The sun was setting slowly over the horizon, painting a gentle glow over the two mares who sat watching it. The smaller mare had let her mane down to get comfortable since she was in relaxing company. Turq looked up at the changeling mare beside her with slight worry; there were some hard emotional questions on her mind.

”Hey, Firefly, are we…a thing?”

”Yeah?” The changeling looked down at her with surprise. “We are? Why you ask?”

”I don’t know, really,” Turq twirled her hair nervously. “I mean, we’ve literally been having sex so this shouldn’t even be a question, but do you really consider us a couple? Or just like, friends with benefits?”

“Huh,” Firefly paused, deep in thought. “I always thought we were a thing. A couple, I mean. But I didn’t wanna say anything cause, y’know, our kids are a thing, it could’ve been weird. Didn’t know how far you wanted to go with that and all.”

”Well, Holly and Candy seem to be fine with it. Weirded out by the noises we make? Yeah,” Turq snorted. “But they haven’t acted like us as a couple is weird. Not even around Ollie.”

”Yeah yeah, but still…you’re divorced. I’m divorced. I’m over that bitch and down to fuck whenever, but I didn’t think you were. Hell, when I first came over Para—Candy told me not to try anything, so whatever was going on must’ve been pretty fucked. I didn’t want to touch that.”

“It was pretty bad…” Turq sighed, remembering her divorce and everything that came with it. “I just wasn’t in a good place, at all. I mean, Mel and I were married for over 20 years! And we had a lot of fights, but I didn’t think things were that bad. Until she told me she wanted a divorce. Then I guess I realized it wasn’t working out. But I was still in love with her then. Our kids left us and I was alone. Hell, even my dad died.” Turq took a shuddering breath. “A-and then when I finally realize I fucked up I find out she’s moved on already-“

”Oh shit, are you crying? Sorry, I wasn’t trying to dig stuff up-“

“No, no, it’s fine,” Turq brushed a wing across her eyes, which she hadn’t even realized were tearing up. “I’m over it, really. Things wouldn’t have gotten better if we stayed together. Besides, she’s happier now with her new stallion, and I’ve got the girls and Ollie. But sometimes I think about what happened, and I just…yeah. But really, I’m fine.”

“Good, good, I got a bit scared there,” Firefly wrapped a wing around Turq. “Hell, you should’ve seen me when I kicked Gal out. I felt a lot like you did, thinkin’ about the ‘what ifs’ and shit. I cried over that bitch way more than I should have. But then I started hearing things…not rumors, ‘cause it was from ponies she actually talked to. She was just running around, being a bitch all over the place. Shit, she even called her mom a whore!”

”What the fuck?” Turq gasped. “Why in Equestria-“

”Exactly! That’s why I decided I had enough and got the judge to get us divorced! I didn’t need that asshole in my life.”

”No kidding.”

”And you know what I did after that?” Firefly smirked and leaned in. “I burned all of her shit.”

”Really?” Turq’s eyebrows shot up. “All of it?”

”Pretty much,” Firefly shrugged. “Didn’t even sell any of it, just threw it into a giant fucking fire. Even the pictures. Well, there were some with me and the girls that I just ‘shopped her out of. But the rest, whoosh,” She waved her wing to imitate a fire.

”Damn, you got over her fast,” Turq chuckled. “But seriously, what DID you see in Galaxy in the first place?”

”Fuck if I know,” Firefly scoffed. “When we first became a thing I was young and stupid. Stupid about a lot of things, really. I cheated a lot, ‘cept I didn’t think it was cheating at the time. I fucked around with a lot of gals, even some guys, and I just didn’t take anything seriously. Broke a lot of hearts because of it. But Gal, she was driven, and tough, and smarter than I ever was. I guess I thought she’d be a good influence on me. And I did stop cheating because of her, but looking back she never let me have fun either. Always wanted control and shit, even doing most of the parenting. But now that she’s gone I can do what I want again, and the girls can do what they want too. It’s…freeing. I don’t miss her at all.”

”Wow. I had no idea. You always seemed like you just did what you wanted anyway.”

”I did, just not without getting yelled at,” Firefly shook her head. “I probably would’ve booted her ass out a lot earlier if I didn’t make a fucking joke out of everything. Would’ve wasted a lot less time.”

”I think we both wasted a lot of time with her,” Turq sighed. “All those times I tried to get her to be my friend again got me nowhere. Hell, I don’t even know why I even tried. And fighting her and trying to make her life hell for petty revenge, more time wasted. All it did was drive both of us deeper into a hole.”

”Yeah,” Firefly leaned into Turq, resting her head on her loose mane. “But y’know what? All that’s over now. We don’t have to deal with that shit ever again. What came before doesn’t count anymore. Gal’s dead to us now.”

”And so what?” Turq added. “So what if it’s us now? I don’t need more reminders of all that’s been broken, I just want to move on and…be happy for once. With you, Firefly, for the rest of my life. Can we try that?”

“Really?” Firefly laughed, genuinely. “You want it to be us? And only us? You really want to put up with me for the rest of your life?”

Turq smiled warmly, leaning into Firefly just as the sun disappeared under the horizon.

“I’d rather have nobody else.”