Until the Morning of Eternity

by Subsolar Drift

4

Twilight paced back and forth before the stained-glass window, considering it carefully.

It was well designed as far as she could tell, though she was no expert on fine art. Rarity would be a far better judge on that front than her. Still, she had read a few books on classical art, color theory, and such throughout her years, so she thought her opinion might have some merit. And putting all bias aside, she could admit it was a beautiful piece of work.

But it still bothered her. The depiction just wasn't right. Celestia and Luna had both told her of their triumphant battle with Discord and his eventual imprisonment in stone, and this depiction of that same battle was categorically wrong. Where were the chaotic ruins of the city he had made into his home? Where was the army the Celestia and Luna had painstakingly assembled over the course of years? Where were the other twenty-four missing pieces Twilight felt were deserving of note?

She sighed. Twilight understood intellectually that some aspects of that had to be censored for various reasons, but the historian inside couldn't help but grind her teeth.

She turned away from the window and continued her pacing. The hallway hadn't changed, excluding the slight shift in the shadows. WIth a bit of mental math, Twilight guessed it had been nearly thirty minutes. What was taking so long?

She turned again, but her hind-left shoe lost traction on the marble floors and she stumbled. Before she could fall so much as a hoofs length, her horn glowed and she popped out of existence, appearing a moment later above the ground. She grabbed herself with her magic and set herself back down, careful not to crease or mark her dress. Rarity would never let her hear the end of it. One couldn't walk down the aisle in anything but a perfect dress.

Twilight tried to swallow the lump in her throat. There it was again. She was going to be walking down the aisle in what couldn't be more than five minutes now.

But Twilight wasn't a mare who panicked. She was a mare who planned and plotted until she worked out a solution which she then executed to varying levels of success (or failure). It wasn't as if Celestia had been replaced by changelings (she had checked, daily) and it wasn't as if she was afraid somepony would protest (she had binding legal contracts guaranteeing that most of the attendees would only applaud). She had already accounted for every possibility.

There was no more planning to do. There was no solution to the knot of nerves, anxiety, and excitement that was bubbling inside her. She just had to grin and bear it.

Twilight snorted, turning again in her pacing only to stop as the stained glass window before her had changed. A stained glass depiction of her and her closest friends with Discord pulling the puppet strings. A window she had last seen when she had almost failed Equestria.

She stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes locking with those of the spirit of chaos. He was leering down at her, smile still just as smug as it had been that day.

The stained glass figure laughed, slapping its knee with glee. Twilight started on as it slowly regained its composure. "Sorry, Sparkles!" the draconequus in the glass apologized with only a token attempt to hide his mirth. "It was just right to snap you out of your doldrums." His head separated from the window to look down on it appraisingly. "Too much?"

Twilight merely grumbled in response.

"I see, I see! Your apt and well-thought criticisms are always welcome and I will take them to heart." He replied before snapping his talons and changing the window in a flash. "I suppose this would be more fitting for the occasion."

The window now depicted the hall beyond the doors, where the wedding ceremony was to take place. Celestia stood alone on the altar with tears in her eyes, with an angry and shocked crowd before her.

"Just imagine the headlines!" He flourished his hand, and from it appeared an issue of the Canterlot Times. "Princess Celestia left at the altar: Too despondent to raise the Sun!" He read from the front page before it burst into flames in his hands. "And hot off the presses too!"

Twilight's mouth opened and closed, her face reddening, but Discord spoke before she could start. "It really a shame too. I thought you were stronger than that." He sighed and shook his head. "To think, the pony who defeated me... What was it, two and half times? Not brave enough to walk through some doors to her happy ending? I guess I was soft even before Fluttershy got to me."

"Disc--" Twilight tried to say, but was cut off again.

"No, no more words, Twilight. You've made up your mind. I can see." He snapped and Twilight's dress vanished, replaced with a bindle and stick. " Go! Go, before I stop you!" He turned his face away covering it with a palm in mock distress.

"I'm not going anywhere!" Twilight snapped, tossing the bindle aside. "I was just feeling a little nervous. Everything I've read has told me cold hooves are to be expected. Now, may I please have my dress back?"

Discord sighed and his shoulders sunk. "Fine, very well." With a snap, Twilight's dress was again on her and in perfect order. "Though you must admit, it would've made this boorish day a little more interesting."

Twilight just sighed, looking again at the double doors through which all her friends, family, and Celestia waited.

The silence between the two stood for a minute before Discord spoke, now in his physical form standing beside Twilight wearing a rather dapper suit. "I came to give you a bit of warning. I'd say we're about three minutes away now," he said, checking his wrist, where a watch with his face and arms had appeared.

Twilight didn't respond. If it hadn't been for her the movement of her chest as she breathed, she could've been made of stone.

Discord didn't look at her. "You know you'll be fine, right?"

"Mmhmm."

"Just remember your friends and family are just through that door. Even with all you've faced down, all the good you've done, this will be your happiest day."

Twilight swallowed. Discord was right. Of all her success, all her triumphs, all the happy moments she could remember in her life, this moment would stand atop them all. All she had to do was face it.

She turned to thank Discord, but he had vanished. On the stained glass window now stood the same picture of the hall through the doors, but now she and Celestia stood at the front of the happy crowd, in the midst of a kiss. Twilight smiled.

The doors opened, and her father trotted through them quickly. He beamed as he saw Twilight, tears rising in his eyes. He rushed over to her and pulled her into a hug.

"You look amazing, my little Light," he choked out, swallowing around the lump in his throat. "I'm so, so happy for you."

"Thanks, Dad," Twilight said, the knot in her stomach soothing in his familiar embrace.

"Are you ready?" He asked as he pulled away from her. His eyes focused on her with laser attention as he took the moment and committed it to memory. "She's in there waiting for you."

Twilight merely nodded, stepping forward and to her father's side.

Night Light's horn glowed and the handles of the door lit up. He gave Twilight one last proud look and opened the doors.

There was the brief sound of voices, but they quickly stopped as the music that had been playing quietly behind the conversations swelled into the familiar wedding march. Twilight watched as everything seemed to move in slow motion, the doors opening a hair's length at a time. She watched as the ponies in the crowd turned their heads back to look at her. She watched as smiles formed on their faces and eyes widened.

She saw her brother, eyes red and watery, leaning against a beaming Cadence as Furry Heart waved from her place on top of Twilight Velvet's back. She saw Rarity and Fluttershy smiling softly at her. She saw the slightly bored look in Rainbow's eyes vanish and change into a bright focus as a smile broke onto her face. She saw as Applejack turned from her conversation with Pinkie, who's back left hoof and nose just stopped shaking. She saw Luna, standing at the far end of the hall, ready to minister the service.

And Twilight saw Celestia. Unadorned by crown or petryal, in a simple black and gold suit, staring right back at her. One moment coalesced into an infinity, the years spent by Celestia's side, the missives written and received, the conversations held and the confidences kept, all the time built into that moment. It became real then.

There was no feeling of anxiety. There were no butterflies in her stomach or half doubts in her heart. There was only the mare that stood there across the room and herself. There was only love.

And Twilight Sparkle walked with grace she didn't know she had, with her father beside her, down the aisle and towards love.

They exchanged no words as they stood across from one another with only eyes for the other. Luna spoke eloquently, and with good practice, and it reached the time for vows to be exchanged.

Celestia spoke first, and only to Twilight.

"For a long time, I was alone. I ruled and enjoyed doing it, but I was distant, separate. The years of Luna's absence took their toll on me, and I was afraid to be anything other than alone. Until I met you. You taught me how to laugh again. You've been generous to me when I haven't deserved it. You've shown nothing but loyalty to me, and I can trust you to be honest when so many others might wilt at the task. You are kind and forgiving beyond your years, and you have brought friendship back to my life. Without you, nothing would be as it now. And I don't ever want to imagine any world in which that is true. "

And then, Twilight, in soft tones and with ease.

"As my teacher, you taught me magic, and my world changed. As my mentor, you showed me friendship, and changed everything all over again. And as yourself, you helped me discover love, and nothing will ever be the same all over again. I love you, I have loved you, and I will love you from now until the morning of eternity."

Twilight and Celestia leaned forward and kissed, to the cheers of the crowd, separating only to look again into each other's eyes. And they went forth and lived a life of love.