//------------------------------// // Zoomin' Right Along // Story: Sunset and Twilight’s Winter Holidate // by EileenSaysHi //------------------------------// "Is this everyone? Just us five this week?" Rainbow Dash's voice crackled through the speakers. "Not sure..." came Fluttershy's reply. "Twilight, darling, has Sunset made it over yet?" Rarity asked in a concerned tone as her video feed experienced a digital bleed. "No... she's been keeping in touch. Traffic is awful." Twilight Sparkle sat at her desk with her video chat client blown up to fullscreen, her friends' faces staring back at her in two symmetric, algorithmically arranged rows. Clockwise from the top left, it was Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. At least the two absences meant their faces got to be a little bigger than usual onscreen. Though Dash's was partly covered by Twilight's phone, which she had propped against the screen to make sure she wouldn't miss any messages from Sunset. "Oh, the poor dear." Rarity replied. "And I just got a message from Applejack -- she says she's sorry she can't make it, but she's taken an extra shift at work to make up for what she'll be missing during the holidays." "Awwwwwwwww..." Pinkie groaned. "Now, now, we'll all get to see each other very soon..." "Well of course I know that, silly. Otherwise it wouldn't have made sense for me to put so much time into our winter reunion party!" Pinkie whipped out a party horn and blew it right at the screen -- the trademark noise didn't come off quite right over the chat, but Twilight appreciated the sentiment. "You're headed back early, right Pinkie?" Twilight asked. "First thing in the morning! I've been spending all afternoon on my road trip playlist!" "You mean the same twenty PostCrush songs that are on all your playlists?" snarked Rainbow Dash. "Laugh all you want, Rainbow Dash, but there's more to a playlist than song choice! I need to think about the order, I need to think about ideal volume, I need to-" "Alright, alright, you're starting to sound like Rarity!" "Hey!" came the fashionista's indignant response. "Um, excuse me, Twilight," Fluttershy piped in, "but who's that behind you?" "Huh?" Twilight turned around to see her roommate, Bright Blaze, closing the door, looking absolutely exhausted. Finals had been keeping them occupied up to the last day of classes, and it was evident in their uncharacteristically poor self-grooming. Their all-black clothing ensemble -- jacket, dark jeans and a Skull Cruncher t-shirt -- was messy and wrinkly, while their short-but-thick brown hair, normally kept styled, was unkempt and their round face had a layer of peach fuzz glinting in the light. Twilight was glad Rarity probably couldn't see them well. They walked over to their bed and didn't so much lie down as just fall on it. "Oh, it's just Bright." "Hey girls, don't mind me," they half-shouted, half-moaned in a husky voice. "HI BRIGHT!" Pinkie's voice burst in cacophonously as Twilight hastily lowered the volume. "Not so loud, you know my speakers are terrible!" Twilight hissed. "Sorry..." "Hi Pinkie," Bright replied without stirring from the bed. "But anyway," Pinkie went on, "it's been my lifelong dream to set up our big welcome-back party..." "Pinkie," Rarity interjected, "your lifelong dream was to run onto the field during a baseball game, and you did it last year, remember?" "Oh yeah..." Rainbow Dash grumbled. "We had to forfeit the pennant over that..." "Dashieee..." Fluttershy said softly. "Sorry, Flutters." There was a brief patch of silence, and Twilight could tell looking side to side at their faces Dash and Fluttershy were both staring dreamily at each other, even if there was an awkward mismatch between where they were looking and their positions on her screen. "Now, now, lovebirds, you'll have plenty of time for looking deep into each other's eyes soon enough," Rarity said cheekily. "What? No fair, we didn't complain last week when Sunset was singing a love song for Twilight..." came Dash's reply. "Hey, you were the ones who wanted to hear her play guitar!" Twilight cried. "It's not her fault you didn't specify what song-" "Oh my goodness, look at the time!" Rarity's voice burst in. "I hadn't realized we'd started so late! I'm afraid I have to go, I have friends waiting on me! Toodle-oo, everyone, I'll see you all in three days!" Her screen disappeared and the remaining three video feeds rearranged themselves. "Well, gee that was abrupt- OH GOSH ME TOO!" Pinkie shouted. "One of my classes is having a goodbye party and I'm late! Let me just give control of the room over to Fluttershy and- OK BYE!" Now it was just Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash left looking at Twilight. "Wow, uh..." "Not a very tactful exit, was it?" giggled Fluttershy. "For Rarity and Pinkie?" Twilight laughed. "I'd be shocked if they ever had one." Her companions were starting to look a little awkward. Twilight sighed internally. Of course I got left alone with the couple that just wants to talk to each other... "Any word from Sunset?" Fluttershy asked. "Uh, well..." She hesitated to admit she hadn't gotten any messages yet. "Hey, if you two want to be alone, I should really start keeping an eye out for her. Plus Bright needs to finish packing and... I'll just get out of your hair." "Oh, no, Twilight, it's okay..." "Hey, no worries, Twilight, we love having you around!" Rainbow finally spoke, but Twilight still didn't feel comfortable staying online. "No, it's fine. Really, it's fine. I'll see you soon!" And after a sheepish wave goodbye and a moment to allow them to do likewise, she logged out. From behind, Bright Blaze finally stirred. "Wait, is Sunset actually almost here?" Twilight sighed, dejected. "I have no idea..." Traffic ground to a standstill yet again, and with it came another wall of expletives (a cosmopolitan mix of choice phrases from both the human world and Equestria) from Sunset Shimmer. Outside her windows, the downtown streets looked gorgeous in their winter finery. The snow-coated sidewalks were illuminated by glittering, multicolored lights decorating the lampposts and buildings; it was the ideal picture of a Christmastime cityscape. That is, if one kept their attention off the accursed city roads, clogged with cars and their irate drivers and slick with black ice and dirty slush. On a good day, a drive from Crystal Academy of the Arts to the Crystal City Institute of Technology would have taken about 30-40 minutes. Today, it was bordering on an obscene 3 hours. Sunset was on the verge of escaping downtown traffic onto the backroads that would take her right to the CrysTech dorms, but she just couldn't quite make it. She groaned and slumped her head onto the wheel, lightly enough that it didn't set off the horn. Why was I so excited to learn to drive again? If it weren't for Ray and her luggage, she honestly would've considered braving the cold and distance to just walk over. She was on the fourth loop of her road trip playlist, and each minute that slipped by ate at her. Her heart ached for Twilight. It had been so long since they'd seen each other in person. Twilight had come by CrysArts to join Sunset at Pinkie's Halloween party, but afterwards classwork had gotten so bad -- especially for Twilight -- that they'd had to spend the rest of the semester apart dealing with school. They texted often, and Sunset tried to call whenever she could (though she was fighting a losing battle against both Twilight's busy schedule and her phone anxiety), but there'd been some weeks where the weekly video chats with their CHS friends -- which they'd committed to attending whenever physically possible -- were the only times they saw each other. The cars started to move again, and the side street Sunset was waiting for came into view. "Come on, come on..." Her phone buzzed, and Twilight's name flashed across the car's interface. Sunset frowned. Is the video chat over already? I was really hoping to say hi to everyone... As soon as she hit a red light, she grabbed the phone and looked. where r u at? getting a little anxious Sunset texted back. Really close, I swear. If you could come levitate these cars out of the way that'd be great. Twilight replied right as the light turned green. hahahahaha i’ll watch for u She stuck the phone back into the cupholder and pulled forward, then turned right and finally ditched the city traffic. I'll be there soon, Twi. "Okay, she says she's really close," Twilight mumbled to no one in particular as she finished texting back. Bright Blaze had gotten up shortly after Twilight left the video chat and was finishing packing before their redeye flight home. They had earbuds in and didn't respond when she spoke. But right as they finished zipping up their last bag, they took the buds out and turned around to look at her. "Hey, Twilight, I'm all packed. I'm just gonna be taking these out to the curb before my driver comes. I'd ask if you could help, but I don't want to distract if you need to make sure your girlfriend..." "Huh? What, no, of course I can help, she can always just text me and I think she'll need to park pretty close to-" Suddenly there was a loud honk from outside that made Twilight jump. She noticed Bright stifling a laugh at the sight, but ignored them, instead dashing over to the window and peering out. It took only a moment to spot a familiar car parked just outside the dorm, with an unmistakable head of yellow-striped red hair visible through the glass. The figure inside waved, and Twilight's heart swelled as a grin exploded across her face. "Sunset!"