A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships
Bridging the Continental Divide
Twilight Sparkle’s heart wasn’t in it, something she never thought she’d say in a place of learning. But as her eyes scanned the page before her, moving past the red ink marks she’d left and to the final paragraph, she mentally groaned. She usually found these little composition workshops kind of fun, focusing on someone’s paper and having to tease out grammatical and organisational issues, flaws in argumentation, the like—even if she never really got any helpful feedback on her own essays beyond “looks good”. Today, though... on this midmorning her heart wasn’t in it, and she wished she were back in her dorm room.
She lifted her pen, about to mark another error when her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she instantly felt a smile tug at the corners of her lips. She couldn’t check it, not right away, but that familiar feeling still gave her a little jolt, a little burst of life. Glancing up from the pages in front of her, Twilight looked around at the other students around her, all hard at work on their own papers. Well, not all—a few here and there were tapping away at their phones, clearly indifferent to the task at hand.
She thought about looking at her phone, too, but she thought better of it; instead, she semi-unconsciously twirled a lock of her hair, and then looked back down at the document in front of her. She made sure there weren’t any more egregious spelling errors on this page, and then flipped to the last page. A poorly-argumented assertion leapt out at her, and she started scribbling once more.
That’s when her phone buzzed again, and Twilight let out a small sigh. In a smooth motion she set her pen on the table and slid her phone out of her pocket, tapping the button on the side as she lay the device on her leg. Amidst the clouded background of her lock screen, she had a couple notifications.
Sunset: lookit he escaped!
Sunset: Image
Twilight grumbled under her breath. Her eyes darted around once more, just to make sure that still nobody had seen—she had a reputation to maintain, after all!—she thumbed sideways on the screen and tapped in her passcode to reveal a dark grey messaging app, already open to the direct messages of the user she wanted. And right before Sunset Shimmer’s last message was that image—a little blurry, but Twilight would have recognised Sunset’s lavender bedspread anywhere and especially the enlarged yellow reptile face and beady black eyes that sat in the middle of the frame, staring deep into her soul. Smirking, Twilight tapped a reply.
sparkler: Ray is such a goof haha
sparkler: how are you? I’m just wrapping up in class here
She was about to put her phone away, but immediately a “Sunset is typing...” appeared at the bottom of the screen, and she was mesmerised until the reply came.
Sunset: ooh ur texting me from class
Sunset: arent i special c:
sparkler: You already know I think you’re something special, alright
Sunset: actions speak louder than words babe
sparkler: yeah, except when you’re trying not to get caught texting in class
Sunset: its.... college
Sunset: they dont care lol
sparkler: But you know I do
sparkler: I’ll be back in just a little bit
Sunset: aight hon, ill be right here c:
A big grin on her face, Twilight slid the phone back into her jean pocket and looked up at the room once more—at the clock, telling her there were ten minutes left—but this time she also locked eyes with someone across the room. The professor, in fact—an aging man with grey-blue hair whose face bore an uncharacteristic frown. Twilight grit her teeth and looked back down to the papers in front of her, and with a deep breath she picked up the pen and got back to work.
“I’m going to fucking end you! That was my last manapack, you asshole!”
That was what Twilight heard through the door as she stood outside her dorm room, but it was just noise; her gaze and attention were focused down on the phone she held in her hand, still freezing from the outside, as she leaned against the wall.
sparkler: oh, that’s annoying
sparkler: But have you figured out what you want to take, once they lift the hold?
Sunset: nahhh
Sunset: ill figure it out this weekend when i have more time
Sunset: ive got work soon anyway
sparkler: Right, time zones
sparkler: bleh
Sunset: meh, could be worse
Sunset: at least we’re not stuck on opposite sides of a mirror that only opens every 30 moons
Sunset: or something like that
sparkler: pfff, fair
sparkler: but I’d happily wait 30 moons for you, dear :)
At that, Sunset didn’t immediately reply, so Twilight pressed her phone screen off and stowed it away in her pocket, trading the device for her room key.
“Of course, of course, yeah. You better fucking be there this time, though, okay? Yesterday I spent a whole goddamn hour waiting around for you, dude! Okay, okay. If you promise. Now let’s go!”
The lock clicked and Twilight swung the door open, and the first thing she saw was a blur of flashing lights on her roommate’s TV. Her eyes glazed over almost immediately.
“Heyyyy Twilight,” came the raspy voice of her roommate. “Howww’s it kickin’?”
“Um... fine,” Twilight mumbled, closing the door quietly behind her. As she stepped in past the wardrobes, she drank in the sight of the rest of the room—same as always, with a bed and a desk on either side. A smallish window was set in the back wall, and its open curtains let a ray of sunlight settle on the disorganised clutter of Twilight’s desk. Her gaze moved right to her roommate’s desk—spotless, effectively untouched—and then over to the blue-and-white haired girl who was her roommate. The messy-haired girl was sitting cross-legged on the unkempt bed opposite Twilight’s, controller in hand and headset to her mouth; she still wore the goofily-oversized grey t-shirt she’d been wearing the night before, with a big blue logo for some far-off university Twilight couldn’t remember emblazoned on the front. “How are you?”
“Great, great,” Minuette said, glancing back to Twilight with a grin. “I was feeling pretty sick when I woke up, so I skipped French, but I’m feeling a lot better now.” She glanced back to the screen, which said something about an ‘MVP’. “Aw, what? I thought I had this one!”
Twilight let out a small, dry laugh, and set her backpack down on her bedspread before slipping off her shoes. She lifted herself up onto the end of the bed and settled into a sitting position, her back against the wall. Stretching out her sock-clad feet, she leaned over to unzip the backpack and slid out a sleek silver laptop which she brought to her lap and cracked open. Once she’d tapped the power button and the screen glowed to life, she allowed herself to smile. She pulled a pair of earbuds from her pocket and plugged them into the computer’s audio jack, and set her media player on shuffle. A cascading roll of snare drums lay a bed over which spidery guitar arpeggios twinkled, and Twilight could feel herself breathe a little easier.
When she tabbed over to her chat program, Twilight saw she had a few notifications from group chats, which she marked as read—but her eyes darted quickly up to one orange-and-yellow icon in particular, with a small red 1 beside it. Smiling, she clicked on the icon.
Sunset: kinda feels like it’s been 30 freaking moons already doesnt it
Twilight’s smile grew; somehow, she knew that would be Sunset’s reply, maybe because she felt like that too. Those little moments of synchronicity, no matter how expected, never failed to make her heart flutter just a little bit.
sparkler: Sometimes, yeah
sparkler: it’s hard to believe it’s only been a few months
Sunset: mmmff
Sunset: and still a few more months until i can see you :/
sparkler: I know...
sparkler: it’s still weird to think we haven’t seen each other since
sparkler: well, you know
Sunset: yeah it means i havent even freaking been able to kiss you
Sunset: or hug you, all of you
Sunset: swear to celestia this summer the moment you arrive i am going to ravish you
sparkler: Not if I ravish you first c:
Twilight’s cheeks were flushed, and she lifted both hands from the keyboard to rub her face. She and Sunset had been talking like this for some time, but it still got her all flustered, despite the cool veneer she was able to keep behind the computer screen. Inside, her stomach tumbled all over the place; she wondered how she would react if Sunset were there next to her, saying these things, and she wondered if she could truly reply in kind. If she closed her eyes she could almost imagine the weight of the laptop was Sunset’s head on her lap, with red and yellow locks splayed out onto the bed, and onto her. Twilight’s heart pounded hard in her chest—and her tummy fluttered.
She opened her eyes once more to see the screen again in front of her. Sunset hadn’t replied, but knowing her the older girl was probably multitasking, working on homework in between spurts of chatting. With a sigh aloud, Twilight tabbed over to her note-taking program and began scanning over names of characters and locations to jog her memory for the quiz in her Brit Lit class in just a few hours.
But whether she meant to or not, the corner of Twilight’s eye was always monitoring the upper corner of the screen—so in a couple minutes when she saw the red notification dot appear on the chat icon, she tabbed over almost instantly. And frowned. It was just the group chat for her floor, which in a half-second with a right-click became muted and the dot went away.
Of course, before she could tab away, Sunset’s icon appeared again—and Twilight moused over to click on the girl’s tiny photo.
Sunset: as if that could happen
Sunset: when you get here im gonna pounce right away
sparkler: Sunset my parents will be at the train station
Sunset: your parents are just gonna have to deal
Sunset: cuz your super rad gf needs to kiss you asap
Twilight laughed. It wasn’t like her parents didn’t know she was gay—an awkward conversation at the beginning of high school had let her know they’d already figured it out by then, and they told her emphatically that they supported her—but she’d never had a girlfriend or anything so she wasn’t quite sure how they’d react. Then again, they’d pulled Cadance into the family almost immediately after Shining Armor had said they were dating, so... hopefully it wouldn’t be all that different. They already knew Sunset, too; she’d been over with the rest of the girls, and she and Twilight had done some studying for the AP Physics test together near the end of senior year. They seemed to like her well enough.
Hopefully. It’s not like she’d thought about this over and over for weeks, wondering. Worrying.
sparkler: True, and I couldn’t keep off you for that long anyway
Sunset: c:
Sunset: and just you wait til we get to my apartment
Sunset: just you and me
More flutters. The first time Sunset had treaded in this direction... well, at first Twilight was a little scandalised and not quite sure what to think, but... something about it just seemed right. It wasn’t weird if they were both into it, and she most definitely was—and Sunset made it very clear she was too.
sparkler: oh? And what will we do when we get to your apartment?
Sunset: the real question is what *wont* we do
Sunset: because believe you me you are going to end up against the wall almost immediately ;)
sparkler: omg
Sunset: yeah thats right babe
Twilight’s face was so warm—as was the rest of her. Something about these little conversations they’d have, the things they’d say, the promises they’d make for what they’d do when they finally met once more... it was everything.
sparkler: I love you so much, you know that?
Sunset: whaaat??
Sunset: no way it’s as much as I LOVE YOU though!!
sparkler: <333
Sunset: ok hon i uh
Sunset: i gotta get ready for work now
Sunset: but i love you and i will say hi when i get back
Sunset: even if ur asleep or im about to hit the hay or w/e
sparkler: good luck with work, sweetie!
sparkler: I’ll probably be here when you get back, but if not... *mwah*
Twilight watched as the little dot next to Sunset’s icon flipped from green to grey—and then she closed her eyes, letting her shoulders relax as she sat there against the wall. The music in her ears had changed minutes ago from chaotic guitars into the crack of thunder which ushered in piano chords and a sombre vocal, and she let it just... wash over her. Her thoughts drifted, from what Sunset must be doing and thinking about to get ready, to the exam and class she had in a few hours.
A few minutes passed, and the song in her earbuds faded away as softly as it had faded in. Before the next song on shuffle could jump in, Twilight felt for the pause button at the top of her keyboard and stopped it. When she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was her roommate across the room looking straight towards her... giggling.
“W-what?” Twilight mumbled.
Minuette stopped and smiled. “Haha, nothing, nothing. It’s just super cool to see you so happy. Whoever he is... must be someone pretty special.”
Twilight, flustered, stumbled for words. “It’s not—I don’t—I—” She paused, taking a breath. “It’s not a boy,” she said quietly in an exasperated tone.
“Ohoho, even cuter,” Minuette shot back, grinning even wider before she turned back to her TV and focused back on her game. Twilight was left just sitting there with her cheeks burning up hotter than the laptop atop her, staring at an empty patch of the screen.
As she stepped away from the line with her full plate of food and a tall glass of milk, Twilight Sparkle’s eyes wandered the dining hall, scanning for an open, empty table. It was busy—naturally, for it was around dinnertime—and students with faces familiar and not-so were milling about, but it didn’t take her too long to spot a single-seated table near the far corner and weave her way over there. Another moment more and she’d set her plate down, let her backpack slide to the ground by the chair, and sat down.
After a few bites of pasta and broccoli, washed down with some milk, Twilight thought to check her phone. As the screen lit up, she saw that she did indeed have a message—but not from Sunset, from someone she hadn’t messaged in quite a bit.
ShineOnYouCrazy: TwiiiiIiIiIiIiIiIilight!
With curiosity, she unlocked the phone and opened her messaging app. She tapped with just one hand, taking another swig of milk with the other.
sparkler: Rarity?
ShineOnYouCrazy: I have found the most wonderful terrific thing! I must show you at once!
sparkler: oh?
ShineOnYouCrazy: Another one, from right before you departed
ShineOnYouCrazy: And this time it’s not with the group...
Twilight idly scratched at the back of her hand. She didn’t have any idea what Rarity could be getting at—but the girl’s excitement was making her anxious. She took a deep breath.
sparkler: Rarity what in god’s name are you talking about
ShineOnYouCrazy: a moment, darling
That nervous moment passed; Twilight set her phone down to poke at her food a little more, taking another bite of her pasta. When she set her fork back down and picked her phone back up, Rarity had already messaged her.
ShineOnYouCrazy: Image
Twilight unlocked her phone and was greeted with a photograph, one she’d never seen before—but one whose setting and subjects were all too familiar. With a two-finger zoom, she centred briefly on one of the faces, letting it sit alone for a moment. Twilight then let out a little sigh, and she thumbed back over to her messaging app.
sparkler: thank you, Rarity
sparkler: like... you don’t know how much this means
ShineOnYouCrazy: Isn’t it just adoooorable?
ShineOnYouCrazy: Of course, darling! I know if I were in your position I would simply be swooning
sparkler: definitely something like that, yeah
sparkler: you haven’t shown this to her, right?
ShineOnYouCrazy: No, I knew you’d want to be the one to do that.
sparkler: ...thanks again
ShineOnYouCrazy: Of course, and I hope you two lovebirds have a wonderful evening. <3
sparkler: :)
For a moment, Twilight’s face reflected the emoticon she’d just sent—before it faded once more as she set her phone back down to continue eating. As she ate, her thoughts wandered; idly she wondered how Sunset’s late shift at the bookstore was going. Even though it was a chain, the gig had sounded pretty good to Twilight when Sunset told her about it months ago when she’d started—but the redhead didn’t much care for that sort of retail work, and Twilight couldn’t blame her. Most likely it was another slow night, and she could picture Sunset standing bored behind a counter, tapping her fingers on the wood or writing a guitar riff in her head. Sometimes Sunset would send her a message or two during her shift, but not always; tonight maybe she was more busy, or working on something else.
When Twilight’s plate was clear and her glass was empty, the girl slid her backpack back on and walked her dishes over to the return. She didn’t catch the gaze of anyone she knew as she passed, and soon she was back out in the cold dark of the nighttime.
Sunset: heyyy twilight
Sunset: had to stay kinda late and then when i got home i just kinda plopped and passed out
Sunset: though its only 3am oof wtf
Sunset: well thats gonna fuck up my schedule for sure
Sunset: you better freakin be asleep, i know you got class in the morning
Sunset: im gonna try to go back to sleep too if i can
Sunset: just wanted to say something so you didnt worry
Sunset: love ya hon <3
Twilight awoke the next morning with the taste of a dream on her tongue, something familiar yet eerily surreal. It was too slippery to quite hold onto but... before it faded, she could recall darkness—vast, seemingly unending darkness—and she was just floating there in the middle of it, her body defying gravity, at least if there were gravity. But she hadn’t been alone, not quite; though she hadn’t been able to see anyone else, she could feel a presence there right alongside her. Distant at first, she could feel it grow closer, and she recognised it as familiar—as that of the girl she wanted so desperately to be closer to. She reached out a hand and could almost, sort of, feel a hand clasp hers, pulling closer until a blanket of comfort washed over her entire body, and she felt so close to being wrapped in that embrace—
But in an instant she had been shaken from this by the vibrations of her phone by her head, and in a few short moments the feeling dissolved, seeping into the nooks and crannies of her memory. On instinct, Twilight’s eyes fluttered open but before she could register much, her hand reached up to tap at the phone and snooze the alarm, and she let her eyes close for a few more precious seconds. She remembered something soft, something comfortable, something that felt like home.
But despite the fuzzy feelings welling in her chest, she knew the day had to begin, so with an exhale Twilight opened her eyes and reached up to grab her phone. The first thing she saw was Sunset’s icon, which she tapped to open the messaging app—and as she read each subsequent message, Twilight’s lips curved into a soft smile. Sunset’s status indicator was greyed out—possibly asleep or in class, she couldn’t remember which day it was—but Twilight tapped out a message anyway.
sparkler: good morning honey bunny, I love you too <3
She lay there for a moment, staring at her words on the screen, and then tapped another.
sparkler: hope you’re getting your beauty sleep :)
With that, she flicked over to her email app, glancing at a note from one of her classes’ TAs, and after that she intended to get up and get dressed, go down to breakfast—but as she was halfway through the email she saw the new messages indicator at the top of the screen. Cautiously, she tabbed back.
Sunset: plenty of beauty sleep here
Sunset: not that i really need it hehe
The fuzzy feeling from when she first woke returned, and Twilight sighed.
sparkler: Very true, you’re already the prettiest girl I know
sparkler: But even pretty girls need lots of sleep!
Sunset: oh well i hope you slept well then :)
sparkler: mmff, waking up is rough as always but I think I slept fine
sparkler: You got class soon, right?
Sunset: yeah but i got like 15 minutes til i gotta leave
Sunset: you just woke up right
sparkler: Maaaybe
Sunset: ahhh
Sunset: i cant wait until i can wake up in bed beside you
Sunset: give you a lil gmorning kiss
sparkler: 😘
sparkler: Say, uh... can I show you something?
Sunset: you can always show me somethin hon
sparkler: Alright but be warned it’s kind of adorable
Sunset: ur kinda adorable
Twilight tapped on the photo upload button, and selected the photo in question, the one Rarity had sent her the night before. And then she tapped send, and the photo filled the screen. In the centre there were two girls—herself and Sunset—standing against the closed front door of a house on what looked to be a bright summer afternoon. Sunset—clad in her trademark leather jacket—had her arm up around the indigo stripes which covered Twilight’s shoulders, and the both of them were smiling wide. A light pink blush could be seen at the edges of Sunset’s cheeks, and with her shade of lavender Twilight looked almost downright bashful.
Sunset: ok i take back what i said
Sunset: youre extremely freaking adorable omg
sparkler: OK but?? You????
Sunset: us!! oh my god it’s us
sparkler: Just us, together
sparkler: Right before I left
sparkler: I should have said something, ugh
Sunset: i shoulda too, hon, but we cant go back and change it
Sunset: what’s more important is like omg we are
Sunset: gonna be just like this
Sunset: in only a few more months
Sunset: i can put my arm around you!
sparkler: and I can give you smooches :D
Sunset: ugh its gonna be so good
Sunset: youre gonna be so good babe
sparkler: I hope so. For you.
Sunset: and ill be good, for you
sparkler: <3 <3 <3 <3
Sunset: where did you find this anyway? saving it?
sparkler: haha, no, no way I could keep cute photos away from you
sparkler: Rarity found it and sent it to me last night
Sunset: oh goodness, that girl, what are we even to do with her
sparkler: Pfft
sparkler: ever the romantic, that’s for sure
Sunset: yeah, well... good thing there aint no romance as rad as this one
sparkler: c:
Sunset: i gotta go now honey, im sorry
sparkler: All good! Just glad I caught you before you left haha
Sunset: i am too
Sunset: you really brighten up my morning
Sunset: alright, hon, i love you and i’ll talk to you later, ok?
sparkler: Love you too
sparkler: hope class goes well
With that, Sunset signed off once more, leaving Twilight digitally alone. The lavender girl set the phone back beside her head on the pillow and, even though she needed to get up and get moving, took just one more moment to dive deep inside that fuzzy feeling, the flutters in her tummy, the palpitations in her heart, the comfort, the warmth, the feeling of home.
Because Twilight Sparkle loved Sunset Shimmer, and she knew Sunset loved her too.
Author's Note
