With the sun only just rising over the town of Canterlot, a cool morning breeze blew through its streets. Into this, Sunset Shimmer was found walking down towards her usual stomping grounds, Canterlot High. Upon reaching the front doors of the place, a small smile crept onto her face, leading to her taking in a deep breath before exhaling.

“Another day, another long study session.”

The words were spoken with comfort, and before long, she started making her way up the front steps. It didn’t take long to get into the school proper, but at this early hour only a few students had arrived thus far. But, unlike most of them, Sunset made her way straight for one of her favourite spots in the school; the library. Once there, she was met with the absolute quite of the place, bringing yet another smile to her. After looking around for a bit, she found the books she wanted, after which she chose a table and sat herself down. However, no sooner had she done so when she finally noticed that she was not alone here. Aside from the library’s keeper, Cheerilee, there was also another figure. At first, Sunset didn’t recognise them, with their brown trenchcoat and fedora hat obscuring their identity. But, it soon dawned on Sunset that the figure had very familiar lavender skin.

“…Twilight?”

Turning her eyes downwards, Sunset then noted the presence of a clearly-tired dog beside the figure, and sure enough, a chuckle escaped her. Getting up from her chair, the girl made her way over, and it wasn’t long before Twilight noticed her approach.

“Ah! Good morning, Sunset.”

Twilight’s fellow Equestrian nodded at that before taking a seat beside her.

“You too, Twilight. What’s with the getup?”

Looking down at her clothes, the young princess blushed slightly as she looked once more to her friend.

“I didn’t’ want to run the risk of Flash walking in here and spotting me.”

To that, Sunset nodded.

“Makes sense. So, how was Pinkie’s?”

Looking back to her own books, a sigh escaped Twilight’s lips.

“Same as always.”

Despite herself, Sunset let out a brief laugh.

“Ah. That energized was it?”

Twilight nodded.

“I'll say! She was so excited I was there that she just couldn’t go to sleep. Still, I guess it did give me some extra time to get some more notes down.”

Turning her attention to the table, Sunset saw that Twilight had indeed written many more sheets of notes during their separation.

“This whole thing may be strange to me, but…I gotta say, I do admire how much effort you’re putting into this.”

Twilight looked to her with a smile.

“Thank you.”

But, all of a sudden, Twilight began to look just the tiniest bit awkward, though about what, Sunset couldn’t say. However, with Twilight’s next words, all became clear to her.

“Um…Sunset? If it’s alright, could I ask how…or rather, why…you and Flash…erm…”

Realisation crossing her face, Sunset gave a brief nod.

“You want to know why we broke up, right?”

Turning to her, Twilight bore a look of slight guilt before nodding. After a while, Sunset turned from her, letting out a brief sigh.

“The truth is…it was my fault. During our entire time together…I was…difficult.”

Tilting her head, Twilight responded.

“Difficult how exactly?”

To that, Sunset let out a dry laugh.

“You name it! I was unsatisfied with pretty much everything we did together. I was rude, aggressive, I started arguments over everything that didn’t meet my standards. The whole thing was a mess from start to finish.”

Looking from Sunset, to her notes and then back again, Twilight’s expression was one of curiosity.

“Um…how long were you two together?”

Looking to her, Sunset took on a momentary thoughtful look.

“Let’s see…er…about eleven months, going on a year I think.”

For a brief moment, Twilight looked surprised at that answer, prompting yet further questions.

“Sunset…if you were really as bad as you say…why did Flash stay together with you for that long?”

Sunset shrugged her shoulders.

“Best guess…he can just put up with it. Always seeing the bright side, always giving people the benefit of the doubt. You know, that kind of guy. He tolerated more from me than pretty much anyone I knew at this place. I guess…”

Sunset looked down at the table before continuing.

“…I guess he thought I could get better while we were together.”

A silence fell between the two girls, during which, Twilight took in everything that had just been told to her. However, after a while, a new look of curiosity crossed her.

“What…what ended it? In the end?”

Taking another deep breath, Sunset exhaled again before giving Twilight her answer.

“It was shortly before your first arrival to the school. I knew the portal to Equestria would be opening soon and I was making plans to return to steal your crown. During that time…I was…worse than normal.”

A frown formed on Sunset’s brow before she continued.

“Then one morning…Flash met up with me, like he always did, with that smile of his, talking as though nothing was wrong with us, even though everything was wrong with us. And I guess…with everything I was planning, I…I just snapped.”

Her hands formed into a tight fist as she carried on.

“I lashed out at him, saying how stupid I thought his choice of conversation was. How I had more important things to think about than what he was talking about, or…or even him.”

For a brief moment, a look of regret flashed in her eyes.

“When I said that…he stopped for a while. After a moment or two of just staring at each other, he asked me outright…do you want to stay together?”

Slowly, Sunset turned to look Twilight right in the eye.

“And…I said no.”

Needless to say, Twilight was taken aback by that, but remained silent as Sunset continued.

“The moment he heard that…he stopped. He thought about it and…he just gave that smile of his and said…alright, Sunset…if that’s what you want.”

Twilight’s mouth hung open for a moment, but shortly afterwards, she shook herself out of it, now speaking up herself.

“And…he just left afterwards?”

To that, Sunset shook her head.

“Not quite. Before he left, he…he told me he didn’t regret a moment of us being together. That he had a fun time with me. I…I don’t know if he really meant that, or if he just said it to make me feel better, but…but yeah, that was the end of it.”

Sunset looked to Twilight, and in the moments that followed, a look of hesitancy and uncertainty dominated her face. She was wrestling with herself over something, that much, Twilight knew, and so she kept quiet as Sunset got her words together. When she finally did, she let out a sigh before, at last, speaking up.

“Twilight…I’m going to be absolutely honest here.”

The young princess, perhaps expecting something terrible, braced herself as Sunset continued.

“In the time following my defeat at your hands…I did a lot of thinking of all the bad things I did, and all the mistakes. And that moment, my breakup with Flash…it’s lingered in my mind. He put up with every bad thing I threw at him. And he…he was good to me. Better than I probably deserved.”

A look of regret crossed her once more.

“I know how you feel about him, so I’m sorry to have to say this, but…there are times, however rare, when I wish he and I…were still together.”

Silence fell between them once more, and this one far more uncomfortable. After a while, Sunset looked away from her.

“I’m…I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have…”

But, she was stopped from saying anything further, seeing a single hand placed upon her, prompting her to look up at Twilight, who looked back at her with a reassuring expression.

“Sunset…thank you for trusting me with this. And know that I do not think any less of you.”

The former unicorn looked to her, seeing no trace of a lie in her eyes, and in this moment, the emotion of her confession swept over her, leading to her lunging forward, holding Twilight close. Though startled by this, a smile crept onto Twilight’s face, and she too began to return the hug. Minute after minute passed, and after a while, they parted, Sunset sweeping aside a tear that threatened to emerge from her eyes.

“Sorry to lay that all on you. I know you have a lot of work to do.”

But Twilight shook her head.

“Don’t worry about it. In truth, I’m kind of glad to learn you had at least some kind of positive feelings for him…even if it did come after you broke up.”

To that, Sunset let out a brief chortle.

“Just…just go easy on the guy with your study, okay?”

For a moment, her expression softened considerably.

“And if the two of you do start something serious…make it last. He deserved better than what I gave him.”

Giggling slightly, Twilight placed a hand upon her friend’s shoulder.

“Oh, don’t worry about that, Sunset. I don’t have anything too bad planned for him.”

In this moment, the two girls shared a laugh together, which had the effect of waking Spike up at last. Seeing this, Sunset smiled as she reached down, scratching his ear, much to his delight. However, as she did this, Twilight, making sure Sunset wasn’t watching, pulled out a pad of paper form her trenchcoat, before making another note upon it.

“Additional Flash character trait…high tolerance for aggressive behaviour. Potentially useful.”