Twilight’s pen didn’t dance across the page. She’d never claim to have the artistic talent worthy of that turn of phrase, her movements too mechanical, too rigid. But that wasn’t to say that the drawing was unskilled. Twilight Sparkle had always had an eye for detail, and she devolved a steady hand soldering her various gadgets. You developed one fast when molten metal at multiple hundreds of degrees was involved. With those skills and a near eidetic memory, she was more than capable of reproducing what she saw onto paper even almost half a year after she’d first seen it.
This highly technical approach to artistic endeavors did mean that any resultant beauty in her drawings was due to the subject matter, not artistic flair. With that established, it was telling of her opinions on the subject of her newest piece of idolatry that she gazed enraptured at it once her pen finished its work. Meanwhile, Spike simply gives her a baffled look from where he lay on her bed. “Are you gonna stare at that piece of paper all night Twilight?” Her dog asks after she spends an indeterminate (at least until she glanced at a clock) amount of time in worship.
Twilight flinched, laughed awkwardly, then gently; no, reverently, tucked the drawing into her desk drawer. “Sorry Spike, I finally found a pen in just the right shade of gold, so the accuracy of the image is up by another five percent! Five whole percent Spike!”
“Yeah, well, get to bed already, your mom is making bacon tomorrow, and I’ve been practicing my puppy dog eyes. I bet I can get ‘five percent’ of your guys breakfast out of her now. The sooner we sleep the sooner I get bacon.”
Twilight chuckles as she moves over to her bed and slips between the covers, shifting Spike to the side as she does. “I dunno boy, she’s never given in ever since you started talking.”
Spike gets up and paws around in a little circle, making himself comfortable again, before lying down with a yawn. “I think I’ve got her this time though. ‘Night Twilight.”
“Good night Spike.” Twilight reaches over and flips the switch by her headboard, plunging her room into midnight darkness.
Twilight wakes to the scrabbling of little doggy paws and the smell of bacon. After opening the door to let Spike run downstairs and start trying to beg bacon off her mom, she goes about her morning ritual. Shower, dress, gather up school things, open desk drawer to gaze at the newest iteration of her carefully drawn representation of divinity, and then close the drawer and head downstairs when her dad calls out that food is on the table. By which he means that food is ready to be put on the table, but as he likes to joke, he was just calling it out at the same level of precision he worked with. Untrue, obviously, while astronomy was famous for its large margins of error they applied to larger base measurements, but the spirit of the joke was well received.
As for today’s breakfast in particular, while her dad does most of the cooking in the family today is a different story. After ‘The Incident’ he was banned from making bacon, so whenever they wanted some, it’s her mother’s turn at the stove.
“Did he get her to give him any?” She asks as she sits down beside her father, motioning toward Spike chowing down at a bowl of kibble.
Night Light takes a sip of his coffee as he smiles with his eyes. “Little guy gave it his best puppy dog eyes, but your mom’s made of sterner stuff. Poor guy, I’d have folded in an instant if I was still at the stove.” He then whispers to her. “And that’s why I promised to drop some of mine.”
Twilight giggles at her father’s antics. She’s still relieved that her family took the whole “talking dog” thing in stride. It probably helped that they were too busy being royally peeved at Principal Cinch for her role in everything to freak out about that.
“Last day of school for the week, any plans for the weekend?” Her mom asks as she dishes out servings of bacon and eggs onto plates for the three of them.
“Got a hot date lined up with that Timber fellow?” Her father adds, waggling his eyebrow in what’s probably supposed to be a ‘suggestive’ manner but just looks goofy. “Even though you’re a senior now, I hope you still find time to have some fun.” Velvet gives him one of her patented ‘mom-look’s. “Just not too much fun, of course.” He quickly coarse corrects.
Twilight blushes. She’d been on a few dates with Timber after the events at Camp Everfree at the start of the summer. He was…well, she may not have felt the same way about him as she did Sunset; but Cadance had always told her there were different kinds of ‘love’. The young man was cute, laughed at her science jokes, made science jokes back at her, and loved to listen to her when she startled babbling about science stuff. She didn’t think she could ask for a better first boyfriend.
“No,” she answers her dad, “He’s got his first classes this week.” Timber was a few years older than her, and while he’d originally put off going to college to help his older sister run Camp Everfree, he was finally going to start attending this year. He was aiming for a business degree so he could make sure his family didn’t get caught in another bad loan like the one that had almost cost them the camp.
“Good for him.” Her mom nods, pleased. She’d always been one to approve of education. “I hope you’re okay with it though; with him being so busy, who can say if you’ll have time to go on dates anymore.”
“Mooom.” Twilight groaned. “We managed to find time when he was busy running the camp during the summer. You know, the time of year when nature camps like that are the busiest?”
“I know sweety, but that’s when your schedule was completely free.”
“That’s a good point.” Twilight acknowledges. “But you don’t need to be worried about me. I’ve looked into it, and research suggests that first relationships like ours tend not to last anyway.” Realizing how that sounded, she shakes her hands. “It’s not that I don’t like spending time with him, but I know it’s unlikely to last forever.”
Her dad ruffles her hair. “That’s my little scientist. And you’ll always have those friends of yours at your side, right? Pretty sure those studies don’t account for going through magic shenanigans with each other.”
Twilight gives a somewhat dopey smile. “Yeah, they’re something special.”
After some more casual talk with her parents, and Spike promising to keep the chipmunks out of her mom’s garden while she’s at school, it was time for Twilight to make her way to Canterlot High. Back when she’d been attending Crystal Prep she would either take the city bus from a stop just a few blocks from her house if she wasn’t riding with Cadance (who visited her home alongside her BBBFF on occasion), but the routes to Canterlot High made a similar arrangement impractical. Instead, a bus route dropped her off near Rarity’s house, and the fashionista would drive her the rest of the way.
Or at least relatively near Rarity’s house. A little bit of math and information from online maps had shown it was actually a whole five minutes, or 25% of her new friend’s previous route to school, out of the way. Still, Rarity had insisted that it wasn’t a big deal, and that if anything spending time with her made the trip school better. So Twilight had accepted Rarity’s generosity in the matter.
The drive today isn’t any different than their usual, but Twilight enjoys it nonetheless. Gossip isn’t ever an activity she’d thought she’d participate in, let alone enjoy, but as it turns out, she finds talking about all the little going ons in school with Rarity rather enjoyable. Fun even. It helps that unlike the snippets of gossip she overheard back at Crystal Prep, there isn’t any aspect of it geared toward making fun of or shaming the other students of Canterlot High. Instead, Rarity delights in sharing and learning of others' successes. Today, with the new school year starting up, she regaled Twilight with news that had filtered to her of how some of the seniors from last year were handling college.
School passes easily. Canterlot High didn’t possess the same rigorous standards that Crystal Prep had, but while its lows were lower, the best of the teaching staff had a passion not found at her old school. Most notably: Mister Turner the history teacher, Mr Discord for physics (even if his antics did occasionally(okay, frequently) annoy her), and her favorite of her new school’s teachers, Miss Yearling, who taught both geography and Latin.
And for the classes that compromised the lows? Well, having friends around more than made up for that.
Social Studies, the final class on Fridays fit neither of those extremes. Mrs. Harshwinny was stern, fair, but not, in Twilight's opinion, overly engaging. There was a particular quirk of hers that Twilight did approve of however. Mrs Harshwinny was a big believer in partner and group projects as a way to give the students experience in teamwork, dividing up responsibilities, and the like. And unlike most other teachers, she didn’t let the students pick their partners. Instead, she grouped her students with others who were doing roughly as well in the class, to “make sure everyone participated evenly”. This meant that more often than not, Twilight ended up working with Sunset. A situation that suited her perfectly.
As the minute hand closes in on the end of the day, Mrs. Harshwinny wraps up her lecture and begins to hand out papers to the class. “Your first group project of the year. I expect you all to know how this goes by now, but in case some of your minds have been dulled over summer, here’s a reminder. I’ll be the one assigning your partners.” She begins pointing at students throughout the room, calling their names as she does. Soon, its Twilights turn. Sunset’s name hasn’t been called yet, and even though past evidence shows that she has an 83.7% chance of being assigned as Sunset’s partner, 88.5% if she accounts for students who have already been paired up, she offers a quick prayer anyway. It probably wont do anything, but in a circumstance like this, she fails to see how it could possibly hurt.
“Sparkle.” Mrs. Harshwinny says. “You’ll be working with Shimmer.” Twilight stops herself from bouncing with glee, and glances across the room at Sunset instead. She gives her best friend a wide grin, and Sunset responds with a smile of her own and a thumbs up.
Mrs. Harshwinny’s completion of partner assignments is punctuated by the end of day bell, to the joy of the class. Sunset slips through the throng of students easy to leave for the weekend and catches up to Twilight. “Hey Twi, wanna go knock out this assignment?”
“Our usual huh?” Twilight responds with a grin.
“You know it! Day one finish.” A confident smirk adorns Sunset’s face as they make their way to their lockers.
“My place?” Twilight offers.
“I’d love to!”
The pair collect their things and head to the student parking lot. “Your noble steed awaits, my fair lady.” Sunset jokes as she motions toward her motorcycle like a medieval footman.
Twilight giggles as she retrieves the spare helmet from where it was secured on the back of the bike. Sunset loved to ride, and kept a spare helmet with her at all times in case one of her friends wanted to come along. Rainbow was the one who took her up on the offer the most, but Twilight was in second place.
“Why thank you, my good knight. I trust you’ll convey me safely back to my castle.” Twilight plays along with the joke, prompting Sunset to start giggling herself as they climb aboard. Twilight wraps her arms around her best friend, securing herself for the ride.
“All good back there?” Sunset checks.
“Yeah! All good here.” Definitely all good. The warm feeling from embracing Sunset was as comforting as always.
“Then let's ride!” Sunset revved the motor, and the two took off from Canterlot High at speeds just low enough to avoid getting in trouble.
“Hi dad!” Twilight calls as she unlocks her house’s front. Her father’s schedule at the observatory was erratic, but he currently had a few weeks off as the main telescope was undergoing maintenance.
“Hi sweety!” He greets her back, as he steps out of the living room, the sounds of a football game following him out the door. “Oh, and hello to you Sunset.”
“Hi mister Night Light.” Sunset waves at Twilight's father.
“Guess you ended up with some plans for this weekend after all, huh kid?”
“Looks like.” Twilight agrees. “Mrs. Harswhinny assigned us our first project of the year, so we’re going to work on that.”
Her father nods. “Already throwing you into the thick of things your second week huh? Well, I’m sure you girls can manage just fine.”
Sunset gives her dad a thumbs. “You know it. Between me and Twilight this’ll be a piece of cake.”
“Well, have fun girls. You know where to find me if you need anything.” With a wave, he heads back to the living room, but pauses at the door. “Oh, will you be staying for dinner Sunset? I’m going to be grilling burgers once Velvet gets back from her meeting with her editor.”
“If you don’t mind. You do grill a mean burger.”
“Flattery will get you some of the extra bacon from breakfast on top.” Night Light teases, causing the girls to laugh as he closes the door.
“It still feels weird that you of all people are such a fiend for bacon cheeseburgers.” Twilight comments as the pair head upstairs to her room.
“Well, I did freak the Tartarus out the first time I realized what I was eating, but ehh, I’m an omnivore now.” Sunset answers with a shrug. “Doesn’t help that they're sooo good. You just don’t get grease like that with equestrian cooking.”
Twilight giggles, Sunset is already drooling just a little at the thought of dinner.
They settle into their usual routine once they reach Twilight’s room, each finding a comfortable seat and taking notes from accredited online sources they’d pulled up on their laptops on pieces of paper to be easier shared between the two of them. Its probably Twilight’s favorite thing in the world, working like this with someone who not only shares her passion for learning, but can keep up with her.
After about half an hour’s work, Sunset gets up and walks over to Twilight’s desk.
“You re-organized your room again Twilight?” Sunset asks, peering around the computer desk. “My pen just died and I can’t seem to find the spares. Coulda sworn they were in the left drawer”
“Oh, yes. I’m trying out something new. Writing supplies are top right now.” Twilight answers without thinking. Sunset nods in acknowledgment, and moves to open the drawer. Seconds too late, Twilight snaps out of the pleasant haze of the gloriously real daydream that was being alone in her room with Sunset and remembered what she’d put in that desk drawer the night before. “Wait…!” Her panicked cry is aborted as Sunset fishes out her handcrafted piece of idolatry from atop the stack of paper.
“Oh man this is really good!” Sunset praises, as she takes in the image. “Why the heck aren’t you taking art class with Rarity, Fluttershy and me Sparky?”
Twilights can feel her left eye twitching in panic as her mouth gapes, her mind stumbling on its own thoughts too much to form words. Did Sunset not think the drawing was weird? Of course not, she was too nice to do something like that. But it was weird, so she was probably just being nice by pretending it wasn’t for Twilight's sake. Round and round, like particles in the LHC, Twilight's thoughts chase each-other.
“Oh wow, I didn’t realize my horn was THAT long.” Sunset muses, oblivious to Twilight's growing panic as she continues to study the drawing. “Almost looks like an alicorn’s, being that long…and with the wings….” her voice takes on an odd tone as she trails off, distracted by some thought.
“Present!” Twilight suddenly blurts out. “It’s a present! I figured you’d be curious about what you looked like at the games, and since no one had a picture, I decided to put my memory to use and practice drawing to show you!”
Sunset turns from the image and beams and Twilight. Twilight briefly wonders if this is what microwaved butter feels like, the happiness on Sunset’s face practically has her melting into her bed. “Awww, Sparky, you shouldn’t have!” The smile morphs into a frown. “Ah shoot, I went and ruined the surprise by accident, huh?”
“Oh, it’s okay. I wasn’t even sure you’d like it.” Twilight lies. Sort of. The picture was ‘for’ Sunset, but it has never been meant to be given as a mere present. It was an icon, not a sacrifice. “So I had a few other gift ideas.”
“Phew.” Sunset sighs in relief. “Glad I didn’t mess that up for you too badly. Uhh, can I still have it? It really is a nice drawing.”
“Sure!” Twilight says, forcing her best smile. “I’m happy you like it.” At least that part wasn’t a lie. “So, umm, I know we should get back to work on our project, but since the topic got brought up, can I ask a few questions about Equestria?”
Sunset sets the drawing down on the desk as she takes a seat at Twilight’s chair. “Sure. It’s not like me and you of all people are going to need much time to finish. Even with a bit of a Q&A session I’m sure we can still manage our day one finish. And it's not like we’ll be in any danger of running out of time if we don't. Two whole weeks to finish after all.”
“But we do need a few days to distance ourselves from what we’d done before we can properly review our own work!” Twilight defends.
Sunset laughs. “Arguing against your own interests there, huh Sparky?”
“Oh.” Twilight bushes. “Ummm… proper project procedure is particularly important?” She offers.
“Can’t argue with that I suppose.” Sunset says with a smile. “So, yeah, ask away. What kind of pony trivia do you want to know this time?”
“Umm, well, you just said your horn looked like an alicorn’s? I thought alicorn was what a unicorn’s horn was made of. I take it the word means something different in Equestria.”
Sunset tilts her head in confusion. “Wait, have I not explained this to you? Coulda sworn I did.”
Twilight shakes her head. “No, the word has never come up before.”
“Damn really? Guess I must have talked about alicorn’s with the rest of the girls. Okay, I DID talk about how your and the principals’ counterparts are princesses and rule the country, right?”
“Yes, and pony Cadance rules a protectorate state. And they are all immortal demigods.”
“And they’ve got both wings and a horn?”
“Yes, and the strength of the earth pony tribe, but that doesn’t have any outward signs. Can I presume the fact that you're bringing them up means that ponies like that are known as alicorns?”
“Got it in one.” Sunset gives her a thumbs up. “Couldn’t tell you what connection it has to you humans using the word for what a unicorn horn is made of. They are actually made of bone, keratin, nerves and mana channels. Well, and an outer covering of velvet, like deer antlers.”
“Thus the color.” Twilight thinks back to a drawing Sunset had once shown her of her pony self. Unicorn-Sunset’s horn had been the same shade of orange as her coat.
“Thus the color.”
“So, does that make you an alicorn?” It was nice to have the proper terminology to refer to the object of her worship.
“Ehh?” Sunset stared at her in confusion.
“You know, ‘Daydream Shimmer’?” Twilight puts air quotes around the term the student body of Canterlot high had adopted for the form Sunset had taken at the end of the Friendship Games. “You had a wing and horns then.” No harm in double checking her conclusion when there was a subject matter expert on hand.
“Oh…” Sunset says, softly, before the conversation dies into awkward silence. Sunset doesn’t seem to know what to say, and Twilight has no idea why, so doesn’t want to risk saying the wrong thing.
“No, I’m not an alicorn.” Sunset finally says with an expression that Twilight could only describe as forlorn as she plops down on the bed and stares at the ceiling. “Yeah, I guess I did have wings and a horn when I was in Daydream mode, but… ughhh. Look, being an alicorn is something you have to earn, it’s not something that gets handed to you. The old me wanted to become one yeah, but I didn’t understand what it really meant back then. For Daydream, I was just borrowing our friends’ magic. And if you count me, their counterparts are an even mix of all three pony tribes. Combined, yeah, the magic came out kinda like an alicorn. But that doesn’t mean I’m one. No way I’ve earned that with all the shit I’ve done.”
“Oh. I see. Thanks for explaining things.” Twilight understood what was going on now. Sunset, her best friend, her savior, her object of worship, was too humble to realize what she was. How far she’d come from the stories Twilight had heard about the demon of the Fall Formal. In retrospect, that probably explained some things. For all her normal confidence, Sunset could get awfully melancholic about her old self. “Well, now that that’s cleared up, we should get started on that project; huh?”
“Yeah.” Sunset brightens up. “Let’s knock it out. If we get it done soon enough, we might have time to swing by Sugar Cube Corner for milkshakes.”
“That sounds great!” And the sooner they were finished, the sooner Twilight could start coming up with a plan to convince Sunset she was worthy of being an Alicorn.
Author's Note
Well, its been a while since I've been on the site. But I recently rewatched the Equestria Girls movies on a whim and was reminded how much I liked Sunset Shimmer. And more specifically, how much I liked the relationship between Sunset Shimmer and Sci-Twi.
And so here we are: the product of being unable to get thoughts of them out of my head mixed with a dash of headcannon regarding the "Sunest Shimmer, alicorn?" situation. I've got an idea of where I'm takeing this, but I make no promises I'll get there in a timely manner.