To Swoon the Stars

by LucidTech

Chapter Nine

Luna felt like she was on top of the world, and that was at least partially due to the fact that she was. She looked down and saw the houses passing by beneath her as she rode on the movements of the wind. Celestia had always enjoyed a ride in her sky carriage to clear her mind or to relax, but Luna had yet to find a replacement for a flight through the afternoon sky. In that moment, when the sun’s light turned to orange and the sky began to grow dark in preparation for night; the chill of the approaching night present in the wind, but only enough to refresh the mind when you breathed it in. When everything was perfect like this, well, it was the closest thing to ambrosia that Luna had ever really known.

But even still, beyond this perfect prelude to her night, there was another reason for her soaring emotions, and that was due to a short and simple message she’d been given the night before. She could hardly keep herself together with excitement.

She began to drop altitude and speed, giving up the joy she knew until some later time. She gave it up in pieces, little by little, until at last she could land easily on the cobblestone road. Luna landed with grace, transitioning effortlessly from a gentle glide into a steady gait in one smooth motion. With each step, she could feel a smile fighting to come full force onto her muzzle, but she kept it contained to a happy grin.

She felt a strange sensation in her gut as she closed the few remaining steps to Hendrick’s door. She remembered, not long after her return to the Equestria, hearing one of the castle workers say. “I have butterflies in my stomach,” and the phrase had stuck with Luna due to the absurd image that it conjured. She’d not put any effort into finding out what the phrase meant at the time, trying her hardest not to seem ignorant after her long absence from Equestria, but right now, she thought she had a good idea of what it meant. It was like limitless happiness bubbling in a bottomless pit of anxiety.

Hendrick had asked to see her, swinging by for a moment during the night court the previous afternoon. He stated it was important, but that it could wait until she had some free time. So that morning, she woke up, ate breakfast, and put off all the boring manners of state to go visit Hendrick. Not that Luna would tell him that, of course. She’d simply found some free time in her schedule, as far as he would know. Not to keep it a secret, but to keep him from worrying. He’d already seemed mysteriously off-kilter the past few days. The last thing she wanted to do was add to whatever had struck him so.

Well, mysterious to other ponies at least. Luna had a good idea as to what was troubling him.

It was only a few steps more before she found herself on his doorstep, and a moment or two before she mustered the courage to knock, softly, on the door. She stood there motionless afterwards, waiting for an answer to her arrival before she went in. If this was the moment that she suspected it was, then she didn’t want to ruin it. Not after how much of his sanity he had dedicated to it over the past few days.

There was silence for a moment, not even the slightest sound coming from inside the home. The silence grew into an uncomfortable moment of worry. Luna felt a frightening moment of deja vu, remembering all too well what had happened the last time she hadn’t gotten an answer, and began worrying that he may have had another unexpected visitor. Her nerves grew more and more frayed as minute after unanswered minute passed, the pressure refusing to abate, no matter how much she told herself that he could take care of himself.

She waited through the growing panic for some kind of response until, at last, her fears were assuaged by the words she’d been expecting. “At midnight in October…” the voice started before dying off. It had been the next layer of precaution for Hendrick, and he’d put it into place almost immediately after the last incident. Now that he knew that changeling’s could very well be a threat to him, he’d come up with a passphrase. Each of the ponies who visited him had a different answer to the phrase, and no one knew anyone else's. A bit of an overreaction, perhaps, but undeniably effective.

Luna, despite the relief at hearing the words she had hoped to hear, had picked up on something in his voice, some tone in the words, and her worry grew once again. He sounded so… helpless and lost. Putting away her worry for the briefest of moments, she leaned into the wood until she could almost feel the grain of it on her cheek, her fur prickling as the tips brushed against it. “The moon shines brilliantly,” she answered softly, wondering briefly if everyone else’s phrase related to them as well.

“Come on in, Luna,” Hendrick said from behind the wooden barrier that kept them apart, but not for much longer. Luna’s worry mounted again, and she had to force herself to open the door at a normal speed, holding back her urge to swing it open quickly and see what was on the inside. As it opened into the room, the light of the afternoon behind her cut through the darkness of the house, out of place darkness given the light outside.

She flipped a small fixture on the wall, causing a surge of light to fill the room, shrouding it in an off-yellow color. She leaned in, over the threshold, and saw what the door had been hiding. Hendrick was sitting motionless in the living room, staring at a small open box on the table with his back to the door, a diamond reflecting beautifully under the new light from its fixed position within a beautiful gold ring. All the curtains around the room were pulled shut tight in front of their respective windows, the dying light of the evening hopelessly trying to pierce through the heavy cloth to no avail.

Luna had expected that she would be happy when she saw the ring again, but right now, what happiness she might’ve had was greatly outweighed by her worry for Hendrick. He continued to stare at the gem with his back to the door, as if he hadn’t heard her come in. As Luna stepped past Hendrick to take her seat on the other side of the table, she got a closer look at his eyes and the soft tear stains that had trickled down his face some time ago.

His irises were glazed over as he looked at it, and it took him a moment to even realize Luna had taken a seat across the table from him. He blinked once and his eyes came back into focus. “I- I couldn’t think of anything,” he said, sounding hurt. “I just— I only wanted it to be memorable, but time after time, I came up empty. I set a deadline to force myself to have an answer, but even with a whole day, I couldn’t... I couldn’t….”

“Hendrick,” Luna said softly, trying to calm him as his emotions seemed to ramp up. “Hendrick, it’s okay.”

“No it isn’t!” He lashed back, tears in his eyes now. “Everyone forgets, Luna. And you live forever! Eventually, you’ll forget about me. I’ve accepted that, but I wanted to give you something to look back on that you could smile about after I left. I wanted you to remember the time I proposed to you. But I failed! All I’ve got is this stupid rock on a stupid table in a stupid house!”

“Hendrick, I won’t forget you,” Luna said, sounding certain of herself.

“How would you know?! I mean, don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the sentiment, but I’m far past being comforted by empty lines and comforting falsehoods, Luna. Age and time are fickle monsters; that’s something I know. One day, you’ll forget me, and I wanted to delay that as long as possible. But I failed so horribly. I can’t even give you a stupid rock.”

“Hendrick,” Luna said, a bit more stern. “I won’t forget you.”

“I think you overestimate the mind. Starswirl seemed certain that the only difference between alicorns and regular ponies was a more robust mind, not a better memory, just the ability to not go insane with eternity. All in all, I’m just another face in your head, and you’ll forget me too eventually, like a pair of misplaced coins, lost in the cushions on the cosmic couch of infinity.”

“Hendrick. I won’t forget you.”

“But it’s so easy to, Luna. I’m not even that memorable, really. Not as memorable as other ponies like Star Swirl or the Elements. The only reason you even got to know me is from your curiosity. But between our chats in my dreams and those few other trips you’ve spent in my psyche, I’m not even that to you. You already know me; there’s no reason for me to linger around in your memory after I shuffle off my mortal coil.”

“Hendrick. I -”

“YOU WON’T FORGET ME, I GOT IT!” Hendrick shouted, the tears lining his eyes. Luna could only look at him, her own heart sympathetic to what his was going through. Hendrick exhaled and inhaled before he continued. “So why then, Luna? Why is it that you’ll remember me? Why will I stand out in the weaved together memories of your never ending life? Why won’t I be just another dead pony when I’m gone?”

Luna leaned forward slightly and kissed him on the lips without warning. A rampant blush practically exploded over his face in surprise and a small one tinged Luna’s cheeks as well. “They say that you never forget you first kiss, Hendrick. And it wasn’t a normal kiss, either. You kissed me in front of a raging bonfire for bravery before you dived headfirst into an inferno. I won’t forget that, even after the whole of reality collapses on itself.” Luna smiled kindly to him. “I won’t forget you, Hendrick. I promise.”

The tears still lingering on his face, he looked back at her with a weak smile. They stayed like that even as the sun dropped lower in the sky and closer to the horizon as the day came to its end. And they stayed like that until Hendrick tapped the box towards Luna with his hoof. She smiled in response and his smile became more steady, though the tears still remained, rimming his eyes.

“Then, Luna… would you do me the immense pleasure of accepting this ring in marriage?” he said lightly, his voice full of hope. Hope not for the answer; he knew what that was going to be in the same way Luna did. This was hope for the future, and Luna recognized it as such. It was something she’d been getting reacquainted with lately as well.

“Of course, Hendrick,” she said as she lifted the ring in her magic and let it slide down her horn, guided by her magic all the while. “It would be my honor.”

Hendrick leaped across the table and Luna barely managed to stop the both of them from falling flat on the carpet. He wrapped her in a tight hug, and she returned it readily. They buried their heads into the other’s shoulder and Hendrick started laughing with joy. Luna too. Despite how much effort she’d put into learning to keep a straight face, she couldn’t help but join in with the laughs. And for once, right then, things seemed like they would all work out.

There were still changelings on the doorsteps and anger on the streets. There were still problems and terrors haunting their worlds, nightmares further down the line that seemed far too large to be put to rest by any force in existence. There were still the innumerable shadows in the cracks of the world, a fact that both of the ponies could confirm from their hearts. There were meetings that needed attendance, and jobs that needed doing. Things that had to be completed and problems that needed to be solved.

But right then, neither of them cared. Right then, their pasts didn’t matter. What they’d done was moot. They had each other, and someway, somehow, things would work out. Not because of hope, not because of belief. Things would work out because if they didn’t, then they would make them work out. And they would do it together.

Comments

[Vaalintine]

I wonder, is he still having the same mental problems he was having at the end of To Befriend The Night? Because he seemed pretty messed up, what with him mentally switching between human and pony. We never really saw how that resolved, would be interesting to see. Also, wouldn't this make him a Prince? Well, maybe more along the lines of Prince Consort, but still this pretty much makes him royalty.

[Leather]

That was possibly the most heart warming chapter I've ever read on FIMFiction, and it reminded me of my current absence of a relationship.

TL; DR Nice work, jimmies rustled.

[rikusorasephiroth]

4970760 If you've ever had a relationship last more than two weeks, you're still doing better than me.

[Willsons]

Cute as hell

[Balewood]

Woot! Your featured again Congratz

[paul]

[pahnazd]

My heart has been warmed by this lovely chapter

[Aerigim]

and a moment of two before she mustered the courage to knock, | think you needed to put "or" instead of "of"
Other than that not much of anything that I can complain about, great chapter!

[alfaomega]

[HIEfan]

A short but sweet chapter.

[Firewire]

I feel a lovely fuzzy feeling inside after reading this, this was an excellent chapter and you should be proud

[110calligraphybrony]

CHOO CHOO!!!! ALL ABOARD THE FEEL TRAIN!!!

[AppleTank]

4971018
If you have had a relationship last longer than 1 minute you'll be doing better than me. I have been cursed with a crippling amount of Apathy. I can't be bothered to care about anyone enough to try to start anything. Plus, due to something in preschool, I only respond, never start. Makes it hard to have a conversation when I tend to disappear in a crowd.

[rikusorasephiroth]

4975830 If you don't have the capacity to try to start a relationship, you don't qualify for the comparisons.

[axl bishop]

this chapter was short but worth the wait

stay classy

[Nihatclodra]

Finally got around to reading Befriend and this... oh how I want more.

[Zathras]

Interesting.

[Vinyl Mfing Scratch]

A very beautiful chapter, and a fitting result to Hendricks proposal.

[Dysons_Fear]

Beautiful

[MuhLunfardo]

The feels have been doubled.

*slow clap*

[Iso_the_Werewolf]

I know I'm far late to this conversation but I was so worried that hendrick had been replaced and the ring was actually some inhibiter .....whoooooooph