Sunset Shimmer looked at the note again, though she could barely read it. "Midnight, CHS football field, be there, alone." No clue who'd sent it. No idea why. Total mystery why she'd even shown up.
But she was the curious type.
It was dark. It was midnight, so of course it was dark, but it was darker than that. There was no moon, and the stars were covered in a blanket of clouds. Sunset shivered and pulled her phone out of her pocket, the beam of light from the screen almost painful to her eyes which had adjusted to the almost pitch black of the night. The clock on her screen told her it was nearly five minutes past.
She used the light from her phone to look at the back of the paper. A complete blank. Just like the conclusions she'd drawn when trying to analyse the note all afternoon. She sighed and pushed it roughly back into her hoodie pocket before beginning to pace impatiently back and forth across the grass.
She heard a distant sound. A cross between a moan and a squeak. Someone else was here. She peered in the direction of the noise, but saw nothing. Maybe it had been her imagination.
Overhead a plane went past, the distant sound of its jet engines the only thing she could hear, apart from the constant background noise of the cars in the main road in front of the school, but she'd more or less learnt to ignore that. She looked up and watched the flashing red lights on the wings.
Then it happened.
The sound of a breath behind her.
Her world went black.
A pair of hands covered her eyes.
Lips against her ear.
"Guess who?" An unfamiliar voice.
"I… I don't know," Sunset stammered.
"Oh come on, it's easy, I wrote you a note!"
"But the note was unsigned."
"It was?"
The hands released Sunset and she spin around to see her attacker. Though still dark, she immediately recognized the girl.
"I'm such an idiot," Lemon Zest said, rolling her eyes. "If I didn't sign the note, how did you know it would be me?"
The events of the Friendship Games flashed through Sunset's mind. Lemon Zest had seemed the friendliest of the Crystal Prep team, but that wasn't much of an achievement. Good skater though. She'd kind of saved Rarity's life, so she couldn't be all bad. "I didn't know," Sunset said.
"Well, that was kinda dumb of you to turn up then. I could have been anyone!"
"I'm aware of that."
"Well," Lemon said, "this is kinda awkward now. I figured if you showed up, it must mean you liked me back."
Sunset raised her eyebrows. "Liked you… back?"
Lemon nodded.
"You mean like… like like you?" Sunset asked.
"See what I meant about awkward?"
Sunset nodded. "Uh huh."
"It's okay," Lemon sighed sadly. "If you don't, then we can just both go home or something."
"Now, I never said that," Sunset said, putting her hands on Lemon's shoulders to comfort her.
"So you… no, I guess you never said that either," Lemon said with a neutral expression.
Lemon Zest did look very beautiful though, standing there under the light of the stars. Maybe I could like her? Sunset thought to herself. She shook her head. This was crazy — she barely even knew her.
Sunset finally opened her mouth to speak. "Do you think we could go somewhere a little less dark?"
* * *
"We were lucky to find somewhere still open," Sunset said, sitting down at the table, and pushing aside the previous occupants' dirty crockery.
"This diner is open all night," Lemon explained. "I've been here before after astronomy club."
"You… go to an astronomy club? Not astrology… actual astronomy?"
"Go to it? I run it! Canterlot Junior Astronomers."
"Seriously?" Sunset asked. "I've heard of that. I was thinking about joining!"
"You should. It's been really quiet lately."
"Well, maybe now I will." Sunset smiled and took a sip of her coffee before grimacing. It was a bit stronger than she was used to.
Lemon Zest smiled and took a gulp of her lemon and ginger tea. She'd expected this to be a little awkward, after her confession earlier, and given that the pair barely knew each other, but Sunset was really easy to get along with.
"So you got any other hobbies?" Sunset asked her.
"Not really. Well…" — Lemon motioned towards the pair headphones hanging loosely around her neck — "apart from music, of course."
Sunset took another drink of coffee. "What do you play?"
Lemon shook her head. "Oh no… I've tried, but I've never really been able to pick up an instrument. I mostly just listen, and sing along." She thought for a moment and then chuckled. "Though I do play a wicked air guitar."
"I sing," Sunset said proudly. "I also play guitar."
"Yeah, you're really good," Lemon gushed.
Sunset looked at her and raised an eyebrow.
Lemon cringed. "Yeah… I kinda went to see a Rainbooms gig a couple of weeks after the Friendship Games. I wanted to say hello to you after the show, but I just hung out at the back of the theatre."
"You should have said hello. I would have liked that!"
"I was a little nervous, I guess." Lemon blushed, but tried to hide it by raising her cup for another sip of tea. "I really liked the show though."
"You could come watch us practise some time."
Lemon spat out her tea. "Really?!"
Sunset nodded and helped Lemon wipe the table with paper napkins.
Lemon's smile faded slightly. "Oh, I… I don't know if I'd feel comfortable hanging around at CHS though. Even now Cinch has left Crystal Prep, there's still a bit of a rivalry."
"Oh, come on!" Sunset insisted. "It's not like you'd be beaten to death for wearing a Crystal Prep uniform!" She chuckled and then grew serious. "The beatings are really quite mild these days."
Lemon's eyes shot open.
"I'm just messing with you," Sunset laughed.
Lemon rolled her eyes and groaned. "I don't know what I even saw in you."
Sunset managed to restrain her laughing. "Pfft! I don't know either."
Lemon smiled. "Well, I do actually."
Sunset finished off her coffee and raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
Lemon blushed furiously. "Never mind."
"I may press you on that some time."
Lemon tried to deflect the situation with humour. "You can press me on anything, any time."
"Oh really?" Sunset said, smirking.
The green-haired girl finished her tea and yawned. "Not tonight though, sweetie," she answered. "It's getting pretty late."
Sunset half thought about inviting Lemon back to hers for the night, but was worried she'd take it the wrong way. "Yeah, I suppose you're right."
Lemon stood up, taking out a pair of skates from her backpack. "I ought to head home, I guess."
Sunset stood beside her. "Aren't you forgetting something?"
Lemon's eyes widened. Of course… a goodnight kiss! She leaned in towards Sunset, licking her lips subtly to moisten them.
Sunset took a deep breath, and closed her eyes as Lemon drew nearer. Moments later she felt Lemon's soft lips on hers. She put one hand gently on Lemon's hip and the other on her shoulder, shifting slightly to be closer to the girl. She tilted her head slightly to the side so that her nose didn't rub against Lemon's, and ran her tongue along Lemon's lips, seeking permission to enter.
Lemon parted her lips, letting her own tongue out to explore Sunset's mouth. The two tongues circled as the girls explored each other's lips, tongues, and teeth. She rested a hand on the side of Sunset's face, stroking her long red and yellow hair and caressing her soft cheek for a few moments.
At last, Sunset pulled away, opening her eyes and taking a deep, slow breath. She gulped. "Oh my." The kiss had been perfect.
Lemon smiled at her and started putting on her skates.
Sunset smiled back. "Actually… that wasn't what I meant though… when I said you were forgetting something. I meant… shouldn't we swap numbers?"
Lemon looked a little embarrassed. "Oh, of course."
Sunset got her phone out of her pocket, ready to type in Lemon's mobile number. "As much as I enjoyed tonight, I don't think we should continue to communicate primarily through the medium of passing mysterious notes to each other. I mean, that's hardly an efficient way to arrange a date."
"No, I guess not," Lemon said sadly. She paused for a moment while what Sunset had said sunk in. "A date? Like you want to go on a date date?"
Sunset smiled at her. "I thought you'd never ask!"
Author's Note
I hope you liked this. It's just a little Christmas present for my followers, especially one in particular who gave me the prompt "Sunset Shimmer, a note, midnight, romance". This was rejected by moderators back in December 2015, but as of July 2016, I've made some edits.
There are not a lot of Lemon Zest romances out there yet, but if you're looking for more, try Audio Therapy and It's a Date, Rocker Boy which are each pretty good.
