Act 7, The Second Day Date
“Okay,” Twilight said, taking in deep breaths. “You’re just taking Sunset to the town library to see if you can figure out where she comes from. Nothing to get worked up about for a…person you’re helping out.”
‘Sunset’ Twilight though. She wasn’t thinking about how beautiful the name was! Rather, she was thinking about how she had found it out.
Shortly after dinner, she took the girl to the castle’s study to see if she could try to give her a basic crash course in English. It was when they were going through one of Twilight’s favorite books as a kid when Sunset pointed excitedly at the picture of a sun. After a little game of charades, Sunset’s name was revealed to Twilight. Oh, how exciting it was when they both made that discovery! Sunset wanted to learn more about Twilight’s world after that. Twilight was more than excited to teach her. She would never say it out loud, but it was the most fun she had with someone in a long time. That was, until the following morning when Shining and Cadence found them snuggled up to one another on the floor in what could only be described as a book fort. Now, here she was, washed up, but ready to spend the entire day with her new friend-project!
Twilight frowned. Was it really that hard to just call someone a friend?
“You’re looking good for your date.” Cadance said, sneaking up behind her.
“Gah!” Twilight cried, holding a hand to her chest.
“Sorry, ladybug.” Cadance mused.
“It’s fine,” Twilight blinked and crossed her arms. “And it’s not a date.”
Cadance thought about that. “Right, silly me. You’re just going to go into town for some studying.”
“Yup.” Twilight nodded.
“Just two friends enjoying the day out.”
“Yup- I mean no!” Twilight retorted, flustered.
Cadance frowned. “Twilight, I understand why you’re weary of letting people in, but really, would it be so bad if you gave this girl a chance?”
Twilight shuffled. “I guess… but what if she hurts me, like those other girls?”
Cadance pulled Twilight in for a hug. “Then I’ll banish her, throw her into a dungeon, a then throw her in a dungeon in the place I banished her to!”
“I’m being serious, Cadence!”
“Who says I wasn’t?” the glint in her eyes sent a shiver down Twilight’s spine. “All I ask is that you have a good time.”
Twilight breathed through her nose. “We will.”
“And by that I mean, don’t spend all your time at the library. Show the girl around, try some other things as well.”
“I… I’ll consider it.” Twilight answered, avoiding Cadance’s eye contact as she said it.
“Good enough for me. Now come along, dear!” Cadance took Twilight’s hand and led the way. “Shining is waiting with her in the stables.”
Meanwhile, in said stables, Sunset was patting one of the horses and feeding it an apple while reflecting on last night. How she had gotten Twilight to figure out her name, learning more about the human language, waking up in Twilight’s lap, to the girl’s embarrassment of her siblings...
“Good morning again, Sunset,” Shining Armor said, walking up behind her. “A horse person I see.”
For whatever reason, something about that caused Sunset’s mind to flip. She shook her head and smiled at him.
“I’d ask if you’re excited, but I guess unlike my sister, you are.”
Sunset nodded eagerly again, before frowning and tilting her head.
“Hey,” Shining assured. “You’re not doing anything wrong. Quite the opposite in fact. Hopefully this little, um, excursion, will open her up more.” He walked up and placed a hand on her shoulder. “I’m honestly rooting for the both of you and trusting you to keep her heart safe.”
‘Thanks’, Sunset thought as she let out a sigh. ’Means a lot. Hopefully I’m able to get through to that little dork as well. Not as if my very soul or proving Celestia wrong is on the line or anything.’ The sad part was, it was a very close call on which of those two would be worse.
“All set?” Cadance asked, leading a suddenly flustered Twilight into the stable.
“Oh yeah,” Shining said. “Just giving her the ole fatherly-big brother talk.”
“In any case,” Cadence said, slapping her husband across the head. “Have good time, you two!”
“Ye… Yeah,” Twilight said, face burning as she tried not to look at the ravishing Sunset in that beautiful blue dress as she climbed into the carriage. “I’ll see you both later.” She said, made speechless for a moment as Sunset climbed into the seat next to her. “To the library!” Twilight said, quickly ushering the horse forward.
“So,” Cadance said as she waved them off. “Too soon to start planning the wedding?”
“Meh, let’s wait until they at least become friends first,” Shining mused as he took his wife’s hand. “But, I don’t see why we can’t start looking for a marriage gift.”
Cadence gleefully giggled.
Meanwhile, the duo pulled out of the castle courtyard and onto the road. Sunset stared at the green pastures, fields, and the people who passed by in wonder. She got a little bit too curious on how the contraption they were riding worked without water to tried to push against it.
“Hey, hey, hey!” Twilight cried, pulling Sunset back into the carriage. “Excitable type, aren’t you?”
Sunset fell back into her seat, brushed her hair back, and gave Twilight a cheeky smile.
Twilight chuckled, before breathing in and focusing on the road.
Sunset started to reach out and pat Twilight’s shoulder then paused, not wanting to push her luck.
Twilight, meanwhile, kept thinking, ’I’m just taking her to the library so we can find out where she came from, then do a few other things with her around town so Shining and Cadence don’t harp on me about this later.
So why are there butterflies dancing around in your stomach?
Hush you! It’s all from the excitement of figuring out that language Sunset wrote. It seems to have origins from separate cultures.
You silly, silly girl.
As Twilight went to war with herself, Sunset moved her bangs from her eyes and sighed.
’Well, that was a rush. But hey! Twilight got to save my life for a change. That has to mean something. Right? No! Don’t focus so much on trying to get her to fall in love with you. Just make the most of today, and pray we form a bond by the end of it.’
Tapping her finger on her seat, Sunset eyed the reins.
Twilight noticed this. “Oh! You want to give it a try?”
Sunset nodded eagerly.
Handing them over, Twilight started to give her instructions, only for Sunset to slap the reins, causing the horse to race forward.
Twilight let out a yelp, as the acceleration knocked her onto her back.
’This is awesome!’ Sunset shouted in her mind, as she caught some air as they went over a hill. ’How am I doing Twi… Twilight?’ Looking over, she saw that Twilight was pulling herself up, frazzled.
“May… Maybe I should just drive?”
Sunset let out a cheeky grin and handed the reins back over.
After a short while, they arrived in town. Even if Sunset could have spoken, she was rendered speechless at all the sights and sounds that confronted her.
’Look at it all!’ Eyes widened, she tried to take in everything about this world she had only read about or seen firsthand through all the artifacts that drifted down into the oceans. She was fascinated by the humans running around, children playing games with chalk on the pavement, the various human contraptions, and the smells that hit her nose. Turning her head, she saw a collection of buildings that had several baked goods out on display that made her mouth drool.
’Is this heaven? Did I actually die back in Adagio’s cave? That would honestly make more sense.’
“Here we are,” Twilight smiled as she drew the carriage away from the bakeries and to a building with a book painted above the front door. “Canterlot town library. Here!” Twilight offered a hand, which Sunset graciously accepted as she stepped down.
“Right!” Twilight said quickly, face heating up as she pulled her hand away. “Let’s go see where you come from.”
Sunset sucked in a breath, but still smiled. ’I mean, it’s still a human library!’ She couldn’t help but look at the tasty looking bread across the street with disappointment that they weren’t heading that way instead. Although with luck, she would have many chances in the future.
“Okay,'' Twilight muttered, absentmindedly as she ran a finger through the shelves, looking at Sunset’s earlier note. “Let’s see, Greek, Mesopatain, Liberian, Liberian…Do we even have anything written in Liberian? Ugh! This library is too small.”
Sunset stared dumbfounded at, what to her, seemed like an endless mountain of books. This was considered small by human standards? There was countless amounts of knowledge at her fingertips and the only thing that kept her from it was time and the ability to read the human written word.
’Is there a way to test if I’m in heaven or not? Can’t complain either way.’
“I guess this will do.” Twilight said as she picked up one final book. “Now then,” she walked to a table, forgetting about Sunset for a moment. Sunset hadn’t even realized as she had discovered what a rolling ladder was. After playing on the contraption for several minutes, she soon realized she was alone, with Twilight in a corner flipping through the books.
’Ah right! Got to get Twilight to fall in love with me if I don’t want this to turn into a hell. Not going to help if she has her nose in a book the entire day.’ She had a funny feeling that would happen if she didn’t step in.
’Alright, I just have to summon up all my social skills to win the nerd over… Ah fuck! I was never a social mermaid to begin with.’
She was reminded of a time when Celestia had suggested she should obsess with humans less and try to make friends. She had cringed at the memory.
Hey now! It can’t be that hard. Right?
Smiling to herself, she walked up behind Twilight and tapped her left shoulder. Twilight blinked, looked to her left, then right to a bemused Sunset. She then rolled her eyes and went back to her book.
Frowning, Sunset sat down next to her and rested her hands on her chin, smiling at Twilight. She eventually noticed and raised an eyebrow. “You need something?”
Sunset opened her mouth and was reminded of the handicap that made things a lot more difficult. Thoughts of Celestia saying ‘I told you so’ made her skin crawl, which must have been noticed by Twilight.
“You okay? No, wait!” Twilight frowned. “Sorry, I can’t imagine what…. Huh, maybe I do know what it’s like not to have a voice.”
Sunset tilted her head.
“Well I...” she paused, blushing at Sunset, then mulling over something over before sighing and putting the book down. “Okay, so between us, I’m not the best at making friends.”
’Oh?’
“I’ve… Let’s just say being a princess causes people to look at you and judge you differently. Many just see becoming your friend as some kind of game and when you don’t want to play back, you’re just made as a joke for others to talk about behind your back. I mean, is it so wrong that, for whatever reason, I can’t seem to click well with other girls my age?” her fist started to clench. “I want more in life than just to be the eye candy of someone else one day, and somehow that’s a bad thing!”
As Twilight took a breath, Sunset placed a hand on Twilight’s. When she looked up, she saw a face that displayed understanding, not pity.
Truthfully, Sunset knew almost that very same pain! Even if she couldn’t tell Twilight that in regards to all the times she was teased for being such a smart mermaid geek instead of a good little princess herself.
“You… You don’t think that’s wrong?”
Sunset shook her head.
Twilight felt her heart flutter. This girl…
Suddenly, there was the laughter of children, causing Sunset to look over to a part of the library where a bunch of kids had gathered. They were watching some sort of show where two tiny humans were acting.
Twilight noticed Sunset’s interest. “Oh! You’ve never seen a puppet show before?”
Sunset shook her head.
“Well,” Twilight looked anxiously between her books, the show, and Sunset’s eagerness. “I suppose a short break wouldn’t hurt.”
Sunset let out a soundless squeal as she made her way over as Twilight followed behind in bemusement. ’That girl. She can be so adore- curious! Yes, a curious little thing. I can admire that without-‘
Twilight’s thoughts were cut off as she watched in horror as Sunset walked up to the booth, studied the tiny humans, and then traumatized all of the children present by pulling one of the puppets off of the hand. Sunset looked perplexed as several of the children started to cry, immediately catching the attention of the adults.
“Run, now!” Twilight commanded, taking Sunset by the hand and racing out of the library.
Once they were several blocks away and Twilight could catch her breath, she screamed, “What the hell was that!”
When Sunset didn’t answer, Twilight continued, arms in the air.
“You… You can’t do that! What was even going through your head? I’ll be lucky if I’m ever let back into the library after that! Why couldn’t you have just stayed back at the castle?” Upon seeing Sunset’s wilting gaze, Twilight softened. “Sorry.”
Sunset held her hands behind her back.
“Just… Guess you’ve never seen a…” she shook her head. “No, that’s still no excuse!” She took in a breath and leaned against a wall. “Gods, I’m terrible at this.”
Sunset lowered her head.
Twilight bit her lip in thought. “Sorry I… I’m not good at making...” she took in a breath. “Friends.”
Sunset perked up, but held in her excitement like her life was on the line (which she knew it was), knowing this could be a very important breakthrough.
“I, well, let’s say people can be very judgmental of me,” Twilight looked over to Sunset and flustered. “And yet, you don’t seem put off by the fact I yelled at you after ignoring you for the past hour. I’m pathetic, aren’t I?”
’A bit dense, but pathetic? No.’
Hesitantly, Sunset took Twilight’s hand, relieved that she didn’t pull away. She began rubbing it and tried to tell with her face as best as she could, ’You’re not, Twilight. I like you, and would be happy to be your friend, flaws and all.’
Twilight seemed to enjoy that enough that she began to tear up a bit, before chuckling. “Well, while I’m sure I won’t be banned for life, we should probably avoid the library for a little bit. Might as well do that extra curricular activity Shining and Cadance want me to do,” she closed her eyes, “Ah hell! With my... my friend. If you’d be okay with that.”
Sunset nodded eagerly and pulled Twilight into a hug.
Twilight blushed and, giving into her desires for a bit, hugged back.
“Alright,” she said, pulling away, thinking for a minute. “Um… Have you ever had ice-cream before?”
Naturally, Sunset had not. Twilight led her, hands interlocked, through town until they found a place that sold the treat. Sunset’s eyes widening in delight at her first bite. Twilight laughed at the display of the best thing her friend had ever tasted.
Friend.
It was a word she never thought she’d actually use for anyone. Yet as much as she wanted to put her defenses back up, something about the way Sunset enjoyed her ice cream made Twilight not want to. The more she thought about it, the more she had to wonder what was so bad about trying to make friends if she could feel this happy around one.
“Golly! Is it Princess Twilight Sparkle I see?” A voice which reminded Twilight why not said.
“Oh, Cozy Glow, hi!” Twilight said, shrinking back.
Sunset perked up, looking at the finely dressed girl who looked to be about two or three years younger than Twilight. She hated her immediately.
Cozy walked up to the pair, looked over Sunset, then turned her attention back to Twilight. “What’s this? Taking the mystery girl on a tour?” she held a finger to her chin. “Golly, that’s sweet of you.”
Twilight blinked. “It...it is?”
“Yeah, makes sense since no one else would want to be your friend.”
Twilight’s shoulders shrank as Sunset’s eyes dilated.
“Makes sense after what a disaster your birthday party was. I mean, geez, how pathetic is it that, as a princess, you can’t just demand a safer party?”
She then turned her attention to Sunset. “So this is the mysterious girl everyone is gossiping about?” Cozy let out huff. “So you wash up on the beach and somehow that makes you Twilight Sparkel’s ‘best friend’? Big deal, you little tramp.”
Sunset clenched her fist but somehow kept herself in control for the moment.
“I mean,” Cozy went on, “If that’s the type of company you wish to keep, that’s your problem. It makes sense you’d want to be with someone whose own parents likely threw her overboard because she was a muted freak. But I digress.” She closed her eyes and let out a laugh. When Cozy opened them, she saw Sunset standing right in front of her. Despite the yellow girl being taller and glaring daggers, Cozy didn’t look at all phased.
“Aw, are you going to go crying to your mommy now?”
Sunset took in a breath, knowing full well what she was about to do was a bad idea. However, she was prideful as it was, and it had been hard enough to repress when she insulted both Twilight and herself. That last bit had been a bit too much for her to not let this little brat get away scot free. And so, Sunset leaned forward, smiling and never breaking eye contact with the little brat, she pulled at the hem of Cozy Glow’s shirt and shoved what remained of her ice cream into the girl’s bra.
Cozy Glow didn’t react right away. She was possibly too stunned that someone would do such a thing. The cold and sticky feeling in her chest, however, brought her back to reality with a scream.
“You… You… YOU DARE!”
Wordlessly laughing, she turned heel, grabbed Twilight’s hand, and ran for it.
A few blocks later, once the pair came to a stop , completely out of breath, all Sunset could think of was,
’Idiot! If you don’t get thrown in jail, then good luck ever getting Twilight to like you now!’
To her surprise, what she started to hear was Twilight laughing.
“I… Oh wow, I both can and can’t believe you did that!” Twilight held a hand to her head and started to pace. “Oh, I’m sure this could only lead to bad things, but, well…”
Sunset watched with worry as Twilight’s face started to contort.
“Well… if I’m being honest, she was a, was a, well, she was a...
Twilight turned to Sunset, who was smirking at her, as if daring her to say what she wanted to say about Cozy Glow.
“She was a big… a big grouch!”
Sunset let out a cough and began to soundlessly laugh at Twilight’s poor attempt to use big girl words.
“Stop it! I trying to be angry!” Twilight squeaked, face turning red. “I guess I am having somewhat of a panic attack, and yet,” she started to laugh. “Oh, what a rush. I feel like sitting down. Sitting down sounds like a good idea right now. Don’t you think?”
Sunset grinned, took Twilight’s hand, and led her to the ground. The two girls soon threw themselves into a fit of laughter.
Once Twilight had calmed down, she slowly turned to Sunset, who was heavily breathing after her own soundless fit. Twilight smiles, looking at those same blue eyes that had clearly looked back at her when she had come back from the dead. The way her hair flowed in the wind as their faces began to move towards one another caught her attention immediately.
Sunset seemed to mouth something, pulling Twilight back into reality.
“Right, so!” Twilight said, quickly standing up, only to look down at a dejected Sunset.
Thinking quickly, against every reason she had not to, Twilight offered her hand to Sunset and carefully said, “Hey, you’re a great…” she swallowed, fighting against every barrier she built, to eventually say, “A great friend.”
At first, Twilight felt a sharp pain in her chest as she uttered those words. Part of her mind screamed at her that she was an idiot and that anyone who wanted to be a ‘friend’ of her’s was no better than Cozy Glow. And yet, hadn’t Sunset, if that’s really all she was, just done the last thing someone would have done if all they cared about was Twilight’s status? With that, she allowed herself to smile, upon seeing her friend’s, —yes, friend!— face light up.
While Sunset had a feeling being called a ‘friend’ by the person you were crushing on would be a bad thing, from what she gathered, she knew this was nothing short of massive progress. The trick was crossing that friend bridge, but the fact she now had this reclusive girl considering her a friend, a friend she cared about as much as she cared back, was a great start.
She took Twilight’s hand and pulled the girl into a hug, relieved when Twilight hugged her back.
“You’re something.” Twilight said, wiping away a tear.
Sunset smiled. This was nice. While she would need to seriously step up her game, she now felt like she had something to work with and victory was possible.
Suddenly, something caught Sunset’s ear. Turning her head to the sound, Sunset’s eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, looking towards a square, where humans were beginning to dance to a band.
“Huh?” Twilight perked up. “Oh! You like music? That’s a local band. Flash Drive I believe they’re called. Whoa!” Twilight cried out, as Sunset grabbed her hand, pushing her towards the crowd. Twilight dug her boots into the ground in protest.
Sunset turned around and noticed Twilight was nervously fidgeting.
“Oh, um… I don’t do well with crowds. Plus, I’m not much of a dancer to boot. But if you want to go ahead, I’ll be right here.”
Twilight’s heart sank when Sunset’s frown.
The idea of dancing, at first, had only been something she’d wanted to do, with or without a deadline. But now after getting to know Twilight, there really wasn’t anyone she’d rather dance with.
“Well, I,” Twilight gulped, thinking things over. She knew people would stare if they went out there. Yet, she couldn’t push away the butterflies dancing in her stomach as her friend started to deflate even more.
“Okay,” Twilight nodded, taking Sunset, now beaming, and leading her into the crowd. They arrived right as the song went from something catchy to something more slow paced. “Oh, I love this one!” Twilight brightened up, before shrinking at all the eyes that had turned to her in recognition. She ignored them, focusing on those same teal eyes that...
’Look similar. Still not her, and that’s a good thing.’ Twilight told herself, setting Sunset up. “Right, here. Put your left arm here, and right arm there. Great! Now, step to you left.” They began moving in tune to the song. “Good… whoa there!” Twilight laughed. “Slow down a bit. Don’t worry, I got you. Now, left, left, right, left, pull back, and forward, spin a little, repeat.”
For the next three minutes, the world outside of a two foot radius did not exist for the two girls. Somewhere in that time, they both decided, if there was an afterlife, if it didn’t have dancing, or the each other in it, then they didn’t want anything to do with it.
🐴 🥖 📖 🎭🍦💃
Always live life to the fullest... this chapter is dedicated to a IRL associate who’s funeral I’ll be attending today, and whom I considered a fandom sister online
https://www.deviantart.com/summersketch-mlp/art/I-want-my-little-sister-back-VENT-875946245
If you’d like to help sponsor this story like Admiral Typhoon, Saita the Kirin, Fanura Joy, Peppermint Papa &Arielfan90 have, help out with the art needed for this project, and in doing so join the new discord group I’ve made for such people, comment below, and see you in MerMay
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Second day date notes from the pre-readers
Also, thanks to Explosion for suggesting I get rid of self harm tags
‘Sunset,’ Twilight though. Not thinking about how beautiful the name was! Rather how they had found that out.
I think it would be better if Sunset’s name wasn’t discovered until the mention of the charades. That way, it would be a surprise.
Gah!” Twilight cried, hand to her head as her mind started to drift towards when *Shining and Cadence found them asleep curled up together on the study floor with a copy of the ugly duckling in their laps.
Probably unnecessary to say they were in the book fort again.
Not as if my very soul or being ‘*I told you so’ is on the line or anything.’
This dosnt make a lot of sense. I think saying something along the lines of ‘spiting Celestia or proving her wrong would sound better.
Meanwhile, the duo pulled out of the castle courtyard, then onto the road, Sunset staring at the green pastures and fields, the people, and even got a bit too curious on how the contraption they were riding in work without water to push against.
This could be separated into 2 sentences.
using human contraptions, and all kinds of buildings that emitted smells that made Sunset’s mouth drool.
What are the buildings supposed to smell like, or are they bakeries/perfume shops/ect.
Sunset grinned, took Twilight’s hand, and lead her to the ground, where the *two girls soon threw themselves into a laughter fit.
How would Sunset be able to laugh without working vocal cords? She might be able to exhale funny as if she was laughing, but she probably isn’t capable of full on laughter.
awesome chapter mate keep it up cant wait for the next chapter
im sorry to hear you lost your irl sister
10794870
No, the sister was an online fandom one, but much appreciated, thanks 🫂
I’m sorry for your loss
Heyyyyy cozy
10797914
Thanks
And to clarify, two people died. One being an online friend and the other an irl acquaintance I’ll make sure to clarify in the video
Awww.
I think the line should be changed to say this something more like this as the second half of it makes no sense.
"Then I'll banish her! Throw her into a dungeon in a place she'll never see the light of day!"
The*
You and me both Shinning.
try*
You don't need that ' infront of 'I'm.'
Yep...
first hand*
She*
Her*
Capitalize 'she' after 'seen a...'
God*
She*
Replace 'it' with 'that.'
She*
What a brat!
Add 'a' after 'huff.'
Sparkle's*
Holy crap! I was expecting she'd slap cozy but put her ice cream down her shirt, that was the last thing I expected.
Missing a " at the end.
I'm, not I.
Capitalize 'she' after 'great...'
Remove 'the' after 'or'