Work Text:
Her time was running out, Twilight could feel it. Her divinity was retreating from this cherished vessel, and the look on Flash’s face became resigned, eyes wary as the curve of his mouth grew tight. Twilight’s heart seized as her limbs turned heavy and the air she breathed in pressed uncomfortably against her chest. It hurts.
She reached out, a hand landing on his cheek, willing her mouth to open against the searing pain. “Flash, you know I…”
The glimmer in her eyes faded before a new, agonizingly familiar shine replaced it. Sparkle’s eyes grew wide, and an embarrassed flush crept up her neck, but her hand didn’t retreat from Flash’s face.
He stares at her for a moment. Then, he sighs and gently places his fingers around her wrist, pulling her hand to his lap. His voice was quiet.
“Let’s get you dressed.”
He pauses, glancing at her and raising an eyebrow. “Or should I just get Sunset Shimmer for you?”
“Sunset,” Sparkle breathes out quickly. “Please.”
Flash nods, patting the blanket covering her body as he stands. “Hang tight.”
— — —
Sparkle buttons her dress shirt, sitting sideways on the sofa as Sunset Shimmer fashions her hair into its usual high ponytail. After looping the hairband one last time, she squeezes Sparkle’s shoulder and murmurs with a smile, “Done.”
“Sunny,” Sparkle calls as she leans into the warmth behind her.
“Hm?”
“I think it hurts Twilight every time she returns to Equestria.”
She opened the case on her lap and put on her glasses, finding the weight of them comforting. Ever since her body had become a vessel for Twilight, the Goddess’s divinity had given Sparkle a higher-than-average vision, rendering her prescription glasses useless. She had simply switched out the lenses and used the glasses as normal.
Because Twilight was perfect in every way. She, however, had messy hair and wore glasses. That was how Sparkle drew distinctions between the two of them.
Sunset let out a short sigh, her breath tickling the base of Sparkle’s neck. “Yeah. She told me the other day.”
Sparkle was quiet.
Sunset waited for her to gather her thoughts, absentmindedly fiddling with Sparkle’s fingers and pressing their palms flat against each other’s.
“Do you think,” Sparkle asks eventually, “we’ll fuse into one? And be like you, a singularity across both worlds.”
“No,” Sunset Shimmer replies, resolute. “In no timeline will that ever become reality.”
She presses a kiss in the junction between Sparkle’s neck and shoulder. “That pain is proof that Twilight’s divinity is far too great a burden for your body.”
Sparkle blinks, incredulous. “But I’m her most compatible vessel.”
“Exactly,” Sunset laughs, her tone somewhat reverent. “Her Greatness is simply… an unfathomable existence.”
Sparkle snorts. “Pot calling the kettle black.”
“Ah? But, I'm complimenting her, you see?”
Sparkle was speechless for a moment, a helplessly fond laugh bubbling out of her throat. “Then, the ocean calling the sky blue?”
Sunset pursed her lips. “But her hair isn’t blue.”
Her shoulders were shaking, though, so Sparkle supposed she’d just been thoroughly played.