The hour was getting late at Pony Joe's diner. Nobody knew why the guy was called that; most folks just called him Joe. Sitting at a table by herself, Sunset Shimmer wondered if it was because Joe was a burly man, and thus was built like a horse. It was also possible that a certain part of his anatomy gave him the "Pony" part of his name, but Sunset didn't dwell on this hypothesis for too long.
She was waiting for a friend, after all.
The friend in question, Starlight Glimmer, had arrived in the human world just earlier that day, but the two had met and hit it off almost immediately. The connection was hard to describe, but considering the world they were both originally from, their backgrounds couldn't have been too different. And indeed they weren't, but Starlight latched on to Sunset more so than anyone.
"Ya sure you shouldn't just finish your drink, Sunset?" Joe called out. Sunset had been waiting for a while now, and her cup of hot chocolate—used to have a trio of marshmallows, not so much the case now—was getting dangerously close to room temperature.
"Oh trust me, she'll be here," Sunset replied, clicking the heels of her boots. "At least that's what she promised..."
Joe shrugged his broad shoulders. "Suit yourself, then." He went back to cleaning dishes, although he appeared better suited to be a football player than the owner of roadside diner.
Sunset's confidence was sinking, slowly but surely. She took a spoon and dipped it in the hot chocolate, mixing what was left of the marshmallows with the liquid. "Starlight said she'd be here by eight," Sunset murmured to herself. Last time she checked the clock it was a quarter after eight. Tardiness of this caliber would never have been tolerated in Celestia's class.
But then a ray of hope shot through Sunset's heart when the signature ding of the diner's front door being opened made itself known to her ears. Looking up from the whirlpool that was her hot chocolate, Sunset saw Starlight entering the place. The poor girl looked anxious, wearing pretty much the same expression on her face that she had worn all day. Coming to the human world had proved stressful for Starlight, and in her awkward human body her feet perpetually pointed inward like a child's.
Sunset smiled and waved her hand in the air, giving away to Starlight her position.
"Oh, Sunset!" Letting out a sigh of relief, Starlight went over to her friend's spot and sat down on the opposing side. She wore a skirt—most school-going girls in this world did—and a collared shirt. The combination made her look preppy.
"Hello yourself," Sunset said coolly. "You're late, by the way."
"I know! Ugh..." Starlight rubbed her temples. "I wanted to meet you on time, but then all the stuff with the band came up, and I really wanted to see them do a couple songs. Not even sure where or when Dash learned to play an instrument, but she's pretty good at guitar." Her cheeks flushed with redness.
Sunset couldn't help but chuckle at that. "Yeah, she's pretty good. Don't tell that to her face, though. You'd only encourage her addiction."
"Believe me, I know what she's like. Not this version of her, technically, but you get where I'm coming from." Starlight rubbed her cheek with her palm, feeling the heat radiating off of it.
"Yeah, yeah..." Sunset took a sip of her hot chocolate for the first time in about twenty minutes. "I haven't actually met that other one, I'm gonna be real with you in that regard."
Starlight's eyes widened. "Wait, really?"
"Really really." Another sip.
"I thought you did. I must've read that wrong, then." Starlight visibly winced at herself. "I'm so thick-headed sometimes."
"Oh come on, you told me you're a brilliant magician," Sunset said. "At least, you'd have to be if you're working under Twilight's wing. That's not an easy thing to accomplish, trust me."
Starlight messed around with the buttons on her shirt, thinking of something. "Hmm..."
Like a phantom in the night, Joe came up to them without much of a sound. "Want anything to drink?" he asked Starlight, eyeing her skeptically. "We ran out of ice cream for the milkshakes, but we got a few kinds of hot cocoa on reserve."
"Oh," Starlight uttered, noticing the buff-looking dude next to her. "I'll just have what she's having."
"Fresh or cold?" Joe said dryly.
"U-uh..." Starlight didn't know how to respond to that.
Sunset cut in with, "I think my friend would prefer 'fresh'."
Without a word, Joe nodded and went away to do his job.
Starlight sighed again and leaned forward in her seat a bit. "I know I might say this a few too many times over the next couple days, but thanks for sticking up for me. It means a lot to me, being a stranger here."
Amused, Sunset snorted. "If it helps, I still feel like a stranger in this world. Started out in Canterlot High as a freshman, and now I'm here—but it's like I didn't earn most of it. Does that make any sense?"
"Not really." After a moment, Starlight corrected herself with, "Well, okay, it kinda makes sense. The girls treat you so nicely, though, it's weird. It's like they don't acknowledge what you did. You know, before..."
"Oh, they do," Sunset replied. "They really do. You just haven't been around them much. That and you don't know what exactly happened before I tried being nice. The things I did, the people I hurt." Her eyes suddenly became a little cloudy, which didn't occur often these days. "And it went on for a long time, too. The new me is still recent."
Starlight's expression became downcast as well. "I could say the same thing about myself, now that you mention it."
Gently, Joe let down the fresh cup of hot cocoa in front of Starlight. Steam rose from the heated chocolate, and the scent was undeniably lovely. "Here ya go, Miss," Joe uttered. "Just to know ahead of time, will each of you be paying, or...?"
"I'll handle both," Sunset said confidently. "I've got the money for it."
Starlight frowned at the proposal. "B-but—"
"I've got the money, don't worry. Drinks are on me."
"It's not fair, though. I should really pay for mine, or even both if you want." Starlight squirmed in her seat.
"Starlight, honey," Sunset said teasingly, "What would you pay with? You seriously just got here."
Joe's eyes shifted from one girl to the other in a mix of confusion and frustration. "Uhhh, ladies—"
"She's new to town," Sunset interrupted sheepishly. "I should really pay for both."
Crossing his arms, Joe gave Sunset a quizzical look. "Ooooooooookay then. I agree with the sentiment, just thank your lucky stars there aren't many folks here at the moment." He started walking back to his station, but then turned to Starlight for a moment. "Also, ma'am, you really consider keeping your legs crossed. This is a family-friendly establishment."
"Oh," Starlight let out, and proceeded to cross her legs. To Sunset she then said, "Is that a cultural thing or something?"
"Eh, it's a decency thing. We didn't normally wear clothes back home, but—" keeping her voice low— "skin exposure is a bit of a taboo in this world. I don't quite get it either, honestly."
Starlight's face scrunched up. "But I'm wearing underwear underneath, aren't I?"
"Are you?"
"Y-yeah, why did you think I wasn't?"
"I didn't think you weren't, I just—" Sunset interrupted herself with a smack to the forehead. "You know what, never mind. Don't think about it."
"Think about what?" Starlight cocked her head slightly.
"Think about, um..." Itching the back of her neck, Sunset couldn't resist blushing. Barely noticeable, but her cheeks had turned a dark pink. "Again, you know, we don't think about our private parts often."
"'We' as in 'us', or 'we' as in 'humans'? because I can see it going either way." She then chugged a good part of her hot cocoa down her throat, ignoring its intense heat. Starlight had swallowed hotter things in her life.
"Us. You and me. We didn't have to be so self-conscious about them. At least you haven't, I can't speak with as much certainty about myself." Sunset put pressure on the bridge of her nose, unable to believe the conversation she was currently having.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Sunset," Starlight said with a level of sincerity that Sunset found a tad disturbing. "I didn't know you felt insecure about your own body image. Must be tough dealing with that."
"Wait—what? No!" Sunset pounded her fist on the table, not meaning to do so. "What in Celestia's name gave you that idea?"
"Well, you said you don't feel so sure about not having to think about what you cover up, so I thought you felt ashamed of having those parts." Starlight grabbed a spoon and used it to gobble up one of the marshmallows in her cup. "I mean, fashion aside, why should you care if your parts are covered or not?"
Sunset's face screwed up. "I like my 'parts' just fine," she said with air quotes for emphasis.
"Okay, so why think about them?" Starlight seemed to say more out of curiosity than anything.
"Because—" taking a big sip from her now-cold cup of hot cocoa— "sometimes, there are places and ways in which guys can get a peak at the parts of your body that you don't want—"
"Why the guys?" Starlight interjected.
"Why what?" Sunset felt almost at a loss for words. Maybe she had been living in human world for too long.
"Like, why the guys in particular? Why worry about them? They've got parts of their own. They have parts, you have parts, I have parts," Starlight went on, pointing to Joe at one point, "he's got parts. We all have parts." Noticing the attention, Joe raised an eyebrow, but refused to say anything. In his own mind he had written off Starlight as an eccentric, although he also saw her as a strong eight to a light nine.
Sunset decided to reply with, "Yeah, but they're not the same parts! Guys and girls have different parts."
"Do we have the same parts? I didn't know that." Starlight glanced down at her chest and frowned. "To be honest I thought your mammaries were bigger than mine, but I guess they're the exact same pair."
"What are you even—?! Hey, wait a minute," Sunset stopped and looked down at her own chest, taking off her faux-leather jacket so she could get a better look for comparison's sake. "Huh, they are bigger. Not by much, but they are."
"I know, right? I thought I was just seeing things."
"So..." A strange thought crept into Sunset's mind. "You think they look nice?"
"I-I mean, I'm not too familiar with how these parts work, but I think yours look more appealing than mine. Mine are kinda just there."
"Now don't say that about yourself, Starlight," Sunset chuckled. "I'm supposed to be the one with the 'body image' problem."
"I don't dislike them. It's just, yours look better," Starlight said cheekily, mimicking Twilight for a moment. "They have a nice spherical composition to them. Now if only I had a few books on human anatomy in my personal library!" She mock-squealed, eliciting a giggle from Sunset. They really were lucky the diner was kind of dead at that time.
Sunset gathered herself together and said, "Are you sure you weren't a comedian before you became Twilight's pupil?"
"Well, you know, being a tyrant gives you a sense of humor," Starlight giggled in return. "Or so I've been told."
"Yeah, I get that around these parts." Sunset expected to lose her smile upon remembering both their pasts, but to her pleasant surprise her lips remained curved. "Say... this is pretty nice."
"Is it?"
"I'd say so. It feels weird, but nice. Being with someone like you. Almost like looking into a mirror, but you're your own person..."
"Really? I thought I was a clone up until now—" drinking the rest of her hot cocoa— "and trust me, cloning sounds like a good idea, but it really isn't." Feeling a burp coming on, Starlight covered her mouth with her hand at the right moment.
Sunset almost went into a giggle fit again, but controlled herself. "We owe a lot to Twilight, don't we?"
"Yeah..." Starlight cocked an eyebrow all of a sudden. "We're thinking of the same one, right?"
"The one back home," Sunset sighed. "I miss her. There's a Twilight here as well, but it's not the same."
"And I'm gonna have to leave for home soon, too." Starlight rested her cheek on her knuckles and averted Sunset's gaze.
The reality of the situation came to Sunset's rather quickly, and it hit her hard in the chest at first. She wouldn't see her Twilight again for a long time, and Starlight would be gone as well. Either concerned with saving the world, or trying to destroy it herself, Sunset didn't have much time to spend with Twilight before, but now that that stuff has cooled down again she knew she couldn't be allowed to make the same mistake with Starlight. So she got an idea.
"Hey... what if..." Sunset's eyes glowed with determination. "What if we spend these next few days together? Like a lot."
"Wouldn't we have done that anyway?"
"But like—I mean... you're new here, right?"
"Yeah?" Starlight's mopey expression didn't change.
"So you have no place to stay at until you have to return, right?"
"Right." It took a second for the hint to dawn on Starlight. "Heeeeeeeeey..."
"You could stay at my place!" Sunset said victoriously. "I don't know if any of the girls would be willing to take you in, but I totally wouldn't mind. Heck, I think I'd like the company."
A smile started to form on Starlight's timid face. "I think I would like that as well."
"The company?"
"With you especially, yeah," Starlight sheepishly rubbed the side of her neck. "Gosh that sounded weird..."
"Maybe, but I'm weird too. I turned into a friggin' demon for Celestia's sake!"
Starlight's smile had formed fully by now. "Yeah, that is pretty weird. It sounds like my kind of weird, though. Summoning demons, cloning yourself, brainwashing a town of ponies and stealing their cutie marks..."
"I can dig that." Sunset beamed a smile that matched Starlight's own and kept her eyes glued to her friend's for a few seconds before turning to Joe and raising her hand. "I think we're ready to pay now."