Author's Notes:

CW: some violence/abuse in the second half.
Read this blog post for more if you want some context before diving in.

As ready as Sunset had been to leave immediately for Canterlot to try and start dealing with whatever perceived threat that Storm had been engineering from a distance, the truth was that beyond the relatively quick check ins she needed to do with both her new friends and her ex-friends, she didn’t have a lot to go off of. Tempest and Summer had convinced her to hold off on leaving for a few days to spend some time in Las Pegasus while they reached out to their own small network of contacts in the hopes of turning up something a little more concrete to work off of.

It had taken a great deal of convincing and, surprisingly, a lot of it ended up coming from Gilda who, while anxious, trusted her old crew to turn up some leads.

That and Sunset suspected that Gilda wanted to have a chance to spend some more time with the woman she had ostracised for so long. Tempest and Gilda had spent almost the entirety of the day after Sunset and Gilda had met with Storm sitting around in the living room and talking. Sunset had drifted in and out of it, spending much of it lying on the couch with her head in Gilda’s lap listening to the two of them reminisce.

Their adventures in their youth had been… strange to listen to. Sunset could hear the laughter behind both Tempest and Gilda’s voices as they spoke about surprisingly terrible sounding things: running from police, fights with other gangbangers, even shootouts, though that last one had more been in Tempest’s library of odd tales rather than Gilda’s.

On that note, Sunset learned that the human body could be shot a surprising number of times in an equally surprising number of places without dying. She never would have believed that Tempest still had a bullet lodged in her skull if she hadn’t seen the lump for herself, which had really made her skin crawl.

Gilda had just laughed it off as part of ‘the life’.

Sunset remembered Tempest admiring how Gilda’s skin was mostly unblemished; not because she hadn’t been in danger, but because Gilda had always been too fast to catch and too quick to shoot.

Apparently Gilda’s speed and reaction time had been well known enough among the South Central ‘bangers that, whenever they saw a flash of silver, they’d say it was the ‘griffon flying by’.

If Sunset was being honest with herself… she wasn’t sure if she was terrified by proxy at how close to death Gilda had probably come in those years, or just happy she survived it.

That was why she was so lost in thought, lying in bed beside her snoozing girlfriend who was lying shirtless on her stomach, snoring softly and curled up against a pillow on the bed they were sharing in Tempest and Summer’s home.

Sunset stared at the smooth, dark skin of Gilda’s back, slowly reaching over to trace a pale amber finger down Gilda’s spine as she lost herself in thought.

‘How much of you am I missing, Gil?’ Sunset thought to herself as she sighed quietly, not wanting to disturb the slumbering beauty beside her.

Gilda and Tempest had been up til the wee hours talking and chatting, drinking and smoking the whole while. Sunset had been shocked at how many people had come in and out of the house over the course of the evening. All shapes, sizes, colors, and ages of folks had walked in just to stop by and say hi, most hadn’t even been aware that Gilda was in town much less that she and Sunset were staying with Tempest. At one point she recalled an older marexican woman coming in, leaving, then returning with an entire platter of fresh tamales.

It had easily been some of the best food Sunset had ever had, and she was counting her time in Equestria when she’d had access to the palace kitchens.

The warmth, the laughter… it all jarred with the images she had in her head of people who willingly engaged in a life of crime. Even as an orphan she had still been raised in the heart of Canterlot where crime was practically non-existent and vilified to the extreme. Once she had crossed over and gone ‘bad’ she still had never gone as far as to use physical violence on someone beyond shoving a nerd in a locker now and then. Something about the notion of truly hurting someone else was abhorrent to her sensibilities.

Knowing that she was surrounded by people who, very likely, had blood on their hands in numbers that cracked the double digits did not play well with those same sensibilities.

And yet…

“I still fell in love with you…” Sunset whispered, gently caressing Gilda’s back and feeling that familiar warmth in her heart as she did so. “I feel in love with a girl who…”

A chilling thought flickered through Sunset’s mind unbidden.

‘I wonder if Gilda ever killed anyone?’ Sunset bit her lip as the thought passed through her head and stuck fast like a leech. ‘Would it matter? Would it… make a difference? Would it change… us?’

A huge part of Sunset wanted to scream ‘yes’ but, the rest of her… ‘What does it mean if it does make a difference?’

“Why can’t my life ever be simple?” Sunset lamented quietly. “I can’t ever have the easy way in or out of anything, huh?”

‘And why would I want it that way?’ Sunset thought, a little more fiercely. ‘If I hadn’t had all of this crap happen to me then I’d never have met Gilda… there’s no way I’d give her up for any amount of ‘ease’ in my life.’

Gilda let out a cute snort and rolled over, flopping an arm over Sunset’s side and, as usual, curling around Sunset the instant Gilda came into contact with her. Sunset suppressed a giggle as Gilda sleepily cocooned herself around her girlfriend, burying her face in Sunset’s hair as she held the redhead tightly.

“You’re adorable,” Sunset said quietly, unable to keep from grinning like an idiot. “And I love you so much…”

Sunset closed her eyes and let her mind wander nowhere in particular as she let her slumbering girlfriend snooze.

At least, she did right up until Gilda started contentedly chewing on Sunset’s hair.

“Oh hell no,” Sunset groused as she peeled herself out of Gilda’s grip, reclaiming the now slightly soggy lock of hair Gilda had claimed. “That’s disgusting, baby,” Sunset said to the blissfully unaware Gilda.

Gilda responded by snorting again, rolling back over, grabbing a pillow that she resolutely began chewing on the corner of, and muttering something incoherent about ‘real ass bitches’.

Sunset clapped a hand over her mouth as she snorted out a laugh.

“Ugh… you’re lucky you’re so cute when you’re asleep or I’d flick your nose for trying to eat my hair.” Sunset said after a moment before reaching out and running a hand through Gilda’s hair. “Heh, you really are getting kinda shaggy…”

Sidling to the edge of the bed, Sunset reached out and pulled her chair closer, grabbing the clothes she tossed onto the seat of it. Getting dressed was a chore that Sunset never looked forward to, but it was certainly something she had come to terms with. It wasn’t as easy as it used to be and it never would be, but the way she was now was the new normal for her and, with Gilda’s help and support, she’d mostly gotten used to it.

It was early enough in the morning that the rest of the household, which consisted entirely of Tempest and Summer, were still asleep, but Sunset had always had a janky sleep schedule. Not wanting to go back to sleep, Sunset rolled towards the bathroom and got into the shower. Gilda had grabbed a plastic stool from somewhere to serve temporarily as a seat, though Tempest had promised to find something more permanent, probably hoping they’d come visit more often. Either way it was nice, the shower was bigger than Gilda’s so she had significantly less trouble than normal.

The warm water cascaded over Sunset’s face and shoulders as she hummed contentedly. Songs tumbled like droplets from her lips as she drifted from one musician to the next, though she consciously avoided anything she and the Rainbooms had played.

“What am I going to do?” Sunset mumbled, spitting out a mouthful of water as she did. “Do I even want to forgive them?”

Going through the process of scrubbing herself down, Sunset mused on the subject. Surprisingly, she found herself feeling a lot less vitriolic towards her ex-friends than she once did, Rainbow Dash notwithstanding.

The betrayal stung, sure, and Sunset considered the fact that it might always sting. Trust, once broken, was exceedingly hard to mend… she knew that one personally.

“Maybe I should give them a second chance…” Sunset said softly to herself as she cranked the water off and grabbed the towel that she set nearby on the counter. “I got one… even if it turned out to be a bit half-assed, it still gave me the chance to turn myself around… maybe…”

Sunset buried her face in the towel and groaned loudly. Gilda had been right, it would be a shitload easier to just cut ties with them. Ignore them forever, forget they ever existed, and just move on with her life. Live and let live… she didn’t have to hold a grudge but that didn’t mean she had to ever interact with them again, right? It would be easy to just… not do it.

“But isn’t that why I stayed?” Sunset grumbled, toweling herself dry before pulling on her underwear. “I stayed here because I didn’t want to have the easy excuse of transdimensional distance that would let me ignore all of this shit and here I am still trying to find fucking excuses…” Sunset grimaced as she pulled on her leggings and sweater. “Written’s Quill… it’s a good thing I stuck around, I apparently haven’t changed at fucking all when it comes to not wanting to do hard stuff.”

Settling into her chair, Sunset rolled out into the hallway towards the stairs, grumbling slightly as she stopped in front of them.

“Alright… time to give this a shot…” Sunset said quietly, cracking her knuckles and flexing her fingers. “Casting with hands is so weird… horns are much more efficient.”

Taking a deep breath, Sunset stretched out her arms and closed her eyes, concentrating on the flow of magic within her. It had been easier to access since her flare but there was still some distance. She certainly wasn’t up to par with what she used to be able to do back before she turned human.

Still, she had her magic… she’d been leery about using it on herself, though mostly because Sunset knew that it functioned differently in the human world than it did in Equestria.

Evening out her breathing, Sunset curled her fingers, feeling out the flows of magical energy around her and twisting them around her.

Sweat began to bead on her forehead as she dredged more and more magic from the air around her. Canterlot had a much stronger ambient magical field thanks to the bleedover effects from the portal and all of the magical shenanigans she and the girls had gotten up to.

Las Pegasus had no such benefit, so pulling in any kind of power from the area was like trying to squeeze water out of a rock.

“C’mon… c’mon…” Sunset groaned, before feeling a slight shift below her.

The wheels of her chair moved, driven by a telekinetic cushion she was creating on the wheels themselves, driving her forward towards the stairs. The moment of truth came a moment later as she tipped off the lip of the first step on the stairs, but rather than tilt all the way down to a disastrous fall, her chair stabilised on the artificial ramp she was creating using her telekinesis.

“Oh come on,” Sunset spat as her body started to shake from the metaphysical exhaustion. “You’re the best sorceress in a century, Shimmer, you can get yourself down a flight of fucking stairs!”

Her wheels turned slowly, buoyed by the kinetic cushion as she rolled past the halfway point. The dark part of her brain chuckled as she noted that at least if she fucked up now she probably wouldn’t fall far enough to break her neck. It wasn’t the fear of injury that was driving her though, it was mostly just anger and frustration. Sunset was sick to death of stopping at stairs and if she could manage going down just a single… stupid… flight…

“Got it!” Sunset let out a gasping breath as her chair thumped to the floor, free of her telekinetic control. “That was a lot harder than I was hoping it would be…”

There had been a reason she had used the old, and mostly out of style, method of runecrafting to serve as a containment barrier for her and Gilda’s practices. Imbuing magical energy into a stable object and letting it charge up like a battery was easy enough, same with spells that only required sudden bursts of energy, since she could supply that from her own wellspring.

But continuous spells? Anything that required a constant flow of magic was almost instantly a non-starter, Sunset had discovered. The ambient magical field of the world was getting stronger but it just wasn’t enough to keep any kind of complex spell matrix stable. In fact it was barely strong enough to maintain a basic telekinetic matrix. Runes served because they had a physical anchor, the rune was the matrix and so long as it remained whole and unbroken the spell would function.

Not everything could be runecast though. Telekinesis required constant micromanagement of power flow and output, direction, and a dozen other minute things that a rune simply lacked the complexity for. Sunset considered it a bit of an irony that the most basic spell that literally any unicorn in Equestria could use was almost completely out of reach for her on earth, but she could totally build a fully functional magical containment cell if she needed to.

“I barely managed to maneuver myself in a straight line,” Sunset grumbled as she rolled towards the door. “I used to be able to make boulders do backflips.”

Opening up the door, Sunset rolled out into the cool morning air of Las Pegasus. True to form it still had the telltale stink of smog that seemed to cloud everything around the area. A kind of metal, chemical smell that made the former unicorn’s nose itch. Even Detrot wasn’t as bad as this and it was the industrial heart of Equestria.

It made Sunset really leery about ever visiting this world’s version of the city.

“Yo! Que onda, chica?”

Sunset turned to see Bar Hop waving from the street, a messenger bag slung over his shoulder.

“Morning, Hop,” Sunset called back with a small smile.

Bar Hop was one of those who had gone the extra mile to try and make Sunset feel welcome. Sunset suspected a part of it was because he knew how uncomfortable she was around the rest of Gilda’s ‘family’. He acted as a bit of an ambassador, and Sunset did like him.

It was just that… little hang up she had.

“What are you doing up so early?” Sunset asked, rolling carefully down the steps of the porch and just accepting the bumps rather than risking giving herself a migraine to float down them.

“Eh, ain’t early, chica, it’s late,” Hop replied with a grin. “Can’t be early if ya ain’t been t’sleep yet.”

“Big project?” Sunset asked wryly.

Bar Hop shrugged. “Yeah, you could say that… just doin’ some taggin’ and it’s best t’get that shit done at night, y’know?”

“Tagging? You mean graffiti?” Sunset asked, rolling up to his side.

“Somethin’ like that,” Bar Hop replied, holding out his bag. Sunset could smell the chemical paints from a few feet away and when she looked in she saw it was filled to the brim with different cans of spray paint. “We tag our territory, then some greenhorns from another gang’ll tag over it to prove they hot shit, y’know? Then we gotta tag it all over again.”

“Sounds annoying,” Sunset replied with a chuckle.

Bar Hop shook his head. “More like a test, y’know? Real dangerous one, maybe, but it’s still sorta like a test. Like, ‘how far can y’push your luck before the other gang wises up’ right?”

“Sounds a little too benign,” Sunset retorted wryly.

“Eh… yeah,” Bar Hop rubbed the back of his head and chuckled. “Well, y’know… tag in the wrong part’a town… go too deep inta another gangs turf… yeah…. Definitely gonna get got, y’know?”

“Thought so…” Sunset replied, trailing off as she glanced up at the window of her and Gilda’s room.

Sunset shifted in surprise as a hand settled on her shoulder and she looked up at Bar Hop who was grinning down at her. “Hey, c’mon, chica… ain’t that bad… this life ain’t f’everyone… hell, this life ain’t f’anyone who wants t’live a long life, y’know? S’good that Gilda got outta it when she could.”

“Did she?” Sunset asked, directing her gaze up at Hop. “Did she get out? Because as far as I can tell nothing about this life has left her… she just, I dunno, got some distance on it by moving to Canterlot… and then it friggin’ followed her there!”

Bar Hop sighed, but nodded. “Yeah… truth is… once y’in this life it’s pretty hard to get outta it f’good, y’know? Always someone y’knew in the old days poppin’ up, I guess.” Sunset nodded, remembering Tempest’s sudden appearance. “But…” Bar Hop continued, “nice thing is that if you’re ever in that spot… y’got a family t’turn to, y’know? Y’always got someone willin’ t’take ya in.”

“Yeah… family…” Sunset said in a low voice. “Family is overrated.”

“Bullshit, cielito, even you don’t believe that,” Bar Hop scoffed, drawing a glare from Sunset.

“Excuse me?!” Sunset snapped. “Who the hell are you to tell me what I believe?”

Bar Hop chuckled, holding up his hands as he laughed. “Hey, don’t bite my head off, I’m just callin’ it like it is, chica. ‘Cause anyone who really thought family was overrated wouldn’t be tryin’ t’start one, y’know?”

Bar Hop looked pointedly down at Sunset’s right hand, specifically the finger where a little copper band gleamed in the early morning sunlight. Sunset blushed vividly as she clenched her fingers closed, her left hand coming up to fidget with the small band nervously.

“Ain’t ‘zactly keepin’ it secret,” Hop said with a small laugh. “Wouldn’t even need t’see the ring to see how ya feel ‘bout Gilda, though, y’know?”

“Yeah… I guess so,” Sunset said after a moment of silence. “Family… it’s a loaded word for me, is all, savvy?”

“Fair enough,” Hop replied. “So why ya havin’ such a problem with us, ‘eh? This ain’t about Gilda, right, this ‘bout us… you’n me and all the other Brujah. Is it ‘cause we’re bangers?”

Sunset grimaced at the direct question. Normally she preferred direct, it made reacting a lot simpler. In this case, though, it was… problematic. Was it just because they were bangers? The ‘criminal element’? Something that Sunset had tried to avoid falling into for a long time… something that she didn’t want to be a part of because it didn’t fit with the person she wanted to be.

A good person.

Except… ‘Gilda is the best person I’ve ever known,’ Sunset thought to herself, glancing back up at the window. ‘What kind of heinous bitch am I that I… devalue that? Just because of where she was raised… and where she grew up.’

“It’s like a blockage in my head,” Sunset said finally. “Like every time I try to get my head around the facts there’s that asshole part of me that kicks me in the teeth and says ‘but they’re criminals’ and shit like that. I hate it, and I know it’s wrong but…”

“Hey, I get it,” Hop said with a chuckle. “Ain’t no different from us, y’know? I look at you and it’s kinda hard t’see anything but a prissy princess, but… I dunno, I trust Gilda right? Like, I don’t think Gilda’d fall head over fuckin’ heels for someone who’d look down on’er.”

“So that’s it?” Sunset asked wryly. “Just ‘trust Gilda’?”

“Nah,” Hop answered, waving a hand dismissively. “If that’d work I figure ya wouldn’ta had the issue in the first place, y’know? Hey… I got an idea… I ain’t crashin’ yet, let’s go taggin’.”

Sunset’s jaw dropped open at the offer as Bar Hop started digging around the pack he was carrying and tossed her a few cans of paint. “C’mon chica, let’s getcha feet wet, maybe show ya ‘round.”

“Get my feet wet with what?” Sunset said with a slightly nervous laugh, looking down at the two cans of spray paint in her hands. “A little light vandalism?”

“Yup,” Hop replied with a shameless grin. “And ‘sides, ain’t really vandalism, y’know? I see it like a public service, y’know? Brighten up all that gray-ass concrete.”

Bar Hop gestured towards the city and around the neighborhood. It was true, Sunset mused, that without the riotous splashes of color from the graffiti that was on almost every surface she could spy, the area would be almost oppressively dull. Glancing one more time back up at the window where Gilda was snoozing, Sunset smiled.

‘Maybe it’s time I really take a step into Gilda’s world…’ Sunset thought, before turning back to Hop.

“Y’know… sure,” Sunset said with a laugh. “I always did like painting anyway.”

“That’s the spirit, cielito,” Hop crowed, backpedaling and gesturing for Sunset to follow him. “C’mon, let’s go paint the town!”

Gilda opened her eyes, the dull cloying warmth of the afternoon sun making the siren call of the bed all the louder. Yawning and closing her eyes to settle back into slumber, Gilda rolled over, blindly reaching for the other half of her world.

Her arms closed on nothing, and Gilda frowned. Opening her eyes again, Gilda scanned the room. It was empty of both redhead and wheelchair, as was the other side of the bed where Sunset had gone to sleep beside her the night before.

Morning before…

“Ugh… guess we did stay up pretty late,” Gilda grumbled as she peeled herself out of bed, sweat from the warm day covering her body.

Staring down at the empty space of the bed, Gilda felt a shiver run down her spine and pit open in her stomach. She didn’t like that… not one bit; waking up to an empty bed felt downright awful. A shudder ran through Gilda’s frame as she felt an alien sensation kick up inside her.

Fear.

“S-Sunshine?” Gilda called out, and Gilda hated the way her voice hitched.

There was no answer to her call. Feeling a touch of panic spark through her limbs like electricity Gilda got out of bed and dressed quickly, only paying close enough attention to ensure her clothes were the right way ‘round and she didn’t end up trying to put on a sweater instead of trousers.

“Hey, Sunny!” Gilda called stepping out of the room and looking around. Again, there was no sign of her. “Sunny!”

A bell rang in the distance, and Gilda scowled. It sounded odd, like an old church bell almost. Not that you’d be able to hear something like that over all the traffic and shouting that made up most of South Central…

Gilda’s eyes widened slightly as her ears perked up.

The traffic… the shouting…

It was gone.

There was just silence… Gilda felt a sliver of real fear fix hard in her heart as she looked around in a panic. There was no sound at all but her own footsteps, her own heartbeat that thundered in her ears.

“Sunshine!” Gilda yelled, her voice echoing strangely in the air around her as the bell tolled again, this time it was closer.

Gilda scrambled through the house, checking every room on the second floor only to be greeted by the same sight. Empty chairs, empty tables, empty beds. She stumbled down the stairs, looking around in a panic, the living room was empty, the kitchen was too. The oven was cold and there was only the faint buzzing of the fluorescent lights that needed changing to break the absolute silence. There was no one in the house, there was no sound outside, there was… nothing.

Limbs shaking, Gilda swallowed hard and called out again. “S-Sunflower? C’mon… where are you?”

Her voice was weak and quavered as Gilda moved through the empty hall to the front door. She felt like a child, Gilda shook as she reached for the door.

“You… y’promised you wouldn’t ever leave me,” Gilda sobbed softly, wiping at her eyes that had begun to leak tears, much to her frustration. “Where are-”

The door handle ripped out of Gilda’s hand, causing her to stagger back, a cry of shock on her lips as she fell to her ass on the ground. The door slammed open and Gilda’s eyes flew wide as she stared up at the towering figure of her foster father. Thunder and lightning cracked and boomed outside of the house as the air was suddenly filled with the smell of rain and stink of ozone.

Those ice-blue chips that were Storm’s eyes bored into Gilda as she shook violently under his gaze.

Something crackled and choked in his hands, and Gilda finally tore her eyes from Storm’s face to look down.

Sunset struggled in vain in his grip. Storm’s broad, heavy hand fastened firmly around her throat, choking the life out of her almost casually as his arms hung by his side. Sunset thrashed and a dry, dark chuckle escaped Storms lips as he stalked forward towards Gilda.

“Let her go!” Gilda voice's sounded cracked and weak.

“I’ll ‘appen I can manage that, sprog,” Storm said in a laughing tone, before throwing Sunset’s screaming form to Gilda’s feet.

Gilda scrambled to her knees to try and catch her, but Sunset clattered to the ground inches from Gilda’s hands, choking, battered, and with a bruised neck, her legs sprawled uselessly behind her. A wordless cry of grief escaped her lips as she moved to Sunset’s side.

“Ey up, sprog.”

Gilda glanced up in time to see the barrel of a gun pointed straight at her.

No, not at her. It was several inches too low… it was pointed at-

The gun barked and jerked, Gilda screamed, and in the distance a bell tolled.

“SUNSET!” Gilda shrieked, kicking and snapping her limbs before jerking to the side and falling roughly out of bed with a dull thump.

Tangled in the bedsheets, breathing hard, and staring up at the ceiling as she lay on her back, Gilda gasped for breath, shaking violently as the world came back into focus for her. Tears traced down Gilda’s cheeks to her lips and she tasted salt on her tongue. Her hand closed hard around the sheets before rising up to cover her face as she let out a harsh, wracking sob.

The door to their bedroom creaked open, but Gilda was far too gone to notice. She only realised she was no longer alone when a warm pair of arms wrapped around her shoulders and pulled her in to a close embrace.

“Hey now, sha,” Summer’s voice whispered lightly. “You a’right, Gil? C’mon… talk t’me.”

Gilda couldn’t speak, her whole body was shaking as she gripped Summer tightly and sobbed into her shoulder.

“Dem night terrors again, sha?” Summer asked softly. “Thought you was past’em, hon.”

Shaking her head silently, Gilda hugged Summer tight. “D-Dreamt’a Sunset… dyin’... it was so fuckin’ real… I felt’er… felt’er jerk when the gunshot hit’er… Pops… he was standin’ over us laughin’.”

“Oh darlin’,” Summer said softly. “S’okay… y’pops still rottin’ in jail right where he belongs, an’ ya jeina is jus’ fine, ah promise.”

At the mention of Sunset, Gilda looked up and around. A stab of panic shot through her as she failed to spy the tell-tale red flash of hair she was looking for. Her ragged nerves rattled as she staggered drunkenly out of Summer’s grip.

“Sunset!” Gilda cried, moving with stumbling footfalls only to be caught by another set of arms, muscular and strong.

“Tranquila!” Tempest said as she gripped Gilda by her shoulders. “Sunset is out with Bar Hop in town, she’s fine, we spoke less than an hour ago.”

Gilda took several gulping breaths, blinking away tears as she tried to push away the panic. For some reason it wouldn’t go away.

“She… she left?” Gilda asked. “W-why?”

Tempest crooked an eyebrow curiously. “Boredom? Call of nature? You’ve been asleep most of the day, Grifa, it’s almost three in the afternoon.”

“I…” Gilda looked out the window, relaxing a little, enough that Tempest let go of her. “I didn’t… fuck, what the hell’s wrong with me?”

Bringing a hand up to cover her face as she took several deep breaths. Ever since the two of them had spoken to Storm Gilda had barely left Sunset’s side. Now that Sunset had gone out it was like her brain wouldn’t calm down. Her nerves were rattling and her heart was thundering.

Tempest and Summer shared an uneasy look as Gilda stepped back and dropped onto the bed as she buried her face in her hands.

“H-Hey, sha…” Summer walked over and sat beside Gilda, putting an arm over her shoulder. “Since ya’ll came back from San Tornado ya’aint hardly let Sunset outta ya sight… maybe… maybe dey’s a reason f’that?”

Gilda shrugged Summer’s arm off of her shoulders and stood, forcing herself to calm down before looking back at Summer.

“Sunny’s a big girl,” Gilda shot back, scowling. “She don’t need me t’hold’er hand, savvy? If she wants to go out’n see the city a bit it ain’t a problem.”

Pushing past Summer and Tempest, grabbing a change of clothes she’d left on the top of the dresser as she did, Gilda stalked down the hall to the shower. Her whole body was slick with cold sweat and she wanted it off of her. It reminded her of the dream she had just had and… she wanted to feel clean.

Slamming the bathroom door shut, Gilda cranked the hot water on and tossed the clothes onto the counter before dropping to the floor, breathing hard as her limbs shook.

“What… what th’fuck is wrong with me?” Gilda gasped.

Her whole body was buzzing, pins and needles danced across her extremities such that she could hardly feel her own limbs and her vision was tunneling. No matter what she couldn’t get that last image out of her mind, the last sight she had before waking up.

Sunset lying still, bleeding out her last in Gilda’s lap, a bullet hole in the back of her skull, and Storm cackling over the both of them.

Gilda’s stomach heaved and she scrambled for the toilet, retching into it as her body violently rejected the image. Breathing hard, Gilda leaned against the rim of the toilet, her head braced against the cool porcelain as warm mist filled the bathroom. For a few minutes she stayed where she was, feeling a little better, but still rattled.

After she’d collected her nerves, Gilda stood and peeled off her sleep pants before stepping into the shower, hissing as the hot water scoured away the sweat that was plastered across her body. Normally a hot shower, even a short one, helped her relax, but Gilda’s brain wouldn’t stop buzzing like an insistent alarm, a reminder, and a constant tugging drive that all repeated the same thing.

Find Sunset.

“Fuck it,” Gilda snapped, scrubbing herself clean hastily before stepping out of the shower, shivering in the cooler air, before rapidly drying herself off and pulling on her jeans, sweater, and socks.

A moment later Gilda was out of the bathroom and down the stairs, her towel still draped over her damp, shaggy white hair as she stopped at the bottom step and started pulling on her socks with her boots following quickly.

“Hey! Where ya goin’, Grifa?” Tempest leaned over the railing on the second floor, looking down at Gilda. “Ya ain’t even eaten yet.”

“I’ll get somethin’ from a cart,” Gilda shouted. “I’m goin’ t’find Sunshine!”

Tempest grimaced. “C’mon Grifa, y’jeina’s just fine!”

“Do I sound like I fuckin’ care?” Gilda retorted angrily as she stood, knocking her heels against the floor to straighten out her boot. “I’ll call ya later!”

Tossing the towel aside, Gilda was out the door like a silver flash, the old motions of her running coming back to her quickly and easily. Skipping over the porch stairs and landing on the grass yard, knees bent and body angled forward, Gilda kicked off against the ground, keeping her momentum powering her straight.

Part of her considered taking her bike, but she had no idea precisely where in town Sunset was. That and she didn’t want to park in the town itself, that was like asking someone to steal her ride. It was safe in the ‘hood, but that rule pretty much ended with the street that Summer and Tempest lived on.

So instead Gilda hit the pavement like a hammer, her boots beating hard against the sidewalk as she sprinted towards town. Even after all the years she’d spent away, South Central hadn’t changed all that much. She knew the streets, alleys, and bends just as well today as she did four years ago. There were probably a few changes, but Gilda didn’t anticipate much. Nothing really got fixed in this godforsaken town, not unless some rich asshole was gonna profit off of it.

Gilda pulled her phone from her pocket as the neighborhood blurred past her, shooting a quick text to Bar Hop in the old shorthand code the King’s runners used to keep in contact; a quick request for location and status.

A moment later, Gilda’s phone gave a sharp ‘ding’ as Bar Hop replied. Scanning the scramble of letters, Gilda smiled; they weren’t far… right on the edge of Brujah territory and a place that used to be major King’s stomping ground. A place that both Gilda and Hop knew well enough that no one would get the drop on them. Taking a hard right down an alley, Gilda sprinted at the chain link fence at the end of the alley, kicking up and rebounding off of the wall, Gilda vaulted and rolled over the top of the fence, her body missing the teeth of the links by inches as she coiled her body to embrace the impact of her landing.

Hitting the ground and rotating to bleed out her downward force, Gilda turned and kicked off again, sprinting down the sideroad and towards the small back-alley that Bar Hop had reported as their location.

Throughout the run, Gilda could only focus on one thing; Sunset. Up until the point where she had taken off at a dead sprint out the door to find Sunset, Gilda’s whole body had been practically vibrating with nervous energy. Once she was on her way to where she knew Sunset was she suddenly felt right.

Or at least she felt better.

“What the fuck is wrong with me,” Gilda muttered again as she turned a corner, scanning the streets for tags or marks that would suggest she’d stepped onto the wrong sort of street. Spying a Brujah mark, she nodded to herself and continued on. “Why am I so fuckin’ nuts over this shit? Sunset is fine… she’s just fuckin’ fine…”

No matter how much she repeated it to herself it was like Gilda’s brain wouldn’t accept it. Nothing short of seeing Sunset in person, holding her close, drowning the fear in the scent of lilacs and cherries, would do.

Despite her anger at herself for what she knew was indulging a stupid, pointless action, Gilda couldn’t help but smile as she spotted the alley that Bar Hop and Sunset were supposedly occupying. As she approached she could hear the telltale sound of a spray can being unloaded in copious amounts. Before she could reach the mouth of the alley, though, Bar Hop stepped out, looking around for a moment before spotting Gilda and trotting up to her.

“Yo, Gil!” Hop waved Gilda down, grinning. “You okay girl?”

“Y-yeah,” Gilda gasped, suddenly realising how out of breath she was. She’d crossed multiple neighborhoods in the span of ten minutes, and Gilda only realised that her body was not used to that speed anymore as her vision doubled. “Woah, shit… I’m way outta fuckin’ shape.”

“Heh, been a minute, ‘ey Grifa?” Hop laughed, clapping Gilda on the back as she leaned on her knees and took deep breaths. “Still fast as shit, though… you run all the way from Temp’s place?”

“Yeah… where… where’s Sunshine?” Gilda asked, looking around and trying to keep her nerves from showing on her face.

Bar Hop silently cocked a thumb over his shoulder. “Oh man, you gotta see this shit, Grifa… I thought I was good but damn, y’wife is somethin’ else.”

Gilda blushed furiously as she stood, and swatted Bar Hop across the shoulder. “We ain’t married yet, y’fuck.”

“Heh, don’t matter t’us, Gil,” Bar Hop laughed as he turned to walk back to the alley, gesturing for Gilda to follow. “Everyone’s already callin’er y’wife, anyway. They way y’act ‘round’er? C’mon Gil, s’all over the ‘hood a’ready, y’feel?”

“Godammit,” Gilda spat sullenly. “Ain’t like it’s any’a their fuckin’ business, savvy?”

“C’mon, Gil,” Hop admonished, nudging his shoulder against hers. “We’re y’family… we just want ya t’be happy, and Sunset? Seems like she makes ya real happy… s’a good thing.”

“Ugh… yeah, I know,” Gilda groaned as she got to the mouth of the alley only to be stopped by Bar Hop. “Oy, if you’re stoppin’ me from seein’ my ‘wife’ y’gonna loose that hand, Hop.”

“Nah, nah, ain’t like that,” Hop laughed. “Just… y’know, don’t distact’er, she’s somethin’ else, like I said… look.”

Gilda took a few steps forward and followed Bar Hop’s finger as he pointed down the alley. Gilda’s eyes widened as she spotted what he was talking about. Halfway down the alley sat Sunset, a black ball cap on her head and a black bandana tied around her mouth and nose to protect her from the fumes of the cans.

Gilda’s eyes widened; if she hadn’t known who she was looking at she would’ve thought it was a member of the Brujah. Sunset’s fingers were stained slightly with various colors of paint, droplets splattered her shirt, bandana, and hat, and a cigarette hung, smoldering and half-forgotten, tucked behind her ear.

The work in front of Sunset was what really distracted Gilda though. It was as good as any veteran tagger’s work. A tree stretched out across the full gray wall, it’s branches curling and twisting. Hanging from the largest branches like odd fruit were symbols.

A musical clef with a shining orange gem superimposed over it.

A royal purple treble clef.

A set of mirrored and bridged eighth notes.

A fretboard backed by a stylized heart.

And at the trunk of the tree, done in much greater detail and size, was a symbol that Gilda recognised easily. The same one that had ended up etched onto the back of her gauntlets.

A downward-thrust spear, with wings stretched out from where the blade met the haft, arching upward along the length of the weapon to curl around a sun that had been divided in two halves, one red and one gold.

“Buen chido, ‘ey Grifa?” Hop said with a chuckle, nudging Gilda in the side as she stared slackjawed at the work of art in front of her.

“How th’fuck…” Gilda muttered.

“Toldja she was a natural,” Hop replied with a laugh.

Gilda just shook her head. “Nah, I ain’t surprised… my Sunshine’s pretty much good at everything, I mean literally how the fuck did she paint all the way up there?”

Bar Hop followed Gilda’s finger to where she pointed up to the higher parts of the tree, the tip of which was almost to the roof of the building she was painting on; over nine feet high.

“Ah. yeah…” Bar Hop chuckled a little uneasily. “Watchin’ that part was freaky as hell, man, you gotta let her show ya that one.” Without warning, Hop yawned massively, stretching his arms and rolling his shoulders. “A’right, well, since I figure ya’aint leavin’ anytime soon I’m gonna head home’n crash out, Gil, just make sure y’wife brings my paints back, nos vemos.”

“Chau,” Gilda muttered absently as Bar Hop clapped a hand on her back before taking off down the street.

Slowly, Gilda walked up to Sunset’s side as she was examining a part of the trees roots, occasionally spraying to fill in some part of it that Gilda couldn’t properly appreciate. She was standing to the side of Sunset for nearly five minutes before it occurred to Gilda that Sunset probably didn’t even know she was-

“Hand me the Tiffany Blue, Hop,” Sunset said absently, her voice muffled slightly by the bandana as she held out a hand and gestured without looking back.

Gilda chuckled, raising an eyebrow as she glanced down at the messenger bag at her feet. Fishing around for a moment, she pulled out two cans of blue paint that were slightly different shades. Hazarding a guess, Gilda held out one of the cans and set it in Sunset’s hand. She lifted it up and almost started spraying before stopping and scowling down at the can.

“That’s Argo, Hop,” Sunset grumbled before starting to turn. “I said Ti-”

“Yeah well, I can’t read that great, remember?” Gilda retorted, holding back a laugh as Sunset let out a strangled ‘eep’ of surprise before her face lit up an instant later.

“GIL!” Sunset cried out, pulling the bandana away and tossing the can back into the bag as she turned her chair around to roll over towards her girlfriend.

She needn’t have bothered, though. Gil surged forward and swept Sunset up in her arms, pulling her close and burying her face in Sunset’s shoulder before taking a deep breath. Sunset returned the embrace; a pang of worry shot through her, though, as she felt Gilda’s whole body release a massive amount of tension a moment later.

“Gil? Are you okay?” Sunset asked, pulling away slightly.

Gilda didn’t answer for several minutes, instead she just knelt, her head resting on Sunset’s shoulder and taking deep breaths.

She hadn’t properly realised it before but now that she was next to Sunset again, now that Gilda had Sunset in her arms, it was like her whole body had been on fire a moment ago and now she was back to normal. Her heart wasn’t slamming against her ribcage, her brain wasn’t buzzing and crackling, her hands weren’t tingling with pins and needles.

Everything was right again.

And everything was wrong.

“Somethin’s wrong with me, Sunshine,” Gilda muttered, pulling away as she spoke and dropping down to sit cross-legged on the filthy pavement. “Woke up today and… and I nearly had a fuckin’ heart attack when I couldn’t find ya.”

Sunset's eyes widened and Gilda could hear the desperate apology form on her lips. Before she could say anything, Gilda waved it away.

“Don’t say y’sorry, babe,” Gilda snapped, grimacing a little at how harshly her words had come out. “Shit… sorry, I just… look, babe, it ain’t your fault ya got bored and didn’t wanna wait for my lazy ass to crawl outta bed, savvy? Y’fine, a’right? You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Then what’s wrong?” Sunset asked, rolling a little closer so she could reach out and tangle her fingers into Gilda’s hair.

Gilda leaned into Sunset’s touch, closing her eyes and taking comfort in the feel of her girlfriend’s fingers trailing delicately along her temple and scalp.

“Dunno,” Gilda answered, eyes still closed. “Had a nightmare… real fuckin’ bad one… Pops tracked us down, he found ya… and he k-... k-...”

Gilda choked on the word, clenching her eyelids as the memory surged back into the forefront of her mind. Pulling away from Sunset, Gilda buried her face in her hands and shook, letting out a slow, painful breath.

“He made me watch…” Gilda said, her voice muffled. “He made me watch him hurt ya… and… fuck… it felt so fuckin’ real.”

Gilda’s only warning was a slight shifting from Sunset’s direction and quick ‘hup’ as Sunset heaved herself from her chair and landed squarely in Gilda’s lap, earning a startled shout of surprise. Before she could get any more out, though, Sunset wrapped her arms around Gilda’s neck and pulled herself up to press her lips to Gilda’s in a passionate kiss.

Sunset’s lips curved into a smile against Gilda’s as she felt Gilda melt into her, wrapping her arms gently around Sunset’s back and bringing a hand up to cradle her head.

After a few minutes, Gilda pulled away smiling and stood up, cradling Sunset in her arms.

“Hey there pretty lady,” Gilda said with a small chuckle in her voice.

Sunset grinned smugly up at Gilda, leaning in to give Gilda’s jawline a small peck. “Hey there…” Sunset replied.

“Sorry, I’m kinda wimping out on ya,” Gilda said quietly, walking over to Sunset’s chair and depositing her in it. “S’not like me…”

“I’ve told you before, Gil,” Sunset said, frowning slightly as she reached up and trailed her fingers across Gilda’s cheek, “you never, ever have to be ashamed of being ‘weak’ around me, remember? And for the record, it’s not weakness.”

“Then what is it?” Gilda grumbled, scowling sullenly. “I fuckin’ threw up ‘cause I was so messed up by that nightmare.”

“And that’s alright!” Sunset declared almost angrily. “You’re allowed to be scared, Gil! You’re afraid something might happen to me, right?” Sunset asked and Gilda gave a small nod. “Well good, because I’m scared too! I’m scared something will happen to you!”

Some of the wind went out of Sunset as she sagged slightly, staring down at the dirty concrete and frowning.

“Babe?” Gilda looked down at Sunset with concern, reaching out to tangle her fingers in Sunset’s red and gold locks.

“It’s just…”

Sunset considered just ignoring it, but pushed that notion away almost immediately. She’d spent too long ignoring how she felt about things and even longer not talking about it. Taking a deep breath, Sunset looked up at Gilda, fixing her gaze on Gilda’s bright golden eyes.

“Gilda… I should be the one you’re alright being weak around, y’know?” Sunset said softly. “Remember… remember our, uh, our first night ‘together’?”

Gilda blushed furiously and clammed up, but nodded.

“You told me you couldn’t lose me,” Sunset said quietly, fidgeting with her fingers, gripping and rubbing her hands together as she tried to work through her words. “You said you didn’t know what you’d ever do if I was ever just… not there one day, y’know?”

“Y-Yeah…” Gilda said in a subdued voice. “Every time I think’a you bein’ gone it… it fuckin’ kills me, Sunshine…”

“Well how do you think I feel?!” Sunset asked, tears starting to form in her eyes. “Your foster father is a psychopath and he basically raised your sister to hate you, so how do you think I feel about all of this ‘poking the hornet’s nest’ crap we’re doing?!”

“I know! A’right?! I know!” Gilda exclaimed, backing up and running her hands through her hair as she groaned with frustration. “I fuckin’ know it, Sunflower, but I can’t leave this alone, savvy? It’s my baby sister!”

“And I’m not asking you to,” Sunset responding, rolling forward and knocking a few cans of paint over. “I’m asking you to stop beating yourself up over the fact that you have normal feelings! Don’t you get it? That’s not you!”

“I’m me, Sunshine!” Gilda snapped, glaring at Sunset. “If it ain’t me then who is it?”

“Storm!”

Gilda flinched back at the single word that came out of Sunset’s mouth. Every inch of her brain wanted to clap back that it wasn’t Storm, that no part of her was Storm, but she knew that would be a lie. Even as Gilda started to refute it, she knew, but…

“Fuck…” Gilda swore, “why’s every fuckin’ thing about me gotta come back to that crazy asshole…”

“I’ts not everything,” Sunset said, rolling closer and taking Gilda’s hands. “Your love? That’s not Storm… that’s you. You and me? That happened because of you. You’re brave, kind, loyal… you’re incredible, Gilda, and I love you so much, but…” Sunset sighed, “I think I’m starting to see where some of your bad habits came from…”

Gilda nodded, wrapping her arms around herself and sighing. “I fuckin’ hate that… thinkin’ like some part’a me still… still listens to’im, y’know?”

“I know,” Sunset said, leaning back in her chair. “But it doesn’t make you less of a good person, it’s just… I dunno, something to get past, maybe?”

“Yeah, savvy,” Gilda agreed, stepping around Sunset’s chair to grab Bar Hop’s paints. “C’mon… we should head back.”

“Oh, wait, before we do I wanna show you something!” Sunset exclaimed, reaching out for the bag.

Gilda forked it over and Sunset dug around inside it until she pulled out a can of spray paint that was nearly teal. Pulling the bandana back up over her face, Sunset rolled towards the wall and gestured for Gilda to follow. Gilda obliged, stopping just behind Sunset as the redhead angled the can up.

Gilda scowled; she’d done her fair share of tagging and although she wasn’t particularly good at it even she knew you never fired the can upwards. All that ever did was give you a face full of paint… that was basic physics and Sunset had to know that.

So Gilda didn’t interfere. Sunset had to know what would happen so Gilda waited, watching closely.

Sure enough, just as Sunset's finger settled on the nozzle valve her left hand rose up adjacent to the can and moreover, it was limned in a faint, eldritch light. At the same moment that SUnset pressed down on the nozzle, she flicked her other hand and the cone of paint, rather than spraying outwards wildly, shot out in a focused line of paint. Sunset made several sharp movement as the paint emerged, and Gilda watched as the paint struck the wall perfectly to fill in the faint gaps and uneven parts she hadn’t even realised were there until Sunset fixed them.

“Well that’s one way t’use your magic, Sunflower,” Gilda said with a wry grin as Sunset pulled the bandana down from her face and grinned back up at Gilda. “Huh, who’da guess: Sunset Shimmer… tagger.”

“Eh… I was thinking more like… Graffiti Artist, y’know?” Sunset said with a laugh as she tucked away the last of the paints. “I’ll have to pick up some paints of my own now, though.”

“Gonna keep the hobby goin’?” Gilda asked, an eyebrow raised in surprise.

Sunset just shrugged and laughed a little. “Probably…” Sunset looked thoughtful for a moment before smiling more mischievously this time. “Say, Gil… the area around our flat is awfully gray, don’t you think?”

Gilda stared for several moments down at Sunset before bursting out laughing, shaking her head in disbelief as she held onto her ribs.

“Whatever you say, Sunshine,” Gilda said with a smile after getting her breath back. “Just don’t get arrested, savvy?”

“Haven’t caught me yet, babe,” Sunset shot back with a grin.

“Shit!”

Electricity snapped and sparked off of the apparatus that Twilight and Zee had constructed several days ago that, theoretically, should have allowed them to analyse the gauntlets on a deeper level than before but had proven to be a spectacular, and expensive, failure. Twilight recoiled, glaring at her singed fingers as she staggered back, shaking her hand and sticking the burnt digits in her mouth.

“Damn it, that’s four hundred and twelve failed trials,” Twilight mumbled angrily around her finger, glaring at the pair of gauntlets that had been defying the efforts of both herself and Zee for over a week. “What are you?!”

Ever since she had started spending all of her free time with Zee, Twilight had expanded her vocabulary immensely, mostly in the form of curses and expletives both colorful and mundane. The work on the gauntlets had been a point of massive frustration, as every single angle of approach they took seemed to result in less than nothing, necessitating constant repairs to their equipment with almost nothing to show for it beyond discovering a new way that the belligerent old pieces of armored outerwear could electrocute them.

“C’mon, lass, y’talkin’ t’the metal again,” Zee said from her computer chair, chuckling a little as she spun around and leaned back so she was looking at Twilight upside-down. “Y’gonna burn y’self out at this rate, our lass…”

Twilight tensed, biting her lip to keep down her first response at Zee’s blithe commentary. It was a constant with the slender girl; Zee was a sardonic person by nature and her caustic humor bled over into almost everything. With that being said, over the almost two weeks that they’d been together Twilight could honestly say she had never been happier.

She had also never wanted to regularly strangle someone more.

“Well excuse me for wanting to finish up our life of crime as soon as possible!” Twilight snapped in annoyance, before turning back to the apparatus, grabbing the soldering iron she had begun keeping near it for spot repairs. “Unlike you, apparently!”

Zee narrowed her eyes at Twilight’s tone, spinning back around to face Twilight as she stood up from her chair, stalking over to where Twilight had turned her back to Zee.

Angled away as she was, Twilight missed the flash of green and black that sparked over Zee’s eyes, and the faint hint of dark mist that slipped out from beneath her eyelids as she scowled.

“‘Ey, don’t you fuckin’ talk t’me like that, pet,” Zee growled as she stomped up to Twilight who was ignoring her to work the machine. “Hey!’” Zee grabbed Twilight by the shoulder and spun her around. “I said don’t talk t’me like that!”

Twilight flinched back for a moment as Zee squared her shoulders and loomed purposefully over the shorter girl, her brow furrowed in anger and her eyes blazing. The moment of fear lasted only that, a moment, before Twilight pushed Zee back with a scowl.

“I’m trying to save your dad!” Twilight said, biting back the urge to yell. “So I’m sorry if I interrupted your important work of spinning around in a chair with your thumb up your a-”

SMACK

Twilight’s face jerked to the side as Zee’s hand crossed her cheek; an instant later black and green sparks snapped across Twilight's eyes as well as she stared off to the side in shock before slowly turning back to glare up at Zee.

The stunned expression on Twilight’s face lasted all of a second before…

SMACK

Zee stared down at Twilight with wide eyes, the small reddening spot on her cheek stinging from where Twilight had returned her slap. The furious, lavender-haired girl was meeting Zee’s gaze, looking indignantly up at her.

In an instant, all of the frustration that Zee had been pushing down at their lack of progress snapped up to the fore as she let out a wordless yell of rage, grabbing Twilight by the wrist and throwing her to the side of the living room.

Crashing to the floor, Twilight snarled and swept a hand down to grab a defunct hard drive they’d discarded days ago after an unfortunate electrical encounter had bricked it.

“Fuck you!” Twilight screamed.

She threw the heavy chunk of metal at Zee who let out a squawk of alarm, crossing her arms in front of her face as the angled metal struck her, the edge biting hard enough into her arm to draw blood and forcing her to stagger back. A hard impact to her stomach took the wind out of her as Twilight tackled Zee, ramming her head into Zee’s gut and sending them both tumbling to the ground.

“Fuckin’ slag!” Zee swore, grabbing Twilight by her hair and wrenching her to the side, tossing her to the ground at Zee’s side.

Letting out a scream of rage, Twilight grabbed another piece of useless equipment and swung it around as Zee scrambled to her feet only to get the clocked hard across the shoulder by the metal strut Twilight had seized on, dropping to the ground hard.

Twilight barely managed to get to her knees before Zee’s hand came up to grab her by the side of the head, dragging Twilight upward as Zee surged to her feet. Finally getting her feet under her, Zee threw her arm forward, sending Twilight lurching away, her feet unstable and her arms flailing for balance. Lunging forward, Zee grabbed Twilight by the collar of her lab coat and swung her around to throw her to the other side of the room, roaring with mindless fury.

Slamming hard into the floor, Twilight arched her back in pain as the breath left her lungs. She barely had a moment to breathe before Zee landed on her, straddling her with fists raised.

They never landed as Twilight’s hand found the plastic grip of the object she’d been flailing for in her pocket, pulled it free, and jammed it hard against Zee’s side as she pulled the trigger.

The taller girl spasmed violently as the taser went off, jerking and convulsing for a moment before Twilight pulled it away and threw it to the side. Suddenly bereft of any motor control, Zee slumped to the ground on top of Twilight, shaking violently.

Silence settled like a funeral pall over the trashed living room. Twilight took deep, ragged breaths as the last few jerks and spasms worked their way out of Zee’s muscles. Knowing what was coming, Twilight wrapped her arms around Zee as a dry, choking sob ripped its way out Zee’s throat.

“M’sorry… I’m sorry,” Zee cried, curling in on herself, nursing her aching side and shuddering as she tasted vomit and blood, feeling hot tears spill down her face. “Swear ah didn’t mean it lass... Swear I didn’t…”

Sighing, Twilight tightened her grip around Zee and pulled her closer, ignoring the stitches of pain in her back and sides from where she’d been tossed around, and her aching scalp from where Zee had grabbed her hair.

“I know… It’s okay,” Twilight whispered softly. “I pushed you again, I’m sorry I hurt you, too…”

Zee let out a wordless cry of grief as she buried her face in Twilight’s chest, grabbing onto her coat and gripping hard as she let out a sobbing wail.

“I shouldn’t have said that stuff about your dad,” Twilight said quietly. “I know how much you want to save him… I’m sorry, I’m just frustrated.”

Zee’s dark, slender hand rose up to cradle Twilight’s face gently, turning it ever-so-softly. Zee winced as she saw the red mark and let out another, quiet sob.

“Ah fuck… ah hurt ye again…”

“I deserved it,” Twilight said quietly. “What I said about you… it was awful, I…” Twilight sniffled, burying her own face in Zee’s hair, “I’m sorry Zee… I’m just so scared…”

“M-Me too,” Zee sobbed. “Y’shouldn’t be here, pet… by rights y’shouldn’t… I’ll ‘appen things started oreyt, but I don’t wanna hurt ye anymore.”

“Stop saying that!” Twilight demanded, pulling away and scowling down at Zee through a veil of tears. “I love you, Zee, and my parents always say that when you love someone you find a way to make it work, okay? Once we're out of this crazy, stupid situation and everything’s calmed down… things will change, alright? Things will get better, I promise.”

“B-but…” Zee took a shaky breath, pulling herself up along the floor until she was staring Twilight in the face. “Look at ye.. Ye’ve got bruises, pet… I gave’m to ye.”

“And you’ve got an electrical burn on your side…” Twilight said, leaning in to press her forehead against Zee’s. “And a cut on your arm, and a bruise on your shoulder, and a bruise on your face… if anything I’m worse.”

“Heh… yer scrappy’s what you are, our lass,” Zee said with a sad chuckle that turned into a grimace. “Ah fuck… what’re we even doin’...”

“Our best?” Twilight put in weakly. “C’mon Zee… we’ll… we’ll be fine, okay? You love me, right?”

“Fuckin’ o’course ah do, pet,” Zee nearly snapped, her eyes widening at the question before bringing her hands up to cradle Twilight’s cheeks. “Swear t’god I ain’t loved anybody like I love you, pet.”

“And I love you,” Twilight replied softly. “So we’ll make it work, right? We’ll find a way to make it work because that’s what you do when you love someone.”

Sniffling a little, Zee nodded and leaned in to press her lips to Twilight’s gently. The taste of salty tears mixed with the coppery tang of blood from where Zee had bit through her cheek when she’d been tased, all covered slightly by the taste of the cherry chapstick that Zee always wore.

“Ah don’t fuckin’ deserve ye, pet,” Zee said as she pulled back, wrapping her arms around Twilight further and pulling the shorter girl in to rest against her chest. “S’like no matter what I do ye won’t give up on me…”

“I won’t,” Twilight agreed. “I promise, Zee, I won’t ever give up on you, okay?”

Zee nodded, gently turning Twilight’s face to kiss the red mark on her cheek. “Still sorry, pet… shouldn’t lose m’temper like tha’.”

“Yeah, uhm, same here… I get frustrated pretty easily, I guess,” Twilight admitted. “These gauntlets are giving me a taste of something I’m finding I really don’t like…”

“What’s that, our lass?” Zee asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Failure,” Twilight grumbled. “No matter what I do I can’t seem to figure those lumps of metal out. I can’t even figure out how they were made!”

“Arh, cocka, s’like they just… popped into existence, savvy?” Zee groaned in annoyance, standing up and wincing at the sharp bite of pain in her side as she pulled Twilight to her feet alongside her. “Fuckin’ mad’s what it is,” Zee continued, turning back to glare at the gauntlets. “Say nowt’a what t’fuckin’ things are even made of.”

Sighing, Twilight stumbled over to the printer and pulled out the latest readout.

“Near as I can tell?” Twilight said dryly, flipping through the papers. “It’s got to be some kind of meteoric iron, right?”

“These things are fuckin’ thousands’a years old, pet,” Zee shot back. “Only things made’a stars back then were simple weapons, oreyt? Nowt as complicated as those things.”

Zee gestured at the gauntlets in frustration as she dropped onto the couch and pulled out a cigarette, lighting it before tossing the pack to Twilight who caught it with a grimace.

“I don’t smoke, Zee,” Twilight repeated for the tenth time. “These things will kill you.”

“Nah, them’s silk cuts, pet,” Zee replied. “Got less tar, oreyt? Better for ye.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow, her lips curling up slightly to a wry smile. “Pretty sure mother nature has made it eminently clear that dragging smoke into your lungs is bad for you, high tar content or no, babe.”

Tossing the pack back to Zee, Twilight turned back to the readout.

“Still, you’re right about one thing…” Twilight said with a frustrated groan. “Those gauntlets are articulated, they look like the product of late iron age technology, medieval even… but we have irrefutable proof that they’re thousands of years older than that.”

“An’ that’s ignorin’ the electromagnetic profile,” Zee said, pointing her lit cigarette at the offending gauntlets.

“Rrrrrgh,” Twilight planted the papers into her face as she groaned out her annoyance. “Don’t remind me… those things should be a puddle of molten metal! But not only are they solid, they’re cool to the touch! WHERE IS ALL THAT ENERGY GOING?!”

“An’ where’s it come from?” Zee said with a smirk. “Tha’s probably the more important bit, pet.”

Twilight stalked over to the gauntlets, her lab coat whipping around her as she pushed through the mess on the floor, and glared down at them. Nothing she had done had produced any verifiable results. If she didn’t know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the gauntlets did indeed possess an impossible energy field she would dismiss it as an error, but she and Zee had both separately confirmed with multiple tests and instruments that the field was there.

“A field this strong should be making everything around it go haywire,” Twilight said, tapping the gauntlets with the rolled up readout paper. “It’s like there’s a supercell trapped in them! Even if, somehow, the material the gauntlets are made of can impossibly withstand that kind of unbridled power it should still be fucking up everything around it all the time!”

“Arh, cocka,” Zee agreed. “But it ain’t… means we’re missin’ somethin’, savvy?”

“WHAT COULD WE POSSIBLY BE MISSING?!” Twilight shrieked, throwing the papers at the gauntlets. “We’ve explored every avenue! Short of bombarding it with high levels of gamma radiation or throwing it in the large fucking hadron collider I don’t think we’re missing anything!”

“We ain’t worn’em yet,” Zee said with a shrug, taking another drag of her cigarette.

Twilight’s brain came to an ass-grinding halt as Zee said the words, and she turned slowly, fixing Zee with a disbelieving stare. “You want to put on a pair of gauntlets that, by all scientific measurement, contains more than the sum total electrical output of the entire east coast?”

“Like ye said, we’ve got nowt else, pet,” Zee replied evenly. “What’s the worst tha-”

Twilight’s let out a loud, inchoate shout and lunged forward, clapping her hands over Zee’s mouth.

“Are you crazy?!” Twilight hissed. “Don’t say that out loud! NEVER SAY THAT OUT LOUD!”

Zee pushed Twilight away, chuckling. “C’mon love, ain’t like ye t’be superstitious… thee’reyt?”

“I’m fine!” Twilight snapped. “But forgive me if I’m a little superstitious over something that might as well be magic!”

“Hey, calm down, pet…” Zee tossed her cigarette onto the ashtray by the couch and slid her arms around Twilight’s waist to pull her close, earning a light swat from Twilight, although it was clear her heart wasn’t in it.

Encouraged, Zee leaned in and nipped at Twilight’s neck, who moaned softly.

“Babe… we’ve gotta work…” Twilight said, a small laugh hiding behind her protest as she didn’t even try to get out of Zee’s embrace.

“S’not my fault ye so hot when ye get fired up, our lass,” Zee whispered, trailing kisses up the side of Twilight’s neck to her earlobe. “Can’t help m’self, now, can I?”

Twilight shivered as she leaned back against Zee’s lips, letting out a soft sigh as Zee’s hands trailed around her waist and slipped under her shirt to trace lines against her bare midriff.

“Toldja I love ye, pet,” Zee said softly. “Now ‘ow ‘bout I show ye…”

Just as Twilight was about to agree to the distraction, her phone went off, playing a series of melodic dings and whistles that were an audible representation of the fibonacci sequence.

“Ignore it,” Zee said softly, letting her hand trail up Twilight stomach. “They can wait, yeah?”

“No… it’s probably my family…” Twilight sighed.

Then her eyes widened.

“Oh shit, my family!” Twilight pulled roughly out of Zee’s grip and dashed over to her phone to pick it up. “My brother and his wife were coming over to dinner tonight and I promised I’d be there!”

Thumbing ‘Answer’ button, Twilight held up the phone to her ear. “H-Hey mom!”

//Twilight, I know you’re spending a lot of time with your new girlfriend, but Shining and Cadence will be here in two hours and-//

“I know, I know!” Twilight said, grimacing, “I know I promised, and I’m heading back over right now, okay? I’ll get a ride from Zee!”

//Alright, well… actually, that might work out better, Twiley.//

Twilight furrowed her brow at that. “What do you mean?”

//Well, we haven’t even met your girlfriend, right? She should come over for dinner and meet the family.//

“M-Mom, I don’t know if-”

//I insist.//

Twilight pulled the phone away and grimaced again before glancing over at Zee. After a moment she sighed and put the phone back to her ear.

“O-Okay… I’ll ask her,” Twilight said in a quiet voice.

//Lovely, we’ll see you both in a bit, love you, dear.//

“Love you too, mom,” Twilight groaned before hanging up the phone.

“Thee’oreyt, love?” Zee asked, raising an eyebrow as she walked over to pull Twilight into a hug.

Twilight grumbled wordlessly before reaching up to wrap her arms around Zee’s shoulders and pull herself up into a kiss.

Zee smiled against Twilight’s lips, reaching up to let her fingers tangle through the lavender curls of Twilight’s hair and pulled the shorter girl more tightly against her before letting her hands trail down to settle on Twilight waist… and then lower, earning a delighted squeak from Twilight.

“Bad girl,” Twilight said, pulling away and scowling playfully. “No getting me riled up before I have to go do the least sexy thing in the world… family dinner.”

“Arh, should be ‘appy your family loves ye,” Zee replied with a wry grin as she walked over to the pile of clothes on the floor and began grabbing a few things that looked serviceable for driving her girlfriend back home. “An’ ‘sides, can’t be that bad.”

“I am happy, and I’m, uh, really glad you think so,” Twilight replied, smiling a little weakly. “Because.. Uhm… my mom sort of wants you to join us.”

Zee stopped in her tracks as she was pulling out her coat to stare back at Twilight. “W-what?”

“Uhm, my mom? She, and my dad, want to meet you,” Twilight said uneasily. “I mean… If you think about it, it was kind of inevitable right? Given how much time I spend with you?”

“Arh… love ah dunno if…” Zee grimaced as she looked down at herself.

Never before had she had cause to regret the way she looked. In truth, Zee liked how she looked, overall. She liked her tattoos and her hair, she even liked her scars. Now though… faced with the prospect of meeting Twilight’s family, her good and upstanding family?

“C’mon, pet, ‘ow y’think they’re gonna feel when ye bring by a fuckin’ reprobate!?” Zee said, her face contorting darkly as she started pulling her clothes on.

“Don’t say things like that!” Twilight said a little angrily as she stalked around to face Zee. “You’re not a ‘reprobate’, you’re my girlfriend, and you’re coming to dinner with me and if my family doesn’t like it well… well…”

“Well, what?!” Zee asked, pulling on jeans and her sweater before pulling her coat on. “They’re y’family, love.”

“Well f-fuck’em!” Twilight snapped, before clapping her hands over her mouth in shock at her own daring. Even Zee looked shocked at Twilight’s outburst.

“Babe… y’don’t mean that do ye?”

“I… I meant what I said!” Twilight said, stammering as she pulled her hands from her mouth with a grimace. “If they don’t like you then… they can go f-fuck themselves. I’m not losing you so you’re coming with me and that’s final!”

Zee stared at Twilight in wonder for several moments before chuckling weakly and nodding. “Arh, cocka… can’t rightly argue with tha’ can I?”

“No, you can’t,” Twilight replied with a weak smile. “But uhm… please, please don’t tell my family I said they could go, uhm… y’know…”

“Arh, nowt a word,” Zee replied with a laugh as she pulled on her ball cap. “But I figure ah might as well wow’em if ah’m goin’, oreyt?”

Twilight sagged a little and chuckled weakly. “You’re going to drive that car, aren’t you.”

“Fuck yeah,” Zee replied with a laugh.

The drive to the Heights was uneventful, as the roads were mostly clear. Twilight was leaned against Zee comfortably as the taller girl gripped and turned the wheel, her arms straining as she did.

“No power steering conversion?” Twilight asked from where she was resting on Zee’s shoulder.

“T’fuck’d I go’n ruin a classic with somethin’ like that, our lass?” Zee laughed as she turned the car up the winding hills of the Heights. “S’not like I ain’t need t’work out sometimes, anyway, arh? Better’n the gym, this is.”

“I guess it would have to be,” Twilight replied with a dry laugh. “That’s us up there, the dark blue house.”

“Y’sure about this, pet?” Zee asked again, pulling to the side of the house and glancing over at her girlfriend as she tipped her shades up. “Ah know families can be… contentious, but… don’t want t’cause any bad blood, savvy?”

“My family will love you, or they won’t,” Twilight said evenly. “Either way won’t change the fact that I will.”

Sighing, Zee nodded. She wasn’t going to argue the point any more. Twilight was a stone wall when it came to arguing with her and Zee recalled several of their late night online conversations over the years ending in shouting matches over one thing or another. They always apologised in the end, though.

Neither of them were particularly good at arguing, honestly, Twilight hated being wrong almost as much as Zee did, and both of them had tempers on them when it came down to it.

“Hows the makeup holdin’ up?” Zee asked as she turned to park her car in the driveway.

Twilight leaned up from where she’d been reclining against Zee and pulled down the mirror to examine her cheek. She gave it a careful prod and winced at the tender area around her cheek. They’d covered up their small bruises from their earlier scuffle with some foundation and makeup that Zee had brought with her. The rough-looking girl was surprisingly adept with it.

“Just because I don’t care how ah look don’t mean I don’t wanna look good sometimes, ‘specially for a tidy lass like ye, pet,” Zee had said before they had left.

“Looks fine,” Twilight said, grimacing slightly. “It should be good for tonight… hopefully the bruises go away before tomorrow morning… though I might be able to get away with just hunkering down in the garage.”

“We’ll figure it out, love,” Zee said with a smile, as she put the vehicle into park and hit the e-brake. “C’mon… s’time t’meet the family, yeah?”

Twilight shouldering her way out of the car. It was old and beautiful, but old meant creaky, so the doors just didn’t quite open right without some elbow grease, and stood up, admiring the smooth, black lines of the vehicle before looking back up at Zee.

“Yeah,” Twilight agreed. “And… I love you, Zee.”

“Heh, love you too, our lass,” Zee replied as she turned the car off and pocketed the keys.

The door to the house opened just as Zee was stepping out of the car with a small parcel tucked under her arm. Fixing her ball cap straighter on her head, Zee felt her heart hitch as she saw a woman step out who, if family resemblance was any indication, looked to be Twilight’s mother.

Also, if family resemblance held, it also meant that Twilight was going to get even hotter.

Twilight walked up and linked arms with Zee, guiding her towards the front door as Zee leaned over.

“Arh, love, y’mom’s bangin’,” Zee whispered.

Twilight stumbled and cough before shooting Zee a burning looked. “Fucking really?!” she hissed.

“Sorry, pet,” Zee said with a wry grin. “Calls’em like I sees’em, aye? Just means ye’ll be bangin’ too when ye’re older, though.”

Clapping a palm over her face as Twilight dragged Zee towards her mother, Twilight sighed heavily.

“Hey, mom,” Twilight called out as Velvet stepped forward and pulled Twilight into a hug.

“Hey sweetheart, sorry to break up your experiment,” Velvet said with a laugh. “But I feel like I haven’t seen you all week!”

“I know, I’m sorry,” Twilight replied as she pulled away, surreptitiously checking her makeup under the guise of straightening her glasses. “You know how I get when I’m in the middle of an experiment and Zee isn’t any better about it…”

“Ah, yes, the mysterious ‘Zee’,” Velvet said, turning to face Zee who was suddenly shuffling awkwardly under the gaze of Twilight’s mother. “So you’re the one that has my daughter out at all hours, hm?”

“Aye, tha’s me,” Zee answered, then cleared her throat and held out a hand. “Grizelda King… s’a pleasure t’meet ye.”

“And I’m Twilight Velvet,” Velvet replied, taking Zee’s hand firmly before gesturing over her shoulder with her thumb. “The goofus pulling faces in the window behind me is my husband, Night Light.”

Twilight glanced over to see her father with his face pressed up against the window doing exactly as her mother had said and immediately felt the blood rush to her face.

“DA~D!” Twilight groaned. “Not in front of my-!”

Her words were drowned out as Zee let out a harsh bark of laughter that turned into knee slapping guffaws as she cackled at the faces Night Light was making.

“Well, darn,” Velvet said dryly, before turning to Twilight. “Sweetie, I think you might be dating a female version of your father.”

“Ha! Tha’s fu-... uh, h-hilarious!” Zee choked as she tried to staple down her swearing. She had promised to keep her expletives to a minimum for the evening.

Twilight Velvet raised an eyebrow. “A valiant, if shaky, attempt, but I appreciate your effort at keeping your language toned down nonetheless.”

“A-Arh, cocka… out’n Steelton it’s a pretty, uh… slaggin’ about kinda place,” Zee said with a small laugh. “Recommend if’n ye ever visit t’just take up cursin’ while ye there.”

“I’ll bear that in mind,” Velvet replied dryly. “Now, let’s go, I do need some help setting things up and lord knows your father is useless for that, hon.”

“R-right, let’s go, babe,” Twilight said, taking Zee’s hand.

Zee couldn’t help but stop and admire the scale of the building she was walking into as she doffed her coat and hung it from the coatrack alongside Twilight’s jacket. It wasn’t exactly a mansion but it was definitely on the upper scale of lifestyle. Near as Zee could tell it was a two story building, painted dark blue, with a tapered colonial roof, and space for an attic and an attached garage. If the small windows near the base of the house were any indication then the home also had a sizable basement.

Moreover, the building wasn’t worn down or ill-cared for in the slightest. The paint job looked fresh, done at least within the last year give or take a few months. There were no cracked windows, no signs of significant age, and Zee strongly doubted this was a particularly new house.

There was no way Twilight’s mother and father could keep up a house like this themselves, which meant they hired out to do it... constantly.

“S’a real nice home y’got ‘ere, Mrs. Velvet,” Zee said softly, looking over the home. “Ain’t ever lived in a place like this, savvy?”

“I recall Twilight saying you were Braytish, correct?” Velvet asked as she led them into the enormous kitchen which was beautifully tiled, with a wide island in the middle. “You mentioned Steelton?”

Zee nodded. “A-Arh, s’a nice enough place, aye, but I grew up out in Las Pegasus… m’dad was from Steelton, an’... an’ he couldn’t take care’a me after a while so he sent t’live with his family.”

“Las Pegasus?” Night Light asked as he followed them in, still chuckling slightly from his little prank. “Lovely city, there’s so much to see.”

“Eh… guess if ye livin’ in the right place,” Zee replied with a wry laugh. “But uh, I grew up in South Central and s’a real, uh… rough’n tumble sorta neighborhood… m’dad did ‘is best f’me but…”

Night Light face fell slightly as he set a hand on Zee’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, that was thoughtless of me… you seem to be doing quite well for yourself, though.”

“She’s a cybersecurity expert,” Twilight chimed in. “She consults for firms all over the world, actually.”

The story of Zee’s ‘profession’ had been hammered out by the two girls while they were on the road. Twilight had reasoned that it wouldn’t be hard to hold up the story with her family since Zee possessed the full skill-set needed to be an extremely successful security professional. Her father could ask questions tha Zee could certainly answer, being a software engineer himself, and anything else Twilight hoped she could make up for on the fly.

“Really? Worldwide is quite a feat,” Night Light responded, looking genuinely impressed. “Where was your last job? Here?”

“Nah, worked wif a Yakistani company,” Zee replied with a chuckle. “Can’t say there was much ah could do f’em, though, I’d say it s’like they had a twelve year old write their security but I was writin’ better code when I was twelve.”

Night Light laughed, clapping Zee on the shoulder. “Well, Miss King, I think we will get along quite well,” he said with a wide grin. “You know, I grew up out in Germaneigh, I spent quite a bit of time in Brayton before immigrating here for work.”

Zee brightened up at the mention of his origins and immediately they began talking excitedly in German, and upon hearing his native tongue Night Light responded enthusiastically, moments later they were conversing rapidly as they towards the living room, Night Light apparently having decided to give Zee a full tour of the house.

“Well, she certainly seems to be fitting in,” Velvet said with a small laugh as she turned to continue working at the food in the kitchen.

The stove was lit and warm, and Twilight could see a casserole cooking inside it. There were cutting boards on the island that had the look of recent use and a scattering of various vegetables and roots.

“Start mashing the potatoes, will you sweetie?” Velvet said, gesture towards the large glass bowl of sliced and boiled potatoes. “I’ve still got to finish the egg salad.”

“Sure thing, mom,” Twilight replied, walking over and picking up the potato masher and getting to work.

After a few minutes of silence, Twilight glanced back to see her mother looking at her with a warm smile that made Twilight a little self-conscious.

“W-what’s wrong?” Twilight asked.

Velvet just shook her head. “Nothing at all, just… you know, a month ago I would have had to drag you out of your garage kicking and screaming to help me in the kitchen and now… here you are.”

“I wasn’t that bad,” Twilight protested, knowing full well she had been precisely that bad, if not worse. “I just… want to help.”

“I know,” Velvet replied, turning back to the egg salad. “I just feel like you’ve changed quite a lot very quickly… I suppose that’s just what happens when you’re growing up, hm?”

“And when you fall in love,” Twilight said quietly.

“What was that?” Velvet asked, turning around with an eyebrow raised.

“N-Nothing,” Twilight replied, smiling a little too widely. “Just… It’s mostly Zee that really changed me, you know? She’s like me but… better.”

Velvet narrowed her eyes at that before setting down the wooden spoon she’d been using to stir the salad and walking over to her daughter.

“Twilight Sparkle you look at me,” Velvet said in a sharp voice that caused Twilight to flinch as she turned slowly around to look up at her mother. “I won’t have you thinking like that! Aside from the fact that that is patently wrong, I highly doubt Grizelda would want you thinking you’re just a worse version of her either, do you understand?”

“B-But…” Twilight stammered, scowling a little and wrapping her arms around herself. “She’s… Zee is smarter than me, and… and unlike me she’s social and witty and… and funny… and…”

Sighing, Velvet stepped in and wrapped her arms around her daughter, feeling a faint pain in her heart as Twilight let out a small cry against her chest. Twilight had always struggled with an odd combination of superiority and inferiority complex. On the one hand she was so, so much smarter than most of the rest of her age group, and yet none of that intellect helped her make friends or keep her from starving socially, leaving her feeling, in a word, helpless.

Velvet had been thrilled to see that her daughter had finally made a strong connection with someone, that she had actually opened her heart to someone else.

But that complex didn’t just go away overnight, Velvet knew.

“If Grizelda cares about you as much as you seem to care about her,” Velvet said softly, petting her daughter’s hair as she hugged Twilight, “then I guarantee she wouldn’t want you to be thinking like that.”

“What if I can’t help it?” Twilight sobbed, her voice muffled by her mother’s vest.

“Then, if she’s really serious about your relationship,” Velvet replied, “she will try to help you get past it… that’s what you do when you care about someone, you try and make it work.”

Twilight chuckled softly as she pulled out of her mother’s embrace, lifting her glasses to wipe at her eyes.

“Y’know, I told Zee that just this afternoon,” Twilight said with a small smile.

“Oh?” Velvet said curiously. “What happened?”

Twilight felt her blood freeze as her mother asked. Why had she said that? She could have said nothing and everything would have been fine! All she had to do was keep her mouth shut and not immediately spill the beans about getting into a knock down drag out fight with her girlfriend in the middle of the living room.

“U-uh…” Twilight stammered, “i-it was…”

“We got in’a fight.”

Twilight spun around, her heart thundering as stared at Zee who was standing in the archway between the dining room and the kitchen. Twilight was choking as she tried to figure out what Zee’s game was, just telling her parents they’d been-

“What happened?” Velvet asked, her voice lowering and eyes narrowing.

“It was stupid,” Zee said quietly, shrugging. “Jus’ arguin’ over th’experiment; I wanted t’do it one way, Twi’ wanted it ‘nother and we got t’shoutin’... ‘appens sometimes when we disagree ‘bout stuff’n I allus feel like shite arterwards…”

Sighing, Zee leaned against the cabinet by the archway, and Twilight could see the shadow fall over Zee’s eyes again. On instinct she walked away from her mother and wrapped her arms around Zee, pulling her head down to rest against Twilight’s shoulder.

“We always bicker about science,” Twilight said softly, half to Zee and half to her mother, before turning to look directly at Velvet. “But Zee, I think, feels like we should never argue.”

A loud bark of laughter from behind both of the girl nearly made them leap as Night Light stepped into the kitchen.

“Never argue?” Night Light asked, still laughing a little. “Quatsch! Velvet and I used to argue all the time, fighting like cats I think is the term.”

“Dear, could you not ruin my daughter’s view of us,” Velvet shot back with a raised brow, as Twilight stared in disbelief.

“You two fought?” Twilight asked, her jaw hanging open slightly.

Night chuckled and nodded. “Oh yes, back in college, when we met, your mother had a tongue like a whip and was… very liberal with its usage, not even professors were immune to her scathing critique.”

“I was insufferable,” Velvet remarked, “I think, is what you mean.”

“Not at all,” Night Light retorted, moving in to wrap his arms around Velvet’s waist and twirl her around the kitchen, earning a high-pitched yelp of surprise from the woman. “I would suffer you for the rest of my life and, indeed, I do believe I made a promise to do precisely that!”

Velvet flushed, laughing nervously as she leaned against Night Light. “Y-yes… I suppose you did, didn’t you?”

“Indeed,” Night Light said with a chuckle. “So you see, girls, a fight is not the end of the world, or even of the relationship, it’s just something that happens, ja?”

“See? I told you,” Twilight replied, looking back at Zee who nodded a little weakly. “When you’re in love you do whatever it takes to make it work.”

The rest of the preparation for dinner went quickly, with the two Twilight’s moving easily around the kitchen together while Night Light entertained Zee. As it turned out, the two computer geeks had a great deal in common, and despite them slipping in and out of German, Twilight Sparkle could tell they were hitting it off famously, something that made her heart warm. She knew she was a daddy’s girl at heart; her father could get her to do almost anything if he asked. So seeing her girlfriend talk so animatedly with her father made things feel all the better.

It was just as the quartet were setting the table that Twilight’s ears perked up at the sound of a familiar vehicle coming to park in the driveway. Standing up, Twilight grinned as she heard the familiar sounds of her brother and his wife, her former babysitter and probably second-favorite non-family person in the world.

Cadence.

It took longer than Twilight expected for them to get in, but when they did Twilight raised her eyebrows at Cadence’s tone.

“I know you don’t care about cars, honey, but I swear that was an E-Type!” Cadence exclaimed excitedly. “It’s one of the most gorgeous classic cars in the world! How can you not recognise a Jaguar E-Type?!”

“Because I’m a nerd, not a petrolhead?” Shining said with a laugh as he hung his jacket and took Cadence’s to put next to his own.

“CADENCE!” Twilight launched herself out of the kitchen and into Cadence’s arms.

Cadence laughed brightly before pulling away and holding up her hands.

“Sunshine, Sunshine, Ladybug’s awake!” Twilight and Cadence spouted the words in perfect unison as they clapped their hands together in a familiar pattern. “Clap your hands and do a little shake!”

The pattern ended with both of them shaking their butts at each other, only for a loud laugh to be heard from the kitchen.

“Thought ye only shook it like tha’ f’me, pet,” Zee said with a chuckle as she walked out and wrapped her arms around Twilight’s waist the pulled her into a hug,

Twilight flushed scarlet. “Ba~be!”

A light snort of laughter came from Cadence as she stared at the two.

“Oh my god, you two are adorable,” Cadence laughed. “I love it! I’m so happy for you Twiley!”

“Hm…” Shining Armor fixed Zee with a scrutinising look that was almost a glare. Something at the corner of his mind was scraping at his memory. “Zee? What’s your full name?”

“Uhm… G-Grizelda King,” Zee replied uneasily. “S’Grizelda King…”

“You’re not from around here?” Shining inquired further, stepping closer and looking down at her.

“N-No,” Zee answered, withering a little under his inspection. “Flew in from Brayton almost two weeks past.”

“Shining!”

Zee was suddenly pulled back and a curtain of lavender hair appeared in front of her. “Stop with your questioning you’re scaring her!”

Twilight glared furiously up at her brother who stepped back under the sudden fire of his little sister’s expression. She had never, not once, looked at him the way she was now. Twilight adored her older brother, but now? Now she was looking at him like he was an enemy.

“I-... Twiley, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to,” Shining said sheepishly, glancing over at Cadence who was also glaring at him, though less angrily and more ‘what-the-fuckedly’. “I’m sorry… just the ‘cop instincts’ thing… I swear I’ve seen you before.”

“Well you haven’t,” Twilight said evenly. “Zee has lived in Brayton most of her life, alright? So… just…”

Cadence settled a hand on Twilight’s shoulder. “It’s alright, I’ll talk to him… c’mon you,” She directed the last part at Shining as she linked an arm in his and dragged him into the kitchen.

Suddenly alone, Zee sagged. “A cop? Y’fuckin’ wif me, pet… y’didn’t say ybrother’s a slaggin’ cop!” she hissed.

“I forgot,” Twilight said back, feeling her heart rate spike in panic. “I just… I don’t really think about it is all! He’s just my big brother Shiney, not ‘Officer Shining Armor’, to me!”

“It’s a pretty big fuckin’ deal, pet,” Zee replied, still shaking a little. “Ah fuckin’ hate cops. An’ given what were tryin’ta fuckin’ do…”

“I know!” Twilight cried, “I… I screwed up, I’m sorry, I-”

Zee pulled Twilight close and kissed the top of her head, rubbing her back and Letting Twilight breath against her girlfriend’s shoulder.

“Arh… s’okay, pet… didn’t mean t’get worked up,” Zee said in a quiet voice. “An’... thank ye, for… for standin’ up f’me back there… standin’ up t’family, that’s damn brave, our lass.”

“I couldn’t let him keep… keep talking to you like that,” Twilight said in a quiet voice. “I won’t let anyone talk to you like that.”

“Heh… s’not fair gettin all fiery n’sexy when ah can’t do nowt ‘bout it, pet,” Zee whispered against Twilight’s ear, who shuddered delightedly.

“Guess we’ll have to wait til we get home then, huh?” Twilight replied.

“We’re at your home, pet,” Zee said with a small laugh.

Twilight didn’t laugh, though, she just sighed as she buried herself against Zee’s chest and let herself melt into her girlfriend’s embrace.

“More and more… it feels like home is wherever you are, Zee,” Twilight finally said before sighing, and going up on her toes to kiss Zee gently. “You are my home.”

Zee flushed red but smiled radiantly.

“Ah, fuck… can’t just say shite like that, our lass,” Zee replied with a small chuckle. “But… aye, ah feel th’same, can’t e’en thinka home without thinkin’a you, pet.”

“And you never will,” Twilight replied, smiling against Zee’s lips as she gave her another peck. “Now, I think the worst is past, so let’s go eat.”

Zee nodded, and followed as Twilight walked past her only to stop and stare as Twilight sashayed her rear a little for Zee.

“Fuckin’ mad, ye are,” Zee muttered before following her into the kitchen.