Roads of Life

by PonyWrites

Chapter 11 - Wrap up, but not the end.

Sunset thought long and hard, laying awake in bed while her lover… girlfriend even… slept next to her. Her pan-dimensional girlfriend. Who was technically from the same dimension as her. After nearly three years this place felt like home. Should that worry her? One of Celestia’s great wisdoms, delivered in nuggets across the centuries, was “wherever you go, there you are.”

It made absolutely no fucking sense at the time, but Sunset gained an understanding. Here she was. She liked it here. But she loved Twilight as well.

She knew what each one of her friends would say. Pinkie would say to do what makes her happy. Fluttershy would mumble something about following your heart. Rarity would say something vague like ‘what do you want?’ Applejack would say something about being true to herself. Rainbow Dash would chase the girl. It was obvious what Twilight wanted. It was all a load of hogwash. Be true to yourself? How can you do that if you don’t know what you want more? What makes you happy is either option? These platitudes all fell apart when your heart was torn in different directions. So what was a girl to do? The scientist in her screamed to collect more data. Tomorrow. She had a great idea of who to ask. She let herself enjoy the moment, knowing that it may not happen again. So she held on to the girl.

Luna nearly had a heart attack when she saw Twilight in the meeting room for the alliance. “Oh god she’s here. Is the school about to fall in?”

“Not anymore.” Twilight grinned smugly

“Nobody hurt?”

“Nope.”

“Leisure visit?”

“Yes.” Luna saw Twilight was holding Sunset’s hand.

“Or perhaps conjugal?”

Twilight didn’t miss a beat. “That too.”

Sunset went to talk to the new arrivals, the… Cutastic Crusaders. They had, of course, visited before but were often distracted with their own adventures. Sunset had to admire it. Even if they did have a stupid name. She had heard bits and pieces from Rainbow Dash. Grand adventures though they were, they weren’t the happy kind, usually. And more often than not, the happy ending wasn’t even in sight. But more to business, she wanted to talk to them.

“Can I ask you girls a question?”

“Sure…” Apple Bloom said.

“My heart is torn. I can move back to my home, with Twilight, who I love, but… I like it here.”

“Do you really?” Scootaloo asked. “What the hell is there to like?”

“Utopias are boring.” The words rolled off her tongue, vocalizing what she had been thinking unconsciously for so long. “Equestria is perfect. Benevolent dictator, equality, universal income, sexual freedom. It’s…. awful. I hate it, there’s no conflict. The only reason we know a word for war is because every so often the Yaks declare war on us. The entire purpose for the guard is to showboat. Nothing happens day to day. There’s one big event every so often that my girlfriend fixes in about half an hour, sometimes more, but then it’s over. Here there’s… all these splinters trying to prove they deserve recognition, fair treatment, others try to deny it, or weirdly enough there’s splinters of the splinters that say the splinters they’re a part of shouldn’t try to be like other splinters. It’s beautiful. Ah!” Sunset held her palm-marked cheek and Scootaloo shook her hand.

“You think conflict is beautiful? I tried to kill myself twice because I was in conflict with my parent’s idea of what I should be! There’s nothing beautiful about this world, it’s a downright shitstain on the cosmos!” Scootaloo barged out the door. Sunset couldn’t help but notice the sniffling.

Apple Bloom answered. “I’d go after the girl. Which is what we’re gonna do now.” She took Sweetie’s wrist and followed Scootaloo. Sunset had a sudden urge to write a poem. Scootaloo would kill for a chance to go to Equestria. And here Sunset was, bored of it. But perhaps that was part of this world’s allure. There were things wrong with it. Things that could be fixed, given enough time, investment, and yelling. Equestria had nothing wrong. Sunset couldn’t move the entire population to Equis, that would cause way too many paradoxes. But perhaps she could make this world worth living.

As if on queue, the trio returned. She knelt down in front of them. “I’m sorry.” Sunset noted how odd the words felt. She needed to say it more. “There’s nothing beautiful about conflict, but there is a potential. This world isn’t perfect, and you could argue Equestria is. But I can’t take you there. So I’ll stay and try to make this world better, for you and all the people like you.”

“Good luck. You’re just a kid.”

“No. I’m a person. And even a single person can accomplish a whole lot. You’ll remember the fall formal.”

Scootaloo blinked, then nodded. “OK.”

Well, those were good words to say. But after the meeting was finished, the pizza devoured, and a good time had, she was clueless as to what to do. Make life worth living? Foolish girl, she could barely convince herself to stay alive. Despite her soliloquy to the contrary, her heart longed for Equestria. Another new start. How many of those could one person get? She was forgiven there. High School never forgives, never forgets. But now she had made a promise, and this new Sunset kept her promises. Twilight came back from freshening herself up.

“That was a noble thing to say, babe.” The girl placed a hand on the demon’s shoulder. “But in my own experiences, saying the right thing and even knowing what to do are two very different things.”

“I know, I was thinking about it too.”

“Hey, you created an alliance. I saw how much fun they were having. If only for a moment, but if it’s as bad as you say, a lot of those kids need all the good moments they can get.”

Sunset smiled. This was her Twilight, ever the optimist. The bright side, the dark side. The realist. She was Twilight. Sunset could shine and shimmer at times, but mostly she dwelled on the darker hues of reality. It was literally a part of who she was. A corrupted soul looking for an angel to be forgiven, forever doing penance against herself for the rest of her life.

Maybe she could be a nun. No. Dumb idea. Way too little sex.

“Here’s a thought. You dealt with the Canterlot Court too.”

Sunset beamed with an ear-splitting smile, and gave Twilight a big sloppy kiss. “I know what I can do! You’re a genius!”

“Well, technically.” Twilight blushed. “But I don’t like to brag.”

“Shut up and make love to me, gorgeous.”

Everyone fell into a rhythm. It was nice. No life altering events, dumb ideas or suicide attempts. Sunset worked on buttering up a few legislators at the state level, make it a place to set the trend, be inclusive. Marriage, legal equality, all the good stuff. Her time in Equestria, being groomed for princess, she had to smooth over the court on the regular. This was absolutely nothing new. It also seemed to be a channel for all of her dark energy. She was back in the grand chess game and loved every second of it.

The Crusaders were generally content with life, save for the piles of homework they seemed to get. Why didn’t anyone tell them they would actually have to do work in High School? They made an effort to make Friday nights group-date night, when all four of them went out to do something. Obviously, it usually ended back at one of their houses, or their clubhouse. Scootaloo’s grades had increased dramatically. Her teachers would jokingly ask what her secret was. She would smile wryly and say “just get kicked out.” Scootaloo always enjoyed seeing the joke deflate. Though, if you wanted to get technical the reason was now she was actually doing her homework. Half the time group study doubled as a date. She had no idea how Rainbow kept her grades up and played every sport. She could barely play one and balance her social life, let alone grades.

Rainbow Dash continued as she had been. Staying afloat in school while trying to lift off to her loftier goals. From a young age she wanted to join the Blue Angels, but recently their came to light a scandal involving Spitfire, the current captain; her husband, and her co-captain Soarin. Which is to say, Fleetfoot was found with Soarin, literally in the closet. That wasn’t the real issue. Some people are in denial, or Fleetfoot might have been worried how his wife would react if she knew he was bisexual. And rightfully so. Soarin was fired, her husband divorced. Rumors circulated they were now living together. And Spitfire got away with it. The team managers did nothing, worse than nothing. They defended her. Being the political activist she was, she wrote a very angry letter, and even sent her acceptance note back. That was the end of that dream. Perhaps another time. Now in addition to not sleeping, she also cried. Except now the tears were external.

Comments

[Rhulain]

The hell did Spitfire do wrong?

[Snowdrifter]

7255937
I am taking liberty here and making a guess. Spitfire fired Soarin because he was bisexual AND in an affair with his boss's husband Fleetfoot. Her divorce would have grounds for infidelity, but it's likely that Spitfire didn't have grounds to fire Soarin for either his orientation or the affair, since both are irrelevant to his job.

Not certain if that makes sense, but where's the fun in that...