Memories Best Kept

by bahatumay

From Bad To Worse

Everyone loved Fridays. Miss Cheerilee was smiling even wider than usual, and even Mr. Doodle didn’t seem as grouchy. Pinkie Pie was vibrating most of the day, though that could also have been from her accidentally drinking some of her sister’s coffee this morning. Maud liked her coffee notoriously strong. If it didn’t dissolve limestone, she wasn’t drinking it.

Sunset stumbled out the door after the final bell. She exhaled, feeling a burden lifting from her shoulders. She was right, she was sure she’d missed most of the specifics the multiple choice questions wanted, but she was feeling pretty good about the essay.

If by ‘good’ she meant ‘drained’, ‘wiped out’, and ‘in desperate need of a milkshake’, that is. She pulled out her phone and scrolled down to Wallflower’s name.

>Hey! Haven’t seen you all day. Want to go grab something sweet? 🍨

Sunset pocketed her phone and headed back to her locker. She retrieved her backpack and felt her phone vibrate again. She pulled it out, and as she did, the smile on her face faded.

>>Not really.

Sunset paused. She reread the two words, squinting. Did she not even want to try to talk it out?

“Why are you texting me?”

Sunset spun around. Wallflower stood behind her, a flat expression on her face, her hands looped around her backpack straps. Sunset couldn’t help but notice that when she held them like that (as opposed to just her thumbs through the straps), her arms were in front of her body, almost like a shield. She winced. Whatever she’d done had cut Wallflower pretty deep. “I wanted to go grab something, sortof a celebration for the end of the week.”

Wallflower nodded knowingly. “Gotta score more friendship points, eh?” she asked bitingly.

Sunset shook her head. “You know that’s not what I think of you.”

“Oh, I think what you said yesterday gave me a pretty good idea of what you think of me,” Wallflower said.

“Yeah, I’m really sorry about that. I didn’t mean to say anything that hurt you,” Sunset said.

You caught me before I could think up good lies to convince you to stay my girlfriend, Wallflower heard. Her eyes hardened.

“You’re more than a project, Wallflower. I promise, I think so much more of you than that.” She cracked a small smile. “Honestly, I think it’s because you remind me a bit of me.”

Wallflower gave her a sarcastic smile. “Well, then, this’ll be easy: it’s not me, it’s you. Or maybe that means it’s both of us. Either way, in case you didn’t get it before, we’re done.” Wallflower turned and walked away, and a small group of students crossed in front of Sunset’s view. By the time they’d passed, Wallflower had already disappeared.

Sunset could only watch her leave. She exhaled through her nose, her desire for a milkshake vanishing. Part of her wanted to just run up and grab her, to see what exactly Wallflower was thinking to get her to jump to that conclusion. But while she’d know, that would also ruin their relationship even further. Maybe even irreparably.

So, defeated, Sunset put her hands in her pockets and walked in the other direction.

---

Sunset lay with her head down on her kitchen table, staring blankly at her cold pizza. She hadn’t really been hungry, she’d done this mostly out of habit. She still couldn’t figure out what she’d done or what Wallflower had seen. It was bothering her a lot more than she wanted it to.

Her phone rang. She brightened and glanced quickly at it, but was only slightly disappointed to see a smiling Rarity giving the camera a sultry sidelook instead of a blushing Wallflower looking down and peeking up. She tapped it and lifted it to her ear. “Hey, Rares,” she said, hoping she sounded happier than she was feeling. “What’s up?”

“Oh, nothing much,” Rarity said with all the subtlety of a boiling kettle.

Sunset smirked. “I can tell a lie like that right away, no gemstone needed,” she said, sitting up. “What’s really up?”

“Well, I was just struck by a random bout of inspiration and, well, how would you like to come cosmic bowling with us tonight?”

Sunset brightened. It wasn’t healthy to be stuck in here. A little distraction would be nice, and her friends always helped her feel better. “That sounds great!”

“And Wallflower can come too, of course,” Rarity said. “Her skin tone will be fascinating to work with. Really, I’m thinking a sortof brighter color, maybe a light blue of some sort.”

“She… won’t be able to come tonight. She, uh, has homework.” Sunset cringed, hoping she was better at lying than Rarity was at detecting lies.

Either she was, or Rarity was too excited about tonight’s plans to notice. “Oh, a shame, but c’est la vie. There’s plenty to do with just us. I’m just so excited! I’ll be by to pick you up in ten minutes! Ta-ta!”

---

Long story short, they’d ended up playing cosmic bowling all night long in the glowing outfits Rarity had designed. Well, the rest of them had. Rarity had spent the night taking picture after picture for SnapGab, and the stream of likes and favorites had been pretty steady. Apparently, she even got a commission or two out of tonight.

But Sunset's thoughts were elsewhere. She lay on her stomach on her bed, her phone in her hand. She scrolled through the long list of names, looking for one account in particular. It looked like a random combination of letters to the untrained eye, and still used the default profile image, but she knew exactly who it belonged to.

But Wallflower was nowhere to be found.

Sunset sighed and set her phone down on the dresser. Maybe she was just tired. Already in bed. Or gardening at midnight.

The excuses sounded weak, even to her.

---

Sunset Shimmer stayed asleep as long as she possibly could, but finally that ray of sunlight coming through the crack in her blinds that happened to land right on her eye got to her. She groaned and sat up, rubbing her eyes and swearing once again that she’d buy some curtains or something that would cover her windows completely.

Her stomach rumbled. She glanced over at her clock and was surprised to see how late it was. Maybe she could get breakfast at that one diner by her house. She pulled her phone off her dresser, pulled up Wallflower’s name, and had the invitation typed out with a heart or two before she remembered that she was technically single again. She tsked disappointedly and held down the backspace button to clear it. Wallflower as her girlfriend had just felt so… natural. Being without her was like, she didn’t know, off; like having an untuned guitar string, or only wearing one boot to school.

She glanced down to make sure that she was not wearing only one sock or something crazy like that, and was relieved to see she was not.

Well, it was still worth a shot. Maybe they could go as friends. She retyped her message. >Hey, Wallflower, woke up jonesing for pancakes. Wanna come?

She got a picture back that she recognized as the CHS garden.

>>Long day planned. Hard pass.

A frown flitted across Sunset’s face. Wallflower was up early today. She got up and stretched. She could get pancakes on her own.

---

By Sunday morning, Sunset had had enough. Every text to Wallflower had been shut down with clipped writing and shorter excuses; the ones she’d bothered to answer, anyway. Sunset put her hands on her hips and glared at her reflection in the mirror. “That’s it. I can’t mope around like this. It was good while it lasted, but I’m a grown mare.” She paused and shook her head. She knew what she meant. “I’m going to go out and have a good time!”

Her phone beeped. She pulled it out and blinked at the schedule app. She’d almost forgotten she’d picked up a shift today. “I’m going to go to work,” she amended, heading toward her closet. “But I’ll have a good time there!”

Comments

[Superb Cow]

Maud liked her coffee notoriously strong. If it didn’t dissolve limestone, she wasn’t drinking it.

So the question is, does she only drink coffee once, or does she have Limestone locked away somewhere to dissolve bit-by-bit. Also, Maud, that is super dark, no matter how much of a bitch your sister is.

i.imgur.com/0UMMBk1.jpg

Marble knows that look, Maud. She knows she is next!

[Snowdrifter]

Maud liked her coffee notoriously strong. If it didn’t dissolve limestone, she wasn’t drinking it.

I know Limestone can be rough, but let's not be hasty!

[AlexTFish]

Yowch. Harsh. Yet believable. Wallflower could definitely end up this way.