Truth of the Heart

by Rose Quill

Summer's Truth

"I don't know what you're talking about," said Bon Bon, AKA Sweetie Drops. "I thought that it was transcendent."

"I'm not saying it wasn't beautiful music," Lyra said, as the two of them walked home under the starry sky and the light of the moon. "All I'm saying is that he did better work with the Fillydelphia Symphony Orchestra."

"The Royal Canterlot Philharmonic-"

"Is great, but it isn't where he belongs," Lyra said. "Trust me, who has a musical instrument for their cutie mark, me or you."

Bon Bon looked at her. "One of these days I'm going to win an argument with you about music."

"One of these days," Lyra said. "But not tonight." She smiled.

"Sweet Celestia you're beautiful," Bon Bon said.

"And you're ravishing," Lyra said, leaning in to kiss Bon Bon on the lips. "I had a wonderful time tonight."

"Me too," Bon Bon murmured. "I'm a little bit hungry now though."

"Yeah, me too," Lyra said.

"I told you we should have eaten before the concert," said Bon Bon.

"But if we'd done that we wouldn't have had time to go to the museum," Lyra replied. "Come on, I'm sure there's some leftovers we can heat up."

"I hope so," Bon Bon said, as she followed her mare friend up the steps towards their house.

Lyra unlocked the door, and the two mares walked into their house... which was not as empty as it should have been considering that they were the only two ponies that lived there and they'd been out in Canterlot all evening. However, in defiance of that fact there home was not empty.

A unicorn stallion with a red coat was standing at the oven, watching a set of saucepans bubble and boil with a contented smile upon his face. He was wearing glasses, and an exquisitely tailored grey three piece suit which fitted his slightly chunky frame perfectly. His mane was grey, but cut so short he was practically bald, with his mane little more than a layer of stubble on top of his head. An overcoat and a fedora hung upon the coat stand in Lyra and Bon Bon's hallway.

He looked at the two mares and beamed. "Ah! You're back, wonderful. I was a little worried that the stew would burn if you were delayed any longer, I'm glad to see that they were able to get the train moving without too much inconvenience."

"The stew?" Lyra asked.

"Yes, I know that you didn't dine in Canterlot - personally I always go to Luigi's and have the deep-fried corn cobs with that exquisite rum and tomato sauce, but I'm aware that he's not in everypony's price range - so since you were certain to be hungry I took the liberty of whipping up an old family recipe."

Lyra's mouth hung open, Bon Bon was keeping her's shut in order to stop from screaming.

"You... I don't..." Lyra murmured.

"I'm afraid I can't give you all the details - it is a family secret after all - but I can promise that you'll love it," the stallion went on. "I once served this stew to Sapphire Shores after a great day at the race track. We had a wonderful meal, spent a wonderful evening at a cosy little cocktail bar on Amore Avenue called the Rainbow Wing, I don't know if you've heard of it, they serve these cocktails called Taste the Rainbow and oh, my Celestia you have to try one. And then of course we went back to her place oh, what a night I do declare-"

"Excuse me, who are you?" Lyra demanded. "What are you doing in our house and how do you know where we've been tonight?"

The stallion's smile didn't fade. "Of course, where are my manners. My name is Red Dawn and I'm an old friend of Sweetie Drops; I was in the neighbourhood and I decided to look her up. And this is Zuma, come on out, Zuma, don't be shy."

A zebra in a trench coat stepped out of the shadows at the back of the kitchen and gave Lyra and Bon Bon a terse nod.

Lyra blinked, then looked at Bon Bon. "Bon Bon, do you know these guys? And they called you Sweetie Drops... are they from when you used to work for-"

"Lyra," Bon Bon said. "I need you give me a minute."

"But they-"

"Will be gone soon," Bon Bon said calmly. "Please, baby, I just need a bit of privacy."

Lyra frowned, but nodded. "Okay. I'll be upstairs. Come get me when you're done."

Red bowed his head. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Lyra."

Lyra regarded him warily as she ascended the stairs up to their bedroom. Bon Bon listened to the click of her hooves on the staircase, then the opening and shutting again of the bedroom door.

"Sweetie-" Red began.

"What the hay, Red?" Bon Bon snarled. "What the hay do you think you're doing? And don't give me any ponyfeathers about being in the neighbourhood. How many years have I been out, and you just drop in on me like this. And with Lyra, how dare you bring her into this you son of a-"

"Do you honestly believe that I would choose to interrupt your retirement if it wasn't absolutely necessary?" Red asked, all traces of his former jovial attitude failing. "I need your help, Sweetie."

"My help?" Bon Bon asked. "My help? I'm out, Red. I've been out for years. That isn't my world any more."

"That's how you know it's important," Red said. "Lyra knows about your former identity."

"She knows I used to hunt monsters," Bon Bon said.

"Does she know that, in between quitting Monster Hunter International and settling down to this domestic life you also worked in intelligence off the grid?" Red asked. "For... private parties."

Bon Bon stared at him. "Is that how it is now, Red? Blackmail? You know, I always thought you were better than that. Even when you were on the most wanted list, even when all my government contacts were hunting you, I took comfort from the fact that you had a code, and that you took care of your people. But now you come here and throw my past in my face to try and-"

"I'm not here to blackmail you, Sweetie, I'm here to ask for your help," Red said. "I just wanted to know why you didn't want Lyra to hear our conversation. I can pay you very well, you know I can."

"This isn't about the money, Red," Bon Bon said. "I... I'm out. I've got Lyra, I've got a life."

"So does my daughter," Red murmured. "She won't do, once they get through with her."

Bon Bon's eyes narrowed. "This is about Sunset?"

Red nodded.

"Do you know what she did?" Bon Bon asked. "I don't know all the details myself... but do you know what she is?"

"She's my daughter," Red said firmly. "My eldest girl."

"I know, I'm just not sure she needs Daddy to take care of her any more," Bon Bon said. "Who's this they?"

"The Syndicate."

"Oh, Celestia, the Syndicate again," Bon Bon said as she rolled her eyes. "Red do you even-"

"I have names."

"Do you have any proof?" Bon Bon asked. "Years you spent chasing the Fulcrum, and you never found it."

"The Syndicate is real," Red said. "They're real and they're going after Sunset because they think she has the Fulcrum."

"Does she?"

"I don't know," Red admitted. "We'll know more when we get to Tall Lake."

"I'm not going to Tall Lake," Bon Bon said. "I told you-"

"I need you, Sweetie Drops," Red said. "You were the best asset I ever had-"

"Was, back then," Bon Bon said. "I'm not that mare any more. I'm not even Sweetie Drops any more. Why do you need me so bad?"

"Because I know that you aren't one of them," Red said, his voice hoarse. "If you were you never would have retired to this rural simplicity. I need you, Sweetie, because you're the only pony I can trust. Please, Sweetie, my daughter is in danger. You may think she's capable to taking care of herself, and perhaps it's true that I imagine the little filly who used to come crying to me when she had nightmares instead of the grown mare she is now, but trust me when I say that Sunset is not prepared for what's coming. She has no idea. Please, this is all my fault and I have to make it right, but I can't do it alone."

Bon Bon said, "If I do this... will they come after Lyra."

"If this works then there won't be a them to come after anypony when I'm done," Red said. "But... I'll have her protected."

"By the ponies you're not sure you can trust?" Bon Bon asked.

"No, I'll use griffons," Red said. "I trust them, I just can't use them in Tall Lake."

Bon Bon hesitated, then sighed. "We had some good times, didn't we Red? And Zuma, how are you? What are you doing still hanging around with this jerk?"

Zuma smiled at her as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Come here, you," Bon Bon said as she gave him a hug. "How has it been?"

"More dangerous without you," Zuma said.

"No need to flatter me, we both know I can't say no to this guy," Bon Bon said. "Okay, Red, I'll do it. This one last job, this one last time. When do we need to leave."

"Right now," Red said.

"I was afraid you'd say that," Bon Bon said. "Just let me say goodbye to Lyra, okay?"

"We'll wait outside," Red said.

Bon Bon went upstairs and found Lyra sitting at the vanity mirror, levitating a brush through her light green mane.

"Hey," Bon Bon said softly.

Lyra turned around to look at her, a smile upon her face. Sweet Celestia she was beautiful. "Hey. Are they gone?"

"They're... yeah, they've left the house," Bon Bon said. "Listen, Lyra, I have to go."

"Go," Lyra said, as she dropped the hairbrush. "Go where?"

"Best if you don't know," Bon Bon said, her voice hoarse.

Lyra blinked. "With them?"

Bon Bon nooded. "Yeah."

"Why?"

"Because Red needs my help," Bon Bon said. "And I know he's a creep but, I kinda like him. I can't say no, not to this."

"Okay," Lyra said quietly. "You're coming back, right?"

Bon Bon walked up to Lyra and kissed her. "Of course I'm coming back. I'm coming right back to you. I promise."

Lyra smiled sadly. "Stay safe out there, okay?"

"I promise I will not be doing anything dangerous," Bon Bon lied.

Sunset walked down the street in a blind fury, pushing into and past the other ponies going the opposite way, not caring who stared at her, pounding the pavements in her fancy dress, with her mane askew and her mascara running. Other ponies called out to her, telling her to watch where she was going, but she ignored them. She had no time for any of them.

The nerve. The... the nerve! Even if he is Twilight's father he doesn't get to talk to me that way!

Sunset was dimly aware that she was keeping on walking rather than face the fact that at some point she would have to go back and explain her tantrum to Twilight, but frankly she was okay with that. She would much rather wander around Tall Lake a few times rather than admit she was wrong about this.

"Hey, watch it lady!"

Sunset scooted out of the road and back onto the pavement moments before the cab that would have hit her came blasting past, pulled by a pair of frantic looking stallions in cab company livery. As they passed, the wheel of the cab drove through a puddle, spraying Sunset with cold water. A couple of less than sympathetic bystanders laughed uproariously as though it were the funniest thing they'd seen all night.

Sunset growled, but resisted the urge to yell at them. The splash had had the unintended side effect of clearing her head a little, and she no longer wanted to walk around the city without aim or direction until her legs gave out.

On the other hoof she didn't really want to go back to the hotel either.

"The Nightwing hands Carmargue Falcone into the guards!" a pegasus yelled out from a newspaper stand. "Nightwing captures Carmargue Falcone! Winged vigilante still at large!"

Winged vigilante? Like out of a comic book or something? Sunset knew that Twilight and her friends had once collectively pretended to be a superhero in order to teach Rainbow Dash a little humility, but she had never imagined that anypony would actually go out at night dressed in a costume to fight crime for real. She moved a little closer to the newstand, which had pictures of the arrested pony - a quick glance at the front page revealed that he had been found unconscious and chained up outside a warehouse full of stolen property and had confessed everything in terror as soon as the guards showed up - and a very grainy, out of focus silhouette of the vigilante, a humanoid looking creature with wings like a bat. Something about that rang a bell for Sunset, but it was impossible to tells exactly what from looking at the awful photograph.

"So, how long have you had a superhero problem?" Sunset asked.

"She's been here a few months," the vendor said. "But she ain't no problem. She's finally giving folks around here some hope, you know. Taking back the streets for honest ponies, taking on the crooks and the crooked cops. Making a difference."

Sunset frowned. "You got a lot of problems here in Tall Lake?"

"You a tourist, sweetheart?" the vendor asked. When Sunset nodded, he went on. "Well, don't let the fancy hotels fool you. Money runs this town, and sometimes the money gets dirty. This Nightwing dame is the only person willing to step up and do something about it. She can't get bought, she can't get scared off. She got simple rules: do wrong, you get punished for it. That's the way it should be."

"What about if you regret the wrong you did?" Sunset murmured.

"Ah, regret," the vendor said. "How does regret help the people you hurt, huh, answer me that?"

Sunset didn't reply, instead she walked away, musing over what the vendor had said. Do wrong, you get punished for it. She had heard that before, when the furies had dragged her down to Tartarus to answer for her crimes. It hadn't mattered to them that she was penitent. It hadn't mattered that she had been forgiven by Twilight. All that mattered was punishing her for all her crimes. She hoped that this Nightwing didn't know who she was, or what she'd done.

As she passed the mouth of a little, dimly lit alleyway, Sunset heard a scuffling sound from inside.

"Hello?" she called out, her horn lighting up to spread a green glow out in front of her as a substitute for a streetlamp. "Hello? Is anypony there?"

There was the sound of somepony colliding with a dustbin and knocking it over. A cat screeched.

"Hello?" Sunset said. "Is everypony okay? Does anypony need help in there?"

She tentatively took a few steps into the alleyway, turning her light this way and that as she looked for the source of the noise. It had definitely been too big to be just a cat.

With a hiss like an angry snake a woman dropped out of the sky in front of Sunset, a woman with skin of scaly green, putrid and decaying, with clawed hands and clawed feet and leathery wings that were so full of holes and rents that it was a wonder that they still worked. A snake coiled around her waist, hissing and spitting along with her, and her hair was burning fire, crimson and gold just like Sunset's mane.

"Put out that light, you little fool!" Allecto snarled, baring her fangs at Sunset. "Do you want people to see me?"

"Gah!" Sunset yelled as she recoiled in terror from the Fury of Wrath. Her limbs became dissolved in cold fear as she tripped over the fallen garbage can and landed on her side. "What are you... what are you doing here? You can't touch me, your two sisters-"

"Released you, I know," Allecto growled. "Don't worry, I'm not here to drag you back to Tartarus a second time. I have other business in this city, in plenty." She smirked. "Though it's nice to know that I still have the power to terrify sinners of all stripes."

"Other business," Sunset murmured. "Wait a minute, are you the Nightwing?"

Allecto snorted, and when she spoke her voice had a touch of pride in it. "So the mortals named me. I would rather reveal myself to them in all my terrible glory, but that would break the conditions that my sisters' set upon my release."

"What are you doing here?" Sunset demanded. "And why are you playing superhero?"

Allecto scowled. "After your marefriend tricked me into losing my temper, my sisters decided that I had forgotten our true purpose in defending the weak against the predations of the strong."

Sunset climbed up onto her hooves. "I'd say they were right."

Allecto hissed at her. "Who are you to judge one of the old gods? I am no good nor evil thing, but I bring clarity to a world as complex as it is full of mud. Aren't simple rules, the best? Kick the altar, pay the price, is that not better than all your host of laws?"

"What price contrition?" Sunset asked.

"What is contrition but the desperate pleadings of those desperate to escape their punishment?" Allecto replied. "When the rich mare has done wrong, she buys the courts to grant her an acquittal, then sails away with all her gold. But I am the stones that sink her ship; is that not true justice? Is that not right?"

"No," Sunset said. "That's revenge."

Allecto turned away, looking up at the stars that twinkled in the night sky. "My sisters banished me to the mortal realm, until I had learned compassion for the weak, and re-learned to hunt from righteous anger, rather than the thrill of the chase and the joy I took in punishing the guilty. And so here I am. I sleep in the darkest alleyways, I eat from your garbage can, I live like the poorest and most helpless in your society."

"And you're a vigilante on the side," Sunset said.

"This city needs help," Allecto said, still looking up at the stars. "This place is rank with corruption. It needs a symbol. Something to give them hope."

Sunset blinked. "Yeah. So...uh, good luck with that. But unless you are actually going to take me back to the fiery pit, I'm going to leave you to get on with now."

"You don't approve?"

"It doesn't matter whether I approve or not, I don't want to be around you a second more than I have to," Sunset said. "You're not going to come hunting me, are you?"

"No," Allecto said. "You are safe... from me."

"Great," Sunset said. "In that case, now don't take this the wrong way, but I sincerely hope we never see each other again. Okay. Bye now. Bye." She got out of the alley as fast as she could, leaving the fury behind, trying not to run in terror as she tried to put as much distance between her and the old god turned vigilante as she could. She shook her head.

Her? Of all the creatures that I could have run into, her? Seriously? The universe really hates me, doesn't it?

Spotting a store that was at least part pharmacy, Sunset dived in, and immediately trotted past the shelves selling cheap souvenirs and last minute replacements for things that tourists had forgotten, heading for the medicine shelves as she looked for some aspirin for the headache that Allecto's reappearance was rapidly giving her.

"What's up, doc?"

Sunset took a step back. There, on the other side of the shelves, her face framed by a gap in the cough medicines, was... "Summer? It is Summer, right?"

"Yep yep yep," Summer said. "Hey, Sunset. Gee, you look a mess, what happened to you."

Sunset sighed. "It's a long story."

"That's the truth," Summer murmured. She flapped over the shelf to land next to Sunset. "Is it too long to tell me about it?"

"Probably," Sunset said. "Not that you'd be interested anyway."

"Oh, no, I'm here for you if you want to talk," Summer said solicitously. "Folks back home said I liked to collect gossip, but I prefer to think that I'm interested in people. We could grab a drink if you don't want to stand here gabbing in the pharmacy aisle."

Sunset raised one eyebrow at her. "Don't you need to get back to your coltfriend or something?"

"Oh, yeah, no, we kinda, we broke up," Summer said.

Sunset's eyes widened. "Oh, no, I'm so sorry."

"There wasn't much else I could do," Summmer said. "I mean, what else was I supposed to do, the guy was cheating on me."

"Really?" Sunset said. "What a jerk."

"I know, right?" Summer replied. "I mean, I'm cute, right? You'd go out with me, yeah?"

"Uh... yeah, if I wasn't in love, I guess," Sunset murmured.

"So why can't he appreciate?" Summer demanded. "I mean he just had to wait a little while for me to get up here, was that too much to ask?"

"Of course not," Sunset said. "So what are you going to do now?"

"Oh, I'll get by," Summer said, a strained smile crossing her face. "I always do. But what about you, how come you look so terrible?"

"Oh, it's nothing," Sunset said. "You've got enough of your own problems, you don't want to hear about my problems."

"Oh, no you are not getting away that easily," Summer said as she placed a hoof on Sunset's shoulder. "Come on, girl, you look a mess. You're dress is ruined, your mascara is everywhere... did you break up as well."

"No," Sunset snapped defensively. "Well, I hope not anyway, I guess I'll find out if I ever have the courage to go back to the hotel."

"What happened?"

"Twilight's dad," Sunset murmured. "He just kept pushing it and pushing it. He said some things. I lost it, and I stormed out. Now Twilight's parents probably think I'm a brat, and Twilight... I don't know what Twilight will think about it all."

Summer looked into Sunset's eyes, her face a mask of sympathy. "Well I do know one thing. You do not need aspirin. You need a drink."

"What?"

"Yes!" Summer cried, grabbing Sunset by the leg and starting to pull her along. "You and me are going out for drinks, we're going to have a good time, we're going to forget all about our exes and our marefriends' fathers and we're going to show all these jerks in the world that you cannot keep two fabulous mares down. What do you say?"

Sunset felt a grin spreading across her face. "You know that sounds like a really great idea."

They ended up at a club called Tech-Noir with, unsurprisingly, techno music blasting out and red and blue lights flickering overhead. Sunset and Summer ended up sitting in a booth with cocktails in front of them, topped up every so often by the very helpful stallion behind the bar who kept grinning at Summer whenever he got close.

"Somepony won't be single for very long," Sunset said with a chuckle in her voice.

Summer smirked. "He is pretty cute, isn't he? But I don't know if I want to jump right back into the swimming pool just yet. I need to know if a guy is honest, first."

"Doesn't everypony want their special somepony to be honest?" Sunset asked. Says the pony who has lied to Twilight about her parents.

"Everypony wants it, sure," Summer replied. "But you see my problem is... the problem is that most ponies, they want an honest partner, but most of the time they can't tell if they're being lied to or not. Me... I can always tell."

Sunset frowned. "How do you mean?"

Summer wiggled her behind so that Sunset could get a look at her arrow cutie mark, flashing red and blue under the disco lights. "What do you think this cutie mark means?"

Sunset shrugged. "I don't know."

"Arrow of truth," Summer explained. "All I have to do is look into a pony's eyes and, just like that, I can tell if they're lying to me."

"No way," Sunset said.

"I'm serious," Summer said. "How do you think I knew that my coltfriend was cheating on me? I got home, and I smelled perfume. So I asked him if he'd had any other mares here, and he says 'No, babe, come on, you know I'm yours'. And just like that I could tell he was lying. So I asked him if he was cheating on me and he says 'Nah, honey, I'm a one mare guy, come on, girl, you know it.'"

Sunset laughed. "I can't believe you didn't dump him just for talking like that."

"And again I knew he was lying out of his behind," Summer said. "And when I called him on it he tried to explain, and he was all like 'Come on, girl, you know I love you, right' and 'I don't stray, baby, be real' and all of it lies. So I walked away."

Sunset shook her head. "Funny story, but I'm still not buying that you can tell whenever anypony is lying to you."

"I can tell when you're lying," Summer said with a smirk.

Sunset leaned back with a smug look on her face. "Oh no you can't. I am an excellent liar."

"What do you say we play a game to find out. Hey, cutie, can we get a line of shots out here?"

"Coming right up, beautiful."

"Oh, yeah, he's getting a tip," Summer said. "So, you tell me things about you, and I say whether they're true or false."

"Like twenty questions?"

"Yeah, but whenever I get an answer wrong, I take a drink, and whenever I get it right you take a drink. And whoever has to carry the other home because I guarantee you won't be in a fit state to walk unaided."

"We'll see about that," Sunset said.

"Yeah, we will," Summer replied, her voice full of confidence.

The cute stallion from the bar laid out a line of shots down the middle of their table, the dark liquid inside flickering a little as each miniature glass was set down on the white surface.

"Thank you, sugar," Summer said, winking flirtatiously at him. "Say, are you single?"

"Depends on who's asking," the bartender said. "For you, yeah, I might be."

"Oh, right," Summer said, staring at his bum as he walked away. "See, now he was telling the truth."

"And you expect me to believe that you can just tell," Sunset said.

"No, I expect to prove it to you and get you wasted in the process," Summer said. "Now, control questions to start out: what's your name?"

"Sunset Shimmer."

"Do you know where the Fulcrum is?"

Sunset frowned. "What's the Fulcrum?"

"I don't know, nopony does," Summer said with a shrug of her shoulders. "Everypony answers their name truthfully, and nopony knows where the Fulcrum is, so I can always tell that nothing is interfering with my powers, like magic or something."

"So you're good to go?" Sunset asked. Good to be proved wrong, more like.

"Yeah, let's go," Summer said. "Do you...have any relatives?"

"No."

"Lie," Summer said. "Take a drink."

Sunset levitated up one of the shot glasses to her mouth and drained it in one go. "Lucky guess. You had a fifty-fifty chance of being right."

"Okay, then," Summer said. "Tell me who your relatives are."

"I've got a little sister in Canterlot," Sunset said. "She's my only family."

"Lie," Summer said. "Take a drink, then tell all."

"No," Sunset squawked. "I am not taking a drink because you are wrong. Take a drink yourself."

"You know this only works if you answer honestly when I call you out."

"I am answering honestly."

"No your not, I can tell," Summer replied in a sing-song voice. "Drink. Tell. Come on."

Sunset glared at Summer. Summer smirked at Sunset. Sunset rolled her eyes and took another drink.

"My dad's still around, as far as I know," she admitted.

"But you don't want anypony to know that," Summer said. "Ooh, that sounds like a fascinating story, keep talking."

"No, there is no story," Sunset said firmly. "He's just a jerk and I can't stand him. So I don't talk about him, I don't meet him, I don't even know where he is."

"True," Summer said. "And I'm not even going to make you take a drink for that, even though I can tell there's more to it than that."

"Do your powers extend to that now?"

"No, that's just me being observant," Summer chirruped contentedly.

Sunset sighed, running one hoof through her red and gold mane. "That's what I fought with Twilight's dad about. He knows who my father is, knows that he's a crook; he was holding it against me and I got mad about it."

Summer's eyes widened as she leaned forwards. "What, are you like some mob princess or something?"

"No," Sunset said loudly.

"True."

"I'm just a mare with a bad father who she doesn't like to talk about so can we please move on to something else," Sunset snapped. "Please."

"Okay, let's talk about relationships," Summer said with a grin. "Do you like girls?"

"Yes, but you knew that already from when you saw me with Twilight on the train."

"Still true," Summer said, miming for Sunset to take a drink.

Sunset did so. "This is so ridiculous."

"Can you deny that I have been one hundred percent correct so far?"

"No, but-"

"Well, then, what's so ridiculous about it?"

"The fact that these are such easy questions!"

Summer shook her head. "Ask me a math question. An easy math question. But not too easy, but like, not hard and not moderate."

"Um... I'll try," Sunset said. "What is the seventh prime number?"

Summer shrugged her shoulders. "Beats me, I suck at math. What is Pi to eleven digits?"

"3.14159265359," said Sunset.

"Correct," Summer declared. "Now how did I know that that was right when I suck at math?"

"Because you lied about sucking at math?"

"No, because I knew from your eyes that you were telling the truth."

Sunset took another drink. "So what if... what if I told you something that I thought was true, even if it wasn't?"

"Depends," Summer said. "If you said to me that your sister was alive, and then at this very moment she dropped dead back in Canterlot, then I wouldn't be able to tell you were lying, because you don't know that you're lying. If, however, you said that you loved somepony, but you didn't, then even if you didn't know that you didn't, even if you believed that you did, then I would know you were lying. It's kind of a curse in that respect.
"But that does lead us right back to where we where which is relationships. So, you like girls. Do you also like boys?"

"No," Sunset said.

"Liar, liar, mane on fire," Summer chanted. She giggled. "Drinky drinky."

"Why are you acting so punchy when I'm the only mare here drinking," Sunset grumbled as she downed another shot. She couldn't say it wasn't affecting her though. The music seemed to be getting louder in her head, and the lights were not only getting brighter but were starting to swirl psychedelically all around her.

"So, have you ever dated a guy?" Summer asked.

"Yeah, a couple of times," Sunset said. "I dated this guard named Flash Sentry for a while. Then I... dated his alternate universe doppelganger for a while in high school."

"What?" Summer demanded. "I mean...huh? You're telling me the truth but I don't understand."

"Maybe I'm lying to you?" Sunset suggested.

"No," Summer said. "Now you're lying. Take two drinks and explain."

So Sunset found herself spilling all of it: about her time studying under Celestia, about the magic mirror, about Canterlot High, about the magical crown, about Twilight, about her demon form. All of it. By the time she was done Summer's eyes were so wide they were practically engulfing her face.

"And not a single lie," she murmured. "You are incredible. That was... wow!"

"I know, right," Sunset said, more loudly than she had intended. "And that is how I met Twilight Sparkle, the love of my life."

Summer deflated like one of Pinkie Pie's balloons after a party. "Oh, Sunset, I'm so sorry."

"What?" Sunset demanded.

"Say it again," Summer insisted. "Tell me that you love Twilight Sparkle."

"I love Twilight Sparkle," Sunset said.

"Oh, honey," Summer said with a sympathetic shake of her head. "No, you don't."

Sunset said nothing. There were no words that would come. Summer's pronouncement was like a hammerblow, descending upon her to drive her into the ground. It was as if the ground on which she stood had turned out to be made of glass the entire time, and Summer had shattered it with a few well chosen words.

No, you don't.

Twilight had become the foundation on which Sunset had built her life, and she did not love her.

No, you don't.

Twilight was everything to Sunset, but Sunset did not love her.

No, you don't.

For weeks, months, she had thought of nothing but of proposing to Twilight, of walking with her down the aisle, of joining their lives forever. But she did not love her.

What had she been doing all this time?

Sunset was consumed from head to hooves with shock, until that shock began to turn to anger and that anger began to turn inexorably upon Summer. "What the hay do you know?" Sunset demanded. "You don't know Twilight or me."

"I do know you," Summer said softly. "Better than you know yourself."

"Why, because of your cutie mark?" Sunset said. "Because you always know the truth, I'm supposed to accept something that I know is nonsense?"

"You don't have to accept it," Summer said. "I can't make you believe me. But you'll be happier if you accept it, get over it, and move on. You don't love her. If you try and pretend that you do, if you try and act like you do, if you keep lying to yourself... you won't make anypony happy, you or her."

"I am not lying to myself!" Sunset yelled. "I have lied to myself plenty of times, I know when I'm doing it!"

"Then be honest with yourself now," Summer said. "Have I been wrong even once?"

Sunset glared. When speech came, it came like teeth being pulled by a dentist. "No."

"Can you honestly say, without a shred of doubt, that I'm wrong now?"

Sunset very much wanted to tell her yes, to spit in her face, to cry out that she was wrong, dead wrong. But Summer had never been wrong before tonight. She had seen through all of Sunset's lies, penetrated to the heart of all her mysteries. Could Sunset honestly say there wasn't a shred of doubt?"

"No," Sunset murmured, her voice hoarse.

Summer stared at her for a moment. "Like I said, I'm really sorry."

Sunset laid her head down on the table. "So much for a fun night out."

"Yeah, this has kind of turned into a bummer, hasn't it?" Summer admitted. "Come on, I'll walk you back to your hotel."

"What's back there for me?" Sunset moaned. "Nopony I love, according to you."

"How about a bed?"

"A bed with somepony I don't love," Sunset whined.

"Stop moping, sweet Celestia," Summer said.

"And anyway," Sunset said. "I don't need help walking back to the-" She tried to stand up, and ended up falling flat on her face on the floor.

"I told you one of us wouldn't be up to walking," Summer said with an offensively bright smile. "I'm going to make sure you get home safe, but I just want to leave the bartender my name and address, okay?"

"Go ahead," Sunset muttered. At least one of us is getting a good result from tonight.

Sunset just about made out Summer trotting over to the bar, gripping a pen in her mouth and scribbling something on a napkin, before making her way back over to Sunset.

"Come on," Summer said, helping Sunset onto her hooves. "Easy does it. Let's go."

At the bar, the bartender surreptitiously looked at the note that Summer had left him.

After glancing around a couple of times and ensuring, to his own satisfaction, that he had not been made by anypony, the agent currently posing as a bartender got one of his apparent colleagues to cover for him before he made his way outside to relay Summer's message up the chain.