The Never Ending Sunbeam

Zephyr Sunbeam opened her eyes to find that she was in a strange room. She sat up in the bed she found herself in and looked around. She hesitantly got out of the bed. She walked around the small room, and she made her way to the door. The door was tall and made of wood, it looked strong and made by somepony who was good with woodworking.

She reached her hand out and pulled on the handle, gently ushering the door open. She peeked out into the long hallway outside the room she had found herself in. The hallway was lined with pictures lined up neatly all in matching frames. Zephyr cautiously walked out into the silent, empty hallway, the door swung closed by itself, and the sound echoed throughout the house.

Zephyr continued to walk down the hallway, looking at the pictures as she did so. There were pictures of a woman, a man, and a young boy. In the pictures, they were all gradually growing older. At one point, the woman disappeared completely from the pictures, and less pictures showed up after that.

The smiles on the man and child’s faces disappeared in later pictures, and when they did smile, it was half-hearted. Eventually, the pictures stopped. Simultaneously, Zephyr tripped and almost fell down a flight of stairs. She reacted as quickly as her tired, sleepy brain would let her, and he spread her wings to hold herself above the ground and to keep herself from falling. She landed gracefully on the next step and continued walking down the stairs, being careful not to trip and fall again.

Eventually, Zephyr reached the bottom of the staircase and she followed the faint sound of voices she heard, and the smell of fresh peaches. She peeked into a doorway to see the man she had met the night before, Peachy Stripes, and an older man. She quickly realized that Peachy had been the young boy in all the pictures she had passed in the hallway upstairs. She glanced at the older man, and realized that he had been in the pictures too. She briefly wondered what had happened to the women, but her thoughts were interrupted when Peachy noticed her standing in the doorway and called her inside.

“Zephyr, good morning.” Peachy said with a shy smile. “Father,” he said tenderly, turning to face the older man. “This is my friend Zephyr Sunbeam.” Peachy said, extending an arm in Zephyr’s direction.

The old man’s gaze followed where Peachy’s arm was pointing until his gaze met Zephyr’s. She stood awkwardly, just looking at them. Peachy jerked his head towards the kitchen as a way to tell her to come in. Zephyr slowly began to walk into the kitchen. “It’s nice ta meetcha. Zephyr? Was it?” The older man asked in a heavy country accent laden with age.

“Yes sir.” Zephyr said with a small nod. “It’s nice to meet you as well.” She said as formally as she knew how to.

“Zephyr, would you like to join us for breakfast?” Peachy asked.

“Ummm, sure.” Zephyr said awkwardly. She walked closer to where Peachy and his father were sitting and she sat down at the spare seat. Peachy gave her a small, shy smile and he turned to pull something out of the oven. He put oven mitts on his hands and pulled out one pan, and set it on top of the stove. Then he leaned down again and pulled out another pan.

Zephyr watched him as she waited for him to get the breakfast ready. “Would you uhh… Would you like anything to drink?” He asked Zephyr.

“Could I please have some water?” She asked, after a moment of hesitation.

“Sure thing.” Peachy got up and after a minute or so of rummaging around the kitchen, he returned to the table with a glass of water for Zephyr. He set it down on the table in front of her. Zephyr thanked him, picked up the glass, and took a small sip.

The three of them sat awkwardly at the table, waiting for whatever it was that Peachy had cooked to cool off. Once it cooled off, he pulled them off the pans with great difficulty and then he put them on plates and served them to Zephyr, his father and himself.

Peachy was about to start eating but his father halted him. “First, we need to thank the goddesses for our food.” He said. He closed his eyes and bowed his head, holding his hands together in front of him.

Zephyr looked at Peachy with a confused glance. Peachy looked back at her and rolled his eyes, copying his father. Zephyr awkwardly tried to do the same thing they were doing. Peachy’s father began praying silently to himself, and Zephyr peeked open one of her eyes to see what Peachy was doing. He sat silently, not making a sound, so Zephyr did the same, waiting for the old man to finish his prayer.

He finished loudly with a, “Thank you Celestia!” and then he began to eat. Zephyr slowly opened her eyes and looked at Peachy and his father. They were both eating, so she figured she could do the same. Before she took a bite, however, she realized that she didn’t know what to call Peachy’s father.

“Excuse me, sir?” She said, directed to Peachy’s father.

“Yes’m?” He said though a mouthful of peach muffin.

“I don’t know what to call you, sir.” She said.

“My name is Apricot Afternoon.” He said. “You can just call me Apricot.” He said.

Zephyr nodded and then she took a bite of the muffin in front of her. She coughed it up almost immediately and Apricot and Peachy looked at her with concerned looks. She looked back up at them and cautiously took another bite of the muffin. “Th-this is delicious….” She said through a mouthful. She struggled to swallow it and coughed a few more times once she got it down.

“Are you alright, Zephyr?” Peachy asked.

“Ummm… Yeah…” She said. She lightly punched her chest a few times to get herself to swallow the monstrosity of a muffin.

“It’s bad, isn’t it?” Peachy said sadly, dropping his own muffin back on his plate. It was as hard as rock, and it didn’t taste much better either.

Zephyr didn’t want to admit that his cooking was bad, but he obviously knew it wasn’t good. She didn’t want to lie either and tell him that is was good, not after she had coughed it up. “Momma used to do all the cooking before….” He quickly changed the subject. “I took over for her and I never learned how to cook, so I know I’m not very good.” He said.

“Why don’t you let me make something?” Zephyr offered.

“Go for it, anythin’ is better than what this rascal can cook.” Apricot said.

Peachy blushed and looked away from Zephyr and his father. Zephyr got up so she could start cooking. She washed her hands and pulled out a few peaches. She cut them up and mixed them in with the ingredients to make muffins. She poured the batter into a clean cupcake pan. Then she turned on the oven and while she waited for it to heat up, she began to make the tarts. She had never made peach tarts before and had to look at the ingredients to get them perfect.

By the time she had mixed the batter and poured it onto the pan, the oven was preheated and so she put the cupcake pan and the pan with the tarts into the oven. She sat back down in her seat after setting a timer. The three of them sat awkwardly at the table while they waited for the muffins and tarts to finish cooking.

When the kitchen timer rang, announcing that the muffins and tarts were ready, Zephyr got up and pulled on the same oven mitts that Peachy had and she pulled them out. She set them on top of the stove, closed the oven, and pulled off the oven mitts. She rejoined Apricot and Peachy at the table as they waited for them to cool off. “So….Zephyr. Where’d you learn to cook?” Peachy asked, trying to start small talk and make it less awkward.

“My mother taught me before…” Zephyr paused and corrected herself. “When I was little.”

Peachy nodded. He couldn’t think of anything else to say, so he thought that they could just wait for the muffins and tarts to be done. He admitted to himself that he was excited to try Zephyr’s cooking, but he didn’t want his father or Zephyr to see that.

After a few minutes of awkward silence, Zephyr got up to check on the muffins and tarts to see if they were ready to be served. Peachy watched Zephyr as she walked away, smiling as he was unable to keep himself from staring at her wonderful complexion, slowly making his way down to her sweet, plump ass.

Apricot followed Peachy’s gaze and his eyes grew wide. He looked back at his son and hit him over the head. Peachy jerked his hand up to where his father hit him and looked away from Zephyr with a red face. “Ow….” He muttered softly to himself.

Zephyr didn’t realize what had just happened behind her, and she placed one muffin and one tart on each plate and put them in front of Peachy and Apricot and another plate in front of her seat. She sat down, and waited for Apricot to start the prayer again, but he immediately dug into the food, finishing the tart in seconds.

“By golly, that was thee most amazing tart I have ever eaten in mah life.” Apricot exclaimed. Zephyr smiled at him and took a small bite of her muffin.

Peachy stared down at the tart and muffin on his plate. Seeing how his father had gobbled down that tart, he was even more excited to try her cooking, though he did not want to look like a pig and gobble it down like his father had.

For a moment, he stared down at the muffin and tart. He glanced at Zephyr to see how she was eating. He saw how she took small bites and he decided to do the same. He picked up the muffin and he took a small bite out of it, chewing slowly. His eyes grew wide as the flavor erupted in mouth. He quickly stuffed the muffin into his mouth and gobbled it down. Once he swallowed he did the same with the tart.

“Mmm. That was good.” He leaned back in his chair and held his hand over his stomach. “I haven’t anything that good since Momma’s cooking.” He said. Zephyr smiled sheepishly and continued nomming on her muffin. Once she finished her muffin, she asked if Peachy or Apricot would want anymore muffins or tarts.

“Yes please!” Apricot exclaimed.

Zephyr got up, picked up their plates, and walked back over to the stove where the muffins and tarts sat on top of the stove. She gave them each another tart and muffin and then walked back over to the table, handing them their plates. They both ate slower this time, savoring the flavor.

Zephyr finished eating her tart, nibbling on it slowly. She finished it about the same time that Peachy and Apricot finished. Once they were all finished eating, Zephyr got up, took their plates to the sink to wash them.

Peachy quickly got up and went over to the sink. “You shouldn’t have to do that, it was bad enough that we made you cook for us.” He said, standing next to her.

“You didn’t make me, I chose to cook for you.” She said. She reached down and turned on the water so she could wash the plates. Peachy  gently grabbed her wrist and pulled it away from the sink.

“Please just let me do the dishes.” He said. Zephyr looked up at him. He wasn’t that much taller than her, but she still had to look up when they were standing this close. She quickly realized how close they were standing, she took a step back and then she also realized that he was holding on to her wrist.

Her face slowly grew red and she slowly released the plate that was in her hand, hoping that he would let go of her wrist. Peachy slowly released her wrist and picked up the plate and began washing it.

Zephyr stood awkwardly for a moment watching Peachy wash the plates. “I ummm….. I should be going now.” She said.

“Oh, alright.” Peachy said with a tinge of sadness in his voice. He paused in his act of washing the dishes and looked over at Zephyr, giving her a shy smile. Zephyr smiled back and her face grew red once more. She tried to hide her embarrassment by covering her face with her hair.

“Ummmm…..” She started.

“Yes?” Peachy asked.

“Could I have a peach or two to take home?” She asked. “Please?” She added after a moment.

“Of course.” Peachy said. “If you don’t mind waiting a little while longer, I can go grab you a few once I’m done with the dishes.” He said.

“Thank you very much.” Zephyr said. “Oh, and ummm…… Do you happen to know where my bag is?” She asked.

“Yeah, I’ll get that when I’m done too.” He said.

Zephyr sat back down at the table while she waited for Peachy to finish washing the dishes. Once he was done, he walked over to her and motioned for her to follow him. Zephyr got up and followed Peachy down the hall. He suddenly stopped and turned around. Zephyr hadn’t seen him stop, so she continued walking and bumped into him.

Peachy gently placed his hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eyes. Zephyr noticed his face grow red and hers did the same. “Zephyr, about last night….” He started.

Before he could continue, Zephyr thought back to what had happened the night before. All she remembered was meeting him and then falling asleep on that cloud. Her face grew even redder than it already was. “Did you…. Did you do something to me?” She asked, her voice full of shock, anger and embarrassment.

“What?! No, of course not!” Peachy exclaimed. “I was talking about when I… When I uhhh…..” His hands loosened on her shoulders and Zephyr shrugged out from under his grip. He quickly wrapped his arms around her, not wanting her to leave. “Zephyr, I’m just really sorry.” He said. He brought her body close to his own and embraced her tightly.

Zephyr couldn’t move or speak. She could hear Peachy’s heart beating as fast as lightning. She could feel her own heart beating quickly as well, and she couldn’t bring herself to pull herself away from him. She closed her eyes and let herself fall happily into his arms.

Peachy quickly released his grip on her. “W-we should go get your back and peaches so you can go.” Zephyr looked up and him and at his bright red face. She could tell he was purposefully avoiding eye-contact with her.

“Yeah.” She said softly with a slight nod. She had only just met this man the night before, but already she felt a strong attraction to him. Peachy continued walking and Zephyr followed him. After a moment she noticed that as she had been following him, she had been holding onto his hand. She quickly let go and clutched her hand to chest nervously.

They walked into a room and Peachy stopped suddenly again, causing Zephyr to bump into him once more. Peachy turned around, “Sorry…” They uttered in unison, which caused them both to blush again. He picked up her bag and handed it to her. “Here.” He said.

“Thank you.” Zephyr said, taking her bag from him.

“I’ll show you out, and we can pick some fresh peaches for you.” Peachy said. Zephyr nodded as she shrugged her bag back on. Peachy unconsciously grabbed her hand again, and Zephyr didn’t protest. She followed Peachy outside of the small, cozy house and once they were outside, he jumped up and grabbed a peach from a low hanging tree branch. He handed it to Zephyr and did the same thing once more, handing her the other peach.

“Thank you, Peachy.” Zephyr said with a smile. Peachy showed her to the gate and pointed the way back to Ponyville. Zephyr thanked him once more and then she took off. After a moment she looked behind her to see Peachy Stripes looking up at her, watching her fly away. She blushed again and another embarrassed smile formed on her lips.