Group Precipitation

by FanOfMostEverything

Lemon Zest's Surreal Sleepytime Surprise, by FoME

“Had the weirdest dream last night,” Lemon Zest said unprompted during a two-girl hangout in the Crystal Prep library.

(It was not a date. Among other reasons, no amount of effort on Principal Cadence's part could make the cavernous structure feel even slightly romantic for anyone less nerdy than Twilight Sparkle. Moondancer and Sugarcoat considered it a go-to spot for their dates, which only proved the point.)

“Oh?” said Sunny Flare, not looking up from the essay she was working on. It was a very carefully modulated “Oh,” where the polite tone carried an underlying indifference, and that indifference was in turn an affectation concealing the sincere interest that dared not show its face. Before Cinch retired, Crystal Prep students had been expected to pick up on that level of subtext before the end of freshman year.

Lemon could, did, and plowed on ahead without any conversational guises of her own. “Magic hadn’t changed everything, but Twilight had still transferred to Canterlot High. You were a stereotypical teen drama queen bee bitch with Sugarcoat and Sour Sweet under your thumb and all three of you were giving her terrible friendship advice because this Twilight had all the confidence of a kicked puppy and wasn’t sure what to do with people who genuinely liked her.”

“Well, that last part feels accurate," Sunny said with a scowl, directed at herself as much as any other part of the student body. Lemon knew that from the twist in her own gut. "Why was she even at Crystal Prep?”

“She put off cleaning out her locker as long as she could.”

“Understandable." Sunny looked up, drama kid impulses sufficiently engaged that she dropped a layer of facade. "So did I have any kind of Zigarrean excuse? Insecurity about my hands? Unrequited crush on some uppperclassman who I’d thought was 'so cool'?” It really was impressive how much disgust she could put into finger quotes.

“Nah, you were just miserable and made yourself feel less bad in comparison by making everyone around you feel worse." Lemon crossed her arms as she tried to recall any more of the faded details. "I think the implication was that Aunt Abby was to blame, but it never really went into that much depth.”

“Where were you in all of this?”

That got a shrug. “Nowhere to be found! Neither was Indy. Watched the whole thing from disembodied third person, including the sleepover where you crowned Twilight as Princess of Friendship.”

Sunny gave Lemon a funny look, then shifted her gaze to the middle distance as she thought it over. Her fingernail tapping the reading table gave enough of a beat for Lemon to bop along to it when she came to a conclusion. “I don’t know what you ate before bed last night, but you should probably avoid it in the future.”

Lemon grinned. "Or, hear me out, I have more of it and try to plumb the mysteries of the subconscious."

That got a raised eyebrow. "I'm pretty sure Canterlot's vice principal will have something to say about that."

After a few moments of thought, Lemon pinched herself. "Needed to make sure that was waking madness. Beg your what now?"

Sunny turned in her seat so both girls were fully facing each other, essay forgotten. "Well, a few months back..."

Author's Note:

Twilight Sparkle's Sparkly Sleepover Surprise truly is one of the pony novels of all time, even if the only pony involved is Sunset Shimmer.

Sunny's harkening back to this earlier short. Dreams where a Luna pays you a visit tend to be even more memorable than when you accidentally glimpse the timeline next door.

Comments

[Malandy]

Nice title! Good description of that dream!

Dream magic's not exactly secret, but doesn't come up often!

Not-date spots and conversational guises! Cool lore! Sweet relationship!

[LEGION55]

"Needed to make sure that waking madness.

Thats.