The sun had already been up for some time when Twilight finally stirred. She wasn't much for sleeping bags, but it had done the job surprisingly well for the night. She knew her parents wouldn't have approved of her sharing a bed with her upcoming prom date, any more than they would have approved of her doing so with Timber—and she remembered from Camp Everfree and beyond that Sunset wasn't exactly the most peaceful sleeper anyway. It wasn't the most practical of arrangements, after she'd impulsively invited her friends to spend the night even though none of them had sleeping bags with them (thank goodness only two accepted the offer); she supposed she could have asked Sunset to bunk with Rarity in Shining Armor's old room, or tried sleeping on the couch herself, but something about this setup, lying underneath her planetary mobile with her crush-turned-potential girlfriend by her side (well, sorta) had felt right somehow.
Sunset was asleep, snoring loudly; Twilight sat up, put on her glasses and looked over at her, giggling at the sight. She crept out of the room through the still-cracked doorway, where she was greeted enthusiastically by Spike, who'd spent the night in her parents' room. She bent down to say hi. He was in what she liked to call "full puppy mode", where he was acting more like his old pre-magic dog self; today that manifested in a face-licking for the ages.
"Spike!" Twilight laughed, speaking in a hushed-but-excited tone. "I hope you brought me a towel!"
"Heh," Spike chuckled. "I mean I figured you were gonna take a bath soon anyway so..."
"Yeah, but not now, I have people over!"
"Oh, darling, you're awake!" Rarity called from the end of the hall. "Thank goodness, I've been up for nearly an hour!"
"Rarity!" Twilight wiped her face with her sleeve and darted back to the kitchen, where Rarity was seated at the table by the sliding-glass door. "I'm surprised to see you up so early."
"Yes, well, it does take some time to craft the perfect #JustWokeUp-chic look, after all. Well, that, and it wasn't my best night's sleep, either," Rarity said, motioning to the coffee mug she'd already emptied.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Twilight responded. "I never understood how Shining Armor ever slept at all on that thing; any time I sat down on it, it just... I don't get it."
"No no, the bed was fine, dear. It's just that, well, Sunset and I were awake after hours last night."
"Oh," Twilight said, knowingly. "Did she... have another..."
"I'm afraid so. I'm happy to report that I think we made some real headway, though."
Twilight nodded. "I won't pry." After a moment, though, she did have to ask one thing. "You don't think it might be related to prom this time, right?"
"Oh, no, darling," Rarity replied cheerily. "I can assure you nothing like that came up. I'm so happy the two of you are going together..."
Twilight blushed as she took a seat by Rarity. "I still can't believe I worked up the nerve to ask her. And now we've already talked about having a real date after graduation! I mean I've known I wanted this ever since Timber basically spelled it out for me... I still feel bad about that."
Rarity smiled and put a hand on Twilight's shoulder. "I can only imagine how... less than fun it must be to have your boyfriend realize you're not into boys before you do. But you two are still friends, right?"
Twilight perked up. "Oh, certainly! Just the other day he was telling me about how his first year living on campus has been and giving me some tips for the fall semes—"
"Hey everyone," said a familiar voice from behind them. Twilight whirled around to see Sunset, bleary-eyed and visibly tired as she ambled into the room, carrying Spike.
"Sunset!" Twilight dashed over and gave Sunset a bear hug as Spike squirmed between them, eventually wriggling his way out and scampering off.
"Morning, Twilight," Sunset said, a warm smile spreading across her face.
After they'd spent some time chatting, with Twilight's parents briefly saying hello before leaving to run some early errands, Rarity and Sunset were left alone in the kitchen with mostly eaten bowls of cereal after Twilight went to take a shower. Rarity was hesitant to broach the subject of the previous night.
"How'd you sleep?" Rarity asked.
"Do I really look that bad?" Sunset answered with another question.
"Not horrendous to the untrained eye, I'd say, but you definitely don't look well rested."
Sunset laughed mirthlessly. "Yeah, uh... I don't know how long it took you to fall asleep after we went back to bed, but my mind was definitely still racing for a little while. It was probably at least forty-five minutes before I was calm enough for sleep. I just..." She sighed before continuing.
"I appreciate everything you told me last night. Really, truly. And I want to put everything you suggested into practice. But with... her... I just think it might be too late for simply 'offering a kindness'. Our last government class and our last yearbook meeting are Monday. After that... we won't be sitting anywhere near each other at graduation, so there's no other situation where we'll have to be together, and I don't think I'm ready to invite her anywhere to chat, if she'd even feel comfortable going."
Rarity nodded. "I see. So... you think you're not going to try to talk to her."
"Just the opposite, actually," Sunset replied. "I'm going to ask her to stay after yearbook on Monday and... we're gonna talk about it."
Rarity gasped. "Sunset, that's very brave of you. And possibly rather dangerous. Perhaps it could frighten her? It might seem too much like a confrontation."
Sunset nodded. "I'll try my best to make it not feel like that, but I know that's a risk. At the same time, though... I have to try. I can't keep letting this fester under the surface when it's clearly hurting me."
Rarity thought for a moment. "Perhaps I should come with you? Try to moderate things?"
Sunset shook her head. "I appreciate the offer, but you're one of my best friends, and someone she hurt. Even if you try to play neutral, it would probably look like we were ganging up on her, and then it would definitely feel like a confrontation."
"That's fair," Rarity noted. "I just wish this wasn't something you had to do on your own. After everything that happened, you of all people shouldn't have to be isolated."
Sunset started to give what looked like an appreciative smile, but it died halfway into its formation. Instead, she started to tremble, and her eyes welled up. She tried to say something but it was choked, a hideous gasping noise, and in a matter of milliseconds Sunset had crumbled into a blubbering mess of hiccuping sobs.
"Sunset!" Rarity cried, rushing from her seat and wrapping her arms tightly around her. "W-what's wrong? What can I do?"
"I just..." Sunset gagged, another wave of overwhelming tears cutting her off. "I... I... I... I don't know, I..." She buried her face into Rarity's shoulder once again, the crying even more intense than it had been during the night. "I'm just now... realizing how little I've let myself feel anything about what happened... about everything I almost lost..."
"Whatever do you mean?"
Sunset pulled her head back. Her eyes were horrifically bloodshot; Rarity fought back a gasp at the sight as Sunset kept speaking.
"I was just so happy to have you back, and I didn't want to see any of you upset... I felt so horrible any time you and the others tried to apologize for how you acted, because it wasn't your fault... I couldn't bear to see any of you feeling guilty when you were all victims too. I couldn't. And I wanted to be strong and show W-Wallflower forgiveness and friendship... so I just bottled it up and wouldn't let myself think about it. I couldn't dwell on it, or you would all see me in pain and keep blaming yourselves..."
A fresh wave of sobs overtook her, and now Rarity's eyes were welling up too. "I..." She tried to find something comforting to say, but the words weren't there.
"I thought I was being selfless," Sunset continued after a moment. "I thought I was being protective... but all I've been doing is making myself feel worse. For nothing—you made it clear last night it didn't even spare your feelings. I thought I could handle bad dreams, but now I might be stuck with them forever if I don't make things right... living out those three days every night..."
Sunset's tear ducts seemed to be running dry, but now there was plenty of liquid streaming down Rarity's face; she was conscious of the streaks it must have been leaving in her early-morning makeup routine, though it hardly mattered at the moment. She shuddered as the memories flooded her brain.
Doesn't anyone remember that I've changed?
The only joke is whatever this is you're playing on us, acting all nice like you're our friend.
We've been through so much together... please!
Don't hurry back, darling...
She shifted back to reality as Sunset looked her directly in the eyes.
"I love you," Sunset said, with as much conviction as could be conveyed in her current state. "I love all of you so much. I don't know who I'd be without your friendship... and I never want to find out. And if I'd lost you forever that day... it's too horrible to even think about."
At that sentence, Rarity snapped to attention. She brushed the haunting thoughts aside. The spirit of generosity within her finally knew exactly what to do.
"No, Sunset, no," she said sternly, wiping away the tears on her face and summoning her resolve. "I don't know how things would have played out if we'd lost our memories for good, except for one thing—we would have found each other again. Maybe it would have taken time, possibly a long time. But our friendship would have prevailed. You said it yourself last night—even with no memory of anything we'd been through together, we summoned the magic of friendship as one. We would have found a way back together. Because no matter who we were to each other once, you are my friend, Sunset Shimmer. And sooner or later, even I would have recognized you for the good person you are once again."
Rarity mustered a smile past all the pain she'd been absorbing and feeling, and, focusing with deep intent, stepped back and conjured a diamond shield for Sunset to see. Emblazoned in the center of the diamond was Sunset's cutie mark. Sunset's jaw dropped at the sight.
"We may feel like we could have done better, Sunset. We may let our mistakes and guilt get the better of us sometimes. I absolutely did that last night. But the geodes chose us for a reason. Our friendship is carved in crystal. And nothing will take it from us. Not truly, not forever."
Rarity let the diamond dissipate. Sunset bolted over to her and gave her the biggest hug of her life.
"I'm so sorry I didn't trust you enough to tell you how I was feeling. To have bottled it up like this... Thank you, Rarity, for everything. Thank you. Thank you."
Rarity sniffled and wiped away the last lingering tears as she returned Sunset's embrace. "I love you too, Sunset. We all do. I know this won't fix everything, but I truly hope it helps."
For a happy minute, at least, everything was right with the world.
Then Twilight obliviously strode back into the kitchen. "Alright, I'm all done! Whoever wants to go next can—wait, what's happening here?"
Sunset and Rarity kept the hug going, in spite of the interruption. "Just taking time to appreciate our friendship, dear," Rarity cooed.
"I'm not gonna have to ask you to prom too, am I?"
"No, darling," Rarity replied. "I'm afraid the dress I designed for myself would clash far too much with the ones I made for the two of you."
All three of them laughed as Twilight walked over and joined the hug.