Vacation for Three Please

by Blues Rider

7: The Diary

Rainbow stormed across the Equestria Land car park heading straight towards Sunset's car. She had nowhere else to go, but didn't need another place to go. Rain soaked through her hair and splashed off her eyes. Sunset passed through the exit gates and ran after Rainbow across the car park.

"Rainbow Wait!" Sunset called shook by the events. Rainbow ignored her and continued on her trajectory towards the vehicle. "Rainbow please!" Sunset called again, the rain streaking down her face. "I'm sorry. I had no idea that would happen!"

"Oh no of course you didn't!" Rainbow called back, refusing to turn around. "You just let my girlfriend be pushed into kissing my friend because this is all a game. Just bring some Equestria ponies over and compare them to themselves, See how they react to each other's situations. I bet you planned this!" A tear streaked down her face, masked by the rain, none-the-less she tossed it aside with a flick of her hand. Rainbow doesn't cry.

"I swear I had no idea Vignette would be here, I thought she was organising the Crystal Gig-Night. I'm sorry." Sunset was begging her now. She couldn't say anything else to help the situation.

Applejack and Rarity appeared sprinting out of the gates in an attempt to catch up with the upset Rainbow. Applejack ran ahead, her powerful legs easily closed the gap between her and Rainbow, overtaking Sunset and dashing in front of Rainbow before she got to the car.

"Applejack don't say anything." Rainbow halted Applejack, "I know you couldn't do anything else. I just want to get out of here. I'm with Rarity. I don't care how, but we're heading back to Equestria and we'll find a solution to open the portal as quickly as possible." She didn't wanting to hear another apology.

Sunset slowed to a walk as she approached the couple, taking heavy breaths. A huge gust of wind blew her rain-soaked hair across her face, hiding her guilt from the parties in-front of her. She heard everything Rainbow said and knew that she was right. Bringing them here had proved more of a task than she had anticipated, and caused a lot more confusion than just figuring out how to use a new body. With this in mind, Sunset submitted and headed round to the driver's seat. It was time to head back home.

---

Nobody spoke in the car.

Rarity apologised to Rainbow, who accepted it half-heartedly. Then the conversation stopped.

The rest of the ride was filled with heavy air, anxiety driven awkwardness, and Rarity attempting to use her fingers to squeeze the rain out of her hair.

Upon arrival at her maisonette, Sunset headed straight to her objective. She locked the car, found the door key & unlocked the downstairs door; her movements becoming a flow of mechanically memorised moments. The lock to her maisonette door clicked and a light push allowed the door to glide perfectly open. But Sunset didn't have time to register the perfectly opened door, within four gliding steps she was at her bookcase, facing the diary to Equestria.

She pulled it off the shelf and rifled through the pages in hope of a message from Twilight, but the last message sent was her own. There was nothing from Princess Twilight. She knew that would be the case, the diary hadn't been glowing like it normally did when Twilight sent a reply.

Applejack, followed by Rainbow Dash and Rarity emerged at the door, not really sure what to expect. Sunset closed the precious diary and held it close to her for a second.

"Come on in guys. Take a seat. I'll just be a minute." Sunset tenderly invited them, gesturing towards the sofas. She had planned to march right over to the kitchen, make tea, be positive, call Twilight, comfort her guests, be proactive but now her body turned on her.

Once again the tidal wave of guilt slammed into her being and washed away the adrenaline she had been running on since Equestria Land. She gulped and took a moment for herself to steady her breathing. Meanwhile her guests stood in the doorway concerned and awkward despite the homely reception they had been greeted with.

Sunsets eyes started to water. She gathered all the energy she could muster. "Here. Please come here." She repeated, gathering them to the sofa. This time she walked around and sat in an armchair, laying the non-responsive diary on the coffee table. And this time Applejack felt more encourage to take a seat, so she did, closely followed by Rarity and Rainbow.

Sunset grabbed her phone from her leather jacket and called the one person she knew she could rely on. Twilight Sparkle. The human one. Bringing the phone to her ear, she heard the ringtone increase in volume as the phone secured its connection. Then she heard a click.

"Sunset! How is everything?" Came the voice of a concerned but chirpy Twilight from the other end of the line. Sunset took a breath, the urge to lie was overwhelming but she pushed through it.

"Not good Twilight." Sunset replied earnestly, "I think I've really screwed up this time." There was a pause before Twilight replied, clearly coming to terms with Sunset's seriousness.

"Okay Sunny, what's going on?" Twilight replied calmly.

"Twilight, I wouldn't be coming to you if it wasn't absolutely necessary." Sunset reassured her.

"Sunset I know. Please, what's the matter?"

"The mirror portal. It's... It's been closed. Twilight, I don't know what to do. Princess Twilight isn't responding to me, I wrote to her over four hours ago." Sunset took a breath. She looked up to Rainbow Dash and Rarity who now sat opposite her. Sunset continued calmly and with great vulnerability. "Twilight, I've made their lives miserable. I've made Rarity and Applejack's relationship stumble. The Equestria girls want to go back home, but I don't know if I can open the portal and... What if we're all trapped here Twilight..."

"Sunset!" Twilight cut in firmly. "Keep calm. We're going to find a solution to this. I'm coming over, I'll be fifteen minutes." Sunset's eyes were starting to water, her throat felt tense and she had butterflies in her stomach but Twilight's confident practicality helped cut through to her downed mood. It was enough to put a smile on her face and calm her breathing.

"Thank you Twilight, thank you so much." With that she heard a tapping sound and then a beep to signify the call was over. She put the phone down on the diary and brushed her red and yellow hair back behind her ears. She felt her hands brush past her cheeks and realised her face felt greasy, she needed a distraction. "Can I make anybody a tea?" She cut the confident gesture across the silent room.

Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Applejack nodded thankfully. Sunset got up which left them awkwardly contemplating their situation on the sofas. She poured water into her kettle and then looked over to check on the group. Sunset filled the kettle for five, placed it down onto the electrical pad and clicked it on.

Sunset pulled the milk out of the fridge and set it down. She got her mugs out, sugar, teabags (the good kind) and a pack of chocolate-caramel digestives. Seven minutes later, the kettle was boiled and minutes after that, the tea was prepared. She took a tray with three mugs of tea over to the group and set it out on her lounge table surrounded by the others. She gave the group a sorrowful smile before returning to collect her own cup.

"Sunset." Rarity called apologetically behind her. "I'm sorry we've put you in this..."

Then Twilight burst through the door.

"Sunset!" She also called, but with a little more reassurance. Then the mood of the room set in and calmed her energetic entrance. "Okay what's going on?" She asked decisively, still attempting to piece everything together.

Sunset just stood for a second and embraced the feeling of pleasant surprise. She admired Twilight, stood there in her long, purple overcoat and hair neatly tied back. Then she gave a big smile. "Twilight! I made tea." She felt her face start to quiver, expecting herself to burst into relieved laughter any second.

From the sofa, Rainbow Dash examined Twilight. It was spooky how there seemed to be a resemblance between these people they had never met and their princess friend. A similarity in the hair, the eyes, the colours. This was only the second not-friend they had met, and now they were really coming to terms with how out of place they felt here. Applejack and Rarity had turned their heads too.

Applejack pondered what she might say to this 'imposter Twilight' acknowledging she knew she was a different person/pony. The three observed Sunset embrace Twilight in a comfort filled hug and then hop over to the counter to bring her a mug of tea.

Rarity's mood had completely turned. It was like someone had clicked a switch. Before Sunset could finish stirring Twilight's tea, Rarity was up. "Oh Darling! I'm so sorry to be dragging you out here like this, but can I just say, your overcoat is just fabulous. It's beautiful and suits your complexion perfectly! That's not polyester surely?"

Twilight chuckled. "Um thanks! You, well this world's version of you picked it out for me. It's lovely to meet you all!" Positivity seemed to flow through the room. They didn't feel so isolated with their problems any more.

"Oh um, aha." Rarity smiled but only to ease the pain of being compared with her lesbian counterpart. Though she knew she had no feelings for Applejack, something still bothered her in the back of her mind. "Well of course I would pick out something so tasteful." She cheered in response.

"Why don't we all take a seat on the sofas." Sunset offered. "We'll brief Twilight over tea." Rarity offered to take Twilight's coat, which gave her a chance to examine the label as she put the coat up behind the door. She took note of the fabric properties, whenever life failed her, fashion was always there to distract and support her. Perfect timing.

Beneath, twilight wore purple jeans matching her skin tone and a loose fitting turquoise jumper with elastic clinging sleeves. Applejack figured - if she knew a thing about fashion - that this would be trendy. Which felt odd given what her own Twilight was like. At least the jumper was practical for the cold, rainy day.

"You know, in Equestria we don't have to bother with coats. We just plan around the rainstorms when we can. Pegasi controlled clouds are far more reliable than whatever in Celestia happens here." Rainbow remarked. She felt her tension alleviate as she examined Rarity examining Twilight's overcoat.

"You know, I have so many unanswered questions about Equestria." Twilight replied excitedly. "But I'm here for you, so run me through your problem. What exactly happened with the mirror?" She put emphasis on the 'exactly' as she proceeded to pull a small note pad and pen out of her back pocket. Rainbow could tell, she would be just as pedantic as Equestria-Twilight.

Rarity followed Sunset and soon the group were a lot calmer as they sat in the warm company, in the warm apartment with the pitter-patter of rain lightly scratching the outside window. Sunset started to recount everything, from the day Twilight had sent her the message in the diary, through to her trips to Equestria to prepare the ponies, through to the mall encounter, through to the mirror being unusable that morning. However she did stop before she reached the events of Equestria Land earlier that day. An intermittent detail missed or apology thrown in there on Sunset's part.

As she told Twilight about the past few weeks, Rainbow, Rarity and Applejack listened closely. They started to realise how much effort Sunset had to put in to ensure they could come here. She had to figure out a time when Rainbow, Applejack and Rarity in this world would be occupied. When it wouldn't be crucial for Sunset to see her other friends; this world's versions of Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and of course, Twilight. How she had to set up her apartment for their stay and take time out of her work, reorganise her clients and also replace a team member in a competition she was supposed to take part in. All the charts and diagrams she prepped for them.

Applejack for-one started to realise that everything really had been done for them, they just had a few hiccups.

Twilight sipped her tea slowly taking it all in, making notes on the important things. As Sunset finished she had one question to ask but she was suddenly interrupted.

"Mmmmmmm mmmmm." Came from the corner opposite. Rarity had picked up a chocolate-caramel digestive off the tea-tray and risked a bite. Now she shoveled the whole thing into her mouth. "Mmmmm." She looked up guiltily.

Sunset chuckled. "They're better if you dip them in the tea you know." She gestured for Rarity and the others to take another. Twilight chuckled too. The consensus was, Sunset was right, they were better dipped in tea.

Twilight turned back to Sunset and the topic at hand. "So just to clarify, you don't know exactly when the portal solidified. It was just like that when you got there?"

"That's about right." Applejack spoke up.

Rainbow and Rarity studied Twilight intensely as she intently flicked through her notepad. Sunset too looked curiously at Twilight from behind her cup of luke-warm tea. She took a sip, unimpressed by the temperature.

"Hhhmmmm..." Twilight pondered, flicking over her notes again. For a moment she looked up to study the girls and then went back to her notes. Twilight took the pencil attached to her notepad and started scribbling out words from her notes, though nobody else could see what she was doing.

"You got any ideas there Twi?" Sunset inquired.

The room was silent as they all started to think back through the events Sunset had described. Twilight closed up her note pad and sighed.

"I don't know, maybe a few ideas but..." Twilight stopped. She caught the clock on the wall, it read seven-forty-five. "Oh my, I'm sorry, but I can't stay, I have to get back to help Rarity. But I'm going to keep thinking about this. I suggest you do too." She said making her way for the coat hung behind the front door.

"Any help where to start with that thinkin'?" Applejack casually asked.

"I have a few ideas, but try to see if there was anything paranormal about your trip here, something that appeared here that seemed out of place. Sorry Sunset. I'm working tomorrow but we should meet up at the mall for lunch at about eleven-thirty? We can have a proper chat about this." Twilight offered.

"Thank you Twilight." Sunset replied, meeting her friend at the door. "I'll see you then."

"I'm going to go to the mirror now, get a look at it myself, see if anything happens. Goodnight everyone, it was lovely to meet you all." And with that some thanks were exchanged as Sunset saw Twilight out.

The room grew heavy with thought, reflection and the smell of vegetable soup and part-bake rolls as Sunset, with Applejack's insistent assistance started to prepare dinner.

Comments

[Ninjadeadbeard]

The recap is a really good idea. I would probably be a little lost without it. Nice to see this update again!