//------------------------------//
// 4 - My Love, My Love 
// Story: Twilight Shimmer 
// by BlackWater 
//------------------------------//








The island was every bit the mystical jungle that Twilight had heard that it was. In fact, the immense darkness created by the thick canopy of trees made the old stone path seem almost magical. The same exotic flowers that had been in the garden before were in abundance along the sides of the path, though in a more wild pattern. Every so often a stone pillar would be beside the path as well to provide lighting in the darkness that prevailed even during the peak of the day.
There was a closeness to the air. Oxygen Rush led them into a clearing further down the quiet path. If not for Twilight's single-minded focus on Sunset, she might have noticed Oxygen's shapely figure. Indeed, their guide was in incredibly good shape. Her uniform showed off her slightly muscular midriff, which Sunset hadn't really noticed either.
The married girls were mostly preoccupied with thoughts of each other, though they hung their mouths open in surprise when Oxygen moved aside and presented them the villa in the clearing.
Surrounded by green lawns populated by rich ponds and wild garden arrangements was a two story modern mansion. It was constructed with a large percentage of glass walls, showing sharply decorated interiors. 
“I see you like it,” Oxygen kept her smile. “Your in-laws were very kind to let you have it for a while. But then that is simply the kind of people they are. Very kind and generous.”
Sunset gulped. No splendor she had ever been given as Celestia's student had ever matched this magnitude. 
Twilight was just as amazed as they stood some one hundred feet from the door. “I'm going to kill him and Cadance for never taking me along,” she joked and then beamed at her wife beside her.
Sunset wiped away some of the perspiration that had been gathering on her forehead. She knew the villa would have air conditioning. For that she was grateful. “Don't blame them too much. I can only think of one thing they'd get up to in a place like this.”
“Study of the local flora?” Twilight looked excitedly around them. She once again ghosted the motion of pushing up her glasses, which would still be in their luggage inside the villa. Though she saw just fine with contacts, she would be quick to ditch them for her old glasses if Sunset knew anything about her.
“Oh they'd be studying alright,” Sunset deadpanned. “But more the fauna than the flora.”
“There's animal wildlife here?” Twilight smiled even more, jumping first to Sunset and then looking hopefully to Oxygen. She figured there might be wildlife, but the island was small enough to doubt it.
The redheaded spouse wanted to smack her forehead. Sometimes Twilight was extremely sharp. Other times she was brilliantly dense. Not that Sunset wanted to spend a second more thinking of her new in-laws and their bedroom practices.
“I can give you the inside tour or leave you to explore if you so wish,” Oxygen offered into the conversation.
Twilight turned back to their guide. “Oh sorry,” she apologized for some reason. “No, I think we'll be fine looking around. My brother's already told me quite a bit about it anyways.”
The beautiful staffer with the exotic accent nodded courteously to them and bid them farewell. As she was leaving down the trail she told them the yacht would be left for them. She had another outgoing staff ship to take from the tiny island dock.
Once the girl was out of sight, Twilight grabbed Sunset around the midsection and hugged her. She had to look up just an inch or two to meet their eyes. “Maybe we have a little talk.”
Sunset appreciated the feel of their bodies together – still clad in their swimsuits and towels. “Sure. After we shower, though. This place is humid enough to make us both sweaty in seconds.”
Twilight stepped back and stuck her tongue out playfully. It was true. They had indeed gotten sweaty since their last rinse off. “Fine. While we get back into our wedding dresses then.”









They had both agreed they wanted to have their special moment just as they would have had it on their wedding night. It took time and help from each other to get dressed, but they were equally intent on it. Whoever had delivered their luggage here had been exceptional in making sure all of their clothes were neatly ironed and put away. Even the intricate dresses looked better kept than they had been when the girls packed them.
“Wow,” Twilight exhaled in awe as she looked out of the bedroom's glass wall. Sunset was tying up the back of her dress for her now that she was out of the shower and sufficiently dried.
The bedroom was as incredible as the boxy-villa had looked from outside. Most surfaces were a spotless white – ditto for the rich carpet. One full side of the room was a glass wall facing the backyard. No curtains obstructed it, though there was a switch next to the one for the lights that would bring down hidden blinds from the ceiling.
Afternoon light bathed the backyard and poured into the room with only a tiny amount of the shade that the yard's tropical trees provided. One had to move out of the villa's yards to get the full shade of the jungle canopy. The backyard was more heavily consumed by plantlife than the front yard, however. A clean stone patio was equipped with relaxing chairs and a firepit for late night relaxation.
Most interesting to Twilight was the cobblestone path that lead from the patio to the jungle behind the villa. Shining had told her it lead to a breath-taking cove along with an underground half-submerged labyrinth. Sunset would be dragged along for exploration no doubt.
“Hah,” the redhead clapped her hands in finality. “Done.”
Twilight twirled around, careful not to trip on the dress train. She could see her and Sunset's reflection in the spotless glass of the sliding door leading to the patio. “It's still hard to grasp.”
“Being married?” Sunset calmly asked in that tone that always put Twilight at ease.
“Yeah,” the book-lover blushed as she too beheld her wife in her dress. She was as beautiful as ever in pure white and golden trim. “It's as if we finally got it.”
“Got what?”
Twilight fidgeted and looked down to her white heels. “Our happily ever after.”
Sunset half blurted and held back a laugh.
“What?” Twilight stuck her lip out and looked her wife in the eye.
The other woman stepped up to her, shaking her head. “You say the corniest things.”
“Look who's-”
Before Twilight's words could be fully voiced, Sunset put her hand to the side of her face and came in for a passionate kiss. Twilight might not have seen it coming but she had no objection either, so she returned it. When they broke, Sunset's hand had traveled to Twilight's waist.
“We spent our talk on everything besides that of consequence,” Twilight managed to state with a serious tone in spite of her flushed state.
Though she would be hesitant to admit it even to her spouse, Sunset's heart tightened at that. She feared she knew her wife's meaning. “Does it have to be now?”
Twilight's seriousness didn't leave her. “Especially now,” she confirmed. However, she still led her wife to the edge of the enormous bed, which they both sat upon. “I don't want to do this with anything between us. I want us to be truly connected, Sunny.”
Apparently oblivious to her own unintentional innuendo, Sunset ignored it too and awaited the question. Twilight held her hands with her own.
“You've been insecure about our relationship. Even after the ceremony, I mean,” the bookworm fought to keep her hands from moving away to fidget. She didn't exactly feel confident about this conversation either. “I suspect you could be worried about the possibility we could drift apart. I'm asking why but I'm also asking for you to speak your mind and tell me what's really going on if I'm wrong.”
Sunset shook her head. Her gaze had fallen to the floor, much as her certainty had. “You weren't there all those years back. When I was first defeated...”
“The crown and rainbow,” Twilight recalled one of the many stories her spouse had told her about her past before they met.
“They brought me in as a friend. Even you did later on when we met at the games,” Sunset's lips were practically in a frown. “But I had nightmares ever since the she-demon incident. I used to only ever dream of power but after what happened,” Sunset seemed to choke on her words.
Twilight rubbed her wife's hands in encouragement.
The young woman didn't cry. Rather, her wobbly voice betrayed her lack of confidence and self-worth. “I had nightmares of being abandoned. I always worried what would happen if the girls didn't want to associate with me anymore. I leaped at having an opportunity with you because I felt like we connected and, more than anything, I wanted to always have somebody with me. The thought of being alone terrifies me. I know the girls think of me like tough old RD, but I'm not like that...”
Sunset's grip with Twilight tightened as she lifted her eyes back up again.
“I never want to be separated from you, Twilight. You're my world. I guess I've also worried that I'd scare you away if you thought I was too clingy or emotional. You've always been the more logical one between the two of us, after all.”
Sensing the break was to let her respond, Twilight finally spoke up. “Maybe a less scientific mind would be put off,” she smiled in encouragement, “but I've studied enough psychology to know how and why the human mind works in relation to emotion – well, I suppose it would be a pony mind in your case.”
Twilight's giggle helped cheer up Sunset's darker mood.
“Your feelings may be more intense than usual due to the preceding events. However,” Twilight tutted and did mistakenly move her hand up to her glasses-free face on habit, “the fundamentals remain unchanged. You have a natural inclination for security. Combining extreme past egotism with a personality shift to self-doubt from magical transformation would inevitably lead to cyclical relational dysfunction.”
Sunset looked at her wife in hope.
“You're worried about being accepted for who you are,” Twilight put it simply. It was not that Sunset couldn't understand her words. It was simply that she wanted to hear these next ones. “I will always be proud to accept you, Sunny. As your best friend and as your wife. For as long as we live. No matter what.”
The tightening of Sunset's heart now loosened. To some it might seem like this conversation was non-consequential. However, nothing could be farther from the truth for her. She had waited even until after marriage to betray the depth of her attachment. Sunset knew that marriage could lose its spark and that couples could drift from each other. She feared that very much and Twilight had quickly put it to ease. Or at least as much as it could be for now.
“Forever,” Twilight assured and kissed her wife on the lips. “Nothing in this world could tear us apart. I want you to be comfortable away from me but I will help you get to that point rather than push you off of a cliff. And I certainly won't ever want to be away from you for long.”
“A cliff? That a technical metaphor?” Sunset finally lightened up with a joke.
The blue-haired girl giggled. “Maybe. I just want you to know that you don't need to worry about abandonment. Even if the whole world turns away, I will be right there with you.”
Sunset hugged her wife and held her for a good while. Their dresses put much padding between them, but the contact still gave them both the warmth they always enjoyed from each other. Their hands that were still holding were those adorned with their wedding rings.
Twilight let her spouse hold and snuggle against her until they fell backwards against the plush sheets. It was half an hour before Sunset moved, but Twilight had no complaints when she did. The same parts Sunset had tied on the back of Twilight's dress were now again being pulled from their knots. The bookworm closed her eyes in contentment.
Sunset rekindled her fiery disposition, now confident because of her wife. She was looking for adventure. “Let me show you my appreciation,” she whispered huskily into Twilight's ear.
“And show you mine,” Twilight breathed in return as her hands felt their way to the back of Sunset's dress as well.









Twilight sighed, not sure whether she was happy, tired, sad, or lonely. First of all, her stay with Sunset at Hello Tropics had been like something out of a perfect dream. They laughed, played, and generally had the time of their lives. That was partly why she was exhausted now at the end of their stay. The two of them had spent the earlier part of the day on a fantastic scuba diving tour of the local reefs. They might have also spent a little private time doing this or that after they got back to their private island.
“Hummm,” Twilight frowned and turned onto her other side on the bed. She was above the warm covers and squinted from the light coming through the open window-wall.
Loneliness set in easily since Sunset had gone to the admissions building on the mainland to talk about their exit arrangements. Apparently, she had gotten frustrated at something over the phone and wanted to see somebody in person.
As for why Twilight was sad, there was a magic to this place she would miss. The private island, the high-tech yacht, the water slides, beautiful exotic gardens, awe-inspiring cliffs to view the bay from, and then there were all the memories she had made here with her new wife.
Twilight lifted her hand up and saw the ring on it sparkle in the sunlight. Technically, their first wedding night at that hotel had been without event. But the nights they spent here...no repetition, familiarly, or number of passionate evenings could succeed in reducing Twilight's blush. She got it even now.
The sound of tropical birds cawing just outside was audible only because Twilight got up from the bed and slid the glass door open. She breathed in the warm afternoon air of the island. Rather muggy with a hint of salt from the ocean. Also, wet plant. Lots of it.
Twilight stepped out barefoot on the surprisingly cool stone tiles of the back patio. She clutched her robe at first since it was the only thing covering her, but then she remembered she was alone on the island for now. Service staff never came except when called or in the very early morning and away hours. She kept the robe, but relaxed.
She was uncertain why she began to feel so contemplative. Perhaps this was what some people meant when they spoke of turning points in life. Twilight touched her thick-rimmed glasses on her face. Even they felt different. Or perhaps it was only her imagination. What would happen with her and Sunset after they left?
Twilight's thoughts continued to swim as she walked alone down the backyard path. Eventually she reached the hidden cove that the two of them had spent quite a bit of time in. Water trickled down rocks around the cove area from streams littered throughout the island. The whole place was densely shaded and almost dark even during this bright part of the afternoon.
The blue-haired girl sat down on one of the drier rocks overhanging the pool of water and listened to the peaceful flow of streams, rustle of leaves, and tropical wildlife. A few tiny colorful fish made their leisurely way past Twilight's spot from below in the pool. The young woman sat there, just comfortable enough due to the robe, and thought about her future.
It was indeed a surprise, then, when a certain somebody crept up on her and grabbed her from behind.
“Gah!” Twilight half shrieked.
“Easy, baby,” Sunset cooed seductively into her ear. She was not shy in her embrace of Twilight or their awkward position on the rock. “I was just wondering where you were.”
“How'd you get back so soon?” Twilight corrected her crooked glasses.
The redhead rose a brow. “It's sunset, Twily. How long have you been here?”
That made the bookworm blush. She sighed, but not out of frustration. “Got caught up in my thoughts, I guess.”
“Nervous about us cooking for ourselves tomorrow? Going to burn the house down?” Sunset joked and then playfully tickled her wife.
Twilight couldn't hold in her laughing and thrashed around to get away. The jostling only undermined their precarious position on the rock, however. One last tickle from Sunset sent the pair accidentally tumbling over into the water. It was Twilight's turn to laugh then, since Sunset was the only one fully dressed.
Twilight gracefully swam to the edge of the water, having miraculously managed to keep her glasses on her face. The robe, however, had been an unfortunate casualty. “Better not play with fire like that,” she giggled at her soaked spouse, who was walking out of the pool with wet boots.