In the hours just after dawn, Threnody playfully blew on Hickory’s ear as he slept. With each puff, the colt twitched, his ear flopping and twitching crazily. Finally, after several minutes, the fun ended when Hickory awoke.

He gazed lovingly at his tormentor, smiling at her, yawning, and stretching in her bed. He scratched at his barrel with a forehoof in a half awake fashion, still watching the predatory pony smiling at him.

“How did it go?” he asked finally, smacking his lips and trying to dampen his dry mouth.

“The Princess agreed to deduct your debts from my wages. I cannot stay for long, I have my job to do, but I wanted to tell you. And take you down from here so you would not be stuck. Do not fear reprisal. Word is being spread that you are mine and nopony will want to risk upsetting me. I have the Princess’ ear,” answered Threnody. “There are some changes though. You can no longer eat meals in the common servant’s hall. Come, Festus grows impatient and wants his breakfast. They are waiting on you. I still have to tell my father though.”

“Tell? Shouldn’t that be ask?” Hickory asked, reaching out his forelegs and grasping Threnody around the neck. He pulled her closer, Threnody giggling as he did so, and placed a gentle peck on her snoot.

“He is in no position to disagree and a father never approves of a filly’s suitors,” Threnody stated.

“So about this marriage,” Hickory mentioned.

“This evening, as the sun sets, Princess Celestia will officiate. Nothing special, just a simple binding ceremony,” Threnody replied.

“Alright then, nothing special, just the Princess herself, very good, carry me to breakfast,” the colt said, his legs still around Threnody’s neck.

“Father?” Threnody inquired as she approached her father’s bedside and sat down beside it. “Father, I intend to marry.”

Coronach opened his remaining sightless eye and let out a confused series of clicks and squeals.

“That’s… rude father,” Threnody replied. “Of course it is me, your daughter.”

“You are not going to ask?” Coronach grumbled.

“I think I know your answer,” Threnody replied, reaching out and stroking Coronach with her wing knuckle.

“Then humour me,” Coronach asked.

“Very well,” Threnody agreed. “Father, I intend to marry an earth pony colt named Hickory. He is poor, is now currently my indentured servant because I took on his debts, he has nothing, and I would like your blessing when I marry him this evening,” Threnody asked.

“Shouldn’t he be asking me?” Coronach growled.

“See, father, this is why I didn’t want to ask,” Threnody explained.

“Damnation,” Coronach swore. “I was hoping to actually give you away.”

“Are you serious or are you having a go at me?” Threnody questioned, now sounding very confused and slightly angry.

“He is an earth pony. Not one of our kind. So there is no chance for you to be led into the corruption that so many of our find fell into. Earth ponies are honest and industrious, and they deserve to be happy just like anypony else. Him being an earth pony avoids the potential political pitfalls of what might happen if you married a solar pegasus. Does he love you?” Coronach stated.

“I have him under my spell,” Threnody confessed, her anger melting away.

“Your mother and I never really loved one another. We claimed to, because it was civil to say so, but our marriage was somewhat arranged due to both of us being good breeding stock. I want something better for you,” Coronach admitted.

“I am surprised father, I must confess,” Threnody said, edging closer to the bed and to her father.

“Do I have your blessing Threnody?” Coronach inquired.

“For what?” Threnody returned.

“For marrying Celestia. She will become your step-mother,” Coronach answered.

The slender lunar pegasus fell silent at her father’s words, her eyes narrowing as she became thoughtful. “Do you love her? Do you feel anything at all? Does any part of you feel joy at the prospect of being with her?”

“Do not ask me such things,” Coronach replied.

“Tell me, or I will employ other means of extracting your confession,” Threnody threatened. “Do not test my patience,” she warned.

Coronach sighed. “Do not tell her. But I have grown fond of her. I find that I miss her when she is not present and I long to hear her voice. I have dreams of sleeping next to her. Nothing else, nothing untoward, just sleep. A deep dark painless sleep.”

“Then you have my blessing,” Threnody offered, leaning down and kissing her father just below the ragged scar that was the remains of the gash that had taken his eye.

“Festus, I fear I must place myself into your debt and ask a favour,” Coronach said in a rumbling whisper to the griffon.

“If you need something, you need but ask,” Festus replied.

“My daughter is going to marry. There is an earth pony colt…”

“Oh I have met him. Pleasant little pony. Good honest chap,” Festus interrupted, his feathers fluffing out in response to his good feelings.

“Give him a good job. Keep him safe. Keep him close to us. Surely, you could use an assistant with a strong back,” Coronach suggested.

“Actually, I could use him to help me move bodies, both the living and the dead, if he wouldn’t mind. And there are heavy vats of chemicals… I am liking this idea. I am not very strong for a griffon,” Festus admitted.

Coronach took a deep breath and lay still.

“Celestia intends to work you over,” Festus warned. “She is in one of those moods.”

“I am worried about Celestia,” Coronach whispered. “Something is wrong with her I think. It is though a dark cloud has settled over her. She has been different lately. I think she is lying about things. These are the same signs I observed in Luna before she… before she….”

Festus shivered as Coronach’s words faded out. “I really hope that what you are saying is not true, but I am troubled by a number of things as well. I too suspect that she has been less than honest a few times. She has been distracted. Moody. There have been moments where she is so quick to anger. I hope it is merely from grief and sorrow, and not from whatever it was that consumed Luna.”

“What do I do Festus? I cannot sit by and watch another that I serve be taken, I am not in a position to do much of anything. I worry… and I am powerless.”

“Coronach, you are in a position to do something that you could not try to do with Luna. The way things are shaping up, Princess Celestia is going to end up as your bride. You could try, you could attempt to reach out to her with love. Perhaps she feels alone and desperate, just as Princess Luna did.”

The lunar pegasus grunted and squirmed in his bed. “I don’t know how to do that. That is beyond my understanding Festus.”

“You love Threnody don’t you Coronach?”

“Well, yes, but I have made so many mistakes. I don’t know how to show it. We have troubles with one another Festus. She didn’t come to me and ask for my blessing over her marriage because she thought I wouldn’t give it.”

“Well, make the effort with Celestia. Somehow. Even if it means bumbling and looking like a fool. Is she worth some of your pride to try and save? Give some thought to this Coronach.”

“I am a cripple confined to a bed. What do I do exactly Festus?”

“I have no idea Coronach. Talk with her. Like you do with me. Or Heat Stroke.”

“Heat Stroke and I don’t talk all that much Festus.”

“Coronach, remember your oath.”

“Ugh, you are using that against me Festus?”

“I felt secure enough in our friendship that I thought I could, Coronach.”

The great shaggy beast in the bed fell silent, closing his remaining eye, and looking thoughtful. The notched and tattered remains of his ears swiveled, folded, and then splayed outwards. After a long moment, his nostrils flared.

“She will be here soon to coax you through your reconditioning Coronach. Good luck. I must be going.”

And with that, the griffon left to look after others. There was a terrible case of hoof rot going around and he was a very busy physician.

Princess Celestia watched the young couple and felt something strong, bright, and burning within her heart. Something that had not been there for quite some time. Something she had believed extinguished almost to nonexistence.

Hope.

A tiny spark had remained, only a faint ember that threatened to die, but watching Threnody and Hickory being near one another added more fuel to the nearly dead fire. They were not just in love. They were in love. It was apparent to anyone that looked at them. The glances, the gestures, the blushing.

It was so strong and powerful that it made Celestia realise something in her own heart was missing and cause it to have a lonesome ache.

Threnody and Hickory continued to behave as though they were the only two ponies in existence. Quick little nuzzles. A touch with a wing. Soft warm expressions. After all of the death and the darkness, this was a balm. After the long cold winter of grief, this was the first new tender shoots that brought with them the hope of spring and warmth, and the chance to begin again.

It would be love like this that would rebuild Equestria Celestia hoped.

Celestia watched them the way a thirsty pony watches water and wants a drink. With each glance, each touch, she felt a painful emptiness that ached within her heart of hearts and longed to have it filled.

Suddenly, Coronach flashed through Celestia’s mind. It was a strong feeling. Coronach had been the only pony she had felt an actual attraction to in quite some time. He was scarred, he was hideous, he was solid and unmoving as the stone upon which Canterhorn Fortress had been built. His ability to endure was Celestia’s primary attraction to him.

She watched Threnody sneak a kiss on Hickory, believing she wasn’t being watched. Celestia felt another sharp ache. She had not wanted to actually kiss somepony since she had been a much younger pink haired alicorn filly. Now, she was an ethereal haired alicorn mare who had ascended into immortality. And it had been too long. She licked her lips, they felt dry and cracked. Celestia realised other parts of her felt dry and in need of attention.

I am too old and have far too many responsibilities she thought, scolding herself for her thoughts. Besides. Anything I love will only wither and die while I stay the same she reminded herself, feeling her own heart break just a little.

Celestia watched as Hickory leaned in on Threnody, just to be close to her, to touch her. There was no pony at Celestia’s side. No warm body next to her. No warm body in her bed. There was only her and what would be her eternal solitude. She didn’t even have her sister now to while away immortality with. She was truly alone.

I don’t want to be alone she thought to herself.

“Threnody, might I borrow your ear from Hickory for a moment?” asked Celestia, interrupting the happy couple.

“Of course your Grace, I exist to serve,” Threnody replied, drawing near from her waiting post where she sat when not running messages… or her other less savory activities which she engaged in. And enjoyed.

“I am very happy for you both you. Equestria needs more inter-tribal marriages. Look, I wanted to ask… how do you feel about your father being married?” Celestia queried, her face full of concern and worry.

“Are you after my blessing?” Threnody replied bluntly, causing both Celestia and Hickory to react. Threnody showed no signs of fear from breaking protocol. She spoke to Celestia not as a monarch, but as a pony.

“Yes,” admitted Celestia, biting her lip as though to punish it for letting the word escape. She felt nervous and her stomach began to churn.

“That depends,” Threnody responded, her tone brash and forward. “Do you have any feelings for him at all or is he simply a means to an end to protect you from less desirable marriages? Do you desire to take my mother’s place and leave him miserable and unfulfilled, or do you actually desire to become my mother, his wife, and have some actual involvement in both of our lives?”

“Threnody!” Hickory gasped, his eyes wide, fear spreading over his features. There would be no marriage tonight if Threnody was in the dungeon. “Threnody, your tone when dealing with your betters… please my love, don’t make her angry.”

“Well, do you?” Threnody reinstated to the stunned alicorn fearlessly.

Author's Note

Aww... wuv. Twu wuv.

And mawwage.

(Sorry for the Princess Bride reference, I don't know what came over me)

I know I am a bastard for the cliffhanger mid conversation. I am an incorrigible bastard, just so you know.