//------------------------------// // Sunset is terrible at fostering relationships // Story: In the wake of Anon-A-Miss // by General Alduin //------------------------------// Sunset made her way to the parking lot, walking towards the gray hand waving at her wildly above the cars. A few minutes later, she found Derpy still waving at her. “Hi Sunset!” “Uh, hey Derpy.” She offered with an awkward smile. “Hope I didn’t keep you waiting too long.” “Nope, I’ve only been here a few minutes.” She held up her phone to show a text conversation. “And Dinky’s already in the car. It’s my brother that’s keeping us waiting. He’s trying to squeeze as much time as he can with his friends, or trying to chat up that girl he likes.” She pulls her phone back and starts typing on it rapidly. “But I can annoy him into compliance.” “That’s totally something I’d do to my own brother.” Sunset giggled. “What girl does he like exactly?” “Silver Spoon. He’ll swear up and down that he doesn’t-” “But we know, right?” Sunset smirked, crossing her arms. “The more he denies it the more it’s true?” “Exactly!” Derpy exclaimed cheerfully. “Who did your brother like?” “His best friend and her giant pig tails.” Sunset smiled fondly at the memory. “I used to always ask him how he and his girlfriend were doing, or hum wedding bells when they were hanging out and I was walking by. Never failed to get a reaction out of him.” “I think you just gave me an idea for later.” Derpy said deviously before looking up from her phone. “Oh, here he comes.” Sunset looked over the parking lot, spying the middle schooler with orange-yellow hair and gray skin making his way to the car, an annoyed look on his face. “You type like a maniac, you know that?” Crackle Pop stopped right in front of Derpy. “That was over a hundred texts.” “Well, if you weren’t holding us up by trying to woo Silver Spoon, I wouldn’t have had to resort to annoying you.” Crackle Pop blushed and his body seized up. “I do not like Silver Spoon like that! She’s just a friend!” “We were just talking about that.” Sunset added as Derpy began laughing. Crackle Pop turned his head towards Sunset. “Wait, Sunset Shimmer is the friend you’re hanging out with today?” “Is that a problem?” Sunset asked, her smile fading and nervousness creeping into her voice. “Oh no of course not.” Crackle Pop said with mock politeness. “Other than the fact you bullied my sister. You know how many times she came home crying because of you? Couldn’t you have found anyone else to torment?” Sunset's face fell and she looked at the ground in shame. Derpy meanwhile pinched Crackle Pops right ear tightly and tugged his head to the side. “Ow! What was that for?” “Now you listen here. I know Sunset was a bit of a bully, but she’s made up for how she acted in the past. I’ve already forgiven her, and I don’t need you to try and protect me. I’m a big girl and I can choose who I hang out with.” She growled angrily. “She’s been through a lot with Anon-A-Miss, and she doesn’t need you to further drag her down.” Derpy let go of his ear and placed her hands on her hips. “Now I appreciate you looking out for me, but I can handle myself thank you very much.” Crackle Pop rubbed his right ear gingerly. “Why can’t you just hang out with Octavia? She never made you cry.” “You clearly haven’t been paying attention for the last few weeks; You know perfectly well why me and Octie aren’t speaking right now. Until she comes up and apologizes, I’m not talking to her.” Derpy said sternly. “Now, apologize.” Crackle Pop grumbled in annoyance and looked to Sunset, rubbing his right ear. “Uh… sorry for yelling at you. It was rude of me to not even give you the chance... and I guess you went through a lot with Anon-A-Miss, so I should probably be nicer.” “It’s… fine.” Sunset said awkwardly. “You have every right to be mad, I treated your sister terribly. I’d do the same thing if someone bullied my brother.” Crackle Pop said nothing as he turned back to Derpy. “Good, sorry for pinching your ear. Now get in before I pinch your cheeks.” Crackle Pop grimaced and let out an audible groan. “That’s worse!” He quickly ran past Derpy and jumped in the back seat.  “Sorry about that.” Derpy sighed. “He thinks he’s bigger than he really is, always feels the need to protect me and my sisters.” “It’s fine, really. It was actually kinda sweet that he was looking out for you.” Sunset flashed a reassuring smile. “But how much of that should I expect from your parents?” “I told them you were coming over. Admittedly they weren’t thrilled with the news, but they’re just glad I’m hanging out with someone. Also, I told them about all the magic, but I’m not sure how much they actually believe.” “Oh…” Sunset's face fell. “Should… should I talk things out with your parents at some point?” “If you want to, it’ll be awkward but they might appreciate the effort.” Derpy opened her door and climbed in. “Now, let's get going.” Sunset did the same and climbed into the car, buckling her seatbelt, Derpy turning the car on and driving off. “Hi Sunset.” Sunset looked behind her and saw a light purple girl with blonde hair waving at her. “Oh, hi Dinky.” “Hope Crackle didn’t give you too hard a time, he’s just a big protective dummy.” This earned her an annoyed look from her brother. “I for one am glad you’re hanging out with Derpy, she’s been so sad since her friends kicked her out.” Sunset looked over to Derpy who only looked embarrassed as she continued driving. “I can relate. But she hangs out with her boyfriend right?” “Yeah, but it’s not the same. Boyfriends aren’t the same as friend friends.” “Well, if you say so. I wouldn’t know either way.” Sunset admitted sheepishly. “I haven’t had much of either. I’ve only known my friends for a few months and things are a little… strained between us.” “What about you and Flash? You two were dating right?” “Uh, well, yeah. But I didn't… like him." Sunset said awkwardly. "Back when I was... awful, I only got with him to get more popular. No idea why he put up with me for so long.” “Oh…” Dinky sat quietly for a moment. “Well, was Flash your only relationship?” “No, but I’m not sure they’re great either.” Sunset admitted. “My first relationship was when I was about ten with some girl in class I thought was cute. Being ten year olds, we didn’t exactly have any idea of what a relationship entailed. It mostly amounted to calling the other pretty and making sickening love poetry. We ‘broke up’ when I was transferred from the school.” Derpy and Dinky giggled while Crackle just stared out the window. “What was her name?” Sunset got red in the face and cleared her throat awkwardly. “This is going to be very weird and embarrassing but… it was Lyra's counterpart.” The whole car broke out into laughter as Sunset meekly hid behind her head rest, an embarrassed smile on her face. “Really? Are you sure it was her?” “I mean, I’m pretty sure. It was seven years ago, but I know it was a mint green unicorn named Lyra. So unless it’s a crazy coincidence, it’s probably her counterpart.” “Do you know if the same thing happened here with your counterpart?” Derpy asked curiously. “I don’t think so, I’m sure Lyra would be really confused if her childhood girlfriend showed up at her school one day out of nowhere. Surely she’d say something.” Sunset countered. “That and I did some digging and found my counterpart lives all the way in Manhattan. She’s lived there her whole life.” “And I’ve known Lyra since 3rd grade, so there’s no way she was smooching your counterpart a thousand miles away.” Derpy chuckled. “Lyra also writes sickening love poetry to Bon-Bon, guess some things are universal.” “Ok, but what about your second relationship?” Dinky leaned in, hoping it’d be just as exciting. “Well, when I was about thirteen, one of my peers came up to me and asked me out. This was when I started getting awful, so I accepted, thinking it’d be nice to have a stallion who would hang on my every word.” Sunset frowned regretfully. “I wasn’t very nice to him. All I did was boss him around and manipulate him, which he followed without complaint because I was pretty… don’t even remember his name now.” “And Flash?” “I treated him the worst.” Sunset let out a long sigh. “I practically did every abusive partner technique in the book: lied to him, manipulated him, gaslit him, yelled at him, started arguments for no reason, guilt tripped him into compliance… it’s a wonder he put up with me for so long. Thankfully I never hit him or cheated on him, so that’s a point in my favor.” “Well, you’re better now, right?” Dinky offered awkwardly.  “You also seemed outraged when he broke up with you.” Derpy added. “It must’ve meant something to you.” “That’s mostly because I was humiliated. That was my thing, I break up with my partners, not the other way around. And he did it during lunch in front of his friends? That was what I was gonna do to him!” Sunset cleared her throat. “I think I’m going to take a break from romance for now. I can’t even get friendship right, so how can I expect to be in a healthy relationship with my track record?” “Well, whenever you do find that certain someone, we’ll all be shipping the two of you from the sidelines.” Derpy smiled brightly.  “You might need to do more than ship me, considering how much I’ve bungled most of my relationships.” “You also said earlier that you haven’t had many friends.” Dinky tilted her head. “Care to elaborate?” “Well, to be honest, the Rainbooms were my first friends ever.” Sunset said sadly.  “Really?” Derpy gasped. “But surely you had friends back home!” “Didn’t need them. I had my brother, his weird friend, and her giant pig tails. When me and my brother didn’t hang out as much when we got older, I decided my time was far too precious to waste on those lower than me. I would only be friends with those I deemed worthy of my time, and even then I’d probably not spend a lot of time with them.” There was an awkward silence in the car, Sunset sinking lower in her seat. “Well… you’re not like that now. You’re spending your ‘precious’ time with me, and I doubt I would’ve made the cut back then.” Derpy turned to Sunset. “You’ve come a long way since the Formal.” “Thanks Derpy.” Sunset frowned. “Wish the rest of the school thought the same during Anon.” “Yeah, well, better late than never right? I think this whole situation will make everyone reconsider their prior feelings towards you.” Derpy huffed in annoyance. “Now, how about we change the subject to something less depressing?” “Oh! I know!” Dinky excitedly placed her head in the crook of Sunset's headrest, looking down at the redhead. “You’re a unicorn back in Horseworld right? What was it like? Are there fairies? Do you know if I’m a unicorn? Tell me everything!” “Something tells me you like unicorns.” Sunset said in response to Dinky's excitement, slowly pulling herself up from her seat.  “She always has.” Crackle spoke up, still staring out the window. “I never got it. They’re just horses with a skull deformity… over here anyway. I imagine they’re much cooler back where you're from, so if you want to talk about them...” Crackle tried to hide the curioustity in his tone, trying to remain aloof around Sunset. “Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me.” Sunset chuckled. “I won’t tell your friends you like ponies, though I think Silver Spoon might.” “I do not like-!” Crackle stopped and looked at the ground for a second. “You really think Silver Spoon likes ponies?” Everyone in the car began laughing as Crackle blushed and looked away.