A Ray of Sunlight

The Next Day

The song played on as they separated and looked into each other's eyes. Twilight was the first to speak.
      "So... I like you, I don't know if you knew that." Twilight said, a nervous smile on her face.
     "Well I do now." Sunset said with a laugh. "It just so happens that I like you too."
     "Oh thank goodness." Twilight said with relief. "I'm so glad I didn't misread your feelings. I have been stressing over this for a while now."
     "You don't have to worry anymore." She gave Twilight another kiss.
     Smiling with butterflies in her stomach Twilight said. "So what does this mean for us? Are we... together?"
     Sunset thought for a minute. "Well I'd like to call you my girlfriend... if you'll let me that is." She looked hopefully at Twilight, who hugged and kissed her.
     "Of course!" She laughed and held her new girlfriend. "It's been a night full of firsts for me. My first concert, first girlfriend... my first kiss."
     "Really? That was your first kiss? I didn't realize it. You're a good kisser." Sunset told her.
     Blushing, Twilight said. "You're just saying that because you're my girlfriend."
     "I like the way that sounds." Sunset said gently.
     "Me too." Twilight agreed. They were about to kiss again when Twilight's phone started ringing. "She has the worst timing. Hey Mom, yeah we're outside just talking, I'll be in in a bit." She turned toward Sunset. "My mom says hi."
     "Hi Mrs. Sparkle!" Sunset yelled toward the phone. Sunset's hand hadn't left Twilight's the whole time she was on the phone. She was lightly drawing little patterns and shapes on the back of her girlfriend's hand with her finger. She drew a heart and lifted Twilight's hand to her lips.
     Twilight continued talking to her mom, but leaned over and gave Sunset a little kiss. "Yeah, it was a lot of fun. I'll tell you guys about it when I come in. Ok, see you in a few, love you." Twilight turned toward Sunset. "They want me inside, so I guess this is where we part ways."
     "Do we have to? I don't want to go, I'm too happy." Sunset said.
     Twilight cuddled up as best she could into Sunset. "I know, I'm worried that I'll wake up and this won't have happened."
     Sunset lifted Twilight's chin and kissed her. "This is real. You don't need to worry about that." Twilight stayed for another few minutes when she received a text from her mom. "You better get inside before they forbid you from seeing me anymore." She said with a wink.
     "You're probably right. Before I go though, one more kiss?" She leaned closer, their lips met one more time before she got out of the car. "Text me when you get home so I know you made it safely."
     "Will do." Sunset started the car and made her way home, smiling the whole way.
      Twilight turned to start heading toward the house only to be met by her mother waiting by the front door.
     How much did she see? Twilight thought to herself, her heart racing. "Hey mom, what's up?"
     "Oh nothing," she said with a scrutinizing look on her face. "Umm what was that I saw?"
     "Huh? What do you mean?" Twilight asked, sweat starting to build on her brow. "Oh I was just giving Sunset a hug to thank her for the day and for driving."
     She narrowed her eyes at her daughter. "Not that. I thought I saw something on your wrist. That had better be temporary." She gestured to the tattoo.
     "Don't worry mom, it is." She chuckled.
     Twilight excitedly told them all about her day. The drive up, the concert, the only thing she left out was her new relationship with Sunset. She wasn't ready to deal with coming out to her parents yet. After she recounted her day she went to her room. She didn't get to sleep for a couple hours after, since she was messaging Sunset late into the night.

When Monday came around Twilight was ready in a flash, practically bounding out the door. She was about to leave when she heard her dad call out behind her.
     "Whoa kiddo, where's the fire?" Her dad asked.
     "Oh you know, just excited for school." She responded.
     "Right, school." He said with a suspicious smile. "Is that his name? Strange name for a boy."
     "What? No, it's nothing like that." She retorted, a little flustered. "I'm excited to see my friends again. I guess there's still a little leftover adrenaline from the concert too."
     "Mhmm, sure." He teased her. "Well have fun sweetheart."
     She playfully stuck her tongue out at him before leaving the house.
     Twilight couldn't sit still during the whole bus ride, she was tapping her feet and fidgeting with her hair. She was cleaning the lenses of her glasses for the third time when the bus finally pulled up to the school. Twilight went straight to Sunset's locker where they embraced and shared a small kiss before going to the usual meet up spot, walking hand in hand.
     They met up with the others, still holding hands. Twilight took a moment and addressed them.
     "So... you might have noticed something different today... Sunset and I are together. I'm... gay." She was surprised to hear the word out loud, but it felt good to have finally said it.
     Applejack stood up and hugged Twilight. "Well its about time!"
     "You knew?" Sunset asked.
     "Yeah, Twilight told me she liked you a few weeks ago." AJ said with a grin.
     "And Sunset confided the same sentiment to me not too long ago as well." Rarity offered.
     "But it's not like we couldn't tell from a mile away." Rainbow Dash said, leaning back against her locker.
     "You could all seriously tell that I liked her? I thought I hid it pretty well." Twilight said.
     "Oh, I knew almost as soon as you introduced her to us." Pinkie said cheerfully while laying with her feet in the air against the lockers.
     "How!?" Twilight said incredulously
     "There was just something about the way you looked at her and talked about her." Fluttershy timidly offered from her spot next to Rarity.
     "Well, that takes care of that I suppose." Sunset said, squeezing Twilight's hand reassuringly.
     The two sat down next to each other, Twilight leaned on Sunset's shoulder with a big smile on her face. Sunset leaned into Twilight and held her hand when she noticed Fluttershy and Rarity's intertwined hands.
     "So how is it going for you two?" She asked Rarity.
     "We're uh, taking it slow. Seeing where it takes us." She looked at Fluttershy and squeezed her hand. "But I couldn't be happier with where we are now."
     "I'm happy for you two." Her face became more serious. "How are your..." she trailed off.
     "They're mending. You needn't worry about me though darling, I'll be fine. Besides, Fluttershy has been taking care of me." She kissed Fluttershy's cheek which caused her to turn bright red.
     The group continued to chat until the bell rang.
     "I'll walk you to class." Sunset said, grabbing Twilight's hand.
     "Are you sure? Won't you be late for class?" Twilight said, concerned.
     "Yeah, but I can afford to be late." She replied.
     They walked in the direction of Twilight's class, talking easily and happily. Sunset watched her girlfriend get more animated as she talked about her science class and how well she's doing. Sunset leaned in and kissed her cheek.
     "What was that for?" Twilight asked.
     "You were just really cute." She grinned at Twilight. "I was thinking, do you wanna go out this weekend? Like on a date."
     "Of course!" She smiled broadly.
     "Great, I'll pick you up around four-thirty on Friday."
     "It's a date!" Twilight said cheerfully.

After school Twilight decided to tell the one person she told everything to, her brother, Shining Armor. She got home and started to head to her room when her mom called out to her from the living room.
     "How was school?" Her mom asked, closing her book."
     "It was good, I aced my science test!" She said as she sat on one of the chairs.
     "Good, I'm so proud of you. You definitely take after your father in that respect. How's your math coming along?" Her mother asked.
     "Alright I guess. Sunset's been helping me with it since she's so good at it. And I help her with her science." She told her.
     "Sounds like you two have a good little system in place. She's a good friend, I like her a lot." Mrs. Sparkle admitted.
     "Me too." Twilight said, smiling to herself.
     "So what are your plans today?" She asked.
     "Homework, and I'll probably write to Shining Armor." Twilight said.
     "Oh, well when you do, tell him hi and ask when he's planning on visiting." She said, feigning annoyance.
     Twilight grinned at her mom. "I will mom. I'm gonna go start on that email." Twilight said, rising from the chair.
     "Dinner will be ready at six-thirty." Velvet called after her daughter.
     Twilight wrote to her brother regularly. She hadn't seen him since he moved to live on campus at Cloudsdale University. Shining Armor was the only person before now that knew she'd had feelings for other girls in the past. As she was writing her email she recalled the day she told him.
     It was half way through sixth grade when a new girl moved into the school. Twilight had had a few conversations with her and felt the kinds of feelings she'd heard people talk about and read about in the books she liked to read. That day she had gone home in a stupor, not quite sure how to process her feelings. She had been silently crying in her room when Shining Armor walked by and heard her sniffling. He had asked if she was ok and everything had come flooding out. She told him that she had a crush on one of the girls in her class, that she didn't know why she didn't like boys. She told him how she was scared of their parents finding out because she had always been told it was wrong for girls to like girls that way.
     He had let her unload everything inside, soothingly rubbing her back as she did so. After she calmed down she asked him if he was ashamed of her. He had assured her that he absolutely was not and that he was glad she felt comfortable enough to tell him. He told her that she didn't have to tell their parents until she was ready, that he would support her no matter what. She knew then that her brother was one of the most important people in her life.
     After that day Twilight had decided to push those feelings down and part of that had unfortunately included stopping her budding friendship with the new girl. When she moved on to Crystal Prep she had done her best to convince herself that she liked boys. When that didn't work she threw herself more into her school work. She was able to make some more friends at Crystal Prep and when they would ask who she liked she would just tell them she wasn't really interested in dating anyone. They hassled her a little, but it was all good natured.
     Twilight read over her email once more before sending it. Happy with the final result she sent it off, eagerly awaiting her brother's response. She hoped that he would be visiting soon, writing the letter had made her miss him even more.