“So how is everything underneath the sea?” Sunset asked with a carefree smile.
Twilight did her best to smile in return, but it was a struggle. She sat down on the cafe cushion and accepted her tea from the barista with a nod, mindlessly stirring it.
“I… I’m a queen now,” she said simply.
Sunset took a moment to take in this supposed revelation, and decide on an appropriate response.
“That’s… That’s really cool, so you’re in charge of your city?” she asked.
“Not really, I’m now co-ruler with Queen Celestia,” Twilight said, glancing up to take in the ever so slight expression of annoyance or disgust on Sunset’s face before the supposed unicorn could hide it.
Twilight looked back to her tea, adjusting the thick cloak she wore to lay more comfortably over her wings.
“Well, I’m happy for you,” Sunset sighed. “Regardless of how it is all set up, it sounds like you’ve come a long way. You told me about your mom, that she didn’t exactly help you out growing up, so you’ve made it a long long way on your own.”
Twilight looked up at Sunset, studying her, trying to understand the angle. Why was she saying all of this? Just to make Twilight like her? Was this all manipulation, top to bottom? Or was there something more to it?
“Did I say something wrong?” Sunset asked, stiff and uncomfortable with the way Twilight was staring at her.
“I don’t know,” Twilight whispered, shaking her head before sipping her tea.
In the sea, there was just food. Drinks had no meaning, and the only thing that might be hot was vent-water, toxic at best and deadly at worst if you soaked in it too long. But here on the surface, there were all sorts of ways to prepare water, to turn it into something new and exciting. Food took on a new meaning and a new range of possibilities.
Sunset kept thinking over Twilight’s behavior, trying to figure out what she knew, if anything. After all, if Twilight knew who she was, why would she have come back at all? Did she really enjoy Sunset’s presence that much? Or was this a trap?
Sunset shifted on her cushion, looking around a little. There were a few ponies she didn’t recognize in the cafe. Maybe they were also merponies, disguised as surface dwellers. Maybe she was about to be dragged back to Celestia to be executed.
Sunset swallowed her fear. Why was she afraid anyway? She’d already lost everything.
Yet, Twilight’s grim expression hurt more than being banished. She had a choice now. Not knowing how many threats were raised against her, she had a choice, whether to keep charging on as a liar and a thief, or to try to make amends with the one being that had truly captured her attention.
“I’m a siren,” Sunset said firmly.
Twilight slowly looked up, one eyebrow raised.
“I know,” Twilight whispered.
“My name is actually Sunset Shimmer,” she pressed on.
“I like that name better than Golden Breeze,” Twilight admitted, smiling a little as she looked back at her tea.
Sunset laughed, a sharp honest laugh that forced its way out of her, as she shook her head.
“I um… I… Celestia banished me,” Sunset finally stammered out. “And… I really like you.”
“Non sequitur.”
Sunset blinked, and cleared her throat. “Pardon?”
“That was a non sequitur, I know Celestia banished you, but I don’t see what that has to do with you liking me,” Twilight said, settling with one elbow on the table. “Those are two different things.”
“I was under the impression that Celestia hating me would sort of put a damper on us… liking each other,” Sunset said hesitantly, squirming on her cushion.
This conversation wasn’t going where she thought it would.
Twilight smiled a little and reached into a pouch hidden under her wing, pulling out a coral rod, bleached white and inscribed with a legal proclamation.
“This is the record of your banishment. I… wanted to talk with you to figure out how you actually felt about me. About… Us. Because Celestia won’t undo the banishment, at least not yet, but she’s willing to let me hear you out. It would be my first act as ambassador to the Surface.”
Sunset stared at the coral rod, somewhat terrified.
“Does that say… why I was banished?” she whispered.
“It says that you threatened to expose state secrets,” Twilight nodded. “But my guess is that you threatened to tell the public that Celestia was slave to a Deep One. Infected by their magic. You were going to make the public believe that she was corrupted and irredeemable.”
Tears gathered at the corners of Sunset’s eyes as she slowly nodded.
“Really… a low blow from a redeemed Siren.”
Twilight nodded a little in reply.
“It wouldn’t have gone well. Unity has shown xenophobia rarely stays focused at one target for long. It would spread to all non merpony races fairly quickly. You would have been driven out too, sooner or later. I’m glad you didn’t succeed. But… When you got to the surface, you kept us secret. You could have brought the wrath of the surface down on us, or even just told them about our magic and our resources, making us an easy target.”
Even without meaning to, Sunset had made choices very early on. Had it been just habit, keeping the secret? No, as a Siren she’d lured sailors to their deaths. She’d exposed monstrous undersea creatures to the surface before. But when she’d been banished…
“Unity,” Sunset said bitterly. “I got up here, and I found… unity was a joke here. Nopony really cared about it. Nopony saw it as having a chance, to change the world or to even be a part of our lives. It was… a child’s story, nothing more. I think… No matter how angry I was with Celestia, I couldn’t let the small bit of unity in the Reverie be wiped away.”
Twilight smiled a little, nodding.
“You know, I did a lot of research on Sirens, when I found out who you were. I found out that there’s a spell to tell when a siren has used their magic on someone. This whole conversation, in fact this whole day, you haven’t used it a bit.”
Sunset blinked, surprised herself by the revelation. She thought that at least some of Twilight’s interest in her must be magical. That the barista was particularly nice to her because she enchanted her.
“In fact,” Twilight said, tilting her head. “I think that you barely have any magic left at all, except when you sing.”
Immediately a memory came to the forefront of Sunset’s mind. Gilda, when they’d first met and she was still cold and distant, jeering at Sunset as they got drunk at a bar with a group of mutual friends, and bullying Sunset into singing. The only one who had been sober enough to actually listen. The only being in all of Maritime Bay that she’d sung directly at.
“Oh. I think… I think I enchanted someone, a griffin I’m living with,” Sunset said, going to stand before Twilight stopped her.
“Maybe,” Twilight nodded. “But before you run off to try and free them, I want to point something out. I’ve… been worrying about whether you had good intentions all day. I think that your reaction right here speaks volumes.”
Sunset took in the statement and reflected on her feeling. Not shame, but something simpler than that. She had never intended to ensnare Gilda. She had thought all the ponies and creatures in this bay were nice to her just because of her magic, so she couldn’t help it. But knowing that she had a choice…
Well, once she had a choice, she had to do the right thing.
She smiled, and leaned in to give Twilight a first soft kiss, before walking out into the street and heading home, to put something right.