Author's Note

oh hey I finally wrote something that I felt comfortable with publishing here

it's nearly 5AM, I started doing this at 2AM

yes I know it's short

yes I know it's probably shit

how the hell do you people do this

Drip

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Sunset Shimmer was on her knees in front of her sink, arms rested on the table while staring in an almost trance-like state at the dripping faucet, watching the water fall onto the steel surface and roll its way down the drain. She had lost track of time, and glanced towards the clock on her microwave.

She came into the kitchen to get a snack at 5:00 PM.

It was now 6:15 PM.

And she was hungry.

"Huh." she uttered in a nonchalant tone.

Finally standing up - after working out the kinks in her back from being in that position for so long - she shuffles groggily towards her pantry and grabs a small bag of sunflower seeds.

"The closest thing to Equestrian food I can get." she thought, amusedly.

Popping a few seeds into her mouth, she heads up the stairs to her room, and looks around. The place is rather neat and tidy, but there were obvious signs of people living in it before her, noticable by the small dents and marks on the walls and floors from when the previous owner took out the furniture that had been there before.

This house had been deserted for some time after her reformation at the Fall Formal some four or five years ago, due to how she managed to get it in the first place.

Threatening and persuasion. Not exactly the best way to find a place to live, is it?

She of course paid her monthly rent on the house, because she didn't want it to go to waste - she just couldn't find it in herself to live in it with a clear conscience. However, after coming to terms with her previous behavior, banishing her demons and finding her inner peace of mind, she returned and decided to convert her previous "banishment shelter" into a real house.

That is, of course, after she told her friends the whole story.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack were keen to help, with both naturally suggesting (and subsequently arguing about) exercise equipment for her rec room as well as helping her choose electronic items; TVs, gaming consoles, a laptop and many, many video games. They had also helped immensely in carrying in new pieces of furniture, even bringing Big Macintosh into the picture to help out.

Rarity, of course was on hand to suggest wallpaper and rug patterns, pillows and "fabulous" - her words, not Sunset's - decor for all the rooms in the house, while Pinkie Pie was eager to bring in her own unique "Pinkie" flair to the place. Rarity had personally made Sunset some pillows and a blanket for her queen-sized bed (Why the big bed? For if it gets chilly and the floor gets cold, and it gets cold.), as well as making sure everything was in tip-top shape - no dust or dirt that she spotted with her all-seeing, perceptive eyes was to be left uncleaned on anything Rainbow and AJ brought in. Pinkie, once everything was done, naturally threw a big homewarming party, bringing cupcakes, regular cakes, big cakes, small cakes, and pies; big pies, small... well, you get the gist.

Sunset wasn't sure if her house would be ready on the get-go for a dog or a cat, but Fluttershy kindly assured her that whenever she felt like she was ready to adopt, the animal shelter she volunteers at would be more than happy to help. In the meantime, the shy girl had brought her a set of cute stuffed animals; dogs, cats, bunnies, small animals like that. Initially, Sunset felt like she was a bit too old for stuffed animals - but the ones Fluttershy had chosen won her heart over and she couldn't refuse.

The human Twilight - SciTwi, she'd grown accustomed to calling her as a pet name - took Sunset to her favorite bookstore to get some books to fill her shelves, to make up for all the... darker books, on the shelves.

Her library pre-reformation consisted mainly of dark, frightening stories involving betrayal, banishment, loss, etc cetera. Mainly Kafka, The Brothers Grimm and Orwell - which, she conceded to Twilight, were great works of fiction, but she didn't want those books to be the only things she read - she of course had bought other books since, admittedly about redemption and forgiveness because she was in that mindframe, but now she wants to find her happy place and just read plain old books, no matter the genre. But Twilight could get why Sunset chose those books in particular, and why she wanted to change that.

They occasionally had heart-to-heart talks about the effects magic had on them, with Sunset sharing some of her own experiences as well as revisiting the conversations the pair had during the Friendship Games. In the beginning, Twilight was reluctant, outright refusing to talk about Midnight Sparkle, which Sunset got completely and kept her distance from the subject. But as time went on, as they got to know eachother more and more, she began to talk about it more and more, and Sunset let her talk.

That was how she learned about her nightmares about Midnight Sparkle.

And after their trip to Camp Everfree, where she played a major factor in helping Twilight banish her own demons, their conversations became therapeutic and a major stress relief on both ends. One conversation was a thorough discussion about the dark genres of books Sunset was reading and the books Twilight had read during her time at Crystal Prep, books about being the odd one out and never being treated fairly or as the pawn in someone else's game of chess.

Sunset mentioned that she tried to keep those books in her own room rather than on the living room shelf, because if she had guests over and those dark books were the first things they saw on the shelf, they would more than likely would be wary. Granted, she didn't care of what people thought about her, but there's no telling who, even after all this time, still thinks Sunset could return to being the demon she once was.

And speaking of which...

Sunset looked at her closet, and stopped mid-chew to look on in silent regret at a familiar piece of clothing peeking out from all her other clothes.

She swallowed.

A jet black leather jacket with silver diamonds lined up on the lapels. The one she had worn for a long, long time. And not necessarily under the best of circumstances.

The reason she bought her new simpler leather jacket - the one with gold chevrons on the sleeves - was as a part of her redesign, physically and mentally. But she couldn't bring herself to throw the old one away, because for as many bad memories as it contained, it still has something special about it, she just doesn't know what it is. Sunset smiled fondly at the jacket, but she falters after a few seconds and sighs.

Sunset originally "paid" for the jacket the same way she got her house.

Threatening and persuasion.

She cringes internally - that was always how she used to get what she wanted. And she wanted to apologize deeply to both the previous tenant and to that poor frightened sales clerk, as well as everyone else she had done harm to in the past, but she dropped that mission after a while - she'd already had a hard enough time earning forgiveness from Canterlot High, as well as from the families and friends of her own friends, there was no way she could get a sincere response from someone that didn't sound like they're accepting it just so she can go away faster. That meant that every time Rarity wanted to go clothes shopping, she'd avoid eye contact with the cashiers, and stay out of sight until after everything had been paid for.

Rarity understood, and didn't want to force Sunset into it. They both know that forgiveness isn't easy. Sunset read online during her period of apologizing that for some people, there is no full circle. That even if you do the nicest things in the world, some people will still see you as who you used to be. She learned that from many experiences after the Fall Formal, particularly a certain internet gossiping incident, which everyone wisely shut away in the past.

She was glad Princess Twilight was willing to give her a chance. She was glad she was able to redeem herself in the eyes of the school - even if it took some time, which again, she understood.

But she had forgotten to ask Princess Twilight something very important during all her visits since the Battle of The Bands: did her former teacher, the one she felt she treated the most unfairly, miss her?

Does she know what's been going on?

Would she lock her up in chains in a dungeon if she ever went back?

And most importantly...

Does it matter?

This was something she needed to write to Twilight about.

She then looked at her clock.

It's now 6:30 PM.

And it was then that she realized that she was wearing her purple pajamas.

Then the doorbell rang.

"Oh." she said, casual realization in her voice.

The book could wait.

Tossing away the empty packet of sunflower seeds - which she didn't even realize she finished during her exploration through her thoughts - she rushes down the stairs and opens the front door.

Six familiar faces (and one purple talking pooch) stand on the porch with everything they need for the sleepover they'd planned at her place, grins and eager smiles on their faces as they greet her, and she greets them.

SciTwi catches her eye.

She was smiling.

It was an honestly happy smile, and Sunset couldn't help but smile back.

She was able to leave her thoughts about Equestria behind when she was with the girls. And she was very sure that SciTwi felt the same way as she did about them.

They are all best friends.

And none of them would change that for any magic in the world.