Mission to the Pony Planet

by ersmiller

… of a Feather

“Nugh,” Sunset groaned, rolling onto her hooves before turning to her audience. She saw Aria standing with her back leaning against another bookcase and her forelegs casually crossed in front of her.

Absolutely not a natural pose for one whose back half was a fishtail.

Of course the smirk worn at the other end was one hundred percent natural.

“How long have you been there?”

Aria let her chuckling die down as she thought, looking and pointing around the room with a hoof as if counting. “Four,” she said.

“Four?” asked Sunset. “What? Crashes?! You watched me crash four times? I only crashed twice after I got the mattress.” She blew some mane out of her face. “You just stayed here and quietly watched the whole time?”

“Of course not,” Aria protested, pointing to a nearby table. Following the hoof, Sunset saw a table with two pitchers of water and a bag of popcorn sitting on it. “I left when you did. I figured if there was an intermission I’d get myself a snack for the second act.”

Aria dropped to all threes and headed for them. “Want some?” she asked. “Still warm.”

“You’re evil,” Sunset deadpanned.

“Heh. Good to know I still got it. And be grateful, stairs suck in this form.”

Sunset just watched as Aria took a drink from one of the pitchers. Or maybe she was just breathing as water splashed out her gills and onto the floor. Sunset raised an eyebrow. “You know, crystal floors are slippery when wet.”

Aria rolled her eyes. “You have four legs and ninety-degree hips. You don’t have far to fall.” She looked up at the bookcases and added with a smirk, “anymore.”

“Keep it up, Blaze,” warned Sunset, taking a seat at the table and collecting some popcorn in her magic.

“Hay, I knew I’d need to take some deep breaths after all the laughing I’d be doing watching you.”

“Ugh,” scoffed Sunset, “Why are we friends?”

“Don’t look at me. That was your idea.”

Thinking back, Sunset had to nod. “Granted. But why did you accept?”

“Meh,” Aria shrugged nonchalantly. “Got tired of trying to kill you.”

“K-kill?! Wait, what?” Sunset choked over a mouthful of popcorn, a second still in her magic.

Shock remained on Sunset’s face as Aria took another calm, slow gulp of water, drinking in Sunset’s expression as much as the dissolved oxygen before continuing. “Adagio gets a lot of plans. They got old.”

“But the others and you were going to try to—and you didn’t just because it ‘got old’?” Sunset rushed, dropping the popcorn from her magic. “And you’re just calmly saying it n—.” She paused, watching another little gulp of water flow from Aria’s gills. “You’re messing with me aren’t you?” she finished flatly.

Aria put down the pitcher and looked back to Sunset, but an upward twitch of her lip was her only answer.

“You’re the worst,” Sunset grunted, picking up her lost popcorn.

“That’s my line,” Aria chided her, “and I reserve it for Sonata.”

“Seriously,” Sunset tried again, “why’d you turn friendly—or occasionally, somewhat friendly at least?”

“Eh,” Aria shrugged, “You have a really nice couch to sleep on—”

“A gift from Rarity.”

“—And I get to sneak peeks at you when you walk around in those body towels.”

“W-what?”

“You walk around for like an hour after you shower before you get dressed.”

“I-it’s been hot lately, and … you’re still messing with me.”

The full smirk was back. “They’re really short on you.”

“Aria!”

“Not my fault you only have one big enough for your hair. And what’s the problem? We’re both naked right now.”

“I’m covered in fur!”

“I’m not.” Aria grinned evilly.

Sunset blinked and her eyes drifted from Aria’s face to her side, seeing the smooth scales that ran all the way down her length. She blushed.

“HA!” Aria barked a laugh, pointing at Sunset’s face. “I knew it! You’ve gone native! You actually let the bipeds corrupt you! And you haven’t even been there a decade yet!”

“C-corrupted?!

“What’s next, horse meat? I know a place you can get it cheap.”

Sunset recoiled with a gasp, face contorted in disgust. Aria just tilted her head as if waiting for an answer. After a moment, Sunset’s face changed into a smirk as she came up with one. “You ever eat sushi?”

“Phh, please,” Aria just rolled her eyes. “Like I don’t know that summer job you thought you've been sneaky about. Of course I’ve had sushi. Good stuff. What do you think we ate in this world? Before the siren bit happened.”

With a disappointed snort, Sunset let her head drop, propping it on a foreleg she planted on the table, and floated some popcorn into her mouth.

“You’re a few centuries too young to pull one on me, Downer,” Aria replied, sitting back in the next chair over and flopping her finned tail over the edge of the table like hindlegs.

“You’re not really going to call me that for now on are you?”

“What? I won’t call you Featherbrain. That’s hardly original.”

"You could just call me Sunset."

"Who do you think you're talking to here?" Aria scoffed.

Sunset just shook her head and shifted through the spell and flight books she took from the bookcase before her final crash.

“Hay, speaking of wings,” Aria pointed to Sunset’s left wing, “open ‘em up.”

Confused, Sunset looked at her wing and opened up the pair, careful to not smack the back of her chair with them. “Wha—gah!” was all Sunset got out before Aria darted forward, grabbed a feather in her mouth, and pulled it back with her. “What the hay?!”

Aria spat it out, aiming up, and let it drift down to the frog of her hoof. “If I send this through the portal, you think it’ll stay a feather or turn into a hunk of flesh?”

Sunset’s wings snapped closed as if protecting themselves from the very concept. “Aria, if I’m missing a patch of skin when I get home ….”

As Sunset trailed off, Aria stopped playing with the feather and looked up at her. “You said it,” she said quietly after a moment.

There was silence in the room as Sunset took a breath.

Home.

Wordlessly, they both turned to look out a nearby window. Sunset saw the familiar, colorful world of her younger years, dirt roads, a quaint marketplace, ponies walking and flying around, and in the far distance, a tall mountain with a castle and city built into it that held so many powerful memories. Less of the view was familiar to Aria, but it was still the same sky and pegasus-made clouds she used to see anytime she came above the water’s surface near a shore.

But was it still home?

“Guess you’re not sticking around here, eh?” Aria asked.

“A little while, but …. I guess I—“

“Went native?”

Sunset rolled her eyes at Aria, but the kelpie was still looking out the window. “How about you?” she asked her.

It was a while before Aria responded. “I miss the feel of sunning my scales on the rocks after a workout. Sleeping underwater and, you know, being able to breathe there. The freedom of just being able to swim anywhere I want. Like flying.” Aria glanced at the amber feather in her hoof then smirked at Sunset. “Guess you wouldn’t know about that yet.”

“Aria,” Sunset groaned, “Just when I think you’re getting introspective, you turn around to toss some shade.” Aria proudly leaned back in her chair, balancing the feather on her muzzle with her eyes closed as Sunset continued. “So … does that mean you’re staying here?”

“Pff,” Aria batted at the feather and wrinkled her nose. “You think I’m staying here in cutesy ponytown when you got that couch? Let me take a few laps around a nice big lake or something and I’ll be back at your place by the end of the week.”

“You sure? I talked to Twi. A bit of community service and she’ll get the charges against you dropped. You can start over with a clear record.”

“It’s not like I know anyp—one here.”

“You almost said an—“

“Shut it." Aria paused, eyes closing for a moment. "Besides, not like I have family anymore. All died a thousand years ago. Never even said goodbye when I left. Wonder what they think happened to me."

Sunset sucked in a slight gasp. "Aria, are you—"

"Hear you got fam. though."

"I—" Sunset froze. "Y-yeah. Dad and a half brother."

"Huh," Aria mused, watching Sunset's gaze drift downward, staring at nothing.

She waited and eventually Sunset's ears drooped. "So, you think Princess Purple can really smooth things out with Fat Princess?”

“F-fat?!” Sunset jumped forward in her chair. “Celestia isn’t fat!”

“Then how’d you know who I was talking about?” Aria adopted another smug expression, returning to look out the window.

“W-what other princess would you be talking about?”

“It’s funny though. How tall and skinny she is in one world, but don’t let her sit on you over here! Yikes!”

“Aria!”

“Principal Legs and Princess Rump!”

“Prin—pff.”

Aria casually turned back to Sunset to see her lips quivering and eyes twitching. Once Sunset noticed Aria was watching her she turned away and nonchalantly scratched her left cheek with her hoof. Aria grinned and went in for the kill. “It’s also funny how it’s apparently her little sister that’s all about the moon. I mean, really. Get the right angle of Celestia's backside and you got the moon right there!”

With an undignified snort, Sunset lost her private war. “Pfff—Ha, ha, ha! You’re awful!”

“Not wrong though.”

“S-stop! I-I can’t," Sunset forced out through her laughter. "There’s already enough jokes about her and cake!”

“Oh? Go on.”

“No, no, no! And don’t tell her I laughed!”

“As if! You’ll never catch me in this Canterlot.” Sunset was too busy wiping her eyes to answer or even look in Aria's direction, so Aria just smiled, without her usual smirk, all the way up to her eyes. She then stood from her chair before grabbing the feather and tucking it into her mane. “And you're not brooding and emo anymore, so my job’s done here. Seriously, that's my territory, pony. I guess we’ll see what this feather turns into once it’s my turn to head back h—through the portal. Gonna go find a lake.”

Still laughing as she watched Aria hop up the stairs, Sunset took a deep breath, wiped her eyes again, and eventually settled down. "Maybe I will visit them," she sighed. "Sunburst at least."

Shortly after, she struggled through another attack of chuckles, “Then I’ll have to remember to buy some larger towels once I get back … home.”

Comments

[ShadowLDrago]

This was a fun chapter.

[Scyphi]

She waited and eventually Sunset's ears drooped. "So, you think Princess Purple can really smooth things out with Fat Princess?”

“F-fat?!” Sunset jumped forward in her chair. “Celestia isn’t fat!”

“Then how’d you know who I was talking about?”

Well, to be fair, when Sunset left Equestria, Celestia was still the only princess to even consider, so it wouldn't surprise me if her brain still reflexively assumes that more often than that...especially as she doesn't really seem to regard Twilight in the same manner as she would Celestia, even though Twilight's been a princess too the whole time she's known her.

[avidreader07]

10419815
Nopony really seems to. After all, Twilight’s not a Princess-princess.

Or however Starlight put it.

[ClosetBrony]

More hilarity but also touching and insightful.

[Teraunce]

Well good to know Aria does care and considers the Human world home like Sunset does.