Celestia allowed a serene smile to wash over her face as she watched one of her ponies go on about whatever it was he was going on about. His tirade seemed to be never-ending, his mouth never ceasing to move. The actual details of what he was talking about were unknown to her, having left her ears the second they had arrived.
Nevertheless, she continued to hold her mask. Crafted by a thousand years of lending an ear to her ponies, it portrayed a visage of perfect attentiveness.
“—nd that is why I humbly request to be bestowed twenty-thousand bits!” The speaker finished his speech with a little bow.
Clearing her throat, Celestia spoke. “Thank you for coming to me today, my little pony. I will discuss it with my sister and we will take your request into consideration.”
The pony positively beamed, bowing once more in gratitude. “That is all I ask, Princess. Thank you for taking the time out of your day to listen to this old stallion rant.” With that, he was turned around and already on his way out of the throne room.
As soon as he exited the room, she let out an explosive sigh, letting her body sag into the throne. The guards around her didn’t dare to glance at her, never moving from their posts, and Raven only looked at her morosely.
“Will you be alright, Princess.” Raven’s question came out sounding more like a statement then anything else, but Celestia nodded her head anyways.
“Worry not, I have survived many dreary days in day court, and I will continue to do so.” Celestia’s throat betrayed her confident projection, cracking softly in between. An escaped sniffle was quickly squashed as if it had never left her nostrils, fading away before it could be heard by anypony but herself.
Raven eyed her, disbelief practically spilling out of her, but she made no comment. That was, until a quiet mutter: “I think, speaking as a close friend, you would benefit from taking the rest of the day off.”
Celestia ears perked. She knew her friend and advisor was right, that she should take the day off. While internally, her heart begged to have the rest of the day to herself, simply to cry in her bed or sleep deeply, her mind knew that the right thing today was to stay. It’s what he would’ve wanted her to do.
“Raven, you know I can’t ju—”
“Celestia,” Raven interrupted her, a pointed look on her face. “I believe, speaking as a close friend, that you would benefit greatly by taking the rest of the day off.”
Celestia ruffled her wings and swallowed, the thick wad of spit and mucus accumulating in her throat being banished back from whence it came. Raven’s tone left no room for argument. She was going to take the day off, whether she wanted too or not.
“Then, I will be retiring to my chambers. Should an emergency make itself known, you know where to find me,” Celestia announced thickly. Hastily, she scrambled off of the throne, eager to lock herself within the confines of her room.
Catching a comforting smile from Raven on her way out of the throne room, she made her way through the large hallways, enroute to her chambers. Nodding to her guards once she arrived, she immediately felt lethargy’s raging fist nail her in the gut. And to think, I almost made it to lunchtime without thinking about him, she thought, letting out an appalled giggle as she collapsed onto her bed.
Her hooves immediately shot up to assuage her watering eyes. The mask that had been holding itself together since she had left the throne room nearly shattered right there, threatening to unleash the wave of tears and sobbing it held back, but it stayed together—if only barely.
Celestia spent a minute to collect herself before dragging off the bed, and pulling herself over to her dresser a short distance away, on which laid a spotless mirror. She watched her reflection as she levitated her crown and jewelry off of her and onto the dresser. Reddened eyes met her, ringed with moisture of the melancholic sort. The white fur of her face was matted with snot, sweat, and a tear or two; a far cry from the pristine sheen it had possessed earlier this morning.
Shaking her head, Celestia continued, ruffling through her drawers in search of something. Most drawers would contain clothes, and hopefully only clothes. Hers though were different, being enchanted with special magics that allowed drawers to be hidden within the drawers. These second drawers held everything she had ever held dear over the years.
Pieces of fabric belonging to garments long since lost to time, journals, jewelry, etcetc. All of it was looked upon and swept aside as she searched for her prize. Within a short minute, she found it.
Delicately bringing it up to her face with her magic, Celestia felt her eyes start to water again. Reaching out a hoof, she let it slide along the decayed piece of wood, picking up every undulation and imperfection. Her gaze roamed around, eyeing the hallowed out indent in the center.
Bringing it over to her bed, she sunk into the sheets as though they were quicksand. One of her hooves idly flicked back and forth over the top of the piece of wood as she lay there. She allowed a few moments for the silence to settle in before sound finally left her throat. A tune, unheard of by the world for a millennium, escaped her in short little bursts of humming. If one was to observe her, they could say it sounded beautiful, almost hauntingly so.
But she—she heard it differently. Young, cheery, and horribly out of tune. Just how she remembered it.
And for a brief moment, she could see. She watched as they galvanted about a sunshine filled clearing, him sitting atop her back fiddling with his ukulele, a smile permanently etched onto their faces as they sang their hearts out.
She knew he would have wanted her to move on, to forget about him. But she couldn't, and so she cried and cried and cried. But she also could hear his whisper within her ear, that told her to cry was to remember, and to cry and smile at the same time was to move on.
Celestia felt a smile crease her cheeks, even as a lone tear crept silently down her face.
Author's Note
Written for DivineRoyalty. Thank you, for teaching me how to move on.
