“Mmm, ahhh.” Pinkie moaned out as she ate her strawberry ice cream topped with fudge with vigor. “This is so good!” She gushed out getting the fudge on her cheek when the cone slipped a little too close to her face.

“Geez, you make it sound like it’s as good as-” However whatever crude thing that Rainbow might have said was interrupted by Fluttershy who leaned into her with a bit of a glare in her teal eyes. This worked to immediately shut her girlfriend up and Rainbow blushed in response.

“As good as parties or something.” She said instead realizing that Fluttershy was scolding her without words, she chose to ignore Rarity’s wrath too by looking off in another direction.

“Because it is almost as good!” Pinkie cheered whirling around in her yellow spinney chair at the ice cream bar. Currently in Scoop’s Ice Cream Bar there were eight of them and a few other patrons.

“I’m glad you like it Miss Pie.” Scooper said, the man had on a white striped outfit and white hat, the stripes matching his blue eyes and yet the white contrasted well with his graying fudge colored hair and facial hair. “If you ladies need any more scoops just let me or Skipper know.” He said with a cheery grin tipping his head towards his wife who was currently giving a couple of children their ice cream.

Twilight ate her vanilla ice cream in silence and she listened to her friends talk not noticing that Applejack was giving her a look. Each of them had sat together at a table along with Rarity and Sunset while Fluttershy, Rainbow, Starlight, and Pinkie sat at the bar table.

“So Twilight did you like those drinks I suggested?” Rainbow suddenly asked a devious grin on her face.

“I don’t think she remembers them Dash.” Starlight said in a way which showed that she had to have had unpleasant memories from the night before. “Which is a good thing.” She groaned out catching the attention of her teacher.

“Speaking of that, what happened to you?” Twilight asked genuinely curious.

“Silly girl went and got into a fight.” Applejack interjected interrupting Starlight. Blushing in embarrassment Starlight Glimmer nodded.

“I did and over Trixie too but I swear the punk was staring at her ass!” She said earning a laugh from all of their friends, and eventually she began to find it a little funny too.

“Did you at least get a punch in?” Sunset questioned earning a playful eye roll from Twilight. Starlight made a face and shook her head.

“I could barely tell if there were two or three.” She laughed out before her eyes lit up with remembrance.

“By the way, where did you go Sunset? I could have used some backup.” She said with a frown. Sunset’s heart dropped in response and she shifted a little uncomfortably.

“To be honest, I don’t know.” Sunset eventually said and she was trying her best to not look at Applejack the whole time because she swore the girl could smell a rat from a mile away.

“Heh, well I know you didn’t get into any bar fights.” Rainbow Dash joked much to Starlight’s chagrin.

“Well I know that Fluttershy and I were the only responsible ones last night.” Rarity said with a glint in her eye until she noticed that Fluttershy’s face reddened considerably. Looking at one of her closest friends she gasped, “Fluttershy!” She then said with a tease in her voice. The shy girl merely squeaked in response burying her face into Rainbow’s protective arms. Rainbow was blushing as well and that told more than any words could.

“Uh huh and like I didn’t see you and Appl-” However, Rainbow was interrupted by Applejack mouthing the word no over and over. Getting it despite wanting to tease her friends she quickly silenced herself.

“Hah, maybe that’s enough joking around for today.” Twilight said standing from her seat and brushing off her black pants. Pinkie made a frowny face because of Twilight’s words but she made no protest when more ice cream came into her view.

Suddenly Applejack stood up as well and Sunset joined the queue.

“I’ll be back.” Twilight said with a bashful smile to her friends earning a few polite giggles and coos. Sunset however was the only one who did neither of those things and she averted her gaze when Twilight walked past her. Twilight proceeded to walk outside and she pulled out her phone dialing a number close to her heart.

“Hey Sunset? Do you have a minute?” Applejack whispered out to Sunset who appeared to be thinking about going out for a smoke, something she had quit years ago. Looking into green eyes she nodded her head, “Of course, what’s up?” She asked only for Applejack to gesture for them to find somewhere more private. Getting the message she smiled to their friends who were looking at them before she followed Applejack towards the empty woman’s restroom. Awkwardly closing it behind them Sunset waited for Applejack to begin speaking. Immediately Applejack’s smile dropped and she began to fret with her hat.

“So, what was it AJ?” Sunset asked, picking up on the signs of her friend’s nervousness. Biting her lip Applejack quickly spilled it out,

“To sum it up I messed up really bad Sunset.” She started actually taking her hat off as she looked to the tiled bathroom wall of the establishment. Moving to comfort her friend Sunset encouraged her to continue.

“What do you mean?”

“Sunset...I hit on Rarity.” She said her voice low and nearly a whisper as her face tripled in redness. Raising an eyebrow in confusion Sunset went on to get more information.

“And? What’s wrong with that Applejack?” She questioned.

“Rarity went along with it and we did well...uh….” Her face was so red and embarrassed that she had to hide her face with her own hat. “Fooled around.” She said whispering it like she was a little girl saying something dirty. Sunset couldn’t help but laugh which earned an irritated shove from Applejack.

“You think it’s funny?” She said hurt in her green eyes, seeing the look in her eyes she stopped laughing and she frowned, wiping her eyes she gave Applejack another shoulder pat.

“Aw, AJ I am just saying I don’t think there is anything wrong with you two doing that.”

“But isn’t it crossing a line?” Applejack said, sighing quietly, “Rarity hasn’t looked at me since last night.”

“I under-I can see how it’s scary but perhaps you two just need to talk about it and sort some stuff out.” Sunset said panicking a little for her almost slip up. Applejack leaned back in response and she rested her blonde haired head against the cool tile.

“Is it as easy as that? We’ve been holding back for a long time…” Applejack went on looking to Sunset with a serious look. “I kind of wanted it to be more special…” She said some of the redness from her face fading.

“I think what makes it special is who you are with and not how it happens, ya know?” Sunset offers finding herself perturbed since she was connecting with what Applejack was saying. This situation immediately directed her thoughts to the night before.

“Yeah, you’re right.” Applejack chuckled out smiling now, “Guess you’ve got a romantic heart, huh Sun?” She teased a bit missing the wistful look in Sunset’s eyes. Sunset then proceeded to roll her eyes.

“You know I haven’t actually dated anyone.” She said stuffing her hands into her black leather jacket.

“Well what about Flash?” Applejack offered out knowing she was touching a part of Sunset’s past with her comment.

Shaking her head slowly Sunset gave her a soft smile.

“Come on before Pinkie barges in.” She said hitting Applejack’s shoulder on the way out of the restroom.

“You two have a nice kissy session in the bathroom?” Rainbow Dash immediately cracked once they had gone back to their chairs. Rarity simply looked to them both her eyes lingering on Applejack before she looked back to her phone. This did not go unnoticed by the two of them which earned Applejack a slight bump from Sunset.

“I’m going to choose to ignore that for the sake of there being ladies present.” Sunset rebuffed grinning when Applejack moved to sit besides Rarity. For the next few minutes while the others finished up on their ice cream Applejack and Rarity whispered to each other and Sunset busied herself with her phone which held some song lyrics she had been working on lately.

“Is that the new hit song you’ve got there?” Starlight stated moving to sit in the chair Twilight had been sitting at.

“Mhm.” Sunset hummed still in her songwriting zone which meant she often shut out the world around her.

“Is it a love song?” She asked, receiving the same reply.

“Is it about the stars?” She continued enjoying the little game she was playing even if Sunset was not a conscious participant.

“Mhm hmm.” Sunset said looking up with a small smirk while Starlight prepared her next question.

“Sunburst gave me the idea of writing a love song about glittering stars, the universe, and all that.” She said immediately shutting up the violet and teal haired girl.

“I didn’t know you got your ideas from him.” She said, recovering from her stupor quickly. Sunset snickered in reply, “Only some.” She said offering a smile which faded somewhat when she saw the look on Twilight’s face when she returned to the table.

“Everyone we need to go. There’s an emergency.” Twilight informed them with a grave look on her face. Alert and ready since they were used to being in emergency type situations they all quickly stood and followed after her.

“What is it Twilight?” Sunset couldn’t help but ask as she got right beside Twilight joined by Starlight who arrived on the other side of her.

Worriedly Twilight looked over at Sunset, “Cadence tripped and fell off a balcony and she hit the ground.” Twilight said worry and fear clearly in her voice.

“She couldn’t teleport?” Starlight asked her eyes wide.

“Cadence has been sick with the feather flu, but to be honest I have no idea how she fell.” Twilight informed her explaining away any further questions as they arrived in front of a limo sized car which was ready to take them to the castle. The girls all slipped inside, their moods already completely zapped as the driver took them to their destination. Meanwhile Twilight was ringing her wrists as she fretted over the thought of her sister-in-law and potential niece or nephew being in harm’s way. Taking note of the state she was in Sunset shifted and touched Twilight’s back and she moved her hand in circles in an attempt to calm and soothe her. At first Twilight had tensed under her touch but after a few minutes she relaxed offering Sunset a small smile in appreciation.

Anymore unpleasant thoughts and outcomes faded once Twilight settled herself glad she had all of her friends surrounding her. Just as the limo driver turned a corner however a voice caught all of the occupants' attention. With confusion the driver stopped and Twilight strained her neck in an attempt to look from the backseat.

“HEY STOP FIEND!” A boisterous voice shouted a familiar whiny inflection immediately making itself known as a tall woman in a wizard’s hat held out her hand in front of the limo. Soon after the pronouncement Twilight heard the sound of Starlight grumbling to herself, a habit she did not realize Starlight had gotten from her. She watched her friend move to open the door to the limo and she poked her head out. Twilight’s chest bubbled with laughter at the absurdity of what was happening.

“WHERE ARE YOU GOING WITH TRIXIE’S GIRLFRIEND!?” Trixie shouted out actually holding out a wand towards the driver as if it were a weapon she was keeping him captive with.

“Trixie, what the hell are you doing?” Starlight called out drawing light violet eyes towards her rather quickly. A devilish smile appeared upon Trixie’s face at the question and she trotted herself over to Starlight so that she was a few inches from her.

“Uh, saving you from another boring party with Twilight?” Trixie faux whispered much to Twilight’s annoyance. To her relief, Starlight moved to whisper something into her girlfriend’s ear that did something Twilight didn't know was possible. It brought a near sympathetic frown from Trixie who directed her attention to Twilight after Starlight had finished speaking.

“I see that today is not the time for being entertained. I’m sorry Tw-....” With that Trixie grimaced realizing saying she was sorry to Twilight was like speaking with Laffey Taffy in her mouth. She looked a little alarmed but Twilight decided to save her.

“It’s okay Trixie, you can uh, please join us.” The princess said, a slightly strained but gracious tone in her voice as she spoke. What an odd day, Twilight commented to herself dryly as the limo somehow struggled to fit Trixie in with the other eight girls. With there not being enough room Trixie opted to sit on Starlight’s lap. Her student of course did not seem to mind and she moved to encircle one arm around Trixie as the stage magician removed her hat from her head.

“Could this limo get any gayer?” Rainbow joked hoping to uplift the tense mood, it did not seem to work however as the rest of the girls grew silent as the driver continued on his course towards the Canterlot Castle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once arriving at the castle each of the girls filed out of the car the expansive castle before them always a sight to behold. The large castle of white, violet, and gold gleamed beautifully under the morning sun and Twilight offered it a smile almost as if she was looking at an old friend. Which in a way, she supposed she was. The castle itself somehow reminded Twilight of something Adagio had mentioned this morning and she was struck with the image of the three siren sisters singing and dancing around a king as they charmed him and the masses to do their bidding. This in particular lead her to focusing on the subtle curves of Adagio and the hypothesizing sway of her hips as she moved directly in front of the king. Aware she had been moving on autopilot Twilight jumped when she felt Sunset touch her shoulder. “You okay Twi?” She heard her friend say and she worked to clear her inappropriate thoughts before she started to sweat.

“Yes I’m fine, thank you Sunny.” She told her friend not wanting to have her and the other girls worry about her. “I’m just worried about Cadence’s condition...I know she’s strong but…”

“But you’re afraid the baby could have suffered trauma?” Rarity offered having overheard her and Sunset’s conversation.

“Yes, Shining Armor sounded frantic when he told me. After all, they were going to meet us for the dinner party only for this to happen…” Twilight said her voice bordering on morose. Cadence was her sister-in-law and her friend so to think of her being hurt, well it was unthinkable.

“Don’t worry Twi, they have the best doctors in Equestria taking care of them. ‘sides Sunburst and Flash are there with them.” Applejack interjected her voice also a beacon of positivity for Twilight to latch onto. She gave her a grateful smile trying not to visibly wince when she heard Flash’s name. As if he was scratching his nose since they were speaking of him, Twilight’s phone rang, a picture of a handsome blue haired man with a smirk on his face appearing when Twilight picked up her phone to look.

“I need to take this.” Twilight told her friends lifting her phone to show them Flash was calling. With affirmatives her friends continued on towards the castle throne room while she moved just outside of the door to answer her husband-to-be’s call.

“Twilight, Shining said he told you what happened! Are you okay?” Flash’s deep voice said from the other end and Twilight took in a deep breath hearing him causing several thoughts and emotions to flicker through her. This was going to be much harder than she thought, but it was going to have to wait.

“Yes I’m fine...how is she?” Twilight questioned biting her lip as she prepared herself for his answer.

“She’s in stable condition, she managed to land on her back though no one can figure out why she did not fly up or teleport for that matter.” The confusion in his voice was evident.

“They’re doing a sonogram right now to make sure nothing is wrong.” He continued the sound of him breathing heavily entering her ears.

“Thank you for letting me know...Flash, how are you?” She proceeded to ask realizing she was probably sounding odd on the phone, but hopefully he would think it was because she was upset about what had just happened.

“I’m alright Sparky, I just got back from the engagement party when I found out…” Flash said the sound of his heavy breathing slowing as they continued to speak.

“Did you have a good time, you know before..?” She questioned truly wondering and hoping he did.

“Oh yeah! We even got Sunburst to sing karaoke, you should have seen it Twilight!” And she found herself feeling bubbly as a smile erupted on her face. She was glad he had enjoyed himself.

“And you, did Dash bring out the strippers like she promised?” She heard Flash joke and she could not help but roll her eyes even though he could not see her. Their friends had gone all out for their respective engagement parties but they were acting like the two of them were already married.

“No...but she did get me to try some drinks.” Twilight chuckled out nervously scratching her neck as she turned to stare at a plant. It was sitting there being a plant while Twilight struggled to not wish to be one instead of a person. She felt so dirty, not just telling him exactly what had happened. Once again however she reminded herself that now was not the time.

“Ah, nice! I’m glad you had a good time, baby.” Hearing the familiar term Twilight expected that she’d find her finger already twirling a lock of her own hair, and yet she wasn’t in the mood to feel happy and full of warmth.

“Hey....I’ll see you soon, okay? I need to get suited up.” She heard a sigh after this and she nodded, “I will see you soon…” She said her heart beating in alarm when she realized she had forgotten to tell him she loved him.

“I love you.” She heard him say before the silence dragged out.

“I love you too, bye.” Twilight replied closing her eyes as the call ended. Slipping the phone into her pants pocket she adjusted her scarf traces of purple reminding her of last night all over again.

You’re so beautiful. She heard a seductive voice purr in her mind, a tone that left nothing to the imagination of what was about to happen. With a chill she shook the memory away wondering why bits and pieces of it were starting to resurface.

She would have to confess, wouldn’t she? However there were bigger things a foot, Twilight reasoned watching as her friends walked towards the entrance of the castle throne room. She breathed out a sigh trying to push the haunting thoughts and images behind her.

Author's Note

Hello everyone! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I had fun writing the dialogue for the girls.

And yes, yes I did put in my shipping ~~guilty~~ pleasures. Also I promise to eventually explain Sunset's role in this universe as in this universe they are already human but do indeed have magical abilities.