Sunset could feel Twilight’s soft hands going up her back as they gripped onto her shirt. She shuddered for a brief second as she felt the girlish hands run over the scar across her back, but relaxed as she remembered who the hands belonged to. Twilight had captured her in an embrace as the two locked lips passionately.

Neither could remember when this make out session had started, but both knew that neither wanted it to stop. Their tongues danced, their hearts raced and their thoughts became more and more lust filled as they held each other closely, keeping the passionate exchange going for what felt like hours.

Breaking the kiss to come up for air, the two locked eyes. Without her glasses on, Twilight was squinting just to see Sunset, but it was alright. One of her biggest annoyance with her glasses was how they always seemed to get in the way when it came to sex or lovemaking. There had been many times where Twilight simply chose to leave them on the entire time they were having sex, just to avoid embarrassing mishaps, such as tripping over herself (which had happened a few times already).

Sunset smiled as she tucked a strand of Twilight’s loose hair behind her ear and kissed her cheek, causing the girl to smile.

Twilight leaned in and began planting butterfly kisses along Sunset’s jawline until she came to her neck and began going down that as well, gently nipping as she did. The effect caused Sunset to gently grip the back of Twilight’s head as she worked her way down and unbuttoned the first few buttons of Sunset’s shirt and exposed the girl’s shoulders as she gave a few kisses along them as well.

The sensation was incredible, but the redhead kept hearing her own thoughts as Twilight worked.

One day this girl will be your wife.

What was wrong with that? Sunset thought. She welcomed the idea of Twilight as her wife, she wanted them to spend their entire lives together, she wanted to take care of her and in turn, be taken care of by the bookworm.

Opening her eyes slightly, Sunset saw someone in the room with them. A woman standing a decent height, long red hair with golden streaks and crossed arms. She stood there with a solemn look on her face. This time it wasn’t Shimmer, but herself. It was like looking into a mirror.

For that moment, it was as if Twilight was invisible. She was facing away from the other Sunset, so there was no way to see her, but then Sunset rationalized that she probably wasn’t really there anyway, but instead a figment of her imagination.

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing, Sunset?” The other Sunset asked with a raised brow.

Sunset remained silent, unsure how to answer, or if Twilight would hear her answer, instead she just allowed the scene to play out.

The other Sunset shook her head. “Twilight Sparkle… You want to marry her, but is that really fair to her? She says she’s okay with it all but is it fair of you to subject this human girl to the pain and hardship that will come with being with an Equestrian like yourself?”

Sunset blinked and stared as the other her spoke some more. “Think about it… You’ll have to spend the rest of your life hiding what you are to the world… Twilight will become a part of that lie… You were not meant to be in this world, and yet you continue to tangle yourself deeper and deeper into its affairs… What gives you the right?”

Sunset couldn’t think of a thing to respond with. The other her had a point, but it wasn’t one she wanted to acknowledge. Sure, she knew the possibility of something like what happened with Shimmer was far lower now, she had convinced herself of that, but the more she thought about it the more she realized the challenges that the two of them would face. Equestria was going to play a role in their lives whether either of them liked it or not.

On top of that, Sunset had to hide what she was to the outside world. Could she really keep the charade going forever? Every day pretending she was human? Having to go to special doctors who would remain discrete, having to forge paperwork and documents just to keep people from sniffing around her. Was it fair of her to bring Twilight into the same life?

No, it didn’t matter. She loved Twilight, and she was determined to make it work, but she started to wonder if maybe she had been too hasty. She should have given Twilight more time with her before asking the girl to marry her. Twilight deserved enough time to see what being with Sunset in the long term would be like so she had the ability to say no if she wanted to.

After blinking, Sunset noticed the apparition of herself vanished from the room and all attention came back to the girl planting kisses along her shoulder.

Twilight looked up and tilted her head as she sensed an off feeling about her fiancé. “Is… Everything alright?”

“Huh? Yeah? Why wouldn’t it be?” Sunset asked, a hint of nervousness in her voice.

Twilight frowned. “You seem… Distracted…”

“Oh… Yeah… Sorry… I was just thinking about some stuff to myself… Don’t worry about it…” Sunset frowned back at her, but then looked away.

“Is this… A bad time?” Twilight asked shakily.

“Probably… Sorry…” Sunset sighed.

Sitting up, Twilight reached over to the end table from the bed they were sitting upon and retrieved her glasses. Once they were perched on her face she let out a sigh as well. “What’s going on, Sunset? I know you. You will overthink things until they cause you to do stupid things…”

“I guess… I was just thinking…” Sunset bit her lip, not wanting to say it.

“Spit it out…” Twilight instructed.

Letting go of her lip, Sunset spoke the question she didn’t really want an answer to. “Do you… Really want to marry me?”

Twilight blinked and looked down at the ring on her finger before holding it up to show Sunset. “I’m wearing the ring, am I not?”

“No, I mean… Are you sure… It’s a good idea?” Sunset looked away, shame in her eyes as she did.

Twilight sighed and slumped a bit as she shook her head. “Are we seriously doing this shit again, Sunset?”

Sunset sighed and kept her eyes from looking at Twilight. “Look, I’m just… Having some self doubts right now… I mean you said yes so quickly that I didn’t really think hard about what I was asking…”

“I knew what you were asking, Sunset…” Twilight rolled her eyes.

“No, you knew I wanted to marry you, but you didn’t consider what that entailed. If you marry me, you’re getting all the bullshit that comes with me…” Sunset explained.

Twilight felt a bit exasperated at how much of a worry wart Sunset could be, more so than herself even. “Sunset Shimmer, I am fully aware of that…”

“Are you? The fact that you’ll have to lie all the time about where I’m from? The fact that I can’t go to a normal doctor? That magic is going to circle around your life?” Sunset started shooting questions at Twilight so quickly that it was near impossible for the girl to even respond.

Once she saw a chance to get a word in, Twilight shook her head. “Sunset, none of that matters to me… I want to be with you, I don’t care what we have to do to make it work… I was prepared to do that from the start…”

“I’m different, Twilight…” Sunset frowned, finally looking in her lover’s direction.

Twilight nodded and sighed before leaning in and planting a soft kiss on the girl’s velvet lips. She touched her forehead to Sunset’s and nodded. “I know… That’s part of why I love you… You are different… I know it’s going to be a challenge, but I’m prepared to face it… I was prepared the day we got together, and I was more prepared the day you put this ring on my finger…” Twilight gestured to her hand.

“I just… Worry that you may be getting into something that you end up realizing you can’t handle…” Sunset sighed.

“What can I say to make you see that I’m not? Whatever happens, we’ll face it together…” Twilight frowned.

Sunset bit her lip. She didn’t have an answer. She knew she wanted to marry Twilight Sparkle, that much was certain. There was a block in her mind trying to sabotage her before she even made it down the aisle though, something always nagging at her that she was making all the wrong moves and saying all the wrong things. Sunset wanted to marry her, but her brain always assumed the worst.

“I… I don’t know… I wish I did…” Sunset looked away.

“Do you not want to marry me?” Twilight asked with a raised brow. “It’s okay if you don’t…”

Sunset quickly turned back to her and shook her head. “No! I absolutely want to marry you! I’ve never been more sure about anything! I want us to be together forever, Twilight… I just… I get nervous when I think about it… I know we’ll be happy but I worry about backing down because I fear hurting you… A life with me… Hell, a life just being around me always seems to get people hurt…”

Twilight reached forward and took both of Sunset’s hands in her own, gently caressing the back of Sunset’s palms with her thumbs. Her soft skin felt nice, and her delicate little hands fit so perfectly in Sunset’s own, almost like they were made to be held by Sunset.

“If there is anything I can do to help put you at ease… Let me know, please… I want you to go into this with confidence, Sunset… I want you to know from the moment we say ‘I do’, that everything will be okay… That you won’t get cold feet on me… What can I do?” Twilight asked, her voice tender and sincere. She wasn’t asking out of fear that Sunset would back out, but more out of concern. That was what Sunset loved about Twilight, she had reached a point where she could know that sometimes what Sunset said was merely her brain working against her. She was able to tell that Sunset was completely sincere when she said that she wanted to marry her. Twilight Sparkle “got” her, in a way that no one else did.

The two girls fit together so perfectly, their relationship was a dream come true, and shy of minor tiffs and disagreements, they got along so well. They complimented each other and built each other up. They overcame their weaknesses together, but one such weakness still persisted with Sunset, her fear of making things difficult on others. No matter how much time passed, it was still her greatest weakness, her inability to allow others to be burdened by her or because of her.

“I wish I had an answer, Twilight… I… I think I need time to think about it… If that’s okay… Don’t mistake me, I still totally want to marry you…” Sunset frowned.

She was a bit surprised to see a smile form on Twilight’s face as she nodded. “Yes… I know you do, Sunset…”

There wasn’t even a hint of doubt in Twilight’s voice; she genuinely believed the girl.

“Thanks… I’m sorry…” Sunset rubbed the side of her nose awkwardly as she avoided looking into Twilight’s eyes.

“For what?” Twilight blinked.

“For… Being like this… For being so frustrating at times…” Sunset sighed.

Twilight giggled and kissed the girl’s nose. “You take as long as you need, alright? Whatever will help you feel better about all of this, just let me know… We’ll do whatever it takes to make it happen, alright?”

Sunset nodded and felt herself blushing as a small smile crept onto her face. “Thanks, Twilight… For understanding that is…”

“I wouldn’t be a good fiancé if I wasn’t at the very least, understanding.” Twilight winked.

“Nah, you’d be a good one regardless… Maybe even better than I deserve…” Sunset replied.

“You stop that, you deserve the very best and I won’t hear another word about it.” Twilight tapped the redhead’s nose.

Laughing, Sunset nodded. “Yes, ma’am…”

Twilight was spending the weekend at her brother’s home to spend some time with her niece while she had a few days off from school. She had completed most of her assignments, and she was far ahead of the curriculum so she had some time to kill. It was a perfect opportunity to get some quality time with Flurry in and see her brother and sister-in-law.

Yawning, she stretched out in her pajamas and fumbled around her end table in the guest bedroom to find her glasses. Once she had located them, she planted them on her face and gave them a quick few adjustments. When she was satisfied with the results she wiggled her nose and blinked a few times to get her eyes adjusted to the morning light that was seeping into the room from the window.

She looked over at the clock, noting it was only 8:30 AM. Pulling the comforter off of her slender body, Twilight allowed her feet to touch the floor as she yawned once more and forced herself to a stand. She wobbled a tad, but after a few seconds, Twilight was properly upright as she wandered toward the door and opened it.

Making her way downstairs she could already smell the scent of freshly brewed coffee filling the air, a steeple of Shining’s home as he was always up relatively early to get ready for work. She remembered when he was in high school he used to drink coffee all night to stay up playing video games or when he was playing Dungeons and Dragons with his friends. It was weird to see him shift from being such a night owl to a proper morning person, though she suspected it likely took a lot of frustration to get to that point.

Twilight found herself amused at the idea of Cadence trying to train her husband to get up early for work. When he was starting out as a patrolman, he was so used to the late shift that it definitely was a very odd adjustment period for the both of them. Now though, with their daughter, the two of them had to focus on being home at night. With Cadence taking over as the principal of Crystal Prep and Shining working homicide, it definitely was difficult.

Fortunately, the two of them seemed to make it all happen regardless of the challenges that it created. Shining was always a resourceful guy, after all, when they were kids, he somehow always found a way to make things happen even if they seemed impossible and even if it seemed he procrastinated too much.

When she reached the dining room, sure enough, Shining was sitting there with an iPad in front of him, flipping through news stories as he sipped a dark brew from a steaming cup, giving the occasional contented sigh as he did.

He had the day off from work today, so he was instead sitting there in an old T-shirt decorated with images of Monty Python and the Holy Grail rather than his usual suit and tie combination. Strangely though, he no longer wore sweatpants around the house when he had time off like he did when they were kids, instead he had actual jeans on, likely because Cadence wasn’t a big fan of them walking around looking “too sloppy” when guests were over, even when those guests were Shining’s younger sister. There was little doubt in Twilight’s mind though that if she was not there, that they would be in nothing more than a tank top and sweatpants, both of them. Part of her even bet they walked around in their underwear.

Shining looked up from his iPad to see his younger sister, nodding at her as he watched her pull a chair out and sit down across from him. “Morning, sleep alright, Twily?”

Twilight nodded and cracked her neck. “Yeah, I’m definitely well rested… So already ready to enjoy your weekend, I take it?” Twilight asked.

He smirked and nodded. “You know it, already have plans to sit down and play Uncharted 4, I picked it up a while back but I never get enough time to play games anymore…”

“Maybe that’s a good thing?” Twilight giggled.

“Oh shush you.” Shining rolled his eyes.

“I’m sure Cadence doesn’t mind the fact that you spend more time with her and Flurry…” Twilight smiled.

Shining sighed and nodded. “Yeah… You got me there, sadly…”

“You’re still a nerd deep down it seems…” Twilight grinned.

“Guilty, though Cadence thinks I’m cool, so that’s all that counts.” Shining winked.

Twilight found herself rolling her eyes as she usually did when her brother did or said something lame, though the feeling and expression was mutual a lot of the time as Twilight was caught doing her share of “uncool” things on a regular basis as well.

“She would…” Twilight shook her head.

“Say… How’re things going with Sunset? I’m surprised you’re here and not spending every waking moment over there…” Shining pointed out.

Twilight bit her lip and tried to think of a believable excuse, but the only words that came out of her mouth betrayed her. “She needed some space…”

“Having a fight, I take it?” Shining raised a brow.

“I wouldn’t call it a fight… I mean we didn’t yell at each other and she’s not mad at me, and I’m not mad at her… Technically she didn’t even tell me to leave and I’m here voluntarily…” Twilight explained, rubbing her neck as she realized she was probably making absolutely no sense.

“Is that how women fight? Man, maybe I was born the wrong gender…” Shining set his iPad down and placed a hand on his chin, briefly imagining himself as a woman.

“I told you, it’s not like that…” Twilight shook her head.

Shining’s brow rose. “What is it like then?”

“I guess… I’m just frustrated is all…” Twilight shrugged.

“Sexually?” Shining blinked.

A blush quickly found its way to Twilight’s cheeks. “N-no! Not like that! Jeez!”

“Was gonna say… Maybe I’m not the best person to go to that with…” Shining laughed nervously.

“No, our sex life is fine…” Twilight blinked and covered her mouth when she realized what she had just said.

A grin appeared on Shining’s face as wide as a highway. “Is it now? So you two are having a good time then? My little Twily, growing up…”

“Please stop…” Twilight frowned and shook her head.

Shining waved his hand and nodded. “Alright, alright, I’ll stop picking on you. Still, if it’s not sex, what exactly is the problem?”

Twilight sighed and debated for a brief second if she really wanted to disclose a frustrating aspect of her relationship with her brother. While it was a reoccurring problem, she didn’t want him to get the wrong idea, as it had died down significantly and at the moment it wasn’t as terrible as it was when it began.

She decided ultimately to not keep him in the dark. “It’s just… Sunset clearly has a problem with long term commitment…”

“She asked you to marry her though, didn’t she?” Shining raised a brow.

“She did… But she’s sort of… Struggling to go through with it…” Twilight grimaced.

“She is calling it off?” Shining blinked.

Twilight shook her head. “No, it’s not like that. She wants to do it, she wants to go through with it, but she’s worried her brain will talk her out of it because of her paranoia. She’s thinking about all the difficulties we’ll face if we get married… She doesn’t want to put me through hardship… I mean you saw what you had to do just to get the situation with Adagio to go away, she’s worried that stuff like that will be a regular occurrence for us…”

Shining sighed and nodded in understanding at what his sister was saying. “Well… I guess the big question is… Does any of that stuff bother you?”

Twilight shook her head once more. She was surprised at how quickly she could answer that question. “No. I love her and I’ll do what it takes… I don’t care if our life isn’t normal, I just want us to be together…”

A smile came back to her brother’s face as he listened to her. “Then you’ve already made the most important step. So long as you feel that way, it’ll work out.”

“I just need a way to convince her that…” Twilight frowned.

“You’ll think of something, you’re resourceful, Twilight. I know you are.” Shining winked.

“Thanks, Shiny… I just hope I’m as resourceful as you think I am…” Twilight chuckled.

“You’ve amazed me in the past, so I’m sure this will be no different,” Shining replied.

Sometime after Shimmer’s funeral and Adagio’s defeat, Sunset had found herself in a funk, unable to be motivated to call her friends, go outside, or even get out of bed some days. For the longest time, she thought her misery would never end. The pestering of Twilight wasn’t enough to get her out of bed all the time, but it was enough to make her wish she could break the negative spell on her. She had managed to start contacting her friends again after their help in taking down Adagio, and even show her face, but still, she struggled to get back to her normal life. Every day was a battle.

Today was one of those battles, another day of lazing about feeling sorry for herself, mixed in with some self-pity. She was going to therapy, but it was taking some time to get past the guilt. At this point, she had at least accepted that what happened to Shimmer wasn’t her fault and that there was nothing she could have done. The reality was that Shimmer chose to sacrifice herself to save Sunset. It wasn’t a choice she was happy with, but it was Shimmer’s decision, her final one.

She knew she needed to get past all of this if she wanted Shimmer’s sacrifice to not be in vain.

Her mind was racing, and she decided that a shower might be able to quell the nagging part of her brain.

Pulling herself out of her bed lazily, she allowed her feet to dangle over the edge for a brief moment before a yawn exited her and she came to a proper stand. Grumbling to herself, she could feel the furry tail of a familiar canine at her feet, causing her to look down and see Moon sitting there with a tail wagging and a face that screamed: “pet me!”

Smiling lightly, Sunset reached down and gave the dog what he wanted and rubbed his head lightly and gave his neck a pat or two before getting up properly. Looking over at the clock it was 8:00 PM. She had slept all day and when she wasn’t sleeping she was laying in bed waiting to go back to sleep. In all fairness though, her fight with Adagio had drained her. She was still feeling exhaustion from how much magic she utilized in her battle.

She had been running on zero magical reserves by the time the fight was over, and her body had been pushed to the limit. It was taking some time to recover. She remembered for the first week she had a hard time staying awake. She had drunk nearly a gallon of coffee just to stay awake at Adagio’s trial, though the adrenaline was likely a factor as well.

Making her way to the bathroom, Sunset groaned as her body ached from laying in bed.

She had been sleeping in her bra and panties, so slipping out of her attire to get ready for a shower at least wasn’t much of a hassle. She was completely nude in a matter of eight seconds as she found her way to the mirror.

Sunset took a glance at herself and noted how tired she still looked. No amount of sleep seemed to stave away the bags under her eyes.

Yawning, the girl fumbled around until she made it into the shower proper and got the hot water started.

When the water hit her body, it somehow didn’t seem to have any effect in shaking the grogginess away. Her long hair soaked and cascaded down her form, and she closed her eyes trying to empty her mind.

When her efforts to clear her head failed she looked down at her stomach noting how despite her muscle tone, she was losing weight. She had been very poor on remembering to eat in the past few months, something she had only recently begun correcting. Sunset was always bad about maintaining a healthy weight, she found herself struggling to gain weight, and a mostly vegan diet didn’t help.

She made a mental note to get with a nutritionist at some point in the week to discuss her issues with her weight.

She wondered if her friends had such problems with weight gain. Rarity naturally probably didn’t as she was always dieting, so that pointed to the opposite being true. Pinkie was a definite though, as much as that girl ate she should have been a good eighty pounds heavier, but she wasn’t. She was a little curvy, but far from fat.

Returning her thoughts to the shower she was taking, Sunset decided that she’d take it easy with the exercise today, no sense in getting all sweaty if she just showered. While her exercise routine was odd and sporadic, she tended to go a bit on the overboard side when she did train.

Taking a deep breath, Sunset tried to clear her head once more, this time a bit more successful, but again not completely so. Images of Shimmer’s death were at least pushed out of her brain, but they were replaced with the images of a possible death for Twilight which almost happened due to her negligence. Adagio had taken her friend hostage and if Sunset hadn’t shown up in time, there was a distinct possibility that Twilight would be six feet under right now. She shuddered just thinking about it.

Quickly scrubbing her hair with Shampoo and then rinsing it, Sunset moved on to washing the rest of her body with haste. After she was finished, she shut the water off and pulled out a towel to wrap around herself and another to wrap around her long hair. She noted that she hadn’t had a haircut in some time, but somehow she was liking how it was looking getting longer, that and she didn’t exactly care enough to do much about it.

Once she was dry enough, she came back to her bedroom and sat down on her bed, looking over at her phone seeing she had a missed call. Blinking, she shrugged and picked up the phone.

Without even looking at the name, the redhead hit redial and held the iPhone to her ear. To her surprise, a voice she hadn’t heard in some time came through the speaker.

“Hey, Sunset… Long time, no talk…” The masculine voice spoke.

Sunset blinked. “Flash? Is that you?”

“Heh, yeah, it’s me. I just called to check up on you. You kind of went radio silent for a while there so I wanted to make sure you’re alright from the last time we talked you sounded like you were in trouble… Is everything cool now?” Flash asked his voice filled with legitimate concern.

It made Sunset smile to think that even though they broke up on such terrible terms and even though she was a raging bitch when they were together that Flash still cared enough about her to check up on her. She felt a little guilty though knowing that he was far too good to be wasting his time on someone who treated him so rotten, even if she had changed.

“Well… The situation has winded down, but I wouldn’t call myself ‘fine’ at this moment in time…” Sunset replied honestly.

“What exactly happened?” Flash asked.

“Well… It’s a long story, but the short version is those sirens came back… Turns out that one of them was responsible for murdering Shimmer…” Sunset explained.

“What!? No way! What happened to her! Did they catch her?” Flash gasped.

It had just occurred to Sunset that while Flash was familiar with some magic elements and that Sunset herself was from another world like a lot of their fellow classmates, he didn’t know much about the ordeal that went down. Most people at the school had sworn to secrecy and agreed to never talk about magic and what it caused, not that many would believe them anyway.

This, in turn, meant that flash knew very little about the sirens or Equestria for that matter. “Well… It’s a bit more complicated than that, Flash… See we brought her back to Equestria where she was put on trial…”

“What are trials in Equestria like?” Flash asked.

“I don’t know, it was the first one I had ever been to… But they sentenced her to death…” Sunset replied. Court in Equestria was definitely different from the human world, but Sunset lacked much experience with it.

He remained quiet for a few seconds before his shaky voice responded. “D-death? Is that a common thing in Equestria?”

“No. In fact, it is rarely used, but Princess Twilight felt it was necessary…” Sunset said.

A part of her felt bad in showing him a side of his former crush that he likely didn’t want to know about.

“Sounds nuts… So… She’s gone now?” Flash asked.

“Yeah, pretty much… Princess Twilight took care of the matter, now I’m just trying to get back to normal, but it’s rough…” Sunset said.

“Sounds like it… I don’t know what I’d do in that situation, but it’s okay if it takes you a while to get back to normal, you know? You’ve been through a lot it sounds like…” Flash reassured.

His words brought Sunset a small amount of comfort. “Thank you, Flash… I appreciate it… I guess I’m just a little shaken up by the fact that had I slipped up other people might have died too as a result… I’m still having a hard time getting over that…”

“Just remember, you have your friends to count on… You’re a tough girl, Sunset… Hell, you helped defeat three sirens, save the school from Midnight Sparkle and even save Camp Everfree… Yet somehow you find the time to be saving the world again from a murderous siren hellbent on revenge… That’s pretty damn awesome in my book…” Flash complimented.

Blinking, Sunset took a moment to process that statement. What he was saying was true, she had really done quite a bit in her short time in the human world. She had saved the world more times than she could count by now, and it was because her friends believed in her.

“What did I ever do to deserve a friend like you?” Sunset smiled as she spoke into her phone.

“Just being yourself… I know we’re not together anymore, but I’m still really glad to see that I was right about you… You were just a shy girl waiting to come out of your shell… I knew when you did… You’d do amazing things…” Flash spoke.

A small tear ran down Sunset’s face as she nodded. “Thanks, Flash…”

“You just have to do what you told me about Twilight…” Flash said.

“What’s that?” Sunset asked.

“You just gotta move forward,” He encouraged.

Starlight closed the door to her apartment behind her as she noticed her roommate, Angel, passed out on the couch. She was too cute for words in her white strapless dress and sandals as her chest rose and fell rhythmically while her long curly blue hair draped over the side of the couch, tied in her signature two pigtails. Her hair was characteristically messy, but it suited her so well. Starlight couldn’t even imagine the girl with straight hair, her wild curls were part of who she was.

Starlight was a bit jealous of how much hair she had, and how impossibly cute she looked in just about anything, but she was happy for her. Angel was the center of attention whenever boys were around, and while she was a virgin, it was absolutely satisfying to watch her struggle with the interactions and try to find a way out of the situation. Sometimes Starlight would take her somewhere where she knew that guys would hit on her just to tease her. It always brought a never-ending stream of amusement for Starlight, even if it was at her best friend’s expense. One day Angel would make someone a great girlfriend, but that day was definitely some time off.

She thought for a moment about what had been happening in Angel’s life. Angel had discovered she had some kind of magical abilities a few years ago now and the two of them spent a lot of their free time searching for some kind of explanation. Sadly, there was little in the way of results and once they had reached the point where both of them were sure that the trail had run cold, they had put the search on the back burner until something new happened that would give them a clue.

Angel claimed she had some kind of vision that told her she needed to look into six girls, but she didn’t know their names or where to even begin looking to find them. For the first week after the vision, Angel was checking every website to see if she could find some kind of picture with those girls in it. She found it was difficult to track down only a face based upon just a vague description, and without their names, she would have a difficult time finding her mysterious girls.

That didn’t discourage the girl, though she did spend more time taking care of herself and living her life, she never gave up hope that she would one day find these girls and all would become understood to her. Her fortitude was admirable. Where others would usually give up, Angel Song trudged forward with unstoppable resolve.

Stepping more into the room, Starlight noted the book in Angel’s hand. She chuckled as she saw the title, “Circlet of Feydra”. A popular fiction book from a few years back. She remembered it had been made into a movie not that long ago, she had seen it once or twice. It was an excellent piece, and the original author had helped adapt the screenplay. She was particularly fond of the young mage who traveled with the book smart mage and her friend, she felt oddly relatable to Starlight.

Angel must have finally taken the time to read the book after a recommendation from their co-workers. Angel wasn’t much for reading or video games for that matter, she usually liked TV shows, but truthfully, she didn’t really do a lot for fun in general. She was a simple girl with simple pleasures. Starlight had gotten her an Xbox for her birthday but she rarely touched the thing, she couldn’t even figure out how to work the controller. Eventually, she just got a TV remote for the game console and used it as a glorified blu-ray player.

Starlight realized that she knew more about Angel Song than most did. Due to her shy nature, Angel seldom made other friends outside of work and even those there were not people she shared too much about herself with. Angel was a rather private person and difficult to get close to, it took Starlight a good few months after they moved in together to get her to start opening up at all. It took at least eight days just for Angel to say more than “hello”, to Starlight.

Placing a hand on her chin, Starlight tried to recall everything she knew about Angel. She was an avid carnivore, able to eat several steaks without gaining a pound. She also had a great talent for singing in the shower, though she would never admit to it or sing in front of other people. Her voice was heavenly when she felt she was alone in the apartment and Starlight would come home early and hear her voice fill the entire apartment with sweet music. Though, she’d deny it if she was ever caught.

On top of that, she was an avid hater of Apple products saying they were overpriced and unnecessary. Similarly, she hated the fruit as well, though she loved raspberries. Anything tart and sour was the key to winning her affection.

Speaking of affection, she recalled that Angel wasn’t a very affectionate type. While she was a very thankful person and never let anyone walk away without a proper thank you when they did something nice for her, she didn’t exactly like holding people’s hands, kissing, or even snuggling. Starlight recalled how awkward it was at first to get the girl to hug her. After enough time though, she eventually grew comfortable with that at least with her.

Her parents had died when she was a teenager, sometime before Starlight and her met, and as a result, she had been on her own since she was eighteen. She had no brothers or sisters, and she had spent most of her life here in Sacramento. She was far from what most would stereotypically call a “California girl”, but it indeed was what she was through and through.

On top of all that, Angel Song was Starlight’s best friend, a friend she could count on. No matter what the occasion, no matter how much it might make her feel awkward, Angel Song was always ready to go on one of Starlight’s adventures. She would muster up all the courage and self-confidence she could and she’d tag along with a bright smile on her face. She was the most dependable person that Starlight knew.

Walking over to her sleeping friend, Starlight grabbed the blanket draped over the back of the couch and placed it over Angel’s body carefully, making sure not to disturb her, for she was an exceptionally light sleeper.

Blinking Starlight heard the girl mutter something in her sleep. She leaned in to hear her better.

“A-App… le… jack…” She uttered between light breaths.

Starlight blinked before she noticed Angel’s eyes pop open and she sat up quickly, causing Starlight to yelp and hop backward.

“Applejack!” Angel repeated.

“The cereal?” Starlight tilted her head. Images of an orange and green breakfast cereal came to mind as a few commercials for the cinnamon based product replayed in her head.

“No! One of the girls from my vision! Her name is Applejack!” Angel replied looking over at Starlight.

“How do you know?” Starlight asked as she calmed herself down after her small heart attack caused by Angel surprising her.

“I… I don’t know… It came to me… I’m sure of it though! We just have to look for an Applejack and I bet the rest of them will be a cinch!” Angel smiled brightly, a newfound sense of determination about her.

“Well… What’re we waiting for then? Let’s get moving!” Starlight grinned back at her friend and roommate.

Coming to a stand, Angel placed her hands on her stomach and then gave Starlight a sheepish look as a growling noise emitted from the small girl’s innards. “Maybe… After we eat first? I think I forgot to eat today…”

Chuckling, Starlight nodded and pulled her phone out of her pocket. “I’ll order us some Chinese then.”

“Oh! Make sure you get extra peanut sauce!” Angel ordered.

“I swear if you ever developed a peanut allergy…” Starlight rolled her eyes as she began to dial.

“I’d just voluntarily die.” Angel snickered.

“You’re an odd one, Angel… But I’m glad you’re my friend because I like them odd…” Starlight smirked.

Sitting in her home’s personal bathhouse, Sunset allowed her body to submerge under the steaming water just up to her chin. A long sigh of relief exited her as she felt her muscles begin to soothe and calm themselves.

Just sitting in the bath reminded her of all the times she had spent with Shimmer in this very bathhouse and how they had debated on baths vs. showers (Sunset still submitted that showers were superior, though she still admitted that a bathhouse had a nice appeal when you needed to relax a bit more).

All those memories seemed so far away now like it had been so long since the two of them sat together like this. It dawned on her though that Shimmer had died years ago now. Time had leaped forward and Sunset was still being stuck in the past, albeit unintentionally.

She cleared her head of thoughts of Shimmer and spoke out loud to get the notion to stick in her brain. “Shimmer is dead… You need to move on… She would want you to move on… You need to focus on Twilight.”

Twilight. The thought of her fiancé triggered a new thought in her head. She had been trying to get her mind off of marrying Twilight and how she was struggling with cold feet, not because she didn’t want to marry Twilight, but because she had an internal struggle with not letting Twilight marry her. She had to shake it, she needed to push herself to do this because she knew she’d regret it if she didn’t.

How could she though? What could she do to force herself to go through with this marriage and not chicken out?

She needed something that made it so there was no going back, some way to ensure she wouldn’t give up once the process was started, something that would-

It came to her. Her eyes widened at the thought. It was so drastic, so extreme… So… Perfect. It was the best plan she had ever come up with. It was something she knew would work, it would force her to get past her doubts and focus on making things work out. The only question though was if Twilight would agree to something so out there? She had to, she needed to. Sunset would simply explain this was how she was going to overcome her trepidation and that she was sure that she wanted to get married, she just needed a push.

She closed her eyes and laughed as she played out her idea once more in her head, marveling at how absolutely crazy she sounded. It didn’t matter though, it would ensure that Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer got married, and that was all that mattered.

Sunset came to a stand in the bath and peered around for a towel. Once she located one, she wrapped it around her form and stretched as she felt a new sense of freshness about her. Her entire body felt rejuvenated and she was ready to tackle any obstacle that came her way.

Stepping out of the bath, she made her way to the door and eventually down the hallway toward her bedroom. Once inside she picked up her phone and quickly began typing a text message to Twilight.

Hey, Twilight, I have an insane idea. Hear me out on this, because I think I have the solution to our problems, a way that I can-

She stopped and then shook her head before deleting the message. No, she couldn’t send this kind of thing in a text message. She needed to talk to her fiancé face to face for something like this. This wasn’t something that could be conveyed by simple text.

Sunset straightened herself up and decided to request a meeting between the two of them to discuss the matter.

Twilight, I love you more than anything in the whole world. I want to marry you, I want us to stay together forever and that’s why I’ve come up with a way to make this work; a way to get myself over my paranoia.

As if Twilight was waiting on her message, she replied almost instantly.

What is it?

Smiling, Sunset couldn’t help but feel somewhat excited over her idea as she replied.

It’s something we should talk about in person. How about you come by my place tomorrow, I’ll text you in the morning a good time to come over and we can discuss it then.

Naturally, Twilight was fast to reply.

I’ll see you then.

A lot of bath/shower moments. I just noticed that now. Odd, but unintentional, I promise!