It's that time of year again! Tell us the AUs you’ve been longing to see: Regency AU? Space Opera AU? They can be general (Historical AU! Space AU!) or specific (FMA AU! Percy Jackson AU!) but we need a WHOLE BUNCH, so send us as many as you like! Submit Your Requests Here!
We will be accepting AUs up until Sunday, April 26th, so get them in while you can!
“Where do the canals come from, nainai?” In the blazing heat of Ba Sing Se’s summer, the waters run cool in the Middle Ring. Riding too shallow this season, Yeye grumbled this morning, stretching out his back with a loud snick. But when Shirayuki's legs dangle from the dock, narrow shadows darting around her ankles, her feet don't even scrape the bottom.
Her grandmother pauses in her scrubbing, reddened wrist rubbing against browned forehead, the sun long ago having turned her an unfashionable tan. That’s why they hire serving girls in the ale house, pale and young and graceful, the way Shirayuki knew she wouldn’t be. She takes after her grandmother, after all. “Now where did you get a question like that?”
“School.” An idle answer for an idle girl, her grandfather would tease. “They say there wasn’t water here when the city was built. One of the kings ordered his benders to build a pipeline to bring it all here. It’s actually from some lake out beyond the walls, and what we don’t use goes back there, or something.”
“Well, I’m not sure about much of that.” Nainai wasn’t the sort who knew things— not like this, at least. She knew all about the grocer’s new baby two streets over, or that the butcher’s boy was sweet on the girl who ran the flower shop, but when it came to how things worked— “Hardly seems like my business.”
Hard to believe it isn’t their business, when it’s their canals the narrowboats clog up, bringing goods from the Agrarian Zone all the way to the Upper Ring. Even now there’s polemen calling out to each other, navigating the tight quarters between bridges with little more than grunts and shouts. “It doesn’t seem possible. The canals run all the way through the city! How can there be so much water? ”
Nainai’s hands still on the washing board. They’re red, raw from the soap and work, each callus and wrinkle as known to her as her own face, but—
But her eyes belong to a Nainai Shirayuki hardly knows. “There’s more water on this here earth than even a girl like you could dream up. Rivers so large it’d take days to cross them. Lakes deep enough for whole ships to be lost. Oceans so wide you can stand on one shore and not ever see the other.”
Shirayuki scrunches with skepticism. “And you can’t even touch the bottom?”
There’s a guardsman one dock down, chasing some of the other children out of the water. The waterways are for transport, not trouble, he shouts over their laughter, but the only thing he catches is the wet prints they leave across the cobbles. “You’d wade right out and the world would fall out beneath you.”
It’s impossible to imagine; even on the cloudiest days, she can stand on the bridge and see the bottom of the canal. “Have you ever seen them?”
Nainai’s sigh spins a shroud, but the regret in her eyes is hardly laid to rest. “In another life, perhaps.”
A narrowboat drifts past, its poleman ducking beneath the low arch of the bridge, and Shirayuki asks, “Do you think I’ll ever see something like that?”
She’d been young then; too young for her bending to have kindled in her beyond a few blooms bending to meet her nose, but when Nainai turns to her, smile soft enough to tuck her in, something in her stirs. “I wonder.”
*
Wet sleeves slap onto the grassy shore, her whole waterlogged body scrabbling up between them, and Shirayuki can’t help but think, I’ve seen enough water to last a lifetime.
Her knee tries to insinuate itself under her— the way it should, if she wants to do more than worm her way to dry land— but her leggings are made from whatever her parka isn’t. They slip, they slide, not just failing to hold her but dragging her back, back, until water laps under her armpits, only sleeves and shoulders resting on green once again.
“Come on now, Miss,” Obi huffs against her hair, too amused for someone treading water. “Aren’t you and water supposed to be friends?”
Her arms tremble as she tries to haul herself up, but there’s no wall to speak of, no gentle slope to crawl up. Just a sheer drop into…something. “We’re still getting acquainted.”
“Maybe you should have considered that before you paddled that canoe right over a waterfall.” Obi glances pointedly at the ice wall behind them, rising up and up and— “or at least picked a smaller one.”
The Great Waterfall of Agna Qel’a. The largest in the world, Zen had told her, so proudly, as they sailed into the harbor. A bold claim, for a prince who had barely seen half of it, but it’d only taken one glance to know it was true.
They say it’s a thousand foot drop, Mitsuhide added over her shoulder, so tall the water turns to mist before it can hit the bottom. And she had— had—
Shirayuki swallows, staring at her hands. “I didn’t have much of a choice.”
His hum is distinctly non-committal. “Never ones to do things by halves, eh, Miss?”
Her mouth works, opening once, twice, before she manages, “I wasn’t paddling either.”
“Is that so.”
“It’s a traditional Foggy Swamp waterbending style.” It had seemed that way, at least, when Kihal had stood in the ice-carved halls of the palace, declaring that her people were just as much Water Tribe as the ones who hid behind the walls of Agna Qel’a, equal to their own benders in strength. Demanding that Master Bender Brekker admit had been bested by their own elders in formal combat. “Meant for navigating the narrower streams of the marshlands, and—”
“And on catgators,” he reminds her, helpful as always, “not canoes. Which is why you went over the waterfall, since an upstanding catgator like Popo would have had the sense to stop you.”
She doesn’t so much scowl as scrunch. “It was important that I used one of the Water Tribe’s canoes, otherwise Master Bender Haruka would have never—”
“Pardon my reach, Miss.” It’s misleading, how mildly he says it, like he’s just asking her to pass the salt, when it’s really her only warning before he puts two hands right on her backside and shoves.
“Obi!” she yelps, gloves scrabbling at the shore. “What—?”
Grass and dirt churns to mud beneath her belly and knees, smearing over her parka and leggings, but with a single wet squelch, she flops onto solid earth. The kind that rises up to meet her, arms trembling too much to do anything but splay out beside her.
“I think,” she sighs, squinting against the glare of the arctic sun. “I never want to go swimming again.”
Obi rises out of the water as if it were nothing more than a soaking tub. “Could be worse. At least you landed in the warmest waters in a hundred miles.”
Temperature is all relative when the whole world’s enclosed in ice. Or at least carved out of it. “You should take off your clothes.”
Graceful as his exit was, Obi’s still water-logged enough to squelch when he whips around. “My—?” He clears his throat, voice dropping into gravel. “Why, Miss, if you’d wanted me naked, all you have to do is—”
“Hypothermia!” Her mouth works, thoughts seeping into her at a pace turtleducks could out-waddle. “Wet clothes lower your core temperature. And it’s…it’s already cold here. Happens…twice as fast.”
“Ah, Miss, you know you don’t need to convince me to strip. Master practically pays me to keep all this on.” Obi peels off his coat— thinner than hers, made of skin rather than stuffed with down— and wrings it out over the water. “There goes my monthly bonus! Now, how about you?”
Grass tickles her neck as it turns. “What about me?”
“Don’t you need to take off your stuff?” Water spouts out of his boots when he flips them over, streaming back into the pond. “Or do waterbenders have some trick to keep them from turning into bender-sicles?”
“No, I…” have to get out of these clothes. If only her fingers would obey her. “Just a minute…”
“Don’t think you’ve got a minute there, Miss.” Even through a layer of soaked down, his hands burn when they lift her, every inch of her aching from the effort of being held. “You’re a couple blinks away from taking the sort of nap that might get me in trouble.”
Right, lethargy— lethargy’s a bad sign. “Ah, no, I’m fine, I just need—”
“A loyal knight to help you out of that coat of yours?” He grins as he tugs at her mittens, gently easing the soaked fabric off her hands before tackling the turtle seal skin gloves beneath. “Running a little low on those, I’m afraid. You’re just going to have to settle for me.”
Her hands are too numb to ache as he drags them down her fingers, and too clumsy to help when they get stuck on her knuckles, swollen from the cold. “You’re already more than enough.”
Not that they would be much help anyway; Obi’s fingers are so clever, his touch so sure. And yet it stutters against the knotted toggles on her parka, stilling for a single, ragged breath. “Careful there, Miss. Might give a man like me ideas.”
She blinks. It’s a slow, laborious process, her eyelids unfurling like a stuck shade. But eventually they close and—
And she must lose a few minutes, since she wakes to a hard shake and a strained smirk, concern hiding in its angles. “Ideas…about what?”
“That he could be more than he is.” Her parka peels off like a second skin, clinging to obi’s too clever hands, dripping all over the grass. “All right, think you can handle the rest?
“The…rest?” Her fingers tremble against the collar of her cheongsam, too cold, too clumsy to do much more than strain the toggles. “I can’t…”
His hand curls over hers, leather pressing gently against skin. “I mean, can you dry yourself? You’re a waterbender, aren’t you?”
“O-oh! Yes, I think I could, um…” It’s an awkward motion; self-taught, with none of Zen’s easy grace or Master Bender Haruka’s expertise. The chill in her bones hardly helps either, but still — with a crook of her fingers and a smooth draw of her wrist, water leaches out of her drop by drop collecting in a lop-sided bubble above her finger.
Hardly the impressive sphere she’d seen Kiki produce after the storm out of Ba Sing Se, stripping the damp out of every garment within eyesight with just a flick of her wrist. No, hers sloshes as it spins, leaking down her wrist, nearly undoing all her work. Kiki had sent all their damp back into the storm with little more than a twitch, but when Shirayuki attempts the same it simply...spread. No, stretches, a sluggish comet arching its way to the shore— only to burst before it slips into the water, soaking the already muddy ground.
“Here.” Fabric slumps over her shoulders— dry, for once, and warm. “Hate to think what Master might do to me if you fell off a waterfall and caught the sniffles on my watch.”
She reaches up, drawing the fabric tighter around herself, only to realize— it’s his coat. “What about you? Won’t you get cold?”
“Here? Nah.” His mouth twitches, along with his shoulders. “Good thing you tipped yourself into the warmest place in Agna Qel’a.”
“The warmest…?”
All of Agna Qel’a is covered in ice— carved out of it, but there’s grass beneath her fingers. An island of it, with a small garden blooming just behind them, bridges stretching out to either side. And in the center, where she fell—
“I wonder,” Obi hums, stretching out his legs in front of him. “You think we’re the first people to swim with the moon himself?”
Shirayuki tips onto her knees, watching as two large shapes— one dark, one light— swirl beneath the waters. “The Spirit Oasis. We fell into…”
“The most sacred site of the whole Water Tribe?” Obi fits his hands behind his head, easing back onto the grass. “I bet Brekker’s gonna choke on that one. Can’t say the spirits aren’t on your side now.”
She’d pulled water out of it. Had it rise up to meet her— break her fall. And inside… “Do you think we can get arrested for that?”
His head tips back, mouth easing into an even more slanted grin. “I think we’re about to find out.”
*
“I can’t believe it.” Sunlight sifts through the ice of the tunnel walls, Zen's hair turning so white and luminous it's almost hard to look at him. “Brekker blockaded the trial route? I know he’s been a vocal detractor when it came to the exhibition in the first place, but I thought that had been for tradition’s sake. You know how Master Benders are— always thinking the old ways are the right ways.”
Shirayuki hums, drawing Obi’s coat tighter around her shoulders. The Oasis may have been warm, but the closer they come to the palace, the more she wishes she’d had the energy to dry out a layer of down. “Didn’t Master Bender Haruka try to ship me back to Ba Sing Se after two days of sitting in on his classes?”
“Well, sure,” Zen coughs, careful not to let his eyes stray in her direction. “But he let you stay once you proved yourself. I thought once Brekker saw how useful Kihal’s bending could be, he’d get over the whole ‘rogue sect’ thing too.”
“I think Haruka might just be open-minded for a Master Bender.” Strange to be saying that, after everything. It seems temperature isn’t the only thing that grew relative at its extremes. “Though, if he’d thought to bribe me the way Brekker did, it might have saved me a sore shoulder.”
Zen blinks. “Brekker tried to bribe you?”
The chief will trust me over some mixed-blood bender from Ba Sing Se. What could a no-talent girl like you do for him besides sully his brother’s reputation? He’d put one foot on the prow of her canoe, his wave holding it steady as a threat. Think of what I could do for you, girl. I am the foremost master of waterbending in this city, the best mentor it has to offer.
It had been a pleasure to smile, to slap his wave away and grit out, Second best.
“At first.” And when that had failed, blackmail had come second, but there was no need to mention that, not when Shikito lodged those complaints formally to the chief. “The waterfall appealed more than his terms, though.”
At least until her canoe had pitched over the edge, all of Agna Qel’a unfurling beneath its prow. For one dizzying moment, her only thought had been: at least the fall will kill me before the water does.
A hard grip on her arm halts her next step— drags it back even, her shoulders suddenly pressed against the ice. It's cold, freezing, but still, Zen's flushed, eyes as bright and clear as the walls around them “You could have died doing that, Shirayuki. If you weren’t as talented a bender as you are, you would have."
He, unfortunately, has a point. "I wasn't thinking—"
"I know, I know. You didn't think about it, you just acted, because that's who you are, but..." His glove creaks as it fists above her. "You can depend on me, sometimes. Us, I mean. We're here to help. We want to help. I just..."
He scrubs a hand down his face. "Just... next time. Be careful. I don't want to think about what would happen if you got hurt. Or what my brother would say if you got someone else hurt."
Her mouth works, helpless, before she manages, "I would never—"
"I know you wouldn't mean to." He sighs, finger fitting just beneath her chin. "But just think of what would have happened to Obi if you hadn't caught him on the way down! He doesn't even have bending to fall back on."
“Obi?” She blinks. “I…?
Didn’t. It’d been hard enough to slow herself, stealing just enough water to cushion her fall instead of kill, and to add another person into it— impossible. Unnecessary too, since Obi had already been down here when she—
No. Her heart stutters in her chest. Obi had been in a canoe behind her. She’d been so proud when she’d outstripped him and his paddling, gaining enough speed on the first straightaway to leave him eating her wake. He'd been little more than a smudge in the distance when she rounded that last corner, paddling double-time just to keep her in sight.
Her fingers clench, the skin of the coat rumpling under her palms. If he was on the river when she rammed into Brekker's blockade, there wasn't enough time for him to run back to the city, let alone petition Izana for the entry to the Spirit Oasis. He must have fallen after her— perhaps caught by her cushion too; it wasn't as if she'd been thinking when she made it, scrabbling for enough water to hold her, but —
His coat is dry.
“Zen,” she starts, the beginning of a thought fomenting in her mind, as suspicion—
Obi hadn’t expected it to hit him this hard, being back at Wistal. The sun is shining, reflecting off the castle’s pristine plaster and stone to brighten every corner of the elegant courtyards and galleries. It’s even more peaceful than he’s thought of it, when he looks back.
He’s always said he never forgets a face, and here is the proof- those two guards he duped at the gate may be glaring at him today, but he knows they’ll all be addressing each other by name in a couple of weeks. The kitchen helper who snuck him treats before Master remembered his new dog needed regular meals waves, and Obi waves back, just for a moment before Lord Haruka turns the corner and Obi ducks into the foliage. He doesn’t forget a hiding place, either.
Down the lane he can see the corner of a greenhouse he knows all too well; she kissed him for the first time there a couple of days after he kissed her in the storage room. They giggled together, hiding behind the irrigation pump until she could tear herself away to get back to work. Garrack knew the first time it happened but kept her own counsel. The moment they stopped hiding, of course, out came the silphium and the innuendoes and Obi could expect a blush as red as her hair the moment he stepped into the pharmacy. If he made special trips for the sight, nobody can blame him.
Those were the best days he ever had. Two years of best days, of learning by her side that he was worth more than what his hands could harm, that he was capable of building as much as he could tear down.
He shakes the past out of his head and scales one of the palace’s better climbing trees. Experience has taught him to keep an eye out for princes with sharp rocks, but he’s alone for now with no scar on his cheek for the reminder. Elder brother should be away for some time yet, but Master-
It won’t be long. Master will be back this afternoon, and Obi just has to know what to say. He’s ready for this. Really, he is. Somewhere in the pharmacy Shirayuki is spiraling, and Ryuu is being no help at all. He’ll learn in time, but he’s still so young. Obi slides out of the tree, still safe from princes, and saunters over to the guards’ training grounds. The training sword still feels foreign in his hands, although perhaps not so much as it should, but he won’t have time to use it.
He knows just where he needs to be for her to find him.
“The forest? On the estate?” he asks as if he can’t see how frantic she is to get away. She can keep her face quiet when she wants, but her eyes don’t lie and the tension in her shoulders tells the story. “I’ll go with you, then.”
And this, this is why he’s here. A quiet walk across the Wistal castle grounds, nearly side by side. The sun glows hot on their hair, the trees ahead shimmering with the promise of shade, and the only sound is the crunch of gravel beneath her boots.
Now is the moment he reached out and she turned back to face him. Now he curled his hand around hers and gave her promises that things could be better, that he would be on her side if she needed him. Now she smiled at him and the unwilling fondness in his chest bloomed into more overt infatuation. Weeks from now she confessed that she didn’t want to be a princess and he promised she wouldn’t have to be. Months from now he knew he would never love someone else the way he loved her and he kissed her in the basement and she kissed him in the greenhouse and a year later they were married here in these woods-
And less than a year after that she died a fugitive at the Tanbarun border, fleeing a Clarines where the usurper makes war with the invader in the mud covering the bones of every last Wisteria.
He won’t let it happen this time. Master will need the both of them in the coming years. He can’t be the man Shirayuki loves and the killer Clarines will need.
All he can give her now is a better chance.
He slows, steps falling behind her. He’s pictured this moment so many times, made his choice, but even so he can’t stop his hand from reaching out.
His fingers sweep untouched through air, a future dissolving in the space between them as in the distance hoofbeats draw close.
A Playlist for Obiyuki Bingo July 2026 “Astronaut” by @snowwhite-andtheknight
So glad I have an opportunity to share my new space playlist! The title lyric is from my new favorite Hayley Williams song, that I couldn’t wait to use for an Obiyuki playlist. I also found some other space themed songs from older favorite bands like Nada Surf, Alvvays, and Matt Pond (obligatory). Arranged the songs in order from falling in love, to struggling through distance, to a hopeful end.
Lonely Astronaut
Moon Mirror- Nada Surf
Falling for You- Louie Zong
Ones Who Love You- Alvvays
Crowded Star- Nada Surf
Forever (Sailing)- Snail Mail
I Won’t Quit On You- Hayley Williams
Red Planet- Alvvays
Full of Stars- Death Cab for Cutie
The Stars Sleep In The Sea- Matt Pond PA
Summary lyrics are cited after the cut:
Moon Mirror- Nada Surf
Show me a partner
Make me an engine
A part of something somewhere
Highways of hope
Show me a life that I'm living
Connect me to something
That's just beginning
Across a mountain
Across an ocean
Moon mirror
Connect me to something
I'm trying to see something in you
Falling for You- Louie Zong
It doesn't matter whether
We are near or we’re far
A speck or a star
Oh, I'm falling for you
Ones Who Love You- Alvvays
When lightning strikes
I will be on my bike
I won't be stuck inside
I will be taking flight
And when the wheels come off
I'll be an astronaut
But I won't be lost in space
I will be skipping rocks
Crowded Star- Nada Surf
I'm just tryna be, do you know what I mean?
I was on my own
On a crowded star
Seeing people's forms
But not how they are
I was ready for a change before you came
I was lookin' for a way to not stay the same
It's like treasure now, every day by your light
Forever (Sailing)- Snail Mail
No matter where we are, I love you from the city to the stars
You and I, like a ship, forever sailing
You and I, everything we try is failing
I Won’t Quit On You- Hayley Williams
Stranded here on Mars
What's the odds you'd get stuck here too?
Come hell or heaven, angels or devils
I won't move
And I don't care what happens after
I won't quit on you
Lonely astronaut, it's gonna cost
But you just can't beat that view
Red Planet- Alvvays
It's been almost twenty years on the red planet
A place where there are no tears, it is just water floating
And I've waited for you out here
But that may be delusional
And I've painted all these pictures
Of Earth, but that's unusual
Full of Stars- Death Cab for Cutie
Please forgive me
These nights, my head is full of stars
Of constellations retreating
Away from where we are
And I fear I'll soon be wishing on an empty sky
And all I need is for you to be kind
The Stars Sleep In The Sea- Matt Pond PA
The stars sleep in the sea
Down from the sky set free
A Galaxy behind the bank
A Nova lifeless on the lawn
The stars have left the deep
Back to the sky, retreat
An Obiyuki My Little Pony AU for Bingo July Board 2026 by @snowwhite-andtheknight
She hears his appearance even before the hooves step on the damp ground. Mainly because the wind announces that. He's always comfortable approaching her quietly, but when he wants to show his presence, oftentime he will do it showy enough.
“Leaving already? The food stall queues have got no shorter yet.”
Her apple-red mane swipe past her eyes as she looks up. Yeah, Celestia hasn't even bothered to move the glaring sun to the back of her ears.
She hums absently, shrugging her bags to point out her supposedly obvious reason, “Not that many mares or stallions visit Princess Twilight’s booth, somehow. Maybe due to Pinkie Pie’s… ah, ruckus, last year. I was even surprised when the princess decided to display her books this year at last. But she did, so I just come to her, offer my precious things, wait for her and Pinkie Pie’s judgments, and finally get to ask for the books I want. Pretty simple.”
“And you didn't even bother to search for me there? Why, missy, I thought we have a special connecting thread where you can sense your most precious pony nearby.” He makes his voice so pitiful, whimpering at the true betrayal of his friend. Shirayuki snorts, and as she sees his head tilt to the side, not the one almost brushing to her neck, she lets her giggle expelled. It doesn't stop when his eyes slit open to peer at her and follow her laugh with his deep one. He said once that her laugh is pretty like a bell; a bell that is pulling him to do just that as well. From that claim onward Shirayuki just decides that she will laugh as often as she can if it will pull his out as well. His laugh too is pretty.
Shirayuki stops her laugh as she scrutinizes him with green irises. “You don't usually attend the Rainbow Falls Trader Exchange, Obi. What’s with the change?” Her eyes drift down to his neck, to his back, to the tip of his tail, noticing his lack of bag. “I don't even see you being a tiny bit enthusiastic about the event now.”
Obi gives her a full teeth smile, a corner of his mouth pulling up higher. He will mock her. “Missy. Not everypony is so motivated to go to the annual trade market at 10 in the morning with just one single objective and just… flee to their cottage without walking around or peeking at the food areas. You know, I even get to taste the famous pie… uh, that pie from the north with fish heads on top—I forget the name. Even if it tastes awful! You should've found me and let me share it with you. But here you are, getting a pile of books from the princess and immediately walk back to the cottage—”
“It's just four!”
“—as if you desire to learn quickly how to be an alicorn princess as well!”
Ah, here he is. Shirayuki groans as Obi ends his rambling with a tilted pitch in the end. She will never understand how he can freely talk so much in her presence as if she has an ounce of appeal that is not perfectly measured medicine. There is a reason why she can only talk cheerfully about plants and medicines with her past grandparents. There is a reason why she succeeds in conversing with older ponies, who often need her medicines, rather than those her age. There is a reason why, back at her younger years, other fillies tend to avoid her because shirayuki must only know about plants or she doesn't produce reactions they specifically anticipate. Well, they don't, either, but Shirayuki has let those things pass a long time ago.
Obi, he understands what she says. At least, as much as she understands about his obsession with… sneaky moves and flying acrobatics. Also knife tricks, no matter how many times she dreads the danger. But he never says that she disappoints him because of her reactions. On the contrary, he talks to her because she understands his infatuation, and after spending a bit of time with Obi back then, she may need somepony like him, too. Somepony that reacts when she talks. And maybe, with building this sanctuary for each other for years, he can talk so comfortably with her like this, that even his friends in Cloudsdale can't, for whatever reason he never tells her.
He fakes a gasp suddenly and looks at her with fake horror in his eyes, “Oh great Celestia you want to be a princess! And leave me crippled here alone! And to think I am your most loyal customer.” At her scowl, he smirks with an easy shrug of his shoulders. “Well, even if you're not an alicorn, some ponies I too know sure will treat you like a noble—”
Though this side of him will always annoy her. Shirayuki tries so hard to keep her eyes upfront as Obi hums to think. She needs to calm down. Calm down and suppress her desire to nudge him on the flank. Sure, she is an earth pony and she should have enough natural strength to at least make him stumble. But Obi is noticeably taller and a pegasi and has been training to be The Wonderbolts and he once said—with a laugh—that pegasus need to land on their hinds first in every exercise, that one time she tried to knock his ass to the ground. In which hers got knocked down instead. If she does it now she may be repeating the same embarrassing result. Also she need not bat an eye for Obi’s dramatic ass. She can regulate her emotions better.
“—such as… that affluent Shenazard son—”
She does just that. At the very least she can make his back legs stumble aside because of the books slung on her side. Thank you, Princess Twilight. His eyes widen just for a second at the proof of her strength before letting out a belly laugh at her must-be puffed cheeks. She picks up her pace while huffing in triumph. She may also suppress a smile blooming on her face at the tingling feelings of their bumping cutie marks.
“We don't talk about Raj!”
***
Naturally, Shirayuki invites Obi into her humble cottage near a willow tree looming the shallow creek. Inside is what he described as the place somewhere between birdie’s sanctuary and Zecora’s place—ah, he knows her because of that one time she followed him to wander around with zero suspicion that resulted in them getting cutie pox. From the front door they can see various sizes of mortal, pestle, and bowl on a table against the window. Shelves of dried plants, powder, and poultice pushed against the walls. Plants live in the pots hanging from her ceiling like creeping spiders. She hears Obi grunts behind her when she drops her bags near the coffee table. Maybe his eyes are slapped by the greeny claws. Nonetheless, she bites the books one by one out of her bags onto the table and swipes the bags into the open chest beneath. It's too much of a hassle to bring these books into her bedroom now—which has more shelves pushed against the wall, but she doesn't want her things just lying around on the floor. A soft breath puffs on the back of her right ear before a voice breaks the silence.
“That is a lot of books,” and thick. Shirayuki can hear the addition even when he isn't voicing it. That is just his established comments whenever she holds a book in a five feet radius from him.
But she hums, “The princess thanked me profusely when I gave her a sleep-induced tea that tasted unlike a chunk of mud. I don't know how she can receive it with no questions asked—though she claims she knows a sleeping medicine when she touches and smells one—but I made sure to tell her to come to me were there any unpleasant side effects or just to get more. Ah, also a burnt poultice. and a bit of wound salve because, you know, them and their adventure to save Equestria.”
Obi chuckles, his golden eyes glinting from the sunlight like the earrings her grandma left her. Clearly he listened to every word she said like always. “And those books are…?”
“Oh! You have to remind me later that we should see a new bud at the back. it sprouts around this time… and wont get a full bloom until mid winter!” Her muzzle nudges a book open to emphasize her point, “It's strange and the only one, and I have no idea if it's useful or dangerous, so I asked for a book of plants that bloom in winter, which she surprisingly has! I was a bit skeptical because the book must be full of spells—ah, lookit this tiny footnote—but she said it truly is an encyclopedia about plants. Princess Celestia just asked her to read so she can tend to some in the winter with her magic.”
When Shirayuki looks aside, she almost stumbles against the lump on the carpet. Obi is… attentive to her speech, even if she knows he will never bother to differentiate between peppermint and spearmint. A small smile on his face whenever he listens is just too much sometimes. She really really appreciates it, but it makes her belly churn. Pleasantly. How does one even happen? Shouldn't she be more aware of a heartburn symptom?
Her eyes flit downward and around as she busies herself to close the book and stack all four together. “S—So yeah, that… that sums up what I did in the trade market. I want to identify that winter plant… and maybe to know many more. Maybe also learn how to cultivate them if there are some useful medicines.”
Obi nods, seeming overly proud for her that she sure she is blushing now. He's too much. His flaunt that he's good at hiding his true emotions was just a bluff after all.
He fully faces her now. His head tilts slightly to look at her books as he hums in an appreciative manner, "You're so… dedicated, and it's amazing. You can even be a princess if you strongly desire it. Just so unfortunate that you couldn't enroll in Celestia's magic school.”
That reminds her of something.
At the back of her throat, Shirayuki croaks a tiny wait before walking fast to her worktable. Her muzzle moves the carefully stacked paper rolls around and bites the one she searches for. Her legs bring her back to him with eyes closed and puffed chest. Once she's near enough, she rolls down the parchment between her teeth, throws her head back a bit, and brings her right hoof to her chest in a look-at-me gesture. Thank Celestia to bring the rich sunlight into her cottage from the window, so that he can read clearly what is dangling from her mouth, even ten feet apart
“Look what I got this morning!” She announced proudly with a muffled sound.
Tick, tick, tick, and she croaks her eyes open slowly because there's no reaction from him. There he is appreciating her new brightly-colored succulent and muttering about how it smells awful and how she even dares to place it here. Shirayuki will appreciate the gesture later but not now. Huffing, she kicks him enough to tip his flank aside and make his eyes focus on her. His golden eyes widen in surprise, and a little gasp left his mouth as he crouches down a little to read the paper.
“You are invited… Garack Gazelt’s apprenticeship field exam?! You mean—you mean the best pharmacy in all Equestria? The only place where the Wonderbolts accept pharmacists and doctors alike?! Amaz—oh, oh.” His slanted eyes squint, making them even smaller. He rubs his chin, visibly examining something.
“What's wrong?” She speaks between her teeth, eyes struggling to look down at him.
He chuckles a bit before straightening his neck, "I think the time everypony fumbles with your last name will never end.”
At that she moves to place the paper on the table, looking at the most chicken scratch writing on the surface after her first name. She sighs, “Now that I think about it, the writer must deliberately, unclearly scribble my last name... ugh. It's not like its so hard—”
“It's just long.”
Shirayuki glowers at him, muttering something about are you on my side or their side, but decides to grumble instead as she rolls the paper back with her hoofs. Obi lets his giggle out, just as every time this matter gets mentioned, before she feels weight on her shoulders as he gives a sympathetic pat teasingly.
“All in all, congratulations, Shirayuki. Passing Canterlot Pharmacy’s written exam! I should never doubt your capability to reach the hardest possibilities. And now that news makes me happier.”
Of course she blushes at his words, that feels unstoppable lately. Especially when he follows his teasing gesture with nuzzling on her mane—sometimes he's just a tease like that. She slightly moves back, and doesn't want him to hear the heavy thump of her heart, when she realizes she wants to ask about his last line.
“Now, what is this winter sprout you wanna show me?”
And just like that she loses the chance to ask. Her eyes brighten in excitement and she nudges his rear with her head, urging him to follow her to the backyard. He giggles and says something along the lines of her liking his butt. She doesn't say yes. But she refuses to say no either.
***
Before they get to the place, however, Shirayuki remembers she can utilize a pegasi’s strength here.
“It has a… very beautiful purple flower here, not gonna pick this up instead?” Obi mutters through his gritted teeth, biting a stem. The flower he mentioned is currently limp from the left side of his jaw. He is flying a few feet in the air, the flap of his wings bringing steady wind to sway her mane as he tries his hardest to help her uproot this stubborn plant.
Shirayuki let the stem go from her mouth to catch her breath and answer his sensible question. “No, no… the useful part of this plant… is what's beneath.” She is back to bite the stem again. With a deep breath, she exert her strength to the maximum with a grunt, in which he follows, until they hear a muffled snap under the soil. Immediately she straightens up and squeaks at him for a mixed word of stop and we did it. From her peripheral vision, Obi does his aerial performance to avoid stumbling backward in the air and crashing against a tree trunk, then land noiselessly beside her. She digs the soil rather quickly and retrieves a pack of tubers.
“Well, look at this big buddy. It sure looks like… jicama?”
Her eyes don't leave the swollen roots as she hums in agreement. “Correct! They are from the same family, after all. But interestingly, there is no record that this one is edible at all, so I always use this for outer wounds and such instead.”
“Does this usually come this big and many?”
Her mouth mimics his grimace, “Ah, not really. I mixed a new fertilizer and tried it on her early in the year. Though she has always been big to pull out. Well, now I know it's an advance.”
“You always pull her out yourself? Or with—”
“My grandparents.”
No matter how soft Obi lets his ah out of his throat, she hears it. Shirayuki remembers her, with such a tiny body, and her grandparents stand in line to uproot this plant together, year after year. She also remembers coming home to an empty cottage with minimal strength left in her limbs and tired eyes not even a full year ago, thinking how starting this year, she needs to pull the plant out alone. Her weary state made her forget the warped wood just in front of the door. Her leg stumbled and she shut her eyes, bracing for the hard floor, except that she's stopped by a sturdy leg against her chest. That same leg quickly brought her head against his neck, with his chin pressed on top of her mane. Silence ticked by, and too much time passed by before soft whimpers and sobs broke the still air, too warm and too cold.
If Obi notices her brief reminisce, she's glad he doesn't mention it. Shirayuki much prefers to carry out the… more sentimental part when she's alone, and not in the middle of work. He’s currently facing the different way from her, but he must know she's snapped out of her memory from his peripheral vision, because he continues his walk to approach the flower limp on the soil, still looking majestic with the vibrant purple hue. He rolls the flower and crouches down to nudge its petals with his muzzle in curiosity.
“If the root is the useful part, then this must be…”
“Toxic.”
He makes a trembling gesture which elicits giggles bubbling out of her throat as she walks closer to him. “And to think I originally intended to bite it while we worked at it earlier out of spite!” But he is suddenly murmuring while his eyes squint, “Though this flower sure is familiar.”
She would never give up to remind him of this story. “You mean this is the flower you saw when we met?”
Her hoof conveniently points to the side and two pairs of eyes follow the direction—into the many trellises supporting the budding tomato vines. Obi makes a broken whimper in his throat and is then followed by a full groan. His head is pulled downward onto the ground as he wraps his hoofs around in embarrassment while she indulges in a rich laugh, hoof patting his black, spiky-soft mane.
She would never forget her surprise and rising worry at seeing a grunting, lanky colt stuck rather ungracefully on top of her tomato plot, mane a dark mess like a nest on his head, wings clipped from the wire mesh many years ago. It was some time after lunch where she's left alone in the cottage while her grandparents—she forgot where they were, but she remembers they hadn't come back until the sun was almost set. Tiny Shirayuki trotted out of her cottage to have closer inspection, but he instead shot her a menacing glare of golden irises. She supposed he tries to scare her so he can shoo her away, and well, she did. That proximity earlier was enough for Shirayuki to rush back inside, snatching the basket of bandages and medicines before rushing back to the poignant colt waiting for her. For some reason he was jerky when she helped him get out of the trellises. He even managed to fly a foot to the air before she caught his tail between her teeth—besides, he couldn't go anywhere far enough yet with those wings. He fell to the ground—again, ungracefully—and she took the chance to position him for her liking so she could bandage his wings and lather wound salves on the cuts scattered around his skin.
(“Well, why you did that?” Shirayuki had asked three times now. He was still comfortable answering her with silence, until she asked for the fourth time.
He grunted and, is he pouting? “I just want to know my true ability. My cutie mark isn't said enough.”
As she raised her brow incredulously, he shifted a little to show his flank bore his cutie mark. It's a knife—no, upon closer inspection, it's a thrown knife, considering there's a faint puff of air after the hilt. It clicked instantly. She didn't know if she voiced the question you wanted to test whether you can skillfully throw knives in the air as good as you fly, or you can fly as gracefully as you throw knives in the air? but he let out another grunt and turned his face away from her, a gesture of embarrassment.
Huh, dumb.
She wasn't sure if she voiced that either, but he pursed his lips and snapped his head back. “Well everypony must be confused about their own cutie mark one or two times in life. Don't you too?”
Shirayuki wasn't even slightly offended by his question. Also, he just didn't know. He didn't know that it had almost been two years since her last classmates got her cutie mark, while until now her own flank was still as blank as a sheet. She had accepted her fate months ago; even if she didn't have any cutie mark, she knew what she want to do in life. No need for a magical element to lead her around. Therefore, she intended to show her blank flank and said he was wrong. But a tingling feeling suddenly coursed through her veins, centered from her flanks, and she—she knew this feeling. Along with the sudden spark of light from under her skin. She didn't know when she started holding her breath, but once the tingling feeling stopped, her lungs quickly drew every needed breath.
A pestle, and a mortar with a blooming flower inside.
“Huh.” that is not her voice.)
Shirayuki must be engulfed with her reminisce again, because when she shifts her gaze from her tomato garden, Obi is already a few feet away from her, looking for something on the ground. Now she remembers her winter sprouts. She rushes to the different area from him, stopping at a rather intricate sprout. She jerks her head up and calls him with a soft here. Both of them crouch their heads closer to the tiny bud.
“You sure it isn't a flower already?”
She shakes her head, “No, it is only the bud. The flower in the winter is prettier, and big, like, so much.”
His nose sniffs, “Honey?”
Her body straightens up quickly, eyes looking at him cheerfully with mouth stretched up in a wide smile, “Right?! Big flowers usually have a foul stench, but this one is so sweet! Ah, I can't wait to get back to my room and read the princess’ books.”
He gives a muffled giggle, “Should I leave now, then?”
But his voice is barely registered in her mind. She gasps, and with a cracked groan of realization, she walks closer to him so she can push her hoof on his chest. The golden of his eyes must be reflected on her widened eyes.
“You!” He raises an eyebrow in confusion, but she hasn't finished yet. “I remember what I wanted to ask you since we met today. The—The Rainbow Falls Trade Exchange, what did you search there? It seems unfair if only you know what I trade and get in exchange.”
“Ah,” Now he looks bashful. “Just when I thought we could stretch this part a little bit more. Now, my friend, would you close your eyes for me?”
Shirayuki would not outright believe that trick anymore. It has been years with him doing this trick on her to deflect their current conversation and instead run away jokingly, or even fly back to Cloudsdale—even though he will come back later or tomorrow for that matter. She shoots her focused gaze instead to indirectly say don't you dare, emanating a huff of laughter from his throat as he shakes his head.
“No, no, it is… ah, a bit sentimental. I really need you to close your eyes because… consider it a—a surprise.”
Yet, she also knows whenever he's serious, even without making a face everypony would consider as serious. Thus she closes her eyes, and only now does she realize how quiet the place where they are right now. The wind is blowing around them like a whisper, leaves shuffling very lightly, and Obi is moving with little to no sound. He can walk or fly with minimal sound and she's worried, almost cracking her lids open, when cold presses near her ear. Shirayuki holds her breath until Obi draws back with sound, indicating that he is done. Now she opens her eyes, hoof flying to touch the cool sensation. It's metal. Obi gives her a pin.
“How?” That is all her throat can produce right now.
“Well you know,” Obi shifts back and forth on his legs, “The trade market.”
“Ah, no I mean—I mean why?”
Obi answers so quickly, as soon as the last syllable leaves her mouth, “I'm accepted. To The Wonderbolts. So the next time The Wonderbolts holds a performance I will be on the front squadron.”
Shirayuki let out a gasp, so very much amazed and proud and emotional. All the years she has known his unyielding will and hard work to enroll the pegasus elite squad. She lurches onto him with a glee in her eyes, legs circling his withers and mouth muttering many congratulations and you did it while he giggles and nuzzles on her crest. She can hear the birds around them singing and the leaves swishing from the wind, as if they share the same happiness with this news.
Not long after they part slowly, sharing a huge smile on their faces. Once again Shirayuki touches her accessory, and her smile fades a little, “So this is…”
“A parting gift.” His smile also dims slightly. “Being a full-fledged flyer must have tons of schedule and I… I think I can't come here so often, like always.”
Like always. Shirayuki suppresses a loud pang in her heart because she is really really happy for him. The fact that they most likely won't do everything they always did here in the garden, in her cottage, even around Ponyville again is a separate thing she needs to overcome alone. Right now she needs to appreciate her most precious friend to the fullest—maybe also get a little distraction.
She huffs and tilts her head to the side in a sulking manner, “Just when I thought you will be my loyal customer forever!”
Obi barks a laugh, head tilted back as he sputters for a response, “Oh no, no! Although somepony will treat me with so much more care and gentleness, I will never forget the kind missy from Ponyville who treats even my worst gash with furrowed brows and grumbles.”
They laugh, and laugh, until the voices slowly die down. They hold each other’s gaze with tenderness and soft smiles. Obi looks up to the sky and clears his throat before stretching up his wings. Ah, he needs to go.
His smile is sheepish, “Sorry I can't accompany you until dinner. I need to go to The Wonderbolts Academy and take care of some… registration. So the next time we meet again, we’ll be in Canterlot? I have no idea why they often go to Canterlot, but they do, surprisingly.”
Shirayuki can't help but laugh at the absurdity, “Obi, we don't even know if I will pass the field exam!”
His eyebrows shot up high, eyes look around and a hoof abstractly moves in the air to refer to their surroundings. “You have these since you open your eyes for the first time, and you insinuate you have a chance to fail? Aw, you truly demean my confidence in you and ah… ah my heart hurts.”
She giggles once more and nudges him into flying. “Go, quickly! Don't make The Wonderbolts wait.”
From the air Obi looks down at her again, and she glances up at him. With a smooth voice he rarely uses he mutters, “See you in Canterlot, Miss Pharmacist Shirayuki.”
Her eyes don't need to sting right in this moment, “See you in Canterlot too, Mister Wonderbolts Obi.”
Shirayuki looks up at the sky until Obi is hidden beneath the clouds. She retreats back to her cottage, yet stops at the window, impatient to see her new hair accessory. It is silver, with a glinting orange bauble and a tassel brushing the strands of her mane with every sway. Her legs walk faster into the cottage with every increase of her heartbeat, pounding so hard in silence. The annual Wonderbolts performance is two moons later, and if she has an idea on how to make their reunion faster… well, she is going to do just that.
Obiyuki AU Bingo: Coffee Shop AU (June Board) @snowwhite-andtheknight
Zen’s waiting of her when she gets back to the penthouse. She can tell that he’s probably already done a fair amount of pacing by the rhythmic pattern he's found with each step. It’s enough to leave her hesitating at the doorway, tempted by the cruel and impossible task of running away again.
“Shirayuki,” Zen’s voice is strained and unreadable.
“I’m sorry if I worried you,” Shirayuki begins to apologize, Zen’s hug quickly muffling her.
His arms wrap tightly around her at first, evidence that he missed her, before relaxing into something stiffer.
As they walk further into the living room, the mess she had been so worried about is indeed laughable.
A couple of feathers on the counter above an open cabinet, one of the large books open on the coffee table, and her phone is now set there as well. With her engagement ring safely beside it. Perhaps the throw pillows and unfolded blanket on the couch are a bit messy for Zen’s taste. Really, the jungle of her college dorm during exam season, or even the papers on Zen’s desk, could bury this “clutter” ten times over.
She walks over to put the feathers away and close the cabinet, easily cleaning the evidence of her mistake.
“My brother had wanted to get dinner together tonight,” Zen’s tone cuts through her moment of self forgiveness.
way to say goodbye by @aaprilhy
hearts unfurling by @another-miracle
Closing the Ring by @claudeng80
Muse, Part 2 by @claudeng80
Temporary Solutions by @claudeng80
The Full Megillah by @sabraeal
Sic Semper Monstrum, Chapter 11 by @sabraeal
Together Greater Than the Sum of Both, Chapter 2 by @sabraeal
Here is our first community bingo board! All those planning to participate in the event may begin writing/drawing/planning now, but posting begins June 1st through 30th! The board for July will be posted on 6/1!
Post Dates: Jun 1st - Jun 30th
Tag: #obiyukibingo26
Medias: Fic, art, podfics, AMVs, animations, edits & playlists
[PLEASE READ ALL GUIDELINES BEFORE POSTING YOUR WORKS]
Guidelines:
All work must be your own (eg. no plagiarizing other sources, tracing, pose stealing, AI art/writing etc)
The main pairing is Obi x Shirayuki
Fics, art, edits, and playlists are all valid works for this challenge
(If you create other forms of works please contact the comm and we will be happy to work out eligibility)
Must follow the AU prompt
Must be tagged #obiyukibingo26 within the first five tags
With Tumblr’s tagging system on the fritz, please also @ the Obiyuki comm in your entry
No works entered through the submission box will be accepted for this challenge
Works must be posted to Tumblr to be eligible as fills! The post may redirect elsewhere (AO3, ffnet, deviant art, youtube, etc) but we need a Tumblr post to reblog our progress on the board!
Please label with your AU!
All NSFW content must be tagged and under a Read More!
You may post more than one entry per prompt, but it will only count for that square
If someone else fills a square, you are still welcome to submit a fill for that prompt– it won’t count towards a further bingo, but it will count toward your personal stats!
One entry, no matter how many AUs it is applicable for, may only count as one square
Fics must be over 500 words to count as a fill
Art does not have to be a full colored finished piece, but at least a finished sketch
Playlists must be over 8 songs.
Be nice
Play hard
Can I base my work off of other fanworks? (aka, make fanart of a fanfic, write fanfic based on fanart, make an edit of a fanfic or write a fanfic for a playlist, etc)
This is absolutely welcome! If your medium is the same (making a fanfic of a fanfic, or fanart inspired by fanart), please check with the creator of the original fanwork, but otherwise just credit the work that inspired you.
What works are considered valid entries?
Fic, art, podfics, AMVs, animations, edits & playlists. Please note, we are looking for transformative works; please do not simply palette swap characters from the AU source, or find & replace names in their plot. Reimagine what an AU would look like with AnS characters in it!
