The unicorn approaches the castle.
One last time.
She gazes up at it.
The tall towers.
The blues, purples, pinks, reds.
The lush tree sprouting out of it that she helped grow.
The dark, ominous clouds above.
The winding river and mountains nearby.
So familiar.
(The memories of her past surface- all those years living there. She tamps them down, and wonders yet again why she can’t remember before she turned 18. Before she was found. She has enjoyed her life there, but still, she wants to know… She never will.)
Like she never left.
Like she never will again.
She smiles, but it is a bittersweet smile.
The smile of one who no longer has a reason to smile.
(Certainly, there’s her friends. However, friends are not family, and this was even more than family, was… no, don’t say it. Don’t make this harder than it already is.)
But it must be done.
She knocks on the door, not bothering to use any magic.
It opens, surrounded by an aura of icy blue magic.
The alicorn comes out.
One last time.
Her expression is wistful but resigned.
She too knows what she has to do.
They both wish there was another way, but there isn’t, not if they want to live.
(It’ll heal. In time. It’ll be okay. In time. (That’s a lie.))
The unicorn looks slowly up and down the alicorn.
One last time.
It’s been only some days, maybe weeks, but she devours the sight like it’s been millennia.
The alicorn, too, although she’d hate to admit it, has missed the other.
The castle feels empty without the kind of vibrant energy only the unicorn holds.
The unicorn has a mark now, and her hair is different. When did that happen? the alicorn wonders.
Their eyes meet.
One last time.
(She has such pretty eyes. She always did.)
Finally, after what feels like a lifetime in just seconds, the two exchanging all the words they could never say with just a glance, the unicorn speaks, her voice hoarse from crying all day. “It’s time.”
“There has to be another way…” the alicorn pleads, such a powerful figure now reduced to a shambles.
The unicorn turns her head away. It’s too painful to look at the alicorn. “There isn’t. You know this.”
Slumping, the alicorn’s eyes well up. “Fine, then… what’s the plan again?”
The unicorn takes a step forward.
One last time.
She brings her hoof up to cup the alicorn’s cheek.
It is soft and warm, but brings no comfort to the unicorn.
She drops her hoof.
(Would you? Would you touch her, if you could, but then you couldn’t? Would you? She doesn’t know how to explain.)
Looking into the alicorn’s eyes, the unicorn sees a brief flicker of cold fire- an oxymoron, but so true- before it fades once more into smoldering embers.
The alicorn waits for the unicorn to speak, although she already knows what will be said.
She just wants to hear that voice.
One last time.
As much as possible in the fleeting minutes- seconds- they have left.
The unicorn doesn’t remember that she’s supposed to speak.
She’s lost in her own thoughts, her own world.
Her whole life has been this.
And now…
Never again will it be anything close.
Maybe, if she’s lucky, there will be a close approximation, a pale facsimile of what once was, someday.
Not this, never this again.
It’s the only way.
To lose all she’s ever known.
(To save it.)
The alicorn, realizing the unicorn is somewhere not on this earthly realm, coughs delicately, reminding the unicorn of what she was doing.
The unicorn begins to whisper, her voice solemn, her sentences fragmented. “The plan. Right. You leave. Go where I can’t follow. Don’t tell me where. I don’t want to know. Go somewhere they don’t know. To another multiverse. Try to forget about me. I’ll tell them…”
She breaks off speaking. Puts a hoof over her face. Squeezes her eyes shut.
“I’ll tell them they- we- won. That I stopped you from taking any of S-Sparky’s dragon fire, instead of you never having wanted any in the first place. That I took your cutie mark and t-trapped you inside the Together Tree, without anyone’s help.”
“They’ll believe me. They always do.” The unicorn finishes speaking.
A single tear slips down her cheek.
The alicorn lifts the unicorn’s chin.
It’s her turn- the alicorn’s- to take a step forward now.
The unicorn’s lips part.
The alicorn’s lips part.
They kiss.
(One year ago- two- three- four- more- all the times it happened. And still, they didn’t define it, didn’t say clearly what they were to each other. They can’t now. Not like this. It’s too late.)
It lasts only a few moments, yet it says everything they’re not brave enough to admit.
The other L word.
All of them.
The two break apart.
The unicorn turns.
“Go. Now. Before…” The unicorn doesn’t finish the sentence.
She doesn’t know how it would end.
(Before I have to actually defeat you.
Before they show up and actually defeat you.
Before I try to keep you from leaving.
Before I tell you the word that’ll make it worse than it already is.
Don’t.
Just go.
Hurry.
I’m trying not to say it.
Once it’s done, I can never take it back.
We’ll both be heartbroken in our respective universes.
Where are you going?
I never asked.
I can’t ask.
I want to know.
I need to-
I need to tell you.
Don’t do it, self, please-
I’m sorry.)
“I l-”
There is a flash of light.
The unicorn turns back one last time, just to check, just to know.
The alicorn is gone.
The unicorn never got to say it.
Maybe that’s for the best.
She walks slowly away from the castle, her heart hollow.
The door is still open.
Using her magic while simultaneously continuing to walk away, the unicorn closes the door.
One.
Last.
Time.
Author's Note
Yes, I'm aware it's a very... unique... writing style used here. It's not my normal style, but I felt it worked for this.
(I wrote this some time ago and no longer ship the ship involved in this story, as I now have a headcanon of Misty being aro ace, but I decided to publish this story nevertheless because my friends felt it was objectively interesting.)
