The moon had long since hidden behind the skylines and the tent’s fabric was thick enough to envelop everything inside in darkness. And yet, Twilight could still see her hand as she held her necklace in front of her. It was a very simple, very cheap piece of brass in the shape of a half heart, held by a thin and brittle chain of aluminum.

It was her most precious possession.

Up until Twilight was in third grade, she had always enjoyed the random weeks in which she’d be the most popular kid in school. Everyone wanted to talk to her, and everyone gave her nice things in the name of friendship. Twilight always felt warm and fuzzy inside. Then she felt confused when the other kids stopped wanting to hang out with her. Sure, they claimed to be busy, and Twilight understood that, but it still felt weird.

And then someone had decided to inform her that she wasn’t popular. It was only because she was the smartest girl in school and everyone wanted her to tutor them during midterms and finals, and they gave her all those nice things to try to bribe her. And to add insult to injury, according to that someone, the only reason she wasn’t the butt of everyone’s jokes the rest of the school year was because her brother was a police officer and very protective of her.

Twilight had been heartbroken. She had asked her parents to let her skip grades, but they wanted her to go through all the grades like all the other kids, saying that she should make friends her age. But Twilight didn’t want to make friends with them. She had tried, convinced that they liked her for who she was, and she had been betrayed by them all.

So she had shut down to everyone. As soon as she started refusing to help them and stopped accepting their gifts, they all simply stopped talking to her altogether. It had hurt, but Twilight shoved those feelings aside and focused on her studies. Who needed friends anyway? She would get herself ready for college and get a good job and maybe become a world renowned scientist.

And then she met Sunset.

A chance encounter at the library that had changed Twilight’s perspective on everything. It had shattered everything she believed in and given her a much higher goal in life in the form of magical research. And it was all thanks to Sunset who, unlike the kids at school, had only requested Twilight’s help after Twilight had convinced her to let her join.

Sunset had proven to be determined and disciplined, learning most of the contents of Twilight’s syllabus in a few months and incorporating it into her research.

Sure, she could be a bit rude and mean and more than just a bit prideful, but she wasn’t above asking for help or accepting suggestions. She was down to Earth, which was kind of ironic, considering that she was a girl from another world. A fact that was still quite difficult for Twilight to believe. Yes, she could feel the pulsations of the portal, and she could now perceive the vibrations of the Harmonic Resonances, but the knowledge of another world was something that Twilight would have to experience in order to be one hundred percent convinced.

Movement distracted her from her thoughts. Twilight lowered her necklace to see Sunset stirring in her sleep and shivering slightly. She had learned that Sunset didn’t do well in the cold. Perhaps because she was used to having fur, which was yet another thing Twilight still needed to wrap her head around.

Sunset wasn’t originally a human.

Twilight grabbed the extra blanket she’d brought and placed it over Sunset, waiting until she stopped shivering. With that taken care of, Twilight crawled towards the tent’s door, letting in a breeze of fresh air as she unzipped it. To her surprise, there was light coming from the small table they had used for dinner. As she got out of her tent, she noticed that it was coming from a flashlight.

“Shining?”

Looking up from his book, Shining raised an eyebrow. “Twily? What are you doing still awake?”

Twilight made sure her movements wouldn’t wake Sunset as she closed the tent behind her and walked up to her brother. The air was fresh, which was a nice change from the heat of summer days. Even at four in the morning, Twilight didn’t feel like she needed more than a light jacket to protect herself from the weather, and only because they were camping in a public place where, despite the hour, some people could walk by and see her in her pajamas.

“I can’t sleep,” she said as she sat next to him and accepted the mug of hot cocoa he offered. “This isn’t yours, is it?”

“I can make another,” Shining replied with a smile and waited for her to take a sip. “So, what’s on your mind?”

Twilight sipped on the cocoa some more, dragging the time long enough that she knew Shining knew she was just delaying. He waited patiently, like he always did. She appreciated it, though it also made her feel guilty for what was coming next.

Before long, there was no more cocoa left in the mug. She entertained the idea of asking for more to keep delaying, but she knew Shining would press on, and she’d end up speaking up anyway. Though there was another way, now that she had time to think about it. She only had to keep him talking.

She placed the now empty mug on her lap. “Are you suffering from insomnia as well?”

“No,” he replied. “Miss Celestia and I take turns to keep watch. Safety’s sake and all that.”

Darn, Twilight thought. A concise response that gave her no time at all to think of more questions to ask.

“Twi-”

“I’m sorry, Shining,” Twilight said, accidentally interrupting him. “I promised Sunset not to tell anyone.”

“You don’t have to tell me,” Shining said almost immediately, as if he had already known what Twilight was about to say. “Not about whatever she told you or had you do, in any case. But you can talk about how you feel about it.”

Twilight frowned. How was it that he always knew what to say when he talked to her, but he had almost literally stuttered his way into asking Cadence out? She pursed her lips and felt her mouth dry, despite having just drunk half a mug of cocoa.

“It’s just… she asked me to write something,” Twilight started, trying not to give too much information. “I think it’s something she’s been meaning to write, but didn’t want to do it herself. And it wasn’t anything damning, or illegal, or anything anyone should worry about. But it still makes me worry, because even though it was a very formal… document… and even though it was me who wrote it, I think it hurt Sunset, somehow.”

“What makes you say that?”

Twilight shook her head. “I don’t think I can answer without telling you what it was, and I’d be breaking my promise to Sunset. It’s just… I don’t know…”

“Do you know why she asked you to do that?”

“No. She didn’t want to tell me the whys, and she requested I don’t ask. But from… the contents… I think I can gather something…” Sunset had initially told her that she was the personal student of Princess Celestia, but the letter she’d written stated the opposite. And the rest of the contents… “But that’s not the problem. I think… I think the problem is that it made me realize that I don’t really know Sunset at all…”

Shining took the mug from her and refilled it with cocoa before giving it back. “How come? I’d think you’d know her better than anyone else.”

Twilight wrapped her hands around the cocoa, relishing the sensation of her fingers warming up. “That may be so, but she’s still concealing many things about her…” Like the fact she intended to never return to her own world unless she… ascended into princesshood? How would that even be possible if she didn’t return to follow whatever procedures her world had for such a thing? Unless it was customary for their royalty hopefuls to go to other worlds. Though the letter hadn’t felt like a routine report document and—

“Twily,” Shining said, snapping her out of her thoughts. “We all hide things from people. We all need to have our little secrets.”

“Do you hide things from Cadence?”

“Of course I do,” Shining replied without an ounce of remorse. “I haven’t told her about this research or the other world, for example.”

“Oh.”

“So we all hide things,” Shining continued, “and for many different reasons. And being from another world, I can’t blame Sunset for wanting to keep things to herself. Instead of focusing on that, Twily, I think you should appreciate that she confided in you just enough to ask for this favor, and that she’s told you more than she’s told anyone else.”

“I… I guess you’re right.”

Shining smiled. “Just keep being her friend, Twily, and if she feels comfortable enough, she’ll eventually open up to you. And if she doesn’t, well, I think she’s entitled to her privacy.”

Twilight nodded, tightening her grip on the mug. “Alright…”

“I know you’d rather friendship was easy. That you could just ask and she’d just reply. But that’s not how it works. And the older you are, the more complicated it gets. The only thing I can advise you to do is to be patient and be there when she needs you.”

Twilight felt a smile forming in her face. She sipped some more cocoa. “I think I understand. Thank you, BBBFF.”

“You’re welcome, LSBFF,” he replied. “Now, how about you try to get some sleep? I’m guessing you girls are going to have a busy day tomorrow.”

Twilight chuckled. “I believe we’re going to have a very busy year. Today we started crawling. Next we learn how to walk.” She gave the mug back to Shining. “See you in a few hours.”

“Sleep well, Twily.”

Author's Note

I have grown to love it when stories take a sort of break to explore other characters' POV.

I have decided to write these kind of chapters for this fic, but they'll only be between volumes in the form of interludes so as to not interrupt the story too much. These interludes will never advance the story, so you can safely skip them if you care not for them.

Anyway, I hope you liked it! If you did, please do leave a comment! I love reading comments c: