Burning Bright focused on breathing, expanding and contracting her chest and belly, feeling the warm air cool her nose and mouth with its speed. She focused on walking, on the sound of her hooves on stone, of the gentle rolling sensation across their bottoms. She focused on the gentlest of breezes, the quietest of birdsongs. She focused on anything she could that would take her mind off what she had just done.
The tiniest hint of a sob in the distance behind her made it inescapable. Sights and sounds from the past day began flooding her memory again.
...
A mare with a hot pink coat and golden braided hair sits across a dining room table. She's grinning, like she always does.
"Gee, Brighty, since when do you ever invite me for tea of all things?"
…
A young pegasus stallion, his red mane buzzed short, stands rigidly in the office door.
"You wanted to talk Cap- uh, I mean, Burning?"
…
An old- no. Daddy. He'll always just be Daddy. He sits forward in his chair, eyes calm yet imploring, favorite pipe put aside at the coffee table.
"You're my daughter, sweetie. I'll accept you no matter what. All that matters to me is that you're safe and that you're happy."
…
Bright passed by a reflecting pool in the gardens. She gazed in. A brown-coated mare with a dull black mane flowing long gazed back at her. Youth that should have filled her eyes had only the faintest flicker left, but it was a flicker that promised not to die. An ember that everypony told her they could see, but she had only just learned to believe in. She turned away from the pool, afraid that a tear might disturb its calm.
…
An old couple of unicorns, serviette and cocktail glass cutie marks bright against their dull coats. The best next-door neighbors a pony could ask for.
"Going? Going where?"
…
A pink hoof pounding on the table, spilling tea from tiny china cups. It stains the new white tablecloth, not that it even matters.
"How can you just decide this? How can you not even talk to me about this? I thought we were friends! I thought we…I…forget it."
…
Daddy grins. "Come on, sweetie, what did you want to say? Is it about your, you know, 'special friend'?"
…
A cadet fidgeting awkwardly in the only other chair in the office, trying to figure out where he should be looking.
"Come again, Captain? I mean, uh, sorry…"
...
Bright turned her head up to the sign arching over a gateway. The words 'Canterlot Statue Garden' were written in archaic handwriting. She swallowed. Her pace didn't break. Inside, she could see a magnificent white pony with a prismatic mane standing next to a stone pedestal, looking right back at her.
…
A young stallion looking at the ground. "I understand. It's just…it's so sudden."
…
Daddy frowns. "Of course. Well, what did you want to talk about, then?"
…
Hooves stomp back and forth across the floor while golden braids thrash. "This isn't fair! She can't be just allowed to do this. It's insane. Even for a princess, this is just too far!"
…
Burning Bright drew closer to the white alicorn. The difference in their heights was quite apparent, but Bright had never seen the other pony look smaller.
"Princess," she said as steadily as she could, "you're here early."
The alicorn did not smile. "So are you."
Burning Bright looked at the ground. "I finished everything I wanted to do. Didn't want to stick around."
The princess' face grew soft. "Burning Bright, I say to you once again, do not think this is something that you have to do. You do not owe your happiness to the world. There shall be many great ponies in the future who could take your place."
Bright shook her head. "I've had a long time to think about this. I want to do it. It just…it still hurts."
The princess put a hoof on Bright's shoulder. "I don't want anypony to do this. You know that."
Bright nodded. "But you need it."
…
Pink hooves on her shoulders. A pink muzzle close to hers, warm breath. Emerald eyes.
"But I need you more! Don't you see that? Just because Princess Celestia has some big eternal agenda…Brightie, please don't leave me."
…
That classic 'old pony smell'. Two smothering hugs at once.
"Oh, dearie, we'll miss you so much."
…
Bright placed a single hoof on the first step of the stone pedestal.
"Wait." Bright turned around at Princess Celestia's voice. Her face was a forced neutral. "Is…is there anything you want me to do? Any ponies you want me to take special care of? There's a whole duchy that was supposed to have your name on it, I have more gold than I know what to do with, I could make a holiday-"
Bright held up her other front hoof. "Princess! I've already taken care of everything. You're making a bigger deal out of this than I am."
Celestia sighed and looked at the ground. "I know. It's just…after so many centuries, it's never gotten easier. I know what you're going through, what all of your loved ones are going through. It hurts. It always hurts."
Burning Bright forced a grin. "Hey, we'll see each other again. You can't die, right?"
Celestia shook her head. "No, but that doesn't mean we'll certainly get to see each other again."
Bright tilted her head. "Whazza?"
Celestia gestured to the sky. "When ponies pass from this world, they do so quite literally. They go somewhere beyond, though to where I know I know not. But beings like me…we are part of this world. If I am destroyed…I do not die. I stay here, somehow. For better or worse, I am with this world until this world is done. Its fate is my fate. Even I do not know what happens after that"
Bright raised her eyebrows once. "Wow. Uh…well. Gosh. I'm not sure I even know how to take that. Uh. Don't go doing anything stupid while I'm gone, then? I'm not gonna be here to save your rump again for a while."
Celestia made a choking sound as she smiled. "I'll do my best."
…
Daddy raises his eyebrows.
"Honey, the war is over. You don't have any more duties. What could you possibly be talking about?"
…
"I just don't understand why you can't take me…I mean, all of us, with you, or something. Weren't we a team?"
…
A pink pony's back, her head hung low, braids scraping the floor.
"Guess we never were on the same page. About us. I'm sorry."
…
Burning Bright climbed to the top of the pedestal. "So, how's this whole thing work, anyway? Am I gonna be, like, awake the whole time? Should I put my hooves up so you can put a book in them?"
Princess Celestia shook her head. "No. It will be like a long dream. A vague sense of time passing, and occasional flashes of awareness, but you'll be hardly able to think. By the time you wake up, you won't be able to tell millennia from hours."
Bright scratched her head, awakening a bruise under her mane. She winced. "Kinda creepy, but okay. And, hey, if something happens to you, how do I wake up?"
"The spell knows when it is supposed to end, even if I only have a vague idea. It will make sense when you hear the incantation."
Bright raised her eyebrows. "Incantation? Isn't unicorn magic just horn-glowing then poof?"
Celestia nodded. "Yes…but this magic is far more ancient than unicorns."
Bright's mouth dropped. "That is so cool."
Celestia made the choking sound again. "Alright, alright. Let's get you up in a pose. What do you think of rampant?"
Bright waved a hoof and stuck her tongue out. "Done to death, and generic. How about that painting of my final victory at the Spire? I mean, most of the painting is a dramatization, but I swear, that is totally how I looked. Well, muddier, but still."
Celestia smiled softly. "I love it. We can even get a flag for you later. And you are wearing your cape."
Bright held up her cape. "Actually, it's a different cape."
"You'll be monochromatic. Nopony will notice."
Bright shrugged. "Right. Well." She stood up on her back hooves, and cradled an imaginary flagpole in her front hooves. "Here we go."
Celestia stood regally in front of her. "For fate unkind, we make amends," she intoned.
…
A red-maned pegasus cadet standing at salute. "Goodbye, Captain."
…
"We choose our own way to make right,"
…
An odd, warm and soft sensation. Neither pleasant nor unpleasant. Emerald eyes wide with surprise, then sparkling with laughter. A pink hoof tousling a black mane.
"You didn't need to do that. But thanks, Brightie. And…goodbye."
…
Celestia's eyes welled with tears. "We shall keep from darkness' ends,"
…
"We'll take care of everything for you, dearie. Goodbye."
…
"If we keep a single ember,"
…
The smell of pipe tobacco. A strong embrace. Tears flowing together.
Author's Note
I wrote this in like an hour and a half. That's my excuse if it sucks.
