Sunset Shimmer had grown relatively good at handling stress. She still freaked out from time to time, but when Equestrian magic was involved, she knew how to keep her cool.
So when Princess Twilight had told them she had some news for them, and that she wanted to tell them in person, she figured it’d be some sort of new threat, some discovery about their world that Sunset and the girls would need to solve. It had been a bit weird when she’d also called Flash in, but well, everyone knew they’d had a bit of a thing in the past.
What no-one had expected was the truth: Twilight would be crowned as the new ruler of Equestria. Granted, it wasn’t that they didn’t think it would ever happen, but it felt… sudden, and soon.
More importantly, it did mean that the friend that they already didn’t see a lot wouldn’t really have time to visit… at all. And given the nature of the mirror and the two worlds, it wasn’t really in the cards for them to go visit Equestria too often either.
In other words, I was all too possible they’d never see that Twilight again.
And it had only then dawned on Sunset that she wasn’t sure she could handle that.
She’d kept a strong face. She’d pretended to be happy for Twilight—well, partly. She was happy to an extent—and she’d made sure to say a proper goodbye. And they could still talk. Twilight wouldn’t take the mirror to Canterlot, but she would take the diary.
It didn’t help, really.
Even now, a few days after the news, she could barely hold it together. She felt a crushing weight in her chest, an unshakable feeling that life wouldn’t be the same. And she could tell her other friends felt it too, to an extent. Maybe their Twilight didn’t, she hadn’t known the Princess version of herself too much, but she could still tell how it affected everyone else.
But Sunset was keenly aware that she felt the pain even more.
Because, to her, Princess Twilight hadn’t been just a friend. She’d been her mentor, her advisor. Maybe, at times, her world. She wouldn’t be here today if not for her. She’d be consumed by rage and anguish, and she would have been consumed by her own hatred.
Sunset loved Twilight. Well, she’d probably loved both Twilights. But the Princess was definitely the one who’d held the strongest of grips over her heart.
So it was not an exaggeration to say she was barely able to think. She was a zombie.
“Sunset? Sunseeet,” Pinkie suddenly broke her concentration. Sunset looked around. She wasn’t even sure what day she was on. “We’re going to the mall. Come on!”
Sunset stared at Pinkie. Normally, her pink friend would be enough to snap her out of any bad mood. Not this one, though. “Sorry, I… think I’m gonna go home. I’m not feeling too well,” she said.
Pinkie was about to complain, but Rarity pulled her away from Sunset. “We understand, darling. Go on,” she said with a soft smile before the girls said goodbye and walked away.
Sunset stood at the school’s entrance for a few more seconds before sighing. She didn’t even have the energy to walk home right now. She closed her eyes and sat on the stairs, watching as the rest of the Canterlot High students walked past. She counted them. She knew all of them by name. Once, she had ruled them. Now, she counted most of them as friends.
And then, the stream ended. The school closed behind her. The professors stayed inside, working, but no more students were out.
With more effort than it should have taken, she stood. She did need to get home. Try to do her homework. Study for next week’s exam.
She was about to walk away when she noticed something in front of her. A blue haired guy sitting next to the broken pedestal where once stood Canterlot’s mascot. Flash. He was sitting against the frame of the mirror. He sometimes looked at it, even touched its surface, as if considering going through.
Sunset approached him. “The you over there,” Sunset said, “works as a royal guard for the princess of an empire. You knew that?”
Flash looked up, a bit surprised. “Another me. It’s weird to think about it,” he said. Then, he paused. “Then again, I guess I do know two Twilights…” he trailed off, clearly hurt just by thinking about it. Sunset decided to sit next to him. He was probably the only one who could actually understand the kind of pain she was in. “What happened to the you from here, anyways? If you came from the pony world…”
Sunset shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve tried looking for her, you know? But she doesn’t even have social media. Sometimes, I wonder if maybe she found a way to get into Equestria. Maybe she found a better life there, like I did here. Time flows differently in both dimensions, so I suppose there’s also a possibility she’s just… not. Maybe she died, or maybe she hasn’t been born yet.”
“That’s… kinda creepy?” Flash chuckled.
Sunset smiled. “Yeah, but it’s just how I think…” she paused. “It’s rough, isn’t it? I’m feeling so tempted to go back there and just… I don’t know.”
Flash understood and nodded. “At least you’d know what to do. I’m considering it, but… what then? I’ve no life, no friends. I know it’s stupid to think of doing that for a girl with whom I’ve no chances, but…”
“No, no, I understand,” Sunset said, smiling sadly. “When this world’s Twilight showed up, I was threatened, you know? I felt… I don’t know. But then I helped her. For a while there I actually considered I had a chance.”
Flash nodded. “Then Timber happened.”
“Basically,” Sunset looked up. The sky was gray today. It felt fitting.
They stayed in silence for a while. Sunset was sometimes surprised that she was friends with Flash nowadays. Of all the people she’d hurt in her past, he may have been one of the most affected.
“You know; I don’t think I ever properly apologized,” she said.
“For what?”
“For using you. For leading you on and dating and then… discarding you as soon as I saw no need for you anymore,” she looked at him. He didn’t look angry or reproachful. “I was your first kiss, even. I stole that experience from you.”
Flash smiled. Genuinely. “It’s ok, Sunset. You’ve changed, and… Well, you’re a great person nowadays. I don’t regret what happened between us, anyways. I wasn’t the best as a teenager.”
“You’re still a teenager,” Sunset nudged him playfully.
“I guess,” he laughed. Then, he sighed. “I never really had much of a chance, did I? Even if over here she looks like a teen, Twilight’s actually an adult back in Equestria, with responsibilities that span literally entire kingdoms. It’s… mind-boggling.”
Sunset smiled. “Yeah, pretty much. It’s crazy to think I was once on a path to take that place,” she shook her head and chuckled. “Though if I had to guess, I’d say she’ll probably stay single for thousands of years. Celestia certainly didn’t ever find the time to settle.”
Flash paused. “Thousands? Geez. I guess it makes sense, then. Can you imagine loving someone and knowing they’re gonna die before you while you don’t age?”
“As you said: We never had a chance.”
“Yeah…” Flash dropped his head. “So, what now? How do we move on?”
“Time. Time is the only remedy for heartbreak,” Sunset patted her chest. “I heard there are some forbidden time-travelling spells back in Equestria. Maybe I should fetch one of those.”
Flash laughed.
After that, they fell silent again. Sunset stood after a while, offering a hand to help Flash up. He took it, and they stared at each other for a second.
Flash was handsome. He was a good person. He was smart, he played the guitar with a fair amount of talent. On an impulse, Sunset spoke. “Hey, Flash?”
“Yeah?”
“Wanna go grab a coffee one of these days?”
Flash narrowed his eyes. “As in… a date?”
Sunset shrugged, smiling awkwardly. “I guess? I’d understand if you didn’t want to, though.”
“No! I mean yes! Yes, that sounds great,” he stumbled upon his words. “How about, uh… Friday? I have band tomorrow.”
Sunset nodded, smiling. “Sure. We can go after school. We haven’t talked that much in the past couple of years. Maybe we can catch up a bit, too.”
Flash grinned. “That sounds wonderful. See you Friday, then!” he said, turning and starting to walk away.
Sunset waved at him with a smile.
Then, she paused.
What she had just done slowly caught up in her brain, and a bit of heat spread through her cheeks. Well, talk about rebounds. Celestia.
Well, what was done was done. Maybe it wouldn’t be a disaster.
Author's Note
If you're used to my works, you're probably shocked to find me writing a f/m fic unprompted. And... Honestly, I'm kinda shocked too.
I haven't written a fanfic for myself in a small while, as I've been focusing on other things, and I just felt a strange drive to do this now. I've had Sunflash as probably one of the only 'het' (Sunset is clearly bi) ships I kinda dig that weren't born before... 2017 maybe.
I'm not even sure of why. I guess Legend of Everfree just gave me a possible dynamic I really enjoyed and over the years it just... settled on my mind.
But hey, if you read this, leave a comment!
“There is no way. No way!” Rarity sounded a bit too excited about what Sunset had told them.
“Well I’ll say. That’s a fine thing to hear, Sunset. You’ve been looking worse than a juice-drained apple since Princess Twilight told us she was gonna be queen,” Applejack smiled.
Sunset tried no to cringe at the mention of that particular detail.
She’d told them about the date tomorrow. She’d settled that without even looking at her schedule, and so today she’d changed shifts with a co-worker to make sure she was free. She was growing increasingly nervous about the whole thing, and she figured her friends would be able to help her somewhat.
“I’m just worried it’s gonna go badly. I don’t want to hurt Flash… again,” she sighed. “Me, Twilight, Twilight,” she looked at their world’s Twilight, who looked a bit uncomfortable at that. “Guy hasn’t caught a break in a while.”
“Then let me ask you: Why’d you ask him out?” Rainbow said. “Sounds to me like you’re kind of rebounding,” she explained.
Sunset pressed her lips, her eyes quickly darting to Twilight. She chuckled self-consciously before shrugging and shaking her head. “I don’t know. We had a nice chat, we bonded. I just… felt like it. I mean, I do like him. He’s nice.”
“Well, as long as you like him, I think that’s all that matters,” Fluttershy said.
As long as I like him. Sunset sighed, propping her head up with a hand, wondering if she did like him. It wasn’t a question she’d be able to answer right now, she figured. “Well, we’ll see how it goes. If anything, I hope it’ll be distracting.”
“If you want distractions I have plenty of them!” Pinkie said, fetching a bunch of toys from her hair.
Sunset wasn’t sure what else to say, so she allowed Pinkie to show them off one by one. There was however, one thing more distracting than the toys: Twilight’s stare nailed on her.
It wasn’t until after they were all about to go home that Twilight asked her to speak in private for a moment.
“Twilight? Is everything ok?” Sunset asked.
Twilight nodded. She looked a bit nervous. “Yes, yes. I just… I wanted to ask you… Eh…” she blushed a bit. “Do you- I mean, did you… I, well. You know… it may be presumptuous of me…”
Just by how stuttery she was, Sunset got a good idea of what she was talking about. While a bit embarrassed, she decided to nod. “Y-yeah, actually. I liked you. I still do,” she explained. Twilight’s eyes widened. “I mean, not you! Well, a bit you. The one I… I actually like is Princess Twilight. You’re… well, you’re really nice too! And I like you for who you are, not for being an… alternate version of… whatever, you get what I mean,” she scratched the back of her head, not sure how to continue this. “Yes, I like you.”
Twilight chuckled a bit at Sunset stumbling for words. “I never noticed. I’m really sorry for that.”
Sunset snorted. “Please, it’s not your fault. I never gave you any hints anyways, I was too much of a coward. But even if I had… I didn’t really have much of a chance, did I?”
Twilight looked down, apparently ashamed. “I… don’t think so, no.”
Maybe surprisingly, Sunset smiled. “Yeah, I figured that’d be the case. Comes with being an empath and all. It’s a bit relieving, in fact. Feels like a weight’s been lifted, you know?”
“I think I get it. Maybe I should have a similar chat with Flash, though we’re not as close,” Twilight suggested.
Sunset considered and nodded. “I think he’d appreciate it.”
The end of school in Friday was marked by Sunset and Flash meeting eyes in the classroom and smiling awkwardly at each other. They both waited until everyone else got out of the classroom before getting up and walking to each other.
“So…” Flash looked a bit nervous too. “Do we go to the mall or…?”
“The mall? Please, no. All my friends work there,” she explained. She didn’t want to deal with the stares and knowing smiles.
“Right. Then… Any good places you know?”
Sunset thought about it for a second. She didn’t really want to grab a coffee, in truth. So…
“You’ve got your car, right?”
“Of course.”
“Then let’s go, I have an idea.”
Flash raised a curious eyebrow, but soon after they were leaving school, and he didn’t question Sunset once.
The hill was a good ways off from the city, but as they sat against the tree on top of it, Sunset felt it was worth it.
“This is a beautiful place. How’d you find it?” Flash asked after a while.
“I didn’t. Applejack did. Told me it used to belong to a cousin of hers before he moved to the countryside. The hill technically belongs to someone, but they’ve left it open for people to come. Not a lot do, nowadays.”
“Heh, that’s nice,” Flash looked at the horizon. “We never did something like this back in the day, did we?”
“Nope. I wasn’t interested in actual romance,” Sunset said with a bit of shame. “But I think the mood is nice, don’t you? If there’s anything to get us started, this may be it.”
Flash chuckled. “You talk as if it was the environment that mattered, not us,” he playfully bumped her. “Wanna leave the hard work for someone else?”
“Excuse me? I always do the hard work myself,” Sunset said.
“Nowadays, at least.”
Sunset deadpanned.
“Sorry, sorry,” Flash smiled awkwardly. “I shouldn’t bring that up.”
After a few seconds, Sunset sighed, leaning gently on Flash. He tensed up. How cute. He smelled like too much deodorant mixed with cheap cologne, but it wasn’t an unpleasant smell. “No, you totally should. Nobody really talks too much about it anymore, but… so many people were hurt by what I did. I’m sure some hold resentment towards me, and with good reason. Wallflower was probably just one of many.”
Flash, very hesitantly, slid an arm around her shoulders. He advanced painfully slowly, almost as if expecting Sunset to snap at any second. She didn’t. “Don’t get hung up on that. Everyone knows you’ve changed. I mean, we saw you get blasted with the rainbow laser and all. Not that it was all that mattered, but you worked hard to change our perception of you.”
“Thanks.” Then Sunset laughed softly. “I turned into a demon. Can you believe it? It’s so stupid when I think about it. What was I gonna do once I got to Equestria, anyways? Conquer the world with a small army of teenagers? Celestia and Luna would’ve dispatched me in an eyeblink.”
“They, or… well, Twilight,” he said the name with reluctance.
Sunset understood. “It’s gonna be though, huh. Before, we could at least pretend. I used to imagine scenarios where Princess Twilight would write me up at night, ask me to meet. And then she’d confess to me and we’d go back to Equestria together. Or maybe I confessed to her, and we met every night for a couple hours to be together… or stuff like that.”
“Well, that sounds a lot less selfish than me. I liked to imagine she’d… drop everything, come here to stay with me. We had a thing, that first time she came. And then it just… faded. I still wonder if maybe things could be different if I’d managed to resist the siren’s spell. I was such a jerk to her.”
“Hey, that wasn’t your fault. And I don’t think so. Ugh,” Sunset shook her head. “Look at us. Talking about our crush while we’re supposed to be on a date. I’m really bad at this.”
“Well, I’m no better. I’ve had a couple girlfriends since you, but neither lasted very long. I think I had a crush on… uh…” he blushed a bit.
“Who?”
“Uh, no matter.”
“Oh, no you don’t,” Sunset activated her powers and touched his arm. She saw a flash of… “Really, Sandalwood?”
Flash pouted. “Hey, that’s unfair! But… yes, I mean, I don’t really know if it was a crush or not, but… I just thought he was really cool.”
“I get it. He is kinda cute, anyways.” Sunset stared at the city for a moment. It looked small from here. It was strange, almost, not to be able to hear all of its sounds.
“Not as cute as me, right?”
“You’re getting ahead of yourself,” Sunset nudged him, and he laughed. “But yes, you are quite the handsome guy. I’m surprised you haven’t gotten anyone yet, to be honest.”
“Well, I was hoping for Twilight, but it seems I better keep my options open. I accepted a date with a girl because of that,” he said with a playful tone.
“Ah, what a lucky person! I hope you like her,” Sunset played along.
Flash squeezed her shoulder. “I… Do. I do like her. I can’t be too sure about how things between us would go—we have a bit of a rough history on that department—but I think I’d like to give it a shot.”
Sunset smiled and looked to the side, meeting his eyes. “Are you sure? We both could be just… rebounding. Seeking some comfort in a relationship while we’re stuck in Twilight.”
“Well, it’s a good thing we like the same girl, then. There won’t be any jealousy between us, wouldn’t you agree?”
He was smiling at her. And, for a second, Sunset could almost feel the gloom that had permeated the last week of her life give way to some warmer feelings. She smiled back. “Alright, I guess you have a point there,” she said.
She then moved up, pressing her lips against his for a few moments. They were a bit on the rough side, and he was so tense she could barely tell if he was reciprocating the kiss. But they were very warm, and far better than she remembered from their past.
When she pulled back, Flash was in shock. “W-wow. You’re a bold one, aren’t you?”
“It was just a peck. We’ve done it hundreds of times,” Sunset remarked.
“I don’t count those. It’s the first time the new Sunset kissed me,” he put on a lopsided grin. “And it makes me feel good.”
Sunset shook her head, though she was smiling too. “So… do we make it official, then? Wanna start dating, see how things go?”
“Honestly, I fail to see myself capable of doing something like this with anyone that isn’t you,” he explained. Then, he pulled her a bit closer, kissing her properly this time. He’d definitely grown better at it with the years. When they parted, they stared at each other for a few seconds too long, and Sunset felt a bit of heat crawling to her cheeks.
“I think I feel the same. You, and me, and our inability to let go of a crush on an interdimensional princess. On theaters soon,” she said.
Flash laughed. Sunset followed him.
“Do we stay here?” Flash asked after that.
“I kinda wanna see the sunset though there’s like an hour left for that.”
“Or I could just bring a mirror.”
“Shut up,” Sunset pushed him away, and he laughed again.
Maybe they wouldn’t be able to fully let go of their past. But, if nothing else, they could help each other feel better about the future.
Author's Note
I know, I know. Yesterday I said I wasn't sure I wanted to continue.
Well I woke up and I did want to write a bit more, so here we are. I decided to also add the chat with the girls and Twilight because I felt it was nice.
As before, if you've read and enjoyed this... leave a comment!
