Track 8: Hot For Teacher
Limestone’s pulse quickened the moment she sat down opposite Sunset in the small cafe. It wasn’t just that she was pretty; Harmony was she pretty though, and Limestone briefly wondered just how sure she was about Flash, or about being straight in general, because the only thing more impressive about this girl than the sense of calm confidence she projected was the glow of her skin in the light that streamed through the nearby window.
“Limestone?”
“Wha… yeah, sorry.” Limestone took solace in the anger she felt over having been caught staring. “Thanks for meeting.”
“Pinkie said you needed some advice about Flash.”
Limestone sighed. “Yeah, well, whatever Pinkie told you, just forget it. She seems to think our next stop should be for kinky nighties over at Platinum’s Secret.”
Sunset took a sip of her coffee, visibly stalling for time to process Limestone’s words. “You know they just sell regular underwear too, right? And comfy clothes. Actually half of what I’m wearing right now comes from them.”
Limestone fought down a blush. “Okay, so maybe Pinkie was just trying to get me to freshen-up my wardrobe a little.” She paused. “Actually, thank you; that makes most of what she said on the way over make a lot more sense.”
“No problem,” Sunset said, smiling. “So what can I help you with?”
Limestone looked down at her own cup of coffee, gave it an experimental sniff, and set it back down. She looked back up at Sunset and tried her best to muster-up irritation at the girl’s warm smile, but found herself failing utterly. “I think I screwed something up with him, and I’m not sure how to make it right.”
“Flash is a pretty understanding guy. I’m sure that whatever it is, he won’t freak out, and you guys can probably work it out together.”
“Well, it’s kind of big.” Limestone took a deep breath. “He thinks I wrote the lyrics that I’ve shared with him.”
Sunset nodded slightly. “Who did?”
Limestone failed to hold her blush at bay. “My sister, Maud.”
“Hmm.” Sunset took another sip of coffee. “I’m glad that you want to be honest with him. It’s the right thing to do, regardless. But what’s the big deal if you wrote the lyrics or she did? He’s interested in you.”
“Well, yeah, but that’s because he thinks I wrote the lyrics.” Limestone sighed. “He likes them.”
“Limestone, I’m pretty sure he likes you, and the lyrics are secondary.” Sunset smiled. “I don’t want to pry, but has he tried pulling any grand spontaneous gestures yet?”
“I don’t think so?”
“Well, you have that to look forward to.” Sunset chuckled. “He’s a sweetheart, but sometimes he can overdo things when he likes someone. Just saying.”
Limestone nodded. “Okay, sure, but I haven’t gotten to the worst thing yet: Maud likes him, too.”
“Oh.” Sunset’s smile faded. “Ohhh.”
“Yeah. Now you see it.”
Sunset's face pulled tight into a look of uncertainty. “Well, Maud really isn’t in the picture, is she? You like him, and he likes you.”
Limestone frowned. “Do I?”
Sunset blinked. “Limestone, please don’t lead him on if you’re not sure about him. Flash is a really great guy, and his heart has been through some tough stuff over the past year. The last thing he needs is…”
“I don’t want to jerk him around.” Limestone squeezed her eyes shut. “In all senses of the word. Look, I don’t know, Sunset. I don’t really date, I don’t know what I’m doing, and I certainly wasn’t looking. He just came out of nowhere, and we jammed, and it was nice.” She shrugged. “I don’t know what any of that means.”
“Well, I’d say that could be the start of something.” Sunset smiled. “It sounds like you guys are still really early, which makes sense. You’ve got some surface attraction, which helps start things; now you’re starting to think about when and how to take things deeper.” She took a drink of her coffee. “I think your instinct about wanting to be honest about the lyrics is a good one. I don’t think it’ll be a problem, but the longer you let that go, the more of your relationship will be founded on an untruth, which isn’t good.”
Limestone nodded. “What about Maud, though? I feel like I’m going to squish her heart flat if I actually go for him.”
Sunset frowned. “I know that makes things complicated for you at home, but Limestone, it isn’t healthy for you to hold back on this just for the sake of what she might do.”
“Honestly, I’d rather just let her have him if I could get her to actually go for him,” Limestone said.
“Why?”
“Because you don’t know Maud,” Limestone sighed as she took a sip of coffee. She immediately regretted this, as her face puckered at its bitter taste. “Oh, I hate that stuff. No, like… I’ve never seen her act like this before. He means something to her. And I don’t want to take that away from her if she really wants him.”
“It’s not that easy, though. Relationships have got to be a two-way street, otherwise you can go through all the motions and they don’t mean anything.” Sunset leaned closer. “It’s like the way you’re thinking about Maud here; it doesn’t matter if you want to put your feelings aside to let her have a chance with him, it matters what she’s ultimately willing to do now, in the moment, now that Flash has maybe got a thing for you. And how she’s willing to treat you, now that you’re starting to be attracted to him.”
“I don’t get it.”
“Let me try it like this: You’re willing to put your feelings aside to give her a chance to be happy with Flash, right?”
“Right, I guess.”
“Well, relationships don’t work that way. What Flash feels for you right now isn’t something he can just put on the shelf while he tries it out with Maud. I mean, I’ve heard stories about people breaking up and getting back together later after being with other people, but I wouldn’t bet on that as a general thing.”
Limestone sat back in her chair, frowning. “So what you’re saying is that I’m going to have to let her down.”
Sunset shrugged. “I’m sorry. You may want the best for her, but she has to be willing to take steps to start things with people if she wants to find someone. It sounds like maybe that’s hard for her, but it wouldn’t be any different for you or anyone else.” She smiled. “You’ve gotta open yourself up a bit if you want to achieve intimacy.”
Limestone blushed. “I don’t think I’m quite ready for that…”
“No, I mean intimacy in the sense of really sharing things and building the relationship.” Sunset winked. “Maybe save the other kind of intimacy for once you actually have a committed relationship, or at least once you know your way around Platinum’s Secret.”
Limestone’s blush grew hot and intense. “Okay, is it weird for you talking about Flash like this with someone else?”
“Not really. If you weren’t serious… yeah, maybe. But I can tell you’re serious.”
“How can you tell?”
“You really aren’t asking me for much. You care about the people in your life, and you want to find a way to preserve their feelings even though you know that someone isn’t going to end up getting what they want.” Sunset took a breath. “And you’re way too eager for that someone to be you, but not like, in the martyr sense of it.”
Limestone nodded, then broke into a small, sideways grin. “You make me sound so good.”
Sunset gave her a warm smile. “I’m sorry, but it looks like you might be good, Limestone Pie.”
Limestone froze. “This isn’t flirting, is it?”
“W… what?”
“Good.” Limestone forced herself to suffer through a long pull of her dark, bitter coffee. “Very good.”
Stats
Page generated in 0.028 seconds
Total duration
1,041 users online
2,156,060 hits today, 2,561,572 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.®
That was an amazing Pinkie Pie on all levels. There is as much darkness as light in the Pink. And yeah, all of the Pie siblings seem to have some degree of emotional imbalance. Though that could be nurture as much as nature; not exactly the most demonstrative household to grow up in.
I also really like Sunset's wisdom here. This is wisdom earned from experience, and the bit at the end keeps her from seeming impossibly perfect. Still, I think Princess Celestia would be very proud if she could see Sunset right now.
(Also, Platinum's Secret is one of the better EQG name-brand puns I've ever heard. I may need to
stealborrow that should the right circumstances come up.)gifsec.com/wp-content/uploads/GIF/2014/04/oh-yeah-reaction-gif.gif
This story keeps getting better and better. Keep going.
8043114 Glad to hear it! There are 4 more chapters to go...
8043001
8042881 I'm glad that Pinkie came across well. Ditto about the issues that the sisters all suffer from. Nature or nurture is an interesting question there. I don't necessarily have a definitive answer, though I have some thoughts about the family's dynamics that are hinted at in tomorrow's chapter. One thing I'll say is that the way the family is characterized in this is intended to be consistent with their portrayal in Baby Limestone Rides To War even though the stories are set in different universes. There are even some random details shared by both stories, such as Igneous liking coffee and Limestone hating it but wanting to try to like it because he likes it.
Pie family headcanon is something I find fun to pick at now that I've gotten started.
I think a sequel to this would be an even harder sell than this already is, but I'd enjoy coming back and doing more with the famiily at some point.
As for Sunset: I think it's fun to ponder if her pony form has become that of an alicorn following the events of the first 3 movies. Celestia likely wouldn't have chosen her if she didn't have the potential in her, and she certainly grew a lot to be able to demonstrate the level of wisdom and confidence she had during LoE.
Ah yes, and Platinum's Secret was just too perfect.
Stealborrow away.8044746 Yes. More.
8044746 Only 4?!
NOOOOOO!!!
8044772 It's not all bad; they're on the long side compared to these others. Two of them are pushing 4000 words, and another is ~2500. Today is one of the long ones; tomorrow is the only short one.
8045412 NOOOOOOOOOO!! I WANT MORE!!!! WAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!
This story has a little bit of a Cyrano vibe to it doesn't it? Sunset wants to talk about building a relationship and relational intimacy. The adult in me agrees with this. However, the teenager in me is like darn it Limestone you've gotta quit worrying about everyone else and just rock the:
Sunset never said no...
8061190 * watches video *
Well, that escalated quickly.
8061970 I didn't really give a lot of thought to Sunset's possible future dating life when I wrote this. If anything, I kind of wanted to set her apart as an untouchable beauty who could inspire everyone by her mere presence. But that beauty isn't rooted just in the physical; Sunset's whole self has changed as a result of her reform and (possible, maybe) ascent to alicornhood (see 8044746 ). It pigeonholes her somewhat as a character to depict her that way, but I feel like it works because she doesn't need a complete arc to be effective in this story. That's actually why I didn't tag it with Sunset even though she plays an important role. (Contrast with Pinkie who did get tagged; Pinkie has a slightly bigger role and we actually get inside her head; it's still not a complete arc but it's deeper.)
Man, I'm really not sure what to think about this. All the complications with Maud are making this, well, really complicated.
I'm loving this story. As a fellow crack-shipper this story on point.
Okay can I just say that this is fantastic that YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THERE'S MORE THAN ONE MEANING OF THE WORD!
what really strikes me here is just how wise and perceptive Sunset is for an 18-year-old. i mean, i guess she has gone through a lot in her high school years, and the Element of Empathy definitely helps her in getting to become this kind of person, but it is a very interesting contrast with most shipfics i've read that have characters coded much older act much less mature. i am impressed with how this fic's narrative juggles just so many different relationship types and connections beyond just the LImestone/Flash link: exes and friends and sisters and crushes. again, not something i see very much, and refreshing.