Vanhoover Islands
Radiant Star laid on his back, enjoying the feeling of the sun warming his coat, the lap of the wind on his fur, and the smell of the salt water in his nostrils. He closed his eyes and sighed in content as the sound of rushing waves filled the air.
“You taking a nap already, old stallion?”
Radiant opened his eyes again to see his wife, Firestar, hovering above him. The smile on her face was worth all the gold in Equestria. “And miss a moment of this? Never,” he said with a grin.
Firestar huffed and landed next to him. The mare nudged Radiant with her muzzle. “Just in case, get up. Let’s go for a walk together.”
“Like old times?” he asked.
“Well… almost, in old times you’d have rutted me six ways from Sunday by now.”
“Is that an offer?” Radiant asked teasingly.
“You wish,” Firestar replied as she kicked sand over him. “Now get up and walk with me.”
“As you wish,” Radiant replied as he rolled over and got to his hooves.
Firestar smiled as she watched the unicorn stand up, her eyes taking in the show of his over-exaggerated movements and his flank, mostly his flank.
It was Radiant’s turn to kick sand at her. “Hey, my eyes are up here,” he said with a grin.
“Hardy-har,” Firestar giggled back as she walked up side by side with him.
Radiant pressed himself closer to her, enjoying the feeling of her warmth, her movements against his own. The smell of lilacs and roses soon filled his nostrils, joining the smell of saltwater and sand.
“I’m proud of you, you know,” Firestar said in a half-purr as she placed her head against his neck.
“That makes one of us,” Radiant replied back as he gently laid his head upon hers.
“Still not sure if you made the right decision?” Firestar asked as she pulled her head away and looked him in the eye.
“Of course not. I think… I think I always will be unsure. I’ll always be left wondering if I did the right thing. About what would have happened had I went the other direction. But…”
“But what?” Firestar asked.
“I think… I think I’m okay with that.”
“Life is nothing more than making the best decision you can at the moment, and then another and another, until there’s no more decisions to make, right?”
“Right,” Radiant replied, laughing as he did so.
The pair walked together as the sun’s rays began falling below the water, the effect was turning the colors of the sky all different shades.
“It’s a shame they can’t do that slowly,” Firestar said as day turned to night quicker than either of them would like. “It would be wonderful if ponies could bask in that for a few minutes each day.”
“I’ll have to ask Twilight next time I see her,” Radiant said. “But if you ask me, it doesn’t compare to the beautiful sight in front of me.”
“The stars?” Firestar asked, looking up.
“Nope.”
“Then what?” Firestar asked as she turned to face him, only to see him looking at her. “Oh stop it.”
“Never,” Radiant said, sitting down on his flank.
The blush on her face gave the game away. Firestar sat down next to him. “Well, if you’re going to be a sentimental dork, at least you’re my sentimental dork.”
“Always.”
“And forever,” they both said as one as they leaned into each other and kissed.
One final time.
Celestia’s Palace
“Uncle!”
Radiant woke up with a loud ‘oomph’ as a rambunctious filly jumped right on his stomach.
“Nightshade! You can’t do things like that!” Nighttide lectured as she came into the room and lifted Nightshade from her painful porch.
“But mom!”
“No buts, now go get ready for breakfast young lady.”
Radiant grunted as he rolled off of bed and to his hooves, his seventy-year old body protesting with every movement he made. “She’s fine, you really don’t have to concern yourself with me.”
“She needs to learn boundaries and respect,” Nighttide replied.
Radiant conceded that point, but not completely. “Such things come in time. You’re only young once, right?”
Nighttide laughed at that. “Do you not know who you’re talking to? This is my second time around, old stallion,” she said as she walked out of the room.
Radiant chuckled at that as he got out of bed. There was so much to adjust to he simply added that little tidbit to the list.
“Oww, my everything hurts,” he complained to himself as he started walking. He had just recently started a workout regimen with Rainbow, and then with Taz as soon as Taz saw the ‘workout’ Rainbow was trying to put him through. His body had yet to fully adjust to the latter or heal from the former.
In spite of the pain, or the events that occured, Radiant was forced to admit that Dayspring, that rat bastard, had, once again, been right. Moving to Canterlot had indeed been good for him, he found himself having, dare he say, fun.
Even still, as he made his way out of the room, Radiant couldn’t help but look back at his new bed. The sense of longing and a small amount of regret hung heavily on his heart. He pushed through it. The old unicorn sucked up the strain in his muscles and went downstairs, the smell of a freshly cooked breakfast leading the way.
Dayspring Gleam huffed as he sat at the breakfast table across from Twilight, partly because their breakfast was his dinner, and also because he still couldn’t get over what had occurred last week. To make matters worse, the target of his ire had just returned that morning.
“Something wrong?” Twilight asked as she buttered up her bread.
“Nothing,” Dayspring replied.
Twilight chuckled at that. “You’re seventy years old and still pout like you did when you were nine.”
“I’m not pouting.”
“We would say you are,” Luna said as she took her seat next to him. “You’ve been acting this way for a week, we have kept track.”
“Luna,” Dayspring pleaded with his wife.
“It’s fine,” Twilight replied. “I mean my own son is just ignoring me and all, no big deal.”
“The big deal was up north. Was…”
“Need we remind you, ‘tis you that gave Radiant the choice.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t expect him to…”
“Choose wisely?” Twilight asked.
Dayspring glared at her. “Depends on your prospective.”
“From my perspective he choose wisely, giving up his personal wants for the greater good, you could almost call it the mature choice.”
“Mature? It’s mature to give up the future? The opportunity to defeat death, once and for all?”
Twilight shook her head at that. “Let me ask you this. Let’s say he had said yes. You’d worked with Ana and finished her research, and now had the ability to restore life to anyone who dies. Would you restore everyone who’s ever died?”
“Well… no, obviously.”
“Of course not. It’d be a full time job. So you’d pick and choose, bringing back those important to you, right?”
“Yes.”
“And preventing anyone around you from dying, no matter what happens, right?”
“Yes.”
“What about those you don’t know? Say the mayor of Las Pegasus, would you restore him if he died?”
“Yeah… maybe?”
“Or how about the nobles that live on the side of the town?”
“Of course not.”
“What if they offered money? Donations?”
“I get where you’re going.” Dayspring said as he visibly slacked in his chair. Images of a never ending feudal system playing in his head with dynasties that lasted throughout time of the same ponies in power forever.
“There you go. You’re not wrong, son. We do have power, divine power, power enough to change the world if we saw fit, but power is self-defeating without the wisdom to use it properly. I looked over a lot of Ana’s research, it’s genius, in a mad-scientist sort of way, but that doesn’t mean we should use it. Once we put ourselves up on that pedestal, once we start picking and choosing who lives and who dies there’s no going back.”
“You’ve not been tempted?”
“More than once,” Twilight admitted.
“Same,” Luna added.
“But the first rule of warfare is?” Twilight asked.
“A tactic used by us can be used against us,” Luna answered.
“And we’ve put down some enemies that I’m sure none of us wish to see again.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right about that,” Dayspring capitulated.
Twilight smiled and, using her magic, raised his head ever so slightly. “Relax, it’s not about winning or losing, right?”
Dayspring smiled weakly, “That’s what they say.” The old axiom he’d used a hundred times over the years coming back to haunt him. “How did… how do you avoid it?”
“Avoid what?”
“Making decisions like that? I mean… if I had my way…”
“Oh I’ve made a few doozies in my time,” Twilight said as her memories returned to her. “Trust me on that one.”
“We would agree, as would our sister,” Luna said as she nodded her head.
“What… what gave you the wisdom to get through them?”
“That’s easy, my friends,” Twilight replied.
“Learning from your friends,” Dayspring said, it wasn’t a question.
“You say it, you’ve even taught it, but do you truly understand what it means?” Twilight asked.
“Of course.”
“I’m not sure you do,” Twilight replied.
“What do you mean?”
“Well… think about your interactions with Radiant over the past week. You’ve taught him, you’ve helped him, you’ve given him your time and patience, yes?”
“Yes.”
“But did you ever truly learn from him?”
“Yes…”
“Did you? You’ve spent the last week wondering why he chose to destroy the lab, to have Ana restore him to the right age, and to give up that chance to have Firestar back. Are you any closer to figuring out why he did those things? Why he made that choice?”
“No,” Dayspring admitted.
“So can you honestly say you learned from him? That you understand the wisdom in his choice?”
“No…”
“I know you value intelligence above all, and your faults do not, in any way, diminish your strengths, son. But while intelligence is important, it’s only truly useful when tempered by wisdom. And sometimes…” Twilight paused as certain memories returned to her, “the wisest thing we can do is to not do something.”
Dayspring considered her words for a moment. It’d been a long time since he’d been lectured like this, and while he couldn’t fully squash the temptation to rebel, to take offence at the notion he could possibly be wrong, he did take her words to heart. “What… what should I do?” he asked.
“Spend more time with your friend. But as a friend, not as a teacher, or assistant. Watch him, learn from him.”
As if on cue Radiant appeared at the entrance to the dining hall. “Something smells good,” he stated.
“Hey, what do you have planned for today?” Dayspring asked.
“Oh, you’re talking to me again? Here I thought you were going to teleport to your room as soon as I walked in the door.”
“Sorry,” Dayspring admitted. He hadn’t been ignoring-ignoring Radiant, rather he’d spent the last week simply avoiding him. There was always enough to do around the palace to keep a pony occupied if they were of a mind to be, so he’d done just that. It seemed like Radiant had noticed though. “I shouldn’t have avoided you like that. I can stay up a little while longer, you want to… Can I hang out with you for a while today?”
“You sure I won’t bore you?” Radiant asked dryly.
“You’re many things, Radiant, boring isn’t one of them,” Dayspring said with a smile.
“Fine, you can tag along, but you gotta do everything I’m doing,” Radiant replied, his smile telling everyone in the room that there was a devious nature to his words.
“Sure,” Dayspring said, knowing he just agreed to something he was definitely going to regret.
“Great, Taz wants me to do three laps around the castle in two hours time. So eat up, you’re going to need the energy.”
The laughter from Twilight and Luna eclipsed the sigh from Dayspring.
“Is she going to be okay?”
Shimmering Night turned to Ataxia, the look on her wife’s face was almost heartbreaking to see. Ataxia was never the type to worry, to be concerned about anything really, but as they stared into the window at Taz and Ana sitting together in what was tantamount to a padded, magically reinforced room, not even Ataxia could hide her emotions. Shimmering Night had managed to convince Ataxia to let the experts handle it; but, sadly, Ataxia’s patience was limited on a good day. In a different set of circumstances Shimmering Night would have considered it a minor miracle that she’d kept Ataxia away for this long.
“We’ve installed null rock all around the room, and attached three magic nullifying rings to her horn,” Shimmering Night said as she looked away from Ataxia and ran down the checklist of ‘precautions’ they’d taken. “She’s being monitored around the clock and this room is located one floor above Taz’s, so he keeps his null ability fully active at night. It should… it should prevent her from harming anyone...”
“That’s not what I asked!” Ataxia all but yelled.
Shimmering Night looked back at her, both of them were crying. “I don’t… I don’t know… She has Dementia, an advanced form of it too. When I talk to her… she doesn’t remember me, not for more than a few minutes anyway, then she… she keeps talking about needing to go back, about needing to finish her research, to be forgiven. She doesn’t… she doesn’t understand where she is, who she’s talking to, or what’s wrong, not fully.”
“Let me talk to her!”
“Do you… do you honestly think that’d be a good thing?”
“Why wouldn’t it be‽”
“Ataxia…” Shimmering Night replied in a tone that said ‘you know why’.
“I could… I coud…”
“Fix her?”
“Yes!”
“And that’s why I won’t let you.”
“Someone’s gotta!”
“Please, please stop,” Shimmering Night replied as fought to not break down. “You know what would happen. Why you cannot, why I cannot…”
“Because… because we’d change her…”
“The mind is complex. Force it to change with magic, even divine magic, and you risk changing who they are on a fundamental level. You might be able to fix her, but at the cost of losing her forever. Is that something you want?”
“No…”
“Me neither,” Shimmering Night said as Ataxia placed her head against her neck as the two looked in on their daughter.
Inside the room, Taz sat across from Ana. “How are you doing today?” he asked.
“Hello, do I… do I know you?”
“Yes, we were friends, best friends for years,” Taz replied with the same calm and patience he’d shown every day during their morning meetings. The doctors they’d brought in had left them with such instructions, that repetition, understanding, and time was what she needed. That it would make it real for her.
“Taz… oh I know you…”
“You do?”
“Yes… you’re… you’re…”
“Don’t force it,” Taz said.
“You’re… Is that filly coming back? She was nice.”
“Nightshade? Yes, she’ll be back at noon, just like always.”
“I like her,” Ana replied.
“Most do,” Taz said with a sincere smile.
Taz’s smile faded as he watched a haze return to Ana’s eyes. It was slight, but noticeable as her eyes started to dart ever so slightly back and forth across the room. “I gotta go back, I gotta finish, they’ll forgive me if I finish, you’ll forgive me if I…”
“Ana, we’ve already forgiven you,” Tears fell from Taz’s eyes as he pleaded with her under his breath.
“Taz, you shouldn’t be here, it’s not time, it’s not ready, I gotta… I gotta… I gotta… No, I need to stop, I need to… Oh, I know how I can fix it! I can… Oh, hello, do I know you?”
“You two should get to bed.”
Shimmering Night and Ataxia both looked up in surprise at Rainbow Dash. Somehow the mare, who usually prides herself on making an entrance, had snuck up on them without their knowing.
“We… we will,” Ataxia replied.
Rainbow didn’t turn to face them, she simply stared into the widow, watching as Taz repeated the same conversation over and over again.
For the first time in what felt like forever, Rainbow felt completely and totally defeated. She had all the power and ability she could ever want, but against this enemy, against this foe, there was nothing she could do. All her power and speed could do nothing but let her watch as the granddaughter she’d not seen in ten years suffered under the weight of her decade long isolation and regret.
A tear fell from a magenta eye, landing all but unnoticed in a room that had known many over the last week.
The Crystal Empire
“Excuse me, Princess,” Echoside snidely replied as she roughly bumped Starlight, intentionally causing her to fall into their new bed.
When Starlight didn’t give a retort back, Echoside stopped in her tracks and turned back to her. “You know I was playing, right?”
“I’m… I’m not in the mood,” Starlight replied as she huffed and lay her head down on the bed.
“You’re the one that wanted this…”
“Yeah, I know.”
“And it’s a great opportunity, the once-in-a-lifetime type of opportunity.”
“I know.”
“And you wish you’d said no, don’t you.”
“No… yes… maybe.”
“So you could be with your sister.”
“Yes.”
“Do you want to go back?”
Starlight looked up off the bed and to Echoside. They both knew that if she said yes that would be it. They’d return to Canterlot and stay there, forever. Starlight wouldn’t have it in her to leave again. “I… no, no I don’t. Does… does that make me an awful sister?” the tears in her eyes were hard to miss.
“I don’t know. I never had any siblings,” Echoside said, shrugging her shoulders.
Starlight huffed and lay her head back down. “Of course you’d be an insensitive jerk about it.”
“How was I a jerk‽”
“You’re supposed to say no, to lie to me if you have to, and say I did the right thing!”
“If you wanted that you should have married some stallion that’d worship the ground you walk on.”
“Jerk.”
“Stuck up brat.”
They both laughed at that before Echoside chimed in, “I don’t know if you did the right thing and I don’t know if you did the wrong thing. I know you did the right thing for you, for us, for our foals, and for this kingdom. I know that you’re the best pony for the job and that they were right to choose you, and I know that you were right to accept the job. I know that you wouldn’t have been able to help Ana, and I know that if you were down there right now, you’d… we’d be suffering.”
“So I did do the right thing?”
“Well, you did leave your sister high and dry when she needed the most help, so…”
At that Starlight powered her horn and tossed a pillow directly at Echoside’s mug. “You jerk!”
For her part the thestral just took it. She was smiling when the pillow fell to the floor. “Feel better?”
“A little,” Starlight admitted.
“I’ll make a thestral out of you yet,” Echoside said with a smile.
In spite of herself, Starlight smiled back.
Celestia’s Palace
“There you are. What are you doing?”
Nightshade turned her head from the window to address her mom. “Watching daddy make Uncle Radiant and Dayspring exercise,” she replied.
Nighttide walked over and took in the view. Taz was indeed working both of them, and, judging by the amount of sweat pouring from the pair, he was doing a good job at it too. “Not going to go join them?”
“Nah, I did yesterday, but dad asked me not to.”
“Getting in the way?”
“Yes,” she said sheeply. “I just wanted to talk, apparently I almost made Uncle Radiant faint. I didn’t mean to.”
“I know,” Nighttide cooed as she wrapped a hoof around Nightshade. “How are you doing with all this anyway? I know it had to be tough.”
Nightshade looked up at her to respond, and then, just as suddenly, looked down at her hooves. “I… I think I’m sad.”
“Why’s that?” Nighttide asked.
“Well… I’m happy that Uncle Radiant joined us, and that he seems happier, but… he’s not going to get to see his wife anymore. And that’s sad…”
“It is sad. But you’re wrong about one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“He will see her again,” Nighttide said as she looked down at the three ponies in the yard. “When someone you love passes on, they stay with you. They stay in your heart, in your mind, and in your dreams. Sure, you might forget some things, but the feelings they leave you with; the way your heart aches when you miss them, that is them. That’s what they leave you with.”
“Heartache is what they cause you?”
“Well, yes.”
“That doesn’t sound nice.”
Nighttide smiled as she gingerly said, “You’re wrong about that.”
“How so?” Nightshade asked in disbelief.
Nighttide’s gaze fell upon Taz as she replied. “Because it means you loved them so much that they left their mark on you. It means they mattered that much to you. It’s a gift, one that stays with you forever.”
“I like giving ponies gifts…” Nightshade replied, her tone indicating that she didn’t fully understand the lesson her mother was trying to teach her.
“You’re a gift to everyone, little one,” Nighttide said as she tore her gaze away from her husband to look at her daughter. “Speaking of everyone, it’s about time you visit your new friend, isn’t it?”
“Oh yeah! Do you think she’ll remember me again?” Nightshade asked as the two started walking down the hall.
“She’s not forgotten you yet,” Nighttide replied. That fact alone was the reason why Shimmering Night and Twilight allowed Nightshade’s visits. Somehow, someway the little filly had left a mark on Ana. Nightshade was the only one that Ana didn’t seem to forget. Given, even with the friendly nature of their relationship, their visits were heavily monitored by either Nighttide, Luna, Dayspring, and/or Shimmering Night. Taz had attended their first meeting, but for some reason seeing Taz and Nightshade in the same room had caused things to end poorly. Ana could be with either one individually just fine, but never both together.
No pony wanted to believe that Ana would ever hurt Nightshade, but no pony could completely rule it out either.
“You said he’d see her again?”
“Sorry?” Nighttide asked.
“Uncle Radiant, you said he’d get to see her again.”
“Oh yes. When he passes on, he’ll be with her again.”
“Oh… I don’t want to think about that.”
“It’s not something to fear, little one. It’s part of life. Ponies are born, they grow, and they die. It’s sad, but that’s what makes it special.”
“It’s special because it doesn’t last?”
“Exactly.”
“Does that mean you and dad will…”
“Taz will… one day. I’m not sure about me though. I think I’ll end up living a long, long time,” the hurt in her voice was hard to miss.
“What about me?”
“In truth…” Nighttide fought off the instinct to lie. “I don’t know. You might have your father’s lifespan, or you might have mine.”
“I don’t want to live without everyone…” Nightshade said as she started to tear up.
Nighttide nuzzled her as she wiped a tear away. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you. Even when they’re gone, you’ll never be without those you love. They will always be with you, a memory to be mourned and cherished forever.”
“Always?”
“And forever,” Nighttide said with a sad smile.