Highschool parties are strange beasts. No two people, especially high schoolers, can agree on when, where or how they happen. They are nigh mythical things, like Bigfoot, or the Loch Ness monster, or unicorns. Except, unicorns are real. They just come from another world. A world full of magic and wonder and rainbows and sunshine and dark goddesses and chaos personified and shapeshifting bugs that eat emotions.

So, it stood to reason that those mythical highschool parties had to exist, if you know where to look and who to ask. Or if you could could sense the pent-up, powerful emotions of teenagers in groups.

Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze and Sonata Dusk walked down the sidewalk of a quiet subdivision on the outskirts of town. The houses here were large, multi-storied brick affairs with huge yards hidden from the street by privacy fences and hedgerows with shiny SUVs parked out front.

“Gah, I can taste the economic superiority complex in the air here.”

“We totes need to get a car. All this walking can’t be good for my feet.”

Adagio glanced at her companions with narrowed eyes. “If you hadn’t drained the last guy dry, Aria, we could have had a ride to show up in.”

Aria Blaze tossed her long pigtails behind her shoulders and clicked her tongue. “It wasn’t my fault he couldn’t take it.” She smirked as her tone turned mocking. “I was being gentle, I swear.”

“We should learn to drive! It doesn’t look hard.” Sonata giggled as she bounced along on her toes. “I bet I could learn to drive in a day! Maybe less.”

“Can it, Sonata.” Aria shot the blue girl a hard look. “Why should we have to drive ourselves? These humans can do it for us like the slaves they are.”

“Both of you can it!” Adagio stopped and spun around to glare at Aria and Sonata. “Whether we drive or not is unimportant. We need to get to the house before the rest of the party goers get there. If we’re going to make a proper infiltration, we need our in.”

Adagio hummed to herself, running her hand through her own curly locks and sighed. “Aria, sniff it out again. I’m starting to get impatient.”

“I can tell.” Aria mumbled under breath and then then turned in a slow circle, singing quietly until the gem at her throat twinkled in the early afternoon light.

Sonata took a step closer to Adagio and whispered loudly enough for each of them to hear. “Can I get a car, Adagio? A blue one that matches my hair? That would be awesome! Then we wouldn’t have to walk everywhere.”

Adagio opened her mouth to retort when Aria froze in place and stopped humming. She held out one hand and pointed down a side street.

“That way.”

Adagio smirked and started walking. “Come on girls, we’ve got work to do.”

Adagio glowered as she surveyed the party from the corner of the house’s kitchen. The parents of whoever lived here were gone for the weekend, and in the early evening on a friday, the guests arrived with an annoying slowness. A dozen or more Canterlot High students, each of them obviously members of the upper echelons of teenage popularity, were already in attendance and the music was starting to grate on her nerves.

“What’s wrong with you?” Sonata eyed Adagio as she sipped from a red solo cup. “We got a lot of yummy ones to pick from.”

“Keep your voice down.” Adagio sighed and forced herself to relax. “I was expecting that girl who showed us around the school to be here. I keep hearing from these kids that she used to run the place, but now they can’t stand her. I want to know why.”

“Why care?” Aria walked up and tossed aside her own mostly empty plastic cup. “She’s not the popular one anymore, so what good is she to us?”

Adagio crossed her arms over her chest and cast a sidelong glance at a nearby group of jocks and cheerleaders. The humans were beginning to take notice them as more than random highschool girls and were paying their conversation a bit more than passing interest. “I’m being cautious. We would be well served to learn from whatever her mistake was.”

Aria rolled her eyes and blew a raspberry. “Yeah right, as if we would fail. You’re just interested to know if she’s a natural redhead.”

Sonata giggled again. “Yeah! Wanna know if the carpet matches the drapes, huh?”

“Oh screw you too, Aria. That is not why I’m curious!” Adagio snarled and stood. She swiped a cup of her own off the table and turned for the door. “Remember why we’re here. I’ll be outside.”

Sonata held out a hand. “Adagio! Wait, I didn’t mean it like-”

“No, don’t apologize, Sonata.” Aria glared at Adagio’s back and put her hand on Sonata’s shoulder. “We don’t need her. Let’s go talk to some boys.” Aria smirked as Adagio hunched at the little jab and turned back toward the human high schoolers.

Adagio sipped the too-sweet cheap wine cooler from her cup and leaned against the side of the house. The music inside thumped loudly against the wall and into her back. The neighborhood around her was too rich to care about the noise. She frowned when she heard Aria’s braying laughter come through the thick insulation. The girl was insufferable. If she didn’t need the two idiots to harness what little power they could from human emotions…

Adagio growled and crumpled her plastic cup in her fist before throwing it into the bushes. “Living on the fringes of society like some sort of ghoul is not the life I had planned! I am a Siren! Why must I live with these magicless monkeys and syphon power from them? This is all Aria’s and Sonata’s faults! If it weren’t for their incompetence, I’d…”

She paused, mid-rant, as a car passed the house and she caught a flash of distinctive red and yellow hair as it drove by. Adagio pushed herself off the wall and dived through the privacy hedge that lined the yard, tracking the car as she did so. Sunset Shimmer—former queen of Canterlot High—was driving and Adagio watched her turn off the street at the next intersection.

Adagio was curious. She wanted to know what caused Sunset’s downfall. Knowledge was power, no matter what world she was in. Sunset intrigued her on a personal level too. Something was off about her. Something Adagio couldn’t put her finger on.

Acting fast, Adagio turned and sprinted back into the yard she’d come from and ran around the house into the back. There was another loose hedgerow along the rear property line and a low sparsely wooded hill beyond that. If she hurried, Adagio thought she could reach the top and follow Sunset’s car wherever she might be headed.

She ducked between two tall bushes and jumped over a small stream before she hit the hill, her breathing already becoming labored. The hill’s crest wasn’t far and she reached it quickly, weak human legs and ridiculous shoes be damned. Adagio leaned against a tree as she tried to catch her breath and find Sunset’s car. She spotted it not far away, in the parking area for a horse park complex situated in a large pasture opposite of the neighborhood.

“Horses...huh? I knew...there was something about...that girl.” Adagio gulped in a quick lungful of air and started walking again, heading toward the park.

When she reached the gravel parking lot, Adagio paused and looked the car that Sunset had driven there. It was blue and seemed in fair condition. She didn’t know much about cars, but she could tell it wasn’t new nor was it particularly fast looking.

Some sort of utility vehicle? Adagio shrugged but made note of the details. Perhaps Sonata would like it. She did ask for a blue one, after all.

The park itself was made up a few simple buildings made of brick and steel siding in that green color the humans favored for their government’s holdings. Dozens of people were walking around the main area up front but a quick look failed to locate Sunset. Adagio kept going further in and passed by one low open building where humans tended to this world’s poor excuse for equines.

Adagio bit her lip and growled under her breath. “Where is she? I ran all the way here and now I can’t even find her?” She tapped the gem hanging around her neck and then shook her head. Magic would be too risky in the open without Aria and Sonata for backup.

She was just about to turn back and check the main building again when she spotted Sunset emerging from a door marked ‘STAFF ONLY’ wearing a green colored apron instead of the jacket she’d had on earlier. Adagio raised an eyebrow and fell into step behind Sunset as she started down a concrete path. The path lead well out into the pasture that the park was a part of and to a distant wooden barn.

Sunset paused at the barn’s entrance to flip on the interior lights and walked in a moment later. There didn’t seem to be anyone else around and Adagio felt exposed on the path with no cover. When she reached the building, she eased up against the side of the door and peeked inside. The girl was inside with a single horse that she had moved into a stall and started to groom with a brush. She could hear Sunset mumbling as she did it.

Adagio leaned back against the barn wall. No other humans were coming toward the building, and Sunset seemed to be alone. This would be a perfect time to get to know her. She could play nice and get the girl to open up while she cared for the animal. Then she would be even better poised to take over Canterlot High and harvest all the emotions those brats could spit out.

Adagio chuckled darkly to herself. This was going to be foal’s play. She was about to turn and make her grand entrance when she heard a sobbing noise coming from inside the barn.

“Wait...is she crying?” Adagio narrowed her brow as she studied Sunset from behind. The girl’s shoulders were hunched and shook slightly when she seemed to sob quietly into the horse’s coat.

Adagio crept closer, easing around the outside if the stall barn until she could slip inside. She stopped when she was a few paces away from Sunset Shimmer and crossed her arms in front of herself. She smirked but remained silent so Sunset would only discover her presence when she turned around.

Sunset Shimmer sobbed again and sniffed while she clung to the horse’s withers. The horse took it stoically and continued to munch and chew away at the hay pile in front of him. Sunset wiped her nose and grabbed the brush again to smooth the animal’s coat from where she had mussed it with her tears.

“S’rry, Clyde. I just...I just can’t take the loneliness sometimes, you know?” Sunset sighed. “The others, the girls at Canterlot High, have been really nice to me, considering my past behavior. And I really do enjoy hanging out with them, but now that they’ve started to tap into Equestrian magic when they play music...it just reminds me of home.”

Adagio gaped as she eavesdropped. Sunset Shimmer knew about Equestrian magic?

“I miss seeing other ponies. I mean, I like you and the other horses here, Clyde, but it’s not really the same, is it?” Sunset paused her brushing and examined her work. The stallion looked clean, his brown coat shining under the overhead lights. “You’re a great listener and I like that. Reminds me of Princess Celestia’s guards, really. Though, to be honest, Clyde, you’d never had made the cut with a coat this color. I bet the armor would still look good on you.”

Adagio fought with herself to remain silent as Sunset kept talking. Ponies. Princess Celestia and her guards. This girl knew about the magic and Equestria itself. Could Sunset Shimmer...be like her? Adagio looked down at her body and clothes. She could remember changing, needing to get used to being mostly without her magic, getting used to hands and feet and walking on two legs. She could remember learning to survive here and how hard it had all been.

For a fleeting moment she was happy Aria and Sonata had been there as well. Without their support, would she had made it? Did Sunset have pony friends that went through the change with her? None of the other kids or staff at Canterlot High had drawn her the way Sunset did. Those other girls, the ones in the band, they had seemed interesting, but not like Sunset Shimmer. If she could still sense magic, Adagio suspected, Sunset would be ablaze with it.

“I’m glad I found you guys, Clyde. You might be an animal, but you chase away the homesickness, at least a little. I’ve talked with it with the girls at school, but they don’t really get it, you know?” She hooked the brush on a nail in the stall wall and turned around to grab the saddle and blanket behind her when she noticed Adagio.

“Oh! Um… how long have you been standing there? I can explain! I, um, I write fictional stories!” Sunset fidgeted nervously and drummed her fingers against her leg. “Yeah, and Clyde here likes to listen to me talk about them! Heh heh heh…”

Adagio blinked in confusion. She opened her mouth to spit out something scathing, but she couldn’t find the words for it. She didn’t like humans on principle, but Sunset wasn’t a human. She could afford to be a little understanding, couldn’t she? More allies in the human world would be useful and Sunset seemed so lonely.

“No no, it’s ok. I understand, really.” Adagio smiled kindly. “I talk to my pets too.”

“Um,” Sunset wiped her hands off on the apron she wore and glanced around. “are your friends here?”

“No, just you and me.”

“Why are you here? Do you ride horses?” Sunset glanced pointedly at the saddle and tack equipment she had set out. “I’m still learning, myself.”

Adagio smirked and chuckled. “I don’t ride stallions, no. I came in here because I saw you come in from the road. After you showed us around today at the school, I felt that I wanted to get to know you better. I would not have pegged you for a horse girl. Color me intrigued.”

Sunset blinked and looked unsure how to respond to that. Adagio put her hands on her narrow hips and looked around the stalls, her eyes never lingering on anything for long.

“Soooo...how can I help you?”

Adagio stepped closer and lower her voice slightly. “Tell me more about your ‘stories.’” She held up her hands and made air quotes. “I hear Celestia has started letting stallions into the guard with gray colored coats. But that info might be a bit dated. Your thoughts?”

Sunset took a half step away from Adagio, her eyes widening. “What? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Of course you don’t. Don’t patronize me, Shimmer! I know that you know about magic and Equestria and ponies. So talk, tell me about it, or maybe I’ll go get my friends and we can have a little get together.” Adagio reached up and flicked Sunset on the chin. “Oh wait, they call that a ‘kidnapping’ here in the human world, don’t they?”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“Oh yes I would, Sunset. I’ve dared to do a lot since I was banished to this world: lies, manipulation, extortion. Kidnapping is just the next logical progression for me. I’m not somepony to be trifled with.” Adagio chuckled. “You don’t know who you’re dealing with here, kid.”

“Ever gone full she-demon? Ever tried to create an army of zombies to do your bidding?”

Adagio blinked in confusion again, unsure what Sunset was referencing. “Er, no. What’s that got to-”

“I did.” Sunset cut off Adagio’s response, her eyes hard. “I stole the Element of Magic and transformed into a she-demon, destroyed half the school and successfully enslaved a couple of hundred humans to my will before an Equestrian princess had to come knock me down a peg.”

Sunset stepped forward. “Oh, and Adagio? A word of advice, the chin flicking thing is so villain 101.” She grinned fiercely and then grabbed a fistful of the other girl’s hair and yanked her down onto her knees in one swift motion. “You don’t know who you’re dealing with.”

Adagio grunted when the impact knocked the breath from her. She reached up and back to paw at Sunset’s hand for a moment before she was forced to throw them out to keep her head from contacting the dirty hay that coated the barn floor.

“I’ve been the bad guy for a long time, Adagio, and now I’m trying to change things for the better.” Sunset squatted next to the downed girl, her arm strained to the point of quivering. “But just because I’ve dropped the villain routine, doesn’t mean I’ve gone soft. I might not be the queen bee anymore, but Canterlot High is my territory. You start stuff in my house and I will end it, permanently. Do you understand?”

Sunset yanked Adagio’s head back and threw the girl off balance as she forced Adagio to look her in the eye. “Do you understand me?”

Adagio grit her teeth and struggled for a moment. “Y-yes! Alright, I understand!” She tugged away from Sunset but the grip on her hair was like iron. “Let me go!”

“Granted.”

The grip on Adagio’s hair vanished and she fell to the side and hit the concrete floor with her shoulder. She scrambled to her feet and whirled to face Sunset, her stance wide and low. Sunset Shimmer faced her with her hands hanging at her side and stance as relaxed as possible.

“Who the hell are you?” Adagio raised herself up and brushed hay off her arm, her eyes locked on Sunset.

“I’m Sunset Shimmer, student of Celestia the Eternal Sun of Equestria until I forsook the path of Harmony. Now I’m just a girl that likes to hang out with her friends and volunteers every friday at the horse park and reminisces about old times.” Sunset’s eyes flashed under the phosphorescent lights. “And I am extremely protective of what little I’ve managed to recover of Harmony. Threaten that, Adagio Dazzle and I will see to it you don’t get a chance to do it ever again. That goes for your two lackeys as well. Now get out.”

Adagio growled through clenched teeth and backed away, her eyes still locked on Sunset like she was a wolf that could pounce at any moment. “I won’t forget this.”

“Good. I so dislike repeating myself.” Sunset sniffed and turned away from Adagio, and picked up the blanket to drape across the horse’s back, ignoring the other girl as she slipped out of the barn.

Adagio backed down the path that lead to the barn, never taking her eyes off it. Sunset Shimmer was a pony. The thought felt foreign in her mind. She had been here for so long now with only Aria and Sonata for company. There was a pony, a unicorn too, if she guessed right.

“Another Equestrian like us...not some pushover goody four-shoes pony either! The others won’t believe me when I tell…” Adagio shook her head. Sonata and Aria wouldn’t believe her. Aria would just use it as an excuse to challenge her leadership and make jabs at her preference for mares.

She needed to keep this to herself. She needed to learn more. Sunset had been interesting before, but now she could well be the key to everything! She might even become an ally, eventually.

Adagio stopped once she was a good distance away from the barn and allowed herself to smile. “Volunteers each friday, hmmm? Well then, I’ll be seeing you, Sunset Shimmer.”

Sunset busied herself with setting up the saddle and straps for her riding equipment on Clyde in silence, letting the labor set a rhythm for her breathing and heart rate. She wanted to check behind her to see if Adagio was still watching, but doing so would show weakness. In the human world, as much as the pony world, showing weakness to a predator was a bad idea.

Once the gear was in place, Sunset took the reins and led Clyde out of his stall and into the corral. She lead him in a slow circle alongside the fence to settle the saddle harness comfortably and to let him get his legs warmed up. This had become a routine for them as she’d first started to learn how to ride. The act was calming and by the time they’d done a full circuit, her heart was beating at a somewhat normal rate.

Sunset took a shuddering breath and allowed herself to look around. No one else was nearby and Adagio had vanished. She sighed and then leaned against her horse and mussed Clyde’s coat with fresh tears and sobs. He nickered at her distress and swatted Sunset with his tail playfully until she leaned back and wiped her eyes with her palm.

“Thanks, Clyde. Sorry I keep getting you wet. I’m trying to keep it together, I swear, and now I have to deal with Adagio too. Just how many of these humans are actually ponies, do you think? First me, then Twilight, now Adagio Dazzle.” Sunset sniffled and lead him toward the gate that would let them out into the larger pasture. “Let’s ride. I need to forget about everything for a while.”