> Late-Night Conversations
>  by EileenSaysHi
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Maybe We Should Sit Down
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"No…"

"Somepony… help me…"

"Twilight, don't forget me—"

Sunset's body lurched upward and jolted her into reality, a massive gasp bursting from her as her eyes flung open. She realized she was hyperventilating and she slammed a hand on her mouth, twisting around to shove her face into her pillow and quiet herself while she stabilized her breathing. A few droplets slipped from her tear ducts and she wiped them on the pillowcase. Her heart rate descended, and she let her body relax as the aftershock of the nightmare faded away.

She rolled her head to the side to look at the clock. It was 3:23 in the morning. She groaned. After a moment, she remembered Twilight was just a foot from her, in her sleeping bag by the side of the bed. She hadn't made any noise, but Sunset had to check. She quickly crawled to the side and peered down.

Nothing to fret over. Twilight let out a faint moan, rearranged herself slightly and began to softly snore.

Wish I was that cute while asleep, Sunset thought as she rolled back over in the bed Twilight had lent her for their impromptu sleepover. Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash hadn't minced words at the Starswirled Festival in telling Sunset she made some rather abrasive noises in her sleep, even in the best of circumstances. She was prone to talking, too, or so she'd heard. Even Rarity once—Rarity! Had she heard? Twilight's home wasn't exactly the most soundproofed location, especially with none of the bedroom doors closed. Should she check? Or would that risk waking her up? Or waking Twilight up? Or—

Sunset's heart sank when she heard a tiny rap on the door and an even tinier voice register. "Sunset? Twilight?"

I guess I didn't really have much chance of falling back asleep anyway.

Sunset quietly scooted over to the other side of the bed and climbed out, then tiptoed to the cracked-open door and nudged it wide enough to slip through. She motioned for Rarity to move back so she could step out and gently pull it shut.

"Sunset, is Twilight still—"

Sunset pointed toward the back door. Rarity nodded, and the two of them crept to the rear of the house, unlocked and stepped through the sliding glass, then closed it behind them. Though it was the middle of the night, it was warmer outside than in the air-conditioned house they'd just left. They sat down on the porch steps.

"Hey, I'm sorry about this. If you think the heat might mess with your hair or..."

Rarity cut her off with a glare. "Sunset, please." She meant business.

There was no sense beating around the bush.

"I, uh, well, um…" Sunset knew she had to answer, but the words were strangled. After a moment of fumbling and stammering, she finally forced up the words I had a nightmare and spat them out like a hairball.

"I figured as much."

"It, uh, must have been pretty loud."

"I'm afraid I was already awake. I was passing by your room after using the facilities"—Sunset smirked at the word choice—"when—oh, do stop it—when I heard your voice coming from inside. I hesitated to peek, but, once I realized you hadn't started snoring again, I felt compelled to check."

"That's very generous of you."

Rarity grimaced at Sunset's use of the word generous. "Sunset… I don't need some magically ordained mystical trait from another world to feel the desire to help a friend. To help you."

"Sorry, I didn't mean—"

"Because I must admit, when I realized what you were saying—what your nightmare was about—it was chilling. It scared me. Because I remember that day too, Sunset."

Sunset cringed. So I was speaking, then.

"I'll never forget it," Rarity continued. "No matter what kind of magic anyone can throw at my brain and scramble my head with, I'll always have some remnant of that image of you, helpless in the parking lot, seared onto my conscience. The day where I questioned what right I've ever had to call myself generous." She swallowed audibly. "The day that I truly failed you, Sunset Shimmer."

"No, oh no, please, Rarity, please don't ever say that—"

Rarity held up an accosting finger. "I'm not here to subject you to yet another apology that you don't want to hear. I'm not sure what I could ever say about those three days when you won't acknowledge a word against us or our behavior. We’ve all tried, and you won't have it." She sighed. "But what I can say is that I'm here now. And I'm listening. I want to know what's going on with you and how I can help. It means everything to me."

At the last sentence, she finally smiled, and Sunset's heart swelled so fast at the sight that it squeezed a few more tears out of her. But Sunset didn’t break down—she just smiled an earnest smile right back.

"So," Rarity started, her expression reverting to a neutral one. "I suppose the first question should be 'How long has this been going on?'."

Sunset's smile faded, and she swallowed. "Since that day. But it's not… it's not every day. For a little while it was, but, even by the time of the Equestrialand incident, they started to become fairly irregular. It felt… managed. And after I regained some confidence at Starswirled, I could go weeks without having any problems."

"But…"

"But then we went through a year where almost nothing happened. Where our biggest adventures were a supersized snowball fight and a malfunctioning robot. A year where I had little to distract me besides schoolwork, and where everyone around me started planning for the future. And all those nagging thoughts and doubts just crept back in."

"You're not prepared for all… this to be over."

Sunset shook her head and looked down at the ground. "And then yearbook committee started really kicking into gear and… I didn't think she'd come back. I really, really didn't. But she did. And then she transferred into third period government with me second semester and, uh… it sucks."

Sunset sniffled, and Rarity quickly placed a hand on her back, though she seemed to need a moment before finally speaking. "Wallflower?" A nod was her reply. "But..."

"But we're supposed to be friends now, I know."

"But you're not?"

Sunset shook her head. "When was the last time any of us really did anything with her? We signed each other’s yearbooks, we gave her advice for a few weeks and then we drifted away from her."

"Because she'd made such progress with finding friends of her own, though! Muffins! Roseluck!"

"Exactly. Nice, new baggage-free friends whose lives she'd never tried to destroy. And I was perfectly fine with that, because…" She stifled a sob.

Now Rarity stood up, grabbed Sunset's arm and gently pulled her up. She wrapped both arms around her and squeezed lightly. "Take your time, darling."

Sunset didn't reciprocate the hug. Rarity withdrew and looked directly at her face. She didn't seem to like what she saw, and Sunset's eyes drew downward to avoid her stare. After hesitating for as long as she could get away with, Sunset choked out the words.

"Because I don't want to be around her. Because I can't find it in myself to forgive her, not truly, no matter how much I know I should." She swallowed as she steeled herself for the admission. "Because I hate her."

She slowly lifted her eyes, expecting to see Rarity recoil in disgust and horror. But that wasn't what happened.

Rarity was still right there, not shrinking, not backing off. Still listening. Still offering comfort. And no matter how much she might feel unworthy of the word, the generosity was still written on her face, plain as day; Sunset could practically feel it emanating off of her.

Sunset finally unleashed the waterworks for real. She threw her arms around Rarity and buried her face into her shoulder as she released a flood of emotion, which Rarity accepted graciously regardless of what all the moisture would do to her nightwear. After a minute like this, Sunset calmed down and slowly pulled back.

Rarity gave a warm smile. "Maybe we should sit down."
> The Living, Breathing Personification of Generosity
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Maybe we should sit down." Sunset, listening, nodded and dropped backward onto the steps, with Rarity setting herself next to her.

"I'm…" Sunset paused, collecting her thoughts. "I'm the bearer of the gem of Empathy. I used the magic of friendship to become a being of light… I stopped Twilight from tearing our dimension apart by offering kindness and support where no one else could! How can I feel like this about someone?! How can I have this kind of anger… this contempt that makes my blood run cold around her? It's wrong! I know it's wrong and I know it's what's brought these dreams back! But I don't know what to do…"

She swallowed. "I've never felt anything like this. Not when I was a snide little pupil in Equestria, not when I was a bully, not even when I was a demon. I've felt... passion. Drive. Poisonous ambition. Taking joy in cruelty. That... desire to win, to crush anyone who stood in my way… but not this kind of hatred." She looked over at Rarity, who appeared somewhat disbelieving. "Not anything this personal."

"I mean it certainly felt personal sometimes…"

"Look, I…" Sunset breathed for a minute to calm herself, and slowly allowed a bit of mirth to reenter her body. "I’m sorry about a lot of things, but I'm reeeaaallllly sorry about that thing with the mannequins."

"Hmph." Rarity gave an exaggerated indignant scoff, then a sly smile when she looked over at Sunset’s sheepish grin. They both giggled.

"All in the past, dear, all in the past. But I am glad you brought that point in our history up. I, well, I think it can give you some insight into your current situation with Wallflower." She watched Sunset perk up, then continued. "Because, if I’m quite honest, I, erm…. I used to hate you. Genuinely hate you."

"I wish I could be more shocked by that."

"No interrupting, darling, I'm trying to establish narrative flow here. But, ah, even if it didn't feel personal to you—and, to be clear, I do understand what you mean when you say that, and I’m not offended—it naturally felt quite personal to me. I'm afraid I rather despised you even before the time you hurled a fireball at me at the Fall Formal. So I really do know where you're coming from when you say you couldn't instantly forgive Wallflower for her actions. Because that's exactly how I felt when Princess Twilight asked us to forgive you that night.

"I’m sorry if this is a bit much to hear right now," she noted. "I can't imagine I'd be comfortable listening—"

Sunset put a hand on her shoulder, silencing her. She looked right at her and gave an approving smile. "Go on, please. I really want to know how things changed."

Rarity nodded as the hand withdrew. "As you can imagine, even with the cathartic image of you spending the rest of the dance as a bricklayer, outright forgiveness was… a tall order, to say the least. But with the rest of the group agreeing, and myself having been named as some sort of magical avatar of generosity that evening, I decided I should give it an honest try. And my first few interactions with you after that, I admit, were very, uh, forced and rocky—"

Sunset made a whistling noise that earned her a vicious glare. "Sorry!" she squeaked.

"—but it was because I just had no clue where to even begin relating to you, or finding some kind of common ground to build on, or anything of the sort! Where could I possibly start? Well, naturally, I started with what I knew I was good at. I helped patch up your jacket, I offered some of my wardrobe, and found a real opening there. Talking to you about your style gave me a point to latch onto. It felt freeing. None of the others really think about personal image quite in the way you do. And from there, it was really a game of, to put it in a way Rainbow Dash might, 'fake it till you make it.'" She smiled brightly. "And eventually I did. I think."

Sunset beamed. "Yes, Rarity. Yes you did."

Rarity's smile suddenly turned sour. "I thought I'd burned my hatred away. But then, for three ugly days last year, it sprang back to life, and I found myself taking the lead in driving you out. When you lost your memories you didn't turn back into a bully, but I turned cold and callous in a way I can't fully explain as simply instinct or self-defense. Perhaps, if it weren't for me, Twilight or someone may have clued in that something was terribly wrong." She looked away from Sunset. "That's what I mean, really, when I say I failed that day—I learned the hard way that there may be a part of me that never did forgive you, and maybe even wanted to see you hurt."

She groaned. "Because that's me! That's Rarity, the living, breathing personification of generosity! Unless I get amnesia, because then I'll just kick you into the dirt rather than deal with any unresolved issues of mine!" She cupped her hands and dropped her face into them, letting out a harsh, ragged sigh.

She looked up as Sunset began to stammer, struggling to form words as the shock of Rarity's statement hit her.

"You... you can't possibly believe that of yourself…" Sunset choked out. "You can't! I won't let you! How many times have we harnessed the magic of friendship together? Do you really think that would be possible if you had some seething hatred for me bubbling just under the surface? We even did it that day! When we were both amnesiacs!"

Now that the words were there, they were pouring out ceaselessly.

"Friendship carries on, Rarity. You helped teach me that. I didn't learn friendship by being blown into a crater, or from the lecture of a magical pony princess. I learned it from five humans who took a chance on me and showed me its worth by themselves. I don't take that for granted. And I'm certainly not about to let someone who overcame so much personal baggage for me drown in self-doubt because she happened to act weird when she got a magical lobotomy! I-I-I…"

Sunset finally caught herself and started to ease up when Rarity laid a hand on her shoulder. Her eyes went wide as she realized the scope of her outburst. "Oh. Oh Rarity, I'm so sorry, I never meant to lash out like that…"

"Don't be, Sunset. Really. I… honestly did need that reality check. I shouldn't be looking to blame myself. You're right. Few things last, but… friendship carries on. And if our friendship wasn't strong, we wouldn't be out here right now talking this through."

"Still, though, it wasn't appropriate. And I really need to be more cautious. I blew up at Twilight once, and the world nearly ended."

"Darling, don't undermine what I just said by being a complete hypocrite about blaming yourself for something ridiculous."

"Sorry."

"Speaking of undermining," Rarity said as she pulled back, "I'm afraid my little tangent reminding you of all that unpleasantness probably, well, undermined my point about how this links back to your situation. To make a long story short, I understand why you're evading Wallflower, and why you don't want to see her. And I'd certainly never encourage you to fraternize with an abuser. But I think it's clear by now that she's not out to get you. I have... interacted with her a number of times in recent months, and... it's fairly evident to me she's still quite repentant. She's happy with her new friends, but I do think it's hurting her that you—and all the rest of us, really—are skittish around her."

Now it was Rarity's turn to stop and breathe for a moment as she tried to gather her words properly. "Obviously, you're deeply uncomfortable feeling the way you do about Wallflower. You've said as much. The only advice I can offer is to confront it. Start talking to her again if you can work up the nerve. You're a kind person, Sunset, one of the kindest I've ever met—show it. Offer a kindness, and I bet you'll be able to find an entry point and run with it. I can't promise it'll work, but you can't succeed without trying.

"I won't judge you if you don't. You have every right to steer clear of her and, well, I'm sure it'll be all the easier to do so in a few days. What Wallflower did was cruel, heartless and borne out of some of the vilest desires a person can have, and I don't blame you in the slightest for your feelings. But do keep in mind that, for me personally, working through that ill will I had about you changed my life—really, truly changed my life—for the better. Because I know for a fact that I would be in a much different, far less fulfilling and far less happy place in my life if I hadn't made friends with Sunset Shimmer."
> Take Your Time, Darling
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

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."
> Epilogue: Friendship Carved in Crystal
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sun had already been up for some time when Twilight finally stirred. She wasn't much for sleeping bags, but it had done the job surprisingly well for the night. She knew her parents wouldn't have approved of her sharing a bed with her upcoming prom date, any more than they would have approved of her doing so with Timber—and she remembered from Camp Everfree and beyond that Sunset wasn't exactly the most peaceful sleeper anyway. It wasn't the most practical of arrangements, after she'd impulsively invited her friends to spend the night even though none of them had sleeping bags with them (thank goodness only two accepted the offer); she supposed she could have asked Sunset to bunk with Rarity in Shining Armor's old room, or tried sleeping on the couch herself, but something about this setup, lying underneath her planetary mobile with her crush-turned-potential girlfriend by her side (well, sorta) had felt right somehow.

Sunset was asleep, snoring loudly; Twilight sat up, put on her glasses and looked over at her, giggling at the sight. She crept out of the room through the still-cracked doorway, where she was greeted enthusiastically by Spike, who'd spent the night in her parents' room. She bent down to say hi. He was in what she liked to call "full puppy mode", where he was acting more like his old pre-magic dog self; today that manifested in a face-licking for the ages.

"Spike!" Twilight laughed, speaking in a hushed-but-excited tone. "I hope you brought me a towel!"

"Heh," Spike chuckled. "I mean I figured you were gonna take a bath soon anyway so..."

"Yeah, but not now, I have people over!"

"Oh, darling, you're awake!" Rarity called from the end of the hall. "Thank goodness, I've been up for nearly an hour!"

"Rarity!" Twilight wiped her face with her sleeve and darted back to the kitchen, where Rarity was seated at the table by the sliding-glass door. "I'm surprised to see you up so early."

"Yes, well, it does take some time to craft the perfect #JustWokeUp-chic look, after all. Well, that, and it wasn't my best night's sleep, either," Rarity said, motioning to the coffee mug she'd already emptied.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Twilight responded. "I never understood how Shining Armor ever slept at all on that thing; any time I sat down on it, it just... I don't get it."

"No no, the bed was fine, dear. It's just that, well, Sunset and I were awake after hours last night."

"Oh," Twilight said, knowingly. "Did she... have another..."

"I'm afraid so. I'm happy to report that I think we made some real headway, though."

Twilight nodded. "I won't pry." After a moment, though, she did have to ask one thing. "You don't think it might be related to prom this time, right?"

"Oh, no, darling," Rarity replied cheerily. "I can assure you nothing like that came up. I'm so happy the two of you are going together..."

Twilight blushed as she took a seat by Rarity. "I still can't believe I worked up the nerve to ask her. And now we've already talked about having a real date after graduation! I mean I've known I wanted this ever since Timber basically spelled it out for me... I still feel bad about that."

Rarity smiled and put a hand on Twilight's shoulder. "I can only imagine how... less than fun it must be to have your boyfriend realize you're not into boys before you do. But you two are still friends, right?"

Twilight perked up. "Oh, certainly! Just the other day he was telling me about how his first year living on campus has been and giving me some tips for the fall semes—"

"Hey everyone," said a familiar voice from behind them. Twilight whirled around to see Sunset, bleary-eyed and visibly tired as she ambled into the room, carrying Spike.

"Sunset!" Twilight dashed over and gave Sunset a bear hug as Spike squirmed between them, eventually wriggling his way out and scampering off.

"Morning, Twilight," Sunset said, a warm smile spreading across her face.


After they'd spent some time chatting, with Twilight's parents briefly saying hello before leaving to run some early errands, Rarity and Sunset were left alone in the kitchen with mostly eaten bowls of cereal after Twilight went to take a shower. Rarity was hesitant to broach the subject of the previous night.

"How'd you sleep?" Rarity asked.

"Do I really look that bad?" Sunset answered with another question.

"Not horrendous to the untrained eye, I'd say, but you definitely don't look well rested."

Sunset laughed mirthlessly. "Yeah, uh... I don't know how long it took you to fall asleep after we went back to bed, but my mind was definitely still racing for a little while. It was probably at least forty-five minutes before I was calm enough for sleep. I just..." She sighed before continuing.

"I appreciate everything you told me last night. Really, truly. And I want to put everything you suggested into practice. But with... her... I just think it might be too late for simply 'offering a kindness'. Our last government class and our last yearbook meeting are Monday. After that... we won't be sitting anywhere near each other at graduation, so there's no other situation where we'll have to be together, and I don't think I'm ready to invite her anywhere to chat, if she'd even feel comfortable going."

Rarity nodded. "I see. So... you think you're not going to try to talk to her."

"Just the opposite, actually," Sunset replied. "I'm going to ask her to stay after yearbook on Monday and... we're gonna talk about it."

Rarity gasped. "Sunset, that's very brave of you. And possibly rather dangerous. Perhaps it could frighten her? It might seem too much like a confrontation."

Sunset nodded. "I'll try my best to make it not feel like that, but I know that's a risk. At the same time, though... I have to try. I can't keep letting this fester under the surface when it's clearly hurting me."

Rarity thought for a moment. "Perhaps I should come with you? Try to moderate things?"

Sunset shook her head. "I appreciate the offer, but you're one of my best friends, and someone she hurt. Even if you try to play neutral, it would probably look like we were ganging up on her, and then it would definitely feel like a confrontation."

"That's fair," Rarity noted. "I just wish this wasn't something you had to do on your own. After everything that happened, you of all people shouldn't have to be isolated."

Sunset started to give what looked like an appreciative smile, but it died halfway into its formation. Instead, she started to tremble, and her eyes welled up. She tried to say something but it was choked, a hideous gasping noise, and in a matter of milliseconds Sunset had crumbled into a blubbering mess of hiccuping sobs.

"Sunset!" Rarity cried, rushing from her seat and wrapping her arms tightly around her. "W-what's wrong? What can I do?"

"I just..." Sunset gagged, another wave of overwhelming tears cutting her off. "I... I... I... I don't know, I..." She buried her face into Rarity's shoulder once again, the crying even more intense than it had been during the night. "I'm just now... realizing how little I've let myself feel anything about what happened... about everything I almost lost..."

"Whatever do you mean?"

Sunset pulled her head back. Her eyes were horrifically bloodshot; Rarity fought back a gasp at the sight as Sunset kept speaking.

"I was just so happy to have you back, and I didn't want to see any of you upset... I felt so horrible any time you and the others tried to apologize for how you acted, because it wasn't your fault... I couldn't bear to see any of you feeling guilty when you were all victims too. I couldn't. And I wanted to be strong and show W-Wallflower forgiveness and friendship... so I just bottled it up and wouldn't let myself think about it. I couldn't dwell on it, or you would all see me in pain and keep blaming yourselves..."

A fresh wave of sobs overtook her, and now Rarity's eyes were welling up too. "I..." She tried to find something comforting to say, but the words weren't there.

"I thought I was being selfless," Sunset continued after a moment. "I thought I was being protective... but all I've been doing is making myself feel worse. For nothing—you made it clear last night it didn't even spare your feelings. I thought I could handle bad dreams, but now I might be stuck with them forever if I don't make things right... living out those three days every night..."

Sunset's tear ducts seemed to be running dry, but now there was plenty of liquid streaming down Rarity's face; she was conscious of the streaks it must have been leaving in her early-morning makeup routine, though it hardly mattered at the moment. She shuddered as the memories flooded her brain.

Doesn't anyone remember that I've changed?

The only joke is whatever this is you're playing on us, acting all nice like you're our friend.

We've been through so much together... please!

Don't hurry back, darling...

She shifted back to reality as Sunset looked her directly in the eyes.

"I love you," Sunset said, with as much conviction as could be conveyed in her current state. "I love all of you so much. I don't know who I'd be without your friendship... and I never want to find out. And if I'd lost you forever that day... it's too horrible to even think about."

At that sentence, Rarity snapped to attention. She brushed the haunting thoughts aside. The spirit of generosity within her finally knew exactly what to do.

"No, Sunset, no," she said sternly, wiping away the tears on her face and summoning her resolve. "I don't know how things would have played out if we'd lost our memories for good, except for one thing—we would have found each other again. Maybe it would have taken time, possibly a long time. But our friendship would have prevailed. You said it yourself last night—even with no memory of anything we'd been through together, we summoned the magic of friendship as one. We would have found a way back together. Because no matter who we were to each other once, you are my friend, Sunset Shimmer. And sooner or later, even I would have recognized you for the good person you are once again."

Rarity mustered a smile past all the pain she'd been absorbing and feeling, and, focusing with deep intent, stepped back and conjured a diamond shield for Sunset to see. Emblazoned in the center of the diamond was Sunset's cutie mark. Sunset's jaw dropped at the sight.

"We may feel like we could have done better, Sunset. We may let our mistakes and guilt get the better of us sometimes. I absolutely did that last night. But the geodes chose us for a reason. Our friendship is carved in crystal. And nothing will take it from us. Not truly, not forever."

Rarity let the diamond dissipate. Sunset bolted over to her and gave her the biggest hug of her life.

"I'm so sorry I didn't trust you enough to tell you how I was feeling. To have bottled it up like this... Thank you, Rarity, for everything. Thank you. Thank you."

Rarity sniffled and wiped away the last lingering tears as she returned Sunset's embrace. "I love you too, Sunset. We all do. I know this won't fix everything, but I truly hope it helps." 

For a happy minute, at least, everything was right with the world.

Then Twilight obliviously strode back into the kitchen. "Alright, I'm all done! Whoever wants to go next can—wait, what's happening here?"

Sunset and Rarity kept the hug going, in spite of the interruption. "Just taking time to appreciate our friendship, dear," Rarity cooed.

"I'm not gonna have to ask you to prom too, am I?"

"No, darling," Rarity replied. "I'm afraid the dress I designed for myself would clash far too much with the ones I made for the two of you."

All three of them laughed as Twilight walked over and joined the hug.