In Search of Lost Time

by The Cloptimist

Rating: mature
Tags: Romance, Equestria Girls, Sex, Sunset Shimmer, Slice of Life, Flash Sentry
Length: 9049

Flash and Sunset reminisce, reflect, reconnect, and - eventually - re-enact. All over his pants.

As Sunset Shimmer and Flash Sentry start over as friends, they spend an afternoon - and evening - talking over what went wrong in the past, what they're going to do in the future, and the things they miss about their old relationship. Just two good friends, reminiscing, reflecting, reconnecting, and (finally) re-enacting. All over his pants.

Written for a bet, with a friend who bet me I couldn't (or wouldn't) write a story centred on Flash Sentry cumming in his pants. It's technically clop, I guess, but... not really, or at least not for a long time.

...yeah.

Published 2019-02-13 00:50:01 UTC
Last updated 2019-02-13 00:50:01 UTC

But... You're a Horse

Author's Note

My friend and I were musing on what the least promising setup for a story on Fimfiction could possibly be.

My friend made a bet.

"I bet you can't write a good story that starts with Flash Sentry cumming in his pants," he said.

I wrote this.

But... You're a Horse

10:39pm

He lay back on his bed, hands behind his head, with a goofy smile on his face.

He watched Sunset Shimmer as she wriggled back into her T-shirt, watched lazily as she wiped a towel over a wet patch on the left leg of her jeans.

He could feel his pants and underwear completely soaked through with warm, but rapidly cooling, semen... meh, whatever, he'd get up and get changed in a moment. Right now, he was just basking in the afterglow of his explosive orgasm, no matter how wet and sticky, as he just lay there in his ruined underwear, watching his ex-girlfriend pulling her boots back on.

It was worth it.

Flash Sentry had missed that feeling.

6:04pm
Four and a Half Hours Earlier

"...and just let that dry, and... I think we're done!"

Sunset Shimmer beamed as she finished attaching the last piece of the model, giving the glue a moment to take hold before she let go. She sat back and blew a loose strand of hair out of her face, admiring her handiwork.

"It looks pretty good," said Flash, impressed.

"Hey, there's no need to sound quite so surprised," snorted Sunset, giving him a smirk and a raised eyebrow.

"Aw, c'mon, I didn't mean that," said Flash. "I just mean, your idea worked better than I thought it would."

Sunset gave him a gentle, playful punch on the arm. "Our idea. And this is going to be the best project in class. No doubt about it."

"You do remember Twilight Sparkle is in the same class as us?"

"Yeah, but she got teamed up with Rainbow Dash. No disrespect to Dash, but I'm guessing Twilight's is gonna be more of a... solo effort."

They sat back in their chairs together, the project and its assorted wreckage having colonised Flash's kitchen table.

"Well, so, what now?", asked Sunset, after a moment.

"Uh... I guess I could store it upstairs overnight, and then just bring it to school in my car tomorrow?"

Sunset rolled her eyes, and gave Flash another patient smile. "No, you dumbass. I mean, what do you want to do now? It's only six o'clock, I don't have to leave yet."

There was an uncomfortable pause, as Sunset's confidence momentarily faltered in the silence, her casual smile wavering just for a second. She moved, just too slowly, to fill the gap with halting conversation.

"I, uh... I didn't mean... I just meant, y'know, if it was..."

She closed her eyes, screwing up her face.

"I, uh, don't have anywhere else I need to be, but... I can leave... you know, if you want me to. I don't want it to be... weird."

Flash smiled, and Sunset felt far more grateful for that smile than she let on.

"Of course you can stay," he grinned. "We're friends now, right? And besides," he said, gesturing at the completed project on the table, "...we actually make a pretty good team!"

Another awkward beat.

"I, uh... I didn't mean..."

Now it was Sunset's turn to rescue Flash from the conversational abyss. She gave a snorting giggle.

"I know what you meant. Relax, I know you're not going to propose or something."

Flash visibly relaxed.

"Although I don't wanna know what you'd be like if you were trying something. Real smooth there, though. You massive dork."

The huge smile on her face was anything but mean, and Sunset knew Flash was one of the few people who wouldn't get mad at her for saying something like that.

"You know what we need?", she said, playful smile back on.

"What?"

"Video games."

"You'll only kick my ass again."

"Uh, yeah? Why do you think I suggested it?"

She got up and walked into his living room, finding the console still where she remembered it always lived, under his TV. He watched her, trying not to think about how nice her rear looked in those jeans - hey, I'm still human!, he thought - noting her casual air of ownership, as she strolled over, fished out the controller, and chose a game, making herself comfortable on his sofa.

"You coming?", she called out, already loading the game.

I guess some things never change, he thought.

6:39pm

"Ugh, come on... come ON!" groaned Sunset, wiping the sweat from her brow as she shifted her hips.

"Can I... is it time...?" panted Flash, holding off as best as he could.

"I'm almost there... almost there... YES! That's it! Okay! Go!"

On her signal, Flash furiously mashed at the button, eyes half-closed, just concentrating on his task.

"YEAH!" roared Sunset, as the screen lit up white, the sweaty controller almost slipping from her grasp as they watched the fearsome Ice Tirek explode in a gory display of expensively-rendered, end-of-level pyrotechnics.

They sat still for a moment, just panting, getting their breath back.

"That... was intense..." said Sunset, giving Flash a massive grin. "I've never gotten past that dungeon before."

"Maybe... your other partners... just sucked at the game," said Flash, but his return smile spoke of just how tough that had been.

"We do make a pretty good team," said Sunset, echoing Flash's words from before, and this time he didn't flinch so much. "I don't know what made me think of doing it that way."

"Meh, you always had the best ideas," said Flash, pensively. "That's one thing that hasn't changed, at least." He paused, making sure Sunset wasn't upset at him bringing up her past... or their past. When she just gave a smile and a shrug, he felt emboldened to carry on.

"This was nice, Sunset," he said, and meant it.

"It was," she said, and smiled again. "I know I was pretty awful back then, and I gave you a lot of reasons not to stay with me, but... I really used to like it when we'd just hang out, you know? It was just... nice, hanging out with you."

"Yeah," said Flash, a little unsure where this was going.

"Aw, come on, don't be so moody, we're friends now, right? And... well... we were a terrible couple. You know that. I was absolutely no good for you, even if I hadn't been just using you to be more popular. Just because we found each other attractive -"

"...get over yourself," snorted Flash, and Sunset punched him in the arm -

"...just being attracted to someone isn't enough of a basis for a long term relationship," she finished, insistently.

"Neither is being a horse, Sunset," said Flash, smirking.

"Pony. I'm a pony. Not a horse. They're different things."

"Yeah, that's the thing I was most concerned about," muttered Flash, earning himself another, slightly harder punch in the arm.

"You wanna think yourself lucky I'm not in pony form right here, that would have broken your arm," snorted Sunset. "Anyway. A pony is intelligent, and brightly-coloured, and, well, pretty! We have big eyes, cute hooves, swishy tails, nice manes..."

She noted his blank look.

"Yeah, if you were a pony, this would make sense... Meanwhile, horses, the ones you have here, are big dumb ugly things, and they're kind of slow-witted. I can't talk to them, I can't understand why they do things... I've never thought about letting anyone ride me -"

(another, pre-emptive strike of an arm punch, and Flash's guilty look showed he had indeed been having... thoughts when she said that)

"...and I have never once felt the urge to just... take a dump in a field."

"That's... good... to know?" said Flash, not really sure how to respond to that. This was the most Sunset had ever really talked to him about the fact she was a different species. Just learning that information had been mind-blowing enough in itself -

- his ex-girlfriend was an alien horse -
- he'd made out with an alien horse -

but enough time had passed, and enough phenomenally weird crap had happened at school since then, that he was dealing with it just as well as could be expected. If anything, he thought, the universe owed him a break for the amount of nonsense he'd had to accept as facts now.

"I mean, back in my home world, I can do magic. Not like Trixie, I mean real, actual magic. Can you imagine? And here I am, and I can't even get served in a bar."

"I still think maybe you could have told me before we made out with each other," said Flash, and Sunset winced this time.

"I feel bad about that," said Sunset. "N-not the making out! That was..."

They were both blushing furiously, and Sunset desperately tried to wrench the conversation back on track.

"I mean... at the time, it wasn't as big a deal for me as it could have been, that I wasn't really human. I wasn't bothered about who I was going to be exploiting, and I never thought I'd ever see another pony again until I was Queen of Equestria. I really wasn't trying to keep it a secret from you, so much as every single human here." She sighed. "Still, though... even without keeping that a secret, I just wasn't a very good girlfriend."

"Well, I don't know about that," smirked Flash. "You did buy me dinner a couple times."

Sunset facepalmed. "I wasn't even aware of human mating rituals back then. If I'd known it was the usual custom for the male human to buy dinner, I could have saved myself so much money... But you thought I was just being my usual dominant self."

She looked up at him.

"I'm glad we got to be friends for real this time. Starting over, after everything I did... that was hard. But now, well, I feel accepted here. And I'm glad you all forgave me. All the girls, and the people at CHS... but you especially. I really messed you around, and..."

"Shh," said Flash, throwing her a lifeline before she started to struggle. "You've said you're sorry, like, a million times, and I totally believe you. You're so much nicer now than you used to be... I'm glad we're friends."

They shared a smile, before Sunset rolled her eyes in mock irritation.

"Ecchhh," she groaned, theatrically, "when did I get all sappy?"

"It happens to us all," grinned Flash, as he stood up from the couch. "I'm going to grab a drink, can I get you something from the fridge?"

"Do you have any beer?" replied Sunset, almost too fast for him to hear.

"Is... Do you think that's..." Flash began to protest, but Sunset held her hand up, palm out, shushing him.

"Do you even know how old I am back in Equestria? It's fine."

"That's kind of creepy," said Flash, with a (mostly) mock shudder.

"Oh, shut up," she said, rolling her eyes. "Don't act like you don't like it. I just... want a beer."

Flash thought about arguing, but decided against it, and grabbed two bottles of beer from the fridge. He opened them before bringing them back to the living room, handing one to Sunset, who clinked it against his own bottle before taking a swig.

"You must have known something was off, though," said Sunset, as Flash took a drink from his bottle. "I mean, I wasn't your first girlfriend, right?"

"When we were together?" asked Flash, and Sunset nodded. "Well, not really. I never thought you were an alien hor... er, pony, or anything like that. Sure, you could act a bit weird sometimes, but... I'd been out with girls before, but you were always so... different, so a lot of the stuff you did, I just kind of chalked it up to 'Sunset being Sunset'. I mean, yeah, you could be mean, and bossy, and...."

"...and I never put out," said Sunset, with an evil grin, and Flash almost spat beer on the table, wiping his mouth before continuing.

"...No, but honestly, I never really expected that anyway. No, what I was going to say was... even with all that stuff, there were some good times as well, and that made it easier to kind of skip over the bad stuff. Like you said, just hanging out together was always cool... I could always tell when you had stuff on your mind, and you seemed to relax a bit when it was just us, just playing games or listening to music or going to a movie or something. You always seemed to just be able to chill, dial it down a bit. That was the Sunset I used to really like."

"Even supervillains need some downtime," grinned Sunset. "After I betrayed the government and fled here, I was always tense in case they'd sent somepony after me to hunt me down. When I was alone with you, or just close to you in a public place, it was such a relief to be able to relax, even to let my guard down a little bit. Even if I couldn't tell you why. And that was something I always enjoyed."

"Yeah," said Flash, thinking over the memories of some of those good times, realising they mostly involved him and Sunset not speaking to each other at all.

"Yeah," said Sunset, taking another swig from her bottle.

Flash just looked at her for a moment, pondering how far she'd come since they first met. It had taken him a while to try and disentangle his anger at her using him from the fact she'd also helped save the world a bunch of times, and since they spoke to each other at Camp Everfree, she'd just been really... nice. The kind of girl he wanted as a friend, and not even in a "with benefits" kind of way, just someone he genuinely liked spending time with now.

An idea came to him.

"Hey, Sunset... You wanna order a pizza?"

"Oh, wow. Yes. I could totally go for some pizza right now," she beamed, and Flash grinned.

"Do they even have pizza in Equestria?", he asked, as he reached down to grab a menu.

"They do, but... it's better here. The dough isn't quite as good as if you tossed it with big, flat hooves, but you guys have thought of so many crazy things to use as toppings... You just have to be careful there's no meat on it."

"I never understood the whole 'you being a vegetarian' thing before," mused Flash, as he rummaged in the drawer for a pizza menu. "You never really seemed to care very much about anything, so I guessed it was just to help you keep in shape...."

A pause, as Sunset looked at him.

"...Not that you needed it!", he quickly added, hoping she didn't take it as an insult. "I just meant you were always in great shape! And I wondered if the vegetarian thing was part of that..."

"No, not really," said Sunset, thoughtfully. "I mean, it probably did help, along with all the running I do -"

"Yeah, you were always a bit of a fitness freak -"

" - ugh, that's because back in Equestria that's what ponies do for exercise, Flash. But that's not why I'm vegetarian. Coming from a world where ponies are all vegetarian by default, it wasn't like I even wanted to try it before I got here, it was just a non-idea."

"What does that even mean?"

"I dunno. You know how, sometimes, you go outside and you maybe see a lawn that needs mowing, and you think to yourself, wow, hey, I should just get down on my hands and knees and start chowing down on that bad boy? Y'know?"

"Uh... no? No, I don't."

"...Exactly. And it's the same for us ponies and eating meat. It's just not something that would have occurred to us to do. I mean..."

Sunset blushed, and Flash wondered if he should encourage her to tell this part of the story.

Ah, who was he kidding, of course he wanted to hear it.

"Go on...", he teased.

She looked up at him and bit her lip, before letting out a deep breath. "Okay. You're the only person I've told this to, right? And you cannot tell Princess Twilight if you see her again, or Starlight Glimmer if she comes to visit. Understood?"

"...Well, now I have to hear it," grinned Flash.

Sunset rolled her eyes. "After I'd been here for a couple months, and some of the cool kids took me out to that burger place - the one on Zacherle? I think they wanted to get me to join their club or something. Anyway, they took me out for a burger, and I thought, you know what? Buck it. And... I ordered a cheeseburger."

Flash wasn't really surprised; OK, so when they were dating, Sunset was always super strict about not eating meat and he'd always known better than to challenge her on it, but at the same time, she never was one for respecting the rules; there was no reason she'd apply the kind of strictness to being a vegetarian that she never applied to any other area of her life. But looking at her now, it was clear the confession meant a lot to her, and so rather than play it off in a jokey way, he just nodded, as sincerely and solemnly as he could, before urging her to continue:

"...And?"

"And?" frowned Sunset, momentarily actually pissed off. "I'm telling you a story about how I was about to eat a bucking dead cow in a sandwich. I was friends with cows back in Equestria."

"...I just meant, what happened? What did you do?"

"I got as far as putting it in my mouth, and then spat it out. It was bucking horrible."

"The idea of eating meat?"

"I guess, or maybe it's just, I dunno, something to do with my body. Whatever, it turns out I just can't cope with the way it feels when there's meat in my mouth."

Flash looked at her helplessly for a moment, and then burst out laughing. She looked at him for a second, and then realised what he was laughing about.

"Oh, real mature there," she said, shaking her head, but Flash could see a hint of a smile under the mock anger. "I keep forgetting you're, like, a teenager."

He calmed down and wiped his eyes, and then grabbed the phone to order them a large cheese pizza.

"...As if you'd ever get the chance to find out," she muttered under her breath, and she thought she heard his voice falter while he placed the order.

7:52pm

"No, no, no," laughed Sunset, taking another swig of however many beers that was now. "Nobody like that. I'm honestly not even sure she's interested in colts - in boys - other than you."

"You're not just saying that?", grinned Flash, but there was genuine hope behind his words.

"Princess Twilight and I write each other all the time, Flash, I've even been over there a few times since I made up with Princess Celestia - don't ask - and at no point has she ever even mentioned any cute... boys. Or mares. Girls. Anypony, in fact."

Sunset thought to herself.

"Although, there is a pony version of you over there. One of the royal guards in the Crystal Empire. Uh, again, don't ask. I've seen him a couple times. So, I mean... with two of you, and two of her, it could get awkward..."

She noticed Flash looking crestfallen, and leaned over to clink her beer bottle against his.

"Hey, hey, no moping now," she giggled, and Flash smiled. "You know how Princess Twilight and, uh, 'our' Twilight are, like, two totally different people, right? There's no reason to believe the same thing isn't true of you and, um, 'their' Flash Sentry. I mean, I don't know that I've ever even heard him speak before. And Twilight has never mentioned him in any of her letters."

She took a hold of his hand, suddenly sincere.

"Don't give up, OK?", she asked, and he looked into her eyes, and he nodded, and she smiled, and for a moment, just a moment, it was as good as it ever was.

Sunset smirked and pulled away, taking another swig from her bottle, and Flash blinked a couple of times to clear his head.

"Besides," she added, with more of an evil smirk than before, "...I've seen Derpy trailing around after you in school. You know you could totally ask her out, right?"

"I know," he mused, looking more intently at his beer than was strictly necessary. "She's actually a really nice girl, once you get to know her."

"Yeah," said Sunset. "She's very sweet. Weird, but sweet. And, hey, she's cute."

"Sunset..."

"What? It's true! She is! And I'm pretty sure she wants you. If you asked her out, I guarantee you could totally... win her heart, if you wanted to."

"I wondered what you were about to say, there."

"Pervert."

They both laughed.

"No," said Flash. "Not yet, anyway. She's a nice girl. Maybe that's why not... I mean, I don't know if Princess Twilight is ever going to come back again. But I'd feel like an asshole if I decided she wasn't ever coming back, and to start moving on like you said, and then I'd maybe be dating Derpy and things would be going great, and then suddenly she did come back, and... ugh."

"I know," said Sunset, not unkindly. "But Princess Twilight really is busy all the time. She's like a comic book superhero over there, saving the world on a regular basis... it really is a different world, and it's a big jump from there to here."

"You managed it, though," said Flash, and he meant it as a compliment.

"Kinda," said Sunset, thinking to herself. "But when I first came here, I spent my first years plotting how I was going to take over this world and then that one."

She paused, and looked down at the carpet. "There's still no way to say that without sounding like a total bitch," she frowned.

"You're not like that any more, Sunset. Everyone at CHS knows it." Flash lifted her chin with his hand, emboldened both by beer and by the motivation of cheering up his friend. "I know it. You're so much nicer now."

Sunset gave a little half-smile. "Thanks, Flash," she said, softly. "But that wasn't my point. I wasn't just saying I was evil - although, yeah, I was, no question - but that back in Equestria, that kind of thing actually happens a lot. There's always some demon or monster or pony who wants to take over the world, and Princess Twilight has to go out and stop them. Pretty much on an annual basis, really. I was one of them. Starlight was another one. That's just... that's just what it's like."

She took a bite of pizza, and looked over at their class project.

"It's... pretty different from here."

"So," said Flash, trying to lighten the mood. "Enough about Princess Twilight, and about me... what about you? Is there some guy at CHS you've got your eye on? Or that tall dude from the sushi place? He seems pretty cool."

She gave a snorting laugh, and jokingly pushed him to one side. "Flash! Pfft, no. I've made my home here, but... no, there's nopony like that around."

He didn't correct her.

"What about back in Equestria?", he asked. "There must be some... uh, colt? Back there who'd love to get to know you better...?"

"I've not even spent enough time there to get to know anypony that well," she said, pensively. "I mean... there are a lot of reasons why, if I was looking to start dating again, I might want to go and be with a pony. Nothing against humans," she hurriedly added, "but... it's not really the same. But right now I'm not even planning to move back to Equestria for a long time. Maybe not ever."

Flash nodded, and Sunset smiled, before standing up and walking over to the console again.

"I guess I'll look into scratching that itch when it comes to it. Hey, in the meantime, are you too full to play another game?"

"Sure, why not? What did you want to play this time?"

"Uh, I don't know... Ooh, Washouts Motocross Grand Prix? Are you any good?"

"I don't like to brag," smirked Flash, "but racing games are still kind of my thing..."

"You're on," said Sunset, with a wicked grin. "Best out of three. Loser has to... I don't know... do some stupid dare or something. You game?"

"I'll try not to beat you by too many laps," grinned Flash, as he put his beer down and grabbed the controller.

Hollow Shades Grand Prix Circuit
All Time World Rankings
1. sunsetshimmer01, 3:51.215
...
16. Fl@sh$entryCHS, 3:58.362

8:43pm

I can't believe I'm doing this, he thought, and gritted his teeth as he bent over and raised his backside up in the air.

"...Like...that?", muttered Flash, slightly out of breath from the physical exertion, his shoulders beginning to ache from holding up his weight as he thrust his hips back and forth.

"Almost. Now, lift your back up a bit. No, like... Like this," said Sunset, pushing him into position. "And move your hind leg - uh, I mean, your leg, your left leg - move it forward a little. Yeah, like that. I'll just move your jacket out of the way... And your foreleg, your arm, you need to plant that out... there."

"I look ridiculous," said Flash.

"No," said Sunset, holding back giggles. "Well, alright, yes, maybe a little. But it's only because you're a human and not a pony. It's also pretty good to see what you'd look like."

"The things I do for my friends," snorted Flash, in mock irritation.

"When you're dumb enough to bet you can beat them at motocross video games, and then they whup your ass, then, yeah, yes you do," laughed Sunset.

"Yeah, yeah. Are you going to be returning this favor when you're finished?"

"I already am, Flash. You see me posed like a human every single day. Or... wait, do you mean you want me as a pony too?"

"I want you down here on the floor with me, if that's what you're asking. If I'm gonna be doing something like this and be on all fours, I'm not doing it alone."

"...So forward!", she laughed, a proper, deep belly laugh this time.

"...Sunset..." he muttered, warningly.

"Oh, come on," she giggled, "I'm only teasing. Sure, of course I'll do it too. I'm just grateful for you going along with it. Here, let me take my boots off."

She bent to unzip her boot and slid it off her foot, while Flash just sat there, balancing on his hands and feet, hoping to every deity he could think of that nobody was going to suddenly barge in or see them through the window.

Sunset tossed her boots to one side, and crouched down in her socks.

"It's how I thought you all walked when I first came through the portal. The people who saw me that day probably thought I was crazy," she said, leaning forward, planting her balled-up fists on the floor. "Just trotting along, hunched over on my hands and feet... It's been years now and I still haven't quite got the hang of how to do that in high heeled boots."

Sunset leaned over and pressed herself into him, eliciting a surprised expression from Flash as she nuzzled him like... well, like a pony.

"Mmmm, Flash... This is nice. Thank you."

"...No, uh... problem?"

"You don't need to tremble like that," she giggled, a soft, murmuring sort of giggle as she grazed her cheek against his shoulder. "In Equestria, ponies do this all the time, just because they can. It doesn't have the, uh, overtones it would have for two humans doing it here."

"Good to know," said Flash, not feeling very reassured.

"...Do you know what I really miss, Flash?", she said, with a dreamy sigh.

"Uh... Sunset..."

"The closeness. Feeling another heart beating so close; feeling warm, and safe, and happy. Just being able to be... close to one another."

"You really miss Equestria sometimes, don't you?", said Flash.

"Mmmm... no... I mean, well, yeah, I do, but... I meant, about us being together, too."

"I don't... recall... us ever doing this when we were dating," he said, tentatively, trying to break the tension with a joke.

"Hey, you never knew I was a pony before," replied Sunset, still sounding like her mind was far away from Flash's bedroom. "...But I bet, if I'd asked, you'd have done this for me back then, too."

"Probably," said Flash, without thinking.

"See? You're a nice guy. And I bet you're only slightly thinking about how my ass is rubbing against yours right now."

"Sunset!!" barked Flash, and started to get to his feet, as Sunset burst out laughing.

"I'm joking, you dumbass," she laughed. "But don't deny you were thinking it a little bit!"

"I... Sunset, you... we... No!", mumbled Flash, flustered, fumbling for words.

"Oh, relax," she grinned, standing up herself. "That was really nice, Flash. I meant it when I said it's one of the things I miss about being a pony. Human society is so messed up sometimes, it's nice for me to just be able to remember I'm not one. And it's really nice to have a friend who helps me out like that."

She looked into his eyes.

"I mean it. Thank you."

"You're... welcome, Sunset," he said, visibly relaxing.

"...Of course," she mused to herself, fingers on her chin, "we usually aren't wearing clothes when we do that..."

The stunned expression on Flash's face was enough to set her off laughing hysterically one more time.

9:56pm

The bed creaked beneath them, as Flash and Sunset moved together, shifting their hips to get comfortable, Sunset getting used to her position on top.

"You can't tell me this isn't a little bit weird," said Flash, as his ex-girlfriend snuggled up next to him, draping herself over him, holding him close.

"Closeness...," she murmured. "Flash, you have no idea how long it's been since I've done this."

"I, uh... really?" he stammered.

"Yep," she replied, still somewhat dreamily. "In Equestria, ponies do this all the time, too. But since we broke up, I've hardly done it with anypony... anyone... at all."

"And in Equestria, this doesn't have... what was your word? Connotations?"

"Overtones," she corrected, and looked up at him before fixing him with a smirk. "And, oh no, this definitely would have... overtones. But lucky for you, it's just me, and so you know that's not what's happening."

"...uh... Do I know that?", asked Flash.

Sunset let out a sigh, half weary, half amused, before taking a deep breath.

"Okay. So, this is going to take some explaining, I guess. It's... It can be a sex thing for ponies, yes. But not so much as it probably is for a human, to have a female lie down with them on a bed like this. You see... well, for a pony, when you talk about, you know, 'sex', it means something a little bit different in Equestria, than it does here."

"What do you mean?", asked Flash, genuinely curious - but also deeply distracted by the fact he was cuddling his ex-girlfriend on his bed, the same bed where they'd once spent hours making out, the same bed where - more than once - she'd denied him the ultimate prize of getting into her panties, but given him the pretty awesome consolation prize of dry humping him until he was satisfied. However much their friendship now meant to him, Flash was still pretty conflicted that that same girl's lovely body was in the same bed, in almost the same position, and the memories that were flooding his mind (and... other places) were making it a little hard to concentrate.

"Um, okay. See, in Equestria, the average stallion only, uh, lasts about ten or twenty seconds, if that. And that's totally normal; if you're going to, well, buck..." - she stopped to correct herself - "I mean, fuck, the actual, uh, fucking only takes a very short time. So the view of sex that forms in that kind of society is kinda different from the way it developed here. Here, when you talk about sex... If somepony asked you if you'd had sex with me, you'd say no, because you mean the actual rutting, the penetration, whatever."

Flash squirmed uncomfortably, and Sunset gave him as close to a playful shove as she could manage while snuggled up with him.

"Hey, come on, we can talk about sex like grown-ups, right?"

"Right," said Flash, and stroked her shoulder; she apparently liked it, letting out something akin to a purr before carrying on. Flash idly wondered if that was a pony noise, or whether he'd just never managed to make a girl make that sound before.

"So... Over there, it's kind of expected that the stallion will pop almost straight away, that's just how it works. So, you do your rutting, and for the stallion, that's, like, the best part, but for the mare, that's just foreplay; it's really about being close afterwards, about the stallion touching you, talking to you, holding you, teasing you, playing with you, and then bringing you off with his hooves, maybe a toy... for a mare, that's the real sex, not the in-and-out part that humans are fixated on. I think it's one of the reasons so many Equestrian mares end up sharing a bed; some ponies just prefer the real sex to that sweaty pumping stuff..."

Flash squirmed again. Sunset holding him this close, talking about lesbian ponies bringing each other off, was not helping him to keep this as strictly platonic as he'd initially promised himself.

"But over here, it's more about enjoying the actual intercourse itself, together," said Sunset. "Er, I mean, from what I've... read," she added.

"So... the times when we... like this? For you, that was like... we...?" He didn't finish his sentence, and Sunset didn't need him to.

"Kind of. More than you did, I think."

They both paused, just listening to each other's breath, Sunset making herself comfortable against his chest, her vivid red and yellow hair filling his vision.

"Do you wish you could go back more?", he asked, taking her a little by surprise. "For... for sex, I mean?"

She paused before answering, idly trailing her fingers across his chest and shoulder as she thought about her response.

"Not really," she eventually said. "For one thing... well, Equestria has yet to develop a non-magic powered vibrator. There are some... toys... made out of ceramic, or polished wood, and some of them have a wind-up clockwork mechanism, but honestly, this world is so far ahead of that kind of thing..."

Flash couldn't resist, and decided to try and break the tension with a joke insult. "You'd know, huh? Lot of field research involved, I guess?"

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up," she snorted, but he thought he could hear a smile on her face. "No, see, for a mare... most of our erogenous zones are in a different place to a human female. Our, um, lips are a lot more sensitive, and we have very different muscle control... down there. We, uh, wink."

A shiver ran down Sunset's spine as she said the words, and then...

...They both felt it at the same time.

"Sunset, I'm..."

"No, it's... it's OK. It's nobody's fault."

"You were just... the talk about your, uh, lips, and... I'm sorry."

"It's. Nobody's. Fault.", she insisted. "Anyway, it's natural. I... I'm sorry, Flash. This is selfish of me. I really didn't mean to get you... aroused with all this talk."

His erection pulsed against his pants, and he knew she had to have felt it.

"I'm really sorry..."

"You don't need to be, Flash. Maybe most girls would have gotten up, or run away, by now. But, as I think you already know, I'm not most girls. So I say... don't sweat it. I'm enjoying lying here, you're obviously enjoying me lying on you, who's complaining?"

She looked up at him with an adorable smile, and his resolve completely melted away.

"Just... maybe stop the talk about, you know, down there?", he asked, pleadingly.

"What? Why be ashamed? If anything I'm the one who should be embarrassed."

"What do you mean?", asked Flash.

"Well, the truth is, I don't actually know if I'm... I mean, since I came through the portal... I asked Princess Twilight about it, and -"

Another big throb, at the mention of that name. They both felt it. They both ignored it.

"...the truth is, nobody can give me real answers. I don't know if I'm... biologically... a human woman, or a pony. No matter the outside appearances, I don't know if, um..."

She took a deep breath, and let it out slowly.

"...I don't know if I have human genitals. Okay?"

Flash blinked a few times, before realising his ex-girlfriend - and now Just A Good Friend - was really opening herself up to him here, and that he ought to say something reassuring. Words flashed across his mind, forming dumb questions and dumb sentences -

How can you not know?
Can't you see for yourself?
It's OK, I don't mind if you have horse parts!

before he rejected them all for being stupid or insensitive or just plain unhelpful. He settled for stroking Sunset's hair, and just letting her know it was OK.

"Thank you for telling me. That can't have been easy," he said, surprising himself.

"It's... I mean, I might, you know? But there's only so much you can see in a mirror, and it's obviously not a question I've asked anyone else. And no," she added, before he could say it, "I'm not asking you to take a look for me, either."

"No, I... that's okay," he muttered. "But... you haven't, uh, compared yourself to other girls, in all the time you've been here? Not even in the showers?"

"Your mind is going places, huh?", she teased. "Well, I couldn't exactly go examining the other girls, you know? I mean, I was trying to build a fearsome reputation as the school's alpha bitch, I wasn't going to give anyone potential leverage; not once I discovered there was more of a taboo over being a fillyf- I mean, a lesbian, here. No matter how powerful I was throughout the school, I couldn't exactly have asked some girl to bend over after gym class and let me have a good look, just because they were scared of me."

She paused, and thought to herself.

"Well, I probably could have with some of them. I bet Fluttershy totally would have..."

Another highly noticeable throb, another studious attempt to ignore it.

"Is that why we never...", asked Flash, pieces of the puzzle falling into place.

"Oh, no," said Sunset, a little too quickly. "No, I totally wouldn't have put out anyway. I was just enjoying being a total bitch."

A pause.

"Well, that came out wrong," she said, burying her face in his shoulder.

Flash decided to rescue her again before she fell back down that particular rabbit hole.

"I know what you mean, but... I mean, yeah, you were, but you're so much nicer now. And, you know what? I always liked it when we were together like this, anyway. Besides anything else... you were hot." He smirked, and was rewarded with a giggle, before she leaned up and looked at him, a serious expression on her face.

"Flash?", she asked, and her voice sounded more sincere than at any point in the evening so far. "Do you... I was gonna ask, do you still think I'm hot? But... that would be a stupid question. You obviously do..."

"I... Yes, Sunset, of course I do..."

She looked at him, gazing into his eyes, and his memories started to kick in, memories of all the times he spent staring back into those pretty eyes, how - even though he hadn't realised it at the time - it was now obvious she was looking at him through eyes that had seen other worlds, magical things, unbelievable things, and now stared at him with the same level of wisdom and wonder...

"Pervert," she snorted, and started to laugh uproariously.

"Sunset?!" he stammered.

"I just told you, I'm a pony. Maybe even anatomically," she giggled, holding him close as she laughed into his chest. "Is that it? You have a thing for horses?"

"...Ha! You can talk," he smirked back, recovering his senses, suddenly realising Sunset was trying to break the spell that was descending on him, and grateful for the out.

Sunset punched Flash in the arm, somewhat ineffectively from her position snuggled against him.

"...Yeah, well, what I just said about my pussy? That goes for Princess Twilight too, by the way, horsefucker. Sorry to ruin all your best go-to spank bank fantasies."

Flash adopted a comically wounded expression. "That's harsh, Sunset."

She stopped laughing, and looked up at him again.

"I'm sorry," she said, suddenly contrite, as she snuggled back up to him. "Really I am, I didn't mean to tease."

She thought to herself, and then a wicked smile spread across her face, as a fun idea hit her.

"Hey, glass half full, maybe if you get her into bed one day, you can do some exploring together. Sounds kinda fun..."

She trailed a hand over the crotch of his pants, and lingered there for a moment, feeling his lengthening shaft through the fabric.

"Sunset...", he growled.

"Speaking of fun...," she said, ignoring his protest, "...and the old days... I'm guessing you remember some of the things we did used to do...?

"Sunset," he said, more firmly. "I can't... I'm not gonna pretend this doesn't feel good. But... I think... We're friends now. I just... it would be a huge mistake if we tried to do... anything."

"But I just said..." snorted Sunset, apparently annoyed. "OK, if you want me to spell it out... we can't rut, because I don't know if we're even... compatible in that way."

"I didn't mean that!", said Flash, indignant. "I just meant, look, you asked me a question and I answered it - yes, you are still very attractive! That doesn't mean I want to have sex with you!"

There was a pause.

"...I didn't say sex," said Sunset, slowly. "I said rut. I already explained... to a pony, they aren't the same thing."

An eternity passed, as Flash processed everything Sunset had told him tonight about ponies, about intimacy, about how they view sex. About how Sunset viewed sex. About how Sunset hadn't had "sex" for a long time. And neither had Flash. And...

"We, uh, probably shouldn't...", he said, aware that he was more filling up the silence with words than making any kind of real argument.

"Eh, who's gonna get hurt?," she murmured, her stroking getting noticeably bolder, and bringing an equally noticeable response. "You're single... I'm single... we're just friends. Friends can do..."

She trailed her hand up and down his cock, tracing its outline through his pants, thicker and harder and hotter than before, straining for a release he didn't want to grant it...

"...this kind of stuff," she breathed, and kissed his neck as she stroked him.

"I should really get up...", muttered Flash, as Sunset trailed kisses along his jawline.

"You aren't, though," she murmured in his ear, as she continued to gently squeeze him through his pants.

"...I know."

Sunset seemed to take that as confirmation, because she sat up on the bed and let go of his equipment; for a moment, Flash thought she was stopping, and realised he didn't want her to, automatically humping at the air as her touch left his swollen shaft. Instead, his jaw dropped, as Sunset reached down to grab the hem of her T-shirt, peeling it up and off, over her head, her hair, tossing it to one side as Flash took in every detail of her bust now only constrained by her bra. He might have thought it disappointingly plain, utilitarian, except that it had Sunset's tits in it, and so it was all he could think about for the moment.

"I don't think it'll matter too much... just this once," she whispered, clambering back into position. "Between friends."

"Friends..." repeated Flash, murmuring, as he stared at her breasts, watching as they gently swung together while she leaned forward...

"Friends... helping each other out," murmured Sunset. "Friends can help each other..."

Sunset swung her leg over him, flexing her sock-covered foot as she stretched her leg out.

"You still like that, huh?", she said, audibly panting now. However excited Flash was, Sunset seemed even more so, biting her lip as she melted into something approaching a pose for him.

Flash was blushing, hard. "You always had great legs..."

"Had? Why, Flash Sentry, you're so smooth I'm surprised I didn't have to fight off a whole pile of ladies to get to your bed," she snorted, before nuzzling close to him and whispering in his ear. "I'm glad you still think so. It's... nice to hear it."

She lay down beside him, and resumed her kissing and stroking, before rolling her hips over his groin.

"Sunset..." he croaked... "are you sure... about..."

"It's OK...", she said, lying on top of him now, flexing her muscles against him, rubbing her own crotch against his thigh. "I want to."

"But... Sunset..."

His resolve was on the verge of cracking, as she nuzzled into his neck and started to kiss him, pressing her breasts into his arm; warm, and soft, and squishy... he forced out one last question, still searching out the last piece of the puzzle...

"...why...?"

She paused her kisses, and her humping slowed to a steady grind, but it didn't stop as she gripped at his thigh with her knees, forcing his cock between them, wrapped in soft underwear as she continued to rub herself against it.

"...I dunno?", she said, panting. "Maybe I feel bad because of how I treated you when we were dating, and I want to make it up to you. Maybe I just want you to feel good, and this is something I know you'd like. Maybe I need the validation, the knowledge that I gave someone else some pleasure. Maybe I just get off from helping other people get off, especially people I really like, people I can trust being close to. Maybe it's been a while for me too and I miss that extra level of intimacy. Maybe it just feels really fucking good humping your leg like this. Does it have to mean anything? Can't I just... can't I just do this, for the sake of doing this?"

"It's... gonna be weird after....", he said, admitting defeat as she leaned up to kiss him on the lips.

"No, it's not," she said, grinding her hips against his erection. "I promise."

She kissed him, and he opened his mouth and let their tongues dance as she ground on him, unashamedly now, moaning into his kiss, dragging her hips up and down as she humped at him, trapping his cock in his underwear as she rolled it against her thigh.

Sunset broke away for a gasping breath, wiping the saliva from her lips, and looked into his eyes for a moment; he was under her spell, she knew it, and if she'd wanted to, she realised she could make him hers once more, take this triumphant moment and just take him for herself, victorious, make him forget all about Princess Twilight, or Derpy, or any other girl who might want him... all hers, his utter arousal all too obvious beneath her, that lovely human penis rock hard and straining at his pants...

No.

It wasn't fair. She'd promised it wouldn't be weird afterwards. Everything she'd said was true; they weren't compatible as a couple, and besides, if he belonged to anyone, it was Twilight. Sure, she could string him along for a few months, maybe make him miserable in the process, but to what end? Chalk up one more human who hated her?

Or, she could just commit to the moment, enjoy herself, and make it good for him.

She sat up, smiled at him as he stared, confused, and reached back to unhook her bra.

Flash had never seen Sunset topless before, and he actually let out a stifled moan as her bra cups fell away, revealing her stunning breasts, firm and round, bigger than he'd imagined all those times he'd dreamed of her, topped with beautiful dark red nipples, rock hard with arousal, with anticipation. He realised he was automatically moving up to kiss them, mouth still hanging open, his tongue on autopilot; Sunset grinned, and leaned forward to press one breast towards him, letting him take her nipple in his mouth, closing her eyes and sighing in pleasure as she felt him suckle on her bare tit, his tongue rolling and licking and sucking her harder, the occasional nip from his teeth making her give a surprised moan...

Sunset, don't you dare whinny, she thought to herself -

...and then she pulled her breast from his mouth and straddled his leg again, gently taking his hand in hers and placing it on her breast as she lay down on top of him again, pulling up his shirt, stroking his chest, kissing him as she used his hand to tweak her nipple and massage her bare breast, letting go as he got the idea for himself, grinding up against his dick as she stroked his hair, feeling him kneading her titflesh with urgent need, squeezing and probing with his fingers... Celestia, she fucking loved fingers...

"...Sunset..." he panted, between kisses; "Sunset, I'm..."

"Shhh," she said, pressing her head into his neck and humping him as tightly as she could, rolling her hips to massage his cocooned shaft through his pants. "It's okay. It's okay. You can cum. Please, Flash, I want you to."

She kissed him again, and then reached down to grab his ass, pressing his groin against her body, shivering in pleasure as her bare breasts squashed against him, dragging her nipples against his chest, flexing herself against him as if they were really fucking, and just for that split second, it was easy for them both to imagine that was true.

"Cum for me, baby," she whispered, and Flash did as he was told.

He lifted his hips clear off the bed as his cock spurted against her, feeling the heat radiating from her through her jeans, through her panties as he came... or maybe he just imagined it, but her tender, rocking motions never stopped as he kept on cumming, she never ceased the soft brushing of her fingers through his hair, her lips on his chin, her breathy whispers in his ear, telling him over and over that it was OK, that he was doing good, that she liked it, that she wanted it.

And when he collapsed down onto the bed, spent, his cock softening, sticky and soaked through, she didn't get up straight away; she snuggled up to him, whispering that he was a good boy and that she'd needed that, too, between kisses and nibbles, and he placed a hand on her bare, sweaty back and just held her close, bare chest to bare chest, rising and falling and happy.

..."I should get changed," said Flash, the cum in his pants congealing, cooling, becoming uncomfortable.

..."Probably", said Sunset, with a little smirk. "You might want to get those in the laundry," she said, gesturing to the very visible wet splotch that covered his groin.

"Are you... are we... are you OK?", he asked, the concern in his voice

"I'll be fine," she said, still dabbing at the barely-visible wet patch on her own jeans. "This will wash right out. It's not too obvious if I pull my shirt down a little more, so I should be able to make it home without anyone asking about it."

"I didn't mean that," said Flash, looking her in the eye.

"...I know," said Sunset, and she stroked him on the shoulder. "And yes, Flash, I'm fine. When I said I was OK with this being a one-time thing, just friends helping each other out... I meant it. I had a nice time tonight. But it doesn't have to be more than that. I'm fine with that. It's gonna be OK."

"...I believe you," he said, and Sunset leaned forward to give him a big, tight hug, sticky pants or not.

"Tell you what," she said, after untold minutes had passed; neither of them was quite sure how long had elapsed since the hug began, but Flash could feel that the cum in his pants was now decidedly cold. "You get yourself cleaned up, and I'll go downstairs and warm up what's left of the pizza. Maybe we can squeeze in another race before you call me a cab. OK?"

She kissed him on the cheek.

"Unless you're worried I'll kick your ass again. Horsefucker."

She gave him a massive smile, before turning and leaving the bedroom to bounce off down the stairs.

Flash looked up after her for a moment, hearing her heels stomping on the way down, before shaking his head and starting to unbuckle his pants. She's nuts, he thought.

What else is new?, he thought.

That was awesome, he thought.

...Maybe everything really would be OK after all.