Sunset didn't respond. She just stared, blankly, at an angle towards the ground, overwhelmed by the conversation she'd just had. Rarity stretched, de-stressing her body after the tension of the ordeal. "It's alright if you need a moment, dear. I'm afraid all this chatter has…" She interrupted herself with a yawn. "…has taken quite a bit out of me, too."
"I—" Sunset stammered. She looked up and found Rarity there, meeting her gaze. "I don't know what to say. I… Thank you. Thank you so much for this. For everything. I-I'll do what I can with your advice. And I'm touched beyond words that you were able to trust me with your feelings like that."
"Oh, come now, it's nothing."
"No, really. I mean it. I don't know if we've ever had a talk like this before, and I'm only disappointed we couldn't have had it sooner."
"Aw." She embraced Sunset yet again, and this time Sunset instantly reciprocated. "Any time, darling. Any time."
They stayed like that for a few happy moments before eventually withdrawing. Sunset still didn't feel ready to go back inside, however.
"Remind me, you're going to the…"
"Zephyr Heights School of Fashion. I still can't believe I got in!"
"Honestly, I don't even know where that is. It's the only place I've heard of in this world that doesn't have an equivalent in Equestria!"
"It's a fairly recent development, actually, built in its entirety in the last decade. A planned community, and an extraordinarily successful one too. Perhaps the pony world will get one of its own in time. But the school has been around that general area for decades; it merely renamed itself to capitalize on all the hype. Ah, it's a dream come true…" She looked off into space for a moment, before her face fell slightly as she turned back to face Sunset. "But yes, sadly, it is rather far away from Canterlot… you're headed off to Crystal Arts, aren't you?"
Sunset nodded.
"As if Flanksy would ever dream of going anywhere else," Rarity mused. "Well, it's not very far from Twilight over at CrysTech, at least. You could spend every weekend together if schoolwork permits! I certainly won't have any such luxury."
"That's alright… I'm sure Pinkie already has thousands of ideas for virtual meetups for us all set to go!"
"Oh, it's not that. I have full confidence that we'll all keep in close contact no matter how far apart we are. But I don't look forward to the idea that soon that'll be the only way we keep in contact most of the time."
"I know the feeling. Like I said before, I don't think it's helping with my stress at all. And speaking as someone whose powers work through touch, well, it isn't gonna feel the same."
Rarity cocked her head slightly. "Well, that'll be true with regard to the seven of us. But with all we've spent learning about friendship these past few years, surely it'll be easy for us to make a few new ones in person, right?"
Sunset smirked. "We can only hope. Do you want to go back inside?"
Rarity shot up. "Yes! It's time to salvage some beauty sleep out of this night! And just look what this heat is doing to my hair!"
Sunset stood up with her and moved to grab the sliding-glass door handle. "Thank you so much. It meant everything."
Rarity beamed. "Of course, darling. Any time."
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Thanks so much! I haven't written a narrative story in years but the bug's been hitting me hard since getting into EqG recently. I know "[character] has bad dreams b/c trauma" isn't the most novel premise on this website, but it's something I was really itching to write and really felt like it helped with learning how to write these characters in close-knit settings.
Hope you enjoy what's to come!
(I have no idea how this comment ended up on a completely different chapter from the one it's a reply to. That'll teach me to comment from the main page instead of a specific chapter.)
I also like your stories.
You've touched on something that I don't think a lot of stories about the aftermath of the memory stone incident really touch on: the trauma that having their minds violated like that would have, and the consequences of it. Wallflower basically mind-raped everyone. That's not something that could be forgiven so easily.
Well done on your first posting.
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It really bugged me how out-of-character most of the Rainbooms felt in Forgotten Friendship in order to make it a solo story for Sunset, and I really liked the idea of having the aftermath explored from one of their angles. Not only realizing you’d been duped, but never knowing for sure how much of what happened afterwards was your fault or what you could’ve done to change things…
For a story that's largely little more than a conversation - perhaps one with an added dramatic length to it - this is pretty solid. It's got a good understanding of its key players, Rarity and Sunset. More interestingly, it touches upon something I haven't seen in any fic that revolved around the after-effects of Forgotten Friendship: Sunset's "ambivalence" (to avoid a spoiler term) towards Wallflower and how the Rainbooms felt after such an erasing of their memories.
Nicely done!
Loved the story! Now it’s on my fav list!
Well, that was a very touching story. Not that many that deal with solo interaction between Sunset and Rarity. Still, if you say this scenario is part of a much bigger story, it'll be interesting to see Sunset put aside her issues with Wallflower in the aforementioned adventure. I can only wonder what other emotional baggage has been picked up following encounters with other Equestrian artifacts (seriously what was Starswirl thinking when he chucked all of that through the portal? Did he see the Rainbooms' world as just a place for refuse?).
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“Look, I’m a busy stallion, do you really expect me to find a different dimension to chuck each of these? At least I didn’t bundle any easily weaponizable artifacts with a convenient how-to guide like Clover the ‘Clever’.”
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This was beautiful. And very hard-hitting, if I’m being honest.
You’ve explored the concept of hate and forgiveness unlike any author I’ve ever seen before. You did an excellent job at it, too. Here’s an upvote!
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Thank you so much! I continue to be amazed at the responses this story has gotten.
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Yeah, it could've been much worse. It's a good thing the Bewitching Bell wasn't tossed into the Equestria Girls' world!
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I got the impression that Grogar happened before starswirl and maybe even celestia and luna from Canon. The only way I see this not being true would be if it occurred after the pillars got sent to limbo but before nmm
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Well, I meant by Gusty the Great.
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It's implied that starswirl made the mirror so unless gusty found a natural portal like the one seen in spring breakdown its unlikely
Nice G5 reference there.
Oh Rarity.
oh don't worry Sunset, it will!
dang they sure do love crystals in that world of theirs
Sunset warned you about the heat, Rarity!