Twilight tuned out the scratching sounds of the pen in her mouth as she tried once again to come up with a way to defeat The Dazzlings. Nothing was working. She had never been in a funk like this before. Usually it would only take her a few hours, maybe a day to figure out what she needed to do. But they didn’t have the luxury of a day. The Battle of The Bands was tomorrow night, and if she didn’t get this counterspell done, everything was going to go to toast and it’d all be her fault.
Twilight gripped at her hair in frustration. “Damn it, damn it, damn it! Why is this so hard!” She groaned. She looked down at the notebook again, which had her illegible handwriting, and a doodle she had drawn when she had gotten distracted. Picking up the pen again, she began to write, but shook her head in despair. “No, that’s not gonna work!” She pressed the palms of her hands into her eyelids to once again fend off the impending headache she was receiving from a lack of sleep and just simply pushing herself too hard. She had gotten up at around one am, and it was five, or at least that’s what she assumed it was, since that was the last time she looked at the clock on the oven.
“Hey Twilight.”
Twilight jumped at the sudden sound, her silence being disturbed by another presence startling her. She relaxed when she saw it was no one but Sunset Shimmer. And she was glad too. Had it been one of the other girls, especially Pinkie Pie or Applejack, she would have had to explain what she had been doing up for the past four hours while everyone else was sound asleep. A lecture on pushing herself too hard was not something the alicorn turned human would have liked to hear this early in the morning.
“You’re up late.” The fellow Equestrian commented, walking towards the fridge. Sunset knew Twilight had been up, she had felt her slightly kick her sleeping bag when she had arose from the floor to go downstairs in the first place. Groggily she had watched the other girl sift through Pinkie’s drawers for the notebook, and tiptoe downstairs so that she wouldn’t wake the others. Too tired to say anything, Sunset had rolled back over and fell back asleep.
She had gotten up about five minutes prior to coming into the kitchen to use the bathroom, and when she stood up she had seen than Twilight hadn’t come back to bed yet, which meant that she was still somewhere downstairs, huddled up and trying to finish the spell. She had to admit, she was pretty impressed with the fact that Twilight was so determined to get the job done. She guessed that when someone became a princess, they had to always put everyone around them first, before themselves. Sunset inwardly sighed. Not that she’d know what that was like.
Twilight shifted the notebook protectively under her arms and covered it with her hands. “Just looking over the counter spell!” She said, giving Sunset a forced, nervous and tired smile before turning away and letting it drop to a deep frown. “We only get one shot at this, it has to be perfect.” She lifted up the book in front of her and sighed. It was worse than she thought.
Sunset gave her a reassuring smile as she opened the fridge. “We really are lucky you’re here.” She said softly. And they were. Without Twilight, they’d be lost. Sunset had lost all her magic when she had crossed over into this world, and even if she had retained some of it, it wouldn’t have been enough to take on these so called sirens. She was honestly glad Twilight was here. As much as she liked being friends with the other girls, it was Twilight who showed her the error of her ways. If it wasn’t for Twilight and the others....she didn’t know what she’d be doing right now.
Twilight leaned over the island. “That’s what everyone keeps telling me.” She muttered, rubbing her shoulders for some sort of comfort. Twilight has always felt the weight of expectations- both hers and others- on her shoulders. But she’s learned to embrace them- or so she thought. When she became a princess, it was more than just impressing her teacher and meeting her expectations, it was setting an example for others, leading others; her role was bigger now, and everything she did was under even more scrutiny. She just didn’t know what to do. She didn’t think anyone understood how she felt. And it was frustrating her. She didn’t want to let everyone down, but she also didn’t want to feel like everyone was waiting for the perfect moment for her to slip up.
“Who could possibly need this much whip cream?” Sunset’s voice brought Twilight back to reality, and she looked over her shoulder to see a ridiculous amount of whip cream stocked on every shelf in the fridge.
“Must be nice to have everyone always looking to you for answers to their problems,” Sunset continued, more to herself than Twilight, spraying some whip cream onto her finger. “Instead of waiting for you to cause a problem.” She then muttered looking down, remembering all the dirty looks and “no offenses” she’s received since the Fall Formal.
“Just because everyone expects something from you, doesn’t mean it's guaranteed to happen.” Twilight murmured to herself, more than Sunset. She wasn’t even sure she could pull this off anymore. She was beginning to feel like even trying was a lost cause.
“But that doesn’t stop them from expecting it,” Sunset agreed, more memories of people in school purposefully trying to make her mad or being wary of her when she just wanted to help with something came to her mind.
Twilight nodded. “Which makes everything harder because the last thing you wanna do is,”
“Let everybody down.”
The two girls grinned at each other as they reached some common ground. No, everyone wasn’t expecting the same things from them, but they were still expecting something from both of them. And while one may feel more prepared than the other, they both still were insecure about their new found positions in life.
“You know, Twilight, I’ve been thinking. We’re not so different after all. I mean, besides the whole me betraying Celestia and you becoming a princess thing.” Sunset said, sitting down next to her at the island, and placing the can of whip cream onto it.
“I’m sure if Princess Celestia heard of all the good things you’ve been doing lately, that she would forgive you for what you did.” Twilight assured her. Twilight put a hand on Sunset. “It's all in the past. And you’ve shown that you’re really taking this reformation thing seriously. I know it.”
Sunset smiled genuinely at the princess. “Thanks, Twilight.” She sighed. “I just wish everyone else did.” The rest of the girls did, but their constant slip ups and outbursts let her know that they weren’t as used to it as she was. And it just made everything harder. She was tired of walking on eggshells.
Twilight saw the distraught look on Sunset’s face. She made the other girl look at her. “Hey, if it makes you feel any better, I believe in you. And I’m sure everyone will warm up to the new you eventually. You just have to wait it out. And I promise things will get better. They will.”
Sunset hadn’t realized how close they had gotten in the few moments, and she felt something brewing in her heart that she had thought was long gone. Love? No. Affection? Yes, that’s what it was. She was fond of Twilight. Twilight was the only person, well, pony in the entirety of both worlds who truly understood her. Even more so than Celestia did. Which is why she didn’t give it a second thought when she pressed her lips to Twilight’s.
The princess was shocked at first, but melted into the kiss, the sweetness of the whipped cream on Sunset’s lips waking her right up. Twilight had honestly never been kissed before, and she had somewhat hoped it would have been with Flash Sentry.
But the way she was feeling right now would have probably been different had she kissed him instead of Sunset. Her lips were soft, vulnerable, and trusting. Twilight was pretty sure Sunset had never kissed Flash like this, let alone another girl. Or well, pony.
A loud bang from upstairs in Pinkie’s room startled the two apart. The realization of what had just happened was evident on both their faces, seeing how both of them had a light blush on their features.
Twilight smiled and licked her lips.
Sunset coughed, embarrassed. “U-Um, we should probably head up to the girls. They’re probably wondering where we are.” She whispered, sliding off her chair. She padded towards the doorway and stopped, leaning back to see that Twilight was still at the island, licking her lips. “Are you coming, Twilight?” she asked, hiding a snort.
Twilight jumped, obviously daydreaming. “Oh, uh yeah.” She answered, blushing a bit more. She scooped up Fluttershy’s song book in her hands. As they made their way back to Pinkie’s room, Twilight was sure of one thing: That everything was going to be just fine.
Author's Note
Rainbow Rocks aired on The Hu- I mean, "The Discovery Family" on Friday, and watching the scene between these two again in HD ( I saw it in the theater) Made me really ship them. So this was my take on the scene. Hope you liked it! :D
