“Um, not that I don't appreciate hanging out with you after I accused you of somehow being part of the other Starlight's disappearance, but Morning Dew and Rondache haven't exactly given me money for whatever this place is,” Starlight Glimmer said as she dug herself further into the vinyl booth.

After their heart-to-heart at Sunset brought Starlight Glimmer to a diner that was close to her apartment. Diner Joe's was a large chrome covered building with laminated black and white floors and bright red vinyl booths that all had seen better days. It was jarring for Starlight, after coming from Sunset's gorgeous brownstone loft, she hadn't said a word when Sunset first brought her in here and just followed behind her silently while the hostess led them to a table near the windows that had a perfect view of the rest of the restaurant.

“It's just a diner. You'll like it and I've got you covered on whatever you want to eat. I have enough money after paying rent to at least get us food here. It's not like it costs all that much to eat here. Besides, we're on a stakeout mission right now.”

Starlight raised an eyebrow. “We are?”

“Yup. If you haven't already noticed, anybody who is anybody in this town comes here with their friends.” Sunset took the opportunity to extend her arm and wave it around slowly for Starlight to follow along. She was right, it was filled with other students from Canterlot High School and Crystal Prep, all hanging out in the booths enjoying their time with their friends. “Plus, I know for a fact that the Dazzlings turn up here every once in a while to wreak havoc for their own personal enjoyment.”

“How do you know?”

“Because every few days, it seems like there's a fight that breaks out here seemingly over nothing and within minutes of the altercation, once everybody is friends again once they leave Diner Joe's radius. It happens like clock work, so it has to be them. I try to come here every afternoon to see if I can spot them, but so far I haven't had any luck.”

“What was your plan if you did spot them?” Starlight asked. “The other girls are all otherwise occupied most afternoons, so it's not like you could really do anything about it, could you? I thought Princess Twilight said that it took all seven of you to defeat them last time.”

“We're stronger together,” Sunset admitted. “That doesn't mean that I wouldn't be able to take them on my own though. We already weakened them after last time, their gems barely work at this point so I don't think it would take much to get them to do exactly what we need them to do.”

Starlight nodded slowly. “Well what should I be looking out for? How do I know if they are here?”

Sunset stood up slightly and looked around the room, carefully examining each table and booth that she could see before sitting back down and announcing to Starlight, “they aren't here yet, but if you see anyone that looks like those girls in the picture, let me know immediately. They probably won't be dressed like that, they will probably be in sweatshirts or something, they probably aren't trying to draw any attention to themselves, especially around Canterlot High School students.”

Starlight opened her Facespace account and pulled up the pictures in question as she tried to commit the girls faces' to memory.

“What do you say, burgers for both of us? Diner Joe's makes a great black bean burger if you're still really upset about having bacon yesterday.”

“Um, sure. I trust you won't steer me wrong about the food.” She barely paid attention to her friend as she said that, instead she went back and forth between looking at the Facespace pictures and looking out the window to the diner's entrance to see who was around. She was secretly hoping that she would be able to spot the girls before they were even able to enter the diner, but she knew that if Sunset hadn't seen them yet and she had come here as often as she possibly could, the likelihood that she would be able to spot them was slim.

It was a little disheartening.

“Do you think that the other Starlight Glimmer was actually friends with these girls?” Starlight asked right after the burgers that they had ordered were placed on the table in front of them.

Sunset shrugged. “Personally, I don't see how anybody could ever be friends with girls like them, but nothing is impossible. Maybe there was something about her that the Dazzlings liked and maybe the Dazzlings were the friends she needed during a rough time. I really shouldn't be one to judge.”

“Unless they played some part in her disappearance, right?”

“Right,” Sunset agreed.

“I wish that there weren't so many people involved in this. I feel like every day there's another name on the list and another wild goose chase to go on.”

“Hey, chin up. At least you can cross my name off the list. Although when you or Twilight or whoever is going to decode that freaking notebook, actually decodes my page, let me know what it says. I would love to hear about the overly petty reason this world's version of Starlight Glimmer hates me and wants to destroy me for. I seriously do not remember ever meeting her.”

Starlight giggled. “I wish I could say that I'm surprised that she's like this, but I know that I have had previous issues with pettiness and anger management. Of course that was before Princess Twilight took me under her wings and taught me all about friendship. It sounds silly, right? That something so seemingly small and silly could have such a big impact on a pony?”

“Or a person,” Sunset offered. “And I know exactly what you mean and it isn't silly, the people who surround you become a part of you, in a way and they make up the way you see the world.”

“And that is why Starlight Glimmer saw the world correctly when she ran with our group,” a familiar voice sang out next to them.

Starlight and Sunset looked over at the end of the booth to see three teenage girls standing there looking at them expectantly. The girls standing there looked incredibly similar to the ones in the photo, which Starlight Glimmer had surmised must mean that these were the same girls and Starlight Glimmer and Sunset Shimmer must have been so distracted by their conversation that neither of the girls had noticed the Dazzlings enter the diner. Starlight immediately began to kick herself for not noticing especially after putting so much effort in committing their faces to memory.

The Dazzlings in the photo differed from the ones that stood in front of them, though. The photo Dazzlings seemed glamorous, they wore glittering stylish clothes, perfect hair and makeup, and smug faces that could make anybody envious of just how cool and above it all they seemed. The Dazzlings in real life were almost the opposite, their faces looked tired and gaunt as if they hadn't eaten or slept in weeks, they had traded their glamorous clothes for ill-fitting black sweatshirts and dark jeans. They still kept those smug faces they had in the picture, but without all the glamor that had surrounded them, they just looked tired and annoyed.

Based on her voracious Facepsace stalking that afternoon, she had quickly learned who these girls were, or at least what they looked like and what their profiles said they were like. It wasn't much, but it made her feel more up to speed with Sunset Shimmer who seemed to know the girls much better than she did considering Sunset Shimmer and the Dazzlings had actually met each other before.

“So, we finally see your faces around here,” Sunset replied without skipping a beat.

“Well we couldn't come around while you were here, could we? You would destroy us!” Sonata cried out.

Sunset shrugged. “Well, you aren't wrong.”

Aria and Adagio pushed Sunset and Starlight further into the booth and sat down next to them.

“We aren't interrupting a date, now are we?” Aria asked with mock sadness. “You two looked so close earlier, we wouldn't want to interrupt anything.”

“We do need to talk to Starlight though,” Sonata added. “It's important.”

“Anything you say to Starlight you can say in front of me.”

“Well, okay then,” Adagio turned towards Starlight and smiled wryly. “Starlight Glimmer, as I live and breathe!” She started as if she hadn't been sitting next to Starlight for a few minutes now.
“I thought that you had forgotten all about us! Of course, I see that you have met the little Rainboom wannabe, is that the reason you haven't contacted us in weeks? You're sleeping with the enemy?”

“I'm not a wannabe anymore,” Sunset muttered.

“I'm really confused...” Starlight said

“Did you bring her to the diner as part of your retaliation? Are we on to you this time? I feel like I'm always in the dark until the reveal, but not this time. Right?” Sonata asked gleefully.

“What do you mean by that? I don't understand”

“Oh, come off it Starlight,” Adagio said, half ignoring Starlight's confusion. “Just admit it. We figured it out before you were able to do anything. I know it hurts to admit, but it's okay. Not everything can go according to plan every single time.”

“Woah woah woah! What is going on here? I didn't bring Sunset here for anything, I don't have any plan that you three unveiled! And I'm not sleeping with her, I don't even know what you mean by that! She hasn't been to a sleepover at my house before, but she is my friend! Probably my closest friend right now, she's the only one who understands”

“Friend? Ha! That's laughable! Nobody likes her, she isn't even supposed to be here!”

“Neither are you three!” Sunset Shimmer shot back.

Adagio chuckled. “Tell that to Starswirl the Bearded and his lame band of heroes.”

“I'm not supposed to be here either,” Starlight said as she stood up defiantly in her place. “I'm not Starlight Glimmer!”

The Dazzlings looked up at her in shock, as if they were expecting a changeling to bust through and show that it had just been a facade all along. Even a few of the patrons at the surrounding tables looked over at Starlight with raised eyebrows as if they had been expecting something else to happen. Starlight blushed when she realized the ruckus she had caused and slowly slid back down into the vinyl booth and twiddled her thumbs as she waited for the other girls in the booth to say something or move on to a whole different conversation so she didn't have to explain her mini freak out that they had just witnessed.

“What do you mean you aren't Starlight Glimmer?” Adagio asked.

“You don't have to answer her,” Sunset assured Starlight. “She's a monster.”

“Monster is a relative term, I'm sure plenty of people around here think that you're a monster as well,” Adagio shot back.

Sunset looked at Adagio as if she wished she still had magic in this world so she would have a way to hurt her without a second thought. Starlight had a feeling that for the well-being of the other Diner Joe's patrons, she should start explaining things to the Dazzlings, even though Sunset probably wouldn't agree with that idea.

“I'm from Equestria. The Starlight Glimmer of this world went missing a few weeks ago and I'm trying to figure out what happened to her. Sunset found a picture of you three with her the night that she went missing; we were hoping that you knew something.”

“Starlight!” Sunset said between her teeth. “You didn't have to tell them anything!”

Starlight looked at the three sirens who looked just as confused as Starlight felt. “I understand that maybe you guys don't get along with Sunset Shimmer, but I've looked at Starlight's Facespace profile and you four are friends so please... help me find your friend.”

“We don't have to tell you anything,” Aria said as she crossed her arms over her chest defiantly.

“No, you don't have to, but a girl is missing and if we all put our heads together we can find her.” The Dazzlings still looked hesitant, and Starlight wasn't sure if it was just because they were literally soul sucking sirens or if it was because they didn't want to say anything incriminating with Sunset Shimmer around to police them. “Anything you say here is safe, I promise. I just really need to know what happened to Starlight Glimmer and I think you three were the last ones to talk to her. I mean, you had sent so many strange Facespace messages to her over deleted accounts and you were all at that party...”

The Dazzlings went pale as soon as Starlight mentioned the Facespace messages, something she immediately noticed and was thankful for. If they had said that they had no idea what she meant by that, she would have started freaking out again because if it wasn't a prank that was done by this world's Starlight Glimmer's friends, then that meant it was done maliciously by somebody who actually wanted to hurt her.

“So, you do know about the Facespace messages?” Sunset asked.

“Of course we do, it's part of our secret...” Aria and Adagio were quick to silence Sonata before she could say anything else.

“Secret what?” Sunset asked, this time her voice was louder as she stared down Sonata. “You have to tell me. Starlight Glimmer is your friend and she's been missing for weeks. Whatever secret thing you three did could have caused her grave danger.”

Aria rolled her eyes. “Oh please, it's just a game. It wasn't even a game we were playing the night of that party. You're overreacting.”

“Just tell me about your stupid fucking secret game,” Sunset hissed.

“It's just a game where we prank each other.” Adagio rolled her eyes. “The point of the game is to one up whoever got you last time. Starlight Glimmer is a master at this game.”

“She's really good with computers,” Sonata added. “And she is also really really really good at convincing people to do, say, or think certain things. When we first started playing, she had me convinced that drinks that came in red cans actually tasted like ketchup for the first few sips and then it would change flavors halfway through. It turned out that whenever she would give me a can of soda, she would stick a ketchup packet in there first and stick a straw into the ketchup packet.”

“She drank 12 cans before Starlight told her the truth,” Aria deadpanned.

“Ever since then it's always been about one-upping each other. Starlight has always been good at it and so for our last prank we focused on scaring her and trying to make her think that a government agency somehow found out about her revenge notebook and wanted to take it away from her because of illegal activity or something. Hence, the creepy messages, the strange letters, and the phone calls.”

“We didn't know anything about the phone calls or strange letters,” Starlight said.

“Well now you do and if by any chance, you come across them, they are fake. So very fake. It took forever to make it look realistic, but it worked. She was thoroughly freaked out and it was so refreshing to say that we got her,” Adagio said. “That was a few days before the party you're talking about, for the record. At the party, Banana Fluff's party by the way, in case you want to go harass her about Starlight Glimmer's disappearance, Starlight made it very clear that she was going to get back at us with something that we cared about.”

“Oh, you care about me, how adorable,” Sunset mocked.

“We care about getting rid of you,” Aria snorted. “If it weren't for you, the three of us wouldn't be scrounging for negativity to feed off of without the use of our powers. All because you had to go ahead and team up with those stupid Rainbooms. We would have been fine if you didn't join them, so yea, we totally care about getting rid of you, if that's what you mean.”

“It's the only thing we could think of that Starlight could use against us. So every time we saw you here at Diner Joes we would just go home. I hope you realize how rough that was for us, having no negativity to feed off for several days made it very difficult for us. Look at us, we're so starved for negativity that we're practically skeletons!” Adagio explained.

“Not even tacos are enough to satisfy us at this point!” Sonata cried.

“Of course as soon as we saw the two of you here together, we assumed that we had foiled the plot before you had a chance to really hurt us.”

“We may have been a little off,” Aria said with a shrug.

“So this secret game of yours is just the four of you playing pranks on each other?”

“Pretty much,” the Dazzlings all replied.

“Then why is it so secret?” Sunset asked. The three sirens all hesitated and looked among each other as if they were trying to figure out how best to avoid Sunset's question without incriminating themselves. “I mean if it's just pranks that the four of you are playing, what does it matter? It's not hurting anybody else, is it?”

“Sometimes we play pranks on other people,” Sonata admitted quietly. “And sometimes they get out of hand.”

“You don't have to say anything, Sonata. Sunset Shimmer isn't anybody to be afraid of, she's a nobody.”

“This is important,” Starlight reiterated. “Anything you girls can tell us, helps us figure out what's going on. We need to find her. Please. You girls were her friends, weren't you?”

“Fine, we'll tell you everything you want to know, fake Starlight Glimmer. This isn't for you though, this is because our friend went missing and we want her back,” Adagio explained.

Author's Note

This story is being written for National Pony Writing Month so let me know if I have missed any glaring spelling or grammar errors. Especially at this point, I'm in a rush to get to 50,000 words in less than a week after being sick and busy for so long.

Thanks!