Sunset Shimmer was inhuman. There were no ands, ifs, or buts, about it. Sure, she passed as a human on the street, even developed human mannerisms and speech in her everyday life, but she was decidedly not human. Anyone could have told you that.

There was something just off about her that no amount of makeup and clothes and turning a blind eye too could hide. It was the same off you’d get when you see the presence of a predator, but not the animal itself. Cautious hesitation.

If you looked at her for too long you’d start thinking she was a fun house mirror of humanity, and likely develop a headache only Pinkie Pie could normally cause.

Some claimed Fae dealings, children swapped at birth in the cold midwinter and mothers none the wiser. Horseshoes burned white hot against mimicked skin at the slightest touch, and an inhuman desire for trickery poorly concealed within fox wide grins.

Others spoke of dark horned creatures raised from the pits of hell to deliver their children into human’s mists, bringing about end times. Crosses turned upside down and brimstone burning at metaphorical gates.

Even fewer spoke of Nephilim, a monstrous beast of man and heaven, terrible things of wings and teeth that burst from their poor human mother’s womb covered in their fathers golden ichor. Bloody and angelic, already a sin.

There was no one story that everyone believed, for there was no one story that could hold all the truth. Every element held some similarities to Sunset, and perhaps for a moment, long enough to bore into the side of her head during a slow class, you could be tricked into thinking you solved it. But if you take another look, you will find another puzzle piece, without corners or sides, and start back at the beginning.

Everyone just knew one thing, the single thing they could all agree upon when it came to the living conundrum that is Sunset Shimmer.

You do not theorize in front of her.

Of course, their first mistake was believing that Twilight Sparkle was just anyone. Especially in the eyes of their resident inhuman.

It was a balmy summer evening when it occurred, the kind that makes you sleep on top of your blankets. Dusk had settled like fireflies across the town, sparse and sparkling, entangled in a cosmic dance.

Crickets sawed their legs in the blue-moon grass as cicadas joined the choir of the night, rubbing the crust of their hibernation cocoons from their eyes.

Sidewalks turned orange, then purple, leading stray children home to warm dinners and even warmer beds. Trees whistled in the wind, their canopies so thick with leaves you’d almost never believe winter could bring them down.

But of course, as the children came home, the street cats returned to their dens, and the birds curled up in their nests, the monsters came out to play.

The ones who slipped out of sewer drains to hide under beds, others who stalked from forgotten places in the forest to wander the barren asphalt streets that used to be home, and more still, that flew with the birds during their migration, tucked like a cheating card between their feathers.

Yes, every good town needed monsters. This one just to happen to be a bit more, personable, then others.

Sunset Shimmer walked down the still June-hot road, pastel chalk painted up and down the street and clinging to her shiny black boots. Despite the weather, she was covered nearly head to toe, her leather jacket’s collar popped against her neck and white undershirt not even showing signs of sweat.

Most would blame the time of day for the attire, dusk being the coolest time of those sweaty summer days. Most, that is.

Coming up to the Sparkle house, Sunset took the steps two at a time, giddy in every sense of the word and rang the doorbell, only having to wait half a second before the doorknob turned and the joyful wrinkled face of her girlfriend's mother came into view.
“Sunset!”

“Hi Mrs. Velvet.” Sunset replied casually, yet in that I-was-raised-to-be-formal-to-every-adult-I-meet way.

Velvet huffed good naturally in her I-will-break-that-habit-one-day-so-help-me way. “Come in, come in, you must be sweating in all those layers.”

Ushered inside in the only way a fretful mother can, Sunset shed her jacket and toed off her boots. A dedicated space within a hall cranny, devoid of any dust fitting her clothes perfectly.

“It’s alright, Mrs Velvet. I’m used to running warm.” That got a knowing chuckle from them both.

“Still,” Velvet sternly began, turning and walking into her domain, the kitchen. “It isn’t polite to keep a guest waiting.”

“Taking etiquette lessons from Rarity again?”

That made Velvet bark back a laugh, her stern motherly façade crinkling at the lips. “Just picked up a few phrases here and there. It's a wonderful inspiration for my next book.”

“Oh I’m sure she’s ecstatic about that.” Sunset stalked around the kitchen island, eyeing the spread of food with a lick to her lips.

Fat gnocchi sat in a stew thick white sauce, carrots, spinach, and soft fork shreds of mouth-melting fish oozed a tongue watering aroma. Light seasonings dotted the surface like floating algae in a river bank.

Fist thick loaves of rolls sat plump and steaming on a nearby platter, golden brown dustings of the oven crisping the edges. Butter porous bubbles cut into the corners, yeast blooming in the air.

Crisp salad, lettuce, tomatoes, even the bits of cheese sparkled under the kitchen lights. An umber vinaigrette with homemade buttermilk ranch dripped thick globs across the surface, seeping into every crevice and cranny.

Crumb dragged oil, local mason jar honey, fresh butter, along with salt and pepper sat as needed on the table. Flowers, still ripe and unwilted stood tall in their vase as the centerpiece.

Sunset won’t deny, the flowers looked as good to eat as the rest of the meal. That time she was caught knee deep in mud eating the weeds that threaten Mrs. Velvet's garden came to mind.

“I made sure to make your favorites tonight. With extra to take home,” she ended with a wink. “You’re so skinny it’s a wonder you don’t fly off the back of that motorcycle of yours.”

Sunset, not knowing how to respond, just scratched the back of her head and nodded with a smile. Floating unsure around the kitchen island, knowing not to help but still wanting too. It was going to be another war over the dishes after dinner. She could feel it.

Speaking that she was already six foot one and had some decent muscle from fencing practice, occasional farm work, and running around solving random magical problems like some rainbow colored vigilante, it made her wonder if Twilight Velvet was aiming to get her to be seven feet tall by the time she graduated.

Then something caught Sunset’s eye sitting by the oven. “Is that…?”

Velvet turned around at her unfinished prompt before gleefully clapping her hands. “Ah! Yes, the flower pressed focaccia.” She joined Sunset by the oven, sighing wistfully. “I wanted to surprise you with it during dinner. I saw the recipe on tv, you know Rachel Bray? I just adore her.”

Velvet continued without comment, “Anyways, I saw one of her recipes for focaccia while I was doing laundry, and I remember you liking those weeds in my garden so much I thought I’d make it for you!” She turned to give a wink at Sunset’s still shell shocked face, “This time without the food poisoning. I got such a good deal on the edible flowers at the store too. I-“

Jumped by an old-timey wind up timer, Twilight Velvet shuffled back to the other side of the kitchen.

“Oop, that's my timer to set the table.”

Grabbing bouquets of glasses, plates, real cloth napkins, counting the forks, and spoons, Velvet flapped a hand over her shoulder at Sunset, not minding that she had taken up the last fifteen minutes of one-sided conversation.

“Why don’t you run along upstairs and see if you can pull our resident mad scientist from her work?” Velvet let that knowing smile on her face pull back her librarian pinched lips, it was kind and gentle, warm like proofed bread ready to bake.

Sunset gave a polite laugh back and nodded. “I’ll try ma’am,” she replied, giving a mocked two finger salute as she slinked out of Velvet's Kingdom. A 90s pop song suddenly nipped at her heels as she walked over the stairs.

Taking the steps one, then two, nearing three at once, Sunset leaped to the top of the stairs, not even trying to keep her excitement contained.

A bark greeted her first, Spike running form his hallway doggy bed to run circles around her legs before sitting down for attention.

Sunset, ever the dutiful girlfriend, gave Spike his payment of scratches and belly rubs and ‘who's a good boy’ before he scampered off to their shared destination.

Seeing the closed door with the sign, “Scientist at work!” tilted in front, Sunset knew to approach quietly in order to truly surprise her. Nudging the door open with the toe of her boot, Spike at her side, Sunset peered through the crack and beheld her.

Coated in her namesake, leaking from the fingers of her black out curtains, was Twilight. Hair tied in a strangler thick bun, glasses askew, and lab coat thoroughly stained in mystery substances. Sunset had never seen such a wonderful sight since she last visited.

Spike, having no concept of surprise when it came to his master, squeezed the door open enough to fit through and immediately started to paw at Twilight’s legs.

Twilight hardly even gave him a glance, giving him a pat on the head, and returning to pondering the white board in front of her.

Sunset was now thoroughly intrigued. Intrigued enough to forgo her jump scare attempt and enter the room fully.

“Nice murder board,” she started with, closing the door behind her.

“It’s a societal correlation of observing bio-electronic yields.” Twilight reshuffled the pin of the receipt for Rainbow’s guitar to be closer to the cut out ad of Fluttershy’s pet project. “Board.”

“Catchy,” Sunset deadpanned before the name finally registered. “Wait, did you name your conspiracy theory board S.C.O.O.B.Y?”

Brain having caught up on who was asking her questions, Twilight detached herself from her red string prison and launched herself into a hug at her girlfriend. “Sunny!”

“Hey dork,” Sunset laughed, squeezing Twilight as hard as she could without her ribs creaking, “getting started on the next Dusk book plot?”

“Ugh hardly.” Twilight rolled her eyes, leaning into Sunset's warmth as she stared back at the pin cushion she called a board. “Those books are as nonsensical as they are derivative of being a high school girl,” Twilight started pacing around her room angrily. “Vampires should be able to drink blood from any part of the body, not just the neck. Not to mention the sparkling!”

Sunset hummed, taking the corner of a picture depicting CHS between her fingers and affectionately caressing it like an aunt to a cheek. “Uh-huh whatever you say Ms. Sparkle.”

Twilight stopped, turned, and looked very unimpressed at Sunset. Sunset just smiled, very pleased back.

“You’re incorrigible.”

“Aw, babe, I love you too.” Sunset leaned forward for a hug and mimed kissing.

“Back demon, back!” Twilight laughed as she lightly pushed Sunset’s shoulders to lean further away from the sloppy kisses.

“Succumb to your desires, human,” Sunset proclaimed in a horrible english accent. “Join me and my angels of the night.”

Twilight nearly fell over laughing, her sides hurting, forcing Sunset to catch her and smother her in half-baked kisses as they fell onto Twilight’s bed.

Sunset would admit to anyone - willing and not - that her most favorite sound, in all the worlds she’s been, was Twilight’s laughter. Which is only two, but that's still more than most beings can say.

The high pitched cracks breaking with every surge of breath like a swimmer coming up for air, the way her adam’s apple wobbled, perfect and round, buoying up Sunset’s fingers and lips with every gasp she took. Every pluck of her vocal cords was an arrow pulled taut for release aimed directly at Sunset’s heart.

She would never curse herself to wake up every day with that sound, for fear it would lose its luster and wonder from the cruel hands of time. No - Sunset would treasure every moment it lived freely gifted to her to hear, feel, and breathe.

It wasn’t a scripted kiss. No fireworks exploding or music suddenly swelling to a surge, no petty drama that led up this quiet scene. It was scripted as an intimate moment that got interrupted, and it was unknown where the scene was going to go. They only knew they would go together. Sunset would make sure of it.

They broke apart, staring into each other's eyes with matching dopey grins before breaking down into giggles.

“Hi.” Kiss.

“Hi, Twi.” Another kiss.

Another round of girlish giggles filled the room, as Sunset took a bluish-black lock and twirled it around her finger.

“So….” Sunset stretched out the oh sound, accentuating her orange slice dipples.

“So…?” Twilight matched her.

“Are you gonna explain what you’re working on, or just leave your poor girlfriend to the wolves of science.” Twilight giggled again at the imagery of wolves in goggles and lab coats.

“So!” Twilight jumped to her feet walking to the previously dubbed S.C.O.O.B.Y board. “Lately there’s been some…” Twilight searched for the word, “unique happenings around town lately.” She began, adjusting her glasses smartly.

Sunset rose to a sitting position on the edge of the bed, resting an elbow on her knee and holding her head up with love-struck intrigue. She had a feeling she knew where this was going, but was curious how Twilight would end up there.

“And along with these strange goings-on, a new energy type has surfaced, coinciding along with these events.” Pulling a teacher's pointing wand from nowhere, Twilight pointed at the red circled picture of Canterlot high in the center of the board. “Example A: An energy spike occurred during the supposed ‘Fall Formal’ last september.”

Sunset snorted at the skeptical way Twilight pronounced, Fall Formal. “Wait, didn't you get chased off campus by Mr. Doodle when you took that picture?”

“Example B!” Twilight swiftly moved on, pointing the wand to a red stringed photo of CHS’s track field. “CHS athleticism awards have nearly tripled since Event A, along with higher test results and school spirit.”

“Is this just a plot to get our friendship game plans to Crystal Prep?” Sunset wagged her finger disapprovingly, “For shame, Twilight Sparkle. For. Shame.”

Twilight rolled her eyes good naturedly, lightly tapping Sunset’s open knee with her wand getting a quiet ‘Ow!’ from her girlfriend.

“You and I both know that neither of us care for the friendship games, and all their promoted frivolity.” Clearing her throat, Twilight pointed at a newspaper cut-out of the mall. “Now I originally believed that these geo-magnetic events were due to a fault line your school may have been built on, however, further investigation shows that the local shopping center has also had its fair share of unusual electro-magnetic congestion.”

Sunset raised her hand and didn’t bother waiting to be called on. “Shopping center? What are you, seventy?” Then she raised an eyebrow as she made some hand gestures to get her point across. “Also is congestion even the right word in this case? Wouldn’t it be conjecture?”

“No conjecture is an unproven mathematical theory, or scientific theorem. Congestion can be used as a cluster, similar to a congested nose.”

Sunset crinkled her nose cutely. “Gross.”

“Yeah…” Twilight shook her head, “regardless of word choice, these two places have had noticeable changes to their local flora and fauna since these geographical events occurred.”

“Aka you and Fluttershy noticed dog poop was easier to pick up at the mall, despite it getting below freezing this winter.”

“And,” Twilight interjected excitedly, “how wasps and bees had lowered sting rates within these areas then our control zones.”

“Wait, how did you even manage to collect data on that?”

Twilight nervously floundered, “uh.”

“… Please don’t tell me you tried to get stung repeatedly just to test this theory.” Sunset groaned under a face palm.

“Fluttershy was with me!”

“Was she also trying to get stung?” Sunset deadpanned.

Twilight fidgeted with the end of her skirt silently.

“Ugh.” Sunset felt like banging her head against the wall. “I expected this from Rainbow Dash and AJ doing their ‘bravery tests’, not you.” She made quotation marks with her fingers.

“R-regardless!” Twilight started again. “The findings of the field test were adequate in proving that these inexplicable events have had impact within our community, to a level unseeable to the human senses, but strong enough to affect the environment.”

Clearing her throat Twilight pointed to the music store receipt, “Event A - 2: the supposed ‘music battle’ between Rainbow Dash and Trixie Lullamoon that occurred some week’s before the second spike event.” Twilight began to pace in front of the board, lost in her own musings. “Though further prodding into this event from witnesses lead to a dead end.” Applejack telling Rainbow Dash a very knowing, shut up, during a lunch outing. “I believe that perhaps these events are either drawn, or related, to sound waves. Particularly, ones that emanate from possible guitar sounds.”

Twilight took a deep breath before continuing, wearing a hole into her bedroom floor.

“But if that's the case, then how come these events don’t happen every time a guitar is played?”

“Twi.”

Twilight pivoted and chewed on her thumb nail, “what is the different variable between these small spikes and the larger ones?”

“Twilight.”

“Is it based on the level of sound? The amps at the school and festival grounds are bound to be stronger than the store ones, but they’re most likely older as well.”

“Twilight!”

“Gah!” Twilight jumped from the sound of her name, dropping the teacher's wand from her hand.

“You’re spiraling,” Sunset helpfully stated, her face tuned to a concerned but gentle look. “Have you taken any breaks since you made this?” Standing up, Sunset walked over to her girlfriend and cupped a cheek. “Have you eaten anything today?”

Twilight squeezed her eyes shut, taking a deep breath in, and then relaxing as it came out. Opening her eyes she stares into Sunset’s bluish-green ones, flecked with bits of gold like leaves on a pond.

“I ate breakfast and lunch today, drank lots of water, and got eight hours of sleep last night.” Sunset cocked her head, doing that thing that always seemed to pull the truth from her. “…Six hours.”

Sunset sighed and took Twilight's hands in one of her hers and used the other one to push back her fringe to feel her forehead. Her hands were calloused from guitar picking, fencing, and the like, yet they were gentle and exceedingly warm, like you warmed yourself a bit too close to the stove.

“Well, you don’t have a fever, that's good.” putting her hand down Sunset pressed a quick kiss to the corner of Twilight's lips, still she saw stars. “I’d feel a lot better if you ate a little something before dinner though.”

Shaking off the sudden trip through the galaxy, Twilight returned back to her room, and more importantly, to Sunset.

“Okayyy mommmm.” Twilight rolled her eyes but acquiesced.

Sunset put a hand into her jacket pocket and pulled out a non-labeled granola bar, that definitely couldn’t have normally fit, and gave it to her girlfriend.

“You still haven’t told me what brand these are,” Twilight said, unwrapping the bar. “I’ve tried to figure it out from the taste but none of the ones at the supermarket match.”

Sunset shrugged, a sly smile creeping on her lips. “It’s whatever you want it to be.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“I’ll make you a Deal,” Twilight could hear the capital D in deal, another strange quirk that Sunset had, “I’ll tell you all about my granola bar adventures after your TED talk.”

“Only if you also promise to stop with the peanut gallery every other sentence.” Twilight jokingly poked a finger at Sunset’s chest, in a mocking serious tone.

Sunset raised an eyebrow. “This Deal feels unfairly balanced towards you, Ms Sparkle.”

“Then I guess we’ll never know what this mysterious energy is.” Twilight said, shrugging.

“Alright, alright.” Sunset put her hands up in supposed self defense. “I’ll keep it to three sentences, maximum.”

“I can live with that.” Twilight nodded, taking a big bite out of the granola bar in satisfaction.

“So it is so.” Sunset snapped her fingers in what Twilight assumed was another jokingly grandiose gesture. “Now, are you gonna tell me more about this electromagnetic radiation from space ogres?”

Twilight rolled her eyes so hard it ached a little. “You’ve been around my brother too much.” She tossed the granola wrapper into the trash can in the corner of her room and licked a crumb off her thumb.

“You see, while I was compiling all this data together I realized I had missed something; something that ties everything together, from the strange energy levels, to the reaction to sound, even why certain flora and fauna have been behaving unusually.”

Sunset made a go on gesture to fuel Twilight’s energy. She hung off every word, grinning and staring up worshipfully at Twilight, helpless in the face of a cheeto-crusted deity on earth.

Twilight dramatically paused for her rapt audience of one. “Cryptids.”

“Cryptids.” Sunset deadpanned back.

“Cryptids!” Twilight shot back. “And I have proof!”

“Oh?” Sunset said smirking, “And what, pray tell, would this proof be?”

“THIS!!!!” Twilight loudly and proudly exclaimed, holding out her new prized possession towards Sunset.

“… A… crumb filled sandwich bag?”

“Oh whoops, that's from my lunch.” Twilight hastily put away the trash before pulling out a much grimmer looking ziploc. “I mean - THIS!!!”

Sunset squinted hard, until all she saw was the clenched teeth of her eyelashes. Leaning back and rubbing her growing headache from her temples. Sunset sighed, mentally preparing the out-of-pocket cost of a tetanus shot.

“Twilight you know I would do anything for you, have done anything for you, but if you keep picking up random ziplocs from behind the school I am putting you on a kiddie leash.”

“What?” Twilight exclaimed, confused and a bit incredulous at the, very understandable, accusation. “No, I haven’t done that since my last tetanus shot. This,” Twilight shook the bag for effect, “is a real life sample from the local cryptid I found by the greenhouse last week; I had to dig it out of the compost bin after some random girl threw it in. I think her name was Sunflower?”

“Wait,” Sunset cut in as blunt and fast as a drunk mother at a wedding reception, “wait, wait, wait. Hold the phone.” Twilight held her position. “Now pass the phone to me.”

Sunset nearly jumped up off the bed as she realized just what was in her girlfriend's hand.

“You mean to tell me that, that.” She pointed a finger at the thing inside the bag, “came from the Everfree Gargoyle?”

“Yes!” Twilight shook with excitement. “The bat-like veins and stony texture of the skin lead me to believe that this sample came off the Gargoyle’s wings during a scuffle. My prevailing theory is that the Gargoyle was present during the Fall Formal, which coincides with the local police reports of a ‘large flying bat’ within the area that night. And-“

Twilight continued to drone on about her theory and how the new urban legend was connected with it, but all Sunset could do was stare at the ziploc held tightly within Twilight’s grip.

Frankly, Sunset wasn’t sure if she should be flattered, offended, or icked out. So she chose all three.

“That's… great, Sparky?” She could feel her face make a mixture of a grimace and smile, which did, in fact, make her look slightly constipated.

Along with the typical couple barfy private nicknames Sunset had for Twilight, she basically only ever called her “Twi,” “Princess,” or “Sparky.” “Babe,” was reserved for when she’s irritated with something, or wants to leave the current conversation, or just leave in general. She didn’t sound irritated now, just concerned and confused.

It came out as more of a question than a statement but Twilight took it in stride.

“I know, right?” Twilight babbled, “with this not only can I prove that the ‘Everfree Gargoyle’,” Twilight scoffed at the absurdity, “is just some newly discovered bat species, but I can study it and be the first person to publish an article on it!” Twilight tapped her chin in thought like a living sculpture. “Zoology isn’t my preferred source of study, but I’m sure the recruiter’s at the Everfree independent study will love this!”

Okay, now Sunset felt a little more offended, but better a bat than a demon she supposed. Even if demon was technically more accurate. She could still feel offended, damnit.

Sunset had thought about telling Twilight the truth, whatever remained of it, on more than one occasion.

She had written down plans late into the night, tossing them one by one, overhead into her overflowing garbage can until her hand cramped and her alarm clock yelled at her to go to school.

She had tried voice memos, recordings, letters, hell, she even thought about spray painting a ‘Hell is Real’ sign on the side of her building once in sheer desperation, but figured that would be too on the nose, even for her. And she didn’t want to get kicked out. Again.

But time and time again, when she does finally pluck up the courage to tell her, Sunset always ends up floundering with awe in the sandy sea of stars that is Twilight’s theory babble and smile.

It's selfish, she knows it. Keeping this side, this entire part of her life, hidden from the one person who deserves to know it the most. The one person who she truly wants to live it with.

She wants those early mornings, in a bed with no shame, she wants the sleepy confused look Twilight would give her when she wakes up, she wants to be that warmth beside her in bed, she wants cold feet digging into her hips, and giggles under the midnight glow of cell phones.

She wants so badly it aches just behind her jaw and tongue. Weighed down by this invisible wave that threatens to consume her. It hurts, and yet…

And yet she is a coward.

When they share a bed on these weekend escapades, rubbing their cricket feet together under the covers of night, Sunset waits until Twilight falls asleep, her breathing even and the bunch between her brows lifted, and does the most selfish thing she can do.

In the low of those nights, between the birds roosting and the cicadas whirring awake, Sunset leans over, as quietly as the bed springs will let her, and risks a small kiss to Twilight’s forehead, to release the wave of affection that threatens to overwhelm her remaining fear.

And on those nights she has a dream, the only dream she can, and has, ever fully remembered.

In the dream, Sunset has wings of copper and fire. Skeletal wires bent into the shape of wings, that can only sing of the idea of flight, burst from her back held together by melting waxish-clay and stray feathers. The barebones of a statue come to life before she could have been finished.

Adorned with curled locks tangled with dried up willow leaves: gasoline yellow eyes with a snake tongue and rows of teeth, she feels as though she has fallen between the fingers of clouds and sunlight.

Laughing as she falls, in the face of all that has and been holy as the sun paints everything a dying gold.

The dream turns itself over like a page.

Suddenly, she is under a star-studded barn, that's been eaten rotten, wind blowing throughout the greyscale wood like soundless chimes.

It is the shortest night of the year, evident by the way the sun shyly kisses the rim of the sky, like the sun was a groom, gently lifting the wedding-garter of the sky between its fingers.

An old hunting rifle sits on her lap as she cleans it with an ease she definitely would not have in the waking world. Its ingrained gunpowder freckles soaking in the faint yawn of light from a fire.

The fire in front of her was slowly losing the fight to sleep, in the way that fires do, flickering moments of wakefulness with a sudden crackle popping in the air like a yawn, before slowly sinking further and further into the rosy charcoal and logs, plates of ash tucked like feather-stuffed blankets around the corners.

A cast iron pan, bigger than both her palms spread out thumb-to-thumb, sizzled on top of the dying flames. A thin layer of oil spits anywhere it can reach, just barely missing her mud covered feet. Or perhaps they were boots. It’s hard to tell in a dream.

In the pan, dashed with sparks of seasoning that seemed to shimmer like sparklers on the fourth of July, is the curled form of an angel. Halo and all.

The dream turns itself over like a page.

This time, there is no fire, no heavenly force barreling down or roasting to a crisp, not even a hint of that strange haze that dreams always take before they fizzle out into nothingness just before you wake. In fact, the sight is so clear and vivid it could be mistaken for a memory or those moments of déjà vu that make you pause and think ‘hasn’t this happened already?’

Truthfully, standing in this not-dream dream, all Sunset could think of was a poem she had read in school.

Two roads diverge in a yellow wood, or however it went.

In front of her was a yellow wood, autumn leaves turning a once lush green landscape into rusty browns, ocher yellows, and ruddy oranges and reds. Both paths lay, as the poem states, equally bare, though they both had been worn about the same.

Sunset could see the symbolism, she didn’t need to recall Ms. Harshwinny’s lecture to understand what this meant. Sill, even just recalling standing quite literally at a crossroads of her life, despite it being in a dream, was disconcerting.

Sunset looks up at Twilight, still engrossed within her own world, and considers the paths she has taken and the ones laid before her, and decides, fuck it. Fuck the high road, fuck the low road, she’s gonna do this the best way she knows how, her way.

“Magic,” Sunset steps in between Twilight’s talking about ph levels in water and how they could affect the ambient electromagnetic field around CHS. “It’s magic.”

Twilight looks at her, mid spiel, with the same look she gave when Pinkie Pie said she wanted to create the first ever molten fudge brownie volcano; the Brownie-ano.

“…no.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“But what about yes?”

“Sunset.” Twilight pinched her temples exasperated. “No.”

“Mmmm no I think yes.”

“That doesn’t even make sense grammatically.”

“It’s still magic grammar or no grammar.”

Twilight groaned the only way a frustrated teenager could. “Sunset, I know you know better than this. Magic isn’t real.” She flailed her arms wildly, “all ‘magic’ is, is science that hasn’t been explained yet.”

Sunset nodded, took this into consideration, thought about it some more, then promptly went off topic. “Did you find that on a Snapple lid?”

“No.”

“Oh…You should submit that to Snapple.”

Twilight groaned so loud her white board shook from the sound.

“Okay, okay,” Sunset began, putting her hands up in defense. “How ‘bout this; I’m the Everfree Gargoyle.”

If looks could kill Sunset would already be sunk at the bottom of a lake somewhere.

“No, really. I am. Watch.” Jumping up from the bed with a crack of her knuckles, Sunset started to stretch as Twilight looked on in disbelief, yet appreciating the view of Sunset's shirt riding up her stomach.

Her brow pitched forward in concentration, the hawklike hook of her nose curved proud, taut at the cheeks like a lioness in grass stalking her prey. Her lantern jaw likeness was clenched, muscles tight with pressure, like she was preparing to weather a storm at sea.

She leaned one-armed off the bed-railing, mimicking sepia-tones postcards of sailors at the rigging, her forearms straining, as thick as a bundle of ropes drawn taut.

Twilight could feel a hum tickle the back of her throat, a buzz that leapt from nerve to nerve sending ripples of unsynchronized goosebumps across her body. Like an old tv had been left on in the other room and Twilight was feeling the white static snow through the wall.

An animal itch in the back of her brain told her to step away, hide, run for cover, that a bigger, meaner predator had come, but the larger emotional and logical part told her that Sunset would never harm someone, least of all her.

So stuck rocking on the balls of her feet Twilight swallowed that base urge to run and watched as her girlfriend pulled more and more heat into the room from nowhere.

Then, just when the building pressure was about to burst like a shaken can of soda, Sunset jerked her hands out infront of her, putting her left hand over her right hand, Sunset pulled her hand away, pulling her “right” thumb with it.

“See?” Sunset said, repeating the action, “I can take my thumb off. Pretty gargoyle behavior huh?”

Twilight watched Sunset perform the unclesest of uncles “magic” trick a few more times before saying something.

“Sunset.”

“Yes my love, my little mad twientist, my light in the dark?” Sunset proudly said, slowly descending into random cooing noises with every word. “What ever is the matter, my dear?”

Twilight sat, practically curled into a ball, on the edge of her desk chair, head in her hands. “I hate you.”

Sunset laughed, light and airy. Dropping the act and pulling Twilight into a one sided hug. “No you don’t.”

“…No I don’t,” Twilight sighed, returning the hug.

Sunset smiled, a devious glint lighting her eyes, before she tightly hugged Twilight and suddenly picked her up with an, “Up we go!”

“Sunset!!!!” Twilight squealed, girlishly giggling as Sunset twirled them around her room. “Put me down!!”

“Whatever you say, my princess desires.” And with a final twirl, Sunset launched the two of them into Twilight’s bed, making the walls shake as they dissolved into a laughing pile of arms and legs.

With a final giggle-snort trailing off into the air, Twilight laid across Sunset’s chest, staring into her eyes.

“Thank you for putting up with me and my crazy theories, even if you talked over all the technical bits.” Twilight rolled her eyes, drawing figure-eights across Sunset’s chest.

“Hey.” Sunset grasped Twilight’s shifting hand to make her look at her. “I’m not ‘putting up with you,’ I love to hear your science talk, it's my favorite part of the week!” Sunset leaned forward to rest her forehead against Twilight’s. “I’m sorry that I made you feel that way. You’re everything to me Twi. Come ice or fire.”

Twilight smiled, small and true. “Thank you,” she whispered. “But really, I’m nothing special.”

“Bullshit.”

Twilight, sighed, weary and accepting. “Sunset-“

“You’re the most beautiful being I have ever had the privilege of witnessing.” Sunset stated, not moving an inch.

“I’m not beautiful,” Twilight shot back. “And I’m only good company with books.”

“Then you're gorgeous to me,” Sunset replied snappily.

“I am not gorgeous either,” Twilight retorted, eyebrows arched in confusion.

“Prettiest girl I’ve ever seen.”

“Not pretty either.”

“Handsome.”

“Sunset.”

Sunset couldn’t be stopped. “Lovely. Charming. Elegant.”

“Elegant?” Twilight barked back. “Are you sure you’re not talking about Rarity?”

“Oh no, you are definitely the living personification of elegant, Twilight Sparkle.” Sunset supplied an ever serious gleam in her eyes.

“I have cheeto dust stained on my coat.”

“And it makes you all the more radiant.” Wrist kiss, pulse perked under her lips. “Splendid.” A kiss pressed like an overflowing bouquet into the crook of her elbow. “Striking.” Chaste yet as long as a millennia put squarely into her shoulder.

Sunset smiled, her teeth curled over her lips in a cunning way. “Toothsome.”

“Toothsome?” Twilight exclaimed incredulously. “Is that even a word?”

“Maybe not,” Sunset hummed, certainty dripping form the words. “But if anyone disagrees I’ll show them a picture of you and they’ll add it to the dictionary without hesitation.”

“And you call me the dork.”

That made Sunset break, laughter bursting out in snorts and hiccups and an outward hiss, like a snake or a cat, unlike a sudden human seethe through the teeth. Yet in a way that Twilight knew was joyful.

Twilight leaned her head against Sunset’s chest, her heart giving out two times the normal human stutter. “I love you,” she murmured against Sunset’s ribs, knowing the words couldn’t touch her heart, but still foolishly hoping they did.

“I love you too.” Sunset pressed a kiss to Twilight’s scalp. “We should go join your parents for dinner.”

“Five more minutes?” Twilight pleaded.

“For you? I’d give you the world if you asked.”

Twilight hummed in consideration. “Only if you promise to take me to the bookstore after.”

“The one on J street?”

“Yeah,” Twilight yawned. “The owner sorts the science fiction section the best.”

“Consider it done, princess.” Sunset gently lifted Twilight's hand and gave a sealed kiss to the base of her ring finger.

“Wait. You were supposed to tell me where you got those granola bars from after my presentation!”

“Yeah, but I never said how long after your presentation I’d tell you.”

“Sunsetttttt!”

Author's Note

lol. lmao even.