The rest of the day was difficult for Sunny.
Of course she was stressed over meeting pegasi for the first time. A reminder of that towered over verdant field of rolling hills, a mountain that pierced the sky and divided the clouds that past it by. Up there, somewhere, was Zephyr Heights. The mountain and its surrounding siblings matched the sketches she had in her journal.
That said, there were also other reasons that day was difficult.
The weird night left her feeling exhausted, and she felt it in her legs the most. They wanted nothing more than to fold underneath her and let Sunny nap for another few hours.
Fortunately Sunny had the excitable Izzy to energise and distract her, a task that the unicorn succeeded in extremely well.
After a sluggish morning, not long after lunch, Izzy ran ahead. Despite the fatigue steeped in every muscle, Sunny found herself spurred on and able to keep up with the unicorn.
Sunny watched Izzy’s hind legs work hard, kicking up clods of dirt as she galloped ahead, and more things stood out to her.
Izzy wasn’t scrawny like Sunny had expected unicorns to be. She was actually kind of large, thick barrelled and thick legged, but she wasn’t fat; it was more muscle, and a general thickness to the mare. She supposed those muscles and her long strides are what gave Sunny a run for her bits.
Some time ago, Sunny had started wheezing a little. It wasn’t harsh, but it was audible, a manifestation of the scratching at the back of her throat.
Izzy must have noticed, because she called back, “You doing okay? You look kinda exhausted!”
The attention directed onto Sunny made her acutely aware of where she was staring and what she was thinking about, and she looked into Izzy’s eyes and tried her darnedest to block out her flank. “I’m good! I’m good!” she yelled between her breaths.
Sunny reminded herself to get more cardio exercises in when she got home.
If she got home.
Maybe if she moved in with Izzy, or Izzy moved in with her.
That thought made Sunny stumble. Fortunately she kept her footing and managed to recover, resuming her pursuit.
On and on they went, alternating between running and walking, until the sun began to set and the stars filled the sky. The moon took over for the sun, appearing behind one of the smaller mountains and leaving the field in a cool, cozy glow.
Izzy came to a halt atop one more grassy hill with the final stretch laid out before them. She glanced between the mountain and Sunny, grinning from ear to ear and gesturing to Sunny to form up beside her.
Sunny was more than happy to do so, and took her spot next to Izzy. The day’s exertion burned in her legs and lungs, the heat built up to a near boiling point that mixed pleasantly with the cool, night air. Izzy must have been similarly exhausted as her breathing was almost as heavy and ragged as Sunny’s, and she also had a raw, tired heat emanating off of her. It was alluring.
After what felt like a lifetime watching a piece of art just be what it was, Sunny drew her gaze toward the mountain. It was steep, with jagged outcroppings and razor sharp peaks lining its sides. The grass thinned out maybe a kilometre ahead of them, fading away to dirt and rock.
They were almost there, yet Sunny couldn’t stop herself from looking away from her actual goal and back toward her companion.
For a moment the breeze stilled, and the glade fell silent. Izzy practically glowed in the moonlight, a blinding beacon that blessed Sunny with her mere existence.
Sunny wanted nothing more than to bathe in that moment, to enjoy Izzy’s presence and the knowledge they were close to finishing their quest.
Yet the little promise she made herself earlier that morning nagged at the back of her mind. It was right to, Sunny knew. She couldn’t simply let it fester and bug her, or let it grow into a frustrating little obsession.
Sunny hesitated, simply opening and shutting her mouth. What if she weirded Izzy out? What if the unicorn said no, or turned out to actually be nasty like the others believe? Other earth ponies were capable of being mean, after all. Maybe Izzy was too, and hadn’t shown her true colours yet.
While Sunny was busy burying the silly thoughts down, Izzy spoke. “We should probably get some rest before climbing that thing, huh?”
The question brought Sunny’s mind to a screeching halt like a tram after the emergency brake was pulled. She was so focused on herself that the question and its context didn’t connect up at first. A sound mixed between sputtering and umming came out of Sunny’s mouth as she scrambled to catch up to reality.
Izzy blinked. “I’ll take that as a yes!”
Words and reality synced up at last in Sunny’s mind, and she gave a delayed, stuttered nod. “Y-yeah, sure. I think I still got some wood in my bag…”
“Alrighty! At least we’ll be warm for a little bit. Though if you get chilly later on don’t be afraid to use me for warmth.”
Sunny was sure the moonlight was playing tricks on her when she saw Izzy wink then take off down the hill again. She lingered for a moment before playing her favourite game of catchup with the unicorn, even though her legs continued to scream at her, and her throat begged her to stop breathing.
The last stretch was short, and their downhill run turned into an uphill climb with Izzy leading the way. Her eyes darted around, looking at the ground as much as at the rocky walls around them. It was the same darting glance that she had the night before, though it took longer before her eyes settled on their next camp.
There wasn’t an exclamation this time, just a purposeful walk up a shallower incline that eventually lead to a flattened ledge in the stone. There was a drop ahead of her, and as Izzy trotted around the space, Sunny took a brief moment to glance over the edge at the boulder that might have occupied the space where she currently stood.
“A little breezy,” Izzy said, “but it’ll do. It would be nice to have a tree or some tents, but I guess that wouldn’t be as fun.” She sat herself down against a stone face that shielded them from the rest of the mountain. “The ground is dry at least, and the view…!”
Izzy’s whistle carried through the night. It made Sunny jump, and she shot a glance over her shoulder. She almost scolded the unicorn, but she realised it would be hard to sneak up on either of them here. Sunny felt rather small yet proud they had crossed that field in just a day. The forest beyond carried onto the horizon and she saw no hint of Maretime bay or the sea.
An ache spread through Sunny’s chest, a pull back down the mountainside, back across the field and the forest.
She yearned for her own bed, for an old friend and familiar faces.
Then the heart-tugging feeling pulled her toward Izzy, who had taken it upon herself to stand back up and rifle through Sunny’s bag, pulling out their meagre firewood and the hanky-wrapped berries.
Izzy laid them out, piling the few twigs and thicker pieces of wood up while popping a berry between her lips. She chewed absently as she gathered some nearby stones, using them to break down some of the wood into kindling. The wrinkling of her nose, her scrunched eyebrows and pouted lips were such a delight to watch, and moreso when the unicorn inevitably summoned light to their little campsite, putting her beauty into contrast with itself. Izzy’s bright, borderline luminous grin made the ache in Sunny’s heart sing.
Izzy must have noticed Sunny huffing through her nose, as she lifted her gaze from the fire to look at her.
“Something the matter?” asked Izzy. Sunny couldn’t find the words right away, but Izzy didn’t fill in the silence. She let it hang, yet it didn’t feel awkward. The look Izzy gave Sunny was one filled with patience.
Several times in that eternal minute did Sunny breathe in, open her mouth, then click it shut with a sigh. Her lips subtly worked through the words she considered in-between each big breath, until a suitable sentence finally coalesced.
Izzy popped another berry into her gob.
“This is going to sound a little silly,” Sunny started, “but I think I like you.”
Izzy giggled. “Well I would have thought so! It’d be kind of silly to go running into the woods with someone you didn’t like after all.”
The smile that spread across Sunny’s face was born out of humour at Izzy’s innocence, and a mote of irritation. “That’s not quite what I meant.”
Another berry went in, and Izzy spoke around it. “Oh I know. You like-like me, right? I always found it kind of funny others find it hard to talk about that sort of stuff for others. I never quite got that.”
A moment’s silence passed between them. Disbelief mixed with the affection, turning into hope that made Sunny’s heart swell. “…You know?”
With a nod, Izzy continued. “Yeah! I remember back home sometimes I’d see ponies spending time together and one of them would get this look when they thought the others weren’t looking. It’s always a cute look, and especially on you.”
Sunny was pretty sure her heart quite literally leapt into her throat, as she made a choking, coughing sound.
To her credit, Izzy muttered out an, “Oops!” and sheepishly brought a hoof to cover her face.
“So I was that obvious?” Sunny said, her voice a little creaky as she recovered.
“Eeyup! Pretty much since we met, I knew you like-liked me like that.”
Despite her smile, Sunny’s forehead ached as her brows pulled together in a tight enough knot it could hold a ship in place. “I only figured it out this morning.”
“I guess I just got a good sense for these things,” Izzy said. “That said…”
It felt like the ground fell out from Sunny as those words trailed off. “‘That said,’ what?” Sunny asked, the words tumbling out of her mouth like she was flailing for a ledge.
This time Izzy sighed, and she moved up beside Sunny. She made her presence very well known by pressing herself against the earth pony, sending jolts through her nerves from flank to neck.
“It’s not that I’m not flattered. Heck, I like you too! But…” Izzy trailed off again, and a little dart of her eyes gestured up the mountain’s face. “We are kind of on the run and about to meet a bunch of ponies we don’t actually know that much about and it might be a little early for either of us to really be considering those kinds of feelings.”
Sunny hit the bottom of whatever mental hole she was falling into. Her ears pinned back against her head, and she nodded. “Right. Yeah. That makes sense.” Her eyes looked up to the clouds obscuring the peak. No starlight or lamplight pierced the fluffy curtains, but the moon kept them well lit from below as it travelled low across the horizon.
And another light, albeit one less literal, shone at Sunny’s side as Izzy kissed her on the cheek.
Sunny snapped her head around at the beaming brilliance that was Izzy Moonbow.
“That’s not to say I’m not willing to try when this is done. I reckon it’ll all work out in the end.” Izzy leaned over, plopping her head into the crook of Sunny’s neck.
Sunny realised she hadn’t hit the bottom. She’d found her ledge.
“Gonna drag me on another adventure?” Sunny said, her voice now bright as her namesake.
Izzy giggled. “Yeah. Something like that.”