4 – Questions
Chapter Four
Questions
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To be fair, Amber had never actually been to a bachelorette party before. She’d been invited to Fluttershy’s, but it was a miracle she convinced her parents that she could go to a gay wedding without being gay, so she wasn’t even going to try explaining that she was also going to the bachelorette party. Especially since they would definitely make the wrong kind of assumption as to what type of party it was. So, really, she had no idea what a ‘normal’ bachelorette party entailed.
But this? This had to be pretty far removed from normal.
Okay, in fairness, the colorful lights blinking in time to electronic music was probably a pretty common theme at bachelorette parties, but that had to be where the similarities ended. For starters, most ponies probably left their house to party, rather than bring the party to their house. Pinkie and Spike had transformed one of the castle’s basement rooms into a private rave, complete with a preset mix arranged by DJ Pon-3 herself. Walking downstairs really felt like stepping into a full blown club.
But that wasn’t really the strange part. Even Spike’s presence was only a little odd. Apparently, Sunset had promised him that she’d let him throw her bachelorette party years ago, before she was even dating Twilight and Fluttershy, and she had decided to stick to her word. So all in all, the group consisted of eight grown mares and one male teenage dragon.
So that was an interesting twist on the usual single gender breakdown of a bachelorette party, but honestly Amber had always thought that idea was dumb anyway. When it really got down to it, there were only two things that made the whole thing feel bizarre. One was that out on the dance floor, Pinkie was dancing with Pinkie. The other was that at the table the rest of the group was sitting at, the Applejack next to Rarity and the Applejack next to Sunset kept glancing uncomfortably at one another.
Amber leaned over to Spike. “Do you ever… get used to it?”
Spike chuckled. “Trust me, with enough time, you get used to anything.”
“Even that?” Amber gestured to the two Pinkies, whose dance was just a little too intimate for comfort.
Spike tapped his chin. “Well… you stop questioning things, at least.”
“I can’t even tell which is which,” Amber said. She hadn’t ever met Sunset’s human friends before, but she had assumed that they would all wear clothes. Sunset always did, and she’d been living in Equestria for years. AJ – the name they settled on for the Applejack from the human world to avoid confusing her with the one from Equestria – seemed to share Sunset’s aversion to nakedness, as she was wearing a dress. Pinkie, on the other hoof, didn’t seem to care either way. They had apparently called her Pinkamena when she first arrived, but nopony bothered anymore. There really wasn’t a point, since both Pinkies insisted on doing everything together for maximum confusion, and nopony could tell them apart.
Well, almost nopony. “Pinkie’s on the left, Pinkamena's on the right,” Rainbow said lazily, after only giving them the smallest of glances.
“Seriously though, how do you do that?” Amber asked.
Rainbow shrugged. “I can just tell.” She grinned and leaned across the table. “And if you think that’s strange, I’m pretty sure they’ve banged before.”
Amber facehoofed. “Why thank you, Rainbow, for that oh-so-vital information that will never leave my head.”
Rainbow grinned. “Hey, what are friends for, you know?”
Sunset glared sharply at Rainbow. “You know, I think we could probably pick a better topic for the present company.”
Spike, who had only seemed amused at Rainbow’s comment, fidgeted in his seat at the reminder that he was younger than everyone else. Amber placed one hoof on her hip and the other on the table and leaned forward. “Hey, I’m a big girl! I got to sit at the adult table last Hearth’s Warming and everything!”
All she was really trying to do was make Spike laugh, which she did, but AJ also seemed amused. “Aww, don’t pay her no mind. She’s just too old to relate to the youngins these days. What are ya now? Seventy?”
“I’d tell you, AJ,” Sunset said, grinning good-naturedly, “but you know, I don’t think you could count that high anyway. Better to wait until you’re in at least, mmm… second grade or so.”
“But that’ll take forever!” AJ lamented. “You’ll probably be all kinds of senile by then!”
“Oh come now, you two,” Rarity chided. “There’s no need to get into all that again.”
“Again?” Amber asked.
“That’s pretty much how it always goes when they get together,” Applejack explained. “If ya didn’t know better, you’d swear they don’t get along at all.”
“I dunno, doesn’t seem that different from you two,” Amber said, gesturing between Applejack and Rainbow.
“Well, ya see,” Applejack said, “that’s ‘cause Rainbow’s a pest who refuses to stop sleeping in my apple trees! How’m I supposed to make a living sellin’ apples, when ya keep knockin’ ‘em out the trees, Dash?”
“They’re apples!” Rainbow defended. “You just pick them up and brush them off!”
“Oh dear, here we go again.” Rarity placed a hoof on her temple.
“All I’m sayin’ is –”
“No!” Rarity popped her head up. “No, we are not doing this again, not on a night of celebration. Applejack, we’re dancing.”
“We’re doin’ what now?” Applejack asked, giving Rarity a befuddled look.
“We are dancing.” Rarity stood up and took a few steps towards the dance floor, while Applejack remained seated. She stopped to look back at her. “I am going out onto the dance floor, and if you do not meet me there, I shall be very cross with you.”
True to her word, Rarity walked onto the dancefloor without another word. Everyone turned to Applejack, who didn’t seem to know how to react.
“Well, what are you waiting for?” Rainbow asked after a moment. “Go get her!”
Applejack waited a few more moments before standing up. She wouldn’t meet anypony’s eyes. “Well… I, uh, I’d sure hate to be rude, so…” She kept her eyes pointed steadily downwards as she walked out onto the dance floor.
Nopony seemed particularly surprised by the interaction, except for one. “What in the hell was that about?” AJ asked, which only caused Sunset to laugh. “I’m serious. They ain’t together, are they? I thought you said that the pony and human pairs would be the same sexuality and all that?”
“Aww, what’s the matter, AJ?” Sunset asked, sounding distinctly unsympathetic. “Having doubts about yourself?”
“That’s just how Applejack and Rarity are,” Spike said.
Rainbow shrugged. “Yeah, Rarity only likes stallions, and Applejack only likes apple trees. Never stopped them from basically becoming an old married couple.”
Out on the dancefloor, Applejack and Rarity danced to DJ Pon-3’s music while both Pinkies cheered them on. Rarity was clearly more sure of her skills, showcasing her ability to perfectly match her moves to the rhythm of the music. Meanwhile, Applejack hardly seemed to even know how she was supposed to move to the electronic music. So she didn’t. Instead, she opted to dance as if it were an Apple family hoedown, and rather than match the rhythm of the music, she seemed to be matching Rarity, speeding up or slowing down her dancing according to her partner’s lead. Despite their vastly different styles, the two ponies remained perfectly in sync.
“You know what?” Sunset said after watching the two. “Why are we sitting around, anyway? Come on, AJ.”
“Think I’m good right where I am,” AJ said. She held up her hooves. “Don’t rightly know what to do with these things when I’m walking, let alone dancing.”
“There. You already have an excuse for when everypony sees me dance so much better than you.” Sunset stood up and waited expectantly.
AJ just leaned back in her seat. “Uh huh. But ya forgot one thing: Ain’t no way no how that I would ever want to dance with you.”
“You know, I’ll remember that if I decide to take your opinion into consideration next time.” Sunset jerked her head towards the dance floor.
“Tch, fine.” AJ stood up. “But only ‘cause this is yer last dance as a free woman.”
They walked onto the dancefloor, and Sunset kept things simple for AJ, who definitely had been telling the truth when she said she was uncomfortable on her hooves.
Amber downed the last of the soda she was drinking and stood up. “Alright, so which one of you am I dancing with?”
“Pass,” Rainbow said as she leaned back in her seat, hindlegs propped up on the table.
Amber turned to Spike and bowed. “May I have this dance, sir?”
Spike stood and returned her bow. “Certainly.”
They were definitely an odd pairing, since Amber was so small and Spike had grown taller than any other member of their group, but Amber had danced with Luna plenty of times before, and Spike still wasn’t as tall as her. She wasn’t really sure how Spike having only half as many legs as her would affect things, but that was half the fun.
As the Pinkies noticed them walking onto the floor, Amber winked and jerked her head at Rainbow. One of them winked back and they began dancing their way towards her. She couldn’t very well let Rainbow miss out on all the fun.
It turned out that it really didn’t matter at all how many legs Spike had. Most of the music was high tempo and didn’t lend well to touching while dancing anyway, so really everypony was more or less doing their own thing. She only caught glimpses of what everypony else was doing, but despite about half the group being initially reluctant to get on the dance floor, they all seemed to be having a good time. Rainbow was dancing with both Pinkies at once, and Amber could finally tell them apart since one was clearly more thrilled about that than the other. AJ was mostly following a set pattern of moves she was comfortable with, and Sunset was very gradually adding more complicated steps to their routine. And if they were putting it to a vote, Amber would totally vote for Applejack and Rarity as their prom queens.
Although they all entered with partners, everypony eventually found themselves dancing in one cohesive group. Amber couldn’t remember the last time she’d enjoyed herself so much, and was reluctant to leave the dance floor. In the end, her sore hooves won out, and she made her way back to the table.
Rainbow was sitting in between both Pinkies, who had collapsed dramatically on top of her. She seemed indifferent to it. Sunset and AJ were discussing which of them had been the better dancer when they both lived in the human world. Rarity and Applejack had both taken a break earlier before returning to the dance floor, where they still were. Spike had never left; whether because he was a dragon or simply because he was a teenager, he seemed to have an unstoppable amount of energy.
“Does he still have a thing for her?” Amber asked as she watched Spike and Rarity.
“Eh, he got over that a while ago,” Rainbow said. “I think he has a thing for Scootaloo now.”
Apparently finding their conversation more interesting than her own, Sunset slid closer to the Pinkie-Rainbow sandwich. “Really? Do tell.”
Rainbow grinned, apparently finding the conversation just as interesting as Sunset did. She didn’t seem like the type to enjoy gossiping much, but maybe she just made an exception when it was their little siblings that were involved. “Well, I don’t know for sure or anything, but Spike and Scoots have definitely been hanging out together a whole lot. Without Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, I mean. And with the way she talks about it sometimes, well, let’s just say I have a hunch.”
Sunset rolled her eyes. “Rainbow, it sounds like Scootaloo is the one who has a thing for Spike. You sure you’re not just imagining it goes both ways ‘cause you want it to?”
“Well, why wouldn’t he be interested in her? She’s only the coolest filly in Ponyville,” Rainbow said, as if that was the only justification needed.
“I think Dashie might be right,” one of the Pinkies said. She grinned and went wide-eyed as she held her hooves to her cheeks. “And just think about the foals!”
Sunset blinked a few times. “Uh, Pinkie? Dragons and ponies can’t have foals together.”
“I can dream!” Pinkie snapped.
For once, the other Pinkie didn’t seem to share her enthusiasm. In fact, she and AJ were staring at each other oddly seriously. “I, uh, think I need to go to the little fillies room,” she said, before ducking under the table.
AJ sighed and spoke in a monotone voice. “I think I will also go to the ‘little fillies room’. Which is under the table. For some reason.”
Everyone was left looking around confused. Any of their conversation that would have been audible was covered by the music. At one point, Rainbow tried to duck her head under the table, but Sunset used her magic to jerk her back up.
Eventually an orange hoof tapped Sunset on the shoulder and she ducked under the table as well, leaving Amber, Pinkie, and Rainbow to just turn to one another in confusion. A moment later all three of them popped back up. AJ was grinning nervously, while Pinkie and Sunset – both better fakers by far – had much more natural looking smiles.
“So,” Sunset said, “I have a really cool story to tell everyone about when I went through the mirror last week.”
“Not a chance,” Rainbow said.
“A little chance?” Sunset pleaded.
“No way. Is something wrong with Scootaloo? Tell me!”
“No, nothing’s wrong with Scootaloo,” Sunset said. “It’s just, well…” She turned to AJ for help, but AJ looked like she wanted nothing to do with whatever conversation was going to follow.
“Don’t worry, Dashie,” Pinkie – or rather, Pinkamena, since it was pretty obvious which one was which at the moment – said comfortingly. “Scootaloo will always be Scootaloo, no matter what.”
Rainbow facehoofed. “Are you telling me Scootaloo is gay? Why would you possibly think I’d care about that?” She looked out at Spike, still dancing. “Poor Spike, though.”
“Well no, Scootaloo isn’t…” Sunset said. She paused for a while before continuing. “Uh, insofar as we know, both Scootaloos are attracted to males.”
Rainbow turned back to her, nonplussed. “That is literally the weirdest way you could have answered that question. Just tell me what’s going on with her!”
“Okay.” Sunset looked out at the others on the dance floor and sighed deeply. “I’ll tell you, but I don’t know how much time we’ll have to talk about it. If Spike, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom find out… well, we’re not going to be the reason they find out, got it?”
Everypony nodded in agreement. Amber felt like she should probably excuse herself from the discussion, since she didn’t even know Scootaloo aside from her being Rainbow’s sister. But she couldn’t think of where else to go, and nopony seemed to mind her being there, so she stayed.
“And before we get to into everything, I want you to remember that we don’t actually know how strong the correlation between a given pair’s sexual orientation is, and have no prior experience with something like this.”
Amber had only seen this once or twice before – Sunset had hit scientific mode. Whatever followed was going to be crazy.
“Yeah yeah, ponies and humans are different,” Rainbow said. “I know all that, so just tell me.”
Another sigh from Sunset, then she finally answered. “The other Scootaloo is transgender. He identifies as a male.”
All eyes fell to Rainbow, who for a moment didn’t respond at all. Eventually she blinked a few times and shook her head. “What?”
“Some ponies don’t associate with –”
“I know what it means!” Rainbow snapped.
“Rainbow,” Sunset began, speaking as calmly as possible, “remember what I said. We don’t know about the Scootaloo here.”
“I know, it’s just…” Rainbow shook her head. “She can’t be!”
Pinkie threw her forelegs around Rainbow. “Dashie, Scootaloo is Scootaloo. No matter what.”
In response, Rainbow dropped her head onto the table and covered it with her hooves.
“It’s okay,” Sunset reiterated.
“No it’s not!” Rainbow said, her head popping up suddenly. “It’s just like Fluttershy all over again!”
“Fluttershy?” AJ asked.
Sunset seemed to understand. “When they were younger, before Fluttershy even really knew she was gay, Rainbow said some things that made her feel like it wasn’t okay to come out.” She leaned forward towards Rainbow again. “So… did you say something to Scootaloo?”
Rainbow sighed. “I think Scootaloo tried to talk to me about something like that. She… he…?”
“I think until your Scootaloo decides that for herself, it don’t make no sense to try and switch early,” AJ said.
Rainbow nodded. “Well, she asked if I ever didn’t feel like as much of a mare as my friends. And, well… I told her she was just letting things other ponies said get into her head. She’s a lot like me when I was younger, she’s tough, she’s athletic, and she’s not exactly girly. I thought I knew what she was talking about, you know? So I said that was just stupid ponies saying shit, and that nothing would ever make her not be a mare.”
Pinkie patted Rainbow’s back. “Don’t worry, it was just a mistake. We’ll fix it.”
Sunset nodded. “Pinkie’s right. We’ll talk to Scootaloo and figure it out. Or if you want, you can talk to her yourself. But one way or another, everything will work out.”
AJ cleared her throat. “And I think it’s important to remember ya ain’t exactly wrong. What you described, that’s jus’ like me and you, right? I can’t tell ya how many times I got called any number of words I won’t repeat today, all on account of my less than feminine ways. Plus haulin’ around crates of apples since I could carry ‘em did a mite for my physique, as Sunset could tell ya.”
Sunset did not seem amused at the reminder. “Why you gotta bring up old shit?”
AJ ignored her as she continued. “What I’m sayin’ is, the Scootaloo I know ain’t a man on account of him not bein’ girly. He’s a man on account of he just is. I think it’s important that if yer Scootaloo feels the same way, she ought to realize that.”
Rainbow looked around at her friends, and then back down at her hooves. “Thanks, everypony.”
“Don’t mention it,” AJ said. “And anyway, I think –” her eyes flickered up for a second, and she grinned, then continued in a much more lighthearted tone “– that now would be a great time for Sunset to tell y’all what we did last week!”
Rarity and Applejack took seats at the table. Spike just lay down on top of it. Sighing, Sunset used her magic to lift him up and set him in the seat next to her. Rainbow seemed somewhat reserved, but not obviously so.
“Perfect timing,” Sunset said. She leaned against Spike. “I was just about to – ew, you’re all sweaty, move over some – I was just about to tell everyone about my most recent exploits in Humanland.”
“Humanland?” AJ asked, grinning.
“Fuck do you want from me? Earth? We also had a country called Earth, you know.” She turned back to the others. “So last week, Twilight, Fluttershy, and I met up with Pinkie and AJ in” – she rolled her eyes – “the human world. So anyway, everyone else knows, but I don’t think I ever showed you, Amber.”
Amber had been left in a daze from what they had just been talking about, but shook it off as Sunset lifted up her left sleeve. She leaned across the table to see better, and grinned when she realized what she was looking at. “Ha! I knew that was Fluttershy’s cutie mark!” It was hard to see it clearly under her fur, but when they had first met years ago she had gotten a very good look at it.
Sunset chuckled. “Yeah, Amber was actually the first pony to see it, but it was still another few months before I admitted to anypony what it actually was.”
“Wait, that was there before you were even dating Fluttershy,” Amber pointed out.
“I, uh… I used to date the human Fluttershy…” Judging by the way she wasn’t meeting anyone’s eyes, Amber could tell it was a sensitive subject, so she dropped it amiably. “That’s not really the point right now though, the point is this.”
Sunset rolled up her other sleeve, revealing a six-pointed pink star with five white stars around it. She smiled proudly while everypony clapped their hooves.
“Wait, Fluttershy and Twilight went with you?” Amber asked, grinning. “You don’t mean…?”
“Fluttershy probably won’t, but Twilight’s thinking about getting them as well,” Sunset explained. “I convinced her that it’s better to wait until after the wedding, though. I told her that it was because she might have a reaction to the ink since she’s never gotten one before, and we didn’t need that on our wedding. But really, it’s ‘cause she’s just sappy enough to talk herself into doing it because of the wedding. If she gets tattooed, I want it to be because she wants to, not because I did.”
“Still, very cool,” Amber said.
“It’s a nice thought and all, but I don’t get it,” Applejack said, squinting her eyes. “I mean, ya can barely even see the thing.”
Sunset nodded and rolled down her sleeve. “I’m sure that’s why tattoos aren’t very common in Equestria, and honestly I probably wouldn’t be interested in them either, but… I just felt like it was incomplete, you know? I can’t have Fluttershy’s and not Twilight’s. I love both of them.”
“Well I, for one, find it very romantic,” Rarity said.
“Thank you.” Sunset stood up. “I’ll be right back, I’m gonna go grab us some more soda.”
“Like hell you will.” AJ stood up as well and pushed Sunset back into her seat. “I’ll get us some drinks, you will keep your ass in that chair.” She looked at the Pinkies. “And since there ain’t no point in askin’ for jus’ the pony Pinkie to come with me, how ‘bout both of y’all come lend me a hoof?”
Both Pinkies stood up. “Hey, you said it right that time!”
“Yup, I’m finally gettin’ the hang of all this horse talk!”
Amber watched them as they walked off, then turned back to Sunset. “She knows horses are extinct, right?”
Sunset shrugged. “She’s just joking, she knows ponies and horses are different. And honestly, I don’t think she even knows horses used to live in Equestria. They’re still alive in the human world.”
“Really? That’s…” She shook her head and laughed. “You know, I’m frankly surprised that anything still surprises me.”
“AJ has some on her farm. We used to ride them around sometimes.”
Apparently, this was news to everypony else, as they all turned towards Sunset. Amber nodded and smiled as pleasantly as she could. “That is literally the weirdest thing you’ve ever told me.”
Spike chuckled. “Like I said, you stop questioning things after a while.”
The afternoon was filled with hours of talk and dancing. Rainbow remained somewhat detached from everything, although she did her best to stay a part of the celebration. At least there was little hope of Rarity or Applejack noticing anything was wrong, since the Pinkies were on double duty to cheer her up while also masking any negativity. It was an otherwise unremarkable – yet still exceptionally enjoyable – day.
They partied well into the evening, but since most of the guests were also involved in handling the wedding preparations, they stopped short of continuing into the night. “Well, I know I’m ready for a good night’s sleep,” Applejack said. “Had a heap of fun, but there’s still a lot of work to do over the next few days.”
“Thanks again.” Sunset hugged Applejack, then turned to address everyone. “I can’t thank all of you enough. It means a lot to us that you’re all chipping in for the wedding.”
“Think nothing of it, darling.” Rarity replaced Applejack in giving out hugs.
Pinkie leaped into the air and landed with one foreleg around each of them. “Yeah! It’s gonna be the bestest wedding ever!”
“Thanks, Pinkie,” Sunset said. “And with you all handling it? I know it will be. But you girls should probably get some rest. I’m sure we’ll all be pretty busy.”
Rainbow walked over and grinned. “Yeah, that’s nice and all, but you’re hugging the wrong Pinkie.”
Sunset arched an eyebrow at the Pinkie who was still holding onto her, and she smiled nervously. “Nice try.”
“It’s no fair!” Pinkamena said, walking back over towards AJ. “You always know…”
“Aww, it’s okay, Pinkie,” Pinkie said. “Maybe we can all do another slumber party after the wedding!”
Pinkamena nodded and hugged her double, who then walked over to the others by the door.
After saying their final goodnights, Sunset’s Ponyville friends left for their respective houses. Meanwhile, the rest of the group made their way towards the castle’s library.
“Thanks for coming,” Sunset said as she hugged Pinkamena.
“Are you kidding? Three of my favorite ponies getting married? You couldn’t keep me away if you wanted to!”
Sunset chuckled. “And we certainly don’t. We’ll definitely make plans to get together again once we’re back from our honeymoon.”
“Okie dokie!” Pinkamena hugged everyone in turn, including Amber. “It was nice meeting you!”
“Yeah, it was a lot of fun,” Amber said. “Hopefully we’ll both be in Ponyville again sometime. And, you know, see you at the wedding and all that.”
“Definitely!” Pinkamena nodded, then tapped her chin in consideration. “But I have to say, I kinda think short hair suits you better.”
Amber blinked and shook her head. “Wait, you never met me when my mane was short.” She narrowed her eyes. “Are we sure Rainbow knows what she’s talking about with these Pinkies?”
“She’s never been wrong before,” AJ said, although she was also eyeing Pinkamena suspiciously. “Least, I don’t think she has.”
Pinkamena giggled. “Oh, she figured it out alright. It’s just that the other Amber has short hair, and I always thought it looks super cute. Anyway, I’ll see you at the wedding!”
While Amber sat frozen in place with her mouth hanging open, Pinkamena walked through the portal. Slowly she turned to the others. “The… other Amber?”
“Well,” Sunset said, “we think that there’s a human counterpart to every pony, so I would definitely have guessed that there must be another Amber. Still, I didn’t know you all knew her.”
“Don’t look at me,” AJ said. “If I knew anything ‘bout that I’d of said so right from the beginning.”
Amber turned back to the portal. She could practically feel her mind breaking.
“You know,” Spike said, walking up to stand beside her, “the other Spike is a dog.”
Amber slowly turned to him. Some combination of the strangeness of the situation and his disappointed expression cracked through her shock, and she burst into laughter. “Okay, this is without a doubt the best place in Equestria!”
“Glad to see you’re handling it well,” Sunset said. She pulled a journal out from the device that powered the portal, returning it to a regular mirror.
“Well, it’s like Spike said: It’s best to just stop questioning things,” Amber said as Sunset began leading the group out of the library. “I take it you’re not heading home tonight, AJ?”
“Nope, as the best mare I’ll be hangin’ ‘round until the wedding’s all said and done.”
“Cool,” Amber said. “So I guess it’ll be a busy couple of days. Should we get to bed?”
“Probably should,” Sunset said, although her grin said otherwise, “but since this is my bachelorette party, I was hoping you girls would join me for a drink.”
Not entirely sure what to say around Spike, Amber just cast Sunset a concerned look. For as long as they’d known each other, Sunset had been battling with alcoholism. And while she certainly didn’t want to bring up bad memories, she had also relapsed a few times over the past three years, although the last time had been over a year ago as far as Amber knew.
AJ caught sight of her expression first. “Don’t worry ‘bout her none. Not while I’m around anyway. We already talked ‘bout it, and she gets one drink.”
“If you’re sure,” Amber said. Worst case scenario, if things went poorly she figured they could wake up Twilight – or worse, Fluttershy.
“Uhm…” Spike looked down at the floor bashfully. “Can I have one?”
Sunset stopped walking to give him a bemused look. “Really? You’re sixteen. And what would Twilight say?”
Spike tried to look her in the eyes, then quickly turned away. “Well, I won’t tell her if you don’t,” he mumbled.
“Oh no,” Sunset said matter-of-factly. “When I let you stay up late, we don’t tell Twilight. When you help me out around the castle and find a mysterious bag of gem candy in your room, we don’t tell Twilight. Those magazines under your mattress that you think nopony knows about? We definitely don’t tell Twilight.”
Amber and AJ couldn’t withhold their snickering, try as they might. Spike was rapidly backing away and blushing furiously. “Okay, okay! I get it!”
Sunset turned and began walking again. After taking a couple steps her horn lit up, and Spike was pulled back over to them. “Tomorrow we’re telling Twilight together.”
Spike didn’t answer for a moment, likely deciding if it was still worth it. Eventually he nodded. “Okay.”
Sunset led them to the kitchen and began pulling out glasses while the others took seats around a table. “In the interest of not poisoning the newbie, let’s go with mixed drinks.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Amber said. Spike looked like he was considering protesting – no doubt sure he could handle something stronger – so Amber leaned in and grinned. “Trust me, you definitely want to start with some fruity cocktail thing if you want any chance of enjoying your first drink.”
“Amen to that,” AJ said. “In fact, this reminds me of my first drink. I was about thirteen or so, and I asked Big Mac if I could have one of his beers. He thought about it for a minute, said ‘eeyup’, and handed over a can. Just like that. I couldn’t believe it was so easy, and I was all sorts of ready to drink with my big brother. I opened it up, took one sip, and handed it straight back to him. In hindsight, I can tell that he knew exactly what was gonna happen.”
“That’ll do it,” Amber said, laughing. “Beer’s definitely more of an acquired taste. Same goes for most alcohol.”
“Wasn’t until I started hanging out with Rainbow towards the end of high school that I actually started to like it. We were actually right around your age, seventeen or so, and she thought it was the coolest thing that my family just kept beer in the fridge, where anyone could get to it. Granny always figured once we were old enough to want to we’d start drinkin’ one way or another, so best if we were drinkin’ at home where we were safe. Anyway, being a particularly dumb teenager, I didn’t want to look bad in front of my friend, so I pretended to like beer until I wound up actually liking it.”
Sunset passed them each a glass filled with a frosty orange and red liquid, each complete with a straw and peach slice. “Peach daiquiris. Much better first drink than beer.”
“Fancy,” Amber commented.
Everyone watched Spike as he took his first sip. He smiled. “I like it. It’s really sweet!”
Amber took a sip herself. She half expected the whole thing to be a trick, and that they were really virgin daiquiris, but they definitely had alcohol, even if not too much.
“My first drink was also my first kiss, and both seemed pretty awesome at the time,” Amber said. “Fourteen, and I was at a friend’s house. Her parents were out of town, so we decided to sneak some wine. She poured like half a cup for us to split, ‘cause she didn’t want them to notice when they got back. It was, well, it was way too strong, but you know. With only a quarter of a glass, it could of been a lot worse and I still would’ve loved it. But yeah, then I just kissed her out of nowhere. She’s all, ‘What the buck!’ and I’m just like, ‘I think I’m drunk.’ We didn’t know what we were talking about, so she’s just like, ‘Oh, me too.’ Then we made out.”
Sunset glanced at Spike, who seemed to be enjoying every minute of being included in an adult conversation. “Just to clarify, the odds of that ever working are, like, next to zero.”
“Oh yeah.” Amber grinned. “It was awesome at the time, but then the next day things got super weird between us. We pretty much stopped hanging out after that.”
“There, see? Don’t be like Amber.” Sunset leaned back as she slowly drank her daiquiri, clearly savoring it. It took her a moment to realize everypony was looking at her. “What?”
“Hey, we got a theme going here,” Amber said.
Sunset sighed and stared into her drink. “Fine. But remember, I don’t need to tell you that who I used to be is the last thing you want for any kind of role model. When I was Celestia’s student, I never drank at all. Some combination of actually caring about my life and being terrified of what she might do if she found out. But once I was in the human world? Both of those concerns went right out the window.
“Problem was that when I came through the mirror, I was essentially five years old as a human, so it took a while before I had the chance. To my credit, I was twenty-one when I had my first drink. To my discredit, that made me a nine-year-old human. Obviously no one was giving me booze at that age, so I stole it. Two little bottles of wine coolers, from a grocery store display. It was easy; I had been shoplifting for a while, so I already knew what I was doing. I ran out into an alleyway and drank them both warm. Then I just went home, somewhat intoxicated, but nothing really crazy happened. They weren’t that alcoholic, and the only reason they really did anything at all was ‘cause I was so small and had zero tolerance. I don’t even know if I liked them, or if I just liked being a little hellraiser, but I kept stealing them, and eventually moved on to bigger bottles of stronger stuff.”
Sunset was staring sadly at her drink, but AJ clasped her on the back, which knocked the frown right off. “Ya know? Sometimes I forget that you are without a doubt the most depressing person I ever met.”
“That’s a fair point.” Sunset shrugged, then turned back to Spike. “Anyway, point is I was awful and you’re, like, a way better kid than I ever was. Either time I was a kid, really.”
“Well, I think you’re pretty great now,” Spike said.
Sunset ruffled his spines. “Yeah, well, that is true.”
Amber chuckled and sipped more of her drink. “So Sunset sort of gets by on being twenty-one, but not really. Guess no one really ever makes it all the way.”
“Twilight,” Sunset and Spike answered together.
Amber laughed. “Why am I not surprised?”
“Specifically,” Sunset said. “I kinda made it, but I wasn’t trying to wait until I was twenty-one. But Twilight waited until her twenty-first birthday, then went to Canterlot to go to a bar with Shining Armor.”
“She was all embarrassed about it, too,” Spike said. “She kept talking about ‘going out to dinner’ like I didn’t know what she was really doing.”
“Sounds like her,” Amber said.
They joked around a bit more, then Sunset put their empty glasses in the sink. On the way out, Amber caught Sunset lingering a moment to stare back towards the wine cabinet, but a guiding hoof from AJ saw her out the door without any problems.
Sunset sent Spike off to bed, then led AJ to her room, which was next to Amber’s. They said their goodnights, and AJ went into her room as Sunset walked back towards her own.
Amber stopped at her door, then turned around. “Sunset?” she called quietly.
Thankfully she hadn’t gotten too far, and returned from around a corner. “Relax, I’m heading straight for bed.”
“Huh? Oh! No, I know that. I just…” Amber found the words disappearing before they could leave her lips. She didn’t even know exactly what she wanted to ask, let alone how she was supposed to ask it.
Sunset jerked her head away from the bedrooms, where they could talk without AJ overhearing. “So what’s up?”
“Well… mind if I ask you something personal?”
“I just told you about the time I stole booze when I was nine. What could you possibly have to ask that would be too personal?”
“Well…” Amber really only knew the general topic of what she wanted to talk about. But she couldn’t figure out how to put even that into words, so she picked a topic that felt like it was sort of close. “Since you’re bi, is it ever hard being with only mares? Like, is it kinda like hiding part of yourself?”
Sunset shrugged. “Not really. Sure sometimes I fantasize about being with somepony more rugged, but honestly? I like mares better anyway. But you’re not interested in my sex life.” She put a foreleg around Amber’s shoulders. “I’m not hiding part of me, because I’m open about it. Like Twilight’s mom. She’s also polyamorous, but she’s not actually with anypony but her husband, and she hasn’t been with anypony else the whole time they’ve been married. But these last few years she’s a lot happier about that part of herself, because for her it’s enough to just acknowledge those feelings instead of hiding them away. So yeah, I gave up being with stallions, because I chose that. But it’s still part of me. You can’t just stop being attracted to mares to win your parents approval.”
“Yeah,” Amber said sadly, “I know.”
“Have you thought about coming out again?”
“Only every bucking day.” Amber leaned her head into Sunset’s shoulder. She let out a mirthless laugh. “You know, I thought sex would be the hard part. I went from sleeping with a literal goddess to pretending I’m ‘saving myself for marriage’. But then… that bucking sucks, but okay, whatever. I can deal with that part. But I’m just so sick of living every single day of my life as somepony I’m not!”
“I know.” Sunset held her tighter. “I can’t tell you what to do, but… I can tell you’re not happy with how things are going now.”
Amber took a deep breath. It was comforting, being so open after hiding for so long, even if she still couldn’t figure out how to bring up what she really wanted to talk about. “I know it seems that way, and, well, it kind of is. But then… you never see me around Fox Glove. Everyone, even ponies who have no idea about the whole closet lesbian thing, they’re always saying how I’m totally different around him. He means so much to me, and I already missed four years of his life. I’m not missing the rest.”
Sunset was quiet for a while. Amber expected that once she answered she would try to convince her to change her mind, but she didn’t. “I understand,” she said. “I know what it’s like to have somebody you’d do anything for, be anything for.”
Amber sighed. “Love’s a bitch.”
“Yeah.”
Realizing they weren’t going to get anywhere else with that conversation, Amber pulled away. “Thanks. Even just talking helps, you know.”
Sunset nodded. “You know that we’re always here for you, whatever you need.”
“Yeah, I know. But right now, we should both get to bed. Good night, and thanks again.”
“Anytime. Good night.”
They walked in opposite directions, and Amber entered her room. She stopped to look at the mirror and sighed. As always, it looked all wrong.
She collapsed on the bed and pressed her hooves against her eyes. It had been an interesting day. She’d had a lot of fun, and it had given her a lot to think about. Especially that last part. She lay awake for hours, tossing and turning, all while replaying one thought in her head.
‘Scootaloo was female, until he realized he wasn’t.’
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Reminds me of situation one of your friends was put through. Something about you just makes me want to scream out.
Here, I fixed the title for you. It's a little wordy, but it should be very accurate.
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Or a pretty normal thing bisexual people do when they enter a committed relationship that doesn't involve sex with anyone other than their partner(s)
I'm honestly a little unsure why you're still reading
I'm not trying to tell you not to or anything, it's just odd since you don't seem to be enjoying the story very much. Where you see unnecessary angst I see drama caused by complicated situations, which is exactly the type of story I want to tell. Even if you're right and it's nothing but unnecessary angst, then that's the story and it's not changing.
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It's a story. If somebody's going to suffer as a result of their own actions, I want to have a front-row seat with popcorn.
EDIT: derpicdn.net/img/view/2015/11/28/1032074__safe_rainbow+dash_screencap_animated_smiling_cute_open+mouth_filly_food_reaction+image.gif
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Fair enough. I hope the rest of the horsey melodrama proves entertaining, at least
To get things out of the way first: DAMN YOU!
I was simply looking for some short, heartfelt romance and now I read the whole series this week.
Now that that is out of the way: I love this story and the series as a whole. Well formed arcs, likeable characters and the right amount of drama and fluffy feelings.
I believe Violet's issue with Amber is that when she first talked about hiding it and her reasons she mentioned only that her parents didn't allow her to see her brother. If that'd be the only reason there were way better solutions: Meat him anywhere in the town at the weekends for example.
But as you explained in the comments for chapter two of this story the reason is more that she want's her family back. That's a much stronger reason you can accept.
Maybe you can work that in one of the next chapters? I think it would benefit the story.
Keep up the great work.
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Tbh, that's one of my favorite things to hear
I'm thrilled you enjoyed my story so much
It seems most people come to my stories expecting simple fluffy romance (I'm so sneaky), but I'm glad the drama/fluff balance worked for you in the end 
I suppose my hope was that it would come across more naturally by showing her having a more positive relationship with her parents. And if I was giving this story the same amount of room as my others, I probably could have shown that. As it stands, I'm working on keeping my writing to a more manageable length since that's a skill I'll need once I start writing stories for publication some day (most publishers don't want to take a 200k novel from an unknown author, after all). So I probably goofed there, and that got lost with them only having a few small interactions. In any event, the explanation is going to be in the story itself within a few chapters.
Why is it when someone writes about both Pinkies being in the same room I fear for the fabric of reality? That's something Rarity can't just put a stitch in to fix, and if Twilight was all grumbly about having to clean up a bunch of dark magic, could only imagine how aggravated fixing reality would leave her. Spike's right on this, you just have to not think about it.
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And while Twilight may not be happy about it, I don't think there's a safer place for reality to start coming apart – between her and Sunset, if anypony is undoing the damage it's them 
That's a reasonable thing to be afraid of
Oh my god. It's like a weird mental sync thing. Ive always had the headcanon that dash just knows when she sees a friend. I can't or haven't bothered to explain mare do well in that context, but being able to peg which pinkie is her pinkie? Yeah. No sweat.
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I don't so much think Rainbow could recognize any of her friends, but she can recognize Pinkie easily. Pinkie, on the other hand, could absolutely recognize any of her friends in an instant.
I loved the Who We Become series so far.
Wonderfully written, wonderfully crafted story.
There were some places in the first two books that I found hard to read. Not because it was bad, but because it was tugging at my heart so much that it became painful. I'm rather emotional.
This chapter was of a different sort for me.
Before I come to the main point why I write this, I'd like to comment however on how polyamory is described:
It is treated like an orientation or identity. The concept of polyamory is not foreign to me - I live in an open relationship myself and tell my fiancé everything about other people I have romantic feelings for - but what I learned about love is that you aren't either polyamorous or not, but that eveyone can develop romantic feelings to more than one person at a time. The only difference is how you prefer to deal with it: either to never mention feelings towards others to your current partner, to be open about those feelings but not act upon them, or to be open about them and to act upon them. So I found the way its describe here (and in the previous book) foreign to me.
Now to the reason that made me write this:
I'm afraid this chapter triggered me - not that I am accusing of eanything here, except to maybe suggest a trigger warning about this book - because it hit much more closely to home than anything before I've read from you before.
I'm transgender.
While I transitioned I still ocassionaly suffer from severe dysphoria. I guess this one triggered me.
I'm not sure wether it makes it worse or better for me that Amber Glow seems to be trans-male (I'm mtf, btw).
Amber Glow already tugged at my heart more than other charaters even in the previous book. Maybe because I feel she(he?) experiences the greatest hardship (at least for me): to not be able to live who you are, and now in this chapter - to feel revulsion towards you own reflection.
Thats what hit me so closely to home, possibly even more so because I experienced it myself just today.
I'm fearful to continue reading now.
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To start with, thank you for reading an commenting. I'm delighted that you've enjoyed my stories so much, even if they were hard to read at times.
Regarding polyamory, my thoughts are a little more complicated. I recently reread Finding Home for grammar correction purposes, and I did find that my depiction of it basically being the same as an orientation was a little over-simplified. That said, I think of it as kind of a grey area. I wouldn't describe it as an orientation, despite pretty much making that parallel in Finding Home (and plausibly in In Pieces; I still have to reread this one and can't recall exactly how I handled it here), but from what I've learned being poly and interacting with people in the poly community over the years, it can be very similar. The word I would use is that it can be an identity, even if not an orientation. There are people, like my wife, to whom monogamy does not seem to be compatible in the slightest. People who fall in love very easily and are not comfortable within a monogamous relationship. For people like this, poly is more than a lifestyle, it's an identity. Then there are people like me, who also would use poly as an identity and not just a lifestyle, who form many hard to define relationships with many people that exist somewhere between friends and lovers. And of course, there are people who could go either way, be happy in a mono or poly setting, whom would probably not use poly as an identity even if they are in a polyamorous relationship, because it's not a core part of who they are. I've also talked to people who can not seem to comprehend the idea of loving more than one person despite being familiar with polyamory. Not that they aren't interested in being in a poly relationship, but that they legitimately can't understand the simple act of romantically loving multiple. Of course it's possible that they're putting on the front that society dictates they should have, or that they just haven't been in love with multiple people yet and it could happen, or that they simply refuse to acknowledge their attraction to people outside of their significant other as love, but I'm not one to label others' experiences, so when people tell me they couldn't love more than one person, I tend to take them at their word.
So... yeah, complex grey area in my opinion
I'm sorry to hear that this story was triggering for you, and that you have to deal with gender dysphoria in general. I'm sure it goes without saying, but I certainly don't mean to cause anyone problems because of my writing. As far as gender identity topics go, this was really the big gender chapter. Scootloo's transition and that whole situation will be told in another, but there will be some more references to how Amber views her gender (and incidentally, until I reveal her feelings on her gender/preferred pronouns, I'm going with she/her). This is more a story of questions than answers, what with its short length and all, so there isn't a concrete resolution for her here. If I recall correctly (and I might not) every chapter in this story that Amber's the POV character for references her looking into a mirror and her thoughts on her reflection, so as a fair heads up if you keep reading that's going to continue to be a thing. But for the most part, the question has entered her mind by this point and the remainder of the story focusses on other things. I don't believe the remainder of this particular story will cause any more issues for you, at least not concerning gender (there is more homophobia stuff coming up, which is probably not at all surprising).
This series as a whole is more or less a queer soap opera, and there will definitely be stories that explore gender identity in it. I can completely understand not wanting to read about that, especially since the soap opera part of that whole thing guarantees there will be some level of drama. But one thing you can always count on from me is that I'll never try to make light of queer issues, or use them for needless drama. I myself am nonbinary trans, and I want to tell stories that I and the people I care about can relate to, but always with that layer of positivity. Essentially everything I do is hurt/comfort, and the intent is to always write about characters overcoming obstacles and growing together.
Anyway, while I always hope for as many readers as I can get, I'd never want anyone to read anything of mine if it causes them distress. Completely understandable if you decide to stop reading here.
Than you for this wonderful response. It meant a lot to me. I'll respond to it to you personally since I don't think all of it is appropriate here.
Huh. I think this is the first story I've read on this site to even mention a trans character. Rainbow's conversations with Scootaloo are going to be...interesting.
Fun party besides that, though.
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There’s a few trans stories around this site, but it’s not as common as I wish it was (but then again, being trans myself I would think that lol). Parties are always hard to write, so it’s nice to hear you enjoyed it
This interaction is golden and I sincerely hope for more.
I LOVE THESE TWO SO MUCH And their interactions are very ideal nods
I mean, maybe he is. ... Oops...
Oooooh. OOOOOH. Rainbow I'm so sorry. Wow, she really is dense.
UAHSUHDAUHSDHUASDUHASDUHASHASBUI WREO BQEUIORNQERG smashes head on the keyboard
sighs
... HAHAHAHAHAHA This is hilarious
Cheers loudly Have I said that I love her? And that she's the best? Because I do and she is.
I suddenly remember that in this timeline there was no mention of when Sunset started drinking, was there?
hahahahahahahaha pfffttt haushuahsuahsdhuasda I love that
AJ is always so encouraging and positive
Pinkie Pie is honestly probably the only pony/human good enough for Pinkie Pie so I'm glad she went for it
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"Who knows me better than I know me?"
Gotta say, as a trans girl engaged to someone who's nonbinary, I really appreciate how being trans is handled here.
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I'm always glad to hear that the gender stuff resonates with people. There's not a lot more in this story (it's referenced here and there) but it plays a prominent role in this story's sequel, in which Scootaloo is the main character
I'm sure a big part of why it works comes from the fact that I'm a nonbinary trans girl, so it's a subject I can approach with confidence
Twilight's mom is poly? I must have forgotten about that part. Unless it hasn't been mentioned until now. I really like how much more mature Amber and Sunset are being compared to where they were in Finding Home.
As for Scootaloo: holy shit FTM characters are so hard to find here! I hope that this gets explored more, and the sequel looks promising in that regard. Though, if they know for sure that: a) pony/human counterparts generally have a correlation in gender and sexuality and b) one Scootaloo is trans, then it does feel like it would be the more ethical option to at least talk to Scootaloo's guardian(s) about possibly taking her to a therapist. It could possibly spare Scoots a lot of suffering from dysphoria and give her a safe place to a) see if said hunch turns into a diagnosis b) give Scoots a safe place to learn about gender and herself.
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Yeah, it was revealed in Finding Home that she was so opposed to TwiShySet because of internalized polyphobia.
And about Scoots, I think the best course of action would be to talk to her rather than her guardians. She's sixteen now, she's old enough to take agency over herself, and she may not want to involve her guardians. Taking that choice to come out to them away from her seems very wrong to me and I'm not at all for it.
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What chapter was that again? I do remember there being a conflict with the announcement of the relationship, but not specifically what Twilight's parents said. Gosh, now I can't remember if Sunset's parents are a) still alive or b) aware of their daghter's relationships.
Okay, if Scoots is that old (I keep thinking the CMC are still young) then that would be the best course of action.
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It was first revealed in Princess of Kindness and then elaborated on in Reaching Coclussions. And Sunset's parents are alive and know of her relationships; they were at Twilight and Fluttershy's wedding.
Ya see, AJ? They’re basically exactly the same as you and your universe’s Rarity, if she didn’t live ten thousand miles away from ya!
Aww yeah. I was wondering if she’d ever do that.
WOO TRANS REPRESENTATION!!
there are so few stories with trans characters on here im very happy
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Lol well definitely keep reading this series because there's more to come!
Juxtaposition between the human world and the pony world is always good stuff.
I'd like to think Amber's talk with Sunset at the end brought her some closure/comfort. Seems that she still has a lot of other stuff to think about, though.
Wasn't there some study/survey done where a lot of people admitted they would likely have sex with a duplicate of themselves given the chance?
I mean...👉👈This is beautiful and I demand a story with this as its thesis. XD
also amazing
ooooh :D
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What a coincidence! I've written but not published it yet
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👀