“Duuuuude, I didn’t know you were a hacker-princess!”

Shrugging with obvious satisfaction, Twilight slowly morphed from the pink-haired, pale-skinned form to her usual poodle skirt and blouse combo. She stretched her arms above her head, making a small noise of pleasure in the back of her throat. Her wings fluttered leisurely as she leaned against the stove. “Oh, I’m not, but I have connections. Easy enough to set up the interface — especially with magic facilitating the whole thing. Without it, I’d have a hard time even figuring out something as asinine as an MMORPG.”

“Yeah, I could see that,” Sunset laughed as she got one of Snips’ beers out of the fridge. For some reason, she felt like celebrating this time; they had finally done it! Finally delivered sweet, sweet retribution to each and every guy who wronged her during that hellish week. That didn’t mean they would never talk again, but it was the end of an era. “Wish I could see the look on his face when he finds that message and can’t get rid of it. Stupid prick.”

“Yeah — you were so right about him. I mean, I clearly said ‘no’ and he was still all over me, and totally justified it in his mind. What a slimeball. And a Marvel fan? Ugh.”

Now Sunset found herself laughing at her for another reason as she retrieved a barely-used bottle opener from one of her drawers. “You’re into comics?”

“Not really, but… one of my previous summoners was a big fan, and really loved the DC universe. Rubbed off on me a little, I guess. Had quite the collection.”

“You guess. Would you want me to grab you some comics sometime?”

“What?!” Then she blanched and quickly said, “Oh, no… don’t be silly, that’s — you don’t have to do that! I can’t take them back with me anyway.”

Rolling her eyes, Sunset cracked open her beer as she said, “Yeah, but you could read it while you’re here. And they’re what, a few bucks? Depending on the series. Not really that big of a deal for me.”

Bashfulness always looked terribly odd on Twilight, but at least she was smiling. “That would be wonderful. I’m definitely not asking you to do it, but—”

“You definitely don’t have to. What are friends for?”

“I… thank you,” Twilight whispered. Both of them shifted awkwardly before she followed up, “So… are you satisfied with your summoning this time around?”

Swallowing down the huge gulp of beer she’d taken, Sunset replied with, “Totally. Are you?”

“Of course.” The raised eyebrow made Twilight snort. “Listen, I’ve had a few years doing this; things don’t always work out perfectly — outside forces come into play and screw shit up, as we both know all too well — but I have gotten pretty good at predicting what will have the best, most lasting results. Is it a crime that I have a little bit of professional pride?”

“Not at all, not at all. Just… sorry, that’s my bad for making it seem like I was judging you.”

“No worries.” Then she examined her nails. “So I guess I’ll be heading out, then. See you soon?”

“No!” As a drip of beer splattered to the floor, Sunset cleared her throat. “I m-mean, do you have to? I figured we could hang out for a bit, watch something stupid on TV.”

“I can’t,” Twilight sighed. “I mean, technically I could since you’re still in control of the summoning, but I got a tug from another summoner while I was finishing off Snails. Sorry, brother, gotta split.”

Pursing her lips, Sunset quickly mopped up the spilt beer with a paper towel. “You don’t say ‘brother’ to a girl. You say ‘bro’ — or ‘bruh’, even. Maybe I should summon you one day and just let you fuck around on Urban Dictionary for a few hours.”

“Maybe, maybe,” she chuckled as she walked toward the bathroom. “I am a pretty quick study.”

“True. So… how does this work, now that we did all the things I first summoned you for? Can I call you still, or is that not allowed?”

“Well…” The squirming was visible. “It would probably be best if you didn’t, but we can’t really stop you as long as you have the life force to bind me here. Eventually Celestia or Luna might intervene if you’re taking time away from other summoners, though. It’s a system we worked out.”

A chill shot through her spine. “Intervene… how? Like… strike me dead with some kind of lightning bolt from the sky?” She could see that happening from an angry goddess.

When Twilight laughed again, it was full and glorious, and she threw her head back as she grasped Sunset’s upper arm for stability. Sunset joined in after a few seconds, and they were breathless and crying by the time it was over.

“Oh, man, you’re the best!” Twilight finally managed to giggle. “Strike you dead — yeah, that’d be great for business! Don’t worry, we need the magic from this world to stabilize the catalyst and keep it from breaking on its own; so it’ll be more like some kind of temporary ban on summoning me.”

“How ‘temporary’ is temporary? A week? A month?”

“Well… we tend to throw down timeframes like… thirty years, but lately we’ve been saying more like a month or two. Depends on how bad the offenses are, especially when compared with current demand. Lucky for you, there just isn’t as much summoning going on since the internet was invented.”

“Really?” Sunset said thoughtfully, taking another drink as she mulled that over. “Huh… I'd figure the internet would make it more likely, since spells could find their way there for anyone to find.”

“Oh, there are, but it balances out, since a lot of the ‘instant gratification’ type requests are much easier to get through the internet than summoning beings from another world.” Her voice dropped slightly as she smirked. “Online porn really helps take the edge off, I hear.”

“Don’t tell me that,” Sunset snorted in mingling disgust and amusement. “I don’t need to be thinking about what you mean by porn taking the edge off.”

“My apologies.” Then she squeezed her arm briefly. “But don’t worry so much. We just did a ‘normal’ summoning tonight, and it usually has to be a ton of summonings without a clear purpose before Luna and Celestia start asking questions.” She paused, tapping her lip with a finger. “Flurry Heart gets into the most trouble with that, actually.”

Though she felt a little silly about it, a huge sigh of relief burst from Sunset at knowing she wasn’t getting anyone in trouble. “If you’re sure… then okay.”

“Yeah. All’s well.” Letting her go, Twilight turned to walk into the backroom, then was standing on the circle. “Alright, I’ll see you soon, okay?”

“Wait!”

Dashing forward, she threw her arms around Twilight’s neck and clung to her tightly. Why? Sure, every time they had to part ways she felt a sense of loss, but it had never been so potent this time. Beyond all reason, the goddess seemed to have a way of reducing her emotional state to that of a little lost child. By simply being more open and honest, more available, she had become essential to her very survival. No one since her mother had reached that level of importance — not even Rarity when they were still the best of friends.

“Hey,” Twilight half-laughed as she embraced her back. “Okay, okay, stop buttering me up!”

“I’m not,” she breathed in a shaky murmur. “I just… don’t want you to go yet, I’m sorry!”

“Not really my choice, here.” When Sunset still didn’t let go, her hands slid up her sides and tried to push backward, to literally peel the girl off of her body. “Okay, I can’t hang around anymore — I mean it.”

“Sorry,” Sunset breathed, hating herself, hating how weak and stupid she sounded, hating that she couldn’t just wave like she had every other time before. “I’m… God, go, just hurry.”

Ironically enough, that phrase was what made Twilight forget about leaving for a moment. Leaning in, she examined the face of her client, eyes narrowing in confusion. One of her hands came up and slid along Sunset’s cheek, cupping it gently as she tilted her head to look better into her eyes.

“Whoa… okay, something is up, and not a small something. Do you wanna talk about it?”

“You have to go,” she said in a strangled voice. What was the matter with her?! Why couldn’t she keep it together this time?

“Hey, fuck that. Um… my summoner reported that she was satisfied but looked like she wasn’t being honest, so I had to stay and make entirely sure. That’s close enough to the truth, and it’ll buy me some time.” Leaning closer, so close that her breath could be felt on Sunset’s chin, she continued in a very soft voice, “Is… there something you need to tell me? Something I missed?”

No longer trusting herself to speak, her eyes squeezed shut. For some reason, she didn’t even want to see Twilight anymore. She wanted her gone because something wasn’t the way it should be and she couldn’t figure out what it was. That scared her, a lot. Her mind was racing without getting anywhere, around and around the same tracks. Why couldn’t she think, or breathe?”

“Please… talk to me.” For the first time she could remember, even including the time Rainbow had been murdered in the street, her goddess friend sounded truly scared. “Sunset, I don’t — I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s wrong, so you have to tell me!”

Sunset shook her head.

“Then do something to show me; write it down, or something, I don’t know!”

Needing her to leave conflicted with needing her to stay. The second being unfair was what created the first one, but telling Twilight how badly her heart seemed to demand she not go back to her world was not possible — it wasn’t fair to her, so had no control over that! There were no words that could make that demand anything less than selfish and awful.

So she showed her, as requested. She leaned up and pressed her lips briefly to Twilight’s velvet-soft ones; held them so much longer than she should have, but still tore them away much too soon.

All the while her eyes remained locked closed, sealed off against the reaction she might receive. Hoping the sun would rise at the exact second and banish all the consequences before they happen.

“Oh…”

Stupidly, Sunset just nodded. As if a nod could hope to touch what she had just done.

“Wow… so I, um… I figured wrong. I felt the… but you could never have been -- except that you were, when it… damn.”

Tears leaked from the corner of her eyes as Sunset violently hissed, “Fuck me! Fuck how st— how fucking stupid I am! Fuck my stupid, stupid ass self!”

“I really… do have to go now.” Her voice was hollow -- not the kind of hollow that was cold or unfeeling, but the one in which there was literally nothing. Just a total, complete absence. “Goodnight, Sunset.”

“Please don’t hate me!” she managed to stammer as she felt the buildup of power that indicated Twilight’s normal departure. “I didn’t mean to do — I’m total shit, I’m sorry!”

“I could never hate you, Sunny. Goodnight.”

Thirty minutes passed before Sunset stopped sobbing on the floor of her bathroom enough to open her eyes and check, just to make sure Twilight really did leave. Of course, the room was empty.

What in… God and Celestia’s name… did she just do?

By the time Sunset woke up, it was late afternoon. Many missed calls were waiting for her, along with a few texts from Rainbow letting her know that she had missed both her shift and class. None of that was important.

She had kissed Twilight. Of all the people she could have kissed, actual humans, the only goddess from another world that she actually knew had to be the one her face picked for a suckfest. The thought kept speeding around and around the endless racetrack of her brain.

Did this make her gay, or what? She’d never even kissed a boy before, not seriously. Maybe it didn’t make her anything but a giant idiot.

And then there was Twilight’s reaction. In a way that she couldn’t quite explain, she seemed to be both completely floored and have expected it all along. That was weird, right? Did people normally go around acting like that, or was it a pony thing? Maybe she’d never know that part. After all, she wouldn’t be surprised if Twilight never answered a summon from her again.

What time did she fall asleep? That was another mystery. She hadn’t been paying attention to the time, even though she had finally dragged herself to the living room, then back in the bathroom to throw up. Living room to cry a bit on the couch, bathroom to pee, staring into her reflection in the cracked mirror for another hour. Crying through everything, but then long periods where she just stared blankly, feeling that more tears could come if she let them but just being so tired of the associated movements that she just held them at bay to give her body a rest.

Even though she went over it again and again in her mind, she never figured out when she had stopped viewing Twilight as just a friend-slash-otherworldly-employee. After the second or third summoning? Dinner with her parents? That first time she cried on her? All those times, even right up until she kissed her — a fresh wave of nausea and tears arrived whenever she thought about that bizarre experience — she had only been thinking of Twilight as a good friend and nothing more. It literally made zero sense.

Unless it was just a fluke. That was as likely as anything; she hated the thought of Twilight leaving so much that she… expressed it via mouth-to-mouth? Not an airtight explanation, but better than anything else she had pondered by a long way.

Far, far too late for it to be of any use, she finally thought of the obvious plan — the moment before Twilight had disappeared, she should have announced that she was dissatisfied with her service. Reset the whole night and taken back the kiss. Then again, Twilight would still remember it, wouldn’t she? Besides, she didn’t want her to get into any more trouble than she was. Or… that magical conduit to become any more damaged by her indecisiveness and stupidity. Either way, there was no changing the past now that Twilight had left, so thinking about it was only an exercise in torturing herself.

Even worse than thinking about the implications of her foolish lapse in judgement, that wondering what might become of their friendship after a fuckup like this, was thinking about the moment itself. When she could bring herself to remember the actual feeling, it was so soft and pure, innocent. Twilight hadn’t jerked back in shock, hadn’t thrown her against a wall — she just stood there and let it happen. And physically, at least for the moment in which it occurred, neither one of them seemed all that unhappy about it.

How could they ever face each other again? This was the one thing you could not, should not do with a best friend! Especially not one of the same sex! The lines were supposed to be even clearer there, weren’t they? Of course, that was before being ‘out and proud’ became more the norm in society, and groups like the one Flash attended were in existence on every college campus. Not that she ever had a single thing against them, but there’s a world of difference between supporting them and joining the team.

Gay. Not her, not Sunset Shimmer. Only a week ago, she had still been pining after Flash — lesbians didn’t do that, did they? Of course not. But she did have more or less her only strong attachment to a person — one that bordered on romantic — aimed in Twilight’s direction. The circumstantial evidence was mounting against her with every passing second. Maybe she didn’t have any romantic feelings toward women on a typical day, but being turned down by her coworker and having all those men make unwanted advanced toward her could have easily tipped her over to the queer side of life. Just the mere fact that she had sent her lips after another set that belonged to a female body was proof enough.

Which led to more mirror-staring. Did she look ‘dykey’? No flannel shirt, no undercut or androgynous suit-and-tie, no rainbow bracelets… though, with how Rainbow Dash wore her hair and was admittingly straight as a freeway, that was not saying much. Just a college girl, dressed like a slob. Obviously she wasn’t as high femme as Rarity, but neither did she go out of her way to appear masculine. Maybe there was something to that ‘bisexual’ comment Flash had made off-handedly… not that she knew of any bisexual stereotypes by which to judge her appearance.

Then again, the downside to this activity was that she had to look at her own puffy, ugly eyes, and she quickly ended up going back to the couch. The world could wait for her coming out exclusive until after she felt like a human being again.

But she could not rest. Her brain never stopped going back to the kiss, to the moment that was both magical and terrifying, fantastical and abysmal. Maybe it had only been a few seconds, and in the grand scheme of things it was no big deal, but if some part of herself hadn’t really wanted to make it happen, there would have been nothing. Just another hug, maybe a tearful goodbye. On some level deep down, at least one tiny shred of her soul had wanted to show Twilight in a very physical way that she cared about her. More than she cared about anyone else.

And that thought, more than any other, was the one that shook Sunset to her very core.

As she had been half-expecting, there came a knock about thirty minutes after classes were let out. Twenty seconds after that, another knock, along with an accompanying outcry:

“Sunset? Sunset, are you in there?!”

“Mrarrrrgh,” she groaned beneath her Disney blanket.

“Nice, Frankenstein. Can I come in?”

“Frankenstein’s monster — Doctor Frankenstein is the dude who built him. And fine, fine, get in here before I change my mind.”

There was no hesitation between when the door swung open a crack, just enough to display that Sunset wasn’t in the kitchen but was permanently glued to the sofa, and when Rainbow was sighing and asking, “Alright… what happened?”

“Nothin’.”

“Bull. You look worse that I did a couple days ago.”

Shaking her head, she sat up. Obviously, telling Rainbow or anyone else would be about the hardest thing she’d ever done, and she wasn’t ready for something like that. So instead, she just said, “Just… guy stuff. Kinda. I don’t really wanna talk about it if that’s okay.”

“Yeah, alright. Sorry.”

“It’s cool.”

“Wanna… Netflix and chill?”

“And… chill?” In this situation, where she was tits-deep in the questioning of her own sexuality, that was the craziest thing Rainbow could have asked for. Against her will, she started laughing, and couldn’t stop for a few minutes. Rainbow did join her eventually, even if the girl had no idea what was going on. When she finally ran out of breath, she flopped back and let her body catch up for a few seconds.

“Feel better?”

“A little.” Then she shrugged and wiped at her face. “Yeah. Yeah, let’s watch something… I need to try to get out of my own head.”

Nodding, Rainbow pulled out her phone and began scrolling. “Oh yeah, I heard that.”

“Ugh, no pizza right now,” Sunset groaned. “I can’t do food.”

“I’m not ordering pizza. I’m ordering a giant cookie.”

“Oh. Well… yeah, okay. Do that.”

Rainbow’s smug grin was completely self-satisfied, but it was also pleased that she could be the one helping Sunset for once.

The weekend passed in a blur of sleeping, moving and sitcoms, junk food binges, and self-flagellation — and not the fun kind. Rainbow was the only one she kept in contact with, and even she got zero details. Just that Sunset felt like she messed up a friendship, which didn’t even slip out until the day after the cookie had arrived.

Monday, she was back at work, even if her heart wasn’t in it. Doing the best she could felt so fake. All she wanted was to crawl back into bed and forget she had ever existed — and the ‘she’ alternated between herself and Twilight at a pretty steady one-to-one ratio.

Flash stopped to ask how she felt now that she’d had a little more time to think about things. She knew he meant the club and his sexuality status, but her brain went straight to he kiss, and to Twilight’s dumbfounded reaction. It always went there without specific orders to go somewhere else.

“Just… I need some time to think. About a lot of stuff, not just that.”

“Oh,” he said, slightly disappointed but not surprised or upset with her. His smile remained in place, soft, unwavering. “Well, you know where to find me.”

“Yeah. And… I’m sorry for acting all disappointed, I didn’t mean—”

“You’re fine, okay? Nobody meant for anybody to be hurt. And hey, if I was going to date anytime soon, I’d be lucky if they were as good-hearted as you are.”

Though he’d meant that to be bolstering, it was like a railroad spike being driven through her sternum. A good-hearted person didn’t shove her face onto another face without at least asking first, or anything. Slumping even more, she went back to the register, leaving Flash even more confused than before.

That night, she tried to summon Twilight. It had taken her a couple of days to work up the courage, but in the end, she definitely wanted to talk through some things, to assure her that it had been just a stupid mistake, and that she wanted to fix what went wrong. Maybe that wasn’t entire the truth, but it was what she had to work with so far.

But, there was nothing. She hadn’t been expecting a prompt reply, but several hours — and re-reading of the words — passed with no change.

Her call was being screened.

The next morning, she again went to work, to class, and home. Rainbow did her best to mitigate her foul mood, but eventually drifted back to face down Fluttershy again. Sunset wished her well, but nothing held any permanence in her mind, or seemed to be important anymore. She just felt washed out and bleak.

Everything was a matter of going through the motions until she got a call from her mother.

“Where have you been?!”

“I… what?” she said groggily. The time had been way after four in the morning when she finally drifted off, and therefore being woken up at nine was most unwelcome. “Been where?”

“Not here! I thought I was going to have to send out a search party!” Sighing, she paused long enough to take a breath before asking, “Are you eating?”

“Yeah.”

“And sleeping?”

“I was until you called.”

No matter how many times the old woman did it, she never failed to surprise her. “...who were you dating and why did they dump you?”

“What?!”

“Don’t kid a mother, kid. I thought you were still going after that Flash -- did you find someone else?”

There was no use. Even though she was still completely floored that her mother had figured it out in under two minutes, there was absolutely no way she could spill the les-beans this early. Therefore, she seized on Flash.

“Actually, uh, yeah It’s Flash. I found out he’s not into dating. Like, at all.”

“What do you mean? Who isn’t ‘into’ dating, what does that mean?”

“He’s… um, asexual. Like, has no interest in ever doing those kinds of things… and doesn’t even seem to want to date. I mean, he said we could hang out -- and we will! Still, kinda feels like I wasted my time going after the wrong guy, you know?”

“Aww,” her mother cooed over the phone. “Sounds to me like he’s shy! Wasn’t your friend Twilight going to help get you two together?”

Dead silence. The mention of her name was very unexpected, and Sunset found herself grasping for words, blinking and sitting up in bed.

“Ohhh,” she said in a much softer voice. “You and she had a fight, didn’t you?”

“How do you do that?!” Sunset burst out without thinking — which only confirmed her mother’s suspicions, of course, but she couldn’t help it.

Quiet chuckling, but not at all derisive or mean. Just amused at her daughter’s reaction. “Oh, I’m so sorry… I could tell you were very close to her.”

“You could? I mean… like, how could you tell?” If there had been any early warning signs that she was slightly less than heterosexual, maybe she could learn something from finding out what they were.

“Just little things, like how you’d always be smiling when you looked at her and went off to show her the house. Haven’t seen you like that with a friend since that girl Rarity used to come over every day.”

Deep in the back of her brain, a part of her worried that she and Rarity had been heading for something deeper than friendship before they quit talking. Worried that somehow it had been at the root of why they stopped talking… even though she knew it was all about her sorority. Crazy thoughts, ones she wished she wasn’t having, didn’t need.

“Do you want to talk to Mommy about it?”

“Not when you call yourself ‘Mommy’ in the third person,” she grunted. “But… nah, I’ll be okay. Maybe it’ll just take some time.”

“You know more than me, so I guess you’re right. On the other hand, don’t let too much time pass.” Her mother hesitated, which wasn’t something she did often — and still didn’t for very long on this occasion. “Always regretted that you and Rarity couldn’t come to an understanding. You were so cute together, the best of friends — and such a pretty little girl! And then one day, you disagreed and ended up never speaking, and for what? Because she joined that all-girl house?”

“Well… actually, I do have some good news about that.”

Her mom was ecstatic. They chatted about her mending fences for a little while longer, then Sunset promised to drop by the restaurant soon before the call ended. Seconds after, she found herself flicking through her contacts to dig up another number.

“Yes?”

“Hey, um… do you mind if we meet at the union? I, uh… I’m not doing so great and kinda need someone to talk to.”

The voice hesitated. “Sure. And I’m sorry for blowing you off before, it just… wasn’t a great time for me either.”

“Sounds like we need to compare shitty stories.”

“Oh, you know it — as long as there’s ice cream involved.”

Against her will, Sunset found herself grinning ear-to-ear. “Why wouldn’t there be?”

“Wow, dear… I had no idea you were… dealing with all that.”

Nodding morosely, Sunset poked at the bottom of her bowl with a plastic spoon. “Yeah, neither did I.”

“Okay, um… please don’t take this the wrong way, but I must ask…” Swallowing, Rarity’s bright eyes flicked back and forth to the other tables before she lowered her voice, “Did you ever… think about me… that way? Not that I’d be mad, not exactly, but it—”

“No! God, no, I mean I just figured this out a few days ago, so when would I have had the time since then to check you out?”

“Shhhh!” Leaning her hand against her forehead, the poor girl sighed heavily as she tried to sort through everything that Sunset had just told her. “And you really had no clue before you went and… um, smooched up your friend Twilight?”

“Not even a bit!” Clapping her hands together in prayer, she went on, “I swear to God I was totally in the dark — I’m still kinda confused and in shock, okay? Like, maybe it was just a slip!”

Nodding vigorously, she leaned forward so fast that she almost knocked her own ice cream to the floor. It was tempting to make fun of her for buying so much less than Sunset got, but then again, there was no way she could maintain that perfectly trim figure without some sacrifices.

“Okay, that I can work with — I’ve done that, too! One night, I got a bit tipsy and Roseluck said to me, ‘Hey, wanna make out?’ I just went for it! Wasn’t the highlight of my life, but yeah, no big deal — even though I’m pretty sure my mom would make me talk to her preacher for hours if she ever found out!”

“Right! Except… I’d only had like, two sips of beer. And I was pretty much crying just because she had to go and I wouldn’t see her for a day or two.”

“Oh. Well… that does sound kind of…”

“Gay?”

“You said it, not me,” Rarity grunted.

“Seriously, I don’t know what to do! She’s not answering my calls, even though she said she could never hate me… like, I don’t want to just sit around with my thumb up my ass until she decides to respond! Should I be doing more? Or should I have some kind of prepared speech? I’m seriously clueless!”

“Calm down, calm down! You’re fine! This is… I mean, wow, I still can’t believe it, but you’re still the same Sunset Shimmer I knew all those years as far as I can tell. Except maybe…”

Sunset raised an eyebrow. “Except maybe what?”

“Well, the way you talk is a little different. There’s this… sorry, I can’t think of how to explain. Like your words are more important. You think before you talk, something like that. Not bad, just different is all. Probably happened a while ago and I never knew because… well, you know.”

“Really? Huh…” Sunset had no idea of what to make of that observation.

“Anyway, I’m really sorry you’re going through a lesbian thing or whatever this is. But, darling, as long as you don’t try to bite my boobs, I think we’re good.”

Snorting, she had to ask. “Do you hear a lot of lesbian boob-biting stories?”

“Hey, I’ve never been gay. Who knows?”

“Fair enough, I guess,” she giggled as she stirred the melting contents of her bowl. “But we kinda got carried away with my shit and didn’t talk about you and your guy.”

“Oh… we’ve been done with forever. It’s… well, it’s Blueblood that I’m worried about now.”

“Blueblood?” She tried to sound innocent when she asked.

“Yeah. Ever since that night he never showed up when I told him I needed a shoulder to cry on, he kind of… it’s like he’s a totally different person, you know? Doesn’t look at me for too long. Then there’s this part where he won’t stop grabbing his crotch, which is sort of a guy thing, I guess… but it’s getting kind of skeevy.”

A tiny prickling of guilt shot through Sunset’s pulse at that. So he still remembered the lesson they had taught him, and it wouldn’t be so easily shrugged off. Still, she hadn’t meant to give the guy a complex — and neither had Twilight, she was fairly certain. “Well, it sounds like you were better off without him, right? As a potential boyfriend, at least.”

“Yes,” she spat angrily. “What a creep. At least you never have to worry about that anymore.”

“Hey, I told you that I still don’t know that I’m full-on gay! I mean, maybe I’m bisexual — I was crushing on Flash before this all happened, I think that counts for something!”

“Yeah, okay… maybe that — but was this Flash kind of a… you know, girly guy?”

Both of her eyebrows shot up past her bangs. “Girly?! No way, he was just a guy-guy!”

“Fine! I didn’t mean to piss you off or anything, I promise -- just wondering if you had a… you know, a type, a middle-ground that you went for! Like, I mean, what does this Twilight look like? Is she butch?”

“No, she has long, dark hair, and… kind of — oh, wait, hang on.” Pulling out her phone, she unlocked it — thankfully it was back to being the Doctor, so she wouldn’t look quite that gay already — and found one of the selfies Twilight had snapped. “That’s her.”

“Wooow,” Rarity breathed as she examined the picture. “Okay, I apologize if this sounds offensive somehow, but I can’t blame you for going over to the other side. She’s divine!”

“Oh, you have no idea — but that’s not why it happened! It just… did. Sorry, I wish I could explain better, I swear I’m trying…”

“I’m so jealous. How does she get her skin to look like that? Does she tan?”

Thinking of what she must do in her daily life as a pony on another world, Sunset shook her head as she said, “I literally have no idea. Anyway, we got off topic — you don’t have to put up with Blueblood or anyone like that anymore, okay? They weren’t worth your time, Rares.”

“Yeah, but…” A little shrug. “They were what I wanted. Strong, independent… macho and sexy, and just chock to the brim with muscles and confidence. That really gets me going, you know? But my ex just never had the time for me, and Blueblood turned into… well, whatever he turned into, and now I’m just lonely.”

“Those things aren’t your fault, though.”

“Yes, they are. I’m not enough woman for them, obviously.” Swallowing, she gestured in a would-be casual fashion as she went on. “And that’s fine, right? I have a few pounds to lose, and maybe try a new hairstyle. Maybe then… maybe I’ll—”

“No, stop. I can’t hear you talking like this about yourself.”

“Hey, don’t do that,” Rarity snapped. “You were always doing that to me before, and I hated it then, too. Hated you telling me that my image concerns aren’t valid — I mean, hate the way I look and want to change it, why is that a crime?”

“Because you’re already one of the prettiest girls I know!” Sunset burst out. “And you’re my friend, and it sucks hearing you talk about yourself like you’re ugly — you are so not ugly, okay?!”

Thought Rarity rolled her eyes at the sentiment, the anger seemed to break after the point was made. “Says you and only you.”

“Who else is telling you that you don’t look good? I mean, you say the other sisters are great people, but… if they’re doing that, telling you that you aren’t pretty enough or—”

“Of course they aren’t! Don’t be a dick!” A few seconds passed in which Rarity looked slightly guilty, until she finally said in a much softer voice, “Most of them are great people, and I’m not just bullshitting you, but sometimes… Roseluck just says things that feel wrong, or grate on my nerves. She was the one that got me to enter the wet t-shi— uhh… I mean, nevermind. But she’s also the one who normally tells me that my face would look better with a little bit of waxing to my eyebrows and upper lip. And I mean, wouldn’t it? Look more glamorous, or something?”

“Might look more glamorous, but would look a lot less Rarity.”

“Wow,” she snorted with a roll of her eyes. “Thank you, mom.”

“Maybe moms can be right sometimes. Like mine said that she wished you and I were still talking — and man, was she happy when I was able to tell her that we are again.”

“Yes.” Nodding for a few seconds, she chanced a quiet smile up. “Yes , this is what I missed. It’s… not the same, we’re still a little weird, but we’ll get there. Pretty confident about that. Plus there’s the fact that you literally came out to me, and during out first official ‘Besties Again’ ice cream fest!”

Grinning sheepishly, Sunset’s hand continued the nervous habit of stirring her soupy bowl. “Talk about jumping the shark early, right? And I’m sorry I forgot you’re allergic to peanuts when I ordered you rocky road, I totally spaced. You’d think after Switch Hit’s birthday party, I wouldn’t be so dumb.”

“Oh my God, I forgot all about that!” Rarity gasped dramatically, a manicured hand covering her mouth as she started to titter. “Everybody was freaking out — they practically had to roll me out to the car to get my EpiPen!”

“Switch was so pissed, she though you did it on purpose!”

“Oh yes, because most people would rather have a near-death experience than have their turn at ‘pin the tail’! Absolutely understandable, right?!”

Even though they were having such a stupid conversation, Sunset literally could not stop smiling the entire time. Her old friend was back in her life, and even though her future with Twilight was completely up in the air, at least she had a new start with Rarity to help mitigate the pain.

Every little bit helped.

Author's Notes:

Hey all! Just in case you aren't aware, since the story is starting to amp up into possible 'spoilers' territory, in an effort to keep the comments section as spoiler-free as possible, I've created a blog that anyone can use to drop plot or character-relevant comments or observations on, instead of maybe-possibly spoiling future readers who happen to read the comments before the story.

You know who you are

That being said, you don't *have* to use it -- I just created it with future/current readers in mind.

Cheers!