August 8

Twilight and Sunset were the last of their friends to leave Sugar Cube corner. As soon as Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Gilda had left the table Pinkie Pie ran off to the kitchen and Rarity started interrogating them about their date and the restaurant. Finally Rarity noticed that her gossiping was about to make her late for an appointment with an important client and she dashed out the door.

Twilight and Sunset got into the Mercedes and looked at each other.

“Now what.” Sunset asked.

“Well I sort of planned to spend this afternoon finding a going away present for Rainbow Dash.”

“Okay. Do you have any ideas?”

“I was thinking some sort of appliance she doesn't have. I checked her college’s suggested packing list and appliances are a big one.” Twilight informed Sunset.

“Okay.” Sunset said slowly.

“What!?”

“Well that is a little… more effort than necessary but the thought is nice.”

“Well I want to get her something useful that she needs or could really use.”

“That’s fair.”

“Did you get her anything?”

“Yes.” Twilight glanced quickly at Sunset before looking back at the road. Sunset sighed.

“You remember last year when Rainbow started drinking lots of coffee because her doctor told her it might help with her ADHD? And she used to complain that none of it was perfect. This was so frustrating to her because coffee was working. So she was on a search for the perfect coffee. Well it turns out she thinks my coffee is perfect. I get a special kind of Italian dark roast that she really likes. So I am giving her some.”

“Cool.” Twilight pulled up to the Canterlot County Mall’s main entrance. Twilight gasped.

“What’s wrong!”

“Nothing.” there was an excited gleam in Twilight's eyes. “I know what I am going to get Rainbow Dash.” Twilight carefully backed into a parking spot.

“What?”

“A coffee grinder!”

“Doesn't she have one?”

“No the one at her house belongs to her parents. They said it was one of the things she couldn't take.”

“How do you know this?” Sunset said in a suspicious tone.

“I was over at her house yesterday before I came to pick you up. Rainbow and Gilda helped me with my suit because they both have more experience with them then I do. Rainbow made us some coffee after Gilda said she was tired. Rainbow bragged about how easy it was and Gilda said don’t get used to it… and well, long story short they are only going to have a hand crank grinder in their dorm.”

“Okay.” Sunset said slowly.

“Why the tone?”

“You come off as a creeper, though you are using the information for good rather than bad.”

“What’s so bad about remembering personal details?”

“Nothing really. People like it if you remember nice little things or un-intrusive details, but lots of personal information? People don’t like it when you seem to know everything about them. Trust me.”

“Okay.” the two walked into the mall and towards the map.

“Do you just want to get the grinder or do you to look around some?”

“Let’s get it and then window shop on the way back. The kitchen supplies store is a good distance away.” Sunset had a contemplated look.

“What?”

“I feel like there is something we forgot…”

“We’ll remember later. Let’s go!”

The two set off. The kitchen supplies store had lots of colorful mixing bowls in the display window.

“I feel like this is the sort of place that Pinkie Pie’s parents work really hard to keep her away from, lest she empty her bank account.” Sunset said.

“Yeah.”

“Can I help you find something?” An employee behind the checkout counter asked.

“Yes we are looking for electronic coffee grinders.” Twilight said confidently.

“All the ones we carry are right over here.” they pointed to an isle.

“Great!.” Twilight and Sunset walked over to the isle.

“Let me know if you need anything.” the employee called after them.

“Wow that is a lot of options!” Sunset commented.

“Well let’s get started!” Twilight grabbed one off the shelf and started reading the information on the box.

Two hours later Twilight had made her selection. She made her purchase and then she and Sunset walked out.

“Wow. That took a while!” Sunset exclaimed.

“I was being through!”

“Do you go through that every time you buy something?”

“No.” Twilight said in a shifty tone.

“You do don’t you! Gosh I better clock out a week for holiday shopping with you!”

“If I am going to buy something I want to know if it is a good product that was made ethically!”

“That's fair.” Sunset said in a defeated tone. “I just with being an educated shopper didn’t take like forever…”

“Window shopping time! What in the world is that!” Twilight stared at a display of TV show prop replicas.

“Which one?”

“The thing next to the Altoriosa arrow replica.”

“That is a replica of this bizarre alien tool from a show called Dick and Cory.”

“Okay.”

Sunset and Twilight walked slowly back through the mall. They were about half way back when they ran into Rarity.

“Girls!” Rarity called out.

“Hey Rarity” Sunset said politely. “How did your appointment go?”

“It was excellent! She commissioned me to create a wedding dress and matching bridesmaid dresses! She had seen my portfolio and read my reviews! This is the first time someone has made a special request for my work! I can’t believe it! I am determined to give her my best work. I am here select crystals at the rock and gem store!”

“Wow!” “Congratulations!” Twilight and Sunset said at the same time.

“Oh you two are so kind!” Rarity blushed. “What are you two here for?”

“We just spent TWO HOURS picking out and buying a coffee grinder for Rainbow Dash to take to College with her.” Sunset informed her.

“How sweet of you too! I’m sure she’ll love it”

“Yeah.” Twilight said.

“That reminds me I need to check with Pinky Pie about getting Rainbow Dash a geode to decorate with and I haven’t any idea what to buy Gilda.. ” Rarity pulled out her phone.

The two looked at each other.

“That’s what we forgot.” Sunset pulled out her phone.

“Your buying something for Gilda?”

“Forgot what?” Rarity asked. “And yes. Pinkie Pie said that the party is going to be both a going away and welcome to the friend group party.”

“Having both a going away and welcome party in one seem a little contradictory don’t you think?”

“Yeah. But I am not going to question Pinkie Pie’s logic.” Rarity said with a sigh.

“Fair enough.” Twilight agreed.

“Done.”Sunset announced.

“Done, what?” Asked Twilight.

“I just texted-” Sunset and Rarity's phones both chimed.

“Pinky says we are good!” Sunset said relieved.

“Same!” Rarity said checking her phone. She and Sunset high fived. “Well I best be off. I have lots of shopping to do!”

“Bye!”

“So what should we get for Gilda?” Twilight and sunset walked into a hippie shop.

“Beats me. Do we know anything about her?”

“Not really. She is just Rainbow Dash’s old friend from when she lived in Cloudsdale. She still lives there. And she and Fluttershy know each other too.”

“Should we just get her a card and a gift card?”

“Yeah but to where?”

“Well today she was wearing a soccer shirt. So maybe a sport store?”

“That works.”

“It has to be one they have in Crystal county though.”

“We are in a mall. Most stores hear have a branch in other places.” Sunset pointed out.

The two of them walked over to a rack of cards.

“What is there mascot?” Sunset asked.

“A wolf.”

“Great. Lets get her this card.” Sunset showed Twilight a card with a wolf and a dream catcher on it. “And then we can go back to that sporting store we just passed and call it a day.”

“I don’t know. I am not satisfied with this. I think we should each get her a gift card from two different places to make sure she can get something she wants.”

“Alright.”

Twilight and Sunset drove back to Twilight’s apartment in comfortable silence. After getting everything packed and ready Twilight and Sunset settled down to read different books.Unfortunately Sunset found she couldn’t focus on her book and eventually convinced Twilight to play chess with her. Sunset proceeded to beat her.

Finally it was time to leave. The two drove to Sunset’s apartment to pick up Rainbow Dash’s present and then headed toward the restaurant. Sunset sat in a tense silence. Twilight set up her phone to play a relaxing jazz song.

Finally they arrived. Twilight walked in first. “Six O’clock reservation for Twilight Sparkle!”

The woman at the greeting table looked at a clipboard and said “You’re on the list! I’ll go clear the table. Wait right here!” The woman smiled and hurried off.

Twilight turned back to Sunset only to find that she had left her side. Sunset had wandered over to the large fish tank and was captivated by the Koi fish inside. Twilight joined her. It was mesmerizing watching the fish swimming peacefully.

Twilight felt a tap on her back. She jumped and spun around.

“Hey Twilight! We’re here!”

“Oh. Hey Moon Dancer. I’m sorry I got distracted. The fish they really… Well there are fun to watch.” Twilight smiled nervously. She took off her glasses and cleaned them.

“No problem! I find watching fish relaxing.” Moon smiled. Sunset smiled oddly behind her.

The hostess came back and announced “Your table is ready! Right this way!”

They followed her to a traditional set up. The women took off their shoes and stepped up to sit on the cushions.

“You booked on of these tables?” Moon asked as she took a seat next to her wife.

“Yeah. I thought it would be fun!” Twilight said enthusiastically. She stumbled slightly before situating herself on her cousin.

A waiter walked up and handed out menus. Moon glanced at her menue quickly and then closed it with a smile. She caught Twilight’s eye.

“Do you know what you want?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah. I always get the same thing.”

“Same! What do you get?”

“Pad Thai with wide rice noodles and prawns. you?” Moon said.

“Pad SE IW with beef!” Twilight said.

The pony Sunset made a face. “I don’t understand what you like about meat!”

“I just do. You don’t have to eat any.”

“Are you vegan or vegetarian?” the Sunset next to Moon asked the pony.

“Vegetarian.”

“Me too!”

“Well that’s similarity one for the evening!” Twilight pulled a notebook out of her bag and wrote that down.

Moon burst out laughing. “Why Didn’t I think of that!”

“Really?” both Sunset’s said together.

“Yeah. In the future it will be fun to come back to this to reminisce and to see if anything has changed.” Moon said.

The group ordered.

“So how was your day?” Twilight asked as the waiter collected their menus.

“My day was boring. I was in a meeting pretty much all day…” the human Sunset said.

“I’m sorry to hear that.” the pony Sunset picked up her glass of water. Her human counterpart shrugged.

“My day was fine.” said Moon “I went to the farmers market and met a lovely farmer named Applejack and-”

Sunset spat out her sip of water and Twilight sat up straight. “You met Applejack?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah. you know her?” Moon replied.

“She is a friend of ours.” the pony responded.

“really? I met her today and got some Asian pares. And then after lunch I went for a run.” Moon smiled.

“We had lunch together and meet three people who we think you know.” the human Sunset said.

“Who?” The pony Sunset said.

“Lets see, they had odd names… I think one of them was named Aria…”

“Oh you met the… Yeah we know them Adagio, Aria and Sonata.”

“Oh wow. how about you two? How was your day?” Moon asked.

Twilight smiled. “I had a great day! We had a relaxing morning, we had lunch with our friends and after this we have a going away party for one of them.”

“A going away party?”

“Our friend Rainbow Dash is off to the Vanhoover College with her friend Gilda.”

“Why so early? Orientation isn’t until the 31st.” Moon said.

“They’re on the soccer team and they do lots of conditioning, training and team bonding before school and the season starts.” pony Sunset explained.

“Cool. I played Basketball in College.” the human Sunset said.

“I got selected for the track team .” the pony informed everyone.

Twilight looked up from her notes. “I think we should come up with nicknames to make it easier because referring to both of you as Sunset all night will be confusing.” Twilight suggested.

The other three nodded in agreement.

“You guys could use my band nickname Red Spot.” The pony Sunset Suggested.

“You’re in a band?” the human Sunset asked.

“Well the band has sort of broken up due to every going to college. But yeah.”

“Oh. that makes sense.”

“When I was growing up my younger brother couldn’t pronounce the ‘s’ sound so he took to calling me Rei because the sun has rays. Well not really, but kids books aren’t known for being scientifically accurate.” the human Sunset explained.

“Baby pronunciation problems!” Twilight chucked. “My niece can’t pronounce twilight so she calls me Wylie… like While E. Coyote!” everyone laughed.

“I am not surprised given that your brother calls you Twilie. It makes sense that their names for you would be similar. Anyway. My little brother also couldn’t pronounce the ‘s’ sound so he called me Dusk. She cause the the sun sets at dusk.” the pony said.

“Smart guy!” Moon said.

“So you both have younger brothers who struggled with the ‘s’ sound and gave you sunset related nicknames. That is really specific!” Twilight took note.

“Rai and Dusk… I like it.” Moon said and then took a sip of water.

“What is your full legal name?” Rai asked.

“Umm…” Dusk tried not to panic. We are going to have the same legal name aren’t we. How will she react? I am taking to long to answer a simple question. “Sunset Ignis Shimer.”

Moon immediately spat out some water. She and Rai looked at each other. “You two have the exact same name,” she said seriously. “This is bazare.” Twilight took note.

“How old are you? Rai asked

“I’m 21.” Dusk said.

“Well there is a difference! Sun-Rai is 26.” Moon commented.

“When is your birthday?” Dusk asked Rai.

“February 25th.”

“You don’t share a birthday?” Twilight said in disbelief.

“I guess not.” said Dusk. Twilight took note.

“So wait, you just got out of high school right?” Rai asked

“Yes. ummm… I had to miss a bunch of school for… health reasons. So I am older than my classmates…” Dusk looked at the ground.

After a moment Rai said “I won’t ask.” There was a very stiff pause.

“So how did you two meet?” Twilight finally broke awkward tension.

“Well we went to high school together. Although only for one year.” Moon explained happily. “Her senior year I was a freshman. Even at our small private school we didn’t meet until half way through the year.”

“Where did you go?” Dusk asked.

“Chrystal County Preparatory School for Brilliant Minds!” Sunset and Moon said together.

“No way! Me and my brother went there!”

“Wait, so then you are THE Twilight Ardor Sparkle? Ruin-er of the friendship games last year? The one that transferred away?”

“Umm… Yes.” Twilight smiles nervously. She took off her glasses and cleaned them.

“You know her?” Rai asked.

“Not directly. But my brother had a massive crush on you.” Moon smiled at Twilight smugly.

“Oh. your Moon Dancer Evans! Why didn’t I recognize you! Your Sea Star’s older sister! One of them. Right!? Wow you two look nothing alike!”

“Yes. That is my little brother.” Moon said. “He used to talk about you and your sister. He always complained that you two never had enough time to tutor him. You both were favorites of Principal Cinch and he used to complain about her berating him for not living up to the two of you.” Twilight said smugly.

“Interesting. My sister was more of an A minus student. I was the A plus student but I guess it is easier to romanticize her because of how long ago it was.” Moon said thoughtfully.

“Same with my brother! He was an A minus student too but Cinch conveniently forgot that when she blackmailed me into the friendship games. And she wonders why I left.” Twilight laughed.

“Why did you leave? My brother had all these crazy rumors and I don’t believe any of them. I always figured you wanted some personal space away from your family. Or something of that nature.”

“No I wanted friends. Nice people that could help me with my social skills.”

“If you don’t mind I am curious about the rumors.” Dusk said.

“Yeah. What did Sour Sweet, Sugarcoat and Indigo Zap dream up?” Twilight asked.

“Well the most prominent one was that you you and a guy with blue hair had sex and you got pregnant and stayed to have it here with him…” Moon said quickly.

“They thought she had sex with Flash!?” Shock and anger flooded Sunset and she fought to hold it back. “Why!?”

Moon, Rai and Twilight all stared at her in surprise and alarm. “Because he was seen following her around.” Moon said cautiously.

“Yeah. He was really annoying. He would not leave me alone.”

“That’s… why would… teenage rumor mills....” Dusk sighed “They come up with the strangest ideas.” There was an awkward pause.

“Your food!” their waiter was there with large plates of food.

The four accepted their plates and started eating. A comfortable atmosphere descended on the table as everyone enjoyed their food.

“So how did you two meet?” Moon asked after a long gulp of water.

Dusk and Twilight were both caught off guard with food in their mouths, they glanced at each other to see if the other could talk and then hastily looked away trying not to laugh.

“Sorry I should have waited.”

Dusk managed to swallow. Twilight started choking.

“Do you need help?” Dusk asked.

“Twilight shook her head. She coughed and then gasped for air. She grabbed her water glass and drank. “I’m ok!”

“Good! You had me worried. We met at the friendship games*. Canterlot High School, were I went, was hosting and I was selected.” Sunset said. “We briefly ran into each other when she walked into my band practice by accident and then officially met during the academic competition where we uh… butted heads.”

“Funny. We also officially met during the friendship games. We had seen each other in the halls and I had hear Sunset name because she was our top student but we had never met.” Moon explained. “Here I was on a big adventure, being tested and judged and there was Sunset acting like it was a normal Tuesday and out performing everyone! Nothing fazed her the entire time. I was inspired.”

“I was impressed that a freshman was pulling her weight. Not many freshman are ever invited. I wasn’t until I was a sophomore so I was eager to talk to you.”

“I couldn’t bring myself to go talk to Sunset so she had to come to me.”

“I sat across from her at dinner and we started talking.”

“At dinner?” Dusk cut in.

“After the academic tournament The Principal takes all the Crystal Prep students to Orion's Belt for a celebratory dinner. And the school pays for dinner.” Twilight explained.

“Oh. Is that why you were there yesterday?” Dusk masked.

“Yeah. We are finally back in Canterlot, might as well go to the place we first talked.” Moon said.

“Awe how romantic!” Twilight gushed.

“That was the idea… unfortunately it wasn’t our lucky day.” Rai said.

“What happened?” Twilight asked.

Rai and Moon exchanged a look.

“Was it our fault?” Dusk asked.

“Sort of. Not really. I know. We just had a strange day. You guys killed the romantic mood but we still had a good time.” Rai tried to explain.

“I woke up with a migraine and we hit some traffic on the way here and then some people tried to rob us and… It was just an odd day.” Moon explained.

“Wow. I’m sorry to hear that.” Twilight said.

Rai shrugged. “What can you do? So you two met at the friendship games… how did you two get to know each other?” Rai asked.

Dusk’s face paled. There is not way we can answer this honestly. I should have seen this coming. We don’t have a planned answer! What should we say? The pony dropped her fork.

“Sunset?” Twilight asked.

“What?”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah sorry?”

“No need.” Twilight turned to face Rai and Moon. “As I was saying. I was having an anxiety attack and panicked during the games which was embarrassing and stressful. Sunset and her friends helped me calm down. Sunset has had experience overcoming similar issues so we bonded over our struggles.” Twilight smiles.

Wow, thought Dusk. Good save. Although the way I’m acting I don’t seem to be the kind of person who can give that kind of guidance.

“Cool..” Rai said slowly. She didn't believe that Twilight was telling the whole story. Something about how she said it and Sunset’s panic made her suspicious.
“If you don’t mind me asking about your pregnancy, how far along are you?” Twilight asked. She was trying to be polite but Dusk could see how interested she was.

Rai and Moon glanced at each other. “It’s okay. I’m eight months.” she smiled.

“That’s so exciting!” Twilight squeed. “I…” she glanced at her partner, “We haven’t really talked about this but I really want children when I’m older.”

“I don’t know if I do.” the pony said quietly. “I don’t really want to be pregnant.”

“That’s fair. This baby was an accident for us but we are making the most of it.” Sunset said simply.

“Neither of us have ever been pregnant before but I imagine it is quite the adventure!”

Rai and Moon both nodded. Dusk looked down at her lap.

“Your wrong.” Dusk said quietly.

“What?”

“Your wrong.” the pony looked up but couldn’t seem to meet Twilight’s eyes.

“About what?” Twilight asked.

“I’ve been pregnant.”

“What!?” Twilight demanded.

“I’ve been pregnant twice.”

“What!”

“Before I moved here when I was thirteen I was taken advantage of by someone I trusted and when I seventeen I was not… I didn’t know about protection and I didn’t think things through.” the was a tense and awkward silence. “I’m sorry Twilight I should have told you. I just don’t like thinking about it.”

“It’s okay. I’m not mad. I am just curious and worried.”

“I feel bad.” Dusk said.

“Any one I know?” Twilight asked.

“The second one was with Flash.” Dusk said quietly.

“The blue haired guy?” Rai slapped Moon on her arm. “Sorry I shouldn't have said anything. Do you two need us to give you some space?”

“No it’s fine.” Dusk said. “I’ll tell you more later Twilight. Let's change the topic.” Dusk smiled.

She hid something pretty major from her partner, Rai thought to herself. Is she hiding more from us? There was that odd moment when they talked about how they get to know each other. The sound of Moon’s voice drew her out of her thoughts.

“So where are you two going to go to college?”

“Crystal University!” they both said together.

“That is where we went. It is a great school.” Rai said.

“Went?” Moon challenged.

“You know what I mean.” Rai rolled her eyes. “We both have bachelor's degrees and I have a masters degree there and Moon is a year into her masters program.”

“Cool what are your degrees in!?” Twilight practically bounced with excitement.

“I double majored in psychology and biochemistry and My masters degree is in neuropsychology.” Rai said.

“I double majored in physics and robotics and I am in a design and engineering masters program.” Moon said.

“Fascinating! I am planning on double majoring in biology and chemistry separately.” Twilight said enthusiastically.

“Twilight’s the kind of person who would major in everything if she could.” Dusk said.

“We can tell.” Rai said. They all laughed while Twilight blushed.

“I just like learning.” Twilight cleaned her glasses.

“That is wonderful. We are just teasing you.” Dusk said. She turned to Moon and Rai “So what brings you to this fine place anyway?”

“Work. This is a business trip.” Rai said.

“I am interested to know what you do with a degree in neuropsychology.” Dusk asked.

Rai chucked. “Pharmacological research and development.”

“Are you developing a new drug?” Twilight was bouncing on the edge of her seat.

“We are trying to. We have been working with the school here in Canterlot to develop a theory and a drug combo to test.” Rai explained.

“What for?” Dusk asked.

“We are trying to treat Schizophrenia”

“Oh wow.” Sunset said.

“How are you doing that?” Twilight inquired.

“My team has rounded up people with the disorder and paired them with someone without it that has similar demographic information and then done lots of brain imaging and other test on them and we are comparing the pairs in groups to see is we can isolate a structural or neurochemical difference. And yes I am aware that this sort of study has already been done but we want more data because we aren’t as good a catching or treating it as we would like to be. We thought we would start with as little as possible do double blind analysis of the data to see if we could come up with anything new or confirm previous knowledge.” Rai explained.

Twilight hung onto every word Raid said.

“Twilight. Maybe you can read their research paper some time.” Moon suggested.

“Okay. It is just nice to have someone who can explain it. This topic is a little over my head. I really only studied behavior psychology and I want to learn about abnormal psychology.”

“What are you studying?” Rai asked the other Sunset.

“I am on a pre-med track. I did a head start program though the high school and took some nursing classes at the community college. I also got an internship at a nursing home. Most of my work there is tedious unpleasant but I do get to learn and help people. I want to be an academic physician” the pony explained.

“It looks like that is what we all want to do. I want to build and design robots that help the disabled to what they cannot do, Suns- Rai want to find treatment for people with mental illnesses and Dusk want to treat and help kids and you want to expand our amount of knowledge!” Moon summarized.

“Yeah!” Twilight cheered.

“Go us” Dusk said.

Rai chucked.

The group finished eating.

Twilight checked to time. “We should be on our way soon. Lets flag down the waiter and get our bill.”

“Are you sure you want to cover the whole bill?” Moon asked Twilight.

“Of course! It is the least I can do to make up for yesterday.”

“We don’t blame either of you for it.” Rai said.

“I insist.”

The group walked to the door together.

“Well it was great hanging out and getting to know you both! Maybe we can do this again sometime!” Moon said as she and Rai prepared to head for their car.

“Definitely.” Twilight said.

The two Sunset’s locked eyes and then looked away.

Author's Notes:

* I have re imagined the Friendship Games a little. Don't be surprised if flash backs are a little different from the movie.

The long awaited meeting! So much exposition dumping! Man this took a while to write. Let me know what questions you have. I want to make sure everything it clear. I know the Rai Dusk thing is a little wired just try to roll with it. Also if any one has a better name for Moon's brother. I gave him half of his parents names.