Twilight breathed in, then out, and looked again at Applejack.
If Applejack was shocked by the revelation, she didn’t show it, her smile blooming. “Kinda was able to guess the first, but I have no idea what the second means.”
Just how to explain it all to Applejack escaped her. Her thoughts floundered about, weaving from what she’d just said to what her parents must be thinking right that moment and if her saying it had affected them in some indefinable way.
Some of that must have shown on her face.
Applejack reached out to clap a hand on her shoulder. “Is that’s what’s botherin’ you? None of us care, Twi. I mean, we do, but you get what I mean. So you’re a lesbian. You’ve always been one, unless I’m missin’ something big.” Applejack’s shrug said it meant less than peaches to her. “What does that change about you that would make any of us want to be your friend any less? Or love you any less?”
Said like that… “Nothing.”
“Darn right nothing. I figure you’ve been that way forever, ya just didn’t get to explore it none, right? I mean, Dash is one, but you didn’t know that afore ya came out here, I figure, and you’re always stuck in your books, or homework, or helping us with our books and homework.” Applejack’s hand fell free and her cheeks heated. “And I’ve been working on the farm, school, and raisin’ Apple Bloom. Not much time for me, neither.”
“Are you gay, too?”
That was met with a shrug, a glance, and a faint smile. “Dunno. Maybe. I…” Applejack shook her head. “This ain’t about me, Twi. I’ll figure out me when I do.”
Twilight studied her friend for a long moment, then reached out and touched Applejack’s calloused, strong hand. “We’re all here for you.”
“I know.” Applejack drummed her fingers on her thigh. “Does you figuring out you change anything between you and Rainbow?”
She laughed, but it felt hollow, and the smile died. “It was more… It is more that I don’t know what future we would have together. She’s going to be a star athlete, I just know it. She’s going to travel the world, see interesting places, meet interesting people and be super famous. Me? I want to go to college and become a theoretical physicist working with the brightest minds in the world on problems no one but us have even heard of.”
“Too much planning, Twi. Life ain’t like that. Sure, you can plan the big things, like college and the like, but some things, like findin’ that special somebody…” Applejack drummed her fingers on the steering wheel. “Ya… ya just can’t.”
Rarity? Before she could think of how to ask, Applejack reached over and flicked her knee.
“But, you know, most of being in a relationship is finding a common middle ground.” Applejack tapped the center console with the heel of her palm. “But I can’t say what that might be for you and Rainbow, and it wouldn’t be right if I suggested something.”
“Cadance says it’s more about accepting that some things will never change about the person you love, and that they need to accept there are some things that will never change about you.” Twilight sighed. “She’s so much better at this than I am, I’m sure I’m getting it all wrong, and I wish, I wish I could tell her all about everything.”
“Sounds like an amazing lady. Maybe you should talk to her about all this. Maybe she can help you figure it out.”
“She is, and I will.”
“Maybe she can help Rainbow, too. Help you both.”
Twilight studied her friend’s profile, then her hands in her lap. “It sounds almost like you all want me and Rainbow to end up together.”
“Nah. Not sayin’ that at all.” Applejack reinforced that with a shake of her head. “Still your choice, sugar cube, but Cadance might help Rainbow see what she wants too. Still, you’ve been spendin’ an awful lotta time with her.”
“Well, she keeps asking me for help with math and chemistry. What am I going to do? Tell her no?”
Applejack’s smile told her all she needed to know about how it looked. “Then don’t worry about it. Yeah, she mighta been crushin’ on you for a while, but she might notta been, either. She needs a certain GPA to keep in sports, y’know. Used to be, she’d ask the teachers for help if she needed it. Never known her to ask another student, ‘cept you.”
Twilight swallowed. “T-that makes more sense. Doesn’t it? She just needed help.” More sense than one of her best friends harboring a secret love for her.
“It does, yeah. But a seed planted still needs time to grow, and the right environment.” Applejack jerked a thumb back at the beach house. “Like this. Time together without worrying about school, or sports, or studying. Just time to be yourselves.”
“I don’t think the same seed got planted in me. Not with her. I don’t think so, anyway. I mean… Ugh! This is all so confusing. I love her, but how can I tell if I’m in love with her or just love her? How can I make a decision when I don’t even have all the facts straight?” She snorted a laugh. “I need time to think. Figure it all out.”
“Tell her that. You need space. She’ll understand. It’s not the same as saying ‘I don’t love you.’ It’s saying ‘I need to understand myself.’”
She flicked the tip of her ponytail against her lips, stopped herself as soon as she realized she was doing it, and nodded. “As soon as we get back down, I’ll tell her.”
“Good. It’s… I wanna say it’s for the best, Twi. I mean, you jumped right in like a pig in a mudbath. And you’re just figuring yourself out, and you’re dealing with Sunset’s… thing. And you’ve just transferred to a new school, found out magic is real, made six new best friends, sang in front of hundreds of students… Twi, it’s a gosh darned genuine miracle you’re still sane!” Applejack chuckled and knuckled Twilight’s shoulder lightly. “You’re pretty tough stuff, but even you’ve gotta have limits.”
“Yeah… when you put it like that…” She smiled weakly as the previous night’s lack of sleep came down hard on her shoulders, and she yawned.
A few minutes later, her growing resolve to tell Rainbow exactly that battling against the hurt she felt in her heart from an imagined life without Rainbow as a friend, Flash called.
“I’ll do it,” he said immediately. “But you’ve gotta do something for me, too.”
“Any—” Twilight glanced aside at Applejack, looking at her with a cocked eyebrow and openly curious stare. She swallowed, closed her eyes, and nodded once. “Anything, Flash.”
“Good. Look… I need to work out the details. I’ll tell you when I get there. See you in five hours or so.”
He hung up. Twilight stared at the phone, then at Applejack. “Does he know where this place is?”
Applejack shook her head, held up three fingers, grinning, and started counting down silently. When her second finger folded in, Twilight’s phone jingled again. She answered, holding back a laugh.
“So… uh, the dramatic exit is not very dramatic if I don’t know where I’m going to meet you.”
Half an hour later, and still no more follow up calls from Flash, Applejack reached for the ignition and stopped. “Before we go back down… can I ask you something? I don’t mean ta put more on ya, but… I don’t know who else I can ask who’d keep a secret for me. Aside from Pinkie, but…” Applejack grimaced.
“It’s okay. I know.”
“Don’t tell anyone else this, not even Rarity. Especially not Rarity, but I’ve found love of a friend can easily turn into being in love in the right circumstances. Hard not to, honestly, when things are set right.” Applejack fidgeted with the keys in the ignition, frowning. “It’s… about Rarity and me.”
“You’re dating?”
Applejack stared out the windshield for a long moment, lips pursed. She shook her head finally. “No. I think she’s straight as an arrow, but she keeps on…” Applejack shrugged, pursing her lips. “She’s unreserved in showering her affections on her friends, you know. I know, or think I know, that it’s just because she’s a great friend, but…”
“But you’re not sure.”
“Nope.” Applejack sighed, glancing aside, and reached forward to start the van. “I’m not sure enough to say more, t’be honest. I just know that when she’s around, I just wanna be a better version of me.” Her hand hung from the keys for a moment, then slipped to her knee. “If you figure out your situation, let me know, huh? Maybe I can learn somethin’, too.”
Twilight chuckled. “Sure.”
A bluebird chirped in the forested copse, then flew out and landed on the van’s antenna, sending it swaying before it took off again at their inspection. Spring was there to stay, and with spring… The Spring Fling. She wanted to go, suddenly, and not just because her friends all were. She wanted to take someone to be with, and wondered who the others would go with.
“I love her, y’know. Or I’m crushin’ on her. I just don’t know, and it’s killin’ me that I don’t feel like I can just tell her what I’m feelin’. You know how she is. She might think… you know how generous she is. I don’t want her to think… she owes me anything.”
“I don’t think she would look at it that way, Applejack. Yes, she’s freer with her affection than even Pinkie in some ways, but I don’t think she gives that because she can gain something in return.” Twilight rubbed at her jeans, remembering. “She cried about the house, the night she braided my hair. She came up because she was worried about me, and I never got the feeling that she came up because she knew she’d need something in return. She gave comfort, and I gave back.”
“Yeah.” Applejack thumped her head back against the headrest. “That’s Rarity. Twi… If I tell her—when I tell her—if it goes wrong… can you help me fix it?”
“Yes,” she said immediately.
Applejack glanced at her. “Thanks.” She started the van. “Focus on what you wanna say to Rainbow. I… I think I’m gonna see what happens with Rarity afore I put my foot in it.”
What she needed to say percolated through her jumbled thoughts for the short drive down the slope, wending around and around in circles, and always coming back to the same conclusion. Simply: ‘Rainbow, I love you, but I need some time.’
Cut out the rest of the mess, just say what she meant, simple and to the point.
And then her mind would circle back to: ‘But you could fall in love in time, right?’ and ‘I do love you.’ and ‘Then stay with me.’
The prospect of staying with Rainbow, sharing herself more fully, terrified her. And it elated her, and as they drove, the need to sleep was plowed under by giddy anticipation and gurgling anxiety.
Rainbow, I love you, but I need some time.
Rainbow Dash was waiting for them at the house, two backpacks slung over her shoulder and her duffel and Twilight’s hard-shell suitcase standing beside her.
“I’m going,” she announced as she slid open the van’s side door. In went one bag and then the other. Her own duffel got the same unceremonious treatment, but the hard shell she slid in gently. “We need to talk, Twi,” she said turning and leaning against the van’s frame.
“I know.” Twilight slid from the passenger seat. “And I have things I want to say. Thing. I have something I want to say. Right now.” Before I lose my nerve.
“Me, too.” Rainbow rubbed at her arm, fixing a stare over Twilight’s shoulder where Rarity, Pinkie, and Fluttershy were all watching them without being too obvious about it. Except for Pinkie Pie, who seemed intent on some project involving tape and a few of their precious straws.
Twilight shook her head. “You first.”
“No, you—” Rainbow rolled her eyes and smacked her forehead. “Fine. The short of it is, I think it may be best for both of us if we just step back. Just be friends for now. We can revisit the whole, er, mushy thing later.”
Relief flooded her. “Oh, good. Good, because that’s what I wanted to say, too: I do love you, but I need some time.” She’d said it, and Rainbow only smiled, her expression guarded and stiff for a moment, then relaxed into a lopsided grin.
“Yeah. I feel like that, too.”
Applejack coughed and kicked a tire, leaning over to inspect it.
Twilight blushed and caught the tip of her ponytail in her fist. “Oh, yes. And I’m gay.”
“No kidding.” Rainbow’s level gaze and flat tone broke something inside her.
She giggled. “How did you know?”
“Oh, let’s see…” Rainbow tapped a finger against her chin, looking up into the sky. “The way you never look up when the boys pass by, but almost every girl who walks by gets a twitch out of you. Oh, you don’t look up then, either, but you always readjust your glasses a few seconds after they pass, you even do it when you’re wearing contacts. Girls smell good to you, I’d guess. Better than the guys at any rate. You keep checking out other girls in the locker room, but you never talk to any of them, and you’ve got this blush going on whenever you do.”
Twilight gawped, feeling her mouth drop open like a fish as she tried to force the data through her brain. Her eye twitched and she folded her arms over her stomach. “H-how could you possibly see all that?”
“Active gaydar?” Applejack tapped Rainbow’s shoulder with a fist and moved on to the next tire.
“Nah.” Rainbow returned the tap with a flick at the other’s hat and lounged against the side of the van, her arms folded over her chest, a cocky grin tugging at her lips. “I just notice things is all. Kinda picked it up in sports, I guess. Gotta pay attention to everything.” She grinned wider, her attention shifting back to Twilight, tapping her chin in an imitation of Twilight’s thoughtful pose. “I could go on. I’d really like to talk about how sleeping with another girl is a big, big clue.”
Realizing her mouth was open, Twilight snapped it closed, her cheeks heating to crimson. “H-how long have you known?”
“I didn’t until day before yesterday.” Rainbow stepped forward, her fingers lifting to touch Twilight’s cheek, halted, and drew away, stuffing the hand into a pocket. “It was a feeling. I mean, you looked so much like the pony you that I thought you might be into boys, too. I didn’t know until Badminton.” Rainbow kicked at the sand. “But I kinda hoped.”
Rainbow’s body molding against hers, warm hands enfolding hers and guiding her through the motions. Rainbow asleep on top of her, breath tickling her neck, the smell of sweat and sand, flowery shampoo and sweetly scented soap filling her nose. Fingers tickling down her thigh.
She flushed scarlet and twitched her ponytail into a curl around her fingers. “Why?”
“Because I like you a lot. Like, I just want to hug you right now, just because, and see where that goes.” Rainbow licked her lips, froze, blushing, and looked away. “Rarity says I’m crushing on you pretty hard.”
“Applejack said I might be, too.”
Rainbow peered at her briefly, closed her eyes, and slumped against the van. “She did, huh?” That smirk came back, faltered, and bloomed into a smile. “We’ve got it pretty bad, huh?”
Twilight shuffled closer, hesitated, and dropped her arms to her sides, fingers twiddling against her thighs. “She also said that you might have been… that way for close to a month. That you asked for so much help with chem and math because you wanted to be close to me.”
Silence passed between them as Rainbow scrubbed her arm, frowning over Twilight’s shoulder, and shook her head once, then shrugged, and finally sighed and switched her attention to Twilight.
When Twilight tilted her head to look inside, Pinkie was struggling with Rarity over what looked like semaphore flags made out of straws and napkins. She sighed. “They want so badly to just come out and talk to us, don’t they? Just sit us down and make us decide.”
“Yeah. But, aside from Pinkie, they’re pretty subtle about it. Usually. Applejack’s not wrong, you know. I wanted—want—to be with you so bad…” A look around, a shake of her head at Applejack, and Rainbow dropped her voice. “I wanted to kiss you last night, and you did, too.”
Throughout, Twilight was watching those lips, wondering what it would be like to just let go and kiss her friend. It would be an experiment, see what it felt like, if she liked it. But that’s what Cloud Kicker had done. Her eyes lifted to Rainbow’s eyes, and she saw the same want reflected there. She swallowed hard and jerked her gaze down, came to rest on Rainbow’s chest, and down further, to her thighs, ending up staring at her feet.
“Hey.” Rainbow’s finger prodded her shoulder. “You don’t need to be embarrassed by looking, but if we’re gonna be together, it’s gotta be because we’re sane and not because we’re…” Rainbow’s cheeks flushed darker.
“Because we’re responding to raging hormones?”
“Uh…” Rainbow’s eyes swept down over her, stopping at the same points before she swallowed hard, blushing just as heatedly before dragging her eyes back up to Twilight’s, her grin spreading. “Yeah. Let’s go with that.”
Twilight laughed, blushing, and Rainbow joined her. In that moment, she regretted telling Rainbow she wanted some space, and wanted to kiss away the uncertainty and share in the attraction she felt like the inexorable pull of gravity between them. If she reached out… her hand jittered and rose. If she touched Rainbow’s cheek… further, closer.
She clenched her fingers and pulled her hand back down.
Rainbow sat down on the step of the van as though she were a marionette whose strings had been cut, except for the hand that reached out to tug Twilight closer. “It’s okay, Twi.”
Twilight followed the tug quietly, seizing hold of the offered warmth in both hands.
“We’re okay. Right?”
Twilight sat on the running board, not letting go of the hand holding hers. The tension bled away in the silence, watching their friends pretending not to pay attention to them and listening to the quiet rushing murmur of waves on the shore.
“Yeah. We’re okay.”
“Good.” Rainbow smiled at her, squeezed once more, and sat still. “This is nice.”
“Mhm.” The sun was up high in an clear sky, several degrees south of truly being directly overhead, and the shadow from the house crept up almost to their feet. The smell of the sea, clean and salty, flowed around them like a shallow stream. It wouldn’t be long before the sun-baked sand began steaming. “I’m going to miss being here, but I hope they can join us soon.”
“So you did call.”
“Yes. He’ll be here in a few hours, he said.” Escape into the details. Girls smell good to me? She wanted to lean over and test that theory. Instead, she reached up to readjust her glasses, forgetting for a moment she was wearing her contacts, and turned it into a not-at-all-awkward readjusting of her ponytail. “W-we have to head back up to the cliff again just in case he tries to call.”
Rainbow jerked a thumb at the luggage laying on the floor, and grinned. “Yep. Kinda figured.”
“Are you still coming with us?”
Rainbow glanced over her shoulder at the purple and blue bags and turned back, her grin sliding into a twinkle-eyed smirk.
“I’ve been distracted! And I haven’t eaten lunch yet.”
“Sure.” Rainbow’s smirk didn’t fade, flinging an an arm over Twilight’s shoulders, she pushed off, pulling her up and dragging her towards the house. “And I’ve been distracted by your amazing knowledge of all things polka.”
“You know I don’t know anything about polka.” She stuck her tongue out at Rainbow, giggling.
“There you go again, being all distracting.” Rainbow laughed and planted a loud, sloppy kiss in the thick bunch of hair just above her ear. “Don’t ever stop being you.”
She shivered from the sudden heat flushing her body, but didn’t draw away.
Lunch, rather than being eaten down in the house, was moved up to the top of the ridge as a small road trip, as Pinkie claimed, and they settled in to wait.
Twilight napped on the back seat, spread out across the three-seat wide cushion with a jacket thrown over her head to catch up on the previous night’s lost sleep, and occasional snatches of conversation floated in from the open van door insinuated themselves into her hazy dreams, indistinct and forgotten as soon as the wind carried them away, and carried her deeper into sleep.
Later, her eyes aching from the tired bit of sleep she’d managed, she woke to the feel of her phone vibrating, then jingling. The sun was far down on the horizon, casting a long shadow over the van and tinting the ocean in golds and reds.
Two missed call notifications glared angry red at her as she flipped the phone open, yawning.
“Hello?”
“Yo! Sleeping beauty, we just got on that country road you told me about. It’s, what, another ten miles?” Someone else spoke quietly on the other end. “No, it’s fine. We stopped an hour ago. Got plenty of gas.”
Twilight spent a long moment parsing that, then dragged herself up and recalled the directions Applejack had given last night and knocked loudly on the window. “Close to that. Just keep going straight. Look for the turnoff for Fashion Cove.”
Applejack poked her head in, wiping a bead of sweat away from her brow, and ducked a frisbee that thunked off the side of the van, catching it on the rebound. “It’s about another five miles north from the Fashion Cove turnoff,” she said loudly, then turned and flung the frisbee back at its source.
Twilight relayed that, listened for a moment as Flash talked indistinctly to someone else, and nodded to Applejack. “He’s got it.”
Flash murmured something else indistinct, and said, “Okay. See you in a few.”
Twilight hung up, yawned, and rubbed sleep out of her eyes. “He’ll be here in a little bit,” she called as she clambered out. “Is everything ready?”
“Yep! Just gotta toss everything in his trunk, then we’re off.” Rainbow zipped the frisbee off to Pinkie, caught the return, and thumped against the van. “So, have a good beauty sleep?”
“Ugh…”
“Yeah, you look about like that, too.” Rainbow twitched her fingers through Twilight’s bangs, stopping herself before she finished, and drew away. “Might wanna, uh, brush that out.”
Twilight fished around in her backpack, finding her notebook before the brush, and drew it out instead. It wasn’t her school journal, but her private one, unmarked except for the scrawl of ‘Twilight Sparkle’ across the top. She flipped past the filled in pages, full of a handwriting growing more and more cramped until she came to the last few pages filled with her usual neat, precise hand, and wondered how many times she had intended to write down her thoughts and think about them as she did so, only to turn to her friends instead.
Rainbow sighed, rolling her eyes, and dug the brush out. “Here. Might wanna look nice.”
“I will… just…” She flipped another page, touching the words that had started the vacation. Uncertainty, confusion… The same thing she was still dealing with.
She must have said the last aloud.
“It’s not the same, Twi.” Rainbow ran the brush through her hair once, grimacing as the bristles caught on a snarl. “You’re different, y’know. You took charge this morning. Sort of.”
“So what changed?” She had, she realized. Without even knowing that she was changing, she found it easier to confide in her friends than she did in her journal. Even then, with a half-blank page open, she couldn’t think of what to tell her journal that she couldn’t talk about with one or another of her friends.
Rainbow shrugged, felt more than seen, and continued grumbling about snarls and getting Rarity to do it even as she kept on.
Twilight sat as still as she could, staring at the page and the pen with its tip hovering, quivering as if a great pressure was held in check and to let it go, all she needed to do was write, but nothing came. There was no great pressure, no great need to write what she could discuss, and no compulsion to hide in the nonjudgmental safety its blank pages offered.
All too soon, a pair of headlights turned off the distant road and grew into the familiar deep, deep blue of Flash’s Black Forest Cannon.
She hurriedly stuffed her notebook and pen back into her bag and slipped out of the van, followed by Rainbow.
Flash honked once as he parked a few dozen feet away from the van, and Sonata got out.
Everyone froze except for Sonata, who ducked back in and came up holding a tray of foam mugs and a bag with the Donkey Donuts logo on the side.
“What’s she doing here?” Rainbow called, jerking her chin at Sonata.
Flash got out a moment later, waved, and glanced at Sonata, frozen in the act of setting the tray on the car’s roof. “She’s one of those details, Rainbow. Sonata, I think you know the Rainbooms.” He waved a hand from Sonata to the gathered girls, then in reverse. “This is Sonata Dusk. She’s my friend.”
“His girlfriend?” Pinkie whispered in a tone too hushed to be anything but, and too loud to be anything but a shout.
Twilight glanced between Sonata and Flash, then shot a sidelong glance at Rainbow.
“She’s a girl, she’s my friend. Please treat her nicely.” Flash pinched the bridge of his nose, sighed, and stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets.
Rainbow recovered a beat later. “Sonata? The Siren?”
Sonata set the tray down, took a deep breath, and shook her head. “No.” Her eyes flicked to Flash. “I’m not who I was.”
Twilight stepped up and twined her fingers with Rainbow’s briefly, the motion hidden from Flash by her body. “People can change, Rainbow. I did.”
“Yeah, but she’s still a Siren!”
“She’s different, Rainbow,” Flash snapped. “I came out here to do you all a favor. If you’re going to harp on who I choose for friends…” He let the threat trail off, but pulled out his keys.
Twilight let her fingers slip free of Rainbow’s and imposed herself in between the two. “Look, I know you two don’t like each other, but please. This is for Sunset, not for us.”
She could almost feel Rainbow relax into a quivering silence.
“I’m sorry for what I did.” Sonata said quietly into the silence. “I’m not a monster, I promise. I, um… Flash is helping me get away from my past and be a better person.”
“How is he doing that?” Twilight cocked her head and studied their former rival more closely. Sonata looked as Twilight remembered her, except for the pale blue spot just below the hollow of her neck, and her hair was loose instead of in a ponytail, hanging almost to her waist, bringing a memory of Other Twilight’s hairstyle in the videos and photos.
“We’ll explain on the way. It’s gonna be almost two in the morning by the time we hit the city limits, and I want to get back home and crash. But…” He reached across the hood of the car and caught Sonata’s hand. “She’s not what you think. She’s not what I thought, either, when she came to me for help. Please, give her a chance.”
Rainbow huffed and stepped around Twilight, patting a hand on her shoulder as she passed. “Come on. We need to get going. It’s getting late.”
The first half hour passed silently, darkness descending swiftly as the sun dipped below the cliffs. Coffee added only a tiny bit of wakeful zest to Twilight’s sleep deprived thoughts, and the hum of the road tried again and again to lull her to sleep, but every time she did, she found Rainbow doing the same, her head almost resting on Twilight’s shoulder, and jerked awake, her eyes darting to see if Flash or Sonata had noticed.
It was too easy to fall together in the cramped back seat, their knees almost touching.
Flash broke the silence first.
“Is Sunset okay?”
Twilight slid her hand across the seat to touch Rainbow’s fingers and shared a brief glance. Rainbow shrugged and squeezed the hand lightly. It was up to her to make the choice again. She sighed.
“She’s lonely.”
He glanced back at her briefly, then snapped his eyes forward when Sonata smacked his shoulder. “Why didn’t she go with all of you? I thought you all were inseparable. The stars know it was like planning a raid to try and talk to you alone, Twilight.”
“Yeah, and we had reason,” Rainbow said.
“I know!” More quietly, a few seconds later, “I know. And I’m sorry for what I said. I knew what I said would hurt you, and I wanted to hurt you.”
“But he didn’t want want to hurt you,” Sonata said. She laid a hand on Flash’s shoulder and looked back, her face all but invisible in the dim light cast by the dash. “We wanted him to want to hurt you. And I’m sorry. I know it was wrong.”
“Sona…” Flash sighed.
“Hey, at least she’s honest.”
“Rainbow!” Twilight smacked her friend’s shoulder. “Please don’t antagonize him.”
“Fine… Sorry.” Rainbow squeezed Twilight’s fingers lightly. “I just don’t… I mean, uh…” She subsided into grumbling silence, sinking as much as she could into the seat cushion. “Thanks for driving us.”
“Heh. She listens to you? Miracles can happen.”
“Flash, don’t.” Sonata smacked his shoulder, her tone almost chiding. “She apologized.”
“Yes, mother,” he groaned. “Apology accepted, okay? And you’re welcome. Stars know why, but I’m happy to do this for Sunny.”
“You still have feelings for her.” Twilight said.
“Sorta. It’s… like you, actually.” He grimaced, barely a hint of it visible in the dim red glow of the console. “Complicated, I mean. I mean… you look just like her. I felt my heart jump when I saw you, but—”
“But she’s not your Twilight,” Rainbow growled.
“But,” Flash said, voice raised, “I know you’re not her. Just like I know Sunset isn’t… she’s changed. She’s not got the same confidence she used to.”
Twilight recalled when she had first met Sunset, that it had felt like she had been under intense scrutiny, more so from her than from anyone else. It had been she who’d figured out that Twilight wasn’t the Twilight of another world first, within minutes of meeting her. She still remembered the surprised look, and the hope blooming in the smile just before she told the group who Twilight was.
“You’re wrong,” she said, holding that smile in her mind’s eye. “She’s still got that confidence, Flash.”
“Yeah.” Rainbow’s hand found hers again, clutched lightly, briefly, and let her hand rest atop Twilight’s. “But it’s aimed differently.” She glanced at the mirror, then back. “She didn’t have a lot of experience being friends, but… she was really eager to learn.”
Twilight caught Rainbow’s glance again: a momentary meeting of the eyes, a raised eyebrow, and a light squeeze over her hand.
“Kinda like you, Twi.” Again, the squeeze.
She got it, then, and caught a giggle before it came out. Rainbow’s eyes twinkled in the darkness.
“So… how are you going to tell your parents?”
Twilight stared at her friend’s dim profile, her heart hammering in her chest. “M-my parents?” Not here, she pleaded silently. Not now.
“Yeah. About, uh, why you’re home so early.”
“That’s actually a good question,” Flash said. “So… why did you call me? Why not your parents?”
“Long story,” Rainbow said. “There’s… complications with Twilight’s parents that we don’t want to deal with.” She squeezed Twilight’s fingers.
Sonata, already half-twisted around, looked more closely between them, visibly squinting in the dark. After a long moment of Twilight trying to stay as still as possible, she twisted back around, giggling.
“What?” Flash shot a look back, then to the side. “What is it?”
“Nothing.” Sonata covered her giggles behind her hand.
“It’s not nothing! Are you speaking in some kind of crazy, silent girl code?”
“No, silly, no girl code, and they’re not saying what you think.” Sonata’s laugh rose again, stifled, and continued on, muffled. “They’re just gay.”
“Of course Rainbow’s gay. Duh.” A moment later, the car swerved as he twisted in his seat to cast a pleading look at them. “Please tell me she’s just being crazy.”
Sonata slapped his shoulder again and grabbed for the wheel. Flash jerked back around, brushed Sonata’s reach aside with a hand, and swerved back into their lane.
Twilight calmed her hammering heart and tried to drag her stomach back up from her feet. More than just the sudden swerve had sent her stomach hurtling down, and she sought the dim reflection of Flash’s eyes in the mirror.
Beetled brows rose to disappear into the fringe of Flash’s mussed hair. “How can you tell? Were they using some secret lesbian code?” He flashed a look at Sonata. “You were talking about Rainbow, right?”
“Nope, her.” Sonata jabbed a finger at Twilight.
Twilight sank further back into her seat, wishing there had been a hole to the trunk right then.
Rainbow groaned. “She’s evil. I told you.”
“Am not!”
“Are too!”
“Quiet!” Flash’s snapped command froze the argument. “Good grief, it’s like driving around my sisters all over again.”
“Sonata started it!”
“You started it!”
“Seriously, how are you two not related? Quiet down or I’m turning this car around.”
Twilight giggled past the flush creeping up her neck.
They drove on, slower and in silence for a long stretch of highway until Flash broke it again, his eyes flicking to Twilight’s in the mirror. She swallowed.
“So… Are you?” He frowned. “But the other Twilight from—”
“Dude, she’s not your Twilight. Get over it.” Rainbow jabbed a punch at his seat. “That Twilight was from another world.”
“I never said she was my Twilight!” he snapped, shifting his glare from Rainbow to Sonata. “Are you gay?”
“No. I’m as gay as you are.” Sonata chuckled and jabbed his shoulder with a finger. “I mean, you’re not, are you?”
“Um… Remember when you caught me staring at your chest? And legs?” He chuckled. “So not gay.”
Rainbow snickered. “Dude, really? I mean, she’s got a nice set, but really? I’m discreet about it at least.”
“Oh, yeah? I find it hard to believe you can be subtle.” Flash snorted, shaking his head.
“Yeah. Like, Sonata. You’ve got a pretty nice set, babe.”
“Babe? Are you seriously hitting on a straight girl?” Flash shook his head and sighed loudly. “And how is that at all subtle?”
“Thanks!” Sonata said, raising her hands as though to pat imaginary breasts. “I like mine, but, I think I like yours better. They’re bigger than mine, anyway.”
“There’s no way that’s true. I’m a middling B. You’ve gotta be a high C or a low D, right?”
“Um… Low C, Dash. You have heard of push-up bras, right?”
“Duh. So why’d you think I’m bigger than you? I mean, you don’t hang around the girls locker room, but…”
“That wicked guitar solo, when you played it behind your back? Wow.”
“Yeah… no. Extraordinary circumstances. Middle B. Ask Twi.” Rainbow nudged her lightly. “You’ve seen ‘em.”
She flushed, huddling back into her seat as the heat she’d been fighting threatened to explode. She could remember all too well the moment of Rainbow’s brazenly naked tirade at the top of the stairs, chest thrust out, finger jabbing down at Rarity so that she could see Rainbow in profile, see just how nice her body was.
Was it really only two nights ago?
“So?”
Twilight jerked her eyes up, realizing Sonata was looking expectantly at her. “W-what?”
“She telling the truth?”
She nodded. “I-I think so. I mean… I didn’t get a good—” She swallowed hard, pushing back the image. “Look.”
Flash’s jaw picked up from his chest as he stared at Sonata, then into the mirror at Rainbow and back at Sonata. “You have no place to call me out on checking out chicks.”
“Hey, hey, I never said I didn’t. I’m just subtle about it.”
Flash sighed, shaking his head more firmly. “And you’re not gay?” Flash asked, jerking his chin at Sonata, then glared at Rainbow.
“Nope! Boys, boys, boys! I mean, I don’t need to be a lesbian to admire another girl’s physique, right? You do the same to guys, right?” Sonata turned and flashed a grin at Rainbow.
“Um… no.” Rainbow shook her head. “No interest.”
“See, I’m an equal opportunity ogler,” Sonata chirped, almost bouncing in her seat.
“That’s awesome.” Rainbow reached forward to tap fists with Sonata. “You’re pretty cool.”
Flash sighed and almost smacked his head against the steering wheel. “You two are so weird.” He glanced back at Rainbow, blinked, and jerked his eyes forward again.
“Hey, eyes on the road, bub, not on my boobs. You missed your chance.” Rainbow smacked the back of the headrest.
Flash snorted. “You’re gay, remember? I never had a chance.”
“I— You—” She glanced at Twilight, then at Sonata. Her mouth worked soundlessly for several seconds.
Twilight laughed, covered it behind her hands.
“He did not just score a point on me! You didn’t win!” Rainbow smacked the headrest again, but Flash broke into snickering and laughter, growing harder when he glanced back at Rainbow’s face, the car swerving slightly.
“Kinda sounds like he did,” Sonata said.
“Evil!” Rainbow laughed.
Some time later, Sonata twisted in her seat to face Twilight. “So… I’m not sure if I got the right idea. I mean, are you? A lesbian, I mean.”
“Sonata…” Flash sighed. “That’s kinda rude.”
“I’m just curious. It’s cool if she is.”
“I-I…” Twilight faltered. She swallowed hard, and nodded. “M-my parents don’t know. Please, please keep it secret, okay?” She met Flash’s eyes in the mirror briefly. “I don’t know the first thing about telling them.”
“Hear that?” He glanced at Sonata.
“What am I not hearing?”
Flash smiled, glanced aside at her again, and sighed. “That Twilight’s in the closet. Keep it secret, Sonata, okay? She’s only out to her friends, apparently, and us.”
“Yeah, I know.” Sonata shrugged. “I’ll keep it secret.”
“Flash, anyone who drives ten hours round trip to pick me up from the middle of nowhere, and is willing to keep a secret for me… You’re a friend.” Twilight tapped a finger against the back of his chair. “As long as you’re not an axe murderer.”
“No, no. Flash is nice.”
“I know, Sonata.”