Before Closing

by Rambling Writer

9:08 PM - Moonrise

Aegis squinted and pointed out towards the horizon. “I think I see an island out there.”

I nodded. “Probably. There’s one out there called, uh…” I scratched my head. “…either Roan Bay’s the island or the name of the town on it.”

“Probably the town. It sounds like a town name.”

“Yeah. That’s what I was thinking.”

We were sitting close to each other on a cliff above the ocean, facing east. Waves crashed softly against the shore below and whipped tiny bits of salt spray up into our faces. It tasted… well, salty. But it was something, because you can’t normally taste spray. You can’t even smell it. Not here. Just open your mouth or breathe in through your nose, and you know you’re at the ocean, not just some big inland sea.

The eastern evening sky, compared to the western evening sky, is very boring. Of course it is; the western sky’s got the sunset. But the eastern sky’s got a small charm of its own. It’s where the first stars come out as night creeps in. Already, numerous pinpricks of light were scattered around the sky, reaching from the horizon to almost three-quarters of the way to the next one. It was especially beautiful in the east, with no light from the sun blotting them out. It’s a lot more subtle and slower than the sunset. You need to invest more time, but if you’re willing to just sit and wait, it’s a spectacle.

And that’s before the moon starts coming up.

“It used to be a major hub for unicorns,” I said.

“Hmm?”

“Roan Bay. Or at least the island it’s on. Before Celestia and Luna came, some of the unicorns responsible for moving the sun and the moon lived there. They were like the first ones to draw the sun and moon above the horizon. They left once Celestia and Luna came, since they weren’t needed anymore, and I’ve heard some of their ruins there can get weird, thanks to all the magic in the air.”

“If the unicorns left, how come there’s still a village there?”

“The unicorns left way before Roan Bay was founded. Roan Bay itself actually does a pretty decent business in kelp farming.”

“Oh.” Aegis put a foreleg around my shoulder. I knew what was coming before he did and brought my own foreleg up in preparation. When he twitched and tried to pull away, I pushed down on his leg, keeping it on my shoulder. He relaxed, and I released him and put my leg back down.

Aegis looked up. “The stars are beautiful, aren’t they? I’ve never seen so many.”

“City colt?”

“Yeah. How’d you know?”

“You can’t see as many stars in the city because of all the light from the city. Out here, there’s less light, so you can see stars that’re a lot dimmer.”

“Right, right.”

Silence, except for the waves tumbling over the shore.

“You ever wonder what stars look like?” Aegis asked. “Up close, I mean.”

“Not really. They’re just continual magical reactions, aren’t they?”

“What do you mean, ‘just’? That’s like saying that Celestia is ‘just’ a pony with wings and a horn.”

“I guess.”

“Besides, they’re supposed to be big continual magical reactions. That’s gotta be different than something like…” A small spark popped out of Aegis’s horn. He caught it on his free hoof and held it up to me. “…this.”

I took a look. It was pretty much just a ball of light. Pretty, but not much else. I could see some structure in there, some filaments twisting around it, but that was it. “Probably, yeah.” I looked back at the ocean.

Aegis’s spark winked out. “You’re being awfully quiet.”

“There’s nothing wrong, if that’s what you’re wondering. I just want to take in the scenery.”

“Alright. Want me to shut up?”

I quirked a smile. “If you don’t mind.”

“Alright,” Aegis said. I could hear him laugh a little, and he squeezed me slightly for a second.

I liked the squeeze a lot more than I thought I would. It was strong, firm, close. Reassuring, somehow. I don’t know why. It was nice, being so close to somepony. I wonder if he felt the same. Probably. He’d started this whole thing, after all.

The first wisps of the moon broke above the horizon, shining bright white. The moon wasn’t full tonight, but it was close. By the time it was fully up, we’d practically be able to walk without streetlights.

Aegis gasped softly. “Wow.”

“And it’ll only get better,” I said.

We waited quietly, and ever so slowly, Luna’s moon climbed. In a few minutes, it had completely cleared the horizon. It hung there, a gigantic silver medal casting its light over Equestria, and everything suddenly lost substance. The moment felt delicate and ethereal, something beautiful you didn’t want to touch for fear of destroying it.

“It’s huge,” whispered Aegis. “Why’s it so huge?”

“I don’t know.”

“Hmm.” He was silent for a few seconds. “This is amazing. I wish I could just stop time right now, freeze the night right here.”

“Oh? How come?”

“Because this is just so… tranquil. And, well…” His voice got a little bit lower. “…after tonight, I’ll never see you again.”

“Yeah.”

And then I realized what he’d said.

I suppose that was the first time it really hit me that I wouldn’t see him again. It’d always been in the back of my mind, but now we had less than an hour until his train left, and then that was it. He’d be completely gone from my life. I didn’t want him around forever, but I wasn’t sure I was ready for him being gone forever.

I liked him. He was sweet. He listened. He admitted his mistakes. He was smart. And in less than an hour, I’d have no trace of him. Except for the memories.

I turned to him. “Hey, um, Aegis?”

He turned to me. “Yeah?”

His muzzle was inches from mine. Scant inches. All I had to do was lean forward, just a little, and then I cou-

I turned away. “Nothing, nothing,” I muttered. “Forgot what I was going to say.” A lie. I couldn’t make it sound convincing even to myself.

“Oh.” It was one syllable, but I could hear a lot going on that one syllable. Some fear. A little nervousness. Surprise. Suspicion. Some other things I couldn’t put a hoof on. Aegis swallowed. “You sure?”

“Yeah.”

“…Alright.” A touch of regret. A touch of understanding. Mostly acceptance.

Why did I do that? Why didn’t I do that? Was I going too fast? Too slow? Pushing too much? Not pushing enough? The moon went up another inch, and my thoughts continued to battle. I’d spent the day with Aegis, gotten to know him a fair bit, but would doing that be too serious for the amount of time we’d spent together? I didn’t know. Whenever I went to one side, I got a lot more arguments for the other side. Then I’d change sides, but so would the arguments. I tried to remain neutral, and the arguments would start screaming at me from both sides.

I didn’t know. And there was no way I could.

Aegis’s wistful sigh pulled me from my thoughts. “Do you feel… like this isn’t real time? I mean, if that Marris wheel hadn’t broken down, we wouldn’t be here. You’d probably be at home already, right?”

“Probably, yeah. This shouldn’t really be happening. I should be in bed, and you should be grumpily sitting at the train station, demanding the clock hurry up so the train can just leave already.”

“Exactly. It’s like this is some kind of dream world, but it’ll break once the sun rises.”

“The sun doesn’t rise at 10 PM, you rube.” I nudged him in the ribs.

He giggled. “Fine, then. The fairy godmother screwed up her spell, and we’ll turn back into pumpkins at 10, rather than morning.”

“Nah. The carnival will turn into a pumpkin. You’ll have to produce a glass slipper for me to try on.”

“You’ll need to lose one for me to produce.”

“Well, then, Ms. Fairy Godmother really screwed up, ‘cause I don’t have one to lose.”

“Heh. Yeah. Curse you, godmother.”

We watched the moon rise in silence for a few more moments. The stars continued to twinkle in our time, just for us. The waves continued to crash. And it all kept slipping away.

“…Do you think it’d fit?” he asked quietly. “The slipper, I mean.”

“…Yeah. What about you?”

“Yeah.”

That was it, really. Borrowed time. I should just let it go. I had to. If I clung too closely to him and his memories, it’d eat me up when he was gone. Memories would turn to an idealization, and I’d be pining over a pony who never existed. What would that do to me? Nothing good, that was for sure. I should just let it go.

But I couldn’t. Not yet. I still had some time left with him. And the slipper would fit.

“Bluebell?”

“Hmm?”

“Thanks for spending the day with me today. I really liked it.”

“Yeah. Me, too.”

Neither of us wanted to mention how little of the day we had left.

Aegis patted me on the shoulder. “You’re a good mare.”

I reached up and patted him on the shoulder. “You, too. Except you’re a stallion, not a mare.”

“Heh.”

With what time we had left, we simply enjoyed each other’s company and watched the moon climb into the sky.

Comments

[Bagginses]

It's a shame that this story doesn't have more views as I'm really enjoying it