“Gilda?!” Sunset called as she emerged from Gustave’s, rolling between the square masonry pillars that flanked the entrance. “Gilda where-?”

“I’m here, Sunshine,” Gilda’s voice came from lower to the ground from the other side of the leftmost pillar.

Feeling the panic that had been welling up in her chest fall lower, Sunset turned and wheeled herself around to see a miserable-looking Gilda staring down at the pavement, a cigarette sticking out from between her lips as she stared down at her bleeding hand.

Whatever words were in Sunset’s mind before she saw Gilda vanished as she examined the harrowed look on her girlfriend’s face.

“Sorry I got worked up in there,” Gilda said, her voice almost toneless in a manner that left chills down Sunset’s spine.

Swallowing thickly, Sunset held her hands out. “Gilda… let me see your hand.”

Gilda flinched but curled her hand in closer to her. Sunset didn’t know why that was what finally snapped her own temper off, but the fear all vanished in a sudden flood of fire.

“Tch, fine!” Sunset snapped.

Moving forward until her wheels were nearly touching Gilda’s legs, she slapped the brake on her wheel down hard, drawing a confused look from Gilda.

“What’re you- HEY!” Gilda squawked in shock as Sunset lifted herself bodily from her wheelchair and all but threw herself at Gilda. “Sunshine!”

Lunging forward, Gilda grabbed Sunset out of the air, her cigarette falling from her lips as she staggered to her feet. Sunset’s arms went around her neck but instead of the normally soft look on her face Gilda looked down to see two flinty shards of blue ice staring up at her.

“Sit down,” Sunset commanded, and Gilda just nodded, swallowing hard as she obeyed, settling Sunset into her lap. “Good, now give me your hand, Gil,” Sunset said, as she reached to the small undercarriage section of her wheelchair to draw out a simple first aid kit.

Gilda pulled her bloodied hand up and set it in Sunset’s lap. Sunset, for her part was muttering angrily to herself as she pulled out gauze, antibiotic spray, smaller bandages, and a butterfly clip.

“You won’t bring your hand to Sunset,” Sunset grumbled as she carefully cleaned the cuts on Gilda’s hand, “gotta bring Sunset to your hand…”

Flinching as the antibiotic spray burned at the small cuts, Gilda silently watched as Sunset worked; carefully bandaging her fingers where they had received shallow cuts, and carefully tying up the slightly deeper gash on her palm. Neither spoke, Sunset simply worked with gentle touches until she finally clipped the gauze secure.

“There,” Sunset said quietly. “We need to keep an eye on that bigger cut though… I don’t think it needs stitches but it was deeper than the others.”

“Yeah… probably a good idea,” Gilda said in a soft voice as she lowered her hand.

An uneasy silence stretched between the two girls, putting a distance between them belied by their physical closeness and for the first time in perhaps their entire relationship Sunset felt apart from Gilda. Taking a calming breath, Sunset leaned in and settled her head on Gilda’s shoulder.

“I told you I wouldn’t press,” Sunset whispered quietly. “I promised I would let you tell me in your own time about everything that happened…” Gilda gave no verbal response, but Sunset felt her nod ever-so-slightly. “I won’t break my promise.”

Gilda sighed, tightening her grip around Sunset gently and turning her head to nuzzle against Sunset’s cheek.

“Y’too good t’me, Sunshine,” Gilda said quietly.

“I don’t break promises, Gil,” Sunset repeated, still buried in her girlfriend’s embrace. “That’s why I’m not giving up on you either, just like… like you’re not giving up on me right? Not… not walking out on me?”

Gilda's grip tightened further and she clenched in her teeth in anger, although this time it was directed wholly at herself. She’d walked out on Sunset, not intentionally, but she’d done it. She’d gotten angry, lashed out, then abandoned Sunset at their table with barely a word.

“Never,” Gilda said, through clenched teeth. “I ain’t ever leavin’ you, Sunshine, not like that. I’m sorry… I’m just… a fuckin’ mess right now, okay?”

“Why?” Sunset’s voice had broken open into a harsh sob. “What did I do?”

“Y’didn’t do nothin’, babe,” Gilda replied pulling away to look down at Sunset’s teary eyes before bringing her hand up to wipe away the tears. “I swear it wasn’t you, savvy? It’s just… that girl… y’couldn’t’ve seen’er, not like that. It ain’t possible.”

“Why?” Sunset asked again, pleading for some kind of answer.

Gilda let out a slow, harsh breath. “Because she’s dead, Sunflower. That girl you described? I got’er killed four years ago ‘cause I trusted the wrong fuckin’ people, savvy? She’s supposed t’be dead.”

“I’m not lying, Gil,” Sunset insisted. “I know what I saw.”

“Yeah, I believe you,” Gilda replied in a hollow voice. “S’why I’m so fucked up right now, savvy? If she’s alive… then why… why did she…?”

“Then why did she let you think she wasn’t?” Sunset asked, more to herself than anything. “What… sorry… I’m sorry, I promised I wouldn’t ask.”

“Shouldn’t’ve had to promise,” Gilda replied, before leaning in and kissing Sunset gently. “I shoulda just come clean… I’m just… ashamed.”

“Do you want to go home?” Sunset asked. “Talk about it?”

Gilda shook her head, then raised it to look out over the horizon. “Nah, not home… ain’t gonna do this where we sleep, Sunshine… ‘Sides, there’s a better place to do it. One I shoulda been honest about… y’mind takin’ a long ride with me, Sunflower?”

Sunset smiled and nodded. “I’d go anywhere with you, Gil, you know that.”

“Yeah… guess I do,” Gilda said with a small smile.

Having apologised to the Maitre D’ and been assured that all was well, Gilda finished setting Sunset back up on the motorcycle and getting her road leathers on before lashing the wheelchair to the back. Starting the engine, Gilda turned to look back at Sunset, giving her an uneasy, almost apologetic smile, before turning onto the road and opening up the throttle.

The drive was long, as Gilda had promised it would be, they were driving for almost forty minutes before eventually leaving the city limits and getting onto a stretch of open highway heading south. The wind was cold and bitter, but Sunset could hardly complain. Sunset had wanted desperately to know the truth for so long now that she was willing to endure almost anything to get at it. Moreover, she needed to know what happened with Gilda, what happened in her past that left her the angry, violent, and yet paradoxically caring and dutiful young woman she was today.

After another twenty minutes of riding, Gilda turned them onto a small stretch of dirt road leading towards what looked like a cliff overlooking the ocean of greenery that made up the Everfree Forest. The forest spanned for hundreds of miles, and not even veteran foresters truly knew the whole of its depths. It was odd to think of a place that was considered ‘unexplored’ in this day and age but the Everfree forest was never fully mapped and, eventually, became so dark and inhospitable that at a certain point everyone just gave up and left the deepest and darkest regions mostly unplumbed.

Coming up near the cliff, Gilda stopped, dismounting and pulling Sunset’s wheelchair free of its straps and setting it up before scooping up Sunset in her arms and setting her down on the seat of the chair.

“Where are we?” Sunset asked, shivering as she pulled her riding leathers closer around her.

“Middle’a nowhere,” Gilda replied, looking out over the treetops before pointing to the edge of the cliff where the headlight of her motorcycle was illuminating. “That’s what were here for, though.”

Sunset strained her eyes, looking where Gilda was pointing and spying nothing but a rock sticking out of the ground.

“It’s too dark, what am I supposed to be looking for?” Sunset asked, raising an eyebrow.

Gilda just shook her head and got behind Sunset, pushing her chair forward slowly as she started talking.

“The girl y’saw… that’s Grizelda, Zee, I mean…” Gilda said finally. “I told ya she was my friend, but thing is… that wasn’t really true, savvy? I mean she was… my friend, I mean, but she was more than that.”

Sunset pushed away her wonder at how the girl whose death Gilda had been tormenting herself over for years was in fact alive and well, and just asked a simpler question.

“Girlfriend?”

Gilda coughed and hacked for a moment in shock, shaking her head with a bitter laugh. “Fuck no… she’da fuckin’ socked ya for that, too… nah, couldn’t ya tell by lookin’ at her?”

Gilda stopped Sunset in front of the rock and from this distance, Sunset could finally see what Gilda had been pointing at. There was writing on the stone, crudely scored into the rock with deep, once-ragged gouges worn smooth by the wind and elements.

Well, not exactly writing. Just a name, first and last.

Grizelda Grimfeather

“Your sister…?” Sunset whispered in shock.

“Yeah,” Gilda replied. “Orphaned along with me when mom and dad died… she was only five or six, I guess.”

“How come Rainbow never mentioned her?” Sunset asked.

“Don’t think she even knewI had a sister, honestly,” Gilda replied, stepping closer to the stone marker and kneeling down to run a hand over the face of it. “Don’t think I ever talked about’er since we were like, fuckin’ eight.”

“She was your friend, though,” Sunset insisted. “She had to’ve known!”

“Didja know Fluttershy has an older brother?” Gilda asked.

Sunset’s jaw dropped open at that. After a few moments of fishing for a response, Sunset finally just said. “W-what?”

“He’s a real loser, too,” Gilda said. “Name’s Zephyr, I think, and even back then I could tell he was fuckin’ worthless; sat around and complained, played video games, didn’t do nothin’ useful.”

“I… I didn’t know,” Sunset finally said, and Gilda shrugged.

“Not everyone’s all about family this, and family that, like Hoedown, savvy?” Gilda said.

“I guess that’s fair,” Sunset replied, leaning back in her chair and looking down at the makeshift gravestone. “So you just… had this secret sister all along?”

“Weren’t a secret,” Gilda said, “Pretty sure Fluttershy knew about Zee, her parents were vets and we had a couple cats, Shy and Zee were about as quiet as each other back then so I think Fluttershy looked after Zee a bit whenever we brought’em in for a checkup.”

“Fluttershy always was good with children…” Sunset said with a faint smile. “Now I guess I see why you never talked about Zee, though. She wasn’t just a friend, she was family and…”

“And I always thought I got’er killed,” Gilda hissed. “My baby sister, my only fuckin’ family left in the world, and she let me think that I got’er killed.”

Sunset let out a breath, finally seeing why Gilda had brought her out here. This was where she needed to be to tell the story.

“What happened in Las Pegasus, Gil?”

Gilda sighed. “It was bad… the last year or so it got real bad, dunno why but Pops changed somewhere along the way… he was always a cruel bastard, savvy? But… that last year something was, I dunno… different.”

The gang was called the Storm Kings, because it was run by, yeah… Storm… King… look, I’m not sayin’ he ain’t a narcissistic dick, because he is; I’m just sayin’. Maybe one day I’ll write a fuckin’ life story but not tonight, short of it is this: the foster system wanted to split Zee’n me up, and Storm offered to take us both in, so no one looked too hard at it.

Truth is, life wasn’t so bad… we weren’t rich but it wasn’t like we were eatin’ outta the bin, savvy? Toldja before, Pops always made sure we went t’school, made sure we got three squares a day, had a bed and a roof, and all that jazz, right? Taught us a lot of shady shit too, and that’s… that’s where things get pretty messed up.

It’s not your fault, Gil… you couldn’t have known what kind of man he was. He treated you like you wanted to be treated, he was responsible and-

I know… I… I know, Sunshine.

A-anyways, I didn’t realise it until pretty recently, but even from the start we were bein’ trained. I was strong, fast, and most importantly… angry. Pops? He knew how to harness that fuckin’ anger, savvy? He taught me to run, jump, and move through the city like I was on wings. The alleys and streets? The barrios? The projects? They were my playground. I could cross ten buildings in as many minutes; windows, balconies, bare walls… name it and I can cross it.

That… sounds kind of fun actually.

Shit, right… y’legs… sorry, Sunshine.

It’s okay, keep going.

Right, so… things were rough but I can’t complain too much ‘bout how I grew up. Other than, y’know, growin’ up with gang members for family, I guess. Even then… they’re good folks, just poor, savvy? Most’a us barely had enough to survive, stayin’ in the Kings was the only thing that kept some’a them above water. And they had kids, right? Families, too… back then I was just a brat who only cared about my sister and I, but even I saw folks struggle. They never had nice clothes, and sometimes they’d come by f’dinner ‘cause they didn’t have nothin’a their own, and Pops… Pops’d feed’em, no questions, he’d just sit’em right at the table like they was family…

People aren’t ever a hundred percent bad… that’s the worst part sometimes, when so much of them is bad but then they do something like that and…

Yeah, I always looked up to my Pops for that shit, y’know? He taught me that if someone comes t’ya door hungry, you feed’em. They’re cold? Give’m a shirt. Tired? Let’m sleep on the couch. He taught me that the only ones lookin’ out for us down in the gutters was each other, and no one else gave a shit, savvy? Pops? He was my fuckin’ hero, man… right up until he killed my sister.

...what happened?

A year before Tempest pulled’er mutiny, Pops got his hands on something. Never figured out what it was but… it changed him. Suddenly it’s like he went crazy, takin’ huge risks, hittin’ targets that weren’t worth nothin’. S’like he was lookin’ f’somethin’ but he wouldn’t tell anyone what. Everyone followed his lead though, everyone respected the shit outta him, y’know? All I know is that right before he lost his marbles, I made a delivery… see, I toldja I was a runner. That means I ran shit between depots and caches. Those depots were why we never ran outta food or supplies. Pops was like one’a those fuckin’ doomsday preppers or anti-government types with a garage full’a MRE’s. Except Pops actually did have to worry about the fuzz knockin’ down his door.

Right, because, y’know… ganglord.

Savvy. So Pops played it smart, he didn’t tell no one where every depot and cache was, in case someone flipped, right? Not even Tempest knew where all’a them were, and she was his top enforcer.

No one except…

Yeah… no one except me and Zee. I knew because I was his most trusted runner. There’s always one runner who has to know the whole map, savvy? And that was me. I could check up on every single depot in one night if I had to.

And Zee? Why did she know? Wasn’t she like… ten?

Uh, yeah… eleven I think when I did the delivery at that point but uh… look, Sunshine? Don’t take this the wrong way but… Zee? My little sis? She’d make you look stupid.

Beg pardon?

My sister, she was… different. Not just like, a genius, savvy? She was crazy smart, like… scary smart. Even as a kid. She was talking in full sentences when most kids are still stuttering, she was reading by four or five, by the time Pops took us in she knew two languages, she was like, six. By the time things went to shit years later she knew seven. She could program computers, hack wireless networks… Zee knew where the depots were because she wrote all the computer shit, the code, for the security systems. Zee scared a lotta folks, even though she was just a kid, right? But like any kid she liked playin’ games and was real upbeat. I could barely keep up with’er… Pops was her favorite though, he was crazy smart too… not like her, mind, but… smart enough. The two of’em, they’d sit down and play board games and shit for hours. It was Zee’s favorite thing in the world: playin’ games with her Pops.

Then he changed.

I made a delivery, dropped off this big heavy package, right? Dunno what it was, never asked, wasn’t supposed to know so I didn’t. Just a big metal case that I put in this titanium locker with an e-lock, right next to another one that looked just like it. Closed up the locker, and left… and then everything fuckin’ started fallin’ apart.

That next year… we lost folks… people died, Sunshine. It’s like all of a sudden Pops was on a warpath. He’d pick fights with other gangs over turf we didn’t even fuckin’ want. Then he’d just… drop it. He’d kidnap folks that seemed like, totally fuckin’ unrelated to anything and he’d… a-anyways. It was bad, bad enough that even Tempest stopped standing for it. She’n Summer, they rallied up the rest of the Kings and made a plan. They’d flip Pops to the fuzz, abandon the old King’s stomping ground, set up in some of the new turf Pops had let slide, and that’d be that.

So why did they need you?

Because I knew all the passcodes, all the fallbacks, and all the depots, savvy? They couldn’t risk him retreatin’ to some outta the way cache only he and I knew about. Tempest didn’t trust Zee, thought she was too young, too close t’Pops, and too smart for her own good. Thing is… I think Tempest f’got how smart Pops is, savvy? He cottoned t’their plan, I think… didn’t know details but figured somethin’ was up.

The night it all went down, Pops called me inta the den and said t’me… he said he’d sent Zee off somewhere t’keep her safe. Said he thought some folks in the gang were planning somethin’ bad. He told me to keep my eyes out, tell him if there was any weird shit. Said I had t’tell him ‘cause if I didn’t… if he didn’t know what was gonna happen? Then he wouldn’t be able to keep Zee safe for me. Then he took me and a couple of other loyal guns to one of his depots, one only me and him knew about, and set up.

Written’s Quill… he was… he was threatening you with your sister?

Yeah, and the funny thing? I think I’d been on the fence til right then, savvy? I wanted t’stay loyal t’Pops even though I knew he was doin’ bad stuff like gettin’ folks hurt f’no reason… but then he threatened Zee and that’s when I knew he was fuckin’ batshit. I told him I’d do what he said, then I left and ran over to Tempest and Summer’s place… I begged’em to save Zee. I didn’t know where Pops had taken her but I needed Tempest and Summer to promise me they’d save my baby sister. I promised I’d tell her where Pop’s last, biggest cache was if she could just save Zee.

They promised they’d save her… said they were sure they knew where he’d taken her. There was a place that Pops kept people we took, y’know? Tempest knew it ‘cause she guarded it. So I told’em where Pops was hiding. They came in fuckin’ force. Like, fifty bangers, all Kings who had lost folks ‘cause’a Pop’s goin’ crazy, and they barged in. Didn’t fire no shots, the ‘loyal’ guns gave up right there, they didn’t wanna die. Didn’t wanna shoot their friends either. Through it all, pops just sat in his easy chair in the middle of the room… smiling.

Before Tempest could say anything, before I could… he looked at me and shook his head like he was disappointed. Told me… told me he didn’t wanna have to do it, but he’d made a promise and not keepin’ his word? Well… that was just bad business.

Then he threw something at my feet. It was a medal… one’a our dad’s that Zee had always kept… pretty much the only thing’a her real dad’s she even had. It was bloody, and looked like it’d been ripped off’a somethin’.

He told Tempest, ‘good job’, and then asked’er if it was worth it. Can’t really remember what happened next. I was just sitting there, holding that bloody medal, staring at it and thinkin’... I fucked up. My little sister… my baby sister… she was dead.

And it was all my fault.

“Gil… it wasn’t your fault,” Sunset said softly, pulling her closer and letting Gilda lean her head against Sunset’s shoulder. “You tried to do the right thing… you were just a kid.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Gilda said quietly, her arms looped around Sunset and held onto her. “I was supposed to look out for her, for Zee… I was her big sister, she was my responsibility after our parents went, savvy?”

“No one that young should have that kind of responsibility…” Sunset replied, half to herself. “Guess now I know why you seem so mature for your age… y’know?”

“Heh, ‘mature’ ain’t a word that I ever expected to hear used on me,” Gilda said with a dry laugh as she stood up and turned back to the gravemarker. “Guess this ain’t really necessary anymore, huh? If she’s really alive…”

“I can only tell you what I saw, Gil,” Sunset said quietly. “I… I don’t even know if it was her, I just saw someone who looked like you and-”

“White rose,” Gida said, her voice low and even. “You saw a cap with a white rose on it, yeah?

“Y-yeah? What does that mean?” Sunset asked.

“Pops was from the Braytish isles, savvy? Old school and real proud’a his heritage,” Gilda explained. “Had that white rose on a lotta shit, y’know? Hats, shirts, a flask, even had a big banner in the den… couldn’t walk in the fuckin’ place without seein’ it, and every time he got in his cups he’d start gettin’ rowdy, yellin ‘White rose!, white rose!’ and shit, and then Zee’d start yellin’ it with him and they’d work each other up and… shit!.”

Gilda clenched her eyes shut as the memories flooded her mind. Memories of warm summer nights and family dinners, of her and Zee and her Pops… A pair of soft, gentle hands interrupted the flow of painful memories, though, as Sunset reached out and gently stroked Gilda’s cheek.

Taking a deep breath, Gilda knelt, leaned in, and kissed Sunset, letting the old painful memories be washed away by the familiar touch of her love, the scent of cherries and lilacs, and the bone-deep warmth that brought peace to the heart of the troubled young woman.

Pulling away reluctantly, Gilda leaned in and let her head rest gently against Sunset's chest, savoring the scent and the sound of her heartbeat.

“The tattoo, too,” Gilda said after a moment. “Pops smoked like a chimney, and I picked it up from him… Zee wanted to but Pops said she was too young, Zee said she’d do it anyway, and she would’ve so Pops made’r a deal. Said she could get a tattoo instead.”

“How old was she?” Sunset asked, slightly horrified.

“Heh… nine, but we had like, four tattoo parlors on our protection roll, so… yeah, didn’t fuckin’ matter,” Gilda replied with an arid laugh. “Got a tattoo of a cigarette so she could pretend she was smokin’ with us, I thought it was fuckin’ hilarious at the time.”

“So if it is her then…” Sunset finally said, looking past Gilda and over to the gravemarker. “What does that mean?”

“Means Pops had a plan,” Gilda said darkly, standing up and cracking her knuckles. “He fucked us all over, then lied, faked my sister’s death, and since then? Who fuckin’ knows what. Been locked up in San Tornado ever since we flipped him.”

“Does that mean…”

“Yeah,” Gilda sighed, pulling her phone out and glaring down at the contacts index. “Gimme a sec, savvy?”

Thumbing the call button, Gilda walked a few steps away from Sunset and brought the phone up to her ear. After a few rings the line connected and a bewildered voice came over the other side.

//Grifa?// Tempest’s voice came through sounding like she’d just woken up.

“Hey Tempest,” Gilda said. “I need’a favor.”

//Mierda… seriously? Uh, funny story, I need a favor from you, too… wasn’t sure how t’ask. The hell happened that got you callin’ me, Grifa?//

Sighing heavily, Gilda brought a hand up to pinch the bridge of her nose. “Look, I’ll explain later, just… I need to talk to him… to my Pops, whatever favor y’need… if you can make this happen I’ll do it, savvy?”

//The fuck? Seriously? Uh… funnier story then… that’s kinda the favor I need. Jefe wouldn’t talk to Summer, said he’d only talk to his ‘favorite daughter’.// Tempest replied, sounding confused. //C’mon, Grifa, gotta tell me why you wanna talk to that pinche coño after what he did.//

Gilda growled somewhere deep in her chest. “Fine, y’wanna know? Zee is alive, Temp, Pops lied t’us, faked her death… and she’s in Canterlot.”

The line was dead silent for almost a full minute before a haunted whisper came out of the speaker.

//No me jodas… Zee… she’s alive? How?!//

“That’s what I fuckin’ said, and I have no fuckin’ clue,” Gilda replied with a grimace. “I’m headin’ down to Las Pegasus tomorrow, savvy? I need you t’wire me some cash for gas and supplies’n shit, Crank’n Gear’ll give me the time off once I tell’em the sitch, I know it.”

//No hay bronca, Grifa… got a few birthdays and Christmases t’make up for anyway,// Tempest said grimly. //It’ll be in your account by morning.//

“Cool, and… Temp… give Summer my love, yeah?” Gilda said, her voice a little softer. “I’ll swing by’n see you guys, maybe.”

//Will do, Grifa… have a safe ride.//

“Yeah, see ya,” Gilda pulled the phone away and killed the connection.

“You know I’m coming with, right?” Sunset said in a quiet voice.

Gilda sighed, but nodded. “Yeah… yeah I know.”

Sunset rolled up beside Gilda and took her hand, gripping it tight and interlocking their fingers. “Would you rather I stayed?”

“Part’a me wants t’say ‘yeah’,” Gilda replied. “But the rest’a me knows I ain’t got it in me to look my Pops in the eye without you… ‘Sides… It’s a long ride… is it stupid that I don’t… I don’t wanna be away from ya that long?”

“I was thinking the same thing, Gil,” Sunset said with a warm smile. “We’re partners… we face the world together, remember? You and me.”

“Yeah… you’n me,” Gilda repeated. “Okay, let’s do it then… one last thing ‘fore we leave, though.”

Sunset looked on quizzically as Gilda walked over to the grave marker and starting digging at the dirt in front of the stone.after a few moments, Gilda stood with a small black wooden box in her hand. Walking back over to Sunset, Gilda pried the box open and pulled out a worn-looking medal and cradled it carefully in her hand.

“Zee’s gonna have a lotta explainin’ t’do when I catch up t’her, savvy?” Gilda said in a low voice.

“Yeah, agreed,” Sunset said, “now let’s go home… we’ve got a lot of packing to do.”

Gilda’s flat was an unusual bustle of activity for being five in the morning. Fortunately, the skies had remained clear save for a few light flurries, but nothing that stuck, and the roads were completely open. Gilda was moving around the flat quickly, her large, thick saddlebags set on the table and slowly being packed up. She had already left a message for her social worker that she was leaving town to visit friends in Las Pegasus, and another message for the Sonen sisters to just call her or Sunset but that neither of them would be in town for a week, or two at the outside.

For Sunset’s part, she was doing her daily exercises, hands set firmly on the ground and legs propped up on the bed as she did her push-ups.

“So where are we staying when we get to Las Pegasus,” Sunset asked, slightly short of breath from her exertions.

Gilda walked past tossing a couple necessities into one of the saddlebags. “Dunno yet, probably just a motel or somethin’ I guess. Dunno if anyone’s got a guest room, savvy? Poor as shit, remember?”

“Yeah… what about Tempest and Summer?” Sunset asked, bracing herself for the incoming outburst.

It never came, Gilda just slowed down slightly, looking thoughtful as she tucked some toiletries into another one of the bags.

“Yeah… maybe,” Gilda said finally.

Sunset’s eyes widened slightly in surprise. “Really? I… was kinda expecting you to blow up a little when I said that.”

Gilda frowned, wrapping her arms around herself as she sat down in one of the kitchen chairs. After a few moments of silence she looked over at Sunset, who felt her heart hitch at the pain that was etched onto Gilda’s face.

“Is that… am I really that bad?” Gilda asked quietly. “Like… so bad y’think I’d just… pop and yell at ya?”

Sunset paused in her pushups for a moment before sighing and levering herself back up onto the bed and stretching her sore arms for a moment as she considered her answer carefully.

“A little?” Sunset finally said, looking down at her hands as she fidgeted with her fingers. “You’ve done it before… y’know? I’ll say something or… do something, and you’ll lose your temper. You… usually catch yourself, either before or after, and you always apologise but… yeah.”

“Guess I’m more like Pops than I thought, huh?” Gilda said in a hollow voice. “He had a wicked bad temper too… never hit us, or even take a swing or nothin’ but… he’d yell, a lot sometimes.”

“He raised you,” Sunset said, looking up at Gilda with sympathy in her eyes as she held out a hand for her girlfriend. “Even if we don’t want to we can’t help but learn how our parents deal with other people.”

Gilda reached out and settled her hand in Sunset’s taking a little comfort from the touch. “Guess that’s true, huh? Wish I hadn’t picked up his ‘yell til they shut up’ tactic, though.”

“Yeah, me too, but… it’s not the worst,” Sunset said glumly as she gripped Gilda’s hand. “Even though my mom is… is great and all, I learned a lot about manipulating people by watching her in court. Tartarus, she’d even manipulate me, not on purpose I don’t think… and not to be mean just… it was a habit I think. She comes at everything sideways because, at the end of the day, she’s a politician.”

“Our parents really fucked us up, huh, Sunshine?” Gilda said with a dry laugh.

“Eh, I like to think we’re responsible for a lot of our own fuckups, babe,” Sunset replied, laughing along with Gilda before pulling her hand back and taking a grip on the handle by the bed to swing onto her chair. “You get the good and the bad of whoever raised you, savvy? Can’t have just one… sucks right?”

“Just right,” Gilda replied, stretching out her own stiff limbs and coaxing the bloodflow back into them. She hated getting up early. “But… I’m gonna get better, savvy?”

“Huh?” Sunset looked up at Gilda in confusion as Gilda got her feet and walked over to kneel by Sunset’s chair.

“Better, y’know?” Gilda repeated. “My temper, my anger… I’m gonna get better ‘bout it… you deserve the best, Sunshine, and I’m gonna make sure you and… and…” Gilda choked a little trying to say the words she was looking for but her tongue ended up in a what felt like a pretzel.

“And?” Sunset asked, reaching out and stroking Gilda’s cheek.

“And… and any kids we have…” Gilda said, finally biting the bullet, causing Sunset’s eyes to widen in shock. “I’m gonna make sure none’a you ever gotta be afraid’a me like I was with my Pops sometimes…”

For a time, Sunset just goldfished, staring at Gilda like she’d grown a second head before finally stammering out; “k-k-kids?!”

Gilda blushed furiously but didn’t look away.

“Y-yeah… I mean,” Gilda swallowed heavy, but took Sunset’s hand in hers. “I… I get if ya don’t want kids or nothin’ but… I dunno, I like kids… always kinda wanted one’r two, y’know? Maybe adopt? Lotsa kids like you’n me out there, savvy?”

“Maybe we put this conversation on the backburner for now, okay?” Sunset said, a little nervously. “It’s… it’s not that I’m opposed or anything just…”

Gilda reached up and ran the tips of her fingers along Sunset’s cheek, tracing her thumb over her lips, all while smiling warmly up at the girl who had so quickly become her whole life.

“No rush, Sunshine,” Gilda replied in a soft voice. “Just a random passin’ thought, y’know? One way or another, you’n me are gonna be together forever.”

Sunset let out a deep breath and nodded, leaning into the gentle touch of Gilda’s fingers. Time and time again, Sunset was silently amazed at how gentle Gilda really was at her heart. Her broad shoulders, sharp features, and bellicose attitude all spoke of someone who was more brute than belle, but Gilda… Gilda was so tender when she was with Sunset. There was a kind of careful grace to every one of Gilda’s movements that made Sunset feel so… safe.

Nodding, Sunset smiled widely before leaning in to kiss Gilda, tangling her hands in Gilda’s hair like she loved to do.

“I love you, Gilda Grimfeather,” Sunset said softly as she pulled away, staring up into Gilda’s gorgeous golden eyes.

“Love you too, Sunshine,” Gilda replied, kissing her nose playfully. “Always.”

Sunset nuzzled against Gilda’s cheek, pecking a kiss on it before leaning back to roll past her to the bathroom to take a shower before they left.

“So why the sudden thought about kids?” Sunset called as she started the water running and rustled about, positioning herself for her swing into the shower.

Gilda started arranging things into the saddlebags for both space and easy access as she considered the answer to Sunset’s question. She’d always sort of wanted kids, if she was being honest, but what brought it out into the open?

“Guess just… all this shit that’s happenin’, y’know?” Gilda replied. “Visiting my parents graves… thinkin’ about how I was raised, how Zee was raised… about how messed up this world really is for kids, savvy? Someone’s gotta step up.”

“Huh,” Sunset replied, smiling slightly and chuckling. “So basically you’re feeling ‘paternal’, I think is how it goes.”

“Not ‘maternal’?” Gilda replied with a laugh.

“Nah, you’re a ‘dad’ if I ever saw one,” Sunset said as she swung into the shower, sputtering as the water got into her eyes and mouth. After clearing them out, she started scrubbing. “I mean… I know the whole ‘both of us are ladies’ thing kinda makes the mom and dad dynamic moot but… I dunno, a lady can feel paternal right? Nothing wrong with that.”

“Guess not,” Gilda replied. “Well, we’ll figure our shit out, right Sunflower? Got all the time in the world.”

“Heh, yeah we will…” Sunset replied, half to herself.

By the time Sunset was out and getting dressed, putting on a few layers to protect from the bitter cold and sorely missing her nice warm coat of fur, Gilda had finished packing the bags and gone out to start the cycle and bring it up to the door. Sunset rolled over to the bed and pulled out the photo album that she’d set to the side and set it on her lap.

Dozens of thoughts were scrabbling for purchase in Sunset’s mind, but foremost was… longing. For however bad her ex-friends had hurt her… she missed them terribly. The only real sticking point, if she was honest, was…

Sunset traced a finger over the stylized lightning bolt.

Rainbow Dash… “Why do you have to be so goddamn stupid, RD?” Sunset whispered softly. “Why do you have to keep fucking up?”

A part of Sunset, a large part if she was being honest, wanted to make up with them. With her old friends. To try again, maybe from a different angle this time, one where they were equals, not five friends and a charity case, but every time she had the thought an image burnt itself into her brain and refused to leave for a long while.

An image of Rainbow Dash kissing Gilda.

Even now, thinking about it from a distance, Sunset felt a searing anger building in her chest. A fire that refused to go out. If that was enough to put her in the mood to set something ablaze… what would happen when she inevitably came face to face with Rainbow herself?

Thoughts of her flare in Nurse Manners’ office came unbidden, and Sunset pushed them down.

“Enough is enough,” Sunset whispered to herself as she pulled out her phone.

Slowly, Sunset typed out a message to a new group chat.it took her the better part of ten minutes despite not being very long. After a tenth read-through, Sunset heard the tell-tale rumble of Gilda’s motorcycle outside. Taking a deep breath, Sunset hit ‘Send’.

//To: Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, & Fluttershy//

//Hey girls… I opened the present finally… and I do want to talk, it won’t be for a while though. Gilda and I are going out of town for a week or two, she has some business to take care of in Las Pegasus. When we get back though, yeah… maybe we can get coffee.

That said… you’ve probably noticed there’s a name missing from this chat. I figure you probably know why that is. I don’t want to see her after what she pulled with Gilda… not for a while. If that’s not doable then… I dunno, I guess we’ll see. Sorry if this feels like an ultimatum, or like I’m making you choose, I really don’t mean to be like that, but… I just don’t feel like I can control myself around her right now, and that wouldn’t be good for anyone.

Ugh… I promised myself I wouldn’t say this because I didn’t want to get your hopes up, this whole thing is a mess, but I’m going to anyway…

I miss you girls.

Gonna be on the road for a while, so I probably won’t see any responses for a bit… talk to you all later.//

“Ready to go, babe?” Gilda asked as she stepped in, resplendent in black leather. “Bike’s all warmed up.”

Sunset turned, tucking her phone away and carefully setting the album on the bed by the pillow.

“Yeah… I’m ready,” Sunset said.

“Time to go talk to my shit-head gang boss foster dad in prison then, I guess…” Gilda said with a grimace.

Sunset took Gilda’s hand, giving it a firm squeeze, as she smiled up at her. “How about, ‘time to take our first road trip as girlfriends’ instead?”

Gilda blushed but grinned widely. “Hadn’t thought’a it like that, but… yeah, that kinda makes it sound better.”

“Cool,” Sunset said, following Gilda out of the apartment and turning to lock it behind them. “Let’s hit the road, babe.”

Whitetail was, in a word, suburbia. A sprawling pastel neighborhood of green grass, white fences, and houses that almost looked the same but weren’t quite identical. Anyone who had enough money to get out of the Commons lived in Whitetail, whereas anyone who had enough money to get out of Whitetail generally either moved to Manehattan or lived in the Heights.

After their first date at the mall went so well, Zee had invited Twilight over to start work on their little joint project in person for the first time. That was when Twilight discovered that Zee lived in Whitetail. When Twilight had asked if she was staying with family or friends Zee had just laughed and told her no, she’d just bought a damn house.

Twilight’s eyes had widened at that.

She couldn’t deny that something about Zee made Twilight a little uneasy. She was far too comfortable with violence and had a disturbingly laissez-faire attitude towards bending the law. In fact, almost everything about Zee, from her tattoos to her personality quirks (a term that even Twilight thought was generously avoiding the word ‘flaw’) seemed to suggest to Twilight that Zee was precisely the type of person that she would normally avoid.

And yet…

Twilight found herself standing in front of a small, one story home, its walls painted a kind of stormy green-grey, and knocking on the door at just past nine in the morning. She had told her parents the truth; that she and Zee had been working on a long term project for the past few weeks and now that she was in town they both wanted to put their heads together. Her mother and father had been positively thrilled to hear Twilight had found a kindred spirit and quickly agreed.

Twilight had not told them about the incident with the Crystal Prep girls, however.

“I’m not lying…” Twilight mumbled to herself as she stood in front of the door, rocking back and forth nervously on her heels. “Mom and dad didn’t know they were bullying me, and they don’t need to know this either… besides… Zee was just protecting me.”

There was no answer for a good four minutes, and Twilight started to become concerned. Feeling a slight surge of panic, Twilight knocked harder and louder on the door, before calling out for Zee.

A loud crash and a vicious string of mostly unintelligible swearing suddenly spilled out from somewhere in the house, and Twilight stepped back from the door in surprise. A moment later the door opened to reveal a disheveled Zee, her hair hanging haphazardly over her face.

“T’fuck are you doin’ even awake at this ungodly fuckin’ hour, pet?” Zee asked as she stared blearily at Twilight.

For her part, Twilight was on the fence between mortification and hyperventilation. Zee, as it happened, apparently slept in the nude, and had not bothered to address that fact before opening the door. Twilight’s face turned a brilliant scarlet as she stammered and verbally grappled for some kind of response before whirling around, completely unable to focus while looking at Zee.

“S-S-Sorry, Zee!” Twilight stammered, closing her eyes and desperately trying to banish the image of Zee’s incredibly naked body from her brain and failing miserably. “U-uhm, I can go and come back later if you want!”

“Huh?” Zee looked down at herself and scoffed. “Arh, reyt, sorry ‘bout that, pet… didn’t mean t’flash th’goods like that, c’mon in.”

Zee turned and walked back into the house, and Twilight gave her a good five count before turning back around to follow, mostly because she didn’t trust herself to do anything but stare at Zee’s rear end if she was still there when Twilight turned.

Fortunately, (or unfortunately, Twilight’s brain suggested) she wasn’t, and Twilight stepped into a small empty hall that extended into a small and rather uniquely furnished living room. In lieu of the normal accoutrement of a den; couch, easy chairs, and television set, there was a massive electronics setup consisting of multiple computer rigs wired together. There was a couch pressed to the far wall but it was little more than a mess of blankets and pillows scattered around and over it like a downy explosion. Boxes were strewn haphazardly around the house, mostly still sealed with packing tape, and were marked with numbers in black marker. Twilight assumed the numbers must correspond to some kind of organizational system that Zee had.

“Giz uz a tick, our lass,” Zee called from somewhere in the house. “Kitchen’s set up so start us a brew, savvy?”

“Oh, s-sure!” Twilight called out in reply, before poking around a few corners, spotting the kitchen quickly.

It was small and a little cramped, clearly not designed for more than one or two people to be in at a time. There was a larger dining area past it but that section of the house had apparently been given over entirely to storing more boxes. A steel kettle was sitting on one of the back-burners of the stove, it sloshed slightly as Twilight picked it up.

“Okay, Twi, you can do this,” Twilight muttered, walking over to the sink, dumping it out and refilling it with fresh water from the tap. “It’s just tea, right? How hard can it be to make tea?”

Fortunately she didn’t have to find out since the water had only just finished boiling as Zee walked out from down the hallway to the left of the entrance and into the kitchen. Twilight felt her face redden again as she realised Zee had opted to be wearing nothing more than a pair of boxers and loose tanktop, although her hair was once more combed into a tidy sidecut, the shoulder-length white locks back to half-covering the left side of her face.

It was then that Twilight really registered what Zee looked like without all her layers. Her arms were sleeved with intricate linework tattoos starting at just below her wrists and stretching up her arms to her chest, back, and shoulders. If Twilight were to describe them in a single word she realised, albeit grudgingly, that she would probably have to use the word: ‘arcane’. All along her arms were curving circles and geometric symbols that referenced topics like hermetic alchemy and obscure occultism. Some of the symbols were vaguely unsettling to even look at for too long.

“See anythin’ y’like, pet?” Zee asked with a shameless smirk, and Twilight flushed as she realised she’d been caught staring, though not for the reason Zee was suggesting. “I’d say take’a picture but f’you I think I’d lose the top first.”

Twilight’s tongue tied itself in a knot for a moment at the thought of what Zee was offering. Her cheeks burned with an almost physical fire until she finally shook her head free of the images that were decidedly derailing her train of thought.

“Zee it’s freezing, how are you wearing that?” Twilight asked, once she regained her voice and sitting on a stool by the kitchen counter.

“S’not that cold, pet,” Zee replied, pouring the water into a pair of mugs, each with a small apparatus over it. “S’nothin’ like livin’ near the Channel come winter, savvy?”

“Is it really that cold up there?” Twilight asked, smiling slightly as Zee set one of the mugs in front of her.

“Let it steep, our lass,” Zee said, leaning against the counter across from Twilight. “An’ yeah, s’damn cold is what it is… some years half the channel’d freeze, snow’d fall so’s it’d cover all the cars and block off all the roads, too, savvy?”

“Wow… I can barely even imagine that…” Twilight admitted. “I mean, I guess I know intellectually what kind of snowfall areas that are further north get but… it’s one of those things, y’know?”

“Arh cocka, s’not that big’a deal, pet,” Zee said, pulling the apparatus from both of heir mugs and tossing them into the sink a few feet away. “Cream? Sugar?”

“Uhm, both please…” Twilight said with a laugh, and Zee chuckled.

“Can’t say I’m surprised, pet,” Zee said, smiling and setting a small bowl with sugar and a tiny ceramic pitcher full of rich cream. “Figured ya for a posh sort, I like me tea proper black, color’a me soul, pet.”

“Oh c’mon, you’re not that bad,” Twilight said, grinning. “You protected me back at the mall, in fact, you’re really sweet to me in general, actually.”

“Aye, an’ trust me tha’s th’exception, not the rule, oreyt?” Zee replied, blowing lightly over her tea before taking a sip. “You’re a bit’uv a riddle… s’like y’just slipped past everythin’ and now you’re all I can think about.”

Twilight stared at Zee wordless for a moment, stunned into silence at the baldfaced admission. Finally, Twilight just gave a pained smile that was half grimace as she took a sip of her own tea, choking slightly at the sudden bitter taste as she realised she’d forgotten to add the cream and sugar.

Swallowing the sip, Twilight looked up a little sorrowfully. “I wish I were like you, Zee…”

Zee scoffed. “Th’fuck you’d ever want somethin’ like that, our lass? Look at me, I’m inked t’fuck n’back, and don’t tell me y’think I do everythin’, or anythin’ really, above board, yeah? Those computers ain’t f’runnin’ the latest games on Ultra, and that black hat ain’t f’looks, savvy?”

Twilight stared down into the darkly swirling brew as Zee laid out her cards. A part of her knew exactly what Zee was saying but the rest of her was violently denying it.

“S-so what?” Twilight asked with an almost painfully nervous chuckle. “S-security stuff? Cybersecurity? That kinda thing?”

The easy smile faded from Zee’s face as she took a long sip from her tea, draining her mug before setting it to the side and grabbing the pack of cigarettes from the counter and pulling out a metal lighter with it. Shaking one free, Zee pulled a pale tube from the package and lit it.

Taking a long draw, Zee breathed out a plume of grey smoke. “I’ve lied t’lots of folks, pet… and I mean lots. But… I just can’t fuckin’ lie t’you.”

“Why not?” Twilight asked softly. Twilight couldn’t say it, didn’t want to say it. How could she just ask: Why can’t you just lie to me. Why can’t you make this easy?

“Can’t rightly say, our lass…” Zee replied. “Don’t think I ain’t thought about it neither… end’a th’day, though, decided I couldn’t do it, didn’t wanna do it, and I’ve never been much good at doin’ things I don’t wanna do, savvy?” Zee shook a bit of ash into the ashtray on the counter. “Ain’t gonna sugarcoat it, our lass, I’ve stolen more money than even your precious parents’d make in a year, savvy? Black hat t’the end.”

Twilight nodded, glancing at the sugar and cream before turning away and taking a sip of the plain, black tea and grimacing at the bitterness again.

“You’re… joking, right?” Twilight asked, her voice incredibly quiet. Zee didn’t respond which was almost worse than anything else. “You’re… you’re not? You’re a c-criminal?”

Zee nodded. “Arh cocka, helluva hacker, black hat all th’way, like I said.” Taking another drag, she gave Twilight a dry grin. “Once shaved a fiver off every fuckin’ account in the Bank of Brayton. Split’n bounced the cash flow through almost a thousand different dummy accounts across the world that deleted themselves after a preset time before dumping a third of the takings into four hundred random accounts around the world… some lucky bumfucks got the biggest payday’a their lives and I got the rest.” Zee laughed, spitting into the sink as she grinned. “Some ‘ackers try’n cover their tracks. I threw a fuckin’ banger on top of the trail.”

Twilight felt her heart clench as Zee casually admitted to one of the biggest cybercrimes in the last ten years. She’d heard of the ‘heist’, of course; it had supposedly been the work of a crime syndicate with some media outlets and intelligence agencies suggesting involvement by a foreign government seeking to test strategies for destabilizing Brayton’s economy. Overall the loss hadn’t been large, but it had been, in the short vernacular, humiliating.

“Was raised in a gang, too,” Zee continued, and Twilight felt ice sluice through her veins. “The Storm Kings, outta Las Pegasus… wrote their security software when I was nine, upgraded it when I was ten. Taught me how’ta run, how’ta avoid th’fuzz, finer points of runnin’ a criminal business.”

“Why are you telling me all this?” Twilight asked, her voice a shadow of a plea. As if she were begging Zee to take it all back, “Why are you telling me you’re… you’re a…”

“Think it’s ‘cause I love you, Lab, really fuckin’ do…” Zee said softly, using Twilight’s private chat name and staring past her cigarette at Twilight, the burning ember smoldering between them. “And s’like me Pops allus said; can’t start love on a lie, savvy?”

“What if I turn you in?” Twilight said, her heart pounding. She felt like a stone had been brutally shoved into her ribcage right between her lungs. “What if I betray you?”

Zee shrugged, but Twilight could see a flash of pain, despair almost, behind her eyes. “Guess it’d break m’heart, savvy? But… rather that than makin’ ya fall in love wif a lie, oreyt?” Zee replied with an nervous crack in her voice as she tried, and failed to smile at Twilight. “Just… promise you’ll giz uz a last kiss before y’do it, our lass.”

Twilight stared across the counter at Zee and for a moment she saw something other than the wild, ever-smirking, and perpetually flirtatious vixen she’d met at the mall. There was none of the confidence, none of the surety Twilight had grown used to hearing in the lilt of Zee’s voice and seeing in the set of her shoulders. In the two years she’d known Zee, even just as Pawnee, she had always had a plan. A strategy for optimising a course of action. A way of ensuring the result she wanted with ninety-nine point nine percent odds of success.

It only took Twilight a second to understand why.

Maybe for the first time since Twilight had met her, she realised that Zee didn’t know what was going to happen. She didn’t have a plan, she wasn’t strategising. She was laying her heart out, handing Twilight a knife, and just… waiting.

“I really do wish I was like you,” Twilight said, repeating her notion from a few moments ago as she stared down at her darkened reflection in the cooling tea.

Zee stared unsteadily at Twilight, taking a drag from her cigarette and before taking the tube from her lips and clutching it between shaking fingers. Licking her lips and breathing hard, Zee put out the cigarette on the ashtray. Dropping her eyes down to the tile floor, Zee swallowed hard and wrapped her arms around herself.

“W-why?” Zee had to bite her tongue to get the words out, she hated how small her voice sounded.

Twilight shrugged. “Because you’re brave, you’re… crazy… but you’re brave.”

“Heh… yeah,” Zee said grimacing slightly. “Mad as a hatta’, like they say.”

Taking a deep breath, and then coughing and hacking a bit as she inhaled cigarette smoke, Twilight got up from her stool and walked around to stand in front of Zee.

Do it… Twilight thought furiously to herself. Zee just ripped her heart out for you, don’t lose your spine now, just DO IT.

Twilight reached up with one hand and swept her hands into Zee’s lopsided white hair, tangling her fingers into the soft, delicate strands. Steeling herself, Twilight raised her gaze to meet Zee’s eyes. Those brilliant, brazen eyes that Twilight had imagined were flint and firebrand gold were softer now. There was something warm behind them that drew out a small smile from Twilight.

Zee was breathing hard, she was… scared. Terrified really, and she hated it. A part of her was choking, it was like she was dying. Her fingers were tingling and shaking as she tried to keep the panic at bay. A tremor ran through her body as Twilight looked up at her with those stupid beautiful eyes, violet… they were violet and she loved them.

“I… I think I love you, too, Zee,” Twilight said, her voice slightly choked. “But… I want you to stop doing this… hacking, black hat work, all of this… if you and me are… are gonna be an ‘us’, then… you have to stop.”

Turning sharply on her heel, away from Twilight, Zee reached out and snatched up a leather wrapped flask and took a long swig, gritting her teeth as she felt her throat burn.

Zee swallowed, tears forming at the edges of her eyes. “I… I’d do it, y’know? F’you, our lass? I’d give it all up, I swear. But I can’t do it… not yet, I got a last promise I need t’keep.” Slamming the flask down, Zee turned to see the heart-wrenching look on Twilight’s face. “Swore I’d finish it, savvy? But… after? Yeah… I’ll give it up, if you’ll wait, but I… figure y’don’t wanna wait on a fuckin’ reprobate.”

“And what happens if it goes south, huh?” Twilight asked, not willing to abandon the firm ground her courage had finally found to stand on. “What happens if you get caught? I’m not stupid, Zee, you know that. Those gauntlets have something to do with your plan, and it’s got something to do with being here. You’re taking a huge risk, aren’t you?”

Grimacing, Zee nodded silently.

“And then what?” Twilight demanded, her voice rising and cracking slightly. “And then you’re in jail! That’s what! Then my girlfriend’s in jail and I’m left wondering if you’ll ever come out! And if you do, what even will you be like?!”

“Yeah… guess… guess it was stupid, huh?” Zee said, hands curling into fists at her sides as she clenched her eyes shut against the oncoming tears, before gesturing towards the den. “S-suppose y’wanna go, then, y’know the fuckin’ door, pet.”

“Can’t you just stop?!” Twilight pressed. “What kind of promise is it that you’re risking going to jail for basically ever?”

“It’s to me Pops!” Zee snarled, shouting as she advanced on Twilight who started backing away. “You wanna know, our lass? It’s ‘cause me Pops got the fuckin’ shaft from people who‘e called family, people he raised, folks he fuckin’ looked after f’years, who put’im in prison f’life, an’ I ain’t gonna let my fuckin’ dad ROT IN A CELL FOR THE REST’A HIS LIFE, SAVVY?!”

Twilight had fallen to the ground, shaking as Zee stood over her, breathing hard, red in the face. A face that was twisted into an ugly snarl of rage. A moment later the storm over her features passed and Zee let the flask she’d had a deathgrip on clatter to the ground, sloshing slightly inside the metal well.

Slowly, Zee dropped to her knees as tears started to stream down her cheeks and she stared at the floor.

“M’sorry…” Zee said in a choked voice. “Shouldn’ta yelled… didn’t mean t’scare ya like tha’...” she sniffled, wrapping her arms around herself. “Y’should go… I never should’a come’ere, m’sorry I ruined everythin’... I allus do.”

Twilight scrambled to her feet, her breath coming in short, rapid spikes as she sidled around the crying girl on the floor and started making her way towards the far end of the kitchen. She barely made it more than a few feet before a wracking sob came from behind her, throwing a sharp lance of pain into her heart. Twilight’s head was at war with itself, and with her heart.

She’s doing it for her father.

She’s committing a crime!

For her father.

She’s a criminal!

And if it was your father?

Twilight stopped at the threshold of the kitchen as that thought speared straight through her mind and nailed up against her heart. Thoughts about her own father invaded Twilight’s mind; his smile, his advice, all of the times he would indulge her little eccentricities, how she was always the calming influence, the level head between her and her mother, and, above all, his unconditional love.

What would I do if it were my father?

“I’d do anything,” Twilight whispered to herself so softly that no one else heard her.

Turning to look behind her, Twilight felt her heart wrench as she saw Zee kneeling on the ground, arms still wrapped around herself, head hung down and hair askew, as she shook with quiet sobs. Her cries were bitter and hard, as if there was a vice around her throat trying to keep them in.

Twilight felt something snap inside of her, whether it was something breaking or something snapping into place she wasn’t sure, but she felt it. She felt the decision being made.

The tiles had never felt so cold to Zee as she knelt on them, her whole body burning with a combination of rage, shame, and grief. Twilight had done exactly what all of Zee’s nightmares had told her she would do. Zee had bared her ugly, broken soul, and Twilight had rejected it. Just like everyone else always did. Just like her sister had when she’d left her to-

The scent of lavender filled the air around Zee suddenly, and she felt warm hands on her cheeks, wiping away her tears and cradling her face. Looking up, Zee’s gaze was met with a pair of lovely violet eyes staring at her above a small shy, but comforting, smile.

“Am I dreamin’?” Zee asked softly. “You really ‘ere, our lass?”

“Yeah,” Twilight replied with a small laugh, “want proof?”

Before Zee could ask what Twilight meant, the shy, nerdy girl leaned in and pressed her lips to Zee’s.

Letting out a choked, happy sob, Zee lunged in, wrapping her arms around Twilight and pulling her close, kissing back with hard, fiery passion. Separating only to laugh, and gasp, and cry a little more as she kissed Twilight’s cheeks, lips, neck, forehead, and anywhere the giggling girl would let her reach.

A few minutes later, they were sprawled on the tile floor, Twilight wrapped up in Zee’s arms who seemed dead-set on never letting her go.

“So… you’ll wait f’me, then, pet?” Zee asked softly. “Til I get this business with me Pops all sorted?”

“No, I won’t,” Twilight said firmly.

Zee felt a stab of ice in her heart at Twilight’s words. “W-what? B-but y’just… y’said…”

“I’ve been crushing on you for more than a year, Zee” Twilight said after a moment, her eyes almost burning. “I’ve had all kinds of fantasies about what you’d be like when we met and somehow, when we finally did meet, it turns out you’re more incredible than I imagined. Genius or not, I’m pretty sure I’m idiot-levels of in love with you at this point. So no, I’m not going to wait, Zee, I’m going to help you.”

Silence stretched between them as Zee stared at Twilight in shock.

“Tha’s fuckin’ bonkers, our lass,” Zee mumbled. “Fuckin’ mad.”

“Maybe I went mad for you,” Twilight said with a slightly cocky smile. “Maybe I’m tired of being scared all the time, Maybe I’m sick of being the coward who gets picked on all the time.” Twilight grimaced, remembering the years of abuse Sunny Flare and her ‘friends’ had levied on her. “So I’m not running away this time, I’m not going to do the ‘smart’ thing. I’m gonna be stupid for once and just… love you, okay?”

“Lovin’ me is stupid, huh?” Zee said with a small laugh.

“Fucking barmy,” Twilight answered playfully, smiling up at Zee.

Zee laughed, a light, airy little sound, as she buried her face in Twilight’s hair. “You really don’t go halfsies, do ye, pet? We’re gonna be breakin’ a lot of laws, savvy? This could… it could ruin y’life.”

Twilight curled in to Zee’s arms, tightening her grip as she did. “Do you know what would really ruin my life, Zee? Losing the one person I’ve ever made friends with in that entire life.” Twilight looked up at Zee with a light in her eyes that made Zee’s breath catch in her throat. “Losing the one person that I actually relate to, who I can talk to about anything, and who knows all my little secrets and stupid neuroses, and who says she loves me anyway? That would ruin my life.”

Sitting up, Twilight straightened her glasses and glared down at Zee. “I can’t stop you from trying to help your dad, okay? If… If it was my dad I’d probably be doing the same thing so I’d be a huge hypocrite if I tried.” Sighing, Twilight reached out and took Zee’s hand. “But I’m not going to risk losing you, and I figure that with two geniuses working on this the odds of a successful outcome increase exponentially.”

Zee’s face lit up and she bounced up to a sitting position and pulled Twilight into her arms. “Fuckin’ hell, you’re crazier than I am, pet!”

Twilight laughed a little, but it faded a moment later as she looked up at Zee. “But… but after that? We’re done, right? No more… I help you with this and then, it’s you and me on the straight and narrow, okay?”

“Straight’n narrow?” Zee laughed. “Ain’t nuffink straight ‘bout th’neither of us, pet.”

“I’m serious!” Twilight said, smacking Zee lightly on the chest. “After this it’s over, promise me.”

Zee stared down at Twilight for several moments before smiling softly and nodding. “Aye, I’ll cop t’that, then. This’ll be the last of it, our lass. You help me get to m’Pops, and I’ll go downright fuckin’ domestic.”

Twilight let out a high-pitched squeal of delight as she hopped up and into Zee’s lap, straddling Zee as she wrapped her arms around Zee’s neck and kissed her. Zee grinned against Twilight’s kiss, wrapping her arms around Twilight’s waist and pulling her closer before trailing her hands up to tangle into Twilight’s hair, pulling out the hairband keeping her bun in place and letting the lavender waterfall cascade down. Twilight hummed happily as Zee tugged and pulled at her hair, kissed at her neck and trailed her delicate fingers down Twilight’s sides.

After a moment, Zee wrapped one arm around Twilight’s waist and back, while the other went under her, and lifted up. Twilight squeaked in momentary panic, locking her legs around Zee’s waist as Zee hefted Twilight up. For a moment, Twilight’s eyes widened at the definition of muscle lining Zee’s lithe, tattooed arms. If Twilight was being totally honest, she knew she was a little out of shape. She very rarely did any kind of physical exercise and only her fastidious diet kept weight off of her.

That was clearly not the case for Zee, who was lean, narrow, and built like a sprinter with the muscle to match.

Without preamble, Zee carried Twilight into the living room and dropped her onto the cover-laden couch before crawling onto it and over Twilight.

“So… seem t’remember y’callin’ me y’girlfriend, aye?” Zee asked, a playful smirk on her face.

Twilight’s face went beet-red as she stared up at Zee, licking her lips and nodding.

“Mm… good…” Zee hummed, leaning down. “I’m running a buncha updates on me rig, so… we got some time before we can get t’work, pet.”

“O-oh yeah?” Twilight gasped as Zee nipped at her neck. “G-got any ideas as to how to spend that time?”

“Arh cocka, got’a few,” Zee replied, smirking.

It was nearly three in the afternoon when Twilight woke back up. It was warm, but perfectly so… that kind of warmth that beckons you inexorably back to bed and Twilight was happy to heed the siren call it was singing. She wrinkled her nose slightly and laughed a little at the scent in the air as she turned to bury herself back in Zee’s embrace, sweaty though it was, and pulled one of the mismatched comforters over their shoulders as Zee snoozed away, her dark, tattooed arms wrapped securely around Twilight.

Twilight couldn’t keep the massive, dopey grin off of her face. Her whole body tingled as she snuggled against her new girlfriend.

Waiting for the third date really is overrated, Twilight mused happily as she contented herself listening to Zee’s heartbeat and breath.

Idly, Twilight traced her fingers over the tattoos she had just spent the last few hours getting to know intimately well. Staring at them now she recognized many of them. Symbols of the seven metals were tattooed down her back, the three heavenly substances were inked across her collarbone. Over her right arm was a sleeve that depicted the alchemical symbols of the sun, stars, and what Twilight loosely identified as a complex set of symbols surrounding the phosphorus symbol, meaning ‘spirit’ or in some case ‘heavens’."

“The science of the divine,” Twilight muttered as she stared at the beautiful work done on her lover’s body.

The scientist and the romantic in Twilight delighted at the gorgeous linework, done according to the golden mean. Whoever Zee had paid to do her linework and design clearly had the hands of a surgeon, and a good one at that. Each line was perfectly executed, intersecting at every proper point.

Zee’s mantle of tattoos around her shoulders, collar, and neck also contained an intricate line of text, woven perfectly into the linework and symbology. Twilight only had to read the first few words to know what it said, it was a well known aphorism.

“Quod est inferius est sicut quod est superius. Et quod est superius est sicut quod est inferius, ad perpetranda miracula rei unius,” Twilight recited. “As it is below, so it is to be above, and as above, so below, to accomplish the one great miracle.”

“Aye, that’s as it is,” Zee muttered, startling Twilight who looked up to see Zee staring down at her. “Tha’s m’Pops dream, savvy? Mine too… the one great miracle.”

Twilight blinked in confusion before laughing a little. “B-babe, that’s all myth and superstition, remember? Alchemy was just poor man’s chemistry, crazy old men drinking mercury in towers and exposing themselves to noxious fumes trying to become immortal.”

“That’s most of it, yeah,” Zee said, stretching her slender limbs to the tune of a few cracks and pops before curling up again around Twilight and pulling the covers over them again. “Strong ninety-five percent, even… but that last bit? Those last few mad-as-fuck five percent? A few of them figured out a couple things.”

“Like what?” Twilight asked, hanging on Zee’s words. She would normally be a lot more skeptical but her study of the gauntlets thus far defied most scientific measure.

“Later, first giz uz another kiss, our lass.” Zee said with a grin, moving to to press her lips to Twilight, weaving her fingers into Twilight’s long silken hair.

Twilight was all too happy to comply, setting the question aside as she pressed closer to her girlfriend, savoring their shared warmth in the cold winter day. As they pulled away, Zee looked thoughtful as she idly stroked her fingers down Twilight’s back, earning a few delighted shivers as Twilight rested against Zee’s chest.

“You… you really sure ‘bout this, pet?” Zee said finally, a faint quaver entering her voice. “Y’know, ‘bout me… us… why would ya risk throwin’ y’whole fuckin’ life away f’me, ey?”

Twilight sighed, wrapping her arms around Zee’s middle and pulling herself close as she considered the answer.

“I’ve… never had friends before…” Twilight began, “I always wondered what the big deal was, why it should matter, you know? Social obligations eat up time that could be spent on experimentation and advancing human knowledge.”

“Uh… y’kinda goin’ th’other way on this’n, pet,” Zee replied with a chuckle. “Didn’t ask f’reasons f’ya to drop my arse on the pavement.”

“Well let me finish!’ Twilight protested with a playful pout. “A-Anyways… there was always sort of… one exception when it came to how I thought about friends.”

“Friends wif benefits?” Zee teased, nipping at Twilight’s neck.

Twilight giggled, and slapped at Zee’s shoulder. “No, you horndog, I always kind of wanted… y’know, that friend.”

“That friend?” Zee repeated, raising an eyebrow at Twilight.

“Yeah, you know… that friend?” Twilight said. “The one you’d do anything for, the one who’d do anything for you? The uhm, for lack of a better phrase, one you’d bury a body for?”

Zee stared slightly wide-eyed as Twilight chuckled nervously.

“Please don’t ask me to bury a body, though,” Twilight pleaded with a small laugh. “I’d really rather not… but, uhm… yeah, even when I was younger I kind of wanted that friend, just one… and… and then, two years ago, I met you.”

“Aw… pet, tha’s… y’can’t jus’...” Zee stumbled over her words as she pulled Twilight closer, burying her face in Twilight’s hair again.

“You alright?” Twilight asked, running her hands down Zee’s slender sides, savoring the soft yet firm feeling of her body.

“Mhm…” Zee replied before taking a breath. “Y’smell like sex’n lavender… nice.”

Twilight let out a snort of laughter. “You’re a pig, Zee.”

“Meh.”

“So are you going to reveal the secret truth of alchemy and whatever strange shadow world I’ve been blind to all this time, or what?” Twilight teased, leaning up to brush her lips over Zee’s.

Before Zee could answer, the sound of a phone ringing trilled from somewhere on the floor. Zee groaned at the noise, but shuffled around and rolled off of the couch with a dull thump and an muffled ‘ow’. Twilight giggled as the comforter-covered lump on the floor fished around for her phone. Presumably she found it too, because after a moment there was a clicking sound and Twilight heard Zee answer.

In Yakistani.

The conversation was muffled but Twilight could hear Zee getting more and more agitated as the conversation progressed. Her accent was perfect, and the way she spoke Twilight would have sworn up and down that she was a native speaker if she hadn't known her beforehand.

Twilight flinched as Zee’s voice raised until she was shouting, throwing the cover off and standing, hip cocked as she pulled the phone from her ear til it was right in front of her face.

“Listen, fucko, bein’ halfway cross t’fuckin’ world ain’t gonna save ye,” Zee hissed, her voice sharp and deadly. “You get me my slagging money or I’ll dump a terabyte’a evidence ‘bout you’n your boys right into that greasy old stain you call a dictator’s lap… savvy?”

Zee practically punched the end call button before letting out a inchoate scream of rage and pitching the phone across the room to shatter against the wall.

“Fuckin’ ‘ellfire, those worthless sods ain’t got a single functionin’ brain twixt th’lot of’em,” Zee scowled at the destroyed remains of the phone for a moment, breathing hard as she calmed down before turning back to Twilight.

“Z-Zee?” Twilight’s voice was small and subdued; she’d curled up away from Zee who was still clenching her fists tight and grimacing. “What… what was that?”

Visibly forcing herself to relax, Zee just shrugged. “Ey, it was nothin’, our lass… just remindin’ some folks what ‘appens when y’don’t keep up y’end of the bargain, savvy?” Walking over to Twilight, Zee sat down and held her arms out. “C’mon, pet, don’t be like tha’... giz uz a hug.”

Twilight nodded, a small bit of her smile returning as she scooted over and came to rest in Zee’s arms.

“Can’t let folks like tha’ walk over ye, pet,” Zee said as she leaned down to nuzzle against Twilight’s hair. “Can’t let’m think I’m some jumped up sprog with a good net connection, yeah? S’bad business is what that is, and bad business is bad business.”

Twilight nodded, curling up into Zee’s arms. She didn’t want to say what was on her mind. That when Zee was yelling it made her nearly freeze up. Hearing her roar and rage like she did, and how it seemed to happen at the drop of a hat, left Twilight feeling uneasy. Zee had a powerful temper, and one that was belied by her slight figure and overall pleasant demeanor.

“Ah, damn near f’got, pet, but I got somethin’ t’show ye,” Zee said suddenly, snatching up a shirt that was lying on the ground and pulling it on along with a pair of boxers and then dashing off down the hall. “Jus’ wait ‘ere!”

Sitting up and shaking off the cloy of slumber, Twilight glanced around. Her shirt had ended up somewhere on the other side of the room somehow, her skirt was nowhere to be seen and the thick winter leggings she’d been wearing under it were probably sandwiched somewhere in the cushions of the couch. Of her original outfit all she could actually find in reach were her socks which, while helpful, did not an outfit make.

She pulled them on anyway.

“Ugh… I’ll find them later, I guess…” Twilight groaned before fishing around for some of Zee’s clothes that were scattered around.

Normally the idea of wearing someone else’s clothes would’ve done more than give Twilight the heebie jeebies, it might’ve sent her into a full on panic; but with Zee? Twilight chuckled as she found a large grey sweater with a white rose on it in a half-open box and pulled it out from under a few other articles of clothing.

“Considering what we just got up to…” Twilight mused as she held up the sweater and examined it, “I’m pretty sure wearing Zee’s slightly used clothes is a step up on the cleanliness scale.”

Shaking it out, Twilight pulled the sweater on, pulling it down until it fit her. It clearly didn’t originally belong to Zee because it was far too large, The neck hung partially off of one shoulder and her fingers barely poked out of the arm holes. It hung past her waist, preserving a modicum of her modesty which Twilight found herself considerably less concerned by than she normally would have.

“I wonder if this is what they mean by ‘afterglow’?” Twilight wondered quietly as she reached up and around the back of her head to pull her long, now messy, hair free of the sweater and let it fall down her back.

“Alright pet, feast yer eyes on-... uh… oh…” Zee trailed off as she reentered the den carrying a large metal case and stared blankly at Twilight.

“Zee? Everything okay?” Twilight asked, glancing over and smiling.

Zee worked her jaw several times as she fought for some kind of word or phrase. Zee could feel the heat in her cheeks rising as she stared at Twilight, long messy hair cascading down and over one bare shoulder as she fiddled with the hem of the sweater and brushed slightly at a small stain that had, truthfully, been there for years and wasn’t coming out anytime soon.

Over the past two days, Zee had seen Twilight dolled up, she’d seen her panicky, she’d seen her flushed, she’d even seen her naked.

Seeing Twilight standing in the living room wearing likely nothing but that too-big sweater and socks, and smiling like the most innocent thing in the world, though?

Zee swallowed hard; if it hadn’t been clear to her before, it was certainly clear now… she had it bad.

“You uh… y’really wear that sweater better’n me, our lass,” Zee choked out, finally.

“Oh, yeah,” Twilight said sheepishly, looking down at herself. “It was kind of all I could find.”

Setting the metal case down, Zee walked over and wrapped her arms around Twilight, scooping her in closer as she squeaked in a combination of surprise and delight. Zee leaned in and kissed Twilight gently, letting her fingers rise to play with the soft, disheveled strands of her hair. Twilight giggled, laughing as she kissed Zee back, and let her own hands roam up Zee’s tattooed back and trail fingers over her shoulders.

“S’fuckin’ infuriatin’, y’know?” Zee said with a laugh.

Twilight raised a single eyebrow, looking a little concerned. “What is?”

“S’like y’don’t even know how good ye look, savvy?” Zee replied, leaning in to nip at Twilight’s ear. “S’not fair, wearin’ that’n nowt else right where I can see it, pet.”

“O-oh… r-really?” Twilight blushed furiously, but smiled equally widely and after a moment let the part of her that was more daring, the part that only really woke up around Zee, come out a little with her next words. “S-should I take it off then?”

A low growl issued from Zee’s throat as Twilight stared up at her coyly. “Aw, lass, now tha’s just cruel.”

Twilight laughed a little as she leaned up to kiss Zee right on the cigarette tattoo on her jaw. “So what’s in the box?”

Grumbling, Zee stepped away, suddenly significantly more bothered than she’d been a moment ago.

“I’m really gonna give to ye later, pet,” Zee griped as she pulled away from Twilight and knelt down where she’d dropped the metal case and set it on it’s side to begin working at the multiple locks on it.

Twilight knelt behind her, draping head and arms playfully over Zee’s shoulders as she worked, and leaned in next to Zee’s ear.

“Promise?”

She shivered as her brain derailed violently.

“Ye fuckin’ bonkers, pet,” Zee muttered as she finally flipped the last few locks open. “Fuckin’ mad.”

“It’s your fault,” Twilight replied with a small laugh. “Corrupting me and all that, I was a perfectly good girl before I met you.”

“Hah,” Zee practically barked the laugh out. “Pretty sure you’ve allus been mad, our lass… just needed an excuse t’let y’flag fly.”

“Or maybe you’re just a really bad influence and I’m just ruined forever now,” Twilight replied, dramatically throwing a hand over her forehead before laughing and nuzzling against Zee’s cheek.

“Oh I’ll ruin ye,” Zee snarked back turning to mockingly glare at Twilight who was still smiling innocently at her. “Fuckin’ wreck ye’s what I’ll do, our lass.”

Twilight just smiled and mouthed ‘promise?’ silently.

Zee slapped her palm to her face as she dropped down to sit cross-legged on the floor. “Ugh… t’fuck’ve I got m’self into… I’m supposed t’be the one teasin’ you. Y’gonna drive me fuckin’ bonkers, pet.”

“I think the phrase is: ‘turnabout is fair play’,” Twilight replied, chuckling as she pecked a kiss onto Zee’s lips. “Besides, after two years of being teased by you I’m owed a little teasing back, I think.”

“A’right, fair’s fair, I guess,” Zee conceded. “Now, will ye stop fuckin’ distractin’ me libido and look at this?”

Twilight laughed but nodded as she scooted over to sit beside Zee as she flipped the case open. Twilight gasped as she stared at the contents; within the case were a pair of objects that, up until then, she had only seen pictures of and it was abundantly clear from a single glance that those pictures did not do the true objects justice.

Inside the case were a set of gauntlets, armored in such a way so as Twilight could tell they would reach all the way to the elbow joint of whoever wore them. The metal that had looked abnormally reflective in the pictures, was in fact almost unearthly so. Light played off of the metal strangely, and in such a way that Twilight honestly couldn’t say what color they really were.

And all around them Twilight could smell and taste the faint, acrid tang of ozone.

“So, pet?” Zee said with a grin. “Ready t’get t’work?”

The scientist in Twilight quickly replaced the playful vixen as she stared down at the gauntlets and her smile widened as she reached out and ran a finger over the smooth, almost glittering metal plates.

“Hell yes,” Twilight replied, and Zee felt a shiver go up her spine again, this time at the grin on Twilight’s face.

Fuckin’ mad, she is, Zee thought.

And she couldn’t stop smiling because of it.

Author's Notes:

The rest of Pawnee's identity is finally revealed. I've been slow burning that part too, although I did hint a bit at it with not only her appearance but also with these lines from Chapter 11.

One thing scratched just at the edge of Fluttershy’s mind, though.

“Rainbow?”

Dash looked back behind her as they made their way into the halls of CHS. “What’s up ‘Shy?”

“Whatever happened to-”

and

As Gilda turned to leave again Cranky called out. “Gilda, if it ain’t a question you wanna answer ya don’t have to but… can I ask something else?”

Gilda turned, a coldness in her gut telling her that she knew what the question was going to be.

So did everyone guess that part? Or was that yet another twist?