The Second Da-- Oh Crap They Have Magic! (Part 1)
Sunset wasn’t ready to be awake yet. There may be light streaming into her apartment, but her alarm hadn’t even gone off yet. She rolled over onto something lumpy that squirmed under her.
… What?
Her brain jumpstarted into consciousness as she quickly moved away from whatever else had crawled into her bed. Sunset felt her heart hammering in her chest even as she told herself she was fine.
Her bed was still shifting around, so Sunset was careful as she reached over and grabbed the corner of her blanket. She ripped it off quickly and threw her hands up to defend against whatever critter had infiltrated her home.
“…Rainbow Dash?”
Hair even more ruffled than usual, little Rainbow Dash rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She gave Sunset a rather offended look.
“Rainbow, how did you get up here?” Sunset looked down at her stairs and the high stack of boxes that prevented the kids from coming up. Rainbow had immediately taken up the challenge of testing this last night, so Sunset made sure to stack them in a way so that they couldn’t be climbed by anything but a spider.
“I climb.”
Sunset was a little surprised at how clearly the words were said, as none of the kids had said very much other than an occasional ‘pease’ and the sort.
“I gathered that much, but how did you climb up here?”
Rainbow scooted off the bed and trotted over to the edge of the platform near the stairs. Sunset was gripped with an impulse to stop her from getting too close, but Rainbow got on her knees and crawled the final foot as if she were aware of the potential danger. She pointed downwards, and Sunset looked.
There, wedged in the corner where the stairs made a 90 turn, was her rollie chair that she kept at her desk down there. And yep, it was the perfect height for an ambitious child to climb on the seat, the back, and onto the platform.
"I’ve got to hand it to you, you’ve got the same determination as- well you.” Sunset picked her up.
Rainbow yawned, then tucked her head under Sunset’s chin with a content smile.
“Let’s go see if any more of you are awake,” Sunset decided. She flipped a switch on her alarm so that it wouldn’t go off later.
When Sunset reached the bottom of the stairs and pushed the boxes aside, she didn’t bother trying to put them back.
From behind the couch, she could see that most of the kids looked like they were still in their bedrolls. The light snoring suggested that Adagio was still asleep.
To be sure, Sunset crept around to the front of the couch. Flash, Fluttershy, and Timber still had their eyes closed. Twilight was awake, but lying down patiently.
Rarity was up and painting Adagio’s fingernails. Or really her entire fingers. And some of the back of her hand. Rarity dutifully dipped the brush in the bottle of hot pink nail polish and spread on another layer. A purse was tipped over with its contents spilled out next to her, indicating that she’d attained the polish from Adagio’s own supplies.
Sunset covered her mouth with her hand. A part of her wanted to let Rarity continue her work just for laughs, but she wouldn’t be cruel enough to leave her there for when Adagio wakes up.
So Sunset beckoned for her and Twilight to come under the balcony. “Let’s get you girls some breakfast.”
She pulled the box of Fortune Charms off her high shelf and grabbed some bowls and spoons. As an afterthought, she also grabbed an apple from her mini fridge and a knife to slice it.
The prospect of food seemed to have woken Rainbow Dash the rest of the way, because she started squirming to be let down.
“Alright, jeez,” Sunset laughed. “Makes my job easier.”
As she poured the milk, Sunset saw Twilight and Rarity find the same area where they ate last night and seat themselves. She hadn’t asked them to, but watching them spread a bit a warmth in her.
Rainbow just waited at her feet expectantly.
“Go sit down,” Sunset told her as she grabbed the first two bowls.
“Kay!” Rainbow spared no energy in her race to join the little circle. She stayed seated, but she was fidgeting impatiently as Sunset approached with food.
“Try not to spill, if you can.” Honestly, Sunset had no idea how much her friends could comprehend at this age, but they’d seemed to understand most things so far. She just hoped they were capable of following through.
When Sunset handed Twilight her bowl, Twilight made an odd gesture of tapping her chin whilst saying, “Thay-you.”
It took a few moments of staring at her quizzically before she realized what it was.
“You know how to do sign-language?” Sunset asked Twilight in surprise.
At this, Twilight grinned eagerly and repeated the gesture with the accompanying “Thay-you,” confirming that it was the sign for ‘thank you.’
“I didn’t realize it was something you could learn so young,” Sunset marveled. While Equestria had common gestures, it did not have a sign language. The way in which humans could speak entirely through complex motions was a marvel to Sunset. She didn’t actually know any herself, so seeing the gestures used by someone so young was surprising to her.
“How much do you know?” Sunset asked her.
But at this Twilight just cocked her head a little, a very clear and cross-dimensional gesture of ‘huh?’
“Never mind,” Sunset shook her head. “And you’re welcome.”
She passed out the rest of the bowls, then went back to her nook to slice the apple.
Sunset watched with bemusement at the contrast with how the kids ate. Rainbow fist-held her spoon and scarfed her meal whilst Rarity carefully picked out each of her marshmallows, eating her favorites first. Twilight ate the slowest as she struggled to coordinate her fingers so they would hold her utensil properly.
Timber came out from around the couch with his blanket in hand, curious about the noise.
“You can go sit and I’ll get you some food,” Sunset pointed to the girls. To her relief, he did just that. Maybe this wouldn’t be so hard after all.
She gave him a bowl of cereal while holding a plate with the sliced apple in her other hand. “Alright, who wants some apples?”
Rarity raised an eager hand and Rainbow declared “Me!” Twilight made another sign, this time bringing her hand over her heart and saying “Please.” These little gestures really struck Sunset as adorable.
A shrill shriek broke through the peace of the morning, shortly followed by crying. Rainbow, Twilight, and Rarity frightfully huddled together at the approach of Adagio’s angry stomps as she marched up to Sunset.
“What. The. Heck is this!” She nearly smacked Sunset’s nose as she threw her artfully decorated hand in her face.
“Chill out, Adagio,” Sunset held her hands up. “You’re fine, one of the kids just decided to help you out with your makeup is all.” Sunset made a point not to mention which one.
Adagio lip curled dangerously. “Help? I’ll be lucky if I manage to scrub this off within the next half hour!”
Sunset pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling her short temper start to simmer. “There’s some nail polish remover in the bathroom. Just use that.”
All four kids shrank away when Adagio directed her glare at them before storming back to the couch and stuffing her spilled belongings back into her purse.
“Shut it!” she snapped at the two who’d been woken up by her outburst. It really didn’t help.
Sunset felt her temper rocket forth, and only just refrained from yanking Adagio away. “Do not take your anger out on them,” Sunset snarled.
“It was one of those vermin who did this!”
“No, Adagio, these two had nothing to do with it. They’re kids who’ve got no idea what they did wrong!” She pointed to where some of the others were also tearing up. “Do any of them look like they meant any harm?”
Adagio gave them a glance that didn’t hold the full force of har malice.
Sunset picked Flash up and held him tightly as he cried. “These guys could barely take being yelled at as teenagers, they certainly can’t handle it now.” Flash’s sobbing started to subside and he rubbed his eyes tiredly.
Sunset thought she saw a flicker of regret cross Adagio’s eyes briefly before she clenched her jaw and locked herself in the bathroom without a word.
Sighing, Sunset set Flash down on her couch and pulled Fluttershy out from the depths of her bedroll. She was shaking and hyperventilating, and she seemed to have trouble meeting Sunset’s eye’s.
“No, no, it’s okay,” Sunset tried to sooth, “you didn’t do anything wrong.” She held her close in a comforting cuddle, letting Fluttershy cry off her fright.
After a minute, Sunset scooped up the stuffed cat Fluttershy had fallen asleep with. “Do you want your kitty?” She held it so Fluttershy could see it.
Fluttershy stifled her crying down to hiccups and reached for the toy, and Sunset pressed it into her small arms. It was cute how the cat was nearly half her size.
By the time the bathroom door clicked unlocked, the other kids had finished their breakfast and Flash had slipped off the couch to play with them. Fluttershy was still on Sunset’s lap, but she was smiling and giggling as they traded cat sounds.
Adagio walked out of the bathroom still looking sour, but her hand was successfully devoid of hot pink splotches.
The kids all glanced up at her nervously, pausing in their play. Sunset felt Fluttershy’s hands on her back as she hid behind her.
Adagio snorted with a roll of her eyes and proceeded to fetch herself some food.
Sunset felt a tug on her pajama pants and looked down to see Flash trying to get her attention. He pointed at the leftover bowls and asked, “Snack?”
“Oh, that’s right, I still need to get you two some breakfast,” Sunset muttered. She glanced at the time real quick to see that it wasn’t even eight o’clock yet. Gonna be a long day.
She scooped up Flash as she stood and gestured for Fluttershy to follow. She took him to the little dining spot, filled a bowl of cereal, and handed him some apple slices. Looking back, Sunset saw that Fluttershy was still on the couch and looking a little lost.
With a sigh, Sunset fetched her and sat her down next to Flash with a bowl. Fluttershy ignored the food and instead watched Adagio warily, who was still standing next to the mini fridge.
Sunset walked over to her. “You might want to try reconciling with them.”
“And why would I do that?” Adagio raised an eyebrow.
“I don’t know, maybe because it’s the right thing to do?”
Adagio rolled her eyes. “Thanks for that compelling argument, but I think I’ll pass. These brats don’t have to like me, and I don’t have to do the ‘right’ thing. All I’m here to do is keep them alive until the spell wears off.”
Sunset clenched her jaw as she resisted the urge to snap back at her. Then a rapping at the door provided a welcome distraction from the obtuse siren.
Trixie! Finally!!
“Took you long enough,” Sunset muttered under her breath before opening the door.
“The Great and Powerful Trixie has arrived!” Trixie announced grandly, thankfully with a lack of accompanying fireworks. This time.
“Good to see you, Trixie,” Sunset pulled her in by the arm. “I need you to stay here with Adagio while I go grab some groceries.”
“Ugg, you're going to leave Trixie with her just like that? Trixie Just got here!” Trixie complained.
“And Sunset needs to get some actual food,” Sunset retorted. “Principal Celestia is going to be here at around noon, and I want her to see that we’ve got this under control.”
A high pitched cry rang out along with a clattering. They looked over to see a collapsed tower of blocks. Standing above it Twilight threw the block she had in hand to the ground as she broke into sobs. Timber Spruce and Rainbow Dash were on the floor next to the wreckage, both looking very guilty.
After watching Twilight for a moment, Rainbow took one of the blocks and set it on another to try to rebuild it, but this only caused Twilight to scream in anger. Rainbow ran and climbed onto the couch, opting to look on from a distance.
“Not it,” Adagio said.
“But- but Trixie doesn’t know how to handle this!”
“I’ll help get Twilight calmed down,” Sunset patted her shoulder. “But then I need you two to keep them entertained for an hour. Just play with them and try to avoid any catastrophes.” With a glare aimed at Adagio, she added, “No threats.”
~*~
Trixie was alone. Alone and standing against all odds. One magician against six tiny terrors and a big, evil fiend. But her friend, her pretty-good-assistant-helper-buddy, was counting on her to stay strong in this. And, she, the Great and Powerful Trixie-
“The blue one’s trying to climb the stairs again.” The Despicable and Diabolical Adagio gestured carelessly over to the stairs, not even bothering to stop scrolling through her phone.
“Rainbow, no!” Trixie marched over and pulled her off the boxes. She held Rainbow Dash to her face and put on a super fabulously stern look. “Sunset Shimmer gave us very specific instructions not to go up there. And her rules will be obeyed!”
Rainbow glared back defiantly.
A snort came from over where the siren perched on the one and only couch. (Of which Adagio refused to share, which was fine as Trixie would never sit next to her anyway.) “Really drove the message home there, didn’t you?”
“Well at least I’m trying.” Trixie rightfully snipped. She set Rainbow Dash back down. “You aren’t even doing anything!”
“I warned you about guitarist, didn’t I?” She was back to her phone. “There haven’t been any meltdowns since Shimmer left, so the way I see it, I’m fine where I am.”
If Trixie were a lesser being, she would have screamed in outrage. But she wasn’t, so she sufficed with stamping her foot. “Do you even know their names?”
“Sure I do: Guitarist, Keytarist, Tamberinist, Princess, Boy One, and Boy Two. Done.”
“That’s- those aren’t! Ugg, look.”
For her part, Adagio actually did look up from her phone.
“The one with the rainbow hair is Rainbow Dash, makes it easy to remember.” Trixie accepted an offered plastic teacup. “This here is Rarity, the one that’s hiding is Fluttershy, should be another easy one,” she bade her way to Twilight and her freshly built tower of blocks, “this is Twilight Sparkle, the kid with blue hair is Flash Sentry, and the other guy is Timber Spruce. There, you’ve been officially introduced.”
Adagio considered all the kids for a moment. “I’ll just stick to my names, they’re way easier.”
“You can’t do that!” Trixie complained explained passionately.
“Sure I can, Magician.”
“Trixie prefers to be addressed as The Great and Powerful Trixie, or at least as just Trixie, thank you very much.” She folded her arms indignantly. “And I doubt the kids appreciate being called those names either.”
“Hey little Keytarist,” Adagio boredly got Rarity’s attention, “do you mind if I call you that?”
Rarity blinked up at her, then handed her a plastic saucer. “Here, I get tea.” She went to find another cup.
“Well what do you know, she doesn’t even care.”
“That doesn’t give you an excuse to-“
“Hold on.”
“Do not tell Trixie to hold on!”
“No, no. look,” Adagio said with a hint of urgency. “Is the princess supposed to have ears?”
“Well of course she has ears,” Trixie rolled her eyes. “Literally everyone in the world has- Twilight has pony ears!”
“Yes, genius,” Adagio rolled her eyes. “But how and why? Are they supposed to be playing music for that to happen?”
“Well, they did, and then they didn’t, and now they’ve got these other powers, and you know Trixie really isn’t entirely sure how it all works.” She squinted down at Twilight Sparkle.
Twilight was laughing with Flash Sentry and Timber Spruce as they built up block towers only knock them down. As if there wasn’t an infinitely more interesting being right beside them.
Trixie doesn’t see how this is particularly magic-evoking. But, regardless, Twilight did have her pony ears, her longer ponytail, and a pair of very fluffy wings.
“Oh great,” Adagio droned, “This one has it now too.”
Rarity had returned with the promised plastic cup, served with a side of magic. Neither she nor Twilight even seemed aware of the change.
“Where are the other two?” Trixie looked around. “If it’s happened to Rarity and Twilight, that probably means- ah-ha! Trixie is right!”
Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were playing on the other side of the couch. Fluttershy’s ears flattened against her head and she hugged her kitty close as if afraid she’d done something wrong. Rainbow was turning in circles trying to get a look at her wings. But in her delight kept flapping them out of reach until she finally managed to grab one and fall over.
“Whatever,” Adagio snorted, “It’s not like it makes a difference.” She returned to her favored spot on the couch.
A brilliantly dreadful thought then occurred to Trixie. “Hey Adagio? How old do winged ponies have to be before they start flying?”
~*~
Was she expecting everything to go nicely while she was out? No, Sunset knew better than to even hope for that. But she was hoping it’d be kept to nothing worse than a couple crying fits and/or a life long feud between Trixie and Adagio.
She was not expecting the mess she actually came home to.
She heard it before she saw it. As Sunset turned the key to her apartment, she already knew she’d be facing a substantial damage bill.
Rarity was red in the face and screaming at the top of her lungs at a very high pitch, causing Sunset to automatically cringe. The couch was turned over, and Twilight and Fluttershy were tucked beside it with their blankets. Timber was practically throwing race cars across the room in an attempt to make them go fast while Flash was driving them at a more leisurely pace. Items were scattered about and knocked over in just about every area of the apartment with the barrier to the stairs demolished.
And Rainbow Dash was hanging off the hanging flower pot.
What?! How in the word did-
“Trixie demands that you come down this instant!”
“She’s been ignoring you for the past thirty minutes, genius, come up with a different plan.”
“I don’t see you doing anything helpful!”
“We can put some pillows under her and cut it down with a well-aimed knife.”
“No, do not throw knives at Rainbow Dash!” Sunset snapped out of her stupor. Her brain was still trying to catch up with the fact that Rainbow had somehow ended up in the flower pot that was nearly as high as her balcony when she saw the pointed ears pressed against her head and the wings tucked tightly on her back.
“Okay, so they ponied up while I was gone,” she rambled to herself more than anyone. A quick glance at the other kids confirmed that. “That means they’ve still got their magic, which I think is a good sign? I’ll need to message Princess Twilight.”
“Um, Sunset?” Trixie was giving her a shameful look.
“First, the toddler hanging from the ceiling,” Sunset said. “They you guys can tell me what the heck happened in here.”
Trixie swallowed and nodded.
“Good luck getting her down, Shimmer,” Adagio said, stepping out of the way to let Sunset get a good look at the predicament, “we’ve been trying for ages, but she doesn’t listen to anyone.”
Sunset took a close look at Rainbow. Her eyes were wide, ears were down, and her wings were locked against her back. If Sunset remembered what she knew about pegasi correctly, then all three of those were signs of fear.
“Hey Rainbow Dash,” she said in a gentle voice, “are you stuck?”
Rainbow sniffed and nodded.
“What? How can she be stuck?” Trixie crossed her arms. “She got up there no problem.”
“Probably because she wasn’t looking down when she was going up,” Adagio offered.
That was actually pretty logical, and Sunset couldn’t help but be a little surprised that it came from Adagio.
“What?” Adagio glared at her. “Sonata’s the same way, always drifting into the deep end then freaking out when she looks back. And this doesn’t actually help us get her down.”
“I think I know what to do.” Sunset grabbed some pillows and blankets from her loft and placed them under the flower pot.
“Trixie thought you said we weren’t going to go with Adagio’s plan.”
“We’re not, we’re going with my plan,” Sunset said. “Alright, Rainbow, can you open your wings for me?”
Rainbow stared down at her a moment, then slowly lifted her wings up a little. The movement caused the pot to swing a little, and she immediately clamped them down again and gripped her poor plant even tighter.
“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Sunset tried to sooth, “you’re not going to fall, I promise.”
“Are you sure? Because Trixie’s not so sure that cord’s meant to hold that much-“
“Shut it, you nitwit!” Adagio hissed.
“It’s gonna swing a little, but go ahead and open your wings,” she continued over Trixie and Adagio. “I promise you’ll be fine.”
Thankfully, Rainbow Dash complied. She still looked frightened, but she held her wings open.
“Okay, for this next part you’re going to need to be really brave,” Sunset said. She’d lie if she said she wasn’t nervous about this part as well. “I’m going to ask you to jump down when I say so,” she said slowly.
Trixie gave her a disbelieving look while Rainbow shook her head ‘no.’
“I’ll try to catch you,” Sunset said, “but you are going to have to jump. If you flap your wings when you jump, you’ll be able to come down all on your own. But I can’t do it for you, I don’t have wings.”
Rainbow was looking torn between her fear and getting down. After some deliberation, she hunkered down into the pot while giving Sunset a pleading look.
“Alright,” Sunset shrugged, “I guess you’ll have to stay up there then.” She turned as if to walk away.
“No! Help!” Rainbow cried desperately.
“I’ll help you,” Sunset promised, “but you’re going to have to do the hard part yourself.” She held up her arms to show that she was ready to catch her.
Rainbow still looked terrified, but she started to crawl to the edge of the pot, stopping every so often as it swung.
“I’m right here,” Sunset reminded her.
Rainbow finally worked up the nerve to tumble off the pot. As Sunset had really hoped, instinct kicked in and her wings beat furiously against the sense of falling. Her fall was significantly slowed, but her irregular wingbeats caused her to spin off course and land on the pillows instead of on Sunset.
“Did it!” She exclaimed.
Sunset couldn’t help but laugh a little. The Rainbow Dash she knew would’ve been modified to be caught afraid of something, but little Dash was just proud of overcoming it. “That’s right you did!” Sunset congratulated her. She let Rainbow climb onto her for a hug.
“Again!” Rainbow’s wings beat in an eager flurry.
“We are not going through that again,” Trixie huffed.
“We should let her,” Adagio countered.
“No one asked for your opinion,” Trixie bristled, never one to be disagreed with.
“Sunset’s not the only one from Equestria,” Adagio retorted. “I might not be a pony, but flying and swimming aren’t all that different for foals. Once they start it’s hard to stop them. Now that she’s gotten past the fear of first flight, she’s going to want and need to keep flying. I say we let her wear herself out with it instead of letting her wear us out from trying to stop it. I know I’m not going to go through the trouble.”
“You might actually have a point with that.” Sunset gave Rainbow a thoughtful look. “Okay, but we need to make it safe.”
The next several minutes were spent calming Rarity down, even though Sunset didn’t know what for (Trixie and Adagio didn’t either), and then clearing away the boxes that led up to the landing and piling as many soft things they could find under it.
The kids, having watched the process, decided to participate. Twilight carried a pillow much too big for her while Flash and Timber started climbing onto a box and jumping onto the plush pile.
Once Sunset was satisfied, she carried Rainbow up and marked a spot with tape. “This is where you can jump from, okay? Don’t try to fly from anywhere else. And don’t try to glide to the flower pot again.”
Rainbow nodded vigorously, her wings beating against Sunset’s hands. From what she’d seen and from Trixie’s account (de-exaggerated by Adagio) she was only strong enough to glide and to lift herself a couple feet off the ground for a few seconds. She couldn’t reach any higher, and she couldn’t maintain flight.
Sunset let her go, and Rainbow all but dived off the balcony. But the time Sunset had walked back down, Rainbow was already climbing the stairs to go again.
“She’s going to be doing that all day, isn’t she?” Trixie asked.
“Probably,” Sunset nodded. “We’ve just got to make sure none of the kids who don’t have wings try it. And now that that’s out of the way, can you please tell me how my room got wrecked?”
“Um, the kids got magic? Trixie thought it’d be pretty obvious.”
“Wait, they have their superpowers?” the ice-shot fear trickled down her sternum.
“Well, not the running fast and levitating or anything,” Trixie admitted. “But Rainbow is still fast when she wants to be, and we were kind of in a rush to stop her from jumping off the balcony. That’s how she ended up in the flower pot, anyway.”
That was fair. “And everything else?”
“Trixie has a good explanation…”
Trixie’s ‘good’ explanation amounted to a long-winded account of everything that went wrong while Sunset was gone, which was pretty much everything that could go wrong.
“… and then Rarity got mad at Twilight for-“
“Okay, okay, I get the picture,” Sunset finally just snapped. “Look, I need to tell Princess Twilight about the girls ponying-up. You and Adagio just try to clean all this up. Give me a shout if anything happens.”
Sunset retreated up to her loft. She wasn’t the tidiest of people, but seeing her home so totally wrecked when there were supposed to be people here preventing that from happening irked her. She needed a little time to herself to cool off a bit.
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things are gonna get even more crazy. i can see it.
My parents taught me when I was young, to get around some issues with proper speech. Don't remember a lick of it though.
Has Fluttershy just not eaten in two days...?
10794687
No, don't worry, it's been less than 24 hours and will be addressed directly in the next update. She did eat the night before, just not as much as the other kids.
This is hilarious, and I would love to read more.