//------------------------------//
// EileenSaysHi's Hypotenuse (Avery Day's "Can You See What I See?") 
// Story: Never the Final Word (Vol. 2) 
// by FanOfMostEverything 
//------------------------------//

Sunny was out cold. The seatbelt was keeping her propped up, but her head had lolled to the side, and she was snoring softly.

I kept a tight hold on her hand.

Poor Sunny. Poor, poor Sunny. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone so willing to blame themselves for anything and everything, and I own a mirror.

Why can’t she see…

A bump in the road jolted my eyes to the front of the car. I was in the left passenger seat, behind Rarity. She muttered a soft curse at the state of Canterlot roads before she came to a gentle halt at a stoplight.

A thought occurred, and before I could even process what it was, I’d started talking. “Rarity?"

“Yes, darling?”

“I can’t thank you enough.”

Rarity scoffed. “What were you expecting me to do, leave you out in the cold?”

“Not just that,” I clarified. “For… for everything. For everything you did to help us.”

“It was nothing, honestly.”

I flinched. “No, it wasn’t. It was the literal opposite of that. It…” I trailed off. Rarity had already dropped off Rainbow at her house, so it was just the three of us in the car, but it still felt uncomfortable to say. “Sunset told me what happened.”

The car was silent for an interminably long moment.

“Oh,” came Rarity’s soft, downbeat reply.

I could feel tears well up in my eyes, tears I’d forced down all through Sunset’s panicked admissions and self-recriminations because I’d had to stay strong for her, before four little words finally opened the reservoir: “Rarity, I’m so sorry.”

And I meant it, from the bottom of my heart, envisioning the pain she must have felt, watching the girl she loved with another, knowing she could have stopped it at any point.

As I could feel liquid streaming down my cheeks, I could hear Rarity speak as the car began to move again. “Please, Twilight, don’t be. Just don’t. I… I mean it, when I say I’m happy for you two. So, so happy, and I don’t think I could have done this if it wouldn’t make me happy to see the two of you together. Maybe it’s in my nature, but… whatever hurt I have from this right now is nothing compared to the joy of knowing I did the right thing for you both.”

I couldn’t manage a reply beyond a hiccup as my eyes continued to water.

“And Twilight… I didn’t do all this just for Sunset’s sake. You’re my friend, too. Even if I wasn’t consulting with you, and I do so regret my ignorance of what was going on with your… relationship,” she said, with an intensely bitter taste apparent in the latter word, “I knew you needed her as much as she needed you. You deserve happiness. You both do.”

If we hadn’t been in a moving vehicle that Rarity was driving, I’d probably have hugged her so tight her eyes would’ve popped out. Instead I could only stammer out a half-phrase. “T-thank…”

“You’re quite welcome. Just promise not to worry about me, okay? Like Sunset told me… there’s a girl out there for me, too.”

I nodded, looking in the rearview mirror to make sure she noticed. Her eyes made it clear she had. Wiping my own, I turned my head to the sleeping girl beside me.

My girlfriend.

Gosh.