As Aegis pulled me close, I laughed quietly. “This is such a cliché.”
“It’s romantic,” Aegis responded.
“We’re on a mountaintop watching the sunset. It’s cliché.”
“Romantic.”
“Cliiiiiichéééééé.”
“That doesn’t make it not romantic, too.”
“I guess you’re right. You sentimental twig.” I poked him in the stomach.
Aegis blinked and looked at me. “Twig?”
I reddened. “I don’t know where that came from. It just popped into my head.”
“Twig?”
“I was looking for some light, silly insult, and…” I shrugged helplessly.
“…Twig?”
“Shut up, you twig.” I lightly bopped him on the head.
“I am never, ever, ever going to let you live that down,” Aegis said as he rubbed his head and grinned. “EV-ER.”
We’d finally made it. The summit of the mountain was free of any obstructions that would keep us from seeing the sunset. And, Celestia, what a sunset. I’d never seen anything like it. The way the oranges twisted into the purples, the way the clouds caught the light, the shadows cast on the landscape… I’d seen sunsets up here before, but this was a step up. Aegis and I were sitting next to each other, our forelegs on the other’s shoulder. After all the walking we’d done, simply sitting down felt good.
Being this close to Aegis didn’t hurt things.
“But,” Aegis continued, “cliché or not, this was a good idea. I finally got out of the city, and this sunset…” He whistled. “Wow.”
“Something else, isn’t it?”
“Yep. Can’t believe I never just went out and watched the sun set before.”
I’d never been aware of breathing before. I don’t know why. I guess there was never really a need for it. But now, I was deeply aware of both Aegis’s and my breathing. We were in sync, our chests slowly rising and falling. I wasn’t trying to do that, and I don’t think he was, either. It was like we were uni-
“Mind if I sing?”
There went my groove. Tilting an ear back, I frowned at Aegis. “Sing.”
“Well… yeah. Do re mi fa s-”
“You sing? I didn’t think you did that.”
Aegis coughed and looked away. “Not well. I just- I can’t sing that well, but I like doing it.”
“So, what, you’re gonna serenade your lover on a mountaintop?”
“It’s not a love song, just something I think kinda fits.”
There were plenty of worse reasons to sing. What the hay. “Sure. Go ahead.”
Aegis nodded, took a deep breath, and began singing.
Tell me, oh, where are you from?
I want to know from whence you come;
It seems to me you might have some
Stories that you could tell me.
His voice wasn’t half bad. Nothing spectacular, but I could listen to it for hours. And in spite of the song’s quick pace, he never stumbled over any of the words. I’d heard this song a thousand times before, but I could hear it a thousand times again. It was one of my favorites. Not that he knew that.
Tell me, please, where have you been?
I want to know the things you’ve seen.
The oceans blue, the forests green.
That I could never see.
He took a breath, and in that pause, I seized my chance.
I’ve wanted long to travel far
And wide, to sleep beneath the stars.
That type of pony’s who you are,
So tell me, won’t you please?
Aegis twitched, like he wanted to join for a moment, but then he just smiled and let me be.
Tell me of the foreign lands,
The mountain peaks, the desert sands,
The sights from all your travels grand,
And how you crossed the great seas.
I want to hear, I want to know
Of what the world will surely show
Those who have bravery to go
Exploring, always free!
As the last echoes of my voice faded away from the mountaintop, Aegis whispered to me, “You have a really nice voice.”
“Thanks.”
“No, I mean really nice,” he said. “You could probably get a job singing if you wanted.”
“But I don’t.”
“Hey, I didn’t say you needed to. Just that you could.”
I chuckled. “We’re really hitting all check marks on this one, aren’t we? Sunset, mountaintop, singing, those sorts of compliments…”
“Aw, c’mon.” Aegis bopped me on the shoulder. “It’s romantic.”
“Yeah,” I said. “It is.”
To be honest, it really was. I couldn’t help myself. It was cheesy, it was sappy, but it was romantic. It was a feeling I’d been missing for half a decade; a light heart and a general satisfaction with the world.
And then a thing we hadn’t done yet hit me. “You know, there’s only one more thing to make this more cliché,” I said.
Aegis turned to me. “Yeah?”
I leaned in close and kissed him.
It was barely anything. Just a quick, short peck. But it was both electrifying and calming. It felt right. We hadn’t done it before. Why not now?
When I leaned back, Aegis looked slightly dazed, maybe shocked. He blinked. “Was… was that our first kiss?”
“Yep,” I said, smiling.
“Not much,” he said. “But nothing else would fit, don’t you think?”
“Nah,” I said. “Too sappy.”
He chuckled. “Of course not. It took five years for us to kiss in the first place. Anything bigger than that would be silly.”
“Heh. Yeah.”
We sat side by side for a little while longer. Then I turned, twisted him, and wrapped my forelegs around his neck in the tightest hug I could muster. He quickly returned the favor, holding me close. I whispered in his ear, “I love you, Welded Aegis.”
“I love you, Bluebell,” he whispered in mine. We didn’t say anything more. We didn’t need to. Time passed. I don’t know how much. I had Aegis, he had me, and that was all that really mattered at the moment.
By the time we separated, only a little bit of the sun was still above the horizon, and most of the sky was dark. We probably should’ve gotten going; the trip down was faster than the trip up, but it’d still take a while, and at this rate, we’d be going down the mountain with nothing but Aegis’s horn to guide us. But I didn’t want to leave just yet, so I stayed silent. So did Aegis.
After a moment, Aegis rolled his shoulders. “So… now what?”
“We sit,” I said. “We enjoy each other’s company. We watch the sunset a little while longer. You hightail it back to your train.” It was getting a bit late. He should’ve hightailed it already. But I didn’t care, and I don’t think he did, either.
We sat for another moment. Then Aegis said, “You know, that carnival’s coming back up in a month.”
“Yeah?”
“So why don’t we meet there when it comes? We-”
“‘Cause it worked so well last time.”
Aegis chuckled and lightly clouted me on the back of the neck. “Not like that. We exchange addresses and stuff so that we can warn the other of bad things going down that might keep us from getting there. Not just, ‘See you in a month! Romantic swooooon!’” He imitated said swoon and collapsed to the ground. “No letters that aren’t that. We’ll be prepared this time.”
“…You know what, yeah. Let’s try that. We can figure out what to do long-term then.”
“Alright,” Aegis said as he sat back up. “Trade addresses at the train station?”
“Sure. Now, hush.” I wrapped my leg around his neck and pulled him close. “I want to see the last bit of the sunset.”
I watched the sun go down, snuggled up against Aegis. I felt… “happy” was too simplistic. I wasn’t the kind of energized of bouncy that implies. I didn’t feel much like doing anything, but not because I was drained. There just wasn’t anything that needed to be done. I was fine sitting here with Aegis, just him and me, doing nothing as the last bits of the sun slid below the horizon and the final dregs of orange drained from the sky.
I wasn’t just happy. I was content.
There was just one problem. “Hey, Aegis?”
“Yeah?”
“It’s getting late. You stay up here much longer, you’re gonna miss your train.”
He laughed. “I know.”