> As Much as They Change Some Things Stay the Same
>  by TheCrimsonDM
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> The Story
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


As much as they change some things stay the Same


Written by TheCrimsonDM


 



Well life sure had changed for Sunny. The past few weeks alone were really strange. To note, they'd had to rebuild her home, and though the construction was finished, it never felt quite the same. That was not the biggest change, however, no the biggest one was that she picked up a roommate.

Sunny was working on her morning cup of coffee and toast as she heard the musical voice of her roommate singing from the living room. "Gonna be, gonna be, gonna be my DAAAAY!" Izzy's pink head poked in from behind the couch where she slept. "Hi there best friend."

Sunny rolled her eyes. "Good morning, Izzy. Waking up singing as usual I see."

"Well duh silly, if I didn't it would be quiet. Nopony likes a quiet home."

Sunny thought about that for a moment as she drank her coffee. Her home had been quiet most of her life. Even when her dad was still here, it was quiet, but after he left her, well it just got that much quieter.

Sunny watched as Izzy flopped out of her makeshift bed on the couch and hit the floor on her stomach. Instead of picking herself up like a normal pony and walking, she just let her forelegs go slack and then using her rear legs began sliding herself over the wooden floor while going, "Vrooom."

Izzy drove herself all the way to the restroom and then shut the door behind her with a flicker of magic. That crazy mare. Honestly, Sunny wasn't sure why Izzy had chosen to live here, but hey, it wasn't quiet anymore and she felt like perhaps things were okay for once.

After a few minutes Izzy came walking out of the bathroom door looking refreshed and rejuvenated. She went to the kitchen table, poured herself a cup of coffee and took a sip. Her ears wiggled and her eyes squinted as she set it down and coughed. "That's, good?"

Sunny raised an eyebrow, took a sip of her own coffee and smiled. "Is it?"

Izzy's ears flopped back. "No, it's not. This is gross. I like soda and tea and soda more."

Sunny couldn't help but to laugh a little. "You’re supposed to add cream and sugar to your coffee. It makes it sweet."

Izzy blinked. "Oh, that makes sense."

Sunny's horn lit up and she grabbed the nearby creamer and sugar in her golden aura. Being an alicorn was weird, but she wasn't alone, nopony was familiar with flying or magic yet. "Let me help you."

Once she'd made Izzy's coffee, perhaps a little too sweet she finished and let the mare take another sip. This time Izzy beamed. "Mmm, much better. I could drink this, it tastes like candy. Oh is it candy? I love candy. I love you too."

Sunny blinked. "What?"

"I said I love candy too."

Sunny frowned. That wasn't the first time Izzy had slipped up and said something... interesting. She'd take the comments more seriously, after all nopony had ever said they loved her, well besides her dad, and Hitch, but they were both family to her, this felt different than that. The problem was Izzy was so all over the place that Sunny wasn't positive that Izzy was saying these things on purpose. She often times said things without realizing it and then would apologize if she realized it was rude. 

Izzy leaned forward and stared into Sunny's eyes. "Are you getting taller?"

"I sure hope not."

"I think you arrrrreeee!" she reached out and pet the top of Sunny's mane. "Hmm, only by a centimeter. We'll have to wait and see if this trend continues."

Sunny pushed the hoof away and shook her head. "I am not getting taller. I may be the only one of... whatever I am in the world, but I am not taller. I mean, unless you count my horn."

"We don't. Horn lengths tend to vary, so we don't count them. Also contrary to popular belief horns do not indicate how good at magic you are. Who'd have thought that would be the case? Well we sure didn't."

Sunny offered a warm smile. "Hey, thanks for keeping my house not quiet."

"No problamo. Thanks for keeping me not lonely."

Sunny thought about it a moment. She'd been to Izzy's home once or twice. It was bright, colorful, filled with books on mechanical wonder, and crazy inventions. Yet it was clear there was a distinct absence of people there. In fact Izzy had said a few things by now to make Sunny wonder about her.

Izzy was busy with a bowl of cereal she'd made. "Oh, cute, there's little marshmallows in the shapes of hearts." She opened her mouth. "Rawr, get in my tummy delicious food!"

Once Izzy had stuck the spoon in her mouth and began chewing a question popped into Sunny's head. "So... Izzy. Is it okay if I ask you some personal questions?"

"Of course best friend. I'll ask you some too."

Sunny smiled. "Okay, sounds fair. I'll start then. If you were home alone, would you still be like this?"

"Like what?"

"Making noises as you scoot across the floor, waking up singing, talking to your cereal?"

Izzy smiled. "Of course, but I guess, I mean, technically I'm alone, but I didn't feel that way, most of the time."

"You didn't?"

She shook her head. "No, I always had this with me."

Sunny watched as Izzy pulled the picture that she had drawn with her father out of her mane and unfurled it. "You... you always keep that in your mane?"

Izzy smiled. “Not fair, let me ask you a question too.”

“Alright, go ahead.”

“Are you gay?”

Sunny blinked. Well that question was certainly waking her up more than the coffee was. “I… never thought about it. Nopony’s shown any uh, romantic interest in me before. So I think I could go either way.”

"Nice. Anyway, to answer your question. I don’t always keep this in my mane, that would be silly, I take it out when I take a bath." Izzy looked down at the picture, her eyes grew soft, but there was something in there. A deeper expression that flickered over her lips for a moment. Pain. "Other than that, I always keep it with me. I talk to it, sing to it, tell stories to it."

Sunny leaned back. "It was that important to you?" She was stunned. For her it was an important moment, one of the best she'd had with her father, but it seemed that one lone drawing promising friendship to a random pony out there was much more impactful on Izzy's life than she ever knew.

Izzy closed her eyes, took in a deep breath and the exhaled. "This letter landed on my windowsill one night when I was young. It was the same night that my parents... um..." Her muzzle scrunched up and her eyes screwed tight. "A-anyway. I saw this and I knew that someone out there, someone, somewhere, still cared about me. Still... loved me. I wanted to leave that night, to find you. And I tried. I got lost in the woods, and Alphabittle had to find me and take me home. He told me that I was crazy, somepony had pranked me, but I knew he was wrong."

When Izzy opened her eyes again, they were glossy and wet. She looked over at Sunny. "I might have also promised I'd marry the pony who made this..."

Sunny's heart was broken inside. She'd never seen the pain hidden in Izzy. The reason she drove herself into a constant happy, and possibly delirious manner like she did. Sunny reached out and squeezed Izzy's hoof. It was so warm, so weak in her grasp. "I love you too, Izzy."

Izzy blinked her eyes and tears rolled down her face. "W-what?"

"And I promise you'll never have to be alone again. I'll be here for you to sing to me, to tell me stories, to talk to me anytime you need me."

Izzy smiled. "Thank you." She folded the paper back up, brought to her mane and then paused. "Actually... c-could we do something else with this?"

"Oh and what would you like to do?"

Five minutes later the two of them had framed the old picture, covered the outside of the frame in macaroni art and then hung it from the wall by the front door, right beneath the photo of Sunny and her dad.

Sunny looked over at Izzy. "There, its home now. Just like you."

Izzy nodded. "Just like us?"

Sunny wrapped a wing across Izzy's back. "Just like us."

The door opened, Hitch walked in and closed it behind himself. Both of the photo of her dad, and the picture she'd drawn as a filly tilted sideways. Well some things never change.

Hitch was breathing rapidly. "You gotta help me."

Sunny raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong?"

"I went out exploring and a manticore thought I was his friend and followed me home. He won't stop trying to lick me."

Outside they could hear a whining whimpering noises of a giant but friendly animal. Sunny and Izzy both giggled. "Some things never change."