A Sunny Day
It was another early Sunday morning.
A white unicorn with a pink mane walked down Elder street. If anyone had bothered to pay attention, they would have noticed that this mare had been making regular trips down the street. She had a small skip to her step and a smile on her face. It was practically written all over that she was going to visit someone special. Though who could've guessed that the mare was visiting the strange oddity that is the human.
A human that, once she opened the door to his business, was nowhere to be found. Quite strange. She searched the store and the office, and the living area upstairs. She even gave his bedroom a very very slight peak, which to her dismay nothing was there. It was only until she walked back down stairs, she heard a muffled clang. Her ears twitched slightly as they pointed forward, searching like satellites for the source. Until she heard it again.
CLANG
She turned toward the corner of his office on instinct and there she saw what had been overlooked. An entrance hidden with a rug slightly ajar. She moved towards it slowly, as if the patterned textile would snap at her like a snake. She lifted the rug out of the way to fully reveal the trapdoor. She gave the recessed handle a slight tug, only for the door to spring open and cause her to fall flat on her butt.
After she gave herself a few rubs to smooth out the slight pain, she peered down the now surprisingly well lit stone stairway. She recognized it as the cellar which was common among older homes, a place where ponies used to store their food or spirits. Though she wondered what Cliff could possibly be doing down there? Well she assumed it was Cliff, maybe it was a friend of his who was blacksmith? The questions only penetrated her further.
CLANG
The noise from earlier now increasing volume. She reached with one leg timidly and took a single step forward. She paused. Then another step forward. And another. Until she had already walked halfway down the stairs. Not wanting to intrude too much, she peaked ever so stealthily around the corner.
There in all its majesty was a human, a large male one in fact, doing a time honored tradition. The art of picking up heavy things and putting them down.
The man stood facing towards the stairway and wore only a pair of small shorts which left most of his physique on display. One that was first and foremost large, especially compared to most ponies, though his body was not covered in much fat, with the lack of fur further highlighting his musculature. He was too busy to notice the prying mare; plainly shown by the red that tinged his normally pale complexion, the sheen of sweat across his brow and the even more intense look on his face.
After getting a solid glance at Cliff, Celestia eyed the rest of the room. It was a decent size, a bit bigger than his office. In it was various equipment used for weight lifting; plates, dumbbells, and a rack among other things she wasn't familiar with. She looked back to him and saw in his hands, a barbell which held four plates on each end. He was now sitting with his body in a low squat, said bar resting on the floor. Then with a grunt and explosion of movement, he drove up with his chest bringing the bar upward with him, using his whole body. He stood straight up, the immense weight of the bar now solely on him, that was until he put it down in a controlled motion.
CLANG
He let out a breath in relief and went to reach for a large mug of water, that was until he noticed a single eye with a pink colored iris staring at him. Ah, he recognized that eye and that white fur with a pink mane.
"You know, I was always taught it was rude to stare Miss Sunflower."
Celestia let out an eep, and disappeared for a moment in surprise. Only to reappear a few moments later, with her arms waggling about in shock and a red blush on her face. "I was not! It was merely uh, surprising to say the least! I didn't know you had a small gym down here."
Cliff took a moment to appreciate the sight that is the flustered unicorn, something about it just made him feel a little cheeky and a little something else. He chuckled softly. "It's alright. Next time just make sure to just let me know you're here."
Celestia let out a sigh of relief. She had hoped to not offend him, as these past few Sundays he had been an interesting conversationalist. He always brought a different perspective to things whenever she asked him about what he thought of current affairs. One thing for sure is he was a very strong proponent of democracy and was very passionate about his old home country, which he had explained was a federal republic. Though whenever she tried to pry further details about his previous life at all, he always danced around it by changing the subject. She could tell after the few attempts that in spite of their growing friendship, he still wasn't comfortable bringing up the past.
"Of course and Cliff?"
"Yes?"
"Call me Sunny."
After his workout, Cliff headed upstairs to get his morning routine done. Though not without a straight faced invitation to Sunny, who at first was staggered by it, the large blush on her face being evidence to that fact. Until he let a small smirk loose which led to a surprisingly strong punch to the shoulder and a verbal tongue lashing. Though Celestia wouldn't admit it at the time, that proposal had certainly caused the blood to rush to more than just her face.
Now refreshed and wearing a fresh set of shirt and jeans, Cliff called down the stairs. "I'm done now if you wanna come up."
"You better have your clothes on." She loudly stated while walking up the stairs. To her surprise, she saw the large man hunched over a small kitchenette in the corner. The sound of sizzling and the fragrance of food tantalized her senses. "You cook?"
Cliff placed a lid on the sizzling pan and throws vegetables in to another, all with plenty of seasonings and oil. "I have to, most folks around here ain't too friendly to my diet. That and I've always just found it useful to know for survival n' such."
Celestia crept up beside him as he spoke and looked over the entire entree. Chicken, sweet potatoes, and some asparagus with cauliflower. Meat, that was interesting to her and now that she thought about it. She did catch a glance of his canine teeth whenever they talked. Though being a well cultured sort, she was quite used to being around more carnivorous species and had paid it no mind.
"Does it bother you?"
"Hm?"
"That I eat meat?"
"Well are you going to eat me?"
Cliff paused his cooking for a moment. "Maybe, though you may be a bit too sweet for my taste."
Celestia saw the smirk on his face and just rolled her eyes at the comment.
He stirred his vegetables in butter. "I am gettin' a bit older now anyways, so I try to eat healthier."
"How old?" Celestia asked.
Cliff unloaded the contents of the pans onto a plate, the steam letting off that freshly cooked aroma. "I reckon I'm around forty now."
He carried his meal over to a small table with two chairs. He placed his meal on the far side and pulled out a chair for Celestia.
She took her seat gracefully. "You don't seem that old."
Cliff chuckled as he walked back over to the kitchen. "Flattery will get you everywhere young lady." He said with an obvious mirth to his voice.
She chuckled as well, mostly at the fact that he called her a young lady.
"Can I get you anything?" He remarked.
"Any tea?"
Cliff looked across his cabinet. "No, I don't think so. I got coffee and milk."
Celestia looked directly at Cliff and gave him a stern motherly look. "And why is that?"
Cliff held his hands up in a defensive posture. "I didn't know this was the tea inquisition."
Celestia let out a calming breath. "I didn't mean it like that. It's just my lovely sister has been giving me a hard time lately about my tea drinking habits and touts coffee as the best thing to ever grace Equestria."
Cliff gave a slight shrug. "Ah, well I don't mind tea. I just haven't had any I really liked. I just drink coffee sometimes for a little energy boost."
"Maybe next time I could bring tea for you to try?"
"Sure, you still want anything?"
"I'm fine, no need to be such a gentlecolt."
Cliff nodded with a slight smile and sat down across from her. He picked up his silverware and carefully ate his meal in spite of the ravenous hunger inside. Celestia noticed and thought that it was cute how the large man daintily ate his meal as to not bother her. She was sure that if he was the only one here, it would be quite the massacre.
"You assume almost forty though? Do you not have a birthday?"
Cliff spoke in between modest bites of food, "I do but when I arrived to here, I didn't know the date and I lost track of time at certain points." There was a subtle sadness and pain mixed into his voice, one that he kept reasonably hidden if not for Celestia being more perceptive than most.
She decided to avoid that conversation for now. "So when is your birthday?"
"October eighth."
"That must be fun, having your birthday during a month of festivities."
He gave a small shrug. "I don't really celebrate it or the festivities here usually."
Celestia was shocked a bit by this statement, she could understand with birthdays but no festivities? It was practically criminal as the month of October was not only a month that contained days of reverie with copious drinking, carnival games, and crafts but also an important festival for her sister.
"I can tell that surprised you but I've never celebrated my birthday, even before here. Usually I just took a day off. As for the festivals, I just don't believe the stories and I've never really felt like it was meant for me anyways. Same thing for the other holidays, I won't bother no one but I don't partake either."
That earned a lot of genuine surprise from Celestia who responded by slamming the table, which caused his food to fly in the air. Without looking she caught his food with her magic and neatly placed it in front of him all the while giving him a hard stare.
"You don't believe the history behind them?!"
Now the big human felt meek for once.
"Well no, I'm not from here and back home I was what is called a Christian." Though he recovered some of his confidence. "My faith may be shaky at best, but it'll take it a bit more to convince me about those stories. That and the princesses being super powerful. They could be long lived which isn't too far fetched for this crazy magical place but I think they are overstated in history." He said with a bit more gusto.
Celestia stood up and pointed a finger directly at the man, the intense gaze still on him. "I shall not stand for this! I will be bringing you a history book and I will teach you proper Equestrian History! We will go to these festivals and have a merry time! And you will drink my tea! Are we clear?!" She said loudly with authority behind her voice.
"Yes ma'am."
She turned away from him with a 'hmph' and strutted angrily away like a girlfriend who had won an argument with her boyfriend.
She paused at the top of the stairwell. "I'll see you next weekend?"
"I reckon." Cliff saw a brief smile from the white unicorn before she disappeared down the steps.
As the sun began its descent below the horizon, Princess Celestia stormed through the castle, a strange energy about her unlike before. She was still somewhat angry at Cliff but also elated to spend time with him. It showed on her face with the devilish smirk and happy sway of her hips, but the angry steps and clenched hands continued to make her a strange contradiction of emotions.
Distracting thoughts bounced back and forth through her, which lead to her run straight into someone hard as she turned the corner. Thankfully the pony whoever it was caught her in time to stop her from colliding headfirst. From what Celestia saw, they were tall, dark and-
Luna?
"Dearest sister?"
Celestia now snapped back to reality and came face to face with her sister Luna. The sky blue eyed alicorn was almost as tall as Celestia, just being a smidgen shorter. The night princess was definitely less plushly with more toned muscle from her rigorous training and wore a set of minimalist scale armor that protected the vitals on her body.
"Do tell sister, what has affected you so verily?"
The sun princess just gave a nonchalant wave of the hand. "Oh nothing at all, just some ah interesting events on my day off that I am still mulling over."
Luna nodded slightly. "I see."
"Well uh I'm going to retire to my chambers for the night, good night Luna." Celestia said a bit rushed as she not so subtly tried to exit the conversation.
"Yes good night." Luna watched Celestia make her way quickly to the royal bedchamber.
She had seen for a brief moment how her sister was walking before they almost collided. It could have been passed off as nothing more than a strange and random occurrence. Yet, something didn't add up to Luna and call it a hunch but there was something more to her sister's behavior. It was something that Princess Luna just couldn't leave well enough alone.
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Thx for the chapter I was kind of confused on how it felt like there was a big jump
Dun dun dun
Ah yes, the snoopy sister trope, let the awkward meetings of "Sunny's" sister begin
I might have said this already, but damn are they cute together.
... I feel a religious discussion will happen sometime in the future. And he’s only 35? I thought he’d be much much older than that.
Suspicious Luna is a dangerous Luna.
Huh, coulda sworn this wasn't an anthro fic...pretty sure no chapter before this mentioned hands on the ponies....
Edit : Huh, if he didn't go back and change it then somehow I missed all the mentioning of clothes and stuff and another mentions of anthro body stuff....how odd...
9563236
Yeah. I don't remember the wording used when describing his apparent age, but I was led to believe he was closer to fifty.
Celly is quite the voyeur, isn't she? All this spying on Cliff and the breaking and entering from the previous chapter. Not to mention how she was canonically using magical surveillance on Twilight for months to years to determine if she was ready to ascend. That must have been an interesting conversation between her and Twilight, by the way.
The new chapter in the middle does help, and it's a great addition as it is definitely showing their slow slide into friendship and perhaps more.
9563312
You're right, I made him a bit older.
9563311
I'm in the same spot. I hit: "Celestia stood up and pointed a finger directly at the man, the intense gaze still on him."
And was like "was this anthro?"
I could've sworn I read passages about her walking on all four legs earlier. . . But I'm too lazy to verify that.
Take either one of the underlined words out.
9563915
Always been anthro, otherwise I would have used more effort to describe the differences between the two. It was easier to write a story where ponies are more human-like.
It will be interesting to see how you portray Luna. I've seen her in many different ways, from child like to mature, short tempered to calm. I can't wait to see how you have her as I love the way you have Celestia. Please keep this going.
9564371
Whoa. Like, what? That was so unclear, and at this late point it makes me go back and have to reimagine the story. Since he's human and she's fascinated with him, that makes a lot of sense obviously if they're non-anthro. I was imagining a lot of details based on her being equine. I was basing understanding of events around it. For instance, why would his stuff be so much finer if they already have fingers? Just because he's awesome?
Upon rereading the story I believe I have determined when Luna came and told cliff
Noooobody expects the celestial inquisition!!
Kinky.
9717698
The God Emporer most holy inquisition wants to know your location