Sugarcube Corner, December 31st, 7:45p.m.

The bundled-up Dazzlings stood across the street from the bakery in the winter air, ready to begin their first plan since the Battle of the Bands. Adagio Dazzle grinned viciously. "This is it, girls, within that building waits the means by which we'll get back on our feet."

"We're already on our feet," replied Sonata Dusk, double-checking that they were all still standing up, "we've been on them for a while now."

Aria Blaze groaned, face-palming, "How many times have we explained the concept of metaphorical speech?"

"Two thousand seven hundred and eighty-three times?"

Aria's jaw dropped before she displayed a particularly emphatic scowl. "You don't remember what we say, but you remember things like that?!"

Sonata beamed. "I just pick a random number every time you ask."

Adagio silenced the pair with an arm motion. "Girls, focus!" She peered across the street into the dark windows of the shop. "Odd that the lights are out, are they planning to surprise us or-"

"Hey!"

The trio jumped in fright, whirling around to see Sunset Shimmer smiling sheepishly, waving one hand. "Haha, sorry about that. Glad I caught you guys, I might have made a little mistake when I said the party was at Sugarcube Corner."

Trying her best to look unfazed by Sunset's sudden appearance, Adagio crossed her arms. "I see. Where might the event actually be taking place?"

Sunset lowered her head slightly. "Rarity's place?"

Aria raised an annoyed eyebrow. "A little mistake? That's like nine blocks away!"

"I know, I know, I'm sorry, I-" A frightening thought sprung up in Sunset's head. "Wait, why do you know where that is?"

Aria's mouth shut tightly as her eyes opened wide, as though she wished she could take back her last complaint.

Naturally, Sonata eliminated any chance of that before Adagio could smooth things over. "We know where you guys live, duh!"

Adagio had no words, only a soft, glove-padded facepalm.

There was a long, awkward silence before Sunset cleared her throat. "R-right, well, just checking." She tried to sound as nonchalant as possible. "Maybe you can tell me where you live? Then we'd be even." In response to three mildly perplexed stares, she thumbed over her shoulder, speaking quickly. "Would you guys like to walk with me to the party anyway? We could talk a little more before it starts."

If what they just said is true, getting them to come around might be more important than ever!

The trio shared a short, surprised look. If they were still invited despite the relatively creepy detail that was just revealed, then the plan was still on! Adagio smiled. "Of course, lead the way."

Sunset nodded, turning away to begin the march to Rarity's house.

Does she know she still does the evil smirk thing? I hope that isn't a problem for the others...

Once they'd all gotten moving, she smiled at them over her shoulder. "So, once we get there, I was thinking it might help to break the ice if we shared a little about each other."

Aria and Sonata glanced affirmatively to each other, remembering Adagio's plan.

"We'll cooperate with whatever they say, it's the last thing they'd expect! Their guard down, we'll be able to observe them naturally so as to learn their ways and use them for ourselves!"

"Anything specific?" asked Adagio with her usual grin.

"Oh, nothing in particular," Sunset answered, trying to remember how she'd first introduced herself to the Rainbooms after the Fall Formal. They certainly knew a thing or two about her already, so things were a little rocky. "I guess... maybe just something standard, like your favorite food, hobbies, anything, even if it's something a little embarrassing." She smiled somewhat wryly. "You'd be amazed how much easier it is to get along with people in this world when they have something they can tease you about a little."

As she noticed the possibly-confused glances the Dazzlings were giving each other, Sunset did remember one detail; that her five newest friends had wanted to know a little more about the secret-unicorn-spellcaster that had 'gone undercover in their society' for so long. Applejack thwapping Rainbow on the back of the head while muttering about too many spy movies might've been the first thing the group ever did that made Sunset smile, if hesitantly. "People might ask something about you, actually. You were the ones who got them into a big, magical showdown, which might raise some questions around here." Or go worryingly ignored. Either was fine in the long-run, really. She smiled at them, like Rarity had for her when first asking her to tell them a little about Equestria. "So, if you're comfortable with that, feel free to share!"

Adagio nodded, her slightly sinister grin unchanged.

Free exchange of information? Perfect.

"We'll keep that in mind."

Badly hoping Adagio really did just always smile like that, Sunset decided to test the waters as they waited for a traffic light to change. "Why don't we give it a try now? Umm..." The first question she'd been asked seemed like as good a start as any. "What was it like when you first got here?"

Aria's raised eyebrow was almost audible in her voice. "Shouldn't you already know what that was like?"

Sunset chuckled. "Humor me."

"Very well," said Adagio as the light turned and they were able to safely continue, "we arrived roughly thirty years ago..."

Canterlot City, 198X

"Oof!"
"Ow!"
"Ack!"

The sirens landed in a heap on the grass, screaming in panic for the better part of their time spent untangling each other from the human pile and coming to grips with their new bodies. Walking proved a challenge for the first few minutes, most of all for their leader.

"By the abyssal trench," she cried, waving her upper limbs about in an attempt to stay upright, "what manner of appendages be these?!"

"Adagio," replied Aria, whose first experience with walking in heels was going a lot smoother, "how, pray tell, might we be expected to respond to thine inquiry? 'Tis as much a mystery to us as it is to thee what constitutes the laws of this realm!"

"Mine own concern," muttered Sonata, tugging on her ponytail, "be placed upon these extensions of our heads!"

Wait, did you guys really talk like that?

Why wouldn't we? It was how everyone spoke around the time we were banished.

Oh, right, you guys must have been pre-Nightmare Moon, at least.

Nightmare who?

Err, nothing, sorry to interrupt.

As I was saying...

Falling on her posterior (which was also unfamiliar in her anatomy) for the fourth time, Adagio let out a frustrated noise. "A reckoning of sundered skin and shattered bone, should ever I catch sight of that wizard again!" Briefly halting her efforts to walk, she looked around. Apart from her companions still shakily figuring out how upright movement was achieved in these bodies, the surrounding world was alien even by land-strider standards. "Aria, Sonata, thy stance comes easier than mine own?"

"Of course," whispered Aria with a smirk, "if thou art not a klutz."

"Once more, Aria?"

"I spoke not, Adagio."

"Hmph."

"'Tis not so taxing," offered Sonata, still wavering a bit, "once thou hast the hang of it!"

"Then scout," Adagio said, waving an arm to indicate the area, which they would later discover was a park, "take in this world and relay its sights to me!"

Aria crossed her arms unconsciously, it just having felt right. "And by what means dost thou plan to spend thy time 'til our return?"

Gritting her teeth, Adagio felt warmth in her face. "Mine time..." she indicated what she didn't know were her shoes, not her feet, "will be spent attempting to master these accursed land limbs!"

Aria and Sonata snickered at her distress, but set off as ordered, if with slow, careful steps. Not long after they were gone, Adagio found herself crawling on all fours (which was much easier!) to reach a nearby tree on which to lean for balance when she stood. "If I be not thrice-cursed," she muttered indignantly, practicing setting one foot before the other, "I shan't need to be carried for the whole of our stay here."

A little later that day, Sonata found herself watching in silence as a small, blue girl with similarly dark-blue hair and a hat made of folded paper acquired an ice cream cone. The girl accomplished this by standing before the vendor, holding her hands together timidly, and staring at the vendor with wide, watery eyes. The ice cream man eventually smiled and offered her a cone which she enjoyed heartily. That being the most noteworthy thing she'd seen since beginning the scouting operation, Sonata opted to head back to that grassy area and see if she could find Adagio. And Aria too, if she was still around somewhere.

Aria found Adagio leaning one arm against a tree, moving her feet almost at a normal pace. She gave her an amused grin. "Dost thou still struggle with thy clumsiness, Adagio?"

Adagio shot back with a glare before her mouth twisted into a smirk. "It pleases me so to see thee adapting well to thy new form. I trust it is relieving to no longer feel the scale rash upon thy-"

Aria blushed furiously, waving her arms in a silencing motion. "H-hold thy tongue!! 'Tis not thy place to-" In her frantic movements, Aria lost balance and fell over, Adagio cackling with satisfaction as Sonata approached.

"Hail, I return from meandering!"

Still chuckling, Adagio turned to her. "We have eyes, Sonata, that much was clear. What news have thee? Perhaps thou happened across a body of water? I could do with a soak."

Sonata paused, searching her recent memory. She pointed roughly in the direction she'd come from. "T'was a great, stone geyser spewing water over yonder, mayhap that would suffice?"

So we tried to flood the world.

W-WHAT?!

Yes, I know, but back then, we knew nothing about this realm. Magical stone structures that spewed infinite streams of water from apparently nowhere? Made sense at the time, different frame of reality, different rules. We thought the fountains were wards of some sort to prevent the seas overtaking the land. So, if we could damage one enough...?

You... would have drowned millions of people?

That wasn't the goal, we just wanted to establish a foothold here! It wouldn't have worked regardless, because a little while after we'd gotten the thing good and leaking, Aria decided to take a swim in an existing lake. When she came back...

"ADAGIO, SONATA," she cried, sopping wet as she stumble-ran to them, "WE CANNOT BREATHE IN THE WATER HERE!!"

"WHAT?!" the pair exclaimed in unison, turning to the broken fountain with wide-eyed horror. Putting a hand to her own neck, Adagio quickly summed up the situation. "I-it cannot be, our gills are misplaced! If this flow is not halted, we'll not be long for this world!"

Sonata looked particularly distressed. "'Twas quite short already!"

"Haste," cried Aria, "we must undo our damages upon yonder well! We must-"

The four girls could see Rarity's house not far from where they were, so Adagio opted to wrap up. "Well, from there we scrambled to find something to patch up the fountain with, to no real avail. Luckily, what I think was a groundskeeper came by and remarked that the fountain looked even worse than earlier that day. I tried to ask what could be done to fix it before we all died, but-Stop laughing!!"

Barely containing her giggles, Sunset smiled apologetically. "Sorry, sorry, but the image of you three going bananas over an essentially non-existent danger is-"

"Hmph." Crossing her arms as Aria and Sonata averted their eyes, Adagio went on. "Basically, he couldn't understand half of what we were saying, assuming we were 'hippies' high out of our-Are you even listening?!"

Sunset was visibly tearing up, biting her lower lip in a valiant effort not to laugh. She managed a nod.

"Urgh. He pointed us to the mortar that was supposed to be used to fix the fountain, which it turns out was already damaged, complained about lazy contractors, and stood back while we hastily grabbed the tools and got to work as best we could. The end result was a mess, but the fountain was patched up and he seemed to think we were going for some 'surreal hippie art pattern' for the uneven, wavy layers of mortar stopping the leaks. The end." She concluded with an irritated glare at Sunset, who had the decency to look as contrite as one could through an ear-to-ear grin.

They all stopped walking for a moment as she composed herself. "Okay," she said after a deep breath, "sorry. That was a... good start, but as long as most of what you talk about at the party isn't too... hectic, I don't think anyone else'll laugh at you." Sunset bowed her head a little. "Again, sorry."

Adagio rolled her eyes. "Well, I did tell you it makes no difference anymore what they think of us, so I don't really mind sharing the truth of things." Aria and Sonata shared a short, though possibly fearful glance as Adagio gave Sunset a pointed look. "Though I'd appreciate if we weren't interrupted in the process."

Sunset's sheepish smile was accompanied by a faint blush. When they got to the door to Rarity's large, two-story house, Sunset stopped them. "Before we go in, I feel like I should give you guys some warning. People probably haven't forgotten the whole brain-washing, take-over-the-world thing yet, so if you start getting weird looks, just stick together." She smiled a little. "I've noticed they're far less likely to, err, tell you how they really feel when your friends are nearby."

Adagio chuckled. "You'd know a thing or two about this, wouldn't you?"

"K-kinda..."

Observing her slightly withdrawn expression, Adagio felt... not satisfaction. What was this? Some kind of soft contempt? No, pity?

Before she could solve the mystery, Sunset smiled. "Well, here we go!" She opened the door. "Oh, one last thing, you might want to watch out for-" A pink blur slammed Sunset into the ground before she could finish the thought.

"OmigoshSunny,wethoughtyouweren'tgonnamakeit! Well,Ithoughtyouwouldmakeitandyoudidbecauseyou'rehere,HISUNNY!!"

Lying on the floor with the party planner sitting on her stomach, Sunset gave a somewhat weary grin. "Hi, Pinkie."

Pinkie giggled, looking to the perplexed trio that stared back at her. "Ooh, you really did invite the sirens! Rainbow was sure you were pulling our leg when you said that, but it was true! Hi, sirens!" She waved at them, getting hesitant, half-hearted waves back. It was right about then that Pinkie noticed she was only wearing her usual outfit, which was not suited to the cold. "Brrr, it's chilly out here! I'll be inside where it's toasty, you guys should come too!" She looked down at Sunset, who was still pinned under her. "You most of all, Sunny, the ground is way chilly!"

Sunset grinned a little wider. "Thanks Pinkie, I'll keep that in mind."

"Any time!" She hopped up and ran back inside, the group following.

Author's Notes:

Why yes, doing a thousand years of stories would be pretty insane. As would thirty, but this seemed a more manageable means of doing things. I went with the eighties because it sorta seems to fit with their wardrobe. Twilight looked effectively modern when she showed up, right?

Also, I intend to just have them say what happened rather than writing it all out for when things get kindof dull. A lot of stuff happens in the stories they share, but not all of it calls for full scenes, I think. That's probably going to be a bumpy ride, but the alternative is having the tales drag on far longer than they should have, like in another story I'm working on.