Right There in Front of Me

Indigo Zap thought she knew what being paranoid felt like. Back during her junior year, she was once convinced that Sour Sweet was going to sabotage her project for the science fair, and she spent half an afternoon setting up a webcam in the school’s auditorium so she could keep an eye on it. The rumour, of course, turned out to be false, and all Zap wound up doing was spending three days under the constant stress and anxiety as if a barbarian horde would run rampant if she looked away for a second.

However, none of that compared to the sense of pervasive dread and fear that she felt when she began the trek home, still with nothing but a plaid-patterned skirt protecting her dignity. She never did manage to catch up to Sunset Shimmer; the closest she got was when she reached the school’s front doors just in time to see Sunset Shimmer climbing into the back of an expensive-looking sedan.

With that hope dashed, Indigo had no choice but to brave the journey home with what she had. Every step she took along the sidewalk was carefully planned out in her mind, making sure not to overextend her stride and to steer clear of any patches of concrete that appeared imbalanced or likely to trip her up. As an added precaution, she took home with her the heaviest textbook she had in her locker and carried it in her hands over her lap, something that she routinely saw many nerds and bookworms do. It felt a bit awkward to her, but the weight did help keep the front of her skirt in place.

Thank goodness, too, because it also happened to be windy outside. The warmth of the afternoon sun was routinely countered by sweeping blasts of cool air from the south, which would’ve felt like a refreshing kiss upon her still hot-blooded skin were she not terrified that each new gust would be the one to upstage her. The wind, once a welcomed friend, was now her enemy: a silent, invisible predator that stalked her at every corner.

As she marched down the sidewalk in her deliberate and delicate manner, her eyes continued to scan all around her. Her paranoia continued to flare up every time she made eye contact with somebody passing by. She knew it wasn’t possible, but it felt like everybody knew what she was hiding; like they were glaring at her in silent judgement.

They knew. Somehow they all knew.

Maybe it was the way she carried herself; maybe the anxiety was written all across her face without her being consciously aware of it. It was absurd, of course, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that she had a huge scarlet sign over her head that broadcasted, ‘I just banged in the bathroom and lost my panties!’

Not that Indigo was ashamed of or regretted what happened. Far from it, in fact. Even if she wanted to, she couldn’t get the thoughts of what transpired out of her mind. Just the thought of Sunset Shimmer and her hands all over Indigo just warmed the teen to her core, as well as made her very conscious of the fact that there was still a sticky mess between her thighs. It was still a little hard to believe that it happened at all; just a short while ago she was yelling and cursing out Sunset Shimmer, but now she couldn’t seem to remember where she even kept all that anger. When she thought about her rival, all that came to mind was the warm tingling sensation that reminded her of what she felt in the bathroom that day.

As Indigo Zap put more distance between herself and the school, she was able to breathe a little bit easier. The sidewalk traffic lessened to only one or two people every few blocks, which at least meant fewer eyes if something went wrong. That meant more time for her mind to linger on more relevant issues.

Issues like Sunset Shimmer.

What was she going to do about her now? Given how abruptly she left once they were finished, one would think she had just stopped in to freshen up. What do you say to a girl after that? And where did all that energy and passion come from? As far as Indigo could recall, Sunset Shimmer spent the past few weeks looking as apathetic as a sloth with a hangover. What was it about Indigo that brought out such a fury in the typically listless girl?

It almost made her want to go back to just being angry at Shimmer; at least then things would be straightforward.

Indigo’s train of thought was derailed when she heard her phone ring and buzz in her coat pocket. After juggling her things in order to free up a hand while keeping her textbook in place, she noted a new message on her phone and promptly checked it.

“‘No time to explain. Get in the car’?” Indigo read the text out loud.

Her confusion only lasted for a few moments as a car suddenly screeched to a halt next to her. She recognized it almost immediately as belonging to Sour Sweet, or rather her family, but it was hers in all but name. The passenger window rolled down, revealing Sugarcoat and, just beside her, Sour Sweet.

“I see you got my message,” Sugarcoat said, noticing the phone still in Indigo’s hand. “I’m sorry, but this is for your own good.”

“What do you mean my own good?” a baffled Indigo replied.

Just then, the rear passenger door opened and out stepped Sunny Flare and Lemon Zest, both of whom had stern looks upon their faces.

“Don’t make this harder than it needs to be, Indigo,” Sugarcoat warned.

Whatever her friends had planned, Indigo didn’t want any part of it while she was still panty-less. “I really need to get home to—”

When she turned to walk away, Sunny and Lemon grabbed hold of her by both arms. It soon became apparent that her friends were not going to take ‘no’ for an answer. Since she couldn’t explain the real reason for her apprehension, and fighting back could result in her friends discovering the truth in the more embarrassing way, Indigo had no choice but to be reluctantly dragged along for the ride.

Indigo was put into the back seat of the car with Lemon and Sunny positioned to either side of her. Nestling her backpack over her lap, she couldn’t help but wonder what her friends were planning and whether or not it would involve a burlap sack over her head.

There was an air of silence and suspense in the car as it drove along. The girls exchanged looks with one another, though Sugarcoat kept her focus on Indigo for the bulk of it.

“S-so, what is this about exactly?” Indigo asked in an attempt to ease her growing nervousness. Even though she wasn’t paying much attention to where they were going, she could tell they were taking her further away from home.

“We’ll explain when we get there,” Sugarcoat answered.

Once again, deprived of any other option, Indigo had to sit and stew in the silence. At least at the end of this, she could hopefully count on her friends to give her a lift home. After several more minutes of driving, the car slowed to a halt; however, Indigo wasn’t the only person confused by their destination.

“Sugarcube Corner?” Sunny said in disbelief as she looked out the window. “What the hell are we doing here? I thought this was supposed to be an intervention.”

“Sunny! You ruined the surprise!” Lemon protested. “We’re supposed to wait until we got Indigo inside before we tell her.”

“Who holds an intervention at a cafe? They’re supposed to be in private, secure locations,” Sunny shot back in her defense.

At least Indigo wasn’t the only person who thought this all sounded rather silly.

“Holding it here was the only way I could get Sour to agree to drive,” Sugarcoat explained. “And since nobody else has easy access to a car, we don’t have much choice.”

“I’ll accept compensation in the form of mango smoothies and lemon tarts,” Sour said in confirmation.

“Girls,” Indigo spoke up, “this really isn’t necessary. I don’t need an intervention.”

Lemon Zest grabbed her by the shoulders, twisting her so that they were face to face. “You don’t have to lie to us, Indy,” she pleaded. “We’re your friends—we want to help you. You’re letting this Sunset Shimmer thing get out of control.”

While it was true that things with Shimmer had gotten out of hand, it wasn’t quite the ‘out of control’ that any of her friends had in mind. However, trying to deny that would only further convince them that she was in denial. Indigo could only sigh inward and resign herself to her fate.

“Can I at least get a milkshake while we’re here?” she asked.

************

As far as interventions went, at least, this wasn’t too bad. Indigo had always envisioned something with a lot more angry faces and harsh lectures, but thus far it had consisted of them sitting around a large table at the cafe with drinks and a tray of assorted fruit pastries. It felt more like one of Sunny Flare’s tea parties than an intervention, though when did her friends ever do things like regular people?

Indigo wasn’t going to complain: she had her double-fudge milkshake, whose rich and decadent flavours helped soothe her worries and frustrations.

It wasn’t all fun and games for her, however; she still had her wardrobe issue to fret over for starters. She made sure once she sat down on the couch, she kept her knees welded together to the point where even the jaws of life would struggle to move her. To her left and right sat Sunny Flare and Sugarcoat, respectively, to ensure that Indigo didn’t have any last second change of hearts. If only they knew that Indigo wasn’t in any condition to be running at the moment.

“You know, this place isn’t too bad. I’m glad we decided to give it a shot,” Sunny declared while taking a moment to enjoy the bouquet of her tea.

“Didn’t you call this place a two-bit bohemian shithole on our first visit?” Sugarcoat remarked between sips of her vanilla milkshake.

Sunny Flare just rolled her eyes as she sampled her drink. “I haven’t the faintest idea what you’re talking about. You must be thinking of someone else.”

“Sunny, could I trouble you for some lemon tarts?” Lemon Zest asked as she held out an empty plate.

“Of course, here you go.” Sunny smiled back as she reached across the table and put a few pastries on the plate.

“Thanks! You’re the best!”

Sour Sweet and Sugarcoat observed the two girls with a surprised and perplexed look on their faces. “Wow, you responded to a reasonable request without any hint of annoyance or thinly-veiled passive-aggression,” Sour stated. “Have you two been up to something?”

Lemon and Sunny paused abruptly, both with a mouthful of pastry as they shot back a sheepish grin. They then looked to each other, as if wondering how they should answer, or rather how much should they answer.

“We’ve been… spending more time together, that’s all,” Sunny Flare offered up as an explanation. However, the hesitation and vagueness of her words did little to ease her friends’ suspicions. “Y-you know, in preparation for the gala.”

“Riiiiiiiight,” both Sour and Sugarcoat remarked in unison with a synchronized eyebrow raising.

“It’s true! We’re besties now!” Lemon declared as she suddenly threw an arm around Sunny’s shoulder. The prim and proper teen went rigid for a second, but soon collected herself and managed to eke out a nervous smile. “We’ve been hanging out a lot these past few weeks. In fact, I even made her—”

Before the sentence could be finished, Sunny Flare slapped a palm over Lemon’s mouth, muffling the rest of her words. “Ah-heh-heh! Yeah, w-we’ve totally be spending time together—learning about friendship and all that,” Sunny explained. “And so long as you don’t have any follow-up questions, that is all that happened!” All of sudden, Sunny’s expression twisted into one of shock and horror as she recoiled away from Lemon with a shriek. “Ew! Don’t lick my hand! That’s gross!”

The other girls laughed as a frantic Sunny Flare wiped her palm off on a napkin, all whilst chastising Lemon for her ‘unsavory mannerisms.’ It was refreshing to Indigo to see her friends settling into this new dynamic. Before the Friendships Games some of them had only been friends in the loosest sense of the word, but that was all in the past. Here they were, hanging out together, laughing and chatting away, and though they still squabbled from time to time, it never held the same degree of malice as it had in the past. Mulling over those thoughts, however, reminded Indigo of something important.

“Wasn’t this supposed to be an intervention for me?” she asked.

“Oh fine.” Sour sighed in disappointment, glaring at Indigo as she stirred a straw about in her mango smoothie. “You know, not everything has to be about you.”

“Boy, Indy, way to be self-centered,” Lemon joined in with a playful tease.

“Oy, you girls are incorrigible,” Indigo sighed, though she had to hold back her own urge to laugh.

“Seriously, though, are you okay?” Sugarcoat asked, extending an arm and resting it on her friend’s shoulder. “You looked pretty bummed out after Sunset broke your goggles. Do you want to talk about it?”

The mentioning of her goggles dampened Indigo’s mood, though not as much as she had expected it to. Perhaps she was comforted by the fact that all of her friends had gathered together to support her, which was clear when she looked up and saw all of them watching her with a sincere expressions of concern written across their faces.

“It’s okay,” Indigo insisted. Her gaze fell down to the milkshake still in her hands, which were growing a bit numb from the cold. “You know, at first I thought I was angry at Sunset for breaking them, but… I’m beginning to realize now that I’m really just angry at myself for letting it get this far.”

“You know, if you want, we could exact a little bit of ‘revenge’ on Shimmer,” Sour offered, which only earned her a few harsh glares from the other girls at the table. “Okay, fine. We’ll handle this the boring way, I guess.”

“You do need to change your approach on this whole situation,” Sugarcoat continued on, ignoring her friend’s suggestion. “You’ve been acting rather erratic and irrational lately. I think you should give up on this Crystal Heart award quest of yours.”

“What? Give up?!” Indigo shouted in disbelief. So great was her shock that when she lurched forward to face this insane recommendation, she ended up kicking the underside of the table. It was actually hard enough to knock a few plates to the ground. “Indigo Zap never backs down from a challenge! I might not win in the end, and I’m coming to terms with accepting that, but I ain’t throwing in the towel.”

Of course, that mentality was exactly what landed her in this intervention in the first place. Indigo realized this soon and sighed as the weight of this reality bore down upon her. She collapsed back in the couch, letting herself sink into its soft, velvety embrace. Slowly, her eyes drifted shut, as if to try and shut out everything that might interfere with her rationalizing.

“Maybe we could try inviting her out,” Lemon suggested. She scooted her seat back slightly to give herself enough room to reach down and pick up some of the plates that had fallen from the table a moment ago. “Like, maybe Sugarcoat or Sunny could extend the invitation so that she won’t know you’re involved. That way she’ll get to see you in a casual environment and not all super competitive and—”

Lemon’s words cut off abruptly, followed soon after by a loud thump when she banged her head on the underside of the table. A second later, she scrambled back into her seat, looking stunned and flustered. Indigo was seconds too late when she realized that, in sinking into the couch, she had relaxed a little too much and had allowed her knees to drift apart—just far enough that somebody under the table could catch a glimpse. She scrambled to protect herself again, using a free hand to push down her skirt to cover the opening, but this only served to draw everyone else’s attention to what had left Lemon so stunned.

“Indigo, what’s going on?” Sugarcoat asked.

“N-nothing!” Indigo stammered back. “I think Lemon is just imagining things.”

“I didn’t imagine it,” Lemon said as she leaned over the table. “You’re not wearing any underwear.”

At least Lemon knew well enough to speak in a whisper so that the entire cafe wasn’t alerted. Everyone at the table, however, just went wide-eyed as they looked to Indigo for an explanation. Try as she might, Indigo’s face looked like a fresh tomato, which made denial pointless. All she could do was slump forward in humility, hoping that some meekness would evoke some mercy from her friends.

“Wow, Indigo. I knew you were bold but that’s certainly taking things to a new level,” Sour commented.

“I’m sure there’s a logical explanation for this,” Sugarcoat insisted before turning to her red-faced friend. “There is a logical explanation for this, right?”

There was no escape for her, and Indigo knew it. All of her friends knew and they’d never relent until they got an answer from her. She could still try running—maybe jump the table and make a break for the door. But what good would that do her in the end? Unless she was planning on hiding at the bottom of a hole for the rest of her life, which sounded like a reasonable alternative, she’d have to face her friends eventually.

With a disheartened sigh, Indigo buried her face into her palms. “Sunset Shimmer has them.”

There was a pregnant silence around the table for a few seconds as the words just hung in the air like a bomb. Eventually, Sugarcoat broke the silence with a very straightforward question.

“How?”

“We had sex in the bathroom,” Indigo answered, refraining from mincing words. “I didn’t realize she still had them until after she had left.”

Each of Indigo’s friends reacted to the news in a different way: Sugarcoat looked intrigued by this revelation; Lemon Zest grinned brightly in her excitement; Sour Sweet was still as stunned as she was before; and Sunny Flare was disgusted by the thought that part of her school had now been defiled. Indigo had expected a torrent of disapproval and condemnation, or at least a torrent of questions, but instead all she got was silence. Eventually, her friends all settled into the new piece of information.

“So you’re serious, right? You actually had sex with Shimmer?” Sour asked.

Indigo pried her face from her palms and looked up to her friend. She nodded slowly.

“I guess there is a fine line between love and hate,” Sunny quipped.

“I don’t love her,” Indigo replied. “I mean, I don’t think I do. I’m… I’m honestly not sure what I feel about her right now. I’m still just trying to process it all. Given how she left the second we were done, I’m pretty sure it didn’t mean a thing to her.”

“Well you don’t know that for certain,” Lemon Zest remarked. “Maybe she’s normally a super-repressed prude like Sunny is.”

“Hey! Who are you calling a prude?” Sunny snapped at the girl, who just snickered back.

“Zest has a point,” Sour said as she continued with that train of thought. “She could be doing with actions what she has trouble doing with words. Not everybody is good at expressing how they really feel.”

“Speaking from experience?” Sugarcoat quipped, earning herself a quick elbow from Sour in retaliation.

There were a lot of ifs and maybes being thrown around, which didn’t help Indigo and her sense of uncertainty. Of course, there would never be any certainty until she spoke with Sunset Shimmer again, but that couldn’t happen until Indigo figured out what she wanted as well. All this doubt and second-guessing was making her nostalgic for back when it was all just hate and anger.

“What do you girls think I should do?” Indigo asked, hoping some suggestions might bring some clarity.

“I believe you need to speak with Sunset Shimmer and figure out where you stand with her. This kind of lingering doubt is not fair to you,” Sunny Flare stated in a firm tone.

“Plus you need to figure out what you want from this… I guess you would call it a relationship of some sort,” Sugarcoat added with the other girls nodding in agreement.

“What I want,” Indigo mumbled under her breath. She rested her chin upon her hand as she pondered the nature of the question. What did she want? She honestly wasn’t sure. “God, I wish this wasn’t so damned confusing.”

“Was the sex good, at least?” Sour asked before shoving the last of the lemon tarts into her mouth.

Indigo nodded. “It was incredible. Like, holy shit, I’ve never come so hard before in my life. I realize I don’t have much to compare it to, but nothing I’ve ever done to myself came even close to that.”

“If you weren’t trying to win that award, would you be angry at Sunset?” Sunny then asked.

“Probably not,” Indigo said with an uncertain shrug. “Sunset wasn’t exactly friendly when I first tried talking to her, but I think even then I was already resentful towards her.” She paused to think about the subject of her confusion, slurping at the last remnants of her milkshake all the while. “But there’s definitely an intensity to her… a passion that she just seems to hide away. Like, when we were in that bathroom, I could look into her eyes and see that I was the only thing in the whole damn universe that mattered to her in that instant.”

“Sounds like you already know what you want,” Sugarcoat concluded.

“I want to see where this road leads,” Indigo nodded in agreement. “Which means I need a game plan. How can I approach her in a way that doesn’t get another sundae dumped on my head?”

The girls stopped and pondered over the issue, bringing about a brief silence across the table, save for the occasional slurp from someone finishing off their drink. Lemon was the first to come up with an idea, her eyes lighting up in excitement. “Oh, I know! You just need some common ground,” she suggested. “You’re both pretty good at sports. Maybe start from there?”

“But what sport?” Sunny Flare interjected. “I like badminton—doesn’t mean I’ll make good conversation with somebody who loves rugby.”

“She was clearly good at dodgeball,” Sour pointed out. “Well, not really dodgeball itself; she barely did anything. But you don’t end a game the way she did without playing a lot of sports.”

Sour Sweet brought up a valid point: Sunset Shimmer won the dodgeball game without breaking a sweat. She wasn’t, however, a dodgeball player; otherwise she would’ve used more conventional tactics and finished the game with a throw rather than a kick. It was a very good kick, in fact. Her thoughts drifted back to those last moments of the game when Sunset punted the ball across the gym, her leg scything through the air in a singular, seamless and fluid motion.

“I got it!”

************

The next morning, Indigo Zap made sure to arrive at school much earlier than usual. She needed to be ready for when Sunset Shimmer arrived, laying in wait to spring her plan into action. It was a bit of a longshot, but she felt something with gravitas was needed to crack through Shimmer’s defenses. If it didn’t work, there was always the back-up plan of just trying to confront her with her friends as support, but for the moment she wanted to handle this on her own.

After several minutes of hiding in wait amongst the trees, she spotted a familiar car pulling up to the school. What kind of family did Sunset come from? Indigo was no car enthusiast, but the kind of car before her was the sort of vehicle you saw chauffeuring about rich, business-type people. Crystal Prep Academy was no stranger to rich families, of course; Sunny Flare and Lemon Zest both came from very well-off families from what Indigo could recall. Sugarcoat’s dad was a doctor of some sort, and Sour Sweet had her own car, so clearly their families were financially sound. In fact, Indigo’s family was arguably the ‘poorest’ of the five, though by no means did her family have any kind of money problems outside of being a single-parent household.

The rear door of the vehicle swung open, and out stepped Sunset Shimmer, her Crystal Prep uniform all neatly pressed and fitted as always. “Usual pick-up time after school, Kibitz,” she said to the gentleman in the driver’s seat. “I’ll see you then.”

Indigo waited for the car to leave and for Sunset to stroll up the path before making her move.

“Hey Shimmer! Heads up!”

Sunset swung her head about towards Indigo’s voice, just in time to see a soccer ball streaking through the air towards her. With the same speed and precision as she demonstrated in gym class, Sunset threw both hands up, catching the ball just inches from her head.

“Is this how we’re greeting each other from now on?” Sunset asked, tucking the ball underneath her arm.

“I just wanted to make sure I knew what I was dealing with,” Indigo said, shooting her a cocksure grin while resting her hands upon her hips. “If I hadn’t had my head shoved so far up my own ass, I would’ve noticed sooner that you’re a soccer player. Goalkeeper, right?”

“So you can use that head of yours for more than just looking pretty,” Sunset replied. She smiled back as she let the ball drop to her feet. “I take you’re a striker?”

“Captain of the team, too.”

Sunset Shimmer chuckled quietly to herself before gently passing the ball back to Indigo. “Yeah, that makes sense,” she said. “Did you really wait there this whole time just to kick a ball at me? Most people would’ve just asked.”

“I thought we could maybe kick the ball around a bit before classes begin,” Indigo offered as she trapped the ball with her foot. “I’m guessing you haven’t had much opportunity to play since coming to Crystal Prep, have you?”

Sunset regarded the other teen for a moment, panning her gaze between her face and the ball at her feet. One could see her contemplating her options, as if trying to deduce whether this was worth her time or some sort of elaborate trap. Eventually, though, she smiled in approval and walked over to join Indigo.

“By the way, don’t think that just because we’ve had sex that I’ll go easy on you,” Sunset warned in a playful tone.

“Speaking of which, could I have my… you know…”

“Oh, right.” Sunset swung her backpack around and rummaged through it. She eventually pulled out the aforementioned piece of undergarment and tossed it over. “Gave it a wash, by the way. Probably a good thing you caught me here—I was thinking of pinning it next to your name on the rankings board, like a flag.”

“W-wait, really?” an incredulous Indigo replied.

Sunset Shimmer just laughed, leaving her to wonder whether the girl was serious or not. If it were happening to anyone else, she would’ve found the idea hilarious. Sunset was definitely not a girl she wanted to get on the wrong side of.

The two girls headed around the side of the school to the soccer pitch out back. While there were a handful of other students using the area for practise or playing some games, Indigo and Sunset were able to secure one end of the field for themselves. They set their bags off to the side and took their positions with Sunset in front of the net and Indigo several meters back with the ball.

Indigo ran through a basic warm-up drill with Shimmer, the kind she did quite frequently with the goalkeeper of her own team. She started with some gentle, easy kicks to ease her partner in, just in case it had been a while since she last played. As expected, Sunset caught each shot with ease, tossing them back over to Indigo to prepare for the next volley. No words were spoken; none needed to be. It was a routine both had gone through dozens of times over. After every half-dozen shots or so, Indigo hastened her pace, kicking a bit faster and giving Sunset less time to prepare between shots. Not that Sunset needed much time: her speed and reflexes were arguably better than the goalkeeper Crystal Prep currently had on its team.

Eventually, Indigo paused just as she was getting ready to line up her next shot. “So why the change in schools? I can’t see Principal Cinch trying to poach a new goalkeeper so late in the year.”

Sunset’s expression flattened for a moment, her eyes drifting as if lost in a memory. “Tell you what,” she answered after a brief silence, “if you can get that ball past me, I’ll answer your question.”

A soccer challenge? Now that was something that Indigo could get behind.

“Okay then. You’re on,” she accepted. “I hope your reflexes are on point, because this one will be in the back of the net before you can blink!”

She rolled the ball back a few meters, then took several steps beyond that. Once again, she took a moment to line up her shot, taking care to observe Sunset Shimmer in the distance. The other girl was already widening her stance, readying herself to pounce. Indigo had been shown up time and time again by underestimating her opponent—she would not make the same mistake today. With one last deep breath to steady her nerves, Indigo surged forward and swung with all her might.

Except at the very last second, she pulled her kick and gave it a relatively light tap in the opposite direction she had been winding up for.

Having anticipated an accurate, forceful shot from Indigo, the goalkeeper was already half-way through her dive by the time she realized that the ball wasn’t going to be careening through the air towards her. Rather, it just casually rolled across the grass to the opposite corner she had just leapt to. By the time Sunset hit the grass, the ball had already nestled into the back corner.

“Shit," Sunset grumbled as she looked to the offending soccer ball. "Me and my big mouth.”

Meanwhile, Indigo was still celebrating by shouting goal at the top of her lungs as she ran about the pitch with arms outstretched. After weeks of constantly coming up short, she finally had a victory to call her own. It wasn’t much, but it was like fresh water to a man dying of thirst. Once the exhilaration had subsided, she noticed that Sunset was sitting on the grass with her back propped up against the goalpost. The sentiments surrounding the outcome were rather one-sided.

“Hey, listen, you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to,” Indigo offered, now feeling a bit guilty.

“Nah, it’s okay,” Sunset insisted. She leaned back, linking her hands together to hug one knee to her chest. “Everyone always says you should talk about your problems, after all.”

Indigo sat down on the grass across from her new friend, crossing her legs as she gave Sunset the time she needed to collect her thoughts.

“I used to go to the Royal Trottingham International College,” Sunset explained.

The quizzical look on Indigo’s face announced the unfamiliarity of the name. “Sounds fancy,” she remarked.

“Private all-girls boarding school,” Sunset continued on. “The kind that rich people like to send their daughters to before marrying them off to some other rich guy’s kid. It honestly wasn’t that bad if you ignored the constant supervision and caged lifestyle, as well as a social hierarchy that would make Crystal Prep look like a nursery school.”

Indigo couldn’t imagine living at school day in and day out. As much as she enjoyed her life at Crystal Prep, she also liked getting away from it at the end of the day. It couldn’t have been as bad as it sounded, though, because otherwise Sunset Shimmer would’ve rejoiced at the opportunity to be free of it.

“So what happened?”

“A girl happened.”

“Isn’t that always the case, eh?” Indigo said with a quiet sigh.

Sunset nodded in agreement. “Her sister was on the soccer team, so she was always at the games. She was cute… quiet… very smart. And she was from overseas, too, so she had this nice little exotic flair to her as well. She was such a good cook; we used to spend hours in the kitchen just making things for the rest of the dorm.”

“Sounds like a nice girl.”

“She was,” Sunset said with a sincere, heartfelt smile. “We were good friends, and then I tried to move things beyond that.” The smile then faded from her expression. “I was a fool for thinking I could make something out of it.”

“Did she not feel the same way?”

Sunset gave a half-hearted shrug. “I don’t know anymore. I was older, more confident, more popular—she would’ve done anything I suggested just to make me happy. She was nervous when I made my first move, but I just pegged it as her shyness playing with her nerves again. And maybe it was. But her sister caught us and she raised a huge stink about it.”

“Traditional family?” Indigo asked.

“Enough to make the nineteenth century look bold,” Sunset said with a nod. “Maybe that was why she was so nervous. When confronted, she fell completely silent. Her sister was convinced I was this harlot that corrupted her little sister, and the next thing I knew, everyone in the whole damn school was convinced of this.”

“And you didn’t fight this?” Indigo asked. It was odd that somebody with as much force of will as Sunset could get brought down by unsubstantiated gossip.

“Even if I did, I couldn’t hide the fact that I was caught half-naked in bed with another girl. Consensual or not, that was scandalous behaviour, and most of the students came from rather conservative households. I didn’t want to drag it into a messy affair, so I shouldered all the blame. At least it kept her safe.”

“For what it’s worth,” Indigo said as she reached out and set her hand atop of Sunset’s, “I think what you did was really noble.”

Sunset glanced up and managed a faint smile to her friend. “Thanks.”

“What happened next?”

“Well once the school was done freaking out, it was my father’s turn to do the same,” Sunset said, sounding almost amused by the last part. “He’s very… stuck in the past. It’s funny: I managed to stave off some of his anger by convincing him that I was drunk. Apparently the thought of his daughter drinking was more palatable than the idea that I like girls.”

“Ouch.” Indigo grimaced in sympathy. She had never once had to worry about what people thought of her because of who she chose to love; she had almost forgotten that not everybody had that luxury. “How could somebody think like that of their own child?”

“You have to understand, my father puts a lot of value on family, not just the immediate but the whole line, past and future,” Sunset explained as her mood continued to spiral downward. “Everything’s always got to be about the family, maintaining our history and our reputation. Anything that doesn’t project the perfect image is undesirable.” She let out a sullen sigh as she brought her other knee up to her chest and nestled her chin between them. “As far as he’s concerned, I’m just some selfish, misguided teenager who needs to learn her proper place. Just… something to be fixed.”

Indigo wasn’t sure what to say. Up until then, she had always figured Sunset Shimmer came from this perfect world where her every whim was granted, like some kind of princess. It was simple to view the world as one that always rewarded the good people and punished the bad, and if Sunset arrived at her fancy, prestigious school in an expensive car then it must be because she came from a good, well-off family. The real world, however, rarely worked that way. Sometimes the people you thought that had it all were the ones just barely holding on.

Overcome with sympathy, Indigo Zap shifted over so that she sat right next to her friend. She wrapped an arm around Sunset’s shoulder, pulling her a bit closer and then resting her head upon her friend’s shoulder.

“This isn’t really necessary,” Sunset muttered. “I’ll be fine; I’ve always managed things out on my own.”

“But you don’t have to do this by yourself,” Indigo said.

She reached over with her free hand, cupping the side of Sunset’s face and easing her gaze up until their eyes met. She flashed her friend a warm and sincere smile, running her thumb along Sunset’s cheek. A rosy tint soon appeared across her face.

Both girls slowly began to lean in towards one another. This time, Indigo didn’t feel any fluttering in her chest or pangs of excitement, just a deep and pure yearning in her heart. It was a different sensation than what she felt in the bathroom the day before, but felt just as intoxicating. Her eyes drifted shut just as her lips pressed against Sunset’s, and she held her in a gentle, chaste kiss. No lust, no overwhelming passion, not even a little bit of tongue, but it didn’t make the embrace any less fulfilling for Indigo. It warmed her to her very soul, and she could tell that Sunset felt similar because when she tried to ease back, the other girl just leaned in further and snagged a second kiss. And then a third. And a fourth.

Soon, Indigo had been pushed onto the grass with Sunset now atop of her, holding onto a delicate and sensual kiss. It was only after that did the two girls’ lips draw apart, and Indigo cast her gaze to the girl lingering over her. There was a smile on Sunset’s face—a smile that sang of gentle love and tenderness, and hidden from the world by a curtain of crimson hair.

“So what exactly does this make us?” Indigo asked.

“I’m not sure,” Sunset replied. She reached down and took hold of Indigo’s hand, interlinking their fingers and giving it a gentle squeeze. “But I’d like to find out, together, if that’s okay with you.”

“I’d like that.” Indigo squeezed back, feeling a spring of excitement inside her. “Maybe you could join me and my friends for lunch. I’m sure they’d like to meet you.”

“Sounds like fun. I wouldn’t mind getting to know that girl with the short, purple hair; she’s pretty cute. You think she’d be interested in a three-way?”

Indigo burst into laughter. “I don’t think Sunny Flare’s into girls like that.”