Late-Night Phone Call

Sunset had gotten quite accustomed to the soft beep of an outgoing call droning in her ear by now. She’d done more conversing over the phone in the last month than she had the last four years combined, and that’s counting when she was in active communication with a fairly substantial number of kids at Canterlot High.

School was an odd place to be making a phone call, though. Midway up the stairwell leading up to the roof was also an odd choice, if a somewhat understandable one - few eyes ever went in the direction of these stairs, much less up the dark stairway currently cold enough to see one’s breath, assuming one could indeed see. Particularly odd was that whereas the overwhelming majority of the calls she'd made lately had been to Rarity, this one was not. It had, in fact, been a very long time since she'd made the call she was currently making.

She'd been in this stairwell for minutes prior to hitting the call button, and had been psyching herself up for an hour or more before that. She'd had ample time to come to terms with what she was currently doing, and yet the tension in her was thick. Every note coming from the speaker was another stir of the energy in her, and more than once she considered simply hanging up if not for the fact that there was record of her making this call. Even if she backed off now, that wouldn't change. She was committed.

The shift in noise was subtle, but immediately detectable - Sunset could hear the instant the connection went through.

"Hey, it's Flash Sentry. Sorry I missed you. Drop the news and I'll get back to you. Peace." Beeeep.

For a split second, Sunset had thought that he had actually answered. She swallowed hard, the saliva in her mouth struggling to make it down her aching throat past her hammering heart, and she feebly began: "Hey."

...all the rehearsal was gone. All of it. She grasped for it, but it passed through her mental fingers like smoke. It took entirely too many seconds for her to find her voice again.

"Hey, um...it's Sunset." She cleared her throat quietly, willing her resolve to get back in place. Failing that, she at least managed to get to a regular speaking voice, though it still sounded a little pitiful to her own ears. "I uh...earlier today, there was, uh- I got a text about an autopayment that went through. Uh, for the phone, uh, phone bill." Sunset turned where she stood, instinctively going to pace if not for the wall directly in front of her, just as there was one to her back. "I uh...I just figured you should know about that. And I mean- I figure you gotta, y- I made a," she chuckled nervously, "a text about it before. Uh...twice. Actually. Um...I know haven't said anything about it lately, but I mean...like, you gotta know by now, right?"

Sunset took a few steps up the stairs, unable to completely suppress the need to find an outlet for the nervous energy rippling through her like an electric current. She took in a breath, trying to steel herself - she sounded pathetic. She needed to not be pathetic.

"Listen." She put one hand out, like she was speaking to someone in front of her in the dark. Despite saying that, what came from her was only the briefest sound as the start failed on her. It took another second or two to try again. "You don't need to do this. I'm-" Her voice cut out. She tried again. "You don't need to look after me anymore. Alright? I don't know if you ever should have, but you definitely shouldn't now. It's not- that's not where we're at. I've cost you enough."

It took a fair bit of work to keep her voice steady, though it paled in comparison to the amount of effort it took to not say more. Every bit of energy expended left her feeling physically smaller for it, and her voice shrank to match.

"...so...just turn off autopay. I don't want to get another text about this."

Sunset's lips moved a few moments after this, reaching for words she knew she couldn't afford to speak. Her thumb twitched, ending the call abruptly.

Silence fell. Sunset didn't move from where she stood, staring at the wall across from her that began to darken as most of the light leaking around the side of her head faded. After a few more seconds, her arm dropped to her side, the phone and her hand both slapping gently against her hip through her jacket. A few seconds later, the wall met her back with a soft impact.

She didn't know whether or not Flash was actually going to follow through with her request. This was the first time she'd dared to use her voice to speak it, but there'd been other requests before this one, spanning back several months now. Each time after that, the silence was punctuated by the occasional text noting that a payment for the phone was due, followed a week later by confirmation that the debt had been paid regardless. The number that she owed him continued to climb, and it had long since reached the point of being beyond her ability to repay...and yet she had no doubt in her mind that he'd hear nothing of repayment, monetary or otherwise.

Even now, he supported her. Even with her every misdeed and malintent stripped bare of any reasonable doubt, the lengths that she was willing to go to plain for all to see, he was still out there, wordlessly paying for her ability to use and benefit from the phone in her hand. In that way, it was like nothing had changed. He still had her back.

Did he not understand that he deserved better than this? Did he not get that she didn't want his money, much less deserve it? She had numbers for how much better off he would be if he'd just stop. It was statistically quantifiable how much she was weighing him down, yet he kept that string in place, heedless of it all. He still let her use him, despite her every wish for him to stop - her pleading, now, for him to stop.

And you know what? He probably wouldn't. This probably wouldn't be the end of it, knowing him.

Sunset rolled one shoulder, scraping it against her face to wipe away the wet streak on her cheek. She took in a breath through a slightly congested nose, and then kept taking it in till her lungs were full before finally releasing the air back out through her lips. She took another one, and then another. It wasn't until she was satisfied that any evidence of what had transpired here would not leave this stairwell that she allowed herself to take a step down the first of the stairs, followed in sequence by the rest of them.

As the light of the hallway shone down on her, the bell rang. Sunset Shimmer found herself swept up in a sea of bodies once again, feeling just a bit more lost in it than usual.

Not all days were created equal, and this was proving to be a rough one.

Sunset had struggled to focus ever since that phone call to Flash Sentry. The desire to avoid being seen had proven stronger than usual - Harmony help her if she saw him right now. She had taken to hiding in the girls’ bathroom and allowing the halls to empty before she made way to her locker between each class, more than happy with adding a handful of extra tardies to the pile in favor of that outcome.

As she sat on the toilet in the closed stall, listening to the sound of the warning chime in the hallway outside, Sunset wondered what they would even do if it came time for disciplinary action from the school, assuming it hadn’t come to that point already. In theory they’d just act on it, but that sounded slightly absurd to her. What were they going to do, demand she go to detention? After she’d enslaved the entire student body and every staff member in attendance, however briefly? They all remembered, they knew how it felt. She couldn’t do that anymore, but did they know that? Were they really going to risk crossing her after they’d seen a ten-foot-tall Sunset Shimmer demonically augmented, held aloft by a pair of blood-red leathery wings, devil’s laughter in her eyes and the power to rend their world in twain at her malformed fingertips?

Sunset’s gaze found one of the hands in her lap. She turned it over, palm up, bending each finger just a little as she looked them over, one at a time. Her nails were short, chewed down to the pink. Some of the flesh where the nail and skin met glowed an angry red where she had accidentally chewed them a little too far. Even the slightest amount of pressure made those spots sting.

She couldn’t remember the last time she’d done anything with these things. Doing your nails wasn’t all that different from doing your hooves; one just required a paint brush while the other required a tiny, pitiful little apparatus that toed the line between brush and needle, yet still felt entirely too large for the job it was supposedly designed for. No one had ever shown her how to use it correctly…not that it really mattered anymore. She couldn’t afford it, even if she wanted to.

Sunset’s eyes drifted to one side of the stall she was in as she listened. The last signs of activity out there had since passed, but she couldn’t remember hearing the actual bell. She eventually pulled her phone out of her pocket, and judging by the time, it had been several minutes since third period would have started. She couldn’t even pay enough attention to hear a loud bell going off in the hall not four feet to her left, apparently.

Maybe she should just go. She still wouldn’t allow herself to be seen in public with the friends she did have, so it’s not like she’d be missed. It’d probably be doing everyone here a favor anyway.

Sighing heavily to herself, Sunset stood off the toilet and lightly shoved past the stall door, then the door to the bathroom itself, stepping out into the hallway. She didn't have to think about which way to go to get to her locker, navigating the winding halls of Canterlot High more or less on autopilot. She had begun the journey back to her locker with purpose in her stride, though that purpose only lasted as far as the limits of the bathroom. Her hands found their way to her jacket's pockets as her steps became increasingly meandering until they threatened to stop completely.

Sunset did not recall the moment that she arrived to her destination. At some point she realized that she had, though her thoughts went no further than that. Seconds crawled by as she stood a foot away from the locker ostensibly designated as hers, hands in her pockets, staring at the green-painted metal door on its squeaking hinge as though waiting for something else to happen. Her weight shifted slowly to one leg as the weariness that had been creeping up on her all this time stood over her like a second shadow.

Going to class had no appeal. She just didn’t want to. Nothing about her state left her much good for it anyway, so Sunset was inclined to just not. There was no point in struggling needlessly for something that ultimately didn’t matter.

The problem was what she did instead. She could simply collect her things right now and step out that door, and no one could stop her…but where did she go? It was cold outside. Not painfully so, currently, but any amount of wind would change that, as even a stray breeze would cut through her current level of insulation like a knife. Even if she could handle the temperature, there was nothing else she had to occupy herself with. Most things she could think of cost money to do, of which she had none, and the only people she could think of who she’d want to spend time with were currently attending the classes she was considering skipping. She could just go home…but why? So she could sit in the dark by herself, cold and bored and breathing in dust? She might as well just stay here in that case, but she didn’t want to stay here, either. So where did she go?

It was in moments like these that Sunset realized how little she really had. She didn’t even have somewhere to stand, if not in the place that she was told to by the school that itself didn’t want to touch her. Nowhere to be, nothing to do…just a leaf on the tide, ending up where she ended up because she might as well, right? It’s not like there was an alternative, or a drive of her own to get her anywhere. She could want all she liked, but that didn’t get her any further from the flotsam of life that she was delicately drowning in.

What an empty existence. What a pathetic way to be.

Sunset took a step closer to her locker, though she did not reach for it. Halfway to it she turned in place, falling the rest of the way into it till her back lightly hit it, then slid the rest of way to the floor. The back of her head gently impacted the metal surface with a faint noise.

She didn’t think about what came next - her phone appeared in her hands, and she let it happen. It was either that or face the pit yawning wider in her chest with every passing moment, and she wasn’t brave enough for that.

You
Need help
Today at 11:09 AM

Seconds passed. Sunset quite literally had nothing else to do but stare at the screen, so she did, waiting for a response that for all she knew wouldn’t come.

It didn’t, for several minutes. Sunset wasn’t keeping track of exactly how long it took, but at some point her gaze wandered, and when she looked back at her phone’s screen, she saw an ellipses cycling beneath the message she’d just sent. A tiny, barely detectable relief answered the sight, even before the message appeared.

Rarity
With what?
Today at 11:15 AM

You
Idk
Today at 11:15 AM

She didn’t wait nearly as long for a response this time.

Rarity
Is everything alright?
Today at 11:15 AM

You
No
Today at 11:15 AM

Rarity
What’s wrong?
Today at 11:16 AM

Sunset scoffed to herself under her breath as she typed back. Million bit question…

You
Feeling so lost rn
I wanted to skip
Then I realized
Where would I even go?
Today at 11:16 AM

Rarity
Is home not appealing?
Today at 11:16 AM

You
Last place I wanna be rn
Today at 11:16 AM

Rarity
I know exactly how that feels
Are you in clsss?
*class
Today at 11:17 AM

You
No
Just sitting in the hall
I was hiding in the bathroom but I’m sick of that
Idk where to go
Don’t really have anywhere to go
Too fucking cold out to start walking
Today at 11:17 AM

Rarity
Do you want to go sit in my car? It’s comfier than a lousy old hallway
Today at 11:17 AM

That was certainly somewhere more pleasant than anything Sunset could think of in that moment.

You
I guess so
You gonna be there?
Today at 11:17 AM

Rarity
After class I can be
Today at 11:18 AM

You
That would be nice
Today at 11:18 AM

Sunset glanced at the time at the top of the screen. It wasn't nearly as far into the hour as she would like…there were worse places to wait, though.

Rarity
We’ll do that, then
We can pick up something to eat while we’re at it
How’s that sound?
Today at 11:18 AM

You
I don’t want to be an expense
Today at 11:18 AM

Rarity
No see, what you are in this case is a perfect excuse to get some real food
I do so tire of the reheated slop they insist on feeding us in the cafeteria
At least fast food is honest about how it’ll kill me one day
Today at 11:18 AM

Sunset chuckled quietly. She went to respond, though Rarity beat her to it.

Rarity
Teacher, door unlockef
Today at 11:18 AM

The smile faded, on that note. Hopefully she didn’t just get her best friend in trouble.

Classic me.

Sunset put her phone back into her pocket with a sigh. She glanced about once just to confirm that the halls were indeed empty before she went to stand, pushing up on her knees with a labored noise as her stiff muscles struggled to move the necessary mass in a hurry to get her vertical. Once up, she briefly considered how best to go about what to do next before deciding that she would indeed get her things out of her locker before she went to find Rarity's car. If she was already leaving the building, then it was as good an excuse as any to simply not return today.

If she was lucky, maybe she could convince Rarity to skip with her. It had been a little while since it had just been the two of them in person, and it would be very nice to have her all to herself for a few hours. Fleeting touches were nice and all, but nothing beat putting her arms around her and staying like that. It wouldn't be hard to convince her to stop somewhere so they could put themselves in a more comfortable orientation, she didn't think...

So distracted was Sunset at envisioning holding Rarity that she walked past the front entrance to CHS. She turned on her heel midway down the hall that led to the cafeteria and went straight for the front doors as she'd intended to.

The bite of the wind raked against her the moment the glass door opened enough to let it through. Sunset pulled herself more into her jacket as she quickly made her way over to the student parking spaces, currently fully illuminated by a sun that seemed to be getting scarcer by the day. That it shone at all was testament only to the thin spots in the overcast sky currently overseeing the latest blustery late autumn/early winter day.

The parking lot was rather full, but as ever, the odd turquoise color and distinct shape of Rarity’s station wagon made it stick out like a sore thumb once it came into view. It helped that it was running, too, making it both visually and audibly distinct.

Sunset wasted no time making her way to it once she saw it, though as she reached for the handle, a realization brought her to a halt.

This car was already running. Rarity was in class right now. No one else was around.

They not only modernized the guts of the vehicle in addition to completely restoring the chassis as it was designed in the 80s, but they even installed remote start into this automotive relic. The kitchen sink of car restoration was not missing from this picture.

Sunset didn’t know much about Rarity’s parents, but she decided then and there that her father was a madman.

Another frigid gust slapped some of Sunset’s hair into her face, which did well to encourage her to properly grasp the passenger door handle and climb into the slightly pre-heated vehicle. It wasn’t exactly balmy, but it was warmer inside than outside, and the shelter from the wind was more than welcome.

Freed from imminent winter’s whims, Sunset rolled her shoulders to shed her backpack, depositing it into the backseat with a gentle toss. She then sat back fully into the leather seat while stretching out her legs into the roomy space beneath the glove compartment, allowing them to be bathed in warm air. She then reached around the side of the seat in a practiced motion to incline the seat back to a more comfortable position, breathed in the familiar scent of the cabin mixed with traces of cigarette, and breathed out a sigh.

So many hours had been spent in this car by now. Sunset didn’t know how many exactly, but it was enough that the vehicle had begun to feel very familiar indeed. It wasn’t quite a second home yet, but at the rate things had been going between her and Rarity, it might just.

They needed to go on a road trip one of these days. Rarity hadn’t exactly kept her love of driving a secret, and Sunset knew she’d heartily agree to the idea, circumstances permitting. Maybe she’d float the thought when she got out of class - it felt bold to suggest Rarity wouldn’t have plans, given how busy that girl always seemed to be, but there were worse ways to spend winter break. Sunset knew she would enjoy it.

If I live that long.

Sunset’s eyes slid closed. Some of the light in her thoughts drained away as the heaviness she’d nearly left behind gently straddled her where she laid.

…yeah. If she lived that long.

Sunset decided that she didn't want to think anymore. Though her thoughts never truly stilled, she did her best to squelch them as best she could by finding specific points in the car to stare at as time crawled by as its own pace. It was a strategy she often used for letting time go by with nothing to do, and to some extent to get to sleep. It was easier when she was actually relaxed, but this would do for now.

It wasn't clear to Sunset how much time passed. At some point, however, the front doors to the school opened up, and Sunset glanced up at the movement to see Rarity all bundled up in her pea coat, making her way over to the parking lot and up the lane towards her. As soon as Rarity got close enough to the car to see into the windshield, she smiled and waved. Sunset smiled back, a little. It wasn't quite relief she felt, but it wasn't far off from it, either.

The wind was visibly blowing Rarity about just as much as it had blown against Sunset on the way over, and she wasted no time in getting to the driver's side door and tugging it open to duck inside. "Blustery as all hell," she huffed.

Sunset nodded with a tired smile as the door slammed lightly. "That's why I didn't go to the roof."

"You wouldn't be up there for long, I don't imagine! I'd be scraping you off the sidewalk."

Sunset shrugged. "Eh...it'd be easier to stick me in the trunk like that."

"Perhaps so, but I like you in one piece."

Sunset shrugged again, sighing lightly. Some of the weight compressed on her chest a little bit more. "It's fine. I don't really feel like I'm in one piece these days anyway."

The key clicked gently as it was put in the ignition, though that was as far as it got. Rarity turned in her seat towards Sunset, sympathy and care written all over her expression, and raised one hand, gesturing 'come hither' to her with one finger.

It took Sunset a moment to respond, only really moving when Rarity began to lean forward over the divider between them. As their faces grew nearer, Rarity placed a hand on either of Sunset's cheeks and leaned closer still until her lips found her forehead. Sunset's eyes slipped closed for the few seconds that it lasted, and the kiss concluded with the softest little smack of parting lips. "You know you mean the world to me, right?"

Sunset swallowed lightly, eyes remaining closed as she gave a small nod in response. Rarity's hands were warm, and soft. Her touch always felt perfect.

Rarity's hand softly stroked one cheek. A second forehead kiss came, just as soft and being placed in the same spot as the first, though for much longer this time. After a long, warm silence that was wholly unchallenged, Rarity withdrew her lips noiselessly from Sunset's forehead. A few seconds later, Sunset's eyes opened again, which had no trouble at all finding Rarity's small yet warm smile. "Is there anywhere you'd like to go right now, sweetheart?"

Sunset...didn't really consider the question all that much. She shrugged a bit, voice low and quiet as she replied, "I don't really care."

"Well, lucky you, then." Rarity flashed a brighter smile, then sat back again, taking the warmth of her hands with her as she applied them to the task of starting the car. "I don't much mind where we go any more than you."

Sunset didn’t say anything. She sat back in her seat, cheeks still carrying traces of warmth that Rarity's hands had left there. She kept sitting back until she slumped in the seat, head rolling sideways till she was able to look out through the passenger door window.

For a little while, nothing was said, sans the one-note commentary provided by the station wagon's now active motor. Sunset felt a little better with Rarity here, but she still felt colorless. She also didn't feel super talkative.

“I think it might be my favorite way to drive. No destination in mind except...well, forward."

There was a pause, though Sunset didn't fill it.

The silence did little to deter Rarity. "There’s something so liberating about it, you know? I could decide I want to go to the mall right now, and you know what? I’d just go to the mall. And halfway there I could decide, no actually, you know what sounds nice? Getting my nails done. It’s been an age and a day since I had them done professionally, may as well do it now while I have the chance!” One hand left the wheel as she gesticulated with that arm. “Because why not, right? And then I could be pulling into the parking space in front of the salon and go, no, actually–“ she shifted lanes, seemingly for no other reason than emphasizing her point, “–I think I’d rather get something to eat first. And then I go do that. Because to hell with it, let’s go. I’ve got the choice, and I’m taking it!” She shifted lanes again, putting the car back where it was. “For no other reason than because I can.”

Sunset didn’t outwardly react. Her eyes were on the passing sidewalk a few yards to her right through the window, but she listened.

“Driving was my first real freedom.” Rarity’s voice picked up a reminiscing quality. “The world opened up to me with a license. I could get in the car, and just…go. Just go, in a straight line, as far as and as long as I like, and no one could stop me.” She looked out at the open road ahead of them like her destiny was out there somewhere. “First time in my life I could decide where I wanted to be, and just…do it. If the road leads to it, I can just be there. Whenever I want.”

Sunset wasn’t sure where the question came from, but she asked it: “Ever left the country?”

“No.” The car came to a stop at a stoplight as traffic buzzed by in front of them. “Not yet, anyway.”

"Sounds like you wanna."

"Oh, certainly. But..." Rarity let out a wistful sigh at this, followed by a contemplative silence. “I fantasize more than I plan, I suppose. I don't know how far I'd go if I was given the chance. Some days the edge of the known world sounds nice, but other days…” She pressed her lips together as she bobbed her head this way and that. “I don’t know. Sometimes I want to stay home.” The car nudged forward at the green light, putting them on the highway. “Sit in my pajamas in bed, watch television…”

“Talk on the phone.”

“Talk on the phone,” Rarity mirrored, a small grin gracing her lips. “Keep talking on the phone…lose track of time…”

“Take the pajamas off…”

Rarity nodded along, smiling widening. “Maybe just don’t change into anything else…”

“Photo document it…” Sunset was still looking out the window, but she had since grown a smile of her own. “Trade notes with the weirdo on the line with you…”

“Psh, weirdo.” Rarity flippantly waved a hand. “As though studying is so strange.”

“Right, studying,” Sunset chuckled. “That’s what that is.”

“Quite!” The peppy nonchalance was rather convincing-sounding if it was coming from anyone but Rarity in that moment. “It’s simply studying.”

“Studying human anatomy.”

“Precisely. Nothing odd about that.”

“Nothing at all.”

“Not a thing.”

“Definitely not the horniest shit ever.”

“Purely professional."

“Very. Very professional.”

“Quite. We’re professionals, after all.”

“Oh yeah, totally. Very professional.”

“Absolutely. We should be paid for this kind of professionalism, really.”

Sunset started to respond, but found only chuckles escaping her throat where words would go. She shook her head as Rarity giggled along with her, watching the world streak by out the window to the tune of the hum of the road.

A silence fell, comfortable as it often was. Sunset had often felt warmth after their little exchanges, but something about it felt particularly fulfilling this time, like she’d needed this. She had needed this.

Rarity focused on driving for a little while more, though eventually she piped up again: “…perhaps an odd question, but…did those pictures teach you anything?”

“Uh...” Sunset chuckled once. “That I want to sleep with you?”

“Not like that,” Rarity scolded with a playful slap to Sunset’s shoulder. “I meant like, human biology. Call it-“ Her voice shrank a little. “Well no, it is presumptuous. I don’t know your experiences.”

“Uhh…” Sunset sat back in her seat as her eyes searched the ceiling over her head. “I have seen humans without clothes on, just not…y’know…people I know. For the most part.”

There wasn’t a verbal response, but the silence felt questioning, to Sunset.

She debated whether she should share or not, then rolled her eyes and admitted, “Just one guy. Naked, I mean. In-person. Everything else is bits and pieces. Mostly locker rooms, but that’s…y’know,” she rolled her wrist, “tame. The rest is the internet’s fault. I’ve done my share of research.”

“…huh.”

“Yeah.” A beat. “Oversharing?”

“Oh, um-“ Rarity tripped over her words for a moment. “I’d- no, it’s more- more what you’re comfortable with, is my- my, um, concern.”

Sunset shrugged and waved a hand in a show of indifference. “I don’t give a shit. I mean, I didn’t even wear clothes till I came here, and I probably wouldn’t at all if humans weren’t scared of nudity and also bald.”

A pfff burst out of Rarity’s throat.

“I’m serious!” Sunset gestured sharply down at herself like it was absurd, heedless of the giggles spilling from Rarity. “Do you know how many times in my life I’ve thought to myself, ‘I could really use a jacket’ before I came here? None! Zero! Every one of you is chronically balding, and it is the most jank baldness I’ve ever seen! Everything but the head and groin? Seriously? Even you guys think it’s weird by the way you get about it!”

It took Rarity a few seconds before she could push past her own giggling to respond properly. “In our defense,” she managed, raising one finger. “In our defense, the need to cover up opens up a world of options for self-expression. Fashion is a cornerstone of human culture the world over.”

Sunset huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. “Yeah well, it’s not going to keep me from complaining about it.”

“Well tell you what: you keep complaining, and I’ll enjoy how my future career has legs.”

“Yeah, bald legs.”

“You have bald legs!”

Sunset let out an amused scoff. “I wish. That would have saved me quite the lecture about shaving when I was learning human shit.”

Rarity glanced at the side mirror out the window, then toggled the blinker as she switched lanes. “At least you don’t have full-on fur to shave. Can you imagine how long that would take?”

“Yes: zero seconds, cuz I’m not a psychopath.” Sunset responded to Rarity’s giggling by doubling down on her affronted look. “Shave my f- why would a pony shave their fur off, Rarity? That’s unhinged.”

Rarity sputtered a response as she gestured vaguely with one hand in her defense. “Well I- I’m- was just saying what if- it’s fur, that would take longer!”

“Well if I had fur, I’d be a pony! That’s weird!”

“Yes but if you- it’s m- hush!”

“That’s weird, Rarity! Why you being so weird about it?”

“Oh please, this is coming from you? I don’t even want to hear it, miss–“ She took on a dopey-sounding voice as she cheerfully went, “‘How do you do, fellow human?’”

“Hey!” Sunset laughed, putting her hands up. “I’m literally an alien! If anyone’s allowed to do that, it’s me, alright?”

“Nope~ Sorry darling, your grace period has elapsed. I’m afraid there’s no more ‘fellow human’ tolerance to spare for you anymore.”

Sunset ‘deflated,’ looking down at her lap. “Damn…can’t believe they revoked my human visa.”

“Truly a travesty~ But alas! ‘Tis what you get for being a furry.”

The ’a’ in that sentence did not register immediately for Sunset. As she turned her head to respond, she met the gaze of an exceptionally smug-looking Rarity smirking at her, and the latter half of the double entendre landed. “…oh, fuck you.”

Rarity then exploded into laughter. Sunset repeated her statement several times, which did little to stop Rarity’s laughter. Or her own, for that matter.

For a while, the car was filled with the duo’s combined cackling. Even after the joke had run its course, the sound of the other’s lingering giggling would prompt the other to begin doing so, which made the other start over as well, resulting in constant on-off back-and-forth waves of giggles with minimal provocation.

After minutes spent like that, Sunset finally half-laughed, “Okay, where the hell are we going?”

Rarity took a breath or two to force down the giggles. “Um…” She glanced about either side of the road, pushing aside the strands of hair that had fallen forward into her eyes with one finger as she took stock of their surroundings. “I,” she proclaimed, “haven’t the foggiest idea.”

“Welp.” Sunset started chuckling, which threatened to start the whole process over again. “Are we even still in town?”

“Mmmmmnope!”

Sunset threw up her hands, then let them fall back into her lap with a pair of soft off-sync slaps. “We’re getting lunch in Cloudsdale, apparently.”

“Apparently!” Rarity chuckled once, then went quiet for a few moments before more confidently asserting, “You know what, yes, let’s do that. Have you ever been to Cloudsdale, darling?”

It took Sunset a few moments to consider this. She definitely hadn’t in this world, but she couldn’t think of a time she’d ever been to Cloudsdale back home, either. Cloud cities were typically only accessible to non-pegasi on special occasions, and they were all ones she’d never had the chance to partake in. “No, I haven’t.”

“Feel like exploring with me?”

Sunset knew that it wasn’t the same Cloudsdale as the one back in Equestria, but even still, the thought of having a chance to see what had always been nothing more than a spot on the horizon ignited a small foalish spark of excitement in her heart. The smile on her lips was involuntary as she replied, “That’d be really cool.”

This was met with a triumphant smile from Rarity, who proclaimed, “Marvelous! Cloudsdale ho!”

Sunset waited precisely one second, then whipped her head around at Rarity. “Whatchu just call me?”

“Th- oh shut up.”

Suffice it to say that there'd be plenty of laughter between those two that afternoon. There always was.

The two arrived in Cloudsdale about half an hour later. They spent most of the time driving through its many streets, taking in the sights and poking their heads into various shops and stores they found along the way, not really shopping so much as taking it in along with the rest of the city. They stopped near a park at one point to smoke outside of its outskirts, during which they narrowly avoided Rarity getting a ticket for where she’d parked the car.

It was definitely no cloud city, but it was an adventure for Sunset all the same. The two of them were so caught up in the experience of exploring Cloudsdale that they completely lost track of the time. By the time either of them remembered their original plan of lunch, it was already dark out. They instead got dinner at a place neither of them remembered the name of, only that they were served by a girl named Tiny Snow who was very sweet and that they both liked the name of.

For reasons Rarity refused to elaborate on, Sunset was also pulled into a toy store and not allowed to exit until she had picked something she wanted. She settled on a small rainbow-colored beanie baby turtle with tiny black eyes and a bitty U-shaped smile, altogether forming a colorful, happy little fellow just big enough to sit in the palm of Sunset’s hand. The tag on his leg said ”Rainbow Rupert.” He rode on Sunset’s shoulder all the way home.

It was a good day.