"Just between the two of us, it's mostly for Fluttershy!"

Simply saying her name made Discord's heart soar. He beamed cheekily at the centaur standing in front of him. "Although I'm sure your aware of the fact that she's not really my friend at all."

Tirek rolled his eyes at the lovesick draconequus. "She's your marefriend, right?"

"Correct-a-mundo!" he exclaimed.

The centaur laughed sarcastically. "And she lets you...what, turn a few trees upside down every now and again? Because she loves you?" He arched an eyebrow at him.

"No, not really," Discord admitted, folding his arms. "The trees part, I mean," he added, brows furrowing. "I know she loves me."

"Mmm-hmm." Tirek shook his head, unconvinced. "Well then maybe she doesn't love you as much as she says she does," he stated calmly and watched as Discord grew visibly sadder.

"B-but..."

He patted the draconequus on the back. "Oh, come now, I don't blame you for falling for her trickery! It's hardly surprising that she would tell you that so you would feel obligated to stay on her good side, keeping you from your true nature."

Discord sniffed. "I...I guess you're right."

Suddenly, his brow creased and his ears perked up. He stood bolt upright and saluted to an imaginary being. "No, ma'am, o'course I'm not actually falling for 'is manipulation!" In the next few seconds, Tirek heard a muffled voice coming from the draconequus' left ear.

"Sorry, Princess! Tell miss Flu'ershy that I'm a'ight, will you?" He paused. "Yes, yes, o'course I know all seven of you can hear me! Sorry, what was that? Eight? Sunset's there too?!" Discord suddenly looked very confused as his voice reverted back to its normal accent. "But I thought she went back to Canterlot High! Oh, right. Wow. Hey, Sunny, why don't I come over there and humiliate you -- see how you like it! Twilight, shush, I can use her nickname too if I want to. Okay, okay! I get it!"

"I don't," Tirek deadpanned. "What in Tartarus is going on?"

"Sorry, what?" Discord turned his attention back to Tirek. "Did you just say you wanted to know what's going on in Tartarus?"

"Ye -- wait, what?!"

"Your wish is granted, my liege!"

Discord snapped his fingers, returning Tirek to his rightful place in a cell in Tartarus. He blew a raspberry at the spot Tirek had once been in, then teleported himself back to Golden Oaks Library

"I'm here, I'm here!" he sang, causing the seven mares and one dragon to jump. The draconequus flashed over to his marefriend, who was playing 'Go Fish' with Applejack.

"Hey gorgeous," he whispered into Fluttershy's ear and nuzzled her. Applejack looked up a the two and Discord glared at her. "Not you, AJ."

"I beg to differ!" Rainbow called, then flew over to sit by her marefriend. "You're opinion is waaaay biased, Discord."

"Thank ya kindly," AJ laughed, gently kissing Dash.

"Oh, and yours isn't?" argued the draconequus.

"EVERYONE!" Rainbow hollered, not breaking her glaring eye contact with Discord. All eyes turned to the pegasus. "Is Applejack gorgeous, or what?"

Six indecipherable answers came from each of them and meshed in a cacophony of positive sound. Dash beamed triumphantly and nuzzled her marefriend while Discord sulked against the wall.

Fluttershy beamed at the pair. "I'm so happy for you two. I was so worried that you didn't like mares, AJ."

"Didn't want me going through the same thing you did, now did ya Flutters?" Rainbow ruffled the mare's mane as she hung her head and blushed.

"Well, at least then we knew that mare didn't -- and still doesn't -- like mares." The Element of Kindness smiled sadly as she collected up the deck of cards and shuffled them.

Discord was completely baffled by their cryptic conversation. "What are you talking about?"

Rainbow waved her hoof carelessly. "Oh, nothing. Fluttershy just used to have a crush on --" She was cut off by Applejack's hoof.

"Who did you have a crush on?!" Discord asked his marefriend eagerly.

"Somepony in this room," Dash blurted, managing to wrestle the orange hoof off her lips for a second.

"Really?" Discord looked around frantically as if he was expecting the pony to have a big red arrow pointing to them.

"I-I'll tell you later, sweetie."

"Awww, party pooper."

"WHO?!" demanded Pinkie Pie and, standing bolt upright, she scanned the room for likely suspects. When her eyes landed on Discord, Fluttershy, Rainbow and Applejack she found they were all pointing at one another for no reason other than the laughs they then proceeded to stifle.

"Which one of you was it?!" Pinkie glared at the four of them, approaching them as if planning to pounce. She raised an eyebrow at the Element of Honesty. "Got anything to say, AJ?"

"Discord called Fluttershy a party pooper, because she's refusing to tell him who she used to have a crush on," the farm mare laughed.

"Awww, so it's not a mystery I can solve." Ponyville's Party Planner's head lowered, perhaps more sadly than was needed.

"Missin' yer coltfriend?" AJ asked.

Pinkie 'mmm-hmm'ed in response. "I've got nothing to do with him gone."

"Seriously?"

"I can't be serious about something I'm not doing, Miss Silly Farm Pony."

Applejack frowned. "Ugh, will ya stop callin' me that!"

Pinkie giggled. "Nope. It's demanded of me that I give you that specific nickname."

Fluttershy intervened, seeing that AJ was starting to get annoyed. "Couldn't you catch a train and meet Cheese where he's going next or something?"

Pinkie cheerily broke out of her staring competition with Applejack. "Nah, my Pinkie Sense doesn't work like his Cheesy Sense. I have literally no idea where in Equestria he is. For all I know, he could be cheering up Gilda in Griffinstone or something."

"Yeah like that'd ever happen," said Rainbow bitterly.

"It could!" the earth mare insisted. "I have ninety-nine-point-nine-nine-recurring percent faith in Cheesy."

"An' where's the other zero-point-zero-recurring-one percent, then?"

"It's in the part of me that hasn't quite fallen in love with him yet." Pinkie nodded her head and trotted over to Sunset Shimmer.

"So," she began as she sat down next to the unicorn, reclaiming the rubber chicken that Cheese had given her, "taking over Equestria with cinnamon rolls: d'ya think it'd work?"

Sunset rolled her eyes. "We've been through this, Pinkie. You and I are the minority: it'd never work because over half the population despises cinnamon, for whatever crazy reason."

"Yeah, but I could use that to my advantage..."

"No!"

"Aw, darn it!"

"...And then you place that card next to the pile that represents its value," Fluttershy finished, demonstrating with the card she picked up.

She was teaching Discord how to play Clock Patience, with Rainbow cutting in every now and again. Each time the pegasus did this, Fluttershy wondered if she was being annoying on purpose or just being Dashie.

"Ahh. That makes sense." He paused. "Shoot, I said it again! Twilight, can you erase the meaning of sense from my memory please!"

"Nope! No idea how to!" Twilight replied. Discord folded his arms and pouted, but then Fluttershy whispered something into his ear and he grinned mischievously. Twilight rolled her eyes as the couple teleported away.

"Spike?"

The dragon opened blissful eyes from his position wrapped in his marefriend's hooves. He was not happy about being directly disturbed, but sat up nonetheless.

"Sorry, but could you possibly write a letter to Celestia to tell he that we've caught Tirek and sent him back to Tartarus?" When he nodded, she beamed.

"You do know you say 'Tartarus' wrong, don't you?" asked Sunset, raising her eyebrow at the alicorn as she lowered her forehooves to the ground as a forfeit to the standing-on-your-hind-legs competition she was having with Pinkie Pie.

Twilight looked at the unicorn as if she had just suggested something dastardly. Sunset continued, "You say it like you're about to say 'tartar sauce', with the emphasis on the second 'tar'. It's supposed to be on the first 'tar'."

The two ex-students of PCSGU stared at one another, saying nothing as the princess' cheeks involuntarily burst into flames. She looked at the ground awkwardly for a long, long time.

"Th-thanks, Sunset," she mumbled.

Sunset bit her lip, laughing awkwardly as she struggled to think of a way to change the topic. She absent-mindedly started tap her hoof on the ground, then slammed it down as she said, "I need to go."

For a moment, Twilight seemed to have no idea what the unicorn meant. But then she nodded in agreement. "Yes, yes...of course, Sunny." The attempt of a casual use of her nickname felt forced to both of them.

"Lets go then, Sparky."

The two said next to nothing on the train to the Crystal Empire. They exchanged glances every now and then, but for the most part they were looking out the window or at the ground.

Well, at least that was the case with Sunset. For Twilight however, her eyes flicked between the aforementioned two places but she kept finding them straying back to the beautiful, smart, impulsive unicorn sitting beside her.

Twilight drew a deep breath as she convinced her eyes to tear away. She then propped an elbow up on the windowsill and laid her head on it in a way that meant her eyes had to squeeze shut to remain protected.

"Tired?"

Twilight clenched her teeth to stop herself from smiling at Sunset's voice, catching her cheeks in the process. "Ow ow ow what the hayIjustbitmycheeks!"

Sunset laughed. "That's a symptom of being tired, Bookworm."

"It hurt." Twilight put on the most exaggerated, melancholy expression she could muster without bursting into fits of hysteria.

"Aww, poor Sparky," the unicorn played along, patting her on the head with an heavy sense of sarcasm. "And in 3...2...1...it's stopped hurting."

"No way, you're a miracle worker." Twilight didn't bother to hide the unenthused sarcasm. She then took one look at Sunset and let out bellows of laughter. The unicorn sniggered and rubbed her forehead.

It died down far, far too quickly. Silence took over them, and they reassumed the cycle of where they looked.

Sunset glanced at Twilight and caught her staring. The alicorn hastily looked away and blushed, much to her annoyance. Sunset thought she probably didn't know how clear the redness was, how clear her feelings were. It wasn't the first time she had caught her indigo eyes fixed onto herself, and it certainly wasn't the first time she had seen her blush.

Sighing, she contemplated for the umpteenth time whether it was worth saying something. But then she saw the Crystal Empire approaching

"We're here."

They got off the train and headed into the shining city. On the way to the castle, they bought some crystal berries because they hadn't eaten since that morning.

Princess Cadance met them at the entrance. "You've still got quite a few of hours before midnight," she said as they walked in. "You should go up to one of the balconies; Celestia is about to lower the sun."

The mares looked at each other and nonverbally agreed on taking up the offer.

Once they were outside again, Twilight decided to speak. "Hey, Sunset: the sun's doing an impression of you."

Rolling her eyes, the unicorn easily stifled the small laugh the joke caused. "Ha-ha," she said dryly. "I'm so famous that even celestial bodies are copying me but -- oh, would you look at that. Sunset is just, like, so last second and now everypony's decided that Twilight is all the rage right now."

"Ugh, tell me about it. Now I know how Fluttershy felt when she was a model."

Sunset giggled and grabbed Twilight's head, turning it towards to sky. "Look at the -- look at the stars. They're sparkling, for crying out loud."

The alicorn peered at them faux-seriously. "No, I'd say they're actually shimmering. Or maybe they're actually simmering, because I can't see that one anymore." She jabbed a hoof in the vague direction of a seemingly non-existent star.

"Which one?"

"That one."

Sunset pointed in the same general direction. "That one?"

"No, that one."

"That one? With a capital 't'?"

Twilight shook her head.

Sunset rolled her eyes and gestured to the alicorn's flank. "That one?"

"Which one?"

"Tha -- okay, now you're just being annoying."

"That was intentional."

Sunset smiled. "Hey, Twilight?" The princess looked up. "Before I forget, umm...I-I have something, to, err...give to you." She conjured up a small box and levitated it over, scratching the back of her neck.

Twilight opened it and found a clearly hoof-made rock candy necklace inside. "Sunset, it's...gorgeous."

"You like it?" She beamed and trotted over. "Pinkie Pie helped me find a way to mix the type of gem that can hold memories into the rock candy recipe, so, um..." She pointed to the one on the far left. "That's Fluttershy's 'Welcome Home!' party, and...that's when you made me and Discord have a chat about 'being the good guys now', and...there's the time we got lost on our trip to Baltimare, and, finally...that's the sleepover we had on Hearts And Hooves Day."

"Because we were the only ones without a special somepony."

"Exactly."

"This is umm..." Twilight searched for the word. "Amazing, and..." She shook her head, "y'know, I think it's so creative and generous that I, um, I kinda hate you for it."

Sunset giggled, taking the necklace so she could put it around Twilight's neck.

"I mean, how could you? You know I love rock candy."

"Yup. That's why I gave you a gift, made of rock candy."

"A-and then you just go, and put these precious memories in them and...I'll have to wear it every day, and not eat it. You're so cruel."

"I know I am."

They smiled at each other, then stood up and walked to the balcony railing. After a while, Twilight had a brilliant idea. Silly, but brilliant. She grinned and sang, "Between light and dark,"

Sunset said nothing, only turned away in light-hearted irritation.

"Come on, Sunny!" Twilight jostled her with her elbow. The unicorn turned around, making an exasperated noise of relent. She narrowed her eyes at the alicorn. Why did we make this a thing, why Celestia?

"Between light and dark,"

"From dark to light,"

"We are two elements of the night,"

"And despite the fact that
You're royalty,"

"You're sti-ill special to-o me."

Author's Notes:

Hopefully this is alright for a first chapter. I'm sorry to those of you who don't ship Sunlight/were expecting more Fluttercord but this just happened so I dunno at least I'm making a start on my WB sequel, right?