/x/x/x/
Flash hovers his thumb over the trash can icon on his phone. The image of him taking a selfie of himself and That Bitch shines on the screen. He remains motionless until the traffic light turns green, and he returns his focus to the road. He drives another block before stopping at a red light and looking back at the photo. He wrestles with his anger and the bitter melancholy for a long time as the pattern repeats for the next few minutes until finally he reaches the parking lot of his destination.
He swipes over to the MyStable app to check in on his charges. Like he thought, there had yet to be any activity from any of the concerned parties. Well, that is, aside from the absolute shitstorm on Rainbow Dash’s page. The news had sparked in a few hours but overnight it became a raging inferno. Flash didn’t consider himself to be a particularly close friend of Rainbow, but he had a cordial relationship with her both inside and outside of school. What Sunset had done to her set chills through his bones, and brought bile to his throat. But it only serves to strengthen his resolve to help Rarity put an end to the reign of terror once and for all.
If only he could actually find the evidence they needed first.
He turns his attention back to his photo library, rubbing his thumb on the vestiges of adhesive where a phoenix-shaped sticker once rested. He reminisces about the context.
Sunset had bought him a new phone for his birthday, the phone he was holding today. Naturally the first thing he did was attempt to capture a Lock Screen, so he put his arm around her shoulder and took the photo. She had a look of confusion and discomfort on her face that he never noticed until long after they were no longer together anymore. He had gone on a warpath of deleting every last remnant of her existence from his life after they’d broken up, and every single photo he ever took that she had any part of had long since been deleted. All of them except for this one.
He had no attachment to this photo in particular. It was just two teens sitting together in his bedroom. There was nothing special about the composition. The image quality itself was fuzzy. The lighting was horrendous, the flash much too bright for far too dark a room. There wasn’t any logical or conscious reason to hold onto this memory. He’d already gotten over the breakup. In fact he’d fallen in love with someone else completely! So why, he asked himself over and over again for the last several months, did he find it so difficult to delete it?
He slams his head back against his seat, groaning in frustration. And then in pain as he quietly murmurs ‘ow’. He turns off the engine, cutting off the radio’s sad alternative rock song as well. He takes a deep breath and tries to collect some sense of optimism, as today he was going to make damn sure that something good happened. The hope works and he finally musters the courage to delete the photo. He slips his phone in his pocket before stepping out of the car and immediately into a puddle several inches deep. The inviting sunlight upon the cloudless sky happily shines down, almost as if mocking him.
Now with one foot completely wet, growing colder by the second, he ambles his way quickly to the exterior sidewalk surrounding the restaurant. Placing one arm over the window, he glances in without the glare. The building isn’t quite full, but it isn’t exactly empty either. He scans the faces of its patrons, finding none who were familiar. He can feel his heart fall as the disappointment flows through his veins, and he is about to pull away until he spies a familiar shade of navy blue somewhere near the back.
He darts to the doorway and rushes in only to bounce off and land on the ground. Luckily there was a convenient patch of snow to break his fall. Unluckily it was grey rather than white. Still, he pulls himself back to his feet and double checks the door. It said pull. He sighs and chuckles to himself as he enters the establishment proper. In an instant the scents of ginger, garlic, sesame oil, and oyster sauce saturate his nostrils, stopping him dead in his tracks for a few seconds. The saliva in his mouth reminds him of his admittedly stupid decision to skip breakfast this morning, but his feet continue to move regardless, the unpleasant squish of a wet sock notwithstanding.
His path takes him near a single table where a young woman sits, a laptop on one side of the table and a plate of rice and sauced vegetables on the other. One hand rapidly typed a smattering of words into a document, the other grabs at a plump chunk of zucchini with a pair of chopsticks. A messenger bag sits between her feet. She wears her hair in a ponytail, somewhat ironically, and has two stripes- one pink and one violet- streaking the length. This was definitely the person he was looking for today.
He circles around the table to get a better look at her front half, and his eyebrows dart upwards. She wears a thick black framed pair of glasses at the bridge of her nose. Her fingernails are broken, bitten nubs rather than a smooth manicure. And she wears a drab gray wooly jumper over a pair of sweatpants and a pair of simple boots. And she chews her food like a normal person. This was definitely his Twilight Sparkle, for sure. But something was wrong. Terribly, terribly wrong. Still, despite every siren klaxon and warning bell going off at the back of his mind, he takes another step closer to her.
“Can I help you?” She asks without looking up, her voice dry and uninterested. She then puts a piece of broccoli in her mouth and unleashes another furious barrage of typing. After she chews and swallows, she continues. “Or are you just going to stand there in my personal space and continue to wordlessly stare at me all day?”
“Hey, Twi,” he says. “It’s me.”
She finally deigns to look up at him, but no trace of recognition crosses her face. She gives him an unimpressed frown before sighing.
“Look, I don’t know how many times I have to tell you people to send me an email if you want to arrange a follow up meeting with me. I am neck deep in a very important project about a high amount of abnormal readings of electromagnetic radiation in this area, and I don’t have time to spare your fragile little feelings by pretending to care about whatever scholarship, grant, or job opportunity you want to throw my way. If I don’t answer your email, I am not interested. Unless you’re from the President, God, or Stephen Hawking himself, I do not have the time or effort to budget for whatever it is you want from me. Now if you’ll please excuse me, I wish to enjoy my breakfast without getting stared at by some mouth breathing neanderthal. Please leave now.”
She returns her attention to her computer.
“Twi,” Flash slowly nods his head and pulls up a chair. “It’s Flash Sentry. From CHS. Please don’t act like you don’t know me. I’m sorry I never called or wrote, but in my defense you never gave me a phone number or an address or whatever. And honestly given how you used to type with your fists a few months back, I didn’t even think you’d own a computer.”
Behind him an older woman’s voice asks something in a language he doesn’t understand. “你好, Twilight, 这个男人打扰你了吗?”
Flash turns to see what seemed to be the store’s owner speaking past him.
“是的.” Twilight replied, a polite smile on her face.. “他正在经历一种错觉。他可能很危险。我会建议报警。”
“我会立即给他们打电话。你现在想吃午饭吗？”
“那是没有必要的。我宁愿现在离开。我担心我的安全受到威胁。谢谢你的报价！”
“明天见。再见！”
“再见. Flash Sentry,” Twilight now says, turning to him. “It was very nice to meet you. Unfortunately, it seems I now must leave as I have been here for too long. I would suggest that you now order something yourself. The Mongolian beef is particularly delicious. I would hate to see your venture be entirely fruitless.”
As she reaches to close the laptop, he grabs her wrist.
“Twilight, please-“
He is interrupted by her other hand in the form of a fist colliding directly with his nose, and he goes sprawling to the ground.
“Get your goddamn hands off of me you little shit,” she hisses as she shoves her laptop in her bag, shouldering the strap. “I don’t know you. You don’t know me. And even if you did know me, that does not give you the right to violate my bodily autonomy. Leave me the fuck alone.”
She approaches the counter and reaches into her pocket for her wallet, but the tall man at the register waves her off.
“You eat free today.”
“But-“
“You are our most valued customer. You keep the heat on. You deserve better. So eat free today. And please come back here tomorrow. I will make sure he is not here.”
She nods. “Okay. Thank you. I’ll be here.” She spares one last glance down at Flash, who is now sitting upright and holding several napkins to his nose. “I’m not going to press charges. But that is the extent of my mercy to men who can’t take no for an answer. I had better not see you here again.” She turns without awaiting a response and shoulders her way out the door.
Flash merely groans in frustration as he leans against the wall.
“She is out of your league,” the tall man says.
“Yeah,” he sighs. “I heard that one before.”
“The police are coming.”
“Wonderful.”
“You will remain seated until they arrive.”
“Fan freakin tastic.”
“You are the boyfriend of that vile Anon a Miss girl. She told a lie that we cook dog meat. We do not cook dog meat. We use cow, duck, pig, and shrimp. Sometimes lamb. But never dog.”
“EX boyfriend,” he corrects, checking the blood. “I want nothing to do with that evil bitch ever again.” His phone begins to ring. He pulls it out and is surprised to see none other than Sunset’s name.
“Ex boyfriend, huh?”
Flash rolls his eyes and answers. “What the hell do you want?”
His eyes widen as she replies. “Rarity?”
He sits in stunned silence listening to her speak for a long time. Several minutes pass as she sobs hysterically into the phone. Eventually she falls into a silence broken only by sniffling, before asking one final question.
“No,” he says, nodding his head as if she could see. “No activity from anyone. Fuck, man… I can’t believe she did that.”
Out the corner of his eye he sees a familiar red-and-blue-lit car pull into the parking lot.
“Look, Rare, I gotta go. My, uh. Dad needs me. But you and I are gonna sit down and we’ll figure this out, okay? Yeah. Yeah. I know. I treated her like shit too. We’ll take care of it together, okay? Okay. I’ll see you when I see you. Later.” He clicks the phone off as the officer enters the building.
“Alright,” he says, smacking at his bubble gum and cracking his knuckles. “Who’s the douchebag who’s manhandling the ladies?”
Flash raises a hand. “Hey dad.”
“Aw for chrissake,” he nods his head and removes his sunglasses. “What the hell didja do?”
“I saw someone I thought was someone else…” he opens his photos app and scrolls to the recycle bin before recovering the photo of him and Sunset. “And now I have to fix things.”
“Well whatever it is, you’re grounded for. Uh, a week.”
“Should give me plenty of time then, huh?”
“She ain’t pressing charges?”
The tall man nodded. “No officer. No charges. But she will be here tomorrow if you need to speak with her.”
“That won’t be necessary,” he says, placing a fist on the counter. “So what’s up with the kid? He not allowed back or something?”
“He is banned from the premises. Permanently.”
“Alright. Reasonable. I’ll head soon… Actually.” His eyes dart up to the menu. “Mind if I order some Mongolian beef before we go?”
As the two men discussed food, Flash gazed at his Lock Screen. At the surprised and confused deer-in-the-headlights look behind the camera flash. At the girl he spent a month hating. At the girl he spent a year loving. And within him, something warm awoke. He never stopped loving her. Not really. He just found difficulty in forgiving her for sabotaging Rarity at last year’s Fall Formal, in forgiving her for forcing him to break up with her, in almost turning evil and enslaving the entire world to go conquer the universe, in spreading everyone’s dirtiest filthiest secrets across the entire school. Except now, apparently, she didn’t do that last part at all.
And now, forgiving her for the other stuff seemed a hell of a lot easier.
Forgiving Scootaloo, on the other hand…
“Alright, stand up.”
Flash does as he is asked. “Am I going to jail?”
“No. But while I’m waiting for my food, you’re havin’ a conversation with your old man where you give me a straight answer. Lady on the phone kept speaking in some other language, I’m assuming Mandarin but it coulda been Cantonese or Taiwanese or fuckin Pig Latin for all I know. What English I got is you put your hands on the girl? What the hell is wrong with you, Flash? I thought I raised you better than that.”
Flash sighs as they sit. “I thought she was someone else. So I saw she was trying to leave, and I… grabbed her wrist. And then she knocked me on my ass.”
“Oof. Never grab an angry woman’s wrist.”
“Yeah, I know that now.”
“So how’d you confuse her for someone else? One of those weird freakass clone dealios like a few years back?”
“No, it’s more like… wait, who are you talking about?”
He shrugs. “Spear said he saw some gal at school who looked a whole lot like a girl I’d arrested. I checked out the security cams and lo and behold they looked exactly alike. Gold skin. Red and yellow hair. Blue eyes that looked like they stabbed right through your soul… eugh. Anyway, they were in two places at once, so I guess they’re either twins or clones. They ain’t twins, the one I arrested got taken by a couple o’ feds. Gave me her details. Only child, orphan, whatever. They took her away. I dunno where she went. But I saw the other one a few times. She an’ that one troublemaker, uh, G something, got in it big for arson. Anyway, is this like that? Weird clones?”
Flash purses his lips in thought. “I guess so.”
“Alright, you got plausible deniability. You’re not dangerous or mean, or evil. You’re just kinda stupid.”
“Gee, thanks dad.”
“I’m sorry, but your friends all seem to be either delinquents or the main characters of the world’s wackiest tv show. And there’s no shame in being a little stupid.”
“Are we just gonna sit here and insult me all day?”
He smiles and takes his cap off. “Not all day. Just as long as it takes to get some breakfast. And don’t worry, I got you a plate too. It’s been a while since you and I ate together. I been workin’ too many doubles since your brother had that… uh, what’s the politically correct way of saying he went fuckin’ nuts?”
“Mental breakdown.”
“Well whatever it is, I blew half the money I had on your mom’s funeral, and the other half on my old friend Jack. Took him goin’ fuckin’ nuts to see I was a dumbass with shit money skills. She’s the one who handled our finances. When she was gone, I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t wanna know what to do. And I’m paying for it now. Literally.” He sighs. “Look. Flash. You’re my kid. I know I’m not around a lot. But you’re a damn good kid. I see it when you don’t think I’m looking. The other day, with that Rarity chick. You didn’t have to save her ass. But you did anyway. And the way she hugged you… you do good with the ladies. So, don’t bother trying to get the ones who just aren’t that into you. Just be yourself, and keep doing good deeds and being a good person. And one day you’ll end up with a gal like your mom. Or at least a gal who won’t punch you in the face. You got me?”
Flash nods, as his mind is drawn to one girl in particular. “Yeah.”
“And, hey. I’m only gonna say this once.” He glanced around the room before leaning in and whispering. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
/x/x/x/
“And so, with Ahuizotl defeated, and the sapphire statue secured, the world was safe and sound once again, thanks to… Daring Do?”
Sunset turns the page in confusion.
“Wait, what?” She asks. “That's it? That’s the ending!?” She chucks it from her hoof into the infinite white abyss. “This book sucks!”
/x/x/x/
The sun is bright, the clucking of chickens carries in through the window, fresh eggs and bacon sizzle away happily on the griddle, and an enormous untouched stack of pancakes sits at the center of the kitchen table. But four empty plates remain. Even Wynona can sense that something is wrong as she quietly whines under the table.
Granny Smith shoulders her way into the kitchen with two big ol’ buckets of milk, but stops as she smells a mood more sour than the contents of the buckets were about to be.
“Mac, do me a favor and boil these for me when you have a minute.”
“Yes Granny.”
She makes her way to the big chair and pulls it closer to her youngest.
“I don’t understand how the internet works. I don’t understand what you young’uns see in those screens, those video games, tweeters, twitching, red bubbles, emails, MyStable. None of it. So I don’t exactly know what it is that your friends did to ya. I barely even know what’s goin’ on in the farm, in my own bedroom some days. But just cuz I don’t understand it don’t mean I can’t feel bad when my family feels bad about it.”
“She stole my car key, copied it, kept the copy for herself, and threw the original away.”
Granny Smith blinks. “Oh! Okay, I think I understand it now.” She sighs then stands up and reaches for the rolling pin and the keys. “I’ll be right back.”
Applejack takes the rolling pin and the keys out of her granny’s arms. “You’re not goin’ to drive to town just to beat up teenagers. If anyone is gonna do it it’s gonna be me. But we ain’t gonna drive anywhere, we ain’t gonna beat up no one, and we ain’t gonna do nothin’ today but have our breakfast, do our chores, have our lunch, spend some quality time as a family, have our dinner, then go to bed. We don’t gotta let this break up our normal schedule any more than it already has. We’re Apples, okay? We stick together.”
“I wasn’t gonna beat no one up…” she grumbles.
Mac places a plate of crispy bacon on the table before returning to the stove.
“So the rolling pin was for, what, showmanship?” Applejack asks.
“A grandma with a rolling pin is the most intimidating figure known to man.”
“Maybe to you…”
“Well maybe if either of those girls saw their grandmas with a rollin pin once or twice then maybe they wouldn’t be so vile!”
“Their grandmas are all dead…” Applebloom murmurs.
Applejack slowly exhales. “In any case. There’s gonna be no threats of violence. If we stoop to that level, we ain’t no better than they are. All we can do that is moral, and just, and SANE, is to not let this get us down. We have each other. We ain't alone. And we gotta remember that Sunset is the one who’s hurtin most of all. And soon as she’s in a forgivin’ mood she’s probably gonna be stayin’ a night or two with me. And we gotta make sure that everything is in order so we can be good matrons to our guest.”
Mac sets a plate of eggs at the table, and starts heaping his plate high of everything.
“Now let’s eat our food before it gets cold-“
She is cut off by Applebloom’s cell phone ringing.
“Sorry.”
“Aren’t you grounded from that thing?”
“She’s grounded from fun things, not from talkin’ to Belle an’ Scoot about tellin’ the truth.” Mac begins to dump a metric ton of syrup over his cakes. “So she can have the phone if she’s supervised, and it’s on speaker.”
“Okay…”
“Hello?” Bloom asks, her polite tone stained black with subtext.
“Rarity found out!”
Bloom nods. “Okay.”
“She told our parents and now they’re kicking Scootaloo out!”
Bloom shrugs. “Okay.”
“Bloom, please say something other than okay!”
Bloom sighs. “All right.”
“Look, we were supposed to be a team. The three of us, together forever, ride or die! Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”
“It meant something before you two were complacent with Sunset committing suicide. It meant something before you two started lying and making things up just to keep hurting people and dodge all responsibility. It meant something before you two let me take the fall for everything. And it meant something before you hacked my account and changed my password just to keep me from messing with your evil plan. It meant something when our friendship was a two way street and not just you taking advantage of me.”
“That wasn’t me! Bloom, please, you gotta believe me that it was all Scoots, okay. She hit me last night! And she’s been lying to me about all sorts of things. She lied and said her dad raped her! She was manipulating me just like she was manipulating you. We are both victims here, so we need to stick together.”
“Okay. We’ll stick together. What do you want from me?”
“What do you mean?”
“What of my behavior do you want me to change to benefit you? What do you want me to do to help you? What options do I have left to further assist you in any way? I’m grounded because both of you wanted to escape punishment after I came clean. I can’t even use my personal account on any website, not just MyStable, and it’s because you ruined my password security. What can I do?”
She is silent for a while, before whispering. “I don’t know.”
“I told the truth. I’m doing my time. Now it’s your turn. I can’t help you Belle. I don’t even want to right now. The wound is still fresh. I gotta forgive you cuz it’s the right thing to do, but I ain’t strong enough to do it right now. You gotta give me time. For now, you just need to do the right thing. Come clean. Apologize to Sunset. And to Rarity. And to everyone else you hurt. You and I are gonna be doin’ a lot of apologizing when school starts up again, and now it sounds like Scoots is gonna be doin’ a lot too.”
“Where is she gonna go?”
“I honestly, genuinely, don’t care. She can couch surf for a little while. Compared to all of the terrible things she’s done, I think it’s a light sentence. She ain’t gonna die. She ain’t gonna kill herself.”
“Are you sure about that?”
This time it’s Applebloom who is silent for a while.
“Are you willing to have her death on your conscience?”
“How dare you put that on me?” Bloom spits. “When I’m the one who saved Sunset’s life by putting my neck on the line? Do you even know how much I’m grounded from? How little freedom I have right now? This is as close as I can get to being in jail without actually going. No. If she does, it ain’t gonna be on me. It’ll be on herself. And it’ll be on you. You chose to stick with her instead of me. You chose to keep walkin’ on the dark side. You chose to thicken the web of lies. You chose this. You made the situation. This is your fault. And you are not gonna saddle me with more guilt than I already have. And because of me, nobody is gonna kill herself. Sunset will be fine. Scoot will be fine. I will be fine. And I really really hope that you’ll be fine too. But we are not friends right now. You hurt me and the ones I love. You make an effort to put things right, and I’ll make an effort to help repair the damage she done to us. Okay?”
“Okay…”
“I still care about you. But I still gotta show you tough love, and let you fix your own mistakes. That’s… what Mac n’ AJ have been teaching me.”
“Are you sure everything will be fine?”
“I can’t guarantee it. But if we put enough elbow grease into it, we can come as close to fine as we can get. And hopefully, if we both put hard work into fixing this… we can spend summer together.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
“All right. I’ll… I’ll see what I can do. It’s gonna be rough for a little bit. Rarity… doesn’t know what to say to me. Neither do mom or dad. I’m glad you can at least talk to me.”
“Of course. I care about you. Even after everything. Because Nothing you’ve done so far can’t be fixed. Well, maybe except for outing Rainbow. But I know that ain’t something you were behind.”
“Yeah… we got in a big fight.”
“You said she hit ya.”
“No, this was after that. We, uh. Well. I think our friendship has been irreparably damaged.”
“Nothin’ can’t be repaired.”
Belle sighs. “Look, I’ll have to talk to you in private some time. Because I know that you’re on speaker right now. And there’s some things that you should probably know that can’t be shared. But, I think I do need to go talk to Rarity. She… I did something horrible to her.”
“I know. But you should take action now. Before it’s too late.”
“Okay. I will. And… I’m sorry. Your email password is x crusader x with a capital C and a 3 instead of the E.”
“Thank you… and thanks for calling.”
“I love you.”
“Love you too.”
Belle hangs up, and Bloom returns to her seat.
“Sorry ‘bout that, everyone.”
Mac polishes off his last bite of pancake. “Rainbow Dash is gay?”
Applejack smacks her forehead. “That’s your takeaway?”
Granny chuckles. “I knew it. I guess I just won a bet.”
“WHAT!?”
/x/x/x/
Sunset finally wakes up, groggy, in a funk, and eyes covered in something unpleasant.
“Morning sunshine,” Rainbow teases. “It’s almost not even morning anymore. How was your sleep?”
“I don’t know. But I’m glad not to be waking up alone.”
“Yeah, of course.” She sighs as she roughly sets her phone on the nightstand. “Well, everyone knows I’m gay now. Well, except for Jet Set and a couple of his friends. They just think it’s a rumor.”
“Who the hell is Jet Set?”
“Ah, he’s some guy from Crystal Prep. He’s their best tennis player. Almost as good as me. We’re rivals. I’d say friendly but he’s kind of a homophobic douchebag. I’d love to drag his ass in the dirt at the Friendship Games this year.”
“Oh, is that this year? I wasn’t around until after the last one. Man. I can’t believe it’s only been… almost four years here? Makes it, let’s see, four by nine is thirty six divided by five is… wow. About seven years.”
“Okay you lost me with the math.”
“There’s a subtle time dilation between Equestria and here. Time passes about double here. So, in Equestria, I’ve been gone for seven years.”
“How the hell do you know that?”
“I didn’t dream so I ended up in Princess Luna’s dream realm near the tantabus and she told me the equation before giving me a book to read while I slept.”
Rainbow sighs. “Okay, I’m just gonna stop asking questions now. Well anyway, mom’s cooking breakfast. Whenever you want we can go eat.”
“I should probably wash my face first.”
“It probably isn’t that bad.” She reaches to turn on the light and turns to inspect Sunset’s face. “Yeah you should probably wash your face first. You need any help with that?”
“I doubt it, but I could use some help getting to the bathroom. I can’t exactly see.”
“Yeah, sure,” she says as they slip out of bed together. Sunset keeps one hand on Rainbow’s waist as they walk. “Are you just wearing a bra?”
“You’re practically a furnace. And at least it’s a sports bra. Here we are, watch your head, here’s the sink. You got it?”
“I think so,” she says as she starts to splash water and dig the sleep from her eyes. Once she was satisfied she’d gotten all of it she finally chanced a glance at the mirror. She pressed her fingers to her cheeks. “Hey. The dark circles are way less dark now.”
“Getting good sleep will do that for ya,” Rainbow says before snaking her arm over to grab her toothbrush. “Mind stepping to the side?”
“Yeah, sure,” Sunset does so and takes a short stride over. She then looks down at the toilet. “I think I gotta go.”
“Need help?” Rainbow asks as she kicks the door shut.
“Maybe with… cleanup. Are you comfortable with that?”
Rainbow mulls this over for a little bit. “One or two?”
“One.”
“Yeah, I can do that.” She starts to brush as Sunset sits and takes care of business. Later, as they finish with their bathroom duties, and somewhere Pinkie starts snickering to herself, they wash their hands and Rainbow checks out the gauze.
“Not too bad. You want fresh?”
“I think I’ll be fine, unless your mom tells me otherwise.”
“Okay cool. God am I starving.”
“You could’ve eaten.”
Rainbow nods. “I didn’t wanna risk you waking up alone again.”
“You could’ve texted your mom and asked her to bring you a plate.”
Rainbow nods again. “I didn’t think of that.”
The two girls laugh at this as they exit the bathroom and start down the hall towards the dining room.
“Hey momma,” Rainbow greets as they pass the doorway to the kitchen. “Whatcha got?”
“Hey dear,” she says, kissing Rainbow’s forehead. She chuckles as Rainbow groans and rubs it off. “Oh, you can’t rub off my love. Hi Sunset. Did you sleep well?”
“Yeah. It smells good in here.”
“There’s an apple pancake in the oven, it should be done soon. But right now,” she says as she stirs a concoction of green pepper, onion, potato, and a few other things among the eggs. “Bow made cheese toast, there’s some pudding, and the eggs are about done. Go ahead and sit down and I’ll bring things in as they’re done, okay?”
Rainbow does so, but Sunset stays. “I hope you’re not going all out for my sake,” she asks.
“Oh, nonsense, this is normal for me. And I love cooking. I actually did quite a few kitchen shifts in the army. Enough I almost got in trouble for it. So don’t worry at all about that.”
“Alright…” Sunset glances at the oven. “Pancake? Singular?”
“Oh it’s more like an apple pie, but instead of pie crust it’s more of a pancakey kind of texture. It’s a language difference, mostly. But yeah, there’s cinnamon, brown sugar, ginger, nutmeg, all sorts of yummy spices. Some of the pudding. Have you had semolina pudding?”
“Not by name.”
“It’s like porridge. Flour, milk, eggs, butter, basic stuff. Smells weird but tastes like heaven. There’s plenty in there for now. Can you carry anything?”
“I think so.”
“If you can, please set this pan on the table, on one of the doilies. I’ll get the proteins.”
Sunset does as asked and follows Windy into the dining room with the rest of the food. The eggs and sausage are all set around the table, filling the room with their delicious scents.
“I cooked the kielbasas separate, because I wasn’t sure how comfortable you were with eating them.”
“What animal are they made of?”
“…yes.”
“Alright, probably best if I avoid it. Thank you.”
“Of course, dear. I’ll check on the pancake.”
She darts out of the room, leaving Sunset to take an empty seat next to Rainbow.
“How’d those pills treat you, Sun?” Bow asks in between enormous bites of toast.
She nods. “They definitely worked. No nightmares.”
“Good to hear. How was the eye goop?”
“Horrendous.”
“I’ll make a note and send it in. The eggheads in the labs think it has to do with the tear production or something. But no dreams?”
“Technically no.”
“Technically?”
“My consciousness was transported to what seemed to be the dream realm in Equestria.”
“Yeah… I think I’ll leave that out of the report. There’s no testing on unicorns, after all. And I’m sure you’d appreciate not having the government knocking down your door demanding to do some experiments on you.”
“Thank you.”
Windy carries a big pot into the room, setting it on the last remaining empty place at the table before finally sitting down, slapping her oven mitts next to her plate. “The government has no interest in performing dissections on aliens anymore. The reason not to say anything is because they would most certainly want to enter Equestria and steal their oil. But don’t tell anyone I said that.”
The crew begins to chow down, offering Sunset assistance when she needs it. Rainbow helps spread cheese on her rye toast, Bow cuts her a nice meaty slice of the pancake, and Windy leans back as she drinks a glass of red wine. She quietly offers Sunset some, who politely declines. Eventually, the hosts all find themselves unable to take another bite. However, Sunset continues to wolf down a third plate. It's only after this one is gone before she pushes the plate and leans back.
“You are the best cook I’ve ever met,” Sunset says, satisfied.
“Why thank you. I’d like to think I hold that title for many people. Right?”
Bow and Rainbow both nod wordlessly. Bow loosens his belt.
“‘S why I married you.”
She gently slaps him with the oven mitts. “Are you sure it’s not for my intelligence, personality, and general sense of ethics?”
“Don’t forget your rockin’ body.”
“DAAAaaad!”
“I’m gonna miss it here,” Sunset murmurs.
“No reason for that,” Bow chimes in, reaching over to set a gentle hand on her shoulder. “You’re welcome in our home any time. Just, you know, let us know beforehand.”
She nods and thanks him before Rainbow stands up.
“Phone,” she says, before glancing down at the caller ID and freezing.”
“Who’s calling?” Sunset asks.
Rainbow slowly looks up. “You are.” She answers the phone and puts it to her ear. “Hello?”
She stands still and listens for several minutes. Eventually she nods.
“Yeah. I forgive you. But…” she glances at Sunset. “I don’t think it’s the best idea for right now.”
“Who is it?”
“Rarity. No, keep talking, Sunset just asked me who it was.”
“Why does Rarity have my phone?”
Rainbow puts a finger up as she furrows her brows.
“Well she’s sure as shit not staying here. Cuz fuck that little bitch! What, she is one! Alright, fine, but she is not staying in my house. Not after everything she did. Well yeah to me, but to Sunset too. And Fluttershy, and Applejack, and Pinkie Pie. And you. Yeah. Of course I care about you, you’re my friend. Yeah, even after that. I’m sorry too. Look, I’m gonna take Sunset to Pinkie’s soon. She can call you from either of our phones. It’s gonna be okay. Alright. Later.”
Rainbow sighs, before she bursts out laughing.
“Rain?” Sunset asks, standing.
She continues laughing, and sits down, setting the phone back in her pocket. She continues laughing as Windy comes over to her, and pulls her head to her stomach. She continues laughing until the laughter turns to tears. And she sobs until she is quiet. And she stays quiet until she asks in the quietest voice any of them had ever heard her speak.
“Is it okay if I go to Fluttershy’s for a few days?”
“Of course dear…” she glances to Bow.
He stands up and strides over to Sunset. “How about I drive you to the Pie’s place?”
Sunset nods, then places a hand on Rainbow’s free shoulder. “Hey.”
Rainbow turns to look at her. “I’m sorry-“
“It’s okay. Did Scootaloo have my phone?”
Rainbow nods.
“I thought so. Alright, hey, so I really do appreciate everything you’ve done for me. I loved hanging out with you. But you need Fluttershy right now, and that’s okay. I’m gonna get dressed and get the journal and stuff, and we’ll talk later, okay?”
Rainbow nods again.
“Come here.”
The two girls embrace for a while before pulling away.
“It’ll be okay.”
“I know.”
Sunset nods and turns to Bow. “Do you mind waiting for me for a few minutes?”
Windy kneels down. “Actually,” she asks Rainbow. “Is it okay if he takes you while I take her? She probably needs an outfit.”
Rainbow nods again, wiping the tears from her eyes. “Yeah.”
Bow pats Sunset’s shoulder a few times before heading to the kitchen. “I’ll help you with a lot of things. But not to get dressed. That’s outta my comfort zone. Rain, I’ll go get the car warmed up. Come out whenever you’re ready.” He steps into the kitchen and after the sounds of metallic jingling and the swish of a sports coat he steps out the other side and heads down the stairs and out the door.
“Why couldn’t Rarity have found out before I got outed…?”
Windy brushes the hair out of her forehead. “Sometimes bad things happen to us because of other people’s actions. You can’t change what happens, all you can control is how you react. I’m not gonna tell you what to do or how to do it because I’m straight as an arrow and I couldn’t help you there anyway. But whatever you choose to do, I will do my damnedest to support you as I have always done. Nothing has changed, and nothing ever will.” She leans her head forward so they touch. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
“Sunset?”
“Bedroom?” She murmurs, heading already down the hall.
Windy nods. “I’ll be there in a moment. Rain?”
“Mmhmm.”
“You’ve got this. And you have free reign to stay however long you need. But, before then… I need you to tell me exactly what Rarity told you.”
/x/x/x/