Human fingers desperately grabbing at the rocky surface from which she hung, Princess Twilight clung for dear life, but still felt herself slipping from the ledge.

Atop the rock, Sunset looked down as Twilight called out to her.

"Sunset, help meeee!"

Sunset knelt down, reaching toward Twilight's hands to lift her up... then she stopped, harshly grabbed her wrists, and held Twilight's face close to her own, a menacing smile spreading across her lips as Twilight gaped back in shock and dismay. Sunset whispered.

"Long, live, the queen..."

She flung Twilight away from the rock, leaving her to fall with a mournful cry of "Noooooo!"

And then Twilight flopped down on the tile floor not one meter away from where she'd been clinging, her knees never even having left the ground where she'd been kneeling in front of the big rock in the Canterlot Natural History Museum's geology exhibit. She looked up at Sunset, who still stood atop the big rock she'd 'thrown' Twilight off, Sunset blankly staring back for a moment before the two giggled like fillies.

"Please do not play on the exhibits," came the voice of Maud Pie, who happened to be wearing a pith helmet.

"Haha, sorry," Sunset responded with a sheepish smile as she hopped off the rock, "couldn't help ourselves."

"What's the commotion over here?"

Twilight got to her feet at the sound of Adagio's voice, a little perplexed to see her with a heavy war hammer slung over her shoulder and Aria and Sonata wearing viking hats behind her as the trio approached, Aria drinking from what appeared to be an authentic mug of mead.

Sunset raised an eyebrow. "I know this place has a gift shop, but where'd you get that?"

Aria shrugged. "I'unno, pillage?" She took a swig.

"I was referring to the medieval weapon."

"The flail is in the shop," answered Adagio.

"That's not quite what I was ask-"

"So, what's going on over here? I could have sworn I heard the sounds of betrayal and despair."

Smiling, Twilight shook her head. "The others showed me 'The Jungle Cat Principality' today and Sunset and I were being silly."

Wearing a light blush, Sunset giggled. "Have you guys ever seen that one?"

Smiling, Adagio nodded. "A few times. I liked the rodent and Mr. Pig!"

Having expected Adagio of all people to have liked the villain more (Seriously, was I the only one?!), Sunset laughed a little. "Really? Why?"

A warm, tender grin spreading across her face, Adagio shrugged. "I'm, not sure why, exactly, they just felt... familiar, somehow."

As Adagio reminisced, Sunset, Twilight, and Maud looked at Aria and Sonata. After a short, dot-connecting silence, Aria turned her head to smirk at Sonata.

"Hey, Dagi says you're a fat, smelly pig."

Sonata's eyes narrowed. "Are you talking to me?"

Despite Aria's insistence that a viking cares not for rules, she and Sonata are not allowed in the museum anymore.

Author's Notes:

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-Omake:-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-
Twilight: "So, does this mean Aria and Sonata like eating bugs, or...?"
Adagio: "Other than the time Sonata did it once to gross Aria out and Aria turned it into a contest, no."
Sunset: "...Did that include your pet bees?"
Adagio: "That was what ended the contest."
-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

While I'm supposed to be working on other, less stupid stories, this seems to be a little less than the amount of work I usually get done in one sitting and it's nice to work on something you might actually publish in less than a few weeks/months. I think it's like the writing equivalent of snacking on potato chips rather than waiting until dinner.