Chapter 9: The payback
The morning after Eric Reed and Sunset Shimmer’s date…
In a hallway of Twilight’s castle, Spike stood by Eric’s door with his head against it. He felt guilty about listening in unwelcomely when Eric was with Sunset after their date and wanted to apologize. However, when he approached the door, he heard what seemed to be another voice from the other side, but was difficult to discern.
With Spike motionless by Eric’s door, Starlight trotted into the hallway and spotted him. Once behind Spike, Starlight greeted, “Hey, Spike.”
Spike yelped, jumped, and spun to the Unicorn behind him. “Oh, it’s just you, Starlight.”
“What are you doing?”
“Trying to make out what I’m hearing.”
“Hearing?”
“Yeah. I was going to tell Eric sorry about last night, but I’m hearing something weird in there.”
“Oh, come on, Spike, we can’t do it again.” Starlight stared at the door, and the thought that Sunset shouldn’t be in Eric’s room emerged in Starlight’s head. “Wait, what am I talking about? It’s not like Sunset is in there.”
“I don’t know, Starlight. Now that you brought her up, I think it was Sunset’s voice I heard.”
“No, she can’t be--”
Twilight trotted from around a corner and approached the two arguing friends. “Hey, guys. You’re here to tell Eric sorry too?”
Spike answered, “We were, until we heard, uh…”
“Heard what?”
“Spike heard something coming from the room and he thinks it’s Sunset.”
At merely the thought of Sunset and Eric in the same bed, Twilight’s eyes grew. “What?! No! They can’t be in bed together already! Maybe you’re just hearing things, Spike.”
“Well, if you and Starlight are so sure, help me figure out what I’m hearing.”
With a spark of curiosity, Twilight groaned, “Urgh, fine. But only to prove that it is not Sunset in Eric’s room.”
Hoping to learn the secrets of what Spike heard, Twilight, Starlight, and Spike laid a side of their head against Eric’s bedroom door, struggling to make out what it was that Spike heard.
Hiding in a room opposite my bedroom, peeking from its door, my new girlfriend and I were preparing to act on an idea that I cooked up before we fell asleep. It was time to teach the “Super-Nosey Three” a lesson. Plus, I needed to get payback on Twilight for not warning me about Hay & Shake’s prices!
“See? I told you those three would get into the act again, Sunset.”
“You were right. Guess they can’t help it.”
“But they will after this! You ready?”
“Heh heh, yep. Lead the way.”
Sunset and I crept out of the room and snuck behind the “Super-Nosey Three”, who still had their heads against my door.
After we were close enough, I did a silent countdown with my fingers.
Once the “countdown” reached zero, Sunset and I screamed, “BOO!!”
Twilight, Starlight, and Spike screamed and jumped ten feet in the air! Oh yeah, that scared the Tartarus out of them!
Sunset and I laughed our heads off as those three had their hoof/claw on their chests and panted like crazy. Twilight was close to hyperventilating; something she’s done like a million times.
Once she calmed down a bit, Twilight stuttered, “W-What's going on?!”
Sunset and I calmed down our laughing, and I explained, “I knew you three wouldn’t resist getting nosey again. So to get you back, I asked Sunset if she knew a spell to make her voice come from inside the room, but have it be hard to hear.”
“And I’m glad I still remembered how to cast it.”
“Oh, so that’s why I couldn’t make out what it was,” Spike said.
In a more serious voice I asked, “Now, will you guys cut it out?”
Twilight answered, “Okay, I promise to never listen on you two again.”
Starlight echoed, “Me too.”
“Me three.”
Twilight told Sunset, “But I really am surprised to see you, Sunset. I didn’t know you were spending the night.”
“Yeah, and I was going to tell you I asked her to spend the night, Twi, but you were already asleep. And you owe us.”
Twilight tilted her head to the side with a frown. “I don’t get it.”
“Why didn’t you tell me the food from Hay & Shake was expensive? You only told me it was a great place for a first date!”
“Wait, it was expensive?”
“Yeah, it was!” I answered.
Now that the Princess of Expensive Dining knew she bucked up, she facehoofed. “Oh...that’s why the rating for Hay & Shake was so high! I’m so sorry, and if you guys need them, I’ll give you some of my bits.”
I was actually tempted to accept Twilight’s offer, but giving her a big scare was good enough for me. Besides, ever since we met, she’s done her best to help me adjust to Equestria, so I couldn’t take her bits for something like this. Unless I won them in poker. “Nah, you don’t have to do that for me, Twi. But if Sunset needs them, you could give her some.”
“No, she doesn’t have to do that. I’m good.”
“Oh. Still, I’ll do something to make up for it later.“ Twilight’s guilty frown faded and she looked to Spike. “But I told you Eric and Sunset didn’t sleep in Eric’s bed, Spike.”
“Fine, I was wrong.”
With how Twi acted about the chance of Sunset and me in my bed, I knew her reaction to it was going to be gooood. I had a feeling Starie’s reaction might be just as priceless. Where’s a camera when you need one? “Well...I never said we didn’t.”
Both Twilight and Starlight stared at me and at the same time asked, “Huh?”
“Yeah, Eric and I were in his room before we snuck out to wait for you guys. We woke up a half-hour ago.”
And here it comes! Twilight’s and Starlight’s mouths dropped and their eyes grew to twice their normal size.
Sunset giggled at the glorious sight. “I guess your sisters didn’t think we would share a bed already.”
“Heh heh. Nope.”
After Twilight.exe and Starlight.exe started working again, they shouted, “YOU TWO WERE IN THE SAME BED?!”
Yep, I knew their reaction would be priceless! I felt tempted to milk it for more fun, but I assured, “But nothing happened in my bed.”
“Yeah, we only went to sleep together.”
The two relaxed their faces, and Twilight explained, “W-Well, it isn’t like I don’t approve of you sleeping together.”
“Uh, Twilight? I know you sometimes act like a mom as well as a big sister to me, but you know I’m eighteen, right?”
“Oh, uh, I-I didn’t mean it like that! I-I know you’re old enough to make your own d-decisions, Buggie, b-b-but--”
I chuckled and figured I better say something before Twilight.exe stop working again. “I know what you meant, big sis, and thanks. But how about we get some breakfast?”
This was one of the more interesting mornings I’ve had in Equestria. Or period. We headed to the dining hall to eat breakfast. Spike had already made some strawberry pancakes before he came to my door.
In the dining hall, on the table, lay four plates, each with four pancakes and scrambled eggs. Each plate had beside it a cup full of orange juice.
Obviously, Spike didn’t plan that we would have a guest, so after we got Sunset both a plate and cup of orange juice, I gave half of my pancakes and eggs to her. As you might have guessed, we sat next to each other, but were still in separate chairs. Spike offered to make more, but Sunset and I said it was okay. Her rumbling stomach gave the answer to why she didn’t even try to protest having half of my plate. The ex-Super Nosey Three sat by the table in chairs too.
While I don’t really like cooking, maybe I should try to make breakfast for us soon. Being a boyfriend that can cook could make Sunset like me even more!
I picked up my fork and dug in. The strawberry flavor of the pancake mixed with the maple syrup was simply delicious! The fluffiness of the eggs mixed with just the right amount of pepper...not even the Princess of Perfection could think that it could be more perfect. That Dragon can cook, and could make a killing if he opened his own restaurant! “Hmm, these pancakes and eggs are great! You outdid yourself, Spike!”
With a fork held in her magic, Sunset took a bite from her pancakes and eggs and smiled. Heh, guess she liked it too. “Yeah. Maybe Eric and I should have asked you to cook our dinner last night!”
Spike, trying to be Mr. Modest, grinned and rubbed his head. “Thanks, I do what I can.”
Twilight took a bite of her pancakes and eggs and praised, “And you do it well, Spike.”
“No arguments from me,” Starlight chimed in with some egg on her lips. She can be a messy eater.
We cooled it with the Spike praising -- things don’t end well when he’s praised too much -- and Twilight remarked, “So, I guess your date went well.”
I answered, “Oh, yeah.”
“It was amazing.”
“And sorry about us listening in on you two last night,” Twilight said.
“Yeah, me too.”
Starlight chimed in, “We’re really not going to do it again.”
“It’s all right. You three are my Equestrian siblings, so it figures you’ll do stuff like that sometimes.”
Twilight giggled, and took more bites out of her pancakes and eggs. “But what are you two going to do now?”
I’ll admit: I gave no thought on what to do with Sunset after we woke up, save for the big scare we gave Twilight, Starlight, and Spike. “Oh...good question. Once we're done eating, what do you want to do, Sunset?”
Sunset placed a hoof on her cheek. “Uh...maybe we could have another best-of-nine series of ‘Snake Hunter’?”
“That sounds good to me, and I’m winning our series this time!”
“We’ll see about that, and I’m paying for our games since you paid for them last time.”
“If you insist.”
After we finished eating breakfast, Sunset and I hopped off our chairs and out of the castle to make a beeline to the arcade section of Ponyville. If ponies’ top running speed weren’t faster than mine, we would have tried to race there.
After Eric and Sunset departed the castle, Twilight, Starlight, and Spike were left giggling at the new couple speeding out of the dining hall.
Spike said, “Well, guess Eric and Sunset are a couple now.”
Twilight remarked, “And they both looked so happy.”
Starlight added, “And I’m happy for them.”
Spike said, “Guess we won’t have to worry about Eric spending too much time with Twilight anymore.”
At the hint that she and Eric possibly spent too much time together since Eric arrived in Equestria, Twilight groaned and rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on! You guys are thinking that too?”
Starlight replied, “Yeah, and funny you reacted like that, because Eric did too.”
“But I…*sigh*...fine, but I still don’t think we spent that much time together since I found him in Equestria.” Twilight smiled and stood up from her chair. “But you two can help me make a new checklist for what I’ll need to make two checklists for the five checklists of stuff I need to have done by the end of the day. I need to get some paper, but I’ll be back.” Twilight trotted out of the library.
Starlight facehoofed. “Oh, I forgot she’d want to do that today, or I would have run away with Eric and Sunset!”
“Well, at least I’m used to making those checklists with her.”
At the “Snake Hunter” arcade game, Sunset and I were in our tenth game. She won our best-of-nine series 5-4 again, and for this game, we were cheering each other on. In our ninth game, we each nearly beat the all-time high score of 350,650,100, so we just wanted to beat that score now. I already tried and blew it, so it was Sunset’s turn and I stood beside her.
“...Yes, I got two snakes at once.”
I instructed, “Now grab those three apples, but once you jump over that pit, watch for the hidden snake in the ground.”
“I know. I’m not falling for--oh! Whew, that was close, that snake jumping out of the ground almost took the rest of my health. Now I just need five more apples to beat that score.”
“You can do it, Sunset. Whoa! Those two--”
“I see them. Now, one snake stomped on, one more to go.”
“Just zap that last snake, don’t try to--”
“Eric! Let me concentrate!”
Yep, that made me cover my mouth. “S-Sorry!”
“Yes, I got that last snake. Now to grab those last five apples...come on...YES! I did it! I beat the all-time high score!”
With Snake Hunter having a new all-time scorer, Sunset and I hugged while jumping in the air. She still had a bit of health remaining and could have kept playing, but neither of us cared.
“Maybe we should get you Alicorn wings, because you are the Princess of Snake Hunter!”
“If we do, I’ll gladly accept!”
After hopping and cheering for a few more seconds, a thought popped in my head. From what Sunset told me earlier, she wasn’t planning on staying the night and only wanted to after our date was over. “Wait, I just thought about something.”
“What?”
“Do the others know you might have spent the night with me?”
One of the biggest but cutest nervous grins yet formed on Sunset’s face. “Ooooops. And the journal that we ‘talk’ to you with is still in my pack, so I should go back and let them know everything’s all right.”
It was fun while it lasted. Really fun. But Sunset needed to go back -- for now -- so we went back to Twilight’s castle, and I held her hoof as we walked.
At the portal, Sunset was preparing to leave. I was still holding her hoof.
“Well, Eric, it was fun.”
‘Yeah. Last night was one of the best nights of my life.”
“The same goes for me.”
“When do you want to come back?" I asked. "Later today?”
Sunset rolled her eyes up in thought. Maybe it’s because we’re a couple, but it looked more adorable than it used to. “It might have to be after my school is out tomorrow. The others were thinking about practicing some of our songs after I got back.”
And now I had another reason to go through the portal eventually: to hear the Rainbooms play in person! “Oh. But it might be for the best; my shift at the spa starts in another five hours, and my shift there tomorrow would be over by the time your school gets out.”
“Well, in that case, I’ll see you tomorrow, boyfriend.”
“See you, girlfriend.”
After a kiss, I let go of Sunset’s hoof, and she passed through the portal. Much like when she left after asking me out, I stared at the portal, even after it stopped glowing.
But my little trance was broken by a voice that called out, “Well, if it isn’t loverboy.”
I spun around to the source of the voice: Spike, with Twilight, Starlight, and the rest of the “Nosey Eight”. They were standing in the doorway of one of the now-open green doors of the library. Well, all but Pinkie were standing: miss Hyperactive Pony was hopping, with her trademark springing sound effect.
Remembering the previous night when they were listening in on my date, I facepalmed. “You guys weren’t listening in on Sunset and me again were you? Because it’s getting--”
“No, no, not this time, Eric, I promise,” Applejack assured.
“We really did just happen to come this time,” Twilight told me.
Rarity asked, “But how does it feel to finally have a girlfriend in Equestria?”
Rainbow remarked, “More or less, since Sunset still lives on the other side of the portal.”
Thinking about Sunset, and how she’s my girlfriend, pure joy flooded through my veins. In fact, I jumped for joy and exclaimed, “I feel GREAT! I never felt this happy since I’ve been in Equestria!”
Guess seeing me happy make Pinkie happier, since she started hopping all over the library. “Maybe I should throw an ‘Eric has a girlfriend!’ party! With a heart-shaped cake, hearts on the walls and ceiling, and hearts everywhere!”
“Ha, I would like that, Pinkie. Sunset probably would too.”
With a big ‘ol smirk, Rainbow flew beside me, poked my left side while she said, “So, I heard you and your new girlfriend were in bed together? Heh heh, I didn’t know you had it in you, Eric!”
I got the message of what Rainbow thought we might have done and man did my cheeks heat up! “No, we didn’t do anything in that bed, Rainbow!”
“When will she be back?” Starlight asked.
“She said she’ll be back tomorrow. But my shift at the spa begins in a few hours so I’m going to rest.”
“Well, you go and rest, and we’re all happy for you, Eric,” Fluttershy said.
For the rest of the day, I would be in a better than usual mood. I wished that I could pass through the portal but not just to spend more time with Sunset in “her” world or hear the Rainbooms sing, but to see the reactions from the others about Sunset and me sharing a bed. Though I doubted Sci-Twi’s reaction was as priceless as Princess Twilight’s was.
On the other side of the portal, Sunset Shimmer stepped out of it and stumbled. She expected to land face-down on the ground from the usual force the portal ejected her with.
“Wow, I’m not on the ground this time. Thank you, Princess Twilight. Now to let the others know I’m all right and tell them everything that happened.”
Thinking about her date with Eric, Sunset smiled. In a giddy voice, she added, “And I can’t wait to tell them!”
Sunset pulled out her phone from her pack and texted her friends that she was back. Once they were all together, she planned to tell them all about her date and the fun she had with Eric.
Thirty minutes later, with most of them sitting in chairs by a table in a nearby mall, Sunset was about to tell her friends what happened during and after her date, and why she didn’t return the previous night. Pinkie Pie elected to remain standing. Spike wasn’t with the others, but was elsewhere taking a nap. Normally, the friends would be walking through the mall, window shopping in the shops with clothes, jewelry, and baked goods. But today, Sunset was too excited about telling her friends what happened, and her friends were nearly as excited to hear it, proven by the big smiles they wore.
“Well, with that smile, I take it your date went well,” Twilight guessed.
“Yep. Even better than I hoped! And after our date, I spent the night with Eric.”
“Oh, so that’s where you were!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Can’t believe I didn’t think about it.”
Fluttershy added, “Especially since you said Princess Twilight’s castle is huge and has a lot of rooms for you to sleep in.”
Sunset rubbed her head with a sheepish smile. “Well, she does, but I didn’t sleep in any of her extra ones.”
“But if it wasn’t in one of Princess Twilight’s spare bedrooms, where did ya sleep? One of her couches?” Applejack questioned.
“No.”
“Then where? The only other place is...wait.” Rarity pointed a finger at Sunset. “Did you sleep in Eric’s room and...his bed?”
Sunset meekly answered, “Yes?”
All of Sunset’s friends’ mouths dropped open. They did not expect to hear what they did from their friend in the slightest. “WHAT?!”
“You two slept together?! Already?!” Applejack asked.
With a mischievous smile, Rainbow rose from her chair, walked beside Sunset, and poked her in her right side. “Wow, I didn’t know you had it in you, Sunset. Way to go!”
Sunset’s cheeks turned bright red. “No, NO! We slept in the same bed and we...cuddled a little, but that was it!”
“Oh, well, that makes more sense. Still, I didn’t think you would want to share a bed with Eric already,” Rarity said.
“I was surprised myself, but I just love being with him! I never felt this kind of happiness before, and I almost want to run back and spend more time with Eric.”
Applejack said, “Well, I’m happy that yer so happy, Sunset. But ya don’t want to be the kind of girlfriend that always wants to be with her boyfriend.”
With the happiness bubbling in her heart, part of Sunset wondered if that could even be a bad thing, but Applejack wasn’t one to give poor advice. In addition, Sunset truly understood that nothing good would come out of growing too clingy and risk revolving her whole life around her boyfriend. “Yeah, I understand.”
Twilight asked, “Since we’re all together now, do you want to practice some of our latest songs?”
Sunset answered, “Sure.”
Sunset and her friends went on to practice their newest songs. Sunset wanted to travel through the portal immediately after they finished, but Applejack’s warning about becoming too clingy allowed her to resist the urge to return to Equestria too soon. She instead waited until the next day, as she told Eric she would.
While Eric’s and Sunset’s relationship was still new, a crisis would soon put it to the test. They would only have each other to see them through it.
Stats
Page generated in 0.013 seconds
Total duration
744 users online
601,712 hits today, 2,123,720 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
9950336
Earth no, but Equestria yes