Empty

by Inquisitor M

Longing for Memories Past

The two palace guards maintained a sombre pace. Their passing seemed agonisingly slow, but they didn’t appear to be paying an awful lot of attention.

Luna couldn’t decide whether to be concerned about that, or grateful.

It didn’t even matter that much. It had been six whole minutes since they’d passed by before, and that had meant she’d spent approximately five minutes and thirty-seven seconds, give or take maybe two seconds for errors due to stress, stood in front of Celestia’s door and failed to open it. That meant five minutes and thirty five seconds, giving herself the benefit of the doubt, of feeling like a silly little foal.

Finally, the guards turned the corner and disappeared, traceable only by the fading echoes of their hoofsteps, and Luna released her spell, fading back into sight.

She stepped back across the corridor and raised a hoof towards the door handle. But wait! Maybe she should knock, first? Surely Celestia would welcome her, even at this hour, but perhaps a display of poor etiquette would put her in a less-than-entirely-receptive mood. Luna’s hoof recoiled from the door.

On the other hoof, perhaps Celestia would sleep right through a knock? And how would one determine the difference between the knock failing to rouse its intended recipient and simply not being welcomed. If she were to enter her sister’s chambers after a wilfully ignored knock, what would that say about her? Surely that would give a bad impression, no?

Luna raised her hoof towards the handle, but again she recoiled. It wasn’t enough merely to have her sister’s company; she wanted to feel welcomed into her space – needed, even. It was far from a princess-like desire, but she knew Celestia would understand… unless waking her in the small hours put her in a bad mood. Or entering unannounced. Or knocking and being ignored and then entering anyway.

It could, however, be reasoned that knocking as a stylistic gesture and then proceeding to enter sufficiently quickly that it was never a matter of waiting for her reply would mean that it couldn’t possibly be misinterpreted as ignoring a refusal, except that if she was entering that quickly the knock probably wouldn’t be heard at all and she’d look more like she was just bursting into the room in a most inconsiderate manner and that might put Celestia in a bad mood, and—

Hoofsteps.

Luna recast her cloaking spell and vanished. She’d lost track of time completely. Achingly slowly she backed up, so as no sound came from her hooves on the stone floor, and pressed herself against the far wall as the two guards passed yet again at their languorous gait.

Her racing mind conjured the sensation of pressing herself into Celestia’s coat and that of Celestia’s legs wrapping around her and holding her tightly. ‘I’ve missed you so!’ she would cry out. ‘It has been one thousand Hearth-Warmings since you last crept into my chambers of an eve! One thousand empty Hearth-Warmings denied of thine presence!’

Luna staggered briefly as her senses reasserted themselves. The guards were gone once more and tears ran down her cheeks. She dried herself with a hoof, holding ever-so-tightly to her spell until she was absolutely ready. Such a visage was unbecoming of royalty.

Her heart raced in her chest and blood thumped in her ears. Her head felt stuffy, making it both hard to concentrate and insufferably warm on the inside. Her strength was buckling. It was now or never.

She burst into Celestia’s room.

“Sister! Please forgive me, I—”

The bed was empty, as was the room.

“Celestia?”

All the furnishings were in place, and the bed had been slept in. The topsheet was pulled back into a perfect triangle in the top corner – a very Celestia-like demonstration of precision and grace. The fire had barely the faintest of afterglow, and the heat of the room made her face warmer still.

It had been a lot to ask for Celestia to remember their little ritual after a thousand years, but Luna had hoped. With so much change, she’d hoped for this one thing, one moment of heedless indulgence in what once was.

But that was a long time ago, and everything had changed since then.

Luna took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, exerting control over her chaotic swell of emotions. A little anger peeked through her inner stormclouds, suppressing any dissent with a low growl. It was her own fault, and she would have to get used to it.

She recast her glamour, not wishing to be seen while in such an emotional state, and pulled the door gently to as she stepped back out into the hallway. She carefully dried her eyes again with a hoof and took to the air to make a stealthy exit.

Along the hall, round the corner, up a flight of stairs, then through a door to the outside. She flew to the top of the tower her own bedchamber was in, drinking deeply the cool night air that it might still her heart more quickly.

There was no denying that Canterlot was more beautiful than ever – a sea of colourful lights, festive wreaths, and decorative cloths. That it was far below her felt somehow comfortable and right, as if just beyond her reach.

This wasn’t going to help.

She leapt off the tower and soared down to the entryway. The door opened silently at her command. She could hear the hoofsteps of more guards on patrol, and quickly calculated her route to circumvent them, rather than pass them directly. She flew quickly at first, then slowed and followed, then stopped as they passed her chamber door. She waited patiently for them to round the corner.

As they did, the air shimmered with golden magic and Celestia appeared. She raised a hoof towards the door handle, but paused. The usual brightness in her eyes burned low, her boundless grace and beauty overshadowed by trepidation and doubt. She raised a hoof to knock on the door, instead, but hesitated with an uncharacteristic bite of her lip.

Luna stared for several long moments, a smile, and a very different kind of warmth, spreading across her face. She released her own cloaking spell, and Celestia's eyes snapped up to meet her instantly.

The two sisters froze, caught in each other's gaze, and eventually Celestia smiled too.

Then, Luna threw herself forwards, wrapping her sister in a tight hug.

It was the best Hearth-Warming present ever.

Comments

[wYvern]

Thank you. Short, predictable, fluffy... just perfect the way it is.

[Bad Horse]

I wouldn't call it fluffy. Very well-done. I'm curious whether you wrote it longer or shorter originally. I'm guessing you expanded it to reach the accursed 1000-word limit. You British? sombre => somber in America.

[Inquisitor M]

6769762 Depends what you mean but originally. A few words came out, a few words went in, but when the entire things was under three hours from first word to posting, it pretty much just is what it is.

And yes, British spelling.

[Dusty Sage]

A marvel of pacing, and the tension is palpably released at the very end.

[wYvern]

6769762 You're probably right in that the word 'fluffy' carries to connotation of a story carrying superflous fluff, which this story certainly doesn't. I just wanted to express my desire to go cuddle with it. Maybe 'cute' would've served me better.

[horizon]

Powerful for its length, and paints in exactly the context it needs. Thank you for this.

(Ironically, it would have made a super strong entry in the "Things Left Unsaid" writeoff that just wrapped up, even though I'm sure this story's origin had nothing to do with the Writeoffs.)

[Inquisitor M]

6792673 Yeah, I hadn't even seen the prompt for that writeoff; I just woke up Christmas day in an unusually good mood and had this idea for the mirroring. The bulk of the time spent was making sure Luna's feelings came through in her voice and her actions, but it's definitely the indirect monologue that I was most pleased with in the end. Writing a character's indecision and paralysis is a tricky thing; I had to ramp things up pretty quickly, and I think the 84-word sentence that didn't even finish capped it concisely. The rest is pretty much riding the coat-tails of that without cocking anything up :P

[Leonzilla]

6768608 Not sure If I dare call any fiction perfect; but I kinda feel the exact same way.

The first half of the story gave me a strong What's in the box? kind of vibe. With Luna pondering the ramificationd of her actions, deciding whether to proceed or not. While I was able tell what was going to happen by the second half, it was still much sweet (those two words might not sound very good together but they feel right).

A great way to start off my day!

Too bad pure slice of life doesn't tend to be very popular in this site. The story is good, no doubt about it.

In rare cases, usually when the description promises to be a utterly adorable a slice of life, SoL stories can go viral so to speak, but again that's the exception rather than the norm

Any feedback I can give is directed towards the description. I'm thinking that perhaps if you try using a more immediate language that the one it is written as to portray a greater sence of urgency, regret, satisfaction or all of above the story would capture more readers attention.

Best wishes,

~Leonzilla

[Inquisitor M]

6949368 As much as I've really come to like the simplicity of this piece, I have a feeling you might get more of a kick out of I, Paladin. They're short entries with a little more meat hidden behind some fluff – plus there's more of Luna being adorably unsure of herself, except that she's generally brighter and cheerier, which was a nice change of pace for me. There's a fair chance that there will never be any more of it, but there are still two more vignettes in might head that might get penned someday.

Alternatively, might I dare to suggest skipping the text version of Eclipsed and listening to Scribbler's reading; whatever skill I managed to cram into the words is profoundly improved by her rendition.

Either way, thanks for reading and enjoying!

[PresentPerfect]

This was marvelous. :D

[Inquisitor M]

6970403 Thanks for the catches, PP.

[QueenMoriarty]

Charming.

[Loganberry]

Hooray, a Sad Luna tale that is actually good reading. Makes a change not to have to work at understanding one of your fics, too! I'd probably have got more out of it reading it by the fire on a cold day, but it was very pleasant fluffiness all the same.

[Inquisitor M]

7458705 I guess I prefer to think of this one as a 'happy Luna' story.

[TheOneAJ]