The Summit

The bitter wind nipped at Sunset Shimmer’s cheeks, even as she was covered from head to toe in winter gear. It didn’t help that she was halfway up Mount Aris. Thankfully, much like its Equestrian counterpart, there was a large road paved from the bottom to the top. As dangerous and risky as it is, this surprisingly wasn’t Sunset’s idea for a honeymoon. That idea belonged to Wallflower Blush herself.

“Jeez, we’re barely halfway up and already I’m feeling the chill…” Sunset shivered as she heard the wind picking up. Sunset had told Wallflower about the adventure that her world’s Twilight took, and the story of Hippogriffs and Sea Ponies had intrigued Wallflower enough to look up Mount Aris. It was a mountain that was north of Camp Everfree.

“Y-yeah… We… We should huddle together. It’ll help us keep warm.” Wallflower said to Sunset. She nodded as Wallflower opened up her jacket and wrapped her arms around Sunset from behind her. Sunset’s head rested on Wallflower’s shoulder. Despite how they were bunched up together, they managed to walk up the hill by walking at the same time. Sunset chuckled at the idea as it just felt rather silly. And yet, Sunset couldn’t shake off the warmth she felt with Wallflower’s hug. This, in turn, caused her eyes to briefly flash white as she began to read the memories of Wallflower Blush.

A while after the incident with the Memory Stone, Sunset kept tabs on Wallflower Blush and eventually included her into her circle of friends. Before long, Sunset found the tiny quirks in Wallflower Blush, such as her messy hair or her plain looking clothes, to be very adorable. It helped that Wallflower continually thanked Sunset at almost every corner, to the point where they’d be backed up with an apology for wiping her memories.

By graduation, it became clear that the two were more than friends and over the summer, Wallflower decided to stop apologizing for what she did in the past and instead focused on the future. That was when she proposed to Sunset. Sunset smiled as she remembered the conversation that led to that proposal. Sunset closed her eyes and both the memories and the flash in her eyes stopped. Over the past few years, she was able to master it, enabling her to turn off her powers when seeing someone’s thoughts would seem detrimental, such as walking when a snowstorm is about to begin.

As the two continued walking up the path, dozens of snowflakes began to pick up and dance around. At first, Sunset marveled at how much they were like diamonds in the sky, but as she felt the tightening grip of her wife, she knew this was just a prelude. The wind picked up as the girls’ pace slowed. Sunset shivered while Wallflower just patted down Sunset’s back.

“Just keep going. Listen to the sound of my voice…” Wallflower whispered to Sunset. Despite the flurry of snow, the two girls were able to look dead ahead at the path. However, their vision was still obscured and as such, Sunset didn’t notice the branch that the snow had covered. The branch caught her foot and caused Sunset to fall face first into the snow, followed closely by Wallflower. It was one thing to get a face full of snow, but as Wallflower helped Sunset up, it became a whole other story as the winds bit at Sunset’s soaked face. For a moment in Sunset’s life, she felt a bucket of boiling water be splashed at her face… Such a burning sensation despite being in the cold.

“Sunset!” Wallflower winced at Sunset’s scream. She turned her around and began to dry off her face, all while breathing on her to warm her face. “Are you okay?” She asked. Sunset’s lips touched Wallflower’s for a brief moment.

“I am now…” As Sunset said that, Wallflower took off her scarf and wrapped it over Sunset’s face.

“You need it more than I do…” Wallflower said. Sunset’s smile was hidden in the green yarn that made the scarf. Wallflower knew they had to act fast as the snow managed to stick itself to the scarf. The wind roared as the chill blasted itself right into their face.

“I-if we walk backwards, maybe we won’t face the chill!” Sunset said to Wallflower. It seemed like a crazy idea, but it was better than just braving the cold. They turned around and proceeded to walk backwards, though the problem was seeing just where they would go… As Wallflower tried to place her foot on the snow, it became very apparent why the warning sign at the bottom of the mountain read “WATCH YOUR STEP”.

Wallflower realized too late that there was no ground behind her and she fell over. Sunset managed to grab the ledge just in time as she felt Wallflower cling onto her tightly. Sunset looked down. She couldn’t see anything but a sickly soup of dark gray. All she had to convey that they were hanging off a cliff was a pile of snow next to her that began to fall over and plummet into the monochrome abyss below. Sunset focused back onto the ledge she had hung off from. Wallflower let out a scream and shook.

“Wallflower, just… hang on!” Sunset strained her voice. She wasn’t sure if the mountain has enough snow on it to trigger an avalanche, but she didn’t want to risk it. She briefly thought about how Twilight’s version of Mount Aris had a huge cone that covered the mountain, almost akin to a bird’s wings folding over their young, and thus ensuring that nothing like this would happen. Of course, that was because Hippogriffs were able to shape the mountain to be like that. Here? It’s old Mother Nature that weathered the mountain, making it more treacherous than its Equestrian counterpart.

Time was of the essence as Sunset felt her hands slowly lose their grip. With one grunt, she tried to pull herself and Wallflower up, though only halfway. “Come on…” She muttered. She noticed a branch right above them and looked down at her scarf. Putting all her strength into one of her hands, Sunset used the other to pull off her scarf and throw it over onto the branch.

She dug her feet into the cliffside and pulled while her feet and remaining hand pushed. In one flawless move, Sunset and Wallflower were able to get back onto the mountain. As Sunset got a chance to breath, the adrenaline inside her faded, leaving behind nothing but tiredness. Wallflower, meanwhile, huddled Sunset close to her and whimpered. The storm continued to blow as the two girls caught their breath.

“That… That was too close…” Wallflower said to Sunset.

“We handled worse,” Sunset had a light-hearted giggle. Wallflower shook her head.

“No! This isn’t some socially awkward teen obsessed with a magic item! This was us almost falling to our deaths!” Wallflower shouted. “I should have known this was a bad idea…” As Wallflower’s voice began to whimper, Sunset stroked her hair.

“It’s not… It’s just that we picked a bad time. Let’s go back and wait for the storm to die down.” Sunset said to her.

“Okay…” Sunset helped Wallflower up as the two headed down the path. They didn’t make too much progress going up, which made it much easier for them to go down.

After going down the mountain, Sunset and Wallflower retreated to their room. It was a nice, wooden cabin, though for two people of a generation where phones are practically glued to their hands, the simplistic wood flooring and the only source of heat being a fireplace were almost alien to the girls. Almost being the keyword, as Sunset was able to adjust to the fireplace rather quickly, taking off her jacket and snow pants to sit by the fire. Instantly, her face began to receive that much needed warmth, which, while it induced pain, it felt satisfying for Sunset. She sighed in relief as Wallflower sat next to her. Sunset noticed how Wallflower didn’t bother to take off anything but her boots. While Wallflower just looked adorable as her face poked out of the puffy green jacket, she wanted her to be comfortable.

“Hey, stay a while.” Sunset chuckled as she reached for Wallflower’s zipper.

“O-oh! Right, s-sorry…” She undid her jacket and put it to the side. Wallflower stared into the fire. After a moment of silence, she huddled her knees. “Hey… Sunset…”

“Yeah?” Sunset was a little concerned with the somber tone of voice that Wallflower had.

“If… If I were to die…” Sunset just hugged Wallflower.

“Don’t think that!” Sunset noogied Wallflower as she gave an awkward chuckle.

“Sunset… Please.” Sunset let go of Wallflower and frowned.

“Jeez, it wasn’t that bad compared to all the adventures we had.” Sunset let her legs relax a bit as Wallflower tensed up a bit.

“I know, but… Every time you and your friends have a huge adventure, it usually involves some person turning into a super powerful monster or dimensional warps start appearing or whatever… And whenever I hear about that, I just think… what if it all went wrong? What if you didn’t defeat the big monster? What if you couldn’t fix the problems?” Wallflower paused and bit her bottom lip as she shed a tear. “What if someone died?”

“Wallflower…” Sunset looked at her.

“Sunset, I apologizing for always thinking so morbidly about these kinds of things… But… I had this in my head for a while. So please, hear me out… If I were to die…” Wallflower looked to Sunset. She leaned in and whispered to Sunset. Once she finished, she returned to sit by the fire. Sunset took a moment to process what she was told as she stared at the fire.

“If that’s what you want… Okay. But Wallflower, I promise you…” Sunset’s hand reached to touch Wallflower’s. The two looked at each other as Sunset gave a warm smile. “You don’t have to worry about that for a long time with me by your side.” Wallflower blushed and smiled back. A moment passed before Sunset tilted her head. Her lips locked with Wallflower. At first, it became two lips touching, but then their mouths opened and their tongues began to touch. The fire began to dim as the girls flopped onto the floor.

Sunset and Wallflower dedicated the next day, significantly warmer in temperature, to climbing and conquering Mount Aris. There was no hassle and it was remarkably easier than yesterday, though the occasional fatigue for continuously walking uphill roads weathered the two girls. As they got to the top, Sunset looked from the peak and gave a grin. She looked over the expansive snowy forest of Camp Everfree and she was able to point out where the log cabin that they slept in was at.

“We did it, Wallflower… We finally did it.” Sunset turned to look at Wallflower…

“Mom? Are you okay?” Only to see her son, Squall Flowers look with a concerned look in his eyes. Sunset smiled. For a moment, she had remembered the greatest time she spent with Wallflower.

“Y-yes… I am… It’s just that this place holds a great memory.” Sunset looked down as she held a silver jar in her hands. “Your mom and I actually came here on our honeymoon. It was… life-changing to say the least. It’s actually where she got this idea.” She took the cap of the jar out and held it close to her. She then lowered it to her son. With a simple nod, Squall scooped up a pile of ash from the urn and held it out for the winter winds to pick it up and scatter them through the air. Sunset picked up her own pile of ash. She gave a look to it and gave a small grin.

“We made it, Wallflower…” And she too scattered the ashes to the winds.

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