The Voyages of the Sunflower
“Hi, beautiful,” Sunset Shimmer purred. “Do you come here often?”
“I shouldn’t, I know,” the green-haired girl in front of her replied softly. “My parents warned me to stay away from this side of town…”
“But you can’t, can you? You like bad girls.” Sunset closed the distance between them until their faces were practically touching.
“How could you tell?” came the wide-eyed response. “Is it the way... I always… pshahaha!”
Wallflower Blush doubled over laughing, stepping backwards onto the pavement to avoid bumping into Sunset. “I’m sorry, I tried to keep a straight face, but…”
Sunset joined her in giggling. “No problem. It’s great to see you.”
“You too,” Wallflower said with a warm smile. She leaned forward and gave Sunset a quick kiss. “Just give me a moment to lock up my bike and we can get going.”
Sunset watched Wallflower fiddling with her keys. Wallflower’s yellow ruffled skirt and blue flowery top looked great in the Saturday morning sun. “I like the outfit.”
Wallflower arched an eyebrow and gave Sunset a steady look. “You were there when Rarity chose these clothes for me.”
“And I thought at the time you’d look good in them, and I still do,” Sunset countered. Smiling, she added, “Honestly, can’t you let me get away with complimenting you for once?” She made sure to keep her tone jovial so Wallflower would know she was only pretending to be frustrated.
Wallflower made a show of staring at the sky. “Hmmm… All right, just this once,” she answered at length, the corner of her mouth quirking upwards. “You look lovely too, by the way.”
Sunset glanced down at her usual casual outfit. “Uh… thanks.” She gestured to her car. “Shall we go, then?”
As Wallflower strapped herself into the passenger seat, she said, “You know, I still don’t actually know where we’re going today.”
“Shall I keep you in suspense?” Sunset asked with a wink.
Wallflower rolled her eyes playfully. “If you were trying to avoid spoilers, you already slipped up yesterday. You mentioned something about going out to pick up a new game. But that sounds great to me!” she added with a beam that lit up her face.
Sunset smiled to see Wallflower’s enthusiasm. Hey girlfriend still came across as quiet to most people, but Sunset had been secretly pleased to discover quite a range of conversation topics that’d bring her out of her shell. Not just botany and photography, but also visual design (she’d done a great job laying out the yearbook), journalism, and video games, to name a few. The two of them had shared several fun afternoons in front of a games console.
From the little that she knew herself, Sunset hoped today’s activity might work out to be even more entertaining. But... “This game is, um, a little different,” she told Wallflower, turning her truck onto the main road. “You know the game designer.”
“Someone we know has made a video game? Cool. Hmm...” Wallflower pressed a finger against her cheek as she thought, a gesture that Sunset always found adorable. “Is it Micro Chips?”
A laugh escaped Sunset before she could control it. “I won’t tell her that you thought of him first!”
Wincing, Wallflower slapped her forehead. “Right. Must be Twilight Sparkle. She’s got that rivalry with Micro Chips, hasn’t she?”
“Bingo.” Sunset overtook a van and gave Wallflower a smile. “But that’s basically all I know: Twilight wants us to test out a game she’s been working on. You know what Twilight’s like when she’s got a new project: won’t tell anyone about it until it’s ready.”
“Yeah, I managed to notice that much,” replied Wallflower drily. A few moments of silence followed.
“But whatever kind of game it is Twilight’s been making, I imagine it’ll be quite a blast,” Sunset added.
“Uh-huh. I’m sure it will be, one way or another.”
Sunset picked up on something in her tone, and glanced over to see her scowling out of the window.
“Hey.” She took one hand from the steering wheel and punched Wallflower’s arm gently. “I know you and Twilight don’t always see eye to eye, but I think today could be fun.”
Wallflower rolled her eyes. “So far, all I know is that we’ll be trying to use something created by our local deranged genius. I don’t know whether I ought to be trying to stay outside a five-mile radius just in case it’s ‘a blast’ more literally than you meant.”
“Twilight’s inventions don’t...” Sunset trailed off lamely, and Wallflower raised an unimpressed eyebrow. “Okay, they sometimes explode, but there’s generally no lasting damage.”
“Ha!” Wallflower crowed. “She should get you to write her banner ads. ‘Mad Scientist for Hire! When Her Inventions Explode There’s Generally No Lasting Damage!’”
Sunset snickered. “Fine, you win. It’s true though. The only things she actually destroys are bits of lab equipment.”
Wallflower murmured, “Well... not quite the only things...”
Sunset actually jumped at the sudden darker tone from her girlfriend. “You mean... the statue?” She sighed. “Okay, true, but that was different. There was magic involved.”
“I know, I know. I... shouldn’t have mentioned it.” Wallflower took a deep breath, then exhaled. She added bitterly, “I did a lot worse than Twilight did. She at least tried to resist the magic. I... jumped at the chance to take an unfair advantage.”
“Hey, you. Let’s not have the argument again about which of us messed up worse with magic. We know how that one goes, remember?”
Wallflower couldn’t help smiling sardonically. “Let’s see. I think you talk about how you spent years bullying and manipulating, then I counter that you weren’t actually using magic that whole time, right?”
Sunset matched her smirk. “And then I bring up how I stole a magic item from another dimension while you just found yours; we have a brief tangent about whether the crown was changing my personality or just removing my inhibitions...”
“...And I end up winning the argument by pointing out that you and Twilight got transformed into sexy demon forms when you used Equestrian magic, but I didn’t, which is clearly the most unfair thing about all of this. Yeah, you’re right, we don’t really need to rehash that again,” Wallflower concluded.
The conversation in the car devolved into helpless giggling for a couple of minutes after that.
“Virtual reality?” Wallflower didn’t try to keep her scepticism from her voice or her face.
Twilight Sparkle smiled widely, oblivious. “Yes! There have been a number of advances in the field of immersive 3D recently by big research groups, and I had a few of my own ideas for how to solve some of the remaining problems with disorientation and latency. I already had a miniature hi-res screen prototype design sitting around, just perfect for working into a headset, and I took the opportunity to enhance the standard physics engine…”
As she babbled on, Wallflower caught Sunset’s eye across the dim laboratory. They shared a knowing smile. Sunset gently interrupted, “Sounds great. Did you want us to try it out?”
“Oh! Right.” Twilight giggled. “Yes! I was hoping you could be my guinea pigs, as it were.”
Picking her way around the technological debris scattered all over Twilight’s lab, Wallflower replied with a shrug, “Sure. Is there anything we need to know before we start?”
“The first thing I need to ask you is: do you want to play as ponies or as humans?”
Sunset blinked. “Ponies?”
Smirking, Wallflower said, “Most guinea pigs are ponies as well, didn’t you know?”
Twilight coughed. “I have two versions of the virtual world and all the quests: one for equines and one for humans. Which would you prefer?”
Wallflower looked at Sunset. “Want to see how well Twilight’s captured the experience of being a pony?”
“Um.” Sunset tried to imagine using her hands and fingers to pretend to be the hooves she’d grown up with. “...Not really? I think that would just be weird.” Sunset looked away, casting her eyes across the computers filling the murky room.
“Let’s stay bipedal for now,” Wallflower concluded.
“Right you are!” Twilight exclaimed. “Okay then. Wallflower, if you sit here, and put this on…” She lifted out of a chair an electronic helmet and a roughly-soldered handheld gizmo with buttons. “Here’s the controller. Hopefully it should be fairly intuitive how to move around. You can just speak to interact. I’ll run the calibration routine once you and Sunset are both online, and then I’ll just be observing the gameworld from my own console from over here. Ready?”
The skyship sailed over a distant forest far below. Wallflower took a deep breath and leaned over the railing. She couldn’t actually feel the wind running through her hair, but the whistling sounds in her ears, and the green strands flapping at the corners of her peripheral vision, did a great job of making up for it.
Wallflower peered downwards: she could see the details of the tallest trees. Botanically accurate, from her limited knowledge of alpine lasiocarpa. She could barely make out any pixelation at all. It was so easy to forget this was a game. She exhaled in contentment.
“Enjoying yourself?”
She gave a little jump and looked around. Sunset, in full pirate captain’s regalia, leaned back against the railing beside her, giving her a fond smile.
“Definitely. Peaceful moments like this... aren’t quite what I was expecting from this game, but they’re lovely.”
“I’m glad.” Sunset turned to gaze over the landscape. “Twilight’s done a great job: the view is beautiful.”
Wallflower had been busy admiring her girlfriend’s avatar. “Yes, it certainly is,” she replied, smirking. The face and hair were slightly cartoonified versions of Sunset’s real appearance, but the outfit wasn’t like anything Wallflower had ever seen Sunset wear. The black breeches hugged Sunset’s virtual body closely. A belt festooned with golden ornaments also bore a flintlock pistol. She wore a striking white tightly-laced bodice under a black leather jacket with red lapels, and a tricorn hat with gold trim topped off the costume. Definitely more ‘stereotype pirate’ than authentic period wear, but there was nothing wrong with that, Wallflower thought.
“Like what you see?” asked Sunset lazily, with a flirty grin.
Wallflower licked her lips.
Sunset lifted herself forward and said, “You’re looking rather great yourself.”
Realising she hadn’t wondered about her own character, Wallflower looked down. She was surprised to see ornate, flowing teal robes, gradually shifting hue to a deep blue near her boots. Silver and gold trim decorated her dress, and she wore a shiny filigree pendant. Certainly beautiful, but what was a character like this doing on board a pirate ship?
She looked around the ship for clues. Peering down over the railing at the hull soaring over the clouds, she spotted… “Is that a sunflower?”
A nearby pirate answered, “Aye, milady. Our fearsome vessel’s emblem!”
Sunset gave the pirate a steady look and deadpanned, “A sunflower is the symbol of a notorious pirate ship.”
“That be right! When ye two commissioned this ship, ye named her the Sunflower fer her maiden voyage. And now the name strikes dread into the hearts of all the decadent nobles who sail the skies!”
Wallflower sighed. “Twilight mentioned something about a ‘personalised gaming experience’. I guess that’s what she was talking about. Our ship is called the Sunflower.”
Giving her a grin, Sunset replied, “I don’t think I have a problem with that. Our adventures can be the Voyages of the Sunflower.” Then Sunset’s eyes narrowed. She stared into the sky, and then said, “And I do believe we’ve spotted our first quarry.”
Eyes widening, Wallflower followed Sunset’s pointing finger. Riding the clouds ahead of them and slightly higher was a dark smudge against the sky; squinting, Wallflower could tell it was another airship.
She shivered. “What happens when we catch up to them?”
Sunset shrugged. “I guess we try to board them and raid their... aether cells, was it? First Mate, I don’t think you explained to me what we actually do when we get close to the decadent scum?”
The closest pirate answered in a rich seafaring accent, “A small pleasure schooner like that? We’d fire a couple of boltcannon blasts to knock out her skycatchers so she can’t get away, then close and use grapples to board. They’ll probably put up a fight, but with ye leading the way, Captain, we’ll have no trouble.”
“Great!” Sunset’s eyes shone, before a look of doubt came over her face. “And, ah, what do I need to do when it comes to combat?”
“Ye’ll be the first to board. Yer blade is the fiercest in the six skies, and they knows it! March over there and intimidate the crew, and we’ll strike down the guards and take care of the rest.”
Sunset smirked. “Intimidate? I can do that.”
Wallflower gave her a knowing grin. “I bet you’ll enjoy having the chance to exercise those old skills, huh?”
“Maayybe. ...Okay, yeah, definitely. I wouldn’t want to do it on schoolmates again” – her face darkened briefly – “...but on simulated scoundrels I can feel good about robbing? Yeah, I think I’m going to enjoy this.”
Wallflower raised an eyebrow, but kept her grin to herself.
“Entering firing range, Captain. Shall we take out her skycatchers?”
“Fire!” Sunset commanded.
A chorus of “Fire!” echoed across the pirate ship’s deck. A gunner swung a ferocious-looking cannon around to point at the nobles’ pleasure boat. She took a sparkling pink ball from a nearby barrel, dropped it into the cannon’s chamber, and leaned her weight on what Wallflower realised was effectively a large button on the rear of the cannon.
CRACK! A burst of glittering electricity erupted from the cannon and arced towards their prey. It discharged itself against the netted sail, which instantly blackened, and the schooner slowed.
Sunset cried, “Prepare to board!”
“You’re really getting into this, huh?” Wallflower said drily.
“Heck yeah!”
“So...” Wallflower turned to the first mate. “What about me? What do I do when she’s leading us into battle?”
The nearby pirates turned to regard Wallflower, and she was startled to see looks of respect, even awe, on their faces. Startled, but she decided after a moment she rather liked it.
“Ye use yer magical powers to make sure we never lose!”
“I have... magical powers?” Wallflower’s heart leaped.
“Aye! You, milady, are the dreaded Mind Mage. You just have to clutch yer necklace and point at a foe, and they forget.” The pirate pointed at the approaching victims’ skyship in demonstration.
She took an unconscious step back against the railing, her eyes wide. “Wait. They... forget? Forget what?”
“Whatever you want them to, milady. Usually they forget why they were fighting, or how to fight.”
“But I’ve seen ye end a battle before it began, by making a navy officer forget his mission to arrest us,” another pirate chirped.
Wallflower’s jaw was hanging open. “No. No, you’re kidding. You can’t be serious,” she said numbly.
“You’re the most powerful member of the crew, milady!”’
“But... I don’t want...”
Sunset had been watching grimly from the bridge. Suddenly she roared, “Twilight!”
Her cry hung in the air for a second or two. Then the closest pirate’s manner shifted abruptly. He turned his head and said in Twilight’s voice, “Um... yes?”
“What do you think you’re playing at?!” Sunset yelled, snapping Wallflower out of her horrified daze.
“I’m... giving you a fully customised gaming experience!” came the teenage girl’s nervous voice from the body of the swarthy deckhand. “Powers chosen specially for you! You get to use them for the forces of good now –”
Sunset disappeared from the skyship’s deck. Before she could react, Wallflower felt a sharp yank at her face. She cried out, blinked, and when her eyes opened she was back in Twilight’s dimly lit laboratory. Sunset stood in front of her holding two headsets, her face twisted in fury.
“What was that, Twilight?” Sunset growled. “Are you serious?”
Twilight looked up from her twin widescreen displays and answered with a squeak, “Yes...?”
“You are spectacularly clueless sometimes, you know?”
“I... thought it could be a nice way for Wallflower to get to join in!” Twilight babbled. “This way she gets to have a geode of her own, and –”
“Twilight,” said Sunset through gritted teeth. “Let me put it this way. Would you want to play a game where you were Midnight Sparkle?”
The bespectacled girl recoiled. “Wha– No!”
“Don’t you still have nightmares about turning into Midnight Sparkle?”
“...Yes...”
A horrified look was slowly dawning on Twilight’s face. But Sunset continued relentlessly, “And how do you think you’d feel if we forcibly dressed you up in a costume to look just like Midnight Sparkle?”
Twilight shuddered. “Okay, okay, I get it.” After a few moments she gave a deep sigh and murmured, “Oh, wow. That... was really silly of me, wasn’t it?”
Her voice quieter, Sunset replied, “Yes, it really was. I guess you just didn’t imagine she’d react that way, huh?”
“You didn’t ask me.”
Both girls’ heads snapped around to face Wallflower.
“You didn’t ask me,” she repeated, scowling. “Neither of you did.”
A look of confusion passed across Sunset’s face.
“You didn’t have to rip my goggles off, Sunset. I could have done that myself!”
“But... I... You seemed like you... weren’t enjoying it…” Sunset trailed off.
“I certainly wasn’t,” said Wallflower drily, glaring at Twilight. “But that doesn’t mean I’m some helpless princess you need to rescue!”
Sunset frowned. “Hey, that’s not fair. You looked like you were quite literally in distress. I wanted to help you!”
“But you didn’t ask me. You just decided I must want to get out right now!”
Wallflower took a deep breath. “I... gah. This is one of those moments I really want to use the Memory Stone to erase...”
Sunset and Twilight exchanged a glance. Twilight forced a rictus smile and said, “I’ll... leave you two alone...” She bolted out of the door.
The two girls stared at each other across the room, surrounded by the flickering of red lights and the low whine of power supplies.
There were many things Wallflower wanted to say. But each conversation she imagined starting just led to more anguish and strife. The old instincts were tugging at her to reach into her backpack and use blissful magic to take away the pain. Yet that option had been forever removed, by the frustrating, wonderful, incomprehensible, beautiful girl in front of her.
The girl who gazed at her and softly asked, “...Shall we take a walk outside?”
Wallflower blinked twice.
She looked around at the dark room full of right angles and metal, and then back at Sunset.
“...Yes. Yes, I’d like that.”
Stepping out into Twilight Sparkle’s garden was a breath of fresh air, literally. Wallflower inhaled deeply, trying to clear her mind. Spotting a pond beside some attractive azaleas and mountain laurel, she breathed out and hurried over to sit by the water.
Wallflower just sat for a minute, aware of Sunset Shimmer behind her but not trusting herself to speak. The midday sun warmed her back.
At last Wallflower offered, “Thanks for understanding me. Getting out of there was… what I needed.”
“I’m so sorry for hurting you,” Sunset replied. “I was trying to help you, but you’re right, I shouldn’t have dragged you out of the game. You don’t need me to look after you.”
Wallflower breathed in, and out again. She stretched her arms out behind her and leaned backwards with a sigh. “I don’t know. Aren’t relationships meant to include looking out for the other person? I don’t know why I reacted like that. I’m sorry too.”
Sunset gently put an arm around her shoulders. “It’s fine. Anyone could understand why you were stressed. Twilight means well, but when she gets an idea in her head she doesn’t always…”
“Think things through?” Wallflower laughed bitterly. “I’m not exactly great at that myself either. I… should probably go and apologise to her too.”
“And then shall we go somewhere you like to relax? Maybe the coastside garden?”
Wallflower nodded gratefully.
“Okay. But first…” Sunset stood, pulling Wallflower to her feet as well. “You’re getting a long hug.”
Wallflower let out a long, shuddering breath and relaxed into her girlfriend’s arms.
The next day, the couple walked back into Twilight’s lab. Their friend looked up nervously from the console she’d been typing into.
“Um… Hi,” Twilight began. “Thanks for coming back.”
Wallflower sighed. “It’s fine. We all make mistakes. I’d just… prefer not to play a game with memory magic...”
“Obviously not. That should have been quite clear to me from the start, really,” Twilight said, rubbing the back of her head. “But I had another character in the system that I could switch in, so I came back and reconfigured the avatar parameters. I changed the magic to something different...”
Smiling, Sunset said, “So the Mind Mage is gone. Great. Can we carry on from where we were then?”
“Sure.” Patting one of the padded chairs, Twilight lifted a headset and said, “Here’s the Captain’s seat.”
Sunset paused. She glanced at her girlfriend and blurted, “Hey... Wallflower, why don’t we swap characters?”
Wallflower stared at her, then replied sarcastically, “...Me. Play the captain.”
“Sure. Why not? It’ll be less like the mage you disliked.”
Wallflower tried to keep her voice merely dry rather than withering. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, darling, but people skills aren’t exactly my thing.”
“So where better to practice than in a safe environment where the ‘people’ are just simulated?”
“You’ll be there too,” she objected, before hastily continuing, “Um, wait, not that that’s a bad thing. Um...” Wallflower’s mind raced, looking for reasons to reject the idea.
Twilight spoke up gently, “There’s no pressure. Really. You can just be the magic user if you want.”
And curiously, it was that which decided it for her. “...You know what, I’ll do it.”
Looking uncertain, Sunset said, “Only if you’re sure…”
Wallflower gave her an unimpressed stare. “You were the one just trying to talk me into it, weren’t you?”
Sunset now looked distinctly embarrassed. “Yeah, but Twilight’s right. You should only do it if you’re okay with it. This is meant to be something fun.”
“Let’s just get started before I change my mind,” Wallflower muttered.
Twilight smiled. “Okay! Just let me update the character database. Go ahead and put on the goggles, and we’ll carry on where you left off!”
Wallflower looked across the deck of the skyship again. Right. They’d been about to attack some helpless ship, hadn’t they? Yes, there was the small schooner, just off their right side… or should that be off the starboard bow? She looked down at herself and saw the same jacket and bodice that Sunset had been virtually wearing last time, and framing her vision she could see the edges of the Captain’s tricorn hat. She took a deep breath. Okay. Commanding an imaginary ship wasn’t really a big deal, was it?
“You look good,” murmured Sunset’s alluring voice from very close.
She whipped her head around to see Sunset now in a similar dress to the one she’d found herself in yesterday. The colours were all that had changed: this dress was striking yellow with charcoal details. It was rather more low-cut than she’d realised when it was on her, too. The effect was captivating, until a distinctly rougher voice interrupted her thoughts by saying, “When you’re ready, Captain, we can board them!”
Wallflower looked around at the sailors surrounding her. (Fliers? Aircrew? ‘Pirates’ would do, she decided.) “Board them. Got it. And I just need to... wave my sword and intimidate them, you said?” Wallflower didn’t feel very intimidating right now.
But the crew couldn’t tell that. “Aye, Captain!” they roared.
Wallflower smiled. She could play this role.
“Then do it! Prepare to board!” she cried, drawing her cutlass and holding it high.
The first mate looked at her. “We are prepared, Captain. All you need to say is ‘Board!’”
Wallflower facepalmed (with the hand not holding a sword). “Right…”
Despite Wallflower feeling Sunset Shimmer would have done the whole thing much more effectively and stylishly, the boarding went smoothly. Sunset turned out to have magical lightning powers which she used to stun enemy fighters (and look really cool at the same time).
Treasure in hand, they returned to the Sunflower. Wallflower felt a rush of elation: she’d led a successful command! She knew it was silly – she’d not really done anything except what the game had told her to – but she was enjoying herself.
Right up until the vast battlecruiser of the Royal Navy emerged from the cloud cover beneath them and demanded their surrender.
The crew looked to Wallflower. “Captain! What do we do?” cried the first mate.
She panicked.
“I… have no idea…”
“Gunner! How does our weaponry compare to theirs?” demanded Sunset Shimmer.
“Not good, milady,” came the reply. “We’re a glass cannon. We might be able to do them some damage, but if they land a broadside on us, we’re going down a long way.”
“Then… we need to deal them the right damage quickly,” Wallflower decided. “Can you target their weapons?”
The gunner bared her yellow teeth in a grin. “I’ll give it my best shot!”
“Well, you gave it your best shot,” commiserated Sunset.
“Our ship crashed into the grounds of a royalist mansion, we lost all our treasure, and we’re hiding from an entire garrison of guards. I think that was a pretty bad shot,” Wallflower muttered.
Sunset said with a wink, “At least we get to squeeze up against each other. If only Twilight had implemented touch sensations.”
Wallflower gave a wan smile. She glanced over her shoulder, and ducked down against Sunset. “Here comes another patrolling guard!” she hissed.
“Hmm. Just one?” Sunset said thoughtfully. “I’ve been thinking I might try out some options I discovered in the actions menu.” Standing up, she added gaily, “What’s the worst that could happen?”
Wallflower facepalmed again.
She watched in trepidation as Sunset stood up. Then her eyes widened as Sunset… strutted out towards the guard, her hips swivelling. The militiaman did a double take and Wallflower could swear his eyes popped out a bit.
“Why hello, valiant sir,” Sunset said huskily. “I wonder if a fine specimen of a man like you might be able to help me?”
Wallflower watched in astonishment as Sunset proceeded to flirt shamelessly with the guard. Not only did she persuade him she wasn't one of the fugitive pirates, but she also sweet-talked him into telling them the location of the mansion's most valuable treasure. She was torn: Sunset was just trying to salvage the situation that Wallflower had messed up, and there was a certain thrill to watching her be so sultry. But at the same time she couldn't help feeling a little irrational jealousy.
“Hey! You!”
Wallflower spun on the spot. Oh… dear. That was the captain of the guard, who definitely had seen them come out of the crashed ship. And he'd come around from behind and seen not just Sunset but Wallflower as well.
The time for discretion was past. “Run for it!” she cried.
“Oh, that’s a pity,” said Wallflower as she ducked around a low wall.
“Hmmm?” Sunset didn’t sound out of breath: the advantage to fleeing in a virtual world.
“The game’s been pretty botanically accurate so far. But this flowerbed has autumn crocuses in it, and they don’t bloom in spring.”
Sunset paused. “...What? It’s not spring!”
“Not in the real world, but in here it clearly is. All the blossom and flowers we’ve seen have been spring-blooming. I imagine they just included autumn crocuses because they’re lovely, but it’s not technically possible for them to be in bloom at the same time as what we’ve seen.”
Sunset rolled her eyes and grinned. “Trust you to notice that. I can’t say I noticed the crocuses.”
“You should. They’re beautiful.” Wallflower indicated the flowers in question, then squinted. “You can’t really tell here though…” The texture on the simulated flowerbed was clearly intended to evoke colchilcum, but it was blurry enough that it wasn’t at all obvious unless you recognised the species.
“I’m glad you thought that too,” Sunset said with a laugh. “It just looks like a pink smudge to me.”
“You should let me show you real autumn crocuses sometime!” said Wallflower.
“Um, sure. How about at a time when we’re not hiding from murderous guards?”
“It’s a date,” Wallflower said with a smile. “Hey, is that the chapel we were told about?”
“Looks like it,” Sunset said with determination.
They crept behind the low garden walls up to the structure that apparently hid a golden sceptre with magical powers. Glancing once more around the garden to ensure they weren’t seen, Wallflower gingerly opened the door.
They stepped into the dark stone building, peering around through the gloom. Where would a magical treasure be kept? Might there be an entrance to a crypt in one of these alcoves? Wallflower cautiously stepped forward.
Suddenly, candles flamed to life all around them.
They both spun around, to see guards stepping towards them from all sides. The guard captain from earlier smiled evilly and said, “So nice of you to come by. Won’t you stay for a while?”
Wallflower and Sunset exchanged a shocked look. Just as Sunset was about to open her mouth, they heard Twilight’s voice declare smugly, “Dun-dun-DUN! … And that, my friends, is where I suggest we pause for the day.”
“Whaat?” exclaimed the two girls in perfect synchrony.
“My parents are taking me out for lunch,” Twilight explained apologetically.
“I’m, uh, going to take my headset off. It’s too weird hearing your disembodied voice speaking,” said Sunset.
“The chapel’s ghost is going out for lunch with her ghostly parents!” Wallflower said in her best spooky voice. Sunset gave Wallflower an amused glance, then disappeared.
Wallflower followed her lead and stood up from her computer chair, blinking herself back to reality.
Sunset stretched and said, “That was… really cool, Twilight. Great job.”
“Thanks!” Twilight blushed. “Thank you for coming over. You made excellent guinea pigs. And… Thanks for giving me another chance,” she added quietly.
Sunset punched her arm cheerfully. “It’s what friends do.”
“I’m sorry that I have to kick you out now.” Twilight opened the door and beckoned them out of the lab as she continued, “The basic engine seems functional, though I noticed a number of tweaks I need to make to some of the algorithms. I need to fix some of the agents’ heuristics, and…”
Wallflower interjected, “The big question is: when can we play again?” She was somewhat surprised by the eagerness in her own voice.
She felt rather reassured to hear that Sunset seemed just as keen. “Can we come back tomorrow?”
Twilight looked away. “Ah. I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy wanted me to meet them in the park tomorrow.”
Sunset’s face fell. “Oh. I just thought...”
”We can arrange another time though. Text me!” Twilight chirped.
”Sure.” It looked to Wallflower like Sunset’s smile was somewhat forced. “See you later!”
Walking to the car, Wallflower took Sunset’s hand. Sunset gave her a brief squeeze but stayed quiet. Once they were alone inside the truck’s cab, Wallflower said, “Something’s bothering you. What is it?”
”It’s nothing,” Sunset replied, starting the engine.
”No it isn’t,” Wallflower said. “Is it about Twilight not wanting to see us tomorrow?” She watched Sunset’s expression closely as she continued, “And it’s not just that you want to play the game more. Is it... It’s something about being left out, isn’t it?”
Sunset scowled, but not at Wallflower. “It’s really silly. I just sometimes get worked up about others doing stuff without me. I’ll get over it.”
”Maybe I can help,” Wallflower said, putting her hand on Sunset’s. “I know a lot about being left out, remember?”
”That just makes me feel worse,” said Sunset morosely. “I know things were far worse for you. There’s no reason for me to let this get to me when you had –”
”Your feelings matter!” Wallflower interrupted forcefully. Sunset looked at her in shock. “Sure, other people have had it worse than you. That doesn’t mean you need to hide what you’re feeling!” She continued more gently, “You can tell me anything, no matter how silly you might think it is.”
”What, even dreams about getting stones stuck in my hoof?” Sunset stuck her tongue out.
Wallflower snorted. “Ha! No, everything except that.”
Sunset smiled, letting out a deep breath. “Thanks. For being there.”
”Always,” Wallflower replied. Then she pulled a face and added, “Now let’s change the subject, before I say any more sickeningly cheesy lines.”
”As you wish,” said Sunset with a grin.
A second gaming session led to a third, and a fourth. The normal video games in front of Sunset’s TV which the two had used to enjoy now felt rather lacking, compared to the immersive experience Twilight had made for them. The treasures Twilight had set up for them to pursue were hidden in intriguing ways, each one with a twist somehow like the ambush that had shocked Wallflower so much.
This latest treasure was meant to be in the possession of another pirate crew, even more dreaded than her own. Their pursuit of these pirates was why Wallflower was now watching Sunset sashay across the tavern’s common room. Part of Wallflower was wondering why Twilight had coded so many different styles of a simple action like walking. Mostly she was just enjoying watching the sway of her girlfriend’s virtual hips. Sunset had been getting rather into using her character’s “flirtatious” action mode, in all sorts of interactions, and it certainly made for pleasing eye candy.
Had Twilight spent hours designing these various flirty gestures? Wallflower tried to picture the bespectacled girl tweaking an eyelash here, a handwave there. You’d have to really enjoy staring at virtual girls to put hours into perfecting the subtle movements like this. Mind you, Wallflower could see the appeal when the character was modelled after Sunset.
...Wait. If Twilight had spent this long staring at a model of Sunset flirting... Wallflower shuddered and frowned. No, there were other explanations. Maybe these movements might have been among the bits Twilight downloaded from the internet. And even if Twilight did have a secret crush on Sunset... Wallflower set her jaw. She knew the purple genius would be tough competition, but Wallflower would fight for Sunset’s love if she needed to.
After all, Wallflower reflected archly, she seemed to have the lead so far.
“What are you smirking about?” Wallflower jumped and saw Sunset watching her, even as her arm was around a royal guard.
“Just thinking about you, my darling,” she replied.
Sunset coughed, then put back on her sultry expression. “Well, Sir Aegis here has agreed to let us borrow his squad’s dirigible for the evening. I happened to mention that we were interested in catching up with the Blackskull, whose crew are also wanted by Her Majesty’s Finest.”
Wallflower sighed tolerantly. “Good work. I don’t think I want to know how you did it… We should leave at once.”
“Actually…” Sunset let go of the besotted guard and moved closer to Wallflower. “I had been thinking we could stick around a little longer and set things up here so that when we come back, we can get into the keep’s treasure vault more readily.”
Wallflower frowned. What was the point in being Captain if Sunset still decided whether they left and when they returned? “I’m listening…” she said.
“Sir Aegis says that the night guard have been having their differences with the day shift. I’m just thinking I could exacerbate that a little and get them suspicious of each other so that…”
“Sunset!” Wallflower was feeling an unpleasant cocktail of disappointment, disgust, and an element of fear. “Sunset. This is… just like what you did to the school.”
“I remember, believe me. But we agreed it was different when it wasn’t real people involved, right?”
Wallflower could never resist the earnest look in those beautiful eyes. “... Right. Okay.”
The Blackskull put up more of a fight than the other skyships the girls had boarded in the past week. Their own skycatchers got singed and one of the boltcannons was knocked out of action. But it wasn’t long before their foe was subdued and Captain Wallflower got to issue the command once more, “Board them!”
The crew on the rival pirates’ barque were similarly vicious in hand-to-hand combat. Wallflower swung her cutlass wildly, felling several enemies. She was sure she ought to be able to fight better – and sure that Sunset would have been able to – but the Captain character seemed to be high enough level that she was still effective. Sunset wielded her Lightning Mage powers to take up whatever slack Wallflower was leaving, and though both sides took casualties, the advantage was clearly theirs, and the Blackskull crew surrendered.
Sunset stepped close to the defeated First Mate. “Now then. Believe it or not, we're not here to destroy you. We just want information.”
“Ye got a funny way of asking to parley, lady,” spat the pirate.
Sunset replied smoothly, “I think you'll find I actually care more about you and your shipmates than your captain does.”
The captive pirate's eyes narrowed. “What are ye talkin’ about?”
“We only found you because your captain leaked details to the Royal Navy,” Sunset said, her eyes fixed on the First Mate. “She sold you out in exchange for indemnity. She'll get to go free while you all hang.”
Several other crewmen of the Blackskull were watching by this point, and erupted in loud exclamation. “Why, that double-crossin’...” “The Cap’n wouldn't do that!” “I reckon she would. She's never trusted us.”
Wallflower watched suspiciously. Had the Navy really told Sunset that? Wallflower hadn't heard everything the soldiers had said, but… Sunset turned to Wallflower and smiled. Wallflower shivered.
“Can we meet the Captain ourselves?” Sunset asked casually.
“Aye,” replied a crewman grimly, pointing. “She's in the bridge. I reckon we should come with ye.”
“Why don't you gather up the rest of your crewmates first, and make sure everyone's ready?” Sunset advised. “You may need to fight your treacherous captain, so be sure you're all kitted up.”
She strutted towards Wallflower. “There. That should set us up nicely to meet with Captain Blackskull. Shall we?”
Wallflower frowned, but marched up to the double doors to the bridge. Kicking the doors open and entering the dark room, she called out, “Captain Blackskull. We need your amulet. If you hand it over, we don’t have to do things the hard way.”
Sunset shot her an amused look.
“What, am I supposed to avoid clichés when I’m literally about to fight someone called Captain Blackskull?”
A golden circle flared in the darkness. It illuminated a ferocious figure who’d been standing in the gloom. She stepped forward, glaring at the two of them with her sword drawn, and rasped, “Well, even though ye asked all polite-like, that’s still not a request to which I’m inclined to acquiesce.”
Her face half-lit in a sinister glow from the amulet at her chest, Captain Blackskull continued with menace, “Captain Wallflower. Mage Sunset. Aye, I know who ye are. I think yer treasure hold would make a fine addition to my own. So why shouldn't I just slay ye where ye stand?”
Sunset stepped forward – wait, no, that was her sashay again. “You might change your mind if you hear us out. Your crew are on the verge of mutiny outside.”
“And why should I believe a claim like that?”
Sunset produced a scroll. “Because they told the Royal Navy exactly where to find you, in exchange for a pardon. All of them go free while you hang.”
The dark captain scowled and reached for the scroll. “Let me see that!” Sunset extended her hand, fluttering her eyelashes.
In the light streaming from the magical amulet, Wallflower could see her eyes narrow. “Those scurvy traitors! Mutinous rogues!”
Sunset smiled at Wallflower in triumph. The cold curl of her lip was all too familiar to Wallflower.
Sunset continued in honeyed tones, “So, Captain, we're prepared to offer you our services. You give us the amulet, and we help you pacify your unruly crew. All of us get what we–”
“Stop it!” Wallflower yelled.
Sunset looked at her in confusion.
“Sunset, you have to stop acting like this! This… isn’t who you are any more. This is…” Wallflower’s voice dropped. “This is just like you were before. When you were… the Biggest Meanie.”
Shock came over Sunset’s face. “Babe… I was just…”
“You were getting back into those old thought patterns. Turning people against each other with lies… Whether you’re doing it to real people or not doesn’t matter! It’s not healthy for you. You need to stop.”
Those big beautiful eyes were still staring at her. Wallflower continued doggedly, “I may have fallen in love with the old Sunset, but I really, really don’t want her back. Please think about–”
Wallflower cut off in midsentence because she found herself falling backwards onto the floor. A vicious cutlass pulled back from her chest, blood dripping from it.
Captain Blackskull said, her voice full of soft menace, “I don't negotiate with those as lies about my crew. I reckon it's simpler to just take yer treasure for myself.” She turned to face Sunset.
Sunset turned a death glare on the opposing pirate. “You…!” Her hand squeezed her pendant in a white-knuckled grip and she screamed, “Leave her alone!!”
Lightning crackled from Sunset’s outstretched hand. The enemy Captain cried out in pain.
Sunset narrowed her eyes. She aimed her hand higher, making more electricity blast into the ceiling. Planks splintered... and the heavy iron chandelier fell onto Captain Blackskull. She fell to the floor and didn’t get up.
Sunset dashed to Wallflower’s side, her face ashen. “Wallflower…? Are you… No, don’t leave me…” She fell to her knees and lifted Wallflower close to her. Wallflower could see tears in her eyes. “You were right… About everything… I got so carried away, I didn’t realise who I was becoming. Please, stay with me… I love you…”
“Um…” said Wallflower drily. “You know I’m fine in real life, right?”
Sunset blinked. Then she glanced from side to side, blushed, and raised a sleeve to wipe her tears away. “I… er… yeah, of course I do.”
“You really do get caught up playing those roles, don’t you?”
“Uh… I guess it seems that way.” Sunset looked around and got up. “Can you stand?”
“Oh no, certainly not,” Wallflower said cheerfully. “My hit point meter’s at zero. This is an ex-Captain. But I have a feeling this might be a good point to log out anyway…”
“Y-yeah, I think you’re right,” Sunset said shakily.
The two of them removed their helmets and stood up from the computer chairs. They locked eyes and pulled each other in for a fierce hug.
On the other side of the lab, Twilight said, “Okay, looks like both pirate captains need more hit points. But apart from that, the system seems pretty much perfect!” With a secret smile, she added under her breath, “And it seems that the flirt modes were appreciated in the right way too.”
Sunset Shimmer got out of her car and looked around. She’d never been to this particular city park before, but Wallflower had been very specific.
It didn’t look like much from the outside. Passing through the iron gateway, though, Sunset was presented with a lovely array of flowers. She walked closer to take a look. She didn’t know the names like Wallflower did, and she was sure there were lots of subtleties she was missing, but she was able to enjoy looking at them. More so after a couple of previous garden visits with Wallflower.
Suddenly she was grabbed around her waist from behind. She jumped, but quickly relaxed into the embrace. “Hey there.”
“I see you found the nerines.” She could hear the smile in Wallflower’s voice.
“If you say so.”
“Oh, I definitely say so. I thought we agreed my word is law on all matters plant-related.”
“Far be it from me to question the law of plants,” said Sunset, awkwardly wrapping her arms behind her.
“In which case, I decree you come and see the plants over here.” Wallflower released Sunset and took her hand instead, guiding her up a hill in the park. She stopped in front of another bed of glorious pink blooms, that looked faintly familiar.
Sunset tapped her lip. “Are these…?”
“Autumn crocuses,” said Wallflower happily. “They’re too lovely to leave you having seen just the smudged digital version.”
Sunset admired the delicate petals, gently curving inwards, each one a subtly different gradient of shades of pink, lilac and white. Since being with Wallflower she’d found new capacity for appreciating the beauty of nature. “Lovely indeed,” she replied, gently stroking one of the flowers.
After a minute, Wallflower said, “Oh! I brought a picnic. Here.” She sat Sunset down at a table and started unpacking a hamper. She filled two glasses with fruit juice and gave one to Sunset. Wallflower lifted her glass, caught Sunset’s eye, and smiled. “Cheers.”
The couple sat comfortably close to each other, sipping their drinks and gazing at the flora around them.
“Thanks for arranging this,” Sunset said contentedly. “You never used to do that.”
“I guess I’ve been getting a bit of practice taking initiative,” Wallflower replied with a smile.
“No thanks to me,” Sunset muttered. “I can’t believe how much I got caught up in that awful mindset. I didn’t let you lead properly… I’ve been beating myself up since yesterday.”
“But it is thanks to you,” Wallflower insisted. “You encouraged me to take the lead in the first place. Thank you.”
“But then I kept undermining you, doing things my way. It wasn’t even for the sake of power, it was just… because I was having fun? I’m a terrible person…”
Wallflower gave her a squeeze. “Hey. If you remember, I fell for you even when you actually were a terrible person. You are so much better now.” She took Sunset’s head and turned her to meet her eyes. “You feel bad about all that manipulation, right?”
Sunset nodded mutely. Taking her hand, Wallflower told her, “Then that shows you have changed!”
Wallflower took a deep breath, took hold of Sunset’s other hand as well, and continued, “Look. I’m hoping we’ll be together for… quite a long time. I get the impression you want that too?”
“Definitely!” said Sunset. She was more sure of that than anything else in this conversation.
“So in all that time, we’re going to try some things. Some of them won’t work out. But we’ll look out for each other. This time it was me catching you. Next time, who knows? I don’t plan on keeping count.”
Sunset gazed at her. “You’re amazing, you know that?” She was rewarded with one of Wallflower’s insanely cute blushes. “I said it before, in the… heat of the moment, but I meant it. I love you.”
Wallflower beamed at Sunset, her cheeks turning even redder. “I love you too.”
They squeezed each other’s hands tightly.
Eventually Wallflower broke eye contact and looked out across the garden. “I’m glad I could bring you here. The view is beautiful.”
Sunset only had eyes for Wallflower as she replied softly, “Yes, it certainly is.”
