Songs of Innocence

Chapter 73: What Makes Life Worth Living

Sun's house

"Remember, the worst thing she could say is no." Fluttershy said to Death Drive.

"For the last time, I'm fine!" the pale unicorn sneered.

"Just, please, be careful with your words." Sunburst urged.

"Of course I'll be careful! I can only imagine how many times she's been rejected."

"Well, twice, actually... She used to have a giant crush on Starlight back when we were colts, but that's a story for another day. There's a lot of stories for other days..."

"Why Sun?" Rainbow Dash and Gilda asked simultaneously.

Death Drive growled, "I DON'T KN-- Oh, I think she's at the door. Everyone, hide!" 

Cozy turned the lights off, and everyone scattered, using the surprisingly dark inside of the house to their advantage in order to hide themselves. The door opened, and thanks to the light coming in from the outside, Sun saw basically everyone. She tried to pretend that she didn't, but it was made pretty obvious by how she was clearly trying not to look at anyone.

"SURPRISE!" Pinkie exclaimed, jumping out from her hiding spot... on the ceiling. She blew a party blower in the unicorn's face which ended up hitting her snout, but Sun found it more funny than irritating. Everyone else joined the hovering party pony, and exclaimed "Surprise!"

"Oh!" Sun gasped, "Surprise, not soup rise! I'm glad I heard wrong - I don't really like soup at all." She giggled.

Everyone just ignored what she said because they had no idea what she was talking about, yet they all knew it was stupid.

"Uh, where's Cheese? And Discord and Maple and Yakta?" Pinkie asked upon noticing that not a single one of them had returned with Sun like they were asked.

"Well... Cheese and Discord are selling chocolate or something, and Maple and Yakta are going to go beat up a pony I don't want to talk about." Sun shrugged. "I just stopped being crazy on my own, by the way."

"Oh..."

"W-well... that's no reason not to start the party, r-right?" Applejack said, before nudging Pinkie with an even more unsubtle, "Hint, hint."

"You're right, AJ! I'm sure they'll get back on their own. Now, let's get started! First, Mr. and Mrs. Cake made you a cake and it was going to have your cutie mark on it but you don't have one now so we just settled on one of the weird symbols in your demon book--"

Applejack nudged the winged earth pony again, and turned her head towards Death Drive.

"Oh, yeah! Also, Death Drive wants to tell you that she l-"

Suddenly, Death Drive threw a cupcake at Pinkie's face to shut her up. She then turned to Sun, giving her a Twilight-tier "everything is TOTALLY fine" smile.

"Yes, I heard. So, what is it, Emmy?" Sun asked, ready to hear whatever was so important that everyone was no looking at the two of them like Death Drive was about to tell Sun she was going to become an alicorn.

Death Drive didn't even sigh or groan at the nickname, because she wanted to be as sincere as possible for what she was about to say. "Sun," she began, "I don't really know what to say. First, you ruined my life, and then you made it so much better. I tried to ruin your life, but you didn't care. And when I turned to you for help, you gave it to me. I still can't believe you did that. I realized that there's so much more to you than I initially thought, and you were so kind and forgiving to me... that I've begun to realize that I want to repay you. But, I have nothing to give you besides my... my... uh..."

The air grew tense, as Death Drive suddenly wanted to backtrack on her poetic way of speaking. But she was too deep in now, so perhaps the best thing to do was to get through this pretentious speech as quick as possible. She continued, "...my love, and companionship. I want to be by your side, because you are the strangest, most unique, charming, cutest, kindest pony I've ever met, and I love you."

Sun's face didn't change, leaving Death Drive and everyone else unbearably on the edge of their seats. Then, Sun blushed, and smiled wide as a mile. She gasped, "Oh my gosh. You love me?!"

Death Drive fell to the ground and simultaneously erupted into a gigantic groan that went on for five seconds. "OF COURSE I DO, MORON! Why do you think I insult you so much?! I'm--"

"Trying to act like you don't like me because you can't accept it? I sorta figured that out a while ago. Not the 'you love me' part, but, y'know."

"A-and I have a good reason to be in denial about liking you, you know! You're a complete moron! An utter..." Death Drive suddenly stopped, feeling Sun's hoof on her shoulder.

Sun smiled warmly. "Come on, you don't have to pretend anymore. I know I'm basically the definition of stupid, but who cares? I love you too, y'know."

"Really?!"

"Uh, yeah. I feel like if you left me, a big part of my life would be missing. I just love having you around, 'cause you're so fun and cool. I feel like I always have something to learn about you, and you sorta keep me in check, and I wanna improve on my faults 'cause of you. You know how bad of a parent I am to Cozy."

Cozy, being completely honest, nodded in agreement.

All of a sudden, a single tear came out of Death Drive's eye. She hugged Sun tightly, and Sun did the same.

Fluttershy's cottage, many moons later

"Their love's story wasn't some grand, dramatic epic. It wasn't a love considered forbidden or impossible to work - it was a humble one, with a simple mutual affection bringing the two together. The fact that they simply made each other happy was what caused this love to blossom, and now it could grow into a beautiful flower that could stand tall in the spring meadow. All it took was the warmth of the sun."

Suddenly, a tear left Fluttershy's eye. It was one of happiness, just like the one Death Drive had shed so long ago. The old mare felt like she had so much more to say, so she just let out all the emotions that were currently making their way out of her in the form of tears. But they didn't make Avalonia concerned - she actually felt like she understood Fluttershy just a little more.

"Life is so beautiful. I... I... I know you'll go through it just as proudly as they did... and grow up to be just as wonderful as them. Neither of them were thought of as heroes, and objectively, they weren't nearly as appreciated as me and my friends back in the day. But... they didn't care. They didn't need to be appreciated or famous or remembered... because they had each other. No medal of honor or words of thanks from someone important mattered to Sun and Death Drive nearly as much as the two of them did to each other."

Fluttershy finished the last sentence filled with inspired thoughts of gratitude that she was alive, that she was able to experience happiness like Sun and Death Drive did. She didn't yearn for days long past, but simply appreciated that she was there to experience moments like those, where she could witness the heartwarming wonders of life. She sat there beside the filly, so profoundly delighted to be able to fully appreciate that life was worth living.