Bulk Biceps was out for a jog, his tiny white wings beating as fast as they could in order to make his workout as beneficial as possible for the Pegasus even if they were not able to support his weight and actually cause him to fly very high, when he heard the rumbling of thunder coming closer to Ponyville from some distance away. He had not heard that they were supposed to have bad weather that day or even for the rest of the week, which was why he was out for a jog and taking advantage of being outside instead of at home using his weights, so the thunder was a bit of a surprise to him. He paused mid stride for a moment with a thought of if his home was going to be okay in the incoming storm since it was made almost entirely of clouds, but did not have time to think much about it as he saw the dark clouds rolling into Ponyville at an incredibly fast rate with more thunder rolling in as a warning.
He squinted his dark red eyes at the clouds to see that they actually looked like they were rolling along the sky with little jumps of lightning going between different curves of the cloud. To Bulk Biceps, it did not look like a very safe storm coming their way, but he could not be too sure since he did not really take to the weather part of being a Pegasus. He had tried to learn when he was young, but flying nor weather were really what he had been interested in and now he was regretting not paying attention in class.
As a crash of lightning illuminated the sky at an oddly close distance and the sound of rain came to Bulk Biceps' ears in a low hiss, he took off at an awkward gallop towards where he could possibly take shelter from the incoming rain with worry clouding his mind as he did so. He was hoping to just duck into the nearest store that he came across once he entered town, but many of the stores that he passed in town were already closed and boarded up to be protected from the storm, though he wasn't sure how they had boarded up their stores so quickly without some kind of warning before it came near. Bulk Bicep began to sweat with worry as he frantically tried to find a place to go to before the storm hit.
Lightning illuminated the sky as thunder crashed once more, signaling that the storm was nearly right on top of the town and sending Bulk Biceps into a panic to find a place to take shelter before he was over taken by rain. It was then, as he was rounding a corner in the center of the town, that he saw the lights were still on at Sugar Cube Corner, the door being open as Pinkie Pie watched the storm come in with a look of wonder and excitement on her face. Bulk Biceps was in such a hurry to get inside before the massive storm hit that he ended up crashing into her in order to get inside, startling some of the ponies that had decided to take shelter in the bakery just like him.
Bulk Biceps quickly apologized to Pinkie Pie as he helped her up onto her hooves once more, embarrassed that he had been clumsy enough to knock her over even if he was in a hurry to get inside. Mr. Cake took advantage of Pinkie Pie being out of the doorway to close it up so the shop would be safely sealed up for when the storm passed over.
Bulk Biceps relaxed now that he was inside with a long sigh of relief, not that he was scared of storms or anything, he just did not like being outside during them.
Mrs. Cake offered him some cocoa to drink as the storm finally hit Ponyville and the splattering of rain could be heard on the windows and roof of Sugar Cube Corner. Bulk Biceps looked around the shop to see who all were also trapped in the bakery with him, having not cared about who was there when he first entered the small and cute shop.
Mr. and Mrs. Cake were behind the counter with their twin foals, comforting the young ponies as the storm howled outside. Pinkie Pie had disappeared already, possibly to go watch the storm somewhere else since they did not have a good view of the storm from the bottom floor. He didn't notice anypony else inside the bakery for a moment before he saw a shocking mane that he had never seen before inside Ponyville, this one being a bright red and yellow that seemed to sparkle softly in the low light in the bakery. As he looked closer at the pony with the strange mane, he noticed that her coat was a soft orange color that kind of reminded him of some of the icing that was on the cakes in the case around the shop. For a moment Bulk Biceps wondered if he should go over to introduce himself to the new pony, but thought better of it when she gave a flip of her artfully styled mane to reveal cerulean eyes that screamed that she was not to be a mare to be messed with.
Instead of going towards the strangely pretty mare, Bulk Biceps chose to back into a small corner of the shop that he could barely fit his bulging muscles into, giving the mare a great amount of room to be comfortable in. He slowly sipped on his cocoa as he looked around at the shop once more, taking in the various decorations that were clearly Pinkie Pie's doing since they were mostly made of balloons and streamers, but also the decorations that had been here before Pinkie Pie's party business really took off. He did not often admit it, but he did like cute little decorations like what could be seen in Sugar Cube Corner. No pony would ever find anything like that in his home though.
Bulk Biceps' attention returned to the present when he heard somepony come crashing down the stairs, making him along with the others in the shop jump up to see how the pony was doing. As it turned out, the pony had been Pinkie Pie and her mane was sopping wet like she had been sticking her head outside while all of this rain came pouring down.
"A-Are you okay, Pinkie?" the mare that Bulk Biceps did not know asked hesitantly, reaching out with one hoof to see if Pinkie Pie needed help getting back to her hooves. Pinkie Pie, for her part, seemed to merely shake off her fall as she stood up with a small bounce, spraying the rest of them with loose rain drops from her mane and coat.
"Yeah, no biggie," the pink mare said with a load smile before she gasped and her eyes grew very wide. Bulk Biceps took a step back from Pinkie Pie at the look since there was no telling what that gasp had meant just as Pinkie Pie reached out to grab the orange mare's face in between her two front hooves. "I just remembered why I was coming down here!"
"And that would be because...?" the soft orange mare managed to ask through her pressed face when Pinkie Pie did not continue to speak, the question coming out as a bit of a grumble since the mare's lips were pressed in a weird form. Pinkie Pie let the mare go as she began to bounce towards the stairs once more as if she hadn't really said anything to begin with. "Pinkie?"
"Oh, I just wanted to let you know that you are kind of stuck here for a loooong while," Pinkie Pie said with a shrug before she continued to bounce up the stairs and out of sight once more. Bulk Biceps couldn't help but to think that Pinkie Pie's random behavior really had no limitations to it, especially when it came to stating what was obvious to everyone by just looking out of the windows at the downpour of rain and howling wind.
"Is Pinkie always like this?" the mare suddenly asked him, giving him a strange look that he didn't quite understand but figured was a look of disbelief for the mare. Now that she was turned towards him, Bulk Biceps could tell that the mare had a small horn protruding from her mane that meant that she was a unicorn mare, a fact that made Bulk Biceps a bit nervous around the mare. He knew unicorns of course, there were plenty of unicorns in Ponyville, but an unfamiliar one could possibly mean that this unicorn was from Canterlot and Bulk Biceps knew for a fact that unicorns from Canterlot acted a lot differently than unicorns from around Ponyville did. He couldn't help but to remember the first time he had met Twilight Sparkle, no, Princess Twilight Sparkle, when she had first come to Ponyville from her home in Canterlot.
"Hello? Anyone there?" the orange mare called to him, waving a hoof in his face to snap him out of his thoughts. Bulk Biceps jumped a little bit at the sudden movement in front of his eyes, his small wings giving a flutter in an attempt at moving his large body out of the way of the strange movement. "Whoa, it's okay. Sorry, you're... Bulk Biceps, right?"
The mare was now looking at him with a strange look of recognition that worried Bulk Biceps since he had absolutely no recollection of this mare ever coming into his life. How did she know him if they had never met before? Had Pinkie told her about him or had they actually met before and he just didn't remember? He thought he would have remembered a pony that looked like she did, but it was possible that he didn't remember her since he had met a lot of new ponies in recent years with all that has happened in Ponyville since Princess Twilight came to town.
"I am," Bulk Biceps finally answered, the muscles in his broad neck straining as he nearly yelled his answer to the pony beside him, his nerves at meeting a strange unicorn for what he believed was the first time being covered up by his loud voice. He knew he should have probably used a more quiet voice since the twin foals were possibly already scared with the storm going on outside, but he was too nervous around this strange mare to control his voice that much. "Who is new pony!?"
"Oh, well, my name is Sunset Shimmer," the soft orange mare replied hesitantly as if his yelling made her feel nervous as well, one of her rear hooves shifting slightly away from him as a sign that maybe he had scared her as well. Bulk Biceps had a fleeting thought that this mare's name was quite fitting for how she looked, her colors matching the last rays of sunlight when the sun was setting in the evening and even managed to capture the slight sparkle that seemed to occur in the prettiest of sunsets. Sunset Shimmer nervously shifted her hooves and patted at the ground as she continued to introduce herself to him. "I am a friend of Twilight and am new to town."
So she was a Canterlot unicorn! Bulk Biceps couldn't help but to feel a little pleased that he had figured that part out before introductions had even been made, but something felt off at how the mare was acting, even if she was a Canterlot pony. She seemed too nervous to be talking to him, especially for the confident unicorns he had come across the few times he was able to go to Canterlot. He was curious about this pony, particularly about how she knew him, but was unsure of how to talk to her since she was so different from him.
"H-How do you know the Princess Twilight?" he finally asked in a choppy voice, trying to keep his voice down so he didn't startle her again but was having a hard time speaking smoothly without using his normal amount of volume. The mare looked startled for a moment before she blushed and gave a wave of her hoof like knowing the princess was not a big deal.
"In a way, she's kind of my mentor I guess," Sunset Shimmer said quietly with a soft smile that Bulk Biceps couldn't help but to feel was very suiting for the mare's elegant features. She shuffled her front hooves a bit in clear embarrassment, but continued to talk about Twilight anyway. "She's also a very good friend from school."
"So you... went to school... with the princess... in Canterlot?" Bulk Biceps asked very slowly so as to keep his tone soft and even for the mare to feel comfortable with, he didn't want to startle her with his typical loud voice if she was already this scared to talk to him. Sunset Shimmer nodded as she moved to sit at one of the tables that were scattered around the bakery, motioning for him to follow her to her table.
"How do you know Twilight?" she asked him once the two of them were sitting across from one another, Sunset Shimmer being dwarfed by the sheer size of Bulk Biceps across from her. Mr. and Mrs. Cake had disappeared a while ago and there seemed to be no indication that Pinkie Pie was going to be coming back down the stairs any time soon, so the two were left alone in the bakery to talk in.
"THE PRINCESS..." Bulk Biceps began before he caught himself and covered his mouth with one of his hooves, blushing slightly at yelling at the mare. He cleared his throat before he began speaking at a much quieter tone than before. "Princess Twilight... cheered for us... in the Games..."
"The Games? You competed?" Sunset Shimmer asked him, looking thoughtfully at him for a moment before he gave a shallow nod in confirmation. "What did you compete in?"
"The Air Relay," Bulk Biceps informed her, his bulging chest puffing up with pride at how well their team had managed to do when no one had thought they were even going to qualify let alone compete. He had known that they were going to qualify for the games, but it still amazed him that they did as well as they had, even with all of Rainbow Dash's coaching. Sunset Shimmer also seemed to be amazed that they had competed and had done so well, her eyes wide and her small mouth forming an O in her disbelief.
"How did you do?" she asked, leaning forward as an indication of her genuine interest in what they were talking about. Bulk Biceps hesitated for a moment, not being one to boast about what accomplishments he did have, but wanting to answer all of the questions this mare had about him.
"Ponyville took silver," he eventually admitted, blushing slightly as the mare gasped in surprise, clearly having not expected the Ponyville team to have done so well in such an elite competition. "Rainbow Dash... She almost won... She was only a hair behind."
"Against a Wonderbolt? That's amazing!" Sunset Shimmer gasped, her beautiful cerulean eyes wide with surprise at how well they really did. Bulk Biceps could not help but to wonder if it was at all possible that this mare was actually toying with him, but he felt like she was being genuinely curious about him and what his team had managed to accomplish. He gaze turned from surprised and excited to thoughtful and a bit innocent in a matter of a moment as a thought clearly struck her. "How well do you know Rainbow Dash?"
"Well enough..." Bulk Biceps managed to answer, unsure of where the mare's train of thought was going with this new line of questioning.
"Could you possibly introduce me to her? I hear she isn't the easiest pony to meet," Sunset Shimmer asked quietly, looking at Bulk Biceps with large, pleading blue eyes that made a bit of Bulk Biceps' heart melt and forced a small nod out of him. His nod of confirmation created a large, brilliant smile from the much smaller pony that Bulk Biceps wanted to keep on her face. "Thank you! Twilight has been trying to get her to come to the castle but she just seems to be to busy, even for Twilight."
At the way the orange mare was so casually throwing out the princess' name, Bulk Biceps realized that a part of him was also curious about her life, but he was unsure of how to ask her about herself since he did not normally talk to ponies so intimately.
"YOU HERE TO VISIT PRINCESS TWILIGHT!?" he yelled in his nervousness about questioning her about her own life. Bulk Biceps' eyes bulged and his muscles strained as he yelled, not from the strain of yelling but from how embarrassed he was for yelling at the pony in front of him. The mare's eyes also seemed to widen slightly at him yelling at her, which made Bulk Biceps blush ever so slightly, especially when she seemed to remain calm and answer his question as if he had not just yelled at her.
"Yes I am," she told him in a serene voice that made Bulk Biceps relax slightly as she looked out the window towards where the castle sat in the distance. "I'm from a far away land and don't really have any friends in Equestria other than Twilight, so she invited me to Ponyville to meet all of her friends."
This confused Bulk Biceps since there was absolutely no way that the princess considered him close enough of a friend to tell this pony about her, princess of friendship or not. Then how did she know his name before they had even met and she only knew the princess? He glanced out of the window as he thought about what all of this could possibly mean, noticing that the storm was a lot weaker now than it had been when they had started talking. How long was this storm going to last and were they going to continue their conversation when it ended? Or was she going to go back to the castle and he would never see her again? A part of Bulk Biceps screamed out that that couldn't be the case, not when he was just getting to know her and honestly found that she was one of the kindest ponies he had ever met.
"We can be friends," he murmured, the worry and sadness that he felt towards her going away and never seeing him again mellowing out his voice so that it was barely above a whisper for once in a very long time. Bulk Biceps was still looking out the window so he did not see that Sunset Shimmer looked quite startled by his words, a blush slowly forming on her pale orange cheeks.
"I would like to be friends," she finally said, looking down at the table as a small smile played at her lips. Bulk Biceps' head snapped towards Sunset Shimmer so quickly it was a surprise that he didn't get whiplash, his deep crimson eyes so wide they made the rest of his face look small. Something about this petite mare made him really happy about becoming friends, something about her, from her shimmering mane to her soft coat and expressive eyes, which made his chest flutter in a way that he had never felt before.
"Sunset Shimmer!" the two of them were shocked out of their exchange by Pinkie Pie screaming the mare's name as she seemed to slide down the stairwell, her hot pink hair flying behind her as she zoomed towards them. The two looked over at the pink mare as she approached their table, seemingly not even fazed by the fact that they were now sitting together as she smiled at the two of them. "The rain stopped, so we should get back to the castle before it starts up again."
"Oh, alright then," Sunset Shimmer said softly, almost hesitantly as she stood up from the table to follow after Pinkie Pie towards the door. She paused a couple of steps away from the table to turn back and look at Bulk Biceps. "I had a lot of fun talking to you, Bulk Biceps. Maybe we could possibly do this again some time?"
Bulk Biceps nodded eagerly in response, his whole body shaking in anticipation of meeting up with the mare later on. Sunset Shimmer gave a smirk towards him before she turned to leave once more, her mane giving a bounce as she tossed it over her shoulder. Bulk Biceps would be lying to himself if he did not admit that he watched her leave with a tinge of sadness and a lot of butterflies building in his chest.
AN: A commission that I received on my dA account under the same name as this account. This was incredibly interesting to write since, as far as I know, the only time these two interact with each other is in the credits of Rainbow Rocks.