It slipped behind the horizon. Into a space unknown.
It was odd, seeing the sun set on its own.
Light waves crashed onto the sand, rising and falling with the tides of sister’s moon. I savored the cool sensation of water barely touching my hooves. In the distance, silhouetted by the setting sun, two foals played in the waves, undisturbed by my presence. We long had an unspoken pact where we’d each enjoy the beach as if we were alone.
Walking along the shore was a dark-hooded pony, who left no prints. His robe flowed with his movements, but not with the wind. He approached me slowly, as he had yesterday and the day before, and sat down in the sand beside me.
“Beautiful sunset.”
“It reminds me of what it was like when I was a pegasus,” I said.
The wind picked up, the cool air tingled my face, and the saltwater waves rose to engulf my entire hoof with each cycle. The foals passed a red ball to each other with wide, blissful smiles, completely unaware of how special their moments of youth was.
We both sat there peacefully, each enjoying the sunset, each in our little bubbles, even if we were staring at the same sun.
Finally, he broke the silence.
“You’re afraid she’s still not ready.” He said, looking out past the foals.
“She’ll never be. Just as I.” Watching the foals, I couldn’t help but remember the large wide purple eyes of that filly, all those years ago. Those eyes contained a million questions, so much curiosity, so much hope, I couldn’t help but love her. Sometimes I wonder if she’d hate me one day, for the fate I had bestowed upon her, the curse.
A pair of seagulls flew over us, “She sits in your place now.”
“It's terrifying… That sinking feeling of knowing you’ll do it alone.” My stomach sank, recalling the scar still in my heart, watching my sister for a thousand years, always out of reach. The waves grew louder.
One of the foals started giggling at a joke the other made. They had their whole lives ahead of them, how much I wished to be there again. “Luna and I used to play on this beach. Over a millennium ago.”
I let out a sigh. I brought myself to look away from the foals and towards the hooded figure, even this close I couldn’t make out the features under his hood, all I saw was pitch blackness. “What did sister say?”
“She said she’d miss you the most.”
“Is she with me now? Watching from her stars?”
“She was always with you. Even before you were born.”
I looked away from him. I couldn’t stare into the swirling darkness for long, it still hurt to do so. The thought of leaving my student was like a knife.
“Why are you still scared of me? After all this time.”
“Primal instinct, fear of the void.” The wind grew stronger, blowing at the fur on my face.
“Don’t lie.”
The sound of waves crashing onto the shore, each one eternally unique, each one beautiful.
Alone she sat on my throne. “She still has so much to learn.” I missed her being my student. I missed watching her grow.
“There is nothing more you can teach.” She’d be so much more than I.
The sand was grainy and coarse, each grain was a unique crystal, each grain was older than ponykind. There were more grains on this beach than all the living beings who ever existed.
“When I was a filly, Mother said there would be angels.”
“Maybe there will be.” He reached out to touch the waves, only for the water to pass through his hooves as if it were never there.
“Will it hurt?”
“It won’t.”
It still hurt in my heart, how weird us ponies were, to feel pain from an event yet to occur, an event with no pain.
“How little we know.” The sun’s rays danced off the ocean. The water flashed with color as light bounced off the passing waves, each flash was a pretty rainbow. For a thousand years, I rose the sun, yet never got to know it. I would never get to know it.
Someplace, a long time ago, two sisters sat together and watched the sunset, one of the sisters said it was beautiful, the other said they loved the moon too. The sun cast a long shadow, and a sister grew bitter, and a sister was cast away. It tore into my heart watching her on the moon for a millennium, but at least I knew, deeply in my heart, she’d return. Now I watched the sunset, and now I was alone. Forever.
Twilight, the period between night and day, she connected us again. So much time had passed. I was so tired.
“I’m the last pony of my born generation.” So many ponies withered away. I am all that remained. Long past her time.
“She will hate me.” Soon she would feel the same, one by one the elements, her friends, would grow dim, and then disappear. At least, she’ll still have Cadence and Flurry. I could only pray they would not make the same mistake as I.
“But… I know she will be so much.” I closed my eyes and recalled the feeling of embracing sister for the first time after a thousand years. Finally feeling her fur upon mine, enjoying the scent of her breath, seeing her smile. I held onto it and then opened my eyes. I looked inside his dark hood again, not a sliver of the sun's shining rays pierced through it.
Black is all of the colors we can’t see.
“I’m ready.”
And then he was gone. I was alone again on the beach.
I expected to feel fear, dread, to immediately regret those two words. Instead, I felt a weight drop, a weight I had held my whole life and never noticed. The sun became so much more clear to me, each one of its rays, each one of its fires reaching out of its core and then sinking back. I became weightless.
I felt like I was breathing for the first time, each one of my breaths was so much more beautiful than the last. My breath slowed, as I slowly leaned towards the sand, and then finally collapsed in it, sending a puff of tiny sand crystals into the air. I felt the euphoric sensation of water hitting my face as if it was the first time experiencing it.
The breathing stopped, and for the first time in over a thousand years, I was free of my own breath.
My bubble was fading. I felt everything. Twilight staring into the sun, feeling the weight of her new responsibilities, the joy of the two foals playing on the beach, the tender feelings of couples enjoying their few moments together, ponies letting their imagination take the wheel in a dull moment. Planets crashing into each other, stars zipping across the universe, the constant breaking and binding of atoms. I knew at that moment I was past the gate of no return.
I had no intention of going back.
I felt Luna. Her embrace, her love, her tender joy, I felt she was there. He was right, she was always there. I felt a smile grow on my face, and for a moment that would last longer than eternity, I felt true joy.
My bubble popped, and I was let into everything.
The sun had set behind the horizon, making way for the cool air of night.
Two foals, one a brother, one a sister, walked towards the beach again, both giggling from their fun. “Come on, we have to get inside before Mom kills us. Again.” The colt said.
The filly waved her foreleg dismissively, “We’ll be fine,” before pausing. Her eyes trailed up the beach, where she saw the white Alicorn resting peacefully in the sand. “Hey she's sleeping this time.”
The colt raised a brow, usually she would stay to wave them goodbye. “Is she okay?”
“Of course she's okay.” The filly pointed towards her face, “She’s smiling.”
The wind calmed down.
Author's Note
A fic I never had any intention of publishing until 6-D Pegasus convinced me to.
Pre-Readers:
6-D Pegasus
Silk Rose
