(Another chapter down, probably not many more to go.)
You saw the princess’ chariot coming from quite a distance away, and almost as soon as you saw it many others did as well. Shortly after spotting it, the town was abuzz with activity, as the final last minute preparations were completed, and the remaining ponies began to gather to greet the first of the two royal sisters. It’d been only an hour since you had spoken to Rarity about the inscription, and so you were surprised when she gave you a small package, promising you that the contents were what you had asked for. You put the package inside of your saddlebags after she gave it to you, not wanting to risk it to some chance mistake.
As the chariot grew closer the crowd grew thicker, and noticeably louder, too. The Elements stepped forward out of the group, and soon they were surrounded by the ponies of Ponyville, as the cheering reached higher and higher levels. The chariot touched down a short distance away from the crowd, and the two pegasi, clad in royal armor, slowed the chariot to a stop just before the Eements. The door to the chariot opened quickly, and the first thing you saw of the Princess was a pure white hoof. The rest of her followed quickly, and the cheering reached a crushing level of loudness.
All six Elements quickly bowed to their leader, and you followed suit, along with the other ponies. However, you noted a unicorn stallion following behind the Princess. He didn’t seem to quite fit in with the Princess’ usual assortment of lackeys, given what Twilight had told you. You resolved to talk to him, though, since you suspected that he was the pony that Twilight had been talking about. At a motion from the Princess all of the ponies present stood up once again. Twilight and her friends quickly moved forward, giving the Princess a big hug. You knew about the less than formal relationship they had with the Princess, but you thought that even this was pushing it.
The Princess was quickly swept up in the crowd, as they wished to show her all that had changed since she had last come to visit, and also so that she might enjoy the celebration that they had thrown in her honor. You followed the crowd slowly, not wanting to be swept up in the commotion that seemed to follow after the Princess now that she had arrived.
The celebration lasted for hours, with every moment filled with the sounds of laughter, and every face had a smile upon it. You walked about the town going from activity to activity without a care. You passed the stallion from the hospital several times, and each time you did he was deflecting the thanks from the ponies of the town, claiming that he was just doing what was right. As the day continued, you eventually found Twilight, and she began trying to explain the origins of the holiday.
The large stage that you had seen being set up yesterday now played host to a small congregation of ponies, the most notable of which was the Princess. The attention of the crowd slowly shifted to the stage, and with a single word the Princess claimed the attention of every pony present.
“Taupe.” You knew the name, and the pony who went by that name. A good number of faces turned to look at the pony the color of his name. He made his way to the stage slowly, his injuries slowing his pace, if only slightly. When he finally made it to the foot of the stage the Princess motioned for him to come up, and he did so. He looked about awkwardly for a moment, before the Princess spoke once more. “My little ponies, this stallion has gone above and beyond what we normally expect from a coltfriend. He braved the corruption of Manehattan to save Applejack, the Element of Honesty. And for this, we all owe him our thanks. Without his efforts we would’ve lost something very dear.”
You, along with the rest of the crowd, began stomping your hooves. Despite the distance between you and the stage you could still make out a blush on the earth pony’s features. He raised a hoof in a small wave, and that simply prompted another round of stomping. He lowered his hoof immediately after he finished waving, and his blush grew slightly. After a moment, the stallion approached the podium, and he looked out over the crowd for a moment as he clearly tried to think of something meaningful to say. Instead of something meaningful, though, he started with a greeting. “Um… Hello, everypony.” The silence that followed his greeting begged him to continue.
“I’d just like to say that… Well, I’m not really that special. I just did what I thought was right. I’ve made, and will continue to make, my share of mistakes.” The stallion looked back at Applejack, who was up on the stage with him. You took the momentary pause to look around, and you saw Storm, Rainbow Dash, and the other Elements gathered together. You began worming your way through the crowd while the stallion on stage continued. “But, you should never be afraid to try. Embrace the mistakes you’ve made, and let them guide you to a better future. Nopony is perfect…” His voice trailed off just as you made it to Twilight and the others, and then you shifted your gaze back towards the stage.
“I hope Taupe doesn’t act like a foal.” You looked at Storm, who had a big grin on his face. He noticed you looking at him, and he just winked before returning his gaze to the stage.
“Nopony is perfect, and in that imperfection lies a special kind of beauty. The kind of beauty that only that certain special somepony will be able to see.” Taupe then stepped back from the podium, before looking at Applejack. The earth pony took a step forward, before sweeping Applejack’s hooves out from beneath her, before catching her while balancing on his remaining three hooves. After a moment of looking into each others eyes, Taupe dove in for a kiss. It lasted for a moment before a single voice cut through the near silence.
“Hey, Taupe, I knew you could do it!” And following Storm’s shout, every head turned to look at the gray pegasus beside you. Despite none of the focus being on you, you couldn’t help but feel like some of the ponies were scrutinizing you simply for being beside the offending pegasus. “What, we were all thinking it. I just put it into words.” When the crowd seemed unmoved by his words the grey pegasus just continued smiling. “Hey, I calls it how I sees it.”
Following Storm’s rather blunt interruption the celebration resumed with the same level of energy and excitement, if not more. While you enjoyed all that the town had to offer you couldn’t help but allow the gift for Twilight to infiltrate your thoughts from time to time. The nervousness that you felt about your gift grew as time passed. As the sun began to dip closer to the horizon you knew that not only was the celebration soon going to reach its climax, it was also growing closer to the time when you’d finally confront the lavender unicorn.
Even with your mental distractions you still managed to enjoy yourself. The various games that you had played were all immensely fun, and you even won a few small prizes. Your latest conquest was a game where players were forced to lob bags of sand at small caricatures of various monsters from the Everfree forest. Despite the competition given by some unicorns you managed to knock down your targets just before anypony else could. You were about to leave the stand, when you spotted Princess Celestia approaching. She looked at the game for a moment, before she approached the space next to you.
“Tell me, my little pony, what seems to be the game here?” You look at her for a moment, and then you shift your gaze to the targets.
“Well, you take the small sandbags, and then you have to throw them at the targets. The first pony to knock all of their targets down wins.”
“I see. And you won the last round?”
“I did, Princess.” You look down at the poster that you had claimed for your prize. It was a poster for a band that you were a big fan of, The Whooves. It was from one of their best albums, Who’s Next.
“Well, then I challenge you to a match. First one to miss a target looses.” You accept her challenge, and you put up quite the fight for the solar Princess. You manage to knock a target down each time, matching her each time. The crowd that had started out as a sparse gathering of ponies had quickly grown to more than twice its size, and you began to feel the pressure of the competition.
The Princess didn’t seem at all nervous under the scrutiny, and you knew that if you didn’t calm yourself down you’d miss. She casually threw her bag, knocking down the center target, and then she smiled at you. “It is your turn.” You put your hoof on the bag of sand, before you looked at the stall owner.
“Push down all the targets, save for the middle one.” A series of ‘ooh’s’ emerged from the crowd, and you pushed them from your mind, remembering your time in the arena. I’ve performed in front of the Princess, and a crowd ten times this size. Just zone them out, and focus. The stall owner obliged your request, before he looked back at you.
The weight of the bag had become a familiar presence in your hoof, and you tossed it into the air a few times as you stared down the target. The previously noisy crowd had descended into hushed whispers, and the calmness of the crowd gave you better focus. With a flick of your hoof, the bag sailed through the air before knocking the target down perfectly. The crowd began cheering as they saw your success, and then you looked to the princess, who had adopted a mildly amused look. She also requested all but one of her targets be knocked over, and she managed to repeat your feat.
“I must say that you are quite the opponent. However, I must wrap up the celebration so I must bring this to an end.” She used her magic to stand up two adjacent targets, and then she brought over a new bag of sand for her to throw. “And since I don’t much care for loosing, I’ll just ensure my victory.” She tossed the bag casually towards the targets, before her horn flashed and the bag duplicated into two bags, which knocked over both targets.
“I…” You just look at the two targets that are now standing before you, and you frown. “You…” The bag weighs down in your hoof, and you look between it, and the two targets standing before you, taunting you. “Fine. I admit defeat.” The Princess’ smile widened, and then she gave you a quick smile before she trotted off towards the stage she had been on earlier. The crowd parted around her as she went, and soon enough it began to disperse. As the last of the ponies depart you toss the sandbag at the targets. You watch it sail through the air gracefully, and then it glances the first target before it then spins into the other one, knocking both ones down.
“Nice throw.” You turn to see who was behind you, and you are only slightly surprised to see Twilight. It’d been a few hours since you had last seen her, and you’d been wondering how you’d find her. Luckily, that question answered itself. “Now, let’s go watch the closing ceremony, and you can make a foal of yourself again later.” She grabbed one of your hooves with her own, and she started a leisurely pace back towards the stage.
The contact was so minimal, but at the same time it felt like more than you could have asked for. She led you to the stage, and then she stopped when she reached the stairs that led up to the stage she let go of your hoof as she ascended the stage. You glanced to the setting sun, and you felt the tiniest pang of regret. You had hoped to give her the gift when the sun set. Instead, you’d have to hope for the moon rise. Celestia approached the podium once again, and the noisy crowd quickly settled down.
“My little ponies. So much has changed since I was last here, and so many of you have grown up. From the valiant crusaders, to the Elements of Harmony. It seems like just days ago I was here for our own Storm Runner. Now, though, as is dictated by the turning of time, the day must yield to the night. But that is no reason for the festivities to come to an end.” You watched as the Princess’ horn began to glow, and the end of the day grew nearer as the sun began to vanish behind the horizon. Soon enough, only the tiniest of slivers remained of the sun, and then, that too, vanished.
Despite the lack of the sun, the glow from Princess Celestia’s horn cast a substantial glow through the town square. With a flick of her horn, the glow broke into many separate floating orbs of light, each one a tiny sun in its own right. Each of the dozen orbs then raced across the square, coming to a stop a fair distance away. The resulting dispersion of the orbs lent the square a decent amount of light, without taking away from the notion of night time.
You just watched the crowd disperse, and begin to mingle in the town square. A pink blur rushed past you and soon enough you heard the tell tale sounds of music coming from a short distance away. “Pinkie Pie managed to convince Vinyl Scratch, A.K.A. DJ Pon3 to play.” Once again Twilight was beside you. “I suppose it’s not a bad thing, given that Vinyl is a Ponyville native.” The mare just stands beside you as the beat from the DJ’s music begins to pick up in speed, and shortly after you heard the ‘drop’ and the ponies in the square begin to dance in time with the music.
You decide that now is as good a time as any, and so you grab Twilight’s hoof in your own, and you begin walking with her. She follows you as you lead her through the town, and soon enough you are a short distance from the town, sitting on a hill with a single tree atop it. You sit yourself facing to the East, and Twilight takes a seat beside you. You enjoy the view, and you can only hope that Twilight does as well. Soon enough, she begins to lean into you, and you wrap a hoof around her. However, as you sit an idea comes to you.
You quickly adjust your positions until you have your back against the tree, and Twilight is resting against your belly. You wrap your forelegs around her, and she quickly settles herself into your grasp. After sitting there for a few minutes you spot the telltale glow of the moon as it begins its ponderous trip across the night sky. You let out a content sigh as you pull one hoof off of Twilight, and it then drops into your saddlebag. The package slowly makes its way out of the bag as your grasp around it lifts it. Soon it is within your sight, but just out of Twilight’s field of vision.
“It’s usually customary for a stallion to give something to a mare he wishes to become more involved with.” The mare beneath you tried to adjust her position, but you managed to keep her in place. “Relax, Twi. I’ll let you go in a moment. Let me finish, and then you can move.” She stopped her struggles after a moment, and then you continued. “A pegasus usually has little problem thinking of something to give, since they can perform a series of acrobatic tricks sure to impress anypony. A unicorn also has little difficulty with the question, since they have their full arsenal of magic at their disposal. Earth ponies often resort to bequeathing a product of their labors to the pony they adore. Whether it be an impressive display of grown product, or something hoof-crafted.” You pause for a moment as you allow the information to digest.
“For somepony like me, though, it is a far more difficult question. I lack the fabled strength of the earth ponies, and their ability to tend the earth as well. I can’t work magic, for obvious reasons. And despite being a pegasus, my wings don’t work nearly well enough for me to trust them to put on a worthy display.”
“You don’t need to give me anything…”
“No, Twi, I do. You’ve already given me so much, and yet I’ve given you nothing.” You placed the box on your wing, and then you moved it before her. “It’s nothing much, but it has meaning beyond the physical.” Her magic quickly enveloped the box, and you retracted your wing as the wrapping paper slowly peeled away, revealing the box it had been placed in. The simple wooden box Rarity had put it in belied the meaning behind it, but somehow you felt that it was appropriate.
The lid to the box opened slowly, and then you watched as the goggles within slowly floated out, their lenses reflecting the moonlight. Twilight slowly brought them close to her face, and then she started looking at it from all sides. She paused when she read the inscription made by your grandfather, and then she continued her examination. She stopped once again when she read the inscription you had asked Rarity to make.
You waited for the mare to respond in any way, and yet she did nothing. You had loosened your grip on the mare while she had been opening the box, and only now did she seem to notice. She slowly turned to look at you, and in her eyes were some tears, but her smile told you that they were tears of happiness. She gave you a kiss, but she pulled back before it could really develop. “The inscription…”
“It’s not the whole sentence, clearly. There wasn’t enough room for that, but I think that once I tell you the whole thing, it’ll be memorable enough.” You give her a quick kiss before you elaborate. “’I would give to you’ all that I was, all that I am, and all that I will be.” The mare smiled at you, her tears of happiness continuing to flow down her face. A bright flash of light came from her horn, and you found yourself on her bed.
She quickly rolled the two of you over, putting you on top of her, and then she smiled at you. “Not yet, but soon.” And with that, she pulled you into a passionate kiss, one you were all too happy to reciprocate.
(Look at that, I used the title! I'm so special.)