Without her, what is left?

It is a terrible thing, to lose the pony you love. Lightning Dust has been alone since Fiddlesticks died, and she can no longer conceive of any other way to be.

A tale of grief and recovery.

This is a standalone story, but does take place in the universe of Auntie Tia's Matchmaking Service.

Chapters (1)

Comments ( 8 )

Viewing 1 - 50 of 8
- Newest First
- Oldest First

Princess Starflight

Princess Starflight #1 · Jul 13th, 2022 · 1 · 4 ·

First!

Sunset_Shimmer83

Sunset_Shimmer83 #2 · Jul 13th, 2022 · · ·

This was lovely, thank you.
I would love to see how that thrashing 40 years ago happened lol

Shaslan

Shaslan #3 · Jul 13th, 2022 · 1 · ·

11299973
ask and ye shall receive
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/489868/1/the-only-possible-choice/disgrace-or-defeat

Starlight Nova

Starlight Nova #4 · Jul 14th, 2022 · 1 · 2 ·

How does Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo feel about all of this?

Aldon

Aldon #5 · Jul 14th, 2022 · · ·

a great and somber story

Timeless Lord Slayer

Timeless Lord Slayer #6 · Jul 14th, 2022 · · ·

Thank you. Thank you for an amazing one-shot. It's fucking beautiful.

The Weaver

The Weaver #7 · Jul 14th, 2022 · 1 · ·

Fiddlesticks was gone, and Lightning Dust was still here. In what would was that fair? In what would could that ever make sense? Better to have died right there alongside her wife. Better to have thrown herself onto the funeral pyre, like the lovestruck ponies in the old Saddle Arabian fairytales.

World not would

This was enjoyable :)

Bicyclette

Bicyclette #8 · Sep 5th, 2023 · · ·

Byfleet is dying to see his grammy, and even Zap Apple won’t shut up about how cool you turned out to be when he finally got to meet you. He wants you to come and stay with us, and I don’t think it’s a crazy idea. Rainbow Dash has promised to be nice, or to stay out of our way altogether if that’s what you’d prefer.

augh i love how from this context alone i can piece together the decades between the canon and this point. Lightning Dust’s child marrying Rainbow Dash and Applejack’s, and the undoubtable complications that arose from that, love it

Now the only strains that filled the once-living air of this room were the slow, tortured wheezes of Lightning Dust’s own withered lungs. Ruined by inactivity, atrophied by sloth, just like all the rest of her.
Dead or dying, same as her heart.

and oof, so true. what do you even do with a room like that? heartbreaking to even think about

Lightning Dust sat in the darkened room, light from the TV flickering over her face, the noise of their happiness ringing in her ears. Ensconced in the familiar comfort of her old red armchair, with the same old reel of home videos playing for the umpteenth time, she could almost forget.
She could almost ignore the emptiness of the blue armchair beside her own.

oof yeah, this would totally be me, playing those reels on loop and feeling comfort and awfulness at once forever

And in the aftermath, as she waited for the dark hooves of death to embrace her as they had done her wife, it had been too painful to visit Dust Devil. To see that smile on her lips, those expressions flit across her face. The echoes of the one pony Lightning Dust had loved the most, in the shape of her eyes, the turn of her head, flash of her teeth as she laughed. It had been like losing Fiddly all over again, to see those faint shades of her in their daughter.

and augh, what a complex set of feelings this must be

It must have hurt Dust Devil — it must have — but she never spoke of it. She was her mother’s daughter, after all.

daaaaaamn

But Fiddlesticks had been buried, and even in the rawest phase of her grief, the yawning pit into which her poor love had been lowered had been enough to frighten Lightning Dust out of that idea.

love this nod to pegasus instinct. can’t imagine anything more disturbing for one than the idea, especially for Lightning Dust, the pegasus’s pegasus

Realising that nopony else cared had hurt almost as much as losing Fiddlesticks. Apart from Dusty and Lightning, no one had seemed to notice at all.

and yeah, this is so true. the world feels like it should stop but it really doesn’t

Fiddlesticks had spoken of Melody, the twin whom she had loved as a child, but that was a very different pony from Octavia, celebrated classical cellist at the Canterlot Conservatory of Music. In Fiddlesticks’ view — and therefore Lightning’s too — estranged sisters were not sisters at all.

great nod to them being template clones of each other

The music pitched and yawed, almost fading before climbing to a crescendo again, and Lightning began to sob. Thunder crashed outside, shaking the house to its foundations — and Lighting Dust screamed in rage and agony and loss.

very cinematic

The merest suggestion of it was enough to make Lightning sit bolt upright, looking wildly around her.
“Fiddly—?”

and oof, those brief moments when one can forget…

It was a photo. A foal. A tiny baby, less than a year old, smiled up at her. And though his mane was the same obnoxious mess of colours as Lightning’s oldest and most hated rival, he was looking at the camera with eyes the same amber-gold as Dust Devil, as Lightning Dust herself. And his fur — his fur was the exact same creamy yellow; the same fur Lightning Dust had once known better than her own, had once kissed every inch of.

honestly it is so perfect and good their children had a foal together

You better tell Rainbow Smash to steer clear, though — unless she wants a repeat of the thrashing I gave her last time. It was forty years ago, but she better not think age has made me soft. It hasn’t.

ahaha love it, so Lightning Dust

Lightning’s hoof reached out, almost unconsciously, to brush against the violin case on the seat beside her. Byfleet might turn out to be a flier, like Dusty. He might turn out to be an asshole, like Lightning. He might even turn out to be an apple farmer, like his father’s family. But maybe — just maybe — he would turn out to be somepony who would pick up that old, ill-tuned fiddle and coax something wonderful from its aged strings.

dang, so many possible legacies to have to live up to for that foal!

It turned out that even without her, there was something left. It wasn’t the same — it wasn’t even close — but it was…something. It was something, and Lightning intended to hold fast to it.

and just a lovely picture of grief and loss and growth from a Lightning Dust that never stopped being Lightning Dust even well into her years. to lose a lifelong soulmate is the most awful thing i can ever imagine. to lose one after forty years with them is so awful that i have no idea how anyone could find even a semblance of a life to live after that.

but apparently people, and ponies, do manage. watching as the impression of that their love had once left on the world slowly fades away, yet holding on to what yet remains. wonderful illustration of that process here

Viewing 1 - 50 of 8
- Newest First
- Oldest First

Shaslan

Featured In3

Stats

FIMFiction

Follow & Support Us

Shaslan

Also LikedSimilarAuthor

Featured In3

Stats

FIMFiction

Follow & Support Us

Also Liked Similar Author