Sunset Shimmer stepped over the mountains.
Her boots crashed into the plains on the other side, creating craters deep into the earth. Every subtle shift, every inch she moved, dug ravines under her feet. She pivoted on the tips of her toes and turned back to face her girlfriend.
Wallflower Blush was busy straddling the mountaintops. There was a kiss of red on her cheeks. She didn’t have the coordination to clear the summits as easily as Sunset did, so she settled with slowly easing herself over. It didn’t help that even the mountains couldn’t handle her weight as part of it collapsed into rubble.
Sunset hid her laugh behind her hand before stepping over and helping her girl.
“Oh, wow.” Wallflower analyzed the damage. “D-do you think they’ll mind?”
Sunset shrugged. “I’d like to think you’re making it easier for any mountain climbers.” As if to prove her point, she kicked a good hundred feet off the peak. It tumbled, rolled, and collected at the bottom. “There. They should be thanking us.”
Wallflower eased into a smile. “I guess you’re right.”
The alp had taken on a more artifical shape now. The heel of Sunset’s boot had punched a hole into the side of the mountain, a cave big enough to house a small group of campers. Wallflower did her best to shape the slopes so they appeared more natural.
“You look like nature herself,” Sunset noted.
“Stoooop.” Wallflower tossed a boulder at her, and it bounced like a pebble off Sunset’s jacket.
Sunset took her girlfriend’s hand. “I mean it. The world would be a better place if you shaped it.”
Wallflower was all giggles, which was the only defense mechanism she had for whenever Sunset started flirting. “The Earth would make a pretty nice garden.”
“I’ll help you start.”
Kneeling at the side of the mountain, Sunset pulled a pocket knife out from her jacket. She carved a heart into the terrain and signed her initials on one side. She flipped the blade and presented the handle to her girlfriend.
“Oh, okay.” Wallflower followed her lead and scratched her own initials into the heart of the mountain. It bent to her will as easily as if she was cutting into butter.
“Now if anyone asks,” Sunset said, taking the knife back, “the world’s ours. I mean, our names are on it. That’s how it works, right?”
Wallflower giggled again. “Not like anyone could tell us no.”
She was starting to like this whole being big thing.
With her hands on her hips, Sunset surveyed their handiwork. “I wonder what they’ll be saying about this hundreds of years from now.”
“Whoever wrote that,” Wallflower began her answer, slipping into Sunset’s side, “must’ve really been in love.”
“I’d write it on every moutain around the world.”
“Just one’s enough,” Wallflower said. “It makes it special.”
Sunset pushed her girlfriend against the mountain. “I know another way we can make it special.”
— ✿✿✿✿✿✿✿ —
Wallflower Blush’s hickey would go away with time. The imprints they left in the mountains would take much longer. Through centuries of erosion and weathering, rains would softly come and slowly erase almost every bit of evidence of their love. The heart in the mountains, however, would remain.
“How come you picked camping in the woods?” Sunset asked, following the bends of a river upstream.
Wallflower shrugged. “Dunno.” She stuffed her hands in the pockets of her jeans. Staring down at her shoes, she nudged a log into the river and watched it float behind them. “I like the fresh air, I guess.”
“Haven’t had a breath this free of smog since Camp Everfree.” Sunset carefully tiptoed over the river, bulldozing a few trees under her boots.
Wallflower took in the cool scent of pine. “Yeah. I guess so.”
“Oh, right. You were there, too…”
“Hey, can you help me over the river, Sunset?” Wallflower held her hand out. Sunset obliged reaching over the slight gap.
“Careful when you step over,” Sunset said. “Ground’s a little unstable.”
“Okay.”
Truth be told, the river wasn’t even that large. Wallflower just wanted to hold her girlfriend’s hand again. Sunset pulled her in a little too hard. Wallflower’s shoe scraped against the bank, slipping at the water-loosened soil. She fell into her girfriend, and the two bulldozed a few rows of trees as they tumbled over.
“S-sorry!” Wallflower squeaked.
“You’re good,” Sunset said with a groan. “Your elbow’s in my gut.”
Wallflower pulled away, standing back up high above the treetops. “Sorry.”
“You’re gooood,” Sunset said again, joining her girlfriend in the clouds. She brushed off the dirt from her clothes.
— ✿✿✿✿✿✿✿ —
Sunset was only half joking when she said that her girlfriend looked like nature. Wallflower, evergreen and full of life, disappeared into the forest as she lay on her side. They had forced themselves into a clearing just big enough for them both if they curled into each other. Neither of them really minded.
Sunset buried her face into the tangled curls of her girlfriend. “You smell like pine.”
“And you smell like sweat.”
Sunset chuckled before twirling a lock of hair and wearing it like a mustache. “We can find some lake tomorrow and take a bath — maybe shower under a waterfall.”
“Sounds magical.”
Sunset looked up at the sky and its stars high above. At their size, it was the only thing they looked up to.
“No matter how big we get,” Sunset pulled at her girlfriends wild hair, “the stars remind me that we aren’t really so large.”
Wallflower took in a deep breath. “I used to feel so small.”
“You look pretty big from here.”
Wallflower Blush laughed a laugh as old as the earth. Even then, it held the freshness of spring in it. “I’m serious. I used to feel like I didn’t matter.”
Sunset held her closer. “You always did, and you always will. I’m sorry you didn’t see it sooner. I’m sorry I didn’t see it sooner.” She held her girlfriend tighter.
“You’re good.” Wallflower eyed the campfire in front of them. It was just for show; their embrace was warm enough. “I’m okay.”
— ✿✿✿✿✿✿✿ —
Wallflower woke up to the crisp morning air. She sat up and breathed deeply, taking in the sweet smells of spring.
When she opened her eyes, she found she was alone, and the cold began to seep into her bones. She forced herself up and out of her sleeping bag, and the morning frost began to set ice crystals in her lungs, each jagged breath stabbing at her insides.
She looked to the campfire to find that it was only embers now, smoldering ashes at her feet. The trees stood high above her, and an endless forest all around her. Even the clearing she was in seemed so vast now. She feared that if she stepped into the treeline she would never be found again.
“Sunset!” Wallflower cried. She could have sworn the forest was getting bigger by the second, closing in, threatening to swallow her.
Sunset rushed out from the trees. “I’m here! Wallflower, I’m here.” She raced to her girlfriend’s side and wrapped her up in a blanket. “I’m here.”
“Wh-where’d you go?”
“Went for a walk,” Sunset admitted, her voice lame and her face twisted into a wince. “It’s okay, I’m here now.”
Wallflower nodded. “I’m s-sorry.”
“No, don’t be,” Sunset held her close. “Don’t ever be sorry for your feelings, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Just focus on the mountains for me,” Sunset whispered.
Wallflower looked up and saw the heart carved in the mountains.
