Silver Streak smiled as he trotted back inside the kitchen after dropping a letter off in the mailbox, letting his parents know of his special somepony. He had no idea what they’d say about it, but they deserved to know, at any rate.
“Done with that letter? Good,” said Sunny, heading to the hallway. “Come with me, I want to show you something.”
“Uh, sure,” he replied, following Sunny as she went upstairs. She headed into her bedroom, and ducked down to look under her bed. He hummed appreciatively at the sight of her shapely rump raised in the air. “I’m pretty sure you showed that to me just the other night,” he teased.
“What?” she asked, looking back at him curiously. She followed his gaze, and snorted in amusement. “You doofus, I’m not talking about that!” She grabbed the box beneath her bed as she said, “I’m talking about… This!” Sunny pulled out a white wooden box and lifted it onto her bed.
“What is it?” Silver wondered.
“My hope chest,” she replied with a smile.
“Oh, yeah, that thing you mentioned last night,” he said, nodding slowly. “What’s it for?”
“Storing precious memories,” she answered, moving herself onto the bed. She motioned for Silver to join her, and he got up to lay next to her as she opened the box. Inside it were several items, the first of which was a shiny gold bit. “The first bit I earned at this shop,” she explained, putting it aside.
“Say, isn’t that my tie?” he asked, pointing at a wrapped-up blue tie sitting in the box.
“It’s a memento,” she declared. “But, I guess if you want it back…”
Silver shook his head. “No, no, that’s fine.” He smiled as he remembered when he’d seen it last. “You got this from that Saturday we spent together, right?”
Sunny smiled at him. “Right, and you wore it to the nightclub. Oh, that was such a wonderful day…” She leaned gently into him, sighing happily. “I’m glad you convinced me to take that day off; I really needed a break from the shop, and we had such fun together.”
“That was definitely a good day,” he agreed. “So, what else do you have in there?” he wondered, looking into the box.
She pulled out a small photo album. “I have my favorite photographs in here, with space for more to be added.” She hoofed it over to Silver, who began looking through it from the beginning.
The first picture he saw was of Sunny as a filly, in what he assumed was her father’s workshop, as he helped her put together a birdhouse. He chuckled at the oversized hammer held in her mouth as she worked on one of the nails. “Tried to get your cutie mark in woodworking, I see.”
Sunny giggled at the photo. “You know, that birdhouse is still hanging up near my house, though that’s more to do with Dad’s talent than anything else.”
He continued looking through the photos, finding the next one showing Sunny dancing with her mother. Another photo showed Sunny having a tea party with Jewel and Frosty, the three of them laughing at some joke long since forgotten. He then came upon a photo of the three of them, with Frosty at the center holding a newspaper in one hoof while her other pointed at her cutie mark. “What’s the story behind this one?” he wondered.
She looked and grinned. “Oh, that was when Frosty got her cutie mark. You see that paper? She worked on the Foal Free Press as a filly, which was the school paper. She got her cutie mark when she wrote the headline article exposing the school bully.”
“Huh…” He continued to look through the pictures, the next few showing her with her friends, and then he came upon another special photo. The photo in question featured a young Sunny in the hospital with her parents, laying on a bed with her mother as she held her newborn sister in her forelegs. “The day Crystal was born, I assume?”
“Yeah…” She smiled at the memory. “When Crystal was born, Mom told me that it was my responsibility as a big sister to teach her and protect her, and to help Dad out while she was away. I promised Mom I’d be the best big sister ever.”
Silver flipped through the photo album, finding a few more photos of Sunny and Crystal playing together, teaching Crystal new things, and of course both of them getting into some kind of trouble. “Looks like you’ve always been a good big sister to Crystal.”
Sunny nodded. “For the most part, yeah, but there were times we’d still end up fighting. We never stayed angry for too long, though, and I never let myself forget how much I love her.”
Silver continued looking through the album, seeing a few more pictures, including one of Sunny in a graduation gown, grinning proudly with the rest of her family as she held her degree in her hooves. The next picture showed her again with her family, this time in front of Succulent Sweets with a “Grand Opening” banner hanging above the door.
“The grand opening of Succulent Sweets,” Sunny said as she looked at the picture. “Did I ever tell you how I got my shop?” she asked him.
He blinked, then shook his head. “Uh, no...” It had never occurred to Silver to ask how Sunny got the shop; to him, it was always just this business that she owned, and he never wondered about the story behind it.
“Mom bought it for me as a graduation present,” Sunny answered. “She bought the land, and paid for the construction of the shop, all so that I could live my dream like she did.”
“That was really nice of her,” he replied.
“It was,” Sunny agreed. “Thanks to Mom, I get to live my dream just like her and Dad.” She grimaced. “Makes me feel guilty when I think about how I considered closing up the shop not too long ago…”
The last few photos showed him and Sunny on a couple dates, a group photo with their friends and the golden idol, and finally a group photo in that nightclub, Serenity, with Princess Luna. He noticed that the sizable hope chest had plenty of space remaining, the few mementos taking up little space inside. “Plenty of space left for more mementos, huh?”
Sunny’s ear flicked as she snapped out of her thoughts, and she nodded, carefully putting the items back in the box. “Someday, I hope to have the box filled up with precious memories.” She closed up the box, and looked shyly at Silver. “And… I’m hoping you’ll stick around to make those memories with me.”
He smiled and nuzzled her. “Hey, I’m not going anywhere.” His brow furrowed, and he added, “Well, except to the bathroom; I gotta pee.”
She laughed and swatted him on the shoulder. “Way to ruin the mood, doofus!”