"You're Sunset Shimmer?" It's a dagger through Sunset's heart to hear that voice, to see those pale green eyes again. "I'm Miss Cheerilee. We're so glad to have you."

From the front of the classroom, Sunset stares across the rows of desks – the students look wary, skeptical, even confused. Only the teacher looks happy to see her.

The teacher. Celestia was bad enough, but this – Sunset isn't prepared for this. There is no preparing for this.

"Thanks," Sunset grumbles. She hugs her textbook tightly.

The teacher gestures to an empty desk, beside a girl with springy, purple hair, and shrewd blue eyes. "Why don't you take the seat next to Rarity?"

"Thanks," Sunset repeats mechanically. Her knobby knees and clumsy feet carry her to the desk; she sits, and greets the other girl with a glare.

'Rarity' eventually looks away.

The teacher turns to the chalkboard. "We're starting The Odyssey today – page one-eighty-four in your textbooks. Sunset Shimmer, would you care to read first?"

"No."

The teacher turns and blinks, clearly caught off guard by Sunset's rejection. The knife twists, compelling Sunset to soften her answer.

"No, thank you."

The blue-eyed girl beside Sunset raises her hand. "May I?"

The teacher nods at her, smiling blandly. Her eyes linger on Sunset, before she sits at her desk and looks down at her textbook. "Thank you, Rarity."

The girl begins, but Sunset's eyes are on the teacher, her jaw working in silence as she ruminates on her moment of weakness. Old memories, regrets she thought herself beyond, resurface. For a moment, Sunset indulges in them...

Then Sunset throws that door closed. She refuses to open it again.

Late one night, Sunset Shimmer places a phone call.

Directions are given, promises exchanged, and Cheerilee arrives on her doorstep in minutes. Sunset invites her inside, and guides her to the couch in the living room. The desk lamp on the coffee table chases some of the darkness away, but the rest of Sunset's living room is shrouded in black.

"Okay." Sunset takes a deep breath. "You know about... uh, the place where I come from. How there's other versions of everybody from school there."

She pauses long enough for Cheerilee to venture the obvious question. "There's another me, isn't there?"

"Yeah. There is." Sunset slowly meets Cheerilee's gaze. "She was my first love."

Cheerilee's face, cast in pale lamplight, plainly shows her shock. But she says nothing, doesn't interrupt, for which Sunset is grateful.

"I use that word loosely, you know. 'Love,' I mean." Sunset's fingers curl and flex nervously. "We were kids when we met. A couple of teenagers without the perspective to know what love really meant. But... it felt real to us. Real enough for it to hurt her when I..."

She almost breaks. Cheerilee reaches over and takes her hand, running her thumb across her knuckles tenderly.

"...I ran out on her." Sunset's voice drops to a raspy croak. "I looked her in the eye, and I broke her heart, and it felt good. The rush I used to get from pushing people around? The first time I felt it was when I hurt her."

Sunset tries to continue, to think of something more to say. Nothing comes to mind. There's silence, a long silence, before Cheerilee speaks.

"You know, I've always wondered if there was another me in that other world. What she might be like, if she existed. I never imagined you knew her, though... let alone that you two were involved." She scoots closer on the couch. "Is that why you're interested in me?"

"I wish I knew, one way or the other. I wish I could say no. I wish I could say yes, because even that would be an answer." Sunset's heart starts racing, but the gentle motion of her thumb across her skin keeps her grounded. "I mean, you look like her. You sound like her. You have her voice, her eyes..."

She didn't have dimples, though.

"Do I act like her?" says Cheerilee.

Sunset bites her lip and shakes her head. "But that's what gets me. Because you're not her, no matter how much you remind me of her. You're your own person. And I wanna say that I like you for you, y'know? But I don't know if I'd even... if I'd ever have looked at you if you weren't... if you didn't look like..."

She feels dizzy, like she's going to swoon. Cheerilee moves closer still, close enough for Sunset to lean on her. She doesn't break, doesn't cry, but she lets herself rest against Cheerilee as the older woman holds her close.

"When you were my teacher, that was one thing." Sunset buries her face in the crook of Cheerilee's neck – she still smells like shampoo and lotion, smooth and clean. "I didn't have to think about it, because one way or another, it didn't matter. You were my teacher, and nothing was ever gonna happen. But now, not only are you not my teacher, but you... you like me back."

"I really do," Cheerilee whispers.

Sunset's heart gives a tiny jolt.

They stay together a moment longer before Sunset pulls away and looks down at her lap. "So... yeah. That's... that's why I didn't kiss you the other night. Not that I don't— didn't want to; I just, it wasn't the right— and I'm sorry for pushing you away—"

In her peripheral vision, she sees Cheerilee moving, and knows she's angling toward her lips. She telegraphs it well enough that Sunset knows she can back out before it happens.

Instead, she melts into the kiss.

It lasts a few seconds – it's slow, and sweet, and oh so gentle – and then Cheerilee pulls back with a little smack. Their foreheads touch, the tips of their noses nuzzling.

"I'm not the girl you knew back there, any more than you are the girl who knew her," Cheerilee whispers. "You're a different woman – a different person – and if we have something together, it'll be different from what those girls had. It'll be ours. So, if you'll have me... I think I'll take my chances with you."

Their second kiss lasts longer, and steadily grows deeper, more passionate. Sunset moans into Cheerilee's mouth and leans into her, letting their tongues slide together. She hugs Cheerilee close and leans back, and they tumble onto the couch.

Cheerilee's legs straddle Sunset's hips, and she presses their bodies together. They kiss, and they gasp, and their hands explore one another. Then Sunset's hand slips boldly beneath Cheerilee's top, and Cheerilee breaks the kiss.

"What's the matter?" Sunset asks, her hand poised just below Cheerilee's ribs.

"I'm not..." Cheerilee glances aside. "I mean, we just... and this is all happening so quickly that I don't know... how far do you want to...?"

Sunset braces herself on her elbows and leans up. "Do you not want to?"

"I mean, I do – very much so, in fact." Cheerilee smiles sheepishly; her cheeks dimple, and Sunset's heart flutters. "It's just... been a little while for me, that's all. I'm afraid I'm a bit rusty at, well... everything."

"I wouldn't be able to tell." Sunset blushes. "I've never been with a girl before. Not a human one, I mean."

"Is that a fact?" Cheerilee's smile turns devious. "I guess that makes me the experienced one by default."

"Guess so." Sunset pecks Cheerilee on the nose, and steals a long, deep kiss from her lips while she's up there. "But you're out of practice, and I have no practice. So, as I see it..."

"...We're the perfect pair," Cheerilee finishes.

Sunset grins. Her hand travels higher, and Cheerilee groans delightedly.