All That Lingers

by Ice Star

Chapter 9

They talked and laughed in that hallway more with each passing night. Cadance brought games and books and chips that only she could eat. She moved his chess pieces for him and told him about so-and-so's kingdom and everything she could find on the dramatic arts.

Sleep deprivation would take hold. She'd roam the halls with coffee and bags of things she wanted to share... and under her eyes. Sometimes she'd fall asleep in the middle of games or reading with Sombra. She really couldn't help it — he still had an actor's heart, and his voice brought every word to life, lulling her into the sleep she usually managed to sneak in the day — especially with the help of some sunglasses. She couldn't remember how often she thanked every divine and the Heart itself that centuries later, they were still in fashion.

Everything was a secret, and what a lovely secret it was.

She found herself.

And tonight, she found their hallway empty.

It was a very silly thought, in fact, it was as silly as her eyes watering at the thought of her ghostly lover vanishing like all was a dream.

She called him her true love, and only meant it half as a joke.

And now he wasn't there.

She ran.

She did not see where she ran, she just ran. She ran all throughout the castle where the few staff — who thankfully kept to themselves — did their jobs quietly and into the parts where nopony but her ever went.

And she found him standing atop the highest, lonely tower of the Crystal Palace where Twilight Sparkle located the Crystal Heart ages and ages ago.

He stood in the noonday sun and smiled at her, rolling his eyes far too dramatically for her to take seriously.

And she wept all over again, not because he had left, but because like nopony else, he had stayed. Everything around her had changed — the sun was in the sky, stinging her eyes, and the moon below the horizon. The wind whipped around them instead of through a window.

When he asked her if she wanted to dance, she said yes.

Comments

[Gay For Gadot]

You got me crying in the club right now, fam

[Nothingofall]

I know this is over analysing it, but damn it all I’m interpreting the final line of this chapter as a metaphor for a marriage proposal and no one can stop me!