First the wings folded in. Then, after a sufficient amount of time had passed the form finally shimmered until the blouse and poodle skirt appeared, along with the form that usually wore them. However, the goddess still did not speak; instead, she only marched straight into the living room and plopped herself down on the end of the couch, her arms crossed so tightly over her chest Sunset thought she might never let them go.

“Alright. Talk.”

Sunset walked over and sat down on the opposite end of the couch, but after five seconds of bouncing her leg, she popped right back up again and began pacing in front of Twilight.

“Okay… so, yeah, I know who you are now. Princess Twilight Sparkle, right? You became Celestia’s personal student when you were still a kid, and the Element of Magic later. You eventually became an alicorn and the Princess of Friendship, and then…” Her eyes flicked up to Twilight for confirmation, but only got Resting Bitch Face instead. “Then the mirror was damaged, and you guys messed up trying to fix it, and… you stopped the mirror from breaking completely but all your friends died, and you somehow got your magic mixed with the magic of the mirror. The scars on your cutie mark basically reflect the mirror — that’s the catalyst you told me about that brings you to this world. The more scars you have, the closer the mirror is to breaking completely. Am I right?”

“Top marks, Miss Shimmer,” Twilight growled sardonically. “Did you figure all that out on your own?”

“I… had some help,” she admitted softly. “But my question is… if you can change your form at will, why do you keep your cutie mark the way it is? Why not hide it all the time?”

Sighing with the weight of the world, Twilight seemed to defrost the tiniest amount as she said, “Because it’s me. Even with all the bad things that happened to me, even if I’ve tried on a million different forms in my life… it’s part of who I am. It’s my burden and mine alone. It’s… to remind me of my mistakes. I don’t want to change that, even if I could.”

“Okay. Yeah, I respect that. I respect the hell out of that.”

“Have you been drinking Java Monster again? You know what that does to you.”

Waving that off, Sunset continued, “So now I know that, which I’m sorry if you didn’t want me to know, but you weren’t talking to me and… I don’t know if you—”

“Cadence told me.”

“Oh. Well… yeah, that happened. Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Twilight sighed as she examined her nails.

“Good, good. Got that out of the way.” Another deep breath. “I totally didn’t mean to kiss you.”

Raising an eyebrow, Twilight leaned back against the couch. “Didn’t you?”

“No!”

“You did, though. It was your mouth moving, your lips. I didn’t do anything to tempt you into it, I wasn’t… I never even made a pass at you by accident!”

“Hey, I never blamed you for it happening! Just… I don’t know, I was really upset and not thinking straight, okay? I’m sorry, I never—”

“Stop,” Twilight hissed sharply. “You did it. I felt your intentions to do it during the summoning, but you’re my friend, and I gave you the benefit of the doubt. And you disappointed me.”

That brought up Sunset up short. “Wait, you… okay, what are you talking about? My intentions-- how could you have felt something I didn’t even know about?”

“I’m not Cadence, but even I could feel your heart being set on getting closer to me. It came through clear as a bell during your last two summonings, but it was only this last time you did anything about it.” Her throat closed up as slightly as she pressed on. “I just… one time, just one time I thought I had a true friend. One who didn’t want to push past that boundary, and didn’t just see me as a means to an end. It’s never, ever happened.” Almost as a whisper, she added, “not since my first friends.”

“You think I wanted that, though? Of course not. You’re pretty much my best friend now, so why would I want to throw that away for… for one random-ass kiss?”

“Who knows why humans do what they do?” Twilight flipped her hand dismissively. “I’m not the one who’s questioning her sexuality. That’s all on you.”

“I’m not a lesbian!” Sunset snapped angrily. “Not once in my whole life have I ever been attracted to a woman before, okay?! And I’m still not sure I’m attracted to one now! This is freaking me out — I’m losing it, and I need you to talk to about this, but what I’m talking about is you, and I… nothing makes sense, and I’m pissed, and I don’t know what to do!”

The words rang in the room until the faded. Then Twilight cleared her throat and said, “I know.”

“You… you know?”

“I know. That came through in today’s summoning. It’s why I even agreed to come here. But the fact remains that you couldn’t control yourself — the urge came up to kiss me, and you gave in.” Rubbing her face, she leaned forward, slumping down so that her hair hung loosely around her face. “Damn, but this has been hard to reconcile. You being you, being so awesome and so fetch, and then turning things into… even if it wasn’t on purpose, you still let it happen.”

“Okay, in that movie, when they said ‘fetch’ isn’t a thing, they kinda meant it.”

The goddess looked up at Sunset, her mouth set in a hard line. “Stop trying to be funny, or change the subject. You wanted me here, you wanted to discuss this. So discuss.”

“Alright. I like you. A lot. But I don’t know if that means I want to date you, or anything.” Her face felt like it was built around a heat lamp, so she finally sank down into the couch and pulled her Disney princess blanket over herself to hide. “And I have never had a thought like that about a girl before, and it scares the shit out of me. So I’m sorry for freaking you out, or disappointing you or whatever, but believe me, I’m having a gigantic life crisis.”

“Better. Well, better for the purposes of this conversation.” A harsh, humourless laugh spilled from her throat. “I’d, um, come over there and pat you on the back or something, but that somehow seems like a less than smart move at the moment.”

“I wish it wasn’t.”

“Me too.” Clearing her throat, Twilight asked, “You really had no idea you have… some feelings for me until after the kiss?”

“Not really. There was that moment, just before I sent you after Snails… like, it felt different, but it didn’t feel like ‘love’ or whatever. Just different.”

“So then… I had the early warning signs, and failed to heed them. You were unaware so you couldn’t have stopped it — even though I still contend that you were in control of your own body. But as far as who could have prevented the whole thing… it’s mostly on me.” Sighing, she pushed ahead, “And I wouldn’t have, because I try never to use my pre-knowledge of a summoner against them if I can avoid it — or change how I treat them because of it. That’s just my standard operating procedure.”

“Makes sense to me. And maybe I do wish you’d warned me — or us — but if you normally just sit on that info, then I guess I can see how you wouldn’t have expected me to… to jump all over you that way.”

“Right.” Her laugh was beyond nervous that time. “In five thousand years, this is the first time someone’s made any kind of pass at me and somewhat surprised me with it. That’s actually super impressive, in a messed-up way.”

“Hey, at least you thought it might happen — I had zero freaking clue! For a second, I actually thought you were the one who did it until I was like, ‘Oh wait, no, I moved.’ Scary as fuck.”

Snorting more casually now, Twilight edged a little closer on the couch. “Let me know if this is too weird for you at the moment.”

Sunset’s heart picked up in tempo, but she said, “I will. Not yet, though.”

“Good, good. Now… this has been hard on both of us, I guess, but I’m thinking it might be better if you don’t summon me for a while.”

“What?!” Finally, she whipped the blanket off her head to stare up at Twilight. “But the whole point of you coming here was so that we could move past the—the stupid thing!”

“You calling a kiss ‘the stupid thing’ sort of proves that you need more time,” she laughed, smiling down at Sunset. “And I’m not saying forever, because I really like you — like so much! But if your feelings for me turned you from straight to slightly gay…”

“Yeah, I don’t even know if I’d go that far. Sure, it felt nice, but that doesn’t have to mean I want to do it again.”

At that, Twilight’s smile turned slightly sly. “Huh.”

“Huh? Huh what?”

“Well… you hadn’t said how you felt about the actual kiss itself yet, that’s all.” Smiling wolfishly, she whispered, “Tell me.”

“Don’t do that,” Sunset groaned, trying to cover herself with the blanket again — but Twilight held it down, preventing her retreat. “God, I just want to forget about it! You and me, our whole awesome dynamic was messed up because of one weak moment!”

“But did you like it?”

“We didn’t talk for days! I was a wreck!”

“But did you like it?”

Glowering with a passion, Sunset hissed, ”If I didn't know better, I’d say you were trying to get it to happen again. Or at least make me think about it way too much.”

“I’m trying to get you to be honest with yourself. Because the more I ask you to think about it, the more you blush.” Her smile faded. “You really did like it, didn’t you?”

“Well…”

“It’s okay,” Twilight finally conceded, patting her back through the blanket. “Yes, it’s… a little uncomfortable, but I would hate for you to lie to yourself. My lips are irresistible, or so many have told me.”

With a loud ‘pffffft’, Sunset reached up to push Twilight away, and they laughed. At the end of it, she sighed and settled down on the couch. “Sorry to have to make you put up with me. I didn’t mean to make it awkward between us; it’s the last thing I wanted. Not with you and me.”

“You’re totally fine. Well, as long as you don’t kiss me without asking again first.”

“Oh, so now you want me to ask?” At Twilight’s epic eye-roll, she snorted and jostled the goddess with her shoulder, eliciting another peal of giggles between them. When those finally slowed, she inhaled deeply through her nose, and released from her mouth, calming her heart as much as she could.

Then, as if by chance, Sunset recalled Cadence’s words from the previous night.

“You should try singing with her. There’s a magic in music that guides you, makes you what you are — makes you who you are. It might clear things up between you two.”

A slow smile worked its way onto her lips as the first song she could think of came to mind, and oh, of course, she thought with chagrin, it’s Disney.

“Hey,” she said, nudging Twilight again.

“Hmm?”

“I just wanted to tell you… you’ve got a friend in me,” she said, a slight lilt to her voice. Twilight blinked, turning to look at her with a raised eyebrow. Sunset’s lips quirked up, she continued, “You’ve got a friend in me.”

“Oh... “ Twilight grinned slowly, her eyes narrowing. “Oh, no.”

“Oh, yes,” Sunset said, smirking fully. She continued, almost hearing the familiar, jaunty little beat that heralded the song in her head. “When the road looks rough ahead, and you’re miles and miles from your nice, warm bed…”

Twilight barked a laugh, pushing away to stand from the couch. “Cadence put you up to this, didn’t she?” Her words were accusatory, but her tone was anything but.

Ignoring her, Sunset stood as well, bobbing her head along with the beat. “Hey, you just remember what your old pal said: you’ve got a friend in me~” Then, reaching out towards Twilight, she finished, “Yah, you’ve got a friend in me!”

Smiling fully, the goddess sighed. “You’re serious about this?” she asked, though her body was swaying slightly to the song’s rhythm.

“C’mon, Twi,” Sunset urged, gesturing with her hand. “Let’s really belt this one out. You and me.”

And, with a clearly fake-groan, Twilight finally took her hand and sang, “You’ve got a friend in me... you’ve got a friend in me~”

“There you go!” Sunset cheered as she spun Twilight in place. She shouldn’t have been surprised by the sound of Twilight’s singing voice — after all, she had been alive long enough to become adept at almost everything. But still, hearing the girl sing along with her as she pulled the goddess into a simple two-step, she did feel her heart thud just a little bit harder.

“You’ve got troubles, I’ve got ‘em too — there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you. We stick together and we see it through! ‘Cause you’ve got a friend in me! You’ve got a friend in me.” Twilight ended her verse by lifting her arm so Sunset could pirouette below it, and she twirled as gracefully as a girl with no formal dance training could twirl, continuing the song.

“Some other folks might be a little bit smarter than I am—”

“—Bigger and stronger, too!” Twilight picked up for Sunset, and she twirled her again, with more success the second time around.

“Maybe...” she giggled, and then her breath hitched in her throat as she suddenly found herself in Twilight’s arms, their faces inches away from each other as the goddess sang.

“But none of the will ever love you the way I do… It’s… me and you.”

The pause was noticeable as they stared at each other, but the music pulsing through Sunset’s body refused to pause, and she found herself murmuring as gently as she could, “and as the years go by…”

“Our friendship will never die,” Twilight whispered.

Sunset's tongue swept over her bottom lip nervously. “You’re gonna see it’s our destiny. You’ve got a friend in me.”

“You’ve got a friend in me…”

Breathing slowly, they merely regarded each other cautiously, optimistic. Add to that the hand pressed into the small of Sunset’s back and they had a genuine recipe for disaster, with just a dash of shame.

“We, uh… we might be in trouble,” Sunset finally said.

It took a full ten seconds for Twilight to murmur back, “Yeah. Yeah, we might be.”

“But you do get that I’m not doing it on purpose, right?”

“No, I do. You know that I’m not, right?”

“Yeah, totally.”

“Okay. Okay, good. That’s… good.”

Nodding her agreement, Sunset leaned forward until her forehead was just pressing into the goddess’, breath shaky as she tried as best she could to think instead of do. “Can… I ask you something?”

“Please.”

“Do you… I mean, I’m sorry if this comes out sounding dumb, or totally cliché. And we kinda talked about this before, in a way. But can you... feel things the way humans do?”

God… hearing the words come out of her mouth made the question sound even worse than they did in her head.

“I can,” Twilight assured her, swallowing hard. “As I’ve told you, when I’m in this form, I feel what I would feel as if I were human. The mere fact that I can shift out of it at any time doesn’t negate the nature of a human form. I’m… ‘real’, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Another short, jerky nod. “The kiss… you asked me how it felt to me.”

“Yeah.”

“What about you?” When there was no immediate reply, she let go of Twilight’s hands and moved her own up the goddess’ back, circling around the base of her wings and alighting on her skin once she had climbed high enough. “How did I feel to you?”

“Why even ask?” she whispered in a tight voice again. “You and I… it can’t work. It can’t go anywhere. And I don’t think of you that way, I don’t want to think of you that way. So what’s the point?”

“Maybe this is its own point.”

There came a quiet chuckle as Twilight reached up and brushed her thumb over Sunset’s cheek. “You’re so wise sometimes, even though I’m thousands of years older than you, it’s like… you can still teach me things.” However, just when their lips began to drift toward each other as if pulled by magnetism, she stepped back. “But I really can’t.”

“Okay,” Sunset said immediately, scrubbing at her face with both hands to hide her shame.

“Not because… of you.”

“You don’t have to make excuses.”

“No, I mean it,” she told Sunset really firmly, hand suddenly a vice-grip on her shoulder. “You are… I don’t know, more than I ever expected. From anypony I’ve ever met. But I won’t… I can’t, and even if I could, I’m completely unsure if this would be what I want from our relationship, okay?”

“You can’t?” Then her eyes widened slightly. “Because of the mirror? You’re trapped…”

Twilight’s face pinched slightly, her eyes darting away. “I can’t get involved with anyone. It just… I can’t. I’m sorry.”

“That’s… okay.” Sunset took a deep, cleansing breath. It really wasn’t, but she couldn’t do anything about it. Not yet, anyway. “But you didn’t answer my question.”

“You’re right, I didn’t.” Sunset remained steadfast, so eventually, she caved. “It was… unlike anything else I’ve ever felt. And I’d rather not go into any more detail than that, if you don’t mind.”

“You’re… trying to protect me, aren’t you?”

“Trying!” the goddess burst out, throwing her hands up in the air. “And you’re not making it any easier, gosh!”

Snickering, Sunset hugged her tightly — a warm, friend-hug. Of course, her heart still thumped faster from being so close to the other girl, but she kept that weird new component of her thought process in check as best she could. “You’re kind of awesome, you know that?”

“Yeah, yeah. Now, if you’re satisfied with the results of the summoning, I really should be getting back — I requested a… sort of leave from this world for a while, but of course, your very specific summoning kind of blew right past that.”

“Oh… you didn’t want to see me?”

“For a while. I didn’t want to see anybody, really. Kind of went over that, didn’t we?”

“We did, but I didn’t know you made it all official and such.” Shrugging with one shoulder, she asked in a soft voice, “So, um… after this talk…”

“Don’t worry, I’ll just say that enough time has passed,” she sighed, releasing Sunset. “In a couple days, I’ll just say ‘I had enough time off’ or some shit. But it would make things easier on me if you didn’t summon me the way you did just now -- not at first anyway.” And she waited for Sunset to respond. And waited. “What?”

“I still don’t want you to go.”

“Now, now, that’s how the cud hit the fan last time,” Twilight chided her as she took a step towards the bathroom.

“Okay, okay. Sorry I’m such a… a needy piece of shit.”

“Needy, perhaps. The other part, not ever. Later, sheriff.” Winking and cocking a finger-gun in her general direction, the goddess walked into the bathroom and vanished.

There was another problem, one thing that Twilight did not consider. One thing that kept the arrangement from being so simplistic: Sunset’s determination to figure herself out.

Because the more she thought about it, the more she knew that there was a something that was more than her usual friendships, and that she only felt it with her. Maybe it was because the idea of kissing a girl had never occurred to her before it actually came to pass, or maybe it really was that Twilight was special. Either way, no amount of pretending that she didn’t care could make those feelings just evaporate.

A brief conversation on the phone with Rarity helped clarify things. To better receive a bit more personalized advice, she described the way they had danced, sang their little duet, the feeling she’d had when they were pressed so close to each other that she could have counted every last eyelash on her perfect lids. How their breath mixed in the air and threatened to create a mini tornado.

“Wow… you got it bad.”

“Damn. That’s what I was afraid of,” Sunset groaned as she sank back against the tree trunk on the quad. “You really think so? That I’m… you know, the thing?”

“No question. I mean, obviously I don’t know anything about lesbians, but I do know about dating in general — and if that happened to me with a boy I liked, I’d be putting on Dior and Dolce and popping birth control like it was wholesale.”

“Rarity!” The muffled laughter did nothing make her feel less embarrassed. “I’m not even — we only danced, okay?! God!”

“The next dance is the horizontal tango, is it not?” But she quickly followed up with, “Okay, sorry, you’re a newbie lesbian and this is making you nervous, I’m sorry. But really, it sounds like she’s kind of into you and just… not sure if she’s ready.”

“Right, yeah. Besides the fact that I don’t think she’s… allowed to date.”

“Allowed?!”

Panicking, Sunset scrambled for an explanation. “Uhh… um, something like that. I kind of got the impression that she won’t… let herself date. Like, something happened a long time ago, something bad, and she feels so horrible about it that she won’t let herself get involved with anybody again.”

“Ohhh, okay. I guess I can understand that.”

“Yeah.” Perhaps it only counted as a little white lie — or maybe not so much, in this case. Even if it didn’t she knew opening up about Twilight’s actual situation wouldn’t in any way uncomplicate matters.

“Well… alright, I can’t lie, that’s kind of sucks. But we’ve all got our little issues, haven’t we?” They both mulled things over for a moment while Sunset twirled her red-blonde hair between her thumb and index finger. “Why don’t you talk to her family?”

“Huh?”

“Well, I mean, assuming they know her situation and all, and you said you’ve already talked to her sister about this. Like… just go talk to them, tell them you’re serious about Twilight and want to help her with this. Whatever it is.”

Sunset was all set to laugh, to tell Rarity that it wasn’t really okay to go behind someone’s back and talk to their family — in this case, a group of immortal goddesses — like that, when she stopped herself. Not even knowing it, that suggestion had given her an idea.

“Rarity, has anybody ever told you that you’re kind of a genius?”

Laughing, she answered almost immediately. “Only the whole world, dear. And I’m not arguing.”

“Laughter, Generosity, Kindness, Honesty, Loyalty and Magic; I call upon the elements here and now. Friendship ties everything together, and makes it all complete. I call upon the magic of Flurry Heart, to come to me tonight!”

“Element of Music, you are bound to me, to do my bidding until thy work is done! Come to me!”

Again, as before, the air popped and the room shook with power, and the bright ‘crack’ of magic was starting to become routine for Sunset as she took in the new hazy, demonic form before her.

“Treguna... Mekoides… Tracorum Satis Dee,” came the rumbling noise from all around her. At first, the nonsensical words made Sunset blink in confusion. But, knowing the goddesses’ preference for Disney tunes, it took her only a moment for the lyrics to click with her.

“Well, to tell you the truth, that does seem a bit old fashioned,” she said, watching as the shadowy figure tilted its head to the side curiously. “After all, we are in the twentieth century.”

After a long moment, “What do you suggest?”

Bingo.

“Well, it needs rhythm. Tempo. Music. As I always say: ‘do it with a flair’.” She leaned forward, grinning wryly. “Do you mind if I have a go?”

“...Of course not.”

And, adding a simply four-beat timing to the words, Sunset chanted, “Treguna... Mekoides… Tracorum Satis Dee. Treguna... Mekoides… Tracorum Satis Dee…”

And, building off of her chant, the figure lifted its claws and sang, in a beautifully melodic trill,

“Substitutiary locomotion; mystic power that's far beyond the wildest notion. It's so weird, so feared, yet wonderful to see. Substitutiary locomotion come to me!”

“Shh!” Sunset hissed as her chant cut short, pointing towards the goddess. “Now.”

And, slowly, the shadowy figure crouched, pointing a claw vaguely in her direction, uttering, “Treguna... Mekoides… Tracorum Satis Dee...”

And somehow, inexplicably, Sunset felt her foot tap on the ground. She blinked, her grin widening even further as she realized the magic of Music was at work. Her foot tapped again, testing, and then her other copied the motion, creating an audible ‘click’ of her heel on the wooden floor of her bedroom.

Then, feeling the urge to continue the song bubble up from the very center of her being, she chanted, “Treguna... Mekoides… Tracorum Satis Dee—”

“—I don't want locomotiary substitution, or remote intrasitory convolution. Only one precise solution is the key. Substitutiary locomotion they must be!” Flurry sang loud, her voice echoing through the room and guiding Sunset’s every action as she tapped out the rhythm with her feet with the precision of a professional. All the while, the goddess circled around her, singing out the words to the song with all the flamboyance somehow born for the role of the witch Eglantine Price.

“Treguna Mekoides and Tracorum Satis Dee!” Sunset finished at the same time as the Goddess of Music, throwing out her arms as her feet scraped along the floor, tapping out a flourish to the end of the song.

Or… so she thought. The beat continued thrumming through her body, and as she tapped her feet, the goddess joining at her side, her foot claws clacking on her floor in tandem. As they danced beside each other, the shadowy form shimmered and rippled, and the smoke and darkness fell away to reveal light pink skin, shoulder-length lavender hair streaked with blue, and bright, ice-chip blue eyes that sparkled back at her. Her wings — the same color as her skin — tucked in as she spun, careful not to knock Sunset during their dance number. Her skirt was a sequined little number that wouldn’t go amiss in a run of ‘Footloose’, and swirled and flared out as she spun in place, her baby blue sleeveless sequin shirt flapping as she danced with Sunset.

She turned and began marching out of her bedroom towards the living room, and excusing the little kick in Flurry’s rump -- as was part of the routine — they made it with seconds to spare.

The goddess whirled around and spun in a large circle, singing the end of the song as they made full use of Sunset’s living room. “Substitutiary locomotion. Lovely substitutiary locomotion. You'll make substututiary history—”

“—with Treguna Mekoides and a little help from me.” Sunset said with a definitive nod.

And then the finish, together as one, Sunset and Flurry threw their arms out and and sang, “With Treguna Mekoides and Tracorum Satis Dee!”

The song ended with a flourish in Sunset’s head, and before she could even take a breath she found herself tackled to the couch, the wind knocked out of her and a laughing goddess rubbing her face against her chest.

“Yes!” Flurry Heart squealed, delighted. “Yes, yes, yes!”

“Um, hi?” Sunset wheezed, unsure of whether to embrace the immortal goddess or rebuff her.

“You seriously have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for somepony to get that reference! I haven’t had anyone sing with me like that in years! I was starting to think that this entire fucking world was full of people who could only recite ‘Let It Go’ like a bunch of fucking sheep! I mean really! Nobody appreciates the classics anymore! But you—” she snuggled a bit closer, all but burying her face into Sunset’s cleavage. “—oh, you! You proved me wrong! Fuck it, if Auntie Twi won’t take you, I will!”

She pulled her face from Sunset’s chest and grinned a megawatt smile up at her. “Oh baby… you can sing with me anytime.”

“Oooookay,” Sunset said, carefully peeling away the goddess from her person. She did so without complaint, moving back to sit up on the couch, her legs tucked underneath her and her smile stretched from ear to ear. “Okay, um… thanks? I guess. But, uh, I don’t—”

“But don’t worry!” Flurry cut her off. “I mean, mom filled me in on everything with you and Twilight. I’m totally rooting for you; both of us are.” Then her smile turned sly — and for some reason, Sunset saw Cadence’s face in her daughter; unsurprising, since they were directly related. “Unless, of course… you change your mind? If that’s the case… well, all you need to do is ask.”

“Change my— no! No, I don’t plan to change my—” she grunted sharply. “Jesus Christ! First Cadence, and now you? What the shit is up with you ponies and your coming onto me?”

Flurry shrugged, her sequin shirt shimmering in the light. “Hey, what can I say? Mom likes you, and not many people can actually pull off a musical number with me the way you did.” She paused, shifting a little in her seat. “Shit, I actually got a little wet there towards the end. You got a gift there, Sunny.”

“I’m… going to forget you said that.” Sunset dropped her face into her hands. “Look, I called you here because I wanted some help. And since I already asked Cadence…”

“You thought I would bring in some new ideas. Yeah, I gotcha.” Flurry leaned back in sofa and dropped her bare feet to the floor, crossed her legs leisurely. “Well, you got me here all night. So hit me. What do you wanna know?”

“Right, okay. I want to know…” Another deep breath. This was a big deal, and she was actually quite terrified of how things might go after asking. “I want to know if there’s any way to free Twilight from the mirror.”

At first, she wasn’t sure Flurry was going to answer. The goddess seemed to freeze completely. By the time she unfroze, Sunset wished she hadn’t… because she started to laugh. Long, high and melodically, she laughed for at least a solid minute before she finally started to regain control of herself.

“Oh!” she finally sighed weakly, wiping a tear from her eye. “Oh, Celestia, I haven’t laughed like that since… well, I can’t remember when!”

“You don’t have to be rude,” Sunset grunted.

“Sorry, but it just caught me totally off guard! You want to free Twilight from the mirror? That’s... “ She pondered her words for a moment, before tilting her head to the side. “Well… we haven’t thought about that in a very long time.”

“Why not? You’d think that’s something you would try to do right from the get-go.”

For the first time since she arrived, Flurry’s smile slipped a notch. “Of course we have. The Catastrophe was a long time ago — much further back any anypony really understands -- but I was there. I was young then, as was Twilight and mom… but I remember. We tried for years. Decades. Centuries. Nothing we tried ever worked. Not for a while at least.”

“Why? What really happened?”

The goddess hesitated for a moment, watching Sunset with wary eyes. After a while, she asked, “Let me ask you this: what would you do with Twilight should we free her from the mirror?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?” Flurry’s eyebrows climbed into her bangs. “Nothing, tra la laaa?”

Sunset snorted. “You watch as many movies as Twilight does.”

“You’re telling me,” Flurry went on, rolling her eyes at Sunset’s quip, “That you want to go through all the effort of trying to get Twilight freed from the mirror, only to… what, not ask anything in return? Anything at all?”

“Nothing but… well, nothing but her friendship. I wouldn’t demand it, or make it a condition. Just… that’s what I’d be hoping, anyway.”

She was expecting laughter. But when Flurry simply stared at her for the longest time she shifted, uncomfortable.

“You’re serious.” When Sunset didn’t even nod — just continued standing there silently — she sat back with a puff of air. “Damn, Mom was right. You’re something else.”

“Yeah, yeah. Is there anything you can tell me? Do for me, tell me anything I can do?”

“Not really,” Flurry muttered. “It’s not simply a matter of casting a spell to free Twilight’s destiny from the mirror. It’s… complicated.”

“Complicated how?”

“It’s complicated,” the goddess said with conviction. “Because my dear auntie doesn’t want to be freed.” When Sunset blinked in shock, she folded her arms over her chest and frowned. “Do you think that we, the Princesses of Equestria, aren’t able to counter the magic at work with Twilight and the mirror if we really wanted to? I’ve been alive for more than five thousand years, Sunset Shimmer. I am second to only Twilight in terms of raw magical power, and the two of us trumped by only Celestia herself. Trust me when I tell you that we are able to break Twilight Sparkle free from Starswirl’s Mirror if she us wanted to.”

She paused, her face pinching with old irritation. “The problem is that she doesn’t want us to help.”

“Why not?”

“Because she feels like she deserves anything that happens to her.”

Feeling a slight stirring of rage build in her chest at that, Sunset growled, “That’s crap. All her friends died trying to stop the mirror from breaking. It wasn’t her fault; it was an accident.”

“It was an accident that Twilight feels she could have stopped if she tried harder,” Flurry shot back, frowning. “And I suggest you not argue with her otherwise. It may have happened long before you or anypony can remember except in history books, but to someone like Twilight, such a wound hurts just as bad now as it did then. It’s shaped her into who she is, and everything she stands for. To try and prove otherwise would only push her away.”

“Okay, okay. Sorry.” Sunset held her hands out apologetically. “Look, I just… isn’t there anything I can do? She’s miserable. I can feel it every time I talk to her. I want to help.”

Sighing softly, Flurry considered Sunset’s words. Her foot bobbed up and down to an unheard beat, and just before she was about to ask what the goddess was thinking about, she straightened. “Well, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to arrange a meeting.”

“Good.” Then Sunset blinked. “Wait… a meeting with who?”

“With ‘whom’.” When all Sunset gave her in return for that grammatical correction was a death glare, the goddess threw up both hands and huffed, “No one wants to better themselves anymore. Anyway, you’ll see when I’ve made the preparations.”

Sighing, Sunset let herself sink down into the couch. ”Fine, fine, keep your little secrets.” She stewed for a few moments longer before saying, “How about next time I summon you we sing the ‘DuckTales’ theme song? You totally got me in the mood for some classics.”

With a loud ‘Eeeeeee!!!’ Flurry tackled her again, burying her face into her chest and giggling madly.

“Oh, Sunset! Take me now!” she squealed, her hands working at Sunset’s sides to tickle her ribs.

“Oof! G-get off me, you f-fucking psycho!” Sunset shrieked, laughing despite herself at the girl’s enthusiasm. For all her odd personality quirks and mood shifts, she had to admit the Goddess of Music was pretty fun to be around.

Then, suddenly, Flurry stopped and her head shot up, eyes sharp and alert. “Someone is coming.”

“What?” By the time she asked, the lock was turning in the door, and she lowered her voice to a hiss. “Fuck! It’s Rainbow, she — what are you gonna do?!”

Large blue eyes blinked at her. “What exactly do you want me to do? You summoned me.” It was a few seconds too late. Only now did Sunset realize that, given that she was the one technically in command of Flurry, she could have simply ordered her to hide instead of asking for an opinion. But as she scrambled for something to say — anything — she craned her neck around to see Rainbow open the door and walk into the room.

“Hey, do you mind if I borrow some… shampoo…?” The young woman asked, pausing in speech and her approach as she took in the situation on the couch.

Namely, a situation where Sunset Shimmer was lying directly underneath a strange girl with purple and blue hair, wearing a sequin skirt and top, and a horn and pair of wings attached conspicuously to her person. And the fact that Sunset was breathing heavily from their little bout of tickle-torturing could definitely be misconstrued as something less-than innocent.

“What’s… uh, what’s going on here?” she asked, eyeing the two girls on the couch warily.

Sunset opened her mouth to say that whatever Rainbow thought was happening, it most definitely isn’t what it looks like!

Unfortunately, Flurry Heart beat her to it.

“This… is exactly what it looks like.”

Damn it.

Author's Notes:

A/N: Flurry Heart is best princess. Fite me.

Also, gonna save you a google here.

You've Got a Friend In Me

Substitutiary Locomotion

Yay Disney