Focused eyes

by Banksyt

An Alicorn's wish

I do not own My Little Pony friendship is magic or any of the trademarked entities that appear in this fic.

As Twilight got to the bottom of the stairs she slowed to a halt. She heard something but dismissed it and carried on walking. To be honest Twilight was quite scarred walking round the streets of Canterlot at this hour. Despite it technically being morning Twilight did not doubt that somepony could still very well take advantage of the darkness that was draped over Equestria. But having the princess of the night, ruler of the dream-scape and perhaps one of the strongest magic users by your side. Is in fact very comforting.

Twilight looked around and saw that Pony Joe’s was still closed, despite the sign saying open time eight o’clock. Nor were any of the lights on, and it made Twilight wonder whether any pony actually used, or even had a working alarm clock. Twilight knew she had one, even if she didn’t use it every night. Because to be completely frank, it was rather mundane to wake up at the exact same time every single day. Twilight loved to be organized and on time but she knew she loved to sleep too. As Twilight’s mind filled with careless thoughts about time travel and how she could possibly send a note to her past self, her demeanor began to lighten up. And significantly enough that Luna was able to pick up the changes in her walk.

Luna smiled with a pang of jealousy. Twilight was able to despite the events of the not so distant past, find it within her self to be happy. And Luna could have sworn her heart had been broken in two not very long ago. She was jealous of Twilight’s resilience, her almost rubber like heart. And Luna remembered a time when she was as carefree and resilient, as the purple mare who seemed to think she was walking in a field of flowers. But century’s of loss after loss wore away at that once never fading flame. She was a wary mare now, taking great caution not to get too deep in a relationship. She was being selfish, she knew that. Keeping her heart locked up out of every pony’s reach, so that she wouldn’t have to feel the pain of loss anymore. And now, her sister, a mare just as old, just as cautious. Even more so than herself, was now giving her all to a relationship with a young mare; who she had only known for almost two decades. Any relationship a Alicorn had with a mortal was a leap of faith and love, but to then offer them immortality by their side. To offer them the same pain and grief that came with living forever, was on a whole other level  of love and trust. And Luna had no doubt that Twilight knew what the repercussions that her choice would bring.

Twilight unknowing to Luna’s thoughts carried on regardless. Her disheveled mane getting in her eyes constantly, and she kept having to blow it aside, only to have it return to its place seconds later. Her tail looked like something out of a disaster zone, like each and every hair decided that it wanted to be as far away as possible from every other hair. Luna had to restrain herself from finding a comb so that she could put the horrible beasts to rest. Rarity would not have had the same self-control that Luna had.

Twilight wanted to end this, she wanted to make a decision and be done with it. She couldn’t take anymore indecision, bouncing back and forth unable to settle on who she wanted. She just didn’t know anymore. And even though it meant going against all her self-imposed rules, all her morals; She was going to leave it to a whim. The pony she wanted most at the time of her decision would be a very lucky mare indeed. And Twilight couldn’t believe she was doing this, but every time she thought up a better way to do it; Nothing came to mind, or to be exact, nothing plausible came to mind. There was no way around her dilemma, and if some one had told her not one week ago that she be in the love triangle of the millennium. She’d laugh and tell them to go read a book on probability. It made her chuckle, her situation. And she couldn’t think of the right word to perfectly describe it all, which made her chuckle even more. The Twilight Sparkle, protege to one of the most powerful Alicorn in Equestira, the only pony to have read the entire collection of Mareriam Webster dictionaries, was at loss for words. it was unthinkable, unfathomable, unspeakable.  

Their sudden arrival at her house shook her from her daydream. Ah home at last. The old familiar house stood tall and proud, and Twilight smiled as she took a minute to remember the fleeting memories of her foalhood days. They were happy times, always filled with glee and contentment. But now, things were different. She wasn’t ‘surprise’ visiting her parents with the hope of catching them off guard so that she could enact a complex plan to drop off birthday gifts without being noticed. Nor was she coming home from a good day at the academy, having learnt a new spell that would aid her in her quest to glean new strategies of dropping of birthday presents unnoticed. Oh how she missed those days. But she was all grown up now, a mare in her own rights. And it was folly to reminisce in bygone days that unfortunately, would never come back. Twilight stiffened her upper lip and glared at the front door, half wishing it would burst open to show her parents happy faces, half acknowledging the situation she was about to put herself in. Come on Twilight, time won’t stand still for you. One hoof in front of the other. Despite her treasure trove of knowledge on illusion magics, time still appeared to stand still as she slowly but surely edged towards the front door.

And as she did, she could hear strange noises emanating from her house. And the closer she got, the more inappropriate they sounded. Many of the ran along the lines of “Not there!”, “stop that, please!” Twilight recognized the voice, but placing the name behind the squeals and grunts was proving a harder task than normal. It may have been because of the distracting noises, and the seemingly invisible blush on Twilight’s face may or may not be evidence towards that fact. But she was sure that such noises should not be coming from her house. Her slow progress to the front door became slower, and Luna noticed it. Unfortunately the horrifically erotic sounds did not allude her mind as to the name of its origin. Her brain withered and her eyes watered as she was subjected to such mental atrocities. With her waning mental strength she charged the quaint little house front door and barreled through screaming “CELESTIA!!!!”. Twilight just stood there unsure as to what she would do next with her increasingly confusing life. And as the ruler of the night tumbled into the hallway of her childhood home, the thought of just turning around and walking away to live the life of a wandering magician with Trixie sounded very appealing. Moving from little town to little town relying on Trixies stage persona and her magic, they could become quite famous.

But as Twilight forced the depressingly appeasing thoughts of fame and fortune out of her head, a midnight-blue aura dark as the night enveloped her, and in the blink of an eye she was pulled into the house. No sounds escaped her mouth as she was neatly swallowed whole by her home. No pony saw her come. No pony saw her go. And at seven fifty nine in the morning (night), no pony would have really cared.

Being one of the wisest of mages Equestria has ever seen, Starswirl the bearded had this to say on Twister. “Don’t ever, ever, ever play it in the seclusion of your house with the curtains drawn. And especially not when there isn’t any loud music”. Unfortunately for Twilight’s parents, they never got round to reading that particular biography stashed in the depths of Twilight’s personal library. So as Twilight involuntarily made her way down the hall towards her living room, she feared the worst. And the first thing she laid eyes on as she entered the room, was a twisted pile of pony; And luna, mouth agape in the doorway.

The entire room was silent for what Twilight could have sworn was a eternity. But someone had to speak sometime, so she decided to make the first move. “Can somepony please...please tell me WHY you all are playing twister at...eight o’clock in the morning? Sunshine? Dad? Mom? Celestia? Anypony?” However none of the participants of the game could speak. For one they did not want to try and explain why Celestia had her head between Sunshine’s haunches, or why Sunshine was trying her hardest not to lower her body onto Dusk‘s face. Nor did any of them think they could possible put the sequence of events that led up to this particular situation into words. The only thing that could come out audibly was two weak willed words.

“Forgive us?” Twilight nudged Luna, whom politely dropped her on her flank. And then walked away. Leaving the room and those still occupying it to quietly think about what it was they were doing. And as the ambience of the room took a sudden nose dive, the unmoving mass of pony suddenly collapsed. And as Celestia brought her head out from Sunshines rear she caught Luna’s arctic chilled gaze.

“Luna..please”. But Luna who was probably more disgusted than the previous pony to have left the room merely turned and trotted away. But her message was clear, no pony was to bother her or Twilight for a long while.

“Twilight?” Luna called cautiously up to the Library above her. Luna could not fathom what Twilight was thinking, nor how she was faring after the living room ordeal. “Twilight, please, we are here- I mean i’m here to talk to you.” Luna called out, hearing naught but a squeek. The entire library gave of a eire feeling, one Luna was not comfortable feeling. But she pushed on, giving each slow step its due time, making sure she breathed slowly and calmly as she ascended the final steps of the staircase. “Twilight please”.

“I’m over here Luna...” Twilight answered softly as Luna stepped into the library. “You know, as a child I spent all my days up here, reading every book I could get my hooves on. And when I moved into the palace, I did the same for the royal library. And I thought, or like to think, my parents had read all the books you see here. I’m obviously mistaken.” Luna was baffled, that was what Twilight was feeling? Confusion she understood, but at the fact her parents hadn’t read...what two hundred separate books? “Becuase you see Luna... there’s one passage here in Starswirled the Bearded’s biography that has something to say about the game Twister”. Luna sat beside the rambling mare and looked, it did indeed have something to say about the ever popular party game. But just as she was reading it Twilight cried out and planted her face into the book, as she bawled her eyes out. And now Luna was officially confused. “What am I going to do now Luna?!”

“sssh-sh, what ever are you talking about Twilight?” Luna asked as she attempted to pry Twilight face from the book so it would not suffer anymore damage from Twilights tears.

“What do you think Luna! You saw what happened downstairs!”

“That I did, but I still do not see your reason to this sudden outburst. Pray thee tell me why you feel so sad?”

“I can’t choose Luna! I thought i could, i came here thinking i could! But I can’t! What kind of pony would I be Luna?” For once Luna could not answer her. “You saw them, how much fun they were having, Luna you saw with your very eyes what was happening. If i choose now, they’ll hate each other! And on top of it all, one of them will never speak to me again!” As her flush came to an end, Twilight’s shouts subsided. “I don’t think i can ever decided Luna... I just can’t” To which Twilight dropped her entire weight into Luna’s and quietly sobbed.

After 30 minutes had passed, the occupants of the now silent living room stood to attention as hoofsteps emanated from the staircase. And they stood like statues as the two mare’s entered the room, one with bloodshot eyes, the other filled with disapproval. As they settled in the middle of the room Luna carefully nuzzled Twilight as not to shock her. Twilight looked back at Luna and nodded, eyes filled with grief. Before Anypony could even begin Twilight raised her hoof, silencing any thought of speaking. Then slowly but surely the words came flowing out her mouth, Luna massaging her back in encouragement. “I..I can’t imagine what brought you all to even think of bringing out twister, or what caused you to all enjoy it so much that you were audible from the street outside. But you can all imagine what i’ve been going through tonight.” Twilight squeezes her eyes shut. “And..I can’t believe i’m about to do this...but i need to. Celestia, Sunshine.” Both mares snap their heads to attention as they worry for Twilight. “I..I can’t be with either of you.” Sunshine’s eyes go wide as she takes it all in.

“But..But Twilight!”

“No! I’m sorry Sunshine, but i just can’t do it anymore...Both of you mean too much to me for me to have to choose. I’m sorry but thats my final decision.” Silence permeated through the room. Sunshine attempted on many occasions to retort, but could not. She loved Twilight too much to try and defy her wishes. But she wasn’t the only one unsure of how to take it.

Celestia’s mind was a storm of activity. She couldn’t bear to see Twilight go through all this pain. And knowing she was the cause of her pain, tore at her heart even more. To think she had been able to drive a pony so in love so far over the edge that she could no longer bear to be in the same room with either. It made her wish she had never confessed her feelings. If only I hadn’t been so brash, this whole situation, and what is to come after it. We could have avoided it all. If only Starswirl the bearded had finished his research on time paradoxs. But why cry over spilt milk Celestia... The damage is irreversible.”

“NO! Thou musn’t say such things dear sister.”

“Luna? What are you doing inside my head?”

“Tis a story for another day, but Celestia, thou must not give up. Nothing is forever.”

“But we are, as so is our regret.”

“But our wounds heal dear sister, they do not plague us forever. But for our mortal subjects... it is different”. Luna emphasized this by nuzzling Twilight, who only whimpered.

“But luna...what can I do?”

“I don’t know Celestia, i am as you say, like a foal to matters such as these. But I for one can vouch you’ll live to love another.” Celestia blinked.

“Luna...Do you really think so. I don’t think i could ever love someone like I do for Twilight. I have lived century after century, millennia after millennia, but no pony makes me feel like I do now other than Twilight. I don’t think I could let her go Luna, not this easily.”

“Celestia! You would jeopardize the feelings of the pony you love because you cannot let go of that which was not yours to begin with! Do you for one second think Twilight is not completely sure of what she has said?”

“I been with her for almost her entire life! I know exactly how she feels and thinks!”

“Well you obviously don’t! Have you for one second accounted for what she’s thinking right now?! No! Because if you had you’d know she has every intent to run away! The only thing keeping her from doing so is me!” Luna facial features darkened, twisted and scowled at her foolish sister.

“How do you know she has no feelings for me though! You cannot sense that can you!?”

“No... but that doesn’t make you right dear sister.” As much as Luna wanted to walk away of the situation, she knew she was the only thing holding her sister from doing anything...damaging. Quickly she glanced at Sunshine. The mare was sobbing, crying an endless stream of tears into her hoof. The yellow mare was attempting to comfort her with her soothing voice and encouragements. But they seemed to have little effect on the mentality of the blonde mare. Luna’s anger flared much to the surprise of the unicorns and Alicorns in the room. Her hate seethed out of every magical pore in her body. Twilight spun round to address the maddened mare. But Luna placed her hoof on Twilight’ mouth, dispelling any thought to try and calm Luna down.  Then she stepped towards Celestia, her disgust in the alabaster mare overflowing.

“Luna please-”

“No Celestia! Don’t you even dare try to stop me. I’ve had just about enough of you! Thinking you can get your hooves on just about anything that you want. And if you don’t you make a huge scene and while every pony is fighting over it, or feeling sorry for fighting about it. You decide you can just waltz in and take it! No matter it being a cupcake! Or an actual PONY, with actual feelings! It’s the same every time! You never once account for how others feel!”

“LUNA YOU KNOW THAT’S NOT TRUE!

“NOT TRUE CELESTIA!? NOT TRUE!? We both know what I say is the truth! Of all ponies thou cannot say they did not happen!” The tension in the room was electric, no pony other than Luna dared make a move.

“..........” Celestia was silent. Luna’s words hitting home, and hitting hard. Her face grew dark, despondent, cold. “But how can I let her go? I don’t think I can let her go.” Even mentally her voice was weak, it faltered. What she would say now, would be nought but the truth. Luna knew. “But I don’t want Twilight to hate me...why must it be so hard!?!” Her mental burst hit Luna who flinched at its volume. I may have her beat at the royal Canterlot voice, but in the mind she’s stronger.

“You know perfectly why it hurts so much sister, or have you really lost that much of your memory?”

“Regardless Luna. Regardless of what happened it still stings.” Celestia tone had calmed down a few notches. But the pain in her voice (even mentally) was evident.

“Of course dear sister, but you remember what that old kook Starswirl told us when he got dumped? It is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all”. Luna lay a hoof on Celestia’s shoulders, she flinched but soon welcomed the touch. All the other ponies in the room quickly realized there was not going to be any unicorns having a epic battle today and sighed breaths of relief. “Dearest sister” Luna began “It’ll all be okay, now why don’t we step outside for breath of fresh air? I hear it’s going to be a lovely day”. And that smiled she beamed, would make Pinkie cry in admiration. Celestia couldn’t help but smile back. Her sister always knew how to ease a situation, especially when it was due to heartbreak. She may not know how to be in a relationship herself but her insights were invaluable.

“Celestia?” Fluttershy ventured, clearly taking leaps and bounds out of her comfort zone.

“I’m fine Fluttershy thank you. But I do believe we are all in for a much needed tanning session.” And so Celestia stood up, wobbling a bit, but proud nevertheless; and went outside. She could already feel the sun bathing her in its ray’s.

Pip, Dinky and Cheerilee were all snoring. Loudly. They were all tucked under Pip’s multitude of blankets they slept soundly. Then the sun started to rise. Restarting its journey across the skies, moving at a rapid pace it raced to catch up for lost time. And only mere minutes after the sun had first shown its red face to the sky had it already found its predetermined spot in the sky. Unfortunately for many ponies throughout the land, this meant sunlight in their eyes, and lots of it. And there wasn’t a single cloud in the sky, even though the ponyville weather team hadn’t woken up yet.

As the sun broke through the tree’s of ponyville’s park, It happened to fall directly on Pip’s face. Turning over in pure instinct he managed to hit cheerilee over the head with his hoof; whom haphazardly flailed her hoofs in response kicking each respective pony. And waking them up, especially Cheerilee. “Oh goodness! I’m so sorry, I don’t know what’s gotten into me. Are you two alright?”

“Owie, my nose hurts” moaned dinky, until she opened her eyes. “And now i’m blinded!”

“Where are you Cheerilee, my eye’s don’t seem to be working.” Pip shouted standing a mere meter behind the aforementioned mare. And cheerilee smiled and sighed, today was going to be a strange one for sure. Then Pip found Cheerilee...and her backside. And Cheerilee hooves found pip. Strange day for sure.

As ponies began to calm down in Canterlot, things got back to normal. Those who slept through the entire ordeal were having a grand time figuring out why they had only woken up at ten o’clock in the morning. And it was only by eleven thirty that shops had begun to open for the generally confused public. Whom bought didn’t understand why they were buying bread for breakfast at twelve.

The royal palace had been cleared out, including the grounds where last night’s fiesta had happened. Along with four very relieved yet concerned mares, who were trying to navigate their way back to where it had all begun. “Rarity, are yah taking us the right way? Cause ah believe Twilight’s house was thataway.” Applejack said pointing in the general direction of ponyville, and coincidentally her own home.

“Yes dear i’m sure i’m going the right way. I do believe I have been to Canterlot more times than you Apple Jack.” Rarity retorted as she led the group to where she believed Twilight’s house was.

“Dun mean you know where’s where. How many times have yah gone into the wild and then come back without ah map?” The conversation about who knew which way to go and begun the instant they stepped out of the royal palace.

“The wild is no comparison to the city my dearest Apple Jack.” She said back with the most endearing, yet sarcastic tone.

“I don’t know about you girls but I see Celestia! HI CELESTIA!” And as Pinkie ran off to go greet the alabaster Alicorn, Rarity tried her best not to utter the few words that would make her the happiest mare alive. Because she cared.

Celestia was surprised, and then again she was not surprised. The sudden arrival of the Pink pony was by no means unexpected, but then again, no pony expects Pinkie Pie. However Celestia was in no mood to sit and have a long chat about how she nearly destroyed her special somepony’s (predominantly student) relationship. But it would be rude to not say something, especially when being greeted by a pony like Pinkie. “Pinky, greetings to you as well.” She said a little solemnly. The Party pony screeched to a halt meer centimeters away from Celestia’s flanks, sidestepped to avoid awkward scenery and belted.

“Wwwwwwaaaaaatttttsssss wwwwrrrrrooooonnnnggggg?” The burp was not pinkies best, nor was it her worst. The high notes still needed work. Celestia, who was on the receiving end of the caring burp stood there and took the entire blast. She was moved Pinkie was trying to be there for her, but she should have seen that one coming. Pinching her nose Celestia tried to reply.

“Dearest Pinkie pie, I thank you for you sentiment and *cough**cough* your breathe certainly smells sweet, but you should not be greeting others like that.”

“Oh sorry, I didn’t mean to! It’s just that I had a huge pie not long ago and its coming back up, I didn’t mean to burp in your face. I mean it just came out, and I couldn’t really help it, it’s like those fizzy drinks that bubble all the time! You can’t hold all that air back so you have to let go, but you don’t meant to!” Going against common sense Celestia took her hoof from her nose and used it to abruptly silence the rambling mare. Who grinned and muffled a “sowy”. By that time the rest of the girls had caught up. And Celestia noticed Rarity had a massive grin on her face while Apple jack was staring at her with slight bloodlust. She shrugged and let the Pink pony go.

“Sister?” Luna called out from the doorway. “Twilight wishes to have an audience with thou. Oh girls! Excuse myself, I did not see thou arrive. Perhaps thou should accompany us too.” Then she turned and walked back into the house. Celestia hung her head, like she was accepting her end and trotted into the house. The girls who were now completely confused, went in thinking it would be a good idea to see Twilight again.

As the moved in Pinkie Pie who was the first to come in after Celestia gasped and ran to Twilight crushing her in a bear hug “Twilight! Oh my god there you are! I’ve been looking all over for you! Like everywhere, even under the rocks but I couldn’t find you! I missed you Twilight!” But all Twilight could do was make gagging noises and flail helplessly. But Sunshine Interjected on her behalf.

“Um Pinkie, I think she’s very happy to see you... but you're crushing her.”

“Oh woopsies! Sorry Twilight.”

“It’s good to see you too Pinkie.” Twilight smiled, genuinely happy the Pink pony had shown up, along with the rest of her friends. But her smile quickly faded again. “Celestia... I needed to see you because...” She looked at Sunshine who smiled and put her foreleg over Twilight. “I don’t want to lose you.”

“But Twilight I-”

“I know Celestia, but you’re too important to me! You’re like a second mother to me.” Tears were welling up in her eyes as she gushed everything she had held back. “I may not be with you, but I don’t want you to leave because of it! Please Celestia, can we just put it all behind us!?” Cestia looked away, she couldn’t bear to see Twilight in such a state or the fact that she was the cause. But what Twilight was asking of her, to throw everything away like it never happened? She didn’t know if she could. She had never felt stronger for any pony than Twilight, she couldn’t just throw it away like a old scroll. But...But maybe I don’t have to throw it all away... She looked to Luna, who gave her a face that said “This is your’s to handle”.

“My feelings cannot just be swept aside.” Twilight opened her mouth to protest but Celestia held her hoof up to silence it. “Nor can I ever forget what I have done to you.”

“But It doesn’t matter now!”

“My dear Twilight, my memory is old as it is deep. There are just somethings that I can never forget. I was selfish Twilight, I didn’t stop to think about the things that mattered. You, Sunshine, and everypony else. You all matter to me, too much for me to forgive myself so easily.”

“But Princess” Sunshine interjected “we have forgiven you”.

“I thank you all, but it isn’t as easy as that. I need time, I hope you can understand that Twilight.” Celestia ended as she turned to walk out.

“Celestia” Luna called out.

“No Luna... She has requested something of me. The least I can do is honor that request, no matter how much it pains me.” Luna nodded, approached her to hug her and whispered in her ears.

“Don’t worry, I’ll talk to her. You just go home and rest.” A reassuring smile played upon her face. Twilight mouthed “Thank you for everything.” And as soon as the royal sister had left, Pinkie spoke.

“Group hug!” And thats what they did.

“What now then?” Apple Jack asked.

“I think it’s about time we went home.” Sunshine said out loud. And thats what they did.

Authors notes:

I’m probably the worst Author here, promising chapters but taking them down later... But bare with me, were nearly done :)
Nikolas Lanjouw:
remember to make joke about jet lag