What’s a “Waifu”?
Written & Edited by Seven81493
It was something everyone did at least once in their lifetime. It wasn’t to be conceited, not at all. She simply wanted to find an article by the Canterlot Times. They had done a piece on her transformation from villain to revered city heroine, and she wanted to see how they had portrayed her. Searching up her own name on the internet had turned out to be a huge mistake, though.
The first page she had found was on a website called ‘Fanime’. She had always considered herself to be a fan of foreign animation, but the fact that it had come up through a search of her own name had confused the girl. Deciding to check it out, she was further confused by what she found within. It appeared to be a forum, and the current topic was ‘Best Waifu?’. Tons of people had replied to the original post, and her name was used in plenty of those replies. She shrugged it off as a coincidence. Many people shared names with characters from anime, and that was likely the case here.
Having had enough of that, she moved the cursor up and clicked the back button, taking her back to the original search page. The second result was the article she had been looking for, and she smiled. Hopefully they had written about her in a good light, and not focused on her past transgressions. After a quick read, her hopes were fulfilled. The article had painted her in very nice fashion, so she didn’t have to worry about any ridicule.
A quick scroll down took her to the comments, but they too were infested with people referring to her as their ‘waifu’. Letting out a sigh, she closed her laptop and headed off to bed. She couldn’t get any sleep that night, though.
“Guys, what’s a ‘waifu’?”
Her friends, who had up to this point been eating their lunch rather quietly, began murmuring amongst one another. It made Sunset Shimmer feel even more uncomfortable, and Rainbow Dash seemed to take notice. “Why do you wanna know?”
“Well, I was looking for that article that the Times did on me. I found it, but I also found a ton of pages where people were calling me their ‘waifu’.”
“It’s, um--”
“Well--”
“It’s nothing you need to worry yourself about, darling.”
“Yeah, what Rarity said,” Applejack agreed. “Now about that song we were writing last night…”
At that, everyone turned their attention back to their prior conversation. Everyone except Sunset. While it was true that she didn’t need to worry about something on the internet, it still bugged her that she didn’t know what it meant. Was it an insult? Perhaps. After all, her friends had been quick to drop the subject. Had that been to spare her feelings? Resolving to find out if this was true or not, she excused herself from the lunch table.
The walk to the computer lab had been a quick one, and Sunset made sure to lock the door behind her. Shuffling over to the nearest computer, she grabbed the mouse and quickly opened up the search engine. That’s when it hit her. ‘Why didn’t I just do this in the first place...’
She rolled her eyes at her own stupid behavior and began typing the word, but suddenly there came a rapping on the door. In a panic, she shut down the computer and got up to unlock the door. She was relieved to see that it was just her friends, but they didn’t look too pleased. “Oh, uh, hey girls!”
“What were you doing in here, Sunset?” Applejack inquired, a frown adorning her face. She could have easily lied to any of the other girls, but not Applejack.
“I, uh…” Tiny drops of sweat began rolling down her forehead, and she couldn’t say anything under her friend’s gaze.
“Honey, we already told you, you don’t need to worry about what ‘waifu’ means.”
“Well why not, Rarity? Everyone is calling me that, and I deserve to know what it means!”
“We know you’re not really used to our world yet, Sunset, and this is one of those things that might be hard to get used to,” Rainbow Dash offered. “Seriously, it would be better if you just let it go.”
“Well maybe I don’t want to let it go,” she countered.
“But it's… embarrassing…” Fluttershy barely managed to whisper out.
“Look, either you girls tell me, or I’m looking it up tonight when I get home. Either way, I’m finding out why everyone is insulting me.”
“Insulting ya? Sunset, ‘waifu’ isn’t an insult.”
“Well then what is it, Applejack?” Sunset looked like she didn’t believe her friend, and Applejack gulped.
“It means you’re their imaginary wife!” Pinkie Pie yelled out, stunning her friends. Sunset, meanwhile, had her mouth agape.
“I, um, what!?”
“Darling, calm down.”
“How can I calm down!? There’s a bunch of creeps on the internet who think that I’m their wife!”
“If you think about it, it’s actually a compliment!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed happily. “I wish people called me their waifu!”
“How on Earth is that a compliment!” Sunset countered, her voice full of strain. Her next words, while not shouted, were full of exasperation. “Oh god, what if they keep pictures of me by their bedside, or worse!”
“Told you you wouldn’t be able to handle it,” Rainbow Dash chuckled. “It’s not easy being famous.”
“What if-- Wait. I’m famous?”
“Well duh! Wasn’t that made clear from all those people knowing who you were?” Rainbow Dash was right, and Sunset blushed in embarrassment. That had been quite an obvious detail, and she had completely missed it.
“B-but still, those guys are just creepy! I’m not anybody’s wife!”
“They know that, it’s just a joke on the internet,” her rocker friend replied, shrugging. “We’ve all been called waifus by people before.”
“Really?”
“Yep!” Pinkie Pie jumped back into the conversation. “Sonata is my waifu!”
“Do the rest of you have ‘waifus’?” Sunset asked, finally calm. She took a seat on the floor, leaning back against the now closed computer lab door. Her friends joined her and laughed.
“Nah, we don’t really see a point in that joke. Well, aside from Pinkie Pie,” Applejack chuckled.
“Are waifus really not a thing where you’re from?” Fluttershy asked.
“Nope.”
“It sounds nice,” she joked. At that, everyone laughed.
“Well, I’m glad to know that I’m not being insulted by everyone. I mean don’t get me wrong, it’s still incredibly creepy, but I suppose it’s better than being hated.” She smiled. A small smile that told everyone she was simply content. After a few seconds, she looked over at Pinkie Pie and tittered. “So Sonata’s your waifu, huh?”
“Yep, but that’s a story for another time!”