"I wasn't even asleep, where would a nightmare come from? And without exaggeration, I haven't had a nightmare since I was born. See how mentally healthy I am."
"Keep bragging."
"Believe it or not. These days, no pony believes the truth~"
Aurora sighed helplessly, then changed the subject, attacking Sunset Shimmer again.
"You're one to talk, aren't you also putting on a brave face?"
Taking advantage of Sunset Shimmer's lack of preparation, Aurora used magic to fetch "fearless pegasus and the sapphire adventure" which she had lent to Sunset Shimmer earlier.
Looking at the position of the bookmark, it hadn't even moved a few pages past where the three of them had read together. Clearly, Sunset Shimmer hadn't stayed up until midnight because of reading.
Her secret exposed, Sunset Shimmer's face turned red, and she snatched the book back, hiding it in the nightstand.
"Oh my, oh my~ Just what is it that's troubling our Senior Sister so much she can't sleep? Could it be because her best junior sister isn't by her side?"
Aurora's face got closer and closer. Her voice was sweet and pleasant, but she spoke like a total rascal among ponies, her words like a demonic melody poking at Sunset Shimmer's nerves.
If it weren't for the fact that she was the host of this house and had looked so pitiful just now, Sunset Shimmer really wanted to kick her off with a hoof.
Seeing Sunset Shimmer glaring at her fiercely with a red face, Aurora, having had her fun, knew when to stop. After all, if she continued, her Senior Sister really might kick her out.
Aurora tucked away her mischievous expression and lay flat, staring somewhat absent-mindedly at the ceiling.
"Senior Sister, I'm really happy you could come home with me for the holiday. You're my most important friend."
Watching Aurora suddenly turn sentimental after teasing her, Sunset Shimmer didn't understand what she was planning. However, having just been mocked, she didn't really want to respond, so she only replied in her heart.
'It's the same for me.'
"I don't want to lose you..."
"..."
"If you have any troubles or thoughts you can't tell other ponies, you can talk to me anytime, if you're willing to trust me."
"When the three of us were on the carriage that day, I said you are my Senior Sister and I will support you no matter what. So if something is really bothering you, there's no need to keep it bottled up."
Aurora could understand Sunset Shimmer's ambition and knew how attractive a brand-new world could be to a pony who longed for a breakthrough and dared to jump out of the rules.
From a certain perspective, Aurora was also a pony who would use any means to achieve her goals.
Because her soul didn't belong to this world, she could endure her true nature to fit into this society, but she could also challenge the bottom line of morality and law to satisfy her own desires.
She hadn't shown it yet, only because it hadn't reached such an extreme situation. Moreover, she loved and cherished the emotional bonds she had built with The foals, so she would try her best to avoid going that far.
Similarly, she didn't want to see Sunset Shimmer go that far either.
She admitted that at the beginning, she had tried hard to keep her Senior Sister from running away just because she wanted Sunset Shimmer to help cover her shifts. She had approached the prickly Sunset Shimmer with a utilitarian mind and a strong purpose.
But whether it's a pony's heart or a human's heart, they are made of flesh. After being together for a long time, Sunset Shimmer had already become an important part of Aurora's emotional support.
And perhaps because both of their personalities had a side that wasn't content to stay in their place, they got along quite well in many aspects.
For Aurora, if there was anyone in this world who could truly understand her across identity and time, it might only be Sunset Shimmer.
"Flying Light, actually..."
Just as Sunset Shimmer was about to speak, she saw Aurora roll over to face her, but by then she was already asleep; after all, she was truly exhausted.
"...Actually, what you wanted to say is also what I wanted to say."
Sunset Shimmer could accept Aurora so well also because she felt a similar sense of loneliness in Aurora.
Perhaps other ponies, including their Junior Sister Twilight Sparkle, thought Aurora was an extroverted and enthusiastic pony. Because Aurora disguised herself too well, even Sunset Shimmer thought so at first.
Just as Celestia had once reminded her, Flying Light was a pony with a lonely heart. At first, she didn't take it seriously, until time brought clues before her that she couldn't ignore.
Aurora's friendliness and tolerance might not be her true nature, but rather a natural consideration for those below her after placing herself on high.
However, Sunset Shimmer could feel that Aurora's "arrogance" wasn't because she considered herself a superior pony, but a kind of transcendence that Sunset Shimmer didn't know how to describe.
If she had to say, it was like Celestia, having seen too much, and thus having a certain insight into the patterns of things.
This was exactly where Sunset Shimmer couldn't understand Aurora. She didn't know how a pony younger than herself had developed into someone like Flying Light.
And Aurora had never confided the things truly hidden in her heart to her.
'Maybe the time just hasn't come yet.'
Sunset Shimmer thought.
She got up to tuck in the sleeping Aurora, then lay down facing her. Smelling the fragrance that didn't belong to her lingering at the tip of her nose, Sunset Shimmer also slowly closed her eyes.
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