Morning had come to Equestria. It had rained the night previously; the grassy ground was wet and the sky was filled to its edges with a dreary host of gray clouds. The cemetery in Canterlot, home to the resting places of many a brave soldier and hero from Equestria's past, looked very much like an ominous, albeit peaceful sight from the impact of this weather.

A light mist currently drifted over the burial ground, hovering just above the damp, dew-laden grass and floating past the many headstones and mausoleums. In the mid-morning light, three shapes could be seen slowly walking over the dirt path that trailed throughout the area, two of them bearing individual bouquets of flowers in their grasp. Those three shapes were Persica, Peach Blossom, and Habeas.

It had been two months since Persica recovered from her wound and left the hospital in near-perfect health. Today was her late husband's birthday, and with that, as they did every year, the mare and her daughter came to visit him with flowers in their hooves. Habeas had also chosen to accompany them, once more in his unicorn disguise, but he was wearing a genuinely sullen look on his face like they had on theirs.

After a few minutes of wandering through the cemetery, Persica and Peach Blossom stopped when they realized they had gone far enough. When Persica glanced to Habeas and gave him a small nod, her daughter and herself left his side and walked from the path to their destination, which laid on the grass away from the path. Despite the tempting feeling to join them, Habeas knew it wasn't his place to do so, and so he stayed back. For a time, he simply observed them.

It wasn't thirty seconds before the two reached Chantilly's spot little more than a dozen feet away, though the trek felt much longer. The burial site of Chantilly Cream was marked by a standing, thin block of smooth, dark, and partially reflective stone. On the grave, written in the headstone was an epitaph Persica herself had spent many long hours perfectly etching in during the days preceding his burial.

Peach Blossom heard Persica inhale a deep breath from next to her when they stopped in front of it. Exhaling, she laid the flowers she held at the foot of Chantilly's grave. Peach Blossom in turn placed the flowers she had beside her mother's own and approached it a little bit closer. She placed her hoof onto its smooth, untarnished surface, closed her eyes, and whispered an intimate wish describing her deep desire to have met him and known him better. It was a conversation that nobody else could hear, but after all, it was only meant for one, dearly departed pony's ears.

When she finished and opened her eyes again, Peach Blossom took her hoof off of the headstone and turned around. When she looked at her mother's face, Blossom gave her a weak, meaningful smile, and hugged her leg in a warm, tight embrace. Knowing full well that she wished to have some time alone at the graveside for now, the filly gave her mother another small and fragile grin before letting go of her and walking off to the sound of wet grass crunching underneath her feet. Persica watched her daughter leave and make her way to where Habeas stood a fair distance away, and only after she knew the filly was out of hearing range, she turned back to the gravestone and began to speak.

"Hey there, Chantilly..." Persica saying the name of her husband felt as fresh as the first time she had ever spoken to him when he was alive. "It's been a while. I wanted to wish you a happy birthday, among other things. Knowing you, you probably want to know how I'm doing, huh? I'm... doing, and feeling, a lot better than I have ever been before, as of late."

A long silence befell her, as though she was hoping for a response to somehow grace her ears. "You want to know why, right?" she asked next. As she thought of the proper way to give him the important set of news, she turned her attention to the two bouquets of flowers that sat before her. As her mind spun about for the explanation she sought, she pressed a hoof down on them to set them in place better so that the summer wind wouldn't push them away after she would inevitably leave. "Chantilly, I've... found somepony. Well, someone, I guess I should say."

She paused for only a second, and then went on. "You may never have met him, but I know you would've liked him," she ended up saying next in a quiet voice. "He's jovial, helpful and kind, and as cheerful as a spring cricket. He's, uh... also a good cook, heh. He's the kind of guy who makes me laugh when I'm down and glum. Just being around him now makes me feel like I've... finally found someone else. Someone who can make me feel happy, like you did."

Lifting her head up, she looked up to the gray sky as a sliver of golden sunlight was just starting to sneak through it, before looking back down to the gravestone. She knelt her knees down onto the grass and sucked in a breath of the fresh, cool air. "I just want you to know that even with this outcome, I'll never replace you. I'd never be able to. I'm only moving on. I only wanted to find the one person who I know I could feel like... this toward again. And he's the one who I found. I... I love him, Chantilly. I love him just as much as I love you."

Persica sighed and relaxed the muscles she was only now realizing she had tensed. "That's... that's all I have to say, Chantilly. I hope you can understand, wherever you are. Goodbye, for now. I love you more than you could ever know, and I miss you just as much."

After bending forward and rubbing her hoof over the name inscribed in the stone, Persica sat there in silence for three still minutes, looking at the gravestone, the ground in front of it that housed her husband's remains deep within the earth, and the damp grass that surrounded it all like a great sea that bore a lonely ship on its ever-shifting current. When she felt ready to depart, she dried the tears that were starting to form around her eyes and stood up. She gave one last look at the grave and the flowers placed at its base before turning around and walking off.

Habeas and Peach Blossom were patiently waiting a mere dozen feet away, and only watched in respectful silence as she slowly approached them. "Let's go," she told them upon arriving. Upon organizing themselves they walked through the cemetery, out of it, and onto the bustling morning streets of Canterlot. Habeas noted the silence Persica gave off as Peach Blossom started to energetically skip ahead of them, and acted accordingly.

"How are you feeling?" he whispered into Persica's ear as they were just passing out of the city gates, gaining her attention.

She shrugged. "Good, right now. Content, I guess you could say." She looked up to the sky again, and this time saw a very promising sight. The sun was just starting to peak through the gray clouds and reveal its golden glow, as well as some of the blue sky behind it. The way it started to glisten off of the wet grass on either side of the dirt road and leaves in the trees all around them made a smile start to form on her mouth. "It... looks like it's going to turn out to be a good day, wouldn't you say?"

Habeas nodded his head in agreement. "You know something, I've traveled around the world long enough to realize a few things. One such thing being what happens at dawn."

"And that meaning?"

"That whatever or however the morning may seem, it may never turn out to be a day it presents itself to become. Sometimes it starts off with beauty to match a painting; with a wonderful sunrise and cloudless sky, and the next thing you know, it transforms into a raging storm. Other times it starts out dreary and depressing, but evolves into something wondrous and utterly breathtaking."

"I take it you changelings never had good weather forecasters?"

He managed a small smirk. "No, not really. If anything, we mainly made things up as we went along and saved the planning ahead for the most important of occasions."

"So that's how you must have left your hive then, am I right? Planned it all up and fled before long?"

Habeas shrugged. "Meh... I'd say it was half planning, half being rushed to action by a fear of getting my wings pulled off by the queen."

"Ever get the same, wing-pulling feelings about me when you first started staying with us?" she questioned, remembering just how long ago it was they met, and under what circumstances.

He let out a small, short, stale laugh. "I'd be lying if I said it didn't cross my mind once or twice. But shortly after our second confrontation upon you discovering me sleeping in your barn, when you allowed me to recover in there, I quickly started thinking otherwise."

Persica turned her head away a few scant inches, her good eye looking to the pebbles and gravel lining the road on the ground. "I'm glad I started thinking the other way as well. If it wasn't for you and Blossom convincing me to think in a different manner... had I stayed with the rotten feelings I held for your kind, I... honestly don't know how things between us would have turned out."

"Don't trouble yourself with mind-twisting thoughts like that. It's all in the past," Habeas said back in a soft tone. Detecting that they were far enough from the city to not be spotted, he then morphed into his true form in a small flash of light. As he finished transforming, Persica inspected him meticulously, still fascinated by his new 'normal' appearance months after he metamorphosed into it.

"You know, Habeas," she commented, "I don't think I may ever get used to you looking like that now."

"Well, as I've said many a time before, I can shift back to my original form if this one troubles you. I still very clearly remember what it was like," he suggested. Persica shook her head and gave off a small chuckle.

"I didn't say it troubles me, I just don't think I'll get used to it. At least, not anytime soon," she repeated. "That's not to say I don't find you rather handsome."

"Hmm... Do you really?" he asked, shifting her a playfully skeptical look.

"Truly," she smiled, leaning her body slightly against his chitinous one as she, her love, and Peach Blossom continued their long walk home. "Truly, honestly, and sincerely, you... gorgeous little love bug."

Habeas couldn't help but titter at her words and gently nuzzled his cheek against Persica's, gaining a gratifying hum of amusement from the pony he utterly adored. "I love you, Persica."

"And I love you too," she tenderly whispered back.

Author's Notes:

I would personally like to state my appreciation to all of you for reading this story. I, for one, am glad I was finally able to focus on one of the many stories I put out, and what do you know, it became my longest one to date! Thank you all for reading this, and thank you all for the support, opinions, and critiques!
...Oh, and one more thing. As long as I don't get too bogged down with my work outside of writing, the sequel may be out shortly. Have fun!