//------------------------------// // Short 1 - The Morning After // Story: My Little Pony: Small Town Life // by Mythic Night //------------------------------// Silver Streak grumbled quietly as he stirred, slowly waking up from the need to pee. He opened his eyes, seeing that it was already morning, and he noticed himself in an unfamiliar room. He was confused for a moment before a sleepy mumbling behind him reminded him where he was. He looked down at the yellow foreleg wrapped around his middle, and smiled softly as he remembered the day before. Unfortunately, he couldn’t linger too long on those memories as his bladder demanded to be emptied. He gently moved Sunny’s foreleg up, giving her hoof a soft kiss before some careful scooting and a bit of magic got him out of her grasp without the mare waking up. He smiled at her for a moment before he left to find the bathroom. After he finished up in there, he paused halfway to her bedroom as a thought occurred to him. He knew he could just go back to bed and snuggle with Sunny until she woke up, but he thought it would be nice to make her some breakfast instead. He headed down the stairs and into the kitchen, looking through the ingredients on hoof before he came up with some ideas for breakfast. = = = = = = = = = = Sunshine slowly woke up, whining quietly as she reached out and found herself alone in the bed. She opened her eyes and looked around, realizing Silver was nowhere to be found, though her disappointment was quickly dashed as she smelled pancakes cooking downstairs. She hopped out of bed and stretched out before she went down the stairs and into the kitchen. She spotted Silver at the stove, a stack of freshly-cooked pancakes on the counter nearby, and next to him was a carton of eggs. “Good morning, Sunny,” he greeted her. “How do you like your eggs?” She smirked and replied, “Unfertilized,” then grinned mischievously and added, “for now, anyway.” She burst out laughing as he stood there dumbfounded, his face completely red. She trotted up to him and stifled her laughter long enough to tell him, “Now as for chicken eggs, scrambled will do just fine, thank you.” She kissed him on the cheek and went to set the table while his brain worked through his embarrassment. “S-scrambled, right… I-I can do scrambled,” he mumbled as he regained his senses. He quickly got to work, cracking open half a dozen eggs and putting them into a bowl, and then he added some salt and pepper for seasoning. Soon after that, he poured the eggs into the frying pan to start cooking. He also levitated a couple slices of bread to the toaster to go with the eggs. Sunny finished setting the table, and came back in to check on Silver’s progress. “Doing okay in here?” “I’m fine,” he replied. “Nearly done with the eggs, if you’d like to bring the pancakes to the table.” While she did that, he worked on getting another couple pieces of toast made. Soon enough the eggs were done, and he got them on a platter just as the toaster finished with the second batch. He put the toast on the platter as well, and levitated it with him to the dining room. Sunny smiled as she saw the platter placed on the table, and she waited patiently as Silver worked to distribute the pancakes, eggs, and toast between them. “This all looks wonderful. Thank you Silver.” “You’re very welcome,” he told her with a smile, before the two started eating. Silver started on his eggs and toast, while Sunny dug eagerly into her pancakes. After a short while, he asked her, “So, what are you going to do today?” “Well, today I’ve got to make more chocolates to fill my stock, but since the shop was closed yesterday, I won’t have to make nearly as much as I would normally,” she told him. “After that, I’ll probably continue reading through one of the books you bought me yesterday. What about you?” “I suppose I should finish up the sculpture I was working on, and after that I’ll continue with my studies,” he replied. “Sounds nice,” she said as she worked on breakfast. Silver simply nodded, though he stopped eating as he thought about her, and their relationship. “Hey, Sunny? What happens now?” “Huh?” was her confused response. Silver looked sheepish as he asked, “Well, I mean, what do we do now? Are we supposed to plan our next date now, or do we wait a few days?” At her bemused expression, he hastily added, “I-I’m not used to this whole dating thing…” Sunny giggled and shook her head. “Oh Silver, you are just too cute. Contrary to what you might believe, dating has no set rules; we do what we want, when we want, and our relationship will only move as quickly as we want it to. “ “So, um…?” He gave her a questioning look. She snorted and told him, “If you want to plan our next date now, then we can do that, but honestly I think we could wait a few days to figure that out.” She smiled and continued, “I’d like for you to keep visiting me here at the shop, but other than that I don’t see the need for us to have weekly dates.” “Oh, alright then,” he responded with a nod. “And… Thank you.” “For sparing your bit bag?” she asked with a smirk. “For giving me a chance,” he told her. “Honestly, I don’t know what I did to deserve somepony as wonderful as you.” She giggled, and told him, “I think you’re selling yourself short. You’re a sweet stallion, Silver, and I think I’m lucky that nopony else snagged you before now.” He smiled at that. “I guess we can both consider ourselves lucky, huh?” “I’d like to think so,” she replied. = = = = = = = = = = Soon after Silver left to start his day, Sunny checked her mailbox for anything she might have received the day before, and there she found an envelope left by Frosty. She brought her mail in, and opened up the envelope to find a few pictures inside; one of their group photo with the golden idol, the second of her and Silver on their first date, and finally the third photo showed her and Silver together on their date the day before. Ignoring the rest of the mail for the time being, Sunny headed up the stairs with the precious photos, and went straight into her room. She reached under the bed to pull out a sizable wooden box; her hope chest. The box contained several precious mementos, including a small photo album with select photos, the first bit she ever made at the shop, and her culinary degree. She added the first two pictures to the photo album, but decided the most recent photo should be framed. She turned to look in the nightstand drawer for an extra frame, and caught sight of Silver’s forgotten clothes from the night before. She smiled and walked over to them, gathering them up, and with a mischievous smirk added the blue tie to her hope chest. If he wants it back, I’ll give it to him, she thought to herself. But until then I’m going to keep it as a souvenir. With that done, she quickly found a frame, and soon the lovely photo was displayed on her nightstand. She smiled at the photo as she reflected on her relationship with Silver thus far. They hadn’t been together for very long, no, but he seemed right for her, and she liked to think that she was right for him. Already she could see him growing more confident, more open with her, and in turn her stress, her worries about running the shop were melting away. Sunny left her room and headed down the stairs toward her kitchen to begin her tasks for the day. She didn’t know what the future held, what she and Silver might deal with in the weeks and months ahead, but she knew that if they stuck together, they could deal with anything the world might throw at them.