Sunset Shimmers Apartment

Sunset Shimmer had always fancied herself as a girl who knew what she wanted and why she wanted it or at the very least she had begun to see herself that way in the past decade since her reformation. Long gone was the petty, bratty, stuck up princess wannabe that was the Sunset Shimmer who had first arrived in Canterlot and had taken Canterlot High School as her pseudo castle. Sure, Sunset still had her temper, she could be a bit of a brat still but in an endearing sort of way, she was only petty towards people she REALLY didn't like or who threatened her friends and she was widely regarded to be a sort of princess among the Canterlot community now so everything checked out.

She had learned the true magic of friendship on that night where she had lost all semblance of control and power to the six magical girls she now called her friends. Even though she didn't get to visit Princess Twilight much these days what with her being the new grand ruler of Equestria with the retirement of Celestia and Luna; she still wrote the princess of friendship every single day. Whenever she had the time she would hop through the portal and visit Ponyville as well as travel to Canterlot to see Twilight herself and the rest of her friends on the other side of the mirror. She always enjoyed her visits home as it was nice to be in her natural body every once in awhile even though she honestly much preferred her human form now thanks to having adapted to so much time in it.

'I'm so thankful for all the friendships I've made in the past ten years even after we graduated I still haven't stopped making friends...so why the Hell do I feel so lonely right now?'

Sunset thought to herself as she was even currently playing a game online with two of her friends right at this very moment. Maybe it was because her friends weren't physically sitting next to her but it didn't quite fit. No she felt lonely for a different reason but couldn't quite place why. Although she wasn't gonna let those random thoughts distract her from the game at hand as she kept a firm grip on her controller and her eyes glued to her plasma screen television. She was currently dressed in red short shorts, no socks, a black t-shirt that read 'Best Girl' on it that she won back in Highschool before graduating when she was voted best girl of senior year.

Sitting with her legs crossed on her couch she vigorously mashed the buttons on her controller as the sounds of gunfire and explosions went off in her ears through the headset she was wearing. Currently she was playing Daring Do 4: Thieves Requiem with Rainbow Dash and Sci-Twi and they were both trying to cover and help Twilight who was new to playing the game having never been much of a gamer herself but she wanted to try playing games other than chess or Tetris.

She was a big fan of the Daring Do books and movies and so when she had discovered there was a popular video game series that somehow flew over her head? She was quick to buy a system and a copy of the game eager to play the story all the way through first as that was the selling point of the game and it went without saying that the nerdy girl fell in love with the game after binge playing the entire saga of games in just a few days.

Not to say she was that good at the game since her aim needed some work however even for a beginner playing in team deathmatch? Twilight was doing alright for herself and that made Sunset proud that her geeky friend was having fun and breaking out of her shell more and more. Rainbow Dash was more of a loner type player who often tried to assist everyone so long as they were pulling their weight and they were loyal teammates, so as expected she was running around the map with a special speed mod she'd earned from hours of gameplay just racking up kill streaks left and right.

"Sheesh, Dash leave some enemies for us will ya; Twi is trying to raise her K.D. ratio so she can level up." Sunset teased as she sniped an opponent from across the map to save Twilight from getting snuck from behind by an approaching enemy. "Thank me later Twi~"

"Gyah! Crap baskets I didn't see that guy! Ugh it's so hard to tell when some people are coming, how do they keep sneaking up on me? Is that a mod?" Twilight asked in her usual geeky tone albeit more flustered than usual as she was trying to cover ground and take out as many enemies as she could without constantly being killed. So far she sat at a 8 kill to 6 death ratio and for the ever studious and perfectionist Twilight? That would not do!

"Yeah it's called sneak step, its unlocked at level 12 and it allows you to sneak up on any opponent when your within at least 2 feet of them and it silently charges their grapple hook melee so you gotta be careful." Rainbow Dash replied as she controlled her character running to help support Twilight since she clearly was in need of it.

"Oh well no wonder I haven't gotten it yet I'm only level 10. Ugh grinding for XP in this multiplayer is annoyingly tedious!" Twilight huffed as she hid behind cover and yelped when she noticed a landmine was hidden where she took cover and her character was now downed and in need of aid. "OH C'MON!"

"Don't worry Twi I'm on my way with a med pack" Sunset said as she rushed to go help her friend.

"We told you to always check cover for mines Egghead." Rainbow sassed.

"I did! There wasn't a mine planted there a moment ago when I checked this area for enemies!" Twilight whined as she waited to get revived. How could she have possibly missed it?! She was being so careful!

"Someone probably used the mine launcher then. Thing is broken so it's probably being used by some elite player...that isn't me." Rainbow boasted with a grin as she kept racking up her kill count.

"Gotcha Twi." Sunset stated as she got within range to throw a fast healing medic pack at Twilight whose character stood up and this also replenished her ammo.

"Thanks Sunny. Oh just wait until I can pull the rapid fire shotgun from the heavy menu!" Twilight snapped with a little magic echo in her voice as she managed to impressively down and kill three enemies first with a well placed grenade and then finishing them with her normal Spaz-12 shotgun. "Ha! Suck it elitists!"

"Hehehe careful Sparky; Midnight is showing. But nice kill though! Triple threat; Nice." Sunset semi warned but also praised Twilight. The girl still had a little trouble balancing out her brilliance with the raw power of Midnight Sparkle and sometimes that side of her manifested when she got really excited or upset. Sunset herself had a similar issue only it was double for her since she had her demon half and her angelic half to contend with.

"Sorry but those three have been hunting and killing me the entire match! Who are they anyway!?" Twilight asked demanding to know who the jerks were that kept trying to kill her on the opposing team. It was almost like they had a grudge.

"I'unno. You're only level 10 so maybe they just like fresh meat. Elite players can be assholes." Rainbow said as she took a sniper post across the map in a crows nest.

"Heh you would know." Sunset sassed as she ran to Twilight's side.

"Suck my dick sun-butt" Rainbow said nonchalantly.

"Didn't know you had one; thought AJ was the group dick-girl?" Sunset snarked back.

Rainbow had not been ready for the response because at the moment of hearing that she was drinking a soda and she spat it out as she sputtered, coughed and laughed. "F-Fuck you!"

"Sure c'mon over if you want" Sunset kept teased adding a playful bit of kinkiness to her voice as she made it sound like she was touching herself to mess with Rainbow. "I'm like mmmmm so ready if you really wanna come over and mash my button for the high score."

Rainbow semi groaned and laughed. "You're almost as bad as Pinkie with your puns I swear."

"Oh my..." Twilight said over her headset clearly blushed and flustered by Sunset more than Rainbow was.

"Hehehe sorry Twi; I couldn't help it. I'm a baaaaad little pony." Sunset laughed as she kicked her feet playfully as she turned over on her couch now laying on her breasts and stomach as she looked at her TV as they continued the match and tried to finish it.

"And as such you should get a spanking but my magic can't reach that far." Twilight teased back in a rare show of confidence. It wasn't often she 'fought back' in a sense against the girls teasing whenever they would poke fun at her nerdy tendencies or her ability to be easily flustered but when she did? Sunset took every chance to enjoy it.

Smirking to herself she decided to play along. "Oh? Pft well I bet you wouldn't even spank me if you WERE here."

Twilight scoffed and could almost be heard adjusting her glasses. "Is that a challenge?"

Sunset smirked to herself still and licked her lips too liking where this was apparently going. "You accepting?"

"Oh just fuck already! Seriously how in the fuck aren't you two dating yet?!" Rainbow felt like she had to say it, the tension between these two was hot enough to melt a hole in the fabric of the universe and she couldn't take them not being together anymore. Rarity had AJ, She had Shy; Pinkie was single and so were the eggheads. That changed today so help her God.

There was a long pause as the game continued on and each of them kept controlling their characters without saying a word. Twilight and Sunset obviously thinking this over probably following a similar line of thinking to Rainbow Dash. Why HADN'T they tried dating each other? And why up till now had they waited so long to consider it? It was very clear and obvious the two had strong feelings for one another that could easily push past friendship. So why hadn't that push been made?

As the match continued and finally finished with their teaming the taking the win reaching the kill goal of 60 within the 10 minute timeframe. After the match was over and they all returned to their private game lobby it was Twilight who would speak up first and she had a sheepish tone in her voice.

"Um I suppose after Timber and I broke up after what happened-" She didn't like to talk about it, both because it was embarrassing and the memory of it and the thought of it possibly happening again frightened her.

"Yeah gotta say it sucks that you were really about to get on it but he got scared off by-" Rainbow was about to address what had happened but Twilight quickly cut her off.

"I KNOW...what happened. and it's because of that I am scared to get to intimate with anyone again. Sure it was a few years ago now but..."

"Dash? Could you give me and Twi the party please. We need to have a talk." Sunset used her polite serious tone letting Rainbow know that she needed to speak to Twilight privately.

Knowing the tone in which she spoke and the implications of it, she gave what sounded like a relived sigh. "Right, we can play again another time. I'm gonna hit up Scoots and hit the skate park anyway. Peace girls."

"See ya Dash, tell Scoots I said hi and that I'll do that spray paint job on her scooter later this week." Sunset said in a kind tone reminding Rainbow Dash to pass a message along to Scootaloo.

"Gotcha, see ya Twi. Chin up alright? Sunny's gotcha. Don't ya?" Rainbow said knowing what Sunset's answer would be.

"You bet I do."

"Okay. Bye Dash."

-Dashie_Rainboom has Left the Party-

Sunset would take a moment to gather herself, sitting up straight in a more relaxed position so she could speak to Twilight. "So...we have some stuff to talk about."

Twilight gulped a little. "Y-Yes. we do. um..."

Sunset giggled just a little, Twilight's nervousness was so cute. "First off? Let's just clear the air. How do we feel about each other? Lets just lay it all out on the table. It can stay a secret between just us."

Twilight on the other end was silent for a moment or two and then spoke. "I-I can't...it's...there's too much to say...c-can I come over? I think I have an idea but um...can you promise me something?"

"Sure Twi, what is it?"

"That no matter what you see, that you'll still be my best friend. There...there are things I want to say...things I want you to know...but...I can't say them out loud..."

Sunset knew or liked to think she knew Twilight Sparkle of this world better than anyone possibly excluding her parents, Cadence and her brother. Sunset and Twilight spent a lot of time together, any time the Rainbooms were not together as a group of seven, it was usually herself and Twilight to hang out and ever since the friendship games they'd grown ever closer. However of course it was only natural for Twilight to keep certain things to herself and Sunset had a pretty good idea how Twilight wished to reveal what she wanted.

She smiled and though Twilight couldn't see her, she knew she could feel her intent when she said the following. "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. I pinkie promise, no matter what I see when you get here? We'll still be besties."

Twilight sniffled and wiped her eyes, a small giggle snort coming out of her that she didn't try and hide. Sunset always said her giggle snort was cute. she was one of the few besides her family who ever called it that and that made her feel special. "Thanks Sunny; I'll be over soon. I should walk Spike and change my clothes."

Sunset nodded and smiled to herself, Twilight was always adorable whenever she would giggle snort like she did. It meant she was truly happy and something truly and really made her laugh. Twilight had a habit of holding back her laughter due to finding her laugh and giggle both embarrassing and haunting because of Midnight Sparkle. Sunset knew what that was like, for a long time she avoided laughing all together because she felt she had no reason or right to laugh after having caused so much pain and misery. Though fortunately for them both? A certain pink party girl changed that up real fast.

"Sure no problem Twi, c'mon over and we can talk. As a matter a fact; are you busy tonight?" Sunset asked getting an idea.

"No not really, I was really just going to stay home and read a few books and watch a couple movies."

"Wanna have a slumber party?" Sunset asked with a giddy smile.

"R-Really? You're still into doing those?" Twilight sounded genuinely surprised.

"Well duh; it's a Rainboom tradition! C'mon it'll be fun."

"Did someone say fun?!" Pinkie popped into the lobby.

-PartyPrincessPinkie has joined the party!-

"Gyah! Pinkie?! How in the-" Sunset looked to see the party was not set to private and she facepalmed but was relived Pinkie only seemed to have joined a moment ago.

"Pinkie sense! Wiggly butt cheek, twitchy ear, flappy foot, stiff left nipple. That means friends wanna have fun! I wanna have fun! I'm soooooo bored! Maud is away at college now, Lime and Marble are in high school and its my day off from sugarcube corner today!" Pinkie said she was bored however she sounded as peppy and cheery as ever.

Sunset chuckled at that and knew full well not to question the pinkie sense. "Heh well we BOTH learned the hard way your pinkie sense is never wrong-"

"I would still like to run some extra tests..." Twilight tried to interject.

"It's NEVER wrong; anyway, we were just planning a slumber party."

"Heheheh silly, two people only makes a sleepover, three or more people makes a slumber party!" Pinkie said with excited childish glee as usual. She was the official on party's so she knew what she was talking about.

Thinking about it that was Sunset found that made a lot of sense and at this point she found it best not to question Pinkie too much. The girl was one of life's unsolvable enigma's and she just had to learn to live with that. "Can't argue with that logic even though we know Twi will try anyway."

"Oh ha, ha. very funny." Twilight added with a dry tone.

"I'll be here all week; tip your waitress and try the salad!" Sunset retorted which got a laugh out of Pinkie and Twilight

"Heheheh your so silly sunny buns! Anywhoozle! How's about I c'mon over? I can help set up the party! I upgraded my party cannon! It's super portable now!"

"Just promise not to blow any holes in my apartment" Sunset said half serious but with a small chuckle remembering what happened when Pinkie tested the second model of her party canon at school and accidently blew a hole in the gym.

"I pinkie promise! I've been running a buncha tests on it aaaaaand I might have skipped over to Equestria to get some help from pony me; please don't be mad!"

Sunset found it hard to ever really be mad at Pinkie Pie. Annoyed sure, overwhelmed absolutely. However in getting to know Pinkie Pie over the years, knowing what makes her tick(sort of), what made her happy, what made her sad and that she always had good natured intent in her actions? She came to accept the way she did things. Shrugging it off she smiled knowing Pinkie could sense that. "It's fine Pinks. Just try and tell me next time kay? Princess Twi is a busy mare these days running Equestria and Pony Pinkie has her own life to attend to, alright?"

Pinkie smiled in return giggling. "Hehe I know silly, I only pop over for super duper ubber emergencies! I wanted to see about getting a special magic book like you have but Pony Twi wasn't around to make one for me so I'll have to wait but no biggie wiggie!"

"Well if you like Pinkie we can help you optimize your cannon a bit." Twilight offered, frankly surprised Pinkie had not asked them to help improve her cannon first. Then again Pinkie had her own method to her madness and Pinkie was certainly a special kind of mad.

"Yeah I'm sure with a couple design tweaks we could really do something cool." Sunset offered as well, she and Twilight were the gearheads and nerds of the group so building and modifying things was in their nature. Sunset had several self built and modified action figures on her display shelf and the game system she had was technically three systems and a PC fused into one machine which was only possible thanks to Twilight's coding genius.

"Oh thank you thank you thank you thank you girls! I'll be over in a bit! I'll bring snacks, drinks and all the fun stuff you need for a party!" Pinkie said with total glee before leaving the party likely to go pack up and get ready to come over which knowing Pinkie; would be anywhere from a few seconds to a couple minutes.

-PartyPrincessPinkie has left the party-

"Hehe good ole Pinkie; anyway Twi you get ready too and c'mon over so we can talk a little and then we can all have some fun!" Sunset said with her usual upbeat attitude and confidence that this was going to be a fun night for everyone involved. She hadn't had a slumber party with any of her friends in quite a little while and she felt they were due for one even if it was just three of them.

Twilight smiled happily and nodded. "Okay, I'll see you soon Sunny...and thanks."

"what for?"

Twilight smiled. "For being my #1 best friend."

Sunset playfully gasped and smiled to herself. "Why Twilight Sparkle are you playing favorites? I am flattered but what would our friends think?"

Adjusting her glasses again Twilight spoke with more confidence than she ever heard she speak. "I'm sure they would tell us to do what Rainbow told us to do...but I guess we can talk about that when I see you. See ya soon Sunny" Twilight ended off with a giggle that sounded almost devious in nature and she left the party.

Sci-Twi The Sparkly has left the party

Sunset smirked to herself as she stretched a bit. "Heh yeah, see ya soon Twi. Well, looks like I'm about to have company. This oughta be VERY fun." With any luck she would have more than a few laughs tonight and that thought brought a playful smile to Sunset's lips. Pinkie was always more fun and expressive when she was around them and so having her here tonight would certainly make for one helluva party.

Author's Note

If you think this ends in a three way...you know me very well