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// The unexpected hugging 
// Story: The Loss of Sunset 
// by SquiggelSquirrel 
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For a complete stranger to run up and hug you unexpectedly, is more common in Equestria, than in the human world Sunset Shimmer now called home. Still, even among the ever-friendly ponies of her birth-land, there were certain rules of etiquette. A professional party-pony could tell you that no such a hug should last more than two seconds, tops, and that one's hooves should come to rest on (neither above nor below) the hug-ee's withers — roughly equivalent to the upper back, or shoulders, of a human. One should not, in general, pull the other pony's head down into one's breast (the importance of this rule was a matter of some "scholarly" debate, its application to humans fraught with additional complexity), and if, by chance, one happened to know the name of the pony (or human) being hugged (yet were still considered a stranger to them, by virtue of them not knowing your name), it was generally considered a bad idea to reveal this during the hug — having a complete stranger speak your name aloud as they hug you without warning is widely considered to be “just creepy”.

Especially if the pony (or human) administering the hug is sobbing at the time, repeating your name over and over with no additional context.

Four girls stared with astonishment, as Sunset Shimmer partially disappeared into the arms of a clearly distraught older woman, whom none of them recognised. There were, in fact, six girls present in the immediate vicinity, but Pinkie Pie's reaction to any such display of intimate contact was to grin widely, spread her arms wider, and attempt to join in. Fortunately, Applejack's reaction was to anticipate Pinkie's reaction, and to stop her with a gentle, yet firm, hand applied to her shoulder. The last thing this situation needed was even more unsolicited hugging.

This left Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight Sparkle (the bespectacled one, who had grown up as a human, not her pony princess counterpart who visited on occasion) wondering what in the world was going on, and whether or not they should intervene.

School had just finished for the week, and the seven girls had been walking together — enjoying the winter evening air, each other's company, and a conversation about the latest movie they planned on seeing this coming weekend (The Return of Snowfall Frost). Then this woman, who apparently was either a very close personal acquaintance of Sunset's, or a random complete lunatic, had run up (quite without warning), cried out Sunset's name, and practically forced the stunned girl's face straight into her bosom.

It was dawning on all four girls that, what with Sunset being from another world and everything, she was unlikely to have any such close, personal, acquaintance here in this world, bar them. Certainly, they would rather expect to be familiar with anyone Sunset felt this close to. This rather seemed to leave only one, rather disturbing, alternative.

Mere moments before Rarity and Rainbow Dash would have forcibly dragged the apparent madwoman from their friend (while Twilight Sparkle would have phoned the police), the embrace ended, or at least parted sufficiently for Sunset to get a clear look at the face of her… assailant?

The woman was short, only slightly taller than Sunset, slightly rounder, and looked to be middle-aged. Her skin was a pale, minty green colour (not so uncommon in this world), and her eyes a dark magenta. Her hair, though, was the oddest addition to the scene — it was an eerily close match for Sunset's own, both in it's shape, and the way two colours ran in stripes through it. Both shared the same vibrant yellow, but in place of Sunset's bold red, this woman had hazel brown. There was also something about the shape of her face — a certain resemblance to Sunset's own.

“Sunset… Oh Sunset, I've been so worried. I was so scared, I thought something had happened to you,” the woman babbled. Tears glistened on her cheeks, and her lips trembled. She held one hand on Sunset's shoulder, and with the other, stroked Sunset's hair. “I'm so glad you're safe, I've been looking everywhere, I… I'm so sorry, Sunset. I didn't mean it, the things I said, I'm sorry, please, won't you come home, please?”

The girls stared. Sunset also stared, but her expression wasn't what one would expect, from a girl so intimately accosted by a random stranger. She was shocked, shaken, perhaps even terrified, but there was undeniably the gleam of recognition in her eyes, and she was making no effort to end the embrace. Indeed, her hands hovered uncertainly around the other woman's elbows, as if torn with indecision over whether to run the gesture.

Sunset's mouth opened and closed silently. Words that tried to form, died in her throat. The eventually woman fell silent, waiting for Sunset to find her voice. The other girls stared on, silently, breath held as if to stretch the moment. It seemed to them even as if the whole world was frozen in watchfulness, silently awaiting Sunset's next utterance.

When a single word finally came from Sunset's mouth, it was spoken with the weak hesitation of a child. Quiet, uncertain, it nonetheless carried through the cold evening air like the unstoppable blade of fate, carving the shape of the world onto a new path.

“Mommy?”