It took Sunset more than an hour to fall asleep after Twilight had left, despite how late it was and how exhausted she felt. So many things in her life had suddenly ceased to make sense, and she had to parse and dissect each and every one of them in an attempt to settle her racing brain.

Gods were real. Or… ‘little g’ gods, at any rate. And if there were gods, that meant demons and other stuff was real, too. The supernatural was a thing, and not just books and movies and something in the overactive imaginations of those people who played tabletop games. Apparently, if the way Twilight described things was of any inclination, there was a small network of paranormality playing out behind the scenes of the ‘mortal’ world, and only a select few humans were privy to it.

That was a whole lot easier for her to accept than the possibility that she could possibly interact with another world. She could remember thinking, a long time ago when she was a little girl, that if magic and spirits were real, they probably couldn’t be seen because they belonged to their own separate world. Like the moon could never touch the sun; both in the sky, but eternally apart. A magical goddess showing up in the middle of her bathroom decidedly threw a wrench into that whole worldview.

But it did happen.

When she woke up in the morning, groggy and in a stupor, the markings were still on her bathroom floor. Much more importantly, the blood was gone; it had been ‘used up’ in the summoning, she assumed. There had been something in the book about that, hadn’t there? And sure, she could choose to believe everything was a dream if she ignored that.

But... there were pictures on her phone. True, none of them showed Twilight’s actual face, but there were a few that included a glimpse of her body. As far as concrete evidence went, pictures were right up there with Twilight hanging around in her apartment.

As she got ready for her shift, more on autopilot than anything, she kept stopping to pick up her phone and check the pictures again. Sure enough, Blueblood always showed up, accompanied by a knee or an elbow of her so-called ‘Goddess of Friendship’. It was both comforting and unsettling at the same time, even though those two feelings were not very compatible with each other.

“Hey,” Rainbow said as she breezed into the apartment without so much as a knock. “Sorry I’m late, stupid Fluttershy had me up all night with her nature-friendly therapy bullshit, and by the time I convinced her that nobody else was interested in listening to… to—hey, are you okay?”

“What?” Sunset blurted in reply as she hastily laced up her converse. “Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well, um, for one thing, your shirt is on backwards.”

Glancing down, Sunset was mortified to see that the other was absolutely correct. “Damn it.” Putting down her bag, she pulled both arms in through the sleeves, then did her best to turn her polo shirt the right way without taking it all the way off. With a tug or two from Rainbow, she succeeded. “There. Thanks, that woulda been stupid.”

“Back to my question -- you okay? Because your eyes look kind of, like… wild.”

“Totally fine.” Sunset frowned. “I just slept in later than I thought I would, and not I’m trying not to be late for work.” She opened the fridge to check for more of her mom’s leftovers, but they were all gone by then. “Shit.” Admitting defeat, her next move was to jerk open another cabinet and make a grab for one of her emergency kits: a microwavable container, a plastic fork, and a pack of instant noodles.

“This isn’t like you, though.” Swiping at her multicolored hair, she leaned closer as if Sunset wasn’t hearing her. “Normally, you’re up way before me, and just waiting for me to get here by the time I do. Or you’re getting back from seeing your mom. Did you really sleep in?”

“No, I just decided to lie about sleeping in because I thought it would be hilarious. Sure, Rainbow, that makes perfect sense.”

The girl frowned, and it wasn’t pleasant on her face. “Hey, you don’t need to be a bitch about it. I’m just asking a simple question.”

Finally, Sunset stopped and sighed. Then she took a deep breath — in through her nose, and out through her mouth, just like her mother had always taught her. It didn’t help every single time, but it usually at least gave her a few seconds to straighten out her thoughts. A useful tactic.

“You’re right. I’m sorry for being a bitch. My fuckup, not yours. Let’s just… go to work, okay?”

“Wait, whoa, hold up.” Two firm hands were holding Sunset’s upper arms, and her rose-colored eyes were staring hard into her own. “Something’s different, and I’m not sure it’s a good different.”

“Hey, let me go, okay? Do you want a ride to work or not?”

That did seem to snap Rainbow out of her focus upon her neighbor’s emotional state enough for them to get going. However, the frown remained firmly in place until they reached the bookstore.

Throughout her workday, Sunset found herself spacing out, thinking back on the wild conversations she and the person who invaded her living room had enjoyed — if, indeed, a magical pony goddess counted as a person. There was so much more she wanted to know, so much she wanted to get done with her, if she could. So many assholes, so little time to sic her new goddess on them.

Her wandering mind went back and forth on how she saw Twilight. Most of the time, it was as a business partner; they had made some sort of quasi-contract, and her partner merrily carried out her wishes, then asked her to ‘sign on the dotted line’ by stating that she was satisfied with the results. A few times, she saw her as a new friend… but that was somewhat more of a stretch, despite her having a title as ambiguous as the 'Goddess of Friendship’. Whatever that meant. The fact of the matter was that Sunset knew next to nothing about said goddess, but she was so friendly and accommodating — if a bit snarky — that is was hard to think of her purely as a business contact.

And then there was the inclination to think of her as a trained attack dog, one that Sunset was trying hard to suppress. That wasn’t fair to her, even if she was some kind of wish-granting, all-powerful goddess. Especially since she was an all-powerful goddess. Clearly, Twilight had been nothing but nice to her, so thinking of her as beneath her, or anything less than equal, just didn’t sit right.

Over and over, her eyes raked over her copied pages before and after the spell itself, double-checking to make sure anything other than her blood was not listed as the price for summoning something like Twilight. She knew that demons and such, at least in theory, sometimes took your soul in exchange for their work. She didn’t think Twilight would do such a thing, but it would behoove her to at least know what she was getting herself into.

“Do they come in banana?”

“Huh?” she asked, snapping back to reality. “Does what comes in banana?”

“These candies,” an elderly man asked, holding up some multi-colored candy. It was the cheap stuff you can get for a dollar a bag from the supermarket checkout, but with her college label on it the cost nearly doubled.

“Oh. I’m sorry, sir, they don’t. Just what you see at the checkout.”

“Fine, then I’ll take some of these.” His tone was a little grumpy, but resigned.

“Okay. With the shirt, that comes to twenty-three dollars and forty-seven cents.”

Shaking his head and muttering something about ‘highway robbery’, he paid, and she bagged the items up and sent him on his way. She spaced out again until her shift lead came to relieve her for lunch.

This time, Flash was still eating as she heated up her noodles. They smiled and nodded at each other, but he didn’t initiate a dialogue, and she was too nervous to do it herself. The spinning of the microwave gave her just enough time to work up some tiny sliver of courage, so that when she removed it and added the flavored powder, she was able to make herself go and sit down across the table from him.

“Hi,” she said softly.

“Hey, Sunny.” Internally, she was squealing 'Oh, gosh I love it when he calls me Sunny eeeeeeeeeee!!!’ so loud that she nearly missed him asking, “What’s up?”

“Oh, you know.” Somehow, she had a feeling that telling him about the goddess she had summoned wouldn’t be the best conversation topic. It would be interesting, but it would also probably make him think she was insane. “This and that. What’s new with you?”

“Not much,” he signed as he wiped a tiny smudge of mustard from his mouth with a napkin from his finished sandwich. “Just got the Hellsing box set. Pretty sweet, I can’t wait to rip into it tonight.”

“Nice, nice. Alucard is a badass, hands down. But Alexander is also right up there. You know, for a Paladin.”

“Naturally.” They both laughed, and it took a lot of willpower for Sunset not to squeal with delight. Then he pushed his chair back and stood, brushing a couple of crumbs from his shirt. “Damn, I gotta get back… really don’t want to, though. We’re just conditioning the merchandise, which is just tedious.”

“Hey, um… would you maybe want to watch it together?” Immediately, she began to kick herself internally. Why had she asked it that badly? There had to be something she could do to salvage this impending trainwreck! “Hellsing, I mean. You know, I never did see the end of it.” Much better. Well, a little better, anyway.

“Oh… damn, I guess I didn’t say that it’s the manga I just got.” Shifting awkwardly, he smiled and tried to turn it into a joke. “Unless you want to read over my shoulder, that is.”

Definitely would, she thought. “No… that’s okay. But hey, if you ever wanna rewatch the anime…”

“You’ll be the first one I call,” he chuckled as he balled up his paper and shot it toward the nearest trash can. “Well… guess I’ll see you.”

“Yeah. Yeah, have fun.”

The moment the door had swung shut, she let her head thud against the table, groaning, “Have fun?” Of all the things for her to wish for him, it was to have fun turning pages? She must have sounded like a complete moron. No wonder he didn’t want to suffer through her company if all she wanted to do was to ‘watch’ a manga together and enjoy a rousing game of Adjust The Bookshelf.

That was her state of mind when she reached her mom’s bar. Her mood was a curious one; mostly, she felt dread about talking to her mother again paired with the depression from Flash’s rejection. However, this time, there was something different.

It was only when she put her car into park that it dawned on her: the difference was Twilight. If not for her recent adventure in summoning, she would be in the absolute worst mood ever. Apparently, getting revenge on a jerk who annoyed you — and even better, the promise of even more opportunities just on the horizon — was the best medicine for a period-exacerbated craptastic mood.

“You didn’t come by this morning,” was the first thing the woman said to her when Sunset entered, though she did tap one of the other workers to man the bar as she went into the kitchen as usual. Sunset followed her through the door. “I started to worry about you. You sleep in again?”

“Maybe,” she allowed as she rubbed her face. When her hand lowered, she saw her mother’s face a few inches from her own. “Wha— hey, what are you doing?”

“Huh. Your period came.”

Blinking, she processed that irritating level of maternal perceptiveness for a minute before bursting out, “Mom, I hate it when you do that! Makes me feel like you have me under surveillance or something!”

“I don’t trust birth control,” she grunted as she began pacing around the kitchen, checking on a few things and picking up a few others. “It’s your decision to use it and regulate your hormone levels, to be responsible, yadda yadda. All those chemicals can’t be good for you, though.”

“Those chemicals keep me from experiencing this hell twelve times a year, okay? Totally worth it to me.”

“Hopefully you’re right and there’s no downside.” Then she walked back, pushing a stack of lidded containers into her hands. “There, that should do it.”

Sighing, she lifted the lid of the topmost box, already knowing what she would see. “Damn it, not salmon!”

“It’s good for you at this time of the month!” Then she rolled her eyes before adding, “Or this time of the three months, whatever it is. I also suggest you get some yogurt and bananas. Those are good, too. And you should make sure to heat up the food every time; it’s bad for your system to be cold right now. Come back to me for some beet soup when your flow stops.”

“But this isn’t--”

“Take it.” Her mother’s face was hard. She didn't budge. “It’s good for you.”

“I know, I know…” Sunset grimaced. “I just don’t like this stuff.”

“You always criticize my cooking. Totally ungrateful — and here I am spending all my time making sure you get some decent food in you!”

Frowning, Sunset took the food but growled, “It’s not that you made it, mom, you know that! But, I mean… salmon? Beet soup?” She took a look inside another container. “Plus, you know I hate beans!”

There was tense silence for a few moments, as the other employees watched them stare at each other. Sunset shifted awkwardly with the containers in her hands, thinking she was about to get a very stern lecture, or just thrown out of the kitchen entirely. It wouldn’t be the first time. Then a thumb and index finger darted up and snatched her earlobe — barely missing a teardrop earring — and dragged her from the main kitchen to her mother’s tiny, cramped office in back.

“Ow! Hey, what’s the—”

“Something else is bothering you,” her mother said, her eyes searching Sunset’s. “Bigger than just a period.”

Suppressing the urge to groan, she did her best not to betray anything with her face as she rubbed at her ear. This had always been completely pointless around her mother; the woman might not be the smartest or nicest, but she one was of the most perceptive people she had ever met.

“I’m… it’s nothing. I just had a shitty week.”

“Don’t swear,” the older woman hissed, but there was no real anger in her tone. “This is more than your usual school problems, too.”

“Why do you say it like that? Like I’m in the third grade, being bullied or something.”

“Talk to me about it. You can talk to me about anything.” The minute Sunset rolled her eyes, she snapped, “Spill it Sunset Shimmer, we aren’t getting any younger and I won’t have you suffering in silence! I’m your mother, you can tell me what’s wrong!”

Oh, boy. She’d whipped out the last name, which still shot dread through her body, despite nearly being old enough to drink. However, she wasn’t the tiny little girl who would hide in her room when she heard it spoken with authority anymore. “It’s not your place to tell me what to do, or demand that I give you every single detail of my life! I’m an adult now, you have to let m—”

“Bullshit!” Apparently, she was not tethered by her own orders about swearing. “You’re my daughter, and the only thing in this life that I care about anymore. So you will tell me what’s wrong so we can work on it together.”

It was a lot harder to maintain her stony front after hearing something like that. They fought so often sometimes Sunset forgot that it was because they did love each other so much, not because they actually disliked each other. “Fine… not that it’ll change anything.”

So she told her all about her recent troubles. Her mother tittered like a teenager when she brought up Flash, but otherwise maintained a disapproving glare through the story. She was able to keep herself from mentioning her recent experiment with magic or summoning, but only just barely. If she was going to actually tell anyone if her life about that, it would probably be Rainbow… but even that was going to be a hard sell.

“And you didn’t call the police?”

“He didn’t really do anything,” she sighed. “I scratched his face, and he didn’t leave any marks on me. All he had to do was tell the cops that I ‘went crazy’ and I would look like the bad guy instead of him. So… so I figured a warning would look better than filing a report that goes nowhere.”

“Well… you’re probably right, unfortunately. The police don’t really protect women as much as they should. Disgraceful.” Pulling her daughter in for a brief hug, she said, “Men see you, and they see the beautiful, strong young lady I see. The problem is, they don’t know how to treat her as she deserves .They think they can own you and push you around, force you to be what they want you to be. It makes them weak, not you.”

“I know that, thanks to you,” Sunset added very quietly.

Shrugging, her mother leaned back on her cluttered desk and sighed, wiping the sweat from her forehead and smoothing her hair. “I wish you would stop taking things slow with this Flash, though; as much as I like you to stand up for yourself, it would be easier if you could threaten to send your boyfriend after them.”

That made Sunset smile. “I thought you wanted me to handle this all on my own. Superhero style.”

“This isn’t a comic book or a cartoon, it’s real life. Again, unfortunately.” Then her hand cupped Sunset’s cheek, and she tried not to recoil from how much it smelled like cooked fish and citrus. “You’re a gift to this world, Sunny. It just hurts me to think you’re trying to fight all your battles on your own, because that sort of thing takes the life out of a person. It stops them from realizing their true potential.”

Nodding, she thought back to the symbols she still had drawn on her floor; the blobs that looked like clouds, or balloons… the butterflies and the apples. She thought of her ‘magic helper’ and their unfinished work. Her mother did have a point; she needed to trust someone else to watch her back. She needed a friend. She just wasn’t sure it needed to be another one from this world…

“Yeah… yeah, mom. You know what? You’re right.”

“What? I am?” The woman looked completely stunned, which was comical on her face — especially since Sunset was so used to seeing it looking stern or disapproving.

“Yeah, definitely. I’m… I’m gonna go home and talk to a friend of mine. Get some advice.” Hefting the normal food, plus the additionally ‘menstrual meals’ that she would end up tossing or giving to Fluttershy, she said, “Thanks for the pep talk.”

“Okay,” her mom replied as she followed Sunset to the back door. “And talk to Flash! I don’t want to see you again next week and hear you don’t have a date!”

“Whatever!” she shouted over her shoulder, ducking her head. Was it really necessary for her to announce to the entire neighbourhood at large that she couldn’t even muster up the courage to ask one stupid guy out for dinner and a movie? That was a level of shame she didn’t really need in her already-stressful life.

When she got to her front door about half an hour later, Rainbow was already waiting for the spoils of war. Soon thereafter, they were digging through the containers, Rainbow more than happily eating the stuff that Sunset didn’t like.

“At least have some of the fish,” she was telling her. “I mean, your mom’s right; fish has a bunch of stuff that’s good for you during PMS, right?”

“I’m not PMSing, though. Just the M part.” Still, she did eat a few forkfuls of fish between bites of salad and turkey sandwich. “God, I’m just ready for a hysterectomy already. How many more years of this shit do I have to go through? Thirty? I’m so done.”

“At least your parents let you use birth control. Mine refuse. They say I don’t need it since I’m not dating or anything. So yeah, still have monthly visits from Aunt Flo… y’know, monthly.”

Smirking, Sunset passed the container of salmon back. “Sure you won’t need this before I do?”

“Yeah, I think I can get more by then,” she laughed. “I’m serious, though… maybe your mom is right about this stuff. Obviously she’s been through a few more periods than we have, right? Has to know something about something, and she wouldn’t be telling you if she didn’t think it was gonna help.”

“I know, I know. Just… that’s always her thing, she always knows better than I do. And I’m not okay with that. Even if she might be right sometimes, she’s not right all the time, so her attitude of superiority just… really grinds my gears!”

That time, Rainbow only nodded and kept eating. It was clear she only partially agreed, but didn’t want to say anything to the contrary. So they finished their food in silence.

Following that was an hour or so of Netflix, and then Rainbow made her way home — with a sizable bean salad for Fluttershy. Sunset was left alone with her thoughts. And her thoughts went straight to summoning magical beings from another world.

Should she or shouldn't she? Her head said no; it told her that she should just clean up the mess on her bathroom floor, return the book to her professor and suffer out the rest of her period in silence. She shouldn’t mettle with forces beyond her, no matter how nice the idea of sweet revenge seemed to her. She should just give it up, and return to the normal, boring, everyday life of a college student.

However, she had gotten a single taste; an appetizer of the magical life... something that made her special and unique. Could she really turn back after just little taste?

“Oh, my!” she said in a theatrically dramatic voice as she got to her feet and padded to the bathroom. “Would you look at that? Time to change my tampon!”