//------------------------------//
// Pinkie Party 
// Story: Canterlot High Magic Club 
// by Luminous Comet 
//------------------------------//

For all the excitement that day, not much happened after what Sunset could tentatively consider a team meeting. Sunset had to leave almost immediately to get to her shift at the convenience store and had split up from everyone outside the school doors.

She scrolled through the list of contacts on her phone, now with five more entries. Only Rarity had texted her so far, to ask about having a look at her notebook. She didn't feel right about being the first to message any of the others. It didn't feel real yet, to have suddenly made friends of people she used to treat so poorly.

Friends? Is that what they were? They had barely talked to each other and really only about the unusual events that had brought them together. She hardly even knew anything about them. Really, if it weren't for what had happened this week, they wouldn't have any reason to talk to her.

Sunset sighed and put her phone away, looking up into the small store. A pair of middle-aged men were standing by the rack of magazines, discussing some article or another, while three girls in Crystal Prep uniforms were arguing about the snacks they were buying.

"You don't want something coated in sugar?"

"It's my name, Zap, not a personality."

Sunset scoffed quietly to herself and ducked under the counter to straighten out the displays again, for the third time since she started work less than two hours ago. She heard the door open and was about to come back up when someone was already shouting over the counter.

"Hey, Sunset!"

She flinched and hit her head on the edge of the counter. Coming back up, she stood face to face with Pinkie Pie, leaning on the counter far enough that her feet had left the floor. "Um, hey. What's up?"

"Oh, I rotate stores every weekend, so I never get tired of the snacks I buy for my hang-outs! And I didn't even know this one existed! I sure am lucky that my nose led me here!"

Sunset leaned forward as well, resting her elbow on the counter and her head on her palm. "I dunno. We don't really have anything unique. You sure this is the place you want?"

"Oh, absolutely! This is already a great place, because you're here, silly!" Pinkie's grin only widened and she tussled Sunset's hair with one hand. Sunset resisted the instinct to slap her hand away and tensed her jaw.

"You sure you're happy to see me? I mean, I wasn't exactly nice to you until this summer."

"Oh, yeah, you were a big meanie!" Her smile still didn't falter. "But you stopped being a meanie now, right?"

"Um, right." She moved to the side a bit so she could ring up the students who had come up with their selections.

Pinkie eyed the snacks and pointed to a box of colourful gumdrops. "Ooh, that one's one of my favourites! Great choice!" The girls only regarded her with silent looks ranging from dispassionate to mildly annoyed.

Sunset had never been one for school spirit or rivalries, but she had never met a Crystal Prep student who was not looking down their nose to some degree. She flatly told them the total and handed them their change, before her attention returned to Pinkie.

If she didn't try and do some small talk, she would feel awkward around her new teammates forever. If that was what they were. "So, Pinkie... you have plans this weekend?"

"Yup! I have a big hang-out with my friends every weekend! And if I don't have any friends to hang out with, I'll just hang out with my sisters, instead! And if neither my friends nor my sisters have time, then I'll hang out by myself!"

"And... who are you hanging out with this time?" Sunset started shuffling the trading card displays around to keep her hands busy.

"Oh, I don't know yet, I totally forgot to ask anyone." She giggled to herself, then gasped like she was suddenly short on oxygen. "Sunset, do you wanna hang out!?"

"Are... you sure?" She looked over to the other two customers, whose discussion had deepened and were unlikely to overhear them. "Even if you're not mad at me anymore, you don't have to feel like you need to invite me."

"No, no, I love hanging out with new friends! Oh, but I don't know what you like yet! We'll have a Getting-To-Know-You Party!"

She wasn't sure when she had started smiling herself. This girl's energy was infectious. "Well, I guess I don't have plans tomorrow," she said more to herself.

"Yay!" Pinkie pushed herself over the counter even more and threw her arms around Sunset's neck for a short hug, before skipping off again and running for the door excitedly. "See ya tomorrow!"

Sunset watched her go, feeling tense again from having been embraced so suddenly, but her smile lingered. What did I get myself into?

She shook her head about the boundless energy on display, but didn't have to wait long to see it again. "Forgot my snacks!" Pinkie announced, weaving into the aisles, grabbing an armful of candy bags and boxes and dumping them onto the counter for Sunset to ring up.


=====***=====


Sunset couldn't quite remember when she had last been invited to a friend's place. Sophomore year, maybe, before she had messed things up with Lyra and Bon Bon. Since then, sure, she'd been to Flash's place a few times, but that had been different. Awkwardly different.

Conveniently, stopping at Rarity's house wasn't a big detour. She wasn't entirely comfortable with handing off the notebook, but she wanted to build trust and a second pair of eyes on it might turn up more clues than she had found on her own. So after leaving it with her and getting the promise that it'd be treated carefully, she walked the rest of the way to the address Pinkie had texted her.

She didn't have to wonder if she had found the right place. The house looked overall rather plain, but a pair of windows on the second floor was decorated with bright pink curtains and an assortment of balloons were tied to flowerpot hooks on the windowsills.

She still wasn't sure about this, despite coming all the way to the front door. She knew nothing about Pinkie, aside from her tendency to be loud and physically affectionate, both of which had only annoyed her in the past and still made her feel uneasy. But she also wouldn't learn anything new about her if she didn't make an effort. While Sunset was still occupied with that line of thought, the door swung open and Pinkie bounced out to her.

"Heya, Sunset! Come on in!" She grabbed her arm and pulled her inside. She barely waited for her to take off her shoes before leading her through the plain house, decorated in grey and brown tones, and upstairs, into a bedroom that looked as though it had sucked all colour from the rest of the building.

Everything was painted in bright tones. Between the solid pinks, there were shades of blue and yellow, with some flashes of others here and there. An old TV was set up on a low table with a classic gaming setup underneath it. The shelves were filled with boxes, the contents indicated with stickers, next to figures, plushies, and stacks of comic books. A large plush alligator sat among the piles of pillows on the bed, the posts of which had more balloons tied to them, and several beanbags were stacked against the foot end, with only two - a pink and an orange one - moved into the room to sit on.

While Sunset got over the visual sugar rush, Pinkie tossed herself onto the pink beanbag and sounded a party blower that she ahd pulled from somewhere. "Welcome to the Getting-To-Know-My-New-Friend-Sunset-Shimmer Party!" She picked up a bag of candy from the floor next to her and tossed it over to Sunset. "Go on, pick the music!"

Sunset opened the bag of gummies and put one in her mouth while she found the stereo system sandwiched between a tightly-packed set of figurines and stacks of CDs. She only got through the first few before she found exactly what she wanted. "Oh my god, you have a signed PostCrush album!?"

She could hear Pinkie springing up from her seat again in excitement. "Oh my gosh, you like PostCrush!?"

"I love PostCrush! I never got to see them live, but I started guitar lessons because I wanted to be like K-Lo!"

"Ooh, best new friend EV-AR!" Pinkie leapt at her and pulled her into a tight hug. And surprisingly, now, Sunset didn't mind the sudden over-affection as much. "Put it in, put it in!"


=====***=====


Sunset's apprehensions were completely forgotten with the first song. Both of them knew all the words and Pinkie drummed with her fingers along her bed frame during the solos while Sunset tried to keep up with the finger placement on an imaginary guitar.

After they had sung their hearts out for a bit, Pinkie started showing her a bunch of other things to gauge her interests. They ended up looking through a bunch of comic books together and cycled through several games to play, while chatting about all sorts of small things. No magic, no bullying, just silly memories and favourite movies.

Time flew by and it was dark out before Sunset had noticed. They had both sunken into the beanbags, absorbed in the relaxingly monotonous shoot'em'up on the screen, stuffed with candy and a filling dinner that Pinkie's sister - a girl as shy and quiet as Pinkie was bright and energetic - had brought up to them.

"Hey, Pinkie," Sunset started after a longer silence than they had had between them all day, her thumbs moving almost on autopilot across the controller.

"Uh-huh," Pinkie answered, staring blankly at the screen. Her energy had died down into a comfortable exhaustion. Maybe the sugar crash was finally happening.

"Thanks for today. You don't know how much I needed this."

"You mean because you were a really mean bully and you were worried that you couldn't make friends because you think everyone is just putting up with you because of the crazy magic stuff and no one would hang out with you otherwise?"

She waited for the same feeling of irritation to set in over Pinkie's uncanny responses, but it didn't come. "Okay, maybe you do know."

"Sunny-Sun-Sunset..." Pinkie drawled, like she was just dragging her name out for fun, "My granny always said that people are usually always nice. And when they're not nice, it's because something hurt them." She shifted to look over at her guest. "Are you still hurting?"

Sunset hadn't been ready for that direct a question and bit her lip as she felt a flutter in her chest and her eyes welling up. She paused the game and sat up, quickly wiping her eyes. "Hey, I'm the one who hurt others. Your friends, too."

"And you're really really sorry, right?" Pinkie asked quietly. Sunset didn't want to look over, but she felt those big, innocent eyes on her. She wasn't sure if she wanted this kind of pity. Wasn't sure if she even deserved it.

"Y-yeah. I don't wanna be like that anymore." She still didn't look up, but she heard Pinkie move and felt her weight joining her on her beanbag, putting her arms around Sunset and resting her head on her shoulder. The scent of bubblegum came with her.

"Then I forgive you. And my friends will too."

Somewhere between the exhaustion, the relaxing atmosphere, and the honest conversation, Sunset's walls had been stripped down. She choked down one quiet sob and finally allowed for her tears. Pinkie's hand found her hair and started petting it. Sunset silently accepted the affection and swallowed down the guilt building over it.