Author's Notes:

A/N: At the insistence of readers, I wanted to go on record that Rainbow Dash did not commit suicide at the end of this chapter.

The rest of the evening went by like a perfect dream of how interacting with her parents should be. Her father gave her a few gift cards to various restaurants, and they all took a picture together on Sunset’s phone, which she promised to forward to them — and secretly knew she never could. Twilight wasn’t human. Or mortal, for that matter.

Or at least, not anymore. The way she had talked about herself in Sunset’s room made her wonder about that. From what she understood, Twilight had been a regular girl — or... pony princess — once, and something happened to make her immortal. And, in doing so, she was apparently bound to some sort of… contract or something to serve out her immortal life serving the whims of average, everyday schmucks like Sunset.

Didn’t people sell their souls to the devil occasionally to do that kinda thing? She had heard about that happening in stories and whatnot. That could very well be what happened in this case: Twilight got in over her head and had to serve the Pony Lord Of Darkness™ for all eternity to make up for it. Hell, she had said so herself, hadn’t she? Demons are total jerks. If that was the case, it was really sad to think about, but there was nothing that could be done about it now.

Profuse thanks were given back at her apartment, along with promises to summon her again soon. Twilight recommended blood from a butcher shop instead of waiting around for another mosquito, since it was apparently the closest thing she could get to a viable life force without resorting to stealing the blood of innocent people.

The scary part was that there were summoners that did just that. Twilight hated being summoned like that, but, again, there was little she could do except suck it up and perform the request that was asked of her.

Soon — too soon in Sunset’s opinion — she noticed it was getting late. The latest the both of them had ever made it, actually, and she felt a lump form in her throat as she whispered, “You better go.”

“I better,” Twilight sighed. “I’m cutting it close tonight. But… yeah, this was fun. We’ll have to do it again sometime.”

“We will, or else my mom’s gonna kill my ass for robbing her of her new BFF.” They both grinned, and she followed Twilight into the bathroom. “But yeah, sorry for it being so late. I’ll see you soon, right?”

“Yep!” Just as her physical form began to fade, she called over her shoulder, “We still have one last pigboy to run down!”

“No, no, it’s ‘fuckboy’ — or ‘misogynist pig’, you can’t combine them!” But Twilight was already gone.

A couple of days later, Sunset still hadn’t summoned Twilight again. She decided to give both of the a little time off — since Twilight likely had other summoners clamoring for her time, and she needed to catch up on her sleep.

However, she had already acquired pig’s blood from the local butcher. It had been a slightly odd request, but after a raised eyebrow and a shrug, the large man procured a few mason jars filled to the brim with the stuff. So she was ready whenever she had the itch for fuckboy revenge, or a little bit of ‘friend therapy’.

That evening, she was in the campus library trying to concentrate on her lit paper. Not that she had any real interest in ancient Greek and Roman gods and how they compared to their counterparts in other religions — not when she had her own personal goddess of friendship on speed dial — but it was at least better than calculus. She was tempted to wander into the occult section, see if she could find any other spell books that looked like the one she had ‘borrowed’, but managed to resist the temptation. What were the odds that a second book from another world would find its way into her hands? One was enough, really.

As she was putting back a book that had served no purpose other than to frustrate her so she could look for another, she overheard some raised voices coming from a couple rows down. That was unusual; the librarians were pretty hard-nosed about noises in the ‘studying spaces’. Drifting closer, she tried to overhear what the topic was that had them so irate.

“No, you don’t get to marginalize me because I don’t fit into any of the last five letters!” a girl snapped. “And I don’t appreciate you thinking you can!”

“It’s just not a pressing issue!” a guy with a somewhat effeminate accent was saying back. “You’re not into sex; that’s cool and all, but we have much more pressing matters to worry about than letting people know you’re not into sex with your own special little flag! I mean, grow up!”

“You don’t get to talk to us that way,” said another voice — a very familiar male voice. “It’s the same way other people talk about you, along with certain words that start with ‘f’ and end with ‘ag’ and are banned here. You really think that’s cool?”

The scoffing noise was full of so much derision that Sunset actually drew back. “In what way am I implying she’s evil for not wanting to sleep with people? Not even close — and like I said, I support her, that’s fine! But what’s the point in ‘advocating’ for it? That’s the problem I have with this whole bullshit asexuality movement in a nutshell; that’s like saying ‘Hey, I’m a person-ist, I advocate for the right to walk around on two legs!’ There’s no need, because it’s already commonly accepted!”

“That’s a false equivalency,” said another woman with a deeper voice. “I mean, okay, I hear what you’re saying, and I’m not sure where I stand on that whole ‘ace’ issue either, but clearly it’s important enough to her that she’s pissed off at you for it.”

“No, she has no right to be!” said another woman. “And I don’t approve of this boy swooping in to save her, either — if she can’t defend her own merits, why does she need some kind of white knight? How is that really helping her?”

The familiar male voice shot back, “First of all, I’m not some knight swooping into save her. I’m defending her because there’s two of you already sitting up there on your high horse, telling her that her sexuality doesn’t exist — just like a few months ago, you tried to tell Lyra that she’s not bisexual, that she doesn’t exist!”

After a brief pause, and what sounded like a calming breath, the first guy said, “Listen. I already admitted that I was in the wrong on that issue — and that even though I still don’t believe that you can be more than one sexuality, me personally, that I also am not inside the head of those bisexuals and can’t speak for them, so I apologized to Lyra for thinking I could. But on this issue, I’m not wrong; asexuals have no place in this fight because they’re fighting for something that’s already there. Not being sexual is their right and they already have it, so we need to get back to focusing on things like LGBT marriage right, power of attorney, adoption -- things that impact how we live our lives that are currently illegal in certain parts of this country!”

“But talking about asexuality isn’t fighting for rights, just for awareness!” the first girl was fired up again. “Because there’s such a… an overwhelming push in the media and society for us to ‘just try it’ and get over our sexual repulsion, and that’s wrong! We need to stand up and remind people that some people really don’t want it, and never will, and telling us we’re just people who aren’t ‘into’ it is an oversimplification!”

For a split second, Sunset was tempted to cut and run. Yes, she know a bit about some of those issues — mostly through social media and talking to her friends. And she supported them, always had, even though it didn’t impact her life directly. Live and let live, she thought. But then again, there was a group of them engaged in some pretty ugly in-fighting, and she felt like she was intruding on a family argument. Maybe she should go back to her table and pretend she never heard a word.

“...isn’t the issue! We’re here to make a real impact on the cishets and their closed-off worldview, but there have always been people who dislike sexual contact, and they’re no less real or less recognized now than they were before, so it’s a waste of our efforts!”

“No, it’s not! You can’t just put that on her and decide where her efforts need to go! Obviously, we both really believe in this, so I literally have no idea how you can act like we’re… deluded, or whatever!”

“Flash, I’m talking about making a difference on this campus, and across the world! It starts here and rolls outward, you know this!”

Flash!

Before, she had just felt mildly uncomfortable. Now, however, her pulse was thundering in her ears, her head felt light. No wonder his voice sounded familiar. She hadn’t meant to do this — hadn’t meant to find out something about her coworker in any way other than him telling her himself, but it was too late.

The depressingly funny thing about the whole situation was that she didn’t even know what she had just discovered. Something about asexuality. Flash didn’t want to have sex? With who? The whole thing was just in a realm of thought that she herself had never entered, so she couldn’t quite figure out how to feel about that. Of course some people didn’t like sex. Not everybody likes everything. She couldn’t stand apple juice, even though she knew she was in the vast minority on that issue. But this seemed to be something that he was willing to take a firm stance on. Even against other people who should be supporting him.

Of course, this was when the book she had laid on the shelf decided it wasn’t having enough fun there, and decided to fall off and hit the floor with a reasonably loud 'thud’.

“Um, hello?” the first man call out after the group had been quiet for a few seconds. “Somebody over there?”

Time to face the music. Picking up the book, Sunset slowly paced around the two shelves until the table came into view. Sure enough, there were about eight people around it, but she didn’t double check her head-count. She was too busy staring at Flash.

It occurred to her in that moment that she could either get defensive, or offensive. And while she didn’t really want to do the latter, the alternative was to set herself up as an eavesdropping asshole and start fielding accusations from a very large group of people.

“You, um… you guys know that you’re in the library, right?” There. Take the high road, Sunset. There’s a good girl.

“And what’s that supposed to mean?” the one with the effeminate voice demanded. He was a rather tall guy with an undercut and blonde highlights. He was fairly attractive, if Sunset was being honest, but considering his look and the topics of discussion, she probably wasn’t his type.

“Just that, uh, you were being pretty loud.” Then she held up her other hand. “I mean, not that I have a problem with anything you guys were saying! But maybe, uh, if you don’t want to be disturbed, you could find a classroom or something?”

God, now she was coming off as a homophobe. She could hear it in her own voice; the carefully-worded attempts not to offend any of them. Even though she knew it was because she was trying to explain her presence, it would be pretty easy to misinterpret.

“We have as much right to be here as you do,” said a girl in dreads and a sick Star Wars tee.

“No, yeah, but you know the rules. You have to be quiet and all that, and… I mean, it sounded like you were really passionate about what you were talking about. So it was kind of suck to have to, um, keep your voice down while trying to really, uh, get into details. I guess. Yeah.”

The other girl who had been defending her asexuality viewpoints — who turned out to be taller than Flash, and also had the most epic mint green hair — simply asked, “Who are you, anyway?”

“Nobody! Just a library user. Seriously, that’s it. I’ll leave you alone. I didn’t mean to disturb you in the first place. I’m just… gonna go now.”

As she turned away, her face burning, she saw Flash raise halfway out of his seat, as if he was going to say something to her. But he didn’t. Silently, she thanked her lucky stars.

Of course, he was waiting for her when she left. That was to be expected. Everyone else had already gone, but she could see the green-haired girl lingering in the quad; she stood out slightly. Backup in case the conversation went awry, she presumed.

“Hey.”

“Hi,” Sunset muttered, adjusting her thumbs under the straps of her backpack and wishing she could vanish into the grass somewhere.

“So… about what you heard back there.”

Nodding, she joined him in sitting on the second-from-bottom step, wincing slightly when her behind connected harder than she thought it would on the concrete. “What about it?”

“Well…” He squirmed. That was probably the first time she had ever seen Flash Sentry, who was normally so confident, so at ease with everything, look like he wanted to do anything but confront the topic at hand. He looked totally out of his element. “How much did you hear?”

“A lot. Pretty much everything.” After a second, she added. “I thought about telling you I didn’t hear anything so you wouldn’t have to look like you’d rather jump down a sewer than talk about this, but it would be a lie. And I respect you more than that.”

Grinning sheepishly, he led off with, “I’ll tell you later whether it helped or not. For now… I guess you’re wondering why I was with those people.”

“Not after all I overheard. Asexuality. You and Spearmint over there are both in that club.”

“Right.”

“And… it means you have no interest in… banging.” Thank you Rainbow Dash, for coining the only euphemism Sunset could think of at that very moment.

“Were you searching for the worst word possible, or was that your attempt to not make it sound gross?” But when her eyes shot up in alarm, he was laughing. “Nah, it’s fine. And true. I don’t really have that ‘male libido’, or any libido at all. Just doesn’t interest me.”

“What about dating? Like, without the sex part.” Shrugging, she said, “That’s a thing, right? Parents who sleep in separate rooms. They still love each other but don’t have sex anymore.”

“That’s a thing, but not the thing for me. I’m…” He scratched the back of his neck while trying to produce a response. “That’s something I might try, someday. If I find the right person. But sex it totally off the table, for sure. No doubt.”

“How can you know, though? Like, without trying it.”

“I just do. I don’t even wanna try it. Not curious or anything.”

Sunset eased forward, rubbing her hands over her face as she tried to process everything. She accidentally rocked too far, and flung her hands out to catch herself. Luckily, a pair of strong arms reached out to help.

Sorry,” she sighed, righting herself. “Still saving my ass, huh?”

“What are friends for?” he laughed. “And I don’t even charge.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Biting her lip for a moment, she asked the one thing that she didn't want to ask. But she couldn’t wait. It was either get it out in the open now, or suffer with the secret forever. “So… did you ever… figure it out?”

“Figure what out?” When she didn’t continue for a few seconds, he folded his hands over his knees. “That… you maybe… kinda…”

“Yeah.”

“I did.”

“God,” She groaned. “I feel so, so stupid. You weren’t interested — I knew you weren’t, but hey, why give up on somebody just because they’re not into you? That only, y’know, makes sense!”

“Hey, Sunny, don’t do that to yourself!” he protested nervously. “Like you had any idea that I’m not allo!”

“Aloe? Now you’re a plant?!”

That time, he laughed out loud. “Allosexual. As in, not ace.”

“I… what? Oh… oh, okay. Not asexual. Got it. So that would be me, maybe.”

“Maybe?”

Shrugging, Sunset sank back down into her default position for depression. “Yeah. Well, I get turned on and everything sometimes. Not a lot, but it does happen. But I’ve never dated, really, and if I ever make it past second base… I don’t even know if I’d be willing to go all the way, or if I’d be looking forward to it, or what. For me, it’s more that I just never had to deal with it, unlike for you where you just know it deep down. Does that make sense? Probably doesn’t.”

“No, it does. Not everybody can figure themselves out right away. It takes time, and you’ll get there when you’re ready.” Then he leaned back against his hands to stare up at the darkening sky. “On the other hand…”

“What?”

“When I saw your phone… I started to doubt my guess about why you were so twitchy around me.”

That made her wince. “Twilight. Yeah, she’s a good friend… most of the time.”

“But that’s all, right?”

“Of course! Geez, wasn’t I awkwardly hitting on you all the time?”

“You could be bisexual.”

That seemed to throw her off her train of thought, because she clammed right up. She couldn’t be bisexual… could she? She thought Twilight was pretty, sure. Downright beautiful in the right light, even with her wings and horn… but was she attracted to her? No, of course not. She was just a friend.

Right?

“I know, It’s easy to forget that you can like both,” Flash continued, as if sensing Sunset’s hesitation. “And nobody’s stopping you. And I don’t know, I thought maybe you were down for dating more than one person at a time — or she was your adopted sister. Who knows?”

Snorting, Sunset shook her head and laid all the way back to watch the sky with him. “Yeah. All of the above. Weird ones to me, but not weird ones to you, who didn’t have any details. So that’s my fault for being a chickenshit and not just telling you that I like you.”

“Oh, don’t be like that. Neither of us are mind-readers.” Then his voice quieted as he added, “But it definitely had nothing to do with whether or not I like you, okay? Or you being attractive or not. It’s purely that you’re my friend, and that’s where it stops. For everybody.”

“Well…” There were other questions she wanted to ask, and accusations she wanted to level. Things to just get off her chest that would have no place in that conversation, because Flash was exactly who he had always been — despite her figuring out something that had eluded her before. Therefore, she simply said, “I hope you have lots of ‘just friends’ in your life, since that’s the only thing I can think of that would make up for a girlfriend. Or boyfriend.”

“Or a non-binary friend?” When her eyebrows furrowed slightly, he waved a hand. “Sorry. Upper-level LGBTQ lingo. You gotta be a member and know the secret handshake.”

“No, I’ve heard the term before, I just… don’t get it personally. But that’s nothing against people who do, or want to use it! Just… God, I don’t know!”

Chortling, he bumped her with his elbow. “Don’t sweat it; you’ll get there. It was weird joining the group since they don’t really support us much. It’s all about the cisgay boys and girls in their ‘struggle’, while all the other struggles are unimportant. But we’re making real progress, trust me.”

“Good, good,” she laughed back. “One step at a time.”

“Yeah, totally.” Then he smiled very cautiously. “I… don’t suppose you’d still want to go to the union, would you?”

“Fried mac and cheese? Oh, I’m so there — and I need to get the taste of foot out of my mouth.”

“Awesome! And… do you mind it Spring tags along, too? She’s—”

“Waiting for you on the quad,” she laughed. “I noticed; she doesn’t really blend in well.”

“Yeah, true. Really can’t understand why not — but I think maybe it’s her love for breaking out into numbers from The Book of Mormon. Tends to get attention.”

Grinning as she stood up, Sunset offered Flash a hand as she gushed, “Oh man, that’s definitely in my top three! Well, I never got to see it live, but I’ve watched it online and I have the cast recording!”

“Really?”

“It’s totally on my phone right now — I’ll play it if you don’t believe me. But only if you don’t judge Twilight still being my lock screen, or ask me a bunch of weird questions about her again!”

Both his arms shot up above his head. “Okay, enough! I surrender! Take me to your leader!”

“Wouldn’t you like that?” she fired back at him as they started walking to meet up with Spring, who was looking both anxious and relieved. “But you’re an assassin or something, sent from another world!”

“Oh, totally. A magical land filled with talking creatures!” he grinned, wiggling his fingers theatrically. All she could do in reply was laugh hysterically — and for the first time, it was purely because she found him funny, and not out of awkward nervousness. Maybe this would turn out halfway decent after all.

Of course, by the time she made it home, stuffed to the gills with breaded-and-fried pasta, she was back to lamenting the sad, sad state of her love life. There wasn’t even a secondary interest for her to fall back on. One of the TA’s for her calculus class wasn’t too shabby-looking, but she didn’t really see the point in dating anyone one was even partially a professor. That was just creepy. Therefore, she was back to pining over fictional characters for a while.

“Oh, Loki,” she sighed morosely as she tossed her backpack to the floor. “Why can’t you sweep me off my feet and take me back to Asgard as your princess?”

“Because he’s too busy failing to take over Earth and getting his ass stomped by the Hulk. Duh,” came a voice from inside her living room — and Sunset nearly jumped out of her skin.

“Rainbow?!”

Once she had flipped on the light switch and raced around the end of the sofa, trying to forget her momentary mortification that someone had overheard her talking to an imaginary — though, admittedly attractive — character, she confirmed it was indeed her neighbor and friend. “What the— sorry, not trying to be rude here, but why the fuck were you sitting around in my living room — and in the dark?!”

Shaking her head, her neighbor drew her knees up onto the couch again. “Didn’t feel like getting up. Too lazy. Too tired. Take your pick. Anyway, the sun went down, like, half an hour ago or whatever, and I just… didn’t think to get up and turn any lights on.”

“Okay… but what are you doing here in the first place?” she asked as she slid into the seat next to her friend.

“Oh. Fluttershy is hogging the bathroom again, and she always says she doesn’t care if I go while she’s in the tub with cucumbers on her eyes or whatever, but I’m not really comfortable pissing with her right there, ya’know? So…. I dunno. I was so angry at her that I didn’t want to see her again, and I just didn’t go back.”

Frowning in concentration, Sunset rubbed her hand along Rainbow’s shoulders. In all brutal honesty, she had no real desire to attend Rainbow’s pity party now; she already had one personal crisis going on, such as it was. But she also didn’t want to be insensitive — especially since there was clearly more going on that just Fluttershy being oblivious as usual.

“What’s really on your mind? Has to be more than just this.”

“Nothin’.”

“Liar.” No response. “Fine, don’t tell me. I didn’t want to know. I don’t want to know anything, because I’m just a big, dumb, stupid-head.”

“Stop,” Rainbow said, her lips twitching up slightly.

“Nope. I’m too dumb to stop. My head is made of styrofoam and I can’t learn things. You’d totally be wasting your time if you told m—”

“Alright, alright!” she laughed — still against her will, but a little more freely. Sighing at the end, she said, “I just… don’t see the point anymore.”

“The point? Of what?”

“Anything.”

Nodding slowly as she tried to process the implications of that statement, Sunset did her best not to overreact, or be dismissive. “I see.”

“What do you see? You have it all together, dude. What do I have? A crappy job, crappy grades. A roommate who thinks I’m stupid and in the way all the time. One good friend and no other friends, and no boyfriend.”

“Come on... Fluttershy is your oldest friend. And what about that guy on the soccer team?”

“He doesn’t really like me. Said he’s more into girls who aren’t flat as a freeway.” She rolled her eyes, snorting. “They’re all the same — and I don’t think that’s going to change, ever. So… what’s the point of getting up in the morning if this is the best life has to offer?”

“Whoa, whoa, don’t be like that. Yeah, you’re right; life isn’t handed to you. But you’re way off base when you say I have it ‘together’. So do not.”

“Oh yeah? Name one thing that doesn’t work out great for you. Grades, family life, friends. Boyfriends.”

Sunset blinked rapidly, her mouth falling open. “Uh… dude, have we met? My name is Sunset. You might have me confused with someone else.”

“Don’t do that,” Rainbow hissed, the sound a harsh slicing of the air. “Don’t do that right now.”

“You really think I’m that stable, huh? My life is a total picnic? Let me tell you what happened to me literally just now…”

And Rainbow listened patiently. Well, that was a stretch; she listened, even though for most of it she was tapping one foot and glaring down at the coffee table. By the end of the story, her eyes were wide with shock and disbelief, but very quickly afterward she switched gears. “Well… he didn’t really reject you, he’s just not interested in anybody. So that doesn’t say anything about you, right?”

“True… yeah, I get that. But still, it’s… when you go a year and the only person you had a crush on turns out to be asexual, then what do you do with that?”

“Live with it, I guess.” Then she sighed and leaned back, slightly to one side, using her elbow for support on the arm of Sunset’s couch. “But okay, yeah, I’m sorry I kind of told you that nothing is hard for you… it wasn’t how I mean that. You know I didn’t, right?”

Sunset pursed her lips, thinking of her recent reconciliation with Rarity, all stemming from a similar misunderstanding. “Yeah, I know you didn’t.”

“Good. And I know I’m exaggerating about your grades and family. I know, I know… it’s just hard when you do have it better than I do, even if your life isn’t perfect. Wish I had it a little better, is all.”

“Life isn’t fair,” Sunset admitted, hating the sound of her mother’s words coming out of her own mouth. “But seriously, give it time. You’ll get a guy, and your grades will come up if you keep kicking ass. And then life will fall into place around all that.”

But Rainbow had already begun shaking her head before she finished the sentence. “No, sorry, I just… can’t see that anymore from where I am. I don’t know what to do — there’s just no goddamn point!”

By now, she was getting the picture that there would be no easy resolution of this mopey mood. What did people do for depressed people? Sure, she was depressed on a daily basis, but it was always a form of depression that she would push through relatively easy — at least enough to get through classes and work. Nothing that made her want to crawl into a hole and die. There were no easy answers.

Or were there?

That was probably the most dangerous thought she’d ever had since she first met Twilight. Bringing in outside help for a friend who was in the depths of despair seemed callous — or like one of those interventions people did on TV. But she couldn’t let Rainbow sit around feeling like this, and she was completely out of ideas.

Then a new problem arose: how to get Rainbow out of her apartment. There would be no summoning a goddess into her bathroom and then explaining that random presence. Could she ask Rainbow to go get them a pizza? Of course not; she’d go get it herself, or have it delivered. Racking her brains, she only came up with a single solution. Stupid as it was.

“You need to go confront Fluttershy.”

“What? Are you retarded?” Rainbow gawked, looking at Sunset as if she actually was. “No fucking way. She can eat my ass for all I care.”

“Seriously, go do it, right now!” Her hand curled under Rainbow’s bicep, and though she protested she didn’t stop pulling until she was in her kitchen. “That girl has made you feel uncomfortable in your own apartment for long enough, and it’s about freaking time you told her you’re beyond done with her shit! She’s your friend, and she needs to act like it!”

They stared at each other for a long moment while Sunset tried not to hyperventilate, or otherwise give away her plan. Rainbow did take one step toward the door, then turned back with a shrew look in her eyes.

“Okay, wait. You just want me out of here so you don’t have to deal with my ass.”

“No, I promise that’s not it! I swear! You… you go out into that hall, and stand in front of her door — your door — for one full minute, sixty seconds. Then just go in there and tell her that she needs to start respecting some of the rules you want in place! You take back your apartment!”

“Well… okay, I guess. But if she glares at me in that freaky way she does when she gets really pissed, I’m blaming you.”

“She won’t glare at you, I promise. Now go! Go, go, gooooo!”

“God, fine!” Rainbow blustered as she was pushed through the door. “But what do—”

“Just get that ass moving!”

Then she slammed the door in her friends face. For just a second, she felt a slight prickle of regret — but there was no time to focus on it. She had a friendship emergency, and knew just the goddess to call.

“Okay,” Twilight said in a slightly dazed voice as she steadied herself against the sink. “That was trippy. And not a good trippy. More like a psychedelic trippy. Reminds me of the sixties. What did you use?” She smacked her lips, her face pinching. “Pig’s blood? Blegh.”

“Yes, and I guess it’s technically good enough,” Sunset sighed as she rolled a bathmat back over the symbols on her bathroom floor, then began carrying what was left of the jar back to the kitchen. “We have kind of a situation.”

“Oh? A good situation? A party-type situation? Dude — are we finally marathoning Jessica Jones?!”

“What? No! Well… maybe eventually, but not right now!” Swallowing briefly while putting her thoughts in order, she ran a hand through her hair as they both reconvened to the living room. “I’m… sorry if this isn’t your usual request, but if I’m the one who summoned you, can I still ask you to help out a friend of mine instead?”

That made the woman’s perfect eyebrows knit in concern. “What’s going on? I mean, you’re right that it’s a bit odd, but only because most summoners tend to call us for selfish reasons. There’s nothing that keeps us from assisting other people, though, if the summoner requests it.”

“Good. Because I’m in over my head with Rainbow.”

Nodding slowly, Twilight perched herself on the arm of the couch. “Yes. I felt that loud and clear when I arrived. She’s in something of a funk?”

“Oh, yeah. And I don’t know how to snap her out of it! Like… maybe it’s really shitty that I brought you all the way here for this, but I really need your help!”

The goddess nodded again, this time more resolute. “Yeah, no, I understand. Helping friends is important; I should know, after all. And it’s your blood. Well, the blood that’s in your possession, anyway. And possession's nine-tenths of the law. So, what, you just want me to snap Rainbow Dash out of it?”

“Please and thank you,” breathed Sunset. “Do you know what’s bothering her, or do you need me to—”

“No, I think I got it.” Twilight waved her hand airily. “She’s easy enough to understand once you get to know her.”

Sunset opened her mouth to ask how Twilight knew this, but as she did she heard the key turning in the lock. “Shit, she’s back!” she hissed, and that was all the time she had before the door was open.

“Would you believe it?!” Rainbow grunted as she closed the door behind her, her entire face the color of the red stripe running through her hair. “That fucking granola bar isn’t home! And I was finally actually going to— to… oh, uh, hi.”

Whirling around, Sunset saw Twilight sitting exactly where she had left her. The only difference was, her horn and wings were gone, her skin a beautiful coppery tone that blended well with her dark hair, and her poodle skirt and blouse were now jeans, a black AC/DC tank top, and she wore a pair of killer boots that Sunset found herself wishing weren’t an illusion so she could totally borrow them.

“Right,” she found herself mumbling when she caught her breath. “Um, I mean, th-this is Twilight. Twilight, this is my neighbor, Rainbow.”

“I… I thought I was your friend,” Rainbow said, her eyes narrowing suspiciously.

“Well, yeah,” she laughed awkwardly. “But you know, the whole neighbor part might explain why you have a key to get in, right?”

“Yup, no problem,” Twilight chirped in a prim-sounded British accent, popping to her feet with a wide grin. Sunset’s heart jumped all the way up until it hit the roof of her mouth. That was not what she had been expecting in the way of ‘help’ and she wasn’t sure it qualified. “You alright, love?”

Blinking, Rainbow looked between both of them for a long second. “Oh… you’re from Europe? Or England, or whatever? That’s… I didn’t know Sunset had a friend from there. You an exchange student?”

Laughing, Twilight switched back to her usual accent and said, “She doesn’t actually — well, not now that I’m back from overseas. Got in just tonight, in fact, and I thought I’d pick up where I left off with Sunny, here.”

“Yeah,” Sunset laughed nervously — then mentally kicked herself for sounding like a freak. “Sorry, she just got back and totally surprised me!”

“Oh... okay. I mean, I didn’t even hear anyone come through the hallway, and usually anytime someone walks past it’s like some kinda stampede happening on the other side of the door.”

Twilight shrugged, walking over to offer her hand more formally to the multi-color-haired girl. “Really? I wasn’t really bothering to keep it down. Did…” She frowned slightly. “Did I miss something?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you kinda look like you wanna throw up, that’s all.”

Shrugging, Rainbow said, “Nah. It’s cool; I don’t wanna bore strangers with my problems.”

However, when neither Twilight or Sunset replied for a few seconds, Rainbow relented. It took some coaxing here and there from the other two, but little by little, she did fill the disguised goddess in on her mood, her displeasure at her current situation and how hopeless it all seemed.

“Oh yeah, I’ve been there. Lots of times.” As Rainbow grunted — her method of keeping tears at bay — Twilight rubbed her back and talked in a soothing voice. “You have a lot more to offer than you think.”

“Oh, yeah, right,” Rainbow scoffed. “I’m nobody. My parents don’t even call anymore; our conversations are so boring to each other.”

“Have you told them that?” Silence. “Have you told Fluttershy off, or told any of your old friends that you miss them?”

“So it’s my fault?”

Shaking her head, Twilight sighed, “Sometimes it’s not about who’s right and who’s wrong. Sometimes… you have to be the bigger person or nothing’s going to change. Be the person to offer loyalty to a friend. Extend some kindness, or bestow some form of generosity.” She took a deep, slow breath. “Be honest with those you care about. Share laughs with them. It all comes together in the end. And I know it sucks now, but it’s how life is. Sucky. We just have to power through to the good stuff.”

“Oh, this is just life, then. That helps.”

“Yeah,” Twilight laughed. “I guess it doesn't. But I mean, the only alternative is to let go of all of it. But then what do you have? Nothing, instead of not much. Guess what matters is to just try your best.”

“But I’ve done that! Believe me, I was really putting in maximum effort; in class, at work! It just… never went anywhere! And okay, I guess my friends are something I could have worked harder on, and my parents, but… but they quit talking to me first! It’s gotta be something about me!”

“Hey,” Sunset protested, frowning. “What am I over here? Not your friend?”

“We live next to each other, Sunset. It’s not like you have a choice, really. I know you only stay friends with me because it’s too inconvenient not to.”

Ouch. Guilt dropped hard into Sunset’s stomach. That wasn’t true, but it wasn’t entirely false either. Would she even bother to give Rainbow the time of day if they didn’t work together and live in such close proximity? Maybe. Probably, though not to the extent she did now.

“I knew it,” Rainbow growled when she didn’t answer. “I knew you didn’t really want me around. Not deep down, anyway. And now your other friend is back, and I’ll be thrown out like your mom’s week-old food.”

“Hey, that isn’t fair,” Twilight said warningly. “Sunset probably isn’t sure what to say to an accusation like that. Besides, she’s always had more than one friend, and will continue to. Nobody’s supposed to get through life without at least a few really good friends; it’s possible… but… it’s really, really hard.”

“Thanks for confirming what I already know…” Both of her hands dropped into her lap. “I’m sorry, you guys… I know I’m a mess. I know. But, today had been was harder than normal. Maybe I should just go.”

Sunset stepped forward and clamped a hand on Rainbow’s shoulder. “No, you don’t have to — we’re right here and not going anywhere. Uh… maybe some TV will take your mind off things?”

“Mmm.” Shrugging, she rubbed at her face and suddenly stood up. “I’m… gonna go for a walk. It’s— I can’t think in here. I can’t breath. It’s too close to Fluttershy’s fucking patchouli oil. Maybe when I get back… if I give you a twenty, will you order some pizza?”

“Totally,” Sunset told her gently. They both went with her until she got to the door. “See you in a bit, and… try not to think too much.”

“Or do all your thinking out there so your brain is empty when you get back,” Twilight joked as she went in for a hug. Rainbow was surprised, but returned it. “Nice meeting you, though,” the goddess said as she gently but firmly squeezed Rainbow.

“Yeah, right.”

“I mean it.” Twilight held her at arm’s length, her eyes serious. “Not ideal circumstances, but… you seem pretty awesome.”

Snorting, Rainbow finally cracked a smile. “Thanks. I’ll text you if my walk starts taking too long.” But just because Sunset closed the door, she looked over her shoulder and said, “Just no pineapple — you know I hate that stuff.”

“No pineapple.”

The minute they were alone, Sunset walked straight to the couch and collapsed. Twilight joined her a moment later, sighing heavily and slowly. “So. Do you think that helped at all?”

“Dunno. At least she had the two of us trying to cheer her up instead of just me. I’m no good at this friend stuff. Not really.”

“You aren’t? Didn’t you just make up with Rarity?” Twilight’s eyebrows lifted in surprise.

“Hey, that’s different. Besides… that took me way longer than it should have. Also, I had to be almost directly responsible for her not having Blueblood for comfort before I got up off my ass to talk to her.”

Pursing her lips, Twilight pulled Sunset into the crook of her arm. “Yeah, but what’s to say she really would have been better off with Blueblood? We both know where his interests lie.”

“Her panties.” That caused the goddess to snort before collapsing into inelegant laughter, and Sunset beamed back at her. “God, you have such a great laugh. Has anybody ever told you that?”

“My laugh is great? I didn’t know there was a ranking.”

“There is now, and yours it at the top of the charts.”

For some reason, that make the goddess fall silent, just smiling back at her as if considering what she should say next. However, she was spared the need when a loud, sharp cracking sound filled the apartment.

“Wait — what was that?”

Twilight shot to her feet immediately, eyes sharp and focused. Sunset followed a moment later. “Huh? It came from outside, I think. Should we take a look?”

“Yeah. Here, let’s take the shortcut.”

Before Sunset could so much as yelp ‘Hey!’, she was lifted bridal style as the goddess took a few quick steps toward the window. “Wait — whoa, whoa, what are you doing?!”

But they were already falling. As the neared the ground, Sunset knew they were doomed, braced to feel the cold, hard pavement that would be the final resting place of her corpse… but their descent was slowed.

Sunset looked up to see huge, feathery wings stretching over them, highlighted with shades of lavender and dark purple. They beat once, twice, and as she felt the rush of wind against her face, they alighted on the street. Twilight gently set Sunset down on her feet as if it were something she did every day.

“Wow,” she breathed shakily, staring up into the goddess’ bright purple eyes. But she wasn’t looking back — instead, she was busy trying to pin down the source of the disturbance.

And then she found it. Immediately, she fixed Sunset with the most piercing gaze she could muster and said, “Listen to me, okay? I strongly suggest you go back inside. Right now. Just go back in and don’t look.”

“What? Why can’t I look?” Human nature reared its ugly head. Even though she had been told not to, her immediate response was to turn her head in the direction that Twilight had been staring at a moment before. Even as she did it, she felt the slight pang of regret that she hadn’t listened, but her curiosity was too strong.

A figure was laying on the ground, a dark substance staining the concrete underneath and their clothes. Her clothes. Nobody else was in sight, other than a few people poking their heads out of windows along the street, also straining to see what had happened.

“Is that… no. It’s not… Rainbow?”

“Sunset,” Twilight repeated, grabbing her face with both hands and forcing their eyes to lock. “Go inside. Please.” She gripped Sunset’s arm to hold her fast when she tried to run forward. “No, don’t — there’s nothing you can do for her now. You, or anyone.”

Sunset’s heart hammered in her throat as she wrenched her gaze away from Twilight’s, falling on the body of her friend, laying silently on the ground. She tried to yell, scream… do something… but all she could hear was Twilight’s voiceless whisper in her head.

Everything has a price, Sunset Shimmer. Everything.