“Yup, summer’s definitely over,” was the first thing that crossed Sunset’s mind as she stepped out from her home. The blast of frigid morning air was like a slap across the face. However, it was a short walk from her home to Canterlot High, so despite the rising chill up her exposed legs, she decided to tough it out. No sooner did she decide that, however, did a second gust deposit some errant leaves into her hair and prompt her to tighten her grip on the front of the blazer she wore.
There was a time when the autumn was a welcomed sight for Sunset Shimmer, back when the worst it brought about was the end of summer vacation and the inevitable return of the school year. It offered a brief respite after the heat and hurry of the summer and before one had to endure winter’s ice and snow. Those sentiments felt cold and fleeting to Sunset these days.
As Sunset began her morning commute, her pace was hurried along by every gust and billow. She walked as fast as a person could without making it obvious that she wanted to be anywhere but outdoors. Of course, the faster she moved, the worse the wind nipped at her cheeks and nose. By the time she reached the end of the block, her face was as rosy as her hair.
Along her pedestrian journey, she passed by a number of familiar faces: neighbors, mostly. Some of them were out sweeping away the fallen leaves while others were getting into their cars for their own morning commutes. Most of them smiled and waved to Sunset as she passed by, as they did every morning, to which she felt obligated to return in kind. Her words felt hollow to her ears, though; a compulsion brought about more by routine and familiarity than any pressing desire at kinship. It was just another motion of her daily routine.
Plus, it’d be rude not to.
Another gust of wind and a flurry of leaves. Sunset drew her arms in tighter, wrapping them around her mid-chest and tucking her hands under her armpits. Where was Rarity when you needed her? She always had a spare pair of gloves, or an extra scarf on her.
“Perhaps I should send her a text,” Sunset thought to herself. It had been a long time since she’d done that. She was in a hurry, however, so she decided against bothering her friend so early in the day.
Maybe another time…
To help pass the time on her journey, Sunset took out her phone and began to browse the morning news headlines. A familiar sight on the screen caught her attention immediately: it featured a certain rainbow-haired young woman, dressed in soccer attire, with her arms raised high in the air amidst a cloud of confetti. Accompanying the image of her friend was the headline, ‘Wonderbolts sweep series to advance to championship finals!’
“That didn’t take her long,” Sunset said under her breath with a brief smirk. No doubt she would be seeing interviews of the stalwart striker on the evening news.
“I really should get around to seeing one of her games.”
Rainbow Dash did always insist that all she’d need to do was call and she’d get hooked up with ‘the awesomest seats in the house.’ But where would Sunset find the time for that? It was the start of the school year: she had her plate full with all of the new classes.
Maybe another time…
By the time the school came into view, Sunset Shimmer had dropped any pretense of discipline and was in a brisk jog to cover the last few hundred meters.
“Next time, just grab a damn sweater,” she mentally cursed.
The frigid air left her lungs burning as she slowed to a walk again and eventually came to a full stop just outside the doors of Canterlot High. It wouldn’t look proper for her to be barging through the front doors like some hapless teenager late for class. She hadn’t been a ‘hapless teenager’ for a long time, and seeing her reflection on the glass doors only reminded her of this.
“You think you have all the time in the world, and then the big three-oh jumps you from behind,” Sunset thought with a wistful sigh. Granted, she wasn’t unhappy about being thirty, but the reminder that she wasn’t a slender, young teen anymore didn’t help her mood. The years had been good to her, however, or so she kept reminding herself. She still had a healthy figure, and while she might’ve put on a pound or two, it just helped fill out her curves.
Sunset wasn’t some scrawny teenager anymore: she was a full-bodied woman. She was like a fine wine that just got better with age. Or so she kept telling herself.
Perhaps she was deluding herself. However, it was enough to keep Sunset Shimmer smiling as she smoothed out the wrinkles of the black blazer and matching skirt she wore, both of which helped keep her looking professional without hiding the matured curves of her hips and waistline.
“Yeah, you still got it,” Sunset muttered under her breath. Her eyes glanced upwards for a moment and noticed that her windy morning walk had done a number on her hair, which was a dishevelled mess of crimson curls. With the help of an elastic, she pulled her hair up and secured it in a short, tight ponytail. Now she was ready.
However, no sooner did Sunset step into the school did she want to turn around and leave. It wasn’t so much the school itself but what she saw: it was Celestia, once her principal when she was a student and now just her boss. The way Celestia hurried down the hall towards her with an anxious gaze fixated on Sunset Shimmer just sent up red flags.
“Miss Shimmer, thank goodness you’re here!” Celestia called out, thus ensuring there was no escape for her.
“And good morning to you, too,” Sunset replied with a forced grin.
“Cranky Doodle had to call in sick today,” Celestia explained.
Sunset cocked an eyebrow at first. “I thought I was done filling in for sick teachers when you gave me the full-time position,” she answered.
Celestia gestured for Sunset to follow along, continuing the discussion as they walked the still-empty halls. “Actually, he had organized a special lab session with a guest presenter,” she explained. “I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind taking over that while the substitute looked after your regular class.”
There was no point denying that her interest had been piqued from the start. Running a lab session sounded more entertaining than the lessons on hydrocarbons she had planned for today. Aside from a little bit of prep work and answering the occasional question, having a guest presenter handling the bulk of the talking meant she could catch up on her backlog of quizzes and papers to grade. It was almost like an at-work vacation.
“Sure, I’ll be glad to handle it,” she answered. “I always prefer the hands-on approach to teaching, anyways.”
After clearing a few final details with the principal, Sunset headed for the science labs. There was a spring in her step now: today was going to be a good day.
But then she opened the door and saw the last person she expected.
“T-Twilight?”
“Twilight, are you there?”
A teenaged Sunset Shimmer knocked on the bedroom door once again, but when she didn’t hear a response, she had no other option. She opened the door and peered in, cautiously at first; despite it being mid-day, it was almost pitch dark inside. All the curtains had been drawn shut, but the trace amounts of sunlight sneaking enough was enough for Sunset to see her friend curled up on the bed. Despite Sunset making no attempt to be discrete, the other girl didn’t budge an inch, even when her friend walked over to the bedside.
Sunset Shimmer didn’t say anything at first and instead looked to the pile of crumpled tissues next to the bed. Her eyes then worked their way across the room to the picture frame that lay on the ground just below a brand new dent in the drywall. One didn’t need to read minds to figure this out.
“Oh boy,” Sunset said with a mournful sigh. “I… take it your visit with Timber Spruce didn’t end well, did it?”
“No… no, it didn’t,” Twilight murmured back, followed by a wet sniffle.
After sitting down on the bed next to her friend’s head, Sunset reached over and just gave her a few quiet pats on the shoulder. “It’ll be okay, Twilight,” she said in a gentle voice. Her friend didn’t answer at first, but there was no rush. “I’m here if you want to say anything. I won’t go anywhere.”
And remained she did with her tearful friend in absolute silence. It wasn’t until several minutes later that her friend finally worked up the energy to speak up again.
“Have you ever been dumped before?”
“Once, but… I deserved it,” Sunset answered. There was another pregnant silence, but as much as Sunset wanted to help her friend, she couldn’t push things along.
Slowly but surely, Twilight sat herself back up. After wiping a few lingering tears from her eyes, she fumbled her smudged-up glasses back into place. Sunset tried to offer a little smile, but it did little to dissuade the other girl’s melancholy. Her patience was soon rewarded.
It came as barely above a whimper, “He said I was boring; that I kept going on about chemistry and biology and physics too much.” She sniffled and wiped her nose on the back of her hand. “Plus, all the times I missed dates because I was too busy with a project and lost track of time.”
As her friend sniffled, Sunset grabbed the nearby tissue box and offered it over. “You’re many things, Twilight Sparkle, but boring is not one of them,” she insisted. Putting her arm around Twilight, she drew her in closer and allowed her friend to rest upon her shoulder. “Without a doubt, you’re the smartest, kindest, and coolest girl I know. Your passion for science and learning is something that I love about you, and you should never, ever, change who you are just to impress somebody.”
With her head still nestled on Sunset’s shoulder, Twilight glanced up to her friend and managed to give a weak but hopeful smile. “You really mean that?”
“I might not be Applejack, but I’d never lie to you.”
“Even cooler than Rainbow Dash?”
“By at least a twenty percent margin. Plus you’ve got a way cuter butt than her,” Sunset answered, which prompted a giggle from both girls. “Don’t tell Dash I said that, though: we’d never hear the end of it from her.”
Once the laughter died down, Twilight’s smile was a lot brighter, much to Sunset’s relief. Twilight let out a wistful sigh, allowing her eyes to drift shut for a brief moment.
“Why couldn’t he have just been more like you? You understand me.”
A faint heat began to swell up in Sunset’s cheeks as she rested her head against her friend’s. “Yeah, it’s a real shame,” she replied. “If only…”
Silence swept across the room once more, but this time with an air of serenity rather than misery. Both girls were content to just enjoy the company of their friend, at least for a little while longer.
“Hey Sunset, can I ask you a question? Is there anybody you like?”
Sunset felt the heat hit her face again, this time almost hard enough to give her whiplash. “O-oh, me? Oh, I just… haven’t really given it that much thought.”
“Okay then,” Twilight replied, blissfully unaware of how red her friend’s face was now. “It just occurred to me that you’ve never really mentioned dating or crushes before. I mean, I know you ‘dated’ Flash Sentry, but that was just a ploy. I figured you would’ve been dating well before I did.”
“Well, it wasn’t too long ago that I was still just learning the basics of friendship,” Sunset explained while silently praying that Twilight didn’t open her eyes. “I guess I just haven’t met the right person yet.”
“Really? Nobody at all,” a skeptical Twilight remarked.
“I… suppose there’s someone I’ve met with potential, but I’m not really in any rush. I don’t think things are quite ready yet.”
“I understand,” Twilight said with a quick nod. “I hope things change, though, because you deserve to find somebody as amazing as you are. At least in the meantime, we still have each other.”
“Exactly,” Sunset replied. She reached up and patted her friend on the back of the head. “Who needs boys when I’ve got you? And I’m afraid you’ll be stuck with me for a long time.”
“Promise?”
“Of course. You’re my best friend, after all; I’d never let anything jeopardize that.”
Sunset Shimmer wasn’t the only person surprised to discover who they would be working with that day in the science lab: Twilight Sparkle stared back at her with the kind of wide-eyed expression normally found on kids with their hand still in the cookie jar. Neither spoke a word at first, perhaps still hoping that they would blink and the person before them would magically turn into someone else—anybody else.
“Come on, Sunset, just be professional,” Sunset reminded herself in order to work up the nerve to speak. “It’s… uh, been a long time. You… look well.”
In fact, as far as Sunset’s memory could recall, little had changed about her old friend, aside from being a thirty-year-old woman rather than a teenager. Her lavender hair was still meticulously trimmed and drawn back into a tight bun atop of her head, and a pair of thin, half-framed glasses were perched upon the bridge of her nose. She was still as thin as Sunset remembered, although it was difficult for her to be certain as Twilight wore a loose-fitting lab coat overtop of a thick wool sweater.
“Th-thanks,” Twilight replied, her voice sounding as uneasy as Sunset’s. “You look… um, good, too. Principal Celestia didn’t mention you worked here.”
“She probably thought we kept in touch,” Sunset explained with a somber undertone. “I didn’t realize you were back in town.”
“I… uh, accepted a position at Canterlot University a few weeks ago,” Twilight answered. Her eyes darted between Sunset and the clipboard she was holding in her hands, as well as the walls, floors, ceiling, and basically anywhere else that kept her from making eye contact. “I… I should get back to work.”
“R-right! Of course, me too,” Sunset hastily replied. Realizing she was still standing in the doorway, Sunset hurried to the nearby desk and got settled in, reviewing the lab procedures and the question sheets for the students.
Meanwhile, Twilight Sparkle set about getting the lab arranged for the presentation. Throughout the room were numerous workstations whereupon she had set up all the necessary apparati with all the care and precision of dining hall silverware. Everything was perfectly arranged and organized, likely down to the millimeter if one broke out a ruler to check.
Normally, Sunset loved silence in the classroom, but today it felt agonizing. Her friend was just on the other side of the room and she couldn’t think of a damn thing to say. Every so often, she glanced over to where her friend was working, but then quickly looked back to her own work when Twilight turned to look her way.
“It’s… uh, a pretty cold day for September, huh?” Twilight spoke up.
“Yeah, it is. Really chilly out there,” Sunset replied, followed by an equally chilled silence. She tried to force out a small chuckle, but it did little to alleviate her unease.
After a couple minutes, Twilight made another attempt. “Still don’t read the weather reports much, do you?”
“No, not really.”
Both women just stared at each other for another brief, silent moment before returning to their work.
“Sweet Celestia, when did it get so cold? It’s September! I’m not done with summer yet!” Sunset cursed up a storm as she stood outside of Canterlot High. Classes may have ended for the day, but she had been forced to wait in the windy autumn afternoon for Twilight to show up so that they could walk back to Sunset’s place together. She was, like most teenagers, high on energy and low on patience, so the concept of waiting was practically heretical. “If I still had my magic I could’ve fixed this…”
Soon, the front doors burst open and out poured Twilight.
“I’m here! I’m here!” she exclaimed. “I’m sorry I’m late: I had to go over some of the details of our assignment with Ms. Cheerilee.” Just as she was about to say more, she noticed how her friend was huddled against the wall with her arms drawn in tight. “Are you cold? Have you been waiting long?”
“What? Me, cold? Never!” Sunset insisted as she stood up straight. “Just… enjoying the crisp, refreshing autumn air.”
Unlike her friend, Twilight had gone to school prepared for the day’s weather and was bundled in a warm cocoon of wool and fleece. “Are you sure you’ll be okay?” she asked. “You can borrow my scarf if you need it.”
“I’ll be fine, really,” Sunset insisted. “A little cold isn’t a big deal. It, uh... builds character.”
Twilight just rolled her eyes. Figuring her friend would never ask even at the onset of hypothermia, she went ahead and unraveled her scarf. “I’m not having my friend freeze to death,” she scolded as she proceeded to wrap the scarf around both of them. “There! Now you’re stuck with me.”
Thankfully, the frigid wind had already left Sunset’s cheeks flushed, so the added rising heat as she was pulled in close went unnoticed. She tucked her chin beneath the wool, smiling as she enjoyed the warmth.
“Thanks Twilight,” she said. “What would I do without you?”
“You could just try reading the weather forecasts.”
“Miss Shimmer?”
A sharp tug on her sleeve snapped Sunset out of her train of thought, after which she looked over to the young girl who stood beside her. It was one of her students, Daisy if she recalled correctly, and judging by the sheet of paper the girl held and the anxious look on her face, she needed help with something.
“Sorry about that,” Sunset quickly apologized. “I got distracted thinking about… um, scarves. What seems to be the problem?”
“I’m having trouble with question number six,” the girl explained as she held up her assignment sheet. “Miss Sparkle said I should ask you about it.”
“Did she now? I would’ve thought Miss Sparkle could answer all of the questions on that sheet in her sleep,” Sunset remarked, both amused and puzzled by this turn of events. “Didn’t you ask her for help?”
“Well, I tried,” Daisy said, looking a bit sheepish. “But I… uh, couldn’t understand her explanation.”
Sunset raised an eyebrow for a moment, and then looked over to where Twilight was standing. Chuckling and rolling her eyes, Sunset got up from her desk and gestured for Daisy to follow along.
“You’ll have to forgive her: Twilight’s used to hanging around grown-ups with Ph.D’s. She’s doesn’t usually need to simplify things for kids.”
The pair returned to the workstation that Daisy and a fellow student had been using for the lab session. Also present was Twilight Sparkle, who was trying to explain how to solve one of the questions using language that just left the second student staring like a deer caught in the headlights.
“Okay Twilight, time to let the teacher do her job,” Sunset said upon her arrival.
“Sorry; guess I’m just not that good at explaining things like a teenager,” Twilight said and then offered an apologetic smile.
“To be fair, you weren’t that good at that back when you were a teenager.” Sunset gestured for the two students to gather next to her as she laid out the assignment sheets, along with a blank copy for herself to work on. “Okay, now the first step of the problem is you need to balance out the chemical equation so that you’ve got an equal number of every atom on each side. Start by tallying the amount of each element like this…”
Twilight remained standing to the side, and watched with a gentle smile as her friend walked the two students through the question. She was surprised to see how happy Sunset looked as the young teens hung onto every word.
“Oh, I get it now,” Daisy remarked with a sense of awe and wonder.
“See? You just need to take it one step at a time,” Sunset said as she patted the girl on the shoulder.
However, the assignment wasn’t the only thing Daisy had a question about. “I heard Miss Sparkle used to go to school here too,” she spoke up just as Sunset was about to return to her desk. “Was she the one that zapped you at the Fall Formal?”
“Zapped me? No, that was the other Twilight Sparkle,” Sunset answered. “This is the Twilight that came after her.”
“So are you two friends?” Daisy asked as a follow up.
Sunset didn’t answer at first, instead looking over to Twilight who appeared to be just as uneasy about the question as she felt. “Uh, y-yeah. We’re… um, old friends.”
“Does that mean she’s got crazy cool magic too?” the other student butted into the conversation.
“Oh, I wanna see a magic trick!”
Sadly, before Sunset could put that fire out, other students overheard the word ‘magic’ being thrown about and began pleading as well. They began to clamour around Twilight, all asking for a demonstration.
“N-now, now, I don’t really do that anymore,” Twilight stammered back. Her words fell upon deaf ears, however, as the mob of students had already whipped itself into a frenzy.
“Can you transform?”
“Can you levitate stuff?”
“Can you pull a bunny out of a hat?”
“Does it get all sparkly?”
Suddenly, a piercing whistle blasted through the science lab, silencing every one of the students. Everyone turned their attention to the source: a stern, frowning Sunset Shimmer at the head of the room.
“That’s enough of that,” she warned in a firm tone. “You all know the rules: no magic in school. We’re not having a repeat of the Spring Fling.” She looked about the room at all the student’s faces, and felt a bit of relief that they all seemed to be compliant once more. “Good, now everybody back to their stations and get back to work. These assignments need to be done before lunchtime.”
As the mob dispersed, Twilight retreated to the relative safety of her friend’s side, which while uneasy was still infinitely preferable to being swarmed by curious teenagers.
“Uh, t-thanks,” Twilight said with an easy laugh. “I hadn’t realized the whole magic thing was still talked about.”
“It’s become something of a legend around here,” Sunset explained.
“And what was that about a Spring Fling?”
“Let’s just say for insurance reasons, we’re not allowed to let Pinkie Pie into the kitchen anymore.”
Both women quickly snickered to themselves, perhaps sharing their first moment of levity of the day. It appeared to break the tension just enough for Sunset, as she was able to breathe a quiet sigh to herself afterwards and speak again without tripping over her own anxiety.
“Say, would you like to join me for lunch in the teacher’s lounge?” she offered.
“Are you sure you’ll be okay with that?” a hesitant Twilight asked.
Sunset honestly had to give herself a moment to think it over, but eventually she smiled again. “Yeah, I should be good.”
“Maybe I’m just a little crazy, but every time I come visit you, Twilight, your basement looks more and more like something from a fifties sci-fi flick,” Sunset remarked as she stepped over yet another oversized power cable that snaked across the floor. All across the room were bundles of cables feeding from one area to another, all tucked between chalkboards containing lengthy equations and computer terminals that glowed with an audible buzz.
At the center of the room was her friend, who was hunched over a workbench with an assortment of disassembled electronics in front of her. The lab coat and thick rubber gloves did little to help dispel the atmosphere of scientific recklessness.
When Sunset reached her friend, she tapped on her shoulder a couple of times just to make sure that her presence was known.
“Wha—? Oh, Sunset! I didn’t hear you come in,” Twilight apologized. She turned to her friend and lifted up the goggles she had been wearing. “Thanks for coming over to help. I know this is pretty short notice.”
“You know, most kids our age would be spending a Friday afternoon at the mall or something,” Sunset said as she set her bookbag aside. “Then again, watching you work in the lab is kinda cool.”
“It is?” Twilight remarked, surprised enough to pull her attention away from her work.
“Yeah, it’s like watching Rainbow Dash when she’s playing soccer or Rarity when she’s making a dress: it’s you in your element,” Sunset explained herself. “I get to see you when you’re at your best, and that’s pretty awesome.”
Twilight’s began to fluster as she let out a forced laugh. “Oh, stop. Now you’re just embarrassing me.”
As pleasant as it was to see her friend blushing, Sunset didn’t want to push her luck so she changed the subject. She turned her attention to the project that her friend had been working on, which at the moment appeared to be an amalgamation of a TV remote and a car battery.
“What are you working on anyways? Doesn’t look school-related.”
“This is a personal project,” Twilight explained. “I’ve been experimenting with methods and materials with the hopes that I can make something stable and long-lasting; like a sort of magic battery. Just imagine what could be done if I could find a way to harness magic as an alternative energy source. It’d be pretty incredible, wouldn’t?”
Sunset smiled and sighed under her breath as she watched her friend hard at work. As she had said earlier, Twilight in the lab was when she was at her best, and Sunset could watch her friend ‘at her best’ all day long.
“Yeah, you are pretty incredible.”
“Sorry, did you say something?”
“J-just that it is pretty incredible. What you’re doing, I mean,” Sunset stammered back in haste. She turned away to pretend to be interested in something on a nearby monitor, but Twilight was too engrossed in her own work to notice Sunset was red from ear to ear. “A-anyways, you said you needed my help with something?”
“I’ve been working with a wet cell-inspired design, so I need a few batches of electrolytic fluids prepared,” Twilight said. Without taking her eyes off of her work, she gestured to a nearby workbench where an array of flasks and test tubes had been arranged, several of which were filled with colourful-looking chemicals. “Just add about fifty milliliters from each of the Erlenmeyer flasks into the large Florence flask, and heat it over the bunsen burner until all the colour drains away. Then fill all the test tubes up with it.”
It sounded simple enough so she set her satchel aside and headed to the desk. It felt more like grunt work than actual science, but she was more than happy to help out a friend.
“Hey, do you have any safety gloves I can borrow?” Sunset asked.
“Take mine,” Twilight said before she took hers off and tossed them over.
With a nice, crisp snap, Sunset donned her protective attire and set to work. It didn’t take very long to mix the necessary chemicals and then set them over the bunsen burner for heating. Leaning forward against the workbench, she gazed at the slowly brewing concoction, but through the glass she could also see her friend busy at work. She watched the way her friend’s shimmering eyes peered over every minute detail with steadfast dedication, and how her beautiful, slender fingers worked with perfect precision. Even Twilight’s hair, tied back in a disheveled, hasty fashion, managed its own chaotic perfection.
“If only I could get her to look at me like that,” Sunset thought as a longing sigh escaped her lips.
“Is everything going okay over there?” Twilight called out.
Sunset smiled to herself. “Just perfect.”
Soon her thoughts drifted off into a daydream: the kind of thoughts that most teenagers her age had when admiring another person. If Twilight had been a more observant person, she likely would’ve noticed the dopey grin across Sunset’s face; instead when she turned to her friend, the only thing she became concerned about was the brewing flask, which was close to bubbling over.
“Sunset! The flask!”
“Wha—Oh shit!”
In her panic, Sunset froze, unsure whether it’d be better to kill the heat or move the flask or even remember where the gas valve was. Twilight, more used to the protocols of lab safety, practically leapt across the workshop and pushed the flask away from the heat source. Unfortunately, some of the concoction splashed out of the flask and onto Twilight’s hand. She shrieked and recoiled in pain, but her cries also snapped Sunset momentarily from her panic.
Sunset took her friend by the wrist and raced her over to a nearby sink. A full-force blast of water quickly washed away any harmful chemicals, though there were already patches of red, raw skin now upon Twilight’s hand.
“Oh my gosh, I am so, so sorry!” Sunset apologized profusely as she held Twilight’s hand under the faucet. “I just—I don’t know what happened! I just sorta zoned out and—”
“It’s okay; it’s just a little burn. There’s some ointment in the first aid kit.”
After grabbing the kit, Sunset began meticulously applying the ointment, still driven by her guilt and panic. “Does it still hurt?” she asked between applications.
“A bit,” a remarkably calm Twilight answered. “You don’t need to do all this: I’ll be fine, really.”
“I caused this, so it’s only right that I make amends,” Sunset explained as she squeezed out the last of the ointment. “Besides, of course I’m going to help: I’m your friend.”
“Is that all?”
“I hope not.” The smile on her face only last a split-second before she realized she had said out loud what she wanted internalized. “Uhh… I-I mean, m-maybe. Wait, no I mean… yes. Or no? Shit!”
Panic gripped her mind once more as her gaze locked with Twilight, who had the expected look of confusion and surprise upon her.
“Screw it: cat’s out of the bag already.”
“I like you, Twilight,” Sunset blurted out before she could second-guess herself again. “Or at least, I think I do? I’m honestly not sure because I feel like I still barely know friendship, let alone anything beyond that. All I know is that you’re the most incredible person I’ve ever met: beautiful, smart, caring, compassionate, and I could literally go for hours listing every adjective that pops to mind. Every moment I’m with you is the best part of my day!” The words continued to tumble out with Sunset only pausing to take another breath, fearing even the slightest hesitation would derail everything. “I know you probably don’t like girls, and I will totally accept that if that’s how you feel, but I can’t stand not knowing anymore and pretending what I feel doesn’t exist. I realize this could make things really awkward between us, but it’s a chance I’m willing to take because the alternative will drive me insane. S-so I guess what I’m trying to say is… I… I’d really like to give us a chance. I want to see where this could go because I’ve never felt a connection with another person like I do with you and I think it could lead to something absolutely beautiful and—oh god, I sounded so horribly cheesy back there didn’t I?”
Sunset Shimmer was about two steps from a panic attack, or at least that’s how it felt inside her chest. Her heart was liable to burst out of her rib cage if she didn’t do something to calm herself down, but as Twilight continued staring in disbelief, the anxiety only got worse.
“I, um, I meant is that all of the ointment,” Twilight muttered in response.
“… Oh…”
Twilight gave a bashful smile. “So… most incredible person you’ve ever met, huh?”
“Why am I not surprised you forgot your lunch,” Sunset said with an exasperated sigh.
Across the table from her, in the teacher’s lounge, Twilight offered another apologetic smile. “I was in a hurry. I forgot it back at my parent’s place,” she offered as explanation.
Sunset rolled her eyes, but smiled nonetheless before she took out a couple of tupperware containers from her bag. “Here, you can have my salad,” she said as she slid a container over.
After a quick thanks, both women began to eat, but the conversation was still slow to gather steam. “So… a teacher, huh? How long have you been working here?” Twilight asked.
Between mouthfuls of an egg salad sandwich, Sunset replied, “About four years, plus a few years subbing and assisting before that.”
“I had no idea you were that keen on staying here,” Twilight remarked. She took a few bites from her salad, but was more interested in the conversation.
“Who else is going to hire an interdimensional vagrant like me?”
Twilight giggled, hiding her smirk behind her palm. “Good point.”
However, once the laughter died down, both women looked to each other with that air of uncertainty again. Each could tell the other wanted to say or ask something in particular, but neither wanted to force anything forward. It took a while of silent stares and quiet chewing before Twilight worked up the courage again.
“You mentioned Pinkie Pie earlier. Do you still keep in touch?” she inquired.
“Occasionally, I guess,” Sunset answered with a half-hearted shrug. “She keeps pretty busy with her catering and party-planning business. We’ve used her for a few functions here at the school, but as I mentioned the whole Spring Fling debacle means we’ll probably have to keep our distance for a little while. I think I last saw her when she picked up Pound and Pumpkin from school, but that was back in the spring.”
“Oh, I see,” Twilight murmured, almost sounding disappointed. “What about the others?”
“Haven’t you kept in touch with them?” Sunset shot back.
“I tried.” Twilight looked down at her salad for a moment with a heavy sigh. “I mean, I used to call or email them every couple of days, but after a while, I got so busy that I would just… push it off for another day. And once you push it off once, it gets easier to do it again… and again. Until—”
“Until it’s been months and you realize you haven’t spoken a word to any of them,” Sunset finished the sentence, nodding in sympathy. “You just keep telling yourself ‘maybe another time.’ Eventually, you don’t even bother making excuses.” Sunset leaned back in her chair, folding her arms behind her head as she gave a little stretch. “Guess I can’t be one to criticize; I haven’t been doing a good job keeping in touch either,” she admitted. “I know Rarity moved to Manehattan a few years back; her dresses are starting to pop up in magazines and stuff so she must be doing well for herself. Rainbow Dash plays with the Canterlot Wonderbolts—”
“That’s… soccer, right?”
Sunset nodded. “Fluttershy went to veterinary school and last I heard, she went overseas to help treat animals in wildlife refuges.”
“I guess being able to talk with animals would make her pretty successful,” Twilight remarked.
“Speak for yourself: I saw you on those Popular Science covers,” Sunset said with a teasing smirk. “‘The Science of Magic’ and ‘The Wizard of the Lab.’ You’ve been making a pretty big name for yourself.”
“Oh, right—those,” Twilight muttered with an embarrassed fluster.
“What exactly does that entail anyways?”
“Just… studying the empirical properties of magic and finding practical applications for it,” Twilight explained. “I happen to be the leading expert in the field of magic-based sciences.”
“You mean the only expert.”
“Leading expert,” the scientist insisted. “Anyways, enough about me. Where’s Applejack these days?”
Sunset laughed and just rolled her eyes. “Sweet Apple Acres, obviously. You’d need a half-dozen people to drag her away from that place.”
Twilight giggled at the mental image. “I can imagine.”
“No, seriously. When she was about to have her first kid, we literally had to get six of us together to drag her out of the orchard fields and to the hospital.” Sunset had to take a moment just to compose herself as her voice began to crack and waver. “You should’ve seen it: she had her amulet on and there’s six of us clinging to her legs like giant chains and she’s just trudging towards the orchard regardless.”
Almost choking on some lettuce, Twilight had a brief coughing fit before she could finally stammer back, “Applejack had a child?”
“Two, actually.”
The other woman sunk into her seat at the news, a look of shame upon her again. “Wow, really feels like I missed out on everything important.”
“Just birthdays, holidays, weddings, and births of children, but that’s what happens when you move half-way across the world for university,” Sunset remarked with a hint of bitterness to her voice.
“It’s not like I wanted to miss all that,” Twilight stammered back in her defense. “Things got really busy after I started my graduate studies, and then after that I was given my section of the research lab, which meant I had to get my own graduate students to help out. I would’ve missed my own funeral if it had been scheduled! You can’t still be mad at me because of that after all this time?”
Frowning and rolling her eyes, Sunset just quipped back, “I’m not upset.”
“Sunset, I’m sorr—”
“Don’t!” Sunset interrupted, slamming the table her her palm and giving her friend a fright. “Don’t you dare finish that thought. It’s been twelve years, Twilight—twelve! I can accept you left us—left me—because you had to do what was best for you. It took a while, but I’ve come to terms with that! So don’t you dare waltz back into my life and insinuate even for a second that what happened needs apologizing over.”
Sunset stopped herself when she realized she had clenched so tightly upon her lunch that it was now just a pile of mangled bread and mush between her fingers. Twilight looked like she was on the verge of tears, but that didn’t appear to register in Sunset’s mind.
Sunset grabbed a few napkins and started tidying up. “Don’t make the last ten years be one big mistake for me,” she concluded. With a sigh, she tossed the rest of her lunch into the garbage and got up. “Good-bye… maybe I’ll see you around some day.”
“Oh god, we’re gonna die!”
“Twilight, calm down. I’m barely touching the throttle.”
Sunset’s words did little to help reassure Twilight, who had never ridden on the back of a motocross bike before, let alone one ‘borrowed’ from Canterlot High. She clung tightly to the rider, holding on for dear life despite Sunset barely driving above a brisk pace.
It was a warm autumn day in Canterlot, and Sunset had thought that a trip through the White Tail woods followed by a picnic would make for an ideal date for the couple. She hadn’t anticipated that Twilight would spend most of the ride with her head glued between her shoulder blades, however. Sunset weaved the bike through a winding trail, zigzagging around the trees and kicking up a trail of leaves wherever she went.
“Come on, if you don’t open your eyes, you’ll miss all the scenery,” Sunset said in the hopes of coaxing her date to relax a bit more. While she didn’t mind Twilight hugging her as tightly as she was, it would make for a more enjoyable afternoon if everybody was more relaxed.
Gradually, Twilight pried her eyes back open, just enough that she could look upwards and see the forest around her. In truth, she hadn’t taken any time to pay attention to her surroundings, having been more fixated on not getting flung from the bike like a ragdoll. She gazed up to the trees and their myriad of reds and golds, which rustled and swayed in the afternoon breeze. It was peaceful and tranquil, save for the rumbles of the bike’s engine: no buzzing of insects or constant chatter of birds. It was just the trees, the wind, and two girls sharing an afternoon with each other.
“It’s beautiful,” Twilight remarked. “I guess I don’t spend as much time outside as I should.”
While her passenger admired the passing scenery, Sunset spotted something far more enticing up ahead. “Hey, there’s a river up ahead!” she called out. “Wanna go jump it?”
“What? Are you crazy?” Twilight shrieked in disbelief.
“Nonsense! Studies have shown that motorcycle stunts are the fastest way to a girl’s heart. It’s a scientific fact!”
“I’ve heard of no such studies!”
Sunset opened the throttle and the motorcycle surged through the forest, all while Twilight hugged onto her date like her life depended on it. The motorcycle weaved through the terrain, building up speed with every second, until it veered straight towards a small inclination and was launched into the air. Now, in truth, Sunset chose the narrowest point of the river to jump, which was barely more than a few feet across—and more of a creek than a proper river—but nonetheless Twilight shrieked at the top of her lungs as they soared through the air.
The bike landed with a hefty thump which jostled both riders to their core, and a second later Sunset swerved hard to one side to bring the bike to a skidding halt.
“So have your panties been melted by my mad motocross skills?” Sunset teased.
It took Twilight a few seconds to calm her heart down again. “I will… admit that the adrenaline rush is a novel experience, clearly triggering the reward centers of my brain to give me this sense of euphoria,” Twilight said with a degree of reluctance.
“Ooo, biology talk. You sure know how to get my oxytocin levels up,” Sunset said with a playful laugh.
Twilight laughed in response, giving the other girl’s helmet a shove. “Oh, hush you.”
“Anyways, I know a good place for our picnic. It’s not too far from here,” Sunset said before revving the engine once more.
Settling back into position atop of the bike, Twilight rested her head against Sunset’s back and wrapped her arms the rider’s waist. The jump wasn’t the only giving her a sense of euphoria, but she didn’t want to give Sunset any ideas. “Just… no more river jumping, please,” she said, smiling and blushing underneath her helmet.
As predicted, it was a quick, but leisurely, ride to their destination, which was a small hilltop with a single tree at the peak that overlooked the rest of the woods. The pair unpacked their picnic supplies, spreading a large blanket out beneath the tree, and sat down to enjoy the view and company.
“This is nice,” Twilight said with a contented sigh. She leaned over slightly, just enough so that she could rest her head against Sunset’s shoulder. “Thanks for bringing me out here.”
“Thanks for taking a chance with me,” Sunset replied.
“You make it sound like I took a gamble. I wanted to see where things could go as well,” Twilight explained.
Despite it being a picnic, neither of them were in a hurry to eat, preferring to partake in the tranquility while it lasted. Sunset’s attention was piqued when she felt something brush against her hand, and it took her a moment to realize it was Twilight, whose fingers were gingerly interlacing with her own. Twilight gave her an affectionate squeeze, which Sunset returned in kind.
“Twilight, can I ask you a bit of an odd question?” Sunset asked, breaking the silence.
“Odd in what way?”
“You’ve lived in Canterlot your whole life, right?” Sunset inquired, to which the other girl nodded. “What’s it like having a home like that?”
“I don’t quite understand,” Twilight replied. She glanced up to Sunset and saw the other girl staring off towards the horizon. “Isn’t Equestria your home?”
Sunset gave an indifferent shrug at first. “I guess. It’s never really felt like that, to be honest. Maybe it’s because I never stayed in one place for very long. When I was young, it was advanced magical kindergarten for gifted unicorns, then magic boarding school, and then I caught the attention of Princess Celestia and moved to Canterlot to learn under her and then…” Her voice drifted away for a moment as unpleasant memories came to mind. “Then I did my whole self-imposed exile here while plotting for revenge. I’ve never really stayed anywhere for very long, and rarely by choice. When you spend your whole life doing that, you treat everything as something transient. You never bother to unpack, so that you’re always ready to go when the time comes. You understand what I mean?”
“I think so,” Twilight nodded again. “For me, home isn’t about a building or a place, it’s about the people. For me, it was mostly just my family, but later it was also you and the other girls. It’s the memories and moments we all share together that make Canterlot my home. Home is… well, it’s where my heart is.”
“Do you think I can ever do that? Make a home? Can I ever really belong here, or will I just always be someone pretending to be something I’m not.”
Twilight reached up, cupping her hand upon Sunset’s cheek and gently guiding the other girl’s eyes back towards her. “Just have faith in yourself, and your friends,” she reassured her. “I’ll always be here to help you.”
Sunset took the other girl’s hand and held it close to her chest. “You’ve already done far more for me than you can imagine. You make me want to be a better person, and to stay and make myself a future here, rather than just be a visitor.”
She tipped her head forward, just enough so that her forehead rested against Twilight’s; close enough so she could feel the warm breath brushing against her lips and smell the subtle fragrances of her hair.
“Hey, Sunset?”
“Mm?”
“Want to raise some oxytocin levels?”
Sunset almost burst into laughter, causing of chortles of snorts that left Twilight giggling as well. Feeling a new sense of ease thanks to the moment of levity, Sunset tucked her hand behind Twilight’s neck and eased her until their lips met in a warm and tender embrace.
It was late in the evening when Sunset heard a knock at her front door. In hindsight, she should’ve realized who it probably was, but she had been left so drained by the events at work that she didn’t even think before opening up to discover Twilight Sparkle standing outside.
“Um, hi,” Twilight greeted, flashing another nervous smile.
“Hello,” a stunned Sunset eventually replied. “I thought you’d be spending the rest of your time catching up with the others.”
“I did, and then they told me to go see you.”
“If I go across the street, I’m not going to find Pinkie hiding behind a bush, am I?”
“I made her promise to stay put,” Twilight reassured her. “Could I come in? I want to talk.”
“Are you sure?” Sunset asked, a mix of concern and skepticism in her voice. “I figured we’ve said everything that needs to be said by this point.”
Twilight shot back with a skeptical glare of her own.
“Okay, okay. I guess it would be rude not to.”
As Sunset Shimmer stepped aside, Twilight entered the loft apartment and her eyes gazed across the familiar sight. “I see this hasn’t changed much either,” she remarked.
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” Sunset offered up as an explanation. Sure, it wasn’t the nicest apartment in the city, but she had been living there since high school and she had grown rather attached to it. Besides, it suited her needs and lifestyle just fine.
“I’m not interrupting anything, am I?” Twilight asked as she continued looking about.
The place was pretty much exactly as she remembered it, save for slightly newer furniture, and the house plants looking a bit larger. On a nearby table in the kitchenette area, Twilight noticed a copious amount of papers scattered across the surface, along with several red pens. It was the telltale sign of an evening spent grading papers, which was something that Twilight was equally familiar with.
“Just grading all the papers from today’s lab,” Sunset explained.
“Need some help with that?”
“You really don’t have to. There’s a lot to do; I’ll probably be busy with it all night.”
Twilight flashed a confidant smile back to her old friend before grabbing the pendant around her neck. “Don’t worry, I’ve got this,” she said as a violet aura began to shimmer. The papers and pens levitated into the air and they began filing past Twilight’s keen eyes, three at a time. The pens flew across each sheet, drawing checkmarks and X’s across each one, until every sheet had been graded down to the most minute detail. Within minutes, Twilight had finished up what would’ve taken her a few hours and a glass of wine.
“Wow,” Sunset murmured under her breath. “You’ve really gotten good with your magic.”
“Well, I have had a lot of time to practice,” Twilight said with a self-assured smirk. “Don’t you use your magic?”
Sunset gave a half-hearted shrug. “Not really. In fact, I haven’t used my magic since… well, you know…”
“Really? But that was twelve years ago.”
“I can’t believe you used your magic on me!”
“What other option did I have, Twilight? Something was wrong and you wouldn’t talk to me about it! Though now that the cat’s out of the bag, I can see now you were just stalling for time.”
“I wasn’t stalling!”
“Really? Because it looks to me like you were hiding that you’ve been wanting to break up with me for the whole goddamn summer!”
“It’s not—that’s not what I was doing, Sunset!”
“June, Twilight; you’ve known since June you were going to be moving overseas to go to Trotsford University. When were you planning on telling me this? Were you just going to break up with me just before you hop on the plane so you can be across the ocean before you had to deal with any of the fallout!”
“I don’t like that I have to leave either, but I have to do this. It’s important!”
“I thought I was important to you! I love you, Twilight; I was willing to stay here for you, but apparently you never planned to do the same!”
“But Sunset—”
“Just go! Leave! That’s what you wanted, isn’t it? To toss me out like yesterday’s trash, just like everybody else!”
Sunset sat next to the window, listless eyes gazing out to the evening sky. Cradled between her fingers was a half-empty glass of wine, which she swirled in a slow, contemplative fashion. A short distance away, Twilight sat on the couch, a wine glass in her hands as well, though hers was barely touched.
“When we were kids, did you ever think it’d get like this?” Sunset mused in a sombre tone. “Going from ‘I love you’ to ‘see you around’?”
“Not thinking was part of the problem,” Twilight answered. Gazing at her own drink, she gave it a couple swirls and then a quick sip, then immediately wrinkled her nose in response. “We were just kids; we didn’t know any better. We went with our emotions because it made us feel good.”
“I spent weeks thinking I must’ve done something wrong; that if I had just been a better girlfriend, I could’ve made you stay.” Sunset let out a sigh and then gulped down the rest of her drink. “Of course, if you had stayed, you probably would’ve resented me for forcing you to choose between a career and a relationship. And if we had tried to make things work long distance… well…”
“I barely had the time or the money to travel during my doctorate,” Twilight added. “I think I visited home once during the last three years.”
“God, I was such a naive kid; believing that love was all I needed to make things work,” Sunset said with a harsh frown. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry I yelled at you back then. You did what was right for yourself, and I was too stupid to realize it.”
There was a brief, fleeting smile on Twilight’s lips; even if it was late, it was comforting to hear those words. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you the truth sooner. I just… I wanted to hold onto what we had for as long as I could, and I kept telling myself ‘maybe just one more day.’ I never wanted to hurt you, but at the same time, I was being selfish.”
“Do you… ever regret us?”
Twilight shook her head. “I regret how it ended, but not that it was. You gave me confidence in myself, something that I’m still thankful for.”
“Yeah, I don’t regret it either,” Sunset said as she nodded in agreement. “If I had known it was ending, I wouldn’t have taken my sweet time getting to third base.”
The sudden outburst of laughter caused Twilight to spray a few drops of wine across the coffee table. The levity gave way to a brief lull with both women mulling over their thoughts and memories. Eventually, Twilight began tapping on the side of her wine glass. It was gentle at first, but formed a steady rhythm soon.
“Nothing stays the same for long, but when it changes doesn’t mean it’s gone,” she sang in a quiet melody, just loud enough to catch Sunset’s attention. “Time will always get away, as it leaves behind another day.” Twilight then stopped and looked to Sunset, an expectant look in her eyes. “Come on, don’t tell me you’ve forgotten the words.”
With a quiet chuckle, Sunset set down her glass and cleared her throat. “Things may come, and things may go. Some go fast, and some go slow. Few things last, that’s all I know. But friendship, carries on through the ages.”
They carried on, taking turns singing parts of the songs of their youth. After a few tunes, Twilight took out of her phone, and after a few quick taps, the highlights of the Rainbooms were ringing out. The two were in the middle of the room, dancing hand in hand as ‘Dance Magic’ played in the background. They swung about the apartment, laughing and smiling, and without a single care when the occasional item got knocked to the floor.
“Man, I haven’t danced like this in years,” Sunset exclaimed as she pulled Twilight in close for the next step in the routine.
“Don’t tell me you’ve been single this entire time.”
“What? Of course not! Have you seen me? You think all this could stay single for long?” Sunset teased back before twirling Twilight in a tight pirouette. She then hooked an arm around her dance partner and leaned down to dip her partner low. “Truthfully, though… none of them ever made me feel as alive as you did. None of them ever quite measured up to you.”
Without warning, Twilight tightened her grip on Sunset and pulled herself in for a quick kiss. So taken by surprise, Sunset’s grip loosened and there was a shriek and a thump when her dance partner hit the floor.
“Oh shit! I’m so sorry!” Sunset blurted out.
“Why did you drop me?”
“I don’t know! Why did you kiss me?”
“I don’t know!”
Once both girls had calmed down, Twilight offered an apologetic smile while the other woman offered a helping hand. After she had hoisted her friend up, Sunset just held onto her hands and kept Twilight close.
“What are we doing?” Sunset said with worry and confusion lacing her words. “We can’t be those kids having a picnic on the hilltop again.”
“We don’t have to be,” Twilight said, squeezing on Sunset’s hands. “Things have changed, yes, and we can’t bring back what’s gone, but we’re better for it. We’re wiser, more mature, more thoughtful—”
“And hotter.”
Twilight burst into a fit of giggling again. “Now you’re just trying to flatter me.”
“Flatter you? I’m talking about myself,” Sunset teased back. “Have you seen how good my ass looks in a pair of jeans these days?”
The ensuing laughter was so engrossing that Twilight had to bury her face in her friend’s chest just to keep herself steady. After a while, she let out a cheerful sigh. “Oh my goodness, I’ve missed laughing like that.”
She fell silent when Sunset’s hand rested upon the back of her head, keeping her close and allowing her to enjoy the warmth of the moment. Slowly, her own arms wrapped around Sunset’s waist and clung just as tightly as she used to on the motorcycle.
“Sometimes things have to change, Sunset. Time moves on, and things once dear will fade away, but there’s always something better and more beautiful waiting to take its place, if you’ll let it,” Twilight explained. She watched as the somber look in her friend’s eyes began to give way to something more hopeful. “Would you be willing to give us—give me—another chance?” Twilight asked.
Sunset wanted to cry, but just managed to keep herself composed, if a bit teary-eyed. “Maybe I have been pining too much for a summer that’ll never come back,” she murmured to herself.
“There’s nothing wrong with summer ending; there’s always another just around the corner.” Twilight reached up and brushed away a tear from the corner of Sunset’s eye. She interwove her fingers through the silky ribbons of crimson and gold, drawing Sunset in for a passionate and heartfelt kiss.
Maybe autumn wasn’t so bad.
END
