What You Mean To Me - Part 3
And How Much I Love You
After completing the first part of his plan to get Sunset the best gift and being beaten to a bloody pulp from Rainbow Dash, Soul was now over at his grandmother’s farm after Rainbow Dash drove him there. Applejack was tending to his wounds from the fight and was surprised to see that his bones held up okay from what she could tell.
Applejack was rubbing down Soul’s cheek with a cotton ball while Rainbow Dash impatiently waited for Soul to wake back up. Rainbow Dash had her back against the wall as she tapped her foot and looked at the clock to see how late it was getting. She had to make up an excuse to her parents that she wanted to stay over at Applejack’s place and after everything that had happened, she really wanted to know why Soul had to put up a fight and why he was there in the first place.
“AJ, is there anything you can do to make him wake up?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Cause I really want to know what the hell is going on.”
“Cool ya jets, Dash.” Applejack said. “Ah don’t know why my cousin decided to sneak into Sunset’s home, but Ah’m sure that he really had a good reason…. At least that’s what Ah’m hoping for.”
“He better have a good reason or I’m finishing what we started,” Rainbow Dash said as she cracked her knuckles.
“Ah’m not going to let ya hurt my cousin anymore than ya already did,” Applejack said before she paused for a moment. “Unless of course it was some kind of panty raid. In which case, Ah’ll be more than happy to help ya.”
“I’m so glad that we’re family, Applejack,” Soul said as he slowly sat up on the bed. Applejack helped Soul with getting up as he winced in pain while moving. He let out a groan as he stretched his arms around. “Damn, I’ve never gotten my ass kicked like that before.”
“Glad to be the first,” Rainbow Dash commented with a smug smile. Her expression turned into a serious one and walked over to Soul. “So, I have to ask: WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DOING!?” she yelled into Soul’s face as he winced from the sudden loudness.
Soul rubbed his ear for a moment before looking at Rainbow Dash. “Well, do you want the short or long version?” he asked.
“I want the truth!” Rainbow Dash said as she leaned down to Soul’s face with her nose touching his.
Soul gulped. “Alright, long version it is then,” he said.
While explaining about why Sunset was depressed and explaining some of his plan to get her gift, Rainbow Dash nodded and said ah huh several times and got the idea. After Soul was finished, there was still something on Rainbow Dash’s mind that still needed to be answered.
“Okay, I get that Sunset is unhappy about not seeing her parents again and you sneaking in her house. But you haven’t explained why you needed Twilight’s help in all this,” Rainbow Dash pointed out. “Why do you need her help so badly?”
“I want to tell you everything but I just want to keep it a secret right now,” Soul explained. “I promise to make it up to you for all the trouble you had to go through…. and to Sonata too.”
“I probably need to make that up to her too,” Rainbow Dash added.
“So, ya really don’t want to tell us what ya have planned?” Applejack asked.
“It’s too special to spoil it,” Soul said.
Applejack let out a sigh and rubbed the back of her head. “Well, alright if ya say so,” she said. “Ah just hope ya know what ya doing.”
“Trust me, I do,” Soul said. He laid back down on the bed and let out a yawn. “Right now though I am too exhausted and beaten up to go anywhere right now.”
“Fair enough. Ah’ll let Aunt Dawn know you’re here and then we’ll let you do whatever it is you have to do,” Applejack said.
“Thanks Applejack,” Soul said.
“Mind if I stay for the night?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I told my parents I would be sleeping here for the night.”
“Sure thing, Dash. You can sleep in the guest room as usual,” Applejack said.
“Awesome.”
Applejack and Rainbow Dash left the room and Soul slowly drifted into sleep as he was excited for what he had planned next.
Soul leaned against the school’s statue as he waited for Twilight to come. He head was wrapped in a bandage and still had a black eye on his right eye. He looked at his cellphone to see that it was just a few minutes away from noon. Soul let out a sigh and shivered a bit from the cold win. He arrived there twenty minutes before in case Twilight arrived early. He was getting tired of standing in the cold and started making his way towards the car he borrowed from his mom until he heard something behind him.
Soul turned to see a matress come out of nowhere and raised a brow in confusion. The next thing he knew, a girl with lavender skin with a purple jacket and long blue jeans popped out of the statute and landed on the mattress.
“OOF!” Twilight grunted as she landed softly on mattress and got up on her feet. She swiped her jacket off and crossed her arms as she shivered because of the cold. “Brrrr, of all the times to come here, it had to be winter. I don’t even have fur when I’m human!”
“Um, Twilight?”
Twilight looked up to see Soul standing in front of her with a confused expression.
“Oh, you’re Soul right?” Twilight asked. “Sunset’s boyfriend?”
Soul nodded.
“It’s good to meet you again,” Twilight greeted as she walked up to him. “I haven’t seen you since the Fall Formal. I was surprised to get a letter from you…. Actually ever since Sunset uses the only book that could send any message to me.”
“Life is full of surprises,” Soul said and noticed Twilight was still shivering from the cold. “Um, do you want me to take you somewhere warm? There is a lot to discuss about and it might take a while to hash out the details.””
“That would be great,” Twilight said as she followed Soul to his car. She then looked at Soul for a moment before speaking up again. “I have to ask: What happened to you? You look like you just came out of a fight.”
Soul let out a sigh. “Oh, you have no idea what I had to go through to even send you a letter,” he replied. “I’ll explain that too when we get somewhere warm.”
Soul and Twilight went over to the cafe and he explained everything to Twilight about what had happened. He was telling her that Sunset was depressed for the last few weeks and why so. He continued on to say that he had come with a present to Sunset and he knew that only Twilight would be able to help with that. He added how he got the black eye and bandages from when he was fighting Rainbow Dash.
After Soul was done telling everything that had led up to now, Twilight stared at him with a blank dumbfounded look as her hot chocolate steamed. She shook her head after she had processed everything that was told to her and decided to talk about the important parts.
Twilight cleared her throat. “So, Sunset really has been this upset?” she asked.
Soul nodded. “Twilight, I have to say, it was very painful to see her like that,” he said. “And now I can’t stop thinking about it. That’s why I needed your help for this.”
“Whatever it is, I’ll help,” Twilight said. “But I still don’t understand what you need me for though.”
Soul smiled. “Trust me, you’re in a really good position to help,” he said.
Soul explained to Twilight what he wanted her to do. What he was asking her to do was so shocking to her, that she was surprised that she didn’t think of it. After he had explained everything to her and the two chatted for a few moments. The two were on their way out of the cafe and headed back to Canterlot High. Saying their goodbyes, Twilight walked back into the portal only to drag the mattress back with her. Soul chuckled when she said that she had to rethink her strategy on coming back into the human world since the matress got wet from the snow.
Soul went back into his mom’s car and drove off as he prepared for the next part of his plan.
A few days had past and it was now Christmas Eve. At the home of one teenage girl from another world, Sunset was still laying in her bed as she covered herself under her blanket in warmth. After the sun’s light hit her face for a while, her eyes slowly opened and looked over to her clock to see that it was nine-thirty. She let out a groan and turned away from the clock and the light of the sun. In the back of her mind, she dreaded this day to come and wished that it had already been over. And the next day after that too.
As Sunset tried to ignore the outside world as she attempted to stay in her bed, she heard her doorbell ring and let out an irritated sigh. She had believed that it was one of her friends trying to invite her over to another slumber party. She was fine going to the first few but she wanted to be alone for the rest of the Christmas holiday and avoid anymore talks about it.
The doorbell rang over and over again. She let out a groan and slowly hopped out of bed. After walking through her living room and towards the door, she twisted and opened the door.
“Look Pinkie, I said already that I’m not-” Sunset was about to say but her she stopped when she saw who was standing there.
It was Soul with a smile as he looked down at Sunset who only had a surprised look on her for a moment before she looked at him with a raised brow.
“Soul? What are you doing here?” Sunset asked. “Shouldn’t you be with you family?”
“I was, but I had some guests that came along that wanted to meet you,” Soul replied.
“What are-”
Sunset’s mouth froze and her eyes widen when she saw Soul step aside. A man and a woman stood there with joyful expressions on them and their eyes glistened with tears. Sunset felt a lump in her throat as stared at the two with shock. The man’s skin was pale yellow with dark red hair while the woman was tan skinned with long curled yellow hair and the couple wore comfortable warm clothes.
The woman took a few steps forward towards Sunset until she was right in front of her. The woman held her hand over Sunset’s cheek as tears started to stream down.
“S-Shimmy?” the woman asked in a shaky voice.
“M-Mom,” Sunset said as she held her mother’s hand as tears streamed.
The moment Sunset said these words, her mother wrapped her arms around her daughter and hugged her like there was no tomorrow.
“Midnight, it really is our daughter!” Sunset’s mother said.
Midnight, Sunset’s father, joined in and hugged both her mother and her with tears coming out of his eyes. “We missed you so much, my little sweetheart,” he said.
The three hugged together for a few moments while Soul watched with a smile. The three broke off the hug and all stared at one another in silence until Sunset spoke up.
“What are you doing here?” Sunset asked. “Not that I am happy to see you again, but how did you know I was here?”
“Well, your friend here had told Princess Twilight about you being here and he was kind enough to show us where you lived,” Sunset’s mother explained. “Oh, my little filly, you’ve grown up so much.”
“We’ve searched for you for some many years. We asked Princess Celestia where you were but she could never say what had happened to you,” Midnight added.
Sunset’s mother walked over to Soul and gave him a hug. “If it wasn’t for this young colt here, we would have been depressed for the rest of our lives,” she said. “I cannot thank you enough for doing this.”
“You don’t have to thank me, Mrs. Sunrise,” Soul said. “I just wanted Sunset to be with her family again. She missed you very much.”
“Still we can’t thank you enough,” Midnight said. “How about we all get inside. We have a lot to catch up on.”
Sunset’s parents pass her and into her apartment. Just as Soul was about to go through the door, Sunset stopped him as she placed her hand over his chest and looked at him with angry glare.
“Soul, what the hell!?” she hissed. “I told you not to bother me about this. You haven’t told them what I did, did you?”
“No, I didn’t say anything about what you’ve done,” Soul replied. “But they're your parents. I know you felt ashamed about what you’ve done but you have to let that go. And if your parents really love you, they’ll forgive for it and understand why you did all that.”
“Soul, it’s not just that,” Sunset said. She lowered her head down and tears streamed down her cheek. “They may ask me to come back and if they do and I go…. I may never see you again.”
Soul went silent for a moment as he thought over Sunset’s words. He looked down on the ground and contemplated for a moment before he looked back up to her. “Then if that’s what it takes to see you happy again, I’m willing to do that,” he said.
Sunset was shocked by Soul’s response. He was willing to do whatever to make her happy even if he might lose her. Sunset clutched her chest tightly as she felt a small bit of pain in her heart. Part of her wanted to be with Soul for as long as they lived, but another part of her wanted to be with her parents and if they did forgive her and ask her to come back home with them, she would lose the one that she deeply fell in love with it.
Sunset looked one look behind her to see her parents sitting on the couch while their backs were turned to her. She then looked towards Soul and grabbed him by the shoulder. She leaned in and kissed him on the lips in a deep passionate kiss. While Soul was caught off guard by her actions, he quickly accepted the kiss and wrapped his arms around her. After a moment, the two broke off the kiss and gazed into each others eyes.
“I don’t want to lose you,” Sunset said. “I love you so much that I can’t bare to be without you.”
“But what about-”
“Like you said, if they do love me, than they would understand,” Sunset said. She held onto Soul’s hand and guided him inside.
Soul smiled happily as he was feeling like the luckiest guy in the world.
“By the way, they kept on calling you my friend,” Sunset pointed out. “Do they know we’re in a relationship?”
Soul cleared his throat. “I may have skipped some details when I saw your dad,” he answered. “I thought I might live longer that way.”
Sunset giggled. “Don’t worry, dad is very loving person,” she said. “He wouldn’t mind someone dating his daughter.”
Soul let out a sigh of relieve.
“Course he may give you ‘The Talk,’” Sunset added.
Soul gulped.
Sunset and Soul joined in on Sunset’s parents in the living room and Sunset began to tell her parents why she disappeared from Equestria. She told them everything about her selfishness to be a princess and stealing Princess Twilight’s crown up to the point of her redemption. She continued on saying how she had changed and was able to save the school from the Dazzlings at the Battle of the Bands. She even went on to say that she was in a relationship with Soul and to her surprise, they were aware of Soul being possibly her boyfriend after all the trouble he had to go though.
Like Soul had said, Sunset’s parents did forgive her for what she had done and told her that they would love her no matter what. And what surprised both Soul and Sunset the most was while her parents did want her to come home, they knew that she was happy living here and wouldn’t ask her to leave her new life.
After a long while chatting for a while and Midnight talking with Soul in private about dating Sunset, her parents asked if she could come back to Equestria just for a while during the holidays. Sunset was a bit hesitant at first, but Soul said that he wouldn’t mind her being gone for a while and her friends would want her to be with her family. Sunset agreed and after getting ready and driving down the road, they were back at Canterlot High. Sunset’s parents went into the portal first while they left the young couple to say their goodbyes for the time being.
Soul leaned down to her and kiss her on the lips in a tender display of affection for her. He wrapped his arms around her as she did the same. He broke of the kiss and leaned his forehead against hers. “I love you,” he said. “I hope you enjoy the present I got you.”
Sunset smiled. “I will and I love you too,” she said. “Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas,” Soul said before kissing Sunset again.
The two said their goodbyes and Sunset walked through the portal as Soul waved at her. Soul was sadden a bit to see her gone but he was still happy seeing her be with her family for a while. He let out a sigh and walked back to his car. While the thought of family was in his mind for a long while, there was one place he knew where he was needed.
Over at Sweet Apple Acres, the Apple family invited all of their friends and family together for a huge Christmas Eve party. Dawn and Comet where at the party with Granny Smith and their nieces and nephew, Applejack, Apple Bloom and Big Macintosh. Also there were most of Applejack and Soul’s friends, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Sonata, Swift, Night and Rivet as well their parents, siblings and guardians were there too.
Everyone was chatting or were playing games with one another as they enjoyed the Eve of Christmas. Coming through the front door was Soul as he walked in and closed the door behind him. His mother was the first to notice his arrival and walked over to give him a hug.
“Oh sweetie, I thought you were never going to make it,” Dawn said as she embraced her son. “I was afraid that I would come and get you before you did anything funny with your girlfriend.”
Soul rolled his eyes. “Mom, I wasn’t going to do that,” he said. “There was just something important that I had to do.”
“Oh, like what?” Dawn asked.
“I’ll tell you about it in a little bit,” Soul said.
Just as Dawn had let go of him, he was then grabbed by Pinkie as she gave him a bear hug which squeezed the living daylight out of him. After her hug, Soul panted heavily as he tried to catch his breath.
“Soul, is so good to see you!” Pinkie chimed. “I’m glad to see that your black eye went away. So, did you get Sunset come?”
“Sorry Pinkie, but there was somewhere she wanted to go,” Soul replied.
“Aawww,” Pinkie said in disappointment. “Where did she go then?”
“She went to visit with her parents for the holidays,” Soul answered.
Pinkie’s disappointed expression turned into a joyous one. “Really!? That so sweet!” she said. “How long do you think she’ll be gone?”
“Maybe for a couple of days, but that’s not important,” Soul said. “As long as she spend time with them, that’s what matters.” He then looked over to his mom. “Just like I want to spend with you and dad.”
Dawn smiled and hugged her son in a gentle way. “Oh and I always thought you were thinking you were too grown for us,” she joked.
“Never in my entire life,” Soul said.
“Hey everyone, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer is on!” Swift said.
“You’re seriously into that?” Rivet asked.
“Hey, it's a classic!” Swift countered.
“Only you would be into that, bro,” Scootaloo commented.
“Hey!”
“I like watching it too,” Fluttershy said.
“Me too, I love watching it!” Pinkie said.
Everyone gathered around int living room and started watching the program on the tv. Soul looked around for a moment before asking someone.
“Hey, where’s Clyde and Rarity?”
“They’re over at Rarity’s place with her family,” Rivet said. “They’re having their own little party together. I guess it was good move anyway since there’s barely any room left for anyone.”
“Oh, don’t be such a fuss,” Rivet’s mom said. “I enjoy having you sit with me.”
Rivet was sitting on the same chair as his mom while Scootaloo was sitting with her figurative big sister, Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash snickered quietly about Rivet’s quality time with his mother while he let out an irritated sigh.
Soul chuckled for a moment before Applejack was calling for him.
“Hey cuz, we saved you a seat on the floor here,” Applejack said as she laid on the floor with many of their friends while most of the adults hogged all the furniture.
Soul smiled and removed his jacket and placed it on the hanging rack. He got on his stomach on the floor with the rest of his friends and family. From then on, Soul enjoyed the rest of Christmas Eve knowing the love of his life was being happy and smiling again while she was with her family once more.
A few days had past and Soul was waiting by the statue in front of Canterlot High. He held in his arm the book that Sunset uses to send messages to Twilight and not too long ago, he received a message from Sunset. It read that she was saying her goodbyes to her parents and was on her way back into the human world. Soul waited patiently for her until her heard something come out of the statue and a thud sound.
Soul turned around to see Sunset on the ground as she let out a groan. He quickly ran over to her and helped her back on her feet. Sunset shook her head a few times before she gazes into his eyes once more. The two smiled and embraced each other into their arms. The two then kissed passionately for a moment before they broke off the kiss and talked.
“I missed you,” Sunset said.
“I missed you too,” Soul said. “How was your time with your parents?”
“It was wonderful. I had forgotten what it was like being a pony again,” Sunset replied. “But right now I’m a little tired from all the celebrating and parties I went to and I just want to spend some time with you.”
“I would love to spend sometime with you again,” Soul said before he leaned down and kiss her on the lips. “So, what are we going to do? Make out, snuggle up, talk about what we did during the holidays or are we going to do all of that anyway?” he joked.
Sunset blushed and lowered her head down for a moment before looking back at him. “How about I show you when we get back to my place,” she said. “It’s very special to not do out here.”
Soul raised a brow and rubbed the back of his head. “Um, sure but what is it?” he asked.
“I’ll show you when we get back,” Sunset said with a wink and walked casually towards his car.
Soul felt confused by her gesture and decided to follow her to found out what she was talking about. After a short drive, they made it to her house and she said that she needed to do something for a moment. She grabbed some things from her drawers without Soul seeing them and told him to wait on her bed for a moment.
Soul still felt confused on what Sunset was doing and did what she said. After a moment of waiting, he heard the door to the bathroom open and looked over only to have his face turn red and his breath froze. She was only wearing lingerie with most of her body revealed to him to see.
“S-Sunset!?” Soul asked shockingly.
Sunset wore a dark crimson bra with red lacing and her panty following the same pattern of color. She wore see long through sock that were attached to a strap around her waist.
Soul gulped and clutched onto the bed sheets as she said nothing and walked closely to him. She sat on his lap as she wrapped her arms around him. With her body pressed against him, Soul was burning up with sweat pouring down his forehead.
‘OH GOD, OH GOD, OH GOD! IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING!?’ Soul shouted in his mind as he gazed into Sunset’s cyan eyes.
Sunset closes the gap between their faces and pressed her lips against his. Soul lifted his arms up slowly and gently wrapped around Sunset’s body as he felt her exposed back. After a very passionate make out, Sunset broke off the kiss and spoke up.
“Soul, I want you to take me,” she said. “Right here and right now.”
“B-But why?” Soul asked.
“Why? Don’t you know what you did for me?” Sunset said. “You were there when I needed someone to hold me when I cried in the library and you must have went through so much to get my parents to come here and see me. You gave me back my family and I didn’t lose you when it happened. I have said I love you but now I am for certain that you are the one for me and I have never felt so happy like this in my life. There is nothing I could do to repay you for what you did. So now, this is the closest that I could ever repay you with; by giving myself to you.”
Soul stood silent as he gazed into his lover’s eyes and how her words mean to him. In his mind, this was something he wanted to do with her. To prove how much he loves her and to give himself to her. But in his heart, there was something else that told him different. That there was something another way to show his love without any physical intimacy. Soul took a deep breath before gazing into Sunset’s eyes and placing a hand over her cheek.
“Sunset, I love you more than anything else in this world and I want to be one with you,” Soul began to say. “But not now. Not like this.”
Sunset’s eyes widened with surprise and shock. He felt confused and conflicted with his words. She leaned away and thought for a moment before she spoke.
“I-I don’t understand,” she said.
“I know you want to prove that you love me, but you already have,” Soul said. “You’re with me right now and that’s all I want from you for now. I want to save both you and me for something even better when the time comes. I would be lying if I said I didn’t want to take you but right now it feels like the wrong thing to do. Can you promise me that you would wait for that with me?”
Sunset gazed into Soul’s eyes before smiling and nodded. “Of course, I will wait,” she said. “I love you so much that I’m willing to wait for hundreds of years.”
Soul chuckled. “I’m not saying to wait that long, but I promise it won’t be that long at all,” he said.
Soul and Sunset leaned to each other and kissed some more. After a few minutes, they broke off the kiss and Sunset let out a sigh.
“I guess I’ll change into something else then,” she said.
Just as she was about to get up, Soul kept her in place and stopped her from moving. She raised a brow at him.
“Um, not just yet,” Soul said with a blush. “I’m still enjoying the view.”
Sunset rolled her eyes and smacked him on the chest. “All that talk about saving yourself and you have to act like this now?” she joked.
Soul shrugged. “Hey, I have a half-naked chick sitting on top of me, what else should I do?” he jokingly asked.
Sunset pushed Soul on top of the bed and walked off back into the bathroom. After a moment she was dressed up back into her warm outfit and held onto Soul’s hands.
“Come on, I want to go somewhere to eat,” Sunset said. “As bad as this may sound, I miss eating meat.”
Soul laughed. “I bet you do,” he said. He leaned in and kiss her on the lips. “I love you.”
“I love you more,” Sunset said before they left together and went out to eat.