//------------------------------// // XII // Story: Never // by shortskirtsandexplosions //------------------------------// “His name was Starswirl the Bearded,” Princess Celestia said, her voice drifting past the candle-light to softly grace Nova Star's twitching ears. “He became famous as the father of the amniomorphic spell. In his lifetime, he mastered chronotonic sorcery, allowing himself to live longer than any other mortal pony in existence. In all the decades he was blessed to trot this earth, he spent every waking moment improving life for his fellow Equestrians. He was crucial in imprisoning the beasts of Discord's army within Tartarus, and he helped settle peace between the Minotaurs of Green Valley.” “Wow...” Nova Star cooed. He was lying on his side, halfway beneath the covers of the bed. He gazed peacefully at the Princess, his tired eyelids hanging low. “He sounds like a really spectacular unicorn.” “Mmmmm... He was indeed,” she said with a nod. She stood beside him in the gently rocking cabin. “But, just like all of my students before him, there was a time when he was no older than you, when he too listened to me tell remarkable tales of the past under the hush of candlelight.” “Was he your last apprentice?” Nova asked. Celestia's face grew long. She exhaled softly into the shadows. “No. No he wasn't...” Nova blinked, yawned, and curled his legs against his chest as he murmured, “You taught him all you knew, didn't you?” “Yes. That I did.” “So, as awesome as he got in his magical talents, it was all because you shared it with him?” “No, Nova,” Celestia said. “That would be a false assumption. You see, unlike all of my students before him, Starswirl knew that the only way to make magic stronger was to use it for the benefit of all ponies around him. This was something he elected to do on his own, long after I parted ways with him.” “You and him stopped seeing each other?” Nova Star blinked awkwardly. “Why? Did you two get into a fight?” Celestia snapped him a surprised look. “No,” she breathed. “What would make you think that? I loved each and every one of my apprentices. I still do, even though they are no longer with me.” “Then... why did you stop seeing him?” Nova asked. “Because...” Celestia began, but fumbled. She tucked her large wings tightly along her pale sides. It was a foalish gesture, and she refused to look at the bed, for fear that an emerald glen my surround it in a blink. “Because I knew, Nova. I knew that there would come a time... when he would no longer be with me, no matter what either of us wanted.” Silence filled the room, lulled to softness by the amber dance of the candles. “They used to sing to me at night.” Celestia glanced at him curiously. “My mom and dad,” Nova said. He stifled a yawn, stirred amidst the covers, and murmured, “Even long after they put me to bed. They sang me lullabies. Funny how easily I remember it now. It used to bother me a little bit. But I guess it wasn't because they were trying to put me to sleep faster. I think they just wanted to be with me a little bit longer. They had to do a lot of busy stuff during the day. Even when they were alive, we didn't see each other too much.” “You were very precious to them, Nova.” “But... even they had to know...” “Had to know what?” Nova bit his lip and gazed up at her. “That I would no longer be with them either.” Celestia's eyes narrowed. “It's... It's almost as if they knew somehow that they were going to die from the Changelings way before it even happened,” he said. “But... But if that's true, then it didn't seem to bother them. They wanted to be around me as much as they could. I guess it shows just how much I meant to them.” “Losing a child...” Celestia slowly murmured. “...is the worst thing a parent can go through. Some parents, Nova, are unfortunate enough to not experience such pain once...” She gulped. “But several times...” He gazed up at her with soft eyes. “Why would those parents not want to be with their kids anyways? Like... every moment is precious, isn't it?” Celestia's eyes grew moist. She gently brushed his mane aside. “Yes, Nova. Every moment is certainly precious.” “Hmmm... Maybe...” Nova yawned and closed his eyes as he surrendered to the warm crater his body had made in the sheets. “M-maybe that's why Starswirl mastered time spells... cuz he wanted to live even longer... so that h-he could have spent more of those moments with you...” Celestia breathed in sharply. She gazed into the covers past him as her vision blurred. “Mmmm...” Nova's voice was like a distant ship on the horizon. “Pr-Princess...?” “Yes, young one?” “Are you still there...?” He yawned one last time. “I am here, Nova.” “Will you... Will you b-be here when I wake up...?” Celestia's lips hung open. Her face quivered. The world around her had turned milky white, like the gloss that had once covered Prism Shine's dying eyes. “G-go to sleep, Nova,” she eventually stammered. “It is... very late...” He said nothing. He was long gone. The smile on his face had vanished, instead replaced by a gaping expression as he fell deep into the well of slumber. Celestia felt her heart quickening. She was as wise as a dozen millennia could ever shape a pony to be, and still she felt the incessant need to touch the base of his neck. She did so, and his pulse was as real as the palpitations of her own heart. She clenched her eyes shut as the moisture sprang from her lids. She ran her hoof over her face and shuddered, for it was too late. The dam had broken, and...