As she lay on her back, wrapped in the warmth of her blanket, Sunset struggled not to move a muscle. For the past few minutes after opening her eyes, this had been her only goal lest she be reminded of the soreness in her limbs.
It was blatantly evident that the final few hours of yesterday’s snowball war took their toll on her body, especially when there were some people who refused to let up on her. Sunset swore in her head that she would come across more than a few bruises on her body if she ever got up from under her sheets long enough to check.
Contrary to her previous assumptions, Ditzy Doo had Coco-level throwing strength. Plus, when Pinkie got her sister, Maud, to come out… it was just game over for everyone. It came to no one’s surprise when Maud took the flag from Sweet Apple Acres by herself, going through AJ, Sunset, and even plowing through Big Macintosh himself. Literally, if eye witness reports from fleeing children were to be believed. But it was to everyone’s surprise when, at the last moment, Dinky and Pip betrayed Button to take one from him and give it to Ditzy.
It was a an... interesting day. And tiring, definitely tiring.
Even so, Sunset supposed that she did have fun in the end. If anything, letting some people get out some of their pent up aggression on her was the least she could do. It might have actually helped her standing in the students’ eyes.
“All except Octavia,” she muttered, thinking back to the event two days prior. The cellist's final words continued to thrash around in her skull. After returning inside and being reminded of the cheery atmosphere, Sunset had decided to keep their confrontation to herself.
Sunset lifted a sore arm up from out of her cocoon and draped it over her face. “I know I need to tell them but…” she sighed, trailing off. “Maybe I can talk to Vinyl about it.”
Unwilling to let herself be buried under negative thoughts while there were still other things to stress over, Sunset decided that maybe it was time to get up.
“What time is it,” she wondered. Moving her arm, she looked out the window. Doing so proved to be fairly a fruitless effort, as the clouds still covered the sky a bit too much to get an accurate reading on the sun’s position. Even so, there was enough daylight piercing the grey veil that Sunset could tell that it was at least late morning.
She turned towards the closed door curiously. “Actually, forget the sun, where’s Coco?” By this point, Sunset was so used to the girl coming in to check on her or say ‘good morning’ it felt weird that she hadn’t come in yet. “Coco always leaves the door cracked though. She’s probably sleeping in… Good for her.”
Feeling that her reasoning was solid, Sunset turned over in her bed and attempted to return to sleep. It was still cold, and she was still the world's first hibernating unicorn-turned-human.
It wasn’t more than two minutes later when Sunset began to feel a strange longing in her gut. She knew right away it wasn't hunger. All Sunset knew, was that she was curious to see what Coco looked like while asleep.
In the time they’d lived together, Sunset had noticed that Coco could somehow managed to stay up half the night working of designs, sleep only three or four hours a day, and yet still get up looking completely well rested. Never once had Sunset been able to stay awake longer than her. Not even at the slumber party they had at Pinkie’s.
Sunset imagined her splayed out on the bed, covers strewn everywhere except over her. She could envision Coco simply passed out on the comforter with half of her body hanging over the side of the bed and snoring louder than Rainbow Dash. Her hair a total mess of curls and knots, looking nowhere near as straight and prim like it usually was.
Sunset snickered at the impossibility of such an image. “No, wait,” she gasped. “Maybe she sleeps like Rarity,” she muttered. “All tucked in while lying on her back with a blindfold on.”
Thinking of Rarity, her snickering stopped abruptly. “Wait… maybe she just sits at her desk all night working… then just falls asleep there. Rarity does that sometimes. Or maybe she just falls on her bed and passes out.”
Sunset went silent for a moment, mulling her thoughts over. “I gotta see…” she finally concluded. When she did, the strange feeling disappeared as mysteriously as it appeared.
Finally coming to a decision, Sunset slowly began to open her cloth cocoon, tingling as the cold met her skin. Her resolve weakened momentarily as she considered leaving it for a warmer day.
Then, another thought entered her mind. She remembered how Coco always tried to wake her up whenever she slept in, not to mention always leaving out extra breakfast and making fresh coffee…
“Maybe I should get something ready for her this time,” she reasoned.
In the end, Sunset decided that if Coco was still asleep she’d surprise her with breakfast... as a thank you of course. Her new positive conscience in full swing, Sunset pulled her resolve together and, in one fell swoop, threw all of her covers off at once. She lay there for a second, deeply regretting her decision, before finally getting up, crossing the clean carpeted floor, and quickly heading towards the door.
~~~
Carefully, Sunset crept closer to Coco’s closed beige-colored bedroom door. Bracing her back against the wall, Sunset brazenly pushed closer towards the entrance. Before opening it, her still positive conscience warned her that she should at least knock. Fortunately, common sense kicked in and said that it would defeat the purpose of what she was out to do.
The girl set one ear against the wood and listened.
Silence.
Sunset knew that she didn’t have the hearing power she used to, now with human ears, but she still valued her above average hearing ability. Plus, with her up, and the house dead silent, it was incredibly easy to listen through the wooden door.
Sunset closed her eyes and opened her ears to hear anything. Her soft breathing? Her light or possibly muffled snoring? Nothing. She even listened for the sound of the shifting covers or the faint creek of her old wooden bed… Still nothing.
Perhaps, Coco was awake and at her table. On this reasoning, Sunset listened for the sound of a pencil scratching on paper, or even for the small hmm’s or ahh’s the designer made when doing so. Sunset listened for anything that would give her a clue of whether or not she was in there.
In the end, Sunset decided to simply go ahead and open the door a crack. With a turn of the brass knob, and the slight creek of the wood. Sunset slowly peeked into the room and looked around.
Coco’s room was, in a sense, both more full, and yet, more empty, than Sunset’s room. Where Sunset had a mid-sized, mostly blue, abode with a bookshelf, table, television, and bed, Coco’s room seemed to be a larger sized one, furnished to be a more creme color than Sunset’s room. Its walls were cheerfully adorned with posters of beautiful dresses, gorgeous models, and… creepy looking ghouls. Sunset stared at those for a while before shrugging and deciding not to question it, figuring that everyone had their strange tastes.
Despite the room’s larger size, when Coco wasn't working on a dress, all of her materials, models and tools were put away neatly, either in her closet or, oddly enough, under her bed. This made the room as a whole look more empty at first glance than it really was.
When the girl was working or practicing, however, Sunset could remember barely having a place to stand while she and Rainbow were being fitted for their Daring Do outfits.
Another cursory glance brought Coco’s work table into view. Sunset moved on. Even with a brief glance, it was obvious that Coco wasn't working on anything special as everything was as pristine and neat as could be. Nothing was out of place in her room and even the bed was made.
Sunset raised an eyebrow in confusion. Her ears rang true as there was no sign of anything in the room.
Curious, Sunset looked back down the hall towards her room. Seeing that she wouldn’t be getting the chance to wake Coco up for once, Sunset cut her losses.
“Coco, you here?” she called out. Waiting, Sunset was met with another deft silence. Walking downstairs, Sunset checked the living room and dining room. Nothing. Both bathroom doors were open so she obviously wasn't there either. She tried calling one more time. “Coco, we have to figure out what we’re gonna get the others. Where are you!”
Reasoning that she may have been outside or hanging with their friends, Sunset simply returned to her room to grab her phone. As she did so, Sunset decided to make some breakfast and headed for the kitchen.
As the phone began to dial, Sunset stepped into the kitchen and saw something interesting. Sitting on the table was a single piece of paper.
Picking it up, Sunset read the note silently:
“Dear, Sunset Squash (How do you like it, lol!)
Like I said, I have to go spend the break with my family back in Manehatten. I thought I would be leaving tomorrow but they called me up last night and told me to make the trip early this morning.
I would’ve told you when it had happened, but you were so exhausted, you just passed out as soon as you got home. When I came to check on you later you had just thrown all of your clothes and covers off and sat there splayed out on your bed. At some point in the night you must have got up, because you picked up your covers and wrapped yourself up again.
You sleep really weird by the way. (I think I heard you whinny once. It was so cute!) But at least you looked like you had a lot of fun yesterday. You should’ve seen yourself, smiling and laughing even when you got hit with the snow. Oh! And the snow was also beautiful. I hope it’s still here when I get back.
By the way, I’ll be back around the third of the new year. My parents want to spend New Year’s together, but next year I’ll get to spend both holidays with you and the rest of my new friends. Isn’t that wonderful?!
Again, I’m sorry I couldn’t say this face to face, I didn’t have the heart to wake you up. Have fun, and I hope you figure out what to get the others. In the end it’s all from the heart.
Love,
Coco PommelP.S: Please don’t stay cooped up inside all day. Go hang out at Sugarcube Corner at least.”
Sunset stared at the note, wide eyed. By her ear, Sunset’s phone had finally stopped ringing and hit Coco’s voicemail, cheerfully telling her to leave a message before beeping. Her arm holding the phone fell to her side.
She had completely forgotten about Coco leaving. She did say that she would leave at some point before Christmas, during the first few days of the break.
Suddenly, the nostalgic silence of the large house began to feel much more suffocating. Its vacant presence finally beginning to dawn on her, Sunset looked up from the letter. The kitchen was just as clean, if not cleaner than Coco’s own room.
“Wait a sec’,” she muttered, looking back at the letter. “I threw my clothes everywhere?” Sunset thought back to the room she crossed on the way out. There wasn't a single article anywhere on the floor. She then thought back to all of the other rooms. While the living room and dining room were never all that dirty, things did seem a bit more.. in place. Stunned, Sunset glanced at the letter once more. “D... did she clean the house before she left?”
Sunset couldn’t quite place it, but her chest began to feel tight and an old feeling started to creep in. Not letting them in, Sunset took a deep breath. In… and out. She would be back, and in the meantime, Sunset had other problems to deal with, namely… what to do now.
She could go to the mall and find a present that fit her friends’ multiple criteria… She shook her head. The mall, by herself? She’d burn it down without Coco. She could hang out with the girls at Sugarcube Corner, but the Cakes had came back and saw what had happened to the dining area during, the, now infamous, “Button’s Last Stand” event that happened yesterday. The girls were still cleaning up everything that crazy kid did. Sunset had offered to help today but…
Well they didn’t outright deny her, but she could see it in their expressions; reluctance in their faces, distrust in their eyes, and nervousness in their voice.
Sunset walked into the living room and sat down. The living room had the basic things a living room needed. A single grey couch that she was resting on, and a single grey recliner with a moderately sized television to watch.
Interestingly, the television itself wasn’t native to the house before Coco showed up. She brought it with her, among a few other things, when her luggage arrived. It was mostly used whenever Rainbow or the others came over to play video games or watch movies, otherwise both this screen, and the one in her room—also donated by Coco—were rarely used.
Usually, they’d spend the day talking, reading, or going out of the house. Even though it had only been a few months, Sunset found that she couldn’t recall what she used to do before having friends besides reading or studying alone. She would go back to work, but her boss had closed the place for the winter.
Sunset sighed, and leaned her elbow on the armrest.
“Oh no… she looks so sad.”
Sunset’s head snapped up and swiveled around, swearing she heard something.
“I don’t know what to do…”
There it was again! Sunset’s head honed in on the extremely quiet whispering coming from the entrance out to the hallway. Frowning, Sunset stood up and quietly made her way over to the doorway. Peeking her head through she came upon a familiar girl crouched, back turned, a few feet into the hall.
~~~
Coco sighed and continued to whisper into her phone. “I don’t know, Rainbow Dash. I thought you said this would be funny, but she looks so lonely right now... I feel bad.”
A brief bit a static came through as Rainbow sighed into her phone. “Come on, she can’t be that upset…. Anyway if it didn’t work then just end the joke and go in there. Say sorry if you have to.”
Coco shook her head dejectedly. “I can’t just walk in there now… what if she’s mad at—”
There was a small ding from Rainbow’s end, cutting Coco off. “Oh, speak of the she-demon. I just got a text from her.”
Coco’s spirits lifted slightly. “A text from Sunset? What’s it say?”
“Gimmie a sec.” There were a few beeps as rainbow opened the message. “It says... ‘tell Coco to turn around?’ What does that… oh… Gottagohelpcleanupgoodluck!” And with that, Rainbow promptly hung up the phone, leaving a confused Coco Pommel alone on the line.
“Wait she texted you to tell me to—” Coco shivered as a sudden chill went down her spine and a shadow slowly loomed over her. Slowly, Coco turned around to see Sunset, cellphone gripped tightly in her hand, standing over her. Her expression was flat and unreadable, but Coco still feared the worst.
Coco gulped and stammered out, “G-good morning?”
~~~
Sunset sipped her coffee, a satisfying slurp echoing through the otherwise awkward silence. Sitting on the other side of the kitchen table, Coco held her head down, looking very much like a child ready to listen to a lecture they knew they deserved.
Sunset stared at her, she had looked like that for the past few minutes. “Coco… I told you, I’m not mad.”
“I’m still sorry though,” she countered, looking up at her with honest eyes “It was a mean joke.”
Sunset sighed and peered into the black brew in front of her. “In your defense, I did deserve it. I did the same thing to you. I was worse actually, I tricked you… At least you told me last week.” She took another sip. “Speaking of which, when do you actually leave.”
Coco nervously fidgeted in her chair. “Tomorrow…” Sunset looked down for a second then opened her mouth to say something, but before anything came out, Coco cut her off. “But not until noon because of the snow. So... I should still be able to say goodbye in person to everyone.”
Sunset gave her a small smile and said, “I guess that’s good,” and continued to drink her warm coffee.
Still slightly mischievous, Cooco chucked, gaining an odd look from Sunset. Smirking up at her with a light blush on her cheeks, Coco asked. “So… you really wanted to watch me sleep?” Sunset, still slurping, nearly spit her drink all over the table.
By the time Coco helped Sunset to stop choking, Sunset had a beet red face and refused to comment on Coco’s remark.
Coco, despite feeling bad, still couldn’t suppress a small grin. Being the considerate friend she was, she changed the topic. “So... Christmas is almost here, I think I figured out something we could get for our friends.”
Sunset, patted her chest and took a deep breath. After being messed with so much in one day, she looked at her with nothing but a flat look and a raised brow, silently asking her to continue. “I was talking to Ditzy yesterday, and she told me that if we couldn’t buy anything, we could make something by hand instead.”
Sunset rolled her. “That makes sense, but we’d have to make something for all of them. Plus, what would we make?”
Coco shrugged shyly, her initial confidence waning a bit. “I was hoping you would know something they would like. I could help you make it before I have to leave if you can come up with an idea.” She gave Sunset and bashful grin. “I’m good at designing clothes for others, I’m not so good at recreational ideas.
Sunset leaned back in her seat and thought about it. “Well, Rarity wanted something visually appealing but also meaningful. Applejack wanted something useful, Fluttershy wants something from the heart. Pinkie wants something fun and Rainbow wants something I know she’ll love. I know the kinds of gifts each one wants but I know there’s a slim chance we’ll be able to please all of those with whatever we decide to make.”
She frowned and stared down into her almost empty cup. “Not to mention we took so long trying to figure out what to get them that now we’ve backed ourselves into having a time limit.”
Coco listened on, having faith that Sunset could work out the problem.
Sunset continued speaking her thoughts aloud. “In the interest of saving time we would have to make six things that are all relatively simple and similar, but also customizable to fit the individual and unique to only them.”
Coco counted in her head. “Wait… six?”
Sunset looked up at her, smiling brightly. “Well, of course I have to make you something too. You are one of my friends.” Coco blushed and her resulting smile could’ve replaced the sun at that moment.
Sunset went back to thinking. Soon enough her own face lit up in a burst of brilliance. “Wait, I got it! Something I could make that no one else could!”
Jumping up, Sunset ran towards her room. Stopping at the stairs, Sunset turned back to Coco, who had followed her into the hall. “Come on,” she said, beaming, “we need to get to the mall!”