When Dating a Sunset...

by ThePinkedWonder

Chapter 2: Accepting feelings

Well, I was in no shape to read, so I had to find something else to do. And try to get the thoughts of Sunset Shimmer out of my head.

But I was falling into a trap: the harder I tried to get Sunset out of my head, the harder it became to actually do it. Hate it when that happens. As I walked out the front doors of Twilight’s castle and felt the warmth of the sun, I thought, I can’t be getting a crush on Sunset. What if she thinks I look ‘weird’ too? Besides, she’s out of my league. She’s Sunset Shimmer!

While I was busy trying to lie to myself, save for the part about Sunset being out of my league, Pinkie Pie hopped up beside me. I was so deep in thought, I failed to notice the trademark springing sound effect her hops do. “Hey there, Eric-berry! Whatcha doing?”

I turned to Pinkie and answered, “Nothing, Pinkie. Just trying to think of something to do.”

“Oh, so you don’t want to read any books or do any of those jigsaw puzzles?”

"It’s more fun to read or solve puzzles with Twilight and Starlight, and they’re gone.”

What I said was true, so I wasn’t lying. I just wasn’t telling the full story.

While hopping around me in circles, Pinkie quickly asked, “Or is it because after you solved a puzzle with Starlight at a record rate and she left, you tried to read something but couldn’t because you can’t get a pony or girl out of your mind?

Despite being friends with Pinkie for so long, I can still get surprised when she has her “Pinkie Pie” moments. With my mouth open, I foolishly asked, “How do you know that?”

Pinkie stopped hopping. “Just a hunch,” Pinkie replied, gave a big smile while giving a high-pitch “squee”, and looked adorable.

But yeah, I walked into that one. I was tempted to ask which Pinkie Pie was she, but I thought better of it. “I’m not even going to ask how you knew that, Pinkie. But since I’m trying to find something to do, you want to do something?”

“Well, I was about to bake some cakes for a party later. You want to help?”

“Sure.”

“Then let’s go, Eric-merry!”

I have no idea what made Pinkie start calling me nicknames like “Eric-merry” or “Eric-berry” so much. She did stuff like that every once in awhile, but ever since she tried to help me ask out Diane Heart, she did it a lot more. It was almost like something gave her the idea to do it. I considered asking Pinkie what made her do it, but her “answer” might have left me with more questions.

So I kept my mouth shut.

Instead, I just went with her to Sugarcube Corner, and she hopped as we went.

---

In the kitchen in Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie and I stood beside each other in front of a table. We both wore chef hats; Pinkie’s idea.

Pinkie had a bowl in front of her that had some cake ingredients, such as flour, baking soda, and sugar in the bowl already. The oven was preheating.

“Okay, Eric, can you hand me two eggs?”

“Eggs? Yeah, let me find them. Uh, where are they?”

Pinkie pointed a hoof to six eggs in a bowl that sat near the edge of the table. “They’re right there.”

Well, I felt stupid. I tried to rub the back of my head, but my hat blocked my hand from touching my head. “Oh...uh, yeah, sorry. Here they are--oops!” When I picked up one of the eggs, thoughts of a certain gold-coated Unicorn broke my concentration again, and the egg in my hand slipped out and fell on the table! It didn’t hit the table hard, but it hit hard enough to crack.

“Eric!”

“I-I’m sorry! Uh, I’ll get you two more eggs.” I picked up two more eggs. To make sure I wouldn't drop them, I gripped them tightly, but not too tightly, and handed them to Pinkie.

Pinkie cracked the eggs and poured the yolk into the bowl. “Now can you get a cup of buttermilk?”

“Sure.” I poured a bottle of buttermilk into a cup. But, my focus was broken by another thought of you-know-who, and I only filled it half-way. I was supposed to fill it all the way. Oops! At least I didn’t drop anything this time.

“Eric? That’s only half-way full. I need a full cup.”

“Sorry, Sunset--uh, Pinkie.”

“Eric, if you’re thinking about Sunset Shimmer so much, why don’t you just talk to her in that journal you said you have?”

Pinkie decided to just say Sunset’s name, which scared me a bit, and I gulped. It meant that Pinkie was really getting annoyed now, and wasn’t just “being Pinkie Pie” this time. “Well, I talked to Sunset yesterday, and I don’t want to be a pest to her.”

Pinkie shrugged her shoulders, and focused back to her bowl.

I poured more buttermilk to fully fill the cup, handed it to Pinkie and she poured it in the bowl, then she used an egg beater to mix everything into cake batter, which was yellow-colored. She mixed everything so fast, some batter got on the table and floor. After that, she poured the batter into a pan. Memories about how I used to beg my mom to let me lick the spoon when she baked cakes filled my head, and it made me forget about Sunset. The little boy in me even wanted to ask Pinkie if she could let me lick the spoon that she held in her hooves, since it had some batter stuck to it.

“That should do it, so can you put the pan in the oven?”

"Sure, boss,” I replied playfully. Unfortunately, as I picked up the pan and turned around to the oven behind Pinkie and me, I noticed some stickers on the wall; one was of the sun. Yep, that made thoughts of you-know-who enter my head again, and I stopped paying attention to my feet.

Next thing I knew, I slipped and lost my balance on a bit of cake batter that fell on the floor. I didn’t fall, but something worse happened: I dropped the pan! With the thud from the pan, the batter poured and splashed all over the floor. Some got on my shoes, and a bit on the hoof of one of Pinkie’s hind legs. Uh-oh.

“Eric! Look what you did!”

“I’m so sorry, Pinkie! I didn’t mean to do that.”

I thought Pinkie was about to lose it, and I should start running! Luckily, instead of forming a scowl, she formed a concerned frown and suggested, "Maybe you should go rest in the castle because you don't look so good. I can take it from here, Eric-cherry."

Since it was obvious that I wouldn’t be much help in my current state, I agreed, "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. See you later, Pinkie."

With that, I left Sugarcube Corner, and headed back to the castle. Guess Pinkie's random omniscience isn't so "omniscient" after all. She knew Sunset was on my mind, but didn't know why.

---

Back at the castle, I thought I’d try to read something again. After pushing open one of the green double-doors of the library, I spotted Twilight sitting on the purple couch I was on earlier. She was writing in the journal she uses to talk to Sunset. I figured Twi got done with her “princess” duties sooner than expected, since she said that she would have been gone longer. I’ll confess that I sometimes forget Twilight Sparkle is a princess because she doesn’t carry herself like one.

For starters, not many princesses have freak-outs over losing checklists or books! Or have so many freak-outs period.

I walked in front of her and said, “Hey, Twi.”

Still writing in her journal, Twilight replied, “Hey, Buggie.”

“What are you doing?” Don’t know why I asked that, because I knew what Twi was doing.

“Uh...talking to Sunset. You forgot that I use a journal to talk to her too?”

“Oh, uh, right.” I facepalmed, but took a couple of steps closer to Twilight and asked, “So, how is Sunset doing?”

“She said she’s all right. Why?”

“Uh, no reason.”

“Oh.”

“But, uh...did she ask about me?”

“Not yet.” Twilight looked at me with a confused frown. “You know that you can talk to her in your journal too, right?”

I could feel my cheeks becoming warm and I rubbed the back of my head. “Uh, yeah, I know. I was just curious.”

Twilight set down her journal and squinted her eyes at me. My big sis knew something was up. “Buggie, what’s wrong? Starlight told me how you were asking her if Sunset’s asked about you.”

I shook my head. “N-No, there’s nothing wrong.”

Twilight kept her gaze on me for another couple of seconds, then relaxed her eyes and said, “Okay,” and focused back on her journal.

As for me, I decided to head to my room to think things over.

---

---

Watching Eric Reed exit the library through its green doors, Twilight sighed. She knew something was on Eric’s mind, but knew that he wouldn’t tell her if she tried to press him.

The journal Twilight was writing in glowed with a reddish light, breaking Twilight out of her trance. Twilight levitated the journal and a quill in her magic, and resumed “talking” to Sunset Shimmer in her journal.

Twilight? Are you still there?

I’m still here. Sorry about that, but Eric was just acting weird.

Weird? Did something happen?

I don’t think so. But he was asking how you were and seemed like he wanted to ask you something.

Do you know what it could be, and is he all right?

Eric said he’s fine. But I told you how he sometimes hides it when something's bothering him.

Should I come over and ask him if there’s something he wants to ask? I have nothing to do right now.

I don’t think that would be a good idea. If he really doesn’t want to talk, you’ll upset him if you pressure him. But I don’t think it’s anything serious. If it is, he'll eventually come to me on his own.

---

---

Now sitting on my bed in my room, I was thinking about trying to talk to Sunset, since I obviously wanted to. But I couldn’t bring myself to do it because I was oddly worried about bugging her. I’ve never worried about it before, and she’s never said or hinted that I annoyed her when talking to her in our journals. I was tempted to look at myself in a mirror I have on the wall and ask myself what was wrong. Or maybe a very light tap on my head with a baseball bat, which I had in a corner of the room, would have done the trick.

Then again, I already knew what was wrong, and was close to finally admiting it.

Looking around my room to nothing in particular, more thoughts about Sunset filled my head. Her voice. Her red and yellow mane and tail. Turquoise eyes. How kind, cute, brave, and just great she is. A warm feeling flowed through me, and there was only one other time I had this kind of feeling in Equestria. Try as I might, I couldn’t deny my true feelings any longer.

I wasn’t sure what happened that triggered it, but it wasn’t a crush I had. It was a big crush I had on Sunset. But I had a more important question to figure out than what made me form my crush: what the buck was my next move?

Do I try to get over Sunset?

Or do I try something stupid? Such as try to ask the Sunset Shimmer to go on a date with me in Equestria, since Twilight still haven’t been able to fix it so I could pass through the portal to “Sunset’s” world?

Staring at my arms and legs, and particularly aware of my “real-life” appearance compared to how “cartoony” everything else looked, I sighed. Fear that Sunset might have thought I looked “odd”, but wasn’t telling me to protect my feelings, grew stronger than ever.

Boy, this was one of those times I would seriously consider asking Starlight to use spells to rid me of my annoying paranoia problem.

Author's Note:

Eric finally accepted the fact that he likes Sunset Shimmer. Now he needs to go get her! If Sunset knew what was really bothering Eric, her day would get a lot more interesting!

What will happen in chapter 3?

Comments

[Dashie04]

This guy’s so Bad at Love that he’d give Halsey a run for her money.

[TheHardie-Boy]

Look at that, I’m in the similar section Self promotion alert

[MiGu3]

This man just speedrun love

[ThePinkedWonder]

10866786

That made me think about a few stories that were about characters doing speed dating, and it always ended badly.

[Bookwurm666]

Then again, I already knew what was wrong, and was close to finally admiting it.