Sugar-Dusted Rainclouds (Icy, Open)

[Blueblood]

Gloomy saw the fear growing in Sugar eyes, and decided she didn't like the look.  Taking one more long, slurping, fortifying sip of tea, she set aside the cup, set her chin forward in determination as she stalked towards the helmet.  Almost impulsively, she took it up in her hooves, turning on her horn's magic to hold it.  There was a bit of a shiver as she felt some inward mechanism respond to it-

 

And the little red bulb on top turned on with a cute *chirp!*  That was it.  The whole bathos of the situation caused Gloomy to collapse into the giggles for the first time in... years, if ever.  "Heehehe, it's... it's a magic detector!  That's actually really neat!"  In an effervescent, impish mood, she lifted up the helmet to put it back on Sugar's head.  "Let's see how you look in it now!"

[IceStorm]

~~~Sugar Moonlight~~~

 

 

 

Sugar watched intently while Gloomy started using her magic on the device. To be completely honest, she wasn't sure what she should expect. The device could be a dud and do nothing, it the device could be a catalyst and explode in dramatic magical fashion. Her face took on an 'oh my' look on it when the magic reacted with the device. The only thing they happened was the light on the top came on and there was a little chirp can from it. She heard Gloomy start giggling so much that she collapsed, as she said that it was a magic detector. 

 

Sugar couldn't help but join the giggle fit as the sheer ridiculousness of the device hit her. "Well. That is certainly interesting... And useful if we're going to be adventuring! I don't know if it will detect ambient magic, but it might. And that could help us find some amazing, or possibly dangerous, items. Items that might help us figure out how to start getting rebuilding things from the past!" she said, watching as Gloomy lifted the device, wanting to see how she looked in the device now. She would nod and giggle. "Okay! It doesn't look dangerous anymore! If anything it looks silly," she giggled again.

[Blueblood]

Gloomy nodded, still smiling, though not quite as strongly, mostly because the unfamiliar motion made her facial muscles a little sore.  She needed more practice, but was sure that Sugar would give her more opportunities.  "I guess Canterlogic does make useful stuff, then?  They just advertise it badly.  Like how the fronts we put on to impress ponies are not the ways that will actually get them to like us?"

 

Something deep was there, she could sense it.  Fuel for another poem... she had so many now, she would need a quiet afternoon in a lonely room to get out all the lines.  For now, though, she was content to watch the model back in her element.  "I wonder... does it provide any protection from magic when you wear it, too?"  If Gloomy's soul wasn't filled to the brim with effervescence, she might not have attempted to test that with a surprise magical poke from behind.  But there was only one way to find out, right?  She couldn't let Sugar actually see it coming, that would have ruined the test!

[IceStorm]

~~~Sugar Moonlight~~~

 

 

Sugar nodded over again when Gloomy mentioned that maybe the stuff that Canterlogic made wasn't useless, bit just misadvertised. Thinking about some of the other products that they made, Sugar got to thinking. "You know, the unicorn entrapment device and the splatapult could make for good obstacle course items, or for games like capture the flag. The splatapults though would have to have water balloons though to actually make them safe...er. I still wouldn't wanna get my hoof caught in it though. I kinda wanna play that game now. Go out by the what's left of the lighthouse and get two teams together and go at it. That sounds like fun," she said with a giggle.

 

Sure then put the device back on, and she was right. It very much made her look silly. The light illuminating have the room a red glow, to before she heard Gloomy talk about how she was wondering if it actually protected ponies or just detected magic. "Well, like I said, it's never been AAIEEK!" she screeched as she felt a stinging, painful sensation in her flank. She looked back to see a small scorch mark on her flank and a small bit of red underneath it. In that instant as well she heard the device on her head chirp once more, but otherwise remain inert.

 

A part of her felt betrayed, and an even smaller part of all the fears they had been indoctrinated with started to come back. However, she also knew, especially now from that little zap, of this unicorn wanted to actually hurt her, she would have done it by now. Besides, they'd been flirty up to this point. "Buck that hurt... I guess that was one thing that we were right about. In the wrong um... Horn, unicorn magic can be very dangerous, and we also know that this device will detect, but not stop it," she says rubbing the spot that got hit. Not that most of the suit got wiped away. It wasn't too noticable other than the small dollop of red oozing like it would if she had gotten a shot from the doctor. 

[Blueblood]

The bad thing about being new to magic is that most unicorns didn't know what they could do until they tried, which also ended up meaning that what they ended up doing wasn't what they intended.  When she saw the scorch mark and the drop of red on Sugar's flank, Gloomy's expression immediately fell into an abyss of horror and sorrow.  "Oh no!  I'm sorry, I just meant to give a little poke!  I didn't know... didn't think... sorry...."

 

It was now her turn to feel incredibly guilty for an impulsive though followed through, and she was taking it hard, collapsing back with tears in her eyes and a sob in her throat.  Of course, this was all going to go wrong, how could she have been so foolish as to think otherwise?  Some ponies weren't made for happiness and sunny skies, or for friends as wonderful as Sugar Moonlight.  The clouds would always be between them...

[IceStorm]

~~~Sugar Moonlight~~~

 

 

When Sugar turned back to the mare, hearing her shaky voice, and seeing the look of sorrow and being in the verge of tears, she instantly knew that this wasn't Gloomy's intent. Not that she hadn't known that already, but hearing her apologize and say it was only supposed to be a little poke was one of the most sincere things she'd heard. That kind of emotional response wasn't something a pony could fake. She also learned another thing... Seeing Gloomy cry was definitely not on her list of things that made her happy or that she wanted to see.

 

Without any further hesitation, Sugar did the only thing that she felt that she could do to calm the unicorn down. She moved over to her, and then snatched her up into a giant hug. "Hush now. None of that. I know you weren't trying to hurt me. If you were you had ample opportunity to do so. Sure that stung a bit, but I know you weren't trying to do that, and I forgive you," she said, holding her close in her hooves. She let her own rub against Gloomy's shoulder to further accentuate that she wasn't mad or upset. She certainly wasn't going to let this get in the way of what they had already. Besides, of this goes the way most friendships do, she'd do something herself at some point that would hurt Gloomy by accident. "Besides, it's not really that noticable anymore. Just a bit sore," she added with a nuzzle. 

[Blueblood]

When was the last time Gloomy Sonnet had been hugged?

 

Today, actually.  By the very same mare hugging her now.  That was undoubtedly significant.  The unicorn leaned into the snuggle, bringing up her scarf to wipe off the tears... with her hooves, and not with magic.  It would be a bit before the spook from that situation wore off, even with Sugar Moonlight's soothing words.  "*sniff*  Thank you..."  She murmured softly, before reaching her forehooves around to hug back.  They stayed there for some time before she felt herself ready to speak again.

 

"I can cut a bandage, if you need one.  I... don't know if you'd want me to kiss it better..."  There was a blush, with that statement, as she actively tried to move the conversation back to its earlier tone.

[IceStorm]

~~~Sugar Moonlight~~~

 

 

Sugar could feel the heart beating inside the mare next to her, and she could tell that she was scared, at least at first. But then she felt Gloomy lean into the snuggling hug that she was giving her. She pulled her tighter, the more that she calmed down, content to hold her as long as she needed to be held. She felt Gloomy return the hug and felt her hooves around her own neck and she also snuggled back into it. There was no need to move. No need to think, no need to do anything other than lay there with each other.

 

When she heard Gloomy finally speak up, she couldn't help but smirk up to the mare. "Hehe, maybe not here in the living room where everypony else could see, but once we get to my bedroom later I might just have to take you up on that offer," Sugar said without ever moving from their embrace. In all honestly, she'd completely forgotten about the little spark, and figured she'd probably not even remember she had it until she sat on it later.

[Blueblood]

Things were moving so fast between them, that Gloomy's head was spinning and her heart was barely slowing.  She was held still in the middle of a secure and warm house and hug, and yet she felt whipped through the sky like a pegasus being carried away by their own wings.  Excited and scared all at once, but in a quiet, non-panicky way.  The hug helped, in that respect.  "Oh, you're... well, I guess you wouldn't have said to sleep on the couch, after all that."  She blushed deeply, only reluctantly stepping out of that hug.

 

"I wouldn't have thought, you know..."  She brushed her mane back, letting Sugar briefly see both her eyes before it fell again.  "That a journey from my home would lead me to a place like this, and a mare like you.  I... like it, and you, but... are we that close yet?"  How could she say this?  It wasn't as if she didn't want to end up where this was obviously going, but was it really a good idea to get there this fast?   Though, Sugar had made her dinner first...

[IceStorm]

~~~Sugar Moonlight~~~

 

 

Sugar would release the hug, before glancing over at the clock. The chili should be ready by now. She heard Gloomy talk, and Sugar smiled and shook her head and spoke up. "Of course not. Especially not when my bed is plenty big enough for the two of us," she smiled. 

 

 

When Gloomy asked about the possibility of them moving to fast, that she when she left her home, she wasn't expecting all of this. Sugar shrugged. "If they're is one thing I've learned from all of this... Is that fortune favors the brave and adventurous. Neither of us would be having this conversation now if Sunny had given in to all the propaganda and don't take a chance on her new friend. I'm not entirely sure what the cosmos has in store for us, but I'm willing to find out together. How fast we wanna move is honestly up to you, but with as flirty as we've been, you can't deny that you're not at least curious," she said with a smirk before nodding back to the kitchen. "Come on, the chili should be ready," she added, getting up to move to the other room. 

[Blueblood]

A bed plenty big for the two of them, eh?  "I think mine at home might be somewhat... cozier, when you come to visit.  Many of us live in houses made from the trees, so we don't have as much space as most other ponies."  Given the way that Sugar was comfortable with where things were going, and the pace at which they were going, though, Gloomy had a sneaking suspicion they wouldn't mind.

 

And really... if she was being honest with herself, Gloomy really didn't mind all that much either.  It just... felt like she was being moved, rather than moving.  "Cosmos, huh?  Do you really think you can hear the voices of the stars, even from beneath the clouded sky?"  She looked up, as if trying to spy them through the ceiling.  "I guess not.  It's just... hard for me to believe that higher forces want me to be happy.  They've never really done much for me before."

 

But despite her namesake, gloomy talk like this was not really where Gloomy wanted to linger, not tonight.  Getting up to follow Sugar, she let herself be led by the nose towards the delicious scents in the kitchen.

[IceStorm]

~~~Sugar Moonlight~~~

 

 

 

Sugar smiled a bit, both warmly and a bit sultry when Gloomy said that her bed would be a bit cozier when she can't to visit. That their houses were made out of the trees that were there, so space was limited. "That's actually kinda cool! You're literally living inside nature and helping maintain the integrity of the first by doing so! And besides, being extra cozy sounds fun," she smiled, getting a few bowls out from her cupboard. The first one she quickly grabbed her cheese wedge from the fridge and shredded a good bit into the bowl. The other she filled with crackers. "Don't know if you like cheese or crackers with your chili, but I have both of you want them," she added.

 

When Sugar talked about hearing stars and the cosmos, and that she had a small problem believing that any higher force wanted her to be happy. "Hearing stars, or knowing what's in store for anything? Na. I don't thing anypony can know that. Though with the return of magic there might eventually be some that could find out, but I'm not sure I'd want to know that answer anyway. If we know what's coming, an SSD we know it's something we wouldn't like, it would put all of our focus in trying to prevent the outcome so we would overlook something else that might have made the experience better. Honestly, I don't know what I believe in the spirits, but I know that something gave Sunny the drive to unite everypony. Something gave you a drive to come to Maretime Bay, and that something led you to me, where we are now about to indulge ourselves in hopefully, the best chili you've ever had," she smiled.

[Blueblood]

Given that it had been a bit of a surprise to find out that all ponies didn't live in some kind of tree or burrow, Gloomy wasn't sure how much credit unicorns could really take for that house design.  It was all Bridlewood had... but then again, the unicorns, and other ponies too, that lived far in the past had originally chosen to do so.  Back in the days of harmony, even.  "Heh, it's a bit large for one, but cozy for two... but you have to take what you get, and make do."  Her mood equalized, her rhymes were coming back, a little more naturally this time.  She was growing as comfortable around Sugar now as she was alone, which spoke to both a lessening of excitement and fear.  "Crackers and cheese I'll take with ease."

 

With the bowls served and steaming, Gloomy blew to cool it off as she listened to Sugar's own take on the Cosmos.  "Of all the legends I ever heard writ, maybe friendship does have a spirit."  She tested her levitation control with a spoon, taking a bite of the chili.  Her eyes grew wide at the taste, as she savored the hot bite and swallowed.  "You can put in a letter that I've never had better!"

[IceStorm]

~~~Sugar Moonlight~~~

 

 

 

Sugar would let Gloomy fill her bowl up first, as was the tradition in the earth pony way to let the guest have first dibs on the dinner dishes. Once she had, Sugar herself added cheese and the crackers and stirred them in. She was happy to see that Gloomy had done the same. Another thing the two had in common. When Gloomy mentioned something about friendship having a spirit. She thought about it for a moment, and it kinda made sense. She smiled brightly when she heard Gloomy add that this was the best chili she'd had. "Thanks! I'm glad you like it! Help yourself to as much as you'd like! If you go away hungry, it's your own fault!" She giggled.

 

"Back to the subject of friendship though... When you think about it and really dive into it... Magic left all of us when the races split apart. I don't really know what caused the initial divide, but I do know that it took reuniting the three races and rebuilding that friendship that brought magic back to begin with... So what if that magic that you can wield... Is actually the spirit of friendship granting you your power?" Sugar asked. "Actually for that matter, how did you keep your houses from growing taller with the trees? Did you have to build steps? Every so often?" Sugar missed curiously. 

[Blueblood]

Gloomy had hardly any need to be told to help herself, as the chili was too delicious to hold back on, and the journey here had been a long and hungry walk.  She felt the warm spice and sweetness fill her up over the course of two heaping bowls, complimenting the warm fuzziness in her soul that had grown over the course of the afternoon.

 

She could only shrug in response to most of Sugar's questions about magic.  "Maybe it is that spirit which gives.  Makes as much sense as anything that lives.  And the trees that we live in only grow in the branches, not the trunk.  We hadn't been able to make any more of them since... the loss of magic.  We had a lot, but after a while we had to start carving out burrows, since carving into the trees without magic just kills them.  Maybe we'll be able to learn how to do so again."

[IceStorm]

~~~Sugar Moonlight~~~

 

 

 

Sugar smiled as Gloomy enjoyed the chili that she made. Enough so that she went for a second bowl. A trend that Sugar herself followed in not too long after. She heard Gloomy comment on the spirit of friendship and magic making about as much sense as anything else might. Though given the world today, how much sense anything made anymore was up for debate. She also heard Gloomy say that the trees that they lived in only grew in the branches and not down in the trunk. That was relieving a little bit. She could imagine that it would get rather old having to make new stairs every couple of years. It was apparently a good thing as well. When she heard Gloomy add that they couldn't make any new homes without magic. At least not without killing the tree that they were moving into. 

 

"That is unfortunate, but as you said, hopefully those abilities will come back to you, and hopefully I can help with that in some way, if by nothing else helping ponies smile," she said, sitting her now empty bowl on the small coffee table in front of the sofa. "So, what else can you tell me about Bridlewood? What wear it like to grow up there?"

[Blueblood]

"Growing up?"  Gloomy thought as she took the last few bites of her second bowl, thinking back to her little fillyhood.  "It was... well, everypony there... felt the loss of magic.  We all knew we were supposed to have it, but we didn't.  But at the same time, we didn't know exactly what magic was, so every time we felt sad, we all could say that whatever we were missing was part of magic.  Not many unicorns even tried to be happy with what we had... we felt, somehow, that if we gave up feeling sad over what we'd lost, we'd eventually forget, and then never be able to get it back."

 

Though the memories were not felicitous, she was the sort of mare who could always smile at irony, so she did.  "Funny thing, the one unicorn who did try to be happy was the one who helped to bring it back.  I guess that says something too."  She put her bowl down beside Sugar's, sighing as she sat back, feeling a little stuffed.  "As for me personally... I found after a while I could get used to feeling sad... I could even express how sad everypony was, which seemed to make them feel better, if not good.  But now... now I really am starting to feel good for the first time.  And that's a little strange and scary, because I don't know how to write, well, Sunny Sonnets."

[IceStorm]

~~~Sugar Moonlight~~~

 

 

Sugar sat there and listened while Gloomy told her what it was like growing up in Bridlewood. Her ears folded back a bit as she described a foalhood that... really didn't exist. Well, it kind of did, but didn't say the same time. Living in constant sadness over something that was lost sounded horrible, and a part of her deep inside felt extremely sad as well. Sure earth ponies may not have gained anything on a surface level when magic faded from Equestria, but they didn't lose anything either. It was easy for them to continue life as normal, became it was for them. Sugar had never considered what kind of toll the loss of magic would have on the races that actually used it. To be a pegasi and suddenly not be able to fly, out a unicorn and suddenly not be able to do the things that used to... Sugar actually started tearing up at the thought. For her, it would be like as if someone had smashed the jewelry box that she had made with her grandmama. There's no words to describe that loss. 

 

She described that she herself had learned how to make others feel less bad about their situations with her poems and the like, but now they she was starting to feel happier, she wasn't sure how she was going to translate it since she wasn't good at Sunny Sonnets. "Well, I'm sure a unicorn as amazing as you would be able to adapt pretty easily. Though I am sorry that you all had to go through that. Sure, we grew up in fear, but to have your entire world flipped upside down... It's no wonder many of the other ponies were sad. It is a bit ironic though that the one that sought to be happy was the one that got it back. I'm sure there's a poem waiting to be written for that one..." She started.

 

"Growing up here in comparison... Actually makes me sad now, looking back on it. I don't know anything about the great fall out whatever term that the unicorns called whatever actually happened, but I do know that... Well for the earth ponies, since we never had magic or flight to begin with, things never really changed except for growing apart from the other tribes. By the time I shared growing up, we were already being taught that pegasi would snatch up earth ponies and use them for food, and that unicorns would fry anypony that got to close. That none of them could be trusted and if you saw one, run away. When I first saw Izzy come into town, I almost wet myself in front of everypony. Not that they would have noticed because it sent the entire town into a frenzy. A drastic overreaction now, looking back on it, but growing up it was ingrained into us that this was what we were supposed to do. 'To be scared, is to be prepared.' was the motto that we were always given. But we still had our farms, or friends, out basic lifestyles... That got robbed from you and the pegasi... And honestly it makes me sick to know that we had it easy while there were others like you that were hurting, maybe not on the outside, but definitely on the inside. At the very least, I wanna do my part to help others not hurt anymore. Deep down, were all ponies, and everypony deserves to be happy," she finished with a warm smile.

 

[Blueblood]

Sugar wasn't wrong in that the whole situation with the great loss and return of magic called for a poem; it called more loudly than anything else ever had to Gloomy.  Up until now, however, she had felt herself far too unequal to the task, the emotions that were to be evoked too foreign to her experience.  And yet, being here with this mare now, she could almost reach out and touch it, the words echoing in the back of her mind like a memory to vague to give exact verbiage...  "You are right.  If we are lucky, we won't have to wait long until it sees the light."  She smiled, thoughtfully, letting the inaudible words collect in the darkness of her mind, patient as an angler, not rushing to fish them out.

 

In the meantime, she listened to how Sugar grew up, tales of a fairly ordinary life, but one always colored by fear, as opposed to loss.  "I think, all told, I'd still rather be sad than afraid, if I had to choose.  I don't envy how you grew up."  She tilted her head as she thought about it for another second or two.  "And you know, if anything, Izzy Moonlight proves that happiness is something you can choose to be.  And if you don't choose to be happy, do you deserve to be so?"

[IceStorm]

~~~Sugar Moonlight~~~

 

 

 

Sugar felt a little conflicted when Gloomy mentioned that she didn't envy her. That Gloomy would have rather been sad all the time like they were them scared all the time. While she was glad that they had somewhat similar feelings on the matter, she was conflicted because well, she couldn't get off of the thought that she never really lost anything. Or rather if she had, she had been born so long after the loss that she never knew it. Though ina sense, more that she thought about it... Earth ponies did lose something. They lost their freedom. Their freedom to roam, travel, and seek new heights on the ground that they... We're effectively brainwashed into believing that everything was out to kill them, so leaving Maretime Bay was all but forbidden. It was never actually forbidden to do so, but there were enough perceived dangers out there that it might as well been.

 

At hearing the the proposed question, about happiness being somepony can choose, and if they don't them do they deserve to be happy. "Well, I would say that everypony deserves a chance to be happy, but at the same time a pony that's never known happiness has no idea what they are looking for or how to find it. So it can be hard to look at somepony that's thinking outside of the box and trying to do something different. I mean, we had Sunny here challenging every social norm that we had here constantly, and before I though she was just being annoying, but now that everyone is together again. And we've gotten a chance to see what we were missing, I couldn't be happier! Plus then you wouldn't be here now, and I'd be missing out on happiness that I would have never known about before," Sugar smiled. 

[Blueblood]

Gloomy pondered Sugar's answer, reflecting on how even when one wasn't happy, it was hard to recognize when another was walking along the path that would lead there.  In fact, if the one happy pony was exceptional, it seemed most ponies preferred to herd around their misery rather than follow, unless something truly spectacular happened.  "I guess then that sometimes the only thing we can decide to do is something different than our sad yesterdays, and hope that the universe takes care of the rest.  I wouldn't have thought so myself, but then I found you once I did."  And here the unicorn smiled again, looking directly into her eyes unafraid.

Soon after, though, the heavy dinner began to have its effect, and she yawned.  "Whooaaooo.... it's been a long day for me, and it's bed I long to see."  The weariness of the journey here, staved off by the excitement of a new friend, was beginning to come back in like an incoming tide, swamping wakefulness in a soft fatigue.

[IceStorm]

~~~Sugar Moonlight~~~

 

 

 

Sugar gave Gloomy a smile and a nod when she said sometimes the only thing they could do was to try something different and see where it went. That she wouldn't have thought about it herself before she had been here and found Sugar. "Indeed, and now that we have found each other, there's no road that we'll ever have to travel down alone, at least for the foreseeable future," she smiled back, watching Gloomy yawn and mention they the days trip was finally starting to take it's toll on her. 

 

"Well then, how about we continue our conversation in the bedroom then. That way if we fall asleep, we're already in the bed," she said with a warm smile. Of course they're was the added benefit of being in bed that meant that they could snuggle, but she was a bit too bashful to come out and say it. Considering all the comments they already made, it seemed silly, but now that it was too the point where something, anything could happen, a wave of nervousness hit her like a flood. Sugar lived by herself... What if she snored? She wouldn't know... What if Gloomy also snored? What if the return of magic also came with overnight magical mishaps? She wasn't about to voice any of her concerns. She was happy to share the bed, but she just hoped that she would continue to make good impressions instead on potentially one really bad one. 

[Blueblood]

Gloomy gave a sweet and tired smile at the suggestion.  "Sure.  Lead the way, sparkly grey."  She giggled slightly at her silly rhyme; she must be tired if she was so easily amused.  Still, she would be happy to follow Sugar Moonlight to a place of rest.  "Although... my grandmother used to say that a bed was good for two things, and that neither of them were talking or thinking.  It took me a while to figure out what she meant by that." 

[IceStorm]

~~~Sugar Moonlight~~~

 

 

 

Sugar couldn't help but smile when Gloomy brought up the fact that her grandmother had told her that beds were for two things and neither of them were talking or thinking. "Well, your grandmother was right there. Though there are some ponies that say their best ideas come from their dreams," she said, smirking a bit. "But something tells me that's not what you had in mind for the night." she finished with a somewhat sultry tone.

 

As they entered Sugar's bedroom, the first thing that Gloomy would notice is that despite her sparkling appearance, much like the rest of her house, her bedroom was simple. She had a vanity over in the corner and the walls were a strawberry red. Her bed was decent sized, especially for a pony her sized. She wasn't kidding when she said it would fit two. It rested on a wooden frame that was next to a small end table that held a lamp and an alarm clock.

 

Then there was a small shelf that ran along the center of both of her walls along side her bed. On them were all sorts of pictures of herself as a filly. Her mane had a lot less sparkle in it as she hasn't started using the glitter products yet, but otherwise her style hasn't changed a lot over the years. She also had pictures of her parents, Starry Moonlight and Solar Eclipse. Starry was almost a pale mix between a very light grey and a pastel blue, and her mane and tail were a deep midnight blue. Solar Eclipse was brilliant white, but more often than not in the photos had at least one grease mark on his coat somewhere, making him almost look like a dalmatian pony. 

 

On the other shelf sat the box that Sugar had shown to Gloomy earlier and there was an older pink mare with a silvery white mane in almost all of these pictures, and there were multiple where Sugar and this Pony we're together, albeit Sugar was very clearly still a young filly or an older foal. "Welp, this is where I sleep. It's not much, but it's home," she smiled before sitting on the bed and patting next to her for Gloomy to join.

[Blueblood]

One thing that was common among all pony tribes was a general level of creativity.  While not all ponies decorated everything, pretty much all ponies decorated something.  Even the most spartan house would have one shelf full of notepaper journals, stories, or drawings.  For Sugar Moonlight, her creative outlet seemed to be her own body, first and foremost, with the rest of the house mostly serving to show what its owner valued.  Family, and the keepsakes thereof.

 

It did warm Gloomy's heart to see that, even as that selfsame muscle was made to flutter by the look the other mare was giving her.  But that active heart was warring with a tired mind, and by the time the unicorn hauled herself up on the bed beside the earth pony, she was yawning yet again, unconsciously leaning into Sugar's warmth.  "Mph... it's good home... warm... not alone..."  Still in her scarf and beret, she was half asleep, dozing while leaning against her new roommate.  Seemed the journey and the chili between them had done their work.