Prologue
It was a starlit sky. It reminded me of those times in dark caves when my light would go out. Sometimes there would be fluorescent lichen that glows in the dark. It made me feel like the entire world was connected. Even the plants were trying to help me.
The field was empty except for us and that sky. Ponyville’s citizens moved slowly in the distance. It was late and I wondered if this was a good idea. It was getting cold and we had work the next day but Starlight insisted we stay a little longer.
“Look! Maud!” My girlfriend, Starlight Glimmer, pointed her hoof to the sky. “Look at those stars. It makes you feel kind of small, doesn’t it? Do you think there are other ponies out there staring at Equestria right now?”
“It is a statistical probability,” I told her. I don’t think that was the answer she was looking for. Her ears drooped a bit and she laughed her nervous laugh. I thought we would have been comfortable with each other by now.
“I just thought it was kind of romantic to picture ponies out there getting hope from ponies like us.” She sat on the gingham blanket we brought, shifting the remnants of our picnic.
“I am not good with romantic thoughts.” I looked at the ground. I felt the pressure to get moments like these “right”, though I was never instructed how. Pinkie assured me that there was no “right.”
“It’s okay, Maud. You don’t have to be. You’re good at Maud thoughts. And I love those.” She placed a hoof under my chin and turned my head towards her.
“Maud thoughts?” I supposed it made sense to her. I just saw them as thoughts. That's because I was Maud.
“Yeah. Maud thoughts. How you see rocks in everything and are always so calm. Does anything surprise you?”
“Sometimes,” I admitted. “I have the same capacity to be truly caught off guard as any pony, I just don’t show it.” I recalled the surprise when Starlight first kissed me. We weren’t together at that time. She was just distraught over Trixie but still it stirred something in me.
“What do you look like when you’re surprised, so I know if I succeed?” She wiggled her eyebrows and stared at me for any change.
I stared at her with my normal expression. I couldn’t do faces. Surprise was a reaction. You can’t really show reactions when the stimulus wasn’t there, it wouldn’t be real.
“That’s kind of what I thought,” Starlight concluded incorrectly. “We’ve been dating long enough to know that face.”
“It has been a while.” I looked at the sky again. Compared to the thousands of years that light took to reach our world our relationship was a mere blink. But then so were our lives.
“When I was a foal, I used to dream that relationships were like this. No fighting, no whining, no neediness… oops, I’m doing it again,” Starlight looked down, biting her lip. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. It helped her be more present. “I’m comparing you to Trixie again.”
“Yes.”
“But it’s all good stuff. Trixie was fun, but we didn’t work. You don’t compare me to Mud Briar?” I looked at her face trying to read what context she wanted to hear. Did she want comfort or somepony to agree with her? I decided the truth was best.
“Well, you are much more affectionate and sexual than he ever was. Your weights are vastly different. And you taste—” A pink hoof stopped my lips from summarizing my comparison.
“Okay, okay! I don’t want to know what Mud Briar tasted like.” She quickly looked back at the sky. I made her uncomfortable again.
“Okay.” I didn’t continue.
“Are you… better with that now?” A raised eyebrow made it sound like Starlight was looking for something. I sighed. Talk of my dead husband was not normal in our conversation. But I wasn’t the type that shied away from it.
“He’s gone. He would have wanted me to continue on with my life. I am… happy.”
Starlight breathed a sigh of relief. Was she still worried that I was haunted by him after all this time?
“Well, that makes me feel better. I always kind of worry about that but if you're really ready to move on, then I have something to show you.” This time she bit her lip in excitement. She bounced off the ground and landed on her hooves as her horn began to glow.
“Mmm?” ‘Ready to move on?’ I was thrown. It didn’t sound like how Starlight thought. What did she plan to show me to help me “move on”?
“Look at the stars, please.” She requested with a nearly breathless voice. Light was streaming from her horn and she pranced in place.
I glanced up at the night sky. It was endless. An eternity of light and darkness before me. It reminded me of looking into a piece of snowflake obsidian. When I look past the darkened reflection of myself in it, a universe opens before me.
The darkness was cut by a small light. It was like a star but brighter. Then it began to grow, its light outshone the stars around it. I was so entranced by the magnesium glow that I nearly missed the words it burned in the sky.
“I love you Maud. Please marry me.”
My eyes widened and my heart leapt in my throat in true shock. I sat there for an eternity, staring at the words burning in the sky. All I could hear was my heart beating in my ears.
I looked over at Starlight in complete disbelief. She was kneeling beside me with an open jewelry box. A large smile stretched across her face as she offered me the contents of her outstretched hoof. Her horn lit the field with a green cast.
It was a necklace with a heart shaped grey pendant. On closer inspection, in the burning light, I realized it was a piece of meteorite. Something I’d only studied through a thick pane of glass in a museum. How had she managed to afford this?
“It’s like both of us put together,” she hurriedly explained. “A rock from the stars. So, uh... surprised?”
“Yes.” My hoof shook as it slowly grasped the rock from the stars. It was light, yet it made it through the atmosphere and didn’t disintegrate.
“Will you marry me, Maud?”
There was no thought. I didn’t need to debate. There was really only one answer I could give.
“Yes,” I said breathlessly.
“I did it!” Starlight shouted while she jumped in the air. The field felt like it was moving as the bright light source soared and landed in glee.
“I surprised you! I saw your surprised face! Your voice even changed! Oh my gosh, now you’re blushing!” She lifted her hooves to her mouth but the huge smile was impossible to hide.
My face was on fire. I wished I had some water to put it out in. It was not a feeling I was used to but I smiled despite the discomfort. The necklace floated on a mint green tray made by the ecstatic unicorn. I bowed my head and let the mighty gift glide around my neck.
The earth resumed moving. The stars shone brighter as the spell in the sky wore off. The crickets and other insects continued to sing. I didn’t notice. All I saw was Starlight glowing with happiness.