The Canterlot City Park was only a few blocks away from Sunny Flares's and Lemon Zest's houses, which made it an ideal meeting place for the girls. On this particular Saturday, Sunny was jogging to their meeting place; Lemon Zest had suggested a casual hang-out several days prior, a proposition to which Sunny had happily agreed.
Sunny hummed to herself as she passed through the park gates. Immediately, she spotted Lemon Zest sitting on the nearest chess table (which lined the main path). Lemon's green-yellow hair was bunched back in a messy bun. She had her signature pink headphones on, as usual, and she was wearing a pink sundress dotted with yellow lemon slices.
"Zesty!" Sunny called, waving as she jogged over.
"Sunny!" Lemon squealed, hopping down from her perch. Sunny ran into Lemon's arms; although she was older, Sunny was the shorter of the pair.
"How've you been since Friday?" Lemon asked. "As for me, I found this really cool new song!"
"That's great, Lemon!" Sunny answered. She grinned and pulled back from the hug, studying Lemon's pretty pink face for a moment. "Hey, my muse is back, which means it's time to edit my play. And Auntie Cinch said I didn't have to go to the garden party if I really didn't want to."
Lemon giggled. "A win for you, huh?"
"Hardly," Sunny answered, rolling her eyes as she sat down in the metal chair next to her. "There's next week's social, and the week after that, and every week until I move out."
"Hey, it's not so bad. You have me." Lemon winked. "Wanna go sit under the trees and watch the clouds?"
"How poetic," Sunny noted. Getting up, she and Lemon Zest relocated to the nearest tree. For a few minutes, they leisurely pointed out different cloud patterns to each other.
"Sunny, I have a question," Lemon finally said, turning to look. "Did you ever have a spa sleepover?"
Sunny paused. The question seemed very familiar. "Yeah... Fleur, this girl named Swan Song, a few others, and I went to Aloe and Vera's spa once. We stayed up all night, not good for our skin." She chuckled half-heartedly. "Why do you asked, Zesty?"
Lemon Zest looked down at her thumbs, which were locked in a thumb war with each other. "Oh, Sugarcoat just happened to mention it. She said you-"
"What does it matter what Sugarcoat said?" Sunny snapped. "She makes everything seem worse than it is."
Lemon continued: "She said that you and her and Sour Sweet were with Twilight at a sleepover and giving her advice and stuff, and that you were being mean. And you said you didn't invite Sugarcoat to the spa sleepover."
Sunny sighed and shifted her weight. "I didn't. But it wasn't like it was my idea. It was Swan Song's. Her parents knew Auntie Cinch and Cinch thought it would be good for me to go along."
"Sour Sweet said you almost made Sugarcoat cry." Lemon Zest pulled herself into a sitting position. "You know how hard that is."
Sunny stared at the blades of grass that swayed in the breeze. "I admit it, Lemon Zest, I said some crappy things. I made Twilight cry, too."
"Why'd you do it?" Lemon queried. "I thought you were nicer than that?"
Why does this matter? Sunny bit her tongue to keep the rude question back. "It's... we've all had our jerk moments, Lemon. Remember back before you got your headphones and you were a complete drill sergeant? Sour Sweet and Sugarcoat both told Twilight a bunch of stupid stuff during the Friendship Games, and Indgio's still apologizing to the kids she's bullied."
"Sunny, what the heck?" Lemon rolled her eyes. "I know I was bad. I know we've all been bad. I'm asking why you did it, not your lame excuses."
Sunny didn't say anything for a minute. Then, finally: "Is that why you wanted to hang out today? To interrogate me?"
"Well first, I wanted to hang out with you, 'cause your my best friend- my girlfriend. And second, I want to know what's going on. You're capable of being nice, Sunny. And Twilight, well, she needs niceness more than any of us right now."
Again, Sunny kept silent before answering. "I trust you, Lemon, so I'll tell you. I was... jealous."
"Of what?"
"Twilight." Sunny heaved a great sigh and rolled over. "Crystal Prep has lost its appeal. And Twilight gets to escape it. But me, I can't. I'm stuck hear with my aunt as principal, because her reputation's at stake." Sunny clenched her fists. "I hate it. Twilight Sparkle gets to leave, and not me. So that's why I was such a jerk. Because I was jealous." After a moment, she added, "Are you gonna break up with me because I made a mistake?"
"Are you joking?" Lemon Zest snickered. She grabbed Sunny's hand and squeezed it. "I'm not that shallow! You messed up, but doesn't everyone? It's like when someone ruins a perfectly good song with a terrible remix."
"Not exactly," Sunny replied. She wasn't sure that analogy worked with this situation.
"Maybe we should have a spa sleepover!" Lemon Zest squealed. "It'll be an apology! We can invite Pinkie Fry and Sugarcoat and Twilight and Vinyl Scratch and Sour Sweet and Indigo Zap and Flutterfly-"
"I'm rich, but not that rich," Sunny interrupted, smiling wryly. "Hey, I'll think about it. You come up with great ideas, Zesty."
"Only because I'm helping you." Lemon Zest leaned in and kissed Sunny on the cheek.
"Thanks, dearie," Sunny replied. In her head, she was already making preparations for the 'Sorry I was a Jerk' spa sleepover.
