Sunset Shimmer was never going to tire of these victory celebrations, especially when considering Pinkie Pie knew how to throw the best parties. With yet another rampaging magical monstrosity put to rest, and the future of Camp Everfree all but secured, it was a perfect time to bask in the warmth of your victory and enjoy the company of your friends.
Well, not all of them, as Sunset noted the absence of a bespectacled friend of hers who was more interested in spending time with a certain young lad. There was a strange sense of catharsis in watching Twilight and Timber Spruce on the far side of the crystal caves; there was so much more confidence in her friend now that she had conquered her fears of Midnight Sparkle.
“I remember when I used to drag Flash onto the dance floor,” she thought to herself with a mixed sense of amusement and guilt. “I’m guessing Timber didn’t complain like Flash did.”
“Those two look absolutely adorable together, don’t they?” Rarity commented as she stepped into Sunset’s view just to her right.
“Looks like she’s got herself a keeper there,” Sunset chuckled in response. “I mean, he’s cute, he’s smart, he’s charming, and he doesn’t freak out at the sight of crazy magical powers.”
“Well, compared to what Gloriosa did, Twilight’s magic probably seems tame.” As Rarity watched the couple transition to the nearby dance floor to continue basking in one another’s company, she let out a restrained giggle of delight. “Ohhh! Those two are just too precious! I hope this works out for them both.”
“Why? Already planning a wedding dress for Twilight?” Sunset quipped with a playful smirk.
“Darling, puh-lease,” Rarity scoffed at the notion. She gestured for Sunset to follow, leading her friend over to the nearby refreshments table whereupon both girls helped themselves to some of the punch. “I’ll have you know, I already designed one for her weeks ago.”
Sunset Shimmer raised a quizzical brow at first, saying nothing but maintaining her gaze over the brim of her cup. “Do you… do that often?” she finally asked.
Rarity’s first response was a concealed, polite giggle, as though the answer should have been as clear and obvious as the crystalline chandelier hanging over the dance floor. “It’s just a little hobby of mine,” she explained. “I’ve done it for all of my friends. Why, I’ve done four just for Fluttershy—one for each season.”
“Right, of course. Gotta have all the seasons,” Sunset said with a growing sense of uncertainty. Her friend was a fashion designer, after all, so it stood to reason that she’d take whatever inspiration and opportunities came her way to create and explore the trade. And, of course, that led her to the inevitable follow-up question. “Do I have one?”
“Of course!” Rarity exclaimed. “I would love to show it to you, though at the same time I sort of want it to be a surprise when the day comes that you actually need it.” There was a spring of excitement in the fashionista’s step as the pair headed away from the refreshment table to find a quiet corner of the cave to continue the conversation. There was a definite anxiety about her, in a ‘should I or shouldn’t’ sort of way, like a child pondering whether to steal from the cookie jar.
“Maybe you can show the designs to me when we get back to school,” Sunset suggested. She leaned up against a nearby stalagmite, affording herself a view of her classmates dancing along to one of Rainbow Dash’s guitar solos. Seeing all their happy faces made all the problems of the past week seem inconsequential; it filled her with a sense of pride to know she played a part in it. However, seeing the handful of dancing couples brought a thought to the forefront of her mind. “Hey Rarity, you’ve gone on your fair share of dates before, right?”
“From time to time, yes,” Rarity replied. Being no fool, she could tell that her friend’s question was not just idle curiosity, and she had to hide the growing smirk behind her drink so her friend wouldn’t notice. “And why do you ask?”
The eagerness in Rarity’s voice was palpable, which gave Sunset Shimmer pause and question whether this was the right time to broach the subject. Unfortunately, the door had already been opened and she knew she’d have to answer, unless she wanted to be dodging the question for the remainder of the evening. No reason to hold back now, she reluctantly accepted.
“I just thought that now that I have this whole friendship thing under wraps—not that I’m claiming that I know everything there is about friendship,” Sunset began. She began fidgeting on the spot while rubbing the back of her neck with a free hand. “But given that my understanding of the fundamentals is solid, I’m comfortable enough to try venturing into new, tangentially-related fields… and stuff like that.”
“Meaning?” Rarity interjected, an expectant glimmer in her eyes. It was a subtle nod to hurry the conversation along.
Sunset let out a tired sigh. It was obvious she was dancing around the issue. Maybe it would’ve been easier if Rarity didn’t keep looking at her like a cat toying with its prey. Best to just get it out as quickly as possible. “I’m just… I’m wondering if I should consider getting involved in a relationship again.”
There were no words from Rarity at first. Her friend simply maintained a fixed gaze with an ever-growing grin across her face that sent off all kinds of alarm bells in Sunset’s mind. The fact that they were out in public was probably the only thing that was preventing Rarity from bursting out into an ecstatic squeal of delight. For that, Sunset was infinitely grateful.
“Y-you know what, forget I said anything,” Sunset said, trying to undo the damage she had wrought. But it was too late; the beast had been set free.
“Nonsense, dear! There’s no reason to be embarrassed about any of that,” Rarity insisted. Without even waiting for an acknowledgement, Rarity hooked her arm around Sunset’s and proceeded to drag her back towards where the rest of their classmates were still partying. “I think the best step forward would be to dive in head-first! I’m sure we can find you a lovely match somewhere around here. I think a few of the donors that we invited brought along some fetching young sons of their own.”
Now regretting her decision more than that time she challenged Applejack to an arm-wrestling match, Sunset tried to wriggle free from her friend’s grip as discretely as possible. While she may have been the one to broach the subject in the first place, she had just wanted to start up a conversation, not get thrown to the wolves—not that she thought of her classmates as such. Alas, her friend had an almost ironclad grip on her that would’ve required the jaws of life at this point to separate the two.
“This really isn’t necessary, Rarity,” Sunset began as she moved into the bargaining stage. “I just said I was considering dating again!”
“Who’s considering dating again?” Applejack’s voice suddenly perked up. It was soon followed by the appearance of their strength-imbued friend, as well as Fluttershy.
Giving nobody else time to speak, Rarity answered, “Sunset is!”
“She is?” Fluttershy replied with a mixture of surprise and awe. “Oh, that’s wonderful to hear. Did you have somebody in mind?”
Though Sunset managed a silent but friendly grin at first, the internalized screaming would’ve deafened the entire cavern. Now she had three of her friends to contend with, as if Rarity alone wasn’t proving difficult enough already. On the bright side, the arrival of her friends brought Rarity to a halt, so it bought Sunset some precious time. And maybe Applejack would listen to reason; she was always the level-headed one.
“Considering is probably too strong a word,” Sunset began, trying to hide her growing dismay behind a friendly laugh. “I mean, I’m not in any huge rush or anything—”
“Aw shucks, Shimmy, there ain’t no need to be so modest!” Applejack said, applying her brand of blunt force honesty. “You’re a prime catch, and you know it. Just go out there and knock ‘em dead!”
Applejack then proceeded to give Sunset a few reassuring pats on the back. And thanks to her friend being able to control her newfound super strength, it only knocked her over rather than into the nearest wall. Fortunately for her, the powers that fell can also raise and she was hoisted back to her feet by her apologetic friend.
“Sorry ‘bout that, I’m still figuring out how to keep this under control.”
“That’s okay; nothing’s broken,” Sunset said as she collected herself. She patted down the front of her dress, freeing it of the wrinkles and crystal debris that it had collected. “Now as I was about to say, I’m not one hundred percent sold on the idea of dating again since it’s something that I’m still carrying a lot of baggage for.”
“Because of Flash?” Applejack asked. “I thought you two patched things up already.”
Sunset sighed and folded her arms across her chest, trying to avoid showing how much that particular subject still weighed on her mind. “We did. We talked for a little while and he said that he was willing to try starting over as—”
Her expression suddenly sank as her voice went still. The others looked on in confusion as their friend buried her face into her palm and began muttering some very unladylike things under her breath.
Fluttershy was the first to speak up, “Is something wrong?”
“I totally brushed off Flash when he was trying to talk to me last time,” Sunset grumbled, more into her palm than to her friends. “Oh good grief, even when I’m reformed, I wind up treating Flash like dirt.” It was then that an idea struck her, a horribly selfish one born of the current desperation. And just like a drowning girl grasping for a lifeline, she seized the opportunity with overcompensated zeal. “You know what, I’d better go talk to him and apologize to him before he thinks I’ve turned evil again.”
“But what about—” Rarity began, but was immediately cut off by her friend.
“Let’s just put a pin on the dating thing and we’ll visit it again later,” Sunset insisted. She used the brief lull created by her friends’ stunned silence to slip out from their grasp and retreat to a safe distance.
Now she did feel a little guilty about running off on her friends, but while their hearts might’ve been in the right place, they sounded as though they were ready to throw her off into the deep end of the lake before she was even certain she could swim. Maybe they did have a point, she considered; maybe she did need to think less about the consequences and just live for the moment for a change. It was something for her mind to nibble on for the evening while she tended to the business she said she would.
Sure, Flash proved a convenient excuse to make herself scarce, but she knew she needed to make amends for her behavior earlier.
Finding him proved to be a far easier task than Sunset anticipated. With most of their classmates off on the dancefloor, it was easy to pinpoint the spiky-haired guitarist standing off to the side on his own. For a brief moment, she was confused to see him not hanging out with his bandmates or one of his other friends, but all it took was a quick trace of where he was staring off to in order to figure that mystery out.
“Poor guy,” Sunset muttered under her breath. She gulped down the rest of her punch to steady her nerves and then made her approach. “Hey there, Flash. Funny seeing you flying solo.”
“Oh! S-Sunset… I, uh… didn’t see you there,” Flash fumbled his words at first, clearly surprised by her sudden appearance at his side. “I was just… uhm…” In a panic, he looked about trying to find something that could be used for a convenient excuse, eventually grabbing a plastic cup sitting unattended at a nearby table. “I was just enjoying some punch.”
“Cup looks pretty light to me,” Sunset replied, raising a skeptical eyebrow.
“Well I just finished, is all.”
“And the cigarette butt at the bottom?”
Flash glanced into his cup for the first time and saw the aforementioned cigarette floating in a small pool of punch, which had been left discoloured by the ash.
“Oh, gross!” he promptly exclaimed, throwing the cup aside without a second thought, along with all pretense. “Okay, fine, so maybe I was taking a little break from the party.” He let out a defeated sigh, stuffing his hands into his pocket as he leaned against the cavern wall.
Sunset refrained from laughing at his initial antics with the hopes of sparing him any further embarrassment. A quick check to see where his gaze went helped confirm her initial suspicions. “Guess it can be a little tricky to move on when she’s dancing over there with another guy,” she commented.
“Tell me about it,” Flash nodded in agreement. Despite his best efforts, it was hard for him not to keep watching as Twilight and Spruce danced together. “I mean, I know she’s not the same person, but she still looks and sounds like her. It’s hard seeing her and not being reminded of what time we did have together.” He sighed again, letting his gaze drop to the floor like a brick. “Don’t mind me, though, I’ll be fine.”
“You’ll survive; you’ve been put through worse,” Sunset said, smirking as she gave him a gentle nudge with her elbow.
Her gambit paid off, as a subtle smile crested Flash’s face, followed shortly by a quiet chuckle. “Right you are again,” he said. “Was there, um… something you needed?”
“I wanted to apologize for brushing you off earlier. You were trying to reach out and I ran off on you.”
“In your defense, you did have a lot on your plate at the time,” Flash reminded her. “But I appreciate it. When you ran off, I was worried that you were just saying all that to be polite. Of course, looking back now, that’s silly ‘cause you’ve never been one to pull punches with me before, so why would you now?” He paused for a moment, shifting uncomfortably on the spot for a moment before mustering up the will to ask for confirmation. He knew rationally that she hadn’t lied or misled him, but he still wanted to hear those words from her. “So… you’d really be okay with starting things over again as friends?”
“I would love a do-over,” Sunset nodded. She flashed her ex-boyfriend a welcoming smile, and she could see the weight practically flying off of Flash’s shoulders. Not wanting to leave things there, though, she decided that her first act in this newfound friendship was to help him forget about his woes. She took a few steps towards the dance floor before offering her hand out to Flash. “Would you like to join me for a dance?”
“R-really?” he stammered at first. “I remember I was always the one having to ask.”
Sunset met his chuckle with her own. “I believe I asked you for a dance the last time I got crowned Princess of the Fall Formal,” she asserted.
“That was less ‘asking’ and more grabbing me by the collar and dragging me along.”
“Well look at you, Mr. Big Shot,” Sunset playfully scoffed as she wagged a finger at him. “We’re friends for all of ten seconds and you’re already sassing me. What am I going to do with you?”
Despite all their troubled history together, both seemed more at ease than ever before, as if returning to their friendship was like slipping on a favourite sweater. Flash accepted Sunset’s offer, taking her hand as the pair headed towards the dancefloor.
“That dress looks amazing on you.”
Sunset was caught off-guard by the sudden compliment, and quickly turned her head away to hide a faint heat in her cheeks. “Oh, t-thanks Flash.”
“Hm? I didn’t say anything,” he replied.
It took a second for the realization to smack Sunset in the face, followed soon thereafter by her palm. “Right, magic powers,” she scorned herself. “How should I explain this? I got this new magic that lets me see into people and share their feelings and memories.”
“My feelings? O-oh! So you heard me thinking… I-I’m sorry about that,” Flash hastily replied, looking even more embarrassed by the mishap than Sunset had been. “I mean, that just sorta popped into my head. I would’ve said it out loud but I thought it might’ve been weird given… you know, our history.”
“Hey, we’re friends now, remember? We’re allowed to compliment each other,” Sunset explained, though whether she was trying to reassure Flash of this or herself was anybody’s guess. “For example, you look quite dashing when you’re actually wearing a proper suit.” Her reassuring smile suddenly faded, replaced instead with an annoyed frown. “And your collar is all crooked. Here, let me fix that.”
Flash threw his hands up in protest, but soon realized there was little point in trying to dissuade Sunset once she had her mind set on something. Instead, he opted to simply hide his nervousness behind a forced chuckle while waiting on his ex-girlfriend to finish up with his tie.
“I swear to—who taught you how to dress, a blind orangutan?” Sunset grumbled as she fussed and fidgeted with the stubborn fabrics. “This is a complete mess. You’re hopeless, you know that?”
**********************
“You’re hopeless, you know that?”
It was wintertime in the city, many months before Twilight Sparkle first ventured through the magic mirror in pursuit of Sunset Shimmer. Rather than scheming about magic crowns and conquest, the Equestrian exile was more concerned with conquering a stubborn illness that had befallen her. She was huddled on the couch, wrapped beneath numerous layers of wool and flannel blankets, and alongside a mountain of snot-filled tissue papers stacked so high that others would gaze upon and remark ‘because it was there.’
Between the fevered complexion and the disheveled hair, Sunset looked as bad as she felt to the point where even a ghoul would’ve said she looked like walking death. She was miserable, more so than usual, and that just lessened her already infamously short temper. But as bad as things were for her, it was arguably worse for Flash in the other room as he slaved over a hot stove in an attempt to get a batch of tomato soup ready for his cold-stricken girlfriend.
“How long could it possibly take to make one pot of soup?” she shouted in annoyance.
“I’ll be there in a minute, I misread one of the steps,” Flash called out in return.
With a roll of her eyes, the disheveled teen fell over sideways onto the length of the couch, groaning loudly in hopes it would hurry Flash along. “He really is hopeless,” she muttered to herself.
After what felt like an eternity of writhing in agony, swinging between boiling and freezing faster than her mood on a bad day, Sunset let out another frustrated and impatient yelp. “For crying out loud, I’m dying over here!”
“Just breath through your mouth, dear,” Flash replied. His voice conveyed hints of concern, but he wasn’t about to be fooled by the melodramatic performance. Fortunately, the only immediate answer he had to deal with was a flurry of coughs and Sunset purging another sinus’ worth of mucus into a tissue.
After a short while, Flash emerged from the kitchen with a tray loaded down with soup, crackers, and water. His girlfriend had apparently given up on wallowing on her backside, and was sitting again on the edge of the couch, hunched over a binder and textbook. Sunset didn’t even bother looking up as Flash set the tray down next to her books.
“Need any help with that?” he asked.
“I help you with math work, not the other way around,” Sunset replied proudly, pausing halfway in order to cough again.
Despite the blunt response, Flash remained optimistic. “Yeah, but you are pretty sick. It might be better for you to take it easy,” he suggested.
That, apparently, crossed a line with Sunset, her annoyance punctuated by the rapid tapping of her pen against the pages. Her eyes met with Flash for a brief moment, enough to convey her displeasure with such remarks.
“I’m only stuck like this because of you!” she snapped, pointing an accusatory pen towards her boyfriend. A sudden sneeze caused the pen to slip from her grasp, tumbling through the air where it scored a perfect landing in the glass of water. “You gave me this stupid cold,” she continued, undaunted, “and even if it does feel like my sinuses are so clogged they’re threatening to squeeze my brain out like toothpaste from a tube… I’m still better at math than you are.”
“Okay, okay. I was just trying to help out.” Flash shrugged off the remarks, figuring capitulation was a better option than starting a fight with a walking biohazard. “Could you at least try eating? Your homework will still be there when you’re done.”
Sunset tried to snort her disapproval, but with her sinuses so plugged up, it came out as more of a strained whistling noise. Realizing that came across as threatening as an ocarina, she grabbed a spoon and helped herself to the soup. Sadly, before he could even breathe a sigh of relief, Sunset took a mouthful and her face immediately contorted in disgust.
“Oh my—! How did you manage to screw up soup?” she snapped at him.
“What? S-sorry, I… uh, I must’ve misread something on the instructions,” Flash quickly apologized. “Here, lemme take that back—”
“Don’t touch that! I’m still eating that!” she barked once more.
Flash half-expected her to start growling like a hound if he tried that again, so he wisely backed off and opted to take a seat on the couch.
“And stay on your side of the couch,” Sunset warned. “You’ve given me enough problems already.”
**********************
“I think I did okay considering I had to get changed in a tent,” Flash defended his honour and handiwork, snapping Sunset out of her walk down memory lane. “Not to mention, aside from when we were going out, I never really needed to dress fancy.”
Despite Flash Sentry’s noble attempt to alleviate the tension with a bit more humour, it was only met with deathly silence from Sunset, who remained motionless with a vapid stare at the knot in her grasp.
“Hey, uh… are you okay Sunset?”
“Sorry,” she murmured in a barely audible voice, “I was just… thinking. About us.” Beyond all the music and energy around them, there was a silent stillness between the two. Both parties were unsure what to say and expected the other to be faster on the draw. Eventually, she withdrew, stepping back slightly with her head hung low. “Maybe we should postpone on the dancing.”
She turned to leave, but this time it was Flash who decided not to abandon a friend in need. “Hold on a second,” he said as he grasped her by the shoulder. “What’s gotten into you all of a sudden?”
Sunset let out a defeated sigh, briefly wondering if she might’ve been better off back with Rarity. No point running from the truth now, though, she figured. “I guess you’re not the only one still having some issues coming to terms with old memories,” she answered.
“Is that what’s bothering you—the old Sunset Shimmer? That’s in the past. I mean, you don’t worry about that stuff with any of the others.”
“It’s not that simple; you’re different than the others—we were different,” Sunset explained, now being the one burdened by an overbearing sense of shame. “It’s just that… dating you, using you for popularity and status and then discarding you like a used tissue, represents the worst parts of me.” Her eyes darted around for a moment, a brief concern that she might accidentally make a scene in the middle of the party. “Remember way back when I got really sick at the start of the winter semester? You were just trying to help and I was rude and condescending, and a complete ingrate. I don’t want to put either of us through that again; I don’t want to come within a thousand miles of going through that again.”
“Dating me wasn’t that horrific for you, was it?”
“It was the worst time of my life!” Sunset snapped all of a sudden.
Flash recoiled for a moment, a look of surprise and confusion lingering on him like the soot from a fiery blast. “Wow. Could’ve used a bit of pulling on that punch,” he muttered back after a pronounced pause.
“I don’t mean you specifically,” Sunset hastily replied, realizing too late how badly she worded her last remark. “Terrorizing an entire school was easy: you just act cruel in general and just let people get caught in the crossfire. Going after a single person, though, that takes more effort; it’s a lot more deliberate… more personal.” She began wringing her hands, the anxiety growing under her skin and threatening to ruin the whole night for her. “I thought it’d be easier putting that all behind me and moving forward, but…” She folded her arms across her chest, laughing at how pathetic she seemed. “Just look at me, telling you to man up and move on, and I’m still getting tripped up by the past. Guess I’m not as strong as I like to think.”
Sunset was half-expecting Flash to just walk away and forget about her, so she was surprised when she noticed him taking her hands and giving them both a gentle, reassuring squeeze. “Sunset, that’s not true and you know it,” Flash stated. “You’re one of the strongest people I know, and I’m not just saying that because you’ve saved us from magic-crazed beings three times now. I think if you can handle something like that, I should be a walk in the park.”
He gave her a big, dopey, but reassuring grin, which left the melancholy young girl feeling a bit of heat rising to her face again. She managed a sheepish little smile, though, and replied, “Just promise me you won’t pull any punches if I get moody again, okay?”
“You know that’s not my style,” Flash chuckled back to her. “But if you want cheesy and uplifting one-liners, I’m your guy.”
That time, Flash had more success in breaking through to Sunset, who broke out in a spirited laugh.
“I take it you’re feeling a bit better now?” he asked, just to be on the safe side.
She nodded.
“Then how about that dance now, hm? I’ll lead.” He held out his arm in offering.
“Wait… you want to lead?” Sunset blurted out in disbelief. Despite her surprise, she hooked her arm around Flash’s and the pair finally made the journey out to the dance floor.
The live music provided by Rainbow Dash had since ended during Sunset’s delays, replaced instead by a gentler melody provided by Canterlot High’s favourite DJ, Vinyl Scratch. A number of their classmates left the dance floor, leaving behind only those who didn’t mind sharing in a slower, more intimate dance with their fellow students. The implications were not lost on either Sunset or Flash, but they managed to keep those nagging voices out of their minds as they found space amidst the other dancing pairs. Unsurprisingly, their arrival didn’t go unnoticed, but they paid no heed to the puzzled and concerned glares, instead keeping their attention focused on each other.
“Your… uh, shoulders are a little on the spiky side,” Flash commented cautiously, “would you be okay if I… you know?”
“Go ahead,” Sunset said with a smirk. She even went a step further and took Flash’s hand and guided it to the small of her back. “Wouldn’t be a proper dance if you were hover-handing me anyways.”
She then rested one hand on his shoulder and took his free hand in hers, following Flash’s lead as they began to dance to a gentle serenade. It was the first time in many months Sunset had been so close to him, and even though it was ‘just a dance,’ it was hard to not notice her heart beginning to race a little.
“We’re just starting over as friends. Nothing more,” she reminded herself. “Just a harmless, simple dance with my ex-boyfriend. I mean, he knows that too and—oh my god, he’s smiling at me. Wait, we’re supposed to smile. Friends smile to one another. Smile back Sunset!”
After a few moments of trying to keep a natural smile across her face, Sunset couldn’t help but notice their waltz about the dance floor was going remarkably well. There wasn’t a single foot stepped upon or either of them uttering a ‘sorry’ while trying to get back in rhythm with their partner. It was an undeniable truth now staring her square in the face.
“Wow, you really have learned how to dance,” an astonished Sunset remarked. “How—when did you learn this?”
“Ohhh, I’d say about four months before we broke up,” Flash answered, trying his hardest not to sound like he was bragging and failing miserably at it.
For Flash, it was hard not to laugh as he watched his dance partner’s face contort in confusion while trying to turn back the clock in her memories to the mentioned period. “Wait, but… I never made you take any sort of dance lessons,” the baffled young girl said.
“Obviously I didn’t tell you,” Flash explained. “Since you’d probably say something like ‘why are you wasting your time on something you’d fail so pathetically at.’” He made sure to give his best ‘evil Sunset’ impression, though he sounded more like an irate cat with a throat infection.
“That’s a horrible impression,” Sunset deadpanned, “but not entirely inaccurate.”
“I just wanted to surprise you for a change.”
“Well, I’m sorry things didn’t work out like you had planned.” The apology felt a bit redundant, but at the same time like the right thing to say. “I’m sure Twilight appreciated it, though.”
“To be honest, it actually kind of went to waste,” Flash admitted, a quiet chuckling lingering after his words. “For a Princess, she danced like she had four left feet.”
“Wait, four?” Sunset muttered to herself. It took far longer than it should’ve for her to finally realize the implications. “Did the others tell you?”
“Pinkie explained it all to me,” he answered with an affirmative nod. “All the magic and pony princess stuff, plus a bunch of other things I didn’t even ask about. If I hadn’t spent the whole Fall Formal dancing with a girl who had wings, I would’ve thought Pinkie had made everything up.”
Sunset couldn’t help but feel some sense of relief that Pinkie spared her an awkward conversation with Flash explaining the finer points of Equestrian magic portals. Given that she was only just hearing about this now, he must’ve taken the news well.
“Did… Pinkie mention the part about how I was from the same world as Twilight?” she asked. Rationally, she knew the question didn’t need to be asked, but the nagging voice at the back of her mind needed that uncertainty eliminated.
“Not exactly,” Flash said, stepping back to twirl Sunset about and then back into his embrace, “but I was able to put the pieces together for myself. I’m not that dense, after all. Looking back, the whole pony thing does explain a lot.”
“Explain what, exactly?” Sunset asked with growing suspicion. That feeling only grew worse when the first response from Flash was just to grin and chuckle like some Chesire cat.
“Just little things,” he shrugged but was clearly trying to downplay his amusement, “like how you’re a vegetarian, how much you like unicorns—” A tiny, wicked smirk crossed his lips for an instant. “—or how you’ve whinnied in your sleep.”
The revelation hit Sunset Shimmer like a fully-grown linebacker, even going so far as to cause her to lose her footing and stumble in the middle of her dance. The only thing that saved her from dropping to the ground was her quick reflexes, as she grabbed a tight hold of Flash by his coat. She hung there in her half-fallen state for a second, clinging desperately to her dance partner as her mind combated against the sudden rush of confusion, denial, and overwhelming embarrassment.
“I do not—gah—I mean, I’ve never… I haven’t—” she fumbled with her words, much to her partner’s amusement. “Just send me to the moon now, please!”
“Oh you most certainly have,” Flash continued, though his voice bore no real malice to it. Rather, his words were more the playful ribbing between friends. In her flustered state, however, Sunset had difficulty appreciating the nuance. “At the time I just thought I was hearing things, but looking back on it, those were definitely whinneys. They were pretty adorable too, like a cutesy version of a snore.”
“Shut up! I do not make cutesy noises!” she whined in protest, fruitlessly pounding her fist against his chest, much to his amusement. “Stop laughing, it’s not funny!”
“Come on Sunset, you gotta admit—it is a little funny. Especially when you consider how tough you liked to act when at school.” Flash tried to contain his laughter a bit, but it was hard to do so with Sunset experimenting with every shade of red in the known spectrum. “It was little things like that that made you more… human.”
It was a strange comfort to hear, but it managed to settle Sunset’s nerves a bit. It didn’t alleviate her new crimson flourish, so she buried her face into Flash’s chest in order to hide her embarrassment.
“It was one of those things that I loved about you…”
It was Flash’s feelings again, but it didn’t catch Sunset by surprise this time. She didn’t have time to reflect on his feelings, though, as a tsunami of feelings and emotions forced their way into her mind.
**********************
Despite venturing into the depths of Flash’s memories, Sunset sensed a strange familiarity to it. She wasn’t left puzzled by this for too long because as the memories began to form in her mind’s eye, she recognized where she was taken to. It was the same living room on the same plague-ridden day. Sitting on the couch, wrapped in a woolen cocoon, was herself, or rather her past self. The sickened Sunset was huddled over her books, taking turns between writing down notes and emptying her nose into a fresh piece of tissue at intervals so regular one could set their clock to it.
“How long could it possibly take to make one pot of soup?” Sunset murmured, her voice weak and feeble. It was barely even audible through all the mucus.
Flash Sentry poked his head out from the doorway leading to the kitchen. “Soup’s almost ready. I’ll be there in a minute,” he announced, holding up an empty tin can as though there might be doubt about it. But then he paused and looked closer at the label, “Wait, I misread one of the steps.”
“He’s so hopeless,” Sunset said to herself, followed by a wistful chuckle. As she started scribbling down her next note, it was interrupted by a sudden coughing fit. At first it was just a few quick, light hacks, but they kept growing in intensity until it felt like she was getting punched in the chest every cough. After a thorough tenderizing, Sunset Shimmer let out a weak groan and buried her fever-flushed face into her palms. “For crying out loud, I’m dying here,” she moaned in dismay.
“Just breathe through your mouth, dear,” Flash called out. A worried sigh lingered after his words, fueled by feelings of helplessness as he was forced to continue his vigil over the stove. “Just hurry up already, please!” he pleaded with the soup.
But alas, all the begging and pleading in the world wasn’t going to heat the soup up any faster. He was forced to wait, pacing about in growing anxiety as the echoes of coughs and painful groans coaxed him along.
By the time he was able to return to the living room with his tray of soup, crackers, and water, the fever-stricken Sunset was sprawled across the couch in a disheveled mess. “Flaaasshh…” she murmured weakly as he arrived. At first, it looked like she was reaching out for him, but then spoke again. “Need… pencil…”
It was, in fact, the pencil sitting on the table that she was reaching for, yet could not muster enough strength to move the last few inches she needed. Flash set the tray of food down on the table before picking up the pencil for himself.
“Maybe I should help you with that. It is our assignment, after all,” he said.
“I help you with math work,” Sunset protested, raising a hand as though trying to show defiance. “Not the other way around.”
Such an argument would’ve held more water if said hand didn’t immediately collapse back onto the couch like a damp rag. Flash decided to push the books aside for the time being, pulling the table a bit closer so that his ‘patient’ wouldn’t need to exert herself too much in order to eat.
“Yeah, but you are pretty sick,” Flash explained as he moved the tray closer. “It might be better if you took it easy.”
As if to accentuate that point, another sneeze rang out through the living room, followed by a dismayed Sunset remarking, “I think I just sneezed out my brains.” She sniffled and blew her nose once more, mumbling something under her breath as she tossed the tissue into the growing pile. “I’m only stuck like this because of you. You gave this stupid cold… and stupid sinuses… squeezing brain… still better at math…”
Her words trailed off much like the remnants of her coherency, leaving just a writhing, sickened girl who continued to mumble and mutter in a stupor.
Flash just chuckled in a twisted sort of amusement, taking a seat next to Sunset’s collapsed form. “Okay, okay. I was just trying to help,” he said, more for his enjoyment than anything. His hand snaked around the back of her neck, which appeared to please the fever-stricken girl as she smiled weakly and a gentle, contented murmur floated from her lips. “Don’t suppose you could at least try eating? The homework will still be there when you’re done.”
Questions about whether she was still awake were answered when Sunset opened her mouth slightly and pointed to its vague direction with a limp finger, making a weak guttural noise that could only mean one thing: feed me. Were she more awake and coherent, he might’ve taken that as a bit of a demeaning order, but in her weakened state Sunset was simply unable to muster the effort.
“Here, open wide,” Flash instructed as he brought a spoonful of the silky tomato soup to her mouth.
Despite her typical rebellious nature, Sunset Shimmer took the mouthful in, but her face began to twist in disgust almost immediately. “Ick… bad, ” she mumbled. “Screwed up… soup.”
Curious as to how somebody could fumble that much with something as simple as soup, Flash cautiously sampled some of his cooking. Contrary to what his girlfriend might’ve said, it tasted fine to him.
“Must be the cold,” he shrugged, unsure of what else he could do. Chances were anything he might do to fix it would go unnoticed by Sunset Shimmer, or even make it worse. “Well, if you don’t like, I can see what else I can make quickly.”
He was just about to get up from the couch when a pair of hands grabbed hold of his shirt, keeping him firmly in place. Though weakened, Sunset Shimmer was still able to maintain a strong hold, and she pulled herself up alongside her boyfriend and nestled her head against his chest.
“Don’t… still eating.”
Sighing and rolling his eyes, Flash Sentry realized that even when stricken by illness, it was impossible to really control the fiery, spirited red-head. Then again, that was also one of the things that he liked so much about her: her untamable passion. He just considered himself fortunate that those passions included him.
**********************
When the memories faded from Sunset Shimmer’s perception, she found herself back in the present moment, filled with a myriad of conflicting thoughts and feelings. Her mind flailed about like a turtle stuck on its back, unable to dislodge itself from its misfortune. By the time her senses even realized that she should be dancing, Flash was giving her weird looks.
“Is everything okay?” he inquired.
“No!” was the first thing that tumbled out of Sunset’s mouth, followed by a hasty, “I mean—I need some air!”
Pushing past Flash Sentry, she raced for the exit to the caverns, ignoring anyone that called out to her on her way out. There was too much noise and confusion for her to think clearly, and she desperately needed to figure out what was going on in her brain. Through the bramble and bushes, she kept running until she could only just barely hear the music from the Crystal Caverns in the distance.
“What the… I don’t get it,” she gasped between panicked breaths. “Doesn’t make sense—none of it.”
“Sunset!” a voice shouted from the distance. There was no mistaking it for anyone other than Rarity, and her arrival shortly thereafter confirmed that. “There are you! What in the world happened back there?”
At least Rarity sounded more relieved than anything else, which was one less thing for Sunset to worry about. However, she was just as lost regarding answers as her friend was. “I-I’m not sure,” she stammered at first, tapping the sides of her forehead as though trying to coax her mind into thinking straight, “I was dancing and then I saw the memories but they’re not like my memories and I don’t understand how he could do that or if he made it up or maybe I’m just going crazy or—”
Unbeknownst to Sunset, however, was that she was rambling far too quickly for her friend to keep pace. “What do you mean?” Rarity replied. “You’re not making any sense.”
“Exactly! None of it make sense!”
Unable to get through to her friend with words alone, Rarity grabbed the motormouth teen by the wrists. “Sunset!” she barked, firm and authoritative.
It seemed to work, though, as the jumbled train of thought got derailed and Sunset stared back at her friend as though having just awoken from a dream.
“R-Rarity, I… I uh—”
“It’s okay, dear.” Once it was clear that there would be no further outbursts of nonsensical gibberish, Rarity let go. “Now, could we start from the beginning, and this time with a bit less… um, whatever that was.”
Sunset Shimmer took a few deep breaths to calm her nerves, as well as buy time to work through the mess in her mind for herself. But maybe she didn’t need to fully understand it herself; that’s one of the reasons she had friends, after all. They were there to help make sense of the world when it seemed upside-down. All she needed to do was use her words like a calm, rational person.
“Back when Flash and I were dating, we had a school assignment to work on together,” Sunset began, “but he wasn’t feeling very well. Being the selfish, short-sighted idiot that I was, I told him to suck it up so that we could get it finished. Well, he soon got better but then I got sick; really, really sick.”
“I’m guessing this doesn’t turn into a heart-warming tale of him nursing you back to health,” Rarity asked, knowing full-well how the relationship eventually turned out.
“If by ‘nurse back to health,’ you mean get verbally abused by me for a day-and-a-half, then yes,” Sunset continued with her explanation. She began slowly pacing back and forth, trying to keep her anxiety down by preoccupying herself with other trivial tasks. “I was rude and demanding and condescending. It was everything bad about how I treated him boiled down into one sitting.”
“I was under the impression he had already forgiven you for the bad relationship,” Rarity replied with a hint of confusion. “He wouldn’t have asked about starting things over if he hadn’t, after all.”
Sunset paused for a moment, trying to focus on what she saw in Flash’s memories. “When Flash and I were dancing, I saw into his memories and I saw that same afternoon,” she carried on, though her worries were beginning to lace her voice again. “What I saw, though… it was different than what I remember. I was hardly rude or mean at all; in fact, I seemed about as menacing as a wet kitten. And Flash… he was worried about me. A lot.” It still didn’t make sense to her even when she said it out loud, and the frustration that stemmed from it left Sunset groaning in dismay. “I don’t understand! It wasn’t just that he remembered it differently, he felt differently about it too. He… he cherished that memory.”
She looked to Rarity with the hope that something in what she said made enough sense for an answer to be found. “Well, feelings and memories tend to be closely intertwined,” Rarity mused, partly for her own benefit of organizing her thoughts. “It is possible that Flash remembers things a bit better because of how he feels about it. At the same time, you could also be remembering things worse than they were.”
“What?” Sunset exclaimed, taken back by her friend’s insinuation. “Are you saying I’m lying about it!”
Fortunately, Rarity expected the sudden pushback and knew how to address it. “Not exactly, it’s more about—how shall we say—it’s more wanting to remember things a certain way. You regret and loathe everything about the old you, so you remember those times in a manner that reinforces that belief.”
“Wha—? That is patently absurd!” Sunset scoffed in disgust. She turned away in a huff, arms crossed in defiance. “Why would I do that? I already know how bad I was, I don’t need to ‘reinforce’ that.”
Sunset raised a fine point, but it was one that left Rarity smirking at the possible ramifications. “That may be true, but perhaps making yourself the villain in one way helps avoid an uglier truth,” the elegantly-dressed fashionista answered.
The insinuation was met with a harsh and suspicious glare. “What do you mean?”
“It’s simple, darling,” Rarity began with a sincere smile. “Now, by your admission, you dated Flash Sentry so you could become more popular at school.”
“I did! That was the entire point of that sham relationship! There was nothing else to it.”
“And so you have told us—on multiple occasions, might I add,” Rarity continued, nodding along. “But let me ask you, Sunset, was that all there was to the relationship? Never a moment where you just enjoyed his company for its own sake? A date that made you stop and think about something other than conquering Equestria? No kiss that made your heart flutter and your knees weak?”
For a moment, it looked as though Sunset would unleash some rebuttal, but either the words got lodged in her throat, or she had none to spend. The best she could muster was an inaudible grumble as she looked the other way. That was all the confirmation that Rarity needed.
“You want to know what I think? I think you keep telling everyone that the relationship meant nothing because then it doesn’t matter that you tossed it away; that it was just another stepping stone in your plans,” Rarity pressed on with her analysis. “Because if it meant nothing, then losing it means nothing as well. You have less to regret and never have to spend a night alone in bed wondering ‘what if.’”
There was a prolonged silence as Sunset Shimmer mulled over her friend’s conclusions. Her gut instinct was to declare it a load of absurd nonsense and forget all about it, but it was hard to deny that there might be some truth to it. It made for an uncomfortable truth, sadly, and the more she thought about it, the more she wished it was just nonsense. Could Rarity be right? What if she had been lying to herself about Flash because it was easier than dealing with yet another source of regret.
As the silence dragged on, Sunset found it harder and harder to deny Rarity’s reasoning. Her sense of defiance crumbled away, leaving her feeling more uncertain than ever. “So… so maybe things with Flash weren’t always about becoming more popular,” Sunset spoke up. “What do you think I should do?”
“Well that’s simple—talk to him,” Rarity answered. She reached out and lent a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “And be honest, with him and yourself.”
“I think I can manage that.”
**********************
After spending a few more minutes of collecting herself, working through what she wanted to say a million times over in her mind, and shaking out every nervous tick that lingered in her muscles, Sunset Shimmer finally returned to the Crystal Caverns. For a while, she worried she might have trouble finding Flash Sentry, fearing he may have left the party when she ran off.
Thankfully, though, she discovered that Flash had become otherwise preoccupied when he tried to give chase when she first ran out of the caverns. Rarity and Applejack both saw what happened, and while Rarity went after Sunset Shimmer, the latter stayed behind to keep Flash from going anywhere, just in case if he tried to run or potentially make things worse. And the two were still by the cavern entrance when Sunset returned, with Applejack restraining a fatigued Flash Sentry by the collar of his suit. Occasionally, there was a flare of squirming as he tried in vain to break free, but there was no overpowering the country girl anymore.
“Hey AJ,” Sunset said with a nervous wave as she approached. “I don’t suppose you could let him go? We need to talk.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Applejack replied, regarding Flash with a suspicious eye. “Cause if he’s giving you a hard time about anything…”
“Flash didn’t do anything wrong.”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell her!” Flash interjected, politely of course.
Seeing no further reason to restrain the gentleman, Applejack released him. “You just better behave. I’ve got my eye on you,” she warned.
“We’re going to need some privacy, actually,” Sunset requested.
There was no argument from anybody, as Flash was just relieved to be free again. The pair walked a short distance away from the cavern, finding a quiet, secluded part of the woods where the only potential eavesdropping would be from the crickets. For her part, Sunset was still trying to figure out what exactly to say to him.
“Okay Sunset, could you please explain what—”
“I saw your memories,” Sunset stated, blunt and direct. It might’ve not been the best way to phrase what she wanted to say, but it was the only thing that stuck to mind. “I saw into your feelings when we were dancing, Flash, and what I found there was not the sort of thing people normally harbour about their ex-girlfriends.”
“What exactly did you see?” Flash asked, bewildered by the accusations leveled at him, though not offended.
“I saw a memory of us—of a moment that I look back on with regret, but your memory was filled with love and warmth.” Then came the moment that Sunset was still unsure of how to phrase best, but without a perfect way she had to settle with the straight-forward approach. “Flash… do you still love me?”
The only thing more surprising about Flash’s answer was how little thought he needed to give before he replied, “Yes, I suppose I still do.”
“But… but how? I treated you with absolute disdain and used you just to make myself more popular at school.”
Flash tried to put her mind at ease with a reassuring smile, and took hold of her hands to bring her in a bit closer. “It might have been a fake relationship to you, but for me I thought I had met this wonderful, spirited girl with a wild, indomitable passion inside her. She was sweet, she was beautiful, and she made this dumb, romantic goofball feel like he was the luckiest guy on the planet.”
“But that girl was a lie,” Sunset replied.
“Are you sure?” he asked rhetorically. His hand gently brushed along the side of Sunset’s flushed cheeks, prompting them to turn an even deeper shade. “From where I’m standing, that same girl is right in front of me.”
Sunset wasn’t sure how to respond at first. There was a weird sense of relief inside her, but at the same time a lingering sense of worry. But as Flash brought her in closer, gently embracing her and allowing her to rest her head upon his chest, she felt a bit more at peace with herself.
“I missed you,” she said in a soft whisper. “I missed your goofy smile, I missed your unrelenting optimism, I missed you playing your silly guitar until two in the morning.”
She would’ve kept going but she was interrupted as a hand lifted her gaze back to meet with Flash’s. Before a word could be uttered, his lips were upon hers, and she became entranced in his welcoming embrace. She soon lost herself in his warmth, letting it flow through every fibre of her being until it was all she could feel. And though it only lasted for a few seconds, it felt like an eternity for the young teen, but eventually she withdrew and cast her gaze back up to him.
“And I definitely missed that,” she added, followed by a sheepish grin. “Do you think that maybe we could try starting over?”
“I thought I had already asked that.”
“Yeah, but I mean as more than friends.”
Staring into those soft emerald eyes of hers, Flash didn’t need to think it over before knowing what he wanted. “I’d like that,” he replied.
As the fears and worries washed away, replaced by the comfort of his embrace, Sunset linked her arms across his shoulders and nestled her head once again upon his chest. A gentle, relieved sigh floated from her lips, followed by a brief chuckle. “You know, Flash, people are going to start talking when they notice us back together again.”
“What’s the worst that could happen? They think you’re mind-controlling me again?”
“Oh—you!” Sunset giggled. She looked back up to him, prepared to give him a playful stink-eye, but when she was met with that goofy grin of his, that thought faded from her mind. There was only one desire left in her heart, and she didn’t hesitate to go for it, ensnaring Flash in another kiss, filling it with passionate yearning.
Once she let go of the kiss, the two leaned closer, letting their foreheads rest against one another.
“Soooo… can you, like, tell what I’m thinking right now?” Flash inquired.
Sunset gave a playful smirk. “Maybe later. Once everybody’s gone to sleep.”
End
