The Incredible Gravitational Pull of Canterlot Donut Shops

by mushroompone

Begin Again

The bell above the door sounded precisely like his magic.

It halted Soarin’s thoughts completely, and he barely managed to mumble his way through the rest of his sentence.

The smell of the place hit him square in the chest, and for a second he was worried he might tumble over. It somehow hadn't changed, even after all these years-- the same scent of sugary frosting hung in the air, the same chemical sharpness of the all-purpose cleaner Joe used on the floors, the same distant notes of coffee and cream twisting through it all.

"Huh?" Spitfire nudged him. "What's that, Soarin?"

Soarin blinked. "Uh…" He chuckled. "What was I saying?"

"The pie?"

"Oh, yeah!" At the mention of pie, Soarin's brain kick-started once more. "This is the place I had my first slice of homemade apple pie! Totally changed my life."

Spitfire rolled her eyes. "Yeah. No kidding."

"I like what I like, Spits," Soarin said, heaving a sigh not unlike that of a father while teasing his kids. "And I like me an apple pie."

"I'm not one to turn down an apple pie myself," Spitfire agreed.

The two ponies fell into line, expertly ignoring the stolen glances of the other customers. There was a time when such looks and whispers may have made Soarin's heart skip a beat, but it was all part of being a Wonderbolt nowadays.

"Y'know I used to work here?" Soarin said.

"No kidding."

"Yeah! One summer, like… I dunno, years and years ago." The more he talked about it, the more his voice seemed to soften. "Same summer I got my cutie mark, actually," he murmured.

Spitfire gave him an odd look. "Wow. Must've been a pretty crazy summer for you, huh?"

"I guess…" Soarin rubbed his snout absent-mindedly. "I don't remember much of it, to be honest. Just… well, just the beginning and the end."

The morning sunlight was warm and bright, and it glinted off the display case with impressive power. Soarin strained to see past it, even as it stamped dark patches of color over his vision.

"Uh…" Spitfire cleared her throat. "You okay, Soarin?"

Soarin closed his eyes, and the colors danced there, too. "Yeah. Sorry, sorry," he said, shaking his head. "Just… well, y'know."

Spitfire frowned. "Yeah. Sure I do. I know I definitely get all weird and distant thinking about the summer jobs I had as a teenager." She snickered lightly. "Seriously, you good?"

The booths. They were exactly the same as they had been all those years ago, despite the new cracks in the vinyl. Soarin found himself scanning each seat for the familiar head of scraggly orange hair. It was nearly automatic, even now, and he found himself considering creative breakfast combinations to serve up.

Glazed donut and an iced latte.

Blueberry scones and peach tea.

Apple pie and cinnamon coffee.

"Alright, yikes!" Spitfire laughed and clapped her friend on the shoulder. "I get it! Apple pie, comin' up!"

Soarin forced a small laugh, but his mind kept roaming through the menu.

Strawberry pastry and a smoothie.

Peanut butter bagel and a hot cocoa.

Cranberry-orange muffin and chai tea.

To say that this was the first Soarin had thought of Sunburst since that summer would have been a lie. This was, however, the first time he had really felt it.

The acceleration in his chest.

The weightlessness of his hooves.

The--

The bell above the door rang again, and Soarin instinctively looked over his shoulder to see who had arrived. He had to crane his neck to see over the crowds, and then only caught glimpses of the pony in the door.

She was short, purple head-to-hoof, and carefully counting through a hoofful of bits with her blue magic.

"I dunno," she mused. "We're kinda low on funds. Why don't we hit a food cart instead?"

"Let me see."

Only three words, and then the sound of magic.

Soarin ducked his head down, trying desperately to see around those waiting in line behind him.

"Dude, do you mind?"

But Soarin hardly heard it. "Uh-- 'scuse me, folks," he muttered, weaving between them and towards the ponies at the back of the line.

"We've got plenty," the voice continued, dropping the stack of bits musically back into his friend's hoof. "A breakfast combo is only four bits here."

His friend snorted incredulously. "How do you know what breakfast costs?"

Soarin pushed further through the crowds, which parted at the sight of the celebrity.

Each step felt like falling-- or perhaps like floating.

The moment of weightlessness at the top of a skyward arc.

"I used to go here a lot," he continued. "When I was Celestia's student."

"Oh, that's right!" His friend laughed. "I always forget that--"

Soarin skidded to a halt.

There was a moment then, however brief, that felt different than the others.

A poet may have called it love at first sight, though the poet would have been wrong. A cynic would have called it infatuation, though that would have been wrong, as well.

Soarin would have called it a sunrise.

Sunburst may have compared it to the moment of silence as a wave crests, seconds before crashing onto the shore.

In other words, the beginning.

But not the beginning at all, of course-- because they had been here before.

In this place.

With this feeling.

"Uh… hi?" Starlight furrowed her brows. "Hey, you're a Wonderbolt, right?"

"Starlight, shut up," Sunburst muttered. He didn't take his eyes off Soarin.

Starlight looked taken aback, but dutifully closed her mouth.

"Hi," Soarin breathed.

"Uh…" Sunburst blinked. "H-hi."

They stared at one another.

Spitfire snuck up behind Soarin, curious and aloof as always. She and Starlight shared their own look of confusion and mild amusement.

"I like your, uh…" Soarin pointed to Sunburst's face, then reached for his own chin. "Your beard."

Sunburst's own hoof flew to his beard. "Th-thank you," he said. "I like your… uniform."

Soarin chuckled, and pedalled his wings a bit. "Thanks."

The rush.

The light.

"Do you wanna eat?" Soarin asked. "Like… together? H-here?"

Sunburst smiled and adjusted his spectacles. "Yeah. Uh-- yes." He chuckled, a little squeaking sound. "Yes. I would."

His laugh sounded precisely like the bell above the door, Soarin thought.

Soarin began to laugh along.

Author's Note:

Thanks for reading! If you find something coherent in here, lmk gang

Comments

[Ice Star]

Gosh, this was a lot of fun. Really hope to see some more good M/M content from you. There isn't enough of it on the site. I've been planning to start going through your other short stories before getting into the longer stuff, especially that tantalizing gore story that's been awaiting me on the RiL.

Your short description needs a period, though.

[Roundabout Recluse]

“The problem with that is… well, whenever you learn something new, you’ll hit this snag of knowing exactly what you’re doing wrong, seeing how wrong and bad it is, and yet not having the skill to adjust,” Sunburst continued. He was staring down at his own hooves as if they were entirely foreign to him. “The really sad thing is that, no matter how hard you study beforehoof, you’ll never be able to jump right in and do things well. Students are doomed to experience the defeat of knowing their flaws, yet being incapable of fixing them.”

I feel called out.

Great story. Concise, sweet, and most importantly, feels natural.

[mushroompone]

10606580
Thank you SO much. Seriously. I'm keeping up with your comments on everything and enjoying them all immensely. You're totally making my day/night with this.

It's funny-- I'm actually known in my other fandoms for M/M content, and I guess it hadn't really occured to me that there was a space of mine entirely without M/M content! Time to change that

[Ice Star]

10606776

Time to change that

derpicdn.net/img/view/2019/1/18/1938576.gif

[Wireframe]

This was a lovely read that just made my day. ^^ The pacing was very pleasant, the interactions felt natural, and your metaphorical approach to descriptions very pleasant and enjoyable. On top of everything else it contained a nice message too.
Altogether short, sweet and wonderful. Thank you for sharing it.

[CGen]

I haven't been on fimfic in a long while, but it's been quite some time since I seen a story as...comfy, as this.
Sunburst and Soarin aren't a pair I normally think of to go together, 'canon' personalities and all, but the way you've done it here from their teenage years in just 3 short chapters fleshes them out more than I expected.

You make them work. I'd like to see more of it

[VCGriffin]

That was sweet, I havent logged onto here in ages (like some of the other ponies here) but that was wondefull, and took me right back to reading fan fiction when theforce.net was still a thing

[TCC56]

This is certainly an unusual pairing, but you did an excellent job with it. They're believable together, you've got an excellent way with words for setting the scene/tone and this is just some wonderful awkwardcute fluff. Excellently done.

[daOtterGuy]

Howdy, hi!

A review from the Oracle for you.

[Zombificus]

This was an excellent story. Loved the character work; you really made their younger selves feel true to their canon versions while still being more youthful.