In the Days That Followed

by shallow15


We Have to Talk

Twilight Sparkle adjusted her glasses for the sixth time in two minutes and stared once again at her phone. She had her text messages open and stared at the one she had composed to Sunset Shimmer.

We have to talk.

She had been waffling on sending the message for the last half hour. She knew she needed to talk to Sunset, to make her feelings known about what the redheaded girl had done to Gardenia Glow. Twilight had been shocked and appalled when she learned what Sunset had done to her former competitor and inadvertently started the chain of events that resulted in what had happened the previous week, and had a crisis of faith where Sunset was concerned.

Twilight could admit it to herself if no one else: Sunset Shimmer was her savior. She had managed to help pull Twilight back from the magically induced madness that had nearly caused her to destroy all of reality. After that, Sunset had been instrumental in teaching Twilight that having magic wasn't necessarily a curse, that it could be used to do incredible, beautiful things, even if her first experience with it had been borne out of her buried anger at her former school, classmates, and principal.

And while Sunset had made no secret of the kind of person she was before Princess Twilight had first come through the portal from Equestria, the fact that she had done... that had made Twilight uneasy.

“Maybe... maybe we should reconsider whether we actually should bring Sunset back.”

She wasn't proud of those words. She wasn't proud of the fact that she had doubted Sunset's friendship, but what had happened between her and Gardenia had offended her on such a primal level that the words slipped out before she knew what had happened. Her other friends had, of course, been just as offended at Twilight's suggestion and the six of them had a long talk shortly afterwards. It had been during that talk that Fluttershy had suggested that Twilight talk to Sunset about her feelings.

Hence, the waffling on sending the text.

Twilight knew she had to talk about it. She needed to talk about it. But her brain, in that delightful way it had, kept throwing out reasons not to bring the subject up: Sunset had just gotten out of the hospital. Sunset had only been back at school for a couple of days. There was that trigonometry test. The girls were all getting together for a movie. Excuse after excuse to keep putting off having a conversation she didn't really want to have.

But I need to have it. I need to find out her side of things, let her know how much what she did bothers me.

Twilight put her phone down and ran her hands through her hair, letting out a growl of frustration. But am I just going to be ripping open old wounds for her? I know she feels terrible about it, and with what happened last Saturday, she's got to be feeling even worse.

A frown crossed her face as she picked the phone back up. What's the right thing to do? What would a good friend do? Try to spare one of her best friends the pain of dredging up old mistakes or confront her about something that bothers me, but happened a long time ago and has nothing to do with me?

Twilight stared at the text, the “send” button active and just waiting for her to tap. Twilight tried to think of all the things her friends had told her when she first said something. She thought back to the night at the Twisty-Freeze when they had confronted her.

Fluttershy had been the first. “You do what we did. You talk to her about it.”

Rainbow Dash, loyal as ever, had even given her an out. “And if you still think you can't be friends with her after talking to her, that doesn't mean we'll stop being your friends. That's not how we roll.”

Twilight smiled as she remembered how the other girls had rallied to Rainbow's promise. Rarity had summed everything up in her usual succinct manner.

“No one expects you to be okay with Sunset's past, Twilight. We only want you to give Sunset a chance to show you that Sunset is gone and she truly isn't that person anymore. Do you think you can do that when we get her back?”

Twilight nodded to herself. She had told the girls that she could give Sunset a chance once she had recovered. Sunset was back and Twilight knew that no matter the outcome, their mutual friends would be there for her if she needed them.

“If it be done, 'twere best done quickly,'” she thought. I can't wait any longer. If I do, it's only going to get worse until Sunset suspects something and forces the issue. And who knows how much damage that could cause. I don't want to lose her.

Twilight looked at her phone again. She frowned and nodded with a determined expression. She tapped the “Send” button and watched as the icon spun for a few seconds before turning into a check mark, indicating the message had been transmitted.

A few seconds later, Sunset answered.

Yeah. I suppose we do.