Songs of Innocence

Chapter 26: A Farewell Gift

Ponyville, a few minutes later

Sun walked home with her head hung low. According to Twilight, tomorrow, the two of them, accompanied by Princess Luna (for reasons Sun didn't yet know), would have to travel to the seaside kingdom of Vanahack to find the Aglaophotis, which grew in the garden of its royal castle, ruled by none other than Princess Blue Moon Quartz. With all that being said, Sun was tired, and hoping to get to sleep early.

But her tired thoughts about tomorrow began to be torn away from her as she began hearing the sound of a familiar pink pony bouncing towards her. 

"Hey, Sun!" Pinkie Pie said, which Sun acknowledged with a dismissive "Hey." Pinkie couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong? You look tired! Is the reason you're tired because Twilight sent you to some wacky world filled with weird bipedal versions of us where you and Sunset Shimmer used a SUPER long chant to summon a magical healing plant in our world?" taking a deep breath afterwards. 

Sun only responded with a reluctant "Yep."

"We~ll, do you know what today is??" Pinkie was basically shoving her face in Sun's as they walked.

"Wait," Sun groaned, "it's the 26th, isn't it?" She wasn't trying to be rude to the earth pony, but she was just so tired.

"Nope! It's the 27th, silly! You were supposed to come over yesterday, but I saw you with Celaeno and some other bird lady, so I thought you might be going through something, so I moved our hangout to today!" She said, and smiled brighter than the sun itself. As for Sun - the unicorn as opposed to the star - she was sort of feeling backed into a corner. Every inch of her being told her that she should tell Pinkie she couldn't hang out for various reasons, but a voice - although much, much quieter than all the others that told her to say no - told her to say yes.

Perhaps it was because Sun was starting to take a liking to Pinkie now that her initial obnoxious aura had calmed down, or maybe it was because Sun wanted to make up for how she acted when they first met (which she still thought to be justified, but she felt regretful of her behavior nonetheless). It could've even been because Sun just wanted to get to know who Pinkie was while she still had the chance. Whatever it was, it made Sun actually want to say yes, rather than because she felt like she was forced to.

"Yeah, I can come over right now."

Later, at Pinkie's house

"Another pie, Sun?" Pinkie asked joyously.

["Innocence" from Devil Summoner]

(Fun fact: Innocent Sun was actually partially named after this song :D)

 Sun responded by grabbing the pink pony, and exclaiming in an exaggerated tone, "Pinkie! I can't even finish ONE of them! HOW DO YOU THINK I'M GONNA HAVE A SECOND?!" 

The pink pony merely giggled in response, "I dunno!" Sun let her down, and she returned to sitting in her seat. The unicorn smiled a little at her own overreaction, even though it was much more exaggerated than genuine. 

"So... random question: what do you think the future's gonna look like? Like... your future." She anticipated a shallow answer from somepony like Pinkie, but surprisingly, her answer was very straightforward and honest. 

"Welllllll... I just wanna keep doing what I'm doing now: being happy, and making people smile! I never really wanted to do much else. I'm exactly where I wanna be!" she said, with a warm smile on her face.

"That's simple; I like it." Sun said, glancing out the window, and becoming horrified to realize that the sun had begun to set. Have we really been talking for that long?! She stood up from her seat, and prepared to leave. "Well, I'm glad we had this talk, Pinkie, but I gotta go–" However, Pinkie was quick to stop her. 

"Hey!" she said, "If you gotta leave so soon, at least open this!" From somewhere under the table, she grabbed a small box, wrapped together by a bright red ribbon. She slid it over to the unicorn's side of the table, and she picked it up, admiring it as she held it in her hooves. "Not to spoil it, but it's a token of our friendship together!" Pinkie added.

Sun was practically on the verge of tears at this point. This could be the last time the two saw each other. The way that she thought of Pinkie had changed dramatically since she threw that party at her house just a few weeks ago. Their relationship had turned from a one-sided distaste for another, to an allyship, and now, a blooming friendship. They weren't the closest, but maybe if Sun were to live longer, they'd become closer than she would ever imagine. She was glad she ended up giving Pinkie a sort of second chance in the end. If only by a bit, it made her a little more okay with accepting her fate.

Snapping back to reality from all of those thoughts, Sun opened the box, and inside of it, she found a locket. She opened it up, and found that one side contained a picture of Pinkie posing, dressed as some sort of holy figure with a heavenly glow around her, and the other side contained a mirror. 

"Basically, I gave you this because, whenever you're feeling lost, you can look at yourself in the mirror, and then at me, and then at yourself again, and ask, 'What would Pinkie do?'" Pinkie explained, with the same bright, optimistic smile she always had. She was a shining beacon of positivity in this dark world Sun found herself in.

Sun could bearly hold back her tears. "That's... sweet of you... Thanks..." 

She started to walk downstairs, and Pinkie called out to her, "See you later, Sun!"

Sun stopped moving for a second, but her tears didn't. It took everything in her body to be able to turn around to look at her, and everything in her being to reply, "I'll see you too." She knew she was lying, but she could never tell Pinkie the truth. Sun felt a bit guilty for that, but she had to stick to her rule. 

No one could know.