Ten Feet Below The Sun

by Cake Sparkle

Love isn't always a two way street

Twilight awoke knowing exactly where she was just by how uncomfortable the bed was, and the feeling of still being wrapped in the most unfriendly hug she had ever felt. Reluctantly she opened her eyes to meet Cake’s which were open, yet still glazed, clearly she had slept better than Twilight had. The white unicorn ran a hoof over her cheek as she looked at the grump mare in front of her, admiring her beauty. “You snore a lot. But that's okay, I think it sounds nice. Makes my body relax to match yours.”

Twilight took a deep breath, made a wish she was back at home, and prepared herself for the day she would face. “That's sweet of you to say.” Her headache was gone, and she felt better if a little hungry. Cake got up and walked over to the crate she had left last night for dinner, and pulled out an apple as she sat down on the couch, patting the cushion beside her to signal for her love to join her.

Twilight sat up and looked over at the room she was in. The couch was in good condition, probably bought from a yard sale, the projector facing the wall was still duct taped to the couch, and the room had sunlight bleeding in. it wasnt a mine shaft, as she had thought, it was a bunker. With wooden stairs leading out and a flimsy wooden door being what kept the outside world out, anything more sturdy would be a dead give away for guards to suspect it to be more than a cellar or a squatter’s den. She got up and joined Cake on the couch, grabbing the other apple and biting into it as they both stared at the wall. “How did you know so much about me in a month?”

“I didn't have a life back home to go back to, and I know how to live off the land. Of course I'm used to eating cactuses and stealing the occasional bag of grain, here it's like I'm in candy land but- ah, excuse me. I have about twelve to thirteen hours of free time everyday, all of those were dedicated to you, and this bunker. Took me a week to find and finish this place without a pony knowing of its existence. The last twenty-two days were spent watching you from the shadows. I kept track of… everything,” Cake said, embarrassed after saying it out loud.

“Written or memorized?”

“Written, then memorized what I felt was important and what wasn't. Always meant to talk to you the next day, always had an excuse for needing more information… until I knew too much. I could see it in the ways you looked at the ponies around you, which ones your eyes glanced over and others you would blank out on for a few seconds before looking away. Your hooves idly drifting or your tail swishing just a little more than before. I know how ponies act, Sparkle, It's my gift.” Cake pointed down to her own cutie mark, it was of a pair of binoculars poking through a bush. “I hate it. You know what it's like to read the ponies around you like a book, to know what they're really thinking behind their mask when they look at you, or eachother?” Cake remained silent as she took another bite into her apple.

Twilight just laid back, staring at the wall.

“No matter what happens in here, Sparkle, I will be happy. Either a little bit or a lot,” Cake said with a mouthful.

Twilight quickly finished her food before looking at Cake, awaiting the next activity that would follow. “What now?”

“What do you want to do?” Cake asked.

“Read something, go to the park maybe, or maybe go to the nearest hospital and see if i can get my horn back on.”

“It's a basic illusion spell under an antimagic ring. Used it to scam the rich out of coins when I was in Canterlot. Your horn is still very much attached to your head.”

Twilight understood now what had happened. Cake was mentally unwell, that was for certain. Most likely she’d gotten a spike of mania and decided to do what she had done. Raising a hoof to the stump she could feel it, a large ring and her invisible horn, which quickly reappeared in her vision once she pulled the ring off the tip. She laid the ring down in the space between them on the couch and Cake quickly grabbed it and hid it in her tail.

“Then let's go for a walk at the park.”

---

Both of the ponies were now walking through the Ponyville park. Twilight estimated the bunker was at most half a mile outside of town, and not very well hidden. Guards would have torn it apart in one of the first hours of the search had they started looking for her, which they probably would soon if she didn't get to Spike to tell him she was alright.

The two kept walking before sitting on the bench. Cake kept her eyes focused on the ponies walking by, either directly when they were oblivious to her presence or indirectly through her ears or out of the corner of her eyes. Twilight laid back and lifted her head up to enjoy the morning sun. “Show me,” she asked the white mare beside her, to which Cake complied.

“On your left, that mother holding her foal, thirty-six meters down next to her husband. Colt isn't his, he's trying too hard to seem like it is though, keeps smiling every time he looks at him. And the mother doesn't think he's trying enough,” Cake said, now leaning her head back just like Twilight’s. “And there's a pegasus behind and above us, sitting on a cloud, he's watching them like a hawk. Almost pin point on his court mandated three hundred meter distance. He's probably thinking about a way to kill the mother and make it look like the step dad did it.”

“You got all that just by watching them?” Twilight asked.

“If I could hear what those two down the road were talking about, I could probably tell you whether or not she actually loves him, or if she's using him for his bits.” Cake pulled a cigarette out from her tail and lit it with her magic before taking a long drag from it. “Unimpressed?”

Twilight nodded, “Celestia has guards who can do that same trick.”

“I would have been one, had I passed my psych eval.”

“I figured that.”

“It wouldn't have made it any better, of course, I still can't buy food from a store without knowing the cashier wants to kill me. Or the mare behind me wants to blow her brains out. I've never met a mare who doesn't hate me just by looking at me, besides my own mother, of course, who always just felt immense regret in her heart. Or a stallion whose first thoughts are not of either how good I would be in bed or how to get away from me as quickly as possible. And then, when you let it slide, get to know them... You realize there is nothing that makes them special, that the secrets they hide is that they like to knit and don't want others to know, or that they’re foal touchers who think they are good at hiding it.”

“So… what makes me special?” Twilight asked, shrugging.

“You are special. You didn't make friends like I did when you were young, you look at ponies and judge them based on how much they are of use to themselves, not to you or the princess. You avoid the ones who can help themselves but… help the ones who can't, it's the only conclusion I could come to as to why you didn't kill me despite every opportunity you've had, even after I rammed my tongue down your throat.” Cake took another drag from the cigarette and sighed. “So what now, Sparkle?”

Twilight took the cigarette in her own magic and put it out, and stood up. “I'm going home. I have a guest bed you can sleep in, or you can sleep in my bed with me, do whatever you want.” Cake looked down at the barely half finished cigarette as Twilight turned and walked away. It had gone well. She got what she wanted in the end, a form of help. And somepony who cared.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Is this story based off of that one Stephen King story where that writer gets kidnapped by a crazy fan of his?

[Cake Sparkle]

10756278
no, put kind of a similar idea. I haven't read any Stephen King

[Frost Spark]

Interesting story, I can't decide how to feel about it. It has some kind of odd, bittersweet wholesome feel to it. The characters are notably well written though.