Book four of "Who We Become".
After discovering the magic of friendship, Sunset Shimmer's senior year was one of the happiest times of her life. But it's been almost two years since graduation; all her friends have moved on to studying abroad, to pr...
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By pony standards, Sunset owned quite a lot of clothes, especially considering she'd only been living in Equestria for two months. Still, as she looked over her wardrobe – mostly crumpled in a heap on her bed – she found it wasn't enough. Sure, her clothes were nice, but she had a date. Twilight and Fluttershy had actually asked her to join them, and on their anniversary no less! How could she possibly wear any of these dresses when they'd seen her in them time and time again? The pony convention of going around naked had the appeal of making one stand out while wearing clothes. But she'd ignored that convention, and she wasn't about to start following it the day of her big date.
She took a deep breath and looked into the mirror. She forced a confident smile onto her face. She'd been on plenty of dates and was way past the point of becoming a nervous wreck before each one. 'Geez, I've got to get a hold of myself. Just because I have a date with Twilight doesn't mean I have to start freaking out like her,' Sunset reminded herself. Then she started giggling like a filly, because she had a date with Twilight! And Fluttershy! It was strange to imagine dating two ponies at once, but she never dwelled on that thought for long. Even just having this chance was more than she could ask for, so to hell with conventional romance.
Still, there was the matter of what to wear. Resolving not to let herself get worked up about it, Sunset turned back to her clothes. She reminded herself that she was actually quite good at this sort of thing, and gave each outfit due consideration. Her eye caught on the only one Twilight and Fluttershy hadn't seen her in too often. It was an elaborate ensemble of interconnecting pieces, and the last time she'd worn it had been after picking those pieces off the floor of her parents' guest room.
She held it against her body and re-examined her reflection. There were definitely some awkward memories tied into the dress, but it was the only one that might still look relatively new to her dates. Making a good impression at the cost of a few uncomfortable memories? She could handle that. She'd have Rarity make her some new outfits later, so this wasn't a continuous problem.
She took her time dressing, making sure every piece of the outfit was perfectly in place. Once she was finished, she turned to her makeup. Although they'd both been impressed with what she'd had done with Twilight on the night of their engagement, she chose to tone it down a bit. No matter how well the date went, Sunset would definitely be spending the night in her own bed, so there was no need to try for a seductive look. It was only a first date, and the last thing she wanted to do was present herself inappropriately during their anniversary.
It would have been nice if the date wasn't also their anniversary. Sunset couldn't help but feel intrusive, even if they had been the ones to ask her to join them. She had no idea what possessed them to combine both days, but there was no way she was going to ask them if they could do it another time. This was too perfect to risk changing anything, so all she could do was go along with whatever happened.
