Guiding Light

by archonix

A Day Alone

A Day Alone

In an empty throne room, the ruler of all Equestria waited for a pony she knew would never return.

The seat to the right of her throne, the seat Dinky had occupied for so much of her long life, was bare and abandoned. None would sit there for many years to come, for she knew none could replace her youngest daughter in that role. Derpy sat at the foot of her throne and looked up at it without seeing, unable to ascend the stairs she had walked every day for much of the last century. What purpose was there in rising today?

But the sun had risen, she reminded herself. She'd seen to that, and to the moon dancing close behind, the one chasing the other across the sky. There was always a reason to rise.

Entirely against Dinky's wishes, the funeral had been a solemn affair. Ever the iconoclast, Dinky had specified in detail how she wanted her funeral to be conducted but sometimes, Derpy knew, that daughter of hers could become so engrossed with an idea that she never even stop to consider how it might affect others. On the day she had found them, Derpy had taken one look at the plans and tossed them in a fire.

Even Pinkie Pie would have baulked at the mariachi band.

At the foot of the stairs another pony sat in her customary position beneath the dais, occasionally watching the empty room through lidded eyes and humming quietly as she practiced a spell that seemed to involve lots of shuffling of playing cards. The cards in her hooves clattered and rippled as they flew from one pile to another, spinning and curling through the air in an acrobatic display to rival the Wonderbolts. She spread them out in the air and smiled briefly before laying the fanned deck on the floor before her chair.

"You don't have to be here, Twilight."

The cards slowed. Twilight looked up from her display and smiled at her Princess. "Neither do you, Dee, but you are."

"I'm the Princess. It's kind of my job." Derpy closed her eyes and finally turned away from the throne. She sat down on the low step near Twilight, wings fluttering with nervous energy that seemed to have come from nowhere. The step was cold, colder than she'd expected, but she paid it no attention.

Cards rustled and slid quietly across one another as Twilight returned to her trick, or game, or whatever it was. Derpy couldn't tell, though she could see some unusual magic in use as the cards fluttered and flew. Magic that was beyond her even after so many years. Twilight made it look easy.

A six of diamonds flickered and turned over. When it turned back it was an ace. "Your job is raising the sun and moon, isn't it?"

"I guess."

"No law says you have to be here to do that," Twilight continued. Her tongue stuck out of the side of her mouth as she concentrated on her magic, and two more cards swapped places. "I checked."

"I had a feeling you might," Derpy replied. Her wings shook again. She closed her eyes and tried not to think about the two seats behind her.

The sound of Twilight's magic faded and her cards settled to the floor, fanned out in perfect new deck order. With a careful eye she examined the deck, frowning until she gave a satisfied snort, pronouncing her success. The cards whisked back into a box, which in turn slid into the recesses of Twilight's robe.

"Dee." She looked up at Derpy and smiled. "Go home. I can look after things for a few days."

"Twilight, where is home? This palace? Buckingstead?" Derpy bit her lip as thoughts and memories came unbidden to her mind. "My home is Ponyville."

Twilight hummed and shrugged. "So go spend a few days there."

Derpy looked away from the throne and down at her bare hooves. No shoes, no crown. All she wore was a slender torc embedded with a half-dozen round-polished sunstones. But even without the regalia she couldn't just go and hide in her old home in Ponyville, no matter that she'd kept hold of the place. Even if she could disguise herself the way Sparkler used to do, she'd still not be able to go back there by herself.

It would be empty.

"I don't want to be alone."

"You aren't alone, Dee. You have your granddaughters, your friends. My friends." The cards were back, wrapped in a skein of magic that quickly faded. Twilight stood, stretching, and tossed a final card back into the deck before sauntering across the room to pull Derpy into a gentle hug. "And you have me."

"There is that," she said, smiling just a little. It felt like the first smile she'd had all week.

"We could leave Rarity in charge. Or that new First Minister. Imagine the scandal of a donkey on the throne for a week."

Derpy chuckled at the image and the equally powerful thought of Rarity's reaction to it. Dead faints all the way. She looked up at the throne again. Some part of her wanted to call it a cage but that wasn't really true. It had freed her in ways she'd never imagined. And it was, in the end, just a job.

A few days. She could do that. What were a few days compared to all of eternity?

"Twilight?"

"Mmm?" Twilight pulled out of the hug and looked up at Derpy. The height difference wasn't so great these days, and though Twilight had no wings, some were already calling her the little sister. Maybe ponies needed that sort of stability in their lives? Derpy turned her head away and looked sideways at Twilight.

"Just you and me?"

"If you want. I have to admit it's been a while."

Derpy glanced at the small seat by her throne. Just for a moment she thought she saw a figure sitting there, smiling at her. Eyes dancing. It might have winked at her.

"I think I'd like that," she said, the smile returning to a face still unaccustomed to such emotion. "Perhaps I'll tell you about how I met her father."

"Or I could tell you about how she met Cheery's," Twilight replied, gently nuzzling the Princess's neck. Derpy sighed and leaned into the touch, closing her eyes as she felt Twilight's warm breath on her coat.

"You know, when I told them I'd be here forever this isn't exactly what I meant." A tear pulled loose from Derpy's eye and rolled down her cheek, but the smile remained. When she opened her eyes the seat was empty once more. "I hope I'll see them again."

"You will," Twilight said, putting a foreleg around Derpy's neck. "As the poet said, when the sun grows cold and the moon ceases to wander, then shall I follow you where you go."

"Twilight, you wrote that."

"Okay fine, so what if I did? It's still true."

Twilight stuck her tongue out at Derpy. The Princess lowered her head to nuzzle at Twilight, letting the simplicity of the motion take her mind away from the oppressive bulk of the palace around her, and everything it signified in her life. The motion ended with her chin resting on Twilight's forehead and the Princess let out a contented sigh, ruffling her Archmage's mane just a little.

"My love, don't you ever change."

"I never will." Twilight tilted her head and planted a gentle kiss on Derpy's cheek.

"There's a few things I need to take care of before we go," the Princess said, not wanting to move but knowing she'd have to do so sooner or later. The number of favours she'd have to call in just to get a few days away from this gods-forsaken place... "You'll be here when I get back?"

"Hey." Another kiss, longer this time, filled with all the pent-up love she'd missed these past weeks. "I'm gonna be here forever. You know that."

Comments

[Noradora]

*clicks Read Later*

Muhaha. Excellent cover, Derpy as alicorn, throwing politics to the curb? I have no choice but to read.

[Sketchy Markks]

......and now. you just ruined my favorite Derpy story in one chapter......

Sigh. Why is it always lesbian, or bi?

Go ahead people, downvote my comment. I know you will. I'm just sad- that's all.

EDIT: dangit. I loved this story, I'm having so much sad right now.

[ShadeTail]

2099662 It's not lesbian, it's bisexual. Ditzy's daughter had a father, after all.

[Sketchy Markks]

2100211 I know. I still dislike it all the same.

Edited my comment. not that anyone cares.
most of you who will read my comment will get angry at me, lol.............

I enjoyed your story, archonix. I am sad to see that this is where my enjoyment and praise must end.

I hope you have fun. ~Sketchy Markks

[DreadedCandiru2]

This makes sense in terms of the whole Alicorn = Stallion thing you wrote about in Xenophile's Guide. Also, don't get discouraged because someone didn't take the hint about who paired off with whom.

[ShadeTail]

2100264 It's not angering, but it is rather amusing. It wasn't even a legitimate criticism, it was just a bit of huffy "I'm leaving now!" melodrama. It's impossible not to at that kind of self-important attitude.

[archonix]

2100264>>2102318

Now now fellas, lets all be fair shall we? Sketchy has particular requirements for a piece of fiction and was considerate enough to let me know about them rather than just disappearing and downvoting without an explanation. I appreciate that sort of honesty.

For the record I did have this planned for some time in a vague sort of fashion, but obviously it wasn't foreshadowed hard enough.

[ShadeTail]

2102344 Having requirements is all fine and well. I have some pretty stringent requirements myself, and because of that, I frequently stop reading a story after a single paragraph. But unless you're actually giving the author advice on how to improve the story, complaining about it like that is just petty.

Enough said on this, though; I'm dropping it now.

[FanOfMostEverything]

So, romance with an immortal Element bearer, a donkey as Prime Minister, and a daughter whose iconoclastic legacy ended at the grave only through royal/divine/maternal intervention.

Looking at it from the other end, this promises to be a very interesting century.

Also, as long as they wore black and played suitably melancholy selections, I'd be more than okay with funereal mariachis.

[paul]

2100264
2102344
I agree with Sketchy Markks on this.
While I cannot downvote this fic (it is really quality work even if it disappoints me) - I would remove my vote if there was such possibility in fimfiction engine.
I thing this shipping here did nothing for the story itself, while it did confuse people with heterosexual Derpy/Twilight in headcanon.
And number of downvotes says nothing because story is good, and I think that most people here will not downvote good story even if it disappointed them.

[GoneZombie]

By the same token, the only reason I read this at all is that your blog promised Derpylight.

Ok, that's not true. I'd have read it anyway.

Much later though.

[Skeeter The Lurker]

Wait...

You shipped Twi and Derpy? Didn't see that coming.

~Skeeter The Lurker

[Talon and Thorn]

Are Twilight and the other bearers immortal then?

I could just about get Twilight out living Dinky by chance but apparently Rarity's about as well.

Unless Dinky died relatively young which it didn't seem like.

Twilight be there forever part seemed to suggest she was immortal too.

[Ice Star]

...So the whole 'royal family vanishes' will be explained right? Is that really going to go about unsolved?

Anyway, good story. Normally Derpy falls into a narrow range of archetypes but you did a good job breaking that.

[Mr Swanky Hat]

2889283 I approve of this ship, and derpy dressed as twilight for nightmare night, so it has some plausibility, more so than 2 ponies sitting on a bench at least

[ponygrad]

A great story. The seriousness and gravity of it was all so real, without being an AU like war. I'm not a huge fan of the in the head/dream landscape of the last chapter, and the scary mare got a bit tired, but every chapter truly built on the last. For something written without too much of an overarcing plan, that is impressive. Derpy really was the best choice for this. You just want to root for her so much, you actually forget that the whole world depends on her. You want her to succeed for her own sake. And every chapter, she grew. She didn't have much of an epiphany, it was just fundamentally a story about a family growing together, and this hint that it was a new family growing was the perfect bow to put on it.

[archonix]

10317352
Thank you! It's nice to know people are still reading this.

[PresentPerfect]

Thank god there's shipping, I've been reading it into the story this whole time. >:V

Curse you for not finishing the sequel!

[archonix]

10528437
You can't berate me more than I berate myself!

But I'm glad you enjoyed this. It's one of my favourites, for all its flaws.

[eford34kitty]

Great story!