//------------------------------// // Chapter 21 // Story: The Sun of My Heart // by BlueSun52 //------------------------------// What You Mean To Me - Part 1 The Problems That Lay Before Us It was very dark in the room of Soul Writer as the young man slept in his bed. Barely any light came through the window but as the alarm clock showed that it was near seven o'clock. When the alarm hit seven, it started playing a smooth Christmas music. Soul groaned as he tried to reach over the clock with his eyes closed. After a few failed attempts at stopping it, he finally was able to land his hand on the sleep button and the alarm went silent. Soul sat up and stretched for a moment before getting up from the bed. He slowly went over to the window. He looked out to see it snowing outside while it covered most of the streets and neighborhoods. Soul let out a yawn. ‘Well, another day at school,’ he thought to himself as he walked away and went into the bathroom. He stood in front of the counter and squeezed out toothpaste on his toothbrush. He slowly began to brush his teeth as he eyes were barely opened from the suddenly waking up from his bed. Just as he was brushing, Soul’s eyes opened wide and he froze in place as some foam of toothpaste spilled from his mouth. ‘Wait, a minute.’ Soul quickly spit out the toothpaste and ran back to his window and opened it to feel the cool breeze come in as he looked out. He had a toothy smile as he saw the streets and neighborhoods covered with snow. He leaned over to see Apple Acres covered in snow as well. Soul raised his arms up. “WOO HOO! SNOW DAY!” he yelled in joy. “That means no school!” Soul stood in front of the school building with half lid eyes as his mother just dropped him off. To his dismay, there was snow everywhere but according to the weather channels there was surprisingly hardly any ice on the roads and it was safe for everyone go out. And the snow was only a few inches tall. “DO’H!” he shouted. Soul had on a black jacket with a white long sleeve shirt under it while he had on blue jeans and black boots. Standing beside him was Applejack as she wore ear muffs and an orange jacket with three apple designs on the side while she wore her usual work boots and blue jeans. “Well, this is just great,” he said. “I use to think that whenever snow comes along, you stay in your house and drink nothing but hot cocoa, but nnooooo we still have to come to school anyway.” “Oh, get over yourself,” Applejack said. “Ah don’t like it any better than you do, but what can you do?” “Well, I kinda thought I would spend some alone time with Sunset and found out why she’s been so depressed about lately,” Soul explained. “You’re still on to that?” Applejack asked. “Look, Ah know she’s your girlfriend and she’s my friend. But she did made it clear that she didn’t want to talk about it.” “I know, but it still pains me to see her like this,” Soul said. “Ever since I mentioned Christmas a few weeks back on my birthday, she just been acting distant.” “Maybe it’s just something really personal and she doesn't want to ruin anyone’s Christmas spirit,” Applejack guessed. “Besides, if she wants to talk about it, she’ll talk about it.” “Yeah, but-” All of a sudden, Applejack hugged Soul which caught him off guard. She then looked at him with a smile. “Give it time, she’ll tell you when she’s ready,” she said. Soul remained silent for a moment as he went through his thoughts. He smiled back at her and hugged her. “Alright, I won’t think about it as much,” Soul said. “I’ll just try to keep her happy in the meantime.” “That’s good to hear,”Applejack said. She then looked past Soul and smiled. "And speaking of her.” She turned Soul around to make him see Sunset walking down the trail. Sunset wore a long grey jacket with a red and yellow striped scarf with black jeans and her usual books. Despite the jacket’s collar hid half of her face, people can see that she was sadden by something as she slowly walked down the trail. Soul frowned when he saw Sunset like she was, but made a small smile and went over to her. Unaware that Soul was coming, Sunset kept on walking down the trail towards the school until she felt a pair of arms wrapped around her. She was startled and looked behind her to see Soul staring at her with a warm smile. “Good morning, Sunny,” Soul said. “Oh um, good morning, Soul,” Sunset said while she tried to avoid his eyes. “I didn’t notice you.” “It’s okay,” Soul said. “How are you doing?” “I’m doing well,” Sunset replied but Soul could sense that it was a lie. “We better get going. Class starts in just a few minutes.” “They don’t start til in fifteen minutes,” Soul pointed out. “I...I just don’t want to be out in the cold for too long,” Sunset said as she got herself free from Soul’s hug and continued on walking towards the school. “Oh, alright,” Soul said awkwardly. He rubbed the back of his head as he didn’t know what to do. “Do you mind that I walk you to your class? We haven’t been spending much time together lately.” Sunset turned to say as she was about to say something. But when she looked at him, she could see the worry in his eyes and looked down at the ground for a moment as she collected her thoughts. It had been weeks since they spend anytime together after his birthday. She even tried to avoid him from time to time because she knew he would keep on asking what was wrong and it pained her to lie to him. She let out a sigh and looked up at Soul with a weak smile. “Yeah, I would like that,” Sunset said. Soul smiled and held her hand as the two walked into the building together. Applejack smiled seeing the couple together but as soon as they were gone, her expression turned into concern. ‘Ah really hope she opens up,’ Applejack thought to herself. ‘Cause if she don’t, she might end up hurting more than just herself.’ It was now time for lunch and a lot of the students were ready for the holidays as the cafeteria was decorated with Christmas decorations and some of the students were wearing holiday theme outfits. “Oh, I just love this time of the year,” Pinkie chimed. “All the cool decorations, the parties that go on and all the gifts and presents that you get!” “I must agree with you, Pinkie,” Rarity said. “It is so good to see everyone in such high spirits this year.” “Well, almost everyone,” Fluttershy mentions. “Wait, what do you mean?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Oh, right. How awful of me to forget that Sunset hasn’t been herself as of late,” Rarity said. “She seems so depressed about something and doesn't want anyone to know about it.” “I know, she’s been really depressed,” Sonata said. “I even waved my crown in her face that I won with Soul to see if I get any kind of reaction. But she never did anything and wasn’t bothered by it at all!.... Although, Soul did talked to me about not doing that again.” “Yeah, just be thankful that it was Soul who did that,” Applejack said. “Cause, if Sunset was still herself, no telling where that would have gone.” “Speaking of your cousin, how is he doing?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I’m wondering how’s he holding up with not getting any smooshie time with her.” “Okay, Ah do not want to talk about my cousin’s personal stuff. Especially what he does with Sunset behind closed doors,” Applejack said before letting a sigh. “And he’s been worried about her. Ah just convinced him to let her be for the time until she decides to open up.” “Do you think Sunset doesn’t trust us with her problems?” Fluttershy asked. “Ah doubt it. It may be more like, she doesn't want to burden anyone with her problems,” Applejack said. “Like she still thinks that she feels undeserving of being our friend.” “Well, if she is, she shouldn’t,” Rainbow Dash said. “We all let that go a long time ago and she can come to us with her problems. We’re friends and we’re willing to help.” “Here, here,” Rarity said. “We should remind her of that and see if we can get her to open up to us.” “Yeah! Let’s get our Sunset back!” Pinkie said. Applejack rubbed the back of her head for a moment before letting out a sigh. “Alright, Ah’m on board,” she said. “But we should wait until after the weekend and see if she could come out on her own.” “I agree, it might be very personal so we should think of a way to get her to tell us about it,” Fluttershy said. “Then we’re all in an agreement?” Rarity asked. All the girls nodded. “Wait, where is she anyway?” Sonata asked. Over by the guys table, Soul let out a sigh as he friends were chatting with one another. His mind was on his girlfriend and was feeling both concern and sadness for her as he felt that there was nothing he could do to cheer her up. Rivet noticed Soul’s lack of interest in the other’s conversation and spoke up. “Hey man, are you okay?” he asked. Soul let out a sigh. “Yeah, I’m fine,” he replied. “Just something is on my mind.” “I’m guessing that it involves one of your girlfriends,” Rivet commented with a sly smile. Soul glared at Rivet. “I only have one... *Sigh* I give up,” he said. Rivet chuckled. “I’m just messing with you,” he said. “Sunset still not being her usual self yet?” “No, I feel like it’s just getting worse,” Soul said. “I tried talking to her about it but she either brushes it off or just plain ignores it. I want to help her so badly but she just doesn't want to talk about it.” “Well, I don’t have much experience with complicated love, you know, seeing as how my girl is pretty straight forward when something troubles her,” Rivet said. “But if it is getting as bad as it is, she’ll more than likely breakdown eventually and will tell someone about it. And when she does, she’ll go to you.” “Why me? I know I’m her boyfriend but she has friends who would give her better help,” Soul said. “It’s not help that she wants, she wants someone who deeply cares for her to be there,” Rivet explained. “He's right,” Clyde injected. “I’ve been in a similar situation like her.” “You have?” Soul asked before raising a brow. “Wait, how do you know what we’re talking about?” “Dude, we’re all sitting at the same table,” Clyde pointed out. “We can all hear what you’re talking about.” Soul pursed his lips as he looked to see Night and Swift looking at him too as they were about a few feet from him across the table. “Oh, right.” “But if she does start to break down, you need to be there when that happens,” Clyde said. “If it wasn’t for Rarity when she came to me, I don’t know what would have happened to me.” “Alright, I don’t really want her to feel like that but if it’s the only way that I can help, then I’ll do what I can,” Soul said. He got up from his seat and grabbed his bag. “Anyways, I’m going to the library real quick. I need to return this book that I got.” Soul made his way towards the camera exit and headed towards the library. When he got there, the room was empty and looked around to see no one was behind the counter. He looked at a sigh at the table to see that it said that the librarian was at lunch. ‘I guess I can just leave the book here and she’ll take care of the rest,’ he thought to himself before he brought out the book and placed it on the counter. Just as he was about to exit through the door, Soul heard something. At first he could tell it was someone sniffing and as he listened in closely, it sounded like someone was crying. He settled his bag near the entrance and went to see where it was coming from. He walked down the aisle of books to see where the crying was coming from until he found one aisle where there was barely any light. He could see that there was someone at the end sitting as they buried their head on their knee. Soul carefully walked over to the person without startling them and when he got close to them, he placed his hand on the person’s shoulder. “Hey, are you alright?” he asked concernedly. The person looked up at him and with shocked, tear filled eyes, was Sunset. “S-Soul!?” “Sunset!?” Soul asked in a shocked tone. “What are you doing?” Sunset felt petrified as the last person she didn’t want to see her like this looked at her with worried eyes. “I-I was...was...just-” Her words choked up in her throat as she tried to make an excuse. Her tears continued to come out of her eyes and her mind was feeling more and more saddened as memories were flooding back to her. She couldn’t contain herself anymore and fell to down as she cried. Soul quickly picked Sunset off the ground and wrapped her around his arms as she cried into chest while she clutched onto his shoulders. Soul gently stroked her hair and looked down at her with both confused and concerned eyes as he saw the love of his life crying for the first time since they met. “Sshhhh, it’s alright,” Soul said to Sunset as he laid back against eh shelves and continued to stoke Sunset’s hair. “Just let it all out. I’m here for you.” Sunset continued on crying on her lover's chest until she began to feel weary and her tears stopped. She sniffed a few times before looking up into Soul’s eyes. She felt warmth looking into his concerning and loving eyes as they looked down at her. Before she knew it, she leaned up to him and kissed him on the lips. It was a gentle kiss as Soul held her in his arms gently and kept on stroking her hair. Sunset’s eyes were still filled with tears as she kissed the one she was deeply in love with. Sunset broke off the kiss and laid her head on Soul’s shoulder. “I’m sorry,” she said. “You got nothing to be sorry about,” Soul said. “But I do. I’ve been pushing you away and all you wanted was to help,” Sunset said. “I must be a terrible girlfriend.” Soul laid his head down on hers as he lovingly looked into her eyes. “You are no such thing, Sunny,” he said. “I love you too much to make me even think of that. You’re a sweet and beautiful girl that I am lucky to be with. And I want to make you happy as best I can.” He leaned down to her and kiss her on the forehead before smiling at her. Sunset smiled back and nuzzled under Soul’s neck while he still lovingly kept her in his arms. The two remained silent for a while before they could hear the school bell ring. Sunset felt saddened that she had to leave this moment with her love and started to get up. But she felt herself being pulled down and looked at Soul with a surprised look to see that he didn’t want to move. Soul let out a sigh. “I know I’ll get in trouble for this later but right now, let’s skip one class and talk about what’s making you like this,” he said. Sunset opened her to interject but she felt her words would fall on deaf ears and let out a sigh. She leaned back down on his shoulder and softly spoke. “You remember that I come from a different world, right?” Soul nodded. “We have a holiday that’s similar like Christmas. We have plays, buy gifts for one another, spending time with friends and... family.” Sunset’s voice lowered at the last word and lowered her head down. At first Soul didn’t understand why but he figured it in a split second and looked at Sunset. “You miss your family don’t you?” Soul asked. Sunset nodded. “And for a long time, I hardly spent anytime with them when I was in Equestria. Not even when this time of the year came,” she said. “And when I first came here, I would be alone for the holidays and wouldn’t understand why everyone would even care to celebrate it. But since I changed, I see now what I was missing out on. While everyone gets to be with their family, mine is in another world and I feel to ashamed to go back.” “Ashamed?” “After everything that I had done, I don’t deserve to go back to them. And even if I did go, they’ll more than likely to hate me for what I did.” “Sunset, you don’t-” “Please, Soul. I don’t want to hear that I do. I may have helped everyone here and changed for the better, but the way I treated my family back home, I don’t deserve their love. Not anymore.” Soul remained silent as his thoughts were trying to find the right words for him to say. But anything he could think of how upset Sunset is over believing that she doesn't have a family anymore. For the time being, he believed that he was able to help Sunset feel better and wished he could do more but deep down he knew that this was enough for the day. The two sat quietly together as they cherished their time together until it was near the next class period.