//------------------------------// // More Than Sunny // Story: Oh no, they're Goddesses now! // by James Pwyll //------------------------------// "This...is not a good idea." Twilight looked to Sunset as she'd said that, smiling sweetly to her. "Relax, Sunset, you can do this." The incredulous look Sunset gave her in return prompted further talk from Twilight. "I mean, yes, you have had a few difficult moments with moving the sun about in the past, but you've gotten so much better since then!" Sunset chuckled. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, Twi, but I'm still nervous about it." Twilight gently placed her hand upon Sunset's shoulder. "Hey, your Mother wouldn't have given you this task if she didn't think you were up to it." The thought of Celestia put a smile on Sunset's lips. "Yeah...I guess she does have faith in me at least." But her smile faded a little shortly afterwards, and she sighed deeply. "I just wish she'd have waited until I'd practiced a bit more before going on this vacation of hers." Twilight giggled. "Hey, after all she's put up with lately, I'm surprised she didn't take a vacation sooner." The two shared a laugh, during which Sunset nodded in agreement. "You're not wrong there, Twilight." Taking a step forward, right to the edge of her cloud, Sunset took a few calming breaths, then looked out to the still-dark horizon. "Okay...here goes nothing." Slowly, she stretched out her hands, closing her eyes and concentrating as hard as she could. Twilight watched, eagerly awaiting what would happen, yet remaining utterly silent as she did so. A moment passed, but then Sunset's face twisted into a look of focus. As she did this, Twilight could see, out by the horizon, a creeping light start to rise, and she smiled to it. Moments passed, and the light got stronger and stronger. Before long, the bright and glorious sun was indeed rising, and a new day now greeted the mortal world. Sunset, ever nervous, cracked one eye open, and she saw her handiwork. No errors, no trouble, just one perfect sunrise. As one would expect from this, she smiled widely, and Twilight too began to clap enthusiastically to her. "You did it!" Taking another breath, Sunset placed her hands upon her hips, giving a firm nod to what she now saw out there. "Yeah...I guess I did." She looked to Twilight and, for a time, the two said nothing to one another. Instead, they simply contented themselves on being with one another, which culminated in the expected move of drawing closer. They embraced, emboldened by this triumph of Sunset's and kissed passionately. Granted, they would have likely done something like this even without a victory, but still, it was an appropriate time all the same. When their lips parted, they shared another laugh, turning to look to the sun again. "Not bad...even if I do say so myself," Sunset remarked. Twilight nodded, but then started to squint for some reason. She adjusted her glasses, making sure that she was indeed looking at what she was looking at. When she was certain that she was, she turned to Sunset. "Um...does that sun look a bit bigger than normal?" Sunset looked to her with confusion, then to the sun again. Sure enough, her lover was right. It was indeed looking a bit larger than normal, prompting Sunset to scratch her head a little. "Huh...I'm pretty sure I didn't make it bigger." "Nope! Ah did!" The two turned, and there, standing proudly, was Applejack, a big smile plastered on her face. "Wha...Applejack?!" Sunset remarked. A chuckle from the newly-arrived Goddess. "Ah know, ah know, but ah got ta thinkin'..." She too walked to the edge where the other two were, gesturing to the larger sun. "There's been a right lack o' sunlight lately, an' a lot o' farmers ain't been able ta get good crops from it, so ah figured, ya know, with Celestia takin' a little R an' R, maybe get a bit extra in." Sunset, at first, was annoyed at having her friend interfere like this, but as she considered her words, she slumped her shoulders slightly. "Well...I guess if a little extra sunlight helps, I suppose it won't be too bad. At least until my Mother comes home." Applejack gave her a thumbs up for that. "Mighty thankful, Sunset." But Twilight was less happy, and looked to her lover with a frown. "Sunset! There are terrible consequences for making the sun bigger like this! The world depends on a very careful balance of cosmic forces all being what they are! Change one thing too much, and it could be total chaos!" After thinking on that for a moment, Sunset smirked slightly. "I'm sure Eris would like that at least." A frown from Twilight urged her to raise her hands defensively. "I know! I'm sorry! It was just a joke!" Sighing, Sunset looked again to Applejack. "I'm sorry, AJ, but Twilights right. We can't mess up the world like this, no matter how much we think it'll help." Applejack too released a sigh. "Yeah, ah figured that'd be yer answer. Worth a shot though, right?" Twilight smiled to her. "I'm sure the farmers would have appreciated it. But the world has to have the sun as it always has been..." She glanced to the glowing orb in question. "...with its bright blues and greens and reds and...wait a minute." All three turned, seeing that, to their utter confusion and bewilderment, the sun was now sporting not the usual bright yellow it was known for, but a variety of fanciful other colors. It was as if all the colors of the rainbow were there in fact, swirling about in a truly brilliant display. It was very pretty, to be sure, but wholly unnatural for the sun to be looking. And while this bizarre sight did indeed put the other Goddesses in a state of shock for a time, it took no time whatsoever for them to figure out who was responsible for this. "Ugh...Rainbow!" Sunset muttered. They turned, and as they'd predicted, Rainbow was there, sitting on a lump of cloud not far away, looking very pleased with herself and her efforts. "Hehe, don't worry, no need to thank me." Applejack looked to her with an utterly deadpan look. "Oh, we won't, trust me." Rainbow frowned. "Hey, no need for that! I figured, you know, Celestia's out of the picture right now, so why not make the sun look a bit more awesome than usual? You know, give it a bit more color?" Twilight looked to her with as disapproving a frown as possible. "And make all the mortals think that you're the new Sun Goddess while you're at it?" As if in response to those words, a halo suddenly appeared over Rainbow's head, and she clasped her hands together in a prayer-like motion. "What? Me? Would I ever do something like that?" The un-amused looks her friends were giving her were all the answer she needed, and she grunted with irritation. "Ugh! Fine! I'll turn it back!" She snapped her fingers, and in just a moment, the sun was back to normal like she'd promised. Sunset sighed, happy in the knowledge that her Mother's creation was right as it was supposed to be. But this experience had left her with some slight paranoia, and she darted her eyes left and right, just to make sure no other Goddesses were nearby. "...Anyone else there? Any other changes you wanna make to the sun?" A silence, as all Goddesses, and not just Sunset, began to glance around. After almost a full minute though, they turned to see the sheepish head of Pinkie Pie creeping out from behind where Rainbow had been sitting a few moments ago. "So...I'm guessing the idea of turning the sun pink and having it rain candy on the world is out?" Sunset slapped her forehead over that, and Twilight comforted her with a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Hey, no need to worry, Sunset. Everything's back to normal now." Nodding, Sunset offered her a small smile. "Yeah, you're right..." A look of amusement came to her. "Seriously though, can you imagine how much trouble this would have all caused for the mortals down there if they'd actually been paying attention to all this sun weirdness today?" "Repent! Repent! The sun changing is an ill omen my friends! The Gods are angry with us! Get as many offerings to the temples as you can or we're all gonna die!" Rainbow shrugged. "Meh, I'm sure they wouldn't worry too much."