’d be happy too.”
“Hey, Blake,” Spike said. “Why don’t you join the Rainbooms too?”
“I don’t—”
“Ooh, that’s a great idea!” Pinkie cried. “Now that you’re part of the group, it’s only natural that you should also become part of the band! What do you want to play? Triangle? Sousaphone? Seraphine?”
“I only recognise one of those, and I don’t think it’s for me,” Blake said. “I’m not much of a musical person.”
“Triangle is perfect for people who aren’t musical,” Pinkie replied. “You can just make a ting at the end of the song!”
“Hold on now, sugarcube,” Applejack said. “Let’s not push Blake into anythin’ she doesn’t want to do. If you don’t want to join the band, then you don’t have to.”
“Thanks,” Blake said. “I think I’ll just enjoy the music.”
“Oh, well,” Pinkie sighed. “Suit yourself, I guess.” She vaulted over the counter. “So, what does everyone want to drink? Penny, what’ll you have?”
Penny hesitated for a moment. “I … I don’t drink anything,” she said. “I’m a robot.”
Pinkie stared at her for a moment. “That,” she said, “is so cool!”
Rarity’s pinkie finger was held out at the perfect angle as she stirred some sugar into her tea.
“You know, darling, you never did get the chance to tell me where you got the dress,” she remarked.
Ciel was silent. In truth, when Rarity had asked the question before, when the party had just begun, she had been rather glad of Rainbow’s interruption sparing her the need to actually answer. As a matter of fact, her dress came from a very respectable and reputable label — it was by Suri Polomare, after all — but that was not the question that Rarity had asked. Indeed, it was entirely possible that Rarity had already identified the dress as a Polomare creation. The question Rarity had asked was where Ciel had gotten it, and the answer to that was…
Well, the truthful answer to that was Ciel had gotten it at a thrift store. It hadn’t been her size, but her mother had lifted up the hem and taken in the waist for her. If Ciel only brought dresses that fit her, she would have far fewer dresses than she did, and she didn’t have all that many.
Nevertheless, as lucky as Ciel had felt to come by such a dress in such a place, it wasn’t the sort of thing she wanted to admit, certainly not to a lady of class and refinement like Rarity. Certainly not when they were just starting to get along.
She could already see it as plainly as if she had activated her semblance: the sniff of cold contempt, the ‘oh, I am sorry’ delivered in that patronising tone, the turn away, the cold shoulder.
And yet, the question having been asked again, how could she avoid answering it? She could lie, but Ciel Soleil had not been brought up to lie, and she had been told she was not very good at it in any case.
She opened her mouth, still unsure of what she was going to say, but was forestalled by Rarity’s hand reaching gently out to touch hers.
“Of course you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to,” Rarity assured her, a smile illuminating her face. “Please, forgive me; it wasn’t my intention to embarrass you. I was curious, but it hardly matters. What really matters is that it suits you so very well.”
“Do you think so?” Ciel asked. She looked down at the gown. “I like it, but I almost think that it might suit you better; the darker blue would offset your complexion.”
Rarity chuckled. “That’s very sweet of you to say, but it’s my experience that complexion is rather overrated when it comes to choosing complementary colours, not least because so many designers forget to consider any but, well, my complexion. I’ve found that what matters are hair and eyes. Now, look at those two over there, Rainbow Dash and Applejack.”
She pointed to them both, directing Ciel’s attention to where they were arm-wrestling standing up. Rainbow was losing, despite the amount of effort writ large upon her face.
“Blondes, as you know, can wear absolutely anything,” Rarity went on. “And Rainbow, of course, has so many colours to choose from. Which makes it absolutely tragic that neither of them are interested in wearing anything at all.”
“Not quite anything at all, or we might be having a rather different conversation,” Ciel murmured.
Rarity laughed. “Oh, yes, indeed. But you take my meaning, don’t you?” She sipped some of her tea. “Anyway, my point is that that shade of blue goes perfectly with your eyes, and that sparkle … it adds just the right touch.”
Ciel smiled. “So, may I ask how Blake’s outfit complements her eyes?”
“Oh, in that case, it was her hair,” Rarity said. “The white offsets it, and the black complements it, although the occasional little touches of purple—”
“Contrast against the gold,” Ciel finished for her.
“Precisely,” Rarity said. She drank a little more of her tea. “Did no one ever tell you, darling, that I’m from Mantle myself?”
Ciel’s eyebrows rose. “How … you do not sound like it. I hear no Mantle in your voice.”
“Nor I in yours, darling,” Rarity pointed out. “And for much the same reasons, I would guess.”
Ciel was silent for a moment. “I am … not ashamed,” she said softly.
“Oh, no, of course not.”
“But … but it is sometimes hard—”
“To be taken seriously here amongst the clouds with a voice full of soot and dirt,” Rarity finished. She smiled. “Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me.”
“Much obliged,” Ciel murmured. “Do you still live in Mantle?”
“No, thank goodness,” Rarity declared. “I live quite literally in Atlas, in the lower levels dug into the rock.”
“I see,” Ciel said. “And … how is that?” She was curious to know, as it might well be where she would end up after graduation.
“It’s not ideal,” Rarity admitted. “But I get to come up to the surface, and when I do, I remember that I am in Atlas, the greatest city in Remnant. And one day … one day, I shall have a house on the surface, tall enough to look out and see the whole world at my feet.”
Ciel smiled. “I hope it comes true for you.”
“May it come true for all of us, darling,” Rarity replied.
The party was in full swing by now. Rarity was comparing notes with Ciel on fashion, Pinkie was encouraging Penny as she tried to hit a piñata, and Applejack and Fluttershy were telling Blake all about Canterlot — with some help from Spike.
Rainbow had just finished getting the run down from Maud about her geology studies, which sounded like they were going pretty well, when she sank down onto the green sofa sitting against the wall.
“You okay?” Twilight asked, sitting down on the arm of the sofa, a chocolate milkshake in her hand.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Rainbow replied, leaning forwards to grab a coffee cake, out of which she took a bite. After she swallowed, she added. “I’ll be back on my feet in a minute.”
Twilight smiled. “Not like you to need a rest in the middle of a party.” She sipped some of her milkshake through the straw, making a gurgling sound in the process.
Rainbow took another bite out of her cake. “It’s a great party, don’t get me wrong—”
“But?” Twilight asked.
Rainbow hesitated. “I don’t want to talk about it here; it’s not the time or the place.”
“If something’s making you bring down the mood, then you may as well spit it out,” Twilight said.
“I’m not bringing down the mood,” Rainbow replied. “Am I?”
“Not yet,” Twilight admitted. “But you will if people start to notice you sitting here like this.”
“I’m eating,” Rainbow said, unfortunately finishing off her cake with that last bite.
Twilight sipped some more milkshake out through the straw. “What’s wrong, Rainbow?”
Rainbow was silent for a moment. “I might ask Pinkie for one of those,” she said, pointing at the milkshake.
“Rainbow Dash.”
Rainbow’s brow furrowed a little. “You were right,” she said.
“Hmm?” Twilight asked. “About what?”
Rainbow looked at Penny, who was still trying and failing to hit the piñata. “Do you remember when we first arrived at Beacon? You asked me if we’d made a slave. I gave you the brush off then, but the truth is … you were right.”
“Was I?” Twilight asked.
Rainbow’s eyebrows rose. “You don’t think so? You thought so back then, but after the way that her father treated her when we brought her in, now you’ve changed your mind?”
“Doctor Polendina is…” Twilight hesitated for a moment. “He’s very sick.”
“That’s not an excuse.”
“Isn’t it?” Twilight asked. “He’s a dying man who wants to secure his legacy.”
“That makes him arrogant as well as mean,” Rainbow replied. “Lots of people get sick, and they don’t get to secure their legacies before they go. And they don’t get to make other people do what they want as part of their legacies, and on top of that, what about everything else he’s done? What about his whole career up until now? Isn’t that enough for him? He designed the AK-130.”
“Which is being phased out of service, and he wasn’t involved in work on the 200,” Twilight pointed out. “Doctor Polendina’s contributions are immense, that’s true, but they’re often largely invisible, unnoticed by the public. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I can’t entirely blame him for wanting to make a big splash before he dies.”
“Even at Penny’s expense?” Rainbow asked.
Twilight was silent for a moment. “What made you change your mind about this? What made you see things differently?”
“I was encouraged to look at things more closely, and not just accept the way things are,” Rainbow said. “The truth is that I didn’t have a good answer for you back then; I just didn’t want to think about it, so I said something that made me feel better.”
“You could have been right,” Twilight pointed out. “If Penny had wanted to serve, then it wouldn’t have mattered that she didn’t have a free choice in the matter.”
“Maybe,” Rainbow said. “But she doesn’t.”
Twilight looked down at her, eyes widening behind her spectacles. “Really?”
Rainbow shook her head slightly. “She wants to transfer to Beacon.”
Twilight blinked rapidly. “I … does Ciel know?”
Rainbow licked her lips. “No. I haven’t told her, and I don’t think Penny has either.”
“One of you should tell her,” Twilight pointed out. “You know she’ll be…”
“Upset?”
“Heartbroken,” Twilight said.
Rainbow’s brow furrowed. “You think it will be that bad?”
“You don’t?” Twilight asked. “Ciel cares. She doesn’t show it, but she does, a lot.”
“I know, but heartbroken is a little bit much, don’t you think?” Rainbow asked. “She’ll be sad to see Penny go, but heartbroken … Ciel’s smart enough to know that it’s nothing personal.”
“Being smart has nothing to do with feelings,” Twilight declared confidently, and Rainbow supposed that she’d be the one to know about that.
“She can transfer to Beacon as well if it means that much to her,” Rainbow said.
“You know that she won’t do that,” Twilight pointed out.
“Yeah, I know,” Rainbow murmured. She threw back her head, resting it on the back of the settee. “Twi, you’re my best friend, right?”
“Right.”
“Which means that I can whine self-pityingly to you and you're not going to judge me, right?”
Twilight giggled as she flopped down off the arm of the sofa and leaned against Rainbow Dash; her long hair, unbound, fell over Rainbow’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, this is a safe space. So spill it.”
Rainbow let out a sigh. “I did not ask for any of this,” she said. “I didn’t ask for secret wars or immortal people trying to take over the world or ethical…” — she searched for the word — “conundrums. Four years in the Academy in peace, to be the leader of a team that would be mine for those four years, a team that chose each other and trusted each other, and then to go out into the world and defend it against random grimm and scummy bandits. That’s all I wanted.”
“Aww, it’s tough being the General’s favourite, isn’t it?” Twilight said.
Rainbow chuckled as she glanced at Twilight. “What happened to this being a safe space?”
“Turns out it wasn’t that safe,” Twilight said, grinning up at her. She sat up. “For what it’s worth, I think you’ve done okay.”
“Really?”
“We’re all still here, aren’t we?” Twilight asked. “And Blake is here. The fact that this is a party not a wake is a sign that you got something right, wouldn’t you say?” She paused for a moment. “I noticed that when you talked about Penny’s transfer, it was as something that was going to happen.”
“What else should I have talked about it like?”
“Something that wasn’t going to happen?” Twilight suggested.
“It’ll happen,” Rainbow said. “It’s what she wants, so it’ll happen.”
“Yeah, it will,” Twilight declared. “Because she’s got you in her corner, sounds like.”
Rainbow looked at Twilight and felt her cheeks starting to heat up a little from the compliment. “Twilight—”
There was a bang as Penny finally hit the piñata, showering the floor in sweets that spilled out of the broken shell.
“Yes!” Pinkie cried. “You did it!”
Penny pulled off the blindfold. “That was very frustrating, but surprisingly fun.”
“You just described party games in a nutshell,” Pinkie told her, before turning to look at Rainbow and Twilight. “Come on, you two! No sitting around! This is a party, remember?! Up up up up up up!”
“I’m up, I’m up,” Rainbow said, getting to her feet. “Sorry, Pinkie. Are you having a good time, Penny?”
“I’m having a great time!” Penny cried. “Thank you, Rainbow Dash.”
Rainbow smiled. “Not a problem, Penny.”
“Are you having a great time?” Pinkie asked.
“Yeah, sure I am, Pinkie.”
“You don’t look like it,” Pinkie pointed out.
“I just needed to talk to Twilight for a second, about some business—”
“'Business,' really?”
“But that’s all done with now,” Rainbow assured her. “We’ve talked, it’s out of the way, and I can enjoy the rest of the night. And I will enjoy the rest of the night because … because you’re all here, and I love you guys.”
“Aww!”
“We love you too, Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy murmured.
Pinkie smiled. “You want anything to drink, Rainbow?”
“Uh, sure, I’ll have … what Twilight’s having,” Rainbow said.
“Coming right up!” Pinkie chirruped, but although she made her way to the counter, she showed no sign of actually getting Rainbow a chocolate milkshake, or anything else for that matter. She stood there, leaning against the counter, almost as if she’d forgotten why she went there in the first place.
Rainbow watched her for a moment, leaning on the counter, staring at the drinks machine but making no move to use it, and after she had watched for a moment, she walked across the floor of Sugarcube Corner to stand at Pinkie’s side.
“Pinkie?” Rainbow asked, reaching out to put a hand on Pinkie’s shoulder.
Pinkie started. “What? Oh, Rainbow, sorry. I’ll get your—”
“Don’t worry; I’m not impatient,” Rainbow said.
Pinkie looked at her.
“Not for this, anyway,” Rainbow clarified. “Are you okay?”
Pinkie smiled, although it seemed to Rainbow as if it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “I’m fine.”
Rainbow’s eyes narrowed. “Come on, Pinkie, after all the work you put into this party, you ought to enjoy it. Since when do you not enjoy a party?”
Pinkie didn’t reply, at least not right away. She turned around and hopped up onto the counter, her booted legs dangling above the floor, kicking back and forth.
“This is nice, isn’t it?” she asked.
Rainbow turned around, in turn, although she didn’t sit up on the counter, just rested her elbows on it as she looked at the others having fun. “Yeah,” she said. “Yeah, it really is.”
“That’s good to hear,” Pinkie said quietly. “I just … I guess I can’t help feeling as if … we’re going to get to do this less and less, aren’t we? I mean, you and Twilight were at Beacon all year, and when you and Blake and Applejack graduate, you’re both going to be going away on missions or sent to Vale or Mistral or Vacuo, and Rarity wants to open up boutiques in all three kingdoms—”
“There are four kingdoms.”
“Yeah, but Rarity says only three of them count for fashion,” Pinkie replied. “And who knows where Twilight’s going to have to go for all of her science stuff?”
Rainbow sighed. “I get it, Pinkie, and … and you’re right. You’re absolutely right. We aren’t all going to be around so often, and we aren’t going to have time to hang out as much as we did when we were kids. But I don’t know … I don’t know if there’s anything that any of us can do about that, or that we should. It’s just … part of growing up, I guess.”
Pinkie was silent for a moment. “Rainbow Dash?”
“Yeah, Pinkie?”
“Do you think there’ll ever be a time when we’re all so grown up that we won’t be friends any more?”
“No,” Rainbow said at once. “No, Pinkie, that’ll never happen. Maybe … maybe we’ll mostly talk on the scroll, or we can’t all make meetups so they have to go ahead with just a couple of people one time, and a few other people the next, but we’ll always be friends, and we’ll always stay friends, and we’ll always stay in touch, one way or the other. I promise.”
Pinkie grinned. “Just don’t forget me when you’re an Atlas bigshot, okay?”
Rainbow nodded. “I won’t ever forget you, Pinkie. Not even when I’m a hundred.” She reached out and grabbed Pinkie by the waist, picking her up and setting her down upon the floor. “Now come on, because if times like these are going to come around less often, then we might as well make the most of them, yeah? So come on, let’s dance.”
And so they danced, milkshake forgotten. They made fools of themselves, throwing their arms and legs around like idiots in front of those whom they felt safe to look like idiots in front of.
They danced, they sang, they laughed. Pinkie was right, that days like these wouldn’t hang around forever, that one day they’d find it harder to get together like this, that sometimes it might even be impossible.
It wasn’t something that they could change or avoid. It was just the way things were; Remnant wouldn’t stop moving just for them, and they couldn’t stop moving either.
But for now, they had each other, and it was all they needed.
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You`ve been a champ with all of these updates, dont feel like you need to apolgize :) take all the time you need to rest.
I always look forward to the rewrites but don't get burned out. Your enthusiasm is what helps make this so good. We'll be here whenever you're ready.
I know Ciel isn’t a bad person and care about Penny, but she remind me too much of the “good slave owner” for then I give a shit about her being sad about Penny rightfully wanting to leave Atlas.
It’s Spring Break, take the time to relax and refuel. Enjoy yourself!
Not having read the OG, I'm very excited about this rewrite, since the first chapter it was a blast to read and I'll continue to follow it as long as you're writing it. Take all the time you need and thank you for it all.
So I just got to this point in the story without having read the original at all. What should I do now? Wait for the updates to continue reading? The next few un-updated chapters seem to mention things that did or didn't happen in the rewrite, so I'm not sure how to proceed.
11193392
Wait for the updates on the rewrite, they'll start again soon.
That third instrument is definitely not correct. The poor theremin is done dirty once again…