The Sunlight In Her Eyes

by DigitalPhoenix

New Developments

Twilight sat there, her face both paled and flushed, her eyes wincing with the sound of each paper Sunset passed through her hands. Knowing the ridicule that was soon to descend upon her, she buried her head in her hands.

Sunset, on the other hand, was having a grand time sifting through all of Twilight's research. A month's worth dedicated to finding out everything about her, from her hangouts to her favorite ice cream. Every single passing mention of anything she liked or any of her habits was scribbled onto a notepad, then clustered together along with ideas for potential dates or activities.

"You really do your homework, Twilight. I'm actually flattered."

The only response was a muffled groan.

"Aw, there's cute drawings too!" Twilight immediately looked up, finding herself face to face with a random doodle of her and Sunset at a garden picnic. It was rather poorly drawn, all things considered, as she and Sunset were only stick figures, and most of the scenery had no detail to it.

Sunset returned the paper to the rest of the stack. "And you say you can't draw."

I'm never going to live this down, am I? Twilight simply fell back on old habits, and started nervously twirling her hair, waiting for Sunset's eventual conclusion.

As Sunset continued through the mish-mash of information, an unusual sense of unease started to fill Twilight. It sat in the back of her mind, its source unknown to her, but it became stronger as the time passed. Was there something she forgot was in the back of that stack of papers? She was sure Sunset had already seen the worst of it, those being her fantasy drawings, and anything more on the project was stowed away on her computer. So what was she worried about?

Her attention shifted back to reality as Sunset fixed up the stack of papers and placed them back in the drawer she found them in. "I assume you're gonna wanna keep those?" she inquired.

Apparently, it was nothing"You're not gonna tell anyone, are you?"

"Hmm, I don't know, Twily, Rainbow would sure get a kick out of this," Sunset laid back on Twilight's bed. "Maybe another time, but for now, your secret is safe. Now, about that spare set of pajamas..."

---

It figured Sunset had to grab the cutest pair of pajamas she could find. The t-shirt was a simple violet, its center adorned with Twilight's signature six-point star. The pants, however, were a midnight blue adorned with bright yellow and faint periwinkle stars. An odd choice for Sunset, given her usual taste in attire, but to Twilight it suited her just fine. A little too fine.

They had decided on an impromptu movie marathon to celebrate the evening. They both curled underneath Twilight's blankets, Twilight resting her head against Sunset's shoulder, and Sunset holding her with one arm around her back. The second movie had just ended, and both of them were having a good laugh at its terribleness.

"The effects were horrible! You'd think with such a large budget they could afford to have a monster better than what you'd see in a 1980's kaiju flick."

"Did you here some of those voices? How do you even manage to sound that boring?"

After a few more laughs, Twilight nuzzled in closer. "You know how Pinkie has that party this weekend?"

Sunset shifted to look at Twilight. "Yeah, what about it?"

"Do you think we should tell the others? About us, I mean?"

"I say we wait a little bit," Sunset stretched her arms and settled against the pillow behind her head. "Don't need Pinkie throwing another party for us before school even starts."

Twilight chuckled, "Yeah, you're right," she said as she stared up at the ceiling. It felt so surreal to her, to even be discussing this, when just a few hours before she had no clue of how to reach this point, and was gonna spend another night trying to find that one clue that she had been missing.

Speaking of which... "Hey, Sunset, can I ask you something?"

"What's up, Twily?" She was never going to get used to Sunset calling her that.

"What was your life like before Canterlot High?"

A sudden chill shot down her spine the moment she finished that question. Which was weird, she didn't feel like she was afraid of anything, and the windows were shut; it seemed to come out of nowhere. Just like that uneasiness earlier...

"I don't like to talk about it."

Sunset's reply brought Twilight back into focus. "Why not?"

"It's not important."

Twilight turned to look at Sunset, a confused look painting her face. "But shouldn't we get to know more about each other, now that we're together?"

"Twily..."

"I already know you were in a rough spot when you first got there, how much worse could it be?"

"Twilight..."

"What are you gonna do if we visit your family and they..."

"I SAID IT'S NOT IMPORTANT!!"

Fear swelled in Twilight's eyes, quelling the tiny sense of fury in the back of her mind. She just stared into the face of the now flustered girl hovering over her. Sunset was breathing heavily, her anger swiftly twisting into regret upon her face.

"Twilight, I... I'm sorry. It's still a sore subject." She turned to face away from Twilight and laid down.

Twilight was simply stunned, still reeling from Sunset's outburst. A devastating thought crossed her mind, and though she knew she shouldn't pry anymore than she had already attempted, the words slipped out of her mouth anyway.

"Sunset, is your family..."

"They're not dead, if that's what your worried about." a muffled voice responded. "We just... aren't on the best of terms." Sunset slightly shifted into the bed. "Come on, let's just get some sleep."

Twilight didn't even have the awareness to respond. Her mind was racing, struggling to put together the pieces of what just happened. Eventually, she relaxed her head back into the pillow, the sound of light snoring catching her attention. She must have fallen asleep.

New questions burned in her mind, most pertaining to Sunset's sensitivity towards the subject at hand. What could possibly have been so bad that not even becoming a she-demon dwarfs it? Twilight could only imagine what 'not on the best of terms' entailed, but that train of thought took a sharp dark turn. A possibility I'd rather not think about...

More important, though, were these phantom emotions that continued to arise with no explanation. Her feelings were never this much of a roller coaster, and several times she couldn't even begin to reason why she was feeling such a way. She just.... was. It didn't make any sense, especially that small tinge of anger she felt at Sunset when she shouted. Sunset yelled at her the same way at the Friendship Games; she didn't feel angry then. Even if she did, this was something much more trivial. So why did Twilight feel angry at this? She wasn't an empath like Sunset.

An empath.... The realization dawned on her. She wasn't actually feeling these emotions, Sunset was somehow transcribing her own emotions onto her. Twilight quickly got up and pulled out a notepad, jotting down each of her phantom emotions, tying them to an emotion Sunset may have experienced at the same time. The anger was obvious. Then there was that sudden chill, most likely a spike in nervous energy as a result of her asking Sunset a question she clearly didn't want to answer. Her earlier unease, however, was a bit trickier to try and account for. Maybe Sunset was growing worried that Twilight found something she didn't want her to? Yes, that would make sense, the later information in her project was a little more... personal.

But she would've had to be touching me, right? That explained all but the first, as Sunset was nowhere near her when she felt that unease. Even with that, Sunset never managed to do this before; Twilight didn't even notice her eyes glow whenever they laid next to each other, or when they shared that hug and confessed to each other.

Twilight pupils shrank, her hand dropping the pen it held. She should've known it was too easy, too quick to be true. If her hypothesis is correct, then that means that during that hug, Sunset would've felt every ounce of love that Twilight held. Sunset would see how much she cared, how much she longed for her. She would see every fantasy Twilight had over the last month, every idea that had arisen in her mind's eye. Sunset would feel all of it, but it wouldn't be her own; she could've just as easily been overwhelmed into believing she loved Twilight.

Then again, Sunset hasn't mentioned any phantom emotions of her own, so it is possible she is only broadcasting and not receiving. Did that mean that were her feelings genuine, then? Or was it a two way connection, constantly escalating the emotions to match the other's? That seemed to be most likely, as Twilight had no inclination beforehand to pour her heart out as she did. Twilight knew which one she wanted to be the answer, but her logical mind wouldn't discard the other possibilities simply because she didn't want them to be true.

Worst of all, though, was trying to figure out the cause. Twilight could only imagine the damage this effect could do to their relationship, friendly or otherwise, if it was allowed to continue unchecked. Was it still going on now? Twilight had to assume not, seeing as she didn't feel any more exhausted than normal. Was fatigue an emotion? Was that something that could be passed on by this? This is going to drive me crazy.

A part of her wanted to wake Sunset up and tell her about this, but the moment she turned to, she was reminded of her other dilemma. It was clear that Sunset had suffered something horrible when she was younger, and Twilight, friend or otherwise, wanted to help her come to terms with it. Sure, she wanted to know everything about Sunset, just as she would tell Sunset anything about herself, but the overwhelming sense of responsibility and concern for her friend dwarfed it. It pained Twilight to think anything so horrible could've happened to her love, but it was a possibility she had to accept for now, until she could find better answers.

Her eyes were drawn to a glow and vibration within Sunset's backpack. She hesitantly approached and pulled out the source, a book adorned with Sunset's trademark sun. She opened the book to the last page that was written upon:

Dear Sunset Shimmer,

I wish I knew more, but in terms of the scope of your abilities, your guess is as good as mine. Empaths aren't very common in Equestria, and the closest I have for reference is Celestia's visions. I'll keep looking in the library for something to help, but for now, just keep me informed of any new developments.

Twilight Sparkle

So she does know about her powers increasing. Figures she'd tell the princess first...

An idea sparked in her head. She quickly returned the book to its rightful place and laid back in her bed, excited for what the new day would bring. Sunset may not have told their friends anything, but there was one person she told everything.

And Twilight was going to go meet her.

Comments

[Akwolfgrl13]

Ooooooo! Sunsets powers r incersing! And aww poor twi. I hope sunset really likes her not just becase the empathy messing with her.

[Shalifi]

Something tells me things will get interesting. I personally think Sunset is an orphan. It makes all her decisions make sense. And the only line about her family "not close". Is also something orphans say to avoid the subject. But that's my headcanon i suppose. Biologically or by adoption i see Celestia as her mother.

[ScisetShimmerEvan]

Twilight chuckled, "Yeah, you're right," she said as she stared up at the ceiling. It felt so surreal to her, to even be discussing this, when just a few hours before she had no clue of how to reach this point, and was gonna spend another night trying to find that one clue that she had been missing.

But she at least got her wish granted.