all midnights must pass by eventually
It had been years since Solar Midnight and I had gotten married and had 2 children, Blazing Nova and Celestial Eclipse but I knew that my time with Solar would be short since he has the normal life span of a stallion whilst I didn’t really have a life span.
I had tried to avoid that terrible fate for Solar by using different spells to increase his life span but fate would catch up in the end, it always does.
And little did I know that the inevitable day was coming sooner than I thought.
“Celestia for the millionth time I will not tell you your destiny.” I stated angrily to the solar princess in front of me.
“Aww, you tell other ponies their destinies, why can’t you tell me mine?” She whined in response.
I sighed knowing I would have to explain it again to her, “Because other ponies are mortal and have a short life span so if they want to know their destinies then it’s fine by me but you and I have a much greater life span to the point of saying that we don’t really one. If I were to tell any immortal their destiny they could easily change it and rewrite events that were meant to happen. I won’t even look at my own because if I saw something that I didn’t like and wanted to change I would simply end up regretting it later in my life. It’s the same for all of us now stop complaining.”
“Sooo that’s a no right?”
“Yes! Now leave me alone, I’m pretty sure you have a kingdom to run.” I said whilst turning my head away from her symbolizing that this conversation was over.
The sun princess nodded in defeat and slowly walked out of my own throne room.
I smiled slightly that I now had some peace and quiet though it did not last as the doors to my room were slammed open.
I growled slightly and shouted, “Celestia I told you-“ I stopped myself when I saw it was a royal guard. I smiled sheepishly and asked, “Yes?”
The guard stopped in the middle of the spacious throne room and cleared his throat before replying, “Princess, your husband is in Canterlot Hospital.”
I bolted up and flew down to the guard before asking in a deadly serious tone, “What happened.” I was practically shooting daggers at him through my eyes.
He gulped, “H-He was in a meeting when he suddenly collapsed on the floor. He was taken to the ICU just over half an hour ago.”
I nodded and levitated my intricate, silver forehead tiara over and onto my forehead before walking to the doors whilst commanding, “Notify my children at once of the news and tell them to go to the hospital.”
And with that I flared out my deep purple wings before shooting down the hallway to the nearest door that lead out of the castle. Once outside I flew as fast as I could down into Canterlot and along the busy streets to the hospital.
On the way I thought to myself, “This is probably nothing more than a small heart attack. Please don’t let it be time yet…”
I finally arrived at the hospital entrance and burst through the doors and over to the receptionist.
He looked up from his books and asked, “Good evening Princess, how may I help you?”
“My husband, Solar Midnight was brought here. Where is he.” I replied whilst panting slightly from the sudden flight.
The stallion nodded and looked replied after a moment, “He is in the ICU room 1.” He pointed to a set of doors leading off from the room to the left.
I nodded and thanked him quickly before walking quickly through the said doors and into a sterile hallway. I saw two unicorn guards guarding a door which was a big indicator that it was Solar’s room.
I walked up to the door and asked one of the guards, “Is my husband in here?”
They nodded and one of them opened the door for me with my magic.
I walked into the room only to stop a few hooves in at the sight of my husband. He had various drips in his forearms, a nose cornea, a bandage around his head and a heart monitor hooked up to him.
I shook my head and forced myself to continue walking over to him. I sat next to him and took one of his hooves in mine, it was cold to the touch and looked like if I moved it anymore it would simply break off.
I forced my tears back as I heard the sound of hooves approaching. I turned my head to see a unicorn doctor walking over to me with a clip board in front of him.
He stopped next to the end of the bed and asked, “Are you the wife of Mr Solar Midnight?” I nodded. “I’m not sure how to tell you the news then.”
“Just give it to me straight. Please.” I replied, my voice threatening to crack.
He sighed and nodded, “Your husband will not make it through the night in his condition. He does not have much time left I’m afraid.”
“But what about spells? There is bound to be a spell to help him get better right?” I argued in desperation.
He shook his head, “Not this time. Even though you have used many spells on him to extend his life there is no spell this time. The spells are actually part of the problem. His body relied on the magic generated from the spells to keep his body going and now that there is none his body is simply shutting down at an exceptionally fast rate.”
I nodded and thought things over for a while before simply replying, “Leave us.”
The doctor nodded not wanting to argue against me at this moment and bowed before quickly exiting the room.
I looked back at Solar with tears in the corners of my eyes. He slowly opened his eyes and looked at me weakly whilst smiling lightly.
I smiled back and simply looked at him. At this point I couldn’t muster any words to say without breaking down into tears.
He opened his mouth and asked, his voice obviously strained, “Why are you crying?”
I wiped my tears away with one of my wings and replied the best I could, “I… I’m not crying… not at all…”
He chuckled lightly which resulted in him ending up coughing, “Y-You’re a terrible liar y-you know… please tell me…”
I was about to reply but the door was thankfully opened and my children walked through. Celestial Eclipse wearing her dark blue tiara for once and Blazing Nova in his Captain of the Guard uniform.
I smiled weakly at them as they sat at the other side of the bed. Eclipse said quietly, “We received news and rushed over. We would’ve gotten here sooner but a certain Captain wanted to put his uniform on.”
Solar nodded, “His point is valid… I would’ve done the same…” Even when he’s on his death bed he still is humorous.
My ears pricked up when I heard the heart monitor slow down. I looked at him in panic, tears threatening to fall down my face again.
Solar looked at me once more and said, “It’s it this time huh?”
I nodded weakly and forced my voice once more, “Y-Yeah, this time…”
Eclipse looked at us and realized what was happening she flattened her ears and let tears fall from her face. She shook her head, “I-It can’t be time! Not yet!”
I looked at Nova who looked back at me questionably. I shook my head and closed my eyes not wanting to look at his innocent face.
Eclipse whispered into his ear what was going and when she finished Nova put a dark grey fading to red, orange and yellow around his sister then pulled her close to him. He also flattened his ears and closed his eyes.
I gripped his hoof tighter and shook my head hoping that this was simply a nightmare but I knew it wasn’t.
“Spec. Don’t cry. Not over me anyway…”
“How can I not cry?! You’re my husband and you have known me the longest… how can I not… not when you mean so much to me. You’ve supported and cared for me every single day and not once failed to smile! I love you so much and now your dying right next to me…”
He lifted his hoof from mine and put it up to my face before replying, “Well you know what they say… if you love… something let it go…”
The heart monitor slowed even more. Eclipse said shakily, “G-Goodbye d-daddy…” After all these years of calling him dad or father she finally said the word she first spoke.
Nova forced his voice through tears, “Seeya old man.” Even when Solar was on his death bed he refused to call him ‘Dad’.
Solar looked at both of them and flashed them a small smile, “I love you both dearly. So very dearly…”
I gritted my teeth and tensed my hooves to prevent the tears. He finally turned back to me and said finally, “No matter… how long… it takes… I’ll.. see… you soon…” His hoof fell from my face on to the bed limply as the heart monitor finally slowed down to one long beep.
“I’ll find you I promise…” And with those words I let the tears fall from my eyes and down my face.
He was gone. He was really gone.
I leant over to his face and nuzzled it lightly hoping that it was just a trick and he was still alive but I felt no pulse on his neck and his body was beginning to go cold already.
Eclipse broke down crying heavily on the bed as Nova shook his head muttering inaudible words.
I stood up and took a few steps back until I hit the wall and slumped against it. Everything seemed to stand still and nothing went through my head as doctors rushed in and did various things before turning off the heart monitor and disconnecting the drips and plugs.
They closed his eyes and covered his face with a white sheet that was stored under the bed.
I saw Luna walk into the room followed by Celestia. Luna walked over to me and whispered in my ear, “Sleep now.” Before her horn lit up blue and my eyes began to feel very heavy.
I saw them wheeling Solar out of the room as my eyes finally closed and my last thought, “He’s not coming back…” before I drifted into darkness.
Everything passed by with a blur over the next few days as the funeral was planned and people trying to comfort me. I brushed them off claiming that I wanted to be alone and they did not argue.
Right now I was looking at myself in the mirror as I saw myself in a simply black dress, tiara and shoes. I was distracted from my thoughts as the door to my chamber opened and my daughter walked though in a simple outfit but fancier than mine.
She said calmly, “It’s time mummy.”
I nodded, tears once more in the corners of my eyes as I walked over to her and together we slowly walked down the weary hallway and out into the Canterlot gardens where the funeral was to be held.
It was to be a small, private one with only royalty and close friends attending. Even though it was private the whole of Equestria knew that a member of the royal family had passed as the whether teams had taken the day off leaving the sky stormy. Very cliché for a funeral.
I saw Twilight first and made my way over to her. She also knew the pain I was currently going though since she had lost not only her parents but brother and husband as well.
She also noticed me and beckoned for me to sit next to her. I did as signaled and sat next to her as she asked, “I know. The pain must be unimaginable. I’m here for you Spectrum.”
I nodded and bit my lip in an attempt to keep calm.
Suddenly a simple version of the Funeral March started play and a coffin was carried down by royal guards and Nova.
I hardly paid attention to the funeral and kept my eyes on the coffin until Twilight tapped me lightly signaling it was time for me to give my eulogy.
I nodded and walked up to the little lectern before looking at everypony present. I took a deep breath and started, “Hi… to be honest the past few days have been a blur to me and I didn’t prepare a eulogy but here we go… Solar Midnight, my husband has made a big impact on my life in so many ways. If it weren’t for him I would have given up on life long ago and I wouldn’t have two beautiful children… And now that I look at the coffin in front of me it’s hard to come to terms with that the most important pony in my life is finally gone.”
I paused and wiped away a tear before continuing, “On the way to the hospital to be with him I was hoping that it wouldn’t be time and it was something else but I knew in reality it was. Even though I know I will join him again one day I know the pain won’t go away for one second… I have seen my mother and father taken away from me when I was just a foal and even my friends gone in a blink of an eye but there was no pain quite like this one… I could go on rambling for days and not tire but I guess I should end it here… I wont forget him, not for a second for as long as I live…” I let the tears fall free from my eyes as Twilight got up and helped me back to my seat.
The rest of the funeral passed by quickly and as the coffin was lowered into the ground I opened my wing and pulled out a long, primary feather with my magic before placing it on the coffin lid.
The coffin was finally covered in dirt and a statue of him was placed at the edge of it so everyone could see clearly who he once was.
I summoned a bouquet of flowers in his colors with a single rainbow colored flower in the middle and placed it on the grave along with everyone else’s bouquet’s.
As everyone left the rain chose that time to fall softly to the ground. I looked up at the clouds and saw a small patch of blue in the thick cover. I smiled slightly as the tears rolled down my face without a care.
Eclipse and Nova walked over to me and Eclipse asked, “Mum? Why are you smiling?”
I looked at them and replied, “Because no matter how long it takes I’ll be with him again.”