Questions #143 and Beyond

by ArDee

#147 - What happens now?

Giggling with mischievous excitement, Sunny and Izzy — having realized their compromising position out in the middle of the field - disentangled themselves from one another as they hurriedly cantered towards the lighthouse's front door. Despite the grave structural damage that much of it had received from Sprout's ridiculous machine, notably the complete loss of the spire, the ground floor had largely endured. Or at the very least, the side of it containing her bedroom had...which was good enough for the both of them, at least for tonight.

Moving swiftly past the accumulated Canterlogic construction equipment that surrounded her home in preparation for its reconstruction, the two mares darted beneath the buckled front canopy and through the front door. As it swung shut heavily behind her, Sunny reflexively turned to the space next to the door and straightened out the little picture frame containing her most cherished photograph. As hastily taped-together as it now was, it had been swiftly returned to its dutiful pride of place near her front door when cleanup operations began earlier that day.

Her gaze faltered as it wandered to the cracked walls of her kitchen, a grisly scar in her childhood home serving as a testament to the results of Sprout's foolhardy power-mongering. Much like Sunny herself, though, her home was earth-pony strong — it would take more than a mama's colt, wannabe dictator-pony to completely ruin her day, or her house. That the entire place had stood up as well as it had was nothing short of a miracle, but that was a topic for a time where she didn't have her drop-dead gorgeous unicorn marefriend (she could still scarcely believe it, a unicorn!) leaning adoringly against her as they strode side-by-side through the doorway to Sunny's bedroom.

The moment that the orange mare passed through that wooden portal, it was as if a switch had been flipped — she hastily removed the bands holding her mane in place and flung the constraining articles onto her vanity with the barest hint of care, tossing her mane like a wannabe rockstar to free it of its constrained shapes. Her saddlebag was discarded onto the back of her chair as she trotted over to the shelf that still proudly displayed the night light her father had made for her. Though she'd felt it a bit too childish to use the wonderful little construction in recent years, now she displayed it much more prominently, considering it had ended up being instrumental in the reactivation of Equestria's magic — or at the very least, the gem that was installed on top of it had been.

The very same Earth Diamond now rested there once more, although it had gained inclusions of a spectacular rainbow shimmer ever since its "reactivation." It may have seemed odd to continue using such a powerful and significant artifact for something so improper — but Sunny had been its steward for most of her life, whether she was aware of it or not, and for now, it had fulfilled its primary purpose in bringing back the magic of Equestria.

The lock to her room clicked shut behind her, drawing her attention back to Izzy as the unicorn cheerfully surveyed her cozy room with unabashed enthusiasm. Sunny realized that Izzy may well have been the first pony she'd let into her most private place since the loss of her father — but as scary as the prospect of such vulnerability was, she could think of no other pony she'd allow so readily into her space.

"So...what do you think of my room? Cozy, right?" Sunny asked eagerly, taking the smile on the other unicorn's face as a good sign.

"It's sooo lovely! Ooh, but not as lovely as that wild mane you've got going on. You should wear your mane down more often, it looks toootally cute~!" Izzy teased, giggling as she beheld the embarrassed flush that the little earth mare took on in response to her shameless flattery.

"Aww, Izz..." Sunny replied bashfully, batting her hoof in the other mare's direction. With Izzy watching curiously from behind her, she sat down and took the night light in both hooves to crank over its winder. That familiar, twinkling lullaby echoed through her room as the device lit up and started to rotate in her hooves.

With the diamond's new inclusions, the night light's usual projections gained a brilliant rainbow hue — a startling contrast that caused even Sunny herself to gasp in amazement. Izzy was similarly blown away by the radiant specter of colors that projected themselves all over Sunny's wall and ceiling, though she couldn't have known how it had looked originally with its muted incandescent hue.

As Sunny put the night light back onto the shelf and turned to face Izzy once again, the two of them exchanged a warm smile before Izzy abruptly glomped her onto the bed, giggling mischievously as Sunny gave a brief yelp of surprise — which trailed off into a gasping moan as Izzy nuzzled against her, nibbling teeth and lathering tongue marking a lascivious trail up her body as the unicorn grazed upon her enraptured "prey." A heavy, warm fullness settled in Sunny's gut as her eyes lidded, once-dormant parts of her beginning to stir into life underneath Izzy's loving ministrations.

As Sunny stared at the enchanting light show, only half-aware of her surroundings thanks to her marefriend's relentless affections, a flashback slammed into her like a speeding streetcar.

"Can we send it?"
"Oh, I think it's our duty!"

An early arts-and-crafts project of her foalhood...the tiny little drawing of the three pony races living in harmony that she'd made for that fateful lantern-letter, so long ago that it felt like another life entirely. That unassuming, hopeful little drawing had ended up changing everything — had she never met Izzy, Equestria might never have been saved.

Memories of her fillyhood whirled past her in a storm of emotions, each of them jabbing into her like pins and needles as a bittersweet nostalgia filled her. Izzy must've felt the way that Sunny had stiffened underneath her, because her ministrations stopped as she abruptly pulled back, concern filling her visage as she moved to lay alongside her friend, embracing one of Sunny's hooves with her own.

"We'll do our part."
"Hoof to heart. Goodnight, Daddy."
"Goodnight, my little pony."

Jarred out of her flashback by a chaste kiss on the cheek, the beginnings of tears and the stinging ache in her chest from that well-worn, familiar sorrow quickly ebbed away in the comforting embrace of the gorgeous, sweet-smelling, wonderfully funny unicorn that that very same note had brought right to her doorstep, countless moons after she'd thought it lost to the winds. In a way, Sunny supposed, Izzy had been the greatest gift her dad had ever given her.

"Hey, you've been awfully quiet since we came in. Are you...feeling alright? Oh, I'm not moving too fast for you, am I? 'Cause if I am, we can toootally slow it d-" Izzy's anxious rambling was stopped by Sunny's raised hoof against her lips, the earth pony smiling beatifically at her marefriend as she giggled happily.

"Oh, Izz...no, that's not why. I'm just, so...so happy. If somepony told me two weeks ago that I'd be here with you, a unicorn, on my bed, after we'd just reunified Equestria, I'd have looked at them like they were totally nuts. I still can't even really believe it." Sunny said calmly as she caressed Izzy's cheek with a hoof.

"Aww...t'be honest, I'm havin' trouble believin' this isn't just a dream, myself..." Izzy replied warmly. Their eyes slid closed as their muzzles met once more, a simple kiss on the lips to reaffirm their shared emotion.

After a few moments of them simply enjoying each other's presence in comfortable silence, Sunny asked another question she remembered from her list - one that, until recently, she didn't think she'd ever get to. Number one hundred and forty-seven. "So what happens? Now that we're...together, I mean?"

"I guess that depends on what you want to happen, Sunny. I could think of a few things myself~" Izzy purred, her forehoof tracing ticklish circles onto Sunny's underside that had her giggling and writhing even as she blushed and retreated into herself a bit, her self-consciousness about her lack of experience catching up with her. Wrapping Sunny tighter in a comforting embrace, she continued, "Buuut I'm not gonna do that kinda stuff with you until you're darn good and ready to do it, alright?"

"...Thanks, Izzy. You're wonderful, you know that?" Sunny replied warmly, maintaining eye contact with Izzy as the unicorn's adventurous hoof stilled itself by curving around her barrel.

"Oh, I try..." she boasted casually, although it took only a moment for her to burst out giggling afterward — a giggle-fit which Sunny happily joined in on, the two of them nuzzling firmly into each other as their tails, both hanging off the edge of Sunny's bed, entwined.

As that familiar, twinkling lullaby continued to echo from the music box inside Sunny's night light, the two mares found themselves drifting off to a peaceful slumber together, under Sunny's roof beneath the cool night sky of a newly transformed Equestria.

Author's Note:

I'm not crying, you're crying!

I'm so in love with this ship aaaaah it's practically a core plot point to the entire setup of G5

Comments

[G-Cis]

Im the same to be honest. I am addicted to Sunny x Izzy and The cuteness overload I get from it just instantly makes me smile!
And I dare you to not make another adorable chapter as soon as possible!
But fr I think you captured their personalities really well! Can’t wait to see more

[Dustchu]

BABIES!

I love them

[Elric of Melnipony]

As it swings shut heavily behind her, Sunny reflexively turns to the space next to the door and straightens out the little picture frame containing her most cherished photograph.

The rest of the of the story (so far) is told in past tense, but you slipped into present tense here. Switch this to past as well and you're good.

I think the two brief flashbacks would work better if they were presented in italics, and without that odd margin bar to the left. (If you can somehow preserve the indentation without that visible bar *and* put it into italics, that would be great.)

[ArDee]

11018316
Fixed both things! Thanks! :D

[The Mystery Fluttershy Fan]

I hope I can read this well enough to make people cry :).
This chapter is recorded. I will release this a chapter at a time over the coming week.

It is a shame to longer have the Artlist.io resources, but hopefully I can still provoke some emotion out of this.

[The Mystery Fluttershy Fan]

I think I'm gonna pull the audio for those flashbacks from the actual movie itself, that should sound cool :).