Even the warm spring night air felt cold as it whipped around Sunset, tugging at her clothes and making what little hair wasn’t tucked inside her helmet dance across the nape of her neck. Canterlot flew by her on either side as she rocketed along darkened roads. Her phone buzzed and vibrated almost incessantly in her pocket, but she ignored it, keeping her eyes and attention focused as far ahead as she dared, looking for any sign of Flash’s tail lights as she swerved to pass the few other cars she encountered.
She hadn’t spotted him since leaving Sugarcube Corner, but she had a pretty good idea of where he would be headed. Unfortunately like most teenage boys Flash had a lead foot, and she knew that if she really wanted to catch up to him she was going to have to get creative.
Sunset eased off the throttle and dropped her right foot to use as a pivot, sliding into a sharp right turn that took her through a narrow gap between two buildings. She lowered her head, fists clenching hard on the handlebars to maintain control as her tires jostled over Celestia-knew-what lying in the alley, and flew out into the next street over. Ignoring the blaring horn of the car that slammed on its brakes to avoid hitting her, she stamped down with her right boot again and cranked her bike into another slide, gasping as the maneuver sent a sudden spike of pain through her knee. She grit her teeth, focusing on the road ahead as she sped off in the opposite direction she’d been traveling on the previous street.
Two minutes, another near-accident, and three completely ignored red lights later, Sunset sped out onto an overpass above the Canterlot Crosstown Expressway, daring to slow down enough to look out to her right. She spotted a single oncoming car on the road below, seconds from driving under the bridge she was on. Just before it vanished from sight it passed beneath a streetlamp, revealing a blue shield and accompanying yellow lightning bolt on the hood.
“Gotcha,” Sunset breathed as she accelerated, taking a sharp left at the end of the bridge and heading for the onramp on the next block. Flash was already about a quarter-mile beyond her when she merged into the otherwise empty two-lane commuter highway, but the sight of his tail lights in the distance merely set the fire in her chest blazing anew.
She threw open the throttle, hunkering down as the engine howled like a beast beneath her and the bike’s frame shuddered to keep up with its own acceleration. Her RPMs quivered deep in the red, the lines on the road becoming blurs as her speedometer passed the hundred mark. Wind whistled through her helmet and numbed her already-chilled skin with its constant buffeting pressure. Though the adrenaline surging through her veins demanded otherwise, Sunset forced herself to breath slowly. Her whole body shook, as much from the rush as from the ride itself.
For an agonizingly long ten seconds, Flash’s tail lights drew steadily closer. Instead of slowing, Sunset slid over into the left lane, sparing hardly a glance as she overtook and passed his car. She put another hundred feet or so between them before releasing the throttle, letting the bike glide into a slow deceleration as she cut back to the right. She feathered the brakes to make sure she had Flash’s undivided attention, and flicked on her turn signal. When she saw him do the same in her rearview mirror, she braked in earnest and brought herself to a rather abrupt stop on the side of the road. She was already off her bike when the car pulled up behind her, and Flash practically threw open his door as he leaped out.
“Sunset, what the hell is wrong with you?” he shouted as she strode up to him, limping slightly, and tossed her helmet into the grass at the side of the road. “That was crazy, you could’ve-!”
The sharp right hook that smashed into Flash’s jaw knocked his train of thought completely off the rails and sent him staggering back. A reflexive grab at the car door was the only thing that kept his feet beneath him.
“What the hell is wrong with me?” she spat, keeping Flash backpedaling until he was up against the side of the car with her face just inches from from his. “What the hell is wrong with you? Do you have any idea what what you just did to Twilight?”
Flash cringed and gingerly rubbed the side of his face, blinking a number of times as the spots started to clear from his vision.“Whu… what are you talking about? I didn’t do anyth-”
He found his words cut short yet again as Sunset grabbed his jacket collar and yanked him forward only to abruptly shove him back against the car again.
“... Ow!”
“Don’t you dare play dumb with me, Sentry!” Sunset shouted, pointing off in the general direction of downtown Canterlot. “Twilight is back there bawling her eyes out right now; do you really think I can’t put two and two together?”
Flash just stared at her, his mouth working silently.
Sunset growled and rolled her eyes. “I know you dumped her, Flash!”
A hint of some emotion Sunset couldn’t identify flickered across Flash’s expression, and he shook his head weakly. “I didn’t-”
“Don’t lie to me!”
“I’m NOT!” Flash’s sudden yell gave them both pause, but the anger Sunset saw in his face faded quickly. He looked away with a frown, suddenly unable to meet her gaze. “Twilight… she broke up with me.”
“She...” Sunset's eyes widened as she released her hold on Flash's jacket and stepped back, her voice suddenly quiet. “What?”
“Yeah,” Flash mumbled with a small nod.
Sunset stared at him a moment longer, noting his downcast eyes and slumped, defeated posture.
“I… I don’t understand,” she slowly shook her head. “Twilight’s crazy about you. She blushes every time you even come up in conversation; why would she…?”
Flash drew in and released a long breath as he leaned back against the car. “She just said that with things the way they are she didn’t think there could ever really be an ‘us’.” He shrugged half-heartedly. “I told her that the girls had explained everything: about the world you two are from, about all the magic and stuff. I told her it didn’t matter to me that she’s really a… a pony.”
Flash glanced up at Sunset, who quirked an eyebrow.
“Okay, yeah, that part’s still kinda weird, but I really like her! Tonight I was finally going to ask her to go out on a real date, but she…” he trailed off with another, more forceful shake of his head. “Whatever. It doesn’t matter now anyway.”
“But that still doesn’t make any sense,” Sunset shook her head, “why was Twilight so broken up if this was her idea in the first place?”
Flash winced as he rubbed the back of his neck. “I… may not have taken it very well, to be honest. She asked if we could still be friends, and I just sorta... turned and left.”
Sunset scoffed, crossing her arms. “Oh, great, no wonder she was upset. She just got done dealing with a situation back in Equestria where a single broken friendship nearly destroyed the entire world, and here you are breaking off yours with her.” She gave him her best fake smile complete with an equally condescending thumbs-up. “Nice job!”
“Hey, hold up!” Flash snapped. “First of all, how the hell was I supposed to know about any of that; and second, this isn’t exactly a walk in the park for me either, okay?” He shook his head. “I just… I didn’t know what to say. I’m still trying to wrap my head around it.” He returned her sarcastic grin. “Getting sucker-punched the face didn’t really help, either, so you know, thanks for that.”
Sunset gasped, her pupils shrinking as she took an involuntary step backwards and her hands shot up to cover her mouth.
“Oh… oh, no. Flash, I’m sorry,” she said, her confident, commanding tone from earlier now all but gone. “I’m so sorry! When I saw Twilight crying I just sort of assumed, and then I… I’m...” She trailed off, turning away and walking a few uneven steps out into the road.
“Eh, don’t worry about it,” Flash said. “It’s not the worst thing that’s happened to me tonight.” Sunset didn’t respond, and after a moment Flash looked up to see that she was standing motionless in the middle of the thankfully still empty highway. “Sunset?”
“I thought I was past all this,” Sunset spoke with a fragile timbre. “That… that’s not supposed to be who I am anymore, but I…” A hand on her shoulder slowly turned her around, and she didn’t resist as she came face to face with Flash again.
“Sunset, I’m not mad,” he assured her. “It’s okay.”
“No it isn’t!” She said urgently, terrified eyes brimming with unshed tears as she shook his hands away and took a step back. “I was going to hurt you, Flash! I did hurt you!” Her hands rose up to either side of her head, fingers weaving into her hair and gripping it tightly. “It’s just like at the Friendship Games, I was so mad at Twilight that I was ready to...” the thought died on her tongue as looked at the ground and shook her head. “I don’t want to be that Sunset. I don’t want to hurt anyone anymore, but I...”
Flash stared at Sunset for another moment before letting out a sigh. Taking her by the shoulders once again he slowly guided her back to the curb, taking extra care when he realized she was indeed favoring her right leg, and sat her down on the car’s hood. He took both her hands and placed them folded in her lap.
“You know what the old Sunset would’ve done in this situation?” he asked.
She shook her head slightly.
“Nothing,” he stated emphatically. “She wouldn’t have lifted a finger. Actually, no, you know what? She would’ve enjoyed seeing someone get hurt and laughed that crazy evil-genius laugh she always did when she thought no one could hear her.” He threw back his head and let loose a truly terrible imitation of Sunset cackling maniacally.
Sunset herself couldn’t help but chuckle a little. “Actually, she probably would’ve been the one who was behind the breakup in the first place,” she corrected with a tiny smirk.
“Exactly,” Flash nodded with certainty, “but you didn’t do any of that. Instead, you chased down the guy you thought had broken your friend’s heart and punched him out. You stood up for someone else, and you know what? That’s awesome.”
“That’s stupid,” Sunset countered in a mumble. “It doesn’t matter why I did it; I let my anger get the better of me and I hurt you.” Her shoulders slumped a bit further. “Is that really what a good person would’ve done?”
Flash hesitated just for a split second before reaching out and gently lifting Sunset’s chin so that he could look her in the eye. “I dunno about a good person, but I know that a bad person wouldn’t be sitting here worrying about the pain they inflict on others.”
Sunset looked up at him then. She stared into those big, sympathetic baby-blues of his, and noted that idiotic, half-cocked grin she’d always insisted she hated--until her eyes narrowed in suspicion.
“You got that out of a movie, didn’t you?”
“Uh,” Flash stammered, scratching the back of his head awkwardly as his cheeks turned just the tiniest bit red. “Video game, actually.”
Sunset started shaking her head in disbelief but found she couldn’t contain the laughter that bubbled up from within as she tried to wipe her eyes with the back of her hand.
Flash grinned and pulled a small packet of tissues from his jacket pocket as he sat down next to her. Sunset thanked him quietly and put them to good use as a strangely amicable silence fell between them. He nodded toward her. “How’s your hand?”
“Kinda hurts,” Sunset admitted, flexing it gingerly. “Think I messed up my knee pretty bad trying to catch up with you, too.” She nodded back at him. “How about your face?”
“Hurts,” he agreed as he tentatively massaged part of his jaw. “Probably gonna have to explain the bruise to my dad tomorrow.” He then put on a puzzled look. “How the heck did you even find me?”
“I figured you’d be heading home, and you always take the Crosstown after dark,” Sunset stated. “It’s practically empty outside of commuter hours and you like to pretend that you’re drag racing.”
Flash threw his hands up in the air. “Aw, c’mon! That was one time!”
“Two times if you count that old man in the Volvo that you thought was challenging you to a quarter-mile.”
“Hey, that guy had it coming.”
“That guy was geriatric.”
“Really?” Flash furrowed his brow. “I dunno, he seemed pretty memorable to me.”
Sunset blinked, turning to stare at him. “Geriatric, not generic! Do you seriously not know the-” She paused as she finally caught on to the knowing, sidelong smirk he was giving her. She shook her head and rolled her eyes, but again found that she couldn’t hold back a smile. “You’re such an idiot.”
“Now that’s the Sunset Shimmer I remember,” Flash quipped.
Sunset’s smile evaporated, her gaze falling to the ground.
The color drained from Flash’s face as he realized his faux pas too late. “Uh, I didn’t mean it like… sorry.”
She nodded, but the comfortable silence from earlier was gone, replaced by one that draped heavily about their shoulders. It was a long minute before Flash cleared his throat.
“This is the first time we’ve actually talked to each other since the breakup, isn’t it?”
“Yeah,” Sunset scoffed, “and here I am insulting you and saddling you with all my problems again when you’ve got more than enough on your mind already.” Sunset shook her head sadly. “Things never change, I guess.”
“Some stuff does,” Flash mused. “You did.”
Sunset let out a derisive snort. “Only took a magic rainbow to the face to make me understand what a total bitch I was, right?” She played idly with the crumpled tissue in her fingers. “If it hadn’t been for Twilight, I’d still be stalking the halls of Canterlot High like some kind of monster... or worse. I owe her so much.”
“Yeah,” Flash sighed deeply, “she’s really something else, isn’t she?”
Sunset cringed. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have-” She was interrupted by the buzz of her phone. She pulled it out and smirked at the screen. “Wow, eighteen texts and seven missed calls. Seems like the girls are pretty worried.”
“You better get back to them then,” Flash said as he stood. “Let ‘em know you’re okay.”
“You should come with me,” Sunset suggested, “I’m sure Twilight would want to talk to you, even if it were just to apologize.”
Flash grimaced, stuffing his hands into his pockets and looking off to one side.
“Please?”
He looked back at her then, and she gave him the best hopeful smile she could muster. A dozen emotions played out behind his eyes, and for a moment Sunset thought it had worked, but in the end Flash began to slowly shake his head.
“I can’t,” he mumbled, almost too quiet to hear. “I mean, tell her… tell her I’ll talk to her some other time if she really wants to. I just…” he stopped for a long moment. “I don’t think I can look at her right now.”
“Okay,” Sunset’s heart sank in her chest even as she rose to her feet. “Okay, I’ll let her know.”
Flash nodded once and they both turned back to their vehicles. Sunset had only taken a few steps when she spun back around.
“Flash...”
He looked up, one hand on his door and one foot already inside the car. They stared at each other for a long moment before Sunset found her voice again.
“I know this might not mean anything coming from me, but for what it’s worth... you really are a great guy. Someday you’re going to make some lucky girl out there incredibly happy.”
Flash managed a smile; a paper-thin veneer which Sunset couldn’t help but recognize for what it was. “Someday,” he echoed.
With that he ducked into the car and shut the door. His engine kicked to life and he pulled out into the road, driving off with Sunset’s eyes following him until he was well out of sight. She picked up her helmet from the side of the road, brushing away a bit of dirt from the top, and sat down sidesaddle on her bike.
Lifting her phone, she quickly tapped out a message to her friends, letting them know she was okay and coming back. Once it was sent, she sighed and slipped the device back into a pocket, catching sight of her reflection in the helmet’s visor as she did. The girl she saw staring back at her looked like she’d been through Tartarus. Her hair was frazzled and her eyes were an irritated shade of red, but what really unnerved Sunset was the hollow, haunted look behind them.
A bad person wouldn’t be sitting here worrying about the pain they inflict on others.
As much as Sunset wanted to believe it, something told her it wasn’t quite that simple. She looked up, her gaze drawn to the highway before her and the way it seemed to disappear into the distance without end. With one final sigh she slipped on the helmet and started her bike.
The girls would have to wait for her a little while longer. Right now a long ride to clear her head was something she sorely needed.