The firework shot into the air, unaware and indifferent to the many eyes upon it. It climbed higher and higher before finally exploding into a flash of color that bled shades of red into the dark night sky.
It passed in seconds with a soft pop and the world was plunged into darkness again.
Lightning watched it all from the ground, quiet and unmoving. Pieces of conversation floated around her, shifted and carried by the wind, but she cared little and simply let them slip away.
“Somethin’ on your mind?”
“Nah. I’m just… enjoying the moment.” Lightning did her best to keep still, worried that any slight movement would ruin the moment. She took a deep breath, fighting every urge and twitch that surged through her normally impulsive and restless body. But eventually the urge to glance overtook her, and as another firework lit up the sky in a brilliant shade of blue, she turned to look.
The light from above washed over Fiddlesticks’ face, shining like small stars in her eyes. A placid smile rested on her face, showing no signs of fatigue from her earlier performance. The light faded as quickly as it had come, but the image of her was well-burned into Lightning’s mind.
Lightning didn’t consider herself familiar with a thing like beauty. Her entire life had been forged around a construction: every thought and action built off a desire to prove something to everyone else. To prove that she was the best, and to leave everyone else lightyears behind in her wake.
Things like love, beauty, and companionship were never pieces to that puzzle, and so, Lightning never gave them much thought. She certainly never considered herself beautiful, and Lightning didn’t care much for things not about herself.
It wasn’t until she had lost everything that she had that she finally began to realize it. She didn’t know if she was happy, because once she was alone there was nobody to prove herself to. Nobody to rival, nobody to spite, nobody to fight. Nobody who wanted anything to do with her.
And for someone who based her entire life on what others thought, Lightning thought for sure that this would kill her. That was when, for the first time in her life, she had felt truly alone.
But now, several years and scars later, she was here, sitting in a strange, small town on the edge of Equestria. Surrounded by ponies who considered her a friend, and who had stood at her side as she fought off a lifetime’s worth of ghosts and demons. And though she could never know for sure, she knew that Fiddlesticks was beautiful.
Her hoof shifted to rest on top of Fiddle’s.
Her heart froze as she realized what she had done, as if she had committed some scandalous act sure to earn her a sharp blow to the face. It was slightly amusing that after nearly three years of dating her, Lightning still worried about these things.
But her hoof didn’t move, and neither did Fiddle’s.
“Five minutes til’ New Year’s, y’all!” someone called, an announcement with a chorus of cheers and the clinking of champagne glasses.
New Year’s. Another year done for her, and another to come. It still surprised her that she had made it this far, after everything she had done and everything she had lost.
Most days she didn’t feel like she deserved it.
A nervous lump formed in her throat, as fireworks continued to shoot into the air sounding like popcorn.
“Hey, I, uh…” She coughed, fumbling for her words. “You’re…”
No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get it out. No word felt right to describe the mare sitting behind her, no phrase could ever capture everything she had done for her. Nothing that could ever come close to feeling right.
Fiddle squeezed Lightning’s hoof in quiet understanding. “Take your time, hon.”
“Mhm.”
Lightning chewed her cheek and nodded. As another firework’s light dissipated, Fiddle became a faint outline in the dark. But even as she stared, Lightning could see her: everything she was, and everything she would become.
It was like the blue in her eyes leaked into the sky, coloring the night with a shade so brilliant that it would drown Lightning completely in its warmth and glow..
With a quiet sigh Lightning leaned into her, lowering her head into her lap.
Fiddle put her hoof on Lightning’s back, rubbing it comfortingly. The touch was as soft as anything she had ever known.
Lightning wanted to give her the world. Fiddle deserved all that and more after all. But she had nothing left to give now, save for herself.
It would never be enough.
Lightning nuzzled into Fiddle’s chest, feeling it rise and fall with every breath. Beneath the light of a hundred fireworks and overcome with emotions she had never felt before, she opened her eyes to look up at the love of her life.
“Hey, Fiddle?”
“Yeah?”
“I…” She paused as a firework lit up the sky. Fumbling, she pulled out a small velvet box she had concealed in her wing.
Marry me.
There were two words that Lightning felt she had to say. But how could two flimsy words spoken from a broken mare be enough? How could a creaky and wavering voice convey such concepts like love and beauty?
Marry me.
She couldn’t say it. Her voice had abandoned her, so she sucked in a breath through her teeth as her heart paused in its beating and waited.
The love of her life, the most perfect mare she had ever laid eyes on, took the box tenderly in both hooves. Fiddle smiled as she opened it, gazing inside. The night went black for a second and Lightning was seized by a fear that she never felt before. Then the light returned, a warm yellow from above, and she saw Fiddle smile wider than she had ever smiled before. She leaned down and kissed her.
And with that, Lightning knew that with New Year’s, the two would draw closer than ever before.