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1.) Caramel2,331 words
2.) Every Little Moment2,829 words
3.) A Walk in the Park2,961 words
4.) Binary Sunset2,870 words
5.) Friendly Advice1,862 words
6.) Meet The Flares2,584 words

1.) Caramel

Sunset sipped at her coffee, lightly humming along to the beat in her ears. As she placed the cup back on the saucer, her breath was now deliciously pungent with its bitter taste.

Americano with two sugars, the way she always had it.

She never used to enjoy coffee, but it often worked to get the job done and years of that mindset caused it to become a required part of her day. After another day at CHS, she and her friends had ventured straight to the mall to help Rarity with one of her seasoned shopping trips. But now that day had drawn to a close, the sun had set and her friends all split off in their own directions home. Normally she'd be tucked up in her snuggle uniform on the sofa by now but with her bus schedule being each one an hour, that left her with twenty minutes until she could even begin her journey back. This was often a café she visited, but it was her first time doing so this late into the afternoon.

“Excuse me,” she asked politely, grabbing the attention of a young waitress, “could I have one of those muffins please?”

The blonde-haired waitress smiled and nodded.

“Sure thing. Two bucks please.”

They did their exchange and soon a glazed caramel muffin sat on a plate in front of her. She liked it here; it was a good middle ground between price and quality. It couldn't be considered super-expensive, but in tangent, the food and drink quality suffered. Not that it was terrible, it just… wasn’t the best, either. It was her go-to place to recharge without making a huge dent in her wallet.

Taking a delicate bite of her muffin, careful not to smear her face with the glazed caramel, she glanced down at her phone screen.

5:46 p.m.

The sign on the door marked the closing time as 6 p.m - convenient for her - less convenient for the store owner, who would have to wait for her to leave before she could lock up. Sunset knew this but found her excuse in the reasoning that any annoyance felt by the store manager's wouldn’t be nearly as bad on them as the cold weather would have been on her. And it wasn't as though the café was empty apart from her with, and a lone girl sat a few seats down.

And then Sunset frowned.

Slowly, her eyes drifted back down to the girl she had spied a second ago.

“Is… that?” she thought to herself.

Deciding to risk it, Sunset angled her head to the side enough to get a full view of her without being obvious.

Two seats down sat a pale girl in a purple Crystal Prep uniform. A number of bright accessories kitted out her uniform, including a Daring Do pin, a rainbow flag and a sun-shaped piece clipped into a head of short purple hair. Sunset immediately recognized her as one of the girls she'd competed against in the Friendship Games - but for the life of her couldn’t remember her name.

She opened her mouth to catch the her attention, but closed it again, suddenly unsure. Where did she even stand with her? After what happened at the Friendship Games, were Canterlot and Crystal Prep friends now? Them teamed up at the end to nip things on Principal Cinch, but the two schools hadn’t made any attempts to resolve previous conflicts… Not that any of those conflicts actually affected Sunset. But what if they affected this girl? It didn’t matter if she didn’t have any negative feelings towards her; what if she wasn’t on good terms with Sunset?

“I can see you staring."

Sunset's eyes widened in alarm and her lips smashed together, trying to form a response.

“I, er… wasn’t sure if I recognized you or not. Sorry,” she tried to hide her face in her hair

“It’s okay,” the girl looked in her direction, “I wasn’t sure if it was you or not either.”

She looked back up to see the girl smiling at her and released a breath of tension. She returned the smile.

“I’m Sunset; Sunset Shimmer. I don’t think we’ve met properly.”

The girl smiled and nodded upwards.

“I’m Sunny Flare. Nice to meet you, Sunset.”

Sunset pulled out her music pods and twisted her upper half in Sunny Flare’s direction.

“You were one of Twilight’s friends from Crystal Prep, right? One of the Shadowbolts?” she asked for politeness, already knowing full well who the girl was.

Sunny Flare nodded with a definite grimace.

“Yeah I am… sorry about that, by the way. The whole evil she-demon thing.”

Sunset scoffed lightly and dismissed her apology.

“Happens all the time."

Sunny Flare scoffed herself.

“You must live a more exciting life than me then."

“You’d be surprised, actually,” Sunset beamed harder.

Just then the waitress returned from the back and made her way over to Sunny’s seat. She placed down a coffee and a muffin on separate saucers in front of Sunny, greeted her with a smile and then made off with the payment.

“Glazed caramel muffin, nice choice,” Sunset nodded proudly.

Sunny shrugged again, shaking her head.

“I always come in here at this time to wait for my parents to pick me up. First time I've seen you here, though,” Sunny began to unfold the wrapping off her muffin.

“Same,” Sunset nodded. “But usually like an hour earlier. Guess we must have just kept missing each other."

"Guess we have."

The Shadowbolt inhaled some of her drink, chugging it back like a champ. Sunset took the break in conversation to do the same.

"So..." she breathed, "what brings you to Canterlot?”

“I don't live too far from here. I get the bus in and out of the city for school. My dad drives me to the stop, so I have an hour to wait before he can get me tonight.”

Sunset nodded, “Why don’t you just walk home?”

Sunny frowned and gestured out the window.

“Would you walk home in this weather?”

Point taken.

“Besides,” Sunny Flare took another sip of her coffee. “Prices are good here. Food’s not great… good balance I suppose.”

Sunset’s lip turned into a thin smile. As she began to respond, she was cut off by an angry voice from the back.

“I heard that!” the waitress snapped in their direction.

Sunset's eyes widened in shock, while Sunny struggled to repress a guilty laughter. Sunset lifted her muffin back up to her chin and took a second bite. Sunny followed suited and they placed their confectionary back on the surface in rhythm.

“So, how’s Twilight doing?” Sunny asked.

“She’s been good. She’s really come out of her shell recently.”

Sunny Flare nodded slowly.

“Yeah, she was always quite quiet at Crystal Prep. Kept to herself usually. She ate lunch with us occasionally… But I kinda got the impression she didn’t like us all that much.”

Sunset nodded with a definite sympathy, “She’s just shy, don’t take it personally. She doesn’t really like anyone that much.”

“Does she, er…” she tried looking for the right words, “… talk about us, at all? About Crystal Prep?”

“Ermm…”

Sunset racked her memory for a time when Twilight had talked to them about the goings on of Crystal Prep, but none came to mind. Nothing at all, in fact. It seemed like as soon as Twilight had started she’d completely forgotten about any time she’d spent at the other school.

“Yeaaah, all the time,” Sunset tried. “She misses you guys.”

Sunny Flare looked knowingly down into her coffee, deflating a little.

“What’s wrong?”

She sighed.

“You’re lying.”

Sunset was taken aback. She thought she was a better actor than that. As she opened her mouth to retort, Sunny Flare cut her off.

“It’s okay, don’t worry about it. Didn’t really expect her to, we did give her a pretty rough time,” she gave a small chuckle at the memories.

Sunset cocked an eyebrow.

“What kind of rough time?”

She nodded.

“Well aside from, y’know, forcing her to become a magical she-demon so we could beat a high school in a friendly competition thing..." she gave a lifeless smile, "there was an odd prank here, the old gossip there… the usual stuff.”

Sunset couldn't help but have a empty laugh at Sunny’s wording.

She did find it odd, though, thinking about it. Twilight never had mentioned any sort of friendship's with the girls of her school. But from the way they’d treated her in the Friendship Games, Sunset assumed they barely knew each other as anything more than classmates. She made a mental note to tell Twilight one of them was asking about her.

“I’m sure she does miss you guys, just in her own way... ” Sunset offered in a reassuring tone.

Sunny played with the handle on her cup, and looked to be genuinely mulling over her words.

“As long as she’s happy, I guess,” she shrugged.

Sunset felt bad, noticing the obvious deflation in her mood.

“Why don’t you try texting her? Seeing how she is?” Sunset put a chipper note in her voice.

“Don’t have her number,” she said plainly, eyes still focused on her drink.

“I could give it you?” Sunset offered.

Sunny gave a small and appreciative smile in recognition of Sunset's enthusiasm, but didn't look up from her drink.

“I could give you mine, too!” Sunset took out her phone, “I mean, if you want.”

This brought Sunny Flare out from her own head, as she looked Sunset up and down with an air of curiosity, followed by a smile of pleasant surprise.

“Sure, what’ is it?”

Sunny Flare brought out her own cell phone, unlocked it and pushed it down the bar toward Sunset. As she took the phone into her hands, she slowed down.

"Oh, I love your phone case! Mine's just like it!"

Placing her own next to it, indeed, the cell phone's were almost identical. The same model and even had the same stylized cartoon sun on the back, only ever wavering in colour.

“What are the odds?” Sunny Flare laughed.

Sunset quickly added her number and sent a text to herself to insure she'd typed correctly. Once the text was sent and received, she handed the phone back to Sunny Flare, and thought not a moment longer about the unusual coincidence.

“What would I say to her, though?”

Sunset gave well-meaning, but admittedly rather useless shrug, “Whatever you like! What did you guys usually talk about?”

Sunny screwed up her face like she's just smelt something foul.

“Ermm… school work, usually.”

A wave dismissed her answer.

“What else did you guys talk about?”

She thought for a moment longer before shrugging.

“You guys… didn’t talk about anything else, just school work?” Sunset asked slowly, unsure if there was a punchline coming or not.

Sunny Flare nodded.

“I mean, what else… What do you guys talk about?” she asked.

As Sunset opened her mouth to answer with an incredulous tone, a small bell rang throughout the shop, alerting its occupants that a third party had joined the room.

Sunny Flare’s head looked in the direction and her eyes lit up. She quickly hopped off her seat, chugged what remained of her coffee like a lukewarm shot and took her muffin with in.

“Dads here! Gotta shoot, thanks for your number! We should do this again!” she offered Sunset a smile.

“Oh! Er, yeah, you too, Sunny Flare,” Sunset tried to rush her goodbye.

“Let’s get you home, pumpkin.”

Sunset’s world thundered to a sudden and very abrupt halt.

That voice was familiar to her, though she hadn’t heard it in a long time. A very long time. Not since Equestria… and even then, the voice was a million miles away. That wasn't a voice she recognised from Celestia’s Palace, or even from the School for Gifted Unicorns. It was from before them both.

It was the voice of home.

"No.."

As a whitewash of anxiety and disbelief crashed over Sunset, she somehow found it within herself to push against the counter and turn her neck around.

It was him.

He was human and a lot had changed - now he stood upright, his mane was shorter and he lacked his orange horn. He wore a burgundy suit with a brown tie, his hair was slicked back and his style of glasses were different to what she was used to - but it was all still definitely him.

Sunset’s voice was barely a whisper.

“Dad?”

The man in the doorway didn’t hear her. Or seem to notice her at all, in fact. Instead his attention was focused solely on the only other girl in the room right now. Sunny Flare greeted her father with a warm hug and then turned back. She offered Sunset a brief wave, one which she was too dazed to return.

With that, the two left and the bell rang obnoxiously loud behind them. Sunset’s eyes continued to followed them through the store window until they disappeared entirely out of view.

Frozen in place, she sat for what felt like hours, staring blankly at the area her father had just been.

“Let’s get you home, pumpkin.”

“My dad’s here, gotta shoot.”

“Let’s get you home, pumpkin.”

“Dad’s here, gotta shoot.”

“Dad’s here.”

“Dad.”

She replayed it over and over again, hoping each time something would suddenly click and make sense.

It did not.

That was her dad, it was unmistakably her dad, but also… Sunny Flare’s dad? There was no way he could look that similar to her Equestrian father and just be a coincidence, could it? Did he have a second daughter in this world? Or did he have a twin? Was Sunny Flare her inter-dimensional cousin?

A door creak signalled the waitress re-entering the room. She stopped short of Sunset.

“Right, kick-out time. Do you want a take away cup... woah, you look like you’ve just seen a ghost.”

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