Shopping for Lemon Zest had not been easy, as Twilight found out. The simple fact that she went to Crystal Prep Academy meant she wasn't short on money to buy the things she wanted, and with her grades as high as they were there wouldn't be any complaining about her getting whatever she wanted from her parents.
So while Twilight knew her friend liked a certain style of music, any album she could possibly think Lemon would like, she likely already owned it. So she thought that perhaps she could get Lemon a new pair of headphones, but any headphones better than the ones she currently owned would be far outside of Twilight's limited budget.
Not wanting to bother her other friends as well, she had just ended up buying a couple of unknown bands that had sounded good in the hope that Lemon would like them. With a quick wrapping job, she was now heading for Lemon Zest's house, hoping that the party wouldn't turn out to be a complete disaster.
“I still think this is a bad idea.” Saber spoke up, arms behind her head as she walked next to Twilight. “It's putting your friends into rather unnecessary danger.”
“No Magus is going to attack a party full of teenage girls Saber, it'll be fine.” Spike spoke up, defending Twilight. “Besides, this is pretty important for Twilight. It'll mean a lot to Lemon for her to show up.”
“I get your point, I just have a bad feeling.” Saber shrugged her shoulders, before placing her hands in her pockets. “I could be wrong though.”
“We'll keep an eye out for any trouble, but it should be fine.” Twilight assured her Servant, before giving a slight frown. “Though I'm surprised you decided to come with us like this. Wouldn't it be easier to scout the area for trouble in your spirit form?”
“Look, Rider's got the spirit form covered for now and can warn us of any threats coming this way. Me being at the party guarantees that if anything should happen, I can react to it immediately. If we're going to do this, it's safer to have us Servants in a pincer formation against any trouble.” Saber explained somewhat defensively.
“Alright, if that's what you want to do. Just remember the cover story, you're a family friend visiting from out of town that is hanging out with us.” Spike reminded her, making sure they had their story straight.
“Yeah yeah, I'm not gonna slip up on that.” Saber rolled her eyes a little annoyed.
“Alright, enough Magi talk, we're here.” Twilight spoke up, stopping in front of a fairly large house of a rich suburban neighborhood. There were quite a number of luxury cars parked out on the road as well as stacked together in the driveway, several balloons tied to the fence along the sidewalk indicating the festivities going on inside. “Let's all be on our best behaviors and make sure Lemon has a good birthday.”
“No worries there Twi.” Spike grinned, confident that he could stay on his best behavior.
“You won't hear anymore complaints for me.” Saber finally smiled, willing to let herself get into the festive mood a bit.
“Alright, then let's head in.” Twilight nodded her head, walking up the path leading to Lemon's front door. Stepping up onto the porch she quickly straightened out her semi-formal skirt before ringing the doorbell. She could already hear the loud music bleeding through the house walls from there, as well as the distinct sound of people socializing before the door even opened.
“Yes, hello, how can I- Whoa!” Sunny Flare opened the door, surprise showing on her face at the sight of Twilight and company. “Hey, Twilight, you made it!” Sunny's face broke into a bright smile upon seeing her friend. “And you brought Spike and uh...” Her face scrunched up in scrutiny as she tried to identify Saber. “Uh, do I know you?”
“Hey Sunny.” Twilight greeted happily, “And no, you don't. She's a family friend of Spike's whose visiting right now, and we didn't feel right leaving her behind so we brought her to the party. I hope that's alright.”
“Hah, you kidding? I don't know half the names of the people at this party.” Sunny waved her hand dismissively, before opening the door wider and stepping out, wrapping an arm around Twilight's shoulder suddenly. “It's actually REALLY great to see you here! I had a gut feeling you were gonna make it this time, regardless of anyone who might've said otherwise. Come on, let me introduce you to the party!”
And just like that Twilight was dragged into the bustling house party that was taking place in Lemon Zest's house. The party was already well underway with several Crystal Prep students littering the front rooms with plastic cups socializing with each other. Twilight put on the best smile she could for anyone that looked at her, waving back at any that waved her way. She was with Sunny on this one, she barely knew half the names of the people there, though she did recognize plenty of familiar faces.
Sunny brought Twilight to the main living room, where everything had been re-arranged into a large dance floor and the music was blaring the loudest. The room was packed with Crystal Prep students dancing away to the beats, having the time of their life. In one corner was a DJ booth with a blue haired girl mixing away at her table, on the other side of the room was a long refreshment table covered with snacks and drinks of all types, and on another end at a breakfast bar just before the kitchen she could see Sour Sweet handing out alcoholic drinks to anyone who could prove they were old enough to be drinking.
“Hey Indie!” Sunny shouted into the crowd of dancing students, “Look who showed up!”
Twilight's eyes turned to where Sunny was shouting and spotted Indigo Zap stop her dancing with a look of surprise on her face, before smiling and quickly walking over.
“Aaaay, Twilight, you made it!” Indigo said with a large grin on her face, “Good to see you came! Lemon's gonna love seeing you here.”
Sunny cleared her throat dramatically, making Twilight and Indigo look at her in surprise before Sunny gave a cocky grin at Indigo and held out her hand. “I do believe this means I won our little wager, no?”
Indigo's face fell into a frown. “Oh... Right, I actually forgot.” She said reaching into her back pocket.
“You wouldn't have forgotten if you had won. Less complaining.” Sunny's hand beckoned at Indigo as the athletic girl pulled out her wallet.
“Yeah, yeah, here you go.” Indigo said pulling out a crisp twenty and putting it into Sunny's hand. “Hey, at least I'm actually happy to have lost this bet.”
“Thanks Twi, you made me an easy twenty bucks! You're a good friend.” Sunny smirked chipperly, patting Twilight's shoulder.
“...You... You bet on if I was going to show up or not?” Twilight asked, feeling a pang of hurt rise up into her chest.
“Come on Twi, you can't deny you have a bit of a track record when it comes to skipping out on stuff like this.” Indigo rolled her eyes a little before smiling, “Besides, like I said, I'm actually glad I lost the bet. I'd rather have you around then not. You wanna dance?”
“Uh... Maybe in a little bit, I just got here.” Twilight tried to smile for her friend, though she was still feeling a pang of guilt in her chest.
“Suit yourself then. If you two don't mind, there's this really hot guy I wanna get back to grinding up against.” Indigo gave her friends a quick two-finger salute before disappearing back into the dance crowd.
“Come on Twi, in celebration of you being here, let's get you a drink!” Sunny declared with a grin, dragging the girl over to the alcohol bar.
“Uh, wait, about that-” Twilight tried to rebuttal but quickly found herself before Sour Sweet, who was currently rinsing out her mixing glasses. The pony-tailed girl turned to face her two friends who had shown up and gave them a quick smile.
“Hey Twilight, glad to see you showed up.” Sour Sweet said in a sweet tone as she dried her mixer off with a towel. “What can I get you?”
“Two cherry bombs Sour! And give em a bit of extra kick.” Sunny declared happily, causing Twilight to look worried. Sour Sweet furrowed her brow in confusion.
“Two? What, are you going to drink them both yourself? That's how you become an alcoholic sweetie.” Sour sassed at the eager girl in her usual sickly sweet voice.
“What? No of course not, one's for Twilight stupid.” Sunny glared at Sour, wondering where the sass had come from.
“...Tell me, were you born dumb or did you just grow up that way?” Sour blinked her eyelids sweetly at Sunny, Sunny giving an incredulous look in return. Before she could retort, Sour spoke up again. “Twilight can't have alcohol because of all the medication she's taking. She could lose her liver, or enter into a coma, or die. So unless you're drinking both of the Cherry Bombs, I'm not giving one to Twilight.”
“...Oh.” Was all Sunny could say in return. “Sorry Twilight, I kind of forgot. With Lemon being the last of us to hit drinking age I was so focused on us all getting at least something in our system that I forgot about your circumstances.” Sunny did her best to apologize without sounding like she was waving it off. “Just one cherry bomb then.”
“It's okay Sunny, I don't mind.” Twilight nervous laughed, grateful that Sour had bailed her out of peer pressured drinking, especially since she really had no idea what alcohol would do to her physically or mentally.
Sour Sweet, to her credit, was a decently skilled bartender. Within a few moments she had pulled out the appropriate alcohol and drink and poured them into her mixer, added some ice, and quickly shook the concoction together. With practiced skill she filled a glass up for Sunny, added a shot of grenadine, and presented the creation forward.
“One Cherry bomb for the alcoholic,” Sour said the first half in a mocking tone, “And a virgin for the virgin.” Sour emphasized the second half with a sweet tone.
“Was that necessary?” Twilight asked her brow furrowed and her cheeks flushing.
“Just callin' em like I see em sweetie.” Sour gave a sweet smile as she quickly prepared to clean her tools for the next drink.
“Well hey, cheers to Lemon's birthday.” Sunny said holding up her cherry bomb.
“Cheers.” Twilight returned, holding up her alcohol free glass. They quickly tapped their drinks together, and Sunny proceeded to down a large gulp of her drink. Twilight put hers to her lips and took a light sip, before nearly spitting it out immediately. She put her hands to her lips to keep herself from just vomiting the wretched drink back out, forcing herself to swallow it quickly. “Ugh... Right... Energy drinks.” She grimaced.
“Don't have to drink it if you don't like it.” Sour quickly replied as well, before turning to the next students who had showed up asking for drinks.
“Right.” Twilight chuckled putting the drink down. “Maybe I'll just have some ordinary punch instead.”
“Table's over there, help yourself.” Sunny smiled, “No one's spiked the punch yet, so it should be safe.”
“And if anyone DOES spike it, they're going to get a royal ass kicking!” Sour spoke up as well, quickly mixing another drink.
“What if Spike gets into the punch though?” Twilight tried to smirk at her joke, just eliciting a groan from Sunny.
“God, your humor is so bad Twilight.” Sunny shook her head with a smirk before downing another chug of her drink.
“I've never been great with jokes.”Twilight tried to chuckle in return, quickly looking around the room for her friends. In the whirlwind of events that had taken place the moment she had arrived, she had lost track of Spike and Saber and couldn't see them in the vicinity. She wasn't worried though, she was sure if she just looked she could find them. Though what did surprise her was that she hadn't seen the birthday girl yet.“So uh... Where is Lemon Zest anyway?”
“Last I checked she was going to take a dip in the pool. She set up a changing room and a ton of spare swimsuits in a variety of sizes if anyone wanted to take a dip.” Sunny explained, before putting her empty glass down. “Hey bartender, I need another over here.”
“I can hear your liver crying for help already.” Sour sassed as she passed out a few more drinks.
“Aw come on, I'm in need of a serious buzz here.” Sunny tapped her finger against the edge of her glass impatiently.
“I think I'll go ahead and say hi to Lemon, let her know I'm here at least.” Twilight chuckled, getting a nod from Sunny. She moved towards the back of the living room, reaching a set of large glass sliding doors that led to Lemon's expansive backyard. The pool area was big enough to fit in at a resort, with several students lounging on deck chairs and several more hanging around the waters edge. Most everyone hanging out back had dressed into a swimsuit and Twilight could easily spot the makeshift changing station that had been set up near the back allowing for privacy while changing.
“CANNON BALL!” Twilight heard the familiar loud cry of the green haired girl as she jumped from the diving board in a curled up position and hit the water's surface with a large splash. Several other teens laughed as they got splashed, swimming away from the splash zone. Lemon surfaced and gave a big laugh of her own as she swam over to the edge of the pool. Twilight figured this would be her moment to at least say hi and moved closer to the pool's edge.
Lemon quickly swam over to the edge, flipping her hair up over her head like she was some kind of model, before pulling herself up and out of the water. Twilight looked down at the swimsuit Lemon was wearing, feeling a blush crawl on her face from how small it was. Her breasts were covered by two triangles, one blue the other green, that seemed just big enough to cover half of her breasts and giving ample amounts of visible cleavage. The bottoms were even skimpier, with a large blue and green triangle covering her crotch but strings hugging her thighs and stretching down into her ass. It took all of Twilight's self control to tear her eyes off of Lemon's body
“Hey Lemon, Happy Birthday!” Twilight put on a bright smile hoping it'd cover her blushing embarrassment, giving her a friend a wave. Lemon ran a hand across her face to move any leftover hair in surprise, before smiling brightly.
“Hey, Twilight, what's up yo!” Lemon reached over and grabbed Twilight's hand shaking it. “I'd give you a hug but you aren't in a swimsuit.” She chuckled happily.
“Ah-hah, that's quite alright.” Twilight chuckled, quite fine to return the handshake. “Maybe I could get changed and go for a swim myself, then you could totally hug me.” She gave an awkward laugh before mentally kicking herself for saying something so weird out of nowhere.
“Totes up to you man, the water's great either way!” Lemon grinned, cocking her hip as she put a hand against it. “I'm really glad to see you came though! Honestly parties are just not the same without you.”
“Oh come on, I usually just sit in the corner not doing anything. Are they really that different if I'm not there?” Twilight asked, feeling she really didn't add anything to the parties and really only went cause her friends asked her to.
“You kidding Twi? Parties are ALL ABOUT hanging out! Even if you don't do much, you being there or not literally makes all the difference.” Lemon put a hand to her chin as she tried to think of how to explain it. “It's like when you have a buffet full of food right? It's got a ton of stuff you like, so you pick away at it. But sometimes when you go to the buffet you want a specific thing to snack on right? But that thing is missing, so you feel kind of bad. It's like that!” She was quite happy with her analogy. “Having you around is like having that missing item! Even if we don't do much, just having you around is so much better than you not being here.”
“Huh... I guess I never thought about it like that before.” Twilight thought, surprised at how much she understood the analogy.
“Glad you can see it my way Twi! A party just isn't the same without ya.” Lemon grinned happily, walking up closer to her and gently elbowing Twilight's elbow. “Besides, if you don't think there's much to do normally, all you gotta do is find something fun to do at the party! If you catch my drift.”
“Uhm...” Twilight blinked confused. “You mean like dancing or something?”
“If you find a cute boy to dance with, for sure.” Lemon laughed. “Have you seen the second floor yet?”
“No, I really just got here and have mostly been meeting up with you girls. Why, what's on the second floor?”
“Well, I didn't put a bowl of condoms near the top of the stairs for nothing.” Lemon cackled at that, slapping Twilight's back. It took a moment for the words to register in Twilight's mind before her entire face lit up like a stop light. “And hey, I hear a certain blue haired guitar boy whose had their eye on you is here. No one would complain at all if you two disappeared for a while.” Lemon gave Twilight a far too encouraging wink.
“LEMON!” Twilight shouted in embarrassment before covering her face with her hands, feeling the steam erupting from her head. This was just the funniest thing to the green haired rocker though, who just laughed at Twilight's reaction.
“Hey, I'm just teasing Twi! Don't let anyone pressure you into anything you're not ready for.” Lemon chuckled, patting Twilight's back some more. Twilight only let out a groan through her hands. “Me though? It just won't be an eighteenth birthday party for me if I don't get lucky. I've got my eyes on this really hot guy too.” Lemon leaned in close to Twilight whispering, “Between you and me, I've caught him staring a few times too, so I've easily got this in the bag.”
“Uggghhh, TMI lemon.” Twilight shook her head before giving her friend an awkward smile. “But at least you're enjoying your birthday.”
“Hell yeah I am!” Lemon grinned giving Twilight's back one last pat. “I'm gonna get back to swimming for now, but you feel free to do what you like! If you want to join in I made sure we had spare swimsuits in your size.”
“That's alright, I think I'll just get some food for now.” Twilight chuckled, just needing some space from her hot scantily clad friend and the sex talk.
“Suit yourself!” Lemon grinned and turned to head back to the pool before stopping. She then turned back to Twilight, "Oh, one more thing, before you head back in. You haven't seen Sugarcoat around have you?"
"Sugarcoat?" Twilight blinked confused. "No, I haven't met her yet. I was gonna say hi to her if I saw her though."
"Hm." Lemon crossed her arms as she thought about it. "Well, so far the other girls said she hadn't arrived yet, which has me a little concerned. Sugarcoat's usually the first to arrive, and if she's gonna be late she usually let's us know. But we haven't heard a word from her."
"Oh, that is unusual." Twilight blinked, putting a hand to her chin in thought. "Maybe something came up that's keeping her from her phone?"
"Could be." Lemon brushed a strand of hair that had fallen loose behind her ear. "Still, it's just unusual that she's not here. If she does arrive at the party and you see her, send her my way, okay?"
"Sure, I absolutely will." Twilight gave her friend a smiling nod.
"Thanks Twi!" Lemon grinned at her before turning back to the pool. “Heads up guys!” She called out before leaping back in and causing another large splash, much to the squeals of several other teens.
Satisfied with having greeted her friend but wanting to shake some of her embarrassment and heated face off she made her way back into the house. She quickly scanned her vision around the dance floor once more, looking to see if she could see Spike or Saber, but not seeing their familiar looks amongst the crowd she decided to head for the buffet table.
“Oof!” Twilight stumbled as her body collided with someone. A hand quickly shot out and grabbed her, preventing her from falling or stumbling too far back. She blinked as she looked up, surprised to see a familiar boy holding on to her.
“Oh! Twilight!” Flash visibly brightened up as he realized who he'd ran into. “Sorry for bumping into you like that, you okay?” He asked, helping her stand straight.
“Yeah, I'm fine, no harm done.” Twilight gave a soft chuckle as she gently straightened her skirt.
“I'd heard some of the others student say you'd shown up so I was just looking for you. You're looking great by the way!” He beamed a smile, trying to compliment her.
“Uh, thanks Flash.” Twilight gave him an awkward smile back, not used to being complimented. “I was just getting something to snack on though.”
“Oh, sure! Let's grab a bite to eat then we can find a place to sit and chat, how's that sound?” Flash offered, clearly wanting to spend time with her.
“Sure, I'm fine with that.” With the plan decided, Twilight quickly grabbed a paper plate and loaded it with a few of the finger foods placed on the table. She also had Flash quickly test the punch to see if it was spiked, and once given the all clear got a cup for herself. With food and drink taken care of, they left the main dance floor and moved to the house's Den, that while still packed with teens, was far less populated than the dance floor. They found a free sitting spot and sat together.
“How are things with you Twi?” Flash started, smiling at her. “I'm glad you were feeling well enough to come to the party. It wouldn't be the same without you.”
“I've certainly been told that.” Twilight chuckled softly as she bit into a cracker. “I still don't really feel like I fit in at an event like this, but it is nice knowing that people like having me around.”
“You're not pushing yourself too hard to be here, right?” Flash asked with a hint of worry. “I'm still not entirely sure what you were sick with. When I asked around I was just told you have a condition that flares up, but I don't know anything about it.”
Twilight fidgeted a little uncomfortably on her chair before taking a sip from her punch. She really didn't like talking about her condition if she could help it, but Flash seemed genuinely concerned with her and it felt rude to just brush him off. She let out a short sigh and decided to tell him about as much of the truth as she could.
“It's... Kind of hard to explain.” Twilight gripped her cup tightly as she tried to think of the words. “There was an... Accident when I was younger. The accident damaged a lot of the nerve endings on my back, and affected how my spine transmits signals to my body. As a result, there are times where the condition might flare up for any reason. Usually it's just painful when it does, so I can just take some pain killers till it goes away. More rarely though, it can cause me to have... Seizures.”
“And that's what happened when you missed out on school, huh.” Flash connected the lines in his head. Twilight quietly nodded, confirming his deduction. “I can't even begin to imagine what that must be like, for you to go through something like that. I also get why you wouldn't just want to go around telling people about that.”
“Yeah, I've really only told my closest friends about it, and they promised they wouldn't tell people about it.” Twilight was fairly confident that her friends had kept their promise too if Flash didn't know about it.
“Well hey, if your condition ever flares up, don't ever feel afraid to tell me. If there's anything I can do to help you out, I'd be glad to do it.” Flash smiled comfortingly at her.
“Ah... Thanks but, it's not really the kind of thing other people can really do anything to help with.” Twilight tried to give him a comforting smile. “I do appreciate the sentiment though.”
“How about right now though? Do you feel any pain?” Flash asked curiously, eying her back.
“Uh... Well... Honestly?” Twilight hesitated again. “I'm... Always feeling at least a little bit of pain.” She gently rolled her shoulders a little, feeling the twinge of ache still resonating through her shoulders. “I don't really tend to notice it though because, that's just how I feel every day now. But if I think about it, I do notice it's there. I just sort of live with the discomfort.”
“Oh...” Flash furrowed his brow as he looked away, concern clear on his face. Twilight fidgeted in place, uncertain of if that had been the right thing to tell him or not now. The awkwardness lasted for a few more second before Flash turned back to her with another smile. “Well hey, at least I understand the situation better. You still interested in having that date sometime this week? I hear the new Captain Hero movie is pretty great. Would you like to go see it?”
Saber's warning about keeping personal affairs away until the war was over came to mind. She hated the idea of continuing to push Flash away, as he was a nice guy and she didn't want him to feel like she didn't appreciate his kindness, but at the same time she did want to keep him out of harms way as well.
“I'll see how my schedule plays out.” Twilight answered somewhat truthfully. “As it turns out, Spike had family come visit while I was sick, and he wanted my help taking care of them while they were visiting. I really do want to go out on the date with you, I just gotta find the right time for it.”
“Hm, hey, that's alright.” Flash said nodding, though his smile wasn't quite as bright as it had been. “It's reassuring to know you do still want to go out on it, though I had kind of hoped we could have set a more solid schedule.”
“I'm really sorry Flash. As soon as my schedule frees up I will let you know though, promise.” Twilight made the promise to the boy. Flash seemed to accept that at least, and offered her a smile.
“Ah-hah! There you are Twilight!” A familiar voice spoke up, causing Twilight to turn her head and see her fiery red-headed servant approaching with a drink in her hand. “I gotta say, your friend knows how to mix up a mean drink. Even I can feel it!” Saber chuckled a little as she took another swig from her cup.
“Oh, Flash, speaking of.” Twilight brightened into a smile seeing a friendly face, “This is Saber. She's visiting with Spike's family and is one of the reasons my schedule is so hectic right now.”
“Hey man.” Saber greeted with a single hand raised, an alcohol flush starting to appear on her face. “I have to apologize, I'm kind of monopolizing all of your girlfriend's time.” She chuckled at her joke. Twilight's face lit up bright red again while Flash had a slight blush tinge.
“Ah, well, we're not really together yet.” Flash nervously laughed, looking away rubbing the back of his head. “We haven't even gone on our first date yet.”
“It'll happen, I'm sure.” Saber winked as she walked over and sat down next to Twilight. She leaned in, and in a quiet whispering voice said, “I made sure to check the perimeter with Spike and Rider. There wasn't a hint of mana anywhere, if not for the city's natural leylines this area would be a magical deadzone. So I figured if we're here we can probably be a little looser than usual. Rider is still on guard though.”
“Well it's a relief to know everyone here is safe then.” Twilight smiled at Saber, glad to know her Servant was on top of things.
“So Saber,” Flash leaned over, giving the girl a smile, “How long have you known Twilight?”
“Two days?” Saber tilted her head, trying to remember exactly how long they'd known each other. “We got in Wednesday night, then hung out with Twilight on Thursday and Friday while she was recovering, and then her and Spike invited me to the party. So here's to day three!” She raised her cup up in cheers, before chugging down a large portion of her alcohol.
“Have you been to Canterlot before?” Flash asked genuinely curious.
“Heh, a looong time ago. Don't even recognize the place anymore.” Saber chuckled cheekily. Flash thought it was just the alcohol making her giggly, but Twilight had caught on.
“You probably haven't had much time to check out Canterlot then, if you've been helping take care of Twilight.” Flash put a hand to his chin in thought. “What if we hit two birds with one stone?”
“What do you mean?” Twilight blinked at Flash confused.
“Well, hear me out. One of the problems with your schedule is spending time with Saber right? And she's basically new to Canterlot. So why don't the three of us spend a night out on the town? It wouldn't be quite as intimate as a date, but we could do that later and do this as breaking the ice.” Flash offered with a smile.
“I uh...” Twilight fidgeted in her spot, turning to look at Saber. “How, uh, do you feel about that Saber?”
Saber finished her alcohol as she considered it, running through the scenario in her head. She scrunched her face in serious contemplation, before finally shrugging her shoulders.
“You know what? If I'm there I think that can be do-able. We'll see how our schedules play out.” Saber smiled at Twilight before looking back at her cup and frowning. “I need more alcohol though.”
“Well that sounds like a plan to me.” Flash said, perking up happily. “It'll be great to just spend time with you two! We'll pick a date and we'll just have fun.” He grinned broadly. Twilight couldn't help but smile in return.
“HEY EVERYONE!” Indigo Zap's voice cried loudly from the second floor's balcony overlooking the party. Everyone in the Den looked up, having an easy view of the blue haired girl. “Important announcement! Birthday girls gettin' lucky!”
An immediate cheer of hoops and hollering rang through the party at the declaration. Twilight felt her head turn red at the announcement, covering her face in her hands, trying not to picture her friend in a raunchy scene.
“Ah-heh... That's Lemon for you.” Flash couldn't help but chuckle as he scratched his cheek with a blush of his own.
"Go get em tiger!" Saber drunkenly encouraged with a broad grin.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The party ran on for a few more hours before it really started to wind down. Once Lemon had finished with her booty call she had been met with a crowd of cheers, which had then led to the cake ceremony. With the candles blown out and her wish made, the presents had been opened with reckless abandoned, and Lemon loved them all. She even gave Twilight extra praise for introducing her to a great new band she hadn't heard of before, which was a huge relief off of Twilight's shoulders.
After it was all said and done, the sun had set and the moon was rising well above the sky now. A lot of the students and teens that had shown up had milled out little by little, and by the time the party had officially wound down there was only a small handful of people left.
“Ugh, that was SUCH a fun party Lemon, easily one of your bests.” A very inebriated Sunny Flare complimented her friend.
“Yeah, only three people tried to be jackasses this time round, and they quickly learned why you don't cross me.” Sour Sweet declared triumphantly.
“And Twilight showed up!” Indigo Zap grinned, wrapping an arm around the lavender girl. “That made it an almost perfect party right there!”
“Yeah, almost perfect." Lemon said with a slight frown as she looked around at the other girls. "Absolutely no one has heard from Sugarcoat the entire party?”
“She still hasn't returned my calls or texts.” Sour Sweet said looking at her phone bitterly. “She better have a good explanation for not being at your birthday party.”
“Ah, well, it's not a big deal man.” Lemon did her best to shrug it off. “I'm sure she was just busy.”
“She'll show up and explain herself. Even if we have to drag her out of her house to do it.” Sour Sweet explained almost too eagerly.
“Welp! I need to head home and get ready for this hangover of mine.” Sunny laughed, patting Lemon on the shoulder.
“You sure you don't want one of us to drive you?” Lemon asked, raising an eyebrow at her friend.
“Lemon, I live like, five houses down the block. Driving that would be ridiculous.” Sunny snorted as she rolled her eyes, before turning and walking off. “But hey, if anything happens I'll be sure to scream extra loud for you to hear.”
“I should get going soon too. My parents hate it if I stay out too late, the vultures.” Sour Sweet grumbled as she looked at her phone some more.
“You can catch a ride in my car, my parents don't care when I get home.” Indigo grinned, beckoning to her friend as the two of them headed out to the driveway.
“And you're gonna walk home with Spike right?” Lemon said looking at Twilight with a raised eyebrow.
“Yeah, we walked here and it's not too far of a trip. Besides, the exercise is good for me.” Twilight chuckled a little.
“Spike's a good guy, he'll take care of you.” Lemon nodded her head. “Again, I'm really glad you could make it Twi. I hope you'll show up at more parties in the future.”
“I just might Lemon. Tonight really was a lot of fun... If really embarrassing at times.” Twilight joked, which elicited a hearty laugh from Lemon and Twilight giggled with her.
“You're a good friend Twi.” Lemon grinned, quickly walking up and giving the lavender girl a hug. Twilight was rather surprised by the contact, but smiled and returned the hug. “You have a good night now.” Lemon said once the hug was broken, waving to Twilight as she headed back into her house.
“All set then?” Spike asked, walking up to Twilight with a smile.
“Yeah, I'm ready to head home.” Twilight nodded, as the three of them began to make their way back home. “That party was a lot more fun than I was expecting it to be. And all of the girls seemed really happy that I was there.”
“And there wasn't a drop of mana anywhere to be detected either.” Saber spoke up, her face still a little flush from her alcohol consumption, but sober enough to walk in a straight line. “I guess I was being a little overly cautious about you hanging out with your friends Twi. I still think it's a good idea to keep a look out on your surroundings, but maybe hanging out with them won't be so awful.”
“If nothing else, we should do our best to make sure the war ends as quickly as possible.” Spike said with a nod of his head. “The sooner it ends, the less likely any of them are to get into danger.”
“That's a good idea. Tomorrow we should scout the city for other Masters or Servants, see if we can't flush one out and eliminate them before they know what hit them.” Saber suggested, punching the palm of her hand with a grin.
“Well, while I'm nervous about it, I think that's a good idea.” Twilight nodded in agreement. “If we stay passive then the war will just continue to put innocents in danger. But we shouldn't be recklessly jumping into danger either. Let's plan where to search tonight so we know what we're doing tomorrow.”
“I like this strategic side of you Twilight,” Saber smirked at her master, “Show's confidence and reliability. Keep it up!”
Twilight couldn't help but blush and smile at her servant as a gentle breeze blew through the night air. While her first two battles had been terrifying, she felt a sense of ease having the Sunset Shimmer by her side protecting her. If they worked hard, they could win, and with minimal casualties.
Twilight had a good feeling that everything was going to work out for the better.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Sunny Flare clumsily flipped through the various keys on her keychain before finding her house key. Though she was still very drunk, she was able to guide the key into the lock and open her front door just fine.
“Mom! Dad! I'm home!” Sunny slurred as she closed and locked the door behind her. She kicked her shoes off and made her way inside. The house was extremely dark that night for some reason, usually her parents would leave a few lights on to make it seem like someone was home. She tried a nearby light switch, though the lights in the hallway refused to turn on. “The heck? Is this thing busted?” She pouted as she flipped it a few more times to be sure, before scoffing and heading deeper into her house.
She blinked her blurry haze away as she noticed that there was a light on in the house. It was coming from a desk lamp in her living room. Figuring either someone was there or the power was just being wasted, she drunkenly wandered over to the doorway entrance and peaked inside. What Sunny saw was not what she expected at all. On the couch, sitting with her feet on the cushions and her back to the lantern reading a book was Sugarcoat.
“You sure took your time coming home.” Sugarcoat announced, turning the page of her book without looking up.
“I... Uh... Sugarcoat?” Sunny blinked in confusion. “What are you doing in my house? And how come you didn't come to Lemon's party?” She concentrated hard on not slurring her words, her brow furrowing in complete confusion.
“Had something more important to take care of. Besides, I couldn't risk running into Spike or Twilight if they were there.” Sugarcoat closed her book, swinging her feet off the couch and standing up. “So, how about her? Does she have more circuits than her parents did?”
“Oh yes. They're completely dormant and have never even been activated, but she has great potential.” A deep voice suddenly spoke up from nowhere, causing Sunny to jump in her skin. She whirled her head around in confusion, before her eyes caught something in the dark corner of the living room.
Her eyes slowly widened in horror at the realization of what she saw. It was her parents bodies, laying atop of each other in a massive pool of their own blood. The overwhelming stench suddenly striking her nose, having been delayed by the alcohol in her system. She stumbled back a few steps, completely unable to register what was going on inside of her home.
Suddenly, an elderly hand emerged from the darkness behind her and landed on Sunny's shoulder. “You'll be coming with us.” The deep voice chuckled loudly.
Sunny screamed the loudest she had ever screamed in her life, but no one outside the house would ever hear it.