A New Adventure

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A giant castle overlooked the rest of Ponyville, casting a shadow on the peaceful citizens of the city. In the throne room, six ponies and one dragon were lounging about with nothing to do.

“I’m bored,” cried a lavender unicorn with wings and purple mane with streaks of amethyst and magenta and an image of a purple star surrounded by five stars on her flank. This was Twilight Sparkle, a unicorn-turned-alicorn who hailed from Canterlot and bearer of the Element of Magic. The student of Princess Celestia, Twilight had recently become the princess of Friendship.

“How can be anypony be bored when there’s so much to do here?” replied a pink pony with a messy, hot pink mane and an image of one yellow and two blue balloons on her flank, who was currently stuffing her face with cake. This was Pinkamena Diane “Pinkie” Pie, one of Twilight’s Ponyville friends and the bearer of the Element of Laughter.

“She right,” added a sky-blue pegasus with a rainbow mane, two violet eyes, and an image of a cloud with a red,yellow, and blue lightning bolt on her flank. This was Rainbow Dash, another of Twilight’s Ponyville friends and the Element of Loyalty, who recently became a Wonderbolt. She had an ego the size of the sun, but one would be hard-pressed to find somepony more loyal to her friends than she was. “This place is filled with everything to read!”

“Easy for you to say,” Twilight said. “Hey Applejack, Rarity, did you check to see if the network responded yet?”

An orange pony with a yellow mane, a cowboy hat, an image of three apples on her flank, and green eyes turned to face her; this was Applejack, the Element of Honesty. “Yah said somethin’, sugarcube?”

“Yeah,” Twilight said. “A few days ago, I had Spike deliver a letter to the network asking them to reboot the season finale of one of my favorite shows. The main character’s friends, brother, and mentor walked out on her when she accused her sister-in-law of being involved with an alien invasion. Turns out that the sister-in-law was, in fact, the alien leader, who had the real sister-in-law imprisoned underground. And I felt that the ending was too easily resolved.” She didn’t want to say it, but she still bore a degree of resentment from her friends walking out on her when she needed them the most at her brother’s marriage to Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, or Cadence, who was Twilight’s foalsitter.

A white unicorn with a purple mane styled up in a bang was sifting through the mail with her horn. She had purple eyes and an image of three diamonds on her flank; Rarity, the element of generosity. She turned to face Twilight. “Sorry, darling. They haven’t said anything in reply.”

Twilight groaned. “Thanks for putting a damper on my day.” She put her head on the desk. “I’m bored!”

“But you’re reading,” pointed out a butter-yellow pegasus with a pink mane and soft blue eyes, who had an image of three pink butterflies on her flank. This was Fluttershy, the Element of Kindness. She was pointing to a book that was in front of Twilight with her hoof.

“I’ve read this already.” Twilight tossed the book aside. “In fact, I’ve read everything in this library!” She slammed her head down on the desk in frustration.

“Even this one?” asked a new unicorn who was approaching her. This was Starlight Glimmer, a former enemy of Twilight’s who became her pupil in the studies of friendship. She was levitating a book titled “MIRACULOUS LADYBUG VS THE FORCES OF EVIL”.

“Even that one, Starlight,” Twilight replied. “Even that one.”

“What did you think of it?” Rainbow asked, eyeing the book with curiosity.

“It was . . . interesting, to say the least,” Twilight admitted.

Just then, Twilight’s friendship journal buzzed, which Spike noticed.

“You have an incoming message, Twilight,” he pointed out.

“Thank you, Spike,” Twilight said. She opened the book and saw that a new message had been written, by none other than Sunset Shimmer, another enemy-turned-friend of Twilight’s. She read it aloud.

Hey Twilight,

It’s me, your friend Sunset Shimmer. Just wanted to know how your role as the Princess of Friendship is going.

Things here at Canterlot High are the same as always. We just got back from a trip to Camp Everfree. And boy was it a doozy! We had to fight off an ancient forest spirit named Gaea Everfree and save the camp from getting shut down. Wish you could have been there!

Listen, if it isn’t too much to ask, you wouldn’t mind come visiting me back in this dimension, do you? I know you’re busy, but I
would like to talk to you so we can catch up on what we’ve been doing. Looking forward to hearing your response!

Yours,

Sunset

Twilight paused. Should she go over to the human world and meet up with Sunset? She looked back at her friends, and they stared back at her, waiting for her response.

“You know what,” Twilight said, “we should visit her. After all, we haven’t had any friendship problems to solve anywhere in Equestria, so I don’t see why not.”

“But darling,” Rarity spoke up, “the last time we met, she stole your crown and took it to another dimension!”

“Not to mention that it’s been a while since Chrysalis attacked,” Starlight added. “What if she decides to strike again?”

“And then there’s the fact that somepony has to take care of our pets while we’re away,” Rainbow Dash pointed out.

Twilight paused to consider. After a while, she seemed to have come to a decision. “Spike, take a letter to the Princess.” Her assistant took a piece of parchment and started writing down everything she was saying.

“‘Dear Princess Celestia, recently Sunset Shimmer has contacted me and asked if I could go back into the human world. As there have not been any friendship problems to solve lately, I would like to know if I can visit her for a few days. If Chrysalis indeed plans to seek revenge, be sure to alert us so that we can return immediately. Yours, Twilight Sparkle.’”

The letter being finished, Spike breathed fire onto the parchment, sending it on its way to the princess. With that taken care of,
Twilight turned to Starlight. “You wouldn’t mind taking care of a few pets, do you, Starlight?”

“Not at all,” Starlight said. “Why do you ask?”

“Because we’re going to need you to take care of Owlowiscious, Tank, Angel, and Gummy,” Pinkie Pie said. “Also, if you don’t mind-“

She never got to finish her sentence, because just then Spike burped up a letter. He unraveled it and showed it to Twilight. “She
responded,” he said simply. Twilight unfolded the letter and read it aloud.

My dearest Twilight,

I feel that going between the dimensions is highly inadvisable at this time, what with the possibility of upsetting the balance between the two worlds and the fact that Chrysalis is still at large. However, if indeed you have no friendship problems to solve at this very moment, then your request for a few days’ vacation will be granted , provided, of course that you agree to stay under the supervision of the guardian that I will send to you. In the meantime, I will alert Cadence, Shining Armor, and Thorax, so that
all of Equestria will remain on the alert. I wish you girls a safe vacation.

Yours,

Princess Celestia

“A guardian?” Rainbow Dash asked, confused. “Who could that be?”

“Take a wild guess,” said a familiar, snide voice. The ponies turned around to see that a familiar face was staring back at them, smiling smugly.

“Discord?” Rainbow Dash asked in disbelief. “You’re our guardian?”

“Who else?” the draconequus said.

Rainbow groaned softly. “Can’t Shining Armor and Cadence come with us?”

“They’re the Crystal Empire monarchs, Rainbow Dash,” Starlight pointed out. “Not to mention that they have Flurry Heart to look after. I think it’s safe to say that they have their hooves full.”

“Well, what about Thorax? Or Trixie? Or you, for that matter?” Applejack argued to Starlight.

“Well, Thorax is probably busy teaching his newly-reformed hive all about friendship and such, and I don’t know about Trixie,” Twilight said.

“And besides, I promised to take care of all your pets,” Starlight added. “Although I will say that I’m probably not as good as Fluttershy. It’ll give me something to keep me busy while you’re away. Not to mention give me time to read that . . . story I showed to you earlier.”

“Besides,” Fluttershy added, “he was one of the ones who rescued us from Chrysalis not long ago.”

Discord looked at her gratefully. “See? Now here’s somepony who’s appreciated what I’ve done for this team! I suggest the rest of you take a leaf out of her book.”

“Okay then, I guess,” Applejack conceded. “You can come.”

“Ooh! Splendid!” Discord squeed. He teleported next to the ponies, wearing a centurion helmet. “I’ve always wanted to see what the other world looks like! Who knows, I might be able to cause a little mischief there!”

“Discord,” Fluttershy warned. He put up both hands in surrender, smiling weakly.

“It’s settled, then,” Twilight said at last. “Now we just have to get the pets ready for Starlight.”

“Already taken care of,” came Pinkie Pie’s voice. The pink pony had already gotten the pets ready. “Now . . .” She rummaged for something through her messy mane, finally taking out what appeared to be a schedule. “Here are their feeding times, along with what they can and can’t have. Their first feeding is a few hours from now. Clear?”

“Understood,” Starlight nodded.

“All here are some books for light reading,” Twilight said, levitating a pair of backpacks onto her back, “in case anypony gets bored over there.” Rainbow snorted in amusement. She doubted that Twilight’s reading would be anything but light.

“Ready, everypony?” Discord asked. “Here we gooooooooooo!” Holding both the ponies and Spike, the chaos spirit jumped through the crystal mirror in the throne room. Soon, only the sounds of the pets and the clock ticking were the things that could be heard in the room.

Starlight looked at the Miraculous Ladybug book, wondering what the story was about. Oh well, feeding wasn’t for another few hours. She opened the book and started reading.

Repercussions

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The sounds of police sirens shattered the peaceful Parisian morning as the three black cars zoomed their way through the streets, desperately trying to avoid the police cars that were pursuing them. The driver of the black car in the middle- a gruff, middle-aged man who was smoking a cigar and who was in sore need of an aftershave- focused on the road before him, dead set on making a clean getaway. He and his men had just robbed the Premier National de Paris, one of the wealthiest banks in the entire country. Just a few more miles and he and his men would be home free.

“THIS IS THE POLICE!” the police chief’s voice blared through the bullhorn. “CEASE DRIVING AND SURRENDER NOW!”

Never, the driver thought to himself with fierce determination. He turned a sharp left on the road, sending pedestrians scattering in fear as they tried to get out of his way. He smiled. Just a few more miles . . .

Suddenly, one of his companions let out a panicked scream over the radio. The driver picked it up.

“What’s goin’ on out there?” he asked in a gruff, menacing tone.

“Boss,” his companion said over the radio in a slightly panicked tone, “a figure in a red and black jumpsuit landed onto our car. She started sprayin’ somethin’ or other and now I can’t see nothin’!” Soon enough, a large crash resounded; the car had undoubtedly crashed into a pole.

“Ladybug,” the gang driver growled to himself. He pressed on the gas pedal, for he knew that her no-good feline sidekick would undoubtedly be nearby. He picked up the radio.

“Beta 2, break off and meet up with me outside the city,” he contacted the other car. But all he got was static. Clearly that pest had taken care of the other car as well. There was only one thing he could do: make sure that he got out of the city before they caught up with him.

Just then a thud sounded on his car’s rooftop, and before the gang leader could try to figure out what was going on, the entire car turned a dull golden brown, and stopped working. The electricity from the broken remains crackled. Seeing that they caught him, the gang driver took his share of the money that he had stolen and got out, running as fast as his stubby legs and overweight body would take him. He was so focused on running that he tripped on something and fell facedown on the road. Something poked him in his face. Miffed, he looked up to see a lanky kid with blond hair and green eyes and wearing a black cat costume flashing him the mother of all cocky grins and carrying a silver staff. The gang leader groaned and pressed his face against the road; he knew at once that he had been beaten.

“Looks like you guys had car trouble,” Cat Noir quipped, indicating the car that he had used his Cataclysm on. Ladybug landed right beside him.

“Good thing the police are here to help,” she smiled as the sound of the police cars slowed to a stop and the cars themselves approached.

A few seconds later, all of the gang members were safely handcuffed and escorted to the police cars to be taken to prison. Officer Roger beamed at the two superheroes.

“Ladybug and Cat Noir, you’ve done it again,” he smiled.

“All in a day’s work, officer,” Ladybug smiled back.

“And not a moment too soon,” Cat Noir added. “We still have time to arrive to school early. Shall we race, milady?”

Ladybug chuckled and shook her head; some things never changed, which, in this case, was a good thing. “See you around, Officer. We’ll be sure to give your daughter your regards.”

And with that, both of them headed off to school. No sooner did they arrive on the steps of the school did their transformations run out, releasing both of their kwamis. A few kids cheered as they walked up the steps to the school. One boy even called out from the background, “I LOVE YOU, LADYBUG!”

“Isn’t this wonderful?” Tikki said to Marinette. “You’re like a celebrity now!”

“I know!” Marinette said knowingly. “I . . . I don’t know what to say to all this!”

Adrien chuckled. “Trust me, you’ll get used to it.”

“Easy for you to say,” Plagg said. “A famous superheroine who’s dating a teen model? You two are like the ultimate power couple!”

The others laughed, especially Tikki. It was so like Plagg to say something like this.

“Dudes!”

The four of them turned around to see that it was none of other than Nino, Alya, and Sabrina who were calling them. Marinette smiled. Once, Sabrina was Chloe’s number two, a girl who always did her orders without question. But two months ago, Sabrina learned that Chloe was responsible for her father temporarily losing his job and getting turned into the supervillain Rogercop, and she pretty much turned against her for good after that. Out of pity, Marinette offered to include Sabrina in her circle and teach her all about real friendship, to which she graciously accepted. Ever since then, Sabrina had been hanging out with them before and after classes. Both boyfriend and girlfriend went to see their friends, who were grinning back at them, their kwamis trailing them.

“Hey, Alya, Nino, Sabrina,” Adrien acknowledged the new addition to the group, “what’s going on?”

“Not much,” Nino said. “How’s the superhero business treating you?”

“Marvelous,” Marinette said. “We stopped a gang of bank robbers just this morning.”

“Nice,” Nino said, grinning.

“Oh, and Marinette,” Alya addressed her best friend, “great job with that interview last night. You and Adrien totally nailed it. My Ladyblog site is at an all-time high because of that.”

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous,” Marinette blushed. “Adrien did most of the talking. I just kinda stayed in the background.” Just the previous night, Marinette and Adrien had an interview with Nadja Schamack and Alec Cataldi of the KIDZ+ TV studio.

“Still,” Sabrina said in a sincere tone, “you never looked better together. Have you spoken with any of your friends from . . . out of town recently?”

Adrien and Marinette looked at each other; they knew at once that she was referring to Star Butterfly, Marco Diaz, and the rest of the Echo Creek crew. “Well,” Marinette said, “not really. But from what we heard, things are going great for them now that they have become an
official couple.”

“Nice,” Sabrina said. “You girls haven’t spoken to her recently as well, have you?” she continued, placing a distasteful emphasis on the word.

Alya and Marinette looked at each other; they knew at once who she was referring to. “No, not at all,” Alya lied.

“That’s a relief,” Sabrina said. “Now that I’ve seen what a scumbag she was all along, I don’t want you to follow down that same dark road she’s currently stuck on.”

“Well, Sabrina,” Marinette assured her, “Alya and I gave up on her long ago.” This statement seemed to please Sabrina, who smiled.

“Hey Adrien,” Nino said, “how are things between you and your . . . ahem, old man?”

Adrien smiled. “Never could have been better, Nino. We’ve been a lot more open with each other.”

“I’m glad to hear that, bro,” Nino said.

“I hate to interrupt the conversation and warm, fuzzy feelings,” Plagg interrupted, “but you have thirteen minutes until homeroom!”

“Oh, thanks!” Nino realized. “C’mon, Adrien, Sabrina, we don’t wanna be late!”

“You guys go on ahead,” Marinette said. “Alya and I have to go meet with . . . someone.” She shot her best friend a look that said, Let’s just get this over with. Alya nodded in agreement.

“Okay,” Sabrina said. “Just don’t be late!” With that, the three of them left to go to homeroom.

Marinette sighed. “Why did we ever agree to help her? Especially after what she did to us both?”

“Relax,” Alya put a comforting hand on her friend’s shoulder. “It’s only going to be for a few minutes. After that, we won’t have to put up with her at all for the rest of the day.”

One particular young lady was looking nervous as she entered the school, feeling like a small helpless guppy is a school of sharks. She was a blue-eyed girl of medium height, with honey blond hair pulled back into a ponytail who wore a yellow long-sleeved jacket over a white shirt with black stripes around the waist, and white jeans with a belt that had diamond-shaped bumps and white dress shoes. Once in the past, Chloe Bourgeois was a mean, cruel, and selfish girl who cared about nobody but herself. She ridiculed and belittled all whom she considered beneath her. However, it all changed when a certain Mewni princess named Star Butterfly and her friend, Marco Diaz came to Paris two months ago for spring break. During that time, a lot of things had changed: The town superheroes, one of whom was her idol, had their identities exposed to the world and were revealed to be her fellow classmates, and after learning that she was the cause of so many problems that Paris had suffered, she was forced to come to grips with her own murky past, and ultimately emerged from it all a much better person, even helping take part in the final battle against the forces of evil that had threatened her world. And even with both of them now gone, their impact had remained: Statues of the two were still found all over the city, often alongside those of Ladybug and Cat Noir.

Sadly, this was not what many other students believed.

She spotted two girls she used to pick on in the past-Mylene Haprele and Juleka Couffaine- go into the locker rooms. Here was a chance to show that she had redeemed herself. She took a deep breath and followed both of them.

Mylene and Juleka were all set for homeroom. They had just finished picking out which books they were going to need for the day when Mylene accidentally knocked hers over. In a hurried manner, both girls tried to scrabble them together as fast as possible. Then, out of nowhere, a new hand put itself on the last book, accompanied by a strangely familiar voice.

“Want some help?”

Mylene and Juleka looked up to see that it was none other than Chloe Bourgeois, of all people, who was offering to help them with their books. Chloe smiled sweetly. Of course, both girls had horrible histories with her, and they were not ready to accept the new Chloe just yet.

“Um, no thanks, we’re good,” Mylene answered, in a polite but firm tone. She took her book back from Chloe while Juleka nodded her head hurriedly in agreement.

“Oh,” Chloe said, clearly disappointed by this rejection. “Okay.”

And with that, she turned and walked down the locker room. The other students, especially the ones she used to torment, glared at her from every direction and began whispering amongst themselves. Though Chloe could not hear what they were saying, something in their tone told her she did not want to know. Her anxiousness was making her nervous. She sighed, and turned the corner to meet the only two girls who she was glad to meet on a day like this: Alya Cesaire and Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

“I didn’t think the entire school would still be mad at me,” she said miserably.

“Well, you kinda left a lasting impression on them,” Alya said truthfully.

“Well, thanks for taking me under your wing while I wait for all of this to just die down,” Chloe said. “Oh, and Tikki, I got something for you.” She reached into her jeans pocket and pulled out a few vanilla shortbread cookies.

Marinette’s kwami flew over to Chloe’s hand and the cookies. She sniffed them, as if trying to detect for any poison, and started eating them once she decided that they were clean.

“You girls haven’t seen Sabrina around, by any chance?” Chloe asked them hopefully.

“They have,” Tikki said, holding a half-eaten cookie. “And she’s still mad at you for getting her father in trouble.” She continued eating the cookie.

“Oh,” Chloe said, clearly hurt. “I understand. I can’t blame her. After all, I have been a terrible friend all these years. But anyway, thanks for keeping me some company at school. You girls doing anything special after school?”

The two girls looked at each other. “Actually, we are,” Alya lied. “Marinette promised me she’d help me babysit my sisters after school. I’m sorry, but that’s going to take up too much of our time.”

“I understand,” Chloe said wearily. “Well, let’s get to class. We don’t want to be late.”

As Marinette and Alya entered the homeroom, the entire class burst into applause. A few of the students whistled in appreciation. Marinette flashed them all a friendly smile. For the first time ever, she knew how it felt to be as famous as Jagged Stone. The two girls went up to their seats that they took behind Adrien and Nino. Once Chloe entered the room, however, the applause stopped abruptly, to be replaced with glares of murderous hostility. Chloe averted her eyes from the death glares sent her way and sat down in her seat next to Sabrina, who refused to meet her gaze and turned away from her in disgust, her nose stuck high in the air.

“Good morning, class,” Mrs. Bustier, the teacher, greeted everyone. “I hope everyone has had a wonderful week. Today, I have a few announcements.

“As you all know, next week will be the College Francois Dupont Annual End-of-Year School Dance. It will start at 6pm, and go all the way until midnight. All students who want to go are required to wear formal attire. If you are interested in helping set up-“

“KIM!”

Mrs. Bustier froze and focused on the source of the commotion. There was Kim, a huge smirk on his face, and next to him, Chloe, an angry expression on her face, as well as a piece of paper in hand.

“Miss Bourgeois,” Mrs. Bustier coldly appraised Chloe, “just because your father is still in charge of the city doesn’t mean you don’t get to behave-“

“It’s not my fault!” Chloe interrupted. “It’s Kim’s! He gave me this piece of paper. I swear I’m gonna call my daddy and-“

“Miss Bourgeois,” Mrs. Bustier angrily pointed at the door, “go to the principal’s office!”

Chloe stopped. There was nothing she could do. Her eyes fit to burst into crying, she ran out of the room, not looking where she was going.

“Don’t let the door hit you on the way out!” Sabrina’s voice sang cheerily. The entire class burst out into laughing. Never had revenge tasted this sweet. Indeed, the only students who didn’t partake in this mocking, mean-spirited laughter were Alya, Marinette, and Adrien.

“Settle down, settle down,” Mrs. Bustier called to her students, a bit halfheartedly. The class settled down immediately, though a few people snickered, which the teacher chose to ignore. “As I was saying before Miss Bourgeois so rudely interrupted us, the End-of-Year School Dance will be held in the gym next Friday. Anyone who is interested in bringing any refreshments or decorations should contact a Dance Committee member as soon as possible-“

Marinette stopped paying attention after that. She already knew who she was going to the dance with, and nothing was going to stop them from having the most magical moment in their entire lives. After all, it had been two months since Hawk Moth had disappeared in complete and utter defeat. And that meant that there would not have to be any more akuma attacks.

“Um, Earth to Marinette,” Alya waved a hand in front of her face. Marinette snapped out of her daydream. “We have to get moving soon!”

“Oh sorry!” Marinette grinned sheepishly. “It’s just that I couldn’t stop dreaming about going to the dance with Adrien.” Alya shook her head, clearly amused.

“Girl, you amaze me sometimes,” she said. “But have you decided what you will do with your new hero life ahead of you?”

“What do you mean?” Marinette asked, perplexed.

“What Alya is saying,” Tikki said, flying in front of Marinette’s face, “is that now that there are no more akumas to defeat, how will you and Adrien define your new roles as heroes? I mean, there’s more to a superhero’s life than just autographs, interviews, and fame!”

Marinette paused. She never even considered that. What was she going to do? After all, it’s very unlikely that there would be another robbery to foil or another fire to rescue victims from in the coming few days.

“I don’t know, Tikki,” she said uncertainly. “I don’t know.”

Bienvenue a Paris

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Twilight, her friends, Discord, and Spike emerged from the other end of the portal. The eight of them got up, struggling to adjust to their new forms. Only Discord remained the same in appearance after emerging from the portal. Twilight looked down at herself, and she deduced that she had turned back into a human. Spike was now the same puppy that he had become when he and Twilight first emerged at Canterlot High. As for their friends . . . well, they now looked completely different.

Pinkie Pie was now a teenage girl with light pink skin, wildly messy pink hair that was adorned with a big pink bow, blue eyes, and was now wearing a white shirt with a heart symbol and a mini blue jacket with short sleeves, along with a pink ribbon tied around her waist and a pink miniskirt with balloon designs on the side, and long converse blue boots with pink bows. She was the only one who appeared pleased with her new form.

Rarity was now a girl with pale white skin, stunning purple eyes with equally stunning purple hair done up in a bang, wearing a pearl blue shirt with sleeves below the elbows, a dark purple belt with a blue buckle and a light purple flowing skirt with three diamonds on the side. Her boots were dark purple, decorated with diamonds at the top.

Applejack was now a cowgirl with light orange skin, blond hair in a loose ponytail, and a ten-gallon hat, wearing a white-and-green country styled shirt with a denim skirt and cowgirl boots with apples on each side.

Rainbow Dash was a rainbow-color haired teenager with purple eyes and light blue skin, who wore a white t-shirt with a lightning bolt rainbow emitting from a cloud and high collar jean jacket. Her skirt had magenta and white stripes and visible black bike shorts underneath. Her converse boots were long and blue with white toes and rainbow socks.

And finally, Fluttershy was a teenage girl who had yellow skin and beautiful flowing pink hair with soulful, sweet cyan eyes. She wore a simple sleeveless white shirt and a yellow-green ruffled skirt with butterflies on the side along with matching boots with white toes and pink socks with white dots. She also wore a matching butterfly clip for good measure.

Discord took a look at the ponies’ altered appearances. He tried to stifle laughter, but eventually just gave up and started howling with laughter. Never had he seen more ridiculous-looking creatures in his whole life (aside from himself, of course). The girls and Spike looked at him, unamused.

“Yah mind tellin’ us what’s so funny, sugarcube?” Applejack asked, unimpressed.

“It’s just . . . it’s just . . . you girls look completely different! And ridiculous!” Discord chuckled. He caught Fluttershy’s eye. “Except you, of course, dear, sweet Fluttershy.”

“Well, you better get used to it,” Twilight informed him very matter-of-factly. “You’re going to see a lot more of this around here.” She took a look at her surroundings. “Where are we?”

They were standing in the middle of a town square. An official –looking building with two large black rectangles attached to it was staring back at them. Judging by the sun’s position in the sky, it was the early morning. Twilight turned to face the portal that they had just come out of, to find that it was not the Wondercolt statue, but rather something completely different. It was a bronze statue of two human teenagers, one boy and one girl, raising their hands up in victory. Both figures were wearing domino masks. The girl had her hair done in two pigtails and was wearing a spandex suit with spots all over it. The boy was dressed like a cat, collar and all, and was carrying a staff in his free hand. In the distance, a sign featuring the same two teenagers, this time in color, said

Bienvenue a Paris
Maison de Ladybug et Chat Noir

“Where are we?” Rainbow Dash asked in awe.

“I don’t know, but I don’t think we’re in Canterlot High anymore,” Twilight said nervously.

“That’s because you aren’t,” said a familiar voice. Twilight turned around and saw someone walk to her from the side. She was a girl with teal eyes, yellow-orange skin and red-and-yellow flame-like hair, and she was wearing a semitransparent teal and yellow dress over gray leggings. Her boots had orange chevron stripes, and she had a black-and-orange jacket tied around her waist.

“Sunset Shimmer!” Twilight ran up to her old friend, who hugged her. “It’s so good to see you again!”

“Same here!” Sunset smiled. “I’m so glad Celestia allowed you to come back!” She peered over Twilight’s shoulder. “And I’m guessing you brought your friends too?”

“Yeah,” Twilight said. Sunset waved at Twilight’s friends, but they looked at each other, unsure. This was perfectly understandable to Sunset; after all, she hadn’t exactly made a good first impression with them.

“Who’s he?” Sunset asked, pointing at Discord, who glanced back at her, annoyed.

“I have a name, you know,” he said. “It’s Discord.”

Sunset giggled. “In that case, hello, Discord.”

Twilight let go of Sunset. “So, where are we, Sunset?”

“Paris, France,” Sunset said. “I’m here on school vacation. After that craziness at Everfree, I’m just glad to be someplace where I won’t have to deal with magical shenanigans for a while.”

“This place is gorgeous,” said Rarity, who was awestruck by all the marvels that Paris had to offer. “I want to stay here forever.”

“I know the feeling,” Sunset said empathetically.

“So, do you mind telling us who those two are?” Spike said, pointing a paw at the sign with the two masked teenagers.

“From what I heard, their names are Ladybug and Cat Noir,” Sunset said. “I’ve never actually seen them in person, though, seeing how I just got here.”

Rainbow Dash snorted with laughter. “Those are real original superhero names,” she giggled. “And why is it Cat Noir? I expected something along the lines of Black Cat.”

“How ‘bout yah ask them why they chose those names when you see them in person?” Applejack said.

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth in reply, but suddenly decided it wasn’t worth it, so she closed it.

“Another thing,” Twilight was saying, “what is that?” She pointed a finger to a structure in the background shaped like the letter A.

“That? Oh, that’s the Eiffel Tower,” Sunset said. “If you don’t mind, is it okay if I show you guy around the city, at least the places I’ve visited so far?”

“Show us the way, my friend,” Twilight said.

It was the late afternoon. Having successfully both made it to the weekend and avoided Chloe for the rest of the school day, Marinette, Alya, and Sabrina decided to treat themselves by having a get-together at Sabrina’s place. They were walking down the front steps to the school when Plagg hovered up to meet them.

“Hey, girls,” he started. “Adrien’s doing another photoshoot in the park this afternoon. Would you be interested in joining? Nino’s gonna be there as well.”

Marinette looked at Alya. “Well?” she asked. “What do you think?”

“Well,” Alya said. “I don’t see why not. As long as we get back before sundown.”

“It’s settled, then,” Tikki decided. “We’ll go see your friends in the park.”

The afternoon sun radiated its loving warmth onto the Parisians as they went about their business. Marinette, Alya, Sabrina, and Tikki looked at Adrien smilingly as he posed for his photoshoot, accompanied by his bodyguard, Nino, Plagg, and a photographer. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that he was on better terms with his guardian than previously, but Adrien seemed a lot happier when he was doing modeling these days. Nino and Plagg turned around and waved, while Adrien turned and gave a short quick nod in acknowledgement.

“If il signor Agreste coulda just looka here,” the photographer spoke in a thick Italian accent, “I woulda most appreciate it.” Adrien turned back to face the camera. Marinette gave an ecstatic grin, and Alya and Sabrina looked at each other and smirked amusedly. You’d think that being in a relationship with the one you’ve have had a crush on for so long would have been enough, but apparently, this was not the case with Marinette. Apparently, being Adrien’s girlfriend upped her adorkability factor by a lot.

“While we’re waiting,” Tikki said to Marinette, “how about we go sit down and rest somewhere?”

“That’s a good idea, Tikki!” Alya pointed out. “We can go sit down on those benches over there!” She motioned over a few wooden benches over into the distance. So the three of them went over to the benches to rest their tired legs. Just then, Sabrina spotted something in the distance.

“Hey, who are those guys over there?” she asked, pointing to something in the distance. Marinette, Alya, and Tikki turned in the direction of her finger and the weirdest sight that Marinette had ever seen met her eyes, even weirder than Star Butterfly and her magic.

A group of seven girls had just entered the park. They looked like perfectly ordinary teenage girls-if it weren’t for the fact that they didn’t have normal skin and hair colors. All seven girls were wearing boots with various designs on them. Some of the girls were carrying backpacks, and one of them held a purple puppy with green hair. Indeed, as people passed by them, they shot glances at the seven teenagers, obviously not having seen anyone like them before.

“I wonder who those girls are,” Marinette wondered. “Judging by their bizarre skin coloration, they obviously cannot be from around here.”

“Well, maybe they’re from another dimension, much like a certain space princess who visited us two months ago,” Sabrina smirked to Marinette.

“Well, either way, here’s one of them coming our way right now,” Tikki observed. Indeed, one girl with purple skin and purple hair with an amethyst streak in it came their way. As soon as she reached the benches, she turned to Marinette.

“You won’t mind if we sit here, do you?” she inquired. “We’ve been on a tour of the city all day, and our legs are killing us.”

“Of course not,” Marinette smiled. “Feel free to sit down with us. And tell your friends that that they’re welcome here too.”

“Thank you,” the purple girl smiled back. She waved over to her friends, telling them that it was okay for them. The other girls came over and occupied the remaining benches, grateful for a chance to rest and stretch their legs out.

“I don’t believe you introduced yourselves,” Alya said to the purple girl. “Who are you guys?”

“Right,” the purple girl started. “I’m Twilight Sparkle. These are my friends, Rainbow Dash”-she motioned over to a blue-skinned girl with hair with the colors of the rainbow-“Pinkie Pie”-a pink girl with wild, messy, pink hair wearing a huge pink bow and a big friendly grin waved-“Applejack”-the girl with the cowboy hat tilted it in acknowledgement and said, “Howdy”-“Fluttershy”-the pink-haired yellow girl gave a small smile and waved timidly-“Rarity”-the girl with the purple hair done up in a bang flipped her hair in confidence and smiled at Marinette-“and Sunset Shimmer.” The girl with the fiery hair smiled at Marinette as well.

“And don’t forget the trusty sidekick,” the puppy eagerly added, poking its head out of the backpack. Alya, Sabrina, and Marinette looked at the puppy in shock, clearly wondering if they had taken drugs; it was one thing to have a kwami speak to them, but they had never seen an honest-to-goodness puppy, of all things, talk in normal human speech.

“D-Did you . . . did your dog just . . .?” Sabrina asked, barely able to form a coherent word.

“Talk?” Twilight finished for her. “Of course he did. And back home, he’s not even a dog, he’s a fire-breathing dragon!”

Silence. None of the girls said a word. At last, Alya spoke up, “You girls aren’t from around here, are you?”

The girl named Sunset Shimmer chuckled. “How did you guess?”

“For starters, your skin tones aren’t exactly what you’d normally find in a city like this,” Alya said. “Not to mention that your names aren’t regular human names, either. I mean, there’s Star Butterfly, but she’s probably an exception, because she’s from another planet.”

“Who’s Star Butterfly?” Sunset asked curiously.

“We’ll explain later,” Marinette answered. “But where are you girls from, exactly?”

The girl named Pinkie Pie giggled. “We’re from this alternate dimension populated by magical talking horses called Equestria. Twilight is a princess and the five-well, six, if you count Sunset Shimmer-are her friends. And Spike”-she motioned over to the puppy-“is a dragon who helped us like, what, plenty of times?”

A princess, eh? That’s something you and Star have in common, Twilight, Sabrina thought to herself.

“I don’t think we introduced ourselves,” Marinette continued, motioning to herself. “My name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng, and these are my friends Alya Cesaire and Sabrina Raincomprix.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet all of ya,” Applejack said heartily. “Welcome to the herd, you three.”

“Speaking of,” Alya smiled to Marinette, “it would be nice if a certain somebody told these girls a certain secret she had.”

“She’s right,” Sabrina added. “We don’t want a repeat of what happened two months ago, now, do we?”

Marinette blushed, smiling nervously. “Uh, no, no we don’t.” She turned to Twilight and her friends. “Have any of you girls heard of the superheroes Ladybug and Cat Noir?”

“Well,” Applejack said, “not really. Y’all are better off askin’ Sunset over here, ‘cuz she’s been here longer than we have.” She motioned over to Sunset.

“Oh, Applejack,” Sunset chuckled, “I told you, I haven’t even been here that long. I don’t even know much about them.”

“Well,” Marinette continued, “what if I told you that I was-“

“The-superhero-Ladybug-who-has-a-sidekick-named-Cat-Noir-and-who-transforms-using-this-object-called-a-Miraculous-and-has-this-kwami-named-Tikki-who-is-the-spirit-of-good-luck-and-creation?” Pinkie Pie answered eagerly.

Silence. None of the girls said anything. Twilight and Marinette looked on at Pinkie in surprise. At last, Alya asked Pinkie, “How do you know that?”

“Just a hunch,” Pinkie Pie answered, flashing her a cute smile.

Alya blinked. “If you say so,” she shrugged.

Marinette giggled. “You’re absolutely right. Come on out, Tikki!” With that, Tikki slowly floated her way out of her hiding spot in Marinette’s purse. Fluttershy took notice of the creature and squealed in delight.

“Oh my goodness! Who’s this sweet little guy?” She moved in closer until she was in full view of the ladybug kwami, who smiled back at her.

“Tikki’s a girl,” Alya pointed out to Fluttershy.

“I’ve never seen a creature like her,” Fluttershy said, totally fascinated. “What is she?”

“I’m a kwami,” Tikki said. “Marinette’s, to be precise.”

“That’s not all,” Marinette added, standing up. “TIKKI, SPOTS ON!” Instantly, Tikki found herself being sucked into the earrings, and the red-and-black costume appeared all over Marinette’s body, mask and all. Twilight and her friends looked on in amazement.

“Wow!” Rainbow Dash said in amazement, totally awestruck. “You . . . you’re Ladybug!”

Ladybug smiled. “Yup,” she agreed. “See my earrings?” She pointed to the earring on her left earlobe. “As your friend pointed out, this is my Miraculous, which is basically a jewel that, with a kwami’s help, grants the wearer amazing powers. Mine is the power of creation.”

“You . . . are . . . so . . . awesome!” Rainbow Dash squealed.

“Not surprising though, is it?” Twilight mused. “Even without the costume, I could tell she was Ladybug.”

Alya chuckled. “I’m amazed I didn’t catch it sooner,” she admitted.

Just then, Adrien, having finished with his photoshoot, arrived to where the girls were sitting, accompanied by Nino and Plagg. Adrien took quick notice of Twilight and her friends.

“Hey,” he said. “Who are your friends?”

“Twilight, girls, Spike,” Ladybug started, “say hello to Adrien Agreste, his kwami Plagg, and his friend Nino.” She introduced the three boys to Twilight and her friends.

“Adrien Agreste?” Pinkie Pie squealed in delight. “As-in-your-boyfriend-slash-crime-fighting-partner-whose-alter-ego-is-Cat-Noir-who-can-destroy-stuff-by-touching-it-and-whose-Miraculous-is-the-ring-on-his-hand-and-whose-kwami-is-called-Plagg-who-is-the-spirit-of-bad-luck-and-destruction?”

Alya blinked again. “Again, I must ask, how do you know all this?”

“Just a hunch,” Pinkie Pie repeated, flashing her another cute smile.

Alya raised an eyebrow skeptically. “Okay, then,” she said slowly. How does she know everything despite not being here long enough? she thought to herself.

Just then, a bright flash appeared out of nowhere, and before she knew it, Ladybug was looking at the most bizarre creature that she had ever seen: the head was horse-like, but was unlike that of any horse she had known, and had a deer antler and goat antler; the creature’s body had the right front paw of a lion and a left claw of an eagle, as well as a lizard’s right leg and the left leg of a buffalo; its mouth had a single long fang coming out of it; and it had two very different wings coming out of it: a bat wing and a pegasus wing. The body ended in a dragon-like snake tail with a white tuft, and its eyes were different sizes, but were red with yellow sclerae.

“What on earth is that?” she cried in surprise, pointing a finger at the creature, which was staring back at her in annoyance.

“Is it too much to not refer to me as ‘that’?” he asked her. “Call off your little ladybug friend, please, so that I can explain who I am!”

Ladybug sighed. “Spots off!” She transformed back into Marinette, and Tikki came out of Marinette’s earring and turned to face him.

“Who are you?” Alya asked the creature in a rather point-blank manner, while Sabrina and Nino looked on in awe.

“I don’t believe we’ve ever met,” the creature extended its lion paw for Marinette to shake, which she reluctantly accepted. “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Discord, former spirit of chaos and disharmony, and Princess Celestia’s personally appointed guardian for these young girls.” He bowed and motioned to Twilight and her friends, and invisible applause was heard everywhere. “Thank you, thank you, you’re too kind.” Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie giggled at the draconequus’s antics.

“Yeah, I know you,” Tikki flew up to Discord and narrowed her eyes menacingly. “Aren’t you the one who brainwashed Twilight’s friends and tried turning them against her?”

“So you have heard of me!”

Tikki sighed, rolling her eyes. “Unfortunately.”

“What are you, exactly?” Adrien asked Discord, still not fully comprehending the sight of the creature before him.

“I’m a draconequus, Adrien dear boy,” Discord snidely remarked. “That means that I have the ability to alter reality whenever I choose. Observe.” He pointed a finger at Nino, and in a flash of white light, he instantly turned him back into the Bubbler. Adrien, who was already stunned that this guy knew who he was without even being properly introduced to him, was even more surprised that he wasn’t exaggerating: he really could alter reality on a whim. Discord snapped his finger, and the Bubbler instantly turned back into Nino.

“Did . . . did you just see what happened?” Nino asked Adrien and Plagg, surprised.

“Yeah,” Plagg chuckled. “He gave you an intense makeover.” Adrien glared at his kwami.

“Well, I know someone who you’re going to get along with just fine,” Alya said to Discord, motioning over to Plagg. “You both share the same sense of humor.”

“Marvelous!” Discord replied, pleased. Twilight groaned in annoyance. So now there would two problems she had to worry about besides the residual anger she felt over her friends abandoning her.

“Well,” Adrien said, “my photoshoot will continue for another hour or so. After it is over, maybe we can all savor the Parisian springtime weather as a group. Agreed?”

The rest of his friends murmured in agreement. Discord clapped his paw and claw together. “Splendid!” he declared. Plagg allowed himself a small grin. Something told him he was going to love having the spirit of chaos and disharmony around.

Chloe collapsed onto her bed, exhausted from the terrible day she had suffered through. Not only was her best friend no longer by her side, but she was pretty sure that Alya and Marinette had lied to her to avoid spending time with her. Which wasn’t surprising, considering that she had tormented one of them for four years.

She turned to face a photograph on her bedside table-the last family photo that was taken before the divorce was filed. Almost immediately, her eyes began to water up at the sight of her mother.

Her mother.

Where was she? What was she doing now? Did she even bother to check up on her daughter and ex-husband? Sadness quickly gave way to anger, and she gave the photo a brutal backhand. The photo landed onto the floor and shattered. But surprisingly, this gave the poor girl no relief, and she settled down in her bed and covered her face with her plush pillows, her eyes finally overflowing with tears and the anger going back to sadness, preparing herself for the long and lonely night that would shortly arrive.

Burnt Bridges

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The evening twilight soon cast its warm, loving calm over the entire city of Paris as Twilight, Marinette, and their friends traded stories about their adventures with each other. Marinette and Adrien told Twilight and her friends all about the duties they had as defenders. They told them how two months ago, two kids named Star Butterfly and Marco Diaz came to Paris for spring break. They also related how Adrien's biological father, the supervillain Hawk Moth, had been going after their Miraculouses to obtain ultimate power and rule the world and how he had succeeded two months ago in achieving his goal, revealing both of their identities to their peers in the process.

"Oh, my," Fluttershy squeaked, a bit terrified. "How horrible."

"Yeah," Marinette admitted. "But the forces of good eventually prevailed, as always. Star and Marco became a couple, and so did Adrien and I."

Twilight listened to the story in amazement. These two have been on so many adventures together, just like she and her friends have.

"You guys must be pretty proud of yourselves, saving the city at least a hundred times," she said at last.

"Got that right," Adrien agreed. "Though, to be honest, now that Hawk Moth is out of commission, Marinette and I are kinda at a loss for what to do now. I don't suppose you can help us, can you?"

Twilight paused, trying to think of an answer. At last, she said, "Not at the moment. But we'll let you know." She and her Equestrian friends turned and headed into the College Francois Dupont.

"Where are you girls going?" Alya called after them.

"Into the school, of course," Twilight answered her. "To spend the night there." The four of them could only watch on as they disappeared inside, then looked at each other in confusion.

"You know," Tikki started, flying up to Marinette, "our apartment still has the extra floor from when Star and Marco were here. We should ask them to spend at least one night at our place."

"You're right, Tikki," started Marinette. "We should."

"Speaking of night," Sabrina yawned, "I'm going home to get some shut-eye. Shall the four of us get together again to get our outfits for the dance together?"

"Okay," Alya said. Adrien nodded his head in agreement.

"'Kay. 'Night, guys. See you tomorrow." Sabrina started walking back home. Just then, a car beeped, and the remaining three friends turned to see that it was Adrien's driver/bodyguard, come to up. Adrien and Alya turned around to face Marinette and Tikki.

"See you girls, tomorrow," Adrien said. "My driver will drop Alya off at her place before we go home." On his shoulder, Plagg waved goodbye to them, before disappearing inside the car with his master and Alya. As the car drove off, Marinette and Tikki turned around and went back into their apartment.

The next morning, Tikki woke Marinette up. They quickly got dressed after they both had their breakfast. As they went down the stairs, Mr. and Mrs. Dupain-Cheng called Marinette over to give her everything she needed to go shopping.

"Now, be sure to come back by around noon," Mrs. Cheng said to Marinette, giving her a surprisingly large amount of money.

"Mom, that's quite a lot," Marinette noticed. "Where did you get this?"

"The royalty checks," her mom said simply.

"Wait, what royalty checks?" Tikki asked, surprised.

"The ones we get weekly for being the face of the Ladybug action figures, Tikki," Marinette reminded her. "You were there, remember?"

"Oh yeah," Tikki said. "Now I remember."

As they walked out of the bakery, they turned and headed straight for the College Francois Dupont, fully intending to wake Twilight and her friends up, but they soon found out that the front doors were locked, as it was a weekend.

"Where is he when you need him?" Marinette muttered.

"Who are you talking about?" Tikki questioned.

"That . . . creature we met at the park yesterday," Marinette answered. "What was his name again?"

Tikki's expression quickly soured. "Discord," she said at last. "And what would you need him for, anyway?"

"I need his help unlocking these doors to wake up Twilight and her friends."

"Leave that to me," Tikki responded. She phased through the lock. A few minutes later, the locks clicked and the door swung wide open. Marinette entered the school and saw Twilight and her friends approach the front of the school. For some reason, Twilight looked a bit more tired than she was yesterday.

"Morning, girls," she greeted them. "I take it your night in here went well?"

"Well," Applejack started, "our night was okay and all, but it woulda gone a lot smoother if somepony here didn' keep talkin' in her sleep!" She motioned over to Twilight.

"Somepony?" Marinette asked, confused by this figure of speech.

"We use that term when we address fellow ponies, darling," Rarity responded. Marinette was still a bit confused, but shrugged, as if to say, Oh well. "And as Applejack was saying, Twilight kept muttering in her sleep about caves and Canterlot. Don't know where she got that idea."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Rainbow Dash admitted in an off-handed, casual manner.

Just then, a car horn sounded. Marinette and Tikki turned around. There was Adrien, waving over to the girls, accompanied by Alya and Sabrina. Plagg was perched on his shoulder.

"Ooh, our ride's here!" squealed Rarity, delighted. The girls entered the limo, squeezing in the backseat area to provide room.

"Take us to Madame Chanel's, please," Adrien told his driver. Within minutes they were off.

Madame Chanel's was a quaint-looking store that was situated not far from the Agreste mansion or the Grand Paris hotel. As soon as the party entered the store, the general activity of the store lowered to a hush, and Marinette and Adrien felt many pairs of eyes fall on them.

"Why is everyone looking at us like that?" Adrien whispered to Plagg.

"It's us," he whispered. "We're famous." He waved to a young girl who was holding action figures of Ladybug and Cat Noir. The girl blinked at him, not saying anything.

"Forget that," Marinette reminded him. "We need to start searching for dresses." She turned to Adrien. "And a tuxedo for you."

The group started searching the entire store for things that could be worn to a dance. Throughout their trip, they came across an aisle with a section devoted to Ladybug and Cat Noir merchandise, which Plagg just happened to come across.

"Hey look!" he chuckled, motioning over to a Cat Noir action figure, then pressed a button on the side of its neck. "Claws out!" the action figure said, in a manner exactly like the real deal.

"Wow," Spike chuckled, peeking out from Twilight's backpack. "I always knew that Paris loved you two, but I didn't think that it would go so far as to make action figures of you guys!"

Twilight agreed with him. She turned around, looking for what else the aisle had to offer, until her eyes spotted something: it was a plastic crown that looked exactly like the Element of Harmony she used to wield-the Element of Magic. This would make a perfect gift for Flurry Heart, she thought to herself.

"STOP!"

The group froze, then turned to the source of the noise.

A young man with sleek blond hair, a pointed chin, and very icy blue eyes wearing a servant's uniform was standing in front of them, wearing a very severe expression on his face.

"You Marinette Dupain-Cheng? You Adrien Agreste?" he addressed the pair of them.

"Um . . . yes?" Marinette replied, grinning nervously.

"Come with me," the young man replied curtly. "Madam Chanel herself wants to speak with you." He eyed the group behind them. "And bring them as well."

The young man led the group to a secret office at the back of the store, then opened the door for them. Instantly, a large blast of scented perfume walloped them in their faces, and a few of them coughed. Twilight was nervous. She and her friends didn't do anything wrong! What could Madame Chanel herself possibly want with them?

Behind the desk in front of them, a chair swiveled itself to meet the group, and in it sat a curly silver-blonde woman in her thirties wearing pink evening gloves, a dress to match, and enough makeup to rival Chloe. Upon seeing the group, her face broke out into a very wide grin.

"Bless my stars!" she exclaimed. "I can't actually believe that Ladybug and Cat Noir are actually in my store!" She turned to the young man who had escorted them. "Hans, be sure to fetch refreshments for our guests and their friends!" The young man bowed to her and departed.

"All right, but bring me some camembert slices!" Plagg proclaimed, poking his head out of Adrien's pocket.

"And some cookies for me!" Tikki added.

"And if possible, some dog treats for me?" Spike added. Madame Chanel looked at him in surprise.

"Uh . . . woof?" Spike grinned nervously, but Madam Chanel shrugged it off. She motioned for Marinette and Adrien to sit down in two comfortable chairs in front of her desk.

"So," she started, "what brings you two to my humble little store today?"

"Thank you, Madame Chanel, but you're being too generous," Adrien chuckled in a self-deprecating manner. "Marinette and I are just doing our job as this city's defenders."

"Nonsense, darling!" Madame Chanel dismissed. "You two have served our fair city for so long. It's only natural that we repay our debt." Hans had come back with a plate of hors d'oeuvres for everyone, along a platter of camembert slices for Plagg, cookies for Tikki, and dog biscuits for Spike. "Now, let's get down to business. How may I be of service?"

"Well," Marinette started, "next Friday, our school is having its annual end-of-year school dance, and my friends and I need the proper attire. I don't suppose you could help us?"

Madame Chanel clapped her hands together. "But of course, darling. You came to the right place. Hans!"

"Yes, Madame Chanel?" Hans responded, ready to serve.

"Escort our guests here to the finest attire that we have to offer. Nothing less than the best! Understood?"

"Yes, Madame Chanel." Hans bowed respectfully.

"And as a way of saying thank you, I'm letting the two of you take the clothes for free! Your friends, in the meantime, will get discounts on their dresses as well!"

The guests stood up to leave, ready to get the full shopping experience. "Oh, and would you mind doing one last thing for me?"

"What is it?" Marinette asked.

"You two wouldn't mind signing this photo for me, would you?" Madame Chanel asked, holding up a photo of Ladybug on one of her exploits. "It's for my kids. They're huge fans of yours."

"Sure, no problem," Marinette obliged. She picked up a pen, signed the photo, then handed it off to Adrien, who also signed it.

"Oh, and Adrien," Madame Chanel addressed him, "tell your father that if he needs a store to supply is clothing line, I would be more than up for the job."

"I'll tell him," Adrien assured her.

"Good luck darlings!" Madame Chanel cheerily called to them as Hans escorted them out to get their attire. "And thank you so much!"

Soon, everyone had found a suitable dress for the dance (except for Rarity, who lamented the lack of diamonds on hers, which Marinette offered to remedy), and Adrien found a tuxedo that he looked absolutely dapper in. Hans escorted the party to the checkout counter.

"I'm surprised no one has commented on our appearances," Twilight said to Alya. "Or Spike being able to talk, for that matter."

Alya chuckled. "Trust me, when you live in a city that has had more supernatural encounters than what is considered normal, you kinda shrug off anything people usually consider out of the ordinary."

Twilight giggled. "So I'm guessing that if we went to your school on Monday, no one would-"

But she never got to finish her sentence, because she walked straight into someone- a girl about her height, with honey-blond hair, a black-and-white outfit and white shoes, who was carrying an armload of dresses, which she dropped immediately.

"Oops! My bad!" Twilight said to the new girl.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry," she replied in return, not bothering to make eye contact with any of them, but instead picking up the dresses she had spilled. Marinette peered at the girl's face. Even underneath all that smeared makeup on her face, she still somehow looked familiar. And then it hit her. It was-

"Chloe?" Marinette asked, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"What does it look like?" Chloe answered, not looking at Marinette or Twilight, but instead at the floor. "Buying a dress for the dance next week. I'm guessing you and your friends are doing the same thing as well?" She eyed the new girls in front of her with mild curiosity.

"As a matter of fact, we were," Alya snapped.

"Tell me, Chloe," Sabrina said very acidly, "how is your father doing these days? I'm guessing he loves the new attention that his actions as mayor have earned him?"

Marinette knew at once that Sabrina had hit a very sore spot with Chloe, because her eyes were dangerously starting to quiver. At last, Chloe faced her former best friend with the closest thing that she could muster to a murderous glare.

"How could you do this?" she screamed. "We've been friends since elementary school, and this is how you treat me after all these years?"

"We were friends," Sabrina viciously corrected her. "Then I find out that your pettiness almost cost my father his job and his sanity! Do you think of anybody but yourself?!"

Chloe paused, trying to think of a response, but failed to come up with one.

"Why am I not surprised?" Sabrina shook her head. "You're never going to change, as the many kids in our school can attest."

This remark finally managed to pierce through Chloe. Her eyes watering up, she dropped all the dresses and ran off, not looking back at all. Sunset turned to the group.

"Isn't anyone gonna go after her?"

The entire group stood still, not knowing what to do. Sabrina seemed to have definitely made up her mind, because she shook her head, crossed her arms, and closed her eyes. Marinette and Alya looked at each other, uncertain. Even Twilight was conflicted. As the Princess of Friendship, she knew that it was her duty to reach out to others. But it was clear that this girl did terrible things in her past. Sure, she may not have turned into a raging she-demon and tried to invade Equestria, but her crimes might have been just as bad, if not worse.

When it became clear that nobody was going to go after her, Sunset groaned in frustration and ran after Chloe. After she disappeared, Sabrina turned to Twilight and her friends.

"Your friend is weird," she said at last.

Twilight didn't respond. She kept wondering what it was that Chloe had done in the past that earned her the enmity of Alya, Marinette, Sabrina, and Adrien.

"Marinette, you know that girl?" she asked Mari.

Marinette chuckled sardonically. "Trust me, we go way back," she replied, in a tone that indicated that she was much closer to Chloe than she would have liked to have been.

A few minutes later, Sunset had come back to the group, and she was wearing an absolutely livid expression on her face.

"I hope you're happy," she snarled to Sabrina. "She's crying her eyes out in the dressing room thanks to you. Do you realize that she's trying to become a better person, but you're not giving her any opportunity to prove it?"

Sabrina responded with a hollow laugh. "Trust me, when you've been around her as long as I have, you eventually come to realize that people like her never change."

"You have a lot to think about," Sunset said to Sabrina, cold fury etched in every syllable in her voice, then stormed off. Sabrina didn't appear the least bit fazed by this statement. On the contrary, she turned to the rest of the group, clearly confused. "What's her problem?"

Everybody shrugged except Twilight, who knew exactly why Sunset was defending Chloe: Sunset herself had gone through a similar situation after she had been dethroned as the queen of Canterlot High, when she had to put up with abuse and humiliation until the Battle of the Bands. But whatever she had to endure was apparently nothing compared to what Chloe had to deal with.

Marinette noticed that Chloe left behind a ball of paper. She picked it up, straightened it out as best as she could, and read aloud. "'The only reason you didn't get run out of town yet is because your father is still in charge of it'."

It was clearly the note that Kim gave to Chloe in class the other day. Now she knew why Chloe had acted out.

"Harsh," Applejack commented, peering over Marinette's shoulder. Fluttershy nodded in agreement.

Sabrina snorted scornfully. "Yeah, right. Considering the mayor's recent drop in popularity, I don't think he'll be in office much longer. A few people are even starting to speak of running him and his precious princess out of town."

"Why is that?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"They're responsible for a good chunk of the akumatized supervillains that ran amok in Paris in the past," Adrien answered.

"Akuma-what-now?" Rainbow Dash responded.

And so, Marinette and Adrien explained to the group how in the past, Hawk Moth had akumatized people into supervillains by feeding off their negative emotions using butterflies corrupted by the Moth Miraculous. By the end of it, Twilight and her friends all had varying degrees of shock and surprise on their faces, but none more so than Fluttershy. She couldn't believe that the harmless little insects she had grown so fond of were used for evil purposes in the past.

"And the worst part?" Marinette continued. "The Miraculouses aren't even supposed to be used for evil purposes."

"Was that Miraculous ever used properly?" Twilight asked.

Marinette sighed. "I can think of only one instance where it was used to create superheroes in the past," she said, thinking immediately of Marco, Jackie, and Nathaniel.

After everyone had paid for their dresses and tipped Hans for his service, the entire group stood outside waiting for Adrien's driver to pick them up. Sunset had still not come back from whatever it was that she was doing, and Marinette had already sent a text message to her telling her to meet at her place as soon as she was finished. She put the phone back in her purse when she felt something else inside it. At first, she thought it was Tikki or maybe even Plagg who was in it, but Tikki took a look inside it and her expression stiffened.

"It's Plagg, isn't it?" Marinette asked.

"Nope," Tikki shook her head.

Marinette nudged Alya and Sabrina, and motioned for them to follow her. The three girls went around the corner of the store and Marinette opened her purse to find that a miniature Discord had been sleeping in it and was now fully awake.

"Oh hey, Marinette," he started. "How's everything?"

"Discord!" Marinette shrieked. "What are you doing in my purse?!"

"I needed a place to sleep," the draconequus replied in a bored, almost nonchalant tone. He disappeared in a flash of white light, and reappeared before the girls in full-size. "And I couldn't help but overhear that you're having an argument with one of your classmates."

Marinette snorted with disbelief. That's putting it mildly, she thought to herself. She highly doubted that Discord knew anything of what was going on between her and Chloe.

"Yeah," she agreed grudgingly. "So?"

"It's seems as though she's trying to prove to you that she's changed for the better," Discord continued, a more pressing tone in his statement.

Marinette turned around, checking to see that Chloe was not around, then turned back to face Discord. "So?" she started, her voice and temper rising. "Give me one good reason why she should be our friend after everything she has done! Not only is she responsible for ten people turning into supervillains, one of whom is my great-uncle, but she has been bullying me for four years! On top of that, she apparently loves to use her status as the daughter of the mayor of Paris to step all over people left and right! What were me and Alya thinking when we promised her that we'd help her?"

"That explains so much," Applejack's voice interrupted. Both girls turned around to see that Twilight and her friends, sans Sunset, had joined them. Instantly, Marinette blushed.

"How much of that did you hear?" Alya asked.

"Enough to find out that you have a hostile relationship with that girl back there, darling," Rarity answered simply.

"Yeah, well, Sabrina had a point back there," Alya admitted. "When you've been around crazy brats like her for a long time, you'd lose patience with them, too."

"Yeah, well," Discord interjected, "I understand the course of action you're taking with this, but believe me when I say that it might not be the best long-term idea. What if she decides to just give up on being nice to you and become an even worse person than she previously was? It's not like you ever cared about her to begin with."

Alya laughed incredulously. "So the spirit of chaos and disharmony is suggesting that we go over to her and say, 'Chloe, we forgive you for causing mass murders on a weekly basis, can you please come over and be our BFF?' Give me a break!"

"Never thought I'd say this, but Discord has a point," Twilight intervened.

“And you know this how, exactly?” Sabrina responded, raising an eyebrow.

“Let’s just say that we went down the road you’re going on, and it led to disastrous consequences for Equestria,” Twilight replied, thinking immediately of Tirek’s rampage.

“You should at least try giving her a chance,” Fluttershy added. “Sometimes, we all deserve a little kindness.”

“Easy for you to say,” Sabrina snapped.

“Well, I think it’s a pity that none of you guys support the idea of second chances,” Discord crossed his mismatched arms together. “Who knows, she may prove helpful to you in the future.”

“Yeah, we’ll be sure to contact her when we need to steal someone’s lunch money,” Sabrina sarcastically remarked, then chuckled. Alya, Marinette and Adrien, however, looked uncertain. Twilight sighed. It was clear that these four still had a lot to work on in friendship, never mind the fact that they were already very close to each other.

“If you’ll excuse us,” Marinette said suddenly, grabbing Alya’s arm, “we forgot something.” She pulled her into the store.

“All right,” Adrien called. “But come back soon before the driver gets here!”

“We did?” Alya asked, confused.

“Actually,” Marinette said, lowering her voice to a whisper, “we need to go apologize to Chloe. For how we’ve treated her.”

“We are?” Alya asked, still confused.

“Of course!” her friend whispered furiously. “He brought up several good points that I can’t seem to shake off! After all, he must have done terrible things in his past, and look where he is now! He’s the guardian for Twilight and her friends!”

Alya paused. At last, she sighed, then said, “Fine. I hope it works, for our sake.”

Sunset entered the dressing rooms to look for Chloe. She wondered where she would have to go to find her when she heard a subdued wailing in the background. She listened, then kept following the sound until she approached a locked room where the wailing originated. She gently knocked on the door, and the wailing got quieter while the locks unlocked and the door opened. There stood Chloe, who was now in a worse shape than she was out in the store itself. Her eyes were red and bloodshot from crying so much. She had taken off her designer jacket, which was now dirty from cleaning up her face. And her face was now only slightly cleaner after she had done so.

"What do you want?" Chloe snapped at Sunset. "Here to revel in my humiliation?"

"Of course not," Sunset said flatly. "I wanted to see if you were all right. But from what I can see, it's clear you aren't."

"I am officially a loser," Chloe gasped in between sobs, burying her face in her designer jacket. "I have no friends. Everyone in school hates me. My father is in danger of losing his position. On top of that, not only has Sabrina turned against me, but those two aren't giving me a chance to help them."

"Anything I can do?" Sunset asked her.

"I'm not sure what can be done," Chloe answered bitterly. "I'm so alone."

Sunset let out a small gasp. This girl was in a far worse position than she, Sunset, was back at Canterlot High. At least there, she had the benefit of a few friends who were willing to help her pick up the pieces. But it was clear that Chloe had literally no one to turn to in her darkest hour. She smiled warmly at Chloe, and held out her hand, which Chloe gratefully accepted.

"My name is Sunset Shimmer, and I think it's time you made some real friends around here."

The two girls went to the back of the store, where they saw Sunset escorting a clearly miserable Chloe out of the dressing room, her eyes bloodshot from crying so much and her face dirtier from the ruined makeup. Chloe looked up and saw them approach her, a fiery spark in her eyes.

“What do you two want?” she snapped. “Here to revel in my humiliation? Well, you can forget it!”

Marinette took a deep breath. “Actually, Chloe, we’ve come to work out an agreement.”

“What is it?” Chloe asked.

“We’ve realized that we’ve been acting like complete jerks to you, but at the same time, we’re also uncomfortable with how you’ve treated us in the past,” Marientte started.

“So basically, we’re gonna just talk to you every now and then, more often than we did in the past two months,” Alya said.

“Sounds good to me,” Chloe muttered.

“There is one thing you can do for us,” Marinette said.

“What’s that?” Chloe answered.

“Wash up your face,” Alya added dryly.

School-Time Interactions, Part 1

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When Alya and Marinette came out with Sunset Shimmer minutes after they had spoken to Chloe, they had expressions of awkwardness on their faces. Apparently, they had been chewed out by Sunset Shimmer about their treatment of Chloe, and she apparently agreed with Discord that had she not intervened and helped Chloe, something ugly would have happened to her.

“And I don’t care what she did to you in the past,” she said to them as they walked out of the store. “You girls were shaping up to be no different than she is. I should know, I’ve been there before.”

“She’s not coming with us?” Alya asked, noticing the fact that Chloe wasn’t with them.

“Her driver will be picking her up to drop her off at her therapy,” Sunset answered curtly.

“I wasn’t aware she had therapy,” Marinette noted in surprise.

“Well, what did you expect?” Sunset bluntly asked her. “You and your friends at school put her in a lot of emotional distress. She had to find some outlet for all this.”

The three girls didn’t say another word as they exited the store together. As they entered Adrien’s limo, Marinette and Alya looked at each other. It was clear that they were going to have to start living up to their promise, lest she came out to a sticky end and their reputations be ruined.

On Sunday, the nine girls, with help from Adrien, Nino, Tikki, and eventually Plagg, came together at Marinette’s place to help bake all the goods that were needed. Marinette, Alya, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy were in charge of baking cupcakes; Adrien, Nino, Twilight, and Rarity covered the cookies; and Tikki, Plagg, Applejack, and Rainbow decided to bake some apple fritters. Surprisingly, the process, even though it was long, was oddly satisfying, and it was probably helped by the fact that Pinkie Pie managed to keep everyone entertained with her songs.

Pinkie Pie:
All you have to do is take a cup of flour!
Add it to the mix!
Now just take a little something sweet, not sour!
A bit of salt, just a pinch!
Baking these treats is such a cinch!
Add a teaspoon of vanilla!
Add a little more, and you count to four,
And you never get your fill of...
Cupcakes! So sweet and tasty!
Cupcakes! Don't be too hasty!
Cupcakes! Cupcakes, cupcakes, CUPCAKES!

“Thank you, Pinkie, for that… interesting song,” Alya commented once the song was over.

The oven dinged, signaling that the cookies were ready to be taken out. Marinette opened the oven door, motioning over for someone to take them out. Twilight put on some oven mitts and took them out of the oven with her help, setting them on a nearby table.

“I wish Discord would help us,” Rainbow Dash said. “He could get all this ready just by blinking if he wanted to.” Behind her, Plagg got an amused grin on his face, and he disappeared into Adrien’s pocket.

“Now where would be the fun in that?” Applejack asked. “There’s nothing better than earning something by the sweat of your own brow.”

“You got that right,” Marinette added, smiling. “In fact, if we didn’t need these for the dance, I’d say we would have done my parents a favor by getting these ready.”

Just then, Marinette’s parents came up and smiled at the cookies their daughter had made, admiring her handiwork.

“Great job, you guys,” Mrs. Cheng smiled at them. “I’d say that you might even give us a run for our money.”

“Don’t be silly,” Marinette waved her hand dismissively. “We couldn’t possibly hold a candle to whatever you make on a daily basis.”

“Well, whatever the case,” Mr. Dupain said, “I have a feeling that the kids at the dance are going to love these treats that you’ve supplied. I have a feeling that they will be a hit.”

“Thanks, papa,” Marinette beamed.

The next day, after school, Marinette and her friends decided to stay behind after school to help set up the dance decorations. And they were not the only ones, either. Apparently, the end of year dance mattered so much to everyone that they all stayed behind to help. The only one who didn’t stay behind to help decorate was Chloe, as she had to go to her therapy session, but this was to be expected, given how almost nobody wanted anything to do with her anymore.

The four friends sat on the steps to the school, waiting for Twilight and the girls to show up. At last they spotted them walking up the front steps, obviously back from another trip around the city.

“There you girls are,” Tikki started. “Ready to help set us set everything up?”

“Are we ever!” Pinkie Pie squealed in excitement. “I even got my party cannon ready in the event of a party emergency!” She flashed a huge grin.

The four friends exchanged bewildered looks, then turned to Twilight and her friends, who shrugged as if to say, “Just roll with it. She’s just being Pinkie Pie.”

“Okay, then,” Marinette shrugged back. “Wait here. I need to see if they will allow you in.” She went inside and approached Mrs. Bustier.

“Mrs. Bustier,” she asked, “you wouldn’t mind if we brought in some . . . outside help, would you?” She motioned to
Twilight and her friends.

“Of course I wouldn’t!” Mrs. Bustier smiled. “The more, the merrier!”

“One other thing,” Alya added, “you wouldn’t if they came to the end-of-year dance, do you?”

Mrs. Bustier shook her head. “Your friends are welcome to come to the dance. I just hope they have their outfits ready.”

She turned and walked away. Twilight smiled, because she knew that she and her friends already had that problem covered.

“It’s all right, girls, you’re free to come,” Marinette beamed at them as soon as they walked over. All of them smiled at this; indeed, Pinkie Pie looked positively excited.

“Ooooh! I’m so nervicited!” she squealed gleefully.

Marinette looked at her in confusion. “Nervicited?”

“Nervous and excited at the same time!” Pinkie squeaked, flashing her a huge grin.

Alya blinked. “You are aware that isn’t a real word, right?”

“Thank heavens to Betsy,” Applejack said in a tone that indicated that she was glad that someone else didn’t understand Pinkie Pie’s vocabulary. “Come on, y’all. We got a party to help set up.”

While their friends were helping to set up the party, Fluttershy and Sunset Shimmer went around asking random kids about what they thought about Chloe. And they got the exact same response from all of them: that she was a spoiled, malicious, puerile bully who only thought about herself.

“She locked me in the bathroom during class photo day all because she didn’t like where she was standing in the photo,” said a tall, dark-haired girl with vermilion eyes and purple highlights.

“She made fun of my drawings and mocked a crush that I once had on a girl I liked,” said a boy with tomato-red hair in a bang.

“She made fun of my perfume and ripped up a letter I wanted to send to a visiting prince,” added a cute blonde girl with hair in a pixie cut and wearing a pink dress. “And you know how much I am in love with him.”

“Um, no, not really,” Sunset replied uncertainly.

“I couldn’t care less about what she did to me,” said a girl with pink hair in a bobcut. “Why do you care so much?”

“Um, never mind,” Fluttershy said meekly, before heading off with Sunset. The girl shrugged as she saw them leave.

“Wow,” Spike said, “I never knew so many people hated her.”

“I know,” Sunset said, vaguely reminded of when the same thing happened to her in CHS. “I think a few days with Twilight ought to do her some good.”

“Why would you say that?” Fluttershy asked.

“I’m thinking that someone ought to teach her how to be a good friend,” Sunset explained. “And who better than the Princess of Friendship herself?”

“Excuse me,” interrupted a new voice. The two girls and Spike turned to see that a large boy wearing a black t-shirt with a white design of two crossing bones printed on the front along with black slacks with large belt loops and large pockets and white socks with boots was staring back at them, a stern, almost forbidding expression on his face. Accompanying him was a short, chubby girl with golden brown eyes and blonde hair tied back by a pink bandana, a few strands of which were dyed green, blue, and magenta.

“Um . . . can we help you?” Sunset asked, a bit nervously.

“Dogs aren’t allowed in here,” the large boy said in a monotone. Fluttershy whimpered, obviously intimidated by his appearance.

“Don’t worry,” the girl said to Fluttershy. “He doesn’t bite. In fact, he’s a real sweetie.” She offered her hand out for her to shake. “My name’s Mylene. And this guy”-she patted the boy beside her-“is Ivan. Nice to meet you two.”
Fluttershy took Mylene’s hand, now feeling a lot better about Ivan.

“As I was saying,” Ivan repeated, a more gentle expression on his face, “dogs aren’t allowed on school property.” He pointed a finger at Spike.

“That stinks,” Spike groaned in disappointment. Mylene and Ivan looked at him in surprise.

“Y-You can t-talk?” Mylene asked, mildly surprised by this revelation.

“Oh yes,” Fluttershy smiled softly at her. “And if you want, I’m sure I could tell you all about him.” And so she started to explain to Ivan and Mylene about where they really came from.

Marinette and Tikki went around the tables, checking to make sure that everything was in order. So far, so good. Nothing was set up improperly. They stopped a table that had a tray of delicious-smelling biscuits.

“Looks good, doesn’t it?” a voice interrupted. Marinette and Tikki turned to see that Nathanael had joined them. As always, his tomato-red hair covered his left eye, and he smiled a little at them.
“Scrumptious,” Marinette smiled. Tikki bobbed her head up and down in agreement.

“Thanks, girls,” Nathanael said softly. “They’re an old Kurtzberg family recipe that goes back at least three generations.”

“I’m sure everyone will enjoy them, Nathanael,” she said sweetly, putting an assuring arm on her shoulder.

“So,” Nathanael said awkwardly, “how’s Adrien? What’s it like being both a beloved superhero and the girlfriend of the most popular boy in Paris?”

“It’s great, I will not lie,” Marinette said. “Though I’m sorry that I . . . ahem, never reciprocated your feelings properly. I hope you can forgive me.”

“It’s cool,” Nathanael dismissed. “Besides, I know who I’m taking to the dance: Jackie Lynn-Thomas. We’ve been getting along just fine since we saved your friend Star.”

“I’m glad that’s so,” Mari said. She may not have cared much about his feelings for her, but she was glad that there was someone out there who loved having him around. “But how will she come here? Star’s Dimensional Scissors?”

“Well, I guess so,” Nathanael said. “It’s the fastest way to travel here, after all. Want to help me design the banners and signs for the dance?”

“Of course,” Marinette smiled. “Let’s go, shall we?”

And so, the two of them passed the trays of food to get construction paper. Just then, a weird, pungent smell reached Marinette’s nose. That’s odd, she thought to herself. It’s coming from the cookie tray I helped make. She motioned to Nathanael to go on without her, then uncovered the tray where the smell was coming from to find that it was not the cookies she baked with her friends, but rather slices of camembert.

“WHO REPLACED THE COOKIES WITH WEDGES OF CAMAMBERT?!” she shrieked. Was this some sort of sick joke? Her parents were already busy as it was with their bakery, and they would not have time to get another batch ready. In the corner, Plagg and Discord were silently giggling to themselves, clearly enjoying themselves. This did not go unnoticed by Adrien, who grabbed both his kwami and the draconequus and forced both of them into a private classroom.

Plagg started, “We’re going to spare you the story, it’s a long, boring-”

“Oh yes you will explain, and fast!” Adrien interrupted, not amused in the slightest. “Do you realize we have a big problem here?”

“If by big, you mean my rock-hard abs, why thanks for noticing!” Discord answered, gesturing toward the nonexistent musculature on his chest.

Adrien let out an irritated groan. If this was their idea of a prank, they needed to work on their act big-time.

“Can you at least change the camembert slices back to the cookies?” he asked the pair of them, somewhat imploringly. “I’m sure that no one out there is gonna touch it, seeing how they don’t share your . . . ahem, dietary needs.”

“You’re such a party pooper,” Plagg groaned. Discord, who apparently shared the same sentiment, reluctantly snapped his fingers.

“You happy now?” he asked, annoyed. “I changed the camembert slices back to the cookies you baked yesterday. But I think it’s a shame that you don’t share the same sense of humor we do.”

“That I can live with,” Adrien remarked. “Now go on and behave yourselves.”

Rainbow Dash went around the tables, taking inventory of all the treats that the other students had supplied for the dance. She was so busy taking note of what stock they had that she walked right into someone.

“Sorry!” she quickly said. The kid was olive-skinned, had dark brown eyes, and wearing a red, short-sleeved hoodie with a white logo on it, along with sweatpants. His hair was in a sharp quiff, with the ends dyed gold.

“No problem,” he smirked at her, then registered her appearance. “You’re not from around here, are you?”

Rainbow Dash chuckled. “How’d ya guess?”

“How ‘bout we start with the blue skin and rainbow hair?” the kid smirked.

“Oh, that,” Rainbow said. “Yeah, we’re from another dimension.”

“Let me guess. You’re from Mewni, right?” the kid said.

Rainbow looked at him in confusion. “No,” she said at last. “No we’re not. We’re from Equestria.”

“Never heard of it,” the kid said. “Perhaps you can explain it to me later?”

“Sure thing,” the pegasus-turned-human replied. “I’m Rainbow Dash. What about you?”

“My name’s Kim,” the kid said, shaking her hand. “Welcome to our school.”

“So tell me, Kim, do you like to compete?” Rainbow Dash asked Kim. “Because I sure do! Back where I’m from, I was the fastest flier in all of Cloudsdale!”

“Really,” Kim said. “Well, I’ll have you know that I’m the fastest runner at this school. In fact, recently I competed in the school championship and achieved a fast speed of 20 miles an hour, record time!”

“20 miles an hour? Is that all?” Rainbow Dash snorted, clearly unimpressed with his feat. “I thought you humans moved a lot faster than that! I bet I could beat you in a race!” She looked up at Kim, her dark eyes glittering with pride.

“Is that so?” Kim looked at Rainbow Dash with an amused look on his face. “What place did you come in at the County Athletics Tournament? I came in first place!”

“You can’t possibly compare yourself to me!” Rainbow Dash retorted.

“No need to,” Kim remarked smugly. “I’m obviously the better-looking one.”

Rainbow Dash growled. “Oh, it . . . is . . . ON!” She pointed a finger at Kim. “I officially challenge you to a race!”

Kim flashed Rainbow Dash a cocky smirk. “My pleasure,” he accepted. “Tomorrow at the waterfront, 5 p.m. sharp. But there’s no way you can beat me. My neck is bigger than your thigh.”

Rainbow stifled laughter. “You make it sound like it’s a good thing,” she giggled. “But okay, whatever you say.”

Kim nodded in acknowledgement, and headed off to help Marinette put up the banners. Just as he walked off, another girl walked up to Rainbow Dash. She had pink hair in a bob cut, and wore a black cap with a black letter S on it, along with a gray shirt with green-scaled long black sleeves and underneath a dark brown tank top, and a pair of black jean shorts with pink stitching and black lace at the cuff, complete with long black-and-pink socks and black shoes with pink lacing.

“So, you’re challenging Kim, huh? Well, good for you,” she smirked. “I hope you win. Hopefully that’ll put him in his place,” she added in a playful, teasing manner.

“Yeah, me too,” Rainbow chuckled. “I don’t believe we’ve met. Who are you?”

“Alix,” the pink-haired girl offered her hand to shake. “Alix Kubdel. Who are you?”

“Rainbow,” the pegasus said in return. “Rainbow Dash.”

Alix registered the newcomer’s name, then shrugged and shook Rainbow Dash’s hand. “Welcome to CFD, Rainbow Dash. I think you and your friends are gonna love the dance here.”

Meanwhile, in another part of the gym, Pinkie was helping Nino set up all of his DJ’ing equipment. He had given her specific instructions about where it was supposed to go and all.

“What’s with all of this?” Pinkie asked curiously. She scratched the record, producing a warbling sound effect.

“Don’t touch that, please,” Nino said to her, and she turned to face him. “That’s stuff’s for me. I’m the DJ for the school dance. In fact, I’ve been the DJ for all the dances we’ve had this year thus far.”

Pinkie Pie grinned at him eagerly. “So you’re the DJ for this event, huh? Just like DJ PON-3!”

Nino blinked at her. “Who’s . . . DJ PON-3?”

Pinkie Pie grinned nervously. “Oh, right, never mind. I forgot that you’ve never been to Equestria.”

Nino shrugged, chuckling. “I’m sure that she’s just as talented as I am.”

Pinkie Pie shrugged back, then went the center of the auditorium, pulled one of the balloons off her skirt, and blew into it, apparently not minding the fact that a few people had noticed and found this weird. The balloon inflated, and when it flew up into the air, it took Pinkie along with it. If Pinkie Pie peeling off the balloon design off her dress like it was a sticker and inflating it like an actual balloon didn’t turn many heads, then this certainly did; soon, there wasn’t a single person whose eyes weren’t focused on the pink girl who was dangling in the air from a yellow balloon.

“How does she even do that?” Alya asked in bewilderment, watching Pinkie Pie float up in the air with the balloon she pulled off of her dress.

Twilight shrugged, having long since accepted Pinkie’s oddities. “She’s just being Pinkie, I guess.”

“Forget the Ladyblog,” Alya said. “I know what my next scoop’s gonna be.” She took out her phone, turned on the camera, and zoomed in on Pinkie Pie. “Finding out exactly what makes her tick.”

School Time Interactions, Part 2

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Later that night, after everyone went home, Twilight and her friends decided to settle in for the night. While Applejack and Pinkie Pie headed off to the library and Rainbow and Fluttershy departed for the science lab, Twilight plopped herself on one of two mattresses that Discord had conjured up for them before leaving for his home dimension. While Rarity and Spike lay down on the one immediately next to hers, Twilight lay awake, wondering, until a familiar voice snapped her out of her misery.

“Hey,” Sunset said to her. “Everything okay?”

Twilight paused. “Yeah, it’s okay,” she lied. “Why do you ask?”

“Because you haven’t been yourself ever since you came here,” Sunset said. “I want to know if there’s anything that’s bothering you.”

“Everything’s fine,” Twilight lied again. “Nothing has been bothering me.”

Sunset frowned deeply. “We’ll see about that,” she said at last. She grabbed Twilight’s arm and her eyes began to glow white. At last, she let go of her arm and faced her with a serious look. “Was it that bad?” she asked.

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked, feigning ignorance, though deep down, she knew exactly what Sunset was talking about.

“The wedding,” Sunset said, very matter-of-factly.

Twilight blinked. “How did you know?”

Sunset took out the geode she had acquired at Camp Everfree. “See this?” Twilight nodded. “I got this a few weeks ago. This geode allows me to access someone’s thoughts and memories.” Twilight shuddered. If this was the case, then whatever secrets she or anybody else Sunset came into contact with had were not really safe anymore.

“Promise you won’t go around using this on anyone whenever you feel like?” she asked Sunset, concerned.

“I promise on Celestia’s name,” Sunset replied. “Now, what was it about the wedding that made you so hurt and angry?”

Twilight sighed. She was hoping that this topic wouldn’t be discussed. “All right, here’s what happened,” she started. And so she told Sunset everything that had gone down at the wedding of her brother and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, from how the impostor Chrysalis impersonated Cadence; to how no one would listen to how she, Twilight, had tried to warn everypony about the impostor. She also took care to mention how her friends threw her under the cart for somepony they barely met, with her brother and mentor following suit, and how she could have died of starvation and dehydration when the impostor sent her underground and how it was only through sheer luck that she managed to escape. By the end of it, Sunset was in awe, and not in a favorable context.

“I’m glad I wasn’t around when that happened,” she said at last. “What in Equestria was Celestia even thinking?”

“I don’t know,” Twilight grumbled. “I’m starting to think that maybe she doesn’t care about me or anypony else as much as she lets on.”

Sunset looked at her in sympathy. “Would it help if I told you that you aren’t the only one who has faced something like this?” she said at last.

Twilight blinked. “Seriously?”

“Uh-huh,” Sunset replied sadly. “After the Battle of the Bands, someone named Anon-a-Miss started spreading nasty rumors about the students. Naturally, people assumed that I was the one behind it, and everyone turned on me, even our friends at Canterlot High.”

Twilight blinked, hardly believing this. “Harsh,” was all she could manage to say.

“Yeah,” Sunset sighed. “Eventually, the whole thing cleared up when Anon-a-Miss was revealed to be three girls named Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle, who leaked the secrets out of pure spite. They got punished very badly and the gang was brought back together again, but sometimes, I still feel annoyed and mad that the others never tried to hear my side of the story.”

“I feel ya,” Twilight yawned.

“Have you talked to your friends about what you’re feeling?” Sunset asked.

“Not really,” Twilight admitted. “I didn’t want to hurt their feelings. Plus, I figured that the whole thing would resolve itself eventually.”

“Well, you better get it off your chest soon,” Sunset advised her. “Otherwise, it might only make things worse.”

“I’ll . . . see what I can do,” Twilight decided.

Sunset nodded. “I’m glad to hear that. By the way, you wouldn’t mind helping someone else learn how to be a good friend, would you? I talked to her about you and she’s looking forward to learning.”

Twilight paused. “Who’s the person in question?”

“That girl we met in the mall Saturday,” Sunset answered. “Chloe.”

Twilight paused again to consider. At last, she said, “I’ll have to think about it. Not only would I have to learn more about her situation, but I’ll need to forget about what happened to me.” She yawned, then added, “Now, can we please not discuss this? I have to go to sleep. We have a lot of things to do during the day tomorrow.” This was a lie; the truth was, she was slipping back into her state of denial from when she still suspected Discord of being up to no good, and she knew it.

“Good night,” Sunset said reluctantly to Twilight, then rolled over in the bed and went to sleep. Twilight didn’t say anything. She lay awake in bed that night, wondering what consequences this event would have for her friendship with the others.

Meanwhile, Alya was up late, chatting with Marinette and Adrien about her findings on Pinkie Pie and still nursing the wasp stings and several other injuries that she had sustained in her research.

“Did you find anything?” Marinette asked her friend, trying not to laugh at her injuries.

“Nothing conclusive so far,” Alya admitted. “But sooner or later, she’ll reveal the source of her oddities and quirks, and I’m gonna be there when she does.”

“As long as you don’t get any more injuries,” Adrien chuckled slightly over the phone camera. “We’d hate for something unfortunate to happen.”

“Trust me, Adrien,” Alya assured him, “all those were mere coincidences. Nothing will stop me from learning her secrets.”

“Good luck with that,” Marinette answered.

“You need any assistance with that?” Adrien asked.

“Thanks, Adrien, but I don’t think I’ll be needing that,” Alya smiled at him. “I’ll let you know what I find about her.”

“As long as you don’t get any sticky situations,” Marinette chuckled. “We’d hate for something awful to happen to you.”

“Trust me,” Alya assured her, “that’s not gonna happen.”

“I gotta go,” Marinette informed her. “I’m supposed to be asleep, and I’m sure that’s the case with Adrien as well.” And with that, Adrien turned off his phone and went to bed.

“Have fun,” Alya waved at her, wishing her goodnight. “I’ll let you know my results of my observations.” And with that,
Marinette disconnected her camera and went to bed. Alya turned over in her bed, a look of determination on her face as she closed her eyes.

You better watch out, Pinkie Pie. I’m going to find out exactly how you keep defying the laws of logic, and I won’t stop until I do so.

The next day, after school, while the rest of the students milled around looking for people to take to the dance and things to do, Alya quietly slipped behind Pinkie and followed her. She was determined to find out exactly the source of her subject’s quirks.

At last, after ten minutes, Pinkie stopped by in the park and sat down on a bench, seemingly unaware of the fact that Alya had taken care to hide herself behind a tree. As soon as she, Alya, was settled, she noticed that Pinkie’s ears had suddenly started flopping. She took out her camera and quietly snapped a photo of the incident, then examined it. What did it mean?
Just then, out of nowhere, a cyclist pedaled by and rode into a large puddle of rainwater, splashing her and taking her by surprise. Alya examined herself in disgust; she would need to take a bath when she went home. She turned back to Pinkie Pie, who was scratching her nose furiously. She narrowed her eyes, wondering what on this meant, not noticing that a swarm of wasps was heading her way. By the time she had taken notice of this, it was too late; the wasps had stung her again. It took all of her willpower not to let out a scream of pain, and she dropped the phone, nursing her wasp stings. Surely these had to be coincidences, right?

Just then, Pinkie’s hair stood up on end, and Alya peered in for a closer look. At that moment, something plopped onto her head. Wondering what it was this time, she gingerly placed the arm that hadn’t been stung onto her hair and felt something fluffy. No doubt about it; it was a baby bird. The bird flew down to her and tweeted so angrily at her that she swore that if it had been given a voice, at least a few of its words would have been very foul language. At last, after it was done “ranting”, it flew back up to its nest. Alya sighed; she was still no closer to uncovering the source of Pinkie’s oddities than she was yesterday.

Just then, the girls named Applejack and Sunset Shimmer entered the park from the other entrance, and Alya dove into a bush to conceal herself, fearing that if they saw her, then her cover would be blown.

“Hey Pinkie Pie,” Applejack said. “Whatcha doing?”

“Oh, just letting Alya secretly follow me without me knowing,” Pinkie Pie responded.

“Wait a second,” Alya started, emerging from the bush with her insect bites and various other injuries, now directing an intensely annoyed expression at Pinkie Pie. “You mean you knew what I was doing? Well then why didn’t you say so?”

“Because, silly, I didn’t want to spoil the secret,” Pinkie Pie responded, flashing her a cute smile. Alya, however, was not amused; in fact, if anything, she was rather enraged. That meant that she had sustained all those injuries for nothing.

“You mean,” she started, clenching her fists, “that these observations have been for nothing? That all the evidence I’ve been trying to gather since yesterday was utterly worthless?”

“Uh, sugarcube,” Applejack smiled weakly, “ah’m afraid that none o’ us are quite gettin’ what you’re sayin’.”

Alya sighed. There was no longer any point. “Fine. It’s time I told you girls everything. I’ve been trying to find out facts on how your friend keeps defying logic ever since she . . . ahem, made a scene at school yesterday. And now, all I have to show for it is this.” She motioned toward her dirty appearance and the wasp bites she had sustained. Pinkie Pie and Applejack giggled a little.

“Oh, silly, that was my Pinkie Sense acting,” Pinkie Pie giggled.

Alya looked at her in confusion. “What the heck’s a ‘Pinkie Sense’?” she asked.

“Basically, I get these little tiny knickly feelings and they mean different things,” Pinkie Pie explained. “For example, if my ears start flopping, it means that I need to get a bath ready. An itchy nose means ‘look out for insects’.”

“And if your hair stands on end?” Alya asked in a deadpan manner.

“It means look out for falling objects,” Pinkie answered cheerfully.

Alya was suddenly enraged. She rose up into the air and exploded, her hair suddenly becoming fiery. “But it doesn’t make any sense!” she roared.

The three girls stood before her, in awe of the sight that their eyes were beholding.

“Ah don’ mean to discourage yah, sugarcube,” Applejack said, “but sometimes, we jus’ gotta accept that there are things yah jus’ can’ explain, but tha’ don’t make ‘em any less real. It’s just whether yah choose to believe in them or not. Besides, those o’ us who have been aroun’ Pinkie a long time have learned to trust her Pinkie Sense.”

Alya sighed. This was officially the end of her search. “Fine,” she grumbled. “I concede defeat. I officially have to accept that you’re just being Pinkie Pie.”

“Ah’m sorry yah couldn’t find what you was lookin’ for,” Applejack said. “Ah really am.”

“How about you wash yourself off and get some bandages?” Sunset said to Alya, motioning toward her overall appearance. “After all, you really look like you been through a bug-infested mud hole.” Applejack turned to look at her, confused. “Er, so to speak,” Sunset added.

“If yah say so,” Applejack shrugged. “You comin’ with us, Sunset?”

“That’s okay,” Sunset said. “I’m gonna wait here for Rainbow Dash and Kim. They told me that they were gonna have a race and I want to find out who won.”

“Eh, suit yourself,” Pinkie Pie shrugged. “Let’s go, Muddy.” She and Applejack turned and accompanied Alya back to her house.

Sunset sat down on the park bench, took out her friendship journal, and began to doodle in it, waiting for Kim and Rainbow Dash to arrive. About an hour later, both of them entered the park, having completed their race. Kim strutted victoriously, followed by a sulking Rainbow Dash.

“So?” Sunset asked. “How did the race between you two go?”

“I lost,” Rainbow Dash said in a defeated tone. “Kim practically creamed me and left me in the dust.”

“Not surprising though, is it?” Sunset said to her, obviously amused. “It’s not you like ever ran on two legs before.”

“I still don’t get it though,” Rainbow Dash interrupted. “I’m the fastest athlete in all of Equestria! How did I lose to him?” She motioned to Kim, who was smirking at her. She shot back an annoyed expression.

Sunset chuckled. “Rainbow Dash, if there’s one thing I learned in all my years here in the human world, it’s that things work differently in here than they do back in Equestria,” she said. “Kim won purely because he had more experience out on the track. You, on the other hand? You’re still trying to adjust to your human body, and you’ve spent less than 24 hours preparing. Now, if there was a gem that allowed you to move at super speed, that would be a different story.”

“But there isn’t, is there?” Kim added, still smirking at Rainbow Dash. The pegasus groaned and buried her face in her hands. There was no way she would ever live this down.

“It’s not fair,” she moaned.

Kim smirked. “One of these days, that attitude is gonna bite you back hard,” he said. “You gotta accept that sometimes, you
have to lose.”

Rainbow smiled back at him, amused. “Much like your pride and poor sportsmanship might end up becoming your undoing?” She punched him in the arm playfully.

“Hey! No fair!” Kim replied teasingly, punching her back with just as much playfulness. Rainbow Dash chuckled. “Race you back to the school?” Kim challenged her.

“It’s on!” Rainbow Dash smirked. She turned to Sunset. “Wanna come back with us?”

“In a while,” Sunset said. “I have to make a phone call.”

“’Kay,” Kim said to her. “Maybe we’ll see you later, then.” He turned to face Rainbow Dash, getting ready to race her again. “See if you can redeem yourself this time!”

“I accept your challenge,” Rainbow smirked again. “GO!” And with that, both of them took off again, speeding into the afternoon.

Sunset took out her phone and punched in some numbers. The phone on the other end began to ring, and eventually, someone picked up on the other end.

“Hey, Chloe. It’s me, Sunset. If you don’t mind, can I come over to your place to hang out?”

On a small cliff that overlooked the rest of the city, in a small wooden cabin, a dark figure peered out the window and gazed at the city. There was someone in great emotional distress; he knew this because all those months of being bonded with the Miraculous had imparted some of its abilities to him. Even though he no longer bore the jewel, he could still taste the young girl’s agony like a beautifully prepared feast that was waiting for him. He curled his lips up into a malicious grin. Soon, it would be time for him to make his move, reclaim what was rightfully his, and exact his revenge on those meddlesome brats and the entire town for what they did to him.

And so, he lurked back into the shadows, waiting for the right time to come.

Midnight Snacks

View Online

It was the early evening. Master Fu and his kwami, Wayzz, had just about closed up shop for the day. As both of them watched the old master’s patient walk out of his place for the day, Wayzz turned to him.

“Master,” he started, “do you believe that her fortunes will reverse for the better?”

Master Fu paused, deep in thinking. At last, he turned to the open chest of Miraculouses.

“Perhaps they will,” he answered vaguely.

“Another thing,” Wayzz continued. “I felt something deathly, chillingly cold come over me a while ago, as she was leaving. I don’t know why, but it felt so . . . familiar. What do you think it means?”

Master Fu said nothing, but rather approached the Miraculous chest and studied the small oval-shaped purple brooch that he had successfully recaptured and kept safe for the past two months, rubbing it delicately. At last, he turned back to his kwami.

“I don’t know, Wayzz,” he said, a bit solemn. “But I have a feeling that pretty soon, our heroes will be forced back out into the open.”

Wednesday afternoon rolled around to find that the students were still either getting the gym set up for the dance or generally milling about with nothing to do. With the official end of school coming in a few weeks, most of the teachers had relaxed the homework load on the students. This gave the students plenty of time to talk to their dates and get to know them better. For example, Kim could be seen talking to Juleka, his dance partner, very rapidly talking about getting a corsage to match her dress. Juleka smiled and blushed very bashfully; she never knew that Kim was starting having a thing for her. Max, meanwhile, asked Rose what time he should pick her up, to which she blushed, giggled, and responded, “The earlier, the better”; Ivan was seen that day practicing his dance moves on Mylene; and Nino and Alya chuckled together in good company. It was in this atmosphere of blossoming love that Marinette went up to Adrien and Plagg.

“Adrien, Plagg,” she started , “would you be interested in coming over to my house for a sleepover?”

“We’d love to join,” Plagg started earnestly. “But unfortunately, Adrien has other engagements to take care of.”

“I do,” Adrien agreed. “I have a piano lesson in thirty minutes and a Chinese lesson afterwards. Maybe if there’s time, I can ask my father if I can.”

“Okay,” Marinette said. “Looking forward to seeing you there.” And with that, she went up to Alya after seeing that Nino had disappeared, and asked her if she wanted to join in on the sleepover, to which she accepted.

“Hey,” Tikki chirped, “maybe we should ask Twilight and her friends if they want to come over. You know?”

“You’re right, TIkki,” Marinette agreed. “We should give that a try.” And with that, with Alya following them, they walked up to the girls, who, for some reason, were huddled together in a circle. Marinette cleared her throat, and everyone turned to pay attention to her.

“Twilight, girls,” she started, “Tikki and I have been discussing this, and we want to invite you to a sleepover tonight at our house.”

Twilight and the girls looked at each other. All of a sudden, Discord teleported next to the group.

“A sleepover?” he asked, obviously excited with delight. “At your place?”

“Sure,” Marinette said. “I just hope you’re okay with the games we have in store for the entertainment.”

“I’m way ahead of you,” the draconequus grinned. “I’m down for anything you have going on. The only question is whether they are.” He motioned his paw toward the girls.

Instantly, the seven girls got into a huddle and started to debate furiously under their breaths. Just when it felt like they couldn’t reach an agreement, they turned to face Marinette and Alya.

“We’ll come,” Sunset said at last. “On the condition that you invite Chloe as well. I know what you’re thinking, and I know you still have unresolved issues with her, but it wouldn’t hurt to talk them out with her.”

Marinette and Alya looked at each other. It was clear that they were thinking, This is gonna suck big-time. At last, they turned back to face them.

“All right,” Marinette said. “We’ll do it. But we won’t like it.”

That evening, the girls, Discord, and Spike were all at Marinette’s place, happily (for the most part) hanging out. Rainbow Dash and Applejack each challenged Marinette to a game of Ultimate Mecha Strike III, Rarity was taking selfies with Sunset Shimmer and Chloe while Fluttershy played with Spike and Tikki, Twilight and Alya exchanged stories on the adventures that they had until that point, and Pinkie just lay around on Marinette’s bed. Discord was nice enough to change everyone into their pajamas. Twilight wore yellow long pants and a long sleeved button shirt with pink hearts. Sunset wore magenta shirt and long pants with her cutie mark on the shirt. Pinkie Pie wore a long blue sleeveless shirt with yellow balloons and matching shorts. The shirt had purple straps and a pink bow above the chest. Applejack wore blue pajamas with pale blue apple prints. Rainbow had a white shirt with red sleeves with her cutie mark and blue pants. Fluttershy wore pajamas similar to Twilight; only hers were green with butterflies. Marinette wore a pink shirt with matching long pants. Alya was wearing a tank top with long grey pajama pants. As for Chloe, she was wearing yellow-and-black striped pajamas.

Soon the time came when everyone had to go to bed. Mr. Dupain and Mrs. Cheng went upstairs and entered the room.

“All right, girls,” Mr. Dupain announced. “Time to go to bed.” With that, Marinette, Rainbow Dash, Spike, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rarity gathered up their belongings and started to move to the spare bedroom on the floor below them. It seems that Marinette had found a way to put the room that Star and Marco had previously used when they were here to good use.

“See you in the morning,” she said to Alya, smiling a little.

“You too,” Alya replied, grinning. “You sure you’ll be able to handle sharing a room with her?” She jerked her thumb over to Chloe, who was getting her sleeping bag ready.

“Trust me,” Marinette dismissed. “That’s not gonna be a problem.”

Marinette could not sleep. She kept tossing and turning in the bed, her head spinning with nightmares. She dreamt that she was Ladybug, and she was running under a dark, thundery sky on a rocky terrain from something. In the background, a man’s voice was laughing coldly, and another voice, a girl’s, say, “That’s one of the famed defenders of Paris? Fleeing like the insect she is? I’m not impressed at all!”

Ladybug screeched to a halt and turned around; there was something familiar about the voice, and yet she couldn’t pinpoint why it was so. In the distance was a purple outline, a figure with its head on fire and purple wings grew out of its back. A long horn, not unlike that of a unicorn’s, grew out of its forehead, and its eyes were solid white. Ladybug gripped her yoyo; she did not know whether this was another akuma or simply a monster like the ones from Mewni that she had encountered, but she was not going down without a fight.

The figure raised its right hand, and shot forth a stream of purple fire. Ladybug spun her yoyo rapidly to deflect the blast, but the tip of the figure’s horn glowed a dangerous white, and a powerful laser blast hit her, sending her sprawling onto the rocky terrain. The figure bent down and reached down to pick up something she had . . . .

Marinette woke with a jolt. Breathing heavily, she glanced around to find that she was still in the downstairs room. She sighed with relief, then crossed the room tiptoeing. The wooden floor creaked as she made her way across, waking up Tikki, who tiredly flew over to her.

“Marinette?” she groaned quietly. “Where are you going?”

“To the kitchen,” Marinette answered simply. “I had a nightmare and I need something to eat.” She quietly made her way down the stairs to the kitchen, looking for something delicious to take her mind off the disturbing dream she had, her kwami slowly floating behind her. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, they were surprised to find that the light was already on. A figure was already sitting at the table, its head facedown and looking at something. Marinette squinted her eyes, peering. It was . . .

“Twilight?” she asked, her eyes bleary. “What’re you doing up so late?”

Twilight was caught off guard with this statement. “Marinette, Tikki,” she said, almost surprised. “I couldn’t sleep, so I went up to get some midnight snacks.” She offered them two vanilla creams. “Want some?”

Marinette and Tikki paused, then looked at each other. At last, Marinette said, “Sure. Why not?” They took the cookies from Twilight’s hand and began munching on them. Out of the corner of her eye, Marinette noticed that Twilight was reading a large book with several sheets of parchment in it, and there were three dolls in front of her. One was black and red with a quiver of arrows attached to it and had dark-colored wings coming out of it; another was green-skinned and pink-haired and wore a black costume; and the last had blue-and-black armor all over it. She recognized those dolls at once, for they were representations of three akumatized victims she had fought so long ago: Dark Cupid, Princess Fragrance, and Rogercop.

“I see you found three of the dolls I’ve been working on,” she started.

Twilight jolted a little, evidently a bit surprised that she noticed that she had taken them.

“Sorry,” she chuckled weakly, smiling a little. “I found these in your room as I came down here. I guess curiosity got the better of me.”

“That’s all right,” Marinette dismissed. “I have no complaint against that.”

“Who are these guys, anyway?” Twilight asked, motioning to the dolls.

Marinette sat down next to Twilight. “You know how Adrien and I told you and your friends that we’ve fought akumatized victims in the past?” Twilight nodded. “Well, these are three of them, Dark Cupid”-she pointed to the black-and-red doll with wings-“Princess Fragrance”-she pointed to the green-skinned doll in black-“and Rogercop.” She motioned to the blue-and black doll.

“You mind telling me more about them?” Twilight asked.

“Well,” Marinette said uncertainly, pointing toward the black-and-red doll, “Dark Cupid wanted to get revenge on a girl for rejecting and humiliating him on Valentine’s Day, and Princess Fragrance”-she pointed to the green-skinned, pink-haired doll in black-“went scrazy over a visiting prince from another country. Then there was Rogercop”-she pointed to the blue doll-“who wanted to overthrow the city’s legal system and replace it with his own brand of justice.”

“Sounds like you and Cat Noir have been leading awesome double lives,” Twilight noted.

Marinette sighed. “Yeah, you can say that,” she admitted. “But sometimes, I wish there was more for me to look forward to.”

Marinette:

It isn’t that I’m ungrateful

For all the things that I’ve earned

For all the journeys I have taken

All the lessons that I have earned

But I’m wondering where I’m going now

What my role is meant to be

I don’t know how to travel

To a future that I can’t see

I got these earrings and my kwami

I’m a hero, that much is true

But it’s still unclear to me

Just what we are meant to do

I want to find a purpose

Want to be part of some grand plan

I want to make a difference

Wanna do that I really can

Twilight:

Your future is still uncertain

I understand wanting more

I know how hard it is for you to wait

To spread out your wings and soar

Tikki:

But you got them for a reason

You’re compassionate and you’re strong

Those earrings are with you

Because you belong

Twilight, Tikki:

Know that you’re time is coming soon

As the sun rises, so does the moon

As love finds a place in every heart

You’re a hero, you’ll play your part

Tikki:

I understand you desire more

A chance to shine, a chance to soar

Soon will come the day it turns around

Twilight, Tikki:

Know that you’re time is coming soon

As the sun rises, so does the moon

As love finds a place in every heart

You’re a hero, you’ll play your part

Twilight:

You’re a hero, you’ll play your part

As the song drew to a close, Twilight put a reassuring hand on Marinette’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, Marinette,” she assured her. “You have a lot to look forward to. More than me, anyway.”

“Why do you say that?” Tikki questioned curiously.

“Well, there’s something that has been bothering me for quite a while,” Twilight started, an air of reluctance around her, “and I don’t know if I want to disclose it with anyone else.”

“Just tell us,” Marinette responded earnestly. “You’ll feel a lot better about it afterwards.”

Twilight sighed. “Okay,” she started. “Here goes: A few months ago, my brother invited me and my friends to his wedding to my old foalsitter, Princess Cadence. But when we arrived that Canterlot, I noticed that Cadence was not acting like herself at all. She forgot the secret handshake that we used to do when I was a filly, and she hardly recognized me, which shouldn’t have been possible because we’ve known each other for so long. What’s worse is that she started behaving like a rude, selfish, obnoxious brat to everyone she met, which was completely unlike the Cadence I knew. It wasn’t until much, much later that I learned that she was an impostor named Queen Chrysalis.

“Anyways, back to the story. I decided to keep some tabs on the impostor and my brother. Not long after, that evening, I saw the impostor cast some sort of brainwashing spell on my brother, and that’s when I realized, She’s not just unpleasant and rude, she’s downright evil! So I raced back to warn my friends about the danger lurking right under their noses, only to find out that the impostor had already made them her new bridesmaids!

“Well, that was the last straw for me, so I decided to expose the impostor for who she really was during the rehearsal. That day, I ran into the hall and started shouting, ‘She’s evil! She’s evil! And if I don’t stop her she’s gonna ruin my brother’s life!’ That was enough to get the fake Cadence to run out of the hall, crying. I just wished that somepony else picked up on what I was trying to tell them and not look at me as if I had gone crazy.”

Marinette and Tikki looked at each other questioningly. They wondered what they should tell Twilight. At last, Marinette started, very slowly, “Well, I don’t want to sound like I’m against you, Twilight, but you didn’t exactly do a good job of giving anyone a good reason to believe you. In fact, if I were there, I’d have probably thought you’d gone bananas, too.”
“I already told you, I get that I wasn’t exactly making myself look less insane but...” Twilight began, but was cut off by Tikki.

“But they way you’re putting it, it kinda sounds like you feel as though your friends already knew she was a fake but turned on you anyway.” She stated, getting a look of shock from Twilight. “But you said that Chrysalis fooled them, so is it really their fault? Especially your brothers since he was brainwashed the whole time? That would be like if we blamed our friends for what they did while they were akumatized, they couldn't control what they were doing, so why blame them?”

Twilight sighed, remembering how her friends acted like complete jerks thanks to Discord’s manipulations, or how her… close friend Flash Sentry treated her like dirt under the Dazzlings control. “OK, you have a point there, but my friends… they were supposed to be there for me, heck no too long ago they promised to take my concerns more seriously after the Smartypants incident...”

“Oh yeah, Applejack told me about that...” Marinette stated, getting Twilight’s attention. “But in that case, you need to remember that they had context to go off of. You went to them and laid out exactly what was wrong and why you were so stressed out, and they just laughed it off. So shame on them there-”

Before she could continue, Tikki flew in between them. “And you aren’t exactly innocent in that scenario either Twily, considering you didn’t listen to Spike and basically cast mindwarp spell on your friends siblings… I don’t see them holding a grudge against you for that…”

Twilight looked away in embarrassment, remembering how humiliating the event was.

Marinette grabbed Tikki by the head and pulled her back. “OK, dial it back Tikki.” She reprimanded her friend, who giggled in embarrassment. “While I wouldn’t word it that way, she kinda has a point, in that scenario you came to them and you were direct and honest. But at the wedding you immediately started hurling accusations and ranting and raving without giving everyone any context whatsoever. How were they supposed to take your concerns seriously if she chased someone-royalty, might I add-out of a room based on a hunch? A hunch that before all intents and purposes was false? Are you saying that they should’ve simply applauded your behavior? ”

Twilight opened her mouth to say something…. but when she couldn’t think of anything, Marinette continued. “And yes Twilight, Celestia is your mentor and she was a little too harsh... but in her eyes that was her niece you sent crying out of the room. If someone had pulled the same stunt on say, your brother or Spike, who would have gone to comfort first?”

Twilight blinked as she let the scene play out in her head, seeing Spike, who was practically her little brother, about to be happily married… only for someone close to her to storm in and accuse him of being evil, chasing him out of the room and he cried in grief. She felt a flare of rage pulse through her body and stood up… only to sit down in shock when she realized how Celestia must have felt seeing her own student verbally attack her own family member…

“I guess you’re right,” Twilight admitted at last. “Looking back on it, I probably should have gathered more evidence, or at the very least voiced my concerns to Celestia. But it doesn’t excuse what my friends, brother, and mentor did afterward.”

“What exactly did they do?” Marinette asked curiously.

Twilight sighed. Here it comes, she thought to herself. “After the impostor ran out of the wedding rehearsal, my brother stripped me of my position as best mare, and told me that I was no longer welcome in the wedding. My friends, who I thought would stand by me, just left me and followed my brother to comfort his fiancée. As if that weren’t enough, my own mentor followed them as well and left me there. I can still remember those words she said to me as she left: ‘You have a lot to think about.’”

“That’s terrible,” Tikki noted.

“Oh, it gets better from there,” Twilight continued. “After the others left, the impostor Cadence came back, and I apologized to her because I thought I screwed up. Next thing I knew, she said, ‘You will be’, and sent me underground to some abandoned caverns. It was only through chance that I found the real Cadence and had managed to escape, otherwise I would died from starvation or dehydration or Equestria-knows-what-else.”

Marinette and Tikki stared back at her, utterly dumbfounded by what they had just heard. They would not have believed that Twilight’s friends, brother, and teacher had almost given her a death sentence by leaving her at the impostor’s mercy. Sure, Marco may have done a similar thing with Star two months ago, but to be fair, at least Star was never in any danger of dying to begin with, because she had been akumatized. Marinette made a mental note to confront Twilight’s friends about this when the time came.

“And it’s been bothering you ever since?” Marinette asked.

Twilight chuckled bitterly. “One does not simply forget a traumatic incident like that, Marinette. To be fair, it has gotten slightly better, but a while back, Queen Chrysalis captured me and my friends, and seeing her was enough to bring the trauma back. ”

“You poor thing,” Marinette said. “On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?”

“Eleven-no, scratch that, make it twenty.”

“That bad, huh?” Marinette asked. Twilight nodded.

Marinette paused. At last, she said, “Would it help if I said that I knew someone who might be able to help with your condition?”

“Really?” Twilight asked, now somewhat hopeful.

“Yeah,” Tikki said. “He’s a famous healer who’s been helping people with whatever bodily problems they have.” She flew over to a stand and picked up a small piece of paper. “Here’s his business card.”

Twilight smiled a little. “Thanks, Marinette. Thanks, Tikki.” She started to go up the stairs to her room, then paused and turned around to face them both. “See you girls in the morning.” She turned back and continued walking upstairs until the sound of her footsteps disappeared, leaving Marinette and Tikki all alone in the kitchen.

“We should get going, Tikki,” Marinette started slowly. Tikki nodded, and the two of them moved to go upstairs when they heard a voice interrupt them.

“I wouldn’t have guessed that you were still up.”

Marinette froze, then turned to the source of the voice, which was coming from the bottom of the stairs. There stood Chloe, her hair let loose and partially covering her face.

“I wasn’t aware that you were awake,” Marinette remarked.

“Yeah, well, it’s pretty hard to ignore the song coming from downstairs,” Chloe smiled a little.

“You heard, huh?” Marinette responded, a bit amused. Chloe nodded.

“It must be nice having people always look to you for answers to their problems, instead of waiting for you to cause a problem,” Chloe said, a bit forlorn.

“Yeah? Well, just because everyone expects something from you doesn’t mean it’s gonna happen,” Marinette added.

“But that doesn’t stop them from expecting it,” Chloe continued.

Marinette said, “Which unfortunately makes things harder because the last thing you want to do is-“

“Let anybody down,” they finished in unison. They froze upon realizing this, then chuckled uneasily.

“I’ve always wondered,” Marinette started, sitting on the nearest available seat, “why even though you’ve been picking on me, you never seem to have a problem with me whenever I went alter ego.”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Chloe replied, taking a seat on the couch. “Ladybug was, and still is, everything I ever wanted to be! She’s loved by the entire city of Paris, respected by everyone, and on top of that, she has a normal family life! Something that I can never seem to have.”

“Well, you are making an effort to change, aren’t you?” Marinette asked her encouragingly.

“Why do you think I’ve been trying to hang out with you for the past two months?” Chloe asked. “With my dad facing trouble at work and my mom probably out of the picture forever, I thought maybe you and Alya would be able to help me.”

Marinette paused. “Of course we are,” she admitted. “But we feel like we haven’t lived up to our end of the bargain.”

“And I can understand why,” Chloe responded knowingly. “After all, I’ve been treating both of you like dirt for quite some time now.”

“Can’t argue there,” Marinette said.

“Say, you haven’t heard from Star and Marco recently, have you?” Chloe asked curiously.

“Once or twice,” Marinette answered. She and Star had exchanged emails and had stayed in contact ever since.

“Cool,” Chloe said. “I admit, I kinda miss having them and their friends around. And I hear that the blonde one is dating Nathanael. I don’t know why, but I’ve started having feelings for him.”

Marinette nodded. “I see. Well I’m sure that you’ll be able to tell him someday, if he’s interested.”

“So, I heard you and Twilight-that was her name, was it?-were talking about something here,” Chloe continued. “What was it?”

“I don’t know if I want to discuss it now,” Marinette answered uncertainly. “Maybe in the morning?”

“Okay, then,” Chloe reluctantly responded. Her eyes caught the dolls and the book that Twilight had forgotten to take with her. She studied the book curiously; at last, she turned to Marinette.

“I don’t suppose I could borrow this?” she asked.

“That’s Twilight’s, I’m afraid,” Tikki answered, shrugging. “So I guess you have to ask her. You can keep it safe for her in the meantime, I guess.”

“Okay,” Chloe decided at last, closing the book and picking it up. “Let’s go back now, shall we?”

Marinette and Tikki nodded, then the three girls got up, turned off the light and went up to their room.

Old Wounds

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When morning came around, everyone came down to the kitchen for breakfast. Marinette took Alya aside and quietly told her about the conversations that she had with Twilight. Needless to say, she was not impressed with how Twilight’s friends had treated her, and she too decided to give the girls a piece of her mind at the first available opportunity.

“Just who do these girls think they are, ditching her when she needed them the most?” she viciously started as soon as the others were out of earshot. “If you ask me, their priorities were seriously messed up. Has Twilight sought therapy for this?”

“Well, she is going to Master Fu’s after this,” Marinette told her. “And I do believe that she has tried some therapy.”

“Therapy for what?” Applejack asked, curiously, having overheard what they were talking about. Marinette turned around, hardly believing that she dared ask.

“It’s best you didn’t know,” she answered, rather coolly. Beside her, Alya gave a curt, affirmative nod.

“Okay, then,” Applejack said uneasily. She finished her breakfast and left with the other girls to get dressed for the day.

“There’s one other thing we need to take care of,” Alya continued. “Chloe wants to help out at the dance later today, and given her current status among our peers, it may prove to be difficult. Have any ideas?”

Marinette paused to ponder this. At last, she snapped her fingers. “Alya, I think I know what we’re gonna do today!”

Twilight walked up the front steps to the shop with the address printed on the card. So this is where he can be found, she mused. She took a deep breath, then bravely knocked on the door. It opened, and a small, kindly, grandfatherly old man smiled back at her, accompanied by what Twilight assumed was another kwami, only this one was small, green, and turtle-like.

“Hello,” Twilight started, facing the old man. “I take it that you’re Master Fu?”

The old man smiled. “Yes. Yes I am. Come in, come in. I believe you came to me seeking guidance.”

Twilight blinked. “You do?”

“My dear, he can always sense when someone is in spiritual distress,” the turtle kwami said mysteriously.

“Indeed, Wayzz,” the old master agreed. “You have something on your mind; I can feel it. How about you step into my office?”

They entered the office. Twilight noticed a stack of old papers in front of one of the mats. She picked one of them up. The page depicted two alicorns locking horns over what appeared to be seven jewels. She turned the page, and the page now depicted six ponies who looked suspiciously like her and her friends, fighting off evil forces from every direction.

“These ponies look awfully familiar,” she said at last. “Are they supposed to be me and my friends?”

To her surprise, Master Fu smiled knowingly at her.

“Indeed they are, Twilight Sparkle,” he said at last, motioning for Twilight sat down on the mat. “In fact, I’d say that our dimensions are more connected than you imagine.”

“Really?” Twilight sat down, now curious. “How so?”

“Well,” the kwami called Wayzz started, “it all started many millennia ago, in the era before the ones you refer to as Celestia and Luna. Long ago, there were two alicorn brothers: Gabel, the Great Creator, and his brother, Bane. They were responsible for creating the world that you call Equestria. One day, Gabel had this great idea: with the help of some Equestrian fairies who would later become the kwamis, he and his brother took seven ordinary jewels and infused them with Equestrian magic, and Gable declared that the Miraculouses were to be used to benefit the future inhabitants of the land, and that any attempt to do so otherwise would bring harm to the wearers.

“But his brother, alas, felt that using the Miraculouses for good was a waste of their true potential, but his brother would hear nothing of what Bane had to say, so Bane decided to get his revenge. He spent many hours in his dark celestial workshop creating creatures of evil to undermine him. After many unsuccessful attempts, he finally succeeded in making one: the one you call Discord. He then proceeded to unleash Discord’s chaos throughout the land, causing endless suffering. ”

“So you’re saying,” Twilight was saying, “that Discord was created as a tool of Bane to spite the great creator?”

Master Fu nodded. “It would seem that way. Fortunately, Gabel wised up to his brother’s plans, and, with the fairies’ help, cast a spell on Discord to put him out of commission for a very, very long time. Needless to say, Bane was furious. He immediately engaged his former best friend in a very violent battle that took them across several dimensions, until they finally ended up in a vast plain with a very large rock. Using the limited strength he had left, Gabel fused his brother’s essence into the stone. Realizing that his plans would not be enacted until much later, Bane swore to his brother that there would always be people would misuse the Miraculouses for evil, and that one day, in the distant future, he would be released from his stony prison and take revenge on him. Fearing the worst, Gabel used up whatever strength he had left to banish the Miraculouses to another part of the dimension where he had imprisoned his evil brother, the land which is now referred to as China.”

Twilight paused. “Wow,” she said at last. “I never knew that our worlds were so . . . connected.”

The old master nodded. “Indeed they are. Now, what seems to be the problem?”

And so, Twilight told him everything that was on her mind. Master Fu and Wayzz listened in sympathy. At last, Wayzz said, “We believe that the treatment you are about to undergo will ease some of your pain. It’s kinda like acupuncture, only without the pain. Understood?”

Twilight nodded. She lay down on the mat and closed her eyes as Master Fu waved his hands over her . . .

And before she knew it, she was back at the Royal Wedding, right after she had chased the impostor out crying. Shining Armor was pacing angrily back and forth in front of her, furious over what she had done.

“You want to know why my eyes went all-?” He googled his eyes at her in the exact same manner that she did. “Because ever since I started having to perform my protection spell, I've been getting terrible migraines. Cadence hasn't been casting spells on me. She's been using her magic to heal me! And she decided to replace her bridesmaids because she found out the only reason they wanted to be in the wedding was so that they could meet Canterlot royalty! And if she hasn't been on her best behavior with your friends, it's because with me being so busy, she's had to make all the decisions about the wedding!"

Twilight opened her mouth, trying to get in a word edgewise against her brother. “I was just trying to-“

But Shining Armor plowed ahead with his tirade, not even bothering to listen to what she had to say. “She's been completely stressed out because it's really important to her that our big day be perfect!” He fixed his sister with an angry glare. “Something that obviously wasn't important to you!”

Twilight flashed him a dumbstruck look. Of course it was important to her! Why did they think she tried to scare “Cadence” off? Did they think she did that out of spite and hatred? But before she could defend herself, Shining Armor cut her off.

“Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go and comfort my bride.” He stormed off after his fiancée, but not before turning back to her and saying, an icy tone in his voice, “And you can forget about being my best mare. In fact, if I were you, I wouldn’t show up to the wedding at all.”

Twilight stared back at him, open-mouthed. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She was trying to prevent a disaster from happening, and this was the thanks she was getting? As her brother walked out of the room, she turned to her friends. After all, she could always count on them to stand by her.

How very wrong she was.

Applejack turned to the rest of her friends. “Come on, y’all,” she said in very matter-of-fact tone, “let’s go check on the princess.” And with that, the rest of her friends, Spike included, followed Shining Armor out of the throne room without looking back at her.

Twilight stared at the scene in disbelief. These couldn’t be the ponies who promised that they would always take her concerns seriously, could they? Did they not realize that trouble was brewing right under their very noses? At last, Princess Celestia followed them. This was her last chance to tell Celestia and hopefully set things right. Surely she would listen to common sense.

But then, Celestia said seven words that changed everything.

“You have a lot to think about.”

She might as well have said, “I hate you.” Twilight felt her heart grow as cold as ice, and tears threatened to spill out of her eyes, as she watched her mentor walk out of the empty room and close the door behind her with her magic, not bothering to look back even once.

Twilight stirred a bit in discomfort. Master Fu looked on the scene, looking at her with sympathy.

“Yes,” he said knowingly. “I sense a lot of twisted-up energy inside you, my child. Hurt. Pain. Loss. Betrayal. You really have been through a lot, haven’t you?”

“That isn’t the half of it,” Twilight muttered under her breath, her eyes still closed. “It only got worse from there. Do you mind exploring that part?”

Master Fu and Wayzz looked at each other. At last, the old master instructed, “Take a deep breath.”

Twilight breathed deeply once.

“And relaaaaaaaaax…”

Twilight woke up in a dark room, lit by only the light of her horn. She focused her eyes on her new surroundings. Where was she?

“Hello?” she asked nervously, trying to find an exit. “Is anyone there?” She walked straight into a reflective crystal, while low, menacing laughter echoed all around. “Where am I?”

Then out of nowhere, the green image of the fake Cadence appeared behind her, a sadistic grin on her face. “The caves beneath Canterlot,” she smugly answered. “Once home to greedy unicorns who wanted to claim the gems that could be found inside”-her image disappeared from the crystal’s surface-“and now, your prison.” She reappeared in front of Twilight on another crystal, the evil grin still intact on her face.

Twilight’s heart began to race. “Help! Help!” she cried.

The impostor’s face disappeared from the crystal as her evil laughter echoed throughout the cavern. “It’s no use,” she declared as her image reappeared on the stones beside her. “No one can hear you and no one will think to look for you either.” Her image moved to another set of crystals. “Most ponies had forgotten these caves even exist, which is why they are the ideal place to keep the ones who try to interfere with my plans.” She laughed maniacally.

“Plans?” Twilight asked, confused. “What plans?”

The impostor looked at her in surprise. “The plans I have for your brother, of course,” she said at last.

Twilight’s horn lit up as her magic grew stronger in her rage. “Don’t you dare do anything to my brother, you…you MONSTER!” she declared.

“Only way to stop me is to catch me,” the impostor taunted. Her image disappeared from the crystal slab, and her laughter echoed all around. Twilight turned around to see that the impostor Cadence had reappeared on a crystal slab behind her. Boiling with rage, she fired a beam of magic at her, who disappeared. The beam ricocheted off the slab and all around the cave, just barely missing her.

“Nope,” the impostor’s image taunted from the cave floor, then teleported behind her, “over here!” She laughed as her image teleported all around the cave. Twilight fired multiple blasts of magic all around, destroying multiple crystals in the process. At last, one of the blasts broke open a section of the cave wall, and next thing she knew, there was the impostor Cadence, albeit more dirty and ragged than she remembered. As the laughter continued, the second Cadence looked on in shock and surprise at Twilight, who glared angrily at her, horn lit.

“NO!” the Cadence screamed, as Twilight rushed her.

Twilight woke with a jolt, breathing heavily. She had been forced to re-experience the time she had almost attacked the real Cadence, mistaking her for the impostor. Her heart was pounding in her ears. She turned to Master Fu. “Can I please take a break from this?” she wearily asked.

“If you insist, my child,” Master Fu said sympathetically. With that, Twilight struggled to get up and went out into the lobby for a drink.

As this was the last day before the dance, the school day was shortened by half. A lot of the students were doing last minute checking, making sure that everything was perfect for the dance tomorrow. Marinette, Adrien, and Alya were in a corner of the school, helping Twilight’s friends inspect the decorations and the food. Alya suddenly elbowed Marinette, then jerked at the entrance door with her thumb without saying a word. There stood Chloe, who was looking visibly uneasy as the entire student body glared at her viciously. Almost immediately, she heard whispers break out like little hissing snakes.

“What is she doing here?”

“Why is she here to begin with?”

“Doesn’t she have anything better to do?”

“She’d better not screw all our hard work up!”

Chloe was getting nervous. She knew that the eyes of the school were watching her, judging her. She felt that it would be best to move to the corner where she would be in the company of people she knew she could trust.

“Don’t worry,” Marinette quietly assured her. “As long as you don’t screw up, they won’t have anything to hold against you.” She, Marinette, got the feeling that a good fraction of the students were now disappointed in her and the others for fraternizing with someone who caused them a great deal of grief in the past.

“I hope so,” Chloe muttered to herself. She leaned back against the wall, impatiently tapping her foot with boredom. Just then, she saw something black and about the size of a tennis ball whiz under one of the tables, eating something.

“Hey!” she hissed. “What do you think you’re doing?” The creature did not answer, but continued chewing on the food it was eating. Chloe tiptoed quietly up to the creature and cupped it with both her hands, only to find that it was . . .

“Plagg?” she whispered, confused. “What are you doing?”

“What do you think?” he asked, smirking a little. “You didn’t think I was up to any mischief, did you?”

Chloe sighed. “Come now, let’s get you back to Adrien.” She got up, unintentionally shifting the table and tipping it over as she did so.

BANG!

The whole table was upended, spilling all of the food onto the floor. Everyone turned toward the source of the commotion. Mrs. Bustier, who had watched the whole thing, was writing something on her clipboard in disapproval. A sea of angry students stared back at Chloe, who stole a glance at the mess she had accidentally created and cringed. She had not meant to do that.

“Now that’s the bad girl we love to hate!” Kim called from the back of the crowd while pointing a finger at Chloe, an extremely smug grin on his face. A roar of approval met his words. Chloe felt her blood boil and her heart race as she shot a hateful look at Kim.

“I knew she was still trouble!” Aurore Boreal screamed.

“The real Chloe Bourgeois is back!” chimed in a third female voice.

Chloe clenched her head, trying to drown out the boos and shouts and headed her way. “No,” she muttered in a sad, defeated tone. “No, she isn’t.” She shuffled into the classroom, the rest of the group following her, as the students started throwing empty soda cans and other bits of trash at her.

When Twilight come back from her drink, she lay down once again on the mat so that she could hopefully overcome her final trial. She took a deep breath, then relaxed, letting her mind wander . . .

Sometime after the reception had ended, the newlyweds, Celestia, and the other Elements, sans Twilight, were in the castle hall, still in a good mood from the success of the wedding. All of a sudden, the door to the Great Hall opened for the third time that day, and in sulked Twilight, who was obviously still bitter over what had happened. The laughter and chattering died down almost instantly upon her arrival. Twilight walked past the group, ignoring them, then stopped in front of Celestia’s throne.

“Twilight,” Celestia started, concern in her voice, “are you okay?”

Twilight turned around, unsure of what to say. “No,” she responded at last. “I mean . . . given everything that had happened …”

Applejack sighed. “Look, Twilight, we git that yah might be sore with us, but the least yah could’ve done is at least gather more that it really was the Changeling Queen posing as Cadence.”

“Could I have though?” Twilight asked. “I mean, given the circumstances, would it have been possible?”

“Twilight,” Cadence asked, “what are you talking?”

Twilight sighed. “You know how I was able to find you a while back, Cadence? Well, the only reason I was able to do that was because the Changeling Queen sent me down here after everyone had gone away.”

“Everypony went away?” Cadence asked, confused. “Why is that?”

Shining Armor sighed. There was no point in hiding it any longer. “Cadence, there’s something I have to tell you. During my dress rehearsal, Twily burst in and started rambling about how you were evil and had done some sort of brainwashing spell to me. That was enough to get your doppelganger crying, and I had no idea what was going on, so I …. kicked her out of the wedding.” He said these last six words as if it had pained him greatly to do so.

Silence. No one said anything. Cadence stared at her husband rather painfully.

“Is this true, Shining?” she asked in a serious voice. “Is it true that you and everypony else abandoned her when she needed you the most?”

“Well . . .” Shining Armor started nervously. How was he supposed to explain to his wife that he had been tricked?

“I can’t believe what I’m hearing,” Cadence continued. “Not one of you bothered to look for her? What did you think would have happened to her if she hadn’t been able to find me?”

“We didn’t want her to die!” Celestia protested. “None of us did!”

“Besides,” Applejack protested, “she wasn’ exactly innocent herself! Yah heard what Shining said about Twilight! She came banging in, hollering and screamin’ as if she had gone loco in the coco! Are yah suggestin’ we should have applauded that kind of behavior?”

"Technically it wasn't his fault…." Rarity added, stepping in for him. "Shining Armor was under a spell at the time, he didn't have any choice in the matter. Not to mention we didn't exactly have a reason not to comfort her…"

“What about the rest of you?” Twilight asked. “You all left without a second thought! Do you know how much that hurt?!”

“So rushing into the throne room screaming “she's evil, she's evil, she's evil!” was the smarter option? Because for the smartest mare out of all of us, that seems like something Pinkie or me would do… ” Rainbow Dash asked bluntly, ignoring Pinkie's outcry of “hey!”. “...and the fact that I'm admitting that says a lot… look...” she continued as she landed next to her and placed a hoof on her shoulder. “We all feel like total idiots for falling for Chrysalis' trick. Even worse than within when Discord turned us against each other, but put yourself in our horseshoes, we didn't have anything to go on a side from your word that she was evil… are you saying we should have just applauded you after you sent her crying out of the throne room?”

“Well, it’s partly our fault as well,” Spike admitted. “After all, didn’t we promise that we would take her concerns seriously a while back?”

The other ponies nodded a little; they knew that Spike was referring to the incident they had so famously dubbed “Lesson Zero”. A few of them even had guilty faces to match.

“I’m disappointed in you, Shining Armor,” Cadence shook her head in disapproval. “In fact, I’m disappointed in all of you! What the hay were you thinking, leaving her like she meant nothing to you? Do you realize that if she hadn’t found me and escaped, we both could have died? How would you have felt then?”

Applejack sighed as she stepped in. “Look, we git that yah might be sore with us, but the least Twilight could’ve done is at least gather more evidence that it really was the Changeling Queen posing as yah.”

“I know that!” Twilight yelled. “I understand that I needed proof, but that’s not the problem. The problem is that I’m your friend; I at least expected that my credibility as such would’ve at least warranted you to take a second look at the false Cadence in addition to the fact that I’ve known her longer than any of you. Come on, Applejack, did I ever foal around when the fate of Equestria was in my hooves?”

Applejack opened her to respond to her question, but then realized that she had a pretty good point. For all the hollering and yelling, Twilight always had the interests of Equestria at heart. And she had to admit that the she and the other ponies didn’t exactly raise awareness about “Cadence’s” attitude toward them, and at the very least could’ve given her the benefit of the doubt.

“Look,” Celestia started wearily, “we’ve all been through a lot. And we’re obviously still on edge from what the Changeling Queen has enacted on us. I suggest we all put this nasty incident behind.”

Twilight snorted. “Good luck with that,” she snarked. She felt that hosting a wedding during a time when national security was at stake was an idiot move on Celestia’s part on so many levels. If that never happened, they wouldn’t even having this discussion to begin with. And look where her mentor’s “wisdom” had gotten her.

Cadence sighed. It was clear that she was now disappointed in these girls for abandoning their friend in her time of need.

“You really do have a lot to think about,” Twilight muttered under her breath, glaring at Celestia.

Later that day, the train ride back to Ponyville was awfully quiet, with neither of the other Elements racking up enough courage to talk to Twilight. As much as they knew that Twilight should have gathered more evidence, they should have at least taken her concerns seriously. They all felt awful that they abandoned her for someone they knew for only a day or so. Indeed, no one was taking this more seriously than Rainbow Dash, because her actions have put her Element in even bigger doubt than any of the others.

The only question now was whether Twilight will eventually forgive them in the end.

Twilight slowly opened her eyes, moaning a little. She had been forced to relive the whole scenario in her mind, and she did not like it one bit. Master Fu looked at her expectantly.

“Well?” he asked. “How do you feel?”

“I feel . . . better,” she told him. This was partly a lie; while she was able to release some of the trauma, the painful memories still lingered in her mind. She got up and turned back to face him. “Thanks for your help . . . I guess.” She made to leave, closing the door as she did so.

“Her troubles aren’t over, are they, master?” Wayzz asked Master Fu uncertainly.

“No, I fear they have only just begun,” Master Fu answered his kwami with an equally worrisome look.

The group entered a secluded classroom to get away from the hostile mob that had congregated outside. Chloe gulped; she knew she was in for it now for screwing up the hard work which they had worked on this past week. Indeed, everyone was staring back at her with murderous looks in their eyes.

“What was that?” Adrien asked, evidently displeased.

“I thought your kwami was up to no good!” Chloe protested. “I-I didn’t know what to do!”

“Let’s think, shall we?” Adrien asked in mock puzzlement. “How about letting me know exactly what was going on with Plagg?”

Chloe opened her mouth, then realized that Adrien had a point. The prudent thing was to have let Adrien know exactly what his kwami was up to. Besides, it turned out that Plagg really wasn’t doing anything suspicious, which meant that she had embarrassed herself and the others all for nothing.

“I can’t believe that they’re mad at us just for being her vicinity,” Fluttershy lamented.

“That’s what you guys get for associating yourself with the school’s bad seed,” drawled a new, female voice. Everyone turned to see that a new girl was standing in the doorway, looking about as smug as Kim did when he publicly ridiculed Chloe. She had tan skin and olive green eyes, with long, chestnut hair in bangs, which were loosely tied on the bottom and had shorter strands on each side of her head with orange bands. She was wearing a red-orange jacket over a dark gray romper that tiny white spots, along with light gray tights and brown high heel boots.

“Like you’re any better, Lila?” Marinette snapped.

“Oh please,” Lila said, getting up way too close in Marinette’s face, “just because you’re a world-famous superhero now doesn’t mean that you have to tell me what I can and can’t do.”

Sweet Celestia, I hate this girl, Sunset thought to herself. I hope I wasn’t this awful.

“So what?” Rainbow Dash was practically yelling. “You’re not even giving her a chance to prove herself! Anypony can change, they just need to be given a chance to do so!”

Lila gave a mocking laugh. “Have you even heard of what this girl has done? From what I’ve gathered, she’s responsible for the majority of akuma attacks that have happened in Paris! It’s amazing she and her father didn’t get run out of town on a rail yet!”

Chloe seethed at Lila. If that brat said one more word against her . . .

“Really,” Marinette shot back. “At least Chloe is trying to make an effort to become better. You, on the other hand? You’re still that obnoxious, sneaky, and deceitful snob who refuses to learn her lesson when the situation calls for it!” Chloe shot Marinette a grateful look.

“My, my, and just when I thought you couldn’t any lower,” Lila flashed Marinette a deceitful smile. “I can assure you, I loved seeing all of you humiliated. I especially loved the part where Chloe Bourgeois, in a fit of boiling rage, toppled over the table with the treats for the dance!”

“IT WASN’T A FIT OF BOILING RAGE!” Chloe shouted, then, rather embarrassed, turned to the others, who were now looking away, looking as though they didn’t want to be caught up in this.

“If you insist,” Lila sarcastically agreed, admiring her nails. “But if you ask me, you’re doing your friend’s reputation a grave disservice by associating with her.”

“Lila,” Adrien growled, “how about you do us a favor and leave us alone before I’m tempted to do something awful to you?”

“All you had to do was ask,” Lila mocking smiled, putting up a fake gesture of surrender. “See ya two freaks around.” She turned and left through the entrance, flipping her hair as she did so.

“Honestly,” Rarity said, looking contemptuously after Lila, “that girl needs to learn some manners!”

Marinette nodded in agreement. It appeared that Lila would taking over Chloe’s role of the resident school bully.

“Now what are we supposed to do?” Tikki asked sadly.

“I don’t know,” Alya said sadly. “I think it’s best that we-“

But she never got to complete her sentence, for a new voice from the doorway interrupted her.

“Care to explain what you girls are doing with her?”

Everyone turned around. There was Sabrina, standing in the doorway with her arms crossed in disapproval, staring coldly back at them. Almost immediately, Marinette started feel guilty. She had spent so much time with Chloe that she had completely forgotten about Sabrina.

“Sabrina, I-” she started, but Sabrina cut her off.

“Don’t try to fool me,” the girl snapped. “I saw both of you hanging out with her earlier. Why would you do something like that when it’s been established that she only thinks of herself?”

“You haven’t been around her much, have you?” Alya asked her. “We have, and we can tell you for certain that isn’t the case anymore! It’s like Dash said, anyone can change, they just need to be given a chance to do so!”

Silence. Nobody said anything at all. At last, Alya spoke up.

“I’m sorry, Sabrina,” she said. “But Chloe’s our friend now.”

Sabrina blinked back at her, her expression now one of cold, restrained fury. “So was I,” she spat, then turned around and disappeared. For some reason, both Marinette and Alya felt terrible about this. After all, didn’t they promise to be Sabrina first real friends? And now, she felt that they were treating just like Chloe did before she came to her senses.

“Let’s go,” Plagg said sadly. “Looks like we’re not wanted here.”

And with that, the group made its way out of the school, heads facing down in sadness, as the students yelled and jeered at them and a few pieces of trash flew their way.

Back at Master Fu’s place, Wayzz suddenly got a chill over him, a cold that was much stronger than the icy sensation he had felt a while back.

“M-master,” he shuddered. “It’s back. The cold. And much stronger than before.”

Master Fu paused in consideration, concerned. It was clear that the danger was closing in, and he knew exactly who was coming back. He turned and collected the remaining Miraculouses from his chest.

“What are you doing?” Wayzz asked curiously.

“Putting the rest of these Miraculouses in safe hands,” Master Fu said simply. “If it is true that he is back, then it is imperative that we keep them out of his reach, especially this one.” He pointed to the purple brooch lying in its section of the chest.

“But master, the only one who is worthy to bear this Miraculous lives on the other side of the world,” Wayzz pointed out. “Not to mention that it’s the dead of night there. What should we do?”

Master Fu paused, in deep contemplation. At last, he came to a decision.

“Call Gabriel Agreste,” Master Fu said at last, eyeing the Peacock Miraculous. “We need to make some important drop-offs.”

Later that day, Master Fu and Wayzz were at the steps of the Agreste mansion, in the process of handing over the Peacock Miraculous to Gabriel.

“Thank you so much for agreeing to take care of this, however much heartache it may have reminded you of,” Wayzz thanked him.

“It is my pleasure,” Gabriel smiled a little. “If my brother has indeed returned, then I’ll do everything I can to stop him or at least slow him down.”

“If indeed it is a false alarm,” Master Fu informed him, “then we’ll be sure to come back to recollect. Have a good day.” As soon as the doors slammed, they turned around and went down the steps and through the front lawn. The old master turned his attention to the purple Miraculous in his hands. Now there was just the matter of making sure that Ladybug kept the Brooch safe for him; if she could take good care of Tikki, then she could certainly do so for Nooroo.

“Master! I-“

But Wayzz never got to complete his sentence, for after uttering these two words, he dropped to the concrete pavement, passed out. Master Fu picked up his kwami and examined him. Upon closer inspection, he noticed a relatively miniature dart sticking out from his neck. His eyes widened in fear; he realized that his worst nightmare was about to come true.

But before he could make a move, a small handkerchief fell and landed in front of him. Master Fu picked up the handkerchief and sniffed it. The smell instantly knocked him out, and he fell to the ground, his head throbbing in pain. The comb and the fox necklace scattered to the ground, but the old master took care to make sure that the brooch was safe at all costs. Just then, a shadow appeared and inched its way closer to him until finally, it stopped right in front of him. At the same time, the master’s eyelids started to droop heavily. He fought to stay awake, but the effort was ultimately futile. The last thing the old man could see weakly as he felt an intense sleep wash over him was the dark silhouette of a man reaching toward the purple Miraculous in his arm. He tried to protect it, but it was useless, as his eyelids slid shut and he lay on the floor, helpless and unable to do anything.

In an isolated tower overlooking the rest of the city, a swarm of butterflies, which had hitherto remained inert, scattered instantly with the accompaniment of the sound a door opening and slamming shut. Amidst the frenzied flying insects, a man with a cold, calm sense of purpose strode through carrying the object which was rightfully his in his right hand. After so long, he was about to fulfill the promise that he had delivered to those wretched teenagers. If only Ludo could see him now . . . he wondered how he was doing.

But there were more important matters to attend to. He could never go back to his old hideout; that place had officially been compromised. Until he found a more suitable arrangement, this would have to do. He glanced down at the small purple brooch that he had recovered. To think this had been the instrument of his downfall two months ago. . . An amused grin curled up on his face. He promised himself that he would have his revenge on the boy for doing this to him . . . but that was a problem for another day. He fastened the Miraculous onto his shirt and spoke the four magic words.

“Nooroo, Dark Wings, rise!”

The swarm rushed him and he felt Nooroo forcibly enter his Miraculous. The jewel glowed, and then the butterflies dispersed. He checked his appearance in a nearby mirror. A man with in a purple-and-black outfit wearing a silver mask stared back at him. A victorious grin appeared on his face.

It felt so good to be back.

My Little Miraculous Ladybug

by MetaLord395

Morning In Paris

A New Adventure

Repercussions

Bienvenue a Paris

Burnt Bridges

School-Time Interactions, Part 1

School Time Interactions, Part 2

Midnight Snacks

Old Wounds