Sunset and I were sitting at the kitchen table working on our homework when my mom came in.

"How would you girls like to go to Hawai'i for your spring break?" She asked.

Sunset and I looked up.

"It sounds like an interesting place to visit at least." Sunset said, having asked about my birthplace.

"I mean, it would be nice to go back and see everyone, but why?" I asked, slightly confused.

"Monica and Ariana have invited you and your friends out for an all expenses paid trip to the islands for your senior year spring break." Mom said, rolling her eyes. "Something about needing to experience it at least once and once you all go off to college, it would be hard for everyone to be able to afford to go out there and have a decent time."

I rolled my eyes. "They do remember that I was born there, right?" I inquired. "I know all of the safe places for non-indigenous people to go and have been to most of them dozens of times."

"Which is why Ari said you would be an excellent tour guide for your friends." Came the reply.

"I mean, we could see if anyone wants to go." Sunset said diplomatically. "And see whose parents will let eight teenage girls fly halfway across the Pacific to someplace with minimal adult supervision."

I looked at Mom and we both laughed.

"That won't be an issue." Mom replied. "Between the Marines that Niamh has wrapped around her little finger and my friends still stationed out there, there will be plenty of people to keep an eye on you all. But if it helps, she said they'll cover any parents that want to tag along."

"That's good." I said. "Not sure if they would be too keen on it after the last time we went on a trip."

So, it turns out that when you have 'aunts' that are a mil to mil* lesbian couple with no kids AND were both full naval captains when they retire with over twenty years of service and they say 'all expenses paid' they mean it.

First class seats for the girls and I as well as Twilight's mom ("Please just call me Velvet.") and her brother Shining Armor, as well as Pinkie's older sister Maude who was, according to Pinkie at least, excited as hell to see the volcanic islands. I took her word for it. The woman had the expression of a rock. If not for the occasional very small smile at Pinkie's antics, I would have sworn she had a condition that left her face paralyzed for all the expression she showed.

But, the Saturday that Spring Break started, we were touching down on the island of Oahu late in the evening.

As we exited the terminal area and headed for the baggage claim, I glanced around for a familiar face and quickly found one.

"Niamh!" A tall woman with dark blue hair called out.

"Monica!" I called back as I rushed up to give her a hug.

"How ya been kiddo?" She inquired once we separated.

"Been doing good. Made some new friends." I replied.

Monica looked over my shoulder. "I can see that. Colorful bunch." She observed with a smirk.

"Yeah, but they are good people." I said. "Mostly. Had a few issues, but what friends don't?" I added, memories of some of the more interesting events in the last couple of years coming to mind.

"Very true." Monica replied before meeting with our chaperones while the rest of us grabbed our bags.

"Niamh darling, I have a question, but I'm afraid it might be a bit insensitive or rude." Rarity said as she grabbed her bag.

I glanced at her and saw her looking at Monica.

Smirking, I replied. "Why do all of my 'aunts' and 'cousins' look like supermodels? No idea. But it does mess with my lesbian brain something fierce."

Rarity blushed, gaining some chuckles from our friends as we headed to get the rental vehicles for our trip with the adults.

Later that night I sat bolt upright, my dream jolting me awake.

'Same damn dream again. What the hell does it mean?' I thought as I rubbed my face.

Looking at my phone I saw it was nearly 4 AM.

'Welp, no use going back to sleep.' I groused to myself as I stood up and picked my way around my sleeping friends, as we had chosen to go with sleeping bags and pallets made of blankets so the adults could have the bedrooms.

I quietly went to the sliding door that led to the deck and went outside.

Reaching the railing of the deck, I took a deep breath, the sting of the salt air waking me up a bit more.

"Missed home?" A voice said quietly.

I spun around eyes wide and saw Ariana sitting on one of the lounge chairs on the deck, her cane and prosthesis resting on the ground next to her.

"Yeah, don't get the same smells on the mainland." I replied once my heart left my throat.

"Mmm." Ariana replied before going to put her leg back on. Once it was secured, she grabbed her cane and came over.

"How are you healing up?" I asked, knowing the loss of her leg was still a fresh thing, having lost it to an infection in an old injury that didn't want to heal right.

"It's been difficult, but Mo has been amazing in helping me adjust." She replied, joining me at the railing and leaning on it, looking out over the island and the ocean beyond it.

I smiled at that. "That girl is definitely madly in love with you." I replied, leaning against the railing as well.

"Yeah she is, and I am madly in love with her." Ariana said matter of factly before getting a wicked smile on her face. "Anyone you're madly in love with?"

I felt my entire face flush as I choked on air.

"N, no." I replied as I tried to breathe properly again.

"No one's caught your eye?" She asked, teasing me gently.

"I mean, yeah. But I haven't said anything to her. Not sure if she has feelings like that for me." I replied with a sigh.

"You should say something. At the very least you will know and you can stop worrying." Ari said with a knowing smile.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Oh come on, I'm pretty sure the only ones who haven't noticed your crush on Sunset are her and probably the pink one." Ari said before whispering, "That one scares me."

I chuckled. "She scares me sometimes too. But she probably knows and is planning a party for whatever the result is if I do ask her." I replied.

"You should ask her. At least to know for sure." Ari said. "Mo was the same way you know, I knew something was up the way she was so nervous and uptight around me when we first met. Very protective though. Her sister finally convinced her to shoot her shot, and well, here we are." She said, smiling at the ring on her finger.

I smiled, remembering being a flower girl at her wedding.

"You're right." I said. "Better to ask and know than to worry about the unknown. I'll take her to my spot tonight."

"Atta girl. Now, come help me make breakfast for this motley crew." Ari said, giving me a light punch on the shoulder.

"So, where are we going?" Sunset asked as we hiked up a trail.

"Someplace special I wanted to show you. It's not too much farther." I replied, stopping to help her cross a gap in the trail.

"If you say so." She replied with a warm smile.

I smiled back before turning to lead the way again. 'That damn smile is going to be the end of me.'

Finally, we reached the outcropping I was looking for.

"Here we are." I said going to a boulder near it and sitting down, leaning against it.

"It's beautiful." Sunset said as she sat next to me.

"It is, best place to watch the sunset in my opinion." I said, carefully making sure I was looking out to sea as I said it.

"It definitely is." She replied. "So different from the mainland."

I gave a hum of agreement.

"So why did you bring me out to your special spot?" Sunset asked.

"How did you know it was my special spot?" I asked, looking at her out of the corner of my eye.

"Because you only brought me and you seemed to have marked the path yourself, even if it was years ago." She replied confidently.

I chuckled. "Yeah, I found this place about a year before we moved to the mainland. Had a pocket knife on me, so I made some markings that I would hopefully be able to see for a long time. Some of them are gone, probably from a storm, but enough remained that I could remember the way."

"Interesting. But you still haven't answered the question." She said turning to face me.

I chewed on my bottom lip as I wrestled with my nerves. 'Come on Braunwen, the worst she can do is say no. It might be a bit awkward, but we're friends right? That shouldn't change.'

"You're right, I did bring you for a reason." I said finally.

"And what reason is that?" Sunset asked, her eyebrow arched in challenge.

"I, I have feelings for you." I said, only stuttering slightly.

Sunset's expression changed to mild shock before settling on neutral.

"Oh, what kind of feelings?" She asked evenly.

"Romantic ones." I replied. "I just feel drawn to you. You're funny, brilliant, kind, beautiful, and above all a good friend." I explained as I looked out towards the ocean. "I'm kind of a useless sapphic when it comes to this, but I have fallen in love with you Sunset Shimmer."

"You've seen me at my worst, what about that?" She asked, tone still even.

"We all have our dark sides, our slips into the temptation to be cruel. But you turned yourself around." I said before she tried to interrupt, but I kept going. "And don't say it was the Elements that did it. All they did was give you a clear head. You made the choice to redeem yourself and earn forgiveness for what you had done. That takes a lot of strength to do. Facing down one's inner demons like that. Can't imagine it was easy."

She sighed before resting her head on my shoulder as we both watched the sun setting over the ocean.

"It wasn't. Swallowing my pride after so long was difficult. Same with asking for help. You played a big part in that." She said.

"Oh?" I asked, genuinely curious as I felt I had just done what should be the norm.

"You gave me space, but you were still there to listen. You and your family. All of you were so patient with me as I learned how to be my own person, not the one I thought I wanted to be." She said.

I shrugged gently. "I was just doing what I would have wanted someone to do if I was in the same situation." I replied softly.

"That was what I needed. Someone who could give me space to figure myself out and to be there if I stumbled." Sunset replied.

I smiled and gave her hand a squeeze.

"Rarity noticed how I look at you." She said, causing my heart to skip a beat.

"O, oh?" I squeaked.

"Mmhmm, told me I should just go for it, but I was scared to jeopardize what we had. But when you helped keep the nightmares away after the cruise, I realized I had fallen in love with you. I just didn't know how to tell you or if you felt the same way." She explained.

I smiled a bit. "That was about the same time I noticed you had gone from a really cute friend to a crush." I said with a chuckle. "But what about Flash?"

"Flash was just a means to popularity. I apologized and we are friends, but I wasn't attracted to him. Being gay here isn't as widely accepted as it is in Equestria yet, so I went with what was deemed socially acceptable." She explained.

"Ah, he was your beard then." I said, causing her to look at me curiously. "Basically a person you aren't actually attracted to, but can tolerate enough to be romantic with so as to not arouse suspicions that you're queer. Not such a big thing anymore, but it happens in some places. I get it though, it is hard to tell when people are going to be accepting."

"Ah, I see. I think." Sunset replied. "So, where do we go from here?" She asked.

"Wherever you want to go. We both have feelings and have confessed those feelings, so we can take things slow." I replied.

"I, I think I like that idea." She replied, smiling up at me.

I returned the smile. "I do too." I replied.

Sunset was about to say something when a voice rang out.

"Oh, isn't this just precious. Two love birds making confessions to each other." A voice that sounded electronically distorted said with a dark chuckle.

We both scrambled to our feet and looked around for the source.

"Up here humans." The voice called out.

We looked up to see a woman with light purple hair holding onto a massive wing-like construct hovering above us.

"Niamh." Sunset whispered. "Are those cannons?"

"Probably energy based instead of kinetic based upon the looks. Probably packs a punch." I whispered back.

"Who are you and what do you want?" I shouted up at her.

"I am Tester. And my sisters and I want to know why you two are so special!" She said.

Before we could reply, a glowing portal opened up beneath us, sucking us in.

"Niamh!" Sunset shouted as she fell.

"Sunset!" I shouted as I grabbed her hand before we were separated.

The portal closed and Tester looked at Observer as she came out of hiding.

"Do you think they are the ones sister?" She inquired.

"We will have to see. I do look forward to finding out." Observer said with a wicked smile on her face.

Author's Note

*Mil to Mil: when both spouses are military members. Double the housing allowance, double the basic pay.

Sorry for the long delay folks, been a lot going on in my life and haven't had the spoons to write for a while. Also had a couple of competing ideas for how this chapter would go. The big reveal will be in the next chapter, as well as some slightly familiar, if different, faces for Niamh.