//------------------------------// // 6 - Reflection // Story: What You Deserve // by DarkHooves //------------------------------// Sunset looked at the little girl in her lap. The poor thing had fallen asleep as soon as she ran out of tears. No surprise after the day she had. She must have been exhausted, both physically and mentally. Shifting slowly to avoid stirring the girl, she scooped her up in her arms and rose up. She brought her to her new room and tucked her in. She took one final look at the empty room before she left. It really wasn’t acceptable for it to look this way. As she walked back to the living room, she spotted tons of little things that beat on her conscious. It was going to take a lot of effort to make this into passable home. The home Cozy Glow desperately needed… She slumped back down in the couch. The work would begin first thing tomorrow morning! Right now, she was completely spent! She really could use a relaxing shower, but she didn’t want to risk waking Cozy. As she was contemplating hitting the sack early, her phone started ringing. Luckily, she had put it on vibrate for the day. She had to beat back a grin when she saw the caller ID reading “♥ Sci-Twi! ♥”. Pinkie Pie must have changed it without her noticing. “Hey,” Sunset said. “Hey…” Replied the meek voice on the other end. None of them said anything for a while, waiting for the other to get the conversation started. In the end, it was Twilight who caved first. “How is it going…?” She asked. Sunset took a while to contemplate her response. She had made some blunders when trying to make Cozy open up and she certainly hadn’t finished everything she would have wanted to before taking her in, but it all seemed to have worked out for now. “It’s going fairly well,” She replied. “We had a good conversation, she just fell asleep and I put her to bed.” “That’s great!” Twilight exclaimed. “You know, studies have shown that children who are--” “Twi...” “Sorry! I didn’t mean to start lecturing you... And I’m sorry for calling you too. I know you said that you needed time to focus on your new responsibilities. I just… really miss you...” “I miss you too. And I know that things are weird right now. But it’s not like I’ll never see you guys again. I just need to put all my focus on Cozy Glow until she has properly settled here.” “Yeah, I know.” Twilight sighed. “I’m just being selfish…” Sunset stifled a laugh at Twilight’s defeatist attitude. “Twi, you’re human. It’s okay to be selfish. Everybody is selfish!” “You’re not,” Twilight replied. “Haha. Very funny, Twi.” “I’m not joking, Sunset. You help everybody! Everyone at our school comes to you for advice – including the teachers! You’ve helped me more times than I can count... And now you’ve saved a child from that horrible, two-faced…!” Twilight paused and took some deep breaths to calm herself down. “Sorry… I just can’t believe it! My counterpart. The one everyone at our school looks up to like a saint… Actually tried to kill a child…!” “To be fair, she didn’t choose the punishment,“ Sunset pointed out. “The other princesses and Discord did.” “Well I would expect the Princess of Friendship to at least have some objections to it, and definitely not being in full agreement!” Twilight replied. “And didn’t you say Discord was the one who caused all this in the first place?” Sunset didn’t know what to say to that. What could she even say? “I just don’t know what happened, Twi… This whole situation is just fucked up!” Everything had been normal up until a few weeks ago. She and her friends had just finished a gruesome history assignment and were planning out their school break and then, out of nowhere, Princess Twilight let her now that the most recent, greatest threat to Equestria had been dealt with. A homicidal monster, a mad tyrant and a little filly. And in mere passing, she told her that they were planning to turn all three of them into stone… But the worst thing was the sheer ignorance. The complete lack of understanding the princess had showed her when she objected to this. All her pleas to get Cozy put in her care had been met with nothing but arguments against it. She actually had to go through the portal and threaten to break Cozy out herself for Twilight to concede. “They almost killed her, Twi… They were really going to kill a child…” “What are you going to do?” Twilight asked after a full minute of silence. “Well, right now I’m seriously considering burning my journal,” Sunset replied. “I don’t even want to think about what I may write if she tries to contact me again.” The mere thought made her seethe in anger. On an intellectual level, she recognised that it was pretty hypocritical of her to not offering the princess the same forgiveness that she had showed her in her darkest hour. Especially since that had more or less saved her life. But on an emotional level, she just didn’t know if she could forgive her for this. It just hit too close to home. Her view of the princess had forever changed from close friend and redeemer, to the person who argued against saving a little girl from being executed… “I want you to know that I think it’s wonderful what you’re doing for her, Sunset.” Twilight said. “Thank you, Twi. It really means a lot. Though, I’m guessing our friends aren’t so thrilled with me right now...” “They’re actually very supportive of you,“ Twilight replied. ” Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash have tried to defend the princess during some of the more heated discussions, and we all miss you... But they understand you need time to sort this out.” “Thanks. I’ll try and keep in contact with you guys as much as I can. Please say hi to the girls from me.” “I will,“ she replied. “And if you ever need any assistance, promise you’ll call me.” “I promise,” Sunset replied. “Bye.” “Bye.” Sunset hung up and let her arm fall onto the sofa. Her thoughts went in circles trying to find the right words to express her disappointment with the princess. Some way to tell her off and simultaneously make her understand how misguided she was in this matter. She could really go for a drink right about now, but all of her booze was in her old apartment. Then again, if she was going to make this work, she couldn’t start cracking bottles when the goings got tough. Certainly not in the same manner she had used to. She took a deep breath, held it for a few seconds and let it out again. All that mattered right now was taking care of Cozy. She couldn’t keep thinking about the princess anymore. She got up, brushed her teeth and took one last look into Cozy’s bedroom to see the girl sleeping peacefully and smiled. It didn’t matter what anybody thought. She knew it was going to be worth it in the end.