//------------------------------//
// Non-Contest Entry, April 2023 
// Story: Eileen's Exhilarating Collection of Extremely Short Fiction 
// by EileenSaysHi 
//------------------------------//

Sunset gently rested a hand on Twilight's shoulder. "Can I ask a question about... um..."

"Yes?"

"About Midnight."

"Oh." Twilight turned to face her. "Yeah, um, it's okay. I'm okay."

Sunset nodded. "I just wanted to ask why, if you think you know... why Midnight didn't try to really go after the Shadowbolts, or Cinch. Why it was just this unfocused attack, when there were people who had hurt you so much right there... though I guess we'd hurt you too."

Twilight shuddered. "Please don't say that. You had every right to say what you said to me."

"It was still hurtful--"

"Please." Sunset obeyed, withdrawing her hand, and Twilight looked away again. "But... I mean, Midnight came from me. She was my... id, I'd say. On overdrive. And as much as I felt, well, scared and helpless at Crystal Prep, I never once fantasized about getting revenge. I just wanted to get out. It was why Everton was so important to me... no more principal, no more bullies. Just my own independent study."

She looked back and met Sunset's eyes.

"Friends weren't really on my mind back then. Not when, well..."

"When any other school could have been Crystal Prep all over again."

Twilight nodded. "Exactly. So my deepest fantasy wasn't to exact horrible revenge on all my bullies. It was just to have that freedom, that lack of worry, to work on the things I wanted to work on, which, back then, was studying all this new magic I was detecting." She swallowed. "Not the way I did it during the games, obviously, I never meant..."

"I get what you mean." Sunset placed her right hand atop Twilight's left.

"But when you feed that fantasy into that... twisted, ethicless, corrupted, overpowered shell..."

Twilight was sniffling, and Sunset could see her eyes start to water. She wrapped her right arm around her back and pulled her close, reaching over with her left and softly stroking her hair as Twilight lay her head onto Sunset's right shoulder. "I've got you."

She listened as Twilight's rapid breathing began to slow down. "Thank you," she whispered. "I know I said I was okay, and I am, but..."

"I know the feeling," Sunset replied. "Too well."