//------------------------------//
// The Final Night 
// Story: A Moment of Happiness 
// by Rakoom 
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The Final Night

Shoelace sat in the snow, waiting for Lily. The locks on the bedroom-window went up and a little filly peeked over the edge. She measured the distance, but her ears fell flat along her head when she realized how far up a whole floor was for her. Maybe this was not such a good idea after all? But no, she couldn’t back down now. She jumped up on the edge of the window and closed her eyes.

While she had nearly panicked up there, Shoelace sat quietly and gave her the time she needed. A small silhouette soared across the sky with the sun behind for dramatic effect. Sadly, that was just a bird. Lily jumped just a second after with a little less grace. 

For a moment she hung in the air, but suddenly gravity got back to work and pulled her down. She accelerated quickly towards the ground. She didn't open her eyes out of fear, but the trip was shorter than she expected. Crashed into the snow with a soft *thump*. Her face was cold and full of snow, but the adrenaline was too strong for her to notice.

“That was awesome!” she thought. It was the single most incredible thing she had ever done! She tried to push herself up again, but even Houdini would find it difficult to get out. She was stuck again... Shoelace grabbed her hooves with his magic and lifted her up. He looked at her with both a smile and a frown; he would probably go tired of pulling her out of the snow sooner or later. 

"Again?" Lily asked with her cutest little voice and begging eyes, the serious look on Shoelace's face and his frown told her it didn't work this time. "Tomorrow, it's getting dark now," Shoelace said and placed her down again. "Why don't you go inside, and find some cookies?" That offer was good enough for her! "Okidoki Shoelace!" Lily trotted inside while Shoelace stood for himself outside.

Shoelace always watched the stars this time of the year. Maybe it was just superstition, but it gave him comfort to always look at that one shiny star. He and String had watched it together too, maybe that was it. Then a realization hit him; he forgot to buy a star this year! Even though he didn't always decorate his tree, he always placed a star on the top every year. But his last star one broke last year! "Shoelace! I got the cookies!" Lily called behind him. Shoelace snapped out of it and gazed one last time upwards before heading in.



The fireplace burned nicely with some large logs. The entire house had a feeling of warmth and a happiness, very different when looking back at the night when Lily knocked on the door for the first time. Shoelace opened a closet next to the bathroom while Lily sat and ate cookies with her plushy. He lifted his gift towards the living-room with his unicorn-magic.

"Lily, I have a present for you," he said. Lily's ears sharpened up over the couch and she peeked over at Shoelace. She gasped when she saw the toboggan; she had always wanted to sweep down hills on one. But then she remembered. "Oh, right! I have a present for you too!"

"What!? B- But how did you get a present?" Lily snuck her head under the tree and pulled out a neat box with silver wrapping. Shoelace was out of words. Lily giggled at the dumbfounded old colt. She placed the box in front of him. "Wh- Where did you get this?" Shoelace asked her. 

Lily just smiled at him. "Come on, open it!" Shoelace could only stutter since he really didn't know what to say. It had been so long since he had received anything from anypony, and the gift didn't look anything like something even he could have gotten.

He sat down and picked up the box with his hooves and un-wrapped it. Inside was a silver star, the most beautiful he had ever seen. The details and quality of the star surpassed the craftsmanship of anypony he knew. “But, h- how?” Shoelace stuttered. Their attention was drawn towards the door when somepony knocked. Shoelace was about to trot over and open, but Lily was there on the blink of an eye and opened the front-door before he his first hoof made contact with the floor. Shoelace's jaw would have dug into the ground if the laws of nature would allow it. He dropped the box with the silver star. "String..."

Shoelace got tears in his eyes, he couldn't believe it. There she was, standing in front of him after all these years. Her hair had a more pale tone than before, and she didn't have her hair tied up like before. But there was no doubt that this was the same pony he had met so long ago. Shoelace was breathless, no words could express his emotions right now. 

String didn't say anything either, she didn't even look at him. She had closed her eyes the second she saw Shoelace's old face. Lily looked back and forth between the two. She purposely coughed to hint that they should say something, and Shoelace took the hint first. "W- Why are you here?" She looked at him for a brief moment before re-directing her eyes towards the floor.

She swallowed deeply before forcing herself to speak."I- I'm so sorry. I’m so sorry I left even though... Even though I knew I should have stayed.” She took a step backwards and lowered her head. “I- I just couldn't come back, n- not after hurting you l- like I did." 

Lily trotted back to the couch again. “I met her when I looked for the cookies, she saw me talking to you and wanted my help!" she said, seemed like this was meant as a surprise for him. 

String closed her eyes shut and raised her voice. "I know it was wrong of me to leave, I never even told you why! Please, I'm so sorry!" She still couldn't look him in the eyes. "I understand it if you hate me. I came here because I wanted to see you again. I-" She bit her lip. “I-” her eyelids clenched together a little harder, barely letting a tear escape from one of her eyes. “I left so that I could play music,” she said. 

Those last few words hit Shoelace like a dagger, no, like a sword through his chest. Even though he could barely hear what she said since she barely uttered the words while fighting her shame, he heard exactly what she said. He understood now: Her profession was music, as her cutiemark and name fit so perfectly for. She had left him for her career when he needed her. She had left him behind... Without a single word... When he needed her...

It hurt shoelace so much to realize that. He took nine steps forwards, standing a single step away from String. She raised her head and forced herself to look at his face with her teary eyes. She couldn’t even see his facial expression with her blurry vision. Shoelace's voice was flat, dry and emotionless. "Every day I waited for you to come back String. I sat in my house, alone, just sitting there. Waiting patiently for the moment when my only true friend would come back for me," Shoelace said. His words lacked any particular tone, making it impossible to tell how he felt.

“I never knew what it would be like, but I knew you would be back. Maybe you would come barging in, calling out to me. Maybe you would surprise me somehow, catching me off-guard. Or maybe you would just come knocking on my door.” Each sentence stung String in the chest like a dagger being shoved further and further into her chest. The shame she felt was unbearable, and she didn’t dare to look at his face anymore. “I never knew how it would be, but the days went by silently. Days turned into weeks, months, years, decades...”

String took a step backwards, but Shoelace took a step forward and lifted her head up with his hoof. They stared into each other’s teary eyes for a moment. “But I knew you would come back,” Shoelace whispered. String threw her hooves around him and hugged him as hard as she could. She lost control of her emotions and cried loudly on his shoulder. Shoelace hugged her tightly and began to cry as well, he forgave her for what she did.

They held each other for a long time, letting their emotions flow on one-another’s shoulders. Lily - who had sat idly and watched them - picked up the shiny silver-star. The cutton surrounding it made sure that the star remained unharmed when Shoelace dropped it. She looked at the tree a second, then she trotted right next to it and took aim. The star went straight up. And when gravity took hold of it, the cylinder-formed little pipe on the bottom landed perfectly on the highest vertical branch. Lily took a step back and admired the completed tree. Then she grabbed the cookie-box "Who wants some cookies?"



Several wishes had been fulfilled that night: One of them was somepony who wanted somepony to care for her, while another wish was for one pony who wanted somepony to care for. The third wish was from one pony who wanted to be forgiven. And the last wish was from two ponies who wanted happiness for their little filly. And hey! She got cookies!