Sisters at Heart

by Lunatone

Chapter Thirteen: Everything We Wished and Didn't Wish For.

Sisters at Heart

Lunatone

Chapter Thirteen

Everything We Wished and Didn't Wish For.

Our wedding was very small. Dusty spent $4300, nearly the balance of his life savings on the wedding ceremony. He rented a small place near shoreline—the stallion who owned it knew him and gave him a substantial discount. Dusty paid for our wedding bands, and for the diamond ring I picked out. He bought Vinyl and me the apparel we would wear on our faithful day.

I remember walking toward the stage, now in my beige dress, Vinyl in a black tuxedo, our bodies abreast. Dusty hobbled next to us. There were next to nopony around aside from the three of us; in many ways, that’s how it had always been. I wondered how different my wedding would be if I stayed loyal to my father. The place would probably be packed with a procession of uncles, aunts, and cousins, who would all follow us through the raining hail, parting a sea of appalling guests, blinking at flashing cameras. The thought dissipated as soon as I glanced over at my wife and father.

The wedding song Vinyl and I wrote together blared from the speakers—sounding exactly the way we thought it would.

I remember sitting on the sofa, set on the stage like a throne, Vinyl’s hoof in mine, as only one face looked on. It was the only one that mattered to us. I whispered to her for the first time that I loved her. A blush, red like henna, bloomed on her white cheeks.

We went on stage and danced the night away. I remember seeing Dusty on the sofa, nibbling at some pastries that were on platters to the side of him. I remember Vinyl and I being drenched in sweat as we circled, bounced, and spun faster and faster with the feverish tempo of the tabla, until we dropped out of the ring from exhaustion. I wished Bon Bon were there.

Later that night, our wedding moved to our apartment. Houser and Starlee came over for tea and to congratulate Vinyl and I for being recently married. They told us they couldn’t make it to our wedding because of work. Later that night (the sun less than an hour from rising and the guests finally gone) Vinyl and I lay together, kissing each other (me on the bottom, she on top) and making love, beyond anything we had done before, for the first time.

Our tongues were twisted, and moans were coming from the both of us. I pulled back. Stared into her eyes. My sister, my wife.

“Vinyl…”

“Yeah?”

“It used to be an empty valley in our hearts. The sun…it rose as we slowly walked, away from all the fear and faults we left behind. I plan to be with you always. Until death do us part.”

Vinyl smiled as she lowered her head to my chest. She was exactly where she wanted to be. I had always been hers, and she has always been mine, and forever would be together. We were ready now. Ready to leave our past behind, because this was a new chapter in our lives.

“…I love you, Vinyl.”

§

We couldn’t have been any closer: Married life was great, though it was the same in many regards. Vinyl dedicated herself to taking care of her father while I went to school for music. She made his toast and coffee in the morning (and she made me tea and oatmeal too) and helped him in and out of bed. She gave him his pain medication, washed his bed sheets, read him the newspaper every afternoon. Vinyl had grown to be quite the reader and writer now.

She even cooked his favourite dish, vegetable soup, though he could hardly eat more than a few spoonfuls, and took him out for a short walk around the block. Usually when he became bedridden, she would turn him on his side so he wouldn’t get bedsores.

One day, I came home from the local pharmacy with Dusty’s medication, oxycontin. Just after I closed the front door, I saw Vinyl placing a blanket over him, then tucking an icepack beneath it to cool him down. “Hey,” I said. “How’s he doing?”

“He’s holding in there,” Vinyl said, barely mustering a smile.

I walked over to her, kissed her on the cheek. “I have his medication,” I said, placing the white paper bag on the coffee table and then opening it. “How are you doing, Vinyl? You haven’t slept in days. You should rest.”

Dusty dragged his head off his pillow. “Save your breath. I’ve been telling her that for the past few days now.”

I looked at Vinyl, smiled. “It’s okay. Take as much time as you need with him, Vinyl. I understand. You know where to find me if you ever need me.” I caressed her cheek and kissed her afterwards. Then I left the room.

§

Two months after the wedding, Houser and Starlee came over for dinner one night. Vinyl and I made a daisy salad, green beans, and some brown rice to go with it. After we ate and exchanged conversation, we sipped freshly brewed black tea and played crazy eights in groups of four. Vinyl and I were teamed up, competing against Houser and Starlee, and Dusty was lying on the couch watching us play intensely; he would sometimes give a suppressed peal of laugher when he saw Vinyl nudging me in the side for losing the match; I witness that smile of his again—the one he’d always given be throughout all these years; and it was as if he had a sense of closure in his life, knowing that his daughter would be loved and safe forever.

Later that night, after Houser and Starlee said goodnight to us and vacated, Dusty asked Vinyl and me to help him to bed. Vinyl used her magic to help carry him up to his room, after which she placed him down on his mattress. We both sat by his bedside.

“How are you feeling, Dad?” Vinyl asked, nudging his nose.

He smiled. “Happy. So happy.”

Eventually I turned off his lamp, and he asked us to lean in for a kiss, on the cheek, goodnight.

“Want me to get you your medication, Dusty?” I asked him.

“Not tonight,” he said. “There’s no pain tonight…no pain”

“Okay,” I replied, smiling, pulling the blanket over him. We closed his door.

§

The home barely had anypony in it. The only ponies that I remember being there were Houser, Starlee, and a few of Dusty’s close co-workers. Outside, there were rain clouds causing a slight downpour. I sat by the open door, and Vinyl was seated next to me, her eyes welling up. I pulled her close, rubbed her shoulder.

Through the open door of the funeral home, I could see the fields of grass dance in the wind, and raindrops falling from the sky. Those raindrops reminded me of the day we left our previous life for this one. I thought about the life he had, not just the life Vinyl and I had. Losing his wife. Working for my unscrupulous, imperious father. Leaving his so called best friend so we could have a better life. In the end, he died with dignity, pride, and happiness; but even then, how do we know that for sure? How do we know that it wasn’t prideless?

After everypony had given their round of blessings and prayers, the groups of mourners lined up and greeted us on the way out. I barely knew any of them, but I smiled gracefully, thanked them for their wishes, listened to what they had to say to us.

Later on, we witnessed Dusty being lowered into the ground, then buried shortly after. Now that the mourners had paid their prayers, respect, and fortitude, they left without saying another word to us. The place was empty now, like a ghost town, and Vinyl and I were left with the memories from whom we loved and held dear. After that, I saw Vinyl by Dusty’s gravestone, and she threw a handful of dirt and threw it on the coffin. It was tradition her father once told me about.

I made my way to my wife, tears blurring my sight as I moved toward her. “Hey, Vinyl…can we walk?”

“Sure.” She leaned close to me as we walked.

We walked in silence down a winding gravel path, lined by a row of hedges. A large yew tree marked a sighting alongside the path, and we sat beneath it. Arils were around us, and they appeared ripe enough to be eaten, yet we didn’t pick a single one up or mention their presence with words. As we sat, we saw an elderly couple kneeling beside a grave a few rows away and placing a bouquet of dragon lilies by the headstone. “Octavia?’

“Yes?”

“I’m going to miss him.”

“I will too,” I said.

I put a hoof on her lap, feeling a look of pain and sorrow crossing my face. At the corner of my eye, I saw Dusty’s mourners leaving on carriages; and it would only be a matter of time until we did the same. And for the first in our lives, we would be all alone.

I pulled Vinyl to me and her tears finally unleashed. For that, I said nothing.

We as living beings are constantly affected by the very fabric of death, suffering, and void; nothing can ever change that; not even grief; and it might be difficult when it happens, but we naturally get past it with or without someone by our side. Vinyl and I were alone now, just the two of us, for the first time in our little lives. We were going to get through this together…regardless of how arduous it was going to be.

I held her close, and the tears kept coming from her.