“Wow, I’ve really missed a lot,” said Cadance as she flipped through the pages in her diary, taking passing glances at each entry before flipping to the first entry and closing the diary. She ran her hoof over the front cover, her wisps of fur gently brushing against the felt cover. As overjoyed as she was having found her old diary, the gratifying feelings that came with nostalgia never appeared to compliment her emotions. She would miss Twilight deeply when she was away, but at least she would have something to remember her by for the rest of her life, but alas, the sole word of life preached a terrible truth known to all alicorns, a truth that she hoped she would have strayed far away from when the time comes.
A triplet of soft knocks was heard at the door.
“Cadance?” spoke Shining Armor’s muffled voice from the other side. Three additional knocks came around. “What’s taking you so long?”
“N-nothing, Shining!” Cadance called out. “I’m just...doing something...”
Suddenly, the lever lock to the door started to move, unbolting the door. Alarmed, Cadance quickly lifted her leisure pillow and stuffed the diary underneath, replacing the pillow and slamming her hooves on top just as the heavy door started to creep open.
“What do you mean you’re doing something?” asked Shining Armor as he slithered into the bedroom through a sizeable gap in the doorway. “Packing bags doesn’t take that long, and you’ve been in here for nearly half-an-hour! I was starting to get a little worried,”
“I-it’s nothing, dear,” Cadance stammered as Shining Armor trotted over to the front of the bed. “I-I’m just...well, I’m just doing--” The pink princess started to fire up in a nervous sweat. She smiled sheepishly, darting her eyes around the room in an attempt to find something to redirect the conversation to. A wall? Too boring. The weather outside? Too obvious. Her husband’s strikingly handsome good looks? Way too obvious.
Shining Armor skeptically furrowed his brow. “You’re starting to act a little weird, Cadance. I know that recent events struck you a little, but this...”
“Me? Sneaky? I’m not acting sneaky!” said Cadance with rushed words.
“I never said you were acting sneaky...” Shining Armor objected, raising an eyebrow.
Cadance chuckled, her forced laughter being about as dry as a sack of flour. “Well, when you put it that way--”
“Wait a minute,” The suspicious stallion started, narrowing his eyes down at Cadance’s pillow. “What’s this?” said Shining Armor. digging his hoof underneath the pillow, poking at the corner of Cadance’s poorly concealed treasure.
“That? Oh, that’s nothing. Nothing at all!” Cadance nervously stuttered, slowly pushing Shining Armor’s hoof away before wrapping both of her free hooves around it, prodding the tip of her hoof into his muscular skin while keeping her knees pressed down hard on the pillows plush surface, trying her best to keep the diary underneath concealed.
Shining Armor wasn’t buying it. By the already unnerving look in his eyes, he knew that something was up. Desperate, Cadance lifted his hoof up to her lips and kissed it, persuading her husband with bedroom eyes.
“Ok, now I know that something’s not right here,” said Shining Armor, admirably yanking his hoof away from Cadance’s lips.
Cadance sighed and rolled her eyes, mentally kicking herself for not doing a good enough job. She considered going the extra mile at first, but that would only raise her husband’s suspicions. She could have at least dry rubbed his leg or something! Maybe she needs to work on her sensuality skills. She made a mental note to look for her old “private” magazine issues whenever she had free time available, wherever they may be.
“Alright, you got me,” Cadance grunted, rolling her eyes again.
“What’re you hiding, Cadance? C’mon,” said Shining Armor. Cadance furrowed her brow and looked away, pouting silently. Shining Armor decided to step it up a notch. He climbed onto the bed and scooted closer to his gorgeous wife. Cadance continued to ignore him, but Shining Armor refused to give up.
“Come on, Cadance,” Shining Armor playfully cooed. “You can tell me. What’s so important that you can’t show me?” Using Cadance’s stubborn mood to his advantage, Shining Armor slipped hif hoof underneath her pillow and swiped the book out from underneath her hooves, bringing it to float behind his head using his own magic.
“Hey, Shining! Give that back!” yelled Cadance, turning around to try and reach for her precious keepsake.
“Is this the thing that I’m not allowed to see?” Gently pushing his grafted wife back, Shining Armor levitated the book in front of his face, magically opening the cover and flipping to the first page. Cadance angrily struggled under his husband’s muscular girth, reaching for her treasured keepsake with all her might.
“Really, Cadance? A book?” said Shining Armor. scanning the page until his eyes fell upon Cadance’s note. “Oooh, what’s this?”
“Shining...” Cadance growled, baring her teeth.
“Diary property of...”
“Shining!” Cadance snapped, making a hard attempt to break through the strong stallion’s passive strength. Her hoof came within mere inches before falling flat. After several tries more, the angry princess gave up, shifting in place to rest her chin on the sole of her hoof.
Shining Armor skimmed over the note on the first page before he started flipping through the whole diary, turning page after page, stopping occasionally to skim over the fine cursive before flipping to the next entry.
“You kept a diary from when you were foalsitting Twilight?” asked Shining Armor, continuing to flip through each page, backtracking every so often just in case he missed something interesting. “And you wanted to hide this? Why?” Shining Armor questioned, closing the diary.
Cadance growled again, agitated at her husband’s childish behavior.
“A girl's diary is private! Off-limits! Sealed away! Not meant to be seen by anypony else!” Cadance spat out each word like a sharp dagger, making Shining Armor cringe a little with each one thrown his way. Such a keepsake was very valuable to a girl, no matter how old or how young they are. To take away a girl’s diary is like taking away a mother wolf’s only cub. Sure, you're proud of yourself for having actually done it, but your still going to get your flank torn apart in the end.
“Geez, I’m sorry, Cadance,” Shining Armor apologized, scooting closer to the pink princess of his nightly dreams and wrapping a foreleg around her neck. Cadance, having already gave up, offered no resistance, but grunted and turned further away each time her husband peeked around to look at her. “But just look at all of these memories!” exclaimed Shining Armor, reopening the diary and flipping through the pages again.
“Yes, but they’re my memories!” Cadance snapped, forcibly removing Shining Armor’s leg from around her neck and swiping her precious diary from the air, holding it close to her chest.
“Can’t I just stay and listen for a little while?” Shining Armor pleaded, pressing the side of his face against his wife’s head. Cadance sighed, finding it difficult to look away now that her husband is shifting to his affectionate side. It was cute, and Cadance was a sucker for all things cute and lovable.
“Pleeeease, Cadance?” Shining Armor continued his adorable assault, much to Cadance’s displeasure, but this was displeasure with a cruel twist, bringing with it even older memories of when Twilight would sometimes fall to her knees and beg Cadance to take to take her somewhere, whether it be into town or to the boot camp to visit her brother again.
“...fine,” Cadance grunted, nudging Shining Armor away before releasing her hold on the diary. “You can stay...”
The blue-haired colt breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks, Cadance,” said Shining Armor, leaning forward to plant a kiss on his wife’s cheek.
“But!” Cadance snapped, slamming a hoof on the blue-haired colt’s outstretched lips. “Just please don’t ask questions while I’m reading, okay?”
Shining Armor pulled back slowly, sweeping away Cadance’s hoof from his lips. He smiled, not wanting to upset his wife any further lest he risk sleeping on the couch tonight.
“Alright, Cadance,” said Shining Armor, slowly reaching for the diary. “Now, where to begin...”
“I’ll be the decider of that!” Cadance dictated, slapping Shining Armor’s hoof away and bringing the diary closer to her. She opened the diary and started randomly flipping through the pages having completely forgotten where she left off. Taking a blind guess, she stopped her hoof on a random page. Curious, Shining Armor leaned forward and took a quick peek at the date.
“Twilight’s birthday?” questioned Shining Armor.
“Just let me read...”
~~~~~
Cadance snipped away the final loose ends of wrapping paper from each corner, sealing up any leftover gaps or holes with a small snippet of colored tape to match the color of the paper. She levitated the scissors back into her bag and brought out a large, purple bow and a spool of lace in its place. She wrapped the bow over and around the paper, tying it into a fresh, clean knot. She rose to her hooves and stepped back to examine her work, taking in the spitting image of the fruit of her labors with pride. It was a difficult quest to acquire Twilight’s birthday gift. Sure, she had to “convince” a few guards to gain access to the restricted sections of the Canterlot Castle library, but she knew that all of her hard work would pay off in the end, just so long as she gets to see Twilight’s smiling face when she unwraps it.
It was unheard of in the world of sitters for the sitter to gift the one they were caring for, but this foalsitter dared to be different; dared to be bold!
“Perfect!” exclaimed Cadance, clapping her hooves together. “Ooooh, Twilight’s gonna love this!”
Cadance slipped the wrapped gift into her saddlebags, making sure to hide it behind Twilight’s daily reading material, and not the other reading material. From behind, she could hear the all-too-familiar sound of hardened pegasus wing beats slapping against the warm air. The royal guards were arriving, on time as usual, pulling a sturdy passenger carriage behind them. Cadance did a quick once-over of her hidden surprise before rushing to meet the guards near the playground benches, their drop off point.
The guards unhitched themselves from the carriage as soon as Cadance arrived, taking up their positions next to the carriage door. The foalsitter beamed with delight as the door creaked open, and an exuberant Twilight stepped out into the sunlight, blinking her eyes several times to adjust them to the white flare. It was clear that the filly knew what day it was, for her mane was tied up in a neat little bundle, and her coat looked shinier than usual. Her eyes gleamed in the sunlight as she stepped away from the carriage and moved towards Cadance with a lively bounce in her step, where the two shared a hug as soon as the carriage took to the skies and flew clear out of sight.
“Happy birthday, Twilight!” exclaimed Cadance, pulling away from the hug, resisting the urge to tussle the adorable filly’s hair.
“Thanks, Cadance!” said Twilight, giggling. “I’ve been getting that a lot today.”
“So, is there anything in particular you want to do today?” asked Cadance. “It’s your decision!”
“My decision?” Cadance nodded. “Well...” Twilight started, scratching her chin.
“How about a surprise visit from yours truly?” called out the voice of a familiar junior captain. Twilight turned around just in time to gasp with delight before Shining Armor swept the filly off her hooves and pulled her into one, big brotherly hug. Twilight nuzzled into her brother’s neck, muffling her laughter as Shining Armor prodded his hoof through the filly’s hair. His playfulness made the hair tie in Twilight’s mane fall out, but she didn’t seem to mind. In Cadance’s opinion, she looked better this way.
“Miss me?” said Shining Armor, lowering his pint-sized sister to the ground.
“You bet I did!” said Twilight. “I thought you said that you weren’t coming home until next year?”
Shining Armor sent a smile and a wink Cadance’s way, cueing her in. Cadance smiled and winked back, acknowledging his cue with long-awaited anticipation. Three whole weeks of careful planning and the hauntings of guard ponies souls were about to come together in one special day.
“Well,” Cadance started, moving up behind Twilight. “It was a little difficult, but I just pulled a few strings and, well...here he is!”
“You did this?” Twilight gasped, turning to Cadance with wonder in her eyes.
Cadance winked at Shining Armor again. Everything was going smoothly. “Well, I had a little...”discussion” with the old stallion down at the training camp. It took some time of course, but he agreed to allow Shining Armor to leave so long as I was present under the listings of royalty.”
“Besides, I wouldn’t miss your birthday for the world, Twilly!” said Shining Armor, tussling the filly’s hair once more, exciting more laughter from the overjoyed unicorn.
“And there’s more,” Cadance started, inciting Twilight’s attention. “I’ve got a little surprise for you...”
Twilight’s eyes lit up with excitement. Shining Armor looked a little surprised, not expecting something like this from a foalsitter, but then again, this was Cadance, and from what Twilight has been telling him each off-tempt visit, she was the greatest in the world; better than any other. If Cadance was willing to stand up to the oldest and bravest of Equestria’s protectors, then that’s all you need to know that there was no other pony more caring than she.
Cadance led both brother and sister to the sandbox, where her saddlebags sat partially buried in the sea of coarse grains. She dug them out and brushed away the sand, cautiously trying to hide the tell-tale, four-cornered bulge of her gift.
“Close your eyes,” Twilight did as she was instructed. Cadance looked back to make sure of that, but she soon became skeptical of the filly and whatever tricks she may pull to get a hidden glance at her gift. She looked to Shining Armor for assistance, who nodded and concealed Twilight’s shuttered eyes with his hooves. The filly’s ears fell flat, and her neck shifted and hunched over slightly. Guilty as charged.
Taking one final look back for good measure, Cadance opened her saddlebags and slowly reached for the wrapped present inside. Carefully, she gripped the sides of the package and gently lifted it out, making as minimal of movements as possible as not to rustle the wrapping paper to give away the surprise. She left the gift rest on the grass in front of Twilight before taking a few steps back and resting on her haunches.
“Ok,” said Cadance. “Open your eyes...”
Not even a second later, Twilight swept her brother’s hooves away from her face and opened her eyes with hasteful premonition. She looked to the ground and gasped at the wrapped and tied marvel laying on the grass before her. She leaned forward and scooted the present closer to her, eyeing it with hungry eyes with a wide grin to compliment it.
“Well,” Cadance started, lowering herself to her stomach. “Go ahead, Twilight.”
The little filly let out an excited squeal before tearing into the package with lightning speed, going at it like a mole to sweet-smelling dirt. In just a few seconds time, the ground around her was covered in scraps of wrapping paper and bits of tape. She tore off the final few pieces of paper from the front face of the gift, and gasped once more at the sight of her newly-opened present.
“Happy birthday, Twilly,” said Shining Armor, smiling.
“Star Swirl the Bearded’s personal notebook!” exclaimed Twilight, wiping away a thin layer of kempt-up dust that covered the title and the faded illustrations. “How in the world did you get this?” she asked, flipping the cover of the book to the first few pages. She practically squirmed with delight to hear such old and flustered pages crinkle under old age. The pages were stained yellow and cracked like sandstone, riddled with dull quill marks and illegible side notes written in obscure and ancient languages that nopony today would ever be able to understand.
“It’s a wonder to see what one can do as a princess, Twilight,” said Cadance, giving Twilight a wink. “Just think of all the things you can learn! Who knows what sort of magic he’s put in there...”
“I can practically feel it!” exclaimed Twilight as she continued to flip through the pages with careful movements. “Who knew that Star Swirl the Bearded could speak seventeen languages? There’s notes written in every one of them!”
“You recognize every language in there?” Cadance asked, sharing the same surprised look with Shining Armor.
Twilight nodded, keeping her eyes on the text. “Mhmm. There’s serpent tongue, gryphon tongue, and...dragon tongue?”
“Dragon tongue?” said Shining Armor. “What kind of language is that? I thought that all dragons spoke Equestrian?”
“Hey, what’s this?” asked Twilight, peering down at a cluster of near-microscopic symbols intricately etched into the parchment. “Force...balance...”
“I knew your sister was smart, Shining Armor, but I never expected her to know seventeen languages readily!” exclaimed Cadance in disbelief. “I doubt that Celestia herself would know even half that amount!”
“I wonder what else is in here...” said Twilight, skipping over the side notes and turning page after page until her adventurous gaze stopped on one of the many withered pages, this one filled to the brim and then some with notes, equations, and illegible scrawls. An old-age title was written near the roof of the page, drawn out in a perplexing, runic dialect that looked as if it was older than Equestria itself.
“These are his special notes on ancient spells! The good and the bad!” Twilight pointed out, much to the confusion and amazement of Cadance and Shining Armor. “It’s got everything in here! All of his tricks, all of his observations! It’s like a dream come true!” The filly squeaked, holding the book close to her chest as if it were a cherished doll.
“I’m glad you like it, Twilight,” said Cadance with a smile, leaning forward and patting Twilight on the back. Shining Armor, instead of taking up his defensive side, sat back and smiled as the foalsitter gently caressed his sister’s velvety mane, taking note of the effects of Twilight’s time with her. Those weekly visits to the boot camp were finally starting to pay off, putting Cadance in Twilight’s greater favor.
“Cadance?” said Twilight, sheepishly ducking out from underneath Cadance’s hoof. “Can we try that levitation spell again? The one with the sandbox?” she asked, lowering the book back to the ground.
“Haven’t we already tried that? Several, several times?” asked Cadance, smiling out of self-pride for her poorly placed crack of humor.
“Yeah, but the results would be different!” exclaimed Twilight, reopening the book to where she previously left off. “I’m looking at the words of a genius here! Half the page is dedicated to the general rule of levitation, half of what he wrote down I already know about!” Twilight let her knowledge loose in ways that would make her mentor proud. It was as if she was staring deep into the mind of Equestria’s greatest magician; maybe even deeper. It was a pure mystery to Cadance as to how Twilight could decipher such ancient and mysterious languages from memory. Every symbol looked the same, the differences of each barely noticeable beyond nothing more than a recoordinated line segment or an extra few dots stamped around their edges. It was like she was looking at the world’s most confusing magic eye picture.
“Cadance, I think I can do it this time!” Twilight proclaimed.
"Do what, Twilight?" Cadance replied.
"Your challenge! The challenge with the sandbox! You know, the one with the tower and everything. If I just put these tricks he wrote down to thought, then maybe I can perform the spell without so much as a struggle!"
Cadance rose to her hooves and looked down at Twilight's smiling face with pride, Shining Armor soon doing the same. If only Auntie Celly were here to watch her student learn from somepony other than herself. Of course, this was all part of a carefully laid out plan; a plan of which would soon pay off when Twilight was rewarded with another gift; a gift much more heavenly and precious than a book.
Twilight skimmed over the note-filled page before slamming it shut with little regard for how ancient it was. For a minor second, Cadance considered scolding her, but the thought was quickly forced out of her mind by a stem of excitement teeming up in her heart.
“Alright!” said Twilight, pushing the book aside and leaping into the sandbox. “Let’s do this!”
Cadance and Shining Armor followed Twilight into the middle of the sandbox and took up positions opposite from each other, Shining Armor opting for an up close view of the magical act soon to happen. Cadance magically conjured a bucket and spade from the air and began to scoop sand into the floating pail.
“I won’t need the tower again, Cadance,” Twilight insisted. “I can do this all on my own!”
Cadance met Twilight’s request with no question. She dumped the sand and allowed the bucket and spade to dissipate into the air. She nodded to Twilight, giving her the go ahead. All eyes, all two pairs of them anyway, were now on the exuberant magician, whose mind was deep in thought, summoning the will and whim, thoughts and strength required to perform a spell of such strange and powerful caliber.
The sandbox began to shake and rattle, the white grains within bouncing around like jumping beans as Twilight’s tiny horn began to gather its energy. Cadance could feel it with her own horn as masses of pure, untapped energy funneled into the filly’s horn before streaming out and striking the sand. illuminating the air around her in every color of the purple spectrum. Just like before, a miniature maelstrom of sand and grit formed to accompany the beginnings of a small funnel cloud of sand, bringing with it as much sand as possible that started to form a solid, equal base.
While the tower was starting to come together, Twilight was starting to break down. Her magic so far, while potent and still going strong, was pressing down hard on the straining filly. The tower’s construction was nearing the halfway point, but Twilight looked as if she was about to faint from being under such great pressure. Her enthusiasm was bound to get the best of her. She might even end up hurting herself, and Cadance would never forgive herself if she didn’t do something to prevent that from happening. The pink princess shimmied forward, avoiding the gritty turmoil, and moved to lay a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder.
“Wait!” said Shining Armor, reaching out and touching Cadance’s hoof out of impulse. Cadance blushed lightly and slowly pulled her hoof back, resisting the urge to grin like a schoolgirl when she saw Shining Armor’s expression form into a blank, but bashful stare.
“Hehe, sorry,” Shining Armor apologized, making an attempt to hide his hoof behind his back. He looked towards Twilight, who was still struggling under the weight of her own spell. “Here, let me try something.”
Slowly but surely, the blue-haired colt slithered up to the side of Twilight’s face, moving his mouth close to her ears.
“Come on, Twilly,” whispered Shining Armor. “You can do it! I’m here for you, little sis...” Shining Armor continued to whisper words of encouragement into his sister’s ear, causing Twilight to smile and rise to her hooves, using whatever strength she had left. Cadance was stunned.
“That’s it, Twilly. You can do it!” said Shining Armor, motioning Cadance to join him.
As the two continued to lift Twilight’s spirits with words of praise, the sand tower continued to grow. Little by little, the miniature vortex stacked layer after layer of sand on top of each other. While the scale looked meager and unimpressive at best, just the thought of a unicorn --a filly unicorn no less-- going under such strain just to impress her brother would make even the most stubborn of ponies tear up with odins of affection.
“That’s it, Twilight! Just a little more...” said Cadance, taking back and forth glances between Twilight and the rising tower, shaking her hooves in anticipation. The tower was nearing completion. Just a few more sand layers and Twilight will have created a perfect copy of the tower example she used before. Just a few more feet to go and--
Wait a minute... thought Cadance. A few more feet? The tower isn’t supposed to go that high! And is it just me, or is the sandbox getting smaller?
Twilight could feel it, deep within her soul. After several tried and failed attempts, she was finally going to beat Cadance’s challenge. She kept her eyes closed throughout the entirety of the spell, just as a precautionary measure to make sure that she doesn’t lose focus. She has never asked herself before, but since when did sand suddenly become so easy to lift? The last time she tried this, her skull nearly caved in under the sand’s resistance to her magic, so what changed this time that made her task so simple? Maybe it was the notebook, but nevermind that for now. There would be plenty of time to read it later, and besides, she was almost there! In one final move, she released control over her spell, relishing in the moment when the pressure was slowly eased off of her head. She opened her eyes, expecting success, only to fall to her haunches at a heartbreaking sight.
She had done nothing. Well, almost nothing. After all of her hard work, she only managed to throw some sand out of the sandbox, and the tower that was being built nearby looked as if it was nearly complete, but whatever magic that formed it made the whole thing crumble and fall away. Everything else was just so much waste and signs of failure. All she wanted to do was perform one simple spell; a spell that she hoped would impress Cadance and Shining Armor. Was that too much to ask? It was all starting to look like a hopeless fantasy to her. She had to be realistic, and the situation made her feel like a joke.
Twilight groaned, squandering in defeat. “Sorry Shining,” said Twilight. “I guess I’m just not ready for this kind of stuff...”
“Not ready?!” said Shining Armor, looking up towards the sky. “Twilight, are you seeing this right now?”
“Seeing what?”
“Who needs sand when you can do this?” Shining Armor grabbed his sister by her sides and hoisted her into the air above his head. Twilight looked up, and gasped at the late fruit of her labors.
“H-hi, Twilight!” Cadance shouted, waving down at the filly from high up in the air. Her body was surrounded by a strangely familiar color of aura. Recognizing it almost immediately, Twilight looked up at her own horn and gasped with delight at the sight of her own magic sparking and dancing around the tip despite Twilight having given up and releasing control over it several minutes ago. Fireworks went off in her heart, overjoyed at her accomplishment.
“I know that it’s a pretty nice view from up here, but do you mind...getting me down?” Cadance pleaded, smiling nervously.
With help from her brother, Twilight gradually toned down the rogue magic, slowly lowering the startled pink princess to the ground, where another round of congratulations ensued. It was like a one pony talent show, the winner being a certain lavender filly of course. Cadance broke away from the moment and looked to the sky. From the time Twilight arrived up to now, only an hour had passed, and there was still so much they could do.
But just then, a thought clocked up in her head. Cadance had already revealed her gift to Twilight, but Shining Armor has yet to show his own. It was a special gift, a gift that Cadance spent the last two weeks getting together all by herself since his own flank was too lazy to help with the prep work. Two and a half weeks of nonstop planning, sneaking into the boot camp late at night, arranging “private” meetings with the old coot, and spending hours each day locked in the jaws of worry were certainly not going to go to waste for this princess, not to mention that if word got out about the other things that she did, then she might as well change her name, cut off her horn, and flee the country.
“Umm, Shining?” Cadance cooed. “Aren’t you forgetting something?” she asked. “Something important?” Cadance sneered on the last word, making Shining Armor flinch in fear.
“R-right,” Shining Armor stuttered, lifting Twilight off the ground and into his lap. “Twilly, I got a little surprise for you...”
Twilight’s eyes lit up once again with excitement. “A surprise? Another one?”.
“It’s something that I--”
“Who, Shining?” Cadance interrupted, moving up behind Twilight. The blue-haired colt swallowed hard.
“It’s something that Cadance and I have been working on for a few weeks now.”
“With a little help from the friendly boys down at Shining’s camp...”
“I get to come and go as I please!” exclaimed Shining Armor. “So now, you get to see your big brother whenever you want!”
“Really?” Twilight gasped. Both Shining Armor and Cadance nodded.
Feeling that words would not be enough, Twilight lunged at her brother’s neck and squeezed it tightly in a hug. Cadance felt like joining in, but soon passed the thought when Shining Armor smiled and nuzzled his sister behind the ears, wrapping his own forelegs around her and bringing her closer. Breaking the moment would only be cruel, and it would make her look like a crazy pony. Instead, she chose to just sit back and enjoy the moment, filling her soul with a gooey, yet enjoyable warmness that made the rest of the afternoon blow by in a haze of love and sweet freedom.