“Sweet Celestia…” Sunset muttered.

Sunny Flare’s house was huge. And it was definitely the right address, Sunset had followed the directions the App gave her exactly, and then recalculated the route once she arrived to be sure. This was definitely the house address her friend had given her, but a mansion address would have been a better description.

Sunset approached a pair of large steel gates. They weren’t automatic, as she had hoped. So… how did she get in? She could call Sunny Flare… but that wasn’t really a great impression to leave. Calling her because nobody was answering the front door was understandable, but not even being able to ring the doorbell...

‘Doorbell!’ she thought.

Just as Sunset had suspected, on the brick wall attaching the two gates was a small electronic buzzer. She pressed the button, and was ready to state her name and reason for visiting, but was surprised when the gates immediately came to life and opened on their own.

It was a short walk to the front door, but the fact the distance between her gate and front door was considered a ‘distance’ at all was vaguely intimidating.

Sunset mentally shook her head.

What did it matter that Sunny belonged to a rich family? It was unexpected, sure, but Sunset couldn’t afford to over think herself. She had fought against demons and super villains, she could handle the upper class. Back in Equestria, Sunset herself came from a reasonably wealthy family, so she knew all the manners and customs that were expected from her.

Taking hold of a knocker the size of her head, Sunset could only manage two bangs on the door before it was instantly pulled open.

“Hey, you must be Sunset!”

As if the ground below her suddenly gave way, a flood of memories hit her like a raging torrent. Guilt, nostalgia and just about everything in between. If there was any doubt left inside her mind, it was instantly swept away and drowned.

Her father… her real, biological father -from Equestria- stood before her, beaming brightly.

“I… I…”

She had expected to see him today, but…

Imagining him was one thing, but to have him physically standing in front of him…

Sunset caught her herself.

“Hey!” she half-shouted. “Y-yeah, I’m Sunset. Sunset Shimmer.”

When the mention of her name didn’t instill any kind of response in him, Sunset couldn’t help but feel a shot of pain in her stomach. Instead, he stood aside and outstretched his arm, welcoming her into his house.

Trying her best to disguise the fact she was shaking, Sunset stepped forward.

“Nice to meet you Sunset, I’m Sundance. And it’s absolutely typical, Sunny has just popped into the shower. If you wanna come into the kitchen to wait for her?”

“O-okay.”

Sunset silently followed her fa… Sundance, into his house.

“Hey, you alright? You look a bit shook up?”

“I’m fine, thank you. But... could I have a glass of water or something?”

“Of course you can,” Her father crossed the kitchen and began to pour her a glass.

Sunset perched herself on a seat by the kitchen island. He place a glass of water down next to her.

“Yanno, you’ve got nothing to be nervous about,” he said as she took a swig.

“I’m not nervous,” Sunset lied, “what is there to be nervous about?”

He laughed, nodding.

“Meeting the parents for the first time is always a bit daunting. Sunny never brings people home, so, you should feel quite special.”

Sunset forced out a laugh.

“Thanks, I’ll remember that.”

“Oh, bloody hell,” he lightly slapped himself on the forehead. “I should probably go let her know you’re here. She’s probably nearly done now, but I know she wouldn’t want to keep you waiting.”

With that he was gone, leaving Sunset alone in the kitchen.

She hadn’t been here too long, but this place was already starting to unnerve her.

She started noticing things in the house. Slight details, invisible to the naked eye if you weren't looking for them.

When ponies traveled to this world they underwent a physical transformation, and it looked like her childhood house had done something similar. There was some hints of stuff she recognized, but at the same time, some stuff she had never seen before in her life. Like returning to a childhood location as an adult and seeing how much it’s changed. It was both familiar, yet alien. She wondered if perhaps, considering how long she’d been away from home, if she did return to Equestria would she find her family house looking identical to this place?

Even now in the kitchen, a room which was usually sterile in most houses, had an odd sense of surrealness to it. The alien architecture of this home created a distorted version of the nostalgic memories she had held so dear once.

“What on earth are you doing here?”

Sunset’s eyebrows shot into her hairline.

She knew that voice.

She span around, all feelings of nostalgia vanishing in an instant.

Cinch, the ex-Principal of Crystal Prep Academy, stood in the doorway of the kitchen. She stared at Sunset with an expression of shock and confusion that she could only imagine was reflected on her own.

“What are you doing here!?” were the only words Sunset was able to find.

"Me!?” Cinch half-shouted. “What do you mean, doing here!? I live here!”

Wait.

What?

“Hey, hey, hey!”

Her father hopped back into the room. He obviously heard Cinch’s shrieking, and dove between the two. “What, er, what’s the problem?”

Cinch turned to him, fury in her eyes.

“What on earth is this girl doing in our house?”

“What do you mean?” He asked, his voice squeaking in confusion. “This is Sunny’s friend, Sunset Shimmer. We talked about this, Abacus.”

Cinches expression changed from confusion, to shock, to anger, all within the space of a few seconds. Settling on the final emotion, she turned to Sunset, pointing an accusing finger at her.

“There is no way any daughter of mine is spending time with the likes of her! I lost my job because of this little minx and her friends!”

Wait.

What?

“Sunset!” a fourth voice entered the room.

Sunny entered the room behind Cinch, hair wet and towel wrapped around her body. She pushed past her parents and moved quickly to Sunset’s side.

She gave an uneasy smile, blushing.

“I should have told you about this sooner, I’m sorry.”

“I…” Sunset struggled, “I don’t get….?”

“Sunset, Principal Cinch is my mom,” she said flatly, followed by a wince. “I… erm... didn’t want to put you off by telling you.”

“Whatever do you mean by that?” Cinch’s voice snapped. “I am an absolute delight to be around!”

“I agree!” Her father sounded in again, placing his hands on Cinch’s shoulders. Sunsets stomach churned at the indication of the two being married.

“But honey, I think we should leave the girls alone now.”

Sunny took Sunset by her hand.

“We’re gonna go upstairs now, it’s fine.”

“She’s your mother!?”

Sunny pushed open the door to her room and lead Sunset inside. She pulled her into the middle of the room, grabbed her by the shoulders and then manually turned her so she was facing the other direction.

“You’ve said that three times in the walk upstairs,” she laughed.

“It’s a long walk up those stairs, oh but I guess that makes sense, you being so loaded, it’s because you’re the daughter of the Principal!”

“Ex-Principal now, actually. And like I said...” Sunny paused. “I didn’t want to scare you off. A lot of girls at Crystal Prep get intimidated by who I am. It doesn’t scare you off, does it?”

Sunset didn’t respond.

She was too busy looking at Sunny Flare’s room.

Or her room, which was a more accurate description. From the bed, to the wallpaper, to the makeup mirror, she was stood in a mirror image of her own childhood bedroom. Or actually... maybe not a mirror image. The closer Sunset looked, the finer details made themselves present.

The makeup mirror was on the opposite side of the room to where Sunset kept hers. The walls were painted lavender, instead of mauve, even though there was only a few shades difference. In the corner of her room was a violin stand, where Sunset usually had her base guitar.

“I… I…”

She felt herself going light headed. This was getting too much.

A light tapping on her shoulder caused her to turn.

Sunny Flare had gotten changed into a pair of pajamas. She had concern written across her face.

“Well… does it?”

Sunset shook her head, but couldn’t find her words.

Sunny Flare gave a reluctant smile, and crossed to sit on her bed. She pulled a hairbrush out from her bedside cabinet and began tidying her hair.

“Make yourself comfortable, by all means.”

Sunset dove down onto the bed next to her. The speed at which she did cause Sunny to retract a little.

“You... okay?”

“Actually I…” Sunset forced the next words out, “I’ve had something on my mind for weeks and I really need to talk about it. I didn't want to be so straight forward with it, but being in your house has really done a number on me. It’s about me and you."

Sunny’s eyes grew wide.

“Oh… okay,” she gave a nervous smile. “Say whatever you like.”

Sunset wasted no time.

“So, we’ve got the chemistry, right? Frankly I've never gotten on so well with somebody so quickly in such a short amount of time. Part of me feels like I've known you my whole life."

“Sunset,” she shook her head, smiling. “I think I know where you’re going with this and… it’s okay. I’ve picked up on it too.”

For the third time today she found herself unable to find her words.

“You have!?”

“Yeah, erm…” Sunny laughed, blushing, “it hasn't exactly been subtle.”

Sunset blushed as well.

“I’ll be honest, I’ve been waiting for you to bring it up,” Sunny set aside her hair brush and faced the girl head-on. “I thought you were going to at the end of the other night, but I just guessed you were still figuring it out. Which I’m totally cool with, by the way! I’m not exactly an expert at this kind of thing... We can take it as slow as we need,” she laughed.

Sunset nodded, taking a deep breath.

“Thank you for understanding. It’s been a confusing time for me…” She drew a blank on how to explain herself. “I’ve been through a lot before, but this kind of thing..." she tried. "This has never happened before, it’s just so alien… and I haven’t really been able to talk to my friends about it.”

“I thought you guys were all about supporting each other?”

“It’s more I just haven’t told them… They wouldn't understand. Heck, I'm not sure I even understand. I think they’d probably support me, but as well… they can get pretty protective."

“Well… then don’t worry about them. Me and you are doing pretty fine on our own.”

Sunset smiled.

“Yeah… we are!”

Sunny Flare giggled.

“It’s difficult seeing people in school because most girls are scared of me. I guess that’s one of the reasons why we work so well, because you don’t know me as the Principal’s daughter. I mean, obviously my mom isn’t thrilled about it, but I really couldn’t care what she thinks.”

“You told your parents?” Sunset cocked an eyebrow.

“Well, not exactly but… well, they both know why you’ve come over today. You can guess how my mom feels about it… but, Dad is pretty supportive,” Sunny then caught onto her wording and made haste to correct herself. “Not that I talk about you constantly to them, or anything! I rarely talk to them about this kind of thing, but I mentioned why I was going out the other night and that I was bringing somebody home today to meet them and... well, Dad thought it was way too early for that, but I figured… yanno…”

She blushed again, moving her face away from Sunsets.

“If this was gonna be a recurring thing you might as well get comfortable with coming to my house… so… yeah…”

Sunset chuckled.

She didn’t understand why Sunny Flare got these random spouts of shyness, but she’d be lying if she said she didn’t find them to tiniest bit cute.

“I’d love to come round more often, Sunny Flare.”

“You would?”

“Yeah, I would.”

A stillness set over the room, as the two shared a wholesome moment. Behind her cool exterior, Sunset’s mind was buzzing with ideas.

How did they move forward from here?

Sunny Flare had caught on there were some weird parallels going on between them, but now that was out of the way, what could they actually even do about it?

They could do assessments of each other’s lives, find out what’s different and what’s not. Perhaps maybe compile all of their data and write a thesis to submit to Princess Twilight? Sunset got the feeling she would be able to lend her magical mind to understanding her scenario. The situation she was in hadn’t actually changed, but now aspects of it were definitely easier.

Her thoughts are interrupted when a pair of lips pressed against her own.

Sunsets eyes shot open, only to see Sunny Flare… kissing her?

The space between them had sealed, and Sunny Flare had leaned forward just enough for their lips to be gently touching. She had her eyes closed, which was lucky, so she didn’t have to see Sunsets horrified expression.

Sunset pulled away.

Sunny Flare pulled back too, blushing.

“Sorry!” she yelped, and hid her face. “I know you wanted to take things slow... I’ve just been waiting to do that.”

Sunsets mouth hung open, her lips still tingling.

“I...I…”

Things began to make sense.

Things began to make way too much sense.

“Was… that… okay?”

Sunset stood up. Her mouth opened and closed like a goldfish. Had it suddenly got very hot in here or was it just her?

The constant texting.

Their night out.

Meeting her parents.

Sweet Celestia.

“I’m… I’m sorry I… I don’t…”

“S-Sunet?”

Sunny Flare looked like a baby who’d had its candy stolen.

“I need to go, I’m sorry."

Sunset leaped up and made for the door. Sunny Flare shot up beside her.

“I’m sorry, I… Sunset!” she tried.

“N-no! I’m sorry, it’s not you!" Sunset backed up. "I just-I just I need to go now. Again, I’m sorry.”

The second her back hit the door, Sunset span around and practically tore it from its hinges.

And with that she was gone.

Gone down the stairs. Gone through the front door. Even gone over the gates... as it turned out Sunset was surprisingly gymnastic when panicking. As she jumped the fence, she swore she heard one of Sunny Flares parents shout to her, but didn't stop to acknowledge or respond.

She’d messed up.

Oh man, had she really messed up.

She should have listened to Rarity. She should have listened to Rainbow Dash or Applejack. She should have had enough common sense to see herself and what she was doing.

Only when Sunset's legs began to quiver with each step did she finally stop running, and she leaned back against a sign post to catch her breath.

Just exactly how long had she been unaware she was dating Sunny Flare?