Late-Night Phone Call

by Stagehands

Evening Drive

There comes a time in everyone’s life when a simple question must be asked: ‘What do I do with myself today?’ It was a question that Sunset Shimmer had asked herself many times, and this was one such time. It wouldn’t be nearly so problematic if the very asking of that question didn’t highlight how the answer was not self-evident.

The go-to answer would typically be to start thinking about how to work on projects she had going on. Idle hooves on a day where she was feeling restless was a recipe for dissatisfaction, so getting right into the thick of it seemed like a good idea.

The problem, of course, was that she had nothing to work on right now. She had long since dropped her ambitions of social engineering (though “conquest” was a more apt term), so there weren’t plans to go over, and she had nothing lying around that she could get up to her elbows in. There was always some housework that she could do, but with a home that wasn’t even legally hers, what did it really matter? If anything, working on it would draw attention to it, and that’s the precise opposite of what she needed.

She could always look at better alternatives for residency. She had a place now, sure, but it was a dump, and living in it was constantly balancing on the razor’s edge. At any time she could get ousted and then wind up on the street again, and that was not a place Sunset had any desire to return to. She wasn’t quite sure how she’d gotten away with it for as long as she had, and while she was lucky there, some stability in her living conditions would not go amiss. Less anxiety about that would also be nice.

And the problem with that was living somewhere costs money. She could get some, sure, easy enough…but employers require paperwork. Paperwork she didn’t have, and could never have, because she was not a legal resident of this country. She wasn’t a legal resident of any country on earth. You know what sounded fun, compared to opening that can of worms? Anything else.

Okay, fine, so nothing that mattered could be worked on. What was left?

Little else. Because if it didn’t matter, it didn’t matter, and wasn’t really worth her attention on account of, by definition, not mattering.

Sunset breathed in through her nose, then let it back out in an agitated sigh. The statue in the CHS courtyard was cool against her back where she leaned on it, and she let her gaze find the stairs to the entrance to the high school, arms crossed over her chest and one foot against the statue idly.

Classes had been dismissed about an hour ago. The busses had long since vacated the premises, and now all that remained were a few teachers and students attending some extracurricular things, both of whom were beginning to exit the building themselves in a slow, increasingly irregular trickle. It wouldn’t be too long before it was dinner time, and nobody was willing to miss that.

…well, Sunset could name at least one mare who’d be willing, especially if you dangled something literature-based in front of her. She was back in Equestria, though.

Lucky her.

Sunset shook her head, rattling that thought free from her mind’s eye as she tried to focus on something else. Something productive. Easier said than done, though, and once again did Sunset’s thoughts do another lap around the ring of frustration they’d been spinning around for the better part of an hour.

That was one perk of being the bad guy: it was easy to come up with things to do. At least when she had her ambitions, she had felt a sense of purpose. The way forward wasn’t always well defined, sure, but she knew what her end goal was, and connecting the dots was something she could easily work out, given the time and means to do so. If she lacked the means, that then became the next thing she’d pursue, and if she lacked means to acquire those means, there again was the way forward…on and on, for however long it took her to get to where she wanted to be. There was always a plan, or a potential for a plan. Morality being an afterthought only made the whole process easier; less restrictions meant more options to pursue the ends she sought, and less hoops to hop through oftentimes meant a more straightforward advance.

Now, though? There was no goal. Well, no, there was ‘be a better person,’ but that wasn’t something tangible, something she could wrap her hands around and grip and pull and shape and work with. That was an idea. A noble one, maybe, but a vague yet noble idea wasn’t going to put food on the table, or solve her living situation, or serve as a tool to apply to a problem, or give her a half-decent idea of how to spend her evening other than standing here brooding against this statue in front of a school building that, by all rights, she should not even be attending. Hell, she shouldn’t even be allowed to stand here. She should be in a prison somewhere, or strapped to a table at the bottom of a government lab, being peeled open like a grapefruit for all her juicy insights about what unicorns were like and how they worked and whether or not they tasted good when they were chopped up and cooked, like humans seemed to do with every other four-legged creature that they didn’t decide was a plague vector.

Sunset pinched the bridge of her nose. She took a long, level breath, then breathed it slowly back out in a controlled stream through barely-parted lips.

A short, sharp hiccup of a car horn sounded off nearby, and Sunset couldn’t help but glance in the direction of it. It took only a moment to collect herself from being jarred from her thoughts enough to recognize the car parked on the side of the road, and with a small smile and a slight shake of her head to herself, she pushed off of the statue and began to make her way over.

The station wagon that sat there looked remarkably out of place by virtue of just how old it was. Whereas other cars were sleek and rounded and painted in solid colors, this vehicle was made up of flat edges, halfway covered in a color scheme intended to mimic wood, the other half painted a shade of turquoise that modern cars simply didn’t come in. Everything about it screamed ‘old person car,’ even though the weight of the ages had been visibly kept at bay by diligent care and maintenance, and probably an unreasonable amount of money. It wasn’t the kind of vehicle you ever expected to see outside of a magazine, and certainly not belonging to the person sitting in the driver’s seat.

Sunset Shimmer couldn’t help from adopting the half-swagger she picked up as she strolled over to the awaiting car. When she finally reached it, she leaned up against the door with her forearm, her other hand on her hip, and she tilted her head forward as though to look past an imaginary set of sunglasses at the driver through the open window. “Ma’am, you realize there’s no parking here after school hours? I’m gonna need you to scram.”

Rarity looked up from her phone she’d been studying, peering up over the edge of her actually-existent designer’s sunglasses in a manner that rather convincingly read as though she had not seen Sunset coming, or in fact been the one to summon her over. ”Very sorry officer,” she replied loftily, “but I’m afraid my hands are rather tied here. You see, I’m awaiting a dear friend of mine, and I simply cannot bear the thought of leaving without her.”

“Are you now?”

“Quite.” Rarity’s gaze left Sunset to tap a line out on her phone’s touch screen. “Perhaps you’ve heard of her? I’m told Sunset Shimmer frequents these parts.”

Sunset nodded along pseudo-thoughtfully. “The name rings a bell. I hear she’s trouble, though. What’s a finely-crafted young lady like you doing waiting around for trouble like that?”

Rarity shrugged flippantly without looking up. “What can I say? I enjoy a little bit of trouble now and then.”

“Might be in some soon if I don’t see some license and registration. How much have you had to drink today?”

This earned a look from Rarity, who peered up from over the edge of her sunglasses in a way that would look far more indignant if she wasn’t smiling. “Get in the car, darling.”

The cocky smirk of the cop routine finally broke into a proper grin. Sunset pushed off of the driver door to walk around to enter through the passenger side, chuckling as she did.

“How much have I had to drink today,” Rarity repeated in a disbelieving tone, talking around the sound of the passenger door firmly shutting. “Not enough, firstly, and secondly, how dare you?”

“Hey,” Sunset put up one hand innocently as she buckled up. “Someone’s gotta give you some flak.”

“Oh please, as though I don’t get enough of that already?” The station wagon’s engine roared briefly as the engine began with a start, then mellowed back out as Rarity jostled the stick shift from park. “I’ve had more than my share from Sweetie Belle today.”

Speaking of whom, Sunset flicked her gaze to the pristine leather seats in the back of the vehicle, halfway expecting to see one of three faces that she did not end up seeing. “No company today?”

“Mercifully not. I’ve done my due diligence already.”

“Sleepover?”

“Oh I highly doubt sleep is going to be involved at any point,” came the wry retort, “but ostensibly yes.”

Sunset considered briefly to speak the thought that came to mind - how it seemed more like Sweetie slept over at Rarity’s house and lived at her friends’ - but decided not to touch that topic. Conversation lulled for a brief time as Sunset turned her head out the window, watching the world begin to swiftly pass by as Rarity pulled out onto the main road away from the school. “Where are we going, anyway?”

“Haven’t decided yet,” Rarity replied whimsically. “Have you eaten?”

“Nope.”

“What sounds good?”

“Uhh,” Sunset said lamely, feeling a little put on the spot. She fumbled over a couple of ideas, but she still felt like she barely knew most of the places around here, despite having lived here for several years. Nothing she did know jumped out at her. “I dunno.”

Rarity tsk’d. “Well we’ll have to think of something, because I really don’t feel like cooking today.”

“I dunno. Pizza?”

The response was almost automatic: “Alright, Rainbow.”

Sunset put up her hands in defense. “Well hey, it’s not my fault pizza always sounds good!”

“Alright, Rainbow.” Rarity glanced over her shoulder briefly before toggling her blinker to shift lanes. “I seem to have picked up the wrong girl from school today, hate when that happens.”

“Rainbow wishes she was this hot.”

The most unladylike laugh escaped Rarity’s throat of its own volition, and she did little to stop it. “Careful, darling, your humility is showing.”

“Hey, it’s a Friday. Gotta let it all hang out once in a while.”

“It’s Thursday,” Rarity deadpanned.

Sunset didn’t miss a beat: “Hey, it’s Thursday. Gotta let it all hang out once in a while.”

Rarity rolled her eyes with a touch of a smile. “I think you may just have a thing about not tucking in, darling.”

“You complaining?”

“Merely critiquing. A lady should always aspire to hold herself in the most dignified manner possible, even when no one is around to look.”

“Someone is around to look, though.” Sunset leaned over on one arm against the divider, a coy smirk in her voice. “And I know you look.”

“I look at a lot of things, that’s hardly relevant.”

“Could be.”

“Could not be,” Rarity replied innocently, shrugging one shoulder. “Who’s to say, truly?”

“Dunno, I think the wandering eyes say a lot.”

Though her gaze remained fixed on the road ahead of her, Rarity’s voice possessed a curl to it that perfectly matched the minxish smile on her lips when she replied, “I’m allowed to look.”

Sunset’s smirk deepened. Though no further dialogue followed this particular line of conversation, something of a conversation was nonetheless had in the form of the playful silence and mutual grin that felt much favorable to and more intimate than actual words.

They never actually decided on where they should eat. Sunset was not feeling particularly inspired at the idea of eating in general, but also didn’t feel like playing the ‘I’m not hungry,’ ‘oh but you have to eat something darling’, ‘no I’m okay honest,’ ‘are you sure’ game, and so when Rarity brought them to a drive-thru, she didn’t offer any resistance and pointed at the first thing that sounded half-decent on the menu…then the second thing, after looking at the price associated with the first. Rarity likely wouldn’t have protested, but the look on her face definitely bore signs of relief when Sunset suddenly changed her mind.

It was only when Sunset was in the process of unwrapping her burger that she noticed the label on the wrapper, and on the bag it had come from, and realized that it was McDonald’s. She glanced over at Rarity as the car’s engine cut and she began to fish out her own meal from the bag, making idle commentary about the sorry state of this parking lot all the while.

There was something deeply amusing about this whole situation, though she couldn’t quite put her finger on why. Something about it being Rarity, of all people...

“And what are you smiling at?” came the lighthearted challenge from that very girl. “You can resume ogling after you’ve eaten, darling.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Sunset chuckled, ceasing her staring to pay attention to the…what had she ordered again? Sandwich. Yeah, whatever. A Mc-something-or-other. She bit into it.

“And don’t talk with your mouth full.”

“Ah dihn’d.”

“Really? Because you just did.”

Sunset rolled her eyes. Rarity giggled.

The mundanity, Sunset would eventually decide over her meal. It was the mundanity of it all. Rarity, this high-class, stylish, (relatively) wealthy, attractive young woman, more or less slumming it out with the homeless illegal immigrant in a McDonald’s parking lot, eating cheap food because that’s just what they ended up getting and didn’t feel like getting out of the car was a symphony of contradictions, and it seemed to fly in the face of everything that Rarity stood for, at least on the surface. Part of her suspected Rarity was only being caught dead putting this fast food in her mouth because it seemed like something Sunset would eat, but after having gotten to know her for a while, Sunset couldn’t bring herself to earnestly buy into that theory. She was not the stereotypical pretty girl who obsessed about every minutia of her appearance that her pride in her looks and attentiveness about style would suggest, and she also wasn’t the sort to demean herself for the sake of meeting someone else on their level. That would likewise imply that Rarity held herself above Sunset, and that simply was not the case. If anything, she thought rather highly of Sunset.

Sunset caught a glimpse of dark thoughts as they began to circle overhead, and she swerved to avoid them. “Got any plans tonight?”

Rarity made a noise in response to this, though any actual words were delayed until the fries being deposited into her mouth were swallowed. “Am I being inquired upon, or propositioned?”

“Uhh.” There was a beat of silence, which was then punctuated with a shrugging response of, “Maybe? I don’t really, uhh…just asked.”

“Right...” Rarity began the process of scrubbing her fingers clean of any residual evidence of the meal she’d been eating using the tangle of napkins provided. “Well, I suppose that depends.”

“On?”

“Do you have any plans tonight?”

“Not really.” Been months since I’ve had the luxury. “What, you planning on being my plans?”

“If you’ll have me,” came the playful response. “I figured, you know…I’ve got a free day, perhaps we can spend the rest of the evening in person, rather than over the phone?”

“Heh.” Sunset rubbed the back of her neck with a small bashful smile. “I mean, if you want to. I don’t really know how to uh…I mean, like, I was kinda just standing around, and I don’t really know how to budget time for two here. I’m having a hard enough time with one.”

“Now that I am not concerned with,” Rarity declared as the crumpled napkins were discarded to the spent meal bag. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the last few weeks, darling, it’s that even just sitting with you, blathering back and forth all the while, is thoroughly entertaining. We could sit here in this parking lot, even.” A beat. “Let’s not, though.”

“Yeah, let’s not,” Sunset chuckled, buckling back in as Rarity started the station wagon up. “Unless you’re really itching to meet your dealer out here or something.”

Rarity rolled her eyes at this, twisting about in her seat as she reversed them out of the parking space they’d been occupying. “While so very tempting, tragically, I left my needles back home.”

“No big deal, I’m sure there’s some spares in these bushes out here.”

“Oh god, Sunset.”

“Waste not!” Combined with how utterly appalled Rarity sounded and the growing horror on her face, Sunset couldn’t help but laugh.

In the lapse of conversation that followed, Rarity pulled the station wagon out of the McDonalds parking lot and merged onto the highway for the quick jaunt it took to get back to a road that lead to the side of town that Sunset was significantly more familiar with, as it’s where she’d spent most of her time. She had never been gifted with the arcane knowledge that was how to drive a car, what with being ineligible for it by way of being an alien invader from planet Pony, so outside of the places she had convinced Flash Sentry to ferry her to and from, her area of familiarity was essentially anything that didn’t take more than an hour or two to walk to from where she was currently living. Most of Canterlot was still unfamiliar to her, and there was at least half of the city she had never seen at all except as it passed swiftly by while on route to some other destination.

It wasn’t all that different from how it was in her own Canterlot, thinking on it. The human equivalent was bigger, for sure, if not as grand, but it seemed to her - at least, at a glance - that she knew this Canterlot about as well as the one she had grown up in. There was too much of the city for her to see, and her interests did not extend throughout the whole of it, so large swathes of the capital simply fell outside of her notice to the point that it may as well not exist, and when it did come up, it felt foreign and unfamiliar, despite being a piece of the city she had always lived in.

Sunset pondered whether or not this was some effect of the portal and the relationship between Equestria and the mirror world. As often proved the case, it could go either way. It’s just how it had worked out on this end, logistically, though it was difficult to completely discount the possibility of some manner of influence from the world itself. It tried to keep just about everything as close to one-to-one as it could between both worlds, from what could be observed of it, with varying amounts of success. Sometimes it was eerie how it kept things in line with things on the other side, and like she had many times in the past, Sunset wondered to herself just how deep it went, and how it prioritized keeping things as close to a mirror image as possible. Without seeing the process at work - if such a thing could be seen at all - and with no real knowledge of the mechanics behind it, it was impossible to know. In spite of this, or perhaps because of it, the possibilities were nearly limitless. It was hard not to feel the ground sway beneath one’s feet as one looked over the edge into a fathomless abyss of unknowables that made up everything around her, every possibility as potentially great as they were frightening in scope.

Sunset didn’t like to think too hard about it, most of the time. The kind of existential questions that the mirror world raised ranged from unsettling to spiral-inducing, and being an inquisitive mind at her core, Sunset was aware that thinking too long or hard on this particular topic was not good for her mental health. In saying that, though, she was an inquisitive mind at her core, and there were days where madness seemed like it wasn’t such a steep price to pay in exchange for finding out precisely how deep the rabbit hole went. After all, what is peace of mind if it means living in ignorance? Knowledge is power, after all, and it’s power that lets you reshape the world. Is blind, dumb, and helpless to your environment really living?

...listen to me. Really does explain how I ended up here, huh?

“Sunset.”

Sunset reacted with a start, turning her head from the window and blinking her eyes back into focus. “Huh?”

Rarity had her head pointed forward at the road, though her gaze was very much sidelong at Sunset. A ghost of a frown found her lips as her eyes flicked to the road again. “You’ve been rather distant today, darling.”

It took Sunset a second or two more to collect herself after having had the gears in her head shifted so abruptly. She cleared her throat quietly, turning her head from Rarity to the road to view the city passing by. “I guess.”

“Are you okay?”

The knee jerk response was to brush it off, but the sincerity of the question and the earnest tone in Rarity’s voice demanded some other response, one Sunset wasn’t prepared to offer. “I’m,” she started, forgetting almost immediately what she meant to follow that with - if she had anything in mind at all - and waved a hand vaguely, expecting something good to respond with to present itself. It didn’t, and the raised hand flopped back to her lap with a faint sound of skin slapping against fabric.

Such a simple question. It should be simple to answer. And yet…

After several long seconds of fruitlessly ponderous quiet, Sunset shook her head. Her vexed gaze returned to the window of the door she leaned against. “I dunno.”

Rarity didn’t say anything at first. When she did speak again, though, her voice was as soft as it was heartfelt. “You know that I care about you, right?”

Sunset swallowed, and her awareness briefly touched on the rubber band that felt like it was bound around her windpipe. “Yeah.”

Though she wasn’t looking at her, Sunset could hear the small smile in Rarity’s voice as she replied, “I’m glad.”

“Sometimes I wonder why, though.” Sunset didn’t think about saying it, but the words happened all the same. “I feel like you could do better than…y’know.”

“I’m not sure that I do know, darling, now that you mention it. What do you mean?”

Sunset reached into her mind to pull up her thoughts, but as she did, the shutters came down hard. Her half-gesture halted and the raised hand fell to her lap a second time, landing lifelessly on her thigh. Once again, Sunset shook her head, what focus she could manage locking onto the way that the street outside the window streaked by. “I dunno.”

A second or two of silence preceded a response. “Well,” Rarity began slowly, voice sounding like how down feathers felt, “if you ever figure it out, I’d be interested in hearing about it, should you feel like sharing.” The car swayed gently in unison with a steady turning of the steering wheel. “I’m always glad for another reason to hear your voice.”

Sunset bit back a scoff. In spite of the storm clouds that had gathered in her mind, she still found it in herself to mutter back, “It helps that you’re nice to talk to.”

“I'm glad you think so, darling. I feel the same way.” Though there weren't eyes ready to see it at the time, Rarity's wry, playful little smile could be felt quite clearly in the brief pause. "I've quite the phone bill to prove it. Won't be the last, I suspect, and frankly, I couldn't be happier for it."

One corner of Sunset’s lips tugged up, and remained up.

Nothing more was said on that topic, or any other topic, for a while. Still halfway under a cloak of choking storm clouds in her mind, Sunset was not entirely sure when it happened, just that at some point during their drive, Rarity’s hand had ended up resting against her arm where it had fallen to her lap, and had not moved for quite some time. Sunset didn’t mean to, but her focus went fully into the contact, mapping it out in great detail. Rarity’s palm was nearly flat against her forearm, the long, slender fingers making it to about the halfway point between her elbow and wrist. The skin felt warm - surprisingly warm, but not unpleasantly so. It felt like sunlight, though with a comforting weight behind it. A sun-warmed blanket, perhaps, left out to take in the rays, now sharing the comfort with the girl beneath it.

Sunset was tempted to look. She didn’t, though, for whatever reason. The hand resting on her arm didn’t move, nor did the contact stop. They didn’t talk about it, either, but that was fine. If time with Rarity had taught Sunset anything, it's that you can say a lot with silence.

A fair bit of time passed like that. Sunset didn't keep track of it, nor pay much attention to anything that wasn't Rarity or the sound of the road. Occasionally she would glance up at the scenery as it whisked by, sometimes making distant note of something, and it was at some point during this indeterminate stretch of time that Sunset recognized a building that she had seen earlier which she knew was close to the high school.

This realization was made with a slight lifting of the head. "Are we going in circles?"

"Something close to them, yeah." Rarity lifted her hand on Sunset's arm to flick on a blinker, though she placed it back down in roughly the same spot, still not seeing fit to acknowledge the contact. "I wasn't sure where to go in particular, so..."

"Just kinda going nowhere, huh?"

Rarity shrugged casually, completing a turn at a corner that they'd visited at least twice now. "Did you have somewhere you wanted to go?"

Sunset made a noncommittal noise, adjusting her posture in her seat in a manner that her back muscles agreed with a little more. Her arm under Rarity's hand remained undisturbed. "Honestly, I'm happy like this."

"Same, I think." Rarity glanced up at her rear-view mirror briefly, then found the road again, her posture seeming more relaxed when they had started some amount of time ago. "I enjoy driving in general, though. There's not much to think about while you're on the road, you're just...in transit. Watch the road, pedal down..."

"And don't die in a horrible wreck."

"Preferably, yes," Rarity chuckled. "It's not so bad on this side of town, though heaven help you if there's so much of a drop of rain on the pavement. You'd think the world itself was coming to an end."

Sunset smiled a little bit to the sound of Rarity's chuckling, but otherwise didn't respond.

"Do they have cars in Equestria, darling?"

"No, nothing like this." Sunset's eyes tracked another car as it passed them by, going the opposite direction at speeds that most pegasi would be quite happy to cruise at, though maybe not so close to the ground. "There's wagons and carriages, but nothing self-powered. Well," she corrected herself quickly, "no, I guess there's some self-powered stuff, but not like..."

"Nothing mechanical, I imagine."

"No, not at all. Not with material power sources, anyway. It's all magic, and...honestly it's not really great for transportation? Not unless you're going really far out to a major city or something. It's just like, needlessly complex to have stuff like this when you could get a carriage to take you across town. If you've gotta go really far, then you're talking like, a fly-team or something, and that's not a super big deal either, just hit up the flyport. There's always guys around there." A second passed, then Sunset looked at Rarity. "Why?"

Rarity shrugged nonchalantly. "Just curious. Your world doesn't come up all that often, and you've been happy to share when it has."

"I guess." Sunset looked ahead, watching Rarity change lanes, though she didn't know enough about driving to know whether or not it was needed. She assumed it was. "It's nice to talk about home sometimes. I don't get to much."

"I figure it's a tricky topic to bring up..."

"Not at all," Sunset deadpanned. "People are very receptive and totally believing when you explain you're actually secretly a unicorn trapped in a human body from a world made up of technicolor ponies ruled by the gods of the sun and moon. They've got these real cozy rooms they'll let you stay in for free, too. Nice and padded."

Rarity snort-laughed once, then caught herself before it went any further, though the smile was stubbornly persistent. "I'm sorry, darling, I shouldn't laugh."

"Guess I'll take the clown makeup off, then. Deny me my every pleasure, why don't you."

"I mean it," Rarity managed, chuckling despite herself. "I mean, it's good that you can laugh about it, but I have to imagine it's hard to have to keep all of that under lock and key. You always seem so happy to share with me."

Sunset shrugged, gaze drifting to the side, once again peering out the window to her right as her reflection's small smile faded. "Don't really have anyone else I can talk to about it, I guess."

"You could share with the others?" Rarity offered. "I'm sure you could spin any number of stories to wow Rainbow, and Applejack and Fluttershy would probably love to hear about life in a pony world. I know for certain Pinkie would be delighted to learn about celebrations from a foreign culture, too."

This was....more than likely true. Sunset had no reason to doubt Rarity on it - not that she even necessarily needed to take her word for it - but even still, she found herself shifting somewhat in her seat at the thought of it. "I dunno. Feels kinda weird."

"How so, darling?"

Sunset devoted several seconds to contemplating this, though by the end of it she simply shrugged, unsure of how to vocalize her thoughts on it.

Rarity waited a little, taking her eyes off the light she had stopped at to watch Sunset. When she did not respond further, she said, "Well...is it alright if I talk to the girls about it, should it come up? You needn't be the one to do it if you don't want to."

"I...guess?" It still felt weird. "I dunno when that would ever come up, though."

"You'd be surprised. The girls ask about you a lot."

"Do they?" The surprise was as plain in Sunset's voice as it was on her face as she turned her head to look at Rarity. "About what?"

"This and that," came the casual response, head bobbing either way in conjunction with a shrug. "Nothing in particular, really, just...generally interested in how you've been lately."

"Why?"

Another shrug, much like the first. "I guess because we've been talking so much lately, they figure I would know better about your situation."

"Have you been talking about like, the calls and stuff?"

"Some." Rarity glanced from the road back to Sunset. "Just that it's happened, nothing about like, what we've talked about. Is that alright, darling?"

Sunset had to ask that question herself. She hadn't realized that she had been sitting up straighter throughout this conversation, and after a moment she eased back into her seat, trying to relax again. "I guess so."

"I was only half-joking in that first call, darling." Rarity caught a glimpse of the light changing overhead, and the station wagon started forward again, picking up speed steadily. "I can keep a secret, and as far as I'm concerned, everything that's said between us stays between us. I know you value your privacy."

Sunset didn't have a response for that.

"Besides..." Rarity's tone softened, and Sunset was once again reminded of the hand on her arm when Rarity gave it a gentle squeeze. "Some things aren't meant to be shared."

It was a small smile, the rosy one that made its way to her lips, but one that couldn't be stopped if she tried.

Another long, comfortable silence rolled over them, and Sunset let herself be lost to it for as long as she was able to. It wasn't long - or at least, it didn't feel long, it could have been hours - before Rarity spoke back up again, muttering irritably, "Damn it, again."

Sunset glanced over at her. Upon recognizing the tone, she glanced out the window, noting the way that the lighting had changed over time and the street lights had turned on, and then glanced at the clock on the dashboard. She couldn't help but crack a grin at the number that was significantly larger than it was last time she'd bothered to check it. "The curse lives on."

"Every time!" Rarity huffed, flicking a look over her shoulder to see if she could adjust course quickly without cutting someone off. She removed her hand from Sunset's arm for the first time in what had possibly been an hour in order to do so more swiftly before the corner she meant to take passed them by. "We really need to find that hole, find out where all that time has been falling into every time we get together. It's very inconvenient."

"I'll keep an eye out, let you know what I find."

"Splendid, do keep me informed. I'm having no luck on my end." One more turn, and Rarity's quick maneuvering relaxed a bit, as did her apparent huffiness. "Where would you like me to drop you off?"

"Oh, uh..." She had not considered that. "Just kinda anywhere, I guess."

Rarity frowned, somewhat expectedly. "I can take you straight home, darling."

"It's fine," Sunset said smoothly, taking the opportunity to roll her shoulders back in a good stretch to appear more at ease. "I like walks at night anyway. I haven't had one in a couple of days."

"Well, if you're certain...I'd rather you get home before it gets too dark out, though. What's close by?"

Sunset shrugged, giving their surroundings outside the car a cursory glance. "I dunno, where's your house at?"

"Five minutes that way?" Rarity gestured vaguely west.

"Yeah, that's perfect. I'll just walk from there."

Rarity still didn't seem totally at peace with the idea, but she offered no further resistance to it.

Much like the car that she'd been granted by her parents (there was frankly no other explanation for this station wagon that Sunset had been willing to accept beyond that her parents owned it, at least at one point), the house that Rarity lived in was best described by the age bracket of its owners, which was apparently "old person." Sunset was no architect, so she couldn't place exactly what it was about the structure that made it feel that way, but that was how it felt. Perhaps it was the "classical" vibe that the two-story home gave off, in spite of the pinks and purples that dominated its color scheme, though it also could have been the neighborhood. It was an older part of town, by the feel of it, and her own brief tours through this part of Canterlot had always given an impression of being on the more quiet side of things. Wealthy and old people lived out here, for the most part, with Rarity and her little sister being something of an island of youth...though surely her own parents weren't that old. Or maybe they were?

Sunset's considerations on the topic were cut off by the sound of the engine stopping, followed shortly by the clicking of a seatbelt coming undone. She followed suit, though she somewhat loathed to do so, in part because it meant their meeting was coming to an end, but also because she'd been sitting for the last four hours and her back was not much favoring the idea of contorting in a hurry.

To sounds of exertion, Rarity wryly asked, "Need some help there?"

"Just unfolding my spine like a lawn chair, don't mind me..."

"It sounds like it." Rarity chuckled, coming around the front of the vehicle where she'd parked it in the driveway, outside of the garage. It was still plenty light out to see the amusement on her face as she came up to Sunset, who was currently standing while doubled over, hands on her back. "I know a very good chiropractor, if that's going to be necessary."

"I'll get back to you on that one." In saying that, Sunset stood back upright, stepping aside to allow the door to be shut, and let out a loud sigh. "Back surgery I'm due for aside, that was pretty nice."

"It was, wasn't it?" Rarity flashed a smile as she brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. "We should do it again sometime. Or something like it, at least."

"I was gonna say, yeah. I don't want to crank up your gas bill and your phone bill."

"Well there's a delightful solution to that!"

"Yup, bucking off, you'll never see me again." Sunset turned on a heel and did not manage to get a single step away before she was promptly yanked back around by the arm, where she threw up her hands in defense amidst laughter. "Kidding! I'm kidding."

"You'd best be!" Rarity huffed, hands planting on her hips. "I certainly haven't spent this much time with you just to have you bugger off into the wilderness on me. What I was going to say is..." The apparent annoyance dropped away, in favor of a tone that almost sounded a little bashful. "Perhaps maybe...go to the mall or something?"

"Ehh..." Sunset rubbed the back of her neck. "I've kinda been the source of a lot of expenses for you lately, Rarity, I dunno if I want to keep having you hoof the bill all the time."

"Foot."

Sunset blinked. Her blank stare lasted all of a second and a half before she considered her wording, and then chuckled, "Right."

Rarity shook her head slightly with a smile. "I promise it's no trouble, darling, but if it makes you feel better, we can always just walk around. I drove us around in circles for about three and a half hours, and that was just fine. We can make it work on foot."

"Oh, I'm sure about that." Sunset gave it another half-second of thought and shrugged. "Yeah, it's- we can do that, yeah, whenever. Did you have a time, or..?"

"Doing anything tomorrow evening?"

"As a matter of fact, yeah, there's this really cool girl who wanted to do some stuff with me, mostly like walk around in circles and stuff? It's kinda weird, but she gives me things sometimes, so I can't complain."

"That sounds like it'll be a splendid time." Rarity giggled, and Sunset couldn't help but mirror her. "Well I wish you the very best with that, perhaps I'll meet someone while I'm at it? Someone charismatic and funny and looking oh so dashing with her red and yellow striped hair..."

"Why would you want that? Sounds like you're meeting a loser."

"Oh get out of here," Rarity gave Sunset a playful shove, who took it and used the momentum to start her walk away. "I'll pick you up after school, don't be late! Walk safe, darling!"

Sunset gave Rarity a wave as she picked up her leisurely pace to a more proper walking speed. The smile on her face lasted well after she turned away from the house and the girl standing outside it, unbothered by the chill of the autumn steadily closing in as the sun began the process of leaving the waking world to its own devices for the night.

Sunset breathed a light, happy sigh to herself as she heard the door to Rarity's house close, stuffing her hands into her pockets. She hadn't even made it to the end of the street and already her mind was cycling back through interactions that had happened, replaying conversations and occasionally emitting a quiet chuckle to herself here and there at what she remembered of one of Rarity's many reactions where they'd been entertaining.

There had been a few things that weren't purely entertaining, though, and her mind inevitably touched on them. The smile died down as Sunset thought back on some of the things that had been said, in particular their brief conversation on opening up to her friends about Equestria.

She supposed, somewhere between her home and Rarity's, that maybe there was some wisdom in the suggestion. She couldn't imagine a world where her friends were disinterested, though maybe a little...confused? No, not confused...she searched for a word, and eventually she settled on "unsure." She had some rapport going already, having been friends with them for a few months now and...yeah, they generally seemed to trust her, certainly, so it's not like they'd disbelieve her, though they might be a little unsure of what to think exactly about it all. It was a lot to take in, believable or not. She was no stranger to how she looked to someone who wasn't informed about all the more fantastical elements of what stories she had to offer; being the catalyst of the rainbow lasers that they'd blasted her with on that fateful day didn't make it any less otherworldly or alien to someone who'd simply never dealt with anything vaguely like it before.

That wasn't really the worry, though. Worst case scenario, they'd simply have no opinion and think little on it. After all, it's not like it mattered that much, in the grand scheme of things. No, that wasn't the home that she was more concerned with being asked about.

Sunset came to a stop in her walk as she reached a familiar corner, casting her gaze down a street she'd been down many times. It was shaded, most of the street lights dead or missing entirely, and while she could see it from where she stood, there was little to truly see. It was barely a house, and it was even less so a home, but the run-down, condemned dwelling that she had been taking shelter in for months now stood there, waiting for her to take refuge in it once again.

And she did. Sunset Shimmer closed herself away in that dingy little shack with delusions of grandeur, lighting one of her many candles to do battle with the dark where the inoperable light bulbs would not, and filled her thoughts with her time with Rarity to drown out the questions of how best to keep lying to the people who wanted nothing more than to be her friend.

Comments

[Tech Support]

Evening drive was a great addition, hope to see more from you!

I agree compiling these together was a good choice, but the downside is I can only thumbs-up it once