//------------------------------// // 480. Forever by Knight of Lycaeus // Story: The Sun and the Stars: A Twilestia Prompt Collab // by Fuzzyfurvert //------------------------------// by Knight of Lycaeus *** He was the first I ever loved, we promised each other to be true forever. We had no idea what forever would come to mean, what forever would come to mean for myself. We were an unusual couple, in a world hostile to those who married outside their own. The lingering scars of the time before the Warming still lived strongly in their minds. We shared joys just as much we shared sorrows; we stayed together for all of our lives. For all of his life, I knew there was a good chance I would outlive him. Even now, I still remember his dying words, a reminder that he would wait for me no matter how long it took. But also a desperate plea that I would live, that I would love someone again. Him, no matter what happened I would always remember and I keep to the hope that one day we would see each other again. She was the first I fell for, the first crush. It was a silly dream, the young filly in love with someone who seemed unreachable. Even when she was my mentor is seemed an impossible goal, even as I learned she was no different than a mortal mare. I shared my early life by her side; listening to her guidance and her pearls of wisdom yet at the same time I learned to laugh with her and see the mare she keeps hidden from the world. She was in many ways, my first true friend even if neither of knew it or felt that way. At least to begin with, things have changed since I left her guidance and have spread my own wings. She was the beacon in my life, a beacon of hope and light after the personal disasters of the last millenium. The many who I’ve lost through one tragedy or another; my sister through my own hubris, many dear friends and a few lovers to the embrace of death, a few students who fell for a wayward path. The world was not without joy, yet I was adrift and lost. I was going through the motions, my sister had been my rock; someone to keep me steady when the long toll of the years became too much.Yet here she was, a young filly with magic I had not seen in many long years. Yet all for her gifts, all she wanted was to be able to learn and to be under my guidance. In time I found a friend again even as it was tinged by the eventual sorrow that one day she too would be gone. Even her adopted brother, the young drake she hatched would outlive her before he too would pass on or as others before him hide himself in a places long forgotten by the world. Few of the ancients remained, most had long hidden themselves away. She became more than a friend as I spread my wings and began to soar, began to climb on my own. It was amazing to look back and see how far I’ve come since the early days. I did not consider myself boastful, compared to one of my dear friends it is hard to come off as boastful when one hears the tales she spins of herself. Well-deserved in many of them, but no less cocky about them. I did not consider myself boastful of what I had achieved, but I could not forget the smiles she gave me when I succeeded or the comfort she gave me when I failed. She was there to encourage me onward to greater heights than I could have imagined when I resolved to learn all I could about magic. And here now on this special day, we promise to each other before our friends and family our promise to remain true to each other. To be each other’s friend, to be each other’s family, to be each other’s love now on this day and for as long as we both shall live, to be together forever.