Sunset heard a pounding on the door of her apartment in the wee hours of the morning. Whoever it was was going to have to wait. She was absolutely way too tired to open the door.
But the knocking persisted. Groaning, Sunset got up and opened the door, becoming confused when she saw her purple haired friend looking frazzled, carrying their infant.
The two had agreed that they would split up parent duty earlier that day. One would take the baby Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, while the other girl got it Thursday and Friday. Weekends, since there was no school was a joint effort, and those days they would rotate from each other's house with sleepovers to spend "quality time."
But today was Tuesday, and Sunset wasn't supposed to get the baby until Thursday. "Um? Are you alright, Twilight?" she asked, wincing at the shrill shriek of the child in her arms.
"It won't stop crying!" Twilight whined. "I tried feeding it, burping it, heck I even tried to put it to sleep! It just won't stop!" She thrust the baby into the older girl's arms and shut the door behind her, worried that the incessant crying would wake Sunset's neighbours.
Sunset looked down at the doll incredulously. When Twilight had taken it home after their outing to the park, it hadn't made a single peep. In fact, she was going to take the first three days and let Twilight have the last two. But Twilight insisted, and so Sunset had no choice but to give her the baby. Had she known that this was going to happen, she wouldn't have done it in the first place. Examining it, she realized that Twilight had overlooked something amusingly simple. "Hey, did you think to change its diaper?"
"The-" Realization washed over Twilight's face as she smacked her forehead. "Of couse! The diaper! Why didn't I think of that?!"
Sunset giggled. "Well, with the bags under your eyes, I'd say that your brain stopped working correctly about three hours ago." She yawned. "How'd you get over here anyway?"
"I walked. Well, more like ran. My parents were going to wake up if I didn't shut her up." Twilight answered sheepishly.
"Hmm. It's too late for you to go back now. You can spend the night if you want." Sunset offered.
"Really?" Twilight asked.
"Heck yeah. I'm not gonna let you walk back home at this time of night. It was a risk for you to even come here in the first place," Sunset pointed out.
"True," Twilight agreed. "I guess I'll just have to explain to my parents what happened. I'm sure they'll understand."
"That you snuck off in the middle of the night with your baby to see your spouse?" Sunset teased.
Twilight blushed. "Well, when you put it that way it doesn't really sound that innocent." She pushed her glasses up on her nose. "Furthermore, I'm surprised you don't live with your parents. Where are they?"
"Back in Equestria." Sunset sighed. "I haven't seen them in years." She frowned. "I don't think they'd want to see me anyway. Especially not after all the trouble I caused in both worlds."
Twilight smiled reassuringly at her. "I'm positive that the other me has made it known that you're a good person now," she offered. She blinked. "Wow that was so weird to say."
"Eh, you're taking it better than we all thought you would've. Want something to eat?" Sunset said, shrugging.
"Er, shouldn't we take care of that first?" Twilight reminded her, pointing to the still crying baby.
Sunset smacked her forehead. "Right."
The next morning, or at least, a few hours after both girls had gone to sleep, Sunset was awoken by the smell of fresh pancakes being made. Curious, she tiptoed out of her bedroom to see Twilight working the stove, singing a song to herself.
She smiled. That girl was a total dork. Clearing her throat, she couldn't help but giggle when the spatula in the younger girl's hand clattered to the counter.
"S-Sunset! I-I woke you up with my singing, didn't I?" Twilight fretted, turning to her.
Sunset waved her hand dismissively. "Nah. Your cooking is what woke me up," She said, stepping into the kitchen. She made a move to kiss Twilight on the cheek and the other girl jumped back.
"Whoa what are you doing?!" she squeaked, blushing.
"Couples kiss each other good morning do they not?" Sunset asked her, arching a brow.
"Yes, yes they do. From what I've seen in movies and the like." Twilight agreed, nodding her head slowly. "But we are not a couple. At least, not for real. And, uh, it'd be kind of weird getting a kiss from a friend."
Sunset stretched and headed over to the fridge, rummaging through it for a carton of juice. "Oh yeah? Why's that?" she asked, her words being muffled by something in her mouth. When she leaned back up to shut the fridge door with her foot, she had coffee creamer in one hand, juice in the other and a yogurt container in her mouth.
"Because we aren't dating, duh," Twilight told her, rolling her eyes. "And plus, we're girls....I'm not sure if I like girls."
"It's not like you're gonna suddenly love girls if I kiss you one time," Sunset snorted, starting up the coffee maker. "There's no lesbian fairy waiting to turn you into a lesbian either." She smiled at Twilight as the coffee in the machine gurgled into the cup she had placed under it.
Twilight laughed. "Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry." she said, placing the plate of pancakes on the table.
Then she noticed that it had been quiet.
Too quiet.
"Uh...Sunset?" Twilight said, getting up.
"Yeah?" the older girl answered her, stuffing pancakes into her gob.
"Where's Aurora?"
The fork in Sunset's hand stopped mid way to her mouth. "Oh horseapples."
There truly was no need to worry, in the flurry of happenings from earlier that morning, the doll had ended up in Sunset's room, some how under her bed. How it got there neither girl was sure, but what they were sure of was that they were lucky they didn't lose their assignment.
Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie on the other hand....
Speaking of hands, their baby was missing one. It was horribly noticeable too. No one at the lunch table had the heart to ask them what happened to their 'son', but Twilight guessed it had to do with the dog from the park yesterday.
"Say, ya'll seen Fluttershy lately?" Applejack asked, biting into an apple.
"Not since class yesterday," Sunset answered. "Why?"
"That's the thing. Fluttershy always comes to class. I haven't seen her all day today. And she's not even here at lunch. She always comes to lunch. What do you think's gotten into her?" AJ wondered.
"Adagio. Adagio got into her," Dash said, trying to duct tape poor Berry Blitz's hand back onto his arm while Pinkie held him still. "I saw her leave with her yesterday and haven't seen her since."
Just then a tray clattered onto the table, scaring everyone who wasn't paying attention. Especially Rarity, who was right next to the person who had done the offending action.
The table was quiet as Fluttershy sat down, beginning to munch on her salad before looking up at the girls who were all staring incredulously at her. "Um, what?"
"What? That's all you have to say?!" Pinkie demanded. "We thought you died!"
"No we didn't," everyone chimed in.
"I thought you died!" Pinkie repeated.
"Darling, we didn't think you'd be so willing to go with Adagio. Especially after your reaction from yesterday. If you don't mind me asking, what exactly changed?"
Fluttershy shrunk into herself. "Um, well, after I went with her and the rest of the Dazzlings back to their house, Adagio and I sat in the living room coming up with names for our baby girl," she explained, twirling a hair around her finger.
She grew uncomfortable as the others leaned in close to hear what she was saying. "We named her Crescendo Glare by the way, and well, I guess I stayed there and lost track of time. When I woke up it was well into the afternoon."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You spent the night at their house?" Dash asked as her and Pinkie's baby started to cry. She banged her head on the table as the crying got louder.
"It's not weird," Twilight replied for her. "I mean, I spent the night at Sunset's." Twilight realized that saying this was a huge mistake, because as soon as the words left her mouth all eyes were on her. "I-It's not what it sounds like!" she quickly protested.
"Some of you guys are talking this project way too seriously," Pinkie commented, unaware of the double meanings her statement held.
"I had just came to her for assistance! With the baby!" She held up the doll, shaking it in Dash's face. As she did so, her baby joined in the cries of Pinkie and Rainbow's baby, making the entire cafeteria look their way.
"Ah, the joys of children," Pinkie said sighing.
She whined when Dash punched her arm.