The booth bell was unexpectedly silent as Sunset pressed its top. She peered closer at it, then pressed it again.
Nothing.
Just as she was about to get up to call Zecora herself, a small screen next to the bell which she hadn't noticed before lit up with a number on it. "Huh. She's upgraded." She looked back to Starlight. "You really don't give up when you want to know something, do you?"
Starlight beamed. "Nope! Besides, Princess Twilight taught me that knowing and understanding others' lives—"
"—is the first step towards empathizing with them and being their friend," Sunset finished, not skipping a beat.
"Bingo! Right, I keep forgetting you took the same class I did." Starlight winked.
Sunset winked back. "Yeah, just by remote. But okay, here it is: when I realized I'd just told Zecora my whole story, I was ready to run away. Far away. Anywhere I needed to. But..." She folded her hands, and closed her eyes. "She said she believed me, and that my secrets were safe with her. I didn't know why at the time, but the more I got to know her, the more I grew to understand.
"She gave me the best gift I could have received at the time: a choice. A safe harbor, to decide for myself whether or not I wanted to stay who I was... or try something new." Sunset opened her eyes. "I didn't have a real home at the time. For years I'd been bouncing between abandoned houses, shelters, the temporary kindness of strangers who lived in actual good homes, and even some of the unused CHS rooms. Not great. Zecora owns this building, including the floor above it—so she offered me her spare room, and a job working here, to let me get back on my feet."
Starlight's eyes widened."That means she's... she really is..."
Sunset nodded. "Miss Zecora is my old boss. Also my first boss, but still the best I've ever had. It was because of her that I learned that even just a little kindness can go a long way." Sunset gestured around the shop. "This bar is where I learned the basics of thinking about the needs of people other than myself, and making my own living while I was at it.
"So, yeah. It wasn't long I started calling her 'Mama'—short for 'Mama Z', which was how her regulars knew her. I shortened it, though, because in so many ways to me..." Sunset clasped her hands, bringing them to her heart. A warm feeling washed over her as she acknowledged the reasoning behind her story. "That's who she is."
Silence reigned save for the jazz music for quite some time before Starlight softly said, "You were really lucky, too, huh? To also have someone believe in you, unconditionally, when you were at your lowest—and tell you you were actually worth something."
Sunset nodded with a smile. "Yeah. We do have that in common, don't we?"
Starlight smiled back. "Thanks for bringing me here, Sunset. I can see why this place, and why Zecora, is so special to you, and I'm honored that you decided to share it with me."
Sunset and Starlight's gazes met as Zecora approached—and this time, Sunset could see the tiniest patches of joy within Starlight's still-forlorn eyes.
She couldn't help but wonder if it was the same for Starlight, with regards to herself.
"Think nothing of it," Sunset finally replied.