Star-Crossed Lovers
"Hydrus, dearest!" Virgo called, her shimmering blue mane glittering in the moonlight. She rushed to her loved one's side. "Why was your arrival delayed? I made tea for us to share and it has gone cold."
"My sweetest Virgo," Hydrus answered, his voice filled with melancholy. "One thousand and one of my father's knights ambushed me and hindered my journey. For days they chased me through forest and brush, but I was able to slay them all."
Virgo's features brightened, and she levitated a bottle of wine over to the dark blue stallion.
"Then why do we still wait? He could have another thousand and one soldiers headed this way right now. Come, there is no time to lose!" Virgo ushered Hydrus into her abode, which was designed with the fine architecture from the Vicoltian Era.
"But wait!" Hydrus interrupted, turning towards the northern winds. "I am unable to make your acquaintance this eve."
"Why ever not?" the white unicorn inquired before she started to preen her beloved's wings. He abruptly pulled them out of her grasp, much to her dismay.
"I... I..." Hydrus struggled to respond. Before he knew it, he felt Virgo's warm lips upon his.
"Did that help clear up your mind?" she giggled. Hydrus stared upon her fair face, a red streak emblazoned across his cheeks, before he snapped back to his senses.
"No, my Virgo, that only worsened the matter!" He galloped off a few yards before slumping his shoulders and coming to a defeated stop.
"Please," the unicorn pleaded. "You are making me worried. What is the cause of your ailments? Are you arranged to marry another? Are you due for a valiant duel tomorrow morn?"
"Worse than all of those things combined," Hydrus sighed, his ears flattening in shame.
"What is it that you've done? Please, ease my conscience." When Hydrus remained unresponsive, Virgo walked over to her garden only but a few paces away, plucked the most beautiful bluebell she could find, and returned to the depressed pegasus. She tucked the small flower behind his ear and lifted his chin with her dainty hoof.
"Please."
Hydrus sighed, but lifted his eyes to meet hers.
"Virgo, what I'm about to tell you shames me more than anything I have ever done in my life. Not even becoming the King of Equestria could rid me of this guilt." Hydrus paused, hoping that Virgo would be too scared to want to hear more, but he knew her better than that. With a heavy sigh, he continued.
"A few years ago, before I was a knight and before I had good sense, I went out seeking adventure. However, I wasn't seeking to slay a dragon. No, what I was seeking was far rarer. I wanted love."
"But Hydrus," Virgo interrupted, "Surely for someone with your cunning and kindness, this task would be simple."
"I remind you, I was a fool back then. I didn't want the kind of love that we share now. I wanted to be treated as a king. I wanted a mare that would do all of the work while I went off and did whatever I pleased." He jerked his head away, dropping his gaze to the grass. "And... I got my wish."
Out of the corner of his eye, Hydrus could see fear flash across Virgo's moonlight features. She opened her mouth to speak, but decided against it, allowing him to continue.
"She was beautiful. Raspberry pink coat, great chef... She was everything I had ever wanted. But I was young, and did not yet know how to care. I treated her like she was worthless, but she never complained. I would go out until the dead of night, even stopping at local taverns to socialize with other mares, and yet whenever I came home she was awake, happily sitting at a table with a cup of hot cocoa for me. I took it for granted, of course, and since she was never upset I figured I could get away with anything."
He stopped again to see Virgo's reaction, but she had decided to keep her emotions to herself and say nothing. He sighed and rubbed his temples, the next part of his tale the most painful to remember.
"It was a Summer morning. I normally didn't get up and around until noon then, mind you, since I had grown even more irresponsible during my time with her. I had decided to awake at dawn that day, for reasons I have long since forgotten. As I was strolling in our garden, I heard her voice. It didn't sound like her normal sweet voice, however. This sound was dark and twisted."
"I traversed closer, and took special care in not being seen. What I saw was... unnerving, to say the least." Hydrus gulped and tried to keep his voice steady. "She was practicing witchcraft. Black magic. To this day I don't know what spell she was casting, and I spent countless hours pouring over magic books to figure it out. But that's beside the point."
He shook his head. "No, what I did after was what was important. I ambushed her and interrupted her spell. It must have been important, because she started screaming to me how now there was no hope of her getting her parents back. After she had exhausted that subject, though, she moved on to how I was such a selfish stallion, how I treated her like a maid more than a lover. How I didn't know what love was." He paused to wipe away any signs of tears brewing in his eyes.
"Deep down, I knew I wanted to apologize, but I was too upset then to do what I knew was right. Instead I told her that I didn't need her, that I could find love in any pony I wanted. She must have taken that as a challenge."
"She put a curse on me that day. She said that even if another pony could love me, they would be slain if anypony else found out about such feelings."
Virgo waited to see if he would continue, but after a few moments of silence she realized that he had reached the end of his tale.
"Darling," she coaxed, "I understand that is the past. Why do you let it vex you now? We have kept our relationship a secret from everypony."
"Have you forgotten?" He sighed. "My father has found out. That is why I was chased here. And now you love me so much..." He covered his face with his hooves. "I am forever regretful for getting you involved in this."
Virgo wrapped her gossamer forelegs around Hydrus's neck.
"But it has been quite a while since you have arrived. What if he's given up?"
"Yes, perhaps you're—"
Virgo gasped as she heard Hydrus's last breath leave him. She withdrew suddenly to see a blade protruding from his gut. He collapsed, and standing behind him was an army of epic proportions. Easily ten thousand stallions were gathered in full armour, and standing right behind the collapsed pegasus was a stallion that Virgo recognized to be Hydrus's father.
"Do away with me!" she cried. "If we cannot be together in life, then we shall be together in death!"
The stallion chuckled, mimicking the sound of rolling thunder. "And why should I grant you that pleasure?" He turned to his large ranks. "Leave the girl alive! Let her suffer as we have suffered!" With a flourish of his cape, he turned back to the path that he arrived from, the soldiers following suit. Virgo was left alone, heartbroken and empty.
The years withered away, and she refused to meet another pony for the rest of her days. When the fateful day finally came, she welcomed her death.
And so, in the world of the dead, the two star-crossed lovers danced in endless fields of bluebells.
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"So, whaddya think?" Twilight asked, leaning over Rarity's shoulder as she finished reading the last few lines. "Quite a tear-jerker, huh? Notice how I titled it ‘Star-Crossed Lovers,' and the main characters' names are constellations? I even made sure that the meanings of the constellations fit with the characters! For example, ‘Virgo' means—"
"Yes, very clever!" Rarity interrupted, having enough knowledge about the stars to not let her continue. "Erm, remind me again why you decided to try your hoof at writing romance?"
"Oh, they were having some sort of writing competition at Fillydelphia's library. The theme was ‘Hearts and Hooves Day,' so I figured romance was my only option." Twilight paused to inspect her hard work. "I had to do so much research to get the feel right. I had to read so many of Stallionspeare's works."
"Mmm, I can tell," Rarity replied, glancing back through the story. She ruffled through the pages for a few more moments.
"Twilight?"
"Yes?"
"Promise me you'll never enter another romance themed writing contest ever again."