Dancing
Pinpoints of music echoed in the nursery. Each note was a soft, sudden plip as stark in the air as the dust particles, which shined bright in the beam of light spilling in from the window. A pony slowly turned in time to the keys being struck. Her china blue eyes were closed at the moment as her porcelain-white forelegs were stretched into the empty air.
The Princess had promised to visit her every day. She was late. Every day she was late. Too late. But, the Pony was certain that the Princess would visit her that day. As she slowly lifted her right forehoof above her perfectly styled brown mane, her anterior hooves endlessly spun her around with slow and steady control, in time to the plips of the music box, which was left opened on the small dresser. The Princess would come today. She was certain.
She tilted her head to the right as her left foreleg joined its companion above the Pony’s head. She stopped and opened her eyes to the vaulted ceiling, covered in glittery stars that twinkled, even at night. Her right anterior leg pirouetted and she spun slowly with her eyes closed a second time. The box was winding down again.
With a delicate hoof she lifted the intricate machine and wound the gears up again, pausing the song for a moment. She winced when she heard springs creak and protest and set the box down again. The Princess would come soon. There was still time in the day. She had already been dancing for years. A few more hours wouldn’t hurt. The Princess who loved her would come. She had not heard her voice in... how many years? But... she knew she would come.
The Pony raised her hooves above her head again and continued her dance in the crisp silence of the dusty room. Her sister had seen her once... years ago.
She had slowly walked into the room, her eyes wet and tired with crying. She had approached the Pony who inquired after her Princess.
“She’s... not here anymore.” Celestia had explained.
“Where is she?”
“I had to send her away... for a while.”
“I hope to see her again someday.” the Pony had stated, looking up at the tall alicorn. Celestia had smiled then.
“I hope so too. She always loved you.” she had said before leaving. The Pony had stayed behind in the room, it could only stay in the room. The spell would be broken if she ever left. She would wait... the Princess would come and love her again. Her love had given her life in the first place.
A smile graced the face of the pony as she leapt softly onto the carpet in front of a pile of stuffed animals. She had watched the two princesses play with them, making fantastic stories about the adventures they would have. The echoes of their laughter could almost still be heard by the Pony. The memory warmed her chest and expanded to the rest of her body.
The Pony’s white tulle tutu brushed some dust from the top of a table containing other music boxes. All sweet and beautiful... but never loved as much as she.
She took another deep breath from inside her and relaxed her body as she turned again, and again, and again. How often had she turned? Her hooves wearing away at the carpet beneath her in the vast nursery? How long had she waited? Hundreds and hundreds of years. But, the Princess would come today. She was certain. Her Princess loved her. There was still time. Her love had awakened the Pony before.
“She’s beautiful” a small voice had gasped as the box was opened.
“Listen to the music, Luna!” Princess Celestia had exclaimed, excitedly.
“Look at her... she’s dancing!” the blue filly had said with awe in her voice.
“It is pretty.” Celestia had agreed.
“I wish she was real... she could dance with us. It would be our secret!” Luna had breathed out excitedly. Celestia had laughed, not unkindly.
“Well, let’s try to dance here!” she had offered to her younger sibling. They did the first two steps of a waltz correctly but soon stumbled over each other, their giggling and fussing filling the room even in the still emptiness of the present.
The Pony stopped and gasped, holding her hoof to her cheek as a sob shook her fromt the inside out. Where was the little Princess? Why had she not returned? How many years had she been dancing? Where was the filly whose love and adoration had prompted her magic to... give the Pony life? All these years she had waited... where was she?
The Pony stopped and forced herself to breathe slowly. She couldn’t let the Princess see her like this. She had to keep dancing. She would be so pleased to hear how much the Pony had danced even while she was gone. She straightened to stand on her back hooves again. It was a position she was so used to despite how unnatural it was. As long as the music box continued she would be able to keep dancing. No matter how many times she had to wind it up. It would keep her moving through the long nights and the longer days. It had kept her... all these centuries...
When would her Princess come back?
The night had fallen while her eyes were closed. The music box was winding down now. She turned the key again until it wouldn’t turn anymore and set the box back on the dusty surface. She needed the company of sound to keep her while she endured the beautiful night, waiting for her Princess.
Hours and hours passed and played away with the music box. She kept her restraint consistent as she turned and turned slowly, occasionally leaping about as she and Luna had practiced so many centuries ago. It was their song and she had not forgotten it. Soon the night would end and she would wait obediently again. Waiting for Luna to dance with her again. Her beautiful Princess who loved her... she had to come tomorrow. When the sun rose she would hope again to see her Princess before the music box wouldn’t be able to play anymore. Another memory was needed to be her companion. She raised her forelegs above her head again, the scar of a crack apparent.
Princesses Luna, Celestia, and a childhood friend had sat in a circle around a low table. The Pony had sat with them, only slightly larger than their filly forms despite the fact she was definitely an adult pony in build. They had each worn a hat and a fancy frock provided from a large blue chest next to a fireplace. It was high tea and the friends all had all been enjoying the sandwiches and hot chocolate served to them.
“So, Crème Brûlée, you can’t tell anypony about Ballerina!” Luna had declared with her eyes wide in the gravity of the situation.
“Can you enchant one of my music boxes too?” the pink filly had squeaked before her hat dropped over her eyes again. Celestia had to strain before she could fix the hat magically.
“No... I don’t know how she changed... she just did. I wished really hard.” Crème Brûlée pouted then.
“Are you lying to me? Because if you are I’ll tell!”
“No, Crème, you can’t tell anypony! Or I’ll banish you!” Celestia had declared before her own large hat fell off and revealed her petite tiara. Luna had nodded with a serious scowl on her face.
“You can’t tell nopony!” she had added for good measure.
“But I want a Ballerina too!”
“But, I would be sad if I left Luna.” the Pony had said, tears already gathering in her eyes.
“And besides, we tried to take her out of the room and she became porcelain again! Her left hoof broke out the moment she stepped out of the room! I had to glue it back together!” Celestia had proudly informed her cousin, giving the sense there was a command attached though no hint of one had been given.
“Okay....” Crème Brûlée had sighed then in defeat. Luna then threw her forelegs around the Pony’s neck.
“Don’t worry. I won’t ever give you up. I love you.” she had declared.
The warmth was back in the Pony’s heart and in her smile as she kept her eyes closed, stretching her left anterior leg out for a leap. Just as they had practiced. Her Princess loved her and wouldn’t have given her up for anything. She would come back the next day. Once the dawn came she would dance with the music box and her beloved Ballerina again. Hopefully she would be happier this time...
The Pony stopped, mid-spin, in front of the large window displaying the diamond-studded curtain of night, and clenched her already closed eyes tighter. She was entering a memory she did not like... but it was strong in her mind now. Perhaps it would explain why did did not come back today... though the Pony had thought of that day for a long time and still not found an answer.
“Luna?” the Pony had asked a Princess whose mane was long and flowing, twinkling in the light of the sunrise that flowed into the room through the window she stood in front of.
“What do you think of my night?”
“Sir Swordfierce?” the Pony had asked, looking towards a much-loved teddy bear sitting on a small grand piano.
“Not ‘knight’, idiot, the night sky... do you ever see it?”
“Yes... it’s beautiful... but I can’t see you when you have to raise the moon. I miss you.” the Pony had said and rubbed her forehead against one of Luna’s withers. Luna had pulled away.
“I’ve tried to talk to her but she doesn’t care.”
“Your sister? Is this why you’ve been so upset lately? Come on, Luna, let’s dance!” she had urged.
“Are you even listening to me?” Luna had spat.
“I’m trying to make you happy... you haven’t danced with me in awhile. You promised you would last time...”
“I don’t feel like it.”
“You’ve been so upset lately... and not yourself. Can’t we have fun like we used to?”
“Oh, grow up!” Luna had suddenly hollered at her and then backhoofed her across her cheek. The Pony’s face had hit the side of the piano and a small crack formed across her face, spreading from where her cheek had just shattered. She had started shaking, not just from the pain of the crack, but from the surprise of Luna’s sudden, uncalled for, outburst. Where had it even come from? The door had magically slammed closed behind the Princess. The Pony remembered looking at the floor to see broken pieces of her cheek littering the carpet like the stars in a night sky: small flecks of white in the dark background of the carpet.
The Pony stopped and placed a hoof on her cheek. Princess Celestia had repaired it seamlessly a few minutes after that incident. No words of explanation. No words at all. Just the physical healing. The next time they had seen each other, Celestia told her that Luna was gone. She couldn’t even feel where her porcelain cheek had shattered. the physical break had been repaire so seamlessly.
The Pony stood there until the music box reminded her that it needed to be wound again. She trotted back from the window and turned the key but didn’t dance. Her lips trembled as she walked back to the window to watch the stars and moon move across the sky. Perhaps if that night she had just watched instead of trying to get Luna to dance or play... maybe she just needed someone to listen to? How many years had passed and how few were the times she had stopped to actually watch the night roll over. Her Princess would not appreciate it if she came back and found that her beloved Ballerina had ignore her work. She was coming back soon. It could be any day now. She just needed to wait until day and enjoy the night Luna had painted for the whole of Equestria. The hours just needed to pass.
It wasn’t until the Pony had to wind the music box again two more times that she realized night wasn’t changing. The globe of the night sky had moved enough for the moon to rise high over Canterlot, but it didn’t budge from its zenith. But it had to move. If it didn't move the Princess wouldn't come back.
“Please move.” she asked the moon, shaking again as she placed her hooves on the ledge of the window, “I don’t care if she hits me again, just move so she can come back! I love her... Please move.” She was shaking so much her hoof slipped and landed on the floor with a crack that broke her foreleg in half, up to the knee where it broke off.
The Pony lay on the floor and cried, not caring if somepony heard her. She just needed her Princess back. Without Luna there she kept on breaking when she wasn't purposeful in her movements. The pain of her cracked foreleg was just as sharp as the pain in her cheek from almost a millenium ago. Or, had it been a millenium already? So many years. Why was she cracking so easily? Luna would be disappointed. She would be so disappointed that she would throw her out. Maybe shatter her completely before she did. The musicbox ran down, when it’s time came, without the Pony moving to rewind the key. She couldn’t with one working fore hoof only. As the last few notes ended she kept her face turned towards the night sky.
“I’m so sorry, my Princess. I love you.” she sobbed before stopping as the music box did. She could only watch now. Not move. She could just remember...
“Luna!” a small Celestia had called, “I need you to be Sir SwordFierce to fight the dragon!” Luna had turned to her sister from the music box.
“But I’m watching Ballerina.”
“You always watch that ballerina!”
“Of course I do! I love her!”
“She’s just a music box...” Celestia had remarked as she had struggled to use magic to lift the dragon off the floor in front of her hooves.
“She’s real to me! I don’t care what you say! I love her!” Luna had declared before wrapping her forelegs around the music box. Her horn had touched the porcelain ballerina figurine that spun endlessly to the music. Before the Pony could have even thought of what was happening, she was standing, in a bright flash, next to the dresser, the Princess who loved her had only reached her withers then. Luna’s eyes had grown wide as she gasped. Celestia had fumbled over to them, her jaw opened wide.
“What did you do?”
“I don’t know...” she had whispered, her eyes still wide and unblinking.
She had loved her. Truly loved her. That is what had made her real. Somepony had looked at her and seen more than porcelain and glaze. Her childlike love had brought her to life. She was only alive still because the Princess still loved her... right? Luna did love her. She had made her real. She must love her. If only Celestia would allow her to come back...
If the Pony could have jumped she would have. The sun rose over the horizon, swifter than it had in the past centuries. The Pony felt her hope return. Her mind begged that this meant the Princess would be home soon. That she would see her again. She didn’t care what happened. She just needed to see the Princess again. If only she hadn’t broken her leg. Luna would come soon. She used to always come right after the dawn rose. She would come... the night had been so long. She had waited so long... Luna would love her again. Even with her broken leg... she would fix her.
Hours passed. The Princess was late again today... perhaps she wasn’t back yet... She still had time... she still had time to see her. The sun was only at noon. She had time. The Pony didn’t care. She just needed to see the Princess. The Princess would fix her and make her feel better.
Sunset painted its strokes around the horizon. Luna wasn’t coming today. Usually the Pony danced during this time. The music box would play beautifully and she would dance freely with its melody. The disappointment of night would come after awhile and she would keep dancing, or would just think about her Princess. But, nothing would ever happen. It would just continue. Hope. Disappointment. Hope. Disappointment.
The door to the nursery creaked as it was opened.
“Ballerina...?”
