Looking At Youby AFanaticRabbitChaptersRealisationAffirmationActualisationRealisationSunny hated to admit it, but she was lost. Maybe not entirely lost, just mostly lost. She knew she was somewhere east of Maretime Bay as the sun warmed her back. Other than that, however, she wouldn’t be able to place herself on a map. Not knowing where she was left her worried. It wasn’t the first time she had ventured beyond Maretime Bay, but she hadn’t wandered further than the rolling hills and well kept forests immediately outside the town. Along her way, rocks and cliffs gave way to flat, verdant plains, and eventually to a thick forest. The path grew less direct and meandered more as it followed the contours of the earth. It was increasingly difficult to actually walk along, having become overgrown by bushes and grass reclaiming the dirt track. Despite not knowing precisely where she was, Sunny that worried. Walking alongside her, humming away without a care, was Izzy Moonbow. Izzy was part of the reason Sunny was lost. Ignoring the fact that it was Izzy’s arrival in Maretime Bay that set her off on this adventure, she also hadn’t taken her eyes off the unicorn since. Like a constellation in a sapphire nebula the stones that hung at the back of her mane twinkled through her locks. Sunny had plenty of words to describe Izzy, and wasn’t sure which she’d like to use most. Fascinating. Scatterbrained. Kinda scary, if just because her horn was sharp as Tartarus. Izzy’s attention was on the world around them. Her eyes cast themselves side to side, and occasional words of wonder spilled from her lips when she saw a particularly appealing sight, like a miniature forest of colourful wildflowers or a fruit tree in bloom. Two trees passed by their left, their branches reaching out and tangling with one another, mixing red and blue blossoms. Izzy turned her head, tracking the knotted twigs and leaves. Realising Izzy might catch her staring, Sunny snapped her gaze around to stare at the trees too. Something that had come up repeatedly in their travels that day was a tickling feeling at the back of Sunny’s neck. It only came up when she wasn’t looking at Izzy, but she was certain Izzy was looking at her. That only made sense. Sunny was fascinated by meeting a unicorn, so it stood to reason that Izzy would be fascinated by an earth pony. Clearing her throat, Sunny turned to face forward again. They had been walking through the forest for a while, and the trees had only grown wider and taller, with the ground around them becoming increasingly unkempt. It was nothing like the managed forest not far from her home. “Are we sure we know where we’re going?” Sunny asked. She used the question to look over at Izzy and her sweet smile. Izzy tilted her head and her ears twitched. “We checked the map, right?” Sunny nodded. “Yeah, but…” They did have a map, but it was broad and vague. It was what gave them the vague direction, and told them to expect the forest and a mountain but nothing beyond that. Izzy hummed and stopped, as did Sunny a few steps later. Turning around, Sunny looked Izzy over, and the unicorn sat herself down. Her hoof tapped her chin and her mouth worked silently, but Sunny could read a few of the unvoiced words. They were directions. Left. Right. Sunny was pretty sure she saw the word ‘kilometres’, too. As much as she wanted to abuse the moment to continue staring at Izzy, Sunny’s curiosity drove her to ask, “What are you doing?” One magenta eye popped open. “Retracing my steps,” she said simply before shutting the eye again. “I know how I got to Maretime Bay. I think I can figure out how to get back home from there, and I also think I might have seen some really tall mountains.” Izzy smiled and laughed through the the word ‘really’ as she stretched it out. “And that will help you figure out where we are right now?” asked Sunny. “Because I’d say we’re still pretty lost in the hills.” Both of Izzy’s eyes opened in full, and in a flash she was on her hooves facing to the right of the path, then turned her head back where they came. “Maybe! But I got the skills to figure out where we are from just that!” A hoof came up over her brow, shielding her face from the sun’s glare. “But not that way,” she added, her tone as flat and serious as Sunny figured Izzy could ever sound. It still sounded put on and forcefully deep, like she was mimicking Hitch on one of his broodier days. Izzy glanced back over her shoulder, her expression brightening up once more, and she giggled. “We just keep following the path for now. After that there’s a fork in the road and we go left for about and hour or two, and then there’s a big, big field.” Sunny stared, a lopsided grin on her face. A few more words floated through her mind, words she hadn’t thought about applying to Izzy until that moment. Adorable. Pretty. That came with an urge to want to be a little nearer to the unicorn, and before Sunny realised it her legs were obeying her subconscious. She stumbled as she halted herself, then turned her momentum away from Izzy and along the path in a motion that was somehow both awkward and elegant. “Sure.” Sunny inwardly cringed at how high her voice was all of a sudden. It even cracked. She cleared her throat and repeated herself. “Sure. Let’s go for a little longer.” Izzy either didn’t notice a thing or elected to ignore it. Sunny hoped it was the former. Instead all she did was to keep her smile and follow along beside Sunny. AffirmationLater that night, Sunny came to another conclusion about Izzy. She was remarkably resourceful. As they travelled, Sunny had found herself flagging more and more, and she realised why. She hadn’t eaten a thing that day except for a sparse breakfast. She’d had no lunch, no supper, no smoothies or snacks. Fortunately she didn’t have to tell Izzy they ought to stop for the day. Her stomach did all the talking for her, and left Sunny’s face redder than a strawberry. Izzy brought them both to a stop at a rise, and even clambered partway up a tree with Sunny’s help. She’d glanced around like a dog having heard a distant sound, then pointed in a seemingly random direction that there was a stream deeper in the forest. It was off the path, but Sunny felt like she could trust Izzy there. Not only was Izzy right about the stream, but she also found a small rise alongside it that was nice and dry. Moss grew over the face closest to the stream, and trees towered over them from every side but one, effectively supporting the earth of their little campsite and giving them some cover from the wind. With a lot of Izzy’s help, Sunny set up a fire, and when it turned out all Sunny had for food in her bag was an expired cereal bar the two went out to forage. It had been years since Sunny had actually seen edible fruit growing from trees or berries from bushes. Most of the berries she collected that night didn’t look particularly appetising, but Izzy warned her the better looking ones were usually pretty unpleasant on the stomach. When Sunny chanced across an apple tree she recalled a time when she was a filly and she had the pleasure of visiting a nearby orchard. While she got to try the fresh fruit back then, remembering the sweet crunch and juices dribbling down her chin, Izzy gave a another warning for the apples Sunny found there. After an hour or so, occasionally returning to check on the fire and to pile up the food they’d found, Sunny and Izzy settled down to rest and to eat. They talked over their meagre meal. Some of the differences of their worlds came to light; it turned out Izzy knew how to forage because that was just expected of almost anypony where she came from. She knew how to make and break camp for much the same reason, though her sense of direction was apparently pretty unique to her. According to Izzy, she just remembered odd, specific details that helped things stand out to her. As the last vestiges of the sun’s light vanished, leaving them bathed in the cool blue of the moon, Izzy turned in for the night, leaving Sunny to watch over her. Sunny was sure she hadn’t intended that to be the case. The unicorn was bizarrely comfortable in the forest, but the wind between the branches and the distant calls of nocturnal animals kept disturbing Sunny. Every time she lay her head down and shut her eyes, something else jolted her upright and sent her head and ears swivelling. One could only try and force themselves to sleep before becoming frustrated, so Sunny gave up and stared at Izzy. Faint embers glowed inside the fire between them, and it still radiated warmth. With just the tiny sparks and what little moonlight leaked through the canopy above, Izzy was barely more than a silhouette. She was a pretty darn cute silhouette, Sunny had to admit. Her face was serene, her usually soft features even softer still with her muscles fully relaxed, not even held in a smile or any number of other playful expressions. An urge to curl herself up between Izzy and the fire crept into Sunny’s mind. She sighed and rubbed an eye with her fetlock before shaking the thought away. The idea was silly. They barely knew each other, and Sunny wasn’t sure it would be any better than sleeping separated. Knowing she wasn’t going to get much sleep, Sunny decided to get some exercise instead. Movement would help wake her up a bit, and maybe make her too tired to even care about being scared. She knew it wasn’t the best idea to leave the camp but the creek bubbling and dribbling only a few feet away gave Sunny a decent landmark to follow for a short walk. She’d follow it along for a few minutes, then turn back before too long. Sunny set off, keeping her pace slow and careful while she concentrated looking down at the ground. The earth immediately beside the water was damp and clingy, made of not just soil but older, rotting plant life and bark from some of the trees. It was soft and comfortable, and she’d grown wonderfully familiar with it over the course of the day. It made her think of Izzy, and Sunny smiled to herself. She had been trying to discern what the scent that wafted off the unicorn was, and that was it. She wondered if it was some unique kind of unicorn shampoo or if Izzy was just used to sleeping on the forest floor most nights. It didn’t matter. Sunny liked the smell. The stream itself was crystal clear, bumbling over dirt and past more moss-ridden rocks and rises. She had thought about possibly damming it somewhere or using her bag as a makeshift net to catch some fish, but Sunny silently decided against it when she hadn’t seen so much as a minnow swimming in the water. Perhaps it was too shallow, and she imagined the only things living in it might be a few bugs and the occasional toad. Every now and then a bush or a tree brought Sunny away from the stream, but she easily found her way back. That was until the third bush ridden mound, as when she passed it, Sunny found the stream had all of a sudden ended. Humming to herself, Sunny decided that was as good a time as any to turn back. For the fun of it she decided to return on the other side of the stream. It ran slow and was narrow enough she could easily hop back over without any danger to herself. Yet as Sunny circled the mound, the stream showed no sign of itself. Even with the dim light Sunny was sure she should be able to make out the ditch the stream cut through the forest floor, and the babbling ought to be obvious given the dead silence of night around her. Planing her ears backward, Sunny swallowed down her fear. She was lost. She was sleepy and wandered away from the camp and was most definitely lost. Sunny turned tail and followed the mound back the other way, yet it felt like it just kept going and going and going. Once she’d passed the same knotted tree the third time in a row, Sunny was sure she had got herself turned around somewhere. Sunny drew in a deep breath that fought against an invisible band across her chest. Shutting her eyes, she planted her rump on the ground and began to think. She had to figure out what the best course of action would be. She could just wait there, but she’d be somewhere cold and quite possibly not safe, and without the only companion she’d brought out here. She could try and find her way back to the path, but the sun had set hours ago. She wasn’t exactly sure where the moon was in the sky but judging from ghostly blue rays of light it was almost directly above her and useless as a guide. As Sunny’s mind fished for a third option to save herself, she caught the sound of rustling leaves off to her right. Her eyes opened and her head turned in one snapping motion to the sound, all with a whimper of worry. Then all the anxiety in Sunny’s chest flowed out of her when she made out a vaguely familiar silhouette, complete with a flowing mane and a single long horn. “Izzy?” Sunny asked the shadow, and the shadow giggled in response. “Oh gosh I am so lucky you found me,” Sunny said, the words tumbling out with a laugh. “I got turned around and—” The shadow darted off, and anxiety flooded Sunny’s lungs again. “Hey, wait!” she called out and bolted after it. The soft earth and slippery stones lead to Sunny’s hooves sliding, and she didn’t get up to speed as quickly as she would like. Fortunately the giggling shadow was having similar issues as its hooves slid this way and that when it manoeuvred around a bundle of roots or a gnarled looking bush. “Izzy, slow down!” Sunny yelled. The shadow turned its head but didn’t heed Sunny’s words. Instead, to Sunny’s surprise, something sprouted from the figure’s back. With two quick beats of the new limbs the figure took off upward. With her head turned skyward, Sunny didn’t see the thick tangle of bushes and roots ahead of her. One second she saw the canopy and the shadow soaring above her, then the next she was in shadow with leaves and twigs and stones all poking painfully at her sides and chest. The lurching feeling of the world falling from beneath Sunny filled her gut as she continued to tumble through the foliage. Her own shrieks and yelps echoed off the trees, while Sunny shut her eyes tight. It felt like a minute to Sunny, but it was likely only a few seconds until she came to a sudden stop. She was sore, but nothing screamed in pain at her like she expected a broken bone might. Nevertheless she remained prone on the ground and groaned while she opened her eyes up again. A bright light hurt her eyes, and she snapped them shut again. Even with her eyes shut, the light bled through them. It was consistent and unchanging, and unlike the faint rays of the moon it was comfortably hot. With a confused noise, Sunny opened her eyes again, taking care to open them slowly and let them adjust. As her her eyelids peeled they revealed a wonderflly familiar sight. She saw the smooth, brick road of the seaside boulevard back home, and the red brick archway above it. To her left were the homes and businesses she had grown up around, proudly drinking in the heat of the summer sun. That couldn’t be right, Sunny knew. She must be injured, and what she saw was just a hallucination. There was no way she could be home, or for the sun to be up. With a few quick pats over her scalp and neck, Sunny confirmed she had no head wounds. There was no blood, on wet or cold feelings or the bump of a scrape or a cut. As she pondered over her situation, a shadow loomed over Sunny. She glanced up at its owner, and Izzy beamed down at her. “Hi new friend!” declared Izzy, triumphantly. Puzzlement filled Sunny’s head, pulling her lips into a thin smile. She’d already done this yesterday. She recalled the excitement overriding her fear as she leapt to her feet at the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of meeting a unicorn. Right that moment, Sunny was as far as she could be from excited. “Your face is kinda cute looking shaped like that,” Izzy said, then set her jaw and furrowed her brow to a crease above her nose, presumably copying Sunny’s expression. A second later Izzy snorted and smiled again. Blinking, Sunny rose to her hooves. She leaned in, sniffed, and Izzy’s fresh earth smell filled her nose. Another blink, and Sunny slowly walked around Izzy who, to Sunny’s further surprise and delight, kept perfectly still. “What’chu doing?” Izzy asked, tilting her head back and letting her curly blue locks bunch up over her shoulders. “I’m uh…” Sunny fell silent, and considered her next words. It wasn’t a long thought. She could either admit she was confused or enjoy the moment. She decided on the latter. “I’m just enjoying the view” Sunny said, firing off a grin back at Izzy. The unicorn giggled, bringing a hoof in front of her face as she shifted to look over her, tracking Sunny along. “I haven’t met a lot of unicorns. Any, in fact.” Sunny came to a stop in front of Izzy. “But I’d say you’re the prettiest of them.” Another giggle bubbled out of Izzy’s throat. “Wow, where did all this come from.” “I dunno,” Sunny admitted. “Just feels right, like I should have said that earlier.” Izzy leaned in, letting her eyelids droop down, and Sunny mirrored her. They stared at one another for a few minutes, then Sunny flared her nostrils and breathed out. An intense urge, a feeling she hadn’t anticipated overwhelmed her. It pulled her eyes down to Izzy’s lips, thinned in her grin but still so gorgeous. That urge pushed Sunny forward. Something similar must have nudged Izzy too, and the pair close the gap between them, right until they— A snapping twig jerked Sunny’s head up, and the forest came into view. Peach sunlight drifted through the trees and illuminated the foliage around them. The stream quietly babbled away, and Izzy let out a sleepy murmur from her place on the other side of the dead campfire “Ah.” The noise escaped Sunny’s mouth before she could stop it, though aside from a little in Izzy’s ears it seemed Sunny hadn’t disturbed her. The vivid image of the dream lingered in Sunny’s mind as she lay back down. She kept her eyes on Izzy, and the urge from the night remained ever present in her chest, flooding into her limbs and warming her cheeks. Lowering her voice to a mumble, Sunny spoke again, entirely to herself. “I’m going to need to do something about that.” ActualisationThe rest of the day was difficult for Sunny. Of course she was stressed over meeting pegasi for the first time. A reminder of that towered over verdant field of rolling hills, a mountain that pierced the sky and divided the clouds that past it by. Up there, somewhere, was Zephyr Heights. The mountain and its surrounding siblings matched the sketches she had in her journal. That said, there were also other reasons that day was difficult. The weird night left her feeling exhausted, and she felt it in her legs the most. They wanted nothing more than to fold underneath her and let Sunny nap for another few hours. Fortunately Sunny had the excitable Izzy to energise and distract her, a task that the unicorn succeeded in extremely well. After a sluggish morning, not long after lunch, Izzy ran ahead. Despite the fatigue steeped in every muscle, Sunny found herself spurred on and able to keep up with the unicorn. Sunny watched Izzy’s hind legs work hard, kicking up clods of dirt as she galloped ahead, and more things stood out to her. Izzy wasn’t scrawny like Sunny had expected unicorns to be. She was actually kind of large, thick barrelled and thick legged, but she wasn’t fat; it was more muscle, and a general thickness to the mare. She supposed those muscles and her long strides are what gave Sunny a run for her bits. Some time ago, Sunny had started wheezing a little. It wasn’t harsh, but it was audible, a manifestation of the scratching at the back of her throat. Izzy must have noticed, because she called back, “You doing okay? You look kinda exhausted!” The attention directed onto Sunny made her acutely aware of where she was staring and what she was thinking about, and she looked into Izzy’s eyes and tried her darnedest to block out her flank. “I’m good! I’m good!” she yelled between her breaths. Sunny reminded herself to get more cardio exercises in when she got home. If she got home. Maybe if she moved in with Izzy, or Izzy moved in with her. That thought made Sunny stumble. Fortunately she kept her footing and managed to recover, resuming her pursuit. On and on they went, alternating between running and walking, until the sun began to set and the stars filled the sky. The moon took over for the sun, appearing behind one of the smaller mountains and leaving the field in a cool, cozy glow. Izzy came to a halt atop one more grassy hill with the final stretch laid out before them. She glanced between the mountain and Sunny, grinning from ear to ear and gesturing to Sunny to form up beside her. Sunny was more than happy to do so, and took her spot next to Izzy. The day’s exertion burned in her legs and lungs, the heat built up to a near boiling point that mixed pleasantly with the cool, night air. Izzy must have been similarly exhausted as her breathing was almost as heavy and ragged as Sunny’s, and she also had a raw, tired heat emanating off of her. It was alluring. After what felt like a lifetime watching a piece of art just be what it was, Sunny drew her gaze toward the mountain. It was steep, with jagged outcroppings and razor sharp peaks lining its sides. The grass thinned out maybe a kilometre ahead of them, fading away to dirt and rock. They were almost there, yet Sunny couldn’t stop herself from looking away from her actual goal and back toward her companion. For a moment the breeze stilled, and the glade fell silent. Izzy practically glowed in the moonlight, a blinding beacon that blessed Sunny with her mere existence. Sunny wanted nothing more than to bathe in that moment, to enjoy Izzy’s presence and the knowledge they were close to finishing their quest. Yet the little promise she made herself earlier that morning nagged at the back of her mind. It was right to, Sunny knew. She couldn’t simply let it fester and bug her, or let it grow into a frustrating little obsession. Sunny hesitated, simply opening and shutting her mouth. What if she weirded Izzy out? What if the unicorn said no, or turned out to actually be nasty like the others believe? Other earth ponies were capable of being mean, after all. Maybe Izzy was too, and hadn’t shown her true colours yet. While Sunny was busy burying the silly thoughts down, Izzy spoke. “We should probably get some rest before climbing that thing, huh?” The question brought Sunny’s mind to a screeching halt like a tram after the emergency brake was pulled. She was so focused on herself that the question and its context didn’t connect up at first. A sound mixed between sputtering and umming came out of Sunny’s mouth as she scrambled to catch up to reality. Izzy blinked. “I’ll take that as a yes!” Words and reality synced up at last in Sunny’s mind, and she gave a delayed, stuttered nod. “Y-yeah, sure. I think I still got some wood in my bag…” “Alrighty! At least we’ll be warm for a little bit. Though if you get chilly later on don’t be afraid to use me for warmth.” Sunny was sure the moonlight was playing tricks on her when she saw Izzy wink then take off down the hill again. She lingered for a moment before playing her favourite game of catchup with the unicorn, even though her legs continued to scream at her, and her throat begged her to stop breathing. The last stretch was short, and their downhill run turned into an uphill climb with Izzy leading the way. Her eyes darted around, looking at the ground as much as at the rocky walls around them. It was the same darting glance that she had the night before, though it took longer before her eyes settled on their next camp. There wasn’t an exclamation this time, just a purposeful walk up a shallower incline that eventually lead to a flattened ledge in the stone. There was a drop ahead of her, and as Izzy trotted around the space, Sunny took a brief moment to glance over the edge at the boulder that might have occupied the space where she currently stood. “A little breezy,” Izzy said, “but it’ll do. It would be nice to have a tree or some tents, but I guess that wouldn’t be as fun.” She sat herself down against a stone face that shielded them from the rest of the mountain. “The ground is dry at least, and the view…!” Izzy’s whistle carried through the night. It made Sunny jump, and she shot a glance over her shoulder. She almost scolded the unicorn, but she realised it would be hard to sneak up on either of them here. Sunny felt rather small yet proud they had crossed that field in just a day. The forest beyond carried onto the horizon and she saw no hint of Maretime bay or the sea. An ache spread through Sunny’s chest, a pull back down the mountainside, back across the field and the forest. She yearned for her own bed, for an old friend and familiar faces. Then the heart-tugging feeling pulled her toward Izzy, who had taken it upon herself to stand back up and rifle through Sunny’s bag, pulling out their meagre firewood and the hanky-wrapped berries. Izzy laid them out, piling the few twigs and thicker pieces of wood up while popping a berry between her lips. She chewed absently as she gathered some nearby stones, using them to break down some of the wood into kindling. The wrinkling of her nose, her scrunched eyebrows and pouted lips were such a delight to watch, and moreso when the unicorn inevitably summoned light to their little campsite, putting her beauty into contrast with itself. Izzy’s bright, borderline luminous grin made the ache in Sunny’s heart sing. Izzy must have noticed Sunny huffing through her nose, as she lifted her gaze from the fire to look at her. “Something the matter?” asked Izzy. Sunny couldn’t find the words right away, but Izzy didn’t fill in the silence. She let it hang, yet it didn’t feel awkward. The look Izzy gave Sunny was one filled with patience. Several times in that eternal minute did Sunny breathe in, open her mouth, then click it shut with a sigh. Her lips subtly worked through the words she considered in-between each big breath, until a suitable sentence finally coalesced. Izzy popped another berry into her gob. “This is going to sound a little silly,” Sunny started, “but I think I like you.” Izzy giggled. “Well I would have thought so! It’d be kind of silly to go running into the woods with someone you didn’t like after all.” The smile that spread across Sunny’s face was born out of humour at Izzy’s innocence, and a mote of irritation. “That’s not quite what I meant.” Another berry went in, and Izzy spoke around it. “Oh I know. You like-like me, right? I always found it kind of funny others find it hard to talk about that sort of stuff for others. I never quite got that.” A moment’s silence passed between them. Disbelief mixed with the affection, turning into hope that made Sunny’s heart swell. “…You know?” With a nod, Izzy continued. “Yeah! I remember back home sometimes I’d see ponies spending time together and one of them would get this look when they thought the others weren’t looking. It’s always a cute look, and especially on you.” Sunny was pretty sure her heart quite literally leapt into her throat, as she made a choking, coughing sound. To her credit, Izzy muttered out an, “Oops!” and sheepishly brought a hoof to cover her face. “So I was that obvious?” Sunny said, her voice a little creaky as she recovered. “Eeyup! Pretty much since we met, I knew you like-liked me like that.” Despite her smile, Sunny’s forehead ached as her brows pulled together in a tight enough knot it could hold a ship in place. “I only figured it out this morning.” “I guess I just got a good sense for these things,” Izzy said. “That said…” It felt like the ground fell out from Sunny as those words trailed off. “‘That said,’ what?” Sunny asked, the words tumbling out of her mouth like she was flailing for a ledge. This time Izzy sighed, and she moved up beside Sunny. She made her presence very well known by pressing herself against the earth pony, sending jolts through her nerves from flank to neck. “It’s not that I’m not flattered. Heck, I like you too! But…” Izzy trailed off again, and a little dart of her eyes gestured up the mountain’s face. “We are kind of on the run and about to meet a bunch of ponies we don’t actually know that much about and it might be a little early for either of us to really be considering those kinds of feelings.” Sunny hit the bottom of whatever mental hole she was falling into. Her ears pinned back against her head, and she nodded. “Right. Yeah. That makes sense.” Her eyes looked up to the clouds obscuring the peak. No starlight or lamplight pierced the fluffy curtains, but the moon kept them well lit from below as it travelled low across the horizon. And another light, albeit one less literal, shone at Sunny’s side as Izzy kissed her on the cheek. Sunny snapped her head around at the beaming brilliance that was Izzy Moonbow. “That’s not to say I’m not willing to try when this is done. I reckon it’ll all work out in the end.” Izzy leaned over, plopping her head into the crook of Sunny’s neck. Sunny realised she hadn’t hit the bottom. She’d found her ledge. “Gonna drag me on another adventure?” Sunny said, her voice now bright as her namesake. Izzy giggled. “Yeah. Something like that.”
RealisationSunny hated to admit it, but she was lost. Maybe not entirely lost, just mostly lost. She knew she was somewhere east of Maretime Bay as the sun warmed her back. Other than that, however, she wouldn’t be able to place herself on a map. Not knowing where she was left her worried. It wasn’t the first time she had ventured beyond Maretime Bay, but she hadn’t wandered further than the rolling hills and well kept forests immediately outside the town. Along her way, rocks and cliffs gave way to flat, verdant plains, and eventually to a thick forest. The path grew less direct and meandered more as it followed the contours of the earth. It was increasingly difficult to actually walk along, having become overgrown by bushes and grass reclaiming the dirt track. Despite not knowing precisely where she was, Sunny that worried. Walking alongside her, humming away without a care, was Izzy Moonbow. Izzy was part of the reason Sunny was lost. Ignoring the fact that it was Izzy’s arrival in Maretime Bay that set her off on this adventure, she also hadn’t taken her eyes off the unicorn since. Like a constellation in a sapphire nebula the stones that hung at the back of her mane twinkled through her locks. Sunny had plenty of words to describe Izzy, and wasn’t sure which she’d like to use most. Fascinating. Scatterbrained. Kinda scary, if just because her horn was sharp as Tartarus. Izzy’s attention was on the world around them. Her eyes cast themselves side to side, and occasional words of wonder spilled from her lips when she saw a particularly appealing sight, like a miniature forest of colourful wildflowers or a fruit tree in bloom. Two trees passed by their left, their branches reaching out and tangling with one another, mixing red and blue blossoms. Izzy turned her head, tracking the knotted twigs and leaves. Realising Izzy might catch her staring, Sunny snapped her gaze around to stare at the trees too. Something that had come up repeatedly in their travels that day was a tickling feeling at the back of Sunny’s neck. It only came up when she wasn’t looking at Izzy, but she was certain Izzy was looking at her. That only made sense. Sunny was fascinated by meeting a unicorn, so it stood to reason that Izzy would be fascinated by an earth pony. Clearing her throat, Sunny turned to face forward again. They had been walking through the forest for a while, and the trees had only grown wider and taller, with the ground around them becoming increasingly unkempt. It was nothing like the managed forest not far from her home. “Are we sure we know where we’re going?” Sunny asked. She used the question to look over at Izzy and her sweet smile. Izzy tilted her head and her ears twitched. “We checked the map, right?” Sunny nodded. “Yeah, but…” They did have a map, but it was broad and vague. It was what gave them the vague direction, and told them to expect the forest and a mountain but nothing beyond that. Izzy hummed and stopped, as did Sunny a few steps later. Turning around, Sunny looked Izzy over, and the unicorn sat herself down. Her hoof tapped her chin and her mouth worked silently, but Sunny could read a few of the unvoiced words. They were directions. Left. Right. Sunny was pretty sure she saw the word ‘kilometres’, too. As much as she wanted to abuse the moment to continue staring at Izzy, Sunny’s curiosity drove her to ask, “What are you doing?” One magenta eye popped open. “Retracing my steps,” she said simply before shutting the eye again. “I know how I got to Maretime Bay. I think I can figure out how to get back home from there, and I also think I might have seen some really tall mountains.” Izzy smiled and laughed through the the word ‘really’ as she stretched it out. “And that will help you figure out where we are right now?” asked Sunny. “Because I’d say we’re still pretty lost in the hills.” Both of Izzy’s eyes opened in full, and in a flash she was on her hooves facing to the right of the path, then turned her head back where they came. “Maybe! But I got the skills to figure out where we are from just that!” A hoof came up over her brow, shielding her face from the sun’s glare. “But not that way,” she added, her tone as flat and serious as Sunny figured Izzy could ever sound. It still sounded put on and forcefully deep, like she was mimicking Hitch on one of his broodier days. Izzy glanced back over her shoulder, her expression brightening up once more, and she giggled. “We just keep following the path for now. After that there’s a fork in the road and we go left for about and hour or two, and then there’s a big, big field.” Sunny stared, a lopsided grin on her face. A few more words floated through her mind, words she hadn’t thought about applying to Izzy until that moment. Adorable. Pretty. That came with an urge to want to be a little nearer to the unicorn, and before Sunny realised it her legs were obeying her subconscious. She stumbled as she halted herself, then turned her momentum away from Izzy and along the path in a motion that was somehow both awkward and elegant. “Sure.” Sunny inwardly cringed at how high her voice was all of a sudden. It even cracked. She cleared her throat and repeated herself. “Sure. Let’s go for a little longer.” Izzy either didn’t notice a thing or elected to ignore it. Sunny hoped it was the former. Instead all she did was to keep her smile and follow along beside Sunny.
AffirmationLater that night, Sunny came to another conclusion about Izzy. She was remarkably resourceful. As they travelled, Sunny had found herself flagging more and more, and she realised why. She hadn’t eaten a thing that day except for a sparse breakfast. She’d had no lunch, no supper, no smoothies or snacks. Fortunately she didn’t have to tell Izzy they ought to stop for the day. Her stomach did all the talking for her, and left Sunny’s face redder than a strawberry. Izzy brought them both to a stop at a rise, and even clambered partway up a tree with Sunny’s help. She’d glanced around like a dog having heard a distant sound, then pointed in a seemingly random direction that there was a stream deeper in the forest. It was off the path, but Sunny felt like she could trust Izzy there. Not only was Izzy right about the stream, but she also found a small rise alongside it that was nice and dry. Moss grew over the face closest to the stream, and trees towered over them from every side but one, effectively supporting the earth of their little campsite and giving them some cover from the wind. With a lot of Izzy’s help, Sunny set up a fire, and when it turned out all Sunny had for food in her bag was an expired cereal bar the two went out to forage. It had been years since Sunny had actually seen edible fruit growing from trees or berries from bushes. Most of the berries she collected that night didn’t look particularly appetising, but Izzy warned her the better looking ones were usually pretty unpleasant on the stomach. When Sunny chanced across an apple tree she recalled a time when she was a filly and she had the pleasure of visiting a nearby orchard. While she got to try the fresh fruit back then, remembering the sweet crunch and juices dribbling down her chin, Izzy gave a another warning for the apples Sunny found there. After an hour or so, occasionally returning to check on the fire and to pile up the food they’d found, Sunny and Izzy settled down to rest and to eat. They talked over their meagre meal. Some of the differences of their worlds came to light; it turned out Izzy knew how to forage because that was just expected of almost anypony where she came from. She knew how to make and break camp for much the same reason, though her sense of direction was apparently pretty unique to her. According to Izzy, she just remembered odd, specific details that helped things stand out to her. As the last vestiges of the sun’s light vanished, leaving them bathed in the cool blue of the moon, Izzy turned in for the night, leaving Sunny to watch over her. Sunny was sure she hadn’t intended that to be the case. The unicorn was bizarrely comfortable in the forest, but the wind between the branches and the distant calls of nocturnal animals kept disturbing Sunny. Every time she lay her head down and shut her eyes, something else jolted her upright and sent her head and ears swivelling. One could only try and force themselves to sleep before becoming frustrated, so Sunny gave up and stared at Izzy. Faint embers glowed inside the fire between them, and it still radiated warmth. With just the tiny sparks and what little moonlight leaked through the canopy above, Izzy was barely more than a silhouette. She was a pretty darn cute silhouette, Sunny had to admit. Her face was serene, her usually soft features even softer still with her muscles fully relaxed, not even held in a smile or any number of other playful expressions. An urge to curl herself up between Izzy and the fire crept into Sunny’s mind. She sighed and rubbed an eye with her fetlock before shaking the thought away. The idea was silly. They barely knew each other, and Sunny wasn’t sure it would be any better than sleeping separated. Knowing she wasn’t going to get much sleep, Sunny decided to get some exercise instead. Movement would help wake her up a bit, and maybe make her too tired to even care about being scared. She knew it wasn’t the best idea to leave the camp but the creek bubbling and dribbling only a few feet away gave Sunny a decent landmark to follow for a short walk. She’d follow it along for a few minutes, then turn back before too long. Sunny set off, keeping her pace slow and careful while she concentrated looking down at the ground. The earth immediately beside the water was damp and clingy, made of not just soil but older, rotting plant life and bark from some of the trees. It was soft and comfortable, and she’d grown wonderfully familiar with it over the course of the day. It made her think of Izzy, and Sunny smiled to herself. She had been trying to discern what the scent that wafted off the unicorn was, and that was it. She wondered if it was some unique kind of unicorn shampoo or if Izzy was just used to sleeping on the forest floor most nights. It didn’t matter. Sunny liked the smell. The stream itself was crystal clear, bumbling over dirt and past more moss-ridden rocks and rises. She had thought about possibly damming it somewhere or using her bag as a makeshift net to catch some fish, but Sunny silently decided against it when she hadn’t seen so much as a minnow swimming in the water. Perhaps it was too shallow, and she imagined the only things living in it might be a few bugs and the occasional toad. Every now and then a bush or a tree brought Sunny away from the stream, but she easily found her way back. That was until the third bush ridden mound, as when she passed it, Sunny found the stream had all of a sudden ended. Humming to herself, Sunny decided that was as good a time as any to turn back. For the fun of it she decided to return on the other side of the stream. It ran slow and was narrow enough she could easily hop back over without any danger to herself. Yet as Sunny circled the mound, the stream showed no sign of itself. Even with the dim light Sunny was sure she should be able to make out the ditch the stream cut through the forest floor, and the babbling ought to be obvious given the dead silence of night around her. Planing her ears backward, Sunny swallowed down her fear. She was lost. She was sleepy and wandered away from the camp and was most definitely lost. Sunny turned tail and followed the mound back the other way, yet it felt like it just kept going and going and going. Once she’d passed the same knotted tree the third time in a row, Sunny was sure she had got herself turned around somewhere. Sunny drew in a deep breath that fought against an invisible band across her chest. Shutting her eyes, she planted her rump on the ground and began to think. She had to figure out what the best course of action would be. She could just wait there, but she’d be somewhere cold and quite possibly not safe, and without the only companion she’d brought out here. She could try and find her way back to the path, but the sun had set hours ago. She wasn’t exactly sure where the moon was in the sky but judging from ghostly blue rays of light it was almost directly above her and useless as a guide. As Sunny’s mind fished for a third option to save herself, she caught the sound of rustling leaves off to her right. Her eyes opened and her head turned in one snapping motion to the sound, all with a whimper of worry. Then all the anxiety in Sunny’s chest flowed out of her when she made out a vaguely familiar silhouette, complete with a flowing mane and a single long horn. “Izzy?” Sunny asked the shadow, and the shadow giggled in response. “Oh gosh I am so lucky you found me,” Sunny said, the words tumbling out with a laugh. “I got turned around and—” The shadow darted off, and anxiety flooded Sunny’s lungs again. “Hey, wait!” she called out and bolted after it. The soft earth and slippery stones lead to Sunny’s hooves sliding, and she didn’t get up to speed as quickly as she would like. Fortunately the giggling shadow was having similar issues as its hooves slid this way and that when it manoeuvred around a bundle of roots or a gnarled looking bush. “Izzy, slow down!” Sunny yelled. The shadow turned its head but didn’t heed Sunny’s words. Instead, to Sunny’s surprise, something sprouted from the figure’s back. With two quick beats of the new limbs the figure took off upward. With her head turned skyward, Sunny didn’t see the thick tangle of bushes and roots ahead of her. One second she saw the canopy and the shadow soaring above her, then the next she was in shadow with leaves and twigs and stones all poking painfully at her sides and chest. The lurching feeling of the world falling from beneath Sunny filled her gut as she continued to tumble through the foliage. Her own shrieks and yelps echoed off the trees, while Sunny shut her eyes tight. It felt like a minute to Sunny, but it was likely only a few seconds until she came to a sudden stop. She was sore, but nothing screamed in pain at her like she expected a broken bone might. Nevertheless she remained prone on the ground and groaned while she opened her eyes up again. A bright light hurt her eyes, and she snapped them shut again. Even with her eyes shut, the light bled through them. It was consistent and unchanging, and unlike the faint rays of the moon it was comfortably hot. With a confused noise, Sunny opened her eyes again, taking care to open them slowly and let them adjust. As her her eyelids peeled they revealed a wonderflly familiar sight. She saw the smooth, brick road of the seaside boulevard back home, and the red brick archway above it. To her left were the homes and businesses she had grown up around, proudly drinking in the heat of the summer sun. That couldn’t be right, Sunny knew. She must be injured, and what she saw was just a hallucination. There was no way she could be home, or for the sun to be up. With a few quick pats over her scalp and neck, Sunny confirmed she had no head wounds. There was no blood, on wet or cold feelings or the bump of a scrape or a cut. As she pondered over her situation, a shadow loomed over Sunny. She glanced up at its owner, and Izzy beamed down at her. “Hi new friend!” declared Izzy, triumphantly. Puzzlement filled Sunny’s head, pulling her lips into a thin smile. She’d already done this yesterday. She recalled the excitement overriding her fear as she leapt to her feet at the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of meeting a unicorn. Right that moment, Sunny was as far as she could be from excited. “Your face is kinda cute looking shaped like that,” Izzy said, then set her jaw and furrowed her brow to a crease above her nose, presumably copying Sunny’s expression. A second later Izzy snorted and smiled again. Blinking, Sunny rose to her hooves. She leaned in, sniffed, and Izzy’s fresh earth smell filled her nose. Another blink, and Sunny slowly walked around Izzy who, to Sunny’s further surprise and delight, kept perfectly still. “What’chu doing?” Izzy asked, tilting her head back and letting her curly blue locks bunch up over her shoulders. “I’m uh…” Sunny fell silent, and considered her next words. It wasn’t a long thought. She could either admit she was confused or enjoy the moment. She decided on the latter. “I’m just enjoying the view” Sunny said, firing off a grin back at Izzy. The unicorn giggled, bringing a hoof in front of her face as she shifted to look over her, tracking Sunny along. “I haven’t met a lot of unicorns. Any, in fact.” Sunny came to a stop in front of Izzy. “But I’d say you’re the prettiest of them.” Another giggle bubbled out of Izzy’s throat. “Wow, where did all this come from.” “I dunno,” Sunny admitted. “Just feels right, like I should have said that earlier.” Izzy leaned in, letting her eyelids droop down, and Sunny mirrored her. They stared at one another for a few minutes, then Sunny flared her nostrils and breathed out. An intense urge, a feeling she hadn’t anticipated overwhelmed her. It pulled her eyes down to Izzy’s lips, thinned in her grin but still so gorgeous. That urge pushed Sunny forward. Something similar must have nudged Izzy too, and the pair close the gap between them, right until they— A snapping twig jerked Sunny’s head up, and the forest came into view. Peach sunlight drifted through the trees and illuminated the foliage around them. The stream quietly babbled away, and Izzy let out a sleepy murmur from her place on the other side of the dead campfire “Ah.” The noise escaped Sunny’s mouth before she could stop it, though aside from a little in Izzy’s ears it seemed Sunny hadn’t disturbed her. The vivid image of the dream lingered in Sunny’s mind as she lay back down. She kept her eyes on Izzy, and the urge from the night remained ever present in her chest, flooding into her limbs and warming her cheeks. Lowering her voice to a mumble, Sunny spoke again, entirely to herself. “I’m going to need to do something about that.”
ActualisationThe rest of the day was difficult for Sunny. Of course she was stressed over meeting pegasi for the first time. A reminder of that towered over verdant field of rolling hills, a mountain that pierced the sky and divided the clouds that past it by. Up there, somewhere, was Zephyr Heights. The mountain and its surrounding siblings matched the sketches she had in her journal. That said, there were also other reasons that day was difficult. The weird night left her feeling exhausted, and she felt it in her legs the most. They wanted nothing more than to fold underneath her and let Sunny nap for another few hours. Fortunately Sunny had the excitable Izzy to energise and distract her, a task that the unicorn succeeded in extremely well. After a sluggish morning, not long after lunch, Izzy ran ahead. Despite the fatigue steeped in every muscle, Sunny found herself spurred on and able to keep up with the unicorn. Sunny watched Izzy’s hind legs work hard, kicking up clods of dirt as she galloped ahead, and more things stood out to her. Izzy wasn’t scrawny like Sunny had expected unicorns to be. She was actually kind of large, thick barrelled and thick legged, but she wasn’t fat; it was more muscle, and a general thickness to the mare. She supposed those muscles and her long strides are what gave Sunny a run for her bits. Some time ago, Sunny had started wheezing a little. It wasn’t harsh, but it was audible, a manifestation of the scratching at the back of her throat. Izzy must have noticed, because she called back, “You doing okay? You look kinda exhausted!” The attention directed onto Sunny made her acutely aware of where she was staring and what she was thinking about, and she looked into Izzy’s eyes and tried her darnedest to block out her flank. “I’m good! I’m good!” she yelled between her breaths. Sunny reminded herself to get more cardio exercises in when she got home. If she got home. Maybe if she moved in with Izzy, or Izzy moved in with her. That thought made Sunny stumble. Fortunately she kept her footing and managed to recover, resuming her pursuit. On and on they went, alternating between running and walking, until the sun began to set and the stars filled the sky. The moon took over for the sun, appearing behind one of the smaller mountains and leaving the field in a cool, cozy glow. Izzy came to a halt atop one more grassy hill with the final stretch laid out before them. She glanced between the mountain and Sunny, grinning from ear to ear and gesturing to Sunny to form up beside her. Sunny was more than happy to do so, and took her spot next to Izzy. The day’s exertion burned in her legs and lungs, the heat built up to a near boiling point that mixed pleasantly with the cool, night air. Izzy must have been similarly exhausted as her breathing was almost as heavy and ragged as Sunny’s, and she also had a raw, tired heat emanating off of her. It was alluring. After what felt like a lifetime watching a piece of art just be what it was, Sunny drew her gaze toward the mountain. It was steep, with jagged outcroppings and razor sharp peaks lining its sides. The grass thinned out maybe a kilometre ahead of them, fading away to dirt and rock. They were almost there, yet Sunny couldn’t stop herself from looking away from her actual goal and back toward her companion. For a moment the breeze stilled, and the glade fell silent. Izzy practically glowed in the moonlight, a blinding beacon that blessed Sunny with her mere existence. Sunny wanted nothing more than to bathe in that moment, to enjoy Izzy’s presence and the knowledge they were close to finishing their quest. Yet the little promise she made herself earlier that morning nagged at the back of her mind. It was right to, Sunny knew. She couldn’t simply let it fester and bug her, or let it grow into a frustrating little obsession. Sunny hesitated, simply opening and shutting her mouth. What if she weirded Izzy out? What if the unicorn said no, or turned out to actually be nasty like the others believe? Other earth ponies were capable of being mean, after all. Maybe Izzy was too, and hadn’t shown her true colours yet. While Sunny was busy burying the silly thoughts down, Izzy spoke. “We should probably get some rest before climbing that thing, huh?” The question brought Sunny’s mind to a screeching halt like a tram after the emergency brake was pulled. She was so focused on herself that the question and its context didn’t connect up at first. A sound mixed between sputtering and umming came out of Sunny’s mouth as she scrambled to catch up to reality. Izzy blinked. “I’ll take that as a yes!” Words and reality synced up at last in Sunny’s mind, and she gave a delayed, stuttered nod. “Y-yeah, sure. I think I still got some wood in my bag…” “Alrighty! At least we’ll be warm for a little bit. Though if you get chilly later on don’t be afraid to use me for warmth.” Sunny was sure the moonlight was playing tricks on her when she saw Izzy wink then take off down the hill again. She lingered for a moment before playing her favourite game of catchup with the unicorn, even though her legs continued to scream at her, and her throat begged her to stop breathing. The last stretch was short, and their downhill run turned into an uphill climb with Izzy leading the way. Her eyes darted around, looking at the ground as much as at the rocky walls around them. It was the same darting glance that she had the night before, though it took longer before her eyes settled on their next camp. There wasn’t an exclamation this time, just a purposeful walk up a shallower incline that eventually lead to a flattened ledge in the stone. There was a drop ahead of her, and as Izzy trotted around the space, Sunny took a brief moment to glance over the edge at the boulder that might have occupied the space where she currently stood. “A little breezy,” Izzy said, “but it’ll do. It would be nice to have a tree or some tents, but I guess that wouldn’t be as fun.” She sat herself down against a stone face that shielded them from the rest of the mountain. “The ground is dry at least, and the view…!” Izzy’s whistle carried through the night. It made Sunny jump, and she shot a glance over her shoulder. She almost scolded the unicorn, but she realised it would be hard to sneak up on either of them here. Sunny felt rather small yet proud they had crossed that field in just a day. The forest beyond carried onto the horizon and she saw no hint of Maretime bay or the sea. An ache spread through Sunny’s chest, a pull back down the mountainside, back across the field and the forest. She yearned for her own bed, for an old friend and familiar faces. Then the heart-tugging feeling pulled her toward Izzy, who had taken it upon herself to stand back up and rifle through Sunny’s bag, pulling out their meagre firewood and the hanky-wrapped berries. Izzy laid them out, piling the few twigs and thicker pieces of wood up while popping a berry between her lips. She chewed absently as she gathered some nearby stones, using them to break down some of the wood into kindling. The wrinkling of her nose, her scrunched eyebrows and pouted lips were such a delight to watch, and moreso when the unicorn inevitably summoned light to their little campsite, putting her beauty into contrast with itself. Izzy’s bright, borderline luminous grin made the ache in Sunny’s heart sing. Izzy must have noticed Sunny huffing through her nose, as she lifted her gaze from the fire to look at her. “Something the matter?” asked Izzy. Sunny couldn’t find the words right away, but Izzy didn’t fill in the silence. She let it hang, yet it didn’t feel awkward. The look Izzy gave Sunny was one filled with patience. Several times in that eternal minute did Sunny breathe in, open her mouth, then click it shut with a sigh. Her lips subtly worked through the words she considered in-between each big breath, until a suitable sentence finally coalesced. Izzy popped another berry into her gob. “This is going to sound a little silly,” Sunny started, “but I think I like you.” Izzy giggled. “Well I would have thought so! It’d be kind of silly to go running into the woods with someone you didn’t like after all.” The smile that spread across Sunny’s face was born out of humour at Izzy’s innocence, and a mote of irritation. “That’s not quite what I meant.” Another berry went in, and Izzy spoke around it. “Oh I know. You like-like me, right? I always found it kind of funny others find it hard to talk about that sort of stuff for others. I never quite got that.” A moment’s silence passed between them. Disbelief mixed with the affection, turning into hope that made Sunny’s heart swell. “…You know?” With a nod, Izzy continued. “Yeah! I remember back home sometimes I’d see ponies spending time together and one of them would get this look when they thought the others weren’t looking. It’s always a cute look, and especially on you.” Sunny was pretty sure her heart quite literally leapt into her throat, as she made a choking, coughing sound. To her credit, Izzy muttered out an, “Oops!” and sheepishly brought a hoof to cover her face. “So I was that obvious?” Sunny said, her voice a little creaky as she recovered. “Eeyup! Pretty much since we met, I knew you like-liked me like that.” Despite her smile, Sunny’s forehead ached as her brows pulled together in a tight enough knot it could hold a ship in place. “I only figured it out this morning.” “I guess I just got a good sense for these things,” Izzy said. “That said…” It felt like the ground fell out from Sunny as those words trailed off. “‘That said,’ what?” Sunny asked, the words tumbling out of her mouth like she was flailing for a ledge. This time Izzy sighed, and she moved up beside Sunny. She made her presence very well known by pressing herself against the earth pony, sending jolts through her nerves from flank to neck. “It’s not that I’m not flattered. Heck, I like you too! But…” Izzy trailed off again, and a little dart of her eyes gestured up the mountain’s face. “We are kind of on the run and about to meet a bunch of ponies we don’t actually know that much about and it might be a little early for either of us to really be considering those kinds of feelings.” Sunny hit the bottom of whatever mental hole she was falling into. Her ears pinned back against her head, and she nodded. “Right. Yeah. That makes sense.” Her eyes looked up to the clouds obscuring the peak. No starlight or lamplight pierced the fluffy curtains, but the moon kept them well lit from below as it travelled low across the horizon. And another light, albeit one less literal, shone at Sunny’s side as Izzy kissed her on the cheek. Sunny snapped her head around at the beaming brilliance that was Izzy Moonbow. “That’s not to say I’m not willing to try when this is done. I reckon it’ll all work out in the end.” Izzy leaned over, plopping her head into the crook of Sunny’s neck. Sunny realised she hadn’t hit the bottom. She’d found her ledge. “Gonna drag me on another adventure?” Sunny said, her voice now bright as her namesake. Izzy giggled. “Yeah. Something like that.”
