Vista stared at the blank white wall in front of her. She was getting hot under her bedcovers, but she didn’t care.
What did it matter anymore?
Moon was gone, so who cares?
Her eyes were red and bloodshot from crying. Now she felt numb and broken.
Just yesterday, Vista had been taken out of the Equestria war against another country.
They had taken Vista out of battle, patched her up, and told her it would be alright.
But Vista knew better.
Moonlight, her husband, had taken a bullet for her and died.
She felt the memories swirling in her head.
All the times Moon had been with her, all the times he needed her.
He had always been there for her when she needed him most.
The memories played like a mental videotape.
The day Vista first met Moon. She had woken up on that grey morning expecting nothing special to happen.
She heard a peculiar knock on her door, and trotted down the stairs to see who was paying her a visit. Waiting outside was a handsome black stallion in a dapper suit with tails.
“Hello, Ma’am, I believed you were looking for a butler?” he said in a silken tone.
Vista looked at him in confusion. She had never put any ads out for one.
“I’m sorry sir, but you must have the wrong address—“
“This is the Roseheart manor, is it not?” he said politely.
Vista blushed pink. “Yes… It is.”
Vista had inherited the manor from some great aunt or something. She had never met the relative, but apparently she thought highly of the skittish mare and left Vista the manor in her will.
Vista was very lonely in the manor, and she had an odd trust for this stallion.
“My name is Moonlight Greyshroud.” He said. He had an accent that sounded…. English? Yes, it had to be.
“V-Vista Roseheart.” She stuttered nervously. Her wing twitched fearfully.
“Well, Miss Vista, I assure you that you are in safe hooves.” Moonlight said in a friendly tone.
Vista smiled weakly
“I’m sure.”
Vista thought of their wedding day.
The white mare’s heart pounded in her chest as she attempted to trot as gracefully as she could down the aisle.
Panicked thoughts raced through her mind as she tried to keep her balance.
The glass slippers on her hooves were very uncomfortable and made it difficult to walk.
Her dress shined behind her like ocean foam. It had long sleeves of white silk and a high collar.
The dress was tight on her and hot, and the shoes pinched painfully.
But she was prettier than a magnolia in May!
Moon turned his head slightly to look at her. His mouth opened slightly in awe. Vista’s eyes sparkled, and her mane was soft and untangled (quite unlike the tangled mess it usually was). The dress flowed with her every movement.
Soon, the princess had said her words, it was time for Moonlight and Vista to take their vows.
“I do.” Moonlight said surely.
“I-I-I do!” Vista said, nervous.
Vista had recollections of her honeymoon in a beautiful city made of ice!
“Psst! Vista! This way!” Moon hissed.
Vista and Moon had been walking down a cobblestone (cobble… ice?) street, passing by glowing storefronts and restaurants.
Moon was standing in the doorway of a tall ice tower. “C’mon!” he called again.
Vista looked to where he was “Moon?! I don’t think you should be in there!” she hissed in fear.
“I know! Isn’t it cool? Follow me!”
Vista looked both ways for any ponies watching them, and entered the tower with a smile.
In the tower Moon and Vista saw a long swirling staircase, like that of a lighthouse.
They began the steep incline. Vista was out of breath by the time they reached the top.
Moon opened another door, and saw a view of the whole city. He helped Vista out.
She gasped loudly in terror. Moon hugged her tightly. “Look… Calm down love, look.” He said.
Vista opened her eyes to the sights around her.
“We’re so high….!” She said nervously. Ever since a horrible incident in her teenage years that rendered Vista a flightless Pegasus, she had been mortified of heights.
Moon hugged her. “It’s okay… Look at the city!” he said in pure awe.
Vista looked around her and gasped. The city was under a blanket of blinking stars in the sky. Lights glowed in every window. The village was so warm and inviting, despite the buildings being made of ice.
Vista wished she could live in this moment forever. Wrapped in her warm jacket, with Moonlight close to her side, looking at the beautiful city twinkling below.
The day her first two children were born, the twins Remus and Solaris. Moonlight had rushed Vista to the hospital safely.
For what seemed like an eternity, Vista held on to Moonlight’s hoof. She was screaming in pain for so long, she thought the pain would never end.
But it did.
Soon the pain stopped, and Vista was awarded with two wonderful little boys.
Remus Moonlight Greyshroud and Solaris Sunshine Greyshroud.
It was almost the same experience when Vista’s daughter, Starshade Crescent Greyshroud, was born.
Remus and Solaris were six at the time, and were sitting in the waiting room.
“Remus, is Momma going to die?” Solaris asked, terrified.
“I hope not…” his brother replied, equally scared.
“I want to see her.” Solaris cried.
“We will soon. Dad told us to stay here. He’ll come get us and we can see Momma again, okay?” Remus said reassuringly.
Sure enough, in about an hour’s time, Moonlight came into the waiting room to retrieve his sons.
“Come with me, boys! We’re going to see your Mum!” he said gleefully.
“She’s okay, right Dad?” Solaris asked.
“Yes, she’s okay. And you boys have a new little sister!”
Remus and Solaris followed their father into Vista’s hospital room.
“Hi boys!” Vista said in a hoarse voice. Solaris hugged his mother tightly.
“Mommy I thought you were gonna die.” He said, relieved his mother was alive.
Vista laughed softly. “No, of course not, honey!”
Remus hugged her as well. “You kept screaming like you got hurt, Mommy. Did you?” He said concerned.
Vista smiled. “No, I didn’t get hurt. I just got really scared and surprised. I’m sorry for making you worried about me.” She said.
Remus puffed out his chest. “I wasn’t scared at all! I’m tough! I never get worried!”
Vista and Moon laughed. “Alright honey.” She said.
Solaris looked closely at a small bundle in his mother’s hooves. “What’s that thing, Mommy?”
Vista showed it to the boys. “This is your baby sister, Starshade.”
Remus gasped. “She’s a girl?! Dad! You never said she was a girl!”
“I did, you must’ve not been listening.” Said Moonlight with a laugh.
Solaris tapped his brother’s shoulder with his white hoof. “Brother look, she’s really cute!” he squeaked.
Remus stared at his new sibling. She had a grayish coat, and a pale blue mane. She had a tiny horn in her hair. “Why isn’t she a Pegasus?” he asked.
“Some members of my family are unicorns, so she must have got it from my side. Like my sister, your Aunt Crescent.” Moonlight said (Moonlight was a Pegasus).
Vista nodded. “If she’s anything like Crescent, she’ll be great with magic someday.”
Moonlight kissed Vista on the cheek. “You did great, honey. You're a perfect mother”
Finally she saw his death. A unicorn soldier had taken Vista by surprise. He quickly pulled the trigger on his shotgun. Vista screamed, and she saw a dark shape fly in front of the unicorn.
“No!” she shouted, as the dark shape collapsed on the ground.
She burst into tears when she realized who it was. “Moonlight!” She screeched in fear.
He quickly grasped her hoof. Vista saw blood staining his white collared shirt. His suit’s jacket was gone, and his red tie was torn.
“Moon, please, don’t go! You’ll be okay! I’m going to get help for you!” She shouted desperately. She tried to get up, but Moonlight tightened his grip on her hoof.
“Vista…. No…. Just….” He tried to say, his chest heaving. Vista’s salty tears fell on him.
He coughed, and a thin line of blood dripped from the corner of his mouth. Vista fell into renewed sobs.
“Vista!” he said gruffly, and she quieted herself, the sounds of battle all around.
“Vista…. I love you….” He whispered. “No! Don’t go! Moonlight, I need you! Please!” she cried.
“I need you… I love you….”
Her hope died as Moon drew his last breath.
She collapsed entirely, crying over his corpse, begging and pleading for him to come back.
Another Pegasus she soon recognized as one of Moonlight’s friends, named Sunstone, stepped up and sat on Moonlight’s other side.
The Pegasus reached his bloodstained blue hoof to Moon’s face, and closed his eyes. Vista sobbed wildly, biting her own hoof.
“Shh…. It’s alright…. There there….” He cooed as he delicately slid the crying mare over his back.
Vista cried and kicked, screaming to be back with her husband.
Sunstone ignored Vista’s curses and struggles as he led her off the battlefield.
She took one last glance at Moon’s body as a unicorn kicked his head on his way to slaughter more of Vista’s friends.
Vista stopped, forcing herself to think of something else.
“Moon wouldn’t want me to be sad….” She whispered to herself, her voice hoarse.
She guiltily knocked an overturned and empty bottle of whiskey to the floor; it hit the wall and shattered. Moon never liked it when Vista drank.
Vista turned away from it, and teared up when she saw what Moonlight’s side of the bed. A book entitled Les Maresarables sat on his nightstand, a bookmark even peeping out of the side.
Vista chuckled sadly. “He never got to finish that book.” She said. She stared at the book until she couldn’t stand it anymore. She burst into strangled sobs and cries.
“Moon, please, I need you….”
Vista gasped loudly when she heard an answer.
It was in her mind, but it was real. Vista wasn’t going insane.
She heard the voice she loved most say:
“It’s alright, love. I’ll always be with you, even when you can’t see me.”