Millennium

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Celestia has banished her dear sister to the moon. She knows how long it'll take for her to be back, and she's prepared to wait. She's going to be there when Luna returns.

Until then, the years crawl by. Exactly one thousand, to be precise.

If only she could find the right words.

Yet another entry to the A Thousand Words Contest III. This one won Bronze in Drama!

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Comments ( 5 )

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Trentondave

Trentondave #1 · Jul 10th, 2024 · 3 · ·

Beautiful.

Bicyclette

Bicyclette #2 · Aug 29th, 2024 · 1 · ·

The years keep trickling past, sand through my feathers.

aww love this metaphor

You'll be happy to know that I met somepony.
Last year.
A charming stallion unlike the rest, who has swept me off my hooves.
We're happy together.

aww happy for her but dang, she must be at least a century older than that mortal stallion and has already lived multiples of the years he has left

They grow old, now. Fifty years after the death of their father.
Sixty, now.
They're almost as wise as I, and their children are shaping up well.

and oof, mortal years fly by so quickly!

it's how I speak to you. Every year, I can write one word.

oh, so that’s what’s going on! those seventy-seven years are literal, that is a great device

Sehnsucht.

i did have to look this up and yes very fitting

Canterlot is our new capitol.
It's built on that mountain you used to make fun of.
You know the one.
I imagine you'll give me an earful

ahaha i am glad Luna made fun of that mountain, that is a fun touch

Onyx's death was too painful.
They've kept themselves 'pure', separated from everypony else.
It's saddening, really.
I had to visit and cure some deformities from the shallow gene pool.

oof yeah that does not seem to be going in a good direction! Celestia accidentally starting an inbred cult that gains in power through the centuries would be quite unfortunate

That all happened centuries ago. I only told you now because there's nothing left to tell.

and yeah the feeling definitely is of Celestia trying to run out the clock here, centuries weary of the waiting

I'm trying to find the parents of the new Bearers.
This wonderful filly is my new student! Sunset. She'll be old when you come, but hopefully—
Grief.
Twilight Sparkle. She's the one. She won't leave me.

and oof, love how the words correspond to the years here. and thankfully whatever’s going on with the timelines between the two worlds means that Sunset is somehow literally a teenager when Luna does arrive?

Sniffling, Luna nodded.
"Every word. Every year."

and aww, there are so many things that could have been said in that embrace and this is certainly one of them. excellent use of the thousand word format to match it literally to the thousand years of Celestia’s reign. thank you for writing!

FanOfMostEverything

FanOfMostEverything #3 · Aug 30th, 2024 · 1 · ·

The author’s note epilogue is a bit of a cheat, but I love the one-word-per-year conceit. Especially when Sunset broke Celestia’s heart midsentence. (Indeed, I wish there had been a few more interruptions along those lines.) This is indeed a good pain. Nice metafictional twist and exquisite pathos. Thank you for it.

Loganberry

Loganberry #4 · February 28th · 1 · ·

Hello! I reviewed this after the contest, so here's your overdue courtesy note. I found this atmospheric, it does something different with Celestia's thoughts on Luna, and the ending is nice -- though I have slightly mixed feelings about the end A/N, since it feels like a part of the story really yet using it in the Note avoids adding to word count. Still, happy to upvote.

Night Shine Lives