Purple and red never seemed to go well together, despite both being beautiful colors that were so close to each other in the color spectrum. Sunset Shimmer wasn't exactly the expert on how to complement accents when picking out her wardrobe, even though she had spent such a large part of her life trying to become someone that everyone noticed. As she sifted through her closet, pulling out every color combination she could think of, nothing seemed to look good together, despite the summer season allowing her so many more options than normal.
“How do you like these?” Sunset asked, turning around with an awkward grin, holding up a pair of denim shorts and a tight, orange tanktop that were so basic they could theoretically work well with any outfit. “Does it scream ‘summertime’ to you?”
As she attempted to seem like she was legitimately excited about the outfit, she looked straight towards another girl her age, laying sideways on her bed with her cheek in her hand. “Hmm?” the girl mumbled, breaking from her train of thought to slowly turn towards the flame-haired girl, displaying the outfit with an expression that also displayed the lack of confidence in her selection. “Oh, yes. Sorry. Those work wonderful together.”
“You think so?” Upon releasing a breath she didn't know she was holding in, she turned back toward the outfit with a relieved smile on her face, although that quickly faded once again the moment she realized how basic the combination was, something Rarity would normally not approve of so easily. Normally, just the idea of fixing her up with the hot new Canterlot trends would inspire her into a flurry of different options she could select, but for some reason, she barely even seemed to notice they were talking about fashion in the first place. “Uh… Rarity?”
“Hmm? Oh! I'm sorry, Sunset. I must have been daydreaming again. Now, what were you saying about your outfit?”
“Nothing. It doesn't matter,” Sunset replied, trying to smile as if Rarity's indifference wasn't important, even though her face was beginning to gradually lose its enthusiasm. Then, placing her clothes back into her dresser drawers, she sat down at the foot of her bed, looking into Rarity's baby blue eyes, which were again drifting to the corner of Sunset Shimmer's bedroom. “Hey, what are you thinking about?”
“It's nothing really.” Then, taking a deep breath in through her nose, the fair-skinned beauty put on a large smile, the kind so starkly contrasted with her earlier expression that any average person could easily see through its façade, let alone the girl who knew her better than anyone. “So! How about that café you mentioned earlier? I know it's late, but there's a good chance they're still open.”
“Or! Maybe you could tell me what's really going on.”
Rarity cringed while Sunset stared back at her with one eyebrow raised, smirking as if she somehow knew all her problems already and was just trying to get her to say them aloud. With her lower lip trembling, however, Rarity smiled again, although this time was much less convincing than even her previous attempt. “It's really nothing, darling.”
“Well, obviously it's something important to you for you to be acting like this.” As Rarity dropped eye contact again, Sunset scooched herself closer to her girlfriend, sitting directly behind her as Rarity laid sideways, staring at the floor in discomfort. Then, rubbing Rarity's arm, Sunset said, “You know you can tell me anything. I'm not gonna force you to say anything, but we both know I'm gonna tickle you if you don't.”
Just as Sunset was beginning to place her fingers underneath Rarity's arms, however, Rarity jerked herself away, holding her hand up while exclaiming, “Stop!” Both girls then froze, confused and startled by Rarity's outburst as the light-skinned teenager tried to calm down her expression of anger and annoyance.
“OK,” Sunset said, sitting up cross-legged and giving her girlfriend a stern look with an authoritative tone. “We're talking about it.”
“Please, Sunset! Will you just drop it, already?”
“No! You've been acting weird all day. I tried to give you your space, but it's obviously something that's not going away unless we talk about it.”
Rarity groaned, rolling her eyes and sitting herself up on Sunset's bed. “OK. You want to talk about it? Let's talk about it. Do you remember when we first became friends?”
“Yeah, it was after I turned into a she-demon and tried to brainwash all the students at school so I could create an army to take over the world. Thanks for reminding me, by the way.”
“Oh, puhlease! That's ancient history at this point. What I'm trying to say is, how long was it after that before we started dating?”
“I dunno. A couple weeks?”
“Exactly! Don't you think we rushed into things a bit?”
“No. We both really liked each other, so we started dating. There's no time frame for how long you have to be friends with someone before you can be in a relationship with them.” Just then, however, a lightbulb went off over Sunset's head, causing her to squint her eyes and lean closer towards Rarity. “Wait. What are you trying to say?”
“I just said it, darling. I think we may have rushed into things without knowing what we were doing.”
Then, after taking a few moments for the message to sink in, Sunset shook her head, making awkward grunts as she tried to figure out how to even respond to something like that. “Uh, newsflash, darling. Nobody knows what they're getting into when they start dating. That's kinda half the fun of being in a relationship in the first place.”
“Fine,” Rarity replied with shortness in her voice. “You're right. I'm sorry the thought even crossed my mind. Now can we please just drop this whole conversation?”
“No, it's not fine! How do I know we're not just going to have this same exact talk later down the road?”
Rarity was now beginning to speak through gritted teeth, seemingly trying to hold back the frustration within her as she attempted to remain polite in an otherwise infuriating conversation. “Because we're not going to bring it up again.”
Sunset sighed in irritation, looking away and shaking her head while throwing her hands defeatedly into her lap. “Rarity… What made you fall in love with me in the first place?”
“...Love is a rather strong word, darling…”
Just as Sunset jerked her head towards Rarity again, she saw that Rarity was looking away again, her eyes growing red while she breathed in heavily, holding back the water that threatened to fall out of her eyelids. Sunset's heart was beginning to jump around in her chest, but not in the way she was used to experiencing with Rarity. This time, it was just pain.
“OK,” Sunset continued, trying to keep herself calm. “What made you start to like me in the first place?”
“You were exciting,” Rarity said, holding her palm to her mouth as her cheeks gripped her eyes, forcing the tears back for as long as she could. “You were rebellious. You were strong. You took things into your own hands, and even after you had to start over from scratch, you remained hopeful. I saw an adventure when I was with you, and I didn't realize how much of a commitment that adventure would entail.”
A single tear then fell down Rarity's cheek along with a small, audible breath through her nose. Then, in an attempt to cool herself down before she made her girlfriend feel even worse, Sunset took in a deep breath of her own while giving Rarity a smile, simultaneously trying to choke back her own sadness.
“Are you saying you don't feel those things when you're with me anymore?”
Rarity opened her mouth to speak, but after a few moments of nothing but silence, she awkwardly released a pitiful laugh, followed by streams of tears falling down her face. “I'm sorry.” Then, with her chest bouncing from her sobs, Rarity buried her entire face into her hands, shielding Sunset from her state of despair as best she could, even though Sunset could still hear how much she was sniffing between her tears. “I'm so sorry.”
As Sunset looked down at her girlfriend crying into her palms, however, streams of liquid then fell down her own face while her lower lip quivered. “Don't be sorry,” Sunset replied, rubbing Rarity's arm while trying not to convey the pain in her chest through her voice. “But… did I… did I do something wrong?”
Rarity then pulled herself up to meet Sunset's eyes, shaking her head furiously. “No, I promise it's not you! I just… I'm sorry, Sunset! I just don't--” A sob cut her off before she could complete her sentence, but she quickly took in another breath, and putting on the bravest face she could, she said, “I just don't feel that spark anymore.”
Sunset nodded, biting onto her lower lip and momentarily looking away from Rarity's eyes. “So are you saying… that you want to break up with me?”
As soon as Sunset asked the question, Rarity buried her face into her hands again, wailing tears into her palms. “I don't want to, darling! Please, believe me when I tell you that the magic just isn't there anymore!”
“So… that's it? There's nothing I can do? We're just over?”
Again, Rarity cried audibly, leaving Sunset to swallow her emotions while trying to be the strong one in the relationship, even though at the moment, it sounded like the relationship was officially over. The flame-haired girl then pushed herself off of her bed, turning her back to Rarity while walking away, discreetly wiping her tears away from her emotional face.
“Sunset? Where are you going?”
“I… I don't know… On a walk, I guess.”
“Oh… OK.”
Sunset waited for Rarity to stop her, for her to get off of the bed and wrap Sunset in a giant hug, somehow realizing how much the relationship really meant to her, but that moment never came. Instead, as Sunset walked to her bedroom door, the only sounds she heard were Rarity's sobs trickling down to small sniffs, making Sunset wonder whether or not she really wanted Rarity to calm down. When the fair-skinned teenager was bawling her eyes out, it gave Sunset hope that maybe she would come to her senses and fall in love with her all over again, but now, it seemed like since she was beginning to calm down, the break up was becoming more and more official. Sunset grabbed onto her aching chest, wincing from both the emotional and physical pain in her heart.
“Will you still be here when I get back?” Sunset asked, still trying to look back at her now ex-girlfriend.
Rarity, however, breathed out a long sigh, allowing all the pent up emotions to finally make their way out of her body. “I think it's for the best that I leave.”
“Oh… Yeah, I guess you're right.”
Sunset wanted to object, to beg her to stay for just a little while longer, just so she could salvage the last moments of their relationship as long as she could, but Rarity, it seemed, was ready to be done with her. Sunset had given her the adventure she was looking for, and now Rarity was looking to move onto the next exciting step in her life. Even though she didn't want to admit it, Sunset felt that that meant she just wasn't enough for Rarity, that she had somehow failed as a girlfriend and was getting the punishment for not trying hard enough. Rarity wasn't any average girl, after all; she deserved the best, and the best, it seemed, just wasn't Sunset Shimmer.
Finally, after waiting at the doorway for several moments, gripping onto the wooden frame while she gazed sadly into the hallway, the purple-haired girl pulled herself away from Sunset's bed, walking over to excuse herself from the flame-haired girl’s home. Before she left, though, she wrapped her arms around Sunset's waist, making Sunset's eyes go wide before squeezing tight together again, attempting to once again quell the liquid despair behind her eyelids. The two of them stood there for several long seconds, both of them looking down at the floor, knowing that they would probably never be this close ever again. Finally, though, Rarity released Sunset from her grip, and walking past her into the hallway, she looked back at her ex, gave her the best smile she could, and said, “Thank you… For everything. And by the way, I really do think you would look cute in that outfit.”
“Thanks,” Sunset replied, breaking eye contact again as an awkward silence filled the air, giving Rarity the final hint she needed to make her exit.
“Well… I'll see you in the fall. Have a good summer.”
“Yeah. You too.”
Then, with a final smile, Rarity made her way down the steps, leaving Sunset in the doorway until she eventually heard the front door close, and with all her emotions building up once again, she fell back into the door post and slid down to her haunches, bawling her face into her hands. It was officially over, even though when the day started, she felt like everything between them was going perfectly. Just minutes ago, Sunset honestly believed she was the luckiest girl in the whole world, but in that moment, she realized that she was just as average as every other girl in Canterlot.
Sunset had never once taken for granted how happy she was with Rarity, but now that she was officially gone, it felt like she would never be happy again. Then, with her back against the wall, she continued to cry her aching heart into her empty room. This was going to be the longest summer of her entire life.
Author's Note
Let me know what your thoughts are in the comments! If this story gets a decent response, I'll think about possibly submitting it to Equestria Daily.
