Uncertainty Reduction Theory
“Winter’s almost over, Lyra.”
“And?”
“Spring?”
“What about it, Bon?”
“Well, you know, the Spring Fling Pageant.”
“What about it?”
“Goddess, Lyra, are you this frustrating on purpose?”
“For you, yeah.”
I bit down on the cap of my pen to keep myself from laughing. I couldn’t help but overhear them no matter how much I tried to focus on yesterday’s notes.
“What I’m saying is that you should sign up for it, Ly.”
“Yeah right.”
“I’m serious. You’re smart, talented, super cool, and I’d love to be able to say that I took Miss Wondercolt to the Spring Fling dance.”
“And what about Sunset Shimmer? She always wins.”
I sat up straight, suddenly interested in their conversation. It just felt nice to be proud of her. Other students always seemed to take notice of her whenever she entered the room.
“Come on, she’s changed. It’s not like she’s gonna pull the stuff she did the other years. I think you have a real shot this time.”
Changed? What exactly did Sunset do the other years?
I fought the urge to just turn around to ask them. I almost did, but Mr. Neigh had just entered the room, and I didn’t feel like causing a disruption. Even then, I quickly regretted not speaking up. No matter how much I tried to listen to the lecture and take notes, the lingering thoughts nagged in the back of my mind. Sunset Shimmer was all over my thoughts again. This time it wasn’t as fun.
After class, I followed the two out into the halls, trailing them as I built up the courage to speak up. It actually took a bit longer than I expected as I found myself following them outside the main building and towards the soccer field. Thankfully lunch had just started, so I didn’t have to worry about showing up to class next.
They ducked behind the small bathroom building meant for visiting schools during games, and I spent a considerable amount of time rethinking if it was even a good idea to approach them. Considering their choice of hangout spot, it seemed like they did not want to be found.
I took a deep breath and quickly realized that I shouldn’t have. Forcing myself around the corner, I found them sitting against the wall. Lyra was on her phone while Bon Bon was smoking a cigarette.
Gross.
I felt a lump in my throat as I made myself known. I had to just power through it all. “Um, excuse me.”
Bon Bon recoiled and let out a yelp. She threw the cigarette at her feet and stomped on it before burying her face in her hands. Lyra quickly jumped up and stepped towards me.
“Shit, Twilight. Uh, what’re you doing here?”
“I… uh.” I stepped back.
She dropped a fist at her hip. “Before you start, we’ve heard it all from Principal Celestia already.”
“What? I wasn’t going to.” I was grasping at things to say. “I mean, she’s right. Those things are basically poison, laced with ammonia and cyanide. I don’t see how anyone could willingly—“
Bon Bon hugged her knees. Lyra stuffed her hands into her pockets.
“What are you doing here, Twilight?”
From the way she said it, I knew that it was in my best interest to make sure she didn’t ask it a third time. I pulled at my bag’s strap. “I, um, overheard you talking about the Spring pageant in physics.”
They glanced at each other. “Oh, you did?”
I nodded. “Yeah, I didn’t mean to, but I heard you say something about Sunset and the other pageants.”
Bon Bon, still sitting down, tugged at her girlfriend’s skirt. “Lyra…”
Lyra brushed her off with her wrist. “Yeah. In a sec.” She turned her attention to me. “Listen, I know you're dating Sunset Shimmer and stuff, but I don’t think you should be asking around about this. It’s going to bring up a lot of bad memories."
Her answer was painfully cryptic. How could I not want to know more? Any of my attempts to ask Sunset herself were dodged, and the other girls were just as tight-lipped. Now it seemed like a whole school-wide conspiracy.
"Just be glad she’s different now," Bon Bon said with a kind but uncertain smile. The way she said it made it sound like she thought it made it better, but she really just made it so much worse. She finally stood up and grabbed her girlfriend by the arm. "See you later, Twilight."
I stood there and just thought about what they said as Bon Bon dragged her girlfriend away (most likely to find a new hiding spot). By the time I had come up with more questions, they were already gone.
I made my way back to our regular lunch table just in time for Sunset to pull me away to hang out on our own. We sat on the front steps of the school, and the first thing she did once we were in private was kiss me.
Small tangent, but I always found it weird how in romance novels, they described what kisses tasted like (don’t ask me how I know). It always felt like a weird (not to mention gross and creepy), unnecessary detail.
But! If I had to describe what Sunset Shimmer kisses tasted like, I would say that they were surprisingly cool and minty, like any spearmint gum you could buy at a convenience store. All it did was make me wonder if I should invest in mints to mask my own breath.
We spent most of lunch talking about absolutely nothing. I didn’t mind. It was what couples did, after all. Just talk about nothing and enjoy being near each other. We were finally doing couple things.
We even shared our lunches! I gave Sunset some of the spinach pasta salad my mom made, and she gave me some of her tater tots. (Considering this school didn’t have many vegetarian options, this was a big deal.)
I thought about mentioning the Spring Fling, but I bit my tongue first. The comments I overheard earlier made me want to approach the subject with some tact. I still wasn’t even sure if I wanted to know what those bad memories were.
“So,” I hummed, leaning against Sunset’s arm. “Winter’s almost over.”
“I guess so,” she said back. She rubbed at her sleeves. “I hope it stays cold, so I can keep wearing my jacket.”
“I overheard someone mention that there's a school dance coming up.”
“Oh. Yeah. The spring thing.” Sunset tugged at a lock of curly hair. “That’s still a few weeks away.”
“They said something about a pageant as well.”
Sunset stared down at her boots. “Right. That, too.” She perked up and flashed a smile. “You interested in signing up, Miss Summer Sun Celebration?”
“No, but I think you should,” I countered with a shake of the head. At this point, I could tell Sunset didn’t want to talk about it. Even I could see that she found pulling the laces of her boots more interesting than the topic.
“You figure out what we’re doing for Valentine’s?” Sunset asked, running from the subject. That seemed to confirm my suspicions. I sighed, figuring I could try some other time.
"Just leave it to me.” I said.
•·.·´`·.·•·.·´`·.·☀·.·´`·.·•·.·´`·.·•
"'Just leave it to me,' I said!" I buried my face in my arms.
If it wasn't obvious enough, I had no idea what I was going to do for our big Valentine’s date. I looked down at my notepad and groaned, disappointed with every idea I had.
Cadance entered the dining room with a bowl of chicken soup in tow. She slid it in front of me, and in return I let out a slight gurgle of appreciation. "Put that away and eat before it gets cold." She peered over my shoulder. "Coming up with date ideas?"
"Everything just sounds so done before."
"Twily," Cadance hummed, nudging the bowl of soup closer to me. "It's not your fault that you were born millions of years after the first ever romance. You're just going to have to settle with not being original." Her eyes lit up. "Oh, I know! How about we help each other with our dates?"
She ducked out the room without giving me a chance to answer, returning about half a minute later with a pair of dresses.
"The blue…" Cadance started, draping it over her shoulder and striking a pose, her back towards me. "Or the yellow?" She hung the other dress out, pouting her lips like a model in a magazine.
I looked up from my notes, twirling my pen in my hand. “The yellow.”
She scanned the dress and nodded. “You’re a regular problem solver, you.”
“If only I could solve my own problems.”
“Is something up?”
“No.” I sunk into my seat and thought about it for a moment. Surely, I was just blowing things up. If anything, it wasn’t even worth mentioning. Just me freaking out about nothing. As usual. “Well, I dunno. It sounds stupid.”
“Try me,” she hummed, setting aside the dresses and sitting next to me. “I just sat through a pile of Crystal Prep admissions essays. There was only two that I found worthwhile. Two. In a four hour reading session. That’s around forty papers.
I forced out a breathy laugh. She was probably exaggerating, but it did help to hear that. “It’s just.” I bit my cheek. “Sunset’s a little… guarded. I don’t really know how else to put it. It just feels like she’s purposefully keeping me in the dark about herself. I thought it was cool at first, but now it's just… frustrating.”
Cadance shifted in her seat. “Oh. Well.” She paused and smoothed out the crinkles in her skirt. “I’m sure she has a perfectly good reason to be private right now. Though if she really cares about you, she’ll let you in when she’s ready.”
“What if she never does?” It just flew out of my mouth.
She didn’t answer back immediately. Usually she had an answer. She always had an answer. Am I expecting too much from her? Oh gosh, what if she doesn’t know what to do? What was I supposed to do when the love expert had no idea what to do?
Cadance giggled.
“What?” I leaned over the table, the soup steaming my glasses.
“I remember being exactly in your position,” she said, nudging me back into my seat. “Trust me, it’s probably not as interesting as you think it is.”
I bit my lip. “How can you be so sure?”
“Remember when I first moved in with your brother?”
“Yeah,” I said. “What about it?”
“It was about then when I realized just how much time he spent at work.” She leaned back against the back of her chair. “I’d stay up all night, worried sick that something happened. I was a nervous wreck—especially since every time I asked him about his job, he wouldn’t say much.”
“And then?”
“I sat in with him during a twenty-four hour shift at the fire station, and he did nothing but paperwork all day.” She rubbed my shoulder. “Now, I’m not an idiot. I’m sure his boss made him do that while I was there. Maybe it was to make me feel better. Maybe it was to keep me out of the know.
“But now that I have that image of him, sitting there doing paperwork, his job doesn’t worry me as much.” She paused for a moment, putting her hand on my back. “Things just aren’t as dramatic as you think it is."
"Thanks, Cadance."
"Now go and eat your soup. Trust me, it's good.”
I figured she was right. She always was.
And yeah, she was right about the soup, too.
•·.·´`·.·•·.·´`·.·☀·.·´`·.·•·.·´`·.·•
I decided to follow Cadance’s advice and settle with not being original. Well, technically, I came up with the idea myself, considering this was Princess Twilight’s idea of a perfect date.
The Canterlot Museum of Art was already busy, which I had anticipated. Even though we arrived about a half hour before opening, the lobby was full, and a line stretched from the ticket booths out to the outside of the building. Sunset and I shared a glance but said nothing about the wait. Instead, we took our place in the back of the line as I assured her that it was worth it.
A gentle piano tune played over the speakers, and I found myself tapping my foot with the rhythm as the artist mused about paper moons and cardboard seas.
I recognized the song, but I couldn’t remember where I had heard it. Maybe I had played its piano part in one of Crystal Prep’s concerts? No matter where my conversation with Sunset went, that song was stuck in the back of my head.
“Twilight?” Sunset asked. “You okay? You seem distracted.”
“Hmm? Oh, nothing—just zoning out, is all.”
Sunset chuckled. “I know. This line’s taking forever.”
“At least it’s moving,” I said, shuffling in place. I looked over the line. It barely shortened. "Somewhat."
It took a while, but we reached the front of the line and bought our tickets. I held Sunset’s hand as I led her inside the museum.
A marble sculpture of a man and woman intertwined sat in the center of the museum’s atrium. It was one of the many works of Star Swirl the Bearded. Each lock of hair, fold of skin, and touching imprints of the embracing couple was meticulously defined. I always found myself staring at the way the man’s thumb pulled his lover’s cheek into a smile. Even if they were made of stone, I swore that I could feel the warmth and softness of her face.
“Every time I come here, I still get blown away by this sculpture,” I said, rushing up to the base of the statue. Sunset followed along and looked over the work. “Believe it or not, Star Swirl was twenty-four when he made this.”
Sunset rubbed her arm. “Holy.”
“It really makes you want to improve yourself,” I said, leaning in to admire the precise curls in the woman’s hair. I waited for a moment, feeling my heart speed up just a little. I kissed the tips of my fingers and touched them at the base of the sculpture. "It's perfect."
Sunset chuckled. “What are you doing?”
“It’s for good luck,” I answered, reaching for Sunset’s hand. “It’s a local tradition for couples to kiss in front of The Lovers.”
Sure enough, there were already a few couples professing their love.
“Oh, is that why you brought me here?”
“Part of it.” I leaned in. She took my lead and went for the kiss, and we felt as ancient as the art on display.
After we parted, Sunset squeezed my hand. “You know, we could’ve skipped the line and just kissed outside. Would’ve saved us about an hour and twenty bucks.”
“Hush, you. I like my museums.” I pulled at her hands and gestured to a hallway in the back corner of the main room. “Come on, I want to show you more stuff. I have a whole itinerary planned out.”
"Of course you do," she said with a laugh as she rushed to keep up.
—☀—
“Clover the Clever was one of Star Swirl’s more well-known apprentices from his workshop in Roam,” I explained as I dragged Sunset through the exhibit dedicated to Clover’s oeuvre. “She wrote poetry, mostly, but she’s much more famous for her paintings.” I breezed passed most of the exhibit and stopped right in front of one of my favorite pieces on display.
The painting was based on figures from classical mythology: The Sirens of Roam. Three beautiful women surrounded a man in the center of a busy market square. A necklace with a giant ruby hung around each of their necks.(The symbolism of the gem was often the subject of contentious debate, either representing lust or greed [there was also cowardly opinion that it stood for both]).
The siren in the foreground, the orange haired leader, had the man’s attention all to herself while the other two in the background picked his pockets.
“The Sirens,” Sunset said under her breath.
“Oh, so you know this one?” I felt a grin tug at my cheeks.
“What? Oh, yeah, sure. Definitely.” Sunset said, nodding vigorously. She kept staring at the painting as if it bothered her. As much as I wanted to pry further, I decided to drop the questions and went back to talking about the painting.
“Art historians say that Clover based the appearance of the sirens on three real women. The stories say that they kept luring Star Swirl away from his workshop during her lessons with him. That also explained why Star Swirl noted that this was his favorite work of Clover’s in one of his diaries.”
“Is that so?” she asked. “You seem to know a lot.”
“Oh, well I come here quite a bit, and I like to read up about the stuff on display.” I started playing with the strap of my bag, opening and closing the button locks. “It also helps that this is one of my favorite pieces here.”
“I never took you for an art person, especially with all your science stuff.”
“Oh, you know, the humanities are a valid field of study—even if I prefer math and science.” I trailed off, shifting my weight between my feet. “There’s an art to science and a science to art.”
“You get that off a fortune cookie?”
“Motivational poster, actually."
“Ah.” There was a slight pause before Sunset locked her fingers with mine.“So,” she hummed. “Think you can tell me more about the painting?”
“Well, uh,” It was at that point where I noticed how much spit had been forming in my mouth and how slow my tongue was slow to move. I swallowed nervously. “The Roamin myth they’re based on usually portrays them as devious, evil tricksters who sap the emotions from their victims.”
“Sounds familiar."
I didn’t know what she meant by that. “I wrote a paper on this painting for my art history class back at Crystal Prep. I’ll spare you the details and get to the main thesis behind it.”
“Which was?”
“The common interpretation is that the guy’s too enamored to realize what’s going on around him,” I began, locking my fingers with Sunset’s. “I like to imagine they both are.”
“Maybe they’re better off that way,” Sunset mused. “Love is blinding.”
“Huh.” I bit the inside of my cheek. “Never thought about it that way.”
—☀—
“Aside from being an inventor and a scholar, Star Swirl the Bearded was also a world-renowned artist. Of course, he preferred being an inventor, but the New Holy Solar Empire commissioned him constantly. Although, that didn’t stop him from his research since he put most of the money he made back into his—” I cut myself off when I noticed Sunset lagging far behind.
She just stood there, staring at a painting directly in front of her. She held her hand to her mouth, and it almost seemed like she was shaking.
“Is something wrong?” I asked, walking back to her side.
She shook her head. “No.” Her voice was low. “It’s just.”
She didn’t elaborate. I kept waiting for her to continue, but she didn’t.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” That wasn’t the reason, but I wanted to give her something to latch onto.
“Yeah,” she nodded before sitting down on a small bench nearby. I joined her and held her hand. She squeezed. Her nails dug into my skin, but I didn’t mention it. I’d gotten used to her not wanting to talk.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded again.
I leaned my head against her shoulder. She seemed to appreciate it as her breathing slowed just a little.
I tried to guess what about the painting struck her. It was one of Starswirl's later paintings, definitely during his patronage period. Like all works of art from the New Holy Solar Empire era, it was religious. I recognized the painting from my art history class. We spent a whole day on it.
Star Swirl’s The Banishment of Lune.
It was a haunting piece and was his only painitng on the subject. Even then, Star Swirl’s depiction of The Sisters as galaxy bending equines became the standard for all representations from then on. It was just that important. The way he presented golden goddess, an imposing sovereign becoming the sun itself through her wrath, made it feel as if you were the target of her fury.
“Tell me about this one,” she said, holding on to my side. “Just ramble, please. I like hearing you talk about art.”
“Oh, um,” I gritted my teeth, trying to recall that day’s lecture. “Well, it was completed in 1510—on the Winter Solstice, supposedly five hundred years after the goddess Celestine banished her sister Lune and five hundred years before Lune’s supposed return.”
“She come back yet?” she joked, her voice muffled by the sleeve of my dress.
“No,” I answered. “She was supposed to bring eternal night. It never happened.”
“I can tell.” She tried to laugh, but it came out weak.
I squeezed her arm, trying to make her feel better. We held like that for a little bit, just taking in the painting together. While I had never experienced it myself, I had heard that witnessing classic works of art in person had a paralyzing effect on people. I hoped that it was the case with Sunset.
“Oh,” I hummed. “I got something for you. I was saving it for later, but now works, too.” I dug in my bag again and pulled out a bit of carefully wrapped yellow flowers. “They’re tulips.”
Sunset took the flowers. “And what do they mean?” she asked, her lips curling upwards.
“You have sunshine in your smile. I'd like to see it more.”
“You’re just saying that to make me feel better."
“Is it working?”
She giggled and pulled me in for another kiss. “Yes.”
•·.·´`·.·•·.·´`·.·☀·.·´`·.·•·.·´`·.·•
“Can you at least give me a hint about where we’re going?” Sunset asked.
“It’s a secret,” I said as I led her down the sidewalk. I had Sunset park about a block away from our next stop. It had the added benefit of building suspense. “I mean it. That’s the hint. You’re going to have to sign a contract that won’t let you talk about what happens here.”
“Ooh, mysterious,” she hummed, seemingly accepting the answer. "What kind of contract are you talking about?"
There was a weird huskiness to her voice, but I ignored it. Why was she trying to make contracts sound hot?
Thankfully, I didn’t have to think much of it since the walk wasn’t very long. We cut through the parking lot and stopped just in front of the security booth, leading into the studios where Codename: Bravely Blue was filming. “Weird question, but you have your ID with you, right?”
“Yeah.” She nodded and dug inside her leather jacket.
“Okay, cool, cool.” I pulled out my credentials from my backpack. “Come with me.”
—☀—
“And action!”
Not a second after, the rain began, which was really just a set of sprinklers rigged around the set. A camera hooked up to a crane arm faced the rigged apartment window where a stuntman was quickly thrown out, landing on an inflatable crash-pad.
Then, out of the same window, Daring Do, clad in pajamas and her signature brown leather jacket and hat, emerged clutching a wad of documents and, more importantly, the map for the Sapphire Stone close to her chest, shielding it from the rain under her jacket. With one hand, she climbed out the window and onto the fire escape.
A second stunt man armed with a prop rifle bashed through a window near her. He fired at her, only missing as Daring dropped down a flight. One by one, more stuntmen dressed as henchmen began following her down the fire escape, firing at her based on the timing cues that was worked out and rehearsed for weeks. Daring ducked. Sparks flew as blanks were fired.
Daring rushed a henchman blocking her way, grabbing his rifle and bashing him in the face with it. The simulated rain continued to be a hinderance as the adventurer had trouble getting a good grip on the slick steel bars as she tried to jump another flight. She was hanging with no other options as more enemies spilled from her apartment window. She looked down then back up at the rows of oncoming thugs.
Without hesitating, she let go.
Daring landed in a prop dumpster, the crash pads obscured by a layer of garbage bags full of foam. After a half second to catch her breath, she flopped out of the dumpster and scrambled to her feet, rushing out the alley and turning the corner into the streets.
"And cut!" My father jumped up from his position behind the camera as the technicians working behind the scenes broke into mild applause. All the actors and the stuntmen got up from their final positions, helping each other down the slippery set. "Let's break while the crew resets! We'll start from the top when we get back.”
I turned towards Sunset, who had been clutching the armrests of her chair. "Pretty intense, right?"
Sunset nodded. “Seems pretty crazy to see how it’s all put together.”
“I know right. When it’s all done, you won’t even see any of the seams. You see exactly what the movie wants you to see. Movie magic!” I threw my hands up and smiled. “It’s exciting, but I bet it can’t even hold a candle to real Equestrian magic.”
It seemed like Sunset didn’t appreciate that comment. She only squirmed in her seat and mumbled something that I couldn’t catch. I didn’t bother following up. I then kicked myself for thinking it was something good to say. Why couldn’t she just humor me once?
“C’mon,” I spoke up, changing the subject. “Follow me. We’re gonna see Spitfire.”
Sunset tilted her head, as if expecting some kind of go-ahead from someone else. I figured the meeting with the lawyers scared her. "We could do that? Won’t we get in trouble?”
“As long as we don’t tell anyone what happened here, no,” I answered. “So do you want to meet her?”
I couldn’t possibly describe the way Sunset’s face lit up.
So I won’t.
—☀—
I led Sunset over to Spitfire’s trailer. Everyone else was busy prepping the next shot, figuring out the next placement of the camera, tightening up the lighting. A lot of an actor’s day on set was really just sitting around and waiting for the next take (especially on big, elaborate productions such as this one), so that gave me time to introduce Sunset to Daring Do herself.
I knocked at the door, and there was a muffled “Come in!” from the other side of the door.
This time, I will elaborate on the way Sunset’s face lit up. In great detail.
As it turned out, she only had one dimple on her face. That explained why she smirked a lot. She also had a chipped tooth in the left side of her mouth, opposite of the dimple. It was a full blown, childishly toothy smile that I wanted to see everyday. I hung onto the genuine excitement in her eyes, its corners slightly wrinkled.
“Is this your girl?” Spitfire asked, gesturing towards Sunset. I nodded. Spitfire chuckled approvingly. “She looks a bit like me.”
I laughed awkwardly. “Really? I don’t see the resem—“
“I get that a lot,” Sunset chimed in, cutting me off. She twirled a lock of hair with her finger. "I just want to say that I’m a big fan. Seeing you on TV every week gave me something to look forward to.”
Spitfire smiled but seemed a little caught off guard. “That's humbling. I appreciate you telling me that.” Just a moment later, her sly expression returned. “Helps keep the ego healthy.”
Sunset made a noise that was caught halfway between a laugh and a hum. I had never seen her get this way before. Then again, it wasn’t often that she wasn’t undeniably the coolest person in the room. (She was to me, but still). Spitfire was a tough act to beat, yet I found myself just watching Sunset gush on about something called a burning hammer. I didn’t know what a thing they were saying meant, but the way Sunset was excited made me excited.
“You weren’t kidding when you said your girl was a fan,” she said, patting my back a little too roughly. I rubbed at it to ease the pain. “You both have great taste.”
It was my turn to get flustered as I barely managed to let out an embarrassed, “Thanks.”
Sunset thrust her phone into my chest. "Twilight, Twilight, take our picture!"
I did as I was told, holding up the phone and laughing as Spitfire put her in a headlock. If Spitfire hadn't dyed her hair gray for the role, I would have guessed they were sisters.
It took a few minutes of being their photographer before I realized that this was supposed to be my date with Sunset.
•·.·´`·.·•·.·´`·.·☀·.·´`·.·•·.·´`·.·•
Sunset drove me home. We rode on her bike, and for once, I didn’t mind riding up the hill. The wind blowing against me felt nice—a bit chilly, but nice.
We stopped at the driveway, and Sunset helped me dismount (even though I didn’t need it). We made our way inside my house where I had dinner waiting in a slow cooker. It was a simple sweet potato soup, which was souped up with lentils and red bell peppers. It was even vegan!
I led Sunset to the dinner table, which I had painstakingly set up and decorated like a fancy restaurant. An unlit candle sat in the center of the table, and there were no waiters in sight. The utensils were set, wrapped up in a cloth napkin. The table cloth had an ornate looking design that I picked up at a local thrift shop.
Everything was perfect.
Sunset took a seat at the table while I made my way into the kitchen.
I mentioned once before that I wasn’t much of a chef. So, of course, I had a little help preparing our meal for the evening. My mom spent the morning teaching me how to operate the slow cooker, which meant she pretty much did most of the work while I watched and took notes.
If everything was timed correctly, then I would just have a little bit left on my end.
Sunset sat off on the dinner table, tapping her fingers idly. I smiled and hummed along to the music playing on a stereo. It was pretty much just ambiance to set the mood. It worked. At least I thought it worked. Sunset didn’t seem to mind at least.
I looked over to the slow cooker. It was steaming, which was a good sign according to my notes and what my mom told me. Everything seemed to slot perfectly in place for the moment, so I joined Sunset back at the table to talk while we waited.
“Hey."
“Hi.” I found myself not really knowing what to do with my hands. I put them on the table, balled them into fists, and when that didn't help, I laid them back out flat on the table. Then I brought them to my legs and squeezed at my kneecaps. I had to think of something to talk about otherwise I would have kept fiddling with my hands for a while.
“Today was fun,” she said, smiling.
It felt as if a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I let out a breath, which Sunset thankfully didn’t notice. I was in the homestretch with just a lovely candlelit dinner to cap the night off.
It was textbook romance.
“So,” I said, my voice trailing off.
“So,” she responded, mimicking my inflection. “You said your dad was a movie buff, right? I think that claim might have been too modest.”
I nodded, grateful for the conversational life raft she threw me. “Yup! Though, in my defense, I was legally bound to keep his current project a secret. And now you are, too.”
“It’s our secret then,” she mused, playing with a lock of her hair. “What should I tell the other girls?”
“NDA,” I answered. “Or if you want to be mysterious, tell them you’re contractually obligated not to tell them about our date.”
Sunset laughed. “That’s going to drive Rarity wild.”
“Oh gosh, you’re right.” I wasn’t sure if it was okay to laugh. “I don’t think I can keep it from her all too long. She has a way of prying information from people. Still, it's kinda fun to have our little secret, right?”
“Right. Secrets.” She looked down at the floor for a moment as if looking for something. “Can I at least show Rainbow Dash the picture? I need to see her reaction. She’s gonna be so jealous when she sees I met her heroes.”
“One day,” I said. “My mom will let me know when we’re allowed to post set photos.”
“Your mom?”
“Yeah, she’s producing the film. And she wrote the screenplay… and apparently maybe had a hand in editing A.K. Yearling’s manuscripts.”
“Shut up. You’re lying.” Sunset was leaning in. “So you’re telling me you know the people who wrote my fillyhood—childhood! Childhood.” The excitement left her eyes in an instant.
“You can talk about Equestria,” I said. “I’d like to hear it.”
“I don’t want to.” It was articulated tightly. She looked off towards a counter, where my parents kept a ton of framed family pictures. I had a feeling that she would act that way. It didn’t help that I felt myself getting frustrated. “Just… stop asking about it, please. And don’t ask about the Spring Fling.”
Where did that come from? She wasn’t even trying to be subtle anymore.
Neither was I.
“Why? I overheard the other day that you won it last year—and the year before that, and your freshman year, too.”
“I did.” Her voice was a whisper.
“How’d you win?”
“Popularity. It’s a popularity contest.”
“As a freshman?" I asked, the disbelief clear in my voice. "The Fall Formal and the Spring Fling?”
I didn’t even know why I kept pressing her. Maybe it was because I was frustrated. Who knows? It just felt unfair that she knew all about my embarrassing past and The Sunlight Project. She’d seen it all, but I knew next to nothing about her. She wouldn't even give me this.
“I thought she would have been proud of this sort of thing. What do you have to be ashamed of? It's not like you cheated or anything.”
Sunset glared right through me but didn’t deny it. She laid her hands out on the table.
"Oh, my goddess, you cheated didn't you?" I asked. My voice was flat. It wasn’t even an accusation, just an ill-timed realization. In that moment, I regretted what I said. I didn’t even know how that thought entered my mind. From the look in her eyes, I knew I opened some door that she didn't appreciate me opening.
“Just… leave it alone, okay?”
This time, I just couldn’t let it go. “But everyone else knows you but me. You know a lot more about me than I do about you. I’m your girlfriend, but I feel like I barely know you.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t.”
Without another word, Sunset stood up and left the dining room. I followed her only to hesitate and watch as she forced on her jacket and rushed out the house. The door hung open, and a cold breeze entered the room. I watched her jump on her bike and drive away.
I could have chased her. I should have chased her. Wasn’t I supposed to do that?
Instead, I just sat on the couch and ate alone.
Stats
Page generated in 0.027 seconds
Total duration
851 users online
1,239,032 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Yes! It pays off to be patient!
Happy 4 year anniversary from posting.
Seeing this story update again made my week better. I can’t wait for the rest.
Weeeeelll damn, it's back.
...well I guess my patience paid off. This remains both in my tracking and my favorites. Harsh chapter, though. Twilight really doesn't mean anything by her questions but...it's going to take a lot to get Sunset to open up about her past, it seems. It's sad. She seems to really enjoy her time with Twilight.
I guess it's time for me to reread both stories. I was actually thinking about this series last week; so glad to see an update for it and that it will be completed!
MY GF TOLD ME THIS FIC UPDATED AND I IMMEDIATELY DROPPED EVERYTHING I WAS DOING I CANT SPEAK THANK YOU
Some sweet Sunlight with a side of drama and just a dash of tension. My favorite.
Wonderful world building with Starswirl da Vinci. The goddess Lune returning in 2010 was a lovely touch as well.
Oh, you sweet summer child.
And... yeah, they're both at fault here. Twilight could've stopped prying at any time, but Sunset tried to hide everything about herself from a girl whose curiosity matched only by her determination. You can't hide secrets from Twilight Sparkle forever. Eagerly looking forward to more.
I'm really glad to see this update again. I reread everything and the older stuff still holds up while the new chapter is as cute as expected, while Twilight struggles with the real problem that Sunset's past is chock full of landmines she has no way to know about.
10170264
IM THE GIRLFRIEND I ALSO CANNOT SPEAK THANK YOU
In all honesty, an update from this story has already made my entire year. As weird as this may sound this fic is just very near and dear to my heart. I can't wait to see its conclusion. Thank you.
I'm so glad that this fic is back! The notification literally made my day. I reread it and the prequel a few month ago and thought that it would be cool to see it finished, and wow, it is more than just cool! Don't worry about the delay, this fic is worth the wait.
Updates striking like a bolt from the blue like this are why I never remove a story from tracking, no matter how long it's been.
And chapters like this remind me of why I was happy to wait to begin with. Cute, bittersweet, cute, gut punch.
Its a thin line between wanting to know and knowing when to shut up and just hold them close. It's so very hard.
You'll be quite surprised what she was like prior to the friendship games twilight.
Are you serious!?!?!? 😤
I'm with Lyra on this one as I really don't think you should find out more about the old sunset twilight, but something tells me your still gonna do it.
You just had to say that to her, didn't you twilight.
I can already tell sunset is not gonna be happy about what is likely gonna come next. 😥
Wow.
Ok, now it makes sense why sunset was acting all frighten and stuff just now.
Not bad twilight.
Look at what you've done twilight, your friends and family are not gonna like this.
Holy CRAP Hindsight TamiyaGuy just about blew a fuse upon reading that a second time. A fantastic, tiny detail to leave in, that’s devious.
I really like how emotionally clued-in Twilight is at the museum. For someone who started Project so oblivious, she’s gained a maturity that helps bring out the best (or at least the most honest) in both of them. Verrry interesting choice of painting as well – I initially assumed the one that caused Sunset such grief was some lookalike of her demon form or perhaps something that reminded her of fleeing through the portal, but Luna’s banishment is an equally provocative choice. Made me think, as well – how Sunset could’ve been aware of Luna’s story and her eventual redemption even though when she left for the human world isn’t quite clear to me (though I’m not too clued up on the canon timeline). I say this because to have picked this painting, you must’ve been thinking about it as well, and that attention to the continuity demonstrates a care to the source material that’s all too easy to ignore in a romance fic.
So… the ending to this chapter made me think. In my comment on Project, I briefly mentioned how Twilight had this idealised version of Sunset stuck in her head. And here, it almost seems like Twilight’s presence allows Sunset to have an idealised view of herself, free of her past and all the guilt that comes with it. It’s very well written here, too – you allow the reader to utilise the full extent of the canon and piece this together, while still believably writing Twilight being clueless about everything, and how she’d work to find out the information she’s being denied. It’s just such a tragic shame that it’s such a messy process for everyone involved…
…Alright, you’d better be unravelling all these knots with how much Twilight clearly doesn’t know about Sunset’s past, and how much it’s clearly eating the both of them up. They need that closure, dammit, and so do I.
sparky you dumbass