//------------------------------// // The sun finally rises // Story: My last shadow // by The Psychopath //------------------------------// It took at least two days to plan everything, but Cadence was ready to enact her plan. She was certain that the best thing these two would need was a special somepony, and Stellar and Life were definitely perfect for each other. First, the two needed to be free of all responsibilities. Luckily, Stellar was always, technically, off-duty considering what she would do when looking for abandoned shadow ponies. The pink pony even managed to force Life into a day of resting after having a few of the SPS members forge reports that he was overworking himself. Ironically, had the mare actually payed closer attention to Life, she would have known that forging was unnecessary. The supposedly emotionless stallion was walking around the city, just to kill time, but was unaware that his path was being deviated by several ponies wearing skin tight outfits and blending into the background. Cadence really took this sort of thing seriously. Elsewhere, Stellar was looking out for any foals wandering the streets. She was in the slums, after all. Cadence and Armor still had difficulty readjusting the fiscal equality of everypony, so the slums were still an issue. The buildings were tall, the streets were dirty, and lines of drying clothes hung above the streets. A an old mare seemed uncaring for the dangers that could be held within these streets and just remained in her rocking chair outside of a tall apartment. Her entire body was covered with a gray coat to protect from any eventual rain, but her faded blue fur and yellow eyes could still be seen through it, unlike many individuals wearing clothing with cowls. As Stellar continued to walk around innocently, casually observing the landscape and trying to find any other shadow ponies, she was interrupted by the elderly mare calling for her. "Excuse me, young miss, but have you happened a cat with purple fur?" "Purple fur?" Stellar wondered loudly. "Yes. It is a rare...breed, shall we say." "No, I haven't, but I'm kind of busy right now." "I can see that, but an old pony like me can see more than that. You're getting a spark in your heart. I can see it," the old mare teased as she rocked back and forth. "That's kind of a personal thing to talk about, especially with somepony I don't even know," Stellar scorned. The old mare nodded and put a hoof out in acceptance. "True, but I don't think you want to live alone for the rest of your life, and this would be a good occasion to tear away from all the hassle of paper work." Stellar rolled her eyes in annoyance. It was obvious she wasn't getting away from this pony, so she reluctantly sat in front of the chair to see what exactly it is this pony had to say. "So?" "So what?" "I thought you wanted to talk?" "I do." "Then when are you going to start?" The elderly mare giggled at the impatient pony's need for speed and calmly said: "Just because you're young does not mean that you must rush and race during this time. You'll just use it all up even faster. Why not sit next to me and relax. Take in the scenery." Stellar looked behind her and observed the surroundings, much to her irritation. "What surroundings? You mean this broken, down dump? The sewers were better." The old granny's face of bliss turned into that of insult. "I'll have you know that I've lived in these parts since I was a young foal. They might be a tad...run down since those days, but everything can have beauty in it if you look closely. You just need to appreciate it for what it is. In these buildings, young foals gallop playfully and grow with their brothers and sisters. Not everypony had to go through what you shadow ponies did." "What are you trying to get at?" "Just because you grew up alone doesn't mean you need to continue like this. I can tell it is not within you to live out your days in the shadows of loneliness. You might seem tough on the outside, but you are frail and wounded on the inside. Wouldn't you have somepony hug you and nurture you with all their love? Especially if that pony is willing?" the mare grinned. "Wh-what? No! Psch. I don't need that sort of thing." Stellar looked away half-heartedly and her voice oscillated in volume several times while protesting against the old granny's claims, but the old pony wasn't done embarrassing this filly. Even if it was just to play around. "So you're saying that you have nopony in mind?' "What does it matter to you?" the angry mare turned around with a puffed up face. "Huehue. I'm only teasing." Many things were going through Life's mind at the moment, many involving confusion on his point of view of Stellar. He was already enamored by her -ahem- 'good looks' when he first saw her, but he did not know her in any manner. Now that they've been working closer to each other, he's gotten to know much more about her. He knows what she likes, what she hates. He knows so much about her, and both shared their pasts after discovering that they had both gone through some tumultuous times during their foalhood. Life simply went further into the pit of murk, but he came out stronger in mind, body, and soul. He wouldn't let himself become some sort of pitiful creature wallowing in self pity like so many he had heard about. "Do I love her, or do I not? Is it just appreciation? A friendship-type love? I don't know anymore? What do I say? Cadence is far too creepy and seemingly obsessed with these sort of things to let it go. I'm wondering if she's planning anything and if these feelings are part of her powers." Life stopped for a moment and gnawed his front hoof a little bit to 'destress' himself. Before he could come to a proper conclusion, he already saw Stellar coming towards him from beyond the streets. She was still far away and she was still in the slums. He had to tell her! No. It could be a stupid plan, but he had to tell her. Were they proper emotions? Yes. No. Yes. No. Yes? "Go ahead. If she rejects you, then that's water under the bridge, but why think negatively all the time? Do it. Ask her if she wants to talk a bit. Maybe even travel to the Solaris Springs to the north of the city. I'm sure she'd love an entire spring dedicated to the sun," Life's little voice suggested to him. The stallion mustered his courage with every second, his heart beating erratically and his fur becoming drenched by sweat as the seconds passed. "Life? What are you doing here?" Stellar asked. Life fidgeted in place like a nervous little foal in front of his school crush. "Well, I decided to have a walk to think things over. You know...about...stuff..." Life turned his head and rubbed the back of his head while shooting brief glances to Stellar. " 'Stuff'? " Stellar asked with a head shake and shrug. "Um...well...I was wondering..." "Yeeeeeees?" "Do you want to go with me to the Solaris Springs?" "The what?" "They're springs hidden in the snowy hills outside of the kingdom. They're close by, and they're designed around the sun." "Really? How do you know about this?" "Ummm...Cadence told me..." Life's face scrunched up in embarrassment. The fluffy mare pondered for a moment, then nodded and looked at Life with a smile. "Sure. That'd be great! And just us two?" "Y-yes." Life hadn't thought this whole thing through. He was going to be all alone with Stellar without anypony to back him up, but he had gone through worse, hadn't he? He gestured Stellar to follow him, and the mare did so without hesitation, hopping right next to him and happily nudging the side of his neck with her muzzle, making a cold chill spike run through his veins. Seeing his reaction, Stellar teased him even further by asking a most frightening question: "Does this mean we're on a date?" she asked innocently. Life's only response was lots of blubbering and stuttering. His reactions were hilarious to Stellar, so she decided to leave the situation as it were, for now. Cadance was in the halls of the Crystal Tower, readying everything for her plan, when one of her 'special' guards, clad in pink armor, galloped up to her and told her that the two 'targets' were already walking together to the Springs that she had mentioned to Life. The pink alicorn had a moment of emptiness where she just didn't know how to react, then she proudly raised herself up and laughed in a manner most forced and embarrassing. "I'm a great love planner! I told you everything would work out, Crystal." "But you didn't do anything," the dragoness accused. "Did I really not?" Cadence answered in a haughty and prideful manner. "Yes. You really didn't." Crystal just stared at the pink pony with a frown while Cadence slowly shrunk down and became rather upset. "I still managed to give Life some tips on where he needed to go. It's a place that's sooo romantic." Cadence spoke with dreary, lovesick eyes, making Crystal gag a little. The tundra was currently being swept by a rather vicious and loud blizzard, but both ponies had pushed through, regardless, to a seemingly unimportant, large and tall lump of snow. Stellar was confused at first and had difficulty seeing anything, but she still caught a glimpse of Life walking through the snow as if nothing was there. She slowly followed behind and was nearly blinded in the process. The Solaris springs were violently bright, but it was warm, quiet, and there was grass and flowers. The spring was in front of Stellar and was made in an ancient greek design, with a white marble body, three white pillars holding an arc roof atop them, and what seemed to be a giant statue standing behind it all. The head and a large portion of the left shoulder and arm appeared to have been broken off, but it was clear that the figure was a pony. It was standing upright on its hindlegs, and its forehooves were holding a yellow ball of light. It was like a mini sun that made everything around golden hued. The water of the spring was clean and clear, and the miniature grates on the sides of the spring let the clean water out into the ground to sate the thirst of the grass, the flowers, and the blooming ivy growing all over the statue and spring. Stellar was loving this. Everything seemed to revolve around the sun. The bottom of the spring basin. even had a carving of the sun with the same circumference as the rest of this construct. The whole dome was covered by a thick sheet of snow that didn't seem to melt nor move. It was just a safe, smooth igloo of warmth and sunny lights. "I...It looks beautiful," Stellar exclaimed. "Yeah. I thought you would like it, seeing how you love the sun and everything," Life said as he wiped snow out of his mane. "I still would have preferred Princess Celestia to be here. I would to learn so much about the sun." Stellar's eyes were twinkling, but the 'want more' request of her's irked Life more than a little bit. "What?!" "I'm kidding." Stellar grabbed ahold of Life and began to squeeze him in her vicious bear hug. "Thanks a lot for this-" she let go and looked at him straight into the eyes with an intensely serious look on her face. "-but why would you take me here if it's so secret?" "I..." Life began to look away in fear and nervousness. He was stressed about what was going to happen. "Well?" "Well...I kinda...like you?" he answered timidly. Stellar's serious look changed to that of a playful smile. "And what exactly do you 'like' about me?" She put a hoof on Life's mouth before he could answer . "And if you say 'because I think you're cute, funny, and smart', I'll have to break your teeth in." She raised her free hoof and curled it just to shake it. Life pulled her hoof down and huffed. "Like you could get through my training. Anyways, good Ethers, no. I like you because you're...beautiful, both physically and by personality." "Go on." Stellar was enjoying watching the rugged, emotionless leader of the SPS melt like butter in her hooves. He was turning so red she thought that all the blood in his body suddenly rushed to his head for a moment. "Well, your mane looks like silk of the night. Your coat is tempered like a black sapphire and has been carved to look just as beautiful and illustrious as one. And your eyes have no worldly comparison...I find. Plus, we both went through several, similar things together, so we know how the other is, at least, we know each other from basic knowledge. And you're so unique! Every other mare I've met is superficial, afraid of my cracked appearance, and those who went through similar fates became whiny fillies." Life was literally shying away and slowly lowering himself without his noticing. "And you want to know me a bit better? Well, I like you too. You're also unique and you're the only one that is kind and gentle with me even when I'm being at my most rowdy. You look tough, protective, and always seem to make the right decisions, even if you execute them rather violently. Plus, I find that you look really cool." Stellar put a hoof to Life's chin and raised his head up so they could see each other directly. Life had actually broken down to his true self. He looked saddened and concerned. His eyes were vibrating as though he were about to cry, ready to free everything he went through after all those years, but Stellar just smiled at him and kissed him. Life's heart began to race like a dragon and he felt...new. He didn't feel alone. Instead of letting Stellar do all of the work, he poured his own self into the kiss, hugging the mare gently against him without regret.