"Good for you, now shut up." Spike grumbled from a basket in the corner.
"Buh?" Sunset spun around, spotting the dragon curled up under a blanket. "Sp-Spike, uh, what are you doing in a random spare room?"
"This isn't a spare room, this is Twilight's room, well, and my room, and I'm trying to sleep! I was up all night supervising the changelings and I lost all my spare gems in the process," Spike groused as he drew himself further beneath the covers. "Changeling jerks, I bet they cheated."
"Twilight's room?!" Sunset gasped, taking a better look around and realizing she was surrounded by over stuffed book shelves and scientific paraphernalia, all clustered around a messy bedspread topped with a few well-used stuffed animals. "So...so she...sleeps, right there, in that bed there?" Sunset asked breathlessly, inching closer and closer to it.
"Sunset...get out."
"Eeep!" Sunset shot back out of the room, slamming the door shut behind her.
With a long sigh, Spike rolled over and clamped his eyes shut. "Impossible to sleep in this stupid place..." He grumbled as he drifted off.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It took Sunset another few minutes to settle her nerves and to find her way back to the sitting room, but once she did, she could hear Twilight clearly as she approached.
"She invited you there? Tomorrow night? Oh jeez, that place is really fancy, we'll probably all need dresses just for them to let us in. Wait how in Equestria does a only slightly reformed villain have the connections to get into a restaurant like that?" Twilight asked, her brows narrowing suspiciously.
Celestia just shrugged, still distracted by the swirl of confusion, self-doubt, and girly giddiness that she had thought she left behind with her awkward teen years.
As Sunset walked as casually as she could back into the room, Twilight glanced up and broke from her dark expression, immediately returning to a cheery smile. "Oh there you are Sunset! Come on over, we were just wrapping up the plans for the date," she explained with a tint of excitement to her voice. "I'm going to send a letter ahead to Canterlot and see if we can get a second table that's near Celestia and Chrysalis', that way we can be nearby for support...well and keep an eye on Chrysalis...without interrupting their date. I don't really like using my title but hopefully a Princess can get a table as easily as an evil Queen."
"Wow, you really have this all thought out already huh?" Sunset mused, rather impressed, not to mention holding down some extra shouts of victory after the revelation that she'd really have Twilight to herself.
"Well...you were sorta gone for awhile, and I think Celestia is still a bit lost in her own head at the moment. Not much else to do besides plan and organize." Twilight admited with a light giggle.
"Oh heh...I got lost for a bit." Sunset mumbled awkwardly.
"Ugh, I know exactly what you mean, I get lost in this place almost weekly!" Twilight rolled her eyes dramatically. "I can't even find my own room half the time! At my old treehouse all I had to do was go upstairs."
Sunset struggled as she felt her face begin to heat up. "Right, yeah, your room...I'm sure I probably couldn't find it even if I was trying..."
Lucky for Sunset, Twilight was still in the middle of explaining plans while thinking up further ones, and as such didn't notice her sudden awkwardness. "Anyways, as I just mentioned to Celestia, we are gonna need dresses if we want to get in to the restaurant. Problem is, I have nothing that will fit her, or anything that won't clash with your coat...and I keep growing out of all of my own clothes," she admitted with just a tinge of annoyance, "which means we need a dressmaker, and need one now. Lucky for us, I know just the mare for the job...and weirdly so do you!"
"I do?" Sunset asked, surprised. As far as she was aware, the only ponies she knew these days were either in this room, the donut shop, or in Canterlot Castle.
Instead of answering her, Twilight made her way over to a nearby window, cracked it open slightly, then took a deep breath before shouting in as theatrical a tone as she could muster. "OH YES, THIS TWO PIECE DENIM OUTFIT IS JUST PERFECT FOR MY HOT HOT DATE TOMORROW NIGHT...A DATE...WITH A MARE! THINK OF THE DRAMA!!!"
For as much wide-eyed staring as Sunset had been doing lately, she was quite surprised that she still had the capacity to do so even harder. "Twilight...what are you doing..."
"Shhhhh!" Twilight whispered, holding a hoof to her lips. "3...2...1..."
Right on cue, the resounding sound of shattering glass could be heard from a lower section of the castle, followed by yet more shouting. "TWILIGHT SPARKLE YOU SHOW YOURSELF THIS VERY INSTANT!" came a familiar, cultured, infuriated sounding voice echoing through the halls.
"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh." Sunset gave Twilight a goofy grin as soon as she realized what was happening. "That's pretty convenient, though remind me to tell you about cell phones later."
Twilight just laughed at seeing Sunset's reaction. "I'd better go find her before she starts rage-redecorating, you stay here with Celestia, I'll be right back!"
Sunset gave her a nod, tried her best not to watch too closely as Twilight left, then looked over to Celestia. "How ya doin there champ?"
"Hmmm?" Celestia looked up, snapping out of her own thoughts. "Oh, well for one thing, I'm trying to figure out why I thought asking my two teenage students for help with a date seemed like a good idea," she admitted with a sigh.
Sunset raised a brow at hearing that. "You know we're both actually in our mid-twenties right?"
"You are?" Celestia asked with a start. "I guess you both always did look a bit more...developed...than your classmates, I just assumed you were both lucky. Why would you want to masquerade as high school students?"
"You see, that, that right there! It's saying stuff like that that causes the cradle robbing rumors." Sunset said teasingly, bumping a hoof into Celestia's shoulder and receiving a glare in return. "I'm kidding...mostly. Anyways, to answer your question, do you have any idea how hard it is to live as an adult in your world without things like a social security number? Oh and before you ask, because I know you will, yes I occasionally buy my friends alcohol when I can find stores that believe me to be my actual age...well except for Pinkie...she can't be trusted..."
Celestia just rolled her eyes. "Even after giving up your old attitude, you still manage to spread delinquency around my school."
At hearing that, Sunset couldn't help but frown a bit, but she recovered quickly. "I'm gonna take that one on the nose but only because I just called you a cradle robber again and you didn't punch me."
Celestia sighed. "I'm sorry, that was a bit mean. I know as much as anyone how hard you've been trying since the formal, and I may not be good at showing it but I really owe you and Twilight a lot. I think I'd probably have been thrown in some bizarre pony asylum by now if it weren't for you two."
Sunset smiled softly and wrapped a hoof around Celestia's withers. "Hey now, no need to get mushy, trading jabs is way more fun. Now why don't you tell me how this date thing happened so I can make fun of you and Chrysalis properly," she asked with an impish grin.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So let me get this straight," Rarity drawled as Twilight's magic plucked a shard of glass from her mane and flew it over to join the others by the smashed window, "the other world's Celestia is here, which you didn't tell any of us about by the way, and she somehow has a date with Chrysalis of all ponies...er...changelings...and you decided that you should accompany her with Sunset Shimmer for "support"?"
"That's the jist of it yes," Twilight said with a nod as she cast a simple spell to rebind the glass and place it back in the pane, "and as such all three of us need dresses for tomorrow. I know it's a lot to ask but I'd really owe you if you could help us out."
"Oh you know it's no trouble dear, but I have to ask, this is the same Sunset Shimmer that you haven't stopped talking about since you met her yes?" Rarity asked with a snake-like expression.
"Yessssss, although I'm not sure what you're getting at..."
"The same Sunset Shimmer who you keep sneaking off to visit without telling anypony?"
"I tell Spike. Rarity, where are you going with this?"
"The very same Sunset Shimmer who you started writing to twice as frequently ever since you met this world's Flash Sentry and then never talked to him again?"
"I don't see how either of those things are at all connected, and I'm really starting to resent whatever it is you're attempting to imply."
"Twilight."
"I'm serious Rarity, whatever you think is going on just tell me so I can deny it and we can move on."
"Twilight."
"FINE!"
Twilight's face was bright pink by now and she was looking characteristically manic. "Is it that obvious?" she squeaked, giving Rarity a desperate look.
"Of course it is dear." Rarity nodded with a smug smile. "Though why you ever thought you could hide it from me is the real mystery. Even if you had Applejack's poker face I'd still know. I can smell romance from miles away, you know that darling. So when do I get to meet this dashing Ms. Shimmer?"
"You mean so you can pretty much tell her in a way that only you think is crafty?" Twilight deadpanned. "Rarity, you may be good at finding secrets but you and I both know you are the worst at keeping them."
"Only by choice," Rarity tittered, "but fine, I'm sure I'll get to meet her tomorrow afternoon when I come back to fit the dresses. Anyways, you know the deal. One anti-sleeping potion and three bottles of that wonderful shampoo you and Zecora like to brew together."
"Of course." Twilight nodded seriously, acquiescing immediately to her friend's demands. "You know where the potion cabinet is, avoid the shampoo bottles with the red sticker, Apple Bloom...helped...with those."
"Thank you dear!" Rarity practically squealed, throwing her forelegs around Twilight's neck for an exaggerated hug. "I'll see you tomorrow as soon as I'm ready for the fitting. I'll make sure you absolutely wow her! Oh and wear that orchid petal perfume I gave you for your birthday two years ago, I was assured it was a hit with the mares," she added with a wink as she began trotting off down the nearest hall towards Twilight's alchemy stash.
Twilight heaved a sigh of relief before smiling to herself. "Well that went better than expected, kinda nice having at least one of them know..." she said to herself before trailing off as a thought struck her and she stared down the hall that Rarity was rapidly disappearing down.
"WAIT! HOW DID YOU KNOW I LIKED MARES TWO YEARS AGO! I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW!!!"