Betrayal always hurts, especially when it come form those you love and trust the most.
Betrayal always hurts, especially when it come form those you love and trust the most. When Anon-A miss brings Sunset’s world crashing down around her, she turns to the one pony she knows she can truly trust, only to find she’s not the only one who’s been betrayed by her friends. Plagued by betrayals old and new, Twilight and Sunset began to walk the road to recovery and as they do, they discover that while the road may be painful, it’s also almost as beautiful as the pony walking next to them.
Romance tag is for SunLight as well as some Starlight/Trixie that will occur in the final scene of most chapters as a background story.
The snidely venomous voice of Twilight’s doubts whispered to her as she searched the restricted section of the Canterlot archives. As she searched for the book she needed, she could hear the faint noises of ponies repairing what little damage the Changeling invasion had caused and beginning to once again prepare for a royal wedding. She wished the noise was louder, loud enough to drown out the poisonous voice in the back of her head, but it wasn’t, and it couldn’t.
“Surely you’ve learned by now, nobody truly wants you. Your B.B.B.F.F.? Sure, he liked you when you were a cute little foal that he could take care of and protect. But forever? We certainly learned how long that it, it was the length of time it took you to stop being that cute innocent foal, at that point he decided dedicating himself to the protection of an immortal and near omnipotent Demigoddess would be a better use of his time. The only reason we saw him again was because he happened to be transferred back to the palace in Canterlot when he was promoted to Lieutenant. Sure, he sent letters, probably just so our parents wouldn’t get upset with him, but the quantity, or lack thereof, certainly showed how much he truly cared.”
“No,” Twilight muttered desperately, past the sudden lump in her throat. “He was just really busy with training and getting used to his duties.”
“Sure, of course, that must be the reason, it had nothing to do with not wanting to have to deal with a mare who not ever her parents wanted.”
Twilight shook her head vigorously. “No, My parents-”
“Were overjoyed when Celestia wanted to take you away. You can’t deny that.”
“They were just happy for what it would mean for my future. They were proud.”
“Were they? Or were they just glad to get a magical monster out of their home? A thing that could turn them into plants at a whim, scare the sox off an entire panel of magical examiners, then proceed to not just hatch a bucking dragon, but also grow it to monstrous proportions. Think about it, how many ponies would have died because of you that day if Celestia hadn’t happened to be nearby to stop you.”
“But she did stop me. And she clearly didn’t think I was a monster. She took me in, taught me, cared about me, gave me-”
“Oh, come on. You can’t seriously still believe that. She saw you as a tool and shaped you so she could use you. She knew you had the potential to wield the element of magic and she wanted her sister back. As soon as Luna was safe you saw how much she really wanted you as a student, letting you stay in Ponyville was just a way to get you out of her mane, in fact, I bet she had your brother transferred to the palace just so she’d have to spend less time dealing with you. After all, it’s not like anyone could actually like spending time with you.”
“That’s not true! My friends like-”
“And that’s another thing, didn’t you already learn your lesson about friendship from your foalhood friends? Once they get to know you, learn what you are, nobody actually wants to be your friend. As soon as they heard how you became Celestia’s student, even the fact that you were her student wasn’t enough to keep them from abandoning you. You acted wisely while you were with her, keeping everybody at hoof’s length kept them from hurting you, but your actions in Ponyville, and especially this Foal’s errand, show you truly aren’t smart enough to remember your lessons.”
Twilight shook her head violently; tears were beginning to blur her vision and that made scanning the shelves for the book she needed more difficult. Still, she was sure it was nearby. The hope that came from that thought gave her the strength to make a firmer reply than she yet had.
“No, my friends simply made a mistake, a mistake their very sorry about, and that’s that. I’m forgiving them, that’s part of what it means to be a friend.”
“Maybe, but the point is, they’re not your friends. We’ve just seen how much you truly mean to them. Friends are supposed to trust and care about each other, but not one of them trusted you enough to believe you about Cadance. And as if that wasn’t enough proof, instead of staying and trying to help you through the problem they thought you did have, they abandoned you.”
“No, they just had-”
“Just had work to do. Of course, and that work was so much more important to them than you were. Just like with your brother and the letters. Who knows, maybe those foalhood friends of yours weren’t actually scared of you, maybe they just had work to do too. Come on, admit it, they aren’t your friends.”
“Yes, they are.”
“No, they aren’t. Let’s look at them one at a time. Applejack, she was simply raised to be neighborly and helpful to everyone. I mean, she invited a total stranger to a bucking family reunion, all she ever saw you as was a new resident of Ponyville who she had to help settle in. As for why she agreed to help you with this wedding, aside from being a generally helpful pony, this is just a repeat of the Gala on a grander scale. If she was excited about the few bits she hoped to make selling food to people waiting to get into the Gala, it no surprise she was willing to put up with you considering the amount she’ll make catering the entire royal wedding.”
“No!”
“Pinkie Pie. Well she's obvious, she just enjoys having fun and spreading laughter, it doesn’t matter who else is involved. As far as this wedding, she just couldn’t resist the opportunity to throw such a large a party.”
“No.”
“Fluttershy. You saw exactly how much interest she had in you before she learned you were caring for an exotic animal. Aside from the fact that kindness is what she is, she simply spent more time with you so as that she could see Spike and Owlowiscious. The only reason she agreed to help with this wedding was so she could show other Ponies how wonderful her animals are.”
“no.”
“And then there’s Rarity. She’s almost as obvious as Pinkie. You’re from Canterlot, your parents are noble, you’re the princess’s Student, that what drew her to you. Not only are you the high point of culture in Ponyville, you offered her the opportunity to showcase her work not only to the Canterlot nobility but possibly to the Princess herself. Obviously, she didn’t realize you’d already fulfilled the role the Princess had for you. And this wedding? It’s the culmination of everything, the opportunity she so desperately wanted, a chance to show her work to everybody who’s anybody. While it’s possible she’ll want to keep you around as insurance, assuming this second wedding goes well and her work is received the way she hopes it will be I wouldn’t be at all surprised if she suddenly starts spending a lot less time with you, now that she’s gotten what she wanted.”
“no.”
A sigh of relief escaped her lips as she finally found the book she was looking for, Mind Magic, by Misty Mornings. She rubbed a foreleg vigorously across her eyes, then levitated the book down and began to search for the spell she needed.
“And finally, there’s Rainbow Dash, She’s the clincher, and you know it. she’s loyalty embodied, which means there only one possible way she could abandon you like that.”
“no.”
“As the Element of Loyalty she could never betray someone she was loyal to in the way that she did you, that could only have been possible if she never formed a bond of loyalty with you in the first place.”
Tears streamed down Twilights face as she found the spell she was after, Mercurial’s Memory Modifier. As she read the description of the spell, the voice in her head that had been blessedly for the last few moments started to speak again.
“Well this isn’t going to work. It says that the spell can be broken, if a sufficiently similar event takes place it can trigger the memories that are being overwritten. Your friends will betray you again, the spell will shatter, and you’ll be even worse off than you are now.”
“No.” the firmness had returned to her voice as her plan reached its conclusion. “They made a mistake, and they learned from it, they won’t betray me again.”
As she stopped speaking, she finished constructing the new memories she had decided on and drew on her magic.
Twilight woke up slowly and blinked the sleep from her eyes. She was in the restricted section of the archive, but why. Oh yes, she'd fallen asleep while researching mind magic, she’d been so afraid that what Chrysalis had done to her B.B.B.F.F. might have lasting effects on his mind that she talked Celestia into letting read up on the subject. while what she’d found before falling asleep had been inconclusive, she’d keep looking. Hope filled her as she remembered the previous day, her friends had trusted her, and they’d saved Cadance and stopped the Changeling invasion together, surely even if there was something wrong with him, together they’d be able to fix it. A smile played across her lips as she got back to her research, her friends had been so embarrassed when she thanked them for trusting her and helping her to save Cadance that she felt it would be best not to raise the subject again.
Sunset Shimmer rubbed tears from her eyes as she forced the door to her rundown apartment open.
“How could they?” the thought echoed through her head as she made her way to her bedroom. “I thought we were my friends. I thought they trusted me.”
Anger filled her as she flung the door to her room open. “clearly I was wrong about that. Of course, they couldn’t really have forgiven me that easily, they just pretended to be my friends because Twilight asked them to. Heck, they were probably doing it as much to keep an eye on me as anything else. I’m almost grateful, at least this Anon-A-Miss taught me what my so-called friends really think of me.”
Her anger burned out as she reached her bed and collapsed onto it. Stretching out one arm she reached for a pen and The Book, at least she knew one person who truly was a friend.
The wheels of Sunset’s motorcycle had barely stopped turning before she was off it and jogging through the gates of Canterlot high. She didn’t know what had happened, but something had obviously gone badly wrong, and she needed to find out what.
Everything had started out normally, she’d needed to explain what Mystable was, but once she had twilight had commiserated with her about the school’s reaction. It wasn’t until she’d started talking about the reaction of her former friends that things had gotten weird. When she’s told Twilight how they hadn’t believed her and had abandoned her, she’d been expecting Twilight to get a little bit angry on Sunset’s behalf and then to give her some advice on how to get through the situation, instead there had been no response except for the blotches that had slowly started appearing on the paper. It had taken Sunset almost a minute of staring at those slowly appearing blotches to realize that the book was reproducing tears. At that point a welling panic had drowned out her own unhappiness, and she had scribbled out a concerned query. The moment she’d seen the couple of squiggles that had been the entirety of the response she’d been up and out the door. While it had taken her some time to recognize the tears, the marks of a Unicorn who didn’t have enough control left to hold a quill steady were as plain as day to her.
As her panic rose, she’d run the last few stoplights before reaching the school. Now, seeing the statue I front of her, her jog sped up to an all-out run, a decision it took her a bare twelve seconds to regret as her muzzle’s sudden introduction to the cold, crystalline, floor reminded her just how tricky going from bipedal to quadrupedal was, even at a walk. Rubbing her bruised muzzle with one foreleg, she got her other legs under her and took a couple tentative steps. Once she was sure her legs weren’t about to betray her again, she began to trot towards the door.
Thinking back, she remembered Twilight had once described the view from her room. As soon as she reached a large room with windows on both sides she paused and oriented herself, “Assuming that’s the tree she describing, then that staircase looked like the best bet.” After several stops to reorient herself, and seven doors that turned out to simply lead to empty rooms, the faint sound of muffled sobs told her she’d finally found her destination. Several soft knocks on the door received no response, so with a glow of light green magic Sunset inched the door open.
Twilight was lying on her bed, curled into a tight little ball, her wings wrapped protectively around her as she cried quietly. Sunset didn’t even consciously decide to move, the next thing she knew she was just beside Twilight, nuzzling gently at one of her wings.
“What’s wrong?”
Her worry only grew as neither the nuzzling nor the question elicited a response.
With one final nuzzle, Sunset took a couple of steps back and turned towards the door.
“Just wait here. Everything’s going to be ok, I’m going to go get your friends and-”
“NO!”
With a burst of magenta magic, the door slammed shut so hard that cracks formed in the crystal. Sunset blinked and turned slowly back around. While tears still flowed freely from Twilight’s eyes, her expression had changed to one of absolute panic. Sunset stared at the terror-stricken mare as the pieces fell into place.
“Twilight, they're not the same people. Fluttershy Rarity and the rest, they made friends with you because they wanted to, because they liked you, not because someone asked them to. I am absolutely certain they would never-”
“They have.” The interjection was absolutely lifeless, and it stopped Sunset cold.
“What?”
“They have. You remember that I told you about my brother’s wedding and the changeling invasion?”
Sunset nodded “Yes, Chrysalis replaced Cadance, you and your friends realized what was going on and saved the day.”
“No.”
Sunset raised an eyebrow as Twilight’s voice trailed off.
“No,” Twilight repeated. “They didn’t believe me. They left me.”
By the time Twilight finished her story Sunsets eyes were wide, and her jaw was clenched as she felt rage flow through her.
“And why,” she asked as gently as she could manage. “didn’t you tell me the truth last time?”
“I didn’t remember!” Sunset jerked back from the sudden scream.
“I didn’t remember,” Twilight repeated more quietly. “that night I went into the archives and found a spell to alter my memories. That story I told you, that’s what I thought happened, but when I read about what happened to you, it all came crashing back.”
Sunset winced. “Ah,” she paused, then walked back to Twilight and nuzzled her side gently. “I’m not going to make light of what happened, they failed you, and hurt you badly in the process. At some point, I think you’ll need to have a long conversation with each of them about what really happened, but remember this, you’ve known them for years and only once have they ever-”
“But was it only once?”
Sunset blinked “what?”
“What if it wasn’t a onetime thing? I’d probably remember if they’d betrayed me like that again, but what other memories might I have changed so as that we could stay friends? How often have I had to change my own memory, once a year? Every month? How many of my favorite memories are lies I created so I wouldn’t lose my friends?”
Twilight paused for a moment, but started speaking again before Sunset could reply, fear filling her voice. “And what if, what if,”
Twilight paused again as her words trailed off, then took a deep breath and started again. “I’ve always been powerful, far more so than other Unicorns, but Celestia needed me to use the Elements of Harmony and defend Equestria. After that, I was a princess. Sunset, what if.”
Twilight once again failed to complete her question, but what she had asked had been enough. Sunsets remembered when she’d been a filly. She’d had more magic then anypony else she’d known. She’d been scared, scared that shed lose her temper and lash out at somepony, scared that she’d fumble a spell, scared because nopony she knew could protect themselves from her, let alone stop her. And above all, scared that she might someday accidentally end up,
“You’re scared that you might have killed somepony and that Celestia let you get away with it, and maybe even erased your memories about it, because the Elements of Harmony were needed to keep Equestria safe, and later, because you were a princess.”
Twilight eyes widened “How-”
Sunset mustered a slight grin. “Remember who you’re talking to, the only Pony alive who might understand those feelings as well as I do is Raven Inkwell, and she’s never been very willing to talk about her past.”
Twilight giggled slightly at the memory of how uncommunicative Celestia’s assistant could get, then she sobered as the situation at hoof came back to her. “Yes. I mean, think about it, my magic flared in a room full of colts and fillies who were applying for a place at CSGU, I collapsed the bucking roof.” Tears were starting to leak from her eyes again. “How likely is it, really, that not a single one of them was crushed by falling debris or fried by a burst of raw magic?”
Sunset opened her mouth, but Twilight plowed onward, not giving her a chance to get a word in.
“I remember a whole bunch of times when I damaged the castle, what if Celestia took away my memories of the times my mistakes hurt ponies because they’d interfere with my development.”
Sunset watched in horrified fascination as mane started to frazzle.
“And the Elements, what is we didn’t give them back to the tree because it was being attacked by vines, what if it took them back because our friendship was so fractured we couldn’t use them anymore. What is the table was meant to show us friendship problems, so we could learn from them and fix our friendship? And Tirek, what if he never escaped from Tartarus? What if someone accidently set the library on fire, I could have been the one who caused all that damage in a fit of rage after finding the charred remains. Andifthat’sthecasewhatifI”
Sunset pressed her hoof gently against Twilights mouth. “Firstly, I don’t think you have to worry about that last one, if you’d really gone on a rampage like that everypony would be terrified of you and they aren’t are they.”
“Well no. But-”
“No buts, you’re not Tirek, and it’s as simple as that. Now, as for your other concerns,” Sunset paused and rubbed a hoof against her temples. “I’m afraid we’ll have to take those seriously. But Twilight, I promise you this, we’ll get through this together, you saved me when I was at the lowest point in my life, and I promise, I’m going to be here for you.”
Twilight smiled weakly and wrapped a wing around Sunset. Moments later the wing tightened around her briefly, and Twilight let out a bitter laugh.
“What?”
“Just realizing that the low point you remember and the one I do might not be the same.”
Twilight looked up at Sunset, and sunset could see tears threatening to break free again. When Twilight spoke again it was in the most vulnerable voice Sunset had ever herd.
“I don’t like this Sunset, not knowing if I even really know the person I’m talking to. It’s scary, and it hurts.”
Sunset blinked several times, forcing her own tears back.
“Well Twilight, that’s one more point I can reassure you on. Luckily, almost all of our conversations are recorded in writing, in that book over there. As for the rest,”
Sunset paused for a moment, unsure if she was really willing to make the offer, to share something so personal. As se saw the combination of hope and fear in Twilight’s face, she made up her mind.
“As for the rest, I’m sure the Princess has warned you of the risks of living someone else’s memories too often, the danger that you’ll starting to think like them, luckily we’ve spent so little time physically together that those risks shouldn’t come into play. If you want, I’ll open my memories to you.”
Twilight’s mouth gaped, and she simply stared at sunset for a few moments.
“Thank you. I don’t, just thank you.” Twilight Paused for a moment then continued.
“Thank you, but no. You’re actually willing to open your memories, I have every reason to trust your honesty. Though, if you’d tell me what you remember about those encounters?”
Sunset smiled gently. “Well, it all started when I came to steal your crown.”
During the next two hours, as Sunset told her Twilight about their first meeting and about the battle of the bands, Twilight visibly relaxed.
“Thank Celestia.” Twilight breathed as Sunset finally stopped talking. “That’s what I remember as well.”
“Good.” Sunset smiled briefly, then settled a serious gaze onto the Alicorn sitting next to her.
“Now Twilight, the way I see it you have four problems. The first and most certain one is how your friends treated you at your brother’s wedding and how it’s going to affect your friendship with them. Second, what other things they may or may not have done to you that you don’t remember, and how those will affect the friendship. Third, what problems you may or may not have had with your magic, how you will avoid them in the future, and how they affect your relationship with Celestia if she altered your memories of them. Fourth, the possibility that memories you haven’t even considered have also been altered.”
Twilight nodded at each point Sunset made, then looked up at her hopefully as she finished. Sunset sighed as she looked into Twilight’s hopeful eyes, she had come up with a possible plan, an idea she’s played with for herself on the way home from Canterlot high, but she truly didn’t know how Twilight would react to it.
“I do have an idea Twilight, but understand, it just how I’d handle this, I’m not trying to push you into anything.”
Sunset paused, and Twilight nodded in understanding.
“Ok, first I would spend a bit of time away from your friends while you decide how to deal with problem one and discover if problem two even exists. I wouldn’t suggest Canterlot, as, if problem three proves to have substance, Celestia could pose a real problem. You’ll have to go over your memories, and given how many years of memories will need to be scanned that will take some time. I also wouldn’t suggest doing it on your own, someone experienced in using mind magic might include a compulsion that would make you overlook any false memory you find.”
Twilight’s fur seemed to take on a paler tone at Sunset’s final words, the idea clearly hadn’t even occurred to her.
“As I see it, that means you need to leave Ponyville for a while and spend some time with a pony you can trust who also knows mind magic. Now, with everybody convinced I’m Anon-I-Miss I’m not too eager to go back to Canterlot High. While I was Celestia’s student, I also had a bad habit of sneaking into restricted sections of the Canterlot archives and reading books I really wasn’t supposed to, including books about mind magic. So, here’s what I suggest, the two of us go on a bit of a trip. As Celestia’s students, we read any number of histories and cultural treatises, but we’ve almost never been beyond the borders of Equestria. Let’s do a bit of traveling while we give your head a thorough scan and see if we can find a new perspective on our problems from.”
Twilight sat silently for a few moments, emotions playing over her face to quickly for Sunset to follow, until, eventually, worry settled solidly into place.
“I don’t know. If it turns out I really don’t have as much control over my magic or my temper as I think I do, then things could get very bad. If I lost control-”
“Then I’d stop you.”
Twilight blinked. “Sunset, while I’m sure you’re a very skilled Unicorn, I’m an Alicorn, and that means-”
“That means you have more raw power than me. As I have told you, however, I had a bad habit of reading books I wasn’t supposed to, books on mind magic, unexpurgated histories of Equestria, books with the true history about Nightmare Moon and Luna, and most importantly, books of war magic that have been banned for the better part of a millennium. You may have more power than me, but I have far nastier ways to employ mine. Also, since your immortal, I won’t need to worry about killing you. Believe me, there are spells deep in the restricted section of the Canterlot archives that you’d be happier not knowing about, ones that would inflict tremendous pain while doing no physical damage, and others that only an alicorn would survive having cast on them, any one of them would keep you from focusing enough to cast a counterspell while I set up a stasis bubble around you. After that I’d drag your temporally frozen flanks straight to Celestia’s throne room and demand an explanation.”
Considering what she’d just basically threatened to do to her, Sunset almost laughed at the sudden look of hope spread across Twilight’s face.
“You really think you could?”
Sunset’s mind wandered for a moment, remembered some of the most pleasant nights of her time as Celestia’s student. Memories of slowly tearing apart another young Alicorns magical defenses and then coming up with the most creative of binding spells to cast on her played briefly behind her eyes. That, of course, lead to memories of what they’d done next, only for those to start to mixed with thoughts of fighting Twilight, and what could come after. Sunlight shook her head firmly, banished the thoughts, if not the resulting blush.
“Yes, I’m sure of it.”
A smile started to form on Twilight’s lips. “Oh, this is going to be great. We could visit the Zebra’s in the sea of grass, or Minitour archonate, or maybe even the land of dragons in the far south.”
Sunset listened, happy to see that Twilight seemed to have been distracted from her problems, and only occasionally added a suggestion to their possible itinerary. A yawn cut Twilight off as she was arguing with herself about whether going to see the palace of the Griffin’s great khan was a good idea or not. Sunset laughed gently at the faint blush that spread over Twilight’s face.
“You’ve had a rough day, so I suggest you take a nap while I go back through the mirror and gather my things. Oh, and would it be alright if I stored some stuff in an empty room somewhere? I’ve ended up with more things than can easily be kept in a saddlebag.”
“Of course, the castle has more space than I could ever hope to use, and considering what you’re offering to do for me, this is the least I can do.”
A grin played across Sunset’s face. “You mean you let anyone who threatens to kick your flank use your castle? Well, I guess that explains Starlight, though I’m surprised Chrysalis hasn’t turned a wing into her new hive yet.”
“What? No, I mean that,” Twilight paused as she saw Sunsets quirked lips, then chuckled. “Ok, you got me. So, any idea when we should leave?”
“Assuming I don’t take too long packing and that you let me help you pack when we get back, I’d say we could leave on the evening train.”
Twilight froze. “That soon, but what about preparation, checking and triple checking our packing lists to make sure we have everything? What about-“
“What about if one of your friends came over, are you ready to face them Twilight?”
A brief look of panic crossed Twilight's face before she took a deep breath and sighed.
“You’re right, I’m not ready for that. Do you think-“
Twilights words were cut off by a huge yawn, and Sunset smiled down at the Alicorn resting on the bed.
“I think you should get some rest Twilight. Worry about whatever else is on your mind after you’ve gotten some sleep.”
Twilight grinned weakly. “It’s usually Spike who tells me that.” Twilight paused and blushed faintly. “But with everything that I have to think about, I’m not sure I can. So, um, Sunset, would you mind?”
Sunset nodded even as Twilights question trailed off, unfinished. Stretching her neck forward, she gently placed her horn against Twilight’s as she prepared to cast Silverwind’s Somnolence Summoner.
“Just a second.”
Starlight barely resisted the urge to blast her door and whoever happened to have picked such an inopportune time to knock on it. Taking a deep breath, she rolled off her bed and took a moment to cast Moonblossom’s Meditative mind, thankful once again that she’d found that copy of Misty Morning’s book in Twilight’s library. As her anger, as well as a number of other distracting feelings, became distant and unimportant things, she walked towards the door, only to pause just before opening it to cast a couple more spells. As the moisture on her horn vanished and the room's scent was altered to the pleasant smell of blooming lilies, Starlight opened the door.
Looking out of her room, her eyes widened. While she had already guessed it was Twilight at her door, the saddlebags strapped to her back and the yellow and orange pony behind her came as a surprise, as did the fact that Spike was riding on her back inside the castle.
“I’m sorry, did I interrupt something?”
Starlight mentally thanked Moonblossom for the spell that allowed her to keep her face blank as Twilight asked her question.
“Oh no, just getting a bit of rest after having a bit of trouble with a spell.”
Twilight smiled in relief, and even with the spell Starlight struggled to keep a matching smile from spreading across her face. The struggle abruptly became much easier as a knowing smirk played across Sunsets face. Turning slightly so she could look at whatever the other Unicorn was looking at, her eyes played briefly over the starry hat and cape that sat on her nightstand, finally coming to rest on the tip of a horn that protruded just over the bed’s concealing bulk.
“I’ll be quick so you can get some rest then. I had a favor to ask you, I’m going on a bit of a trip and I was hoping you’d agree to be the acting princess of friendship while I was gone.”
Starlight blinked, momentarily dumbstruck. “Ok, but where will you be?”
“There’s a, friendship problem, one that Sunset and I need to work on, and I think this one might take a while to fix. I trust you Starlight, more than anyone else in Ponyville, and I know you can handle this.”
Starlight stood up straighter as Twilight’s words sank in. “Thank you Twilight, I won’t let you down, and I know you’ll come up with some clever way to fix the friendship problem before you know it.”
The worried look that played across Twilight's face as she said her goodbyes told Starlight that she had her doubts about that. As she turned to reenter her room, an impulse hit her, and she'd cast a spell to enhance her hearing before she had time to think about it.
“not sure that was a good idea.”
“A teacher has to know her student, both the good and the bad, I wouldn’t compromise that relationship. She has the title, the table, and friends to help her, what could possibly go wrong?”
“Celestia, why would you say that Twilight”?”
“What do you, oh come on that’s just a silly superstition, how could a question possibly,”
As Twilight’s words faded into inaudibility, Starlight let both spells fade and reentered her room, shutting the door.
“You’re terrible at hiding.”
The words contained more humor than accusation and the blue Unicorn snorted as she stood up from behind the bed.
“Well, of course, Trixie is simply too great and powerful to go unnoticed.”
Starlight chuckled as she hopped back onto the bed and pulled Trixie into a tight hug. Her attention was soon far to firmly fixed on her great and powerful marefriend to hear the softly echoing call of “Cutie mark crusaders, castle explorers.”
Teenagers are always hungry, this is a universal constantan, and one Aloysius Joe had intended to take full advantage when he opened Taco Joe’s. While it was up on the third floor, being directly across the street from Canterlot High provided it with a steady flow of customers. Not that his only customers were students of course, the offices on the other floors of the building also provided some customers, and most gratifyingly, there was a small, though steadily growing, list of regular customers whose origins he couldn’t identify.
“Yes,” the satisfied thought drifted through his mind as he scanned his shop. “It’s customers who come because of the quality of the tacos, not just because it’s convenient, who are really going to turn this place into a restaurant that can rival my dear brothers.”
His scanning paused as his gaze fell on the form of a girl with long blue and purple hair sitting at a window table and he smiled. “Yes, loyal customers exactly like her.”
Sonata Dusk stared out the window as she chewed happily on her fish taco. She loved this place, not only did it serve the best tacos in the city, it even gave her a perfect vantage from which to stare at Canterlot High, something she’s felt compelled to do more and more often of late. Things had changed since the battle of the bands, more for the other sirens than for her, but even she’d felt the effects. Not only was she unable to sing now, both Dagi and Aria had also expressly forbidden her from using any other type of magic, and she couldn’t remember the last time they’d been as serious as when they said it. Other than that, however, things did seem to be looking up. Not that it had seemed that way the first few days after their defeat.
During those first days, Aria and Dagi had ranted, swearing that they’d rip the hearts out of all the Rainbooms and eat them in front of their dying eyes. She’d been relieved when they’d given up on that, the last time they’d done that it hadn’t gone well. Big sunny hadn’t even seemed phased by the loss and consumption of her heart. In fact, all it had done was distract them all enough for her to shatter their shields and blast them entirely out of the Everfree valley. Also, she couldn’t help but think that being tracked down and banished by that bearded pony and the scary black mare with the draconic eyes a bare week after that might not have been a coincidence.
But then, starting about a week after their loss to the Rainbooms, she’d noticed her fellow sirens start to change. It hadn’t been a sudden thing, but slowly, gradually, Aria and Dagi had started becoming nicer. It was most pronounced in how they all treated each other, though they’d even started treating humans a little bit better. While watching T.V. she’d once heard the expression you are what you eat, at the time she’d assumed it only applied to humans, but now, with how much cutting negative emotional energy out of their diets had affected them, she was less certain.
She stared out the window, at the grounds of the school. It was deserted this late in the evening, but that hardly mattered to her, she simply stared at it while her mind strolled. It’s all because of Canterlot High and the Battle of the Bands. If we hadn’t-. Her thoughts about how their lives had changed came to a sudden halt as a figure with distinctive red and yellow hair pulled up in front of the school on a motorcycle. Dagi had told Aria and her about Anon-I-Miss, and about how the other students on Mystable had been reacting. Dagi had been utterly unimpressed, and couldn’t believe people were really falling for such an obvious frame. Aria on the other hand had simply laughed and said everybody was always eager to believe the worst of others, and that Dagi had just been spoiled by their time in the court of the Medicis. Sonata couldn’t see how anyone could have gotten spoiled there, she’d been poisoned no less than forty-two time, and in one memorable week six people had ended up poisoning her a total of seven times.
Shaking the memories off, she looked back down at Sunset. The girl was looking around, clearly trying to find anyone who might be watching. Once she’d decided she was alone she began to push her motorcycle towards the portal statue. Stopping in front of it, she put one hand on it then shoved the motorcycle through. Taking one last look around, she followed it through, probably not seeing the little wave Sonata sent her way. Looking at the clock on one wall she sighed and took the last few bites of her taco, the martial arts class Aria’s was teaching would be ending soon and she’d grumble the entire way home if she had to wait for sonata to arrive. Leaving, she wished for the thousandth time that Dagi and Aria would reconsider the “Sonata isn’t allowed to drive anything” rule, these modern cars looked far easier to drive than that Zeppelin had turned out to be, and anyway, if video games were any sort guide it would be as fun to crash them into things as it would be to simply drive them.
“Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!” Twilight barely managed not to hop around the park bench she’d been sitting on in pure joy as the readings on the device in her hand spiked again. She’d been at home when the sensors she kept in her bedroom had spiked the for the first time. While she’d assumed she’d have months before the next spike, that hadn’t stopped her from immediately using the new data to start finetuning her detectors. She almost couldn’t believe her eyes a couple of hours later when there was another spike of the strange energy. She’d spent a scant five minutes using the newest data to tweak her sensors before grabbing the portable sensor she’d cobbled up a couple of weeks ago and dashing to the park. She’d been ready to wait late into the night in the hope of another pulse, but this one had come even more quickly than the second. Standing up, she started to jog, if the reduction in time between the first and second, and second and third held true, she wouldn’t have much time to use the new data for finetuning. Looking down at the sensor still clutched in her hand, a wide grin spread across her face, even if there was no forth pulse she now had readings from two separate locations and, assuming the source was immobile, she should be able to use them to triangulate in on the source of these strange energy pulses.
Sonata hopped out of the car as they pulled up in front of the mansion. Rounding the car, Sonata waited for the moment Aria turned her head slightly as she closed the door, then launched herself into a tackle hug. Undeterred by Aria’s oof of impact, she hugged tightly and was rewarded with a brief moment where Aria’s shocked expression began to turn into a smile. The smile barely had time to form, however, before it morphed into a scowl. Hopping away, she turned and fled for the backyard, she’d been looking forward to a swim in the pond for the entire ride home. Looking over her shoulder for a moment, she smiled, Aria never looked quite as alive as when she was screaming curses and threatening bloody murder.
Rounding the corner of the mansion, she started towards the pond, then changed direction when she saw Dagi was out feeding her pets. Unlike Aria, Dagi had time to see her coming and braced herself, catching her with ease and returning the hug with a distinctly possessive one of her own.
“So, I take it you had a good time?”
“Yep, Taco joes makes the best tacos. Oh, and I saw Sunset Shimmer.”
The arms wrapped around her tightened and at the name and a hard note entered Dagi’s voice. “Oh, and where was this?”
“I saw her from the window of Taco Joes. She had this huge backpack on and the saddlebags of her motorcycle looked like they were stuffed full. She took the motorcycle with her through the portal.”
“I see, now that is interesting.”
Dagi’s voice trailed off, and after a few moments and Sonata started to try to wiggle out of Dagi’s grip, eager to get to the pond. For a few moments Dagi didn’t seem like she was going to let go, then she winced and did let go. As she skipped off towards the pond, she looked back for a moment to see what had distracted the eldest siren. A giggle escaped her when she saw that Dagi’s newest pet, the one who’s mane they’d dyed red and yellow, had a mouthful of her hair and seemed reluctant to release it.
Adagio Dazzle sighed in relief as she finally convinced the pony to open its mouth. Taking care of her ponies always helped her to relax, or at least it did when they didn’t try to eat her hair. An entire herd of ponies, completely reliant on her and desperate for her attention and the treats she might deign hand out. They might not look exactly like the ones from back home, but it was still enough to make her smile.
Sunset Shimmer. That name, and the memory Sonata’s words, threatened to destroy the calm she’d come out here to find. That genocidal barreleye fish is lucky she ran, I may have more important things to do now, but someday, those Rainbooms are going to pay. Her eyes shifted, and she saw a smiling sonata, splashing around in the pond. The sight brought another spike of grief and rage. Six hundred years. Six hundred years, that was how long the magic they still had inside them could sustain them if they couldn’t get any more, and that only if they never used magic again. It meant Aria couldn’t just heal the injuries she seemed to pick on a near daily basis. It meant Sonata couldn’t take on a water breathing form and truly swim, the way she’d always loved to. It meant when Sunset and the rest had broken their gems, they’d effectively killed them, killed the last three sirens in existence.
Adagio felt her jaw clench. No. No, you won’t let that happen Adagio, you won’t let them die. You’ve seen the machines these humans can make, they can pull energy from rivers, from the blowing wind, from sunlight itself. The ambient mana level in this world is abysmally low, but not zero, so it should be possible to make a machine to gather it. You have the fragments of your gem, you have several doctorates in both applied and theoretical magic, now if only you hadn’t always simply paid human specialists and ignored the concepts behind their technology, you might have some idea where to begin.
