By the time the sun began to set outside Ponyville, Sunburst had to admit that Twilight’s surveillance spell was showing some notable potential when it came to friendship research. However, the scenes he witnessed with Twilight and Starlight were a bit of a mixed-bag to say the least. While he couldn’t necessarily say he regretted agreeing to assisting in this research (especially if it meant getting away from the Crystal Empire for the weekend), there were certainly a couple moments he wished he didn’t see in such a voyeuristic way. But fortunately for the subjects involved (especially Spike, whose secret was safely out of Twilight’s knowledge), all of the recordings were kept under strict lock and key by the time he retired for the night.

But while Sunburst tried to get some reading done inside his guest room, Twilight Sparkle had settled down from her earlier anxieties to return to the hidden room herself. She still felt a little uneasy for obvious reasons, but she was able to keep those qualms down to a minimum while Starlight Glimmer was beside her. Since her protegè experienced a couple positive viewings in the Princess’ absence, it only seemed right to bring her long for some late-night research. Plus, Twilight felt a little more optimistic about using her magic during a different time for new variables.

“Soooo… are you sure we’re going to see much in Equestria at night?” asked Starlight as the two entered the room with a lit candle in Twilight’s aura. “I mean, if we’re going to see things in public or outdoors, there’s a good chance we might not see anything worth recording.”

“Well,” replied Twilight with a shrug while keeping her horn lit, “I think it depends on what the spell finds in its calibrations. With those adjustments we made earlier, I tried to spread out its range to view more than just our regions. Maybe we can see something in a different time-zone.”

While the Princess put down her candle and began to re-activate the dimmed orb of magic still hovering above them, Starlight hummed with a bit lip while trying to think critically. “Well… won’t we be, ummm… breaking international laws if we were to survey on something in another nation? I mean, spying on citizens of Equestria is one thing, but I don’t want our research to be the subject of any international disputes.”

“Don’t worry, Starlight,” assured Twilight as she saw the orb began to glow back to its full brightness. The alicorn smiled at that successful activation before she added with a glance back to her student, “I made sure this spell won’t be interfering with any federal or international laws. If we were to see anything outside Equestria, I can easily re-calibrate it if it gets too bad.”

Starlight didn’t seem too optimistic with Twilight’s answer, but didn’t say anything about it as she shrugged in reluctance. “Well, I hope you thought out every variable to make sure that won’t be the case.”

With that reply, Twilight merely scoffed and shot Starlight a cheeky raise of her brow. “Ummm… you are aware who you’re talking to, right?~”

“Point taken,” said the unicorn with a coy smile and a roll of her eyes. In retrospect, she should’ve known better than to assume an egghead like Princess Twilight wouldn’t triple-check every variable for a spell like this. Especially after her first surveillance was so risky as it was. “But still though, where do you think we’ll see the next scene?”

“I honestly have no idea,” answered Twilight in an honest tone while turning her attention back to the orb. “Maybe Canterlot? Or something in Manehattan, perhaps? Honestly, there’s no way of knowing without risking the integrity of this experiment.”

“I know, I know. You mentioned how the whole ‘randomizing’ thing is important.” After letting out a small sigh, Starlight decided to stop asking about specifics when she saw the magic begin to activate. The domed aura started to swirl with those familiar colors, and she made sure to stand alongside Twilight so she wouldn’t feel too hesitant about doing this again. “And just so you know,” she whispered with an optimistic smile towards the Princess, “if we were to see anything weird, I promise I won’t make you feel bad about it, okay?”

Twilight looked back at her for a second to smile and nod gratefully. Despite how poorly the two mares first met each other as enemies, the Alicorn could tell how genuine and kind Starlight’s statement sounded in that moment. But as soon as the screen began to appear within the orb, both ponies looked back at it to witness the next scene. “Wow!” said Twilight with a hint of surprise in her voice. “I honestly didn’t think anything would come up so soon.”

However, as soon as the setting began to come into view within the screen, it took a moment before the two mares’ eyes widened in surprise. Since they were two of the only ponies to have recognized the odd architecture in the background, as well as the alien-like creatures coming into view, the realization of what they were going to witness was quite clear. Starlight’s brows raised as she said with a tilt of her head, “Ohhhhhh… I guess we should’ve looked over the whole... ‘Alternate Dimensions’ thing, huh?”

By some freakish chance of fate, it seemed that Twilight and Starlight’s joint magic allowed them to witness something within a world only familiar to the two of them: The Mirror World.

Between the back of Canterlot High and its large track-field, a quaint little row of picnic tables were lined up across the freshly-cut grass. At the very end of the line, the last table was occupied by several teenage girls while underneath the large shade of an oak tree. One of whom was seated by herself on one side, and seemed quite content in her leather jacket as she browsed through her phone silently. Meanwhile, three of her close friends were sitting across from her, giggling and hunched together in front of a pink and highly sticker-bombed laptop. The speakers on the computer were up at full-blast, which ensured the girl on the other side heard every stupid line that was being said on screen. She didn’t want to be distracted, but it was hard when she heard familiar lines like, “Two bros, chillin’ in a hot-tub~” or “I could’ve dropped my croissant!”

“Oh, man!” jeered the humanized version of Rainbow Dash, who was sitting to the side while watching the video alongside this world’s versions of Rarity and Pinkie Pie. “I don’t care how many times I see some of those those Branch videos, they always make me laugh!”

“I know, right!” chirped Pinkie Pie with a giddy grin of her own. Her eyes widened excitedly while pointing to her cracked laptop screen. “OOH! My favorite one is coming up!”

Meanwhile, Sunset Shimmer just sighed and rolled her eyes with a light smile on her face. Even though she didn’t want to feel left-out, she didn’t need to see those Branch video compilations to know exactly what they were laughing at. While the girls cackled to the seven second clips of the multiple variations of those “Hi, Welcome to Chili’s” Branches, Sunset continued to text to her more… special friend in silence. And due to her present friends’ focus being on those videos they probably watched a dozen times, none of them seemed to notice the evident hue of red glowing across her pale orange cheeks.

“Hmhmhmhmhm~” Despite not wanting to bring any attention to herself, Sunset couldn’t help giggling naughtily as she saw how suggestive her friend’s texts were becoming. Her bottom lip was bitten for a second before she muttered under her breath, “You cheeky little…”

On Sunset’s phone, the back-and-forth dialogue had obviously been going for a while from how many boxes of texts were going down both sides. While Sunset’s coy and simple responses went down the right side of the screen in yellow boxes, her recipient's longer and more daring texts kept coming in blue boxes on the left side.

Come ooooonnnnn… I’m bored babe~ 😢

Not happening :P

That’s what you said last time 😈😜
Remember? When you were at Fluttershy’s :3

That was different!

You still did it. 😁
I have the proof~💧💧💧🔥

>_<

You know you want to…😈😈

Nnnnghhh…

That’s not a no~😉

Sunset wanted to rightfully chastise her friend for her teasing responses, but she would’ve been lying if she tried to say those texts weren’t leaving her feeling heated. While her friends were blissfully unaware and watching yet another Branch compilation video, Sunset’s face was as red as Big Macintosh’s skin-tone. She bit her bottom lip even tighter, and squirmed a little while by herself on the bench. Before she could try and respond to the texter’s increasingly suggestive messages, her eyes shot wide-open at seeing what was just sent to her:

I’ll just send this pic and wait for a response. 😜

Sunset inhaled sharply through her nostrils, and her heart was racing upon seeing that familiar icon of spinning dots underneath the blue text box. Meanwhile, it seemed that Rarity had finally taken notice of Sunset’s flustered expression when she briefly glanced away from Pinkie’s laptop. Upon seeing the girl’s blushed face among those shaky breaths, her drawn-in brows rose as she grew a concerned look. “Ummm… Sunset?”

“EEP!!” Sunset jolted upright with a gasp and put her phone screen-down against the table. “Y-Yeah?!” she blurted while looking back at Rarity wide-eyed. Her heart was thundering in her chest, and she tried her hardest to maintain a natural-looking smile despite how much her lips were trembling. “W… What’s up? I was, ummmm… ch-checking my bills online.”

Rarity narrowed her eyes on Sunset briefly, and looked between that hidden phone and her friend’s suspicious expression. She kept herself silent, but she didn’t need to be a detective to know something may have been up. But alas, while Rainbow and Pinkie continued to giggle at various videos, the porcelain white teen just shrugged and decided to leave Sunset be. “Well, if you’re having any financial troubles again, please don’t leave us unaware of it, okay?”

Sunset cringed at that kind of response, despite knowing her friend likely said it with the best intentions. Given all they went through since her reformation, she was glad to have someone as well-off and generous as Rarity as her friend. But given what was just sent to her with the familiar vibration of her phone, Sunset kinda wished she was sent something as simple as another Late-Payment notification. However, as she picked her phone back up discreetly, her blush grew even heavier at seeing what was just sent to her.

The selfie of Adagio Dazzle was large enough to take up Sunset’s entire screen, which was quite fitting given how plump her lingerie-donned figure looked. The former Siren may have gained a bit of weight since losing her powers, but her yellow voluptuous form was nothing short of tantalizing while laid seductively atop Sunset’s bedding. As she kept her lips shut to keep from groaning too audibly, Sunset wasn’t sure what she’d be more worried about if any of her friends saw that pic themselves: that she ended up befriending a former enemy without their knowledge, or that it was a friendship with benefits. Either way, she had to breathe out shakily while clutching her phone against her chest for a moment.

Fortunately for Sunset, her highly turned-on state was interrupted by the sound of Pinkie and Rainbow’s incessant giggles. Rarity looked over at Sunset in suspicion, but luckily couldn’t see how much her legs were squirming together underneath the table. As soon as Sunset’s wide-eyed stare glanced back to her, Rarity went back to the screen to avoid being caught. After another moment, Sunset tensed up at feeling a second vibration from her phone.

As soon as she looked back at her screen, a new blue box was beneath Adagio’s tempting photo.

Your turn, babe~😁☔

Sunset gritted her teeth, and writhed a little in her seat as she frantically tried to text her back in response.

Dazzle, my friends are right in front of me!

And you still opened up my pic?~😲😌

…

😂😂You naughty girl~ :3😈😈

Shut up!

Quit stalling. >:)

>_<

You know you wanna~😀

>///<

How about this…

After a minute or so, another pic was sent to Sunset’s phone. This one featured Adagio sprawled out in a spread-eagle position, with the camera getting a pristine view of her plump body that was barely constrained by the black lingerie. Adagio’s lustful stare was apparent from the way she was smirking at the camera, and sticking her tongue out a little bit. And since she apparently had her phone’s camera on a timer, she was able to have her hands behind her head to further emphasize her ‘waiting’. Of course, she clearly needed her thumbs as she added tentatively after that tempting selfie:

Send me a pic, and I’ll take it off <3😜👖➡🚪

“Nnnnnnnn…~” By that point, no stupid audio clips or giggles from across the table would be enough to distract Sunset from how hot she felt. Even though she didn’t want to give in, a shuddered exhale was all she could let out before looking around. After making sure none of her friends were paying attention to her, she quickly texted a simple reply back to Adagio.

Give me a second

😁😍😁
Good girl~

Upon seeing that reply, Sunset felt too heated to not reply accordingly. With her face blushed and her mouth feeling dry in nervousness, the high-schooler slowly moved her phone down beneath the table. With the camera function already set up, all she had to do was snap a quick pic to satisfy her horndog friend’s impulses. She knew it was beyond stupid to even contemplate doing such a thing in public, but her libido was too high to really care. She may have not been able to see the screen very well while it was positioned between her opening legs, but she had done it enough times before to know how to do it blind.

Unfortunately, just as Sunset took a breath to amp herself up, she realized that her friends had finished watching that absurdly long compilation video. “Hey Sunset!” asked Pinkie Pie with an innocently cheerful smile as she glanced up from her laptop. “Anything you wanna watch?”

“NNNGH!!” Sunset tried to appear casual while concealing her startled response, but it was hard when her face looked as red as a cherry tomato. And due to her phone and hands being between her legs, she couldn’t close them together to help tense herself up and alleviate any tension. So while she sat there with a frazzled look, she shrugged rather uncomfortably while feeling her thumbs twitching less than inch from her phone screen. “O-Oh! Ummmm… W-Well, uhhh… Do you think there’s…there’s a new video from--”

CLK-CH

“F-From…” Her eyes widened in terror at hearing that distinct click from under the table, realizing that she accidentally took that picture while all the focus was on her. She wasn’t sure if any of them heard it, but she had to soldier on to keep from looking any more suspicious than she already did. She tried her hardest to ignore Rarity’s increasingly wary stare on her, and made a light shiver during her split-second pause before asking, “Is… I-Is there a new… M-Movie-Sins video out today?”

“Ooh! Lemme check!” With that, Pinkie went to begin typing it into her laptop. Meanwhile, Rarity’s head started to tilt with her eyes remaining on Sunset’s stoically wide-eyed look.

“Eh, they usually upload on Tuesdays and Fridays,” said Rainbow in dismissal with a wave of her hand. “Oh! Check if that Death Battle episode between Daring Do and Mane-Iac is up!”

Sunset wanted to sigh in relief that neither Dash or Pinkie caught on to how she looked, but refrained from doing so while they went back to the search bar. Instead, she made a quick glance down to her phone and pressed send, hopeful that it was good enough for Adagio without double-checking. Unfortunately, just as she was about to bring her phone back up, she gasped when Rarity bent her head down to look underneath the table.

In an instant, Sunset closed her legs tightly and pulled her phone back up while staying silent. Part of her wanted to yell at Rarity and ask what she was doing, but she really didn’t want to cause a scene in front of the others (especially while outdoors). Fortunately for her, it seemed that the white high-schooler didn’t want that as well; instead, Rarity just looked back up above the table, and gave Sunset an especially strong-looking stare that screamed “I’m watching you.”

Sunset struggled to ignore Rarity’s warning glare with a shaky smile, and avoided her gaze as she glanced back at her phone. She didn’t expect Adagio to have replied so soon, but now there were multiple blue boxes in response to the pic she just sent. She couldn’t even see her under-skirt selfie as most of it disappeared past the top of the screen. However, she was able to read what her friend with benefits thought of it.

0_0
…
… holy shit.
Ummmmm…😮
Sunset?😑
Sunset, did you see what you sent me?

What do you mean?

😨...
Ummmm…
How do I say this…

Sunset had expected a whole bunch of heart-eyed emoji smiles as a reply to her pic, but instead it seemed like Adagio was more worried than horny. While scanning the dialogue and that spinning dots icon, she wasn’t able to notice Rarity leaning in to try and sneak a peek at her messages. Just as her friend was less than a foot from her, Sunset gasped in absolute shock:

You used the front camera, hon~😂😝

“Just WHAT are you looking at?!” belted Rarity with a tone of annoyance as she snatched Sunset’s phone from her hand.

“H-HEY!!!” Sunset tried to lunge across the table, but Rarity’s reflexes proved to be much faster as she pulled away. While Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie jolted in surprise, neither of them could say anything before Sunset yelled in a panic, “G-give me my phone back!!”

“I heard that camera sound while it was out of sight, Sunset!” Rarity then pulled away from the table so she could stand upright, and began to look through her friend’s texts without warning. “Forgive me for the intrusion, but after what happened last time suspicious pics were taken, I--”

It didn’t take long for Rarity to stumble upon the picture Sunset just took, and she gasped as her jaw dropped in an instant. Sunset froze at the spot, and covered her mouth with both hands while her face grew as white as a sheet. Rainbow and Pinkie looked especially confused and curious as to what Sunset had on her phone, but neither of them wanted to get up and further intrude on their friend’s privacy. Instead, a long and pregnant bout of silence passed before Rarity gawked in stunned silence back at Sunset.

“... Sunset Shimmer…”

With her teeth gritted tightly, and her eyes nearly bulging out of her skull, Sunset almost looked like something was forcibly shoved up her ass. Meanwhile, Rarity had to blink repeatedly before she finished her shocked and enraged statement:

“Did… Did you… DID YOU TAKE A PICTURE OF PINKIE PIE’S PANTIES?!?”

Just as the chaos began to really unfold, the scene quickly started to dissipate from the screen. “Oh, no no no no no nooooooo!!” Starlight tried to lean in and hit the magic orb, but all it did was make her hoof sink through the magic aura like it was a luminescent fog. After an aggravated groan, the unicorn stomped in disappointment as she saw the scene disappear completely. “Oh, come on! It goes away right THERE?!? What a ripoff!”

Twilight wanted to be as upset about that abrupt end as her friend, but she was mostly just shocked to learn of that kind of relationship between Sunset Shimmer and one of the Dazzlings. Even though she wasn’t one to judge what friends did with former enemies (especially since she’d be a massive hypocrite with an enemy of her own living with her), the fact that Adagio was even one to want a relationship with Sunset seemed rather shocking. Of course, if anyone was willing to befriend a person she wronged against all odds, it would likely be Sunset Shimmer.

But alas, upon realizing she couldn’t see how that moment was resolved, Twilight sighed in frustration as well. “Well, that’s not exactly a good look at friendship, is it?”

“Hmmm…” Starlight nodded her head in agreement, but couldn’t help shrugging a little as she added, “Well… maybe friendship with benefits?”

Twilight scoffed and rolled her eyes in annoyance. “Oh, come on! That shouldn’t count, Starlight!”

“Why not?” asked her protegè with a raised brow back at her. “I mean, physical satisfaction is a fairly good way to make quick bonds with potential friends, isn’t it?”

Twilight grew an especially flat stare in response to that reply, and narrowed her eyes on her student without any amusement. “Starlight, regardless on how you see that form of friendship, that doesn’t change the fact that we learned very little about the subject from what we just saw.”

Even though she wanted to agree to that comment, Starlight shrugged one more as she looked away from the Princess and muttered, “Well… we did learn that Sunset has good taste~”

Twilight could barely hear that comment, but it was enough to make her gawk at Starlight wide-eyed. As soon as she realized the Princess was staring at her, she added in defense, “What!? I like bigger ponies! Is that a crime?!”

Author's Notes:

This chapter was based on a pairing suggestion by my good friend LadyFroey, who helped get me out of a bad spot earlier this year. She's a big fan of the SunDagio pairing, so I decided to write this for her as a Thank-You.

If you have your own ideas you want to suggest for this story, be sure to check out my Patreon for possible contribution.