Short Shorts

by Coranth

34. Hearts and Hooves Day for Daniel and Celestia, on Earth

T'was a simple thing; a little box wrapped in brown paper and as Celestia carefully tore away said paper with her magic - whilst Daniel nervously looked on - she wondered what might be inside. When at last the wrapping paper was dealt with the princess pony carefully opened the plain box beneath... and when she saw what lay within, her eyes misted over with tears. "Oh, Daniel..." breathed she, softly. Inside the little box were over a dozen chocolates; however, as the Solar Princess looked at them - deciding which she might like to eat first - she began to realize that there was something amiss about them. Some of the chocolates were just a little too large, whilst others were a bit too small; some looked perfect but others seemed a bit rough or unfinished. 'Now why' thought she, 'would Daniel give me a box of defective chocolates? There must be something that I'm missing...' Aloud, Celestia asked, "Daniel, where did you get these from?"

At her question, Daniel shuffled his feet, feeling somewhat embarrassed. Then, a moment later he raised his head to look at his beloved mare and replied, "I, uh, didn't get them from anywhere, Celestia. I made them. Bon-Bon taught me how to make chocolate when we lived in Equestria and well," - he gestured to the box before her - "there's the result; each and every one of those are hand-made. All for you..." At his words, Celestia struggled to contain her mortification and blinked to try and stop the tears misting her vision from falling. 'I' thought she, 'am a silly, silly pony. Daniel didn't give me a box of store-bought defective chocolates; the chocolates appear rough because he made them himself! Oh, my human stallion is there anything you cannot do?' Carefully, the Sun Princess extracted one of the chocolates from the box and placed it in her mouth; no sooner had she done this then - 'Oh my!' - her eyes went wide as said chocolate began to fizzle on her tongue, bathing it with peppermint flavor! Eagerly she swallowed the chocolate down and reached for another; this one - when she placed it in her mouth - exploded, filling her mouth with a blast of thick, sticky, chewy, gooey caramel! The next melted into coffee; the one after that sizzled into rum. Laughing delightedly, wondering what the next surprise of this amazing box would be, Celestia reached for another--but then stopped as she saw what lay beneath the chocolates, at the bottom of the box: an envelope bearing her name in block print.

Carefully, Celestia extracted the envelope from the box then slit it open and extracted the card that rested within. Upon opening it, the alicorn mare inhaled a breath. Inset into the card was a photograph of her and Daniel embracing against the backdrop of her setting sun. Upon seeing the picture, Celestia frowned. "This... this was taken when we went to the beach!" said she, concerned. "But... that was our secret outing! Nopony was supposed to know we were gone..." As her ears flattened against her head, Daniel soothingly stroked her mane. "... and nopony really did. That picture" said he, "was taken by a nosy paparazzi pony. I saw the flash from out of the corner of my eye; then I excused myself from you and went after him. Caught him, too..."

"Oh, no..." the Solar Princess replied, a hoof over her mouth as she struggled to contain laughter. "What... - *snerk* - what did you do when you caught him?"

"Took his camera," said Daniel, smugly, "then spanked him on the rump and sent him packing!" Imagining the scene, Celestia laughed heartily for a moment - her beloved human laughing with her - before she regained control of herself and looked at the rest of the card. Below the photograph, penned in her human's careful hand, was written:

I might never have known you, might never have felt your white wing's caress.
That I do, that I have, are the greatest wonders of my life.
I will love you, quite simply, forever.
D

At this, Celestia lost the hold she had upon her emotions and - as joy welled within her - she sniffled and moved around the kitchen bench to embrace him with her foreleg, wing, and neck. "I... I love you too," she murmured, touching a delicate kiss upon his lips, silvery tears falling from her eyes to stain her muzzle as silent sobs wracked her form. "Nuh... nothing would be... right without you." Daniel smiled, softly stroking his beloved mare as she wept. "I feel the same, love," said he, voice rough with emotion. "Happy Hearts and Hooves Day, Celestia."

Comments

[dark_zero]

nice: