Sonata stared at Twilight. "You're so different to the Twilight I know. You're—Well, you're the one who defeated the other two the first time, and thanks for that, but you're not like Twilight Twilight." It made perfect sense to her, though she was stacking boxes of food into the back of a food truck, so Sonata was amply distracted.

It was a little different for Twilight to be the one to find a former enemy turned friend, but she'd done it often enough to others that she wasn't completely a fish out of water. "Yeah… Been getting that a bit, actually. The real deal, though. Look, still got wings!"

"Yeah. Glad I didn't try to fight you full-on. So what's up?" Sonata looked from Twilight to Limestone, then back again.

"Well, we still haven't been able to track down the Storm King, and it's been a few days now." Twilight chewed her bottom lip. "And, Limestone said you might be able to help."

"Okay. Gimme a sec to get all this in the truck's cooler and I'll try thinking on it." Sonata was reaching for the next box when there was a loud pomf, and the boxes of product were gone. "Uh…?"

Twilight beamed up at her, the magic of her horn still fading. "It's all put away!"

Checking the cooler, Sonata shook her head. "I forgot how ponies tend to get when they're focused. Okay, so first question, why can't you find him? Have you tried looking for magic discharges?"

"Yup! First thing we tried. His teleport spell should have taken him to the mountain that way, but we checked and there was no hint that his spell resolved to that spot. I set down a group of spells over Canterlot to tell me when someone casts any magic, but I haven't gotten a thing." Twilight walked alongside Sonata to the front of the truck.

"That tells you something." Climbing up into the driver seat, Sonata let out a satisfied sigh. "He has an accomplice who redirected his teleport spell. Oldest trick in the book. One casts, the other deflects, and it leaves no trace of where the real target was."

That had Twilight feeling a little stunned. "That works?!"

"Sure does. We used it a few times. Adagio and Aria would cast the teleport, targeting all of us, but I would interfere and send us to a completely different place. Worked well until a certain wizard got wise to us. I wish I could apologize to him and his friends."

"You, uh, can." Twilight tried not to get distracted, but it wasn't easy given how ancient a being Sonata was. "Turns out they were stuck in Limbo, then I figured out a way to free them, but it released an evil on Equestria that—A friend helped deal with that one. Anyway, the Pillars of Equestria are alive and well."

A chill ran up Sonata's spine. "Y-You know when you say I wish I could go back and thank them about someone you really hope you never have to see again because just the thought of them makes you want to sleep-in for a week? Okay, well, I just said that, and then you said Star Swirl the bearded is still alive. Excuse me."

Watching as Sonata turn and climbed into the back of her truck again, Twilight head the familiar crack-hiss of a can opening. Turning, Twilight looked back at Limestone. "Did I say the wrong thing?"

"I'm going to take a stab in the dark and say your Star Swirl wasn't some science dude?" It was all Limestone really knew about him.

"Uh, just one of our greatest heroes. He's like—the pony who did so much amazing stuff to make Equestria safe that he—Oh." Twilight finally put enough together to realize that Sonata being good now doesn't mean she was good when she met Star Swirl.

"Really, I'm good now. Just needed a kick to my blood-sugar. Okay, so excluding crazy-smart-and-powerful wizards I don't want to even know are still alive, yes, that kind of teleportation jinking works. What about general magic activity?" Sonata asked.

Twilight groaned and hung her head a little. "That's not so helpful. You see, it turns out that spreading magic all over town has resulted in a lot of people discovering and using it. If you think of the magic of the city as a pond, and magic being used as a raindrop—it's raining right now."

Sonata took a long pull from the energy drink and let out a happy sigh. "That means they can easily hide in the noise, so long as they don't try anything big." She climbed out of the van. "Which means you need to be trying to track the type of magic he's using and not just all magic. Oh, and maybe try to work out what his lackey is using, too."

"Will you help me with that?" Twilight asked.

"What makes you think I could help where an alicorn—one I hear is pretty good with magic—can't?"

"Don't try that. You just straight-up schooled me on deceptive magics and how to counter them, admit that your little group used you to cast the most difficult part of a three-part-spell-combo, and gave me a way to catch them regardless." Twilight looked up into Sonata's eyes with a challenging grin. "So, you can help me, but I'm asking if you will?"

Looking at Limestone, Sonata let out a little whine and a sigh. "Okay, okay. Look, while I'm out today I'll look around for darker magic. If I find any, I'll try to triangulate it."

Limestone nodded along, glad to have Sonata thinking on her feet. "That actually works better, since I've had to get a rental car until insurance pays on mine. Do you have room in the back for anyone else?"

"Nope. Just a fish and her taco truck." Sonata smirked at Limestone. "Besides, he's seen you and Twilight—you'd both give the game away."

"Right. Okay. How about drinks tonight after a debrief?" Limestone asked, holding out her fist to Sonata.

Bumping her fist into Limestone's, Sonata nodded. "Sure-sure. I think it's my turn to bring the beers. I'll pick some up on the way home." Climbing back into the truck, she checked over everything again. "Guess I'll catch you then. Give Spicy my best!"

"Spicy?" Twilight asked as the doors of the truck closed before her.

"She means me, beautiful. What can I for you, princess?" Truly, Spicy wished he'd worn something far sexier, but with his job focusing more on the business side, wearing a sexy number to welcome traveling royalty was beyond him.

Twilight was a little surprised. First at being called beautiful, and second at the fact the guy looked about fifty-fifty between bat pony and human. His wings were large, folded at his back, and he had a snout and tail, but he seemed to walk easily despite only having two hooves to balance on. She remembered her first time in this world, and Flash Sentry, and it was like Spicy was Flash with about a thousand times more confidence.

She also liked his tail.

"We were just here asking Sonata to help with finding a guy. Turns out, she could. You up for some more beers tonight?" Limestone liked Spicy, he was easy to talk to and fun to look at. Part of her brain kicked her libido in the crotch for thinking it about someone so far gone as a pony, but her libido put that part in a neck-lock and kept looking at him.

"I'll have to ask Rainbow." Spicy wasn't scared of Limestone's size, he was more just worried that he might let something slip if he had too many drinks without Rainbow to keep him grounded. "Will Her Highness be joining us?"

Twilight froze as Spicy reached down for her hoof—which she had no idea she was lifting for him to take—only for him to kiss it from a crouching kneel. "I, uh, that is, yes!"

The little girl deep inside Limestone wanted to stamp in annoyance that Spicy didn't kiss her hand that way. Thankfully, the rest of Limestone's ego didn't allow her child-self near either guns or control of her vocal cords. "Hey, break it up, you two. I'm kinda on babysitting duty with Princess Twilight, so if she can't go, it's not on."

"I heard, I heard. Please, don't let my sexy ways distract you from your work." Spicy kissed Twilight's hoof again, then stood back up.

Twilight had grown used to having creatures taller than her—after exploring the world beyond Equestria on her quest to free her homeland of the Storm King, she'd discovered ponies to be just about the smallest race in the world. "This beer, it's just like cider? Mild alcoholic drink?"

"Hard cider? Yeah, it is," Limestone said.

"Excellent. Then I would be delighted to have a drink or two." Knowing her limits, Twilight could allow a little time for relaxation—especially if it meant getting to know Spicy a little better. Sonata too.

Sonata knew most kinds of magic. Back in the bad old days, it'd been her job to navigate around the various unicorn-filled lands, while measuring up any evil types for possible usefulness as pawns. Though, as days went, she was almost too excited to sniff it out.

Everywhere she stopped, people seemed drawn toward her. They came with money and left with tacos, nachos, and burritos. The only hard thing to acquire for her truck was the specific cheeses needed to make the dishes as authentic as possible.

It was just past midday, and her sales were slowing, when she drove on to a market and felt dark magic nearby. It wasn't strong, nor active, but there was a trace of it.

She pulled up in a free spot and started selling food. It made her happy to hear people exclaim at how good her food was, though the sense of that dark magic now had her itching. When the customers dried up, she parked her truck in a normal spot and then went for a walk.

Having wings again was both a delight and a pain. Her wings were so pretty, but they reminded Sonata of worse days. Only a block and a half from the market she'd been selling at, the stench of black magic grew more powerful.

And that's when she noticed, through the front window of a house, the Storm King. He looked angry and was arguing about something, but while she watched he turned and made eye contact with her. Then he spoke once more.

Sonata had to think quickly. With just two choices—run or wait—she chose to wait. Pulling out her phone the moment the Storm King looked away, she hit Limestone's number.

"Number. Beep. You know the drill," Limestone's voice said.

When the beep sounded, Sonata talked as quickly as she could. "I found the Storm King and some black magic. They spotted me. Going in. Track my phone." She smacked the end button and slipped the mobile back in her pocket just as the front door of the house opened.

Storm looked outside. Narrowing his eyes, he realized what the creature was. "Siren."

"What? What do you mean, siren?" Abacus asked. She risked calling her power and, through the green glow of her eyes, recognized the power within Sonata. "What do they do?"

"Normally they drive creatures to madness with their song and then feed off the chaos aligned to their particular emotional tastes. Blah blah blah. Evil as they come and a good ally if you can have one on your side." Storm took a step out into the open air and nodded to Sonata across the street. "That's it. We just want to chat. If she attacks us, with that much energy, we might be in trouble."

"What do you mean? There's just one of her."

Storm shook his head. "If she sings, she could wrap us both around her delicate little fingers and have us as her servants."

"Mind-control?"

Author's Note

Twilight Sparkle: You seemed to mess around with your boyfriend most of the time. Did you actually have time to prepare for your own lecture?

Reaching up with a hoof to adjust glasses that were magical constructs, Twilight rolled her eyes a little. "I keep my school obligations separated from my love life. It's not that hard once you write up a good task list and then build a chart of all my time off during the day. I have, of course, made sure to schedule adequate sleep."

So I do this "Ask X" thing. X can be any pony within the story. You can ask them anything and they will definitely, hopefully reply. Keep the questions appropriate to the age-rating of the stories, and they will answer the best question in the author notes of the next chapter. The more votes a comment has the more likely I will get it to the right pony to answer. Try to keep it to one question per post! They will pick one question per chapter.

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Awesome ponies who are already helping to keep me in keyboards and rum:
A.P.O.N.I.
CadelDdraigDarkkon
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Daremo
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shortskirtsandexplosions
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