“You must have a spare bedroom.”
Sunny Starscout blinked at the observation from her friend Izzy Moonbow. The pair were seated side-by-side at a kitchen table in Sunny’s lighthouse, sipping teas together.
“What makes you say that?” Sunny quirked an eyebrow.
Izzy gestured her hoof towards the front door, where a portrait of Sunny’s father Argyle hung in memoriam. “Your Dad lived here, right? And I bet you didn’t share a bedroom, because yours is pretty tiny. So…”
Sunny smirked at the deduction. “So my parents’ room is here collecting dust, yes. Why do you ask? Just curious?”
Izzy bit her lip, the corners of a smile poking through the unicorn’s disastrous poker face. “Do you think we could see their room?”
“Well…” Sunny dropped her gaze. “I haven’t been inside since shortly after Dad passed. It’s too…” Her thought trailed off as Izzy leaned across her chair to wrap her friend in a gentle hug. Sunny nodded weakly, her ears flopping back.
“I’m sorry,” Izzy whispered. “It was selfish of me to ask.”
Sunny blew out a puff of air with a trace of a smile. “It’s alright. I bet Twilight Sparkle would have a friendship lesson for something like this.” She chuckled to herself, caught on a visual of the ancient princess.
Izzy nuzzled Sunny, cheek-to-cheek, causing the latter to blush. “You really look up to those old ponies.”
Sunny laughed, pulling back from the hug. “I guess by now, they would be pretty old.” She stood up and beckoned her her neck. “C’mon, I’ll show you the room.”
Izzy stood up and followed as Sunny led the pair to an adjacent hallway. As she followed, almost side-by-side, she leaned into her friend and allowed herself a grin. Not very sneaky. Then again, as the pair slowed down in front of the farthest door of the hallway, Sunny was too distracted to notice the gentle touch. Medium sneaky.
Sunny breathed in, opened her eyes, and rubbed her hoof against Argyle’s dusty cutie mark embossed on the door. She nodded to herself and wheezed. “No time like the present.” Leaning against Izzy, she grabbed the door handle and opened.
A messy beige bedroom greeted her. The bed was unmade; loose pieces of paper littered the floor. Above the desk beside the bed sat an assortment of tchotchkes modeled after ancient Equestria, artisan projects that died with their creator. A framed photo hung on the wall, depicting a young adult Argyle beside a slightly older mare. A tiny orange foal stood between the ponies, barely old enough to walk on her own.
Sunny Starscout closed her eyes. “I miss you, Dad.” She leaned into Izzy’s embrace. “I…” She stammered on her syllable, eventually shaking her head and fleeing the room.
Izzy followed suit a moment later, leaving the door ajar, and found Sunny seated on the floor pressed up against the wall of the hallway, head slouched down. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.”
Sunny shook her head. “Don’t be. It’s the closest I’ve felt to my parents in ages.”
Izzy nodded but kept her gaze below Sunny’s.
Sunny took Izzy’s hoof in her own without a trace of anger despite Izzy’s guilty glow. “So what’s this about?”
“I shouldn’t have said anything,” Izzy mumbled. At Sunny’s knowing stare, she relented. “Bridlewood.”
“What’s wrong with Bridlewood?” Sunny smiled sheepishly. “Other than the mayonnaise taboo, do not enter signs, and overall gloomy demeanor.”
“That’s all fine for me.” Izzy bit her lip. “It’s just…” She mumbled the rest of her sentence under breath.
“Hmm?”
Izzy sighed. “You’re not there, Sunny.”
A pause. “Oh.”
Izzy’s gaze drifted towards Argyle’s bedroom. “The day we brought magic back was the second best of my life.”
Sunny grinned. “I get that. What was the best?”
Izzy turned back to meet Sunny’s eyes and tilted her head with a faint smile. “The day I met you.”
Though no tears came, Sunny’s eyes grew glassy. “Izzy…”
A lopsided smile. “I don’t want to go back to Bridlewood because that means leaving Maretime Bay. That means leaving you.”
Sunny squeezed Izzy’s hoof.
“So I got to problem solving.” Izzy continued. “Now, in books, this is where the characters elope and have a happy-ever-after. Then again, marriage doesn’t solve anything if I’m still living in Bridlewood, so then I thought–”
“Wait, marriage?” Sunny blinked. “That came out of nowhere.”
“I like to plan. Dream, really. Fantasize?”
“Uh…”
“Yeah, I know, those books are highly unrealistic.” Izzy pouted. “I mean, first you’d have to be my marefriend, but I don’t even know if you like mares– those books are very heteronormative–”
“Hetero–”
“And even if you do like mares, I don’t know for sure if you like me.”
Sunny stared off in contemplation.
Izzy pressed on. “Even if we were marefriends, I don’t think unicorns and earth ponies are allowed to marry, so we’d have to get around the anti-miscegenation–”
“Anti-what?”
“Good point, Maretime Bay barely has a legal system; we’ll make it work. What was I thinking?”
Sunny blinked. “Okay, go back, before the big words. Marefriend?”
“Wow.” Izzy looked puzzled. “I thought you’d know that one? Umm…” She rubbed her hooves against each other while making kissing noises with her mouth.
Sunny danced her eyes. “Yeah, got that. Just seems like you’re getting way ahead of yourself. I didn’t know you liked me like that.”
Izzy laughed. “Why wouldn’t I? You’re soft and adorable and brighten my sparkle. I’d be lucky to spend the rest of my life with you.”
“So?” Sunny laughed with an unintended hint of condescension. “I feel the same about you, but it doesn’t mean I like you like a coltfriend.”
Izzy grinned knowingly.
“What?”
“Nothing.” Izzy’s grin grew. “Just that you’re cute when you’re clueless.”
Sunny tilted her head and paused for a moment, before her jaw dropped a bit. “…Oh.” She slouched. “Sorry, I never thought much about romance. I was always too focused on restoring harmony to Equestria.” She sighed. “I never even had a first kiss.”
Izzy leaned over and dared to peck Sunny on the cheek, pulling away just as quickly, leaving both mares’ cheeks pink.
“Oops?” Izzy giggled. “I mean, problem solved. Tada!”
Sunny blew out a puff of air, her face still flushed. “Thanks, I think. I still don’t get why you asked if I had a spare room.”
Izzy extended her legs into the air, bringing them together, apart, up, and back together, tracing a square. “I was trying to think outside the box. I can’t afford rent in Maretime Bay, and I’m not even sure anypony would rent to a unicorn. But the farther I live from Maretime Bay, the farther I am from you.”
Sunny chuckled in understanding. “If you stayed with me, you’d solve both problems in one go?”
Izzy nodded eagerly.
“Your plan assumes I wouldn’t charge you rent either.” Sunny pointed out. “I could use the money.”
“You didn’t get any royalties for bringing magic back?”
“Nope.” Sunny snorted. “Did you?”
“If I had, I could afford Maretime Bay rent.”
Sunny chuckled. “True. It’s still a hole in your plan.”
Izzy shrugged her hooves. “Eh, more motivated wishful thinking than plan.”
“It still seems unwise, entrusting your life’s happiness in my hooves?” Sunny frowns. “It would be easy for me to say no.”
“So that’s a ‘good try’ then?” Izzy deflated. “No chance your lighthouse could use an extra pony’s worth of light? I guess you don’t want to disrupt your memories of your Dad’s room.” Izzy caught Sunny’s eyes earnestly. “Unless… Is it maybe time to make new memories?”
Sunny hesitated, then with a creeping smile, leaned in and kissed Izzy on the lips.
“You tell me, Izzy.”
