Bacon and Egghead

by shortskirtsandexplosions

XI

In the center of town, there was a tiny splotch of green—a park. Tonight, that splotch was baptized in a gold aura—courtesy of dozens upon dozens of antique light bulbs hanging from the spreading branches of multiple oak trees. This—combined with the festive colors that flickered across the multiple storefronts along the town square's periphery—made for a little square of holiday heaven, through which two nerdy teenagers merrily walked.

"No, I'm afraid... as of yet... there's been no attempts made by the Equestrian Science Committee to create a Space Exploration Division," Sunset Shimmer declared.

"Awwwwwww..." Twilight clung to her jacket with one hand while she kept the other arm hooked with Sunset's. Disappointed vapors leapt from her cute pouting lips. "Why not?"

"Pffft... where in Goddess' name do I begin?" Sunset Shimmer shrugged as the two strolled under rows and rows of gently flickering bulbs. The scent of frost and tree sap tickled their noses. "It's more than the fact that we're technologically inferior to human society. Equestria... Equus as a whole simply hasn't globalized like people on earth has."

"Uh huh. So what?"

"Twilight—hahaha..." Sunset scuffled to a stop and turned to smile at the shorter girl. "I appreciate your optimism. But you simply can't send an earth ambassador to Equestria and just... flip the technology switch. You and I are familiar enough with social theory to take a hard guess where that would lead pony civilization."

Twilight sighed vaporously. "Yeah. I guess you're right. But still..." She winked mischievously. "What if a tiny serendipitous cabal of like-minded scientific geniuses happened to... mmmmmm... I dunno..."

Sunset Shimmer droned. "What? Friggin' smuggle rocket fuel through the mirror and attempt to fire a space probe beyond the orbit of Equus all on their lonesome?"

"Heehee—who knows! It could work!"

"Twilight, come onnnnnn..." Sunset playfully shoved Twilight's shoulder. "Powermongering is just as dangerous with technology as it is with magic." A gulp. "You and I—of all people—should know that."

"You're correct." Twilight shuddered slightly, looking down. "Of course you are."

"Hey..." Sunset tilted Twilight's chin back up. "I know you're only being facetious. Fact is, we've both learned our lessons. There's nothing to fret about anymore, okay?"

"Yeah..." Twilight nodded, smiling sweetly. "New leaves, turning over..."

"Absolutely." Sunset Shimmer leaned back, shivering noticeably in the gold light. "Couldn't have said it better myself."

Twilight blinked. She looked at the thick jacket and skirts she was wearing... then at Sunset's relatively flimsy jeans and hoodie. "Oh gosh. Oh gosh, you must be freezing."

"H-hey..." Sunset shrugged, her teeth nevertheless chattering. "I'm just fine—"

"No you're not! Your hands are shaking."

"I can handle a little bit of cold, Twilight—"

"Not when it's on my account! Here..." Twilight used her teeth to bite off her mittens and then shoved them into her coat's pocket.

Sunset arched an eyebrow. "What are you doing—?"

"I don't want my friends suffering because of me." Twilight reached with her hands out and rubbed Sunset's shaking palms vigorously. "Never again!"

"Awwwwwww... Twilight..." Sunset sighed, but didn't fight it. Sure enough, after merely half-a-minute, she felt a warmth returning to her upper body.

"You're a living piece of something very special," Twilight said. "A world with other worlds... all with the potential for life and harmony and... ... ..." The bookworm stopped suddenly, soaking up the reality of the finger contact she was making with her absolute bestest of best friends. "... ... ...magic."

Sunset watched.

Slowly, Twilight looked up from where their hands clasped one another, as if she was lifting off from the starting point all over again. Her lips moved in the gold frosty air, but she was suddenly at a loss to pronounce anything.

So, Sunset pronounced it for them... through vapors and a smile. "You really like hands, huh?"

"I... I like yours," Twilight rasped, almost choking. Her fingers squeezed the other woman's palms for emphasis. "You know what."

"I think it's very cute," Sunset said.

"Mmmm... if by 'cute' you mean 'silly,'" Twilight eventually muttered.

Sunset squirmed slightly. She looked at one empty street... then another. "I like feet," she blurted.

Twilight blinked at her.

"I mean..." A nervous chuckle, and Sunset's eyes traced the dangling light bulbs above. "...I don't like like feet. I... I know that must sound gross."

"Heheheh... if you say so."

"I've been around your Internet a few times and—lemme tell you, from what I've seen? Ewwwww..."

"Heeheehee..."

"I just... think feet are interesting. Maybe it's because I'm from a land full of ponies." Sunset shrugged. "I dunno."

"Why not hands?"

"Huh?"

Twilight looked at her straight. "Ponies don't have hands either. Why do you just find feet cute?"

"Because... they j-just are!" Sunset squeezed Twilight's hands back. "They're so... goofy-looking and squishy..."

"Heeheehee!"

"And they're so sensitive too. I mean, ponies' hooves can be sensitive on occasion, but not like human feet. And you've got to stand on them! I mean... my Goddess! My first week spent walking on this side of the mirror was absolute torture!"

"Yeesh... you poor thing," Twilight cooed. "I can't even... imagine..." Her eyes trailed off, as did her smile.

Sunset cocked her head to the side. "What's the matter?"

"Mmmmm... nothing..."

"You look like you want to ask me something."

"Yes... but... I-I'm afraid to."

"Hey..." Sunset covered Twilight's hands entirely with hers, warming her this time. "I'm here... and I'm not going anywhere. Ask away."

Twilight gnawed on her lip for a while. Then: "What... brought you over here to begin with?"

"What, you mean through the mirror?" Sunset sighed out the side of her mouth. "Well, you know Twilight. I used to be super evil. So one day I stole the Princess' crown and brought it over here so I could harness it's magic for stupid reasons—"

"No, I mean... before that." Twilight looked up, her glossy eyes shimmering in the gold bulbs. "From what I understood, it took several... several months for the portal to reopen—at least before the other Twilight fixed things on her end."

"Right..."

"So... you must have first arrived long before you ever went back to steal the crown." Twilight leaned her head to the side. "What made you come in the first place?"

Sunset's throat tightened.

"Why'd you give up on Equestria, Princess Celestia, and being an apprentice of magic to begin with?"

Silence. Somewhere in the distance, a brief chorus of Christmas muzak could be heard from the radio of a passing vehicle. Then all was still again.

"Oh no..." Twilight shrank back, wincing. "I... f-forget I ever asked that!" Her hands wriggled, squirming guiltily to escape Sunset's grasp. "I should know b-better than to pry about your—"

"No..." Sunset held Twilight's fingers in place. "It's okay. You deserve to know. Someone deserves to know."

"You mean..." Twilight blinked. "None of the other's...?"

Sunset shook her head slowly. "You're not just any 'someone' Twilight."

Twilight stared at her.

Sunset looked behind them. She found a bench and gently escorted the two of them over to sit down. Once they were seated, she continued holding Twilight's hands—gentler this time.

"I... was very mad at Princess Celestia," Sunset declared. "And in my madness and desperation, I sought to find the most powerful magics conceivable. I thought I might find them beyond the portal, so I leapt on through. I was too thick-headed to heed the warning about the closure between portal openings... and so... I was initially stuck here."

"Is that... uhm... when you 'became evil?'" Twilight asked.

Sunset laughed. "Oh Twilight, there's no lightswitch for that either." She gulped. "Who I was... what I became... was a result of several mistakes made over time." She breathed heavily, producing gold vapors between them. "If you must know, I wasn't always mad at Celestia. In fact, I loved her dearly... I loved her like a mother because... well..." Her eyes darted over. "...in many ways, she pretty much was."

Twilight gasped. "Princess Celestia is actually your—?!"

"I mean she adopted me," Sunset declared. "Took me under her wing—literally and figuratively."

"Then... did you ever know your real parents?"

Sunset's eyes darted aside. "... ... ...they passed away when I was age four."

"!!!" Twilight slapped a hand over her mouth. "Oh Sunset..."

"Hey now, let's not go there, okay?" Sunset Shimmer chuckled. "I mean it. I've already had a lifetime full of sobfests over the matter. Sure, I miss my parents—what little I remember about them—but all things considered I was pretty lucky. I was taken in as Celestia's student and given a life of luxury and boundless intellectual enlightenment. I could perform feats of magic at a young age that even the Princess of Friendship herself couldn't even pretend to emulate. For a long time there, I was headed towards greatness."

"What..." Twilight lowered her hand until it was once again resting in Sunset's grasp along with the other. "...what happened?"

"Well, the reason—I've always believed—that Celestia adopted me is that she felt somewhat responsible for my parents' fate."

"Really?! How so...?"

"The Summer Sun Celebration was scheduled to be in my town the year that they both died. The local pegasi were setting things up—kicking the clouds and affecting the weather ahead of schedule. Problem is—none of them were officially-licensed weather fliers. They were just a bunch of noponies with wings being pressured by the local city council in order to cut costs on hiring experts from Cloudsdale and... well..." A sideways sigh. "One thing led to another, and they spawned a tornado that blew over half of my town... including my home." Sunset swallowed. "My folks weren't the only ones to bite the bullet that day. It was a huge deal... made the papers everywhere."

"That's so terrible, Sunset..."

"Yeah, well, I didn't think twice about it until I became a young adult. Around that time, I got... really obsessive and brooding about it." Sunset freed a hand to rub the back of her neck. "I started asking really far-out question that no sane apprentice should even bother contemplating... like why aren't unicorns controlling the weather? Or alicorns for that matter? Surely a steady horn would be far better than a pair of unpredictable wings! Maybe pegasi shouldn't control the weather at all! Why can't we just have a spell for that? Why can't we have a spell for everything?" She rolled her eyes and slumped in her bench's seat. "Eventuallllllly... I started writing up this really big, long, manic manifesto about how unicorn magic should necessarily be used to control every iota of nature... enforcing order on every square inch of Equestrian civilization. It made sense to me at the time... even if I didn't bother to stop and think about the social and ecological ramifications of a system that was so Or... Orvil... Owen..."

"'Orwellian,'" Twilight Sparkle supplied. "Er..." She winced apologetically. "I-I do believe that's the word you were looking for."

"Oh, you're not wrong. And Celestia saw it too—which is why she talked me down several notches the moment she began grading my paper. She said that I was dabbling with 'very dangerous ideas.'" A deep breath. "I blew up at her. Told her that she was threatening the future of Equestrian foals living everywhere."

"Ouch," Twilight winced.

"And th-then I told her that she was the real reason for why my parents died to a tornado all those years ago."

"Double ouch," Twilight winced harder.

"Aaaaaaaaaaand shortly after that, I galloped off like a whiny little brat... and threw myself through the mirror." Sunset shrugged, sporting a bittersweet smile. "Tadaaaaa. Prologue Complete."

"Whew..." Twilight brushed a strand of hair over her ear. "And... ever since...?"

"I've been learning—day by day—a grueling life's lesson in humility and restraint," Sunset said. "With more or less bumps along the road."

"Yes, well, I think you're cruising over those bumps."

"Oh Twilight..."

"You totally are!" Twilight leaned forward with an emphatic look in her eyes. "A sniveling power-hungry brat couldn't have saved me from the magic that Principal Cinch wanted me to unleash! Well?" She smiled proudly. "How could a corrupt pony have shown me such goodness? Or the power of friendship?" She squeezed Sunset's fingers. "And so much more...?"

Sunset breathed in and out. "I only wished I had learned my lessons sooner..."

"If you ask me, you learned them just in the nick of time." Twilight sniffled slightly. "And I couldn't be happier."

"Heh... well, that's better than any crown, I suppose."

"You suppose?!" Twilight cackled.

Both girls laughed.

"Heeheehee..." Twilight breathed through a smile, gazing warmly at the other woman. "...do you think you'll ever go back?"

"Well..."

"I mean go back back." Twilight blinked. "To see Celestia."

"I..." Sunset glanced aside. "I dunno..."

"I'm sure she'd love to see you."

"Pffft... after that tantrum I threw? Blaming her for my parents' death after all she's done to raise me proper?"

"She did raise you proper. Sunset, look at me..." Twilight tilted Sunset's chin.

Sunset reluctantly looked at her, eyes thin and glossy.

Twilight smiled. "You're a good pony, do you hear me?"

"Please, Twilight—"

"Yes! And you're welcome." Twilight leaned forward. "Have you ever stopped to think that Celestia allowed you to leap through the portal because she knew there was a lesson for you to learn? Well, you learned it... and because of it, I found you... I found this... marvelous magical unicorn... and... a-and I'm thankful for what Celestia did. Maybe you should be too... and also understand that she would love to see you come back... when you're ready."

Sunset bit her lip. "Twilight..." It was her turn to lean forward. "Twilight, I—"

"OH WOW!" Twilight suddenly sat up straight, startling the other girl. "Ha HA! I just remembered!"

"Remembered?!" Sunset leaned back, wincing. "Remembered what—"

"FLUFFY BUTTS!"

Sunset's eyes crossed. "Fluffy Butts?!?"

"Oh gosh oh gosh!" Twilight reached a mile deep into the fwoof of her jacket and skirts, finally producing her cell phone. With tingling fingers, she proceeded to swipe through her photo gallery at a million blinks per second. "I knew I took a photograph of her! I just had to."

"A photo of who—?"

"Ah-Ha!" Twilight held the phone out victoriously. "Take a look!"

"Uhhhhh..." Sunset blinked repeatedly, squinting at an indiscernible snapshot of fluff and stitches and pink felt. "...what am I taking a look at?"

"Fluffy Butts!"

"Oh. Okay." Sunset cocked her head aside. "Are they hiding beneath the stuffing?"

"No, silly! Fluffy Butts is the stuffing! Look..." Twilight scoot-scoot-scooted over in the bench, practically draping herself against Sunset so that the taller girl could get a better look at the digital photo. "...sooooooooo maybe she looked a bit more recognizable thirteen years ago... mmmmm... before I hugged and cuddled her on an almost nightly basis for all my childhood."

"So... wait..." Sunset's eyes darted back and forth. "Fluffy Butts was a stuffed animal?"

"She was THE stuffed animal!" Twilight exclaimed. "Even Shining says that I used to bawl my eyes out if he ever tried to take her from me. We were inseparable as young kids... er... when I was a young kid. But Fluffy Butts? She was always a full-aged space horse."

"Wait... do you mean—?"

Twilight pointed at a noticeably pointy stretch of fabric. "See that right there?"

"Is that... a horn?"

"Fluffy Butts was a unicorn!" Twilight grinned wide. "For years and years, I had a unicorn best-friend snuggle buddy to keep me company at night! Isn't that just soooooooooo ironic?! Heeheehee! After these last few years, I almost completely forgot about her! Then—a few nights ago, while preparing for this date—I got a bit nostalgic and so I began digging through a few old things. That's when I found her! Er... what's left of her. She still smells soooooo niiiiiice... just like I remembered! Well... maybe a bit more dusty... but still!"

"Hmmm..." Sunset smiled. "Fluffy Butts. I wonder what her cutie mark is."

"Hahaha! Beats me! But she kept me nice and snuggly and warm for a long time. I used to even draw sketches of us having astronaut adventures together in Crayon!"

"Soooo... she was an imaginary friend?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that. I'm so sorry; I almost forgot to share that with you. Our time tonight just... got so unbelievably mesmerizing..." Twilight turned to smile at Sunset, eyes dancing with gold. "So much in my life has turned out for the better. Happiness... actual friends..." A soft, fragrant exhale—warm and innocent against Sunset's nose. "...not so 'imaginary' anymore, huh?"

Sunset stared at her. She lived. "Twilight..." A hard swallow. "...good Goddess, I think I'm falling in l—"

Honkkk Honkkk!

Both girls flinched. They looked over their shoulders, beyond the bench.

A beat-up red SUV screeched around the street corner, coming to a hard stop by the curve.

In the distance, two figures scampered over, accompanied by Applejack's voice. "Howdy! Big Mac, is that you?"

"Eeeeeyup!"

"Whew! Thank goodness! Rainbow and I were... uh..."

"We were racing!"

"Yeah! Rainbow won, of course!"

"Uh huh! What she said!"

Another pair shuffled over from an adjacent sidewalk.

"Oh, for goodness sake, darlings!" Rarity's voice echoed over the rumbling of the SUV's motor. "Give it up with the pretense already!"

"And just what were y'all doin' with yer hands together, huh? Arm wrasslin' on the go?"

"Okaaaaaaaaaay!"" Fluttershy sing-songed as her distant figure clasped her hands together. "Time to go home!"

"Sunsetttt! Twilightttt!" Rarity's voice warbled. "Where are you two preciouses?"

"Well..." Sunset stood up.

"Uh huh..." Twilight stood likewise.

"I guess... uh..." Sunset stared down at her "...this is where we call it a night."

"Yeah. I... guess so..." Twilight looked up at her, squirming in place, pigeon-toe'd.

Sunset kept staring. Her lips pursed.

Twilight's did too—but she was the first to lean back. "Uhm..."

Sunset winced. "Sorry, I—"

"Don't be." Twilight smiled. "Just... something I was always taught as a kid..."

Sunset shuddered to say it, but she did anyways: "'Never kiss on a first date.'"

Twilight gulped and nodded. "Worked for my parents, at least!" A sheepish smile. "Twice, even!"

"Heheh...." Sunset rubbed the back of her head.

"Still..." Twilight clasped her hands together, her lower body twisting from side to side in a subdued dance. "...doesn't mean I-I don't want to."

"Right..." Sunset looked off into the distance. Christmas lights danced off her eyes in an inspiring kaleidoscope. Soon, she was smiling goofily. "...but maybe there's something better."

Twilight mouthed those last two words in blank confusion.

"Twilight, I promise..." Sunset held a hand up. "It... it might seem a little weird at first... only in a silly way. But—you have my word—I won't do anything to make you feel uncomfortable."

Twilight merely nodded, her eyes full of warmth and trust.

Sunset held her breath. Then—gently, with the grace of falling snow—she leaned over until she was neck-and-neck with the bookworm. Feather-soft, without saying a word, she rubbed the side of her cheek against Twilight's, repeating the motion no less than three times. She finished with a soundless sweep of her neck against the top of Twilight's head... done in such an expert way as to not even remotely disturb the girl's pristine hair. Before long, they were standing tall once again, facing each other as if nothing had happened.

But something most definitely did. Twilight Sparkle still tingled from it. Lips parted, and she reached up to stroke her fingers across the cheek in question. The girl blinked several times into the frost and gold, exhaling through a smile.

"Did..."

She looked back up at Sunset, eyes narrowing.

"...did you just nuzzle me?"

"Mmmmm..." Sunset's face lingered adorably between a smile and a grimace. "...maaaybe?"

Twilight giggled. And then she giggled once more. When at last she composed herself, she stared straight at Sunset with steely authority, girded with a coy smile. "Do it again."

Sunset Shimmer blinked. Nevertheless, she did as she was told, leaning forward slowly.

This time Twilight leaned forward as well, utilizing the damnable heels that Rarity had gifted her. Soon, both girls were rubbing their cheeks together, then their necks. Their hands squeezed each other's shoulders throughout the entire gesture, until their knuckles felt the tickle of their dangling hair.

Sunset choked on something. Despite the heavenly nature of the moment, she fought hard to keep from whimpering. Twilight's desperate spritz of lavender perfume touched her nose for the first time that evening. So innocent, so there. When she leaned back, she had fought the tears away in time to smile.

"Let's do this again sometime... please," Twilight murmured. "But... until then... c-can we possibly maybe hang out more in school?"

"Absolutely."

"P-perhaps..." Twilight touched two fingers together. "...hold h-hands some more? Even if o-others are watching us?"

Sunset nodded and nodded.

"Okay!" Twilight did a tiny bird hop in place. "Okay okay!" And soon she was scampering across the street—nearly tripping once, maybe twice. She nevertheless turned to wave dramatically as she reached Big Macintosh's car, rejoining Applejack and Rarity. "So long!"

Sunset waved limply back. "G-good night..." Her hand crept down, clutching at the gold-tinged air. "...Twilight."

Big Mac's engine revved, and—in a red blur—the SUV tore off down the road. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash stood in the distance, but they weren't rushing anyone.

Sunset stood in place, breathing vapors into the magic of night. A stupid grin crossed her mouth, followed by an even stupider chuckle.

"Heheheheh..." She dug her hands into her jacket's pockets and sprinted off... practically skipping. "Move over Fluffy Butts! Ha ha... ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

Rainbow and Fluttershy could be seen in the distance, waving and cheering as Sunset came near...

Comments

[arancaytar]

Twilight sighed vaporously. "Yeah. I guess you're right. But still..." She winked mischievously. "What if a tiny serendipitous cabal of like-minded scientific geniuses happened to... mmmmmm... I dunno..."

Sunset Shimmer droned. "What? Friggin' smuggle rocket fuel through the mirror and attempt to fire a space probe beyond the orbit of Equus all on their lonesome?"

"Heehee—who knows! It could work!"

Skirts, you do know you just promised us a sequel, don't you?

space horse ... unicorn

Space unicorn
Soaring through the stars
Delivering the rainbows all around the world

[Boltstrike58]

"Did..."

She looked back up at Sunset, eyes narrowing.

"...did you just nuzzle me?"

"Mmmmm..." Sunset's face lingered adorably between a smile and a grimace. "...maaaybe?"

CUTENESS OVERLOAD. CUTENESS OVERLOAD. CANNOT CONTAIN CUTENESS.

[OmniFox]

Celestia adopted Sunset? Would that mean that she and Spike were going to be step-siblings?

[CoyoteXray]

Too damn charming for words.

[Darkstarling]

The nuzzling and then the holding hands even when people are looking and TOO MUCH CUTE.

They don't NEED to smuggle rocket fuel. Rocket fuel is liquid oxygen and hydrogen. They can make it on site with good enough ice magic and fractional distillation :p