Snow fell in light flurries over the city of Canterlot; a far cry from the intermittent storms that swept in large banks of snow to cover the streets and sidewalks. The temperature was still bitterly cold, though, as befitted the shortest day of the year. The snow plows were pulling double duty that year, the snowfall was set to break a record if it kept rolling in at the rate it had been, and the weather reports suggested it was fixing to do exactly that.

One more reason Sunset had to be thankful to Gilda. One among a small army of reasons, she thought as she stared out the window of their little flat.

Gilda was humming softly, if a bit atonally, from the bathroom. Crankshaft had called early in the morning to let them know the shop wasn’t going to be open barring an emergency, so Gilda was free to spend the day with her girlfriend. As much as Gilda had been looking forward to working, and as much as she loved her job, the news had still left her in an extremely good mood. When she’d put her phone down she had immediately turned to inform Sunset.

Sunset blushed brightly as she recalled how they’d then spent the next hour or so cuddling and kissing.

That was all.

Gilda wasn’t pushy, in fact, she hadn’t even mentioned… that, in all the time they’d been together. Sunset blushed harder and turned over to bury her face in her pillow.

“You’re a grown-ass woman, or close to,” Sunset mumbled into the lumpy fabric. “You are in fact allowed to say the word: ‘sex’.”

“Hey babe, you hungry?” Gilda called as she exited the bathroom, eliciting a startled yeep from Sunset.

Turning over in bed with some effort, most of which involved manually turning her legs, Sunset took several deep breaths, trying to pat away the blush on her cheeks and wondering if Gilda had heard her.

Looking up at her girlfriend who was standing framed by the open bathroom door and the light spilling out into the dark living room, Sunset was struck again by just how pretty Gilda was. She wasn’t dressed up or anything. Plain grey baggy sweats and a black t-shirt with the different iconic weapons of her favorite horror movie slashers on a four-by-four grid that her broad shoulders strained at just enough to show their definition. She had a small smile on her face, content and easy-going like Gilda always seemed to be, and her bright white hair hung damp over her brow from where she’d tamed her bed-head with tap water.

And her eyes.

Sunset smiled widely, I could get lost in those gold eyes forever…

“Yo, Earth to Sunshine,” Gilda said, waving a towel from the bathroom at Sunset who blushed and chuckled.

“Sorry babe, still kinda sleepy,” Sunset said, it wasn’t necessarily untrue. “Yeah, breakfast sounds great. Whatever you’re having.”

“One bowl of cereal with marshmallow bits comin’ up, babe,” Gilda said with a laugh as she went to the kitchen.

Sunset laughed along with her as she passed. “Marshmallow bits? Really? What are you, eight?!”

“What can I say? I’ve got an inner child that really fuckin’ likes marshmallow,” Gilda shot back, unashamedly.

Another thing Sunset would never cease to admire about Gilda was how… just… Gilda, she was. Gilda was Gilda. It seemed like such a simple concept but how many people could really say that they’re exactly who they say they are? Gilda owned every part of herself; the good, the bad, the ugly, the silly… all of it. You could never really accuse Gilda of being something because she would just agree, if you were right, or knock you over if you were wrong. One other thing Sunset had learned in their relationship was that Gilda took an unusual amount of umbrage to being misunderstood.

A bowl of cold cereal appeared under Sunset’s nose without warning and she backed up a little before shaking her head and smiling. “Sorry about that, I’m all kinds of lost in my own head this morning.”

Gilda grinned down at Sunset and shrugged. “S’cool, babe. You do a lot more thinking than I do, savvy?”

Shaking her head, Sunset scooted over a little to make room for Gilda. “I wish you wouldn’t do that.”

“What?”

“Put yourself down like that,” Sunset said a little sadly. “You talk about yourself like you think you’re stupid.”

Shrugging again, Gilda took a bite of her cereal and leaned against the headboard. “Well,” she said, messily around a mouthful of marshmallow bits, “I kinda am. Stupid-ish, I mean, savvy? You haven’t seen my grades, Sunflower, I’ve got a skull like bedrock for better and worse.” Gilda tapped her temple with a finger and grinned before swallowing and taking another bite.

“First, baby, gross,” Sunset said, grimacing. “Swallow your food, please and thanks. Second’ve all, you’re not stupid. Third of all,” Sunset scowled suspiciously at her bowl, “did you pick out all my fucking marshmallows and put them in your bowl?”

Gilda blinked owlishly for a moment before slowly moving her bowl slightly further from Sunset’s eyes. “Uh, pass?”

Scowling at Gilda, Sunset held out her bowl. “Gimme. You’re a fucking savage, Gilda Grimfeather, but I’m not eating this if I don’t at least get some of the good parts.”

Chuckling softly, Gilda went to work evening out the ratios of their respective bowls with her spoon. Sunset hadn’t closely examined her meal beforehand, but upon looking she’d realised that, sure enough, Gilda had given her an entire bowl of the wheaty bits.

“I can’t believe you foisted all of the crappy wheaty floaters onto your beloved girlfriend!” Sunset whined, taking a bite of equal parts marshmallow and soggy wheat before giving her lip a good quiver and pushing out a few crocodile tears. “I t-thought you loved me!”

Gilda worked her jaw soundlessly for a few seconds, trying and failing to find a response. Apparently tears make her brain seize up, Sunset thought with an internal smile, good thing I’m not evil anymore or I’d definitely use that.

“A-aw c’mon babe, I didn’t…” Gilda stammered, looking down at her bowl and then at Sunset’s. “I-it was a joke! I swear!”

Suddenly turning off the waterworks, Sunset took another bite of her cereal while giving her girlfriend a slow Cheshire grin. Gilda returned the look with a sullen glare and went back to her own bowl.

“Not fair, Sunshine,” Gilda groused, taking a bite then swallowing and pointing her spoon at Sunset. “You know how I get when you’re upset, fakin’ it ain’t fair.”

Sunset rolled her eyes, laughing a little as she nodded. “I know, I’m sorry, I can’t help it sometimes. Just because I’m ‘reformed’ doesn’t mean I’m not still kind of an imp. Plus you’re cute when I tease you.”

Blushing, Gilda sighed before polishing off the rest of her breakfast and setting the bowl down by the side of the bed and gesturing for Sunset to come closer. Sunset happily obliged, scooting over until she was ensconced in her girlfriend’s embrace.

This is the life, Sunset thought merrily, as she munched on marshmallow bits. Getting head pets from my adorable girlfriend while sitting in her lap, cuddled up while it’s cold outside.

“I meant what I said before, you know,” Sunset said suddenly, leaning her head back and resting against Gilda’s chest. Looking up at her with a concerned gaze. “You’re not stupid, and I hate it when you talk like you are.”

“All evidence says I am, Sunflower,” Gilda shot back with a wry grin. “I can’t pass most of my classes for jack, even when I do try. I can barely crack a textbook without gettin’ a headache. S’no big deal, though, some people’re smarter’n others, and I can still do shit, savvy?”

“Except you’re better than that!” Sunset said fiercely, bringing a hand up to stroke Gilda’s cheek. “You saw the real me past the Anon-A-Miss bullshit before anyone else, it didn’t even occur to you that it might be me, you just… knew. Plus, your talon? C’mon babe, as much as I find the whole ‘carrying around a potentially lethal weapon in your back pocket’ kinda sus, you built that! Without instructions or anything!”

Gilda just shrugged. “I’ve got a knack for working with my hands,” she responded, glancing over to the polished metal sitting on the drawers by her coat rack. “Besides, instructions don’t do a thing f’me anyway, it’s all gibberish. The only thing that hasn’t given me a headache reading it is your Journal.”

Sunset blinked in confusion for a moment, then it was like a light went on in her head. “H-hey babe? Can you grab my backpack?”

Crooking an eyebrow, Gilda glanced over at the bag near the bed and shrugged. “Sure,” she leaned down, reaching over with her long, broad arms, and snatched it up, before handing it to Sunset. “Why?”

“Hold on a sec,” Sunset said as she rifled through her bag and finally pulled out her World History book. “Here,” she flipped to a random page and pointed to the opening paragraph. “Read this.”

Gilda rolled her eyes and groaned. “C’mon babe, I’m not in the mood to suck down painkillers at ten in the morning, do I hafta?”

“Just… just humor me, okay?” Sunset pleaded.

Letting out another groan, Gilda looked down at the paragraph and started reading out loud. “C-cetrun peridos fo s-sumrerinian- fuck! I’m not doin' this, okay? Way too goddamn early!” Gilda shouted, shoving the book back at Sunset.

Rather than look hurt, Sunset just stared down at the paragraph and then back up at Gilda. “Certain periods of Sumerian history indicate that their pantheons and faiths were quite different from others in that their gods were considered to bodily inhabit their idols. This lead to a unique viewpoint on settlement of cities which was unusual at the time.”

Gilda glared at Sunset. “See? You’re way fuckin’ smarter than me! I can’t even read it right! I’m pretty much fuckin’ illiterate!”

“You read my Journal just fine,” Sunset responded uneasily. “My Journal that has a Universal Tongues enchantment on it so that anyone whom I want to be able to read it is able to regardless of language, and anyone snooping in it will just see a word scramble.”

“So your Journal lets me read?” Gilda asked, a little surprised, “even if I can’t?”

Sunset shook her head. “No, you still have to be able to read. Like, the spell still needs you to possess an understanding of syntax and grammatical structure to be able to read it. It’s essentially a low-grade psychic scan that reads your surface thoughts and translates the letters into a language you can understand, but if you were actually illiterate then it would just fizzle.”

“Okay, so…” Gilda said, waving her hand. “That means what?”

“Uh, well… for one you’re not illiterate, or stupid, okay?” Sunset said, ticking off on her fingers. “Two, you understand language just fine but you still can’t ‘read’ normal books, yet you can read short stuff, like texts. And three, my linguistic bypass spell reads your language capacity as perfectly adequate. So what that means is that, uh…”

“Well? Spit it out, Sunshine,” Gilda prompted, “you got an explanation for my idiot brain then go for it.”

“Gilda,” Sunset started, wringing her hands a little as she mentally pawed around for a way to put it before settling on the direct approach. “I’m, uh… I’m pretty sure you’re dyslexic.”

“Dys-whatsit?” Gilda responded dryly.

Sunset sighed. “Look, I’m not a doctor, but I read up on a lot of medical stuff while I was stranded on this world, okay? I had no idea what the human body could do or what it was susceptible to, or even what getting sick would look like, so I did what I always did and I studied.”

Gilda just nodded along, not pushing and just listening. Sunset leaned up and kissed her girlfriend on the jaw, easing some of the tension away from Gilda as Sunset relaxed against her.

“So… remember, not a doctor or anything…” Sunset began, “but… dyslexia is basically your brain scrambling up the words you see. It’s not as simple as mixing up two words either; you can end up mixing whole sentences or scrambling up an entire word’s worth of letters. It’s not always the same I guess, and there’s not really a hard and fast diagnosis for it apparently.”

Leaning her head against Gilda’s shoulder she leaned up to give her girlfriend a reassuring peck on the cheek. “Plus, the more words in one place the more likely your brain will mix them up, so you can translate a one sentence text, or little internet-size bites of info, right?” Sunset asked and Gilda shrugged but nodded, it was definitely less effort than a book. “But then an equally short sentence in a book will get jumbled much worse because of the surrounding words since your eyes still see them.”

The whole time during Sunset’s explanation, Gilda just listened. Everything her girlfriend was saying sounded awfully familiar. All Gilda’s life she’d looked at signs and book titles and assignments and it felt like they were in an alien language. Then the whole accident with her parents had happened and everything got turned upside down. Gilda skipped school because she never learned anything, it felt like a waste of time, she didn’t do the assignments because she couldn’t parse them out and ended up just trashing them and hauling off somewhere else.

She had always been in trouble with doing any kind of schoolwork and barely managed above-failing grades in her classes, except for hands-on classes like shop and even home-ec. Gilda could do all of that because she’d taught herself to, and she’d taught herself because it was one of the ways she’d learned to be okay with being ‘stupid’, as she’d always figured she was.

“S-so…” Gilda started, feeling a rock settle into her chest as she looked down at the textbook. “This whole time I’ve just been… what? Sick?”

Sunset shook her head. “No, it’s… just a disorder I think… I don’t even know if there’s a cure or if it’s just a thing with the human brain. Haven’t you ever, y’know… talked to anyone about having trouble with the classwork and material?”

Rolling her eyes, Gilda scoff. “C’mon Sunshine, you know me better than that, and you know the fuckin’ school better than that,” she said, waving her hand dismissively. “I suck at asking for help too, and the teachers all think I’m just a lazy fuckup who doesn’t give a shit about class. Not like they’re totally wrong about that.”

“Babe!” Sunset did her best to turn around on Gilda’s lap. “You’re not a fuckup and you’re sure as fuck not lazy! Look at this place!” Sunset gestured around to the room they were in. “You made your whole fucking flat accessible for me in what… a day?! After getting a job! Lazy fuckup is pretty much the last way I’d describe you!”

“Not like the teachers give a shit…” Gilda retorted sullenly.

“They might if you talked about it!” Sunset pleaded. “C’mon, babe… I love you. I love you so, so much, but you have to talk to people sometimes. I… I’m not saying it’s your fault or anything… I promise,” Sunset said, bringing a hand up and stroke Gilda’s cheek. “They’re teachers, they should’ve noticed something was wrong, it’s not your responsibility to know this stuff, but if you are dyslexic then we should talk to Principal Celestia about it when we see her at Christmas, okay?”

Gilda stared down at Sunset, who could see the consternation in her girlfriend’s eyes. There was conflict and Sunset could see how close Gilda was to saying no, or denying it outright, or brushing it off. All of that chaos flickered past her eyes in a few seconds until Gilda looked away and laid back against the headboard of the bed.

“I… I dunno, Sunshine,” Gilda said, her voice uncharacteristically soft. “What’s it matter if I am? What’s it even matter if ya can’t fix it? It’s just complaining about something ya can’t do a thing about, savvy?”

Sunset grimaced and pulled herself up closer to Gilda. “That’s not true, Gil,” she said, laying her head on Gilda’s shoulder. “I’m sure there are resources, or something, for it. Or at the very least Principal Celestia can try and figure something out for your schoolwork.”

“I don’t want special fuckin’ treatment, Sunny,” Gilda replied heatedly, scowling, and her hands closed into fists as she spoke. “If I don’t learn the shit then I don’t pass, even if my fuckin’ brain is knee-capping me! If I don’t learn it then I’m still stupid!”

“Stop that!” Sunset pleaded, her voice cracking as she pulled away from Gilda, bracing her hands on Gilda’s shoulders to lever herself up and stare the bigger girl in the eyes. “You’re not stupid! You’re not! So please stop saying you are! I love you, Gil, and I’m not going to let you sabotage yourself when you have a chance to make things better!”

“I’m fine how I am!” Gilda shot back, rising slightly and waving her hand emphatically. “I’ve done just fine! I’ve got a job, a roof over my head, food on the table! I don’t need any special treatment just ‘cause my brain is apparently fucked!”

Sunset toppled over and down onto the bed as Gilda moved, deflating and cringing away as Gilda was suddenly towering over her. Gilda instantly felt a pang of regret cut through to her heart at the tears that were starting to stream slowly down Sunset’s cheeks as she curled up like she was wilting.

“Ah… shit, Sunshine, I… I’m sorry I yelled… I didn't mean t’scare ya,” Gilda said softly, feeling the anger dying as she reached out and wrapped her arms around Sunset and pulled her close once more. “This thing… it’s not that bigga’ deal, savvy? I just don’t care what people think’a me is all.”

“But I do,” Sunset whispered quietly, “I care that people think you’re just a thug when you’re so, so much more. I care that people don’t know how good you are, and that people treat you like a delinquent when you’re actually smart and clever and… I just…” Sunset let out a strangled sob, and wrapped her own arms around Gilda, hugging her tightly. “I just want people to know how amazing you really are, Gil.”

“I don’t need anyone to, though,” Gilda responded quietly, running her hands up and down Sunset’s back in calming waves. “All I need is you, babe.”

“And you’ve got me,” Sunset answers quietly, “now and always, okay?”

Gilda felt the lump in her throat grow as she buried her face in Sunset’s soft, messy hair as she nodded. The two stayed that way for almost an hour before Sunset finally moved, lifting her head to kiss Gilda softly on the lips. Gilda returned the affection passionately, tasting the curve of Sunset’s mouth as she pulled the redhead closer and tighter. Sunset let out a soft moan as she pressed against Gilda, running her hands up Gilda’s side and under her shirt to touch the soft dark skin underneath. Sunset trailed her fingers over Gilda’s abs, tracing the line of her navel and then up to…

Sunset blushed furiously as she realised Gilda wasn’t wearing a bra, and Gilda pulled away with a bawdy grin. “Goin’ somewhere, Sunflower?”

“U-Uhm…” Sunset stammered around her words, the normally quick-witted girl finding herself badly tongue-tied. “M-maybe?”

A hand came up to cover Sunset’s under Gilda’s shirt just as she was about to pull it away, and Gilda leaned in to trail kisses along Sunset’s neck as she whispered into her ear. “Well, y’know they say the best part’a arguin’ as a couple is makin’ up afterward, right?”

“Uhhhhh…” Sunset’s brain flatlined for a solid ten seconds before rebooting hard. Without warning, Sunset jerked away in a panic, leaving Gilda blinking owlishly and looking surprised.

“S-Sunset?” Gilda sounded scared, her eyes were wide and a look of frozen terror was on her face as she reached out and Sunset felt a pang of horrible guilt. “Did I… I…”

Gilda had called her ‘Sunset’. Not Sunflower, or Sunshine, or Sunny… but Sunset. She’d only done that once before, at the skate park when she’d said something horrible and borderline unforgivable.

‘Oh god she thinks she…’ Sunset thought in a panic. “N-No!” Sunset nearly shouted. “It’s not- I mean, it wasn’t you or anything I just…”

Hanging her arms down and letting out a slow breath to gather her thoughts, Sunset pulled herself back into Gilda’s arms. Gilda was slow to move around her though, and Sunset felt another pang of sadness. “I didn’t mean to… I mean, I want to, y’know? B-but I…”

“Ya don’t gotta do anything, Sunshine,” Gilda said softly, wrapping her arms around Sunset and petting her hair gently. “I’m sorry I… I just… got caught up and I-”

“N-no!” Sunset asserted, pulling away a little to look up at Gilda. “It’s not your fault I… I just…” Grimacing, Sunset cursed softly under her breath. “I just tried to move too fast again, like with the mall… savvy?”

Gilda chuckled nervously in relief. “Yeah, savvy.”

“A-and… you’re not mad at me, right?” Sunset asked in a small voice as she looked down and away from Gilda. “B-because I pushed you away? Or because I… I didn’t-”

Sunset didn’t get a chance to finish her sentence before Gilda let out a sound that was almost like a snarl, drawing Sunset’s eyes up to see a look of near-fury on Gilda’s face. “Sunny if I ever get mad atcha fer sayin’ ‘no’ to that, then you got my permission to kick me to the fuckin’ curb, you hear me?”

The vitriol, the pure bile in Gilda’s voice, was a near-palpable force that set Sunset back a few inches, but she nodded. “Y-yeah, I hear you, Gil…”

The fire drained out of Gilda slowly and she grimaced, sighing and shaking her head. “Shit, sorry Sunshine, I… I got real strong feelin’s on that shit, y’know?”

“Better than to not have strong feelings about it, I guess,” Sunset replied with a small smile, and Gilda just chuckled. “Fuck, this has been a really stressful morning.”

“Yeah…” Gilda replied, shaking her head again. “Feels like my temper is just all over the place, wanna go out? There’s a little coffee place near the auto garage we can hit up, Cuppa’s is never fuckin’ closed.”

Nodding, Sunset stretched her arms, relishing the cracks and pops of her joints as she did so, then leaned in and kissed Gilda on the nose. “Sounds good to me, babe.”

The snow wasn’t as thick on the ground as it had been the day before and the sidewalks were mostly clear as Gilda pushed Sunset along the cement walkway. The wind blew, but only gently, enough to stir the air but not enough to bite. There were a few people out, mostly teens out enjoying the freedom of winter break, sitting around and talking, starting impromptu snowball fights, and walking around town.

Gilda had put on her usual look, her scarlet scarf and bomber jacket, jeans, and steel-toed leather boots. Sunset had her hair tucked away in her beanie, bundled up in sweaters and her legs covered by old blankets that she periodically swept the snow away from with one hand while the other hand rested perpetually over Gilda’s where it was pushing her along. They didn’t talk but they didn’t need to, the silence was comfortable and they were content to enjoy each others company on one of the few quiet days in the Commons. Usually, the little inner city area was filled with the noise of cars and shouts and people but today everything was muted by the snow.

It was a rare day of audible peace.

The cafe Gilda took Sunset to was a little corner shop called ‘Cuppa’, there were only six tables, none of them alike, and likewise the chairs were all mismatched as well, although they all looked comfortable. Pushing Sunset into the cafe, Gilda carefully edged the door closed with her foot.

Sunset took a deep breath as soon as they were in and smiled, it was warm and everything smelled like coffee and chocolate and baked goods. Behind the counter was a tall, dark-skinned woman with her hair pulled back in colorfully beaded plaits. A much older-looking woman who had a very familial resemblance to the girl at the counter worked the brewing station and espressos with a practiced hand.

Stepping around Sunset, Gilda walked up to an empty table near a window and pulled away a chair, tucking it off to the side by another table.

“Thanks, babe,” Sunset said, smiling softly up at Gilda as she wheeled herself into the now vacant spot before pulling out her wallet and a few bills. “Can you grab me a coffee?”

Gilda took the bills and nodded. “Black?”

“Only ever,” Sunset replied with a grin before turning back to the table, pulling off her mittens and pocketing them before settling in to watch the light snowfall and the people drifting past.

Every so often, Sunset would see a student from CHS walk by, Bulk Biceps was out with Roseluck, the girl he’d been crushing on since ninth grade, and then there was Tree Hugger, passing out flyers for her latest ecological cause in spite of, or maybe because of, her uncle being an oil magnate. Lightning Dust, who nursed the biggest and most hilarious hate-crush on Rainbow Dash that Sunset had ever seen, strolled by most likely on an errand for her grandmother whom she lived with.

All of those secrets and so many more, some of which had come out during the events of Anon-A-Miss, were ones Sunset had gathered over her tenure as Head Bitch of Canterlot High. She remembered using Bulk’s crush on Roseluck as leverage to get him to look the other way when he caught her entering the school before hours one day. She’d blackmailed Tree hugger over her family lineage after she stood up to Sunset once in the cafeteria.

She’d left Lightning Dust alone, though. For a couple of reasons, but mostly because Lightning never had anything Sunset wanted, much like how she’d acted with Gilda. Mutual avoidance had served her well there, and besides…

“Penny fer ya thoughts, Sunshine?”

Sunset blinked in confusion before realising Gilda was seated directly across from her. She’d gotten so lost in her own head she’d completely missed her girlfriend’s return. Glancing down she saw her coffee had been placed directly under her nose.

“Sorry, Gil,” Sunset said reaching out to wrap her cold hands around the hot, bitter beverage. “Just… remembering how I used to be, and appreciating how far I’ve come as a person, y’know?”

“Heh, yeah, I feel ya,” Gilda replied, taking a sip of her coffee. “If someone’d told me a month ago that today I’d be on a date, sitting across from the smartest, prettiest girl in school that I live with, and have a legit job, I’da smacked’em for lying, savvy?”

Sunset blushed furiously and shook her head. “Dammit, Gil,” she said, unable to keep a smile off of her face. “You’re really pretty too, y’know?”

Now it was Gilda’s turn to blush. “C’mon babe, I’m a lotta things, but pretty ain’t one of’em,” she countered, gesturing to herself. “I mean, look at me. I look like I bench press chainsaws fer a living.”

“Honestly, babe?” Sunset retorted, taking a sip of her own drink and relishing the rich, bitter warmth. “I really think it’s more because you’re constantly threatening people than how you look, I mean… you can be pretty overbearing to people you don’t like.”

Gilda just shrugged and nodded with a mischievous grin. “Eh, could be that too, but I’m fine with that one either way. I don’t like bein’ round too many people. I get antsy and if they gotta reason t’stay away from me then all the better.”

Sunset just smiled at Gilda and reached out a hand to reach for Gilda who laced her fingers between Sunset’s. “I know I can’t make you change, babe, but… imagine if I had stayed away too.”

Silence descended on the table as Gilda sat back in her chair, her face turning pensive as she considered Sunset’s words. What if Sunset had stayed away? What if they’d never met? Sure, if Anon-A-Miss hadn’t happened then that’s exactly the path that their lives would’ve taken. It was like Sunset had said the day she was hurt: if it weren’t for Anon-A-Miss they would never have met.

Gilda gave Sunset a dry grin as she nodded. “Guess there’s a downside t’bein’ the type’a person people don’t want to meet, ‘ey Sunflower?”

“Yeah, kinda my point, babe,” Sunset answered wryly as she sipped her coffee. “But… at the same time, I’m not too upset about it.”

Gilda cocked her head to the side, raising an eyebrow as she did. “Really? I figured ya’d be all about meetin’ new people and makin’ new friends.”

“I am but…” Sunset blushed as she looked down into the swirling dark brew and away from Gilda; her next words came out as a mumble.

“What was that?” Gilda leaned with a smirk on her face, fairly certain she knew exactly what Sunset had just said.

Sunset rolled her eyes and blew a raspberry at Gilda. “I said ‘but then I’d have to share you…’ okay? I’m just being selfish.”

A small cough behind Sunset drew the attention of the two girls from each other, and Sunset turned around and looked up reflexively. Two other girls were standing just behind her, both CHS students that Sunset easily recognized and fortunately two of the ones who had largely left her alone during the reign of Anon-A-Miss.

“O-Octavia?” Sunset’s said in surprise, staring up at the gray-skinned, dark-haired girl and the quiet but excitable DJ behind her. “Vinyl?”

Daughter of Legato and Soprana Melody, Octavia was easily one of the wealthiest girls in school. Sunset had been genuinely surprised she wasn’t going to Crystal Prep, actually, since her family could definitely afford it. Most would be surprised to find her in a place like the Commons, dressed in her expensive gray winter coat, top end pink earmuffs over her perfectly straight and meticulously combed black hair and a thick woolen scarf.

Vinyl Scratch, on the other hand, looked to be precisely where she belonged and, so, couldn’t have been more different; a mute who lived with her single mother, Vinyl was the other side of Octavia’s coin; where the former was a classical music prodigy, Vinyl had hundreds of thousands of subscribers on Haytube for her electronic music. The difference in their social classes showed, with Vinyl wearing her borderline ridiculous shades and a simple off-the-rack white winter coat with both shoulders emblazoned with Vinyl’s iconic bridged eighth notes turned in reverse. The same symbol that served as her profile picture on Haytube, along with what looked like two pairs of jeans pulled over each other.

As for the reason Sunset was unsurprised to see them here? It was because she happened to know that the two of them had been secretly dating since sophomore year; a fact that Sunset had studiously ensured remained buried the moment she discovered it.

“So it is you,” Octavia said, her voice tinged with sadness. “I… I almost didn’t believe my eyes when we came in. I was quite certain you must be some other girl.”

“Cool, didja want somethin’?” Gilda replied before Sunset could say anything, fixing the two with her golden glare. Octavia took a reflexive step back but Vinyl brought a hand up to stop her from backpedaling.

Sunset turned and shot a look at Gilda. “Gil, ease up, they were some of the few people who didn’t torment me during that whole Anon-A-Miss thing.”

Gilda kept her glare up for a few seconds longer before leaning back and nodding. “Yeah, savvy,” she said to Sunset before looking up at Octavia and Vinyl. “Sorry ‘bout that.”

Still looking concerned, Octavia glanced back at Vinyl who made several quick motions with her hands. Octavia smiled and responded in kind before turning back to Sunset. “Uhm, Sunset… I wanted to… to apologise for everything that happened at school. For the matter with Anon-A-Miss and how badly you were treated.”

“Why? You didn’t do anything wrong,” Sunset answered with a tired grin, turning her wheelchair a little so she could see the two girls without craning her neck. “And it’s not like you could’ve stopped it anyway.” Vinyl made a few sharp motions at Octavia who nodded and turned back, she began to say something but Sunset cut her off. “It wasn’t your responsibility to stand up for me, Vinyl, or yours Octavia,” she said, taking everyone at the table by surprise.

Vinyl turned to Sunset in shock, then pointed to Sunset, lifted her hand to touch her forehead below her eye, wheeled both index fingers in front of her and then spread both index fingers and thumbs, touched them, then walked them apart.

“Mhm,” Sunset replied, nodding, “a little, I practiced it along with about four other languages when I came here. I’ve always had a knack for memorizing things.”

“That’s an understatement, my dear,” Octavia replied in a voice of arid humor, “the ‘knack’ part, I mean. Take it from someone else that people call a prodigy; you’re a genius.”

Sunset shrugged. “Yeah well, my ‘Genius’ didn’t get me out of the way of a collapsing stairwell so it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.”

Octavia and Vinyl both winced hard at that, both reaching for the others hand at the same time. “Is it permanent?” Octavia asked quietly, looking down at the wheelchair, and Sunset nodded. “Oh god… Sunset, I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Sunset replied a little bitterly. “I’ve had enough pity for two lifetimes.”

“C’mon Sunshine, they’re just tryin’ t’be nice,” Gilda admonished, drawing her own set of surprised looks. “What? I’m just takin y’advice, Sunflower,” Gilda said, smirking at Sunset who rolled her eyes.

“Fine, you’re right,” Sunset admitted turning back to Vinyl and Octavia. “Well, for whatever it’s worth I don’t blame you for steering clear of me,” scoffing, Sunset’s tone turned a little bitter, “guess no one had any reason to think I wasn’t guilty, right?”

Vinyl made a couple quick sweeps of her hand that made Sunset start in surprise, and Octavia nodded as well. “Vinyl’s right, we knew it wasn’t you… or rather, neither of us believed for a moment that it was you.”

Sunset stared in shock while Gilda’s face twisted into a snarl. “And you just watched’er get pummeled every goddamn day?” She hissed out, causing both Vinyl and Octavia to flinch back. “Never mind, I take it all back, be as nasty as y’want Sunshine.”

And she wanted to. A part of Sunset very deeply wanted to do exactly that, but instead, she asked a more pressing question on her mind. “How could you have possibly have known I was innocent?”

Octavia and Vinyl shared a quick glance, and Vinyl nodded. Taking a deep breath Octavia turned back to Sunset. “How long have you known about us… being together, Sunset?” She asked in a soft voice, reaching out to take Vinyl’s hand.

Sunset eyed the two girls carefully, then shrugged and gestured to the table. “Sit down, no sense taking up space.” Once the girls were seated across from one another between Gilda and Sunset, the redhead settled back into her chair. “I’ve known since the beginning, since your first kiss, actually. And if you need proof I’ll tell you it was on the docks at approximately eleven at night, give or take a few minutes, it was a hunter’s moon which was particularly beautiful.”

Vinyl, Octavia, and Gilda alike stared at Sunset, who met each of their gazes evenly, but when none of them interrupted she continued. “I saw you about to throw your cello into the river, and Vinyl stopped you. You yelled at her, some pretty colorful phrases, actually, for such a posh girl.”

Octavia blushed furiously and Vinyl started shaking with silent laughter, clapping a hand on her girlfriends back before making a couple of hand signs to Sunset who blushed too. “Really, Vinyl?” Sunset asked incredulously. “TMI, I do not need to know where else her language gets that way.”

“Vincenza Scratch I will break your fingers,” Octavia hissed in a deadly voice before taking another deep breath, smoothing out the non-existent wrinkles in her skirt, and turning back to Sunset. “At any rate we, that is Vinyl and I, suspected you knew of our relationship, although we didn’t realise it had been for so long.”

“Yeah well,” Sunset shrugged. “If I’m honest you basically had your little lovers tiff right outside of my bedroom… so it was kind of hard to miss.”

“Beg pardon?” Octavia asked in a choked voice.

“I was living in the abandoned office of warehouse forty-one at the time,” Sunset admitted a little sheepishly. “Not living there anymore, mind you, but… yeah, it was right by the dock entrance where you two argued and then devolved into furious makeouts, or at least that’s what it looked like from my perspective.”

Octavia and Vinyl shared a flushed glance, and Vinyl turned to Gilda and made a few signs to which Gilda just shook her head. “Hey, don’t look at me Blue, I can barely speak English.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Octavia asked, looking horrified at the revelation. “Being homeless in Canterlot? That’s… that’s awful!”

“It wasn’t any worse than how I grew up,” Sunset responded in a neutral voice. “As for the why of it? Pride, obviously, plus I’m literally an illegal alien, so…”

“Right,” Octavia said grimacing. “So… I suppose that answers the how of it, but…”

Vinyl interrupted with a flurry of signs directed towards Sunset who held up her hands in mock surrender. “W-woah, slow down. I’m… familiar, proficient maybe. I’m not what I’d call fluent though.”

Octavia laughed and nodded. “For the sake of Gilda I’ll translate, then. There were several instances where we were certain we’d been found out except the students would always, without fail, find something else to talk about other than whatever compromising position we’d been seen in.” Octavia leaned forward a little, eyeing Sunset carefully. “At first we chalked it up to good fortune but… it kept happening. And there were a few instances that were particularly suspicious, which was when we started to suspect…”

“Suspect that I was rumour-mongering in your favor? Covering your trail?” Sunset filled in, meeting Octavia’s sharp gaze. “You’re right, I was doing exactly that.”

Octavia pulled back in surprise, not expecting the bald-faced admission, and even Gilda looked shocked. “Wow, Sunshine, that’s… kinda off from how I remember ya from back then,” Gilda said, sitting back in her chair and taking a sip of her coffee. “Why the hell’d ya do something like that?”

“I must admit that Vinyl and I had the very same question,” Octavia pressed, leaning in again. “Please, Sunset, why did you protect us?”

Sunset just cocked her head to the side, smiling. “Really? You haven’t figured it out yet?” She asked, smiling playfully, before reaching out lacing fingers around Gilda’s. “It’s because this world is a lot less accepting than the one I knew, and even at my worst I would never go that low. Outing someone like that? I'm a lot of things, Miss Melody, but I'm not a hypocrite.”

Octavia and Vinyl glanced between Gilda and Sunset several times before Octavia finally managed to work around the knot in her tongue. “W-wait, you and… and Gilda are… are-?”

“Mhm, and very happily so,” Sunset filled in with a smile. “She’s saved my life in more ways than one.”

Vinyl cleared her throat softly and lifted her fingers to her lips then extended her arm down with her hand out to Sunset who smiled.

“You’re welcome,” Sunset answered softly. “And thank you, for all your help during the Battle of the Bands. We never would’ve come through it if it weren’t for your gear setup.”

“A-At any rate, that should explain why we didn’t believe you were Anon-A-Miss, I think,” Octavia continued. “After all, someone who would do something like that for us… it showed you were more than just a small-minded and petty bully, which is all those three girls ever were, apparently.”

Sunset faced paled and her voice died in her throat as Octavia’s last, rancorous words came out. She worked her jaw for several moments before she finally found her voice again and when she did it was a low, ghostly thing. “W-wait… you know who Anon-A-Miss is?”

Octavia and Vinyl looked at Sunset in shock as she asked the question and Gilda groaned, planting a palm on her face. “You… you don’t know?” Octavia asked in a hushed whisper. “It was three young girls, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, apparently. They confessed to their sisters who then informed the staff, Principal Celestia made them admit their actions to the school during an assembly on the last day of- Oh… of course, you were in hospital that day weren’t you?”

“Shit,” Gilda swore, burying her face in her arms. “I knew I fuckin’ forgot somethin’…”

All three girls turned with an almost audible ratcheting sound to stare at Gilda who was looking in any direction but Sunset’s.

“Gilda,” Sunset said in a very soft, very calm voice. “Have you known this whole time?”

“Uhhh…” Gilda glanced up at Sunset only to freeze at the glacial expression in her eyes. “W-well… y-yeah… when I called Appleja-” A slight narrowing of Sunset’s eyes at the sound of that name stuck the last syllable in Gilda’s throat. “Uh… yeah, she told me what happened,” sinking low into her chair, Gilda gripped the armrests hard enough to make them creak. “I… I know I fucked up again, Sunset, I… I just forgot.”

Hearing her name, her real name, pass Gilda’s lips for the second time that day Sunset grimaced and did her level best to pull back on the reins of her temper. As much as they joked that Gilda had the worse temper between them the opposite was really true. Gilda’s temper was near to the surface and, admittedly, explosive and unpredictable, but Sunset’s? Sunset Shimmer’s temper was downright volcanic; her anger didn’t just damage things, it annihilated them.

“Girls, can you give Gilda and I the table, please?” Sunset asked, her voice having lost some of its lethal edge, and Vinyl and Octavia nodded, being equally fine with not getting caught in the middle. “We need to talk.”

“Sure, but could I ask you to give me your number?” Octavia passed her phone to Sunset as she stood, and Sunset looked up at Octavia curiously for a moment before nodding and taking it. “I’d very much like to keep in touch, Sunset, as friends.”

“Friends with Sunset Shimmer, huh?” Sunset said wryly as she punched her number into the contacts. “Sure you can handle that?” she asked as she handed the phone back.

Vinyl stood and signed slowly so Sunset could keep up, passing her right hand between her shoulders then pointed both index fingers out and tapped them together, wrapping them around each other when they met, then raised her right hand as a fist with her thumb out and against her right temple and her pinky extended and moving it outward. Then she repeated the hand to shoulders motion before bringing her hand up to her face and jerking it outward with her palm out while she shook her head and shrugged.

Sunset felt her heart clench as she translated the motions while Octavia nodded emphatically along with each of Vinyl’s movements.

We’ve been friends for a long time, we just didn’t know it.

“I’ll give Vinyl your number too,” Octavia promised as she extricated herself from the table. “She’s much more talkative over text.” As she shuffled past Sunset towards the small lobby, Octavia leaned down towards Sunset and whispered, “don’t be too hard on her, I don’t think she meant any harm.”

“I know,” Sunset muttered back, and Octavia gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder as they left.

Silence fell over the table between the two girls as Sunset wheeled herself back straight with the table and stared across it at Gilda who had dejectedly buried her face in her arms. Sunset tried to say something, anything really, but every time she began she forcibly stopped herself.

She was angry and talking while she was angry always went poorly. Sunset knew her own feelings well enough to tell that much. Was she angry with Gilda? A bit… certainly. Though more angry in general, really. Angry at nothing, even. Just…

Angry.

“Did you keep it from me on purpose, Gil?” Sunset asked finally, abandoning any attempt at a preamble. It would just sound like pointless dithering anyway. “To protect me? Or so I just wouldn’t have to deal with it?”

Gilda shook her head silently.

Sunset narrowed her eyes, trying and admittedly failing to keep her emotions off of her face. And out of her voice too, since her next words came out with a hiss that made Gilda flinch. “Then why didn’t you tell me?”

“I forgot,” Gilda answered quietly, her voice impressively subdued for such an imposing figure though partially because she didn’t look up from her arms. “That’s all it was, Sunshine, I promise… I just forgot. I got all caught up in takin’ care of ya and tryin’ to make sure I wasn’t fucking up that I just… went’n fucked up anyway.”

“You forgot to tell me that the person- or people, I guess -who tried to ruin my life, confessed?” Sunset asked in naked disbelief. “You forgot to tell me that they also happened to be the little sisters of my ex-best friends?”

Gilda shuddered and then lifted her face up from her arms, and Sunset felt her anger start to melt away. There was something in her eyes that was distinctly not-Gilda. A fear, a wavering insecurity that looked entirely out of place on the brazen girl’s features.

“What d’ya want me to say, Sunshine?” Gilda mumbled, her eyes still failing to meet Sunset’s. “Ya hate it when I call myself stupid, but… gotta say I feel pretty fuckin’ stupid.”

“I… understand how it happened, Gil,” Sunset said, speaking slowly enough to choose her words carefully lest something with more vitriol than she intended to slip out. “Making mistakes isn’t the same as being stupid, either… but…”

“Y’still mad, right?” Gilda filled in, and Sunset nodded her silent agreement. “Not surprised, I guess. I fucked up pretty big here… I really did mean t’tell ya, I swear but… with everything that happened, and then us living together, and me gettin’ a job it all just… kinda slipped away.” Gilda let out a slow breath and sat up, finally bringing herself to look at Sunset who was trying not to glare. “L-look… none’a that’s an excuse. I screwed up… and I’m really fuckin’ sorry, Sunflower, I promise.”

Sunset leaned back in her chair and groaned in annoyance. “Gil, look, I know it’s pointless to be mad at you, okay? And I believe you when you say you didn’t do it on purpose because, no offense babe, you can’t lie for shit.” Gilda chuckled a little nervously in response but froze as Sunset held up a hand, her face still twisted in irritation. “But… you’re right, you fucked up pretty bad here. I’m… gonna forgive you, okay? I just need to cool off for a while, savvy?”

Gilda looked down dejectedly but nodded. On the one hand, she was borderline ecstatic that Sunset wasn’t going to stay mad at her but… at the same time, she felt like it pretty much ruined the day for both of them. As Gilda started to get up to leave the coffee shop, a thought hit her and she looked back at Sunset.

“H-hey, Sunshine?” Gilda started, drawing a tired look from Sunset. “Not tryin’ to deflect or anything, just curious. Remember when I got into yer phone, yeah? I know those fuckabouts sent you a ton’a messages about everything, I didn’t read’em cuz… well, yeah… got some issues with that… plus, y’know… didn’t wanna intrude, but they didn’t mention who it was either?”

“Oh, yeah, I guess…” Sunset trailed off as she looked down at her phone. “I guess they probably did… but I never read them. When I saw the messages and texts and… ugh, I just… got angry and deleted them all,” Sunset confessed in irritation. “I didn’t read a single one, I wasn’t even thinking, I just know that the thought of reading their ‘condolences’ made me so stupidly angry that… yeah, I just couldn’t.”

Gilda nodded, she couldn’t really fault Sunset for that. Besides, it didn’t matter if she could have learned about the Crusader’s actions another way, the point of the matter was that Gilda knew and hadn’t told her; the why or how it could have been avoided was irrelevant… what happened had happened. Stuffing her hands in her pockets, Gilda started to walk away, her shoulders slumped. She hated feeling like she’d failed and right now she had pretty blatantly screwed up.

She barely got a step away, though, when she felt a tug on the back of her jacket, and Gilda turned to see Sunset staring down at the table but with her fingers clenching hard on the corner of Gilda’s bomber jacket.

“I… I didn’t say I wanted you to leave,” Sunset said quietly without looking up. “I know it’s… not really reasonable, but I’m not feeling very reasonable right now, okay? I’m mad at you, but I’m not… I’m…” Sunset clenched her eyes shut, and Gilda bit her lip as she saw a few tears leak out and down Sunset’s cheeks. “I’m really messed up right now okay? And I don’t really know what to feel, but I know I want you to stay.”

Gilda nodded silently and pulled out the chair next to Sunset and sat down, tentatively reaching an arm out to wrap around her girlfriend’s shoulders. Sunset unceremoniously tipped to the side to lay her head on Gilda’s shoulder, turning her face to bury it in the faux fur around the collar. After a moment, Sunset started to shake and let out a quiet, muffled sob as her arm came up to wrap around Gilda’s chest. Sunset pulled and gripped onto Gilda almost painfully tight as she let out soft, wracking cries that Gilda only heard because of her proximity.

“Tonight’s the night, Gil,” Sunset said in a quiet, raw voice from Gilda’s shoulder as her tears subsided. “The portal resets tonight and after that…”

“Yeah, I know,” Gilda answered, not sure what else to say. Magic was so far out of her wheelhouse it had a restraining order. “Second thoughts?”

Sunset shook her head against the fringe of Gilda’s jacket. “Never, I… I can’t leave you. I won’t… I love you.”

Gilda tightened her grip on Sunset’s shoulders and leaned over to bury her face in Sunset’s hair. “I love you too, Sunshine.”

“I’m scared, Gil,” Sunset chokes out weakly. “I’m really, really scared.”

“Of stayin’ here?” Gilda asked quietly. “Bein’ stuck in the chair?”

Sunset shook her head again. “No, I’m scared that, when we get there when the portal is right there in front of me? I’m scared that I’ll lose my nerve and go through it, I’m scared that I’ll give up… that I’ll give you up, because I know I’ll regret it.”

“I trust you, Sunflower, savvy? I know you, you’ll stay if that’s whatcha really want,” Gilda said, gently petting Sunset’s hair. “Which means, you’n me? We’re stuck with each other, for better or worse, y’know?”

Sunset chuckled quietly before glancing up, a mischievous look on her face that was spoiled only a little by the dried tears on her cheeks. “Til death do us part?”

GIlda’s jaw dropped open as her brain caught up to the implications of what she’d just said and how Sunset had responded. “Uh… I mean… I, uh…”

Sunset burst out laughing, she could practically smell the smoke rising from Gilda’s brain as it fritzed out. Bringing her hands up to Gilda’s cheeks, she pulled the dumbfounded girl into a lingering kiss which seemed to reset her brain back to default. The anger Sunset had been feeling a moment ago was, well, not gone, but… it was distant, very distant.

Obscured just slightly by the equal parts absurd and charming mental image of Gilda in a white dress.

“Dammit, Sunshine, you’re gonna kill me one’a these days sayin’ shit like that,” Gilda grumbled, leaning in to kiss Sunset’s forehead. “I swear my brain fell outta my ears when ya said that.”

“Sorry not sorry,” Sunset replied with a smirk. “And in my defense, you were wide open for that one, Gil.”

Sunset curled into Gilda’s embrace as the two girls finished their coffee, the soft, brassy sounds of the jazz soundtrack playing in the background of the cafe giving a calm vibe to the little shop.

Deep down, Sunset was still afraid of the coming night. Of watching the portal reset itself. Everything felt further away, though, when Gilda was nearby as she draped an arm over Sunset’s shoulders and let her long, dark fingers, trace the curve of her arm idly. The soft, playful touches that Gilda probably didn’t even realise she was doing brought an immeasurable kind of calm to Sunset.

“Hey, Gil?” Sunset said suddenly, looking up at Gilda who was taking a sip of her coffee. Gilda glanced down at Sunset, raising an eyebrow in silent response and Sunset smiled softly. “I love you.”

Gilda chuckled, lowering her coffee and bringing her hand that was draped down Sunset’s side up to brush her cheek. “Heh, I love you too, Sunshine.”

The temperature had dropped from merely uncomfortably cold to bitterly freezing by the time the evening rolled around. Gilda and Sunset had returned to the flat after they left Cuppa’s and spent the day watching movies, curled up on the bed and vegetating to the best of their ability. Chatting about how stupid the protagonists of whatever slasher movie they were watching were being. Narrating the Slasher’s inner monologues and assigning the more silent ones hilarious motives which ended with the Halloween Killer being driven solely by his hatred of bare breasts and Jason being an exceptionally aggressive D.A.R.E advocate.

Anything to keep Sunset’s mind off of what would be happening at midnight.

As the credits rolled on the last movie of the evening, Sunset glanced at the alarm clock by the bed and grimaced. “It’s seven forty-five, babe…” she said quietly, looking up at Gilda who glanced over and nodded. “I guess… we should get ready to go.”

Gilda and Sunset were curled up under the blankets with all of the pillows piled together to prop them up so they could watch the tv at the end of the room comfortably. Gilda looked over at the clock too and nodded, but didn’t make any effort to move. To be fair, neither did Sunset. Instead, the two girls settled deeper into the blankets, with Sunset tightening her grip on Gilda’s arm that was wrapped protectively around her.

“Last bus is at nine,” Gilda said nonchalantly, stroking Sunset’s arm where her hand rested. “Sure y’gonna be okay to take the long way back home?”

Sunset didn’t answer right away. It was the longest night of the year and, of course, the coldest. The trip home would definitely be uncomfortable, but…

“Trying to give me a reason to not go, Gil?” Sunset asked with a dry smirk as she stared up at Gilda who just shrugged. The smirk faded as Sunset shivered. “Y’know… a part of me wants to do exactly that, stay I mean… the portal will reset whether or not I’m there, after all.”

“Yeah, it will,” Gilda said simply, looking down at Sunset. “D’ya need to see it happen? I mean, d’ya really need to?”

For a few moments, Sunset stayed quiet, her face turning pensive as she considered the question. Did she? Did she really need to see the portal transition?

“No,” Sunset finally said, “it’s not that I need to see it reset.”

“Sensin’ a ‘but’ in there, Sunshine,” Gilda asked, smiling cheekily down at Sunset who returned the grin and nodded.

“Yeah, y’know me, Gil, I can’t ever just do it the easy way,” Sunset retorted. “I need to be there because… I need to know I can watch it close. It’s that I need to be able to say goodbye to the old me.”

“Y’need closure?” Gilda asked, half to herself, and Sunset nodded. “Huh, yeah, savvy, I get that.”

“Thanks, Gil,” Sunset said, leaning up to brush her lips against Gilda’s who leaned into the gentle kiss. “I really, really love you, y’know that?”

Gilda just nodded. “Yeah, ‘course I do, Sunflower,” she replied with that crooked cocksure smile that still sent flickers of fire through her heart. “Now let’s getcha bundled up, I’m gonna set some coffee to brew, too. Figure we’ll need somethin’ hot if we’re gonna be out that cold.”

The process of dressing had become a lot less laborious for Sunset over the week since her injury. It was funny how quickly something so objectively jarring could become almost… boring. The frustration of getting dressed had originally been irritating enough to reduce her to tears, if only thanks to her fragile emotional state, but now it was just a mild annoyance. Sunset did her little dance in place on her wheelchair to get her winter trousers on, without Gilda’s help this time surprisingly and was in the midst of tucking some of the older covers around her waist and thighs to keep herself warm when Gilda emerged from the kitchen holding a couple of thermoses.

“Gettin’ good at that, Sunshine,” Gilda remarked as she tossed one thermos to Sunset who snapped a hand up to snatch it out of the air. “We gotta getcha a warmer jacket, though.”

Sunset grimaced and nodded. “Yeah, I miss my old black leather jacket, I wasn’t much warmer but I’m pretty sure they had to cut me out of it at the hospital.”

“Yeah,” Gilda said slowly, “they did… blood ruined everything else… speakin’a which?”

“Mm, yeah, the wounds still itch every now and again,” Sunset said, trailed a hand over her back. “And they’ll definitely scar, but I heal fast.”

“No joke, Sunshine,” Gilda remarked, raising an eyebrow. “Most people’d be out for the count for a lot longer than a few days, even with hospital care.”

Sunset shrugged. “I’ve always healed fast here, I’m pretty sure it’s something to do with having magic. I can’t cast spells but I’m still carrying Equestrian magic inside me.”

Popping the top of the thermos to take a sip, Gilda screwed it back on and wiped her mouth before speaking. “So you got like… regeneration?”

Laughing, Sunset shook her head. “Technically everyone regenerates, it’s how scars are formed, but no, I’m not a superhero, I’m just… healthier, I guess” Sunset explained, waving a hand. “I don’t really get sick, cuts knit a little faster, scars form a bit quicker; I’m pretty sure it’s just my body automatically drawing from my magical reserves as an automatic function.

“Is it… dangerous?” Gilda asked, as she pulled on her jacket and threw her scarf on. “I mean, like, what happens when you don’t have any more magic?”

Sunset stared at Gilda, the wheels suddenly turning in a direction they’d never gone before. “I… I don’t know if that’s possible, Gil,” Sunset said after a moment, but she sounded a little unsure of it herself. “It’s basic pony biology, we’re born with a wellspring of mana, it refills itself. A unicorn can overcast and even suffer severe burnout, even death in a few rare cases, but that’s from active use of magic. I can’t cast here, remember?”

“Where does it refill from?” Gilda asked as she shoved her own thermos in her pocket. “Gotta come from somewhere right? Pretty sure I remember that much from Harshwhinny’s class.”

“Well, it…” Sunset began… then stopped. Her mind turned the question over and over as it parsed out the question. “It comes from the ambient magical field of the world,” Sunset answered finally, sounding concerned. “But Earth has such a weak field… so weak a spell matrix can’t even be formed… sorry Gil, I don’t really have an answer right now but… you’re right, I hadn’t thought about it. I’ll talk to Twilight and see if we can put something together, okay?”

“Sure, I’m just…” Gilda shrugged, wrapping her arms around herself as she grimaced. “Never dated a girl with magic before, and I just wanna know you’re gonna be okay, savvy?”

“You had a good question, one I can’t actually answer,” Sunset admitted, reaching out to grab Gilda’s hand and give it a comforting squeeze. “You’d make a half-decent mage with that kind of mind, y’know? I have professors back in Equestria who can’t even claim to do what you just managed; stumping me on a question about theoretical arcana.”

“Pretty sure that was an accident, Sunshine,” Gilda remarked. “Anyways, we should go. Don’t wanna miss the last bus.”

Sunset nodded, settling in her chair and pulled the thick coat Gilda had been lending her tighter around herself to brace against the oncoming cold. Sunset had always been a summer filly, and that held true on Earth as much as it ever had on Equestria, so she knew the night was gonna suck in more than one way.

She was right.

CHS was a lot closer to the inner city of Canterlot than, say, Crystal Prep, at least. It was certainly walking distance, no more than a half hour to forty-five minutes. The bus ride was a little longer thanks to the route but at least the heater was on, it allowed Gilda and Sunset to travel in relative comfort given how late it was. With how bitterly cold it already was just going from their flat to the bus stop and the ten-minute wait, sipping on hot coffee from Gilda’s wisely packed thermos. Sunset found herself dreading even the short trip home.

“Heh,” Sunset chuckled softly as the bus rumbled along the icy roads, drawing a curious look from Gilda.

“What’s up, Sunshine?” Gilda asked, leaning closer as she rubbed warmth into her hands through her gloves.

Sunset just smiled as she leaned over and kissed Gilda on the cheek. “I was just thinking about how much the trip home is gonna suck.”

“And that made ya laugh?” Gilda asked, smiling incredulously.

“No,” Sunset replied. “I laughed because I’m already thinking of the flat as my home. It took me almost a year to start thinking of that space up in the warehouse as my ‘home’. I’ve lived with you for, what, a week?”

“Just about, yeah,” Gilda answered, reaching out to take Sunset’s hand and lace their fingers together. “Feels like ages, though.”

“Yeah, it does,” Sunset said, squeezing Gilda’s hand. “Feels like we’ve been together forever.”

“That’s the plan, Sunshine,” Gilda remarked glibly, returning the squeeze and put her other arm behind her head, leaning back into the bus seat and closing her eyes to relax as the bus rattled around her.

Sunset just stared, her eyes wide in a mixture of shock and wonder at Gilda’s easy words. ‘That’s the plan, Sunshine,’ she had said.

Together forever was the plan.

Sunset had to bite down slightly on her lip to keep the sob that was building up in the back of her throat from getting out. By now Sunset figured she would be used to Gilda’s casual, off-handed, and borderline accidental declarations of love and affection. Now, though, Sunset thought she might never get used to them at all. Every time she thought she’d heard it all, Gilda would say something else that would just knock her for a loop in the best possible way.

Turning away from Gilda, Sunset smiled broadly as she stroked her thumb along Gilda’s where their hands met and interwove. She didn’t quite keep all the happy tears from her face but it was enough that no one but she noticed them.

Wiping them away with the cuff of her jacket, Sunset turned back to Gilda and gave a weak chuckle. “Yeah, I like that plan,” she said, lifting Gilda’s hand to her lips and kissing it softly. “That sounds like a good plan.”

The rest of the ride was quiet. Gilda and Sunset were the only passengers and neither of them had much to say. Sunset found herself brooding on the portal and the consequences of staying where she was. Staying on Earth through the transition meant never being able to go back to having a functioning spine, but leaving would be meaningless unless she stayed in Equestria long enough for a new set of transitions to erase her crippled human template which meant, likely, a minimum of sixty moons, maybe more depending on the stipulations of the spell.

Being apart from Gilda for upwards of half a decade was something Sunset wasn’t sure she would be able to endure. It felt a little absurd just how right Princess Celestia had ended up being.

Sunset had cut herself off from other people because she’d believed they weren’t worth her time or energy. Not so long ago she hadn’t even been willing to sacrifice a single hour of her day for the sake of anything that didn’t further her ambitions.

Now she was planning to, in an uncomfortably near-literal sense, sacrifice her entire world for someone else.

Her magic. Her home. Everything she’d left behind because of her pride, she could get back in an instant. Just… go through the portal and it would all be waiting for her.

Her power, her prestige, her magic.

Sunset let the thoughts flow through her and over her and around her and as the bus came to a rumbling stop outside the school Sunset found herself smiling.

“Ready to go, Sunflower?” Gilda asked, moving to kneel and unbuckle Sunset’s wheelchair from the bus.

The thought of leaving it all behind felt… less impactful that Sunset had thought it would. She’d thought it would be like tearing off an arm but instead, it felt… fine. Glancing down at Gilda who looked up at her with that cocked smile and a raised eyebrow, waiting for her answer, Sunset was pretty sure why that was.

That’s the plan, Sunshine.

“Yeah, let’s go,” Sunset replied finally, unlatching the brake lever of her chair.

The street lights surrounding CHS glowed with gentle illuminations around the sidewalk, and the lights filtered through the snow and rime that faintly coated each glass globe. It was half-past ten when Gilda and Sunset finally stopped in front of the Wondercolt statue, it’s smooth marble panes reflecting the dim nighttime lights over the plains of snow around the school.

Sunset rolled up to the statue and stared at it, feeling that familiar pang of nostalgia and homesickness as she approached what she knew was the portal to a place she’d left behind in an act of anger and pride.

“You okay, Sunshine?” Gilda asked quietly as she set a hand on Sunset’s shoulder.

Sunset glanced up at the girl who had so quickly become the central focus of her world. Gilda Grimfeather; bully and thug, class delinquent… best friend and girlfriend.

Smiling, Sunset nodded. “I think I will be.”

Reaching into her pocket, Sunset drew out a cigarette and tucked it between her lips. Gilda was lighting her own as she did and, a moment later, knelt to press the tip of her lit cig playfully against Sunset's unlit one. Sunset smiled around the paper tube as she took a few breaths to light it.

Pulling the cigarette free she reached up to take Gilda’s hand. “Thanks Gil, for coming out here with me…”

“Where else would I be, Sunflower?” Gilda asked, smirking around her smoke, squeezing Sunset’s hand before bringing it up to tuck the smoke between her fingers.

“Anywhere else,” Sunset answered, her voice taking on a serious note drawing a confused look from Gilda. Chuckling dryly, Sunset shook her head. “You could literally be anywhere else, doing anything else… instead you’re taking care of me. Do you really not see it?”

“See what, Sunshine?” Gilda asked, pulling her smoke out and flicking some of the ash into the snow. “I wouldn’t be anywhere but right here, savvy? You’re literally the most important thing in my whole goddamn life.”

“We’re still young, babe…” Sunset said her voice taking a melancholic turn as she turned to look back at the statue. “We haven’t even been together for that long… I know it feels like forever but…”

“The fuck does that matter?” Gilda cut Sunset off, her voice tightening with annoyance as she gestured with the cigarette in her hand, making the embers and ash dance in the light snowfall. “Who cares how long it’s been? We’re together, savvy? Ain’t like there’s some arbitrary fuckin’ goalpost I gotta run through before I figure out who I wanna spend my life-”

Gilda cut herself off like a snapped string, snapping her jaw shut and staring straight forward for a full minute before flicking her eyes back to Sunset who was staring up at Gilda with her jaw slightly open, the cigarette hanging comically from her lips. The words had just… fallen out. Not for the first time, Gilda cursed her total inability to think about what she was saying before she said it. Gilda turned away from Sunset, lifting a shaking hand to her mouth to put the cigarette back between her lips before something else incomprehensibly stupid fell out.

“G-Gilda?” Sunset said her girlfriend’s name quietly.

“Y-yeah?” Gilda answered a little weakly, looking back at Sunset whose face had lost its shock and turned to a calming smile.

“C’mere,” Sunset gestured for Gilda to come down to her level.

Embarrassed and blushing furiously, Gilda sidled around in front of the statue and knelt in front of Sunset who was still smiling. Pulling the cigarette from her lips, Sunset tucked it behind her ear, then reached out and put both hands on Gilda’s cheeks, tracing the lines of her face with her fingers, brushing the snow from her hair where it had disappeared into the pale white strands, and stared into the bright, gorgeous gold orbs that had always held her entranced. Gilda smiled shyly, bringing a hand up to cover Sunset’s.

“S-Sorry…” Gilda said softly, lowering her eyes as she leaned into Sunset’s touch. “I get caught up’n then don’t think before I say shit.”

“Don’t be,” Sunset replied warmly, looping her arms around Gilda and pulling her close so their foreheads touched together. “I love it when you say stuff like that, y’know? The fact that you just say the first thing that comes to your mind means that I never have to wonder what you really think, savvy?”

“Heh, still sounds weird comin’ outta y’mouth, Sunshine,” Gilda remarked with a chuckle. “But yeah, ‘savvy’.”

Sighing, Sunset leaned back in her chair and gave Gilda a playful poke on the nose. Gilda stood back up, brushing the snow from her knees as she walked back to Sunset’s side. A part of her lamented that she hadn’t brought a folding chair or something, but it wasn’t that big of a deal. She’d stood still for longer, albeit maybe not in this kind of cold, but it was tolerable.

Plus, the company was fantastic.

There was just one last thing niggling at the edges of Gilda’s mind. Something she’d been afraid to bring up for more than one reason. Still…

“So, y’sure about this, Sunshine?” Gilda asked, staring at the glassy surface of the statue. The place where, according to Sunset, a portal to a dimension of colorful magical ponies lay. “Stuck like y’are forever?”

“The only other option is staying on that side for long enough that my crippled ‘template’ fades away,” Sunset said in a sad voice. “That could take a very long time, two transitions is about five years here, and I don’t know how the time period is determined, so it might take longer because I’m older and my body is changing less.”

“Couldn’t just come back’n visit?” Gilda asked, even knowing that seeing Sunset that seldom after having gotten used to seeing her and being around her every day would be gut-wrenching.

“Not if I wanted to be absolutely sure the template cleared," Sunset answered grimly. "We still don't know the full measure of how the portal works... but let's say I could, right? Hypothetically, let's say I could visit... would I?"

Gilda turned to look down at Sunset as she asked the question that she didn’t want to. “Why wouldn'tcha?”

“Because I’m not sure I'd be able to give everything up again, Gil, even for a little while,” Sunset answered evenly. “I’m a coward, Gilda… I have a really bad history of taking the easy way. I… I like to think of myself as a bad-ass, do-whatever-it-takes kind of girl, but… the truth is that my past tells a different story.”

Reaching into her bag, Sunset pulled out the Journal and ran her hand over the cover as she was wont to do anytime she was thinking too hard about her homeland. It helped dull the pain of the homesickness, touching something that was from that place and that served as a very real connection to it.

“I wanted to become an Alicorn, and I tried to cajole and threaten to get it,” Sunset said grimly, scowling down at the book as if it were a mirror of her old self. “When I didn’t get my way I ran through the portal thinking I could just take it. When that didn’t work, rather than admit my mistake I made an entire school miserable for years so I could steal the power in yet another way.”

“That ain’t who you are anymore, Sunflower,” Gilda said fervently, scowling down at Sunset who was staring at the portal with a distant gaze.

“I… want to think that too, Gil,” Sunset responded in a small voice. “But… I’m really, really scared that that’s not true. I’m scared that I’m still that weak-willed filly who takes the easy way out.”

“What does that even have to do with you goin’ back, though?” Gilda asked.

Sunset took a deep drag of her cigarette as she considered Gilda’s question and how to answer it. Pulling the lit smoke out of her mouth she stared into the ember for a few moments, and a part of her couldn't help but remember what it was like. Fire at her horntip, the power of a born pyrothurge; once upon a time, she could’ve summoned a fire hot enough to melt cold mountain bedrock.

Finally, Sunset pointed to the portal, her cigarette still hanging from her fingers and dripping hot ash onto the snow. “If I go through that portal right now? I… I don’t know if I’ll come back at all.” Sunset said, feeling her throat tighten up as she admitted, out loud, what she hadn't wanted to say.

“Even if I’m here waitin’ for ya?” Gilda asked, sounding hurt.

The tone of her voice cut Sunset to the core, but she nodded. “I’m scared, Gil… I’m scared that I’ll justify not leaving. That I’ll just… take the easy way out again.”

Taking a deep breath, Sunset looked up at Gilda, pushing away all of the intrusive thoughts that were urging her to run away, and gave her girlfriend a smile.

“Gilda, I like who I am, now,” Sunset said in a much stronger voice. “And you were right, that day at the hospital, I don’t need my legs to be amazing.” Gilda grinned at the growing strength in Sunset’s voice and the brightness of her expression. She was starting to look like Gilda remembered.

“I’m not going back, and not just because I’m scared, but because… I don’t need to.” Sunset continued. “Yes, I’m afraid that if I go back now I’ll fall backwards into my worst habit, and I’d rather give up my legs forever than risk losing you like that.”

“But…” Gilda prompted, feeling like there was more than what Sunset was saying. Sunset just shook her head and smiled.

“But more than that I want to prove to myself that I’ll never go back to being that person ever again,” Sunset said in a resolute voice. “This is a crossroads for me… either I go through and prove that I’m still the filly who takes the easy way out, or I stay here, watch the transition pass, and know for a fact that I’m different… maybe it’s childish but… I need to know, Gil.”

“Guess that’s fair,” Gilda said finally, then considered her next words very carefully. She wanted to say them and she didn't, at the same time. In the end, though, just like Sunset, Gilda had to know. “So, that still true even if I go with you?”

Silence crashed around the two of them as Sunset turned to stare up at Gilda, her heart hammering in her chest. Gilda didn’t turn, she just continued staring at the portal with half-lidded eyes, her mostly spent cigarette hanging from lips and smoldering in the icy winter air.

“You…” Sunset began, trying to find the words and feeling like she was failing badly. “But… Gilda everything you… this world is…”

Gilda’s eyes flicked to the side to fix Sunset with her golden gaze. “I’d give up my world for you, Sunshine,” she said quietly, pulling her cigarette free and shaking the ash from the tip before crushing it in her hand and pocketing the remains and turning her head to face Sunset. “I know you Sunny, and I know you'd never fuckin' ask, so I'll say it now: I’d give it all up, my world n'my whole life here if it meant stayin’ with you.”

Sunset stared, tears starting to track down her cheeks only to freeze to rime. Her breath came in short, ragged heaves. “Oh, Gilda…” Sunset sobbed out, “What did I do to deserve you? Because it wasn’t nearly enough.”

“Y’think I ain’t serious, Sunshine?” Gilda shot back, then pointed at the portal, “I’ll go through right now if it means makin’ you happy.”

"And then what?" Sunset cried out, high-strung and pensive. "We leave everything behind? Our home... our new friends, my new friends? Crankshaft, Gearshift, Octavia, Vinyl... I met two others on the bus to the mall, too, Helden and Penny... and what about all the people that tried to help me? What about Principal Celestia? Or Vice Principal Luna? Do we just shoot'em a quick text: 'smell ya five years later', then dip out?"

"But your legs, babe..." Gilda started but Sunset just shook her head.

"Tartarus take my legs, Gil," Sunset cut in, a new intensity lighting itself in her eyes. "What about Anon-A-Miss? What about Score and the Dogs? Yeah, the Dogs made damn sure I knew who put them onto me! And what about the Rainbooms?" Gilda snarled at the names Sunset listed off but Sunset didn't stop there. "I'm so sick of just running away from it all! I'm sick and tired of leaving everything behind! I want to finish and close the last chapter for once in my goddamn life, not just set the fucking book on fire and pitch it into a dumpster because I didn't like where it was heading! I'll do it even if it costs me my stupid, fucking legs!"

For the first time that night Sunset turned away from the portal to face Gilda, breathing hard and wiping away tears as she reached out for Gilda again. Gilda knelt back down into the snow, lowering her towering frame so Sunset could loop her fingers into Gilda’s short white hair and pull her into a sudden kiss. Gilda smiled, pleasantly surprised and not complaining in the slightest. Sunset’s passion was met in equal strength by Gilda’s as the taller girl savored the perfectly soft curve of Sunset’s mouth and the delicious warmth of her cheeks and neck as Gilda trailed her fingers down Sunset’s body to her waist where Gilda gripped her.

Pulling away, Sunset smiled deliriously up at Gilda. “Gilda, you’re my whole goddamn world, you know that?” Sunset said in a breathless voice. “And I won’t let you keep giving things up for me… we’re partners now, it has to be equal. I’m not dragging you into my world so I can have my legs back only to stick you with whatever’s on that side."

"You know I'd do it, though, right Sunshine?" Gilda said, staring into Sunset's eyes and running a thumb along her cheek to wipe away an errant tear. "Y'know I'd do anythin' for you, savvy?"

"I know..." Sunset promised. "But this time I'm making my choice to stay. I need to see this through, I need to face the girls one day too, I have to, for my sake." Sunset held up a hand,, silencing Gilda as she started to protest. "Maybe not to forgive them but... I need to do it, and if I go through that portal, especially if I have you, I'm pretty sure I'll never come back here because it'd be too easy to justify sticking to Equestria."

“So that’s that, then?” Gilda said finally as Sunset ran out of steam. “Last chance, Sunflower, we're stayin’ here?” She asked, leaning in to plant another quick kiss on Sunset’s lips and just as quickly retreating before she could respond, drawing out a wry chuckle.

“Yeah,” Sunset replied, after a moment. “Other people might disagree, or would decide differently, and who knows? Maybe I'll regret it one day too, but who I am tonight truly believes that having the chance for closure is even more important than walking again." Sunset looked up, meeting with a fire Gilda hadn't seen in a while. "I want to be able to look at myself in the mirror proudly for once, Gil... so I'm staying, that's my decision.”

“I figured as much.”

The third voice caught both girls off guard, eliciting alarmed squawks from both of them as they turned to see Twilight Sparkle standing at the mouth of the portal with a smirk on her face.

“You two are really cute, by the way,” Twilight said with a laugh, causing Sunset and Gilda to blush. “Anyway, I kind of thought you’d be here tonight, so I’ve been doing routine scans every now and again. Guess I’ve got my answer as to what you’ve decided, huh?”

“Mhm, yeah, I’m staying, Twi’,” Sunset confirmed, “I have a life here, a real one, one that I made for myself. I’ve paid out a lot of blood, sweat, and way more tears than I probably had to in order to get it but…” Sunset glanced up at Gilda and took her hand in a strong grip. “It was worth every drop.”

“I can’t say I’m surprised,” Twilight replied, shrugging. “I’m a little disappointed though, I was going to offer for you to stay with me. You’d be surprised how hard it is to find someone who can keep with me when it comes to magic.”

“No I wouldn’t,” Sunset shot back. “I had the same problem, it’s why I turned into such an insufferable bitch.”

Twilight cracked up, her laugh was an attractive, bubbly sound that was honestly very pretty. “Okay, that’s fair,” she replied after a minute, “and I won’t argue, but I will come visit every so often, too.”

“Y’welcome to swing by anytime, Sparks,” Gilda said, “thanks f’bein’ cool about all this.”

“You saved her life, Gilda,” Twilight said evenly. “Sunset Shimmer is one of my best friends, you have no idea how much I owe you.”

“Y’don’t owe me a thing, Princess,” Gilda replied. “S’not like I’da just let her go like that, savvy?”

Twilight’s expression was indecipherable, there was something intense about it, something almost imperious. For a moment, Gilda had a very real sense of what being in the presence of royalty was like for the first time. It was… palpable. After a moment, though, the pressure faded and Twilight smiled.

“I do, Gilda,” Twilight said, her tone brooking no argument. “And I’m not the only one, either, I told Celestia what happened, remember?”

Sunset grimaced. “Yeah, right, that was the one sticking point for me, I really do want to apologise to her one day, y’know? Still… tell her I miss her, okay Twi’?”

The only response Sunset received at first was a stare that eventually faded into a sad smile.

“No, I won’t,” Twilight said softly, before turning on her heel and walking back through the portal.

Sunset stared at the emptiness left behind by Twilight. At first, she felt a little offended: what was that supposed to mean? ‘No’? Why ‘No’? That didn’t fit Twilight at all, she had seemed perfectly fine with delivering her love to the Princess before this.

Her confusion lasted right up until the portal started crackling and spitting sparks. A pulse shot out from the surface of it, a force of magic that felt warm to the touch, like the breeze on an intense summer day at noon.

“What the hell’s goin’ on, Sunshine?” Gilda asked, with panic writ large on her face as the surface of the portal kept pulsing and crackling like it was about to burst.

It took all of five seconds for Sunset’s mind to put together what was happening.

“No, no, no, no, no,” the words came out in a babbling stream as Sunset scrabbled for the brake lever on her wheelchair, looking around wildly for somewhere, anywhere to go. “Gilda we’ve gotta-!”

The portal emitted a sound like splitting glass and both girls snapped their heads up to look at it.

Emerging from the glassy surface now shining with power was a hand, delicate and pale with long, perfect fingers, they flexed and gripped as if accustoming themselves to their sensations. Warmth poured down from the open portal as more and more of the figure emerged. A head with long, flowing hair that shone and drifted like an aurora kept in place by a jeweled tiara.

She was tall, impossibly tall, easily seven feet and every inch emerged from the portal with what looked like a great effort. Gilda looked down at Sunset who was still murmuring the word ‘no’ over and over to herself as she stared, tears streaming down her cheeks as she sat transfixed by the sight.

Finally the last of the figure pulled free of the confines of the portal with the sound of a cracking whip. The motion carried with it a tidal wave of heat, like the warmth of summer. In an instant the night erupted into noon-time daylight, the snow melted with a snap of pressure and the sky above them carved open to reveal the glory of an aurora borealis stretching across all of Canterlot, the sheer force of the magical presence that had entered the world rocked the constellations in the skies as Princess Celestia, Diarch of Equestria stepped free of the portal. She wore a long, flowing white robe tied in a vaguely Roman style. Her feet were bare, and where they touched the dirt ground the dead grass rose to life. Around her head was a corona of light that illuminated the whole world like it was daytime, and her eyes shone with all the colors of the rainbow.

Sunset’s words had devolved to incoherent blubbering as she wept openly, staring up at Celestia before clenching her eyes shut. Gilda’s legs went out from under her as the sheer force of the being in front of her slammed into her. This wasn’t just a royal, like Twilight, this was… so much more. This was a goddess.

The Sun had come to Earth.

Celestia smiled down at Sunset in an expression that spoke of infinite grief and joy in equal measure as she took in her former student’s broken body.

“Oh, Sunset…” Celestia said softly, her voice rich with emotion. “My beloved student…”

Sunset let out a body-wracking sob and suddenly all of the words she’d wanted to say spilled out of her. “Mom! I’m so sorry!” she cried out, tears streaming down her face. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean any of the things I said when I left! I love you so much! I never hated you even for a minute!”

Celestia sobbed, nearly falling forward to wrap the filly she’d taken in from an orphanage, that she’d raised to become one of the most powerful unicorns in the land, that she’d loved like the daughter she’d never had, in a tight embrace.

“My baby,” Celestia wept, “my beautiful, brave, wonderful filly, I missed you so much!”

“I missed you, too!” Sunset sobbed into Celestia’s shoulder. “I wanted to come back, momma! I wanted to, I promise! I was so stupid and I’m so, so sorry!”

“No,” Celestia said, shaking as she stroked Sunset’s hair and kissed her cheeks and head. “You’re not to blame, I wasn’t just your teacher I was supposed to be your mother too, and I failed. I should’ve seen you drifting away, just like Luna, and I missed it again. I was the one who failed you, my beloved student and I’m so sorry for that, you deserved so much better.”

Sunset swallowed thickly and shook her head, not willing to argue with her mentor and mother figure. “Well, I found it, mom,” Sunset replied, reaching out to grab her shell-shocked girlfriend’s hand. “I found the best thing in the whole wide world.”

Celestia turned her divine gaze on Gilda who sat poleaxed as Sunset’s adoptive mother’s prismatic eyes fixed onto her. After a moment though, she smiled. “I understand you saved my daughter’s life, Gilda Grimfeather.”

Gilda just nodded dumbly, not trusting her tongue to form anything as coherent as a word or phrase.

“I see,” Celestia reached out a hand to touch Gilda’s cheek and instantly Gilda began to shake. The warmth of her touch, the kindness, the love… for a brief, brief moment, Gilda remembered her mother, and tears trickled down her cheeks. “Don’t cry, child,” Celestia said softly, brushing a tear away with her thumb. “You are so very brave, and I will never be able to repay you for what you’ve done for my Sunset.”

“Gilda’s made me happier than I think I’ve ever been,” Sunset said softly, “I love her so much.”

“I love you too, Sunshine,” Gilda sobbed out, turned her eyes to look at Sunset and blinking away tears before turning to look at Celestia and utter her first words to the goddess. “I love y’daughter like nothin’ else in the world, ma’am, uh… y’majesty, I… I’d give everything for’er, savvy? I never ever wanna lose her.”

Celestia nodded and then leaned forward and brushed her lips against Gilda’s forehead and Gilda felt a wash of peace flush through her body.

“I proclaim thee, Gilda Grimfeather, Knight Protector to mine adopted daughter, Sunset Shimmer,” Celestia said in a formal tone. “Dost thou swear now, in the light of the Unconquered Sun that thou shalt always protect her, stand beside her, and shield her?”

Gilda nodded. “Y-yeah, I swear I will.”

Celestia grinned widely and a little mischievously. “Good, I’m happy to hear it, also it’s ‘Your Highness’, ‘Majesty’ is the honorific for a King or Queen.” Turning back to Sunset who was staring at her adoptive mother with naked disbelief, and Celestia smiled. “I can’t stay, this world is not for a being like me, and I risk a great deal stepping through even for a moment. But come visit me soon, my beloved student.”

“I c-cannot b-believe you did that,” Sunset stammered. “Y-you can’t just-!”

“I’m a Princess,” Celestia replied with a smirk, “I can do whatever I want, the trick is knowing to only do it when it will be for the best.”

Standing up, Celestia brushed one hand through Sunset’s hair and the other hand through Gilda’s. “I trust that you two will be absolutely, impossibly fantastic,” she said, “and I look forward to hearing all about it.”

Shaking her head and laughing a little wearily, Sunset nodded. “We will, mom, I promise. And I’ll definitely come visit soon, okay?”

“See that you do,” Celestia replied. “And bring Gilda with you, I rather like her.”

“Uh…” Gilda said intelligently.

“Looks like I won’t be going anywhere without her, mom,” Sunset said pointedly, drawing an all-too-innocent look from Celestia. “But… thank you, and… I love you.”

Celestia smiled warmly, leaning down for one last hug that she quickly roped Gilda into as well with her wide arms, and squeezed the two of them tight.

“I love you too, Sunset,” Celestia said before turning to Gilda, “and you have my love as well, Miss Grimfeather, for how could I have anything else for the one who gave me my child back?”

“I… uh…” Gilda sputtered before weakly saying, “thanks?”

Celestia chuckled and turned waving good-bye to Sunset and Gilda before passing back through the portal. Gilda and Sunset stared for a good long while after as the cold air of winter seeped back in.

The silence lasted for another half hour and finally the clock struck midnight, and the bell tolled long and loud from the clock on the school. The transition, assuming Twilight Sparkle's notes were correct, had passed. Somehow it felt anticlimactic. Some small part of Sunset had been expecting there to be more to it, a flash of light, a beam of power to signify the occasion.

Instead, it was just… quiet.

“Hey, Sunflower?” Gilda said quietly, drawing a faint hum by way of reply from Sunset. “Your mom is friggin’ terrifying.”

Sunset chuckled and nodded. “Yeah, but she’s pretty much the best, too.”

“Can’t argue with that, Sunshine,” Gilda responded with a laugh. “I guess I’m just lucky she likes me.”

Grimacing, Sunset scoffed and smacked the lever on her wheelchair, turning back towards the direction of home. “Oh believe me she loves you.”

“How d’ya know?” Gilda asked, taking up her usual position behind Sunset, pushing her along. “Was it that weird knight thing she did?”

Sunset didn’t answer for several minutes as they walked along, and Gilda was familiar enough by now just to let Sunset think. Finally, as they were passing into the Commons area of downtown about a half-hour walk from the flat, Sunset spoke up.

“Gilda, she named you my ‘knight protector’ right?” Sunset started, glancing straight at Gilda who nodded. “So… in Equestrian society… being named a lady’s Knight Protector is basically… uhm…”

“What? I ain’t much of a history buff and I don’t know shit about your world, Sunshine,” Gilda said. “Wanna fill me in?” Sunset buried her burning face in her hands, drawing a confused look from Gilda. “Sunny?”

“She basically…” Sunset started before devolving into mumbles.

“Sunshine?”

“She basically acknowledged you as my ‘intended’!” Sunset finally spat out.

Gilda cocked her head to the side in confusion. “Intended ‘what’?”

“Ugh!” Sunset groaned, then hung her head, raised her right hand, wiggling her ring finger, as she pointed at it with her left. “Like… that.”

The gears finally clicked into place in Gilda’s brain and the blood suddenly rushed her face. “W-wait like… she… you mean your mom just… like we’re…?!”

“Uh, yeah, she’s one of the rulers of Equestria,” Sunset said with a dry chuckle. “So, by Equestrian Noble Law we’re technically engaged now, I cannot believe her.”

Gilda continued to push Sunset along, lost in thought to the point that she barely registered the fact that they’d nearly reached home before she finally came out of her trance. “Hey Sunshine, are you okay with that?”

“Huh?” Sunset responded, “you mean the whole ‘knight protector’ thing?”

“The ‘bein’ engaged’ thing,” Gilda clarified, causing a new rush of blood to Sunset’s face. After a few seconds, though, she nodded, and Gilda smiled. “Yeah… me too.”

As they came to a stop outside the door to the flat, while Gilda was fishing around for the key, Sunset came to a decision. Gilda fit the key to the lock and turned it, unlatching the deadbolt, but as she went to open the door, Sunset intercepted her hand and gripped it.

“What’s up, Sunshine?” Gilda asked, concerned as Sunset stared down at her feet, her cheeks blazing. “You okay?”

Sunset nodded silently, chewing her lip for a moment before finally looking up at Gilda. “G-Gilda… will you be with me tonight?”

Gilda raised an eyebrow at the question. “Uh, Sunny? We share a bed, where else would I be?”

Grumbling, Sunset pursed her lips in a pout. “That’s… not what I meant.”

“Then what did you-?” Gilda clammed up as she realised what Sunset was asking. “S-sunny? You sure? I mean… ya don’t have to-”

“I want to,” Sunset said, her cheeks still red, a feature neatly mirrored on Gilda’s face. “I want to be with you too…”

“Well, uh,” Gilda chuckled nervously as she turned the doorknob. “Like I said before, babe, you’re sexy as hell… you don’t gotta ask me twice.”

Sunset laughed, wrapping her arms around herself as Gilda pushed her in and feeling a warmth in her chest as she did. The portal had closed for Sunset Shimmer the Unicorn prodigy; she was gone forever. Now she was just Sunset Shimmer, a girl in love, and for once in her life, Sunset couldn’t think of a single thing she wanted more.

Author's Notes:

Yes, you degenerates, there is an incoming sex scene next. I'm not gonna fade-to-black this one, Sunny deserves some good lovin'.

It'll be its own chapter, though, so those who don't want to read it can skip it as it's not strictly necessary to the plot.