Farewell Letters

by Lunaria

First published September 22nd, 2024 15:40

For some ponies, what should be said remains unsung. What remains isn't always a record, but a lost pony.

Character tags are intentionally omitted. Dive into the story and immerse yourself in the characters and their emotions instead; I'd be curious to hear your interpretations.

Written for the Poetry Contest.

Chapters

Acts of Love
Act of Wrath
Acts of Despair

Acts of Love
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Farewell Letters

Acts of Love

At night, glancing at the moon, I wonder

What do you even see in me?

That bright smile
That undying heat
That unyielding determination

You throw it all at me

How do you expect me to not stumble and fall?
How do you expect my wilted and torn heart to respond?
How do you expect me to avoid the toxic sap reaching for my brain?

Yet sitting here

In the moonlight

With only your sleeping charge as company

I crave it even more.

I don't deserve it

And I could never ask you for it

But basking in your radiance?

That which you deem I may have?

I will take it fully
I will hug it tighter than anything
I will grow myself closer to your warmth.

And then

Maybe one day

I will blossom.

At sunset, staring at the crimson sky, I wonder

Did you mean to steal it?
Did you set out to enrapture me?
Did you intend to steal the center of my domain?

The answer will remain out of my reach

Just like the colours of the sky

When did I become a coward?

My pinions are meant for flight

Yet with your companion by my side we are grounded

She does not know either

But we both miss you.

But I remember

Every time I walk these empty halls
Every evening as I stare at the horizon
Every instance someone asks for my hoof

Your smiling face greets me

And all those times

When you helped me where I struggled
When you danced with me
When you sung for me

And stole that which I didn't think could be taken

There will be others

Youth is on my side

But I wonder

Will they be like you?
Will they make me smile the way you did?
Will they make me flutter so hard I forget to flap my wings?

I hope they will

But even more

I hope we meet again

Even if I dare not speak

Of what goes on in my domain.

At noon, shying my eyes away from the sun, I wonder

When was the last time I looked you straight in eyes?

I've grown afraid
I've grown complacent
I've grown another failure

When was the last time I retreated up here

To stare at my mirror image

And truly reflect upon my actions?

Too long

The sight unnerves me

For everything beneath you

Falls upon my shoulders.

I'm sick of it

And I had hoped

So desperately even

That you would be different
That you would fill our lives with joy
That you would see me the way others can't

And we were so close

Yet achieving that now

Is more distant than the moon

Maybe this is all I deserve?

Act of Wrath
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Farewell Letters

Act of Wrath

You stood before us all that day

Your slitted eyes glimmered
Your weapon raised in defiance
Your soul against the elements

You had stepped in

Taking everything for yourself

All to spare her the harm

Yet now you faced us instead.

But I couldn't ask them

I couldn't demand of the elements

Not anymore than you could

Or so I thought

For then they shun
For you they answered
For the call was just

I cried out in vain

For I couldn't lose you

And you couldn't lose us

Why would magic corrupt?
Why would loyalty surrender?
Why did kindness crumble?
Why did laughter end?
Why would generosity falter?
Why would honesty lie?

Why did empathy have to die that day?

My questions remaind unsung

For the light never falters

For as the sun sets

The moon raises

Since time immemorial

Till memory draws its last grasp.

Author's Note

I've never tried writing poetry before, so, here goes nothing I suppose. Probably the biggest issue for me writing something like this is that I don't *read* poetry. As interesting and respectable I find it on a technically level, I generally find reading poetry very dull.

But if you don't read it then that makes it hard to *write it*, since you've got no context for how it's supposed to go.

Still, I'm trying to get into song writing for another story of mine, which is slightly similar so maybe this is good practice? I left the character tags of this story at "others" because while this story does deal with canon characters, I feel like it fits better for the reader to judge who and what the story is about.

Acts of Despair
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Farewell Letters

Acts of Despair

It was raining that night

The lifeblood of the earth and sky bothered me little

But inside

By the hearth

I pondered

What was I to do next?
What goal could I set for myself?
What hopeless dream could I fool myself with?

For to not ponder

Would stoke the flames further.

Squeeze something hard enough

Long enough

And anything will burn.

It was tempting that night

There was nothing else left to say

For there was no one to say it to

But then

A door opened
A sign was given
An angel stepped inside

I never believed them

The old pegasus tales

Yet there you stood

And your unrelenting eyes fell past the membrane

And you saw the unseen.

It was raining that evening

Blood was given back to the earth yet again

I was told

That with this act of remembrance

You'd be left in the past

With a nod I spoke my farewell
With a sad smile I rejected concerns
With a firm step I walked away

The greatest thief of all time

Surely if it was you

You'd steal even from his firm grasp

Wouldn't you?

The memento I carry
The beacon that'd guide
The gift of my eye

It would lead me to you

Wouldn't it?

But as the years passed

As my sphere grew to support others

I found it again

Or maybe it found me

I can't be sure

But of what came next is certain

For they were mine

And I was theirs.

Yet another thief appeared

I pondered if they surpassed you

For they stole everything

Leaving me as an empty husk

Devoid of value to myself

or the world.

But then

The unthinkable

In my lowest of lows

You found me again
You stole your way into my sphere
You reunited me with the place I belong

Because of the memento

The one I still hold dear.

I wish you remained

For you never left me.

It was raining that day

Blood and tears soaked the earth

The only way to keep away the flames

It reminded me of you

Of the day we met
Of the day our souls touched
Of the cruelty I subjected you to

For some reason

I hoped it was you

But that which have been returned

Can not walk again
Can not laugh again
Can not be argue with again

Why am I like this?

We should have walked

Together towards the horizon

Wasn't that what you wanted?
Wasn't that why you pushed?
Wasn't that how you never refused to give up?

The flickering flames

They refuse to yield

Not even a flood being enough

It all reminds me of you

How you could be here
How you could stand by my side
How you could be the one I need

If only I'd been better
If only I'd been the one you needed
If only I'd learned

But I didn't.

Maybe next time I will?