Chapter 11: Date Night.

The sun was finishing its way down the horizon when Sunset and Trixie entered in Joe's Dough, the same place where they started to hang out a couple of days ago. Strikes of red, yellow and pink filtered through the windows, which mixed with the rustic style of the coffeehouse, gave the customers a relaxed place to drink something in a break.

Trixie ordered a slice of orange cake and a small mug of hot cocoa. Sunset on her part ordered a baguette and a cappuccino.

When both girls got their orders, they went to a table near the entrance. "This place is always half full of people." Trixie commented while poking idly her cake with a fork. "I wonder why, everything here is delicious."

Sunset shifted in her seat. "Beats me. But I won't complain, I don't really like crowded places." She gave her baguette a big bite and leaned back. She then noticed that Trixie was staring at her. "What?" She managed to ask with her mouth full of food.

Trixie blinked. "Usually, I don't care what people eat, but…" She glanced over the baguette and then to Sunset. "Since you're a pony, shouldn't you be a vegetarian?"

Sunset stopped chewing for just a second, but then reassumed the mechanical movement until she could safely swallow. "Lemme tell you something." She said, looking directly at Trixie's eyes. "Ponies don't eat meat for different reasons. The majority doesn't eat it simply because, to us ponies, meat doesn't give nutritional value. Some excuse themselves saying that only griffons, minotaurs and dragons eat meat, and others say that animals shouldn't be eaten." She took a small piece of lettuce coming out from the baguette and ate it. "When I came to this world, I was actually surprised that humans need meat to survive. But I am a pragmatic person, you see. Even if I didn't want to eat meat, trying to be a veggie would be troublesome and annoying. Since you can eat meat almost anywhere, and it's a requirement of human bodies, I didn't find any reasons why I shouldn't eat it."

"So you just didn't care of the sudden change in nutritional habits?"

"Trixie, hun, being a human girl is so different from being a magical unicorn mare, that eating meat or not was the least of my problems when I was adapting to this place."

Trixie gave a look to Sunset. "Oh? And what are the most notable differences?" She asked with genuine curiosity.

Sunset crossed her arms thoughtfully. "Anatomy, I'd say. It took me six months to completely understand why I had to bleed a full week every month and not freak out."

"Six months?" Trixie asked with an eyebrow raised. "There are lots of books and info about it nowadays."

"Oh, yes." Sunset said with an annoyed voice. "I quickly learned the basics. But there's something important you're missing." She waited for Trixie to ask with her gaze. Sunset raised a finger, trying to emphasize her next words. "I was alone. I didn't have anyone by my side to help me understand. I was alone in a completely different world and everything was so different from what I knew that it took me six months to fully understand it."

Trixie looked down guiltily. "Sorry, I didn't know..."

But Sunset wasn't angry; she was smiling. "Of course you didn't, no one ever expects the high school bitch to have had difficulties adapting." She looked up to the ceiling and sighed. "But I can't complain now. It was my fault to begin with."

"Why?" Trixie asked, and Sunset looked at her a little confused. "Why it's your fault?"

Sunset embraced herself and took a deep breath. "Long story short, I was a greedy selfish bitch, and for some stupid reason I thought that going through the portal was going to help me achieve my goals…" She forced a small laugh. "By the time I wanted to return, it was too late; the portal was closed."

Trixie shifted awkwardly in her seat. "But…" She said, and swallowed before continuing. "But you actually survived the change of lifestyle. Aren't you proud of it?"

A small chuckle escaped Sunset's mouth. "No, no." She said and looked at Trixie with tired eyes. "It was mere luck." When Trixie gave her an inquisitive stare, she continued. "The first weeks here were like hell. I was homeless, so I sneaked in the school to sleep in the gym's storage room, to eat in the cafeteria and to clean myself in the gym's showers. That situation was driving me crazy; I don't know what I would've done if I hadn't met the brothers."

"In that time, Flim and Flam were trying to sell who-knows-what in a very weird stand they built in Canterlot Square. I noticed that they didn't really know how to build things, and their stand was about to collapse. I convinced them to let me help them with that. I had never built anything in my life, but I did know a thing or two about it. After that, I started to hang out with them… Well, I really was only following them so I could help them build their stand and I could get a few bucks in exchange."

"A week after that, I noticed that they were having problems with money, debts and other stuff. And once again, I managed to convince them to let me help… I noticed that they weren't exactly good at math, so they were losing money just because they didn't know exactly how much they were spending. Naturally, I fixed the problem immediately. They decided to hire me as their accountant for a couple of reasons: First, I only asked for enough money to survive, and second, I didn't ask questions nor did I care of the source of their money."

"They had lots of ideas for businesses, and I often advised them in some of them. I didn't know much about this world, but economics was the same as in Equestria, so it was easy for me to foreshadow the development of some decisions. With time, I passed from being their accountant to be their personal counselor. They only raised the money they gave me a couple of bucks, but they did offer me a place to stay."

Sunset sighed, finally finishing her story. "I wasn't homeless anymore, and I had a constant source of money. If it wasn't for them, I don't know what would've happened."

There was a moment of silence, and Sunset decided to take another bite of her baguette. Trixie opened her mouth a couple of times before her voice finally found its way out. "So you live with them?"

At that, Sunset chuckled and almost spat her food. Her nose hurt a little when she took a deep breath and swallowed her food before speaking. "No, no. I don't live with them… It's just… They had an apartment they didn't use and let me move there."

Trixie raised an eyebrow. "They gave you an apartment just like that?"

Sunset buffed. "I spent a year making them win lots of money and I only asked for a couple of bucks to survive. They're not bad people, but I wouldn't say they're good either. Even so, they know when to show gratitude."

"Very well then…" Trixie said. She was going to eat another portion of her cake when something clicked in her mind. "Wait, does that mean that you slept in the school for a year?"

"Can we talk about something else?"

Trixie smiled. "Of course. I'd like to know more about you." Sunset raised an annoyed eyebrow. "I've been thinking…"

"It seems that all you did today is thinking about me." Sunset teased.

"Well, we're dating. It's normal that I wonder some things…"

Sunset hummed and drank a little of her coffee. "And what is it that you wonder?"

Trixie made a pause to gather her ideas, deciding to drink a little from her cocoa before speaking. She quickly put the mug on the table and looked directly at Sunset's eyes. "Ok, here's the thing." She said, taking a deep breath. "I tried to make the conversation go there, but I'm not a subtle person, and even if I could, you'd notice right away, so I'll just ask it…"

"You can ask me anything, don't be afraid." Sunset replied with an idly movement of her hand. "As long as it's not related to corndogs."

"I… uh, what?" Trixie asked confused, but decided to shrug it off. "Anyway, my question is: Can you tell me about your, uh, prior relationships?"

Sunset raised an eyebrow and went silent for five very uncomfortable seconds before speaking up. "You sure are a bold one." She teased, and smiled satisfied at Trixie trying to hide a blush and failing miserably. After a couple of seconds, she let out a breath through her teeth. "'S okay. I prefer bold to italic."

Trixie gave a confused gaze, and it quickly turned into a small grimace as Sunset slowly started to take off the gauze on her nose. "Hey, you're not supposed to do that yet, are you?" But it was too late, for Sunset had already freed her nose and slowly wrapped the gauze with a napkin. Her nose had visible marks of red and purple, slowly fading on the edges.

"It doesn't matter." Sunset replied, scrunching her nose a couple of times. She gently grabbed the bridge of her nose with her thumb and index fingers and pressed a little. A small, almost imperceptible wave of pain ran through her face, making her hiss for a moment. When the pain disappeared, she put down her hand and looked at Trixie. "I'll be alright." She declared and shifted in her place. "So, you wanna know about my love life as a pony. Interesting."

Trixie's cheeks became a soft hue of pink as she looked down to her cake and nodded. "You say that you never had friends, yet you know about dating. And I wonder how's that possible."

Sunset made a sound between a chuckle and a cough and leaned back, resting her arms on her lap. She smiled for a moment and then looked up a little, remembering some of the good times she had in Equestria. "You know, for a reason I'm yet to understand, I'm telling you more than what I'd like to…"

"And that's a good thing, right?"

"Maybe." Sunset admitted. "Maybe not. But it doesn't matter, not anymore. As I told you, I'm taking decisions without really considering the consequences." She took a breath through her teeth. "It's probably due to the fact that I already told you more than what I've told the other girls, if just a little more. But I don't think it'll hurt to answer more questions. As long as you promise not to push when I don't want to tell you something, that is."

"Sounds fair."

Sunset gave an unreadable expression, and then she sighed and took a quick sip of coffee before speaking. "I can remember with outstanding clarity my first kiss." She said, crossing all her fingers together. "I was fifteen at the time. He was a new cadet of the royal guard. His name was Golden Spear, sixteen years old and very handsome too, I must say." She suppressed a chuckled and then looked directly at Trixie's eyes. "We dated for about three months, if I remember correctly. At the end, it just didn't work out; he was way too focused in becoming a royal guard, and I was way too focused in my magic lessons."

"Your first kiss was until you were fifteen?" Trixie asked with a teasing tune in her voice. What she didn't expect, though, was that Sunset only smiled back; a very suspicious smile.

"Oh, Trixie, unlike you humans, we don't try to force our first kiss." Trixie gave her a confused gaze. "I've heard people saying that they had their first kiss at the age of ten. Ten!" She exclaimed, as an elder complaining about the youth. "The first time I heard that I was really shocked, of course I didn't know that humans only had a first kiss." She said, and then offered a devious smile, knowing that her next words would shock Trixie. "Of course you'll feel about the same when I tell you that when we ponies give our first kiss, we also have our first time."

It was probably the fact that Sunset said it so plainly, as if it wasn't something personal at all, but Trixie's cheeks became of a brighter pink, and she could feel heat rising in her face. She muttered a few words in silence. "What?" She finally managed to say.

Sunset chuckled and leaned closer, placing both arms on the table to support her weigh. "It's true, tough. That's why a first kiss is a big deal to us, unlike to humans. In fact, most ponies wait until their twenties, but doing it at the age of fifteen isn't looked down upon either. You're legally considered an adult after you get your cutie mark, after all." Trixie's expression wasn't one of confusion; it revealed that she was completely lost. "Never mind that. That's a subject for another time."

After a couple of seconds of silence, in which Sunset took the opportunity to finish her baguette and ask for another cup of cappuccino, Trixie finally managed to reduce her blush and heartbeat. "Ok, that was a little unexpected, but I know that's not all, right?"

Sunset smiled again, humming. And Trixie wondered why it was being so easy for Sunset to talk about those things. "Well, after Golden Spear, I didn't last more than a month with others. Either I broke up with them, or they broke up with me. And for reasons so varied like I got bored of them, or they found me too abrasive."

"You are abrasive." Trixie pointed out.

"Never said I wasn't." Sunset replied dismissingly. "Anyway, I had many partners. The royal guards are good when you only want to scratch an itch." Trixie suddenly became red. "If I wanted to have real conversations, I'd date someone from college. Now that I think about it, I never was picky, they just had to meet the average standards." She then produced a smile and almost a chuckle. "There was this time when Princess Celestia caught me making out with one of the maids." Trixie opened her eyes as if she just saw a ghost. "It… probably wasn't a good idea to do it in her bed chambers."

At that, Trixie dropped her hands on the table and leaned closer. "You did what?!"

Sunset leaned back in a defensive posture, but kept smiling happily. "Don't judge me! I was in heat, and I knew that she ogled me every time I passed by."

After a long moment, Trixie finally let out a resigned breath. "And here I thought you had some good drama to write a soap opera." She said sarcastically, more to help herself feel a little less awkward than anything else.

"Oh don't sound so disappointed. You're the first one to know all this about me."

"Which makes me wonder what you talked about with Flash, unless he was with you only for that other reason?"

"Not quite." Sunset admitted. "I never really liked him that way, and considering how human bodies work, I'd never take that risk with him."

Trixie's eyes flickered with curiosity. "I don't know if it'll ever stop being amazing how different you really are."

"Don't say it as if I was some kind of endangered animal."

"I say it because…" Trixie started, and glanced over her hands on the table before continuing. "You can talk about those subjects as if it was nobody's business…"

Sunset frowned a little but remained silent. Trixie thought for a moment that she was angry, but then she felt Sunset's hand over hers. She looked up and watched with disbelief that Sunset had a sad expression, but was looking directly at her eyes. And then she spoke up, and her voice was a bit shaky; it was the kind of voice one has when trying to suppress strong feelings. "It has been nobody's business for a long time." She stated, and shortly after she started to caress Trixie's hand with her fingers.

To her surprise, the magician's hand was both soft and rough. Probably due to years of training gymnastics. She felt the hand wrap her own, and she could only keep moving her thumb up and down. "I told you I don't know why I'm telling you all this…" She made a pause to take a breath and quickly glanced somewhere else; it was so fast that Trixie thought she imagined it. "Perhaps I only want someone to hear me out. Someone I can trust in…"

"You're trusting too much in someone you just met." Trixie said, and her voice was tender and serious at the same time.

Sunset smiled and shrugged a little. "I also told you I'm doing things without considering the consequences." She leaned closer and kept caressing Trixie's hand. "Before things start going wrong again, I want to feel like I can trust someone."

Trixie tightened her grasp on Sunset's hand and gave her a small smile. "You're pessimistic and optimistic at the same time."

"Yes, perhaps I am." Sunset said looking at their hands. "So… As much as I enjoy it, how about we stop talking about me?"

Trixie smiled awkwardly as Sunset looked up at her eyes, showing her teeth in a small grin. "Ok… What do you want to know?"

"The same I told you."

Trixie leaned back but kept wrapping Sunset's hand with her own. "I think it's fair." She said and looked up for a moment. "My first kiss was when I was twelve. It was in that stupid bottle game with my classmates." She then looked at Sunset's eyes and shrugged. "I don't even remember his name."

She went silent for a moment, and Sunset could see that even if Trixie was looking her directly in the eyes, she wasn't really looking her. Her eyes were vague, clearly remembering something important. "A couple of years later, when I was fourteen, I started dating this girl, and thanks to her I discovered that I liked girls instead of boys." She said with a brief chuckle. "The bad thing is that I became really obsessed with her. I even thought that she was the love of my life and all that. Of course she didn't like it, and she tried many times to help me see my error, but I was blinded and I didn't want to hear that." She took a breath through her teeth and looked down. "At the end, she broke up with me, and I cried for the longest time. Naturally, I finally realized my error, and I grew up."

After those words, Trixie became silent and gave Sunset a glance that said that she had finished. "Not soap opera material either." Sunset teased, and Trixie laughed for a couple of seconds. "And what's the name of this girl?"

Trixie shifted in her seat and looked at the last portion of her cake. "She's three years older than me. I believe that she's in college right now, but I don't know. I haven't even seen her since we broke up."

"That doesn't answer my question." Sunset said, and tried her best not to sound pushy.

"Does it really matter?" Trixie asked, and then forced a teasing smile. "You're not getting jealous already, are you?"

Sunset huffed. "We've been dating for less than a day, ask me that next month and I'll even consider it a joke." She leaned closer. "It's ok if you don't want to tell me, she's in the past, and now you're mine."

Trixie chuckled and leaned closer to Sunset, stopping until she was just a few inches away from her face. "Oh? I don't remember being on sale."

Sunset used her free hand to lift a little Trixie's head from her chin, letting herself look directly at her eyes. She wanted to reply with a smart line to make Trixie chuckle again, but she couldn't come up with anything. There was something in her eyes, a shine in her irises that she just couldn't stop staring at. And then, ever so slowly, she looked down, observing thoroughly every detail in Trixie's face. She looked her long eyelashes, the subtle makeup in the form of a black line in the border of her eyes, her almost unnoticeable cheekbones, the rounded form of her chin, her small and delicate nose, and finally, her mouth. And she realized that that was the part of Trixie she liked the most: her fine lips without any makeup.

She looked up without moving her head, and noticed that Trixie's eyes were narrowed. She smiled satisfied; knowing that she had that effect on others made her really happy. Trixie leaned closer, and gave a low moan of disappointment when Sunset leaned back. "Say it." Sunset said in a singing tone. "You know you want to say it."

Trixie frowned, but shortly after gave a resigned sigh. "P-Please." She said, and almost instantly felt Sunset's lips over hers. She gave in the kiss, letting Sunset guide every movement. It didn't last more than a minute, but for some reason she didn't complain when Sunset broke the kiss and leaned back, offering a small smile.

"Now, I'd like to know more about you."

"Shouldn't it be your turn?" Trixie asked, and noticed that she still had Sunset's hand wrapped with hers.

Sunset smiled and took a sip of her coffee. "I've told you a lot about me already. And I barely know things about you."

Trixie made a face and scrunched her nose. "I'm eighteen." Sunset chuckled a little, and Trixie smiled at that. "I dunno. My parents have money, but the raised me in a way I wouldn't become a spoiled brat. I've won a couple of competitions in gymnastics and my biggest dream is to be the world's greatest illusionist."

"You've won competitions? That's impressive, I guess." Sunset admitted, and there was an honest tone of admiration in her voice.

"Yeah I think so." Trixie replied dismissively. "I prefer to disappear a coin than to do a double back flip."

Sunset's eyes flickered. "I'd like to watch you do that."

"Maybe later." Trixie said with a smile. "First I have to amaze the brothers with my amazing show this Monday."

"I'm sure you will." Sunset said with a warm smile. "Without me you'd be helpless though."

Trixie laughed so hard that she had to dry some tears from her eyes with a napkin. "Sure, just make sure to follow the instructions I gave you and everything will go smoothly."

"Aye aye, captain!"

Author's Notes:

Woah almost a month! School is heartless I tell ya!

It surprises me that I was able to write three chapters concerning a single day within the story.

Hope you like it!