Glowing Embers

by Sun Aura

Summer Fun and Winter Doubt

Sunset hadn’t thought about it, but they didn’t really need to hang out over Summer Break. They barely saw any of their classmates in summer, so there was no one to impress. She could’ve told Flash ‘you’re probably sick of fake-dating me, so how about you do whatever for the Summer and I’ll tell my ‘parents’ you go to camp’?’.

But she didn’t. She kept hanging out with him. Sometimes they would hang out with Brawly and Thunder too, but Brawly did actually have a summer camp to go to and Thunder’s family liked to go on vacations. So a lot of times, it was just the two of them.

They did everything a pair of teens liked to do, having carefree summer fun. Some days were spent in their own gaming tournaments or movie marathons. Others they went to the park. A few times they just wandered through downtown, finding little shops that had the best trinkets, things that Flash speculated could be the key to some Magical Destiny while Sunset was just reminded of home.

One of the most interesting things was learning to drive. Sunset had some difficulty when it came to the paperwork to get her learner’s permit, but once she knew what she needed to fake, a concentrated burst of Trust from one of her pendants was enough to make the people at the DMV believe her paperwork.

After that, it was just the terror of learning. Goldie and Bramble offered to help her, taking turns between teaching her and Flash. But Sunset still didn’t quite trust cars. They were like small, personal trains, which was convenient, but the lack of room and the fact that it wasn’t on set tracks was a bit unnerving to her.

However, what she really found cool were the motorcycles. She hadn’t paid much attention to them before, but Bramble had one. One time he offered her a ride home on it, and after that she was hooked. It took her enough time to walk to her front door to decide she wanted one, and immediately sprinted back to ask Bramble to teach her how to ride it.

Bramble had given a hearty chuckle and agreed on one condition: it had to be a surprise for Flash and Goldie. That worked for her. Riding a motorcycle, with the wind rushing past her, it made her wonder if that's what flying was really like. She'd have to ask a Pegasus.

It was all worth it by the end of summer. As soon as she was able to, she bought her own motorcycle. Of course, Flash and Goldie were expecting her to come up in a car, and she cackled at their faces when she rode up in front of their house. Bramble grinned with false innocence when they asked how, but it lasted all of a minute before Goldie rolled her eyes and smiled, telling Sunset how proud they were.

The last event of the summer was a trip with Flash, Thunder, and Brawly. It was a typical teen thing, going to a beach and having a bonfire and just camping. It was weird to camp on a beach, but other than the sand everywhere it was just them having fun.

They didn’t have to pretend to be anything else here. No one played the ‘happy couple’, or the ‘cool teen’, or anything else. Sunset didn’t even pretend to be a normal Human. She didn’t tell them the truth, that would be far too difficult, but she didn’t think of it. She was just her, just Sunset Shimmer. Unicorn, Human, it didn’t matter here.

Eventually, school started up again. But Sunset did not go back to pretending. Sure, she and Flash still let people think of them as a couple, and neither discussed the technical terms, but they were them.

Somehow, it didn’t hit her just yet. The moment Sunset realized it all, was her second time as Princess of the Fall Formal. She realized that, for the first time in so long, she felt happy and loved.

If only it were real. If only it wasn’t based on a lie. Everything they cared about wasn’t her, but the Human she pretended to be.

---

The cold was a bit refreshing. As much as Sunset liked having some sort of structure, school was exhausting. But for now, she didn’t have to think about class for two weeks.

She gripped the crystals in her pockets, the fire spell in them warming her hands. Strange, how fingers could get so cold. More than once she debated giving one to Flash, but she’d have to explain why a large gem was giving off so much heat.

“Hey,” Flash said, breaking her out of her thoughts. “Are… are your parents going to be home for Christmas?”

“I don’t know,” Sunset answered, keeping the lie. “Probably not.”

“Well, if they don’t,” he began. “You can spend the day with us. You know, me, Goldie, and Bramble.”

“I wouldn’t want to impose…” she trailed off. Technically imposing was all she was doing with them.

“You won’t be,” he said. “Trust me they’d love to have you over.”

“I’ll think about it,” she said. “At the very least I’ll try and stop by.”

At home, Sunset debated with herself. Should she go, should she celebrate with them? But it felt like too much. Not just because it felt wrong to celebrate a holiday of togetherness when their relationship was built on lies, or that she wouldn’t want to be missing her real family while playing ‘the girlfriend’ for Goldie and Bramble.

It was because Christmas was their holiday, not hers. Despite the similarities in tradition and theme of togetherness, the holidays came from two different places. It didn’t feel right to celebrate something that meant nothing to her, but it also felt wrong to pretend to celebrate it while celebrating her own holiday instead.

She did stop by, for a little bit, bringing gifts and a plate of cookies. But she refused to stay for more than an hour. It hurt a bit, to disappoint them. But making them happy would have hurt more. Because it could never be real.

Author's Note:

hoo boy. Has anyone guessed what the title means of this story means?