The Princess on the Rebound
Sunset's Date with The Princess
Sunset Shimmer liked time by herself. Sure, she was more sociable than her current mentor, but when your circle of friends include Pinkie Pie, you learn to appreciate quieter moments. She was currently enjoying an iced coffee at Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie was on the clock, taking orders from customers, so there was little chance of this quiet moment being ruined.
The ‘new customer bell’ sounded as the door to the cafe opened. Sunset looked to see her teacher in all manner of friendship, Twilight Sparkle, pretty pony princess of Equestria and part-time high school student. The serene happiness that usually seemed to adorn her lavender face wasn’t there. Twilight’s face was devoid of any emotion, save for the tiniest hints of tears in her eyes.
Twilight looked around the cafe and saw Sunset sitting there. Sunset’s eyes met with the princess’s. While she was concerned about her clearly troubled friend, she was lamenting her lost quiet time. Twilight marched toward Sunset robotically, and sat next to Sunset in the booth. Up close, Her face was stuck in an emotional turmoil. Twilight was trying her hardest to keep a straight face, but it was threatening a frown that would melt the heart of anyone who looked at her.
“Hey, Pinkie!” Sunset called to her pink friend behind the counter.
“What is it Sunny?” While responding, the hyperactive girl sat down a tray loaded with sundae toppings.
“Can I have a chocolate sundae with oats?” Sunset enquired.
Pinkie nodded, that group of friends knowing and helping their friends with their…. Ponyisms. The curly maned (and yes even in the human world, it is a mane) teen went to work and produced the sundae. She then set the treat in front of the stone faced princess.
Sunset took a sip from her coffee, waiting for the bit to drop.
“Flash Sentry dumped me.” Twilight stated, her voice swelling up with emotion.
“Oh that’s awful Twi, what happened?” Sunset asked with concern.
Twilight took a bite of her sundae and sighed, “He said that my traveling between worlds wouldn’t work out for us.”
“Well, that seems reasonable, and somewhat out of proportion to how worked up you are” Sunset mediated
“He also says that he doesn’t want to be the ‘Beastiality guy’” Twilight groaned, rubbing at her temples.
“Well that makes him sound like a tool.” Sunset’s voice turned on a dime from a more gentle voice to a darker one with angry undertones.
“He said it was weird that both his current girlfriend and his ex-girlfriend used to be horses.” Twilight spat the word ‘horses’ having a fair bit of venom.
“Can you call it beastliality if both people are the same species at the time?” Sunset questioned. “Also, we’re Ponies.”
Twilight looked over to her friend, shooting her an attempt at a glare, but she was too depressed to shoot anything other than doleful dog eyes.
“You’re losing focus, Sunset.” Twilight stated, perhaps a bit too harshly. She took a large bite of her sundae for emphasis.
“I think you should be focusing on something else,” Sunset replied, kicking her legs idly under the table.
“Like what,” Twilight mumbled around the sundae spoon in her mouth.
Sunset thought for a moment, first about how much in good taste it was to ask your mentor out on the rebound. Then about how to go about the whole thing. She took a long swig of her coffee. While Twilight took another bite of her sundae while staring down Sunset.
“Look, how long are you going to be here?” Sunset asked.
“I was going to spend the week with Flash… But….” Tears were threatening to escape her tightly squeezed eyes.
“Well… How about you spend the week with me?” Sunset suggested.
“What?” Twilight squeaked in confusion, playing with the edge of her skirt.
“There’s no sense in some meathead ruining your vacation. So why don’t you let your most faithful student make your week Magical!”
Twilight smiled a bit when Sunset called herself her most faithful student.
“ How about we meet at the statue where the portal is in a couple of hours. I’ll take you somewhere you’d love.” Sunset suggested
Twilight nodded meekly.
“Perfect !”
A few minutes later, Sunset found herself at the door to Rarity’s house, pressing the doorbell.
The door opened, revealing Rarity, “Welcome to-” She started, but then stopped when she saw her friend, “ Oh, hello, Sunset Dear-”
Rarity was interrupted by Sunset grabbing her shoulders, looking into her eyes, “Rarity, we have a situation, Flash Sentry dumped Twilight, and I think I may have asked her on a date!”
The two stood in the same position for a few seconds while Rarity processed the information.
“Wait, Flash dumped Princess Twilight? Why the nerve of that… that…. Loathsome Plebeian, playing with a Princess’s heart like that! “ Rarity started ranting.
“Um… Rares-” Sunset tried to speak but Rarity was pacing around the room.
“Oh, I know the type! Yes, a lovely Diamond like moi knows the bitter taste of Rejection.”
“Rarity,” Sunset Interjected once more, a finger raised in the air.
“It was homecoming, you know, and the governor's son, Blue Blood had just started going to our school. He asked me, a little fish in a big pond to go with him to the homecoming dance, and of course I said yes-”
“RARITY LA BELLE!” Sunset shouted, hands on her hips.
“Oh What is it, Darling? It’s rude to interrupt.” Rarity chided, wagging her finger at the fiery haired teen.
“Did you forget the part where I asked Twilight out on a date?” Sunset deadpanned.
“Oh, Yes, Yes, Good for you, Darling-” Rarity paused as the full extent of what Sunset just said hit her, “Vanity Fair, Did you catch our favorite princess on the rebound?”
“Well… I …. It was….” Sunset gestured in an uncommunicative and ineffective fashion. “She was on the verge of crying!” Sunset began pacing tightly “She was shooting me puppy dog eyes!” Sunset’s pacing intensified. ”Do you realize how good ponies are at puppy dog eyes!? Wars have been won because we are so damn cute!” By the end Sunset was tearing at her hair. When she noticed Rarity staring at her, she froze and, after a moment, let her hands fall to her sides. Rarity continued to stare. Sunset coughed gently. Rarity spoke.
“No Matter,” Rarity stated with all the stately precision of a queen, laying a hand on Sunset’s shoulder as though knighting her “ I have all of the trust in you, Dearie, just know that if you hurt her like that guitar playing cretin, I will come up with new and wondrous ways to make your life miserable.” Rarity tightly squeezed Sunset’s shoulder for emphasis, while a wicked edge pervaded Rarity’s smile.
Sunset slumped her shoulders with a shiver, “Thats… Good to know, Rares”
“Well then, if you’re going on a date, then you’ve come from the right place!” Rarity spun Sunset around dramatically to look into her slightly dizzy eyes.
Rarity then pulled Sunset over to her room and sat her in a chair.
“First thing first dear,” Rarity said, “ What kind of date are you going on?”
“Uh… Well….” Sunset stammered until Rarity raised a finger to her mouth.
“Say no more, Darling, I‘ve dealt with worse…” Rarity said, with her hand upon her chin.
Rarity then ran over to the other side of her room. She opened the drawer and pulled out a folder as well as her red glasses.
“The Princess is rather studious isn’t she?” Rarity mused, “And it is last minute… Aha!”
Rarity handed a mimeographed pamphlet to Sunset.
“‘The History of Canterlot’…” Sunset read, “ … A Museum trip? That’s... underwhelming.”
“Darling, there is nothing Twilight would love more than to learn about the history of this world.” Rarity explained.
“ Now that that’s settled, We move on to you!” Rarity purred in excitement.
“What?”
Rarity threw Sunset into her changing room.
“When a Lady goes out, it’s important that she looks her best, Especially when trying to woo another.” Rarity preached as she took out set of clothes and threw them into the room.
A few minutes later, Sunset emerged in a V-neck T-shirt in the same maroon that her halter top was. over that was a denim jacket and she was also wearing some green pants.
“Oh, So Casual but with just the right touch of elegance” Rarity gushed.
Rarity then took Sunset’s arm and swung her into the chair to the Vanity. Rarity pulled out two pots of foundation and held them up to Sunset’s face, wondering if Sunset was more of a orange-yellow, or a yellow-orange. She chose the correct shade and applied just a basic array of make up. The only extra twist that was shown was a thin line of emerald green Eyeliner.
Rarity looked at her handy work for a while before deciding to add one final touch. She rummaged around and pulled a beret with Sunset’s cutie mark on it. Rarity gathered Sunset’s hair at her neck and clipped the beret, making a loose ponytail.
“There,” Rarity cooed standing straight up from working on Sunset, “Oh, Darling, You look smashing, Just Smashing!”
“Why do you have my cutie mark on a beret?” Sunset asked trying to get a view of her hair.
“Cutie...Mark?” Rarity sounded out, her head tilting to one side, “Darling, I have accessories to match all of our friend, I just thought that design suited you.”
“That’s spooky,” Sunset said, shuddering a bit , “In more ways that you’ll ever know.”
Rarity chuckled at her friend’s dryness and then escorted said friend to her door.
“Well then Lady Shimmer,” Rarity said , her voice taking on even more of a royal tone, “Your princess awaits.”
“You were waiting to use that.” Sunset commented, while Rarity waved her friend off to her date.
In front of the Canterlot High Statue, Twilight fidgeted a bit in her usual outfit plus an oversized purple smoking jacket with patches on the elbows. She was feeling better now, less hysterical at least.
“Twilight.”
Snips had given it to her after hearing that Flash had broken up with her. It would have bothered her more if she wasn’t pretty sure Snips was into stallions.
“Twilight?”
He wasn’t as good as Rarity, but she was pretty sure she now knew who made the costumes they had worn for their rap battle.
“Twilight? Hey, Equestria to Twilight” a voice called right next to her ear. Twilight jumped like a startled mouse, and shot a glance aside to see Sunset Shimmer standing rather awkwardly, tugging at her jacket’s elbow.
“Sunset Shimmer!” Twilight squeaked, shimmying against Sunset, “You… You look nice….” Twilight suddenly noticed that she was practically swooning into Sunset’s warm arms, and leapt nimbly back. She started to pat herself down, looking nervous.
“Thanks… uh… You too,” Sunset stammered, backing up a bit. The two teens just stood there, awkwardly fidgeting and everywhere, anywhere but at one another.
“So.. Where are we going?” Twilight asked, looking away from Sunset who, was wringing her hands fiercely.
“Um… W-Well, er, F-Follow me, Princess!” Sunset declared, with all the pomp of a soldier on parade, and strode boldly forward. Twilight reached out and grabbed the crook of Sunset’s arm to make sure she didn’t lose track the flaming haired girl. Sunset’s powerful legs continued to mechanically drag herself and the slighter Twilight on.
When they finally arrived upon the museum, Sunset lost some of her tension when she saw the look on Twilight’s face. Twilight’s eyes were sparkling like a freshly polished piece of crystal. Sunset Smiled at her friend’s dorkiness. She bowed her own head in respect to the massive lion statues flanking the entrance, a pale clay imitation of the manehattan ones perhaps, but still worthy of respect. That and she had an unpleasant feeling like they were watching her.
Together they walked up the steps, Twilight in awed silence, and Sunset uncertain exactly what to say. With each step she tried and rejected several lines.
’ “‘Welcome to my lair, said the spider to the fly?’ no, it’s not a lair, I don’t come here regularly, and it sounds too evil. ‘ehy, babie, Voci, vola?’ too prench. ‘the wonders I will show you shall eclipse your...’ too wordy, and I don’t think I should mention eclipses around her, given what she’s been through. ’here it is, your moment of zen?’ no, too corny. ‘come on Twilight, let’s have fun?’ Too lame.”
“Uh. We’re here.” Sunset said lamely, as they stepped through the door. Twilight gave her a funny look, and for a moment Sunset could read almost the exact same struggle as she had just suffered through running across Twilight’s face.
“Yeah…” Twilight said. They stood awkwardly together in line for the tickets. They heard a whistle. It was Sweetie Bell, with her mom, standing in line already a fair ways ahead. She tugged on her mom’s hand, and her mom bent down gently then nodded. Sweetie Bell nodded, and darted through the line to Twilight and Sunset.
“Rarity said that if you two looked too awkward, I was supposed to come back here and serenade you.” She said with a wide, almost nefarious, grin. She whistled again, then started singing ‘All I want for christmas is my two front teeth.’ Normally she was a terrific singer, so the fact that she was absolutely out of tune was frankly deliberate.
Sunset swatted gently in the direction of Sweetie Bell. “Is that how she got the pamphlet for this place? Because your mom was taking you?”
“Yup” Sweetie Bell said with a wide grin. “Now, you gonna tip me? Rarity says a lady always gives a tip” She held out a hand, palm up
“I’m no lady. Get outta here scamp. Go back to your mum. Shoo Shoo.” Sunset dug out some bubblegum and threw it to Sweety.
“Kay.. Sunset and Twilight sitting in a tree…” Sweety danced off towards her mom giggling
Twilight couldn’t take it anymore. She started to giggle. It turned into a full belly laugh “You… You’re not very good with children, are you?” She teased Sunset, jabbing her elbow into sunset’s side
“What? Naw, scamps and I get along just fine” Sunset said, stroking back her hair cooly and miming smoking a cigarette “I taught Little Miss Belle all of the swears she knows. I like kids, but their parents rarely approve.”
“Oh.” Twilight said, getting a little bit darker. “I’m the opposite. I… never know what to do around kids. I’m just all hooves and muzzles and elbows and knees. But all the parents in Ponyville think I’m some sort of… mature guardian, and keep wanting me to tutor their kids….after I started tutoring Apple Bloom, it wasn’t fair not to tutor her friends, and from there it kinda ballooned into most of the town. Cheerilee is still a bit miffed.” Twilight admitted
“Hey, Hey. Chin up” Sunset said, touching Twilight’s chin and pushing it up gently. “There’s an easy way yo get out of it.”
“Oh?” Twilight asked, lifting her head
“Yeah. Teach-em swears.” Sunset said with a huge shit eating grin
Twilight playfully slapped in Sunset’s general direction “But… My reputation”
“Screw your reputation. Kids just want to have fun. They exist to play with, not to teach.” Sunset said matter of factly “Haven't you heard of ‘learning through play’?”
“Well, yes, it’s why I set up structured block play for…” Twilight dug through her fanny pack for a notebook
“Bzzzt. Wrong answer, I’m sorry but you’re not getting the copy of our home game signed by Alex Trebuck” Sunset tousled Twilight’s hair
“Alex who?” Twilight was confused.
“I have got to get you watching TV.” Sunset shook her head dolefully.
“Next PLEASE” the lady behind the counter demanded, glaring at Sunset and Twilight firmly.
The first exhibit that the two friends visited was about aviation, from hot air balloons to WW2.
“There seems to be a lot of war in this world,” Twilight commented, reading panels about the B32 flying fortress, F1 falcon, SR-7 Blackbird and A-10 Thunderbolt in rapid succession.
“Yeah, it was kind of shocking when I took History classes when I got here. Of course back then I was like, ‘These small minded monkeys will be easy to take over if they get into war this easily.’” Sunset said, looking over Twilight’s shoulder. Twilight turned to Sunset with a sly grin on her face.
“‘Small minded monkeys’? Really, Sunset, I thought you were a better Villainess than that!” Twilight mock-scolded, wagging her finger.
“Look, when you think you’re the most gifted person… unicorn…. whatever, Everpony...body is small minded” Sunset defended.
“It’s cute how you switch to pony vernacular.” Twilight said with a wink.
“It’s been happening off and on since The Fall Formal. The other tease me when I let an ‘everypony’ out,” Sunset admitted, Blushing as a few sleepovers came to mind.
Sunset and Twilight moved along the museum, discussing the various exhibits and how this world’s history differed from Equestria. It wasn’t all bad, the absence of magic made room for technology to grow quicker.
Later, They arrived at the Foodcourt to grab something to eat. Twilight sat at the table, while Sunset put a tray of burgers in front of the princess.
“You got me a hay burger?”, Twilight gasped happily.
Sunset chuckled, “Humans don’t eat hay, Princess”
Twilight looked down to her food with an “Oh…”
“Don’t worry, Twilight, they’re veggie burgers.” Sunset said sitting to face the princess.
Twilight munched on her burger, letting out a cute, blissful sound.
“You know, It’s not as crunchy as a hayburger, but it’s still delicious!” Twilight said.
“I never took your favorite food to be a hayburger,” Sunset stated, leaning forward. Clearly enjoying Twilight’s bliss.
“They were a good way to treat myself after acing a test from Celestia” Twilight replied while still munching the burger, chasing it down with some fries, “I started eating them more after I became an alicorn. I have a running theory that alicorns have a way of converting specific types of foods into a secondary power source. Mine being hay burgers.”
“That’s interesting… How did you come to that theory?”
“Mainly long nights experimenting with various spells. I would be completely drained, until I ate a hayburger, It wouldn’t bring me back up to full, but I did feel less tired after eating one.” Twilight continued explaining.
“This explains Celestia’s cake obsession.” Sunset deadpanned.
Twilight laughed, “Right? When I was her student, all I had to was give her a cake when she was mad at me! Instant forgiveness!”
“I tried baking a cake one time, it did not end well” Sunset said leaning into the back of her chair at the fond memory, “I wasn’t allowed in the kitchen for the rest of the year.”
The two Traded stories to one another, laughing all the while.
Sunset and Twilight were walking out of the museum. Smiles were plastered on both of their faces while their arms were linked. Sweetie Belle followed behind them while on the phone giving Rarity an update.
“Sunset,” Twilight started, looking up, “Thanks for taking me here.”
“It was no problem, really, I didn’t want your vacation to be ruined.” Sunset said , “You deserve much more than what happened,”
Twilight nodded slowly. Her face set in stone contemplating something. Sunset watched her as the wheels in the princess’ head were turning. She saw twilight's lips twitch into a slight, malicious smirk.
“Uhhh…. So, Is there anywhere else you wanted to go?” Sunset offered, not liking the looks of Twilight’s contemplation.
“Not tonight,” Twilight stated serenely, almost a bit too serenely, “I actually have some business in the castle to take care of,”
Sunset, raised an eyebrow, “Wasn’t she planning on vacationing for a week?” She thought.
“But,” Twilight started with a playful tone, “You can certainly take me somewhere tomorrow night,”
“Wait, what?” Sunset said, dumbfounded at what the princess was insinuating.
“I was so underdressed tonight, I mean Snips did a great job with the jacket, but he’s no Rarity,” Twilight rambled while twisting her body to check herself out.
“Uhh, Twilight?” Sunset raised her finger, trying to process what was going on. Twilight then glided over to Sunset, Staring her in the face.
“Rarity did such a good job with you!” Twilight commented gazing into Sunset’s eyes, “I hope things like that translate through the portal, Probably going to have to test out things like clothes.”
“Twilight, you’re rambling,” Sunset said through half-lidded eyes, still keeping a steady pace.
Twilight blushed as she re linked her arm around Sunset’s.
“It’s cute when you ramble through,” Sunset added, “Really, you are way too cute to be a princess,”
Twilight chuckled “Better not let Princess Luna hear that, she’s been trying to claim ‘Equestria’s Cutest Princess’ for a while.”
The two eventually got to the statue portal, and they turned to face each other. They stared into one another’s eyes for a few moments.
“So… Tomorrow?” Sunset asked , looking away blushing and fidgeting.
“Tomorrow!” Twilight confirmed as she skipped to the to the portal.
Sunset waved goodbye as she started to walk home. She took only a couple of steps when a familiar voice called out to her.
“Sunset Shimmer!”
Sunset turned around to see Twilight run up to her and plant a small kiss on her cheek and then ran off to the Statue portal. Sunset stood there dumbfounded and lightly touched the spot where Twilight pecked her. She took this opportunity to think about where she would take the princess the next night.
Author's Note
This was an Idea that just came to me. Inspired by the world's shortest saddest love story by the Game Grumps:
Thanks as always to Blind Gardener For Pre-Reading and Writing that whole scene with Sweetie Belle. Thanks to the FiMFiction IRC goers, FraeFoe and Merrick, for PreReading and editing also.
