Ultra's collection of written (possibly with shipping) collab oneshots
This is a collection of short little mostly unrelated prompts that I've written for the various shipping collaboration stories out there, or just random little stories I've never gotten around to finishing. Character focus will be listed in each chapter's title.
Cheese - Luna revisits some old memories. Celestia stops in for a visit. Renegade - Crossover w/ C&C Renegade. Day - Celestia nurses Luna back to health. Grumpy - Nightmare Moon visits Twilight Sparkle, bribe in hoof. Belly Rubs - Luna and Twilight explore waxed floors in the middle of the night. Snowflake - Luna tries to get Celestia to take a break. Broken - - 1 - Celestia wakes up and tries to find her sister. This one was the hardest one to write to date. - 2 - A pair of confessions between sisters change everything and nothing. Edge - Twilight tests out her new wings. Twice. Note / Circles - Twilight flirts with Luna. Ridiculous - Luna gets all the best loot. Precocious - Nightmare and Twilight fondly remember how they adopted their little daughter. Cause and Effect - Alicorns snore, loudly. I Wasn't Prepared For This - A bit of headcanon about how to court either Royal Sister. What if? - The first Lightning Round prompt. A good little take on what could go wrong in the Everfree. Hearth's Warming - Twilight spends a lazy Hearth's Warming with Celestia. Sickness - Spike catches a cold. Plushie - Even Luna ships it. Train - Celestia helps Luna rest. Flaming - The parasprites invade again, it's up to Twilight and Celestia to save the day! Dinosaur - Twilight takes Celestia on a date. Valentine's / Hearts & Hooves Day - Celestia accidentally stumbles in on Twilight preparing for their 'fun' night. Sunset Shimmer - Forgotten - Sunset Shimmer discovered something she thinks she wasn't supposed to. Sappy - Twilight searches for Celestia. Conflict - Truthfully? A random idea that popped into my head about Destiny. Celestia dances with Twilight and Applejack. Resists - Twilght and Celestia share a drink after a mutually stressful day. I Want In - Infiltrations may look easy, but they require plenty of planning and skill. Rememberance - Twilight receives some bad news, and all of Equestria is lesser for her loss. Belching Contest - A random little story I mostly wrote in 2015 that never got finished. Dash, Luna, and Twilight have a belching contest when drunk. Towel - Twilight's klutzy when wet. Focus - - 1 - (Postapocalyptic, humanized, Twilunestia) Scouting is a whole lot more dangerous than Twilight signed up for. - 2 - Everypony makes mistakes. Yield - Somedragon doesn't know when to give up.
“The moon is totally made of cheese! Discord said so!” Luna yelled as she stomped a hoof. Her tail swished in agitation.
“Nu-uh! You just blindly believe everything he says? What if he said that Dragons would one day be the scholars of the world! The moon is not made of cheese, Lu.” Celestia, the elder between the two, shouted back. She harrumphed and started walking away.
“Then I would call his bluff! The moon is too made of cheese!” Luna took off after her sister, intent on winning this argument.
“Is not!” Though they were fully grown, the two mares are still prone to childish sibling spats.
“Is too!”
“Is not!” With a war-scream, Luna launched herself at Celestia, and the battle was on.
~Present day Equestria~
Luna, snuggled into her sister’s side, looked back fondly on the lives they’d lived. “Hey, Celly?”
“Yes, Lu?” Celestia’s wing wrapped around Luna as she shivered from the cold winter air.
“You remember that one fight?” Luna’s voice was little more than a whisper.
Celestia chuckled. “You’re going to have to be a little more specific, Lu. I remember a lot of our little fights.”
“I meant the one where we fought over whether the moon was made of cheese or not.” Luna looked up to her bigger sister as her ears folded back.
Celestia nodded. “Ah, yes I remember that one. We both ended up in the infirmary, yes?”
Luna stayed silent a moment, enjoying her sister’s warmth. Celestia was content in letting Luna continue at her own pace.
She smiled up at her big sister. “Yes, we did. I now have a definitive answer to that argument. The moon is most definitely not made of cheese. It is a giant rock.” The smile faded, a frown taking its place as she whispered, “That means you were right all along, like with so many other things.”
Celestia’s eyes widened and her head whipped around from the stars she’d been looking at to her sister. “Hey now, none of that, Lu. Just because I was right in the end didn’t mean I knew it at the time.” She nuzzled Luna for a few seconds before continuing, “Besides, while you were confirming that I was wrong plenty of times.”
Luna looked skeptical. “Like what?”
“A big example that happened recently was Sunset Shimmer. She had the potential to become a great mage, but her lack of foresight and patience led to her turning down magic’s darker paths.” She sighed. “I had originally hoped her to become the Element of Magic, but that obviously didn’t pan out, and I thought for a few weeks that I would have to kill you…”
Luna nuzzled her sister’s neck. “But you did not have to kill me, Celly.”
“That doesn’t mean I didn’t think I wouldn’t have to kill you.” Celestia sniffled once. “My beloved little sister.” She sniffled again, shutting her eyes. “Then Twilight came along, and the rest was history.”
“And I am so grateful to you and her for freeing me from that nightmare…” Luna’s neck craned up and she nuzzled directly against her much larger sister’s cheek, before pecking Celestia on the lips.
Celestia’s eyes flew open in shock. “Luna! W-what was that about?”
“I have something to confess, Celly.” Luna shrunk away slightly at her sister’s expression. “I can’t bottle this up anymore. I… love you.” She shut her eyes and continued, “The real reason I fell and turned into Nightmare Moon was because I could not control my feelings. For you. I…”
Celestia drew her wing tighter about her sister. “How long, Lu? How long have you had these feelings?”
“I cannot remember a time without them, Celestia.” She blinked back a tear. “I would rather you know now so we can do something about it. I hat- I hate not being able to go to anypony about these feelings.” Celestia’s wingtip drew against her cheek and she winced as if it struck her.
“Luna, look at me.” Luna’s head raised only a few inches before Celestia’s mouth met her own again. Luna melted into their shared kiss. After a minute, Celestia pulled away. “Despite what you think, I don’t hate you, or find you disgusting.” She blushed and looked away. “I’m afraid I’ve had much the same thoughts, just not as long as you have.”
“GDI Infantry barracks under attack.” EVA, their base’s AI called out.
Six red, black and silver blocky tanks rolled toward their target, a building serving as their enemy’s barracks. Instead of traditional tank cannons, they bore a pair of large flamethrowers on each side of their turrets.
“We’ve got Flamers incoming! Can you distract them, Luna?” Twilight talked into her headset from her sniping perch. She watched over the entrance to her team’s base and picked off any NOD soldiers that dared to venture into her sights.
“Consider it done.” A powerful engine fired up and a Mammoth tank rolled out of the War Factory, intent on destroying the incoming attack force. “I bet my sister is leading this charge. Take her tank down and the rest will fall in the resulting disarray.” Twilight looked over the flame tanks to see explosions ring out against their hulls.
“Agreed, but I can’t do anything to them with my rifle.” Twilight secured her rifle across her back, grabbing her explosive charges as she ran down the hill she’d hunkered down on. Quickly building speed, her wings opened and she leapt into the air.
“Fluttershy, could you help repair my tank quickly?” Luna watched as the first two flame tanks had closed enough distance to start burning away her armor.
“Oh, um, I’m on my way.” The Mammoth tank was quickly starting to melt away under the tanks’ heat.
“Please hurry. I have gotten their attention and they are none too pleased to see me.” Luna called out calmly, but inside she was scared the battle was already lost. Six on one was not good odds, even for a Mammoth tank. As she backed away slowly from the two tanks, she hit a button triggering her tank’s rocket pods. Six missiles screamed from their homes and slammed into the two tanks, blowing them and their occupants apart.
As she turned to the other four tanks, she only spotted two. “I’ve lost two of them, Twilight. I fear they’re–”
“GDI Refinery under attack.” EVA called out.
“–At our refinery.”
Pumping her wings harder, Twilight screamed through the sky to their refinery. It was tall, even moreso for a building supposedly mostly underground. Circling around it with flames spewing were the two missing Flame tanks, intent on burning it to the ground.
Taking stock of her explosive charges, she all but threw two at each tank, followed by a timed charge. ‘Hopefully it’ll stay alive long enough.’
The rest of their team had noticed the attack and was only now moving to respond with technician ponies moving in to patch up the refinery before it was destroyed.
Luna loosed a warcry as she fired her freshly reloaded rocket pods and fired her cannons, annihilating the last two tanks to face her. A sniper took out the two pilots a second later.
As the timers finally ticked to zero, two explosions rang out on the last two tanks’ hulls. Twilight gave them no time to recover as she hit her own remote detonator, blowing them to kingdom come. She brought her rifle out and picked off both pilots before they could get to cover.
“I got the last two tanks, Luna.” Twilight landed next to the barracks to restock on ammo.
“Good job, just finished my third and fourth here. Thanks for the help, Fluttershy.”
“You’re welcome, Luna,” was Fluttershy’s reply as the dust settled after the last flame tank had exploded.
Twilight spoke up again, “Did you kill Celestia? She wasn’t in either of the tanks I took out.”
“No, she was not…” The Mammoth’s turret slowly surveyed the base, looking for a sign.
“Nuclear Strike beacon deployed.” The voice droned again.
“Crap! Find it! Finditfinditfindit!” Twilight called out as she took to wing again.
“Warning! Nuclear strike approaching.” EVA’s voice drowned out any conversation. “You have thirty seconds to reach minimum to reach minimum safe distance.”
‘Thirty seconds, please hurry!’
Twilight soared over to the War Factory, listening intently for the telltale pinging sound of the beacon.
“Twenty five.” After a few seconds, it wasn’t there.
“Twenty.” She sped toward the barracks.
A voice called out loudly over their radio, “The AGT! It’s at the AGT!”
Not even slowing down, Twilight turned and made a beeline for their only major defensive structure, the Advanced Guard Tower. Though it wasn’t much help against the tanks, its many miniguns would tear an infantry strikeforce to pieces.
“Fifteen.”
Luna soared up next to her, Mammoth tank left behind. “We’ve got this, Twily. You just keep me covered and this little nuke won’t stand a chance.” She touched her wingtip against Twilight’s softly.
Luna spotted the beacon next to the tower, flashing red ominously. She dove, tucking her wings in. As her hooves hit the ground, she already had her repair gun out and aimed at the beacon.
“Ten.”
“Cover us!” Luna yelled, spotting Fluttershy landed right next to her and they both unleashed a disarming beam at the beacon. It would take several seconds, but working together it would go even faster.
“Five.” A red beam of light whipped past Luna’s head. Surprised, she ducked as she tried to keep her beam focused on the beacon. It seems Celestia played for keeps this time. Twilight looked up to see a missile in the sky, pointed directly at their base.
“Four.”
“SBH! SBH! I see her!” A shot rang out and the beams suddenly stopped. Celestia’s Stealth Black-Hand character suddenly became visible as it slumped to the ground.
“Three.” From her readout, Luna could see they would finish in time! ‘We did it! We win!’
“We got it this time, sister!” Luna jumped for joy.
“Two.” Twilight could almost make out the fake-serial number on the missile it was so close.
“One.”
“Nuclear Strike Beacon disarmed.” And almost like magic, the missile vanished.
Twilight landed next to Luna as a chorus of cheers came across her headset. Crisis averted!
“Now, Twilight, let us take the fight to my sister,” Luna spoke, stomping a hoof on the ground. “If she intends to play for keeps, let us play for keeps.”
Twilight smirked as Luna made her way back to her tank. ‘Oh, ‘Tia. It’s totally on for that.’ As Luna’s tank slowly made its way out of the base, Twilight stopped off at the barracks one last time. To pick up an Orbital Ion Strike beacon.
Celestia had cancelled court for the day. She gave no reason why, but the rumor mill was already flying. A tryst with a new lover? Is there another new threat to Equestria? Was it just because it was a particularly bad Wednesday? For all their speculation, the real answer was mundane. Luna had caught a summer cold.
Celestia stepped into her sister’s room, noting that the curtains weren’t drawn tightly shut and, for once, letting the sunlight warm the room. It’d been centuries since she’d been sick herself. Viruses and bacteria tended not to stand up well to the power of the sun coursing through a pony’s body.
“How’re you feeling, Lu?” Celestia looked over to her sister, telekinetically readjusting the water-filled cloth on Luna’s forehead.
Luna coughed loudly twice, jostling several blankets covering her up. Her voice rasped, “I am still cold, Celly.” The blankets continued to shudder softly.
Celestia looked around her little sister’s room, spotting several dozen candles. Lighting her horn, the candles in the room followed suit.
Luna noticed the candles light and smiled. “Thanks, Celly.” Her shivering lessened slightly after a minute.
“It’s no problem, Lu.” Celestia smiled softly.
Celestia had one idea that would warm her sister up. There was nothing like the power of a sun to help a sister beat her cold.
“Are you still cold, Lu?”
Luna coughed once. “A little.” The shivering never stopped.
That tore it. Celestia stood and poked her muzzle against the blankets, doing her best not to disturb them.
“W-What are you doing, Celestia?” Luna looked to see her sister’s head disappear under the blankets before a muzzle bumped up against her wing.
“Helping warm you up,” Celestia replied, her voice muffled. She stepped up and under the blankets, pulling Luna’s smaller body against her barrel.
“W-Will–” Luna coughed. “–you not get sick? I do not want you to catch my cold, sister!” Luna descended into a coughing fit.
As the fit subsided, Celestia levitated over a glass of water, poking the straw against her sister’s muzzle. “You know how hard it is for me to get sick, Lu. The sun’s heat flows through my body, and the only way I can share it with you is if I cuddle you.”
As Luna sipped at her water, Celestia removed the water cloth, replacing it with another. “See? You’ve stopped shivering.”
“I-I have.” Luna lifted her head, looking down at the still blankets. “I still do not wish to see you sick, sister.” Her head flopped down against the pillow before it was repositioned against her big sister’s neck. Celestia jumped as the water cloth fell onto her neck.
Luna felt the cloth return to her forehead, again. Celestia whispered, “If I do get sick, then you can help take care of me, alright?”
“Alright, Celly. Just do not expect me to be as... cuddly, as you are. My body heat is not nearly as plentiful as yours.” Luna felt her eyelids growing heavy, and she was soon sleeping peacefully against the big, warm blob that was her sister.
Celestia drifted off into a doze as well, soothed by her little sister’s presence.
“Come on, please?” Nightmare shifted closer again.
“Don’t want to.” Twilight kept up her retreat, standing up.
“Pretty please?” Nightmare was on her hooves now.
“The physical appearance of the word please has no bearing on my decision.” Nightmare sighed at Twilight’s lengthy reply.
“Pretty please with an extra hour of night on top?” Nightmare’s eyes betrayed her true feelings on the matter.
“Getting better.” Twilight slowed down and turned to look back.
“Pretty please with an extra hour of night and the librarians won’t bother you?” Nightmare showed her trump card morosely.
“... Fine. What do you want?” Twilight made her return to Nightmare’s side.
“To spend this glorious evening with you. That is all, I swear.” Nightmare wanted so much more, but she would take what she could get, for now.
“Nothing… more?” Twilight had almost caught her, it seems.
“Not unless you want to.” Not a lie, at least completely.
“Fine. I’ll stay.” Nightmare held her shout of joy, settling for nuzzling Twilight’s cheek.
“Why are you so grumpy around me?” Nightmare asked as she pulled back.
“I… don’t know. I can’t describe it.” Twilight looked away, a small sadness taking her over as she slouched.
“Try, for me, please?” Another nuzzle, this time against Twilight’s forehead.
“Why?” Twilight pulled away slightly to look Nightmare in the eyes.
“Because if I know why, I can help you be rid of that grumpiness, Miss Grumpypants.” A black hoof tapped Twilight’s muzzle softly.
“We don’t wear pants.” Twilight shot her a flat look.
“My joke still stands.” Nightmare chuckled lightly, drawing a wing against Twilight.
“Okay, Okay. I’ll try.” Twilight took a deep breath.
“Maybe it was from when we first met. You tried killing me; then when my friends and I beat you with the Elements, I had the feeling you weren’t gone. Not completely.” Twilight trembled slightly. “Then you returned. Not having taken over Luna, but as your own pony. That scared me far more than you know. But… you came to me of all the princesses to surrender yourself. To prove you weren’t going to take over the planet and cause eternal night.”
Nightmare replied, “At first… at first I planned on doing just that. Somewhere along the way, I got distracted.” Her eyes sparkled. “By this beautiful, purple mare who’d defeated me the first time I came back. She had grown some wings and fit perfectly into her role as princess so well that I knew if I were to try, I would stand no chance, even without the Elements against me. So I improvised.”
“You surrendered, and you were put into my custody, to make sure that you weren’t evil,” Twilight stated smartly.
“I think the words Pinkie used were, ‘We gotta make sure she’s not the evil Queen Black Snooty we once knew. Once she’s good, then I can throw her a party!’” Both mares chuckled. Nightmare continued softly, “I know I harbor no grudge against anypony. I just wish to help you in any way I can.”
Twilight jumped slightly. “I… think I know why I’m so grumpy around you now. I keep wanting to see you as evil. I keep wanting to see another great villain rise up for my friends and I to fight. These last few years of doing just that has made me antsy when there’s nothing going on. I keep expecting a fight, yet not getting one.”
Nightmare asked, “We could spar?”
Twilight shook her head. “No, other ponies would likely see that and think you’re attacking me.”
“If you wish to relieve some tension, I could help with that, too.” Nightmare laughed once as she kept her eyes on the sky, refusing to look down at the pony in her wing.
Twilight’s blush made her rival Philomena’s feathers. “No! I don’t need… that. I just need time to settle down and get used to your presence.”
“I will wait as long as it takes, Twilight.” Nightmare lifted her wing before standing and walking away.
Twilight felt as though she’d kicked Nightmare like a puppy. “We could…”
Nightmare turned, her ears folding back. “No, Twilight. Do not force yourself to do anything for my sake. Come to me when you are ready. That is all I ask.” Nightmare turned back around, spread her wings and took off from the balcony.
Luna looked up from her book as a knock sounded at her door. She made her way over and opened it up. “Twilight! What a pleasant surprise. To what do I owe the pleasure?”
Twilight absently kicked at the floor with a hoof as she spoke, “Ah. Princess Celestia may have mentioned that you were getting a little shut-in after Nightmare Night. She called me up to see if I could help!”
Luna looked back to the massive stack of books she’d finished in the last week. “I can see where ‘Tia thought that, yes. Oh! Come, I know one way to have some fun, even at night!”
Twilight followed Luna to one of the largest hallways in the castle. From its look, it’d been freshly waxed and polished.
“Come! Let us slide like foals! ‘Tis a most enjoyable ride!” At her own words, Luna took off running, before flopping down on her belly, sliding.
Twilight looked on like Luna had gone insane as the latter reached the end of the hallway.
“Twilight! Come join me! You must try this activity!” Luna was already halfway back.
Shrugging, Twilight stepped forward. “Alright, Luna. I’ll give it a try.”
Not a minute later, the pair ended up sliding across the freshly polished floor on their stomachs.
Luna yelled and hollered the entire time, and she looked over to Twilight to see the unicorn’s body heaving as a hoof covered her mouth.
Luna paused as Twilight froze. “Twilight, are you… ticklish?”
Twilight’s ears pinned back as she failed to send a convincing look Luna’s way. “No. I am not!”
“Then maybe you would not mind if I did–” With a wing, Luna reached out and flipped Twilight before she stroked a hoof along the smaller mare’s barrel. “–this!” The hoof suddenly shot to Twilight’s belly, rubbing and teasing her vigorously. The purple mare nearly instantly gave herself away before the first laugh escaped her.
“No! Stop! Please!” Twilight was laughing uncontrollably from her torturer’s actions.
“What was that? I cannot hear you over your delighted squealing.” Standing over Twilight, Luna added her wings to the mix.
“Stop! Please! Mercy!” Twilight cried out, she felt a familiar feeling . “Luna! Stop, please!” Luna’s speed only increased further. “I gotta pee-hee-hee!”
“Oh fie. I guess that I must stop, lest you have an accident.” Luna’s wings retreated, but her hoof still held Twilight as they both laughed for several seconds. “That does not mean I will not tickle you again.” The hoof released Twilight, and she stepped out from under the larger mare.
“What’s with all the yelling out here? Some of us are trying to sleep!” A large white mare rounded the corner at the end of the hallway.
“Meteors and stardust! My sister! Run!” Luna took wing and was soon out of sight. Twilight was left behind, frozen in fear as her mentor nearly stomped up to her.
Celestia’s anger melted as she noticed her most faithful student. “T-Twilight? What are you doing out here?”
“I-I…” Twilight’s eye twitched rapidly and Celestia looked on as Twilight.exe stopped working. While waiting for Twilight’s brain to reboot, she drew her student into a hug, hoping to calm her down.
After a moment, Twilight seemed to have returned to consciousness, actively returning her hug. “Now, Twilight, would you mind explaining what you were doing out here yelling about?”
In a small, pitiful voice Twilight replied, “Don’ wanna.”
Celestia asked again, “Please, Twilight?”
Even softer came the reply, “No… too embarrassing.”
“I’m sure whatever it is can’t be that bad.”
Twilight’s head shot up, nearly catching her horn on Celestia’s jaw. “Can’t be that bad?!” Twilight found her voice as she shrieked, “Can’t be that bad! Luna found out I’m ticklish! Then she nearly tickled me until I peed myself!” Twilight’s eyes widened, and she suddenly buried her head in Celestia’s fur, weeping openly.
Celestia hushed and cradled Twilight until she fell asleep against her. Standing up, she set Twilight on her back and made her way to Luna’s room. Not even bothering to knock, she entered, finding Luna reading a book.
“Sister. We need to talk.”
“Itwasnotmyfault!” Luna surprisedly leapt to the other side of her bed, before misjudging and falling off.
“Luna. Please.” Celestia set Twilight down on the bed, before sitting next to her. Twilight unconsciously curled herself into Celestia’s warmth.
Luna looked away sadly. “I am sorry for being so loud tonight, sis–”
Celestia interrupted her. “Luna.”
“–ter. I did not mean to–” Luna was interrupted, a little louder this time.
“Luna!”
Her head snapped back around to face her sister. “Yes, ‘Tia?”
“You still think I’m angry about being woken up?” She motioned to Twilight, tear streaks and snot still on the youngest mare’s face. Luna’s eyes widened.
“Oh meteors. What happened?”
“You tickled her, Luna. Without her permission. After you ditched her, she was inconsolable and cried herself to sleep in my hooves.” Celestia’s stern look said it all.
“I-I just…” Luna’s eyes had tears. “I was just having fun, ‘Tia. I didn’t mean anything by it.”
“I know you didn’t, but did she?” Celestia’s wing wrapped around Twilight. “The way you left her behind in a hurry said a lot to her, too, I imagine.”
Luna’s face turned resolute. “I will make it up to her. I swear.”
Celestia added, “And no tickling. Not without permission.”
Luna nodded. “That as well. No tickling without permission.”
A third voice joined. “And ice cream for all.” Celestia surprisedly looked down into her wing.
Luna chanted. “Ice cream for all!” Then her brain registered what had been said. “Wait, what?”
“Luna. Ice cream,” Celestia said as she pointed to the door. “Three bowls, please.”
“Three? But it is-” Celestia lifted her wing, revealing Twilight attempting to clean herself up. “Three it is. For what it is worth, Twilight, I am sorry.”
Twilight smiled. “No apologies necessary, Luna. Only if you get the ice cream. But please, don’t tickle me like that again.”
Luna shook her head. “No, Twilight. I am still apologizing. What I did was wrong, and I do not know what I can do to make it up to you.”
Celestia chuckled. “I believe ice cream would be a good start.” Twilight nodded wholeheartedly.
Luna laughed. “I will be right back with the ice cream, then.”
Luna’s bedroom door opened and a pony stepped through. She looked up to see her sister, an infectious grin on her face.
“Well, it’s official! Canterlot’s gotten enough snow that all business and government functions have been closed for the foreseeable future!” Celestia exclaimed, walking over to stand next to her sister.
“That is good. You deserve a little time off.” Luna leaned over to nuzzle her sister’s neck.
“I deserve time off? We deserve the time off, every once in a while.” Celestia sat down and opened a wing, a clear invitation to Luna. “Beside, I’m not the only one who’s been working hard. Now it’s just you and I, together.”
Accepting the invitation, Luna snuggled into her sister’s wing, hoping Celestia didn’t see her blush. “R-Really, sister?”
“Really.” Celestia squeezed her wing a little. “Anything in particular you want to do?” Celestia peeked into her wing to see Luna’s furious blush.
“I-I am quite content right here, actually,” Luna’s reply was soft.
“Are you sure? There isn’t anything else you want to do? Anything at all?”
Luna looked up and saw Celestia’s cheeky grin. “Well, since you put it that way…” She leapt up from within her sister’s wing and caught something much more valuable to her, her sister’s lips, in a heated kiss.
Celestia was surprised, but quickly melted into the kiss. After a moment, both parties pulled away. Luna noticed her sister sported a blush to match her own, along with a giddy smile. Celestia moved forward, catching her sister’s lips this time. A minute more and Celestia pulled back.
“Celly…” Luna moaned as the alabaster alicorn pulled away. After a moment, Luna buried her head in Celestia’s neck, her nose working hard to absorb as much of Celestia’s scent as it could. The sniffing quickly turned into small pecks against her neck, and Celestia crooned lovingly at the attention.
Deciding turnabout was fair play, Celestia lit her horn and quickly pinned Luna to the ground on her back. Admiring the sight for a few seconds, she reciprocated, burying her own muzzle into Luna’s neck. Luna giggled and laughed as her sister’s fur tickled her, but it soon gave way to moaning as the tickling turned into kissing and nipping.
Outside the window, a lone snowflake drifted past on it’s solitary trip to the ground as two lovers lost themselves in each other’s embrace.
Celestia stirred, shifting uncomfortably as she lay across something cold, but soft. Her mind reeled trying to remember why she was sprawled as she was. The memory came back quickly, but only in flashes.
Luna asked to go flying with her. Accepting. Take off toward their favorite little lake. A sudden, strong tornado. Massive trees flying through the sky. A sudden jolt and pain. Two screams and a crash landing.
She made an effort to stand, but could not move her rear legs, let alone feel them.
Forgetting that for now, she raised her head and looked about for her sister. "Luna? Are you there?" She spotted debris all over the area, with one tree in particular stained red. A sliver of blue, outlined in red, stuck out from the trunk. "Luna?!"
She tried standing again, before falling over as her hind legs wouldn't respond. Wrenching her sight away from the tree, she looked over herself. Her rear legs were entangled in another tree's branches, obviously broken and bleeding.
At the sight, the mechanical, detached part of her mind was the only voice that spoke, 'Oh. That would be a small problem. I wonder why I'm not feeling any–' She craned her neck to her back, seeing a thick branch impaled through her, approximately where her wings met her spine. Her back wasn't white or even pink. It was stained red with blood. The voice spoke again, 'Yeah. That would do it.'
She quickly turned away, before her body tried asserted feeling for itself again. The sight made her nauseous and worried, but one other thing outweighed those feelings. She still hadn't found Luna.
"Luna? Can you hear me?" She called out weakly. Deciding crawling was better than nothing, her horn lit painfully, and she carefully stripped the trunk away from her hind legs, taking care not to injure them further. She knew that shock would set in soon, if she didn't get help.
Raising herself into a sitting position as best she could, she looked herself over. Experimentally, she flapped her wings, and found them relatively fine, if sore. Counting her blessings, she looked down at what she had been laying on, and immediately froze, nearly retching at the sight.
Underneath where she'd crashed, was her sister. Luna's neck bent at an unnatural angle, her horn was missing entirely, and her face. Her face was seemingly etched with nothing but terror, from her glazed eyes wide and unblinking, to her open muzzle in a silent scream.
Nothing about her sister's face seemed pleasant, but that wasn't the worst she saw. The side Luna had crashed on was now sans one wing, the stump and gashes not even bleeding any more. Luna had been impaled by the large branch, it had torn through Luna's sides, and that branch extended into where Celestia had found it sticking out of her back. Luna's chest wasn't rising, and Celestia knew she was colder to the touch than a normal pony should ever have been.
The royal canterlot voice found its use as Celestia screamed bloody murder. Flocks of birds and animals took off for miles around, and those unlucky enough to be within a half-mile were rendered deaf. No sooner had she finished, her eyes rolled into the back of her skull and she collapsed, snapping the branch that impaled them both.
After a few minutes, a faint sound entered the clearing. Two royal guard pegasi nearly crashed upon spotting their solar princess in the debris. Only after looking closer did they see the lunar princess's body so broken, so cut up, that they both lost what food their stomachs held nearly instantly. After a hasty conversation, one took off to get help, while the other tried to figure out if Celestia was still alive.
The guard returned with a full complement of medics, who rushed over to the pair as soon as they caught sight of Celestia's back stained in blood. They immediately set to work trying to figure out their diarchs' conditions.
The guard who remained stood stoically off to the side, trying his damnedest not to break down at the sight. Instead, he took it upon himself to find out what happened to Luna's wing and horn. The horn was lodged into a tree trunk on the far side of the clearing, and her wing was tangled and impaled in its branches.
Celestia stirred. The medic closest to her perked up. Celestia spoke, her voice a whisper. "Luna."
The medic looked to the ones tending Luna. Three head shakes was her answer. "I'm sorry, Princess. There's nothing we can do…"
Tears flooded Celestia's vision and streaked down her cheeks. "Then let me die. I just got her back. I won't be without her again."
"Princess?" The medic asked.
"Leave me be. Let an old mare finally die," Celestia's tone was only that of surrendering herself. Slowly, one of her hooves stretched over, grasping one of Luna's.
"I'm sorry, Princess, but we cannot do that." The medics that were trying to help Luna made their way over to their remaining Princess.
"I am ordering you to leave." Celestia kept her eyes on Luna's body as she finally broke down, weeping.
"Again, I'm sorry Princess, but we cannot do that."
The whisper was now a shout. "Leave! Get out of here!" Her wings flared, trying to make the wounded now-monarch look more intimidating. The medics stood fast.
Her wings slumped and she relaxed. "Please. For your sakes, not mine."
A few questioning murmurs sounded from the group.
She answered their question, even though she hadn't heard their words. "Because, even if you tried to heal me, I'm not long for this world."
"Princess?"
"My spine is severed behind my wings, my hind legs are broken. I've been bleeding for nopony knows how long, and my sister... my wonderful, caring, loving sister is dead. Because I crushed her in the crash landing!" Celestia resumed wailing, her free hoof flying to her face to try and cover her tears.
Celestia felt a sharp pain in her shoulder and wheeled around to see a lone medic pushing a syringe into her. "W-What are you doing? Stop!"
"Saving your life, Princess," was the medic's choked up reply. "You've lost your sister today. But we don't want to lose both of you..."
"I don't want to live anymore! Please, stop!" The medicine in the syringe spread a numbness through Celestia, and she hated it. She pleaded, "Please. Let me join my sister. I…" Celestia's eyes grew heavy and she trailed off, her head drooping.
The medic bowed his head as Celestia lost consciousness. "I'm sorry, Princess. But we cannot lose both of you…"
Celestia woke to a rhythmic beeping and found herself in a hospital bed. She tried lighting her horn, only to find a suppressor on it. Turning over, she wept despondently into the sheets. Not a soul inside the hospital could mistake her crying for anything but what it was, that of a mare whose family was taken from her.
After a pair of loud knocks, Luna’s door opened and her sister’s head popped in. “Good evening, Luna.”
Luna sat at her armoire as she brushed her cornflower-blue mane. “Good evening, sister. I trust you are doing well?”
Celestia strode up to Luna as she replied, “As I can, yes.” Taking another of Luna’s brushes in her magic, she helped Luna with her combing.
“Is there anything you need, sister?”
“Nope,” Celestia replied simply.
“Then–” Luna found a hoof against her lips.
“I wished to spend some time with you before I headed off to sleep.” Celestia removed her hoof and added another brush, this one running through Luna’s tail.
“I see.” A comfortable silence settled around them for a few minutes.
Celestia tisked, clicking her tongue. Luna looked up to her big sister. “I-I must confess. I lied.” The brushes stopped and were set down on the armoire. “I do have something to ask you, Luna.”
Celestia wrapped her wings around Luna and pulled her into a crushing hug. Luna thought it was some sort of joke, until something started dropping on her head softly. She looked up to see Celestia crying.
Luna burst out, “‘Tia? What is wrong? Why are you–” She couldn’t speak any further as Celestia tightened her grip further and Celestia’s nose bumped against hers.
“I’m sorry… I’m sorry… I’m so, so sorry…” Celestia cried desperately.
“‘Tia! I can’t breathe!”
Celestia suddenly let go, fearing she hurt Luna. Tears flowing faster, she curled into a ball constantly chanting “I’m sorry” over and over.
Luna was thoroughly confused. “‘Tia? What are you sorry for?” Luna nuzzled against her sister’s side.
Celestia’s head rose, looking over to her. “For abandoning you when you needed me!”
“Abandoning… me?” Luna shot her sister a queer look.
“Yes!” Celestia wailed. “I abandoned you, and you became Nightmare Moon!”
Luna was floored. Celestia had punished herself and felt so much guilt over the event, even now? “‘Tia,” Luna spoke determinedly. “Celestia. Look at me.”
Celestia’s head peeked up and she looked at Luna.
Luna put a hoof under Celestia’s chin to make sure she couldn’t look away. “You didn’t abandon me. I…” She looked away ashamedly. “You will hate me for the real reason.”
Celestia immediately uncurled herself and pulled Luna into another hug, much gentler this time. “Never. I could never hate you, Lu. Never in a million years.”
Luna let herself be hugged, but she didn’t believe Celestia one bit. “I… you remember how I seemed to follow you around when I was young?”
Celestia nodded. “I do. You look much like you did back then.”
“There was a reason I suddenly stopped.” Luna gulped. “It was my feelings. For you.”
Celestia said nothing, waiting for Luna to continue.
Luna buried her head in her sister’s fur and she whispered, “‘Tia… I love you.”
“And I love you too, Luna.”
“No, sister. I love you,” Luna put emphasis on the word love to make her point. Celestia stiffened, but otherwise hadn’t reacted. Luna took that as her cue to continue, “I followed you around because I thought it was some stupid crush.” She took a deep breath. “After awhile, I realized it wasn’t. I… didn’t want to push these feelings on you, and make you feel disgusted. Or worse, obligated to return them.”
“So I hid myself away. I refused to meet with anypony, thinking they somehow knew my secret. Worst of all, I hid from you so I wouldn’t have to deal with my feelings. I stopped sleeping for the same reason.” Luna tightened her grip on her sister’s barrel. “But that left me lonely, so I threw myself into my work.” Luna laughed sadly. “That was what caused it. The Nightmare caught me off guard after several weeks straight of working without sleep.”
Luna released Celestia and stood back, looking her in the eye as tears threatened to fall. “And now, rather than cause it all over again, I would rather tell you so we can get me fixed. So I can be normal.”
“Fixed?” Celestia stared at Luna, her mask betraying her internal conflict. “Luna. There’s nothing to fix.” Luna looked up at her sister. “You’re not broken, Luna. I… will admit being surprised by your confession, but you are not broken.” She scooped Luna into a wing.
“D-Don’t you find it disgusting?” Luna mewled. “That I am in love with my sister?” Celestia walked over to the bed and laid down, laying Luna on her belly.
“No, Luna. I don’t.” Celestia’s head moved down to kiss Luna under her horn. “I see my beautiful little sister who loves me as much as I do her.”
Luna jerked, nearly pushing her horn into Celestia’s nose. An instant later, Celestia cut off any attempted reply with her lips pressing firmly against Luna’s. After a few seconds, she pulled back.
“I love you too, Luna. Once you were gone, all I could think of was my sister.” Celestia turned away. “While you were in the moon, those feelings of loneliness and longing turned into guilt and shame. I found myself dreaming of you constantly, and all those little things you used to do for me before your banishment… I’ve fallen for you, Luna.” She turned back and poked Luna’s nose with a hoof. “If you’re broken, then so am I. And I don’t want to be fixed. I just want to love my sister.”
“Then, why did you break down earlier?” Luna moved forward, nuzzling Celestia.
Celestia sighed. “I couldn’t admit my feelings for you. My guilt broke my resolve.”
“That’s it?” Luna snuggled into her sister’s warmth.
“That’s it.”
“‘Tia?” Luna craned her neck up to see Celestia looking down at her.
“Yes?”
“We’re both idiots,” Luna spoke with the honesty usually only a child could manage.
Celestia burst out laughing, Luna joining shortly after. After a moment, they calmed down. “Yes, Lu. Yes we are.”
Twilight stood at the edge of a cliff. Looking down apprehensively, she flapped her brass-colored mechanical wings twice, feeling their power start to lift her from her hooves.
Luna stood next to her, watching her marefriend’s apprehension. “You are sure you want to do this?”
The mechanical wings folded back up at Twilight’s side. “I have to, Lu. I must follow through with this experiment. After all, I triple-checked my numbers, and have successfully hovered for several minutes without winding myself or crashing.” The unicorn turned, stepping away from the edge.
Luna heard Twilight mumble something softly. “What was that, my little star?”
Twilight partially turned her head back to her lover, a tear in her visible eye. “If… if I fall, will you catch me?”
Luna stepped toward Twilight, wrapping a wing about the unicorn-turned-faux-alicorn. “Most certainly, my little star. I would not let you fall unless I fell with you.”
Twilight nuzzled the blue alicorn’s neck. “Then jump with me. It would make me feel safer to see you with me.”
Luna released her little unicorn. “I would love to, Twilight.”
As one, both ponies turned and sprinted for the cliff’s edge, their wings spread. At the last second, they both leapt over the edge, into new adventures.
Two years later, Twilight stood at the same cliff she’d once leapt off with Luna to complete her experiment. This time around, her wings were real.
Her then-marefriend and now-fiance, Luna, spoke softly only a few meters away. “You have the same expression.”
Twilight shot a confused look to Luna as she approached the larger mare. “What do you mean?”
“Two years ago. You had the same look on your face with those mechanical wings.” Luna chuckled lightly. “Your real ones look much more beautiful than those did, by the way.”
Twilight blushed lightly at the praise. “Y-you really think so?”
Luna stepped forward and nuzzled along one of Twilight’s wings. “I know so, my little star. Those mechanical ones were so… cold and, I know it is an obvious truth, artificial. Truth be told, I did not like them on you. Those artificial wings did not suit you like these ones do.”
Twilight reluctantly pulled away from Luna, back to the cliff’s edge. “Well, we do have an experiment to perform, then.”
“Oh?” Luna followed her, standing at her side.
Twilight nodded. “Yeah. Are my wings better than those mechanical ones?”
“We both know my thoughts on the subject,” Luna stated simply.
Another nod. “We do. But you know I must have the numbers to back it up.”
“Or what, you’ll cut your wings off and replace them with those mechanical wings?” Luna turned and looked at Twilight’s wings.
Twilight looked shocked at her fiance’s morbid joke. “Never. That means I’ll just practice and train until I can beat them.”
Luna smirked before brushing a wing along Twilight’s back. “Well then, my little star, let us perform an experiment.” Luna winked. “And do not worry. Just like last time, if you fall, I shall catch you.”
Twilight blushed at the contact before nodding. “Let’s get started.” Both ponies dashed to the edge, much like last time, leaping as one into another adventure.
Celestia found herself awake, sitting up and panting hard in the middle of the night. She had this unexplained feeling that a storm was brewing, despite the weather forecast saying otherwise.
Fearing something was wrong, she got out of bed and headed into the bathroom. After a glass of water and spending a few minutes in front of the mirror, the feeling went away. Sufficiently calmed down, Celestia headed back to bed and was quickly asleep again.
Little did she know, her feeling was right.
Night Court was boring. Princess Luna knew that much after several months. With her court’s hours in the middle of the night, hardly anypony outside her own Nocti came to see her.
“Herald, I am done with this farce for the night. Night Court is over until tomorrow night,” she spoke. Her herald nodded and signaled to the guards around the room. Luna sighed defeatedly before getting up and walking out of the throne room.
She soon found herself wandering the gardens. Absentmindedly she spoke, “Alas, I wonder if dear Twilight is still awake? She does seem to spend some time during mine moonlit hours.”
The wind kicked up and Luna felt something pass through her mane. As she turned to see what had gotten caught up, something else tapped her chest. Her mane forgotten, she looked down to her peytral and found a little white note stuck to it. The wind died down, almost so the note wouldn’t get blown away.
She plucked it off herself and held it up to her nose. ‘I don’t know what this is,’ it read. The wind kicked up again and she felt a tap on one of her wings, followed closely by two taps on her head, one on her neck, and one on her flank. The mysterious wind died down and she noticed she had more notes stuck to her.
She scooped them up and read them. ‘Pretty wing,’ the one on her wing read, the original one, stuck in her mane read, ‘Beautiful mane’. One stuck to her horn was simply ‘Long horn,’ followed by what appeared to be a heart. Thoroughly confused, she started walking as she read the rest. ‘Adorable ear’ brought a blush to her cheeks and was followed by two simple ones, ‘Neck’ and ‘Crown’.
The one stuck to her flank had been simply the words ‘Beautiful, shapely flanks’ and turned her blushing cheeks to a full-fledged body blush. ‘Applebucking thighs’ read the one attached to a rear leg, and Luna was quickly becoming hot under the collar, so to speak.
Before she could read the last one, the wind kicked up once more and blew the notes into her face. A final note was stuck directly to her nose and the wind stopped again. ‘Cute face’ it read. Luna reared up in surprise.
Before anything else could happen, Luna, her fur more purple than blue currently, took off out of the gardens in a full gallop, subconsciously grabbing all the white notes she’d found.
Except one. A nearby bush had a lone white note on it, ‘Hiding bush’, from which a magenta glow occasionally flashed.
“Good morrow, sister!” Luna called out as Celestia entered the dining hall. As she sat next to her sister, Celestia thought Luna looked different. Happier, perhaps.
“‘Tia, I have encountered the strangest conundrum last night. I had called off Night Court early and ventured out into the gardens. Every time the wind seemed to kick up, I found myself bearing these white notes.” Luna offered a few to her sister to inspect.
Celestia looked them over. ‘Let’s see what these are all about. ‘Neck’, ‘Cute face’, ‘Adorable ear’? Oh Twilight. I see you’ve fallen quite hard for her. Do I tell Luna, though?’ As she was thinking, another note appeared, silently and softly sticking itself to Celestia, this time. Luna noticed and picked it up.
“Luna, I–”
“‘Tia! Another note! This one was on you!” Luna exclaimed, all but shoving the note into her sister’s face.
‘Big, white, squishy teacher’ she read before chuckling. Her chuckling turned into laughing, and further evolved into full-on immobilizing guffaws as she laid on her back on the floor. Luna, who didn’t understand the joke, shot a queer look at Celestia.
After a few minutes, Celestia calmed down and sat upright again. “She wiped a tear away from her eye with a wingtip. “Oh Twilight… never change.”
“Twilight…” Luna repeated softly. Celestia almost missed it.
Celestia’s ears pinned back. “Well, the cat’s out of the bag now. Yes, this was all Twilight’s doing. She has this habit of flirting with ponies she likes, like this.”
“‘Tia, I-what?” Celestia looked over to see Luna’s truly confused expression. She was lost, floundering, and not entirely sure if this was a joke or not.
“Let me explain,” Celestia spoke. Luna gratefully nodded and set the notes off to the side.
“Until relatively recently, Twilight’s pretty much been a recluse, that much you know.” Luna nodded. “Only when you came back did she have any friends that weren’t myself, Spike, her brother, or Princess Cadance.” That shocked Luna, she thought Twilight had more friends than that before that fateful Summer Sun Celebration.
“Well, when she was younger, she took a liking of myself and Cadance. Instead of facing her fears and trying to ask one of us to be her special somepony, she used sticky notes.” Celestia pointed at the little pile on the table. “In fact, these are likely from the same pad from those years ago…” Luna nodded, following along.
“Well, neither of us knew who kept putting these little notes on us for a few days, until we compared notes, so to speak.” Celestia looked out a window, sighing wistfully. “In hindsight, I should’ve recognized her hornwriting earlier, but that’s beside the point.” Celestia pointed to the notes. “She was crushing on myself and then Cadance, hard.”
Celestia’s ears pinned back and her tone turned sorrowful. “I will admit, the attention and compliments were nice, but… she was still a young filly, and my student. She eventually grew out of the phase, but I believe Cadance spoke to her about it as well. The notes seemed to stop suddenly.”
“‘Tia, what are you saying?”
Celestia looked her sister in the eyes. “I’ll put this simply. Twilight is flirting with you.”
“Flirting?” Luna tilted her head to the side very slightly.
A note appeared in between them. Luna snagged it. ‘Flirting, the act of trying to catch a specific pony’s attention romantically.’
“I see,” was all Luna said after reading the note. She suddenly leaned closer and whispered into her sister’s ear. “How do I let her know that I wish to be with her romantically?”
Celestia’s eyes widened for a fraction of a second. She whispered back, “You could try finding her and asking her yourself, or…” Celestia’s horn lit and a pad of blue notes appeared. “You could flirt back…” She winked.
Luna smiled. “I shall do just that, ‘Tia.” She wrapped Celestia in a big hug before snagging the note pad and taking off.
Celestia sighed happily. “Ah, young love…”
A final note appeared, blue, not white, before settling down on Celestia’s muzzle. ‘Thank you, best sister ever’ it read.
"Ha ha! What loot have I acquired, Dungeon Master?" Princess Luna decried as she beamed over to Shining Armor.
He ruffled through his sheets and several dice were rolled before he paled slightly, if it was possible. Looking to his wife, Cadance, and his former-boss Princess Celestia, he squeaked out as non-threateningly as possible, "You search the orc titan and find two unidentified items. One is a magic-class pair of wingblades, and the other..." He swallowed nervously. "The other is a legendary-class tower shield."
Luna practically glowed with excitement. "Another legendary item? That makes five tonight!" She looked over to her sister and niece, to see Cadance seething with rage.
She wasn't the first to speak up, Celestia's wings flaring wide as she beat Cady to the punch. "Seriously? Another legendary?" Shining Armor was left as the target of her righteous fury.
Not only for herself, but Cadance as well, Celestia's seemingly infinite patience had run out, and her rant had begun.
"Seriously, Shining?" Her ears perked and her eyes narrowed. "In the last three sessions, Luna's gotten twelve unidentified legendaries." An angry groan escaped Cadance as they both attempted to stare him into submission. "While Cadance and myself combined have only four. That we only have because we found and bought them in the marketplace!"
Luna attempted to defend him, "Sister, niece, please calm down. It seems luck favors me again tonig-"
That only drew Cadance's voice calmly, "Aunt Luna, please, do not get into this mess. It's been several sessions coming, now."
Shining was no longer visible behind his divider as Celestia's pitch increased. "Any unidentified legendaries we found were, when identified, not actually legendary. One of mine was a damned uncommon for Harmony's sake. The rest were all useless rares that our current equipment eclipsed!"
Cadance tapped Celestia's wing with one of her own. That seemed to shock Celestia from her rant. Her head fell and her ears splayed back. Shocked at her own outburst, she apologized, "I-I am sorry about that. I know you're trying this new 'randomized loot system', but I cannot help but feel cheated with this insanity. I'm sure it will even out eventually, but Cady and I are barely keeping up here!" She muttered the rest of her statement too low for anypony but Cadance to hear. "Disallowing trading and sharing also seems like kind of a stupid thing, too." A small thump sounded as Celestia's rump hit the floor. "At least I'm nearing the end of an epic weapon quest. Just a few more shards of light and I can forge Skoll."
Shining peeked over his divider to see Celestia and Cadance looking especially tired. Timidly he said, "I'm definitely going to work on this system. I still think it's a good base, though."
“So, was it worth all this fighting?” Nightmare asked as they watched their little daughter, Nebula, start running around the room, chasing after Philomena. Celestia made sure that the phoenix knew not to harm the little one, but didn’t mind if the two played together.
“What do you mean?” Twilight replied.
Nightmare looked out a nearby window, sunset quickly approaching. “This.” She motioned to herself, then to Twilight, and finally to the little filly and phoenix that played nearby. “All of this. Us. Nebula.”
Twilight’s mind brought dozens upon dozens of memories back. Nightmare showing up again, surrendering to Twilight. Luna unhappy about Nightmare’s continued survival. Being chosen to reform the ex-villain. Graduation day and Nightmare’s proclamation as a ‘normal’ pony. Discovering the ridicule and discrimination that had hounded Nightmare for months and months after her ‘supposed reformation’. Luna finally relenting and forgiving Nightmare.
A cry brought her back to reality as Philomena finally got caught by the little pegasus, losing a single fiery feather to the foal’s mouth. Philomena, instinctively going to retaliate, was drawn into a hug from the little foal and Nebula offered her the feather back. It seemed not even a phoenix could withstand those pleading little eyes.
Then her mind turned to more secretive memories. Comforting a distraught Nightmare after a particularly bad day. A suggestion for something to eat. Going out and having hard cider. Waking up the next morning entangled with her previous ‘student’, totally at peace. An awkward period leading from friendship to dating. Kisses stolen in supposed secrecy. Dating leading to an announcement of a royal wedding. Absolute outrage from Canterlot’s nobility, and both their names slung through the mud. The wedding held in Ponyville’s castle instead.
Nightmare’s wing wrapped around Twilight, who flexed one in return and mixed her feathers with Nightmare’s. Looking up, she smiled as Nightmare sighed contentedly watching their daughter play and learn.
A warm feeling suffused her heart as more recent memories came to light. Wanting a foal. Conceive or adopt? Arguments for and against, on both sides. Nightmare relenting and searching local orphanages. Finding one little infant who captured two hearts with one giggle.
After an exhausting Nightmare Night festival, Princess Luna and Twilight Sparkle retired to their shared chambers to rest. The door opened and the pair practically dragged themselves through. In their magic, each pony had a large bag of candy and was roughly deposited in one corner for later.
Twilight took one look at their bed and yawned loudly. “That was fun.”
Luna was already halfway to the bed. She blinked once, “Indeed. That was entirely too much fun, but ‘tis time now for rest.” She climbed in, nearly toppling over into the satin sheets. Rolling onto her back, her wings spread and she moaned lewdly before slipping under the blanket. “Oh, that feels so nice…”
Twilight, blushing hard from Luna’s moan, climbed in right behind her, snuggling right into Luna’s larger form. Yawning again, much like a cat, she whispered, “G’night Luna.”
Luna wrapped her hooves around Twilight’s barrel, pulling the smaller alicorn close. “Sweet dreams, love,” she replied before closing her eyes.
Twilight stirred, some noise rousing her from a deep sleep. She lifted her head up and looked around to try and find the noise’s source. After several seconds she found nothing and snuggled back into her big, fluffy, blue, alicorn-shaped pillow and was asleep in seconds.
Several minutes later, she woke up again. Again, a sound disturbed her. More awake this time, she lit her horn and looked for a minute. After hearing nothing but silence, she laid her head back down to get back to sleep.
After a minute, a colossal snore ripped through the room. Now Twilight was awake. She looked at Luna, just in time for the alicorn to shift her position and snore loudly again, right into Twilight’s face.
Blinking twice, Twilight thought, ‘I’m not dealing with this now…’ She slipped out of Luna’s grasp and headed for the doors. As she reached them, she wrote a small note for Luna, stating that she’d be sleeping in Celestia’s room, and would explain later. Pinning the note to Luna’s horn and timing opening the door so as to not disturb the rest of the castle with Luna’s vigorous snores, she exited surprising the guards outside.
A small trek down a stairwell, two hallways, and back up another stairwell, she arrived at Celestia’s room. The guards looked at her funny, but didn’t stop her from entering Celestia’s room.
No sooner had she closed the door when a familiar noise ripped through the room. Twilight stood shocked. ‘Oh come on! I just want to sleep!’ She exited Celestia’s room, and made her way back to her own and Luna’s room. Yawning as she approached the door, she struck upon an idea. She retrieved a pillow and two spare blankets from her room, and made her way to the hallway, the guards giving her a queer look the entire time.
Setting the pillow on the floor outside, next to one of the guards, she finally noticed the looks. “What?”
“What are you doing out here, your highness? Aren’t you supposed to be sleeping?” The farther away of the pair asked.
“I can’t sleep. Luna’s snoring.” She laid a blanket down on the marble flooring, and a pillow on top of that.
“So? Begging your pardon ma’am, she always snores,” the other adds.
“Not like this. I’m just gonna sleep out here.” Twilight yawned and laid down on the blanket and pillow, tossing the second blanket on top of herself. She waved a hoof. “You two… just go about whatever you were doing.”
They share a look and shrug, returning to guarding two of the three triarchs.
Luna woke up feeling absolutely divine. Sitting up, she noticed Twilight was missing and a note was stuck on the tip of her horn. After reading the note, she got up and made her way out into the hall. The guards were standing in place, but were smiling softly and watching something just out of view. They hadn’t noticed her yet, so Luna investigated and found Twilight sleeping soundly next to one of them.
A soft little snore escaped Twilight, and one of the guards physically suppressed a giggle. “Yes, she’s adorable when she snores like that.” Almost as if one being, the pair jumped and spun to find Luna smiling cheekily. They opened their mouths, but Luna’s magic shut them just as quickly. She softly spoke, “No, no. I don’t need to hear any excuses. Twas but a simple prank. Anyways, what might be the reason my beloved Twilight is sleeping out here, instead of with me, or barring that, her mentor and mine sister?”
The magic around their muzzles ceased and the guard to her right opened her mouth, “Sorry. She said something about you snoring.” They both cringed, expecting a reprimand. After a moment, they looked back to their charge to find her thoughtfully looking to Twilight.
“Ah. I figured that might be the case.” Both guards raised an eyebrow questioningly. “When truly exhausted, and resting peacefully, both myself and mine sister do snore a fair bit.” That explanation garnered a knowing nod from both guards.
Luna’s horn lit and she levitated Twilight, blankets and all, back toward their room. “Now that I’m up, I’ll let her have the bed. Please, send for me when she wakes.” She tucked Twilight in, kissing her on the forehead, before making her way back out into the hallway.
‘It’s a beautiful morning.’ She spread her wings and launched out an open window.
I wasn't prepared for this... - Twilestia Lightning Prompt
Twilight looked up at Mount Canterhorn worriedly from a nearby hill. She scanned the skies for what seemed to be the thousandth time before the adrenaline wore off.
Celestia, in her infinite wisdom, had sent her a forewarning letter. They’d been exchanging letters for near Twilight’s whole life, but this one was different. Spike complained about abdominal pain for a minute before he belched it up, and the letter itself was a deep scarlet. The ribbon sealing it closed was the same color, with a single gold-colored stripe down the right side.
Twilight brought the letter to her eyes again. The script written on it was golden in color as well, but only held few hastily scribbled words. Even after the dozenth time reading it in as many minutes, Twilight shivered in fear of the implications.
Twilight, Luna’s coming. She knows. Celestia
“Something troubling you, Twilight?” Twilight jumped into the air at the voice, her wings trying to help her put some distance between herself and the voice. Landing a short distance away, she finally looked around and noticed that Princess Luna had arrived.
Luna repeated, “Is something troubling you, Twilight?” Twilight shrunk slightly at Luna’s stern expression.
“N-No, Luna. Nothing is w-wrong!” she stammered, her wings refusing to fold back at her sides.
Luna took a step toward the crystal castle, “Then, may I speak to you in private?”
“What a-about?” Twilight curled back again, as if struck.
“I cannot say out here.”
Twilight stood up stiffly, like a prisoner on their way to the hangman’s noose. She whispered, “Pinkie promise…”
Luna only heard sound from Twilight, but not what she’d said. “What are you talking about?”
“Pinkie promise…” was the reply, a little louder this time.
“Pinkie promise what, Twilight?” Luna was starting to get annoyed now, Twilight wasn’t making any sense.
Shaking, Twilight added, “Pinkie promise you won’t hurt me!”
Sighing softly, Luna sat down and mimed out the Pinkie Pie Promise to Twilight, “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye, I will never hurt you with this conversation, Twilight.”
“Nopony breaks a Pinkie promise, ever!” Pinkie shouted, popping out from behind a tree. Sliding behind it, she disappeared again.
Twilight sighed, relaxing visibly. “A-Alright. Let’s go inside.” She stepped up to Luna, continuing on to the Crystal Castle tree.
Luna nodded as Twilight passed and fell in behind her.
Luna marvelled at the castle tree’s interior. It looked much like the Crystal palace that Cadance and Shining Armor now lived in. Twilight led the pair up to her own bedroom suite, shutting the door behind them.
She pulled out a pair of cushions, one for herself and offered the second to Luna. “So, what did you wish to talk about, Luna?” she asked as she settled down, hoping Luna wouldn’t drop straight into her fears.
“I know what you and Celestia have been doing lately.” Luna smirked slyly, settling into her own cushion.
Twilight’s mouth opened wide and she sputtered uselessly. After a moment, she recovered, “I…”
Luna held a hoof up. “Don’t mistake me.” She shook her head and brought Celestia’s letter out. “I saw what dear ‘Tia had sent, and it made it look like I was mad. I am not.” Twilight quirked an eyebrow. “I merely wish to offer my congratulations. My sister is not easily wooed.”
“W-What?” Twilight’s tail flicked once in agitation.
“Twilight, since you two have started courting, my sister has been happier than I’d ever seen her.”
Luna stood and brought her cushion next to Twilight’s, and settled down next to her. “Now, I’m still going to have to give you the ‘Big sibling’ speech, but I can save that for after our formal duel.”
Twilight’s wings shot wide, “D-Duel?”
Now Luna was confused. “Why are you so confused? Did you not know about the formal duel for her hoof?”
Twilight was speechless, her eyes wide.
“She did not tell you?” Luna sighed as Twilight’s pupils shrunk to tiny dots. “There is an obscure law. It went into effect after Celestia noticed more than a few courtiers attempting to woo me at a very young age. It stated that any that wish to court one of us must win a formal duel with the other sister.”
Twilight fell over onto the floor. Luna checked to make sure she was still conscious before continuing, “Celestia never took any suitors, so I never was forced to duel anypony, though she has several hundred victories to hers over my suitors over the centuries.”
“Twilight, are you still listening?” Twilight’s ear twitched in her direction and she took it as a sign to continue, “I will not go easy on you, Twilight Sparkle. If you wish to continue courting my sister, you must prove yourself worthy. In one week, we shall duel. If you win, you shall be allowed to continue courting her. If I shall prevail, then you must break it off with her, never to attempt again.”
Twilight was lifted into her own bed and set down gently. “I will send you a letter to the same effect on the ‘morrow. Rest peacefully, Twilight Sparkle, you will need all the help you can get.”
Tears in her eyes, Celestia looked out of her tower’s balcony, out into the streets below. They had no idea. If she had her way, they never would. The day her most faithful student and lover was taken from her, forever.
~Twenty years ago~
“Princess? What is your decis-” Celestia’s focus flitted away from the court in front of her as a message from Twilight arrived.
Celestia
Something’s wrong with Twilight. She’s not well. She says not to tell you, but whatever’s affecting her, it’s beyond her capability. Please help.
Spike
Celestia’s eyes scanned the document again. And once more to make sure she’d read it correctly.
“Princess?” her assistant asked.
She stood quickly. “I-I’ve got to go. Urgent business. Court is cancelled for the rest of the day.” She spread her wings and was airborne within moments. Please be safe, Twilight.
Tearing away from Canterlot, she made her way past Ponyville, to the Everfree Forest. Twilight had been staying with Zecora, learning about Zebra magic and the shamaness’ own alchemical practices.
Alighting just outside, she saw Spike standing just outside. He’d grown much in the following years since Twilight had become a princess, and now almost stood at Luna’s height. He rushed up to her. “Celestia! I’m glad you came.”
Spike led the way to the door. “She and Zecora are just inside.” He opened the door and stepped through, Celestia following on his heels. The stench of sickness hit her nose hard as she passed though, and coughed lightly.
“S-Spike… Is that you?” A voice rasped. Celestia’s attention quickly diverted from the smell to the pony speaking. Twilight. Her beautiful, intelligent, loving Twilight. Now her feathers were falling out, her fur was matted with sweat and she looked almost like death warmed over. She spied Zecora tending to her, currently swapping a washcloth off her forehead.
“Yeah, I’m here Twilight.” He quickly moved to her side and joined Zecora. Twilight dissolved into a coughing fit, her frame shaking with each rasp.
Zecora startled as she noticed Celestia and Spike. He held a claw over her mouth and shh’d her before shooing her away. “I’ve got her, you fill ‘our guest’ in.”
Zecora nodded before motioning Celestia away from the sick mare. Leaning up to the larger mare she whispered, “Princess Celestia, what a surprise to see ya.”
“Spike sent for me. I did not know Twilight was unwell.”
Zecora nodded. Both ponies looked over to Spike as he covered her shivering form in several blankets. “How she became unwell is a mystery. All I can do is tend to her, you see.”
“When did she fall ill?” Celestia’s eyes watered slightly.
Zecora held a hoof to her chin. “It was three days ago, I believe. After a venture to that castle with an item to retrieve.”
Twilight’s coughing worsened. Spike became frantic. “I-Help! Zecora!”
Zecora hopped into action. “Spike, some healing salve I see. Bring that to me, quickly!”
Spike quickly retrieved the salve and set it next to her as she set to work. “Is there anything I can do?”
“Ce-Celestia?” Everypony froze. “W-What are you doing here?” Her head lifted and she looked, more squinted, right into Celestia’s eyes.
Spike looked guilty. “I sent a letter asking her to come.”
“If I had known sooner…”
“Celestia.” Twilight coughed once, dislodging the cloth on her forehead. “I-I’m glad you’re here, actually.”
“What do you mean, Twilight?” Celestia stepped forward.
“Twilight, any information you can provide, hopefully a cure we can find.” Zecora replaced the cloth.
“No. I’m not getting better.” Her head fell back down onto the mattress she lay on. “I know that–” she coughed again, “–now.”
“Twi? You’re gonna–” Spike’s voice pleaded to her.
She shook her head weakly. “No, Spike, I won’t. I can feel it, and I’ve accepted it. It’s not time yet, but it will be soon.”
“Twilight? May I?” Celestia gestured to the blankets.
“I would love nothing more, Celestia.” Twilight nodded. Zecora discreetly left the three alone for the time Twilight had left.
Tears in her eyes, Celestia moved forward and cast aside the blankets before settling in next to Twilight, wrapping a massive white wing around the dying mare. She listened to Twilight’s weakly beating heart for a moment before coming to a decision. Discretely, she scanned Twilight magically. Some kind of poison was circulating in her blood, slowly throttling her heart.
She rested her head on top of Twilight’s, lending her her warmth. Her heart ached for the little mare under her wing, there was nothing she could do. Spike sat on the floor next to them, still intent on staying.
Several hours passed as the three exchanged stories and memories. Twilight’s heart continued to slow before Twilight weakly interrupted her story. “It-It’s time.” Tears started falling quickly. “I-I’m sorry Spike. I’m sorry Celestia.”
As a final act, Twilight’s head raised and she kissed Celestia on the lips before falling limp against her. Slowly, her eyes lost their sharpness, dulling completely. Her body relaxed softly in Celestia’s embrace, all the strain from the pain wracking her body fading as she did.
Celestia had frozen at the final kiss. This wasn’t supposed to happen to either of us. Not for a long, very long time.
“Twi? Twilight?” He reached for her chest and felt for her heartbeat. After a moment of silence, he broke down in tears.
Celestia and Spike remained with Twilight’s body until dusk. Celestia’s horn ached, but she ignored it. Luna could take care of setting the sun and raising the moon for the night. Twilight needed her here. Her friends needed to be told, her parents, her brother and Cadance.
~Present time~
The dusk gave way to night as Luna set the sun and raised the moon. Shortly after, a knock sounded and Luna entered and shut the door behind her.
Luna’s voice sounded softly. “Tia? How are you holding up?”
Choking back a sob Celestia replied, “I… I’m not okay. Please stay with me, Luna.”
Luna hurried over and immediately hugged her sister. “Of course, Tia. Any time you need me, you need but ask.”
Celestia folded into Luna’s embrace and broke down weeping. “Why did she have to die?”
Luna looked out into Canterlot as she held her sister. “I do not know, Tia. I wish there was something we could have done…”
Hearth's Warming - Twilestia Collab Christmas Special
“‘Tia?” a young Twilight looked up at her ex-teacher-turned-mentor inquisitively as they lay sipping hot cocoa in front of a fireplace.
“Yes, Twilight?” Celestia’s head came down to her level.
“Is there anything you would like for Hearth’s Warming?”
Celestia looked down and nuzzled Twilight softly for a moment. After she pulled back, she looked Twilight in the eyes and responded, “Nope.”
“Nothing?” Twilight’s head tilted and her ears focused solely on Celestia.
“Nada.” Celestia’s smile was genuine.
A second later, Twilight was on her hooves running off to the door. “But… but that can’t be true! Everypony wants something for Hearth’s Warming!”
“I’ve already got what I want for Hearth’s Warming, Twilight.” A golden aura surrounded Twilight and plucked her from the ground. She was returned to Celestia’s side and set down, a wing wrapping over her tightly. “You’re here. Luna’s safe. That’s all I wanted for Hearth’s Warming.”
A crash resounded from outside the room. The pair exchanged looks before a voice rumbled the castle. “Darn it! Almost had it that time!”
They grinned knowingly. “Well, mostly safe. But it’s the thought that counts.”
Twilight leaned into Celestia’s warmth. “We should probably save the kitchen staff from her.”
Celestia shrugged, but made no move to get up. “Probably. Still, she’ll have to learn to cook sooner or later, might as well be now.”
“‘Tia, we really sh-” Celestia interrupted her by leaning forward and capturing Twilight’s lips in a kiss. Twilight molded against her, the objection lost to the winds.
“Confound this infernal kitchen! Have at thee!” a voice rattled the door and windows as it boomed through the room, followed by a dozen crashes.
Celestia’s eyes flew open and she pulled away hurriedly. “Luna? No! Don’t destroy the kitchen!”
Dazedly, Twilight was left behind, a goofy smile on her face. A moment later another crash shook her from her state and she quickly shot out the door after her lover, laughing heartily the entire way.
A rough coughing resounded through the district as Twilight made her way through them, on her way to the coughing’s source. As she rounded the last corner to gaze upon Canterlot’s finest armoring forge, the alicorn checked her tray again. There normally weren’t guards posted at the door, but the pair currently posted kept peering questioningly at the closed oaken doors.
Trotting up to the doors, she knocked. “Princess? It’s Twilight. I’m back,” she spoke clearly. The coughing stopped for a few seconds as the doors clicked open. Taking the initiative, she parted them slightly and strode in.
Stepping past the threshold, she was assaulted with heat. Immediately, she cast a fire-heat resistance spell on herself and her tray. Delving deeper into the forge, she reached the forge’s chamber and saw it was blasting at capacity and burning brightly. She looked about and saw several differing, yet unanimously in-progress, sets of armor, hastily strewn across ponykins. A rasping cough interrupted her introspection and she gazed inside the hearth. Her wings ruffled in agitation as she flinched from the cough.
“Welcome back, Twilight. Did you get it?” Celestia asked, laying inside, with a wing covering something in the middle. A purple claw reached out from under her wing to a nearby bowl and withdrew several gems before retreating.
“I did!” Twilight nodded before stepping forward and into the hearth. She set the tray next to the bowl and laid down next to Celestia’s outstretched wing. Nuzzling under the feathers, and only purposely tickling Celestia slightly, she stretched her head to see the wing’s occupant, Spike.
He looked a mess, phlegm dripping from his smoking nostrils and bloodshot eyes barely open. He’d caught a dragon’s version of a cold, where his body lost the ability to produce its own heat to fight the illness. In dragon culture, they’d spend a week in a volcano and cared for by their immediate family, not unlike with a sick pony. Having no dragon family, his pony family had to take up those roles and a large enough forge was commandeered to provide the body heat necessary.
“Hey Spike, I got more gems. Are you feeling any better, or do we need to stoke the fire some more?” Twilight asked, her voice trembling somewhat seeing her son-slash-brother in such a state.
Spike shivered a little and groaned out, “More heat, please. I feel so cold…” He curled up against Celestia, his other ‘mother’s’ body, her connection with the sun giving her a far greater body temperature than a normal pony’s and doing wonders to help drive the cold sensation away.
Twilight nodded and retreated from under Celestia’s wing. She stood and nuzzled Celestia, kissing her nose once before saying, “He’s still cold, I’m gonna stoke the fires some more.” Celestia nodded once and tightened her wing around Spike slightly. “Hopefully we’ll have enough fuel in supply.”
Celestia leaned into her fiancée’s nuzzle before responding, “If we don’t, we can put an emergency requisition in from the other forges in the area.” She shrugged her free wing. “Failing that, we can always have more shipped in by train.”
Twilight nodded and left the hearth, going around to the bellows in the rear. Telekinetically, she lifted several hundred pounds of coal and spread it evenly underneath the hearth and pumping the bellows a few times. The flames underneath surged, licking the grate that Spike and Celestia rested upon. Celestia let out an audible giggle as one particular flametip tickled her cutie mark.
The coughing ceased after a short time as Twilight returned and laid down opposite Celestia from Spike, adding her own wing above Celestia’s. She ducked her head under their wings and noticed that Spike was now sleeping again, more peacefully this time.
She retreated, giving him space, but not before hearing, “Thanks, mom.”
Smiling brightly, she closed a little distance with her son and fiancée, letting her form rest against his as she lay her neck across Celestia’s. Celestia returned the favor, nuzzling against Twilight’s neck. Both ponies joined Spike in a restful slumber, inside a blazing forge.
In one of Canterlot’s tallest towers... in a darkened room, despite the near-evening sun, a princess was playing.
A plushie of Twilight Sparkle, sans her new wings, sat at a miniature table, with matching miniature teapot and cups. “Oh, Princess… I can’t thank you enough for inviting me out here for tea!” a high-pitched, yet remarkably good rendition of her voice echoed from behind her.
Several hooffalls echoed off the carpet before the plushie opposite her waggled a little as she spoke, also in a remarkable rendition of the real voice, “It was no problem, Twilight. To be honest, I found myself missing your presence of late. I wondered if you had an afternoon free, and here we are.”
A couple more hoofalls sounded in the room. A teacup was levitated to Twilight’s mouth before being set down gently. “Princess, I must confess something,” the Twilight-plushie seemed to deflate slightly, head bowing down.
Celestia-plushie sat still where she was. “Oh? What might that be, Twilight?”
“I love you.” In the background, a single dramatic note played on a piano.
The table between them was upended as the Celestia-plushie exclaimed, “Oh! I love you too, Twilight! But we cannot be together…” Another, more dramatic note played.
“But, Princess, why not?” The Twilight-plushie stood tall, despite being inanimate, its stance was fearful.
“Because…” The note rose in pitch. The Twilight-plushie leaned in.
“I love…” Another step up.
“Another.” The piano played a crescendo note before going silent.
“But, Princess. Who is this pony?” The Twilight-plushie fell over dramatically.
“She is…” The piano started, playing two climbing notes.
“You!” Another two steps up. “I love you!”
“Marry me, Princess!” A blue magical aura set the Twilight-plushie upright, much closer to Celestia-plushie.
“I cannot.” Celestia plushie-turned around. The piano started again, playing a dramatic tune.
“Please?”
“Only if you kiss me now.” Celestia-plushie was turned around again.
“Okay!”
“Mwah, mwah!” The two plushies’ mouths met, despite being inanimate. They were mashed together haphazardly as–
The room’s door opened suddenly. A white pony stepped through. “Luna, are you ready to raise the Moon?”
Luna scrambled to pick up the plushies and hide them from the intruder’s view. “Yes! Just give me a minute!”
“Alright, Lulu.” Celestia chuckled lightly.
“Did… did you see anything?” Luna asked quietly.
Celestia stepped inside and shut the door. “No, Luna. I didn’t see you playing with your plushies again.”
“You… didn’t?” Luna’s voice squeaked slightly.
“Of course I did. I just wanted to let you, the intimidating Princess of the Night, know that your secret is safe with me. You don’t play with plushies when you think nopony is watching. Especially not producing romantic soap operas.”
Luna coughed once. “Of course, sister. Give me a few minutes to freshen up, and I will be out shortly to raise the Moon.”
“I’ll see you then, Luna.” Celestia stepped out, shutting the door behind her.
“Stupid Tia. Always interrupting when it gets good.” The Twilight-plushie bonked the Celestia-plushie on the head a few times. Sighing, she set them both back on her bed to continue the story another time.
Celestia swept her gaze about the train station, eyeing all the guards and servants loading their supplies onto the train carriages. Luna stood next to her, hoping to go back to her room and sleep.
“Do I really have to go with you?” Luna asked, looking up to her sister. At Celestia’s nod, Luna groaned. “You know I cannot sleep on these trains. I stayed up all night with my duties and now we have to go to Manehatten.”
“We do, Luna. The mayor’s holding a ceremony to open the newest hospital with an event afterward for charity. She asked if we’d come. I said yes,” Celestia replied, watching a conductor approach.
Luna looked away and grumbled tiredly. The conductor waved them over, motioning to the carriage he stood next to. “We’re almost done loading up, your highnesses. If you wish, you may board now.”
Celestia nodded, walking forward, Luna following grudgingly. As they entered the car, a rich mahogany smell filled their noses, the fixtures and seating were all made of the wood. A large bed, even for Celestia, sat on their left, against the far wall, and a small kitchenette was opposite it. A couch, large enough for both princesses, sat on the other end of the car, with a small shelf full of books.
Luna tiredly passed Celestia, who took the time to shut the doors behind them, before flopping down on the couch. She grabbed a random book off the shelf before cracking it open. A moment later, Luna yawned loudly.
Celestia, meanwhile, had made herself a cup of tea. She set down next to Luna, her rear near Luna’s book, with her cup in her magic. As she sipped, she watched out the window with the train’s whistle blowing loudly. The cars lurched as the train started moving. Luna yawned again, absentmindedly reading the book in front of her eyes.
Celestia looked back at her sister, seeing Luna’s eyes drooping as the book steadily descended to the floor. She spoke softly, “Luna, you’re tired. Please, do try to get some sleep. It will be several hours until we arrive.”
Luna spoke drowsily, “I cannot sleep on these trains, Tia. Even if I wanted to, I cannot get comfortable enough to sleep.”
“I remember a little sister who loved sleeping curled against me.” Luna’s eyes widened slightly, as a blush spread through her face. “I bet if we cuddled, you could sleep just fine.”
“Tia, it has been several millennia since we last did that…” Luna spoke quietly.
“And? I know you need your sleep. We can try it. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. That you try to get some rest is all I ask, Lu.”
“Fine. If it does not work…” Luna warned her sister, frowning grumpily.
“I shall never bring it up again. Alright?” Celestia smiled genuinely before standing up. “Come, we’d be more comfortable in the bed.” She stood and made her way over to the bed, Luna following, a large yawn punctuating her desire for rest.
Celestia climbed in, and lay on her side, leaving plenty of room for Luna to join her. Luna stepped up, flopping down tiredly against her sister. Celestia wrapped her hooves and free wing around Luna, who nestled in deeper.
“Is this alright? Are you comfortable, Luna?” Celestia asked, looking down at the pony in her forelegs.
“It is. I feel safe.”
“Good. Try to get some rest, Lu. If you need anything, I’ll be right here.” Celestia felt Luna’s nod more than see it. She drew the curtains shut, darkening the room. The room fell silent, other than the clickety-clacking of the train on the rails.
“I love you, Tia,” was whispered in the room. Celestia barely caught it, but smiled softly, squeezing a little tighter against Luna. She tilted her head down to kiss the top of her sister’s head but met something much more soft.
Luna jumped, but quickly pushed forward, firmly locking their lips. She moaned quietly, her free wing trying to spring open against Celestia’s, mixing their feathers. Celestia groaned at the contact before pulling back.
Finally meeting Luna’s cross-eyed, blissful expression, she realized what had happened. “Luna… what–” Luna surged forward, capturing Celestia’s lips again. She slipped her tongue into Celestia’s open muzzle, firmly tugging and wrapping it around Celestia’s own. Celestia’s ears pinned back, but she gave in, wrestling with Luna’s tongue. Playfully trying to gain leverage, she rolled onto Luna, effectively mounting her because of her size. Their battling tongues played for another minute before the need for air outweighed the pleasure.
Their muzzles separated, both ponies panting heavily. “Tia. I’m sorry. I… you kissed me, even if it was accidental, and I couldn’t stop. Even now, I don’t want to stop.”
“Then don’t.” She could practically feel the giddy smile on Celestia's face.
“But what abou–” Luna trailed off into a groan as Celestia’s tongue was on the base of her horn, slowly trailing up to the tip.
“I’ll just tire you out so much you’ll have no choice but to sleep on the way to Manehatten.” Celestia smirked before licking the tip of Luna’s horn. Luna cried out again as the train steadily made its way to Manehatten.
“There’s more on your left, Tia!” Twilight called out as the pair galloped down Canterlot Castle’s hallways. A veritable storm of parasprites chased them, eating everything they could along the way, excepting the stone that made the castle. Their wings forced any conversation to be held at a shout.
“I see them!” Celestia took a drag of the cigarette in her mouth, letting the smoke out her nostrils as she stormed down the hallway.
A window exploded, more of the little balls flying in. They stopped only to munch on the fine carpeting. Both ponies sped past them, the newest swarm joining their comrades after snacking.
Celestia took the lead, her longer legs lending her more speed. “Follow me, we’ll sort this out in the Royal Armory.” She thundered down the next right, leaping down the staircase that followed.
“Right!”
At the bottom of the stairs were a set of double-doors, easily twice Discord’s height. Without slowing down, Celestia’s horn lit and the doors slammed open hard enough to leave them barely hanging on their hinges. She hit the bottom and slid, her hoofcovers sparking on the tile. After clearing, the doorway opened up into a massive barracks in which Celestia took wing, picking up even more speed.
Twilight followed suit, hot on Celestia’s fetlocks. She didn’t slide, instead opting to take wing and soar through the doors with her smaller wingspan. After Celestia took to the air, she struggled to keep up, having to teleport two dozen meters in half as many seconds.
Celestia homed in on her target. An unassuming door, more a thin steel plate, was yanked open and tossed behind her, to the right. She snapped her wings shut and slid through the portal, the waxed hardwood flooring letting her slide a little easier. Twilight followed suit, sliding through the doorway with ease.
The swarm steadily chewed their way through the barracks. Parasprites of all colors rampaged, tearing the room apart. A jet of fire erupted from the doorway, garnering the flooding parasprites’ attention.
Celestia stepped through the doorway, a long, grey tube in her magic. The tube wound behind her, to a pair of large tanks underneath her wings, one more that was larger still on her back. She noticed a pair of parasprites had started to eat the door. Twilight followed behind, a dozen more tanks held in her magic feeding three hoses.
Celestia lit her horn and her still-lit cigarette moved to tap against a small protruding tip on the hose she held. A small flame lit on the end, before it moved to tap against Twilight’s. After a second, all four hoses were lit. “Alright, Twilight. Now we’ve got their attention. Let’s get cookin’!” She smiled cockily, drawing her cigarette back to herself. With the worst Scoltish accent Twilight ever heard, Celestia yelled, “Theh canno’ have ouwa castle as lon’ ‘s weh stahnd!”
Despite the horrible accent, Twilight set into a defensive stance. “Just so you know, Tia, if we don’t make it through this… I love you.”
“I know. I love you too. We’ll just have to live to see that love blossom.” Celestia’s stance mirrored Twilight’s.
A parasprite screamed and charged, prompting a part of the swarm to follow. Celestia raised her hose and squeezed a small trigger. A liquid spurted from the hose, touching the fiery tip, before igniting and spraying all over the rushing parasprites. The group turned from devastating parasites to charred and flaming balls of fluff in seconds. The burning balls screamed before going still as the stench of burning flesh wafted through the air.
The rest of the swarm charged.
Twilight took the left side, three hoses spraying madly as Celestia took the right. Where Celestia only had one, she used her own magic to ignite entire sections at a time with fireballs and launching other streams of magickafire from her horn. Scores of the little things fell and started piling up around their hooves.
Queasy from the feeling of stepping over the dead parasprites, Twilight nimbly dodged those that made it through her three flamethrowers’ reach. Celestia’s swarm already waning, she spared a glance over at Twilight. What she saw left her cigarette forgotten, already down to the filter as she watched Twilight dance among the parasprites.
She was caught off guard as one made a daring move of going after Celestia’s flamethrower, chewing a hole in the hose. It was rewarded with gallons of fuel and Celestia’s weapon winking out.
Twilight looked over and her eyes widened. “TIA!”
Celestia whirled around just in time to see her flamethrower’s nozzle being eaten by a dozen remaining parasprites. Her ears pinned back and she moved for the first time, charging forward. She telekinetically threw the tanks at Twilight’s flaming swarm, grabbing Twilight herself. The parasprites ignored the ponies in favor of the discarded weaponry momentarily.
Celestia held Twilight in front of her as she made for the door they’d originally come in. Twilight wobbled in Celestia’s telekinesis, only able to see behind them through Celestia’s legs. As they crossed the threshold, Celestia pulled Twilight against her before slamming down onto the floor on top of the younger alicorn. A deafening explosion rang out in the room, before a wall of fire washed over the pair. As the air rushed to fuel the fire, both ponies could not breathe. Celestia did her best to shield Twilight from the fire with her body.
A few seconds later, air rushed back in, letting both ponies gasp and sputter for breath. Celestia shakily stood up and looked back into the room. Twilight moved to stand next to her, her breathing heavy.
“Is… is it over? Did we get them all?”
Smoke was still pouring from the room, but it wasn’t low enough to conceal the carnage. Where the epicenter occurred was nothing but blackened, melted stone. Not even parasprite corpses remained. The area around it was still flaming as the wood floors burned away to the stone underneath.
“It looks like it.” Celestia sighed, sitting down heavily. Cheekily, she leaned over to Twilight. “So, you love me, huh?”
Twilight turned beet red before sputtering incoherently. She turned away, kicking a hoof against the stone.
“Well, Twilight, I said I loved you too.” A hoof came over and touched Twilight’s chin, causing the younger mare to freeze. Closing her eyes, Celestia leaned in and spoke, “I think it’s later, and we can let that love start to blossom.” She lifted Twilight’s chin before planting a kiss on the younger mare’s lips.
Twilight was still frozen in surprise as Celestia pulled back. Her eyes opened and she noticed Twilight hadn’t responded at all. “Twilight… Twilight?” She poked one of Twilight’s forelegs with her own and garnered no response. A few seconds later, she noticed Twilight wasn’t even breathing. Acting swiftly, she pushed Twi back to the ground, a hoof compressing heavily over Twilight’s barrel. After three pumps, she touched her horn to Twilight’s barrel and administered a shock. Returning to the pumping, she forced her lips against the younger mare’s, for an entirely different reason. She forced air into Twilight’s lungs and with her hoof pushed it back out. After three more rounds of shocks, Twilight twitched.
“Wha… what ha-happened?” Twilight coughed heavily.
Celestia carefully scooped the mare up into a hug. “We won, Twilight. Between you and I, we beat the parasprites trying to eat the castle.”
“I remem-remember that, but w-what happened afterward?”
“I kissed you.” Celestia tightened her hug somewhat. “Then you stopped breathing.”
“I s-see.” Twilight coughed once more. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry, love. You’re not dead, and that’s all that matters to me.” Celestia leaned down, fully intent on kissing Twilight once again.
Twilight buried her head in Celestia’s neck, sobbing softly. “I’m sorry.”
“Twilight, love, what’s wrong?”
“If I can’t remain conscious after a single kiss with you, how can I expect to do anything else with you?”
“With practice, love.” Celestia laid back, letting Twilight lay on top of her, wrapping her wings around her little love. “I will love you, no matter what, and if I kiss you into unconsciousness, then I will just have to help you build up a tolerance. Alright?”
Twilight sniffled once. “Alright.” She looked up at Celestia's face, smiling softly.
“There we go.”
“Now, we’re both filthy, my back is covered in soot from the explosion, and I know it stinks in here. How about we go get cleaned up?”
Twilight nodded once.
“Alright.” She leaned down and quickly pecked Twilight on the lips. Twilight remained conscious this time, moaning softly. Celestia lifted her wings, letting Twilight go, and both ponies quickly left the destroyed barracks behind them.
“Are you sure, Twilight?” Celestia asked, a gut feeling making itself known. Either that or indigestion.
“I’ve got it all planned out, Tia. Don’t worry!” Twilight’s horn flashed, and the pair vanished.
Birds scattered as a flash of purple light dumped two alicorns out next to a tree. A massive creature stomping behind them caused both alicorns to look around warily. After a moment, the stomping travelled away.
“Twilight?” Celestia asked.
Twilight’s right wing tapped Celestia while her left moved to her lips and she shushed the elder alicorn.
Nodding, Celestia crouched lower and whispered into Twilight’s ear, “We’re in the right location?”
“Yes,” came her soft reply. “Now, to set up our picnic.”
“Why did you pick here of all places?” Celestia took a good look at the clearing. A beautiful little pond sat where a stream from further up the hills in the distance dumped out. Absolutely massive trees, most of their trunks larger around than even some homes, littered the area and provided plenty of shade while little bushes gathered where the sun still shone. Further down, the pond flowed off into a small valley, with quite the view of a forest below and the mountains beyond.
“You can thank Fluttershy for this.”
Celestia quirked an eyebrow and prompted Twilight to continue.
“Actually, thank the pony who called herself the Evil Enchanter and hexed Fluttershy,” Twilight explained. “She sent Fluttershy to right around this area, and when Discord and I arrived to save her…”
A small caw preceded a pterodactyl the size of a kitten landing next to Twilight. The little flyer nuzzled right up against her before settling down for a nap. Twilight laid down and curled around it. Celestia’s heart leapt to her mouth at the sight.
Twilight covered the pterodactyl with a wing. “We managed to save this little one after hiding from a few predators. They’d taken his mom--he was so tiny and defenseless, we had to. He’s taken a liking to us, and I thought… maybe if I brought you here and showed you, we could bring him with us, back to Ponyville?”
Celestia was stunned. “I… you want to bring a pterodactyl, from the ancient past, to modern-day Equestria?” Celestia sounded the logic out loud. Her voice was even, but still had a questioning inflection.
Twilight prepared herself for a denial, tears already gathering at the corners of her eyes. She looked down at the little sleeping dinosaur in her wing.
A wing made its way to Twilight’s chin, forcing her to look Celestia in the eyes. “I feel like you’ve been abusing travelling to this time because you’re as attached to him as he clearly is to you…” said Celestia. A tear fell from Twilight’s eye. “But,” Celestia continued. “I am willing to make an exception.” Twilight’s ears perked. “Just.” Celestia’s wing removed itself from her chin. “This.” It moved to her right eye, clearing the tears. “Once.” The wing moved and cleared her other eye. Celestia nuzzled against Twilight’s cheek.
Smiling now, Twilight replied, “Thanks, Tia. I know Fluttershy and I will take care of him.”
“Twilight, if he does grow up a danger to my little ponies…” Celestia spoke seriously, “I want you to know this. I will not hesitate to defend them if it comes down to that.”
“I know, Tia.” Twilight looked down to the pterodactyl once more, sleeping comfortably.
“I will admit, he is adorable,” Celestia cooed, muzzle poking under Twilight’s wing. She accidentally bumped up against one of his wings, nudging him slightly.
It had the effect of waking the young pterodactyl up. Small little eyes opened and he uncurled to stretch, yawning cutely. Tapping against Twilight a couple times, the wing moved away and he climbed all the way up Twilight’s side. His eyes set on Celestia and watched her mane wave, wiggling slightly along with her moving hair. After a moment, he lost focus and fell over onto his side with a squeak.
Both ponies giggled as he sat back up and lost himself looking at Celestia’s mane again.
After an hour, the little pterodactyl had a small fish and settled down for another nap. “Whenever you’re ready, Twilight, we can head home.”
Twilight nodded and all three, pony and dinosaur, vanished, just as quickly as they came.
Valentines / Hearts & Hooves Day - Twilestia Lightning Prompt
“Twilight? What are…” The words on Celestia’s tongue were lost when she entered their shared chambers. Arrayed around the room, literally, were dozens upon dozens of lit candles. The bedspread had been changed to a deep crimson, with flower petals scattered about on top. Twilight herself was nowhere to be found, but hoofsteps could be heard from their suite’s bathroom.
Not paying any attention, Twilight trotted out of the bathroom, humming a small tune to herself. Her eyes were closed up until she hopped onto the bed. She lay herself down provocatively, and opened her eyes. Immediately they widened at Celestia’s gaping stare. “T-Tia!? What are you doing back so early?” She sat up quickly in surprise.
Her brain thoroughly going through its unexpected shutdown procedure, Celestia spoke, “I… forgot to get the thing… with the stuff.” Celestia couldn’t help but stare unabashedly at her wife. She’d really cleaned and prettied herself up, going so far as even having lingerie, that outside being seen by Celestia, wouldn’t even be considere lingerie.
“The… thing with the stuff?” Twilight inquired, skeptical.
Celestia nodded, a blush spreading under her coat quickly. She coughed into her hoof once. “Yes. I forgot to grab the latest report for Luna.”
Twilight passed the report over, immediately knowing what Celestia had meant. “Thanks.”
“You know what? Screw it.” Twilight took the report and teleported it away. “Let’s get our night started early.” Her eyes half-lidded as she stood up.
Celestia’s blush deepened as Twilight walked, no strutted to the closest end of the bed, her body swaying hypnotically with each step. She noticed Twilight’s horn hadn’t gone out a moment before the door shut firmly and clicked. She squeaked in surprise when Twilight’s magic brushed against her neck just right, and a squeal turned into a moan when a few select feathers in her wings were tweaked.
Twilight, for her part, was a giant pony-shaped bundle of nerves up until that moan. ‘Whew, that section was right. This is a lot tougher than it looks,’ Twilight’s thought broke off as a ‘whoosh’ toppled and extinguished the closest candles to Celestia, her wings standing up suddenly.
Twilight hopped down and strode right up to Celestia, continuing to tease and excite the older mare.
“Twilight? Why are–” She was cut off as Twilight planted a passionate kiss right on her lips.
“Happy Hearts and Hooves Day, Tia.” Twilight’s eyes shone brightly before she leaned in and nuzzled against Celestia’s neck.
Celestia’s eyes widened, she’d completely forgotten. ‘Today was Hearts and Hooves Day? How did I lose track of that?’ She took a step back. “I–”
“I know, you forgot,” Twilight spoke frankly. Celestia’s ears pinned back. “That’s alright. I was planning on surprising you, so… surprised?”
A nod was accompanied with, “Very much so.” Celestia leaned down and kissed Twilight in return. Her sudden action, coupled with it’s sheer passion, stunned Twilight for a second. The younger mare moaned and returned the kiss with equal passion eagerly.
Parting her lips slightly, Celestia’s tongue pressed against Twilight’s lips. Twilight acquiesced to Celestia’s probing tongue, letting the welcomed visitor in. Celestia’s left foreleg instinctively stroked up and down Twilight’s counterpart lovingly. Their tongues writhed and danced together for a few minutes. They ended up side by side, their closest wings’ feathers melding together. Mutually, their impromptu make-out session ended with both parties panting heavily.
Twilight smirked and turned around, her tail stroking against Celestia’s chest. “C’mon. Let’s have some real fun.” She hopped up on the bed and patted the spot next to her as she sat down.
She walked despondently down the empty street. What city she was in wasn’t important. Neither were any of the houses or stores she trod past. All she saw was a broken-down town to match a broken-down mare.
As she approached a half-destroyed fountain in the city’s square, she looked up to the moon. It hung almost limply in a corner of the sky, casting long shadows off the buildings. She sighed and sat down heavily next to the fountain.
She eyed the ruins. “How long has this town been forgotten? Probably a lot longer than I have…” A flash of alabaster in the corner of her eye drew her attention to a particular building.
Heaving herself to her hooves, she trudged over to where she’d sworn she saw the flash. Sitting against the building was a single feather. The mare’s horn lit, a bright cyan glow cast about her, and the feather lifted to her eyes.
As her eyes widened, she dropped the feather against her yellow-orange hoof and nudged it with her nose. ‘It can’t be…’ The feather’s scent was faint, but unmistakable. It was ‘her’ scent, bringing memories back both good and bad. Fearfully, her ears pinned back against her head, against her red and yellow mane, and she dropped the feather and scampered away, back to the fountain.
As she rounded to the fountain’s opposite side, a spot of lavender caught her vision much like the white feather had. She straightened up in fear, thinking, ‘I already found one of their feathers. What’s the chance that this is one of the other’s?’ Slowly, she made her way over to the spot of lavender. It wasn’t a whole feather, just a tip, but it was enough. The mare smelled this feather too, and recoiled worse.
She veritably screamed and took off at a gallop, previous direction forgotten. At the edge of the town, she tripped before breaking down into uncontrollable despair where she lay.
Princess Luna stood on a nearby hill overlooking the town. She could clearly see the mare, Sunset Shimmer, weeping fearfully where she’d fallen. ‘Is she truly so scared that even a hint of them sends her into a spiral of fear?’
As the mare’s sobbing died away, she made her move, teleporting.
Luna materialized behind a building, away from Sunset’s line of sight. She was content merely to observe for now, but she did know something wasn’t right with her quarry. Usually Celestia’s previous students were ecstatic to see something that reminded them of her, not send them into a crying tizzy.
As Luna crept closer, Sunset was speaking. Truthfully, she was moaning in despair, but quietly.
“Please, just forget about me.” Sunset hiccuped. “I’m not worth worrying over. Just forget I even existed.” She sniffled this time. “It will be better for all if I just disappeared forever.”
Luna was moved to action at these words. She softly strode up behind the crying mare and knelt down. She made her presence known when she wrapped a wing around Sunset.
Sunset jumped and tried to pull away, but the wing only wrapped tighter. Sunset screamed, “No! Let me go!”
“Calm yourself, Sunset Shimmer,” Luna instructed her simply. “You have nothing to fear from me.”
Sunset struggled harder, forcing Luna to wrap a hoof around her and hold the mare against her chest. As the minutes passed, Sunset’s struggling slowed until she was reduced to panting for breath.
Fearfully, she turned to face Luna. “W-Who are you?” she asked, noting that Luna was an alicorn.
“Who I am is unimportant, Sunset Shimmer. I have watched you for some time now, and come to offer help.” The wing trapping Sunset lifted to wipe the tears from her eyes, and the hoof loosened its grip slightly. “You fear the Sun-Princess and her pupil, yes?”
Sunset could only nod.
“I ask you, why? Why are you so afraid of them? They are nothing if not benevolent. If you fear their wrath for some perceived slight or attack, then your fears are unfounded,” Luna winced at how she ended her statement.
Sunset shook her head. “No! I… I just can’t face them!” Tears welled up in her eyes and she looked away.
Luna shook her head softly and the wing returned to clean Sunset’s eyes. As the mare calmed down, she looked into Luna’s eyes. There was no malice, no threat, only genuine care.
“I-I’m afraid of them.”
One of Luna’s ears perked upright. She said nothing, but tightened her grip slightly, leaning around the smaller mare just a bit.
“I ran away from one, and nearly killed the other with my own hands.” Luna knew the stories from both parties well. She’d seen their occasional dreams, after all.
“Now… now they want to speak with me. I…” Sunset started crying again. She spoke incoherently as she sobbed.
Luna tightened her embrace, cooing softly.
After another few minutes, Sunset calmed down some. Unprompted, she continued, “I know they just want to get rid of me! I’m nothing but a failure and a threat to them!” She hiccuped once more. “So, I’m just going to go away and stay away. Permanently.” The mare’s voice took on a steely edge that set off a few warning bells in Luna’s mind.
“Sunset Shimmer. You are not, and never will be, a failure to Celestia.” Sunset winced at the name. “You are a strong pony who has made mistakes, yes, but these mistakes are not the kind that cannot be forgiven. I am sure that Celestia and Twilight–” another pair of flinches, “–will forgive you. They only want to make sure you are alright.”
“How do you know that?” Sunset questioned, leery of the mare that helped comfort her.
“You truly do not know who I am?”
Sunset merely shook her head.
“I am Princess Luna, formerly known as Nightmare Moon, the Mare in the Moon. I am also Princess Celestia’s sister.” Sunset’s ears pinned back and her pupils shrank. “Twilight Sparkle and her friends used the Elements of Harmony to free me from Nightmare Moon’s possession.”
She leaned in and nuzzled against the top of Sunset’s head. “Trust me, Sunset Shimmer, when I say that they bear no ill will against you.”
Sunset would have none of it. “You-You’re lying! You’re just trying to help them get rid of me!” she shrieked, her struggle to get free renewed.
Luna’s grip became like iron. Her voice echoed, “Sunset Shimmer! I am nothing if not truthful! Why would you think that Celestia and Twilight would want to be rid of you?”
Sunset struggled as she yelled. “Because! I saw them kissing on the night before I stole Twilight’s crown!”
Luna spoke softly, “Is that all?”
“Is that all? Is that all?! Their relationship was clearly a secret and they want to silence me!”
Luna chuckled. “No, Sunset Shimmer. Their relationship is not secret. While they have not announced it openly yet, they do not hide it from view.” She released Sunset, standing tall. Leaning over Sunset, she whispered in her ear. “They probably want you to readjust to Equestria again. That and… likely they want to surprise you with a gift of sorts. You are the reason they got together.”
Sunset’s voice cracked as she asked, “W-What?”
“Celestia told me, and you will be the only soul I will have told this to.” She took a calming breath. “When you ran off and disappeared, Celestia fell into a deep depression. For years she thought that there was no hope of finding one of the final Element Bearers, and would have to slay me.”
“Then came Twilight. The little filly that nearly destroyed the tower her test was taken in.” She sat down next to Sunset. “After Celestia rescued her from the magic surge she’d been overcome with… the rest was, as you might say, history."
Sunset was crying again, but the smile she wore proved they weren’t fearful tears anymore. “You really mean that?”
Luna stood, a wing helping Sunset to her hooves. “I do. Come, Sunset Shimmer. Let us leave this place for happier grounds.”
Together, the pair strode from the long-forgotten town, toward a brighter future.
Twilight worriedly wandered among the castle’s debris. As she came across piles of broken stone, wood, and metal, the tons of debris was easily and carefully lifted. She sifted through them for her target, and not finding her, absentmindedly set the debris back down in neat piles by material type. Tears threatened to fall from the corners of her eyes, but she trudged on anyways.
“Princess? Are you alright? Where are you?” she called out as she stepped into the ruins of a stone turret. The remainder of its walls were barely standing, crumbled otherwise into and around it.
A streak of red caught her eye, leaking from under a massive pile of stone blocks.
“Princess?!” Twilight yelled as she lifted the stone carefully. More and more blocks were lifted and deposited off to the side until she found a body. Twilight gasped as she took a step back. A pegasus guard lay, crushed under the debris. The body’s head was smashed, blood still leaking faintly from the neck and chest’s numerous cuts. Under her fur, she turned a pale shade of green and looked away.
To block the sight for others, she conjured a white blanket and rest it over the pegasus. Mentally, she marked the spot to return to with other ponies to help take care of the body.
Wingbeats sounded above her, and Twilight looked up. Princess Luna, a foreleg in a cast hovered above the turret’s ruins. She asked, “Is my sister alright, Twilight?”
Twilight shook her head. “I haven’t found her yet, Princess Luna. I’m still looking.”
Luna scowled, looking out over the ruined castle. “Then please, let me know as soon as you find her.”
“I will.” Twilight nodded, making her way back out of the ruined turret.
As she continued down a hallway, she noticed a vaguely pony-shaped hole in both walls. One was higher up in the wall; a hole leading to an upper corridor, and looked to lead almost the whole way straight from the throne room. The other showed out of the castle, down the side of the hill. A small trench at the bottom showed where the object, a reddish pink had ended up.
‘Red… pink?’ Twilight thought as she constructed a magnify-vision spell. The spell itself basically created a magic-telescope that the user controlled. She zoomed in on the object before gasping. All she could see was part of a wing, a very familiar wing.
Dropping the spell, she teleported down to it. “Princess Celestia?” She sent a pulse of magic to magically survey the ground around the wing. She sighed in relief as she saw the rest of Celestia attached to it, buried underground.
“Hold on, Princess. Help is here,” Twilight whispered as she carefully excavated the dirt from around Celestia. As she uncovered more of Celestia, the tears in her eyes started falling.
Celestia was covered in cuts, gashes, and scrapes. Her horn’s tip was broken, and she bled profusely from several cuts.
Twilight set Celestia on her back, and got to work on the worst two gashes, one on the side of Celestia’s neck and the other on her chest, pressing her forehooves against them to stem the bleeding. Despite the blood and dirt in her fur, Twilight thought Celestia still looked beautiful.
A cry brought Twilight from her thoughts. Celestia herself cried out and sputtered, dirt spewing from her mouth and nose.
Celestia’s eyes opened and she blew her nose hard. “Twilight?”
Magically flicking a piece of dirt that’d flown from Celestia’s nose off her, she replied, “I’m here, Princess.” Twilight lifted Celestia’s head and conjured a pillow under it. She gently laid Celestia’s head down. Celestia’s violet eyes shone in confusion, a rare sight to the younger mare.
“Is… is it over? What happened to Luna?” Celestia rasped, looking about the sky.
“Princess Luna is injured, but she will be fine.” Twilight looked to the sky and shot a blue firework, signalling for help. Celestia gasped every time Twilight would shift her weight to keep her pressure on the gashes.
“That’s good.” Celestia finally looked down to her student, her eyes widening considerably. She noticed Twilight, shaking, dutifully keeping an eye on the injuries, her own hooves soaked with Celestia’s blood. A bit of wetness kept hitting her barrel every couple seconds, and she found out why: Twilight was crying. The younger mare’s mane kept the elder from seeing it directly, but the shaking and wetness gave it away.
“Twilight, look at me. Please,” Celestia instructed, hoping to confirm her theory.
Twilight shook her head, a bit of wetness flinging off to the side. “Have to focus.”
“Twilight. Look at me,” she pleaded. A wing worked its way around to Twilight’s back, wrapping the unicorn in a tight hug. She looked up to see her sister and several other pegasi approaching.
“Twilight, it’s alright. Help is here.” She tightened her hug, forcing Twilight to lay against herself. Only then did she get to see the state Twilight was in. Her nose was snotty, tears streaked down her face openly and she was clearly exhausted. Twilight’s eyes refused to meet her own, but they did droop after a few seconds of inactivity.
Celestia looked down at the unicorn under her wing. Her heart leapt at the sheer dedication the unicorn held for her, feelings long dormant rising.
Twilight’s eyes closed, and after a few seconds, her body seemed to release the tension it held as she folded into Celestia’s embrace.
“Sister?” Luna’s wingbeats were audible now. “We are so grateful to–”
Celestia held up a hoof to her lips. “Shh, Luna. She’s exhausted and needs her rest.” She looked down to Twilight in her wing.
Luna awkwardly stumbled over on three legs and looked under Celestia’s wing, seeing Twilight fast asleep and nearly covered in Celestia’s blood. Luna leaned down and whispered into her sister’s ear, “I would rather we make noise and wake her now, than wait for her to rest to move you.”
“You’ve a stretcher, yes?” The elder sister got her answer as Luna nodded. “Then bring us as-is. I am loathe to leave her alone right now.” Her heart sank at the feelings Twilight would go through waking up alone in a hospital bed.
“Sister, I–”
“Will not do whatever you are thinking. I wish for Twilight to stay with me, and I will not take no for an answer,” her hoof stroked Twilight’s mane comfortingly. The little, sleeping mare cuddled deeper into Celestia’s embrace happily, a smile on her lips.
“I… very well, Celestia.” Luna’s wing motioned over to them, and a pair of unicorns levitated them onto a stretcher, then onto a commandeered chariot.
Before succumbing to exhaustion herself, Celestia looked at Twilight one last time, and smiled.
The otherworldly dirt kicked up as Celestia landed in a clearing, her gleaming white armor only offset by four green, holographic pads projected from the front of her legs.
A horde of Hive Thralls closed in, chasing her unrelentingly. Where she landed, she turned and faced her pursuers.
As they closed, Celestia’s hooves started moving. Not in a charge, not in a retreat. She started dancing.
The Thralls stopped suddenly, almost as if they were compelled. After a few seconds, they followed along in her hoofsteps.
Celestia’s mouth opened, and she sang, “It's Crota's End time, And something evil's lurkin' in the dark.” She reared up onto her rear hooves and slid sideways a step. Her forehooves clapping together. The Thralls mirrored her perfectly, seemingly entranced.
“Within the Hellmouth, You see a sight that almost stops your heart. You hear a shriek- The Weight of Darkness fallin' on your raid team!” Celestia’s forehooves sprung up in mock surprise to her face as she backpedalled, the Thralls keeping pace, pushing forward toward her.
She clapped her hooves together again as she crooned, “Your knees are weak, As Crota looks you right between the eyes- You're paralyzed!” Twilight landed next to her, joining in effortlessly as both ponies shake their hips. They lock forehooves and Celestia dips Twilight back. The rest of the fireteam laughs as a dozen Thralls partner up and copy their movements.
Celestia’s voice is joined by Twilight’s as they belt out the chorus, “'Cause this is Thraller! Thraller night! And no-one's gonna save you from the Hollowed Acolytes! You know it's Thraller! Thraller night! You're fighting for your life inside a brawler Thraller tonight!” A pair of sword-wielding Knights spin their way in, staying off to the side, but still in sight. They pantomime Celestia and Twilight’s actions, facing the Thralls.
“You hear a great roar! And realize that there's something in your path. You feel the Presence- Of Crota keepin down your team’s health.” Twilight took off, only to be replaced by Applejack. The new couple then spins freely for several seconds, only for Applejack to hoist Celestia above her head. A thundering applause from the Thralls follow.
“You check your synth count And hope that you've possibly stocked enough. But all the while you hear your team screaming about those orbs! You're outta time!” Celestia and Applejack turned to the Thralls, stomping forward several steps. The Thralls backed up in mock fear.
Applejack takes over the chorus alone this time, her alto voice booming off the rocks. “'Cause this is Thraller! Thraller night! There ain't no second chance against him with his Oversouls! You know it's Thraller! Thraller night! You're fighting for your life inside a brawler Thraller Tonight!” The Thralls playfully hit each other, pretending to fight amongst themselves.
Twilight, hovering over them, sings, “Gatekeepers call; And exploding cursed Thralls blend in with the hordes!” Two pale Thralls wander behind them, before exploding impressively. “There's no escapin' the eyes of those Ogre twins.”
Celestia and Applejack sang in the background, “They're raging now!”
Twilight’s voice sounds over their own, “This is the end of your run!” A pair of massive Hive Ogres eyes glow before purple blasts of energy release, crossing above Twilight.
“They're coming to get you; Thralls closing in on every ramp.” The Thralls pair up and one ducks between their partner’s legs lithely before they right and repeat the maneuver with the other Thrall ducking down.
“They will wipe you; Unless you change up the place to hide!” Everyone present hides their faces behind their limbs before peek-a-booing childishly.
“Now is the time- For you and I to take out that Swordbearer. All through the run, I'll save you from the aggro from the Boomers, We'll kill him now!” Twilight lands and takes her place alongside Celestia and Applejack as they slide-step and clap their hooves. After three claps, they turn to their side and mock a predator’s stance, quick-turning to the other side.
Celestia’s voice rings alone again as she sings the chorus, “That it's a Thraller, Thraller night Let’s build this bridge so we can get that ch~est open guys! Guys, this is Thraller, Thraller night So let me pop a bubble and hold this totem, got 'em! Get him! Popped him! Here tonight!” A purple sphere appears behind the three, between the Ogres. A pair of shots cracked out, each finding a Knight’s head, vanquishing them instantly.
“'Cause this is Thraller! Thraller night! ‘Cause when I lock on I can shoot my rocket launcher twice! Guys, this is Thraller, Thraller night Come on guys, let’s take the fight to ‘em! Brawler Thraller!” Two rockets soar over the three ponies, only to veer around and strike the Ogres, killing them instantly.
Big Mac’s basso voice resounds as he intones the final verses. “Darkness falls across your room, The midnight hour is close at hand. Guardians scour in search of loot, To gnaw at Crota's mighty boots.” A massive green Knight steps into view, only for a pair of rockets to shoo him away. Celestia, Twilight, Applejack, and the rest of the incapacitated Hive continue to dance unhindered.
“And whatever shall be found- Without the Oversoul wiping the round- Must stand and face Wizards from Luna’s Moon. And restart their run once again.” Two floating Wizards are struck with multiple bullets, killing them. Their rags float down.
“The foulest stench is in the ‘Mouth, The cheese strewn about for seven weeks. And armored Knights from every door, Are closing in to wipe your team…” Several Thralls drop to the floor as their energy is spent. Others look to be on their last legs, barely keeping up with the madly dancing ponies.
“And though you fight to get your loot… Your body starts to shiver. For no mere Guardian can resist- The call of the Thraller.” The entire fireteam laughed uncontrollably as the final Thralls are finally vanquished. After the last Hive was killed, the music faded.
Setting back down on all fours, Twilight panted heavily. “That… that was exhilarating, Tia.”
Celestia was sweating under her armor, but wasn’t winded. “Well, these new Radiant Dance Machines are something, aren’t they?”
Applejack kept rocking on her hooves to the tune. “Darn tootin’. Never knew we’d have such an easy time against them Hive. Must be some kind of hidden ability’re somethin’.”
Celestia nodded. “I guess they do have surprising social benefits.” Her wings flapped, lifting her to a hover. “C’mon, we’ve still got Crota to slay. It won’t likely be as easy as that was.”
The six ponies continued on, unaware of the consequences from their act.
The air rippled with explosions as a tall, purple mare was chased down a demolished block of Old Ponyville. ‘Three of them! How did I miss three of them!’ She looked back to the three raiders currently attempting to murder her with their high explosive stash.
A few seconds after she leapt over a refrigerator, it blew apart, sending shrapnel in all directions. She stopped for a split second to shield herself with her left wing, proving to be her near-fatal mistake.
A chunk of one of its panels slammed into her wing, snapping it before striking her face and throwing her off her hooves. She cried out in pain as she looked at her wing. It was clearly broken, the rifle strapped to her side underneath in just as bad a shape. A clink at her side spurred her back to action, scrambling away quickly before the little grey apple exploded.
Only the adrenaline flowing in her veins kept her from certain death. ‘Cover. Cover! Anywhere, cover!’ There was another loud clink at her hooves and she reflexively beat at it with her remaining good wing. Two more grenades were tossed clear before going off.
“Come back here and we’ll kill you!” a raider pony yelled, tossing another grenade in her direction. She leapt away as she darted toward the only remaining not-quite-demolished structure in sight.
The Castle of Friendship. It had certainly seen better days, with chunks missing from its base, giving it a teetering look, like it would topple over at the slightest provocation. A glint from one of the windows sent a chill down her spine as she closed.
The window flashed and a gunshot rang out from the castle.
“Gah!” she didn’t have time to react as the bullet whizzed past. It struck a raider’s armed grenade in his hoof, detonating it instantly. ‘It… missed me?’
Another gunshot sounded and felt like it had missed her by a scant few inches, slamming into the second raider’s leg, severing the limb entirely, and the raider pony dropped to the ground, clutching his stump and cursing, completely forgetting the live grenade he’d just dropped. He never got the chance to get away before it detonated, killing him.
Realizing now that she’d stopped and watched, the last raider took the chance to reload his missile launcher, and it was aimed right at her.
‘Oh horseapples…’ she thought as it fired.
A third gunshot rang out and slammed into the missile, detonating it. The last raider was thrown backward from the explosion and didn’t get back up.
The mare took a look at the castle and flinched when she heard another gunshot. After a few seconds, she realized that either the sniper had missed, or shot at another target. She watched the castle for a minute as the entire area quickly fell silent.
Cautiously taking a look around, she examined the last raider’s corpse, taking his launcher and four spare missiles as well as his dozen grenades. She debated taking his armor, but it was so patchwork that it looked like it would’ve ripped apart if she removed it.
As the adrenaline wore off from the battle, the mare sat down and examined her wing properly. ‘It’s broken. Have to set and splint it to heal properly,’ she coldly thought, her thoughts helping to distance her from the coming pain. Her horn lit, a dull raspberry, before the ruined rifle under her wing was dropped to the ground. She cried out as she set her wing, magically realigning the bones. Her pack opened and a long strip of medical tape came out, winding around the wing and her abdomen.
Taking a stimpak out of her pack, she injected her wing with the healing fluid. It helped ease the pain as the cuts and gashes on her wing sealed. ‘There. Now it’ll heal properly, if I live that long.’
Stowing the broken rifle and her loot away in her pack, she ruminated on the sole building left. ‘Home again, after so long.’ She looked up to the castle, her castle, and arduously made the trek toward it.
She had reached the front door. The main staircase had been trapped, but she stepped lightly around the mines. Those had been easy. The tripwires had been hard to spot, but once she figured out the pattern, it was easy to find and step over them. A pressure plate linked to a grenade bundle had been harder, but she managed to get three grenades out of the trap.
Her horn lit and she pushed the doors open, stepping inside. The sniper’s rifle had disappeared after the fight and had yet to come back. ‘Whoever that sniper was, I have to thank them if I find them.’
She looked to the castle she’d owned back before the war. At a glance, it was mostly intact, but looking deeper, the entire structure was spiderwebbed with cracks.
Knowing where she was going, she ended up at her own room pretty quickly. The seals she had placed on the doors all those years ago were still in place and yielded to her signature as easily as the day they’d been installed.
For the first time in over six hundred years, the Princess of Friendship had returned home.
Twilight Sparkle strode in and shut the door, the seals reapplying instantly. She looked over her room. The books she’d left behind were still in good condition, surprising her. The picture on her mantle drew her eyes next. Six ponies, including herself, hugged together in Old Ponyville’s town square. It floated down to her, and one of her hooves stroked across the dusty glass surface. Almost absentmindedly, a second picture floated down next to it, of her and an older, white alicorn kissing passionately, still in their wedding dresses.
‘Where had it all gone so wrong?’ Her ears pinned back as she remembered her best friends and her wife.
A knock sounded at the door, knocking Twilight from her thoughts. She stared at the door for a few seconds before it was knocked on again. She set both the pictures off to the side and made her way over to the door. She’d grown some since she was last in the room, so she had to crane her neck down to look out the peephole.
On the other side of the door was a large pony. Its face and body were covered in a dark greyish armor, and a massive sniper rifle was slung under a white wing.
A hoof reached up once more, and instead of knocking, held up a note.
Twilight Sparkle
I know you’re in there. I just wish to talk. No tricks. No traps.
T
Her subconscious told her she knew this pony. Not just as the sniper, but from before. The wing was familiar, comforting.
After a few seconds, the seals unlocked and the door opened. The pony strode in before the door shut again.
“Alright, who are you?”
The pony chuckled, a tinkling laugh that Twilight knew. Only one pony laughed like that. Twilight took a step back, her ears perking. “T-Tia? Is that you?” she asked, unbelieving.
A hiss sounded and the helmet split in half before dropping to the floor. The first thing Twilight saw was the pony’s mane as it sprung free of its confines. Four colors, waving gently in a non-existent breeze: blue, pink, green, and purple. White coat, with a horn sat atop its head, accompanied by the most piercing, violet eyes she could ever recall.
“You came back,” the mare, Princess Celestia, spoke. Another hiss sounded and the armor seemed to peel away from her body, separating into sections and dropping to the floor in a specific pattern. Underneath the heavy armor, Celestia wore a simple jumpsuit.
“You finally came back,” she whispered, more to herself than Twilight. Once the armor had finished it’s process, only the shoes covering her feet remained on her. She stepped away from the armor, closer to Twilight. Everything went silent as both ponies stared into each other’s eyes. Each noted that the other pony had scars across their face and neck, likely from just trying to stay alive.
“I did.”
“Why did you go?” Celestia held up a hoof. “No. Pertinent questions first. Where did you go?” Celestia eyed the rest of the room as she gave Twilight time to answer. It was nearly as she left it, minus the pack on the floor and two pictures sat on the floor in the middle of the room.
“Where did I go?” she asked, drawing Celestia’s attention again. Twilight had looked away silently, refusing to meet Celestia’s gaze. She sniffled once before responding, “Away.”
Twilight whispered, “Someone had to try and rescue Spike.” She laid down and curled into a ball as best she could. The memories of failure overwhelmed her, and she started crying earnestly.
Celestia lifted a foreleg, as if to close some distance, but thought better of the action.
Twilight’s spiral continued, “Couldn’t. Wasn’t fast enough. Wasn’t strong enough.” She slammed a hoof on the floor before yelling, “I couldn’t save him! He was–” Her tirade stopped suddenly and she coughed. “He was almost gone… by the time I got there.”
Celestia’s heart sank. She knew what Twilight was trying to say. The drake they’d both helped nurture and care for was gone. Steeling herself, she stood up and made her way over to Twilight.
A clanking brought Twilight from her memories, but she refused to acknowledge Celestia.
A cold hoof touched her shoulder as Celestia whispered, “I’m sorry.”
She laid down next to the smaller mare, her wing laying over Twilight. “I’m sorry I couldn’t go with you.” She crossed her neck over Twilight’s, a hoof reaching over and holding on to Twilight’s counterpart. “I’m just so–”
Twilight squeezed Celestia’s hoof as she finally turned to look Celestia in the eyes. “I was there when he… went.” Celestia’s wing tightened around Twilight’s form.
“The fallout got to him quickly. He was so sick. I stayed and took care of him as–” Twilight’s voice cracked. “–as best I could.” She buried her head in Celestia’s neck before breaking down completely.
Celestia held Twilight tight as the smaller mare wailed and cried in her embrace. Her own tears fell, but not nearly as intensely as Twilight’s did. She cooed and whispered to console Twilight, trying to help calm the mare down.
As minutes the minutes passed and turned into an hour, Twilight finally calmed down. A forehoof wiped away the snot that accumulated on her nose, but it wasn’t her own. Celestia nickered and nuzzled into Twilight’s neck as she continued, “He said something before he left. Something I desperately hoped with all my heart.”
A kiss on her forehead prompted Twilight to continue.
“He said, ‘She’s waiting for you to come home. Don’t ask me how, but I just know.’ He also added, ‘Tomorrow, you are going home to her. Leave this sick bag of scales to his rest.’ before going to sleep for the last time. That was three years ago, but I’m home now.”
“He was right. I waited here for the better part of a millennium.” She looked at her armor on the floor. “All in the hope you would eventually return. I only ever left if I needed supplies, which I scavenged from the town and surrounding area.”
Twilight shifted, turning over so they were face to face. Her wing twinged in pain, but ignored it as she stared into Celestia’s eyes. It took a moment, but she realized they hadn’t changed since the last time they’d spoken more than six hundred years ago.
“I love you. With all my heart.” She nosed forward and kissed Celestia.
Surprised, but not unpleasantly so, Celestia returned the kiss. “And I love you, Twilight. With all my heart.”
It had been a long day. Finally back in her own castle, Twilight wanted nothing more than to relax. After grabbing a bottle of wine and one of her favorite novels, she practically flopped down onto her favorite cushion, intent on doing just that. Her weary body eased into a laying position as she opened the book to the bookmarked page.
A small pop sounded in the room as the cork unsealed the bottle, the liquid’s smell wafting up to her nose quickly. Fate had deigned to intervene for the day, it seemed, as somepony knocked on her door.
“Ugh, I just want to relax…” she groaned as she set the bottle down, closed the book, and put far more effort than it felt like she should have to stand back up.
The day’s stress catching up to her left her temper short. As she reached the door she launched into the start of a rant, “I swear, if this is some kind of–”
As she opened it and saw who’d knocked, the words died on her lips and her ears pinned back. ‘Oh, horseapples.’
“Some kind of what, Twilight?” The voice belonged to her previous mentor-turned-kind-of-equal, Princess Celestia. The large mare stood, looking alert and smiling faintly, yet still equally as tired as Twilight herself. The small smile on Celestia’s face seemed to brighten Twilight’s mood a little.
“Nothing… It’s just been a long day, Princess.” Twilight stepped aside, allowing Celestia entrance. The door swung shut softly, behind the older princess.
As it clicked, a bottle floated out from behind Celestia into Twilight’s view. “Twilight, I had hoped we could relax together this evening.” Twilight fixed her former-mentor with a questioning glance, noting that Celestia had chosen a particularly strong rum, not a wine like she’d picked herself. “It’s not often an alicorn is born, nor is it often that a foal that powerful nearly destroys an entire capital city.”
Twilight nodded, before floating a second cushion out for Celestia. “Yes, I was hoping to relax tonight, too,” she said, plopping down on her own cushion, and setting the second down next to her own.
“Well, why not do it together?” Celestia’s voice wasn’t commanding, nor did it have it’s usual temper, it was almost… pleading. She fixed her eyes on Twilight’s, also it seemed they were asking, not commanding, or stating. Celestia really wanted to relax with her, but only if Twilight was really okay with it.
“That sounds wonderful, Prin-Celestia.” Twilight shook her head softly as Celestia laid down on the offered cushion. “Sorry, I keep forgetting you want me to drop the title.” She brought up her own bottle and took a small sip of the fruity wine, not bothering with a glass, much to Celestia’s surprise. “I can’t say I would ever turn down the chance to spend time with you.” Twilight closed her eyes, and nodded as if to emphasise the statement.
That piqued Celestia’s attention. “Oh? You want to spend time with an old mare like me?”
“I would.” Twilight sipped from her wine again before a realization hit her. “Where’s Luna? You two seem to be attached at the flank it seems.”
Celestia’s eyes widened at the comment. Before she could answer, Twilight grinned widely and laughed. The tension in the room seemed to break at the joke, and Celestia smiled and joined in.
After a few moments, they calmed down and Celestia spoke, “Sometimes, I can see how one might come to that conclusion. To answer your question, she’s back in Canterlot, overseeing the night.” Celestia drank from her own bottle, the smell much stronger and pungent, overwhelming Twilight’s wine.
Twilight nodded again, the bags under her eyes showing just a little more. “Good. I hope she’s well after today…”
The two spent most of an hour in silence, occasionally drinking from their bottles, each just enjoying the other’s mere presence.
As the alcohol started to affect her, Twilight’s thoughts turned from introspective to comparing herself to Celestia. The perfect princess who really wasn’t, but strived to do the best she could. Just like herself. Celestia occasionally looked out the window toward Canterlot, as if expecting the mountainside city to fall down because she wasn’t there.
“You know, after today, I know how you feel sometimes.” Both ponies were surprised at the words. Twilight was more surprised the words were her own.
“Know how I feel? I’m sorry, Twilight, I don’t quite know what you mean.” Celestia’s eyes met Twilight’s, a concerned look on Celestia’s face.
“Today, I couldn’t fix the problem myself.” She held up a forehoof as Celestia’s mouth opened. “I know I was more than powerful enough to solve the problem through brute force, but I couldn’t use that much power without hurting or possibly killing somepony.” She took another swig of wine before continuing, “You control the sun, and the moon occasionally, but for all the strength you can bring to bear, it comes at the cost of possibly hurting your subjects if you use enough of it.”
Celestia thought of the major events in the last decade, Nightmare Moon, Discord twice, Chrysalis, Tirek, even the storm earlier today. She shuddered as she thought of Nightmare Moon, she couldn’t exorcise the spirit from her sister without possibly vaporising her. Her ears pinned back as she thought of Discord, who could bend reality to his will at any moment. A shiver ran down her spine, her blood feeling cold as she remembered Chrysalis threatened her in Canterlot, where she couldn’t use much of her power without threatening the city’s stability or population. A spike of rage grew in her breast as she thought of Tirek, a monster who was the only one she could truly face, but their plan demanded she give her power to Twilight instead of fighting the centaur, to keep it from his hands. Like with Canterlot, she could have banished the storm with the sun’s power and warmth, but it would have had much more dire consequences, like flooding the area on the ecosystem, than trying to delay the storm for Twilight and her friends with her sister.
Twilight watched Celestia seem to shrink, the larger mare slouching as she seemed to pull in on herself, curling up slightly.
Celestia tried to choose her words carefully. “I… Yes. There have been far too many days I failed to protect my little ponies. Each time it happened, they insulted and slandered myself for weeks.” Celestia blinked a few times. Why was the room suddenly so blurry. “They were right.” She sniffled once. “I couldn’t protect them, but what they didn’t know was if I did what they wanted, Canterlot wouldn’t be standing. Nor would the Everfree.” She took a swig from her rum, the alcohol’s burn helping steel her resolve. “My sister likely wouldn’t be alive. Discord would likely be ruling Equestria, or Tirek if he’d gotten free.” The tears started flowing freely. “I only want what’s best for them, but I’ve failed multiple times now. Maybe I should step down and let you and Luna lead. That’s what the majority of the naysayers want anyways.”
A wing fell over Celestia’s back. She looked to see Twilight had moved over and was doing her best to comfort the much larger mare. “Shh. Don’t say that. I had just a taste of what you’ve likely felt for years.” She nuzzled under Celestia’s chin comfortingly. “I’m here for you. No matter what you need.” She looked Celestia in the eyes, going as far as using a hoof to force Celestia to turn her head. “Day or night. I don’t care if you have to wake me up, or if I’m in the middle of something. If you need to talk, vent, or whatever else, I’m here for you.”
Celestia’s eyes widened as Twilight nuzzled back up against her. “I… Thank you, Twilight.” A hoof found its way around Twilight’s withers, squeezing her into a hug. “I offer the same promise. If you need me, I will be there.”
Twilight let herself be hugged. “For you? It’s never a problem, Celestia.” She brought their drinks up, floating Celestia’s to her. “How about a toast?”
“To what?” Celestia asked softly.
“Shared misery?” Both ponies laughed softly.
Twilight felt more than saw Celestia’s nod. “Alright.” She clinked her bottle against Twilight’s. “To shared misery.”
A mare walked up to a table littered with various objects, a checklist floating in her purple magic. A lone light shone down over the table, casting the walls and corners into near darkness. She eyed the list briefly before looking down at the table.
The line ‘Customized, suppressed rifle’ was checked off, quickly followed by ‘Suppressed pistol’ as the two weapons floated over to her. Her rifle settled against her neck as it hung by a strap, while her pistol slid into a holster underneath a wing. The items ‘Multiple preloaded magazines’ and ‘Carryall bags’ were also checked off as the mentioned items floated over, sliding into pouches on her armored vest. Her wings fluttered as she eyed the last items.
“Map of Canterlot Palace, check. Medicinal kits and potions? Check Communications headset, check.” Three more ticks denoted her list finished as the little earpiece settled into place, the microphone sliding down to rest less than an inch from her mouth. A cloak settled down over her body, covering her armor and wings to finish off her outfit. She clicked the pen in her magic, sealing away the tip, before smiling softly. “All set.”
Suddenly, the room’s only door flung open and in strode a large pony. The pony was large enough it had to duck its head as it passed through, lest they bang their muzzle on the top of the doorframe.
The pony stepped into the light, revealing none other than Princess Celestia. She was armored up just like Twilight was.
Twilight regarded her warmly, striding over and nuzzling up to Celestia. “Hey.”
“Hello, Twilight, are you ready?” Celestia spoke softly, wrapping a hoof around Twilight’s neck and withers, hugging her gently.
“I am, Princess.”
They stepped apart and Celestia led them to the door. “Then let us be off. Caden– I mean ‘Crystal’ shall be checking in shortly over our headsets. I want to be ready to go at a moment’s notice.”
The two strode out of the room, into a long hallway. They made small talk until they reached the only open door at the far end. It ended into a chariot launchpad, a team already in the process of hitching up to a chariot waiting for them.
Twilight gasped as she saw the chariot waiting. The black vehicle would be nearly impossible to spot when it flew at night, just what the owner wanted. “I– Luna’s letting us use her chariot?”
Celestia nodded, stepping into it. “Indeed. She wants this operation to succeed just as much as we do. She shall be providing sniper cover and recon, as well.” Scanning the area, Celestia spied the volunteers hitching up to the chariot, as well as a second one to act as a backup or decoy.
Twilight stepped in, sidling up next to the sun princess. “Oh, I feel better already.” After a few seconds, Twilight looked about and asked, “Where is she? I thought she’d ride with us.”
Celestia smiled, wrapping a hoof around Twilight’s. “She’s already onsite and feeding intel to Crystal, probably.”
“Oh. Okay…” Twilight’s posture drooped a little, her ears pinning back, as she hoped to speak with the lunar princess.
Celestia nuzzled Twilight’s head. “Relax, Twilight. Whatever you wish to ask her you can do so after the mission.” Celestia felt, more than saw, Twilight’s nod in reply.
Both ponies’ ears perked as their earpieces fed them a voice. “Crystal to Canterlot. Everfree says there don’t appear to be any variations from previous guard rotations. Intel appears to be good. Over.”
Celestia responded, nodding once out of habit, “Canterlot acknowledges. That’s good to hear. Ponyville and I are ready to depart. Over.”
“Roger that. Get skyward as soon as you can. We don’t have all night. Crystal over and out.”
No sooner had that been said when the pegasi finished hitching up to the chariot. The closest looked over to them and asked, “Ready to fly?”
Celestia looked to Twilight questioningly. Twilight nodded as she shouted, “Let’s fly!”
The chariot lurched as the pegasi pulling it launched forward, gaining speed and taking off. It soared down the end of the ramp and into the night.
Celestia spoke into her earpiece’s microphone. “Canterlot to Everfree and Crystal. We’ve launched and are on our way. ETA one hour. Out.”
“Roger that Canterlot. Godspeed.”
As the hour’s flight neared its close, their destination was soon in sight. Canterlot Castle wasn’t the same before their draconic enemy’s occupation. Luna’s reports had shown where dozens of guards normally patrolled during a day were now nearly five times that. Diamond Dog, pony, and even zebra slaves littered the turrets and embattlements. Each was armed, from simple rifles down to bows, crossbows and even the odd manned ballista had the sky firmly locked down.
Where Royal Guards had flanked doors and hallways in pairs, these new guards stood in half-dozens. ‘This isn’t going to be an easy infiltration.’
A white hoof bumped hers, jolting Twilight from her melancholy thoughts. “Hey. You remember the route, right?”
Twilight nodded. “This won’t be easy.”
Celestia’s ears instinctively started to pin back. “No it will not, but should we pull this off, then we should gain a major advantage to help free Canterlot from the dragons.”
‘That’s right. Nopony should be able to infiltrate this castle. But we’ve got knowledge on our side. They won’t know all the secret passages and nooks and crannies to hide in.’
The chariot climbed, soaring straight over the castle. They came in from an angle such that the moon’s light didn’t give their position away, letting them retain the element of surprise.
A voice sounded in Twilight’s ears, then her earpiece, creating a weird echo that was hard to understand. “Canterlot to Everfree. Any changes since we left? Over.”
Luna’s reply was immediate. “Negative, Canterlot. The rotation is any time now. Over.”
Twilight’s heartbeat picked up, the mare anticipating the upcoming drop.
“Roger that Everfree. We will be dropping momentarily. Over and out.”
Celestia’s voice was soft, but clear, “It is almost time, Twilight, we should get into position.” The larger white mare offered a hoof to Twilight, “For luck.”
Twilight bumped the offered hoof, smiling. “We shouldn’t need it, but it never hurts to have it.”
As one, the two mares stood and turned, facing opposite sides of the chariot. Cadence’s voice sounded in their headsets. “Crystal checking in, are we ready? Over.”
Luna responded first. “Everfree checking in, ready. Over.”
Twilight beat Celestia to the punch. “Ponyville is ready. Over.” She looked back to Celestia, smiling softly.
Celestia returned Twilight’s smile, “Canterlot is ready. Over.”
“Crystal to all. On my count we begin. Three.”
All playfulness disappeared.
“Two.”
Celestia looked down, unknowingly mirroring Twilight’s actions. They spied their target, nothing more than a speck below them.
“One.”
It was showtime.
“Drop!”
Both ponies fell simultaneously.
Wind whistled in their ears, drowning out all other sound and making their eyes water as they picked up speed. As the seconds ticked by, they made sure never to be too far or too close from each other. An accidental collision could be fatal at any height.
The speck grew slowly until their target was visible easily. ‘There! Tia’s room.’
As one, both ponies flared their wings, slowly pulling back and bleeding speed. As they slowed, the howling in their ears faded.
Celestia looked to Twilight, and they both shared a look, nodding once. “Canterlot to all. Breaking off to complete my objectives. Fall successful. Out.”
Celestia banked off to the left, diving down toward a secondary tower.
Twilight kept on course, dropping down on Celestia’s balcony. As soon as she touched down, her rifle came up, ready to fire.
She opened the door, sliding into Celestia’s room unseen.
When Twilight woke up that morning, something felt off about the day. It kept her company through her morning routine, even in the shower and through breakfast. The feeling never faded, even after she left her home. Double, triple, even quadruple checking her checklist for the day didn’t ease the feeling. In fact, it only grew worse as the day trudged on.
Spike seemed to notice and he spoke up several times throughout the morning. “Are you okay, Twilight?” “Is something wrong?” “Do you need any help with something?”
Each time Twilight turned pensive, and responded with a simple, “No. I can’t place it, but I’m just feeling… off.” She’d shake her head. “I don’t know why, but I am. It should go away shortly.”
The first couple times, Spike seemed to accept the answer, shrugging and going back to reading his comics. As the day drew toward noon and Twilight showed no sign of getting better, he grew concerned.
Before he could ask his next question, a knock at the castle’s front door drew his attention.
Twilight was too engrossed in trying to self-diagnose her problem to notice, so Spike answered the door.
As the door swung open, he gasped at the ponies on the other side of the door, “Night Light, Twilight Velvet! What are you doing here?”
The mention of her parents’ names shook Twilight from her concentration.
She shot up and ran toward the front door She arrived right as the door shut behind them. Spike bolted from the room, saying something about getting some tea started. They were facing away from her when she spoke, “Mom? Dad? What are you doing here?”
They turned around, and Twilight instantly knew something was wrong. Both ponies’ eyes were red and puffy, like they’d just been crying.
Night Light sniffed loudly before forcing a small smile. “Hey, Sparky. We’ve got some bad news… Is there someplace to sit?”
Twilight’s ears folded back before she nodded. “Yeah, follow me.”
Her parents followed, a distinct lack of enthusiasm in their strides. It didn’t take long, but they reached her study. Her magic reached across the room and she pulled out several cushions and set them out, one for each of them, including Spike.
Spike walked in, four teacups arranged around a pot before setting it down on a nearby table.
Twilight couldn’t meet her parents’ eyes as she asked, “So… what’s wrong?”
The married couple shared a look, silently debating who would speak first. Finally, Night Light opened his mouth, “You remember my mother, and your grandmother, Shimmering Beacon? She hasn’t been doing too well in recent years and it all came to a head in the last week. She…”
Night Light’s voice trailed off, so Twilight Velvet picked up for him. “S-she passed away last night.”
Spike was shocked. “W-what? Grandma Shimmer’s… gone?”
Both Night Light and Twilight Velvet nodded, their eyes tearing up. “Yeah. She is.”
Her eyes watered, and a hoof couldn’t wipe them clear fast enough. A muffled cough preceded Twilight’s imminent breakdown. She found herself swept up in an embrace from the other three, and broke down completely.
~Days later, at the wake~
The showing was beautiful. Shimmering Beacon had effected everypony’s life in attendance in some, no matter how small, way. Even Princess Celestia had shown up, much to everypony’s surprise.
Her father had started smiling again, once they started swapping stories, memories of the dearly departed. He steadfastly announced, “She was the best mother I could ask for. She’d kick my rear up and down the street if I needed it, but she would also turn around and hug me, love me, like I was the only thing that mattered to her.”
“You were.” Celestia spoke, surprising everyone in the conversation.
“What do you mean, Princess?” Night Light asked.
“You were the only thing that mattered. Family was everything to her. Even more than money, power, or a lofty, cushy position in the castle.” Celestia turned to each and every one of Shimmer’s children, all eight of them smiling warmly. “That is why she had all of you. So many foals, and each of you were special in your own way. She loved each and every one of you with all her heart.”
Twilight found her voice. “I remember her being strict, but fair and kind. When I was little, she’d bring over books and toys and even treats for Spike.”
One of Night’s brothers spoke up, exclaiming, “I remember her dropping everything when I broke my foreleg that one year playing hoofball. She ran for what seemed miles to get me to the hospital.”
“All because the medical cart wasn’t ‘fast enough’.”
Another one, one of his sisters, yelled, “Oh, remember when I had the first grandfoal? I thought she’d burst from how happy she was!”
A chorus of “Oh yeah!”s erupted from the table, and the somber mood broke. Soon stories turned into the happiest days and memories of their mother.
Thoroughly put-off by her father’s current story about how she set up himself and Twilight Velvet on a blind date, Twilight removed herself from the table to get something to drink.
Sitting off to the side, looking at the collage of pictures on the wall, was Princess Celestia. As Twilight stepped over, the princess didn’t even regard her with more than swivelling an ear in her direction. “Hello Twilight.”
Twilight sat down next to her. “Hello, Celestia. I didn’t expect to see you here.”
A small smile betrayed her tone. “Believe it or not, she helped me. It would be remiss of me not to come and celebrate her life.”
Twilight seemed to perk up curiously. “Oh?”
Celestia nodded, turning to look at the smaller mare. “A few decades before you were born, she helped me settle several disputes when I could find no clear path that both parties would accept.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it, yes.”
They lapsed into a companionable silence, looking at the photos again.
After a few moments, Twilight broke the silence, “Princess?”
“Yes, Twilight?” Celestia looked down to see tears in Twilight’s eyes.
“Could… could I get a hug? I really need one right now.”
Celestia sidled closer before drawing Twilight into a hug against her barrel. “Of course. You never need to ask.”
Twilight cried softly, her tears flowing. Celestia’s wings moved forward, sheltering Twilight from view, letting the young mare cry in privacy.
Unseen above her, Celestia cried softly herself.
“Princess? Are you crying?” Twilight’s voice rang from between her wings.
Not so unseen, then. Her neck craned down and she spoke hardly more than a whisper, “I am, Twilight.”
“Why?”
“A good pony has passed from the world. Equus is lesser for it.”
“No, why for her? Why not for others?”
“Twilight, if it were any other pony, I would still cry.” She sniffled softly. “Each and every pony I rule over is worth crying over when they pass.” She looked down to meet Twilight’s tear-filled gaze. “I will admit, I knew her much more personally than many others. I will miss her greatly.”
Steeling her resolve, Twilight returned the hug Celestia had been giving her as best she could. “I… If you need to talk, I don’t care about what, I’m here for you, Celestia.”
A small smile graced Celestia’s face, much more genuine than any Twilight recalled seeing in recent memory. “Thank you, Twilight. I have a feeling I will take you up on your offer, but not today.”
“Hey, Twilight! I bet you can’t burp like I can. See?” A belch ripped through the air for a few seconds, “Aaaaay.” A few of the other patrons clapped a hoof appreciatively. Across the table, Princesses Twilight and Luna sat next to each other.
“Dash…” Twilight’s hoof met her forehead in irritation, though she was smiling behind it.
“I shall rise to your challenge, Loyalty.” Princess Luna sucked in a deep breath, before another, deeper set of belches sounded in the pub. “Aaahy saaht whiiihth the Duhtchess aht teah.” More clapping followed, followed by a vocal cheer or two.
Dash’s wings propelled her a few feet off the ground. “Dang, Luna! You got some skills! C’mon Twi, I bet you could beat her!” She pointed a hoof at Twilight, who sighed.
“No.” She remained straight-faced, but did take a drink of her cider. The small crowd that had started to gather looked disappointed.
Dash’s face fell. “Fine, don’t join us and have fun!” She sucked in a lungful of air and dropped to the ground. ‘Bheeee,’ lasted a full ten seconds, easily beating her first. Another round of cheers, not quite as many as Luna had garnered, but definitely more than her first time.
“A fair improvement! Let us see if you can keep up!” Luna cheered. She reared back and unleashed another chain of burps. “Sheee sahhd ‘Dhooo yhooou fahrt when yhooou pee?’”
Laughter condensed into a dull roar as the crowd’s collective sides split. A few even started chanting “Prin-cess Lu-na!” loudly between breaths.
Dash flew up again and held out her hooves. The crowd went silent almost instantly in anticipation. Practicing with a few deep breaths, she held in her largest lungful yet. “Scheeee!” was her next belch, trailing off to a squeak at the final few seconds.
The crowd laughed, stomping their hooves in response to Dash’s best belch yet.
Before Luna could give her third try, Twilight suddenly let loose a monstrous belch, “Ooooh fhour oooh. Bhyyyyohhhgrahhphiiiheeees.” Unsure that she’d done that herself, she blushed faintly.
Luna was stunned, as was everypony else in the pub. Three seconds later, a cheer rose, spurring the rest of the ponies into a fervor chant, “Prin-cess Twi-light!”
“See? I knew you had it in you, Princess Egghead.” Dash elbowed Twilight smugly.
Luna cleared her throat, causing the crowd to wind down again. “Aaahy saaahd with some whit,” was followed by Luna coughing once and taking a large swig of her own mug.
The crowd’s roar wasn’t as loud as for Twilight, but that was okay in her book. There was still time.
After it settled down a bit, Dash spoke up, “Hah! It looks like Twilight is winning, Princess Luna. Gotta step up your game, like this!” Dash hooked a hoof around her mug and downed it in seconds. She looked the pair in the eyes for a couple seconds before taking a breath just as large as last time and holding it. Five seconds passed before a surprise burp roared from her lips, “Deeeee!” It lasted a full twenty-five seconds.
Both Twilight and Luna’s eyes were wide open in surprise as Dash took to the air, panting a little. She held up her forehooves, looking over the now-massive-enough-to-overfill-the-pub crowd, “Yeah!”
The crowd lost it. Even the ponies stuck in awkward positions managed to help shake the entire building’s foundations. Dash basked in their attention, flipping and spinning in the air, spurring them on further.
It took a minute before the crowd settled down enough for the next contestant to take her turn.
Fully entranced in the competitive atmosphere now, Twilight took a few gulps from her cider. She got up and stood on the table, taking a lungful of air along the way. After a few seconds, she was ready. “Three Fhour Twoo - Cohnstituhtiohnahl ahnd ahdmihnihstrahtihve lhaw.”
Luna was the first to recover from the thirty-second long announcement. She looked about and everypony’s faces were that of astonishment, with more than a few dropped jaws. Nobody cheered, entirely too surprised that Equestria’s youngest princess managed such a feat.
‘I seem to have underestimated her. There is some competition yet!’ Luna thought as she shot a smile Twilight’s way. Luna opened her mouth only for a belch to start its way up her throat. Acting quickly, she remembered her the next line of her limerick, “’Dhoo you bhelch whenn you shiht?’” She coughed once as she held a hoof to her mouth. “Excuse me.”
The stunned crowd was shocked to laughter at Luna’s outburst, bringing the awkward silence to an end.
As the laughter died off, Dash took her turn. Her wings flared and with a single flap, she soared up to the ceiling. Her eyes closed and she wavered in place as she bellowed, “Eeeeeeh-heeeeeee–” Dash’s eyebrows furrowed as she concentrated on staying in the air and continuing. “–heeeee-heeeee oh crap.”
As her lightheadedness grew, her wings stopped flapping in sync, slowly spinning her in circles. She opened her eyes to see the room literally spinning. A second passed before she thought, ‘Think I overdid that one…’ before everything went black. Dash instantly started to drop, going limp.
One mare screamed as Dash fell, but she was quickly caught by Luna, who gently laid the unconscious mare down on the table. Almost as one, Twilight and Luna checked her over, finding nothing wrong that a good night’s rest wouldn’t take care of. Luna sent a message to her sister to send a few ponies to escort Dash back to her guest suite at the castle.
The crowd settled quickly, even some ponies dispersing, thinking the event over.
Continuing the contest, Twilight finished her drink and took a massive breath. “Sihhhx Four Sihhhx - Sohhhwhing, Clohhhthing,” She took another short breath, “Mahnagehmehnt ohf pehrsohnahl hand familhy lhife!”
Luna smiled and nodded her head and smiled brightly, while the smaller crowd cheered. “Very impressive, Twilight!”
Twilight blushed hard, not expecting the praise. Luna’s wing worked around the smaller mare’s back, drawing Twilight in for a hug.
Luna whispered into Twilight’s ear, “Maybe, in a decade or two, you will be good enough to recite a poem or limerick like I can! I daresay Tia is no longer up to the challenge.”
Twilight’s eyes shot open and she looked at Luna like she was crazy. She frantically whispered, “You mean Princess Celestia partook in games like this?”
“Verily! Celestia was much better than me.” Then Luna’s ears folded back and the smile faded. “She has gotten lax in my absence.”
A voice shoots through the tavern, “Royal guard, coming through! Make way!”
Twilight had just started to turn a confused look to Luna when she raised a hoof, waving it to signal her position. “Ah, that would be Tia. I asked her to send some ponies to pick Loyalty up.”
One pony stepped through the door, “Luna? What happened?”
Surprised to see her sister, Luna exclaimed, “Sister! I did not expect you to come!”
“I didn’t expect a message asking for somepony to escort Rainbow Dash back to her room. Is she alright?” Celestia sat in Dash’s seat.
“She will be fine. She may have had a touch too much cider.” A pair of unicorn guards levitate Dash off the table and onto a stretcher, all three leaving afterward.
Celestia watched them leave before noticing Twilight in Luna’s wing. “Hello Twilight. I must admit I’m surprised to see you here.” ‘Luna almost always drinks alone, or with me. I wonder what’s going on…’
“Um, hi, Princess. Luna and Dash asked me along, so I came.”
A slam from her apartment front door jolted Twilight from the serenity of her shower. She remembered locking it, so it must be only one of a very few ponies whom had a key.
Seconds later, a melodic voice drifted through her shut bathroom door. “Twilight? Are you in here?”
Not-quite-literally melting at the voice, she took a few seconds before yelling back, “Ah, yeah! Give me a few minutes, Celestia. Just finishing up.”
“Alright. Take your time, Twilight. We have all day.” Straining her ears, Twilight heard the soft thumps of Celestia’s hooves making their way back down the hallway.
Following Celestia’s instructions, she did take the few minutes she needed to scrub behind her ears and rinse her mane before shutting the water off.
Stepping out, she snagged a towel and immediately started drying off. Once the first was soaked from drying her wings carefully, she discarded it into the hamper and her magic reached out for a second, wrapping it around her head and trailing it down the back of her neck to dry her mane.
Reaching for a third, she encountered a problem. Her magic didn’t find purchase. Looking over, the third spot on her towel rack was empty.
Panic immediately rushed through her veins. ‘Oh no! Did I…’ Looking around her bathroom, she was out of dry towels.
She felt her second towel was too soaked to use on her tail as well. She checked again ‘I did! Oh, I hope Celestia doesn’t mind…’ Heart rate skyrocketing, she knew she had to ask, but was entirely too embarrassed.
Ears pinned back, she cracked the door open slightly, and stuck her head out. She looked toward where she heard Celestia go. “Ce-Celestia?”
A thump from down the hall sounded alongside a “Ah!” as it sounded like Celestia tripped and fell.
Embarrassment forgotten, Twilight yanked the door the rest of the way open and charged down the hall.
“Celestia? Are you alright? I thought–” she stopped as she noticed Celestia, nose first on the floor, facing her.
Shaking her head a little, Celestia looked up to see Twilight, concern written all over her face. Her rear half was still dripping wet, but a towel wrapped about her mane was half undone.
A soft pomf sounded throughout the front room as Celestia’s wings unconsciously spread, a matching bright red blush covering most of her face. “T-Twilight I–”
“Are you okay? That sounded like a big tumble.” Twilight stepped forward and helped Celestia to her hooves.
“I-I am fine. What did you need?”
Twilight’s ears perked and she looked back over herself. Suddenly remembering herself, she ‘eeped’ and the towel on her head slid down over her eyes. “I… ran out of dry towels.”
Celestia quirked an eyebrow, but her blush hadn’t faded at all and her tail swished once.
“I was hoping you could get me some from the closet… but then I heard you fall.”
Celestia’s ears pinned back and she looked away. “Sorry. You startled me and…”
“I’m just glad you’re alright, Celestia.” She turned and started making her way back, toward her closet. “Let me just get a towel and I’ll be ready in a minute!” Grabbing a dry towel, she returned to the bathroom and shut the door.
Left to her thoughts, Celestia’s blush deepened and wings seemed to quiver. ‘Am I really… going to ask Twilight now?’
A minute later, Twilight returned, the towel on her head gone, but a second one now hovering her rear.
“So, while I’m drying, what did you need, Celestia?”
“Celly.”
Quirking an eyebrow, Twilight asked. “What?”
Blushing furiously and refusing to look Twilight in the eyes, Celestia explained, “Call me Celly.”
“Okay… Celly.” Noticing Celestia’s blush, Twilight tilted her head adorably. “Are you alright? Your face is kind of red.”
Sputtering, Celestia replied all too quickly. “I’m fine! Better than fine! I’ve never felt so fine in my life!”
“O...kay?” Twilight turned to more genuinely confused than anything. “So, what did you need?”
Gulping audibly, Celestia looked over to Twilight. “I wanted to know if you wanted to go out later.”
“Oh! Let me check my schedule, I think I have some free time today.” Turning, she left the room to look over her notebook.
Half a second after Twilight turned, she slapped a hoof to her face as her mind continued down its path. ‘No. Bad mind! Bad choice of words!’
Twilight rounded the corner to her kitchen and checked the calendar. ‘Free time… now to four PM! Perfect timing!’
Smiling, Twilight called out, “Hey Celly! I’m free until four!”
“That is great, Twilight!”
Turning around, one of her wet hindlegs slips out from underneath her and with a loud ‘Eeep!’ she crashed to the ground.
Thoughts forgotten at the thump, Celestia asked, “Twilight? Are you–” as she rushed into the room. Her words left her at what she saw.
The sight before Celestia was better than anything her mind could make up. Twilight’s towel had fallen away, and she lay on her back with her hindlegs spread accidentally.
“I’m… alright. I slipped.” The moment passed as Twilight rolled over and stood back up. Celestia stood unmoving, except for her wings, which were quivering again. “Celly?”
Making her way up to the larger mare, Twilight waved a hoof in front of Celestia’s unmoving eyes, her blush turning her entire face red now. “Celly? Are you…”
Shaking her head, she stepped back. “I’m alright. I just wasn’t…”
Rearing up, she placed a hoof on Celestia’s forehead. Celestia was burning up!
Squinting her eyes, Twilight set back down on all fours again and jabbed a hoof into Celestia’s barrel. “Celly, you’ve got a fever. Your face has been red since I walked out. Why did you come here when you’re obviously sick?”
Celestia sputtered, her ears pinning back. “But I’m not…” Inspiration struck, and a second later she started coughing into a hoof uncontrollably. “Yes, I’m sorry, Twilight. I did feel a little under the weather on my way over, but I didn’t think anything of it…” Ducking her head down, Celestia tried to slink around Twilight. “If you want, I’ll just head home to rest.”
“No! No.” Twilight’s words surprised both ponies. “I-I’ll take care of you.” She ushered Celestia bodily over to the living room couch. The rub of Twilight’s coat against her own seemed to tease Celestia even more.
Before Celestia could protest, Twilight had laid her down and wrapped a blanket over her, including her stubborn wings. “Shush. Lay down and let me take care of you.”
“But…”
“But nothing. I won’t let the most wonderful friend in the world stay home alone, sick.” Twilight returned to the kitchen. “You stay there. I’ll get some soup on. It’ll help, alright?”
Twilight’s words made Celestia’s heart soar. ‘I… she… really thinks the world of me? I-I can’t lie to her like this.’ Shrugging off the blanket, she stood. Magic flowed through her horn and almost yanked her wings back down to a resting position. “T-Twilight?”
“Do you need something else, Celly?”
“Could you come here, please?”
“Alright.” Twilight returned to the living room to see Celestia sitting in front of the couch, almost back to normal, other than her red face. Twilight gasped and rushed forward. “What did you–”
A hoof shushed her before she could continue. “Twilight, please. I am not sick. Not like you think, anyways.”
Twilight removed Celestia’s hoof, but said nothing.
“I… came over to spend some time with you.” She sighed softly. “We have been friends for many years, have we not?”
Twilight nodded, starting to look impatient.
“I-I had hoped you would notice my intentions before, but with today’s events, I am afraid I must make them obviously apparent.” Celestia took a breath, holding a hoof to her chest. A moment later, she exhaled and stomped that hoof down. “Twilight, would you like to go out on a date with me?” She closed her eyes tightly before continuing, “As… marefriends?”
Twilight’s eyes widened and her ears stood forward. “Celestia… you… and me?” Celestia's eyes opened slowly and she nodded. Twilight gestured to Celestia and herself again and received a second nod. “Oh.”
Celestia looked down as her wings sprung open with another pomf and she looked off to the side. “Yes. When you thought I was sick, I just couldn’t pretend and waste both our ti–”
Celestia found a hoof over her mouth, Twilight reared up to reach properly. “Don’t. Even if it was a lie, it wouldn’t waste my time.” Removing her hoof, Twilight moved and sat down on the couch to be more eye level.
Blinking in surprise for a second, Celestia continued, “I’m sorry to seemed to have sprung this on you suddenly, Twilight, but it seemed to me like you didn’t take my hint. I just wanted to ‘clear the air’ so to speak.” Celestia nodded to herself before seeming to stare into Twilight’s eyes and waiting for an answer.
Ten seconds passed as Twilight looked down toward the floor. Behind her, Twilight’s tail swished. “So you want to be special someponies with me?”
Celestia nodded once.
“And you couldn’t ask me before?” Twilight reached up and hooked her hooves around the back of Celestia’s neck. “Of course I will,” she whispered into Celestia’s ear before nuzzling the blushing cheek.
“I’m sorry, Twilight. I had honestly thought you would pick up on my intentions earlier.”
“You did nothing wrong, Celly.” She nuzzled Celestia’s cheek again. “I have literally zero experience with any romance and you still choose me.” She pulled back, with her ears pinning back. “Even if you had to beat me about the head with your intentions.”
Leaning forward, she nuzzled Twilight's cheek this time. “I would only do that to a pony I truly loved, Twilight.” She pulled back before placing a hoof over one of Twilight’s. “I mean it.”
A small blush of her own started to show through her purple fur. “Twi. You, of all ponies deserve to call me by a nickname if I can call you by one.” Twilight laid down, thoroughly caught up in the moment.
“Alright, Twi.” Celestia laid down next to her and a wing suddenly cooperated as it laid down over Twilight’s back.
Twilight suddenly shot to her hooves. “Oh no. Earlier… was I accidentally…”
Pressing a hoof to Twilight’s barrel, Celestia explained, “Only a little, Twili-Twi.” She guided Twilight back down onto the couch. Resting her head on top of Twilight’s, Celestia’s wing squeezed a little.
“Was I really–”
Celestia’s horn lit and closed Twilight’s muzzle. “You are a beautiful, adorable mare, Twi. Never let anypony tell you otherwise.” Celestia’s lilac orbs seemed to soften as she closed most of the distance between their muzzles.
Twilight subconsciously closed most of the rest of the distance, instinct taking over as she stared into Celestia’s beautiful eyes.
Celestia’s breath washed over Twilight’s nose as she said, "Kiss me you beautiful nerd,” before closing the scant millimeters remaining.
“More on the left!” signalled over a radio out to gunners on the wall. Gunfire rippled out from the wall, tearing the mindless horde apart, leaving corpses missing body parts from sheer volume of fire.
A commanding voice shouted “Halt!” and the gunfire petered out. And so the battles went after the end of the world came.
Some weird pulse passed through the solar system. Scientists had seen it coming for months, but didn’t think it would do anything. Then, it passed the Earth. And the dead rose, literally overnight. When individually killed, the dead wouldn’t rise for another month unless the bodies were incinerated or too damaged to move on their own.
There were other reports of some living humans getting some kind of superpowers, but society the world over collapsed within the week, so nobody could put it all together.
Twilight returned to her spotting station’s balcony. Last week, she’d requisitioned a few extra bodies to assist her, along with some extra ammo to pick off stragglers.
Command had delivered, alright. She got her two new roommates, Celestia and Luna.
Celestia was supposedly some kind of impressive sniper, but entirely too cheery and familiar with others she worked with. Her twin sister, Luna, was almost her exact opposite. Luna couldn’t hit anything worth a damn, but she could pick out a rat scurrying at night like an owl, and kept the same hours as one.
Though they were twins, they didn’t look alike. Celestia’s was built like an amazon of old, with nice curvy hips and large bust that put her at odds with Luna’s petite frame. Luna was Twilight’s height, but carried herself with far more grace than either her sister or Twilight. She had the air of a dancer about her whenever she moved.
As opposite they may physically be, they got along better than most married couples did before the world ended. And it just annoyed Twilight to no end.
Twilight grunted. Within six months, the tower would either need replacing or reinforcement. The little tower they used kept in constant radio contact with the city they helped protect. It was rusting and leaning. One of the remaining few bastions in the world, it was called Dawn.
Celestia’s voice carried from inside the tower, “Twi? Did you fill out the report like I asked?”
Sighing softly, Twilight turned and called back, “Yes mom, I did. It’s over on the counter.”
Celestia squealed happily. “Ah, thanks love!”
The sound of boot steps echoed before a chair scraped and Twilight tuned out Celestia delivering their report.
Turning back to her spotter’s scope, she eyed several hordes as they wandered, literally miles from their location. She took notes on those that might make their way toward Dawn.
“How goes it?”
Instantly, her body moved on autopilot, reaching for her sidearm. A hand grabbed hers before she could rack the slide. Twilight looked up and met Luna’s cerulean orbs.
“Sorry, Twilight. Didn’t mean to scare you.”
Relaxing Twilight replied, “No problem, Luna. What are you doing up?” as she returned her sidearm to its holster.
“Celestia’s singing to herself again.”
Twilight nodded. “Ah.”
Luna put a hand on Twilight’s shoulder. “So, my question?”
Twilight showed Luna her notes. “Nothing headed our way, from what I see, anyway. I only just got started for the day.”
Luna nodded. “Right. Sorry. Mind if I hang out here?” She took a seat next to Twilight.
“Sure, go ahead and catch a nap. I’ll keep a good lookout.” Shifting, she reached into her pack and handed Luna a pillow.
Luna took it gratefully. “Alright. Thank you.”
A few hours later, Luna woke up and took her shift on watch, leaving Twilight and Celestia inside as they killed time before bed.
Celestia sidled up to Twilight, leaning into the smaller woman. “Hey Twi? Where’d Luna get to earlier?”
“Outside, napping next to me. Apparently you were being too loud. Again.”
“Oh, sorry. I’ll try to it keep down next time.”
“Do try, she has a hard enough time sleeping as it is.”
“Oh?”
“Half the time I leave you alone in here, she comes out and sleeps next to me.”
Celestia quirked an eyebrow. “Really…”
“Tia? Got a straggler!”
Instantly, Celestia was all business. “On my way!”
Suddenly on her feet, she seemed to teleport to her weapon, snagging it in a single hand and hefting it over her shoulder before heading outside. Twilight always seemed to wonder how Celestia could lift a massive anti-material rifle in a single hand, but didn’t question it. She slipped out behind her a pair of binoculars in her hand.
“Where away?”
“030 degrees north, four clicks. It’s a big Hulk.” Luna moved over but held the scope steady to allow Celestia to see. Mentally following Luna’s directions, she zoomed in on it. Celestia and Luna had seen this before, but Twilight’ hadn’t.
Some of the odd ways people had been buried in the past produced different kinds of Risen. Shamblers were your everyday zombie, effectively. Slow, easy to avoid, mindless. A Hulk comes only from mass graves. The bodies sort of congeal together, to produce a single, huge mass of flesh. Somehow, the flesh was as tough as tank armor, and needed similar weapons to break it apart to kill, unless one found the correct head to shoot. The others were vestigial, but only one seemed to keep its ‘awareness’.
Pulling the binocs down, she heard Luna say, “I think I found the master head. ”Half-bald woman. Redhead.”
“Oh, I see it. I bet she was a pretty little thing.”
Hefting her weapon, Celestia slid the skids on her bipod underneath the railing and hooking in next to Luna. She sighted in on her target. “Winds?”
Twilight scanned the trees. Autumn had come and trees were shedding leaves slowly this year. “Calm.”
“Distance?” Celestia asked as she dialed in her scope.
Luna propped up a laser rangefinder. “3.1 kilometers.”
“Oh, that’s a real big one then. Good thing I had you check.” One last twist and she was set.
“Cover your ears, girls.”
Twilight’s hands shot to her noise cancelling headset slididng it over her ears quickly. She saw Celestia’s lips move, but couldn’t hear what she said. Luna seemed to react, nudging her before she slipped on a pair of sound muffling earbuds.
Celestia held up five fingers and counted down, when she reached two, she dropped her hand, instead steadying her gun with both hands. Mentally following her countdown, Twilight brought the binocs up and watched the Hulk.
Next to her, the rifle’s muzzle flashed, the gun kicked hard into Celestia’s shoulder, and a muted boom sounded in her ears.
Twilight watched as the round soared downrange, striking the target Luna called out. It bored through the neck-flesh, severing the head entirely, before continuing through into the Hulk itself. A second later, the left half of the Hulk blew to pieces. Body pieces scattered as the rest of the massive Risen collapsed to the ground, burning.
Pulling her headset off, Twilight heard Celestia say, “Oh. Oops. I forgot I had an explosive one loaded.”
“Tia! We only have a few of those!” Luna slugged her sister in the arm.
Rubbing the spot sheepishly, Celestia hefted her rifle back up. “I used it for what it was meant for!”
Luna sulked. “Still.”
“Sorry, Lu. It was an honest mistake.”
“Just like this morning?”
Celestia seemed to deflate a little. “I said I was sorry.”
“No you didn’t.”
“I did!”
Twilight piped up. “You told me, not her.”
Celestia blushed in embarrassment. “Oh.” Immediately, she turned and hugged her sister. “I’m sorry, Lu. I know I wake you up early far more often than you would like, but…”
Sighing, she returned her sister’s hug. “I know. I know.”
Ignoring the rest of the conversation, Twilight brought her binocs back up and inspected the Hulk. Something was wrong. It was still moving. “Celestia? Luna? It’s still moving.”
Luna said what they were all thinking. “Oh shit.”
Celestia slammed her weapon back into position and scoped in. “Ah, that must not have been the right head.”
“How can you tell?”
“You normally can’t.” Celestia replied. “Luna’s got a gift that lets her see weak points in everything.”
“Oh.” Twilight shook her head. “Isn’t that like… cheating?”
Celestia reached out and tapped Twilight’s shoulder gently. “Only if it’s a competition.”
“Ah. Right.” A second later it clicked. “Wait. How?”
Luna replied, “Dunno. Tia’s always been a good shot.” Luna motioned to Celestia, holding the massive rifle steady. “If I got this gift, she got super strength.” Luna shrugged. “Like, if I asked her to, she could take this tower down with her bare hands.” Looking closely, Celestia didn’t even look to be trying hard to hold the rifle.
Celestia chuckled. “Like I would. I like you two too much to destroy our home. Temporary as it may be.”
“Then maybe you can vacate the premises with your lives.”
Cold steel pressed against Twilight’s back and she froze. ‘Fucking looters.’
Slowly Twilight put her hands up as Luna saw and froze.
“Tia…”
“Hold on. I found it! Five...”
Making eye contact with the person behind Twilight, Luna covered her ears.
Twilight dropped the binocs and covered her ears slowly, just in time for Celestia’s countdown to finish.
Celestia fired and three things happened. First, the Hulk fell and didn’t get up again. Second, Twilight felt heat and pain as the assailant fired, hitting her in the gut. Third, Luna lunged for the assailant.
Nary a sound from her lips, Twilight fell forward. She blacked out before hitting the floor.
Snarling, Luna tackled the assailant. The man was unable to bring his weapon to bear against Luna and it was knocked from his hand. “Tia!”
Setting the weapon down, she looked over at where she heard a gunshot. Dramatically, Twilight was face-down on the floor, and Luna held down the attacker. She froze, torn between what needed to be done, and what she wanted to do.
Luna pointed to the man. “Tia! Get ahold of yoruself!” She stood slowly, a foot holding the man’s head down. “Take care of this asshole! I’ll get Twilight!”
Shaken from her fugue, she replied, “Right.”
Trading positions, Celestia held up the man with one arm. “Why?”
Eyes wide in fear, the man yelled, “What?”
“He’s deafened. He didn’t cover his ears when you fired. Give it a minute. Strip his equipment. Never know what else he’s hiding.”
Celestia’s other arm parted the man of his coat, revealing two more handguns, a grenade, and six spare magazines.
Luna, meanwhile rushed inside to get the first aid/trauma kit. She knew it wouldn’t be enough, but it would be worse to not try.
Returning, she knelt down and flipped Twilight. The girl was flushed, losing blood fast. Turning her over, she set about getting the clothing off the young woman. It would have to do for bandages.
“Let… me… go!”
“Why?”
“Tia! Kill him or knock him out and tie him up. I need your help!”
The man swiftly met Celestia’s other fist and saw no more. It was a simple matter to break his neck, use a pistol to put a bullet in his brain, and chuck him as far as she could. She returned to see Twilight’s clothing off and Luna attempting to fish the bullet out.
“How is she?”
“Losing blood. Fast. She won’t survive an hour unless we can get it out and stem the blood.”
“Have you got it?” Celestia set out two needles threading them shakily.
Luna’s tweezers poked around, her hands shaking uncontrollably. “I can’t… I can’t find it.”
Celestia knelt down next to Luna, and tried to take the tweezers from her sister. Luna shrugged her sister off, still fishing around for the bullet.
Several minutes passed before Luna pulled the tweezers out. Slowly, she started sobbing.
Celestia’s voice was soft. “I… how do we save her?”
“I don’t know. If we radio, nobody will be here in time other than to… help send her off…”
Tears in her eyes, Celestia eyed her rifle. “Lu? I… have a crazy idea. I have no idea if it will work. Just hear me out.”
“What is it, Tia?”
“I shoot her with my rifle.” Luna surged to her feet, eyes blazing. “Where she was shot before. The bullet is much faster and generates a whole lot more heat.”
Luna flung herself forward into Celestia’s chest beating on her sister. “No! I won’t let you hurt her more!”
Pulling Luna into a hug for a few seconds Celestia replied, “If I do it right, I should knock the bullet free and cauterize her wound.”
“No. No!” Luna disappeared into the tower, “If you have to do it, use something that won’t literally take a chunk out of her!” She returned with Twilight’s much smaller-caliber rifle. Meticulously cleaned and taken care of, it would hopefully save its owner.
Gripping Twilight’s rifle gently, she brought the much lighter frame to bear. “Alright. Hold her steady.”
“Okay…” Luna croaked as she sat Twilight up and helped lean her against the metal wall. Her skin felt clammy, and she was pale.
Celestia kneeled down and placed the rifle’s barrel against Twilight’s wound. “Ready?”
Luna nodded.
“Three… two… one…” Celestia felt something in the air change.
Ka-boom!
Lightning struck the tower as Celestia fired, drowning out all sound. The flash at her back, Luna watched two bullet fragments sail free from Twilight’s body, off into the distance.
When Celestia pulled away from the wound and turned to get the sewing needles, Twilight seemed to move.
When she turned back, Celestia smiled softly.
Luna looked down at the young woman. Somehow, the clamminess was gone, and she no longer felt cool to the touch.
The arm in Luna’s grip moved. “W-what happened?” Twilight asked. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Luna, crying.
“Twilight?” The girl turned and met Celestia’s teary eyes.
“Celestia?” Celestia surged forward, hugging Twilight from behind and unintentionally groping the young woman’s breasts.
Feeling herself be felt up, Twilight blushed profusely. “Um. Why am I topless?”
“I dunno, why were you not wearing a bra?” Celestia teased.
Twilight meeped softly, her blush deepening.
Luna joined the hug, chastely, and distracted Twilight. “You got shot.”
“How?”
Luna thumbed over to where the man’s coat lay. “That asshole shot you as Tia took down the Hulk.” Celestia removed herself before handing Twilight a shirt.
“Oh.”
“We tried to save you.” Celestia replied softly.
Twilight quirked an eyebrow. “Tried?”
Celestia returned to the hug. “I’m not sure how you’re alive, and honestly, I don’t care.” She reached forward toward one of Twilight’s hands. “You’re alive, an–yowch!”
A small electrical shock passed to Celestia when she brushed against Twilight's fingers.
“What?”
She touched Twilight’s fingers and was shocked again. “You shocked me!”
Luna looked up right as a raindrop splashed onto her nose. She grabbed Twilight and tugged at her arm, surprisingly unshocked. “Inside. Now.”
“Why?”
Luna looked to Celestia. “Electricity. Water. Do the math.”
A small “What?” was ignored as Celestia stood over Twilight, covering her.
“Right!” Celestia ushered the smaller girl inside.
Twilight felt cross, but let herself be pushed inside. “Why do you want me inside? I love the rain!”
Celestia and Luna exchanged looks. Luna shook her head.
Kneeling down, she hugged Twilight softly. “Not right now, Twilight. Something happened, and we’re pretty sure being in the rain right now might kill you.”
Anger snapping over her like a twig, she shouted, “What happened to me?”
Luna watched as blue arcs passed over the pair. Celestia seized up, her arms locking around Twilight, holding her in place.
“Twilight! Stop!” Luna begged, afraid to come closer.
Twilight’s head turned and her rose eyes shone with little arcs of blue. “Stop what? What am I doing?”
Luna shouted, “You’re hurting her!”
Surprised, Twilight looked back to see Celestia’s entire body clenched like a fist, twitching, and all of her muscles clearly defined, like she was trying to put all of her strength into something.
Feeling like something pricked her hands, she looked down to see electricity flowing from her hands into Celestia. “A-ah!” She yelled as she pulled her hands off Celestia. Almost instantly, Celestia released a breath and toppled over to the side, her muscles relaxing.
Twilight looked between her hands and Celestia. “W-what happened to me?!” Tears shone in her eyes.
“I am not sure, Twilight, but I have a guess.” Luna moved over to her sister and knelt down. Celestia was alive and breathing, just passed out. ‘Good.’ Standing up again, she folded Twilight into a hug. “When Celestia was trying something, lightning struck the tower. You were leaned against a metal wall. Some of the electricity must have passed through you.”
“How did–”
“We don’t know. Somehow, you gained some sort of control over electricity. Whether it’s temporary, or permanent, we also don’t know.”
Celestia stirred softly, rolling onto her back. “Wow. Haven’t felt this bad since I stopped that bus in Old London.”
“You did what?”
“It wasn’t moving fast. Or that big, really.”
“My point remains!”
“Shh. It wasn’t really a big deal, Twilight.”
Celestia sat up, leaning against the couch. “Twi, can you come here?” She pat the spot next to her.
“Uh, sure.” Twilight moved over and plopped herself down, careful not to touch Celestia with her hands.
“So. You’ve got some kind of freaky electricity powers now. Whether they’re permanent is another question.” Leaning gently into Twi, she looked concerned. “How do you feel? Any different?”
Gathering her feelings, Twilight felt that, “No. Not really. I feel sore, but otherwise fine.”
“Good.” She wrapped an arm around Twilight and lifted Twilight. Suddenly, Twilight felt Celestia’s lips press to hers.
“Mmf–” Twilight sputtered against Celestia, her hands rushing up against Celestia.
“Tia!” Luna shouted, a blush starting on her face.
Celestia pulled away softly, staring Twilight in the eye. Slowly, her hand brought one of Twilight’s up into Twilight's vision. “See? I had a feeling. A shocking revelation if you will.”
Blushing profusely again, Twilight groaned softly at the pun. Slowly, she brought a hand up to brush some of Celestia’s hair out of her eyes.
A pillow plonked against Celestia’s head, “Tia! That was horrible!”
“Oh, relax, Lu. I had a hunch and that was the easiest way to check.”
“By kissing her?” Luna shrieked.
Surprising everyone, Twilight, red as a beet asked, “So… that meant nothing?”
Taken aback, Celestia was speechless.
Seeming to deflate a little, Twilight turned away from both Celestia and Luna. “I knew it. Nobody likes the nerd.”
Spurred into motion, Celestia's thumb turned Twilight’s head back to face her. “Hey. I never said that.” Twilight looked almost hopeful. Sighing softly Celestia explained, “You never showed any interest before. I honestly thought you weren’t interested in any romance at all. I mean, you let Luna sleep with you all the time and never made any moves on her.”
Looking Celestia in the eyes she confessed softly, “I… might be interested.”
“Alright!” Celestia leaned forward intent to kiss Twilight again.
Twilight’s soft hands pushed her away. “What about Luna?”
“What about me now?”
“Get over here, Lu. Got somethin’ to say.”
Skeptical, Luna plopped down on Twilight’s other side.
“What now, Tia?”
“She says she’s interested in me. Romantically.”
Luna quirked an eyebrow. “And? I gathered as much a minute ago.”
Celestia smirked. “She wants to know about you.”
“And?”
Twilight meekly added, “What do you want, Luna? Are you alright with me and your sister?”
Luna smiled devilishly. “No.”
Celestia’s smile dropped, and Twilight looked devastated. “Lu…”
Twilight’s tears threatened to fall. “What? Why?”
The smile turned seductive. “We’re a package deal, Twilight. You get both of us, or neither of us.”
“W-what?”
“Let me put it in another way you can understand.” She leaned over and kissed Twilight with Celestia watching.
Several seconds later, Luna pulled back and she asked, “That enough of an answer, Twi?”
“But…”
“We may not be lovers with each other, but we do share lovers. Is that alright with you?”
Twilight gulped softly. She looked both in the eyes and said, “Okay,” before gently guiding Celestia’s lips to her own again.
Pulling back she leaned into Luna’s embrace. “Okay.”
Feeling Celestia’s hands creeping up her navel, she swatted it with one of her own. Celestia recoiled with a soft “Yowch!”
“Down girl. I just said yes to dating both of you. That doesn’t mean I want to jump in bed right away…”
Reaching to the side, she felt Luna’s cheek jump under an index finger. Startled, Luna asked, “How did you do that?”
“If I seem to focus on wanting to shock something, it works.”
Celestia wrapped both Twilight and Luna in a proper bear hug. “Well, love, I can think of some uses for it.”
Luna laughed. “Yeah, to keep you in line.”
Twilight wheezed as the air was forced from her. Before she could start truly suffocating, Celestia released them. “So, do you accept?”
Twilight shared a look with both sisters, before nodding. “Yes.”
Luna, completely straight-faced, said, “Awesome,” before bursting into a wide smile. She winked at Twilight. “Now that that’s settled, I’m gonna get back on the scope.” Standing up, she made her way to the door and called out, “You two have fun!”
“What does she…” Twilight’s mind went to lewd places at Luna’s implication. “We’re not gonna be doing that!”
Celestia chuckled softly.
“Besides. I’m too tired.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, um. The last hour or so has really taken it out of me.”
Celestia grinned. “Well, you can cuddle up to me. I don’t mind.”
Consciousness returned to Celestia with a pounding headache. Blearily blinking her eyes opened, she saw the back of the couch she was sprawled across.
She heaved to her side to roll over. ‘What happene–’
“Wo-oah!” Celestia cried out as she rolled off the side and fell to the floor. Shaking her head, she rolled over again, sitting up properly.
‘What happened last night?’ she thought to herself as she looked around. Scattered around the room were two sets of regalia, her own and another set in gold, for a smaller pony’s frame.
Gazing at the furniture, she didn’t recognize the room. Conversely, the room smelled very familiar, welcoming. It comforted Celestia like an old friend.
As her mind slowly ground into motion, the door handle turned. As it opened, a familiar blue hoof stepped in. Celestia’s ears folded back slowly, as in walked the last pony she hoped to see in this state, her sister.
Luna stepped in and closed the door. She gently moved to stand in front of her sister. Luna’s face was stern as she spoke one word, “Explain.”
Celestia was confused. “Lu?”
Luna’s horn lit and she cast a privacy barrier over the room. “Sister. Celestia, don’t play coy with me. Why didn’t you tell me what you had planned last night?”
Celestia’s mind ground into motion, but came up with nothing. No recollection of the previous night. “I’m… afraid I have no idea what you’re talking about–”
The word “Bullshit!” blew her backwards into the couch. Luna looked livid.
Celestia slowly pried herself from the couch and sat down again. She softly spoke, “I’m serious, Lu. I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Her magic snapped Luna’s muzzle shut as it opened again. “I literally don’t remember last night one bit.” Her muzzle fell, staring at the floor. “At all.”
She released her sister’s muzzle, expecting another shout. What she got was a hoof gently lifting her muzzle to look into her sister’s eyes. “Truly?”
Celestia’s ears pinned back and she nodded gently. “I promised never to lie to you, Lu. If I knew what I did last night, I would explain it in a heartbeat.”
“Well that just takes the cake, does it not?” Luna’s hoof fell. “I had this whole big shpeal planned to berate you for hours, but you just cannot remember!”
“I… let me try something. It may help.”
“Very well.”
Celestia’s horn lit and she cast a memory spell, designed to help self-repressed or magically-suppressed memories return. Several came up, but nothing recent. Lamely, she looked to the side as the magic faded. “Nevermind. It didn’t.”
Luna’s wings sprung open, and she seemed to crouch in on herself. “Did she do this to you?”
“Who? Luna, I don’t remember anything. You’re going to have to tell me what happened.”
Luna sighed before floating over a newspaper.
Newest princess result of nepotism? read the banner.
“No. Twilight is not a princess because of nepotism. She has earned her position fairly.”
“What?” Luna brought it back. “Oh. Wrong heading.”
She folded it over and thrust it back to Celestia.
Royal Wedding soon? Sources say Celestia and Twilight Sparkle to wed Celestia’s eyebrows rose. “What… is this?”
“I don’t know, sister, you tell me?”
“Again, Luna–”
The door handle turned and both ponies looked to see Twilight enter. “Hi Celly! I thought I heard you get up earlier so I–” The rest of what she was going to say turned into a squeal as Luna’s magic grabbed her and roughly pulled her inside. The only sound for a few seconds was the door slamming shut.
Pulled up to stare into Luna’s face, Twilight sputtered under the sheer intimidating presence Luna exuded, “H-hi, Luna. Is… something wrong?”
The paper ripped away from Celestia and shoved into Twilight’s face. “Explain.”
“O-oh. There’s not much to say.” Twilight beamed a bright smile. “Celly asked me and I said yes!”
The sound of stone grating on stone played in Celestia’s mind as Luna slowly turned to stare daggers at her. It took all of Celestia’s not-insignificant will to stay still until Luna looked away.
She found her voice and she sternly said, “Twilight Sparkle.”
Twilight straightened up instantly. “Yes, Celestia?”
More softly this time Celestia continued, “I have no memory of last night. What happened?”
“What’s the last thing you remember?”
She racked her mind and found one place where the gap had started. “I had just left dinner.”
“Oh. Okay.”
Twilight took a breath. “I wanted to surprise you with a visit, so I was waiting outside your room. I know after a stressful day you like to have a glass of wine or two, so I brought a bottle.” As Twilight spoke, it was like her memory started returning. Celestia seemed to lose track of herself into Twilight’s recounting.
Her ears pinned back as she explained. “You and I spent some time just relaxing before you seemed to grow… anxious?” Twilight shrugged. “I’m not sure. You just seemed to have something on your mind all night, and it seemed to come to a head at that point.”
“You called me over, and swept me up in a wing.”
Luna looked between the two. Celestia’s eyes were glazed over.
“And after that–”
“I kissed you and asked you to marry me.”
“Y-yeah.” Twilight’s ears perked up and her tail swished. “Hey, didn’t you say you didn’t remember?”
“As you said it, I saw it from my perspective.” Celestia’s muzzle fell. “I did.”
Twilight felt the mood in the room turn down and she tried to fight it. “Hey. I accepted! That’s good, right?”
Luna’s voice had no emotion. She looked to be a statue as she replied, “Nay, Twilight Sparkle.”
Twilight’s head tilted adorably. “Why is it bad?”
“Because I had promised to let Luna marry you.” Celestia hated the choice of words, but it was the simplest explanation.
Surprise stunned Twilight for a few seconds. She looked between the two. “Why?”
“My gratitude is boundless, Twilight. As I read your lessons from Ponyville, I grew enamored. I was waiting for you to settle in before asking to court you.” She sneered at Celestia. “And now all my plans are for naught.”
Celestia raised a hoof. When did her vision get blurry? “Lu? I’m so–”
Luna stood stiffly. “Don’t apologize to me.” She turned and made her way to the door. “I shall see myself out.”
Luna’s hoof reached for the door handle. Though she tried to keep her voice even, her snide anger did leak into her parting statement. “I… wish you two a wonderful marriage. You two are obviously a match made in heaven.”
Before the door could open, a soft “Luna?” met her ears and she stopped in her tracks. Her head turned to see Twilight at her side.
“I… I can call it off if you want,” Twilight hiccuped She was tearing up, and it about broke Luna’s heart. “I coul–”
Luna shook her head. “Nay. I don’t want to get in the way of your happiness any more than I have.”
“But–” A blue hoof met Twilight’s lips and silenced her.
“No, Twilight.” She nuzzled Twilight softly. “I do not wish to get in the way of your happiness.” She opened the door softly before whispering to Twilight, “Know that I am truly happy for both of you, but my heart wishes it was myself, instead of mine sister causing your heart to soar.”
Celestia watched the scene as her guilt grew. When Luna walked out, she wept silently. Moments later, she felt herself herded back onto the couch. Her face was pressed into warm fur and Celestia broke down entirely, wailing despondently. Distractedly, she felt wet drops fall on her own neck.
The pony comforting her stroked her mane and cooed comfortingly into her ears between her own sniffles.
What felt like hours later, Celestia’s wails faded as her throat burned. Her cries of pain calmed down to gentle sniffles.
A soft “Celestia?” called her attention. She looked into the purple fur she’d cried into, matted with her snot and tears, it would take hours to clean up.
Celestia sniffled loudly. “I’m sorry to do this to you, Twilight. I had never meant to actually ask. Do… do you want to call it off?”
Twilight looked down into Celestia’s eyes, showing she’d been crying along with Celestia. “Answer me this. Do you really love me?”
Celestia’s voice was hoarse, but clear, “I love you, Twilight. With all my heart.”
A hoof stroked Celestia’s mane. “Do you regret asking me?”
“No. My only regret is that I caused Luna so much pain.”
“She…”
“Loves you as much as I do, I would bet.”
“Why?”
“It’s like she said. Saving her life from the Nightmare put the idea in her heart, but reading how you grew as a pony, and getting to know you caused her to fall for you.”
“What about you?”
Celestia answered honestly, “I have always loved you, Twilight.”
“Even as a foal?”
“A different kind of love, perhaps. I saw you as the brightest, most inquisitive, and quite literally the smartest student I had ever taken on. When I wasn’t working with you, the country, or sleeping, I was preparing lessons for you.”
“Did I really take that much of your time?”
Celestia’s small smile could rival the sun. “You did. I wouldn’t trade any of it for the world, though. And that love grew after you had moved to Ponyville. When I had actual free time, I found myself habitually making more lesson plans.” Celestia laughed once, a soft, raspy thing. “For a student I would not likely see again.”
“I don’t…”
“I’m not entirely sure when my love for you changed from what it was to romantic, but it did.”
“I have a question. Were you were prepared to sacrifice your love for me, for your sister?” Twilight asked. “You would let Luna live the life you wanted?”
Celestia’s head fell onto Twilight’s chest. “I was. It seems the wine last night made me think otherwise, taking what she deserves selfishly for myself.”
“In my life, I have had the luxury of several ponies I would call a true love.” Celestia frowned. “Luna… has not. Every one of her attempted romances ended catastrophically. Several tried to harm or outright murder her when she refused to grant them power. Others dragged her name through the mud after a breakup. Others parted amicably, but their friendship was never the same.”
“She… thought that you might be her first true love.” One of Celestia’s hooves slammed down on the couch. “And I took that from her.”
Twilight’s hoof lifted Celestia’s head. “Do… do you want me to try and love her?”
“Do you think you love her?”
Twilight shook her head. “No. But that doesn’t mean I can’t give her a chance.” Celestia’s heart skipped a beat. “If you want me to.”
“I want…” Celestia wanted to, so much.
“Celestia.” A hoof made its way to her chin. “Celly. If you want me to try, I will. If you don’t… consider it dropped.”
“I…” Will crumbling, Celestia shut her eyes and nodded. “I want you to try.”
Celestia felt Twilight slide out from around her. “Alright.”
What few tears remained threatened to fall. “I’m sorry, Twilight.”
“No.” She felt a soft pair of lips against her own for a few seconds. “Don’t be sorry.”
Celestia felt as though she’d ripped out her own heart, but was silent as Twilight slipped out of the room.
~ Three years later ~
“You may now kiss the bride.”
Twilight leapt at her wife. Her sister wept happily for the newlyweds.
Twilight awoke groggily, pain shooting through her entire right side. Attempting to sit up, she only managed to rolled over. Something heavily pressed down on her, threatening to start crushing her.
She cried out, her shriek a mere squeak. The pressure shifted, cutting off Twilight’s air. Less than a minute later, she faintly heard, “Good. It seems they have given up searching for you…” as her consciousness faded.
Twilight woke again with a start. She was alone this time, but heard what sounded like a battle raging off in the distance.
She groaned as she rolled, kicking her legs out to get to her hooves. She yelped as one never made it underneath her and she just ended up rolling, stopping on her back. ‘Ow. What happened…’
The battle seemed to draw closer, but Twilight could barely hear it over the pain she felt. Looking down in the dim light, she tested her limbs and was unable to move her left foreleg. She pushed herself shakily to her hooves, using her wings to help stabilize on three legs.
Nausea bubbled up, threatening to push her back down to the floor.
A glow shone from the far side of the room, growing brighter and brighter until Twilight’s fight or flight instinct kicked in. ‘Oh sh–’ She thought as her wings kicked hard, straining from disuse as she dodged the light screaming to where she was, before slamming into the far wall. Immediately, the rock face began to glow red, then orange, and melt away like slag.
As she pulled back, she noted it wasn’t a single light, but a stream of golden sunfire. It seemed to track her around the room, lazily following her path and carving through the wall. Twilight slowly hovered away from the light, around a corner to safety. From there, she sat as her chest heaved. Her stomach unable to take the sudden movements anymore, she leaned over and heaved, throwing up only bile.
After a few minutes, she felt up to looking around. It looked like a hollowed out cave. There were other exits from the room, including one going vaguely up.
A pained roar echoed through the room, and the golden beam cut out, leaving a glowing pile of molten rock slowly sliding down from the far side of the room. A crash sounded, and she felt a blast of heat as she was temporarily blinded.
Twilight flailed, scampering away from the heat as best she could, huddling up against the wall.
A voice shouted, vaguely familiar. It echoed around the room, rebounding throughout as Twilight felt like her skull would burst. “What have you done with her?”
Much closer, no more than a dozen paces away, a dragon rumbled, his voice like trying to sand a mountain with a piece of paper. “Like Tartarus you’ll ever find that bitch.”
There was another massive crash sounded against the far wall. Unseen by Twilight, a glow stalked forward into the room. “You will tell me. If not, I will get… unpleasant.”
The dragon groaned, and several thooms sounded, almost like the dragon was standing again. “You can pry it from my dead corpse.”
Softer this time the female voice replied, “That can be arranged.” The telltale sound of a unicorn’s horn powering up jingled to her ears, before she felt heat. She felt like she was on the surface of the sun. Instantly, her throat dried up, and the cry of alarm with it.
She slowly limped away from the heat, as fast as her hooves and wings could carry her. Eventually, she found herself stuck in a corner with the temperature rising.
She laid down, curling up to try and keep the heat from spreading through her as fast. Twilight found her words at last. She croaked softly, “Stop… please.”
Unfortunately, the words were drowned out by the dragon’s massive pained roar.
Several seconds later, the heat faded, leaving Twilight panting like she’d run a marathon during summer, with her winter coat still on.
The air she breathed in smelled… coppery. The dragon groaned, much softer this time. “Now. I will give you one. Last. Chance.” There was the sound of a fleshy hit. “Where. Is. She.”
“Go to Tartarus.”
“So be it.” There was a blast of heat and the sound of magic again. It was far hotter this time, and Twilight was sure her coat was going to combust at the very least. As the temperature increased, her thoughts changed from combustion to incineration.
“Stop… please stop…” She screamed as loud as she could.
Instantly, the heat ceased.
“T… Twilight?”
Twilight whimpered before she heaved, throwing up more bile. She didn’t dare open her eyes as soft hoofsteps made their way to her.
“Twilight?”
“Please… stop. I-I can’t…” Twilight broke down uncontrollably.
A hoof, hot as the sun, laid itself across her back and Twilight screamed. Instantly, it was gone, but Twilight’s sobs gave way to broken crying. She couldn’t spare the tears, but her nose ran.
A soft pssh sounded behind her. The hoof returned, but normal body temperature this time. A second joined it, pulling Twilight against the mare. The body was much, much larger than she was. “Twilight, are you–” The sound of magic reached her ears and Twilight’s stomach fell.
“Stop, please!” She struggled weakly, trying to get away from the mare that nearly incinerated her. “I’m sorry! I don’t know what I did, but I’m sorry!”
The mare let her go, and she scampered away, daring to open her eyes. Everything was blurry, but she limped as fast as she could away.
Hoofsteps sounded just behind her. “Twilight. You have–”
“I said stay away!” She spun, forgetting about her leg and ended up slamming face first into the ground.
The mare was on her in an instant, and Twilight felt magic wrap around her body. While warm, the magic didn’t injure her, and she was lifted to her hooves, but held down. A muzzle gently rested on her head. “Are you injured?”
Resigned to her fate, her ears pinned back as she replied, “I… don’t know. I… can’t feel my left foreleg.”
The muzzle left her head and she was turned around. “O-oh, T-twilight…”
The mare’s voice seemed to crack, before she was pulled against the much larger mare’s barrel. Looking up, her muddy vision didn’t give her much, but she saw stark-white fur clearly, and the mare must have had some kind of orange mane.
She cried out in pain as the mare grabbed ahold of her injured leg. It was twisted several ways, but she only felt pain at the base of her shoulder. “I… I’m sorry T-Twilight. Your leg is too far gone to save…”
She looked up as her vision cleared, meeting the mare’s glowing, orange eyes. Idly, Twilight noted that the orange hair was almost literally a mane of fire. She was wearing a helmet, with a massive ruby inset against the covering for her horn.
“W-who are you?”
“That is not important right now, Twilight.” The mare’s wings shuffled and her ears pinned back. “Your leg has gone necrotic. I need to amputate it. Now.”
“W-what?” She looked down at her leg. The flesh was flaky, black, and she could clearly see her bone as it tore when the mare moved it. She couldn’t feel anything but at her shoulder. She started to panic. “M-my leg!”
The mare lifted Twilight’s chin, nuzzling against it. “I am sorry, Twilight, but I need to get rid of it, before it can spread.” The mare’s horn lit and she looked around quickly. “Blast, nothing…”
“What are–”
Her words were lost as the mare gently pushed Twilight to the floor on her side. Gently, her magic pulled Twilight’s mouth open and held it. The mare’s own foreleg slipped between her jaws, like a dog holding a stick. “I am sorry for this, Twilight.” One eye looked up to the mare, seeing her horn light up.
“This will hurt, Twilight.” Her magic went to work, Twilight felt her body held down with the mare’s leg between her teeth. “Bite. Do not worry for me.”
She thought she had felt pain before, but that was nothing to now. Twilight screamed around the leg in her mouth, involuntarily clamping down around it.
The mare dutifully did her best to ignore Twilight’s screams as she set to work. The leg was set apart, and her magic slowly cut and pulled the necrotized flesh from the fresh at the shoulder. A thin stream of solar fire cauterized the wound, incinerating any remaining leftover necrosis.
Twilight was frantic, uselessly struggling against her bonds. As the heat cauterized her wound, she tried lighting her horn, but found she couldn’t. Her tail lashed behind her, as her pupils were no more than pinpricks. She felt some kind of liquid entering her mouth.
The mare’s work finished, she lifted the leg and set it off to the side. Immediately, she felt Twilight’s teeth tear through her leg and she bled. “I am sorry, Twilight. I had to do that to save you.”
She released Twilight, leaving her leg in place until Twilight spit it out of her own accord. A mouthful of blood followed it, splashing against the leg already turning red of its own accord.
“W-who are you?” Twilight was frantic. “What do you want with me?”
The mare took her helmet off, slowly, with her hooves. “I don’t know if you recognize me, but I am Celestia.”
“No. You’re not! You don’t look like her!” She spat some more blood out. “You don’t act like her! She would never do that to me!” Twilight gestured in the dragon’s direction. “The Celestia I know would never kill a dragon in cold blood.”
“Twilight? I don’t care if you believe me now.” Her magic picked Twilight up, holding her against Celestia’s barrel. “I’m more ecstatic than I have been in more than a year, seeing you alive.” She smiled softly, a face Twilight almost recognized.
“What?” The mare looked over to the dragon, Twilight’s eyes following.
“Xendasdyt, known as the Jealous One.” The mare replied. “It took me the better part of a year to find out it was him.” She looked over the dragon’s corpse, several holes bored through it with solar fire, it wasn’t bleeding, the wounds cauterized by the sheer heat. “The rest of my time after that was dedicated to finding you, and finding you alone.”
“He took you. O-one year, three months, s-six days ago.” Twilight looked back to the mare, and she now saw the Celestia underneath. Tears gently fell from her eyes, slowly sliding down her muzzle to drip between them. Slowly, a very light pink started to return to her fur, and the roots of her mane showed their normal color. Her eyes were no longer slit, but glowed with fire.
“I–”
Celestia shook her head before her horn lit and a canteen floated over to Twilight's mouth. “Drink, slowly. I can see you are severely malnourished. If you had no tears to shed when you cried like that earlier and throwing up, you are severely dehydrated as well. Explanations can wait until after we return.”
Twilight opened her mouth and the canteen poured slowly into her mouth. Over the course of ten minutes, she drank the entire canteen. The liquid tasted like ambrosia. Once it was done, she looked over to her severed leg. The entire thing was black, and no blood poured from it, both from the necrosis and the cauterized cut.
Celestia followed her gaze. “I am sorry, Twilight. I wish I could save it, but it is impossible.”
“What now?” Twilight’s voice was small, and she huddled against Celestia like a lost filly.
“Now? We get you home. I can’t teleport us both, but I can carry us. Are you hungry?”
Twilight nodded, and a single apple floated her way. “Slowly. Small bites. If you are as malnourished as you look, you won’t be able to hold too much, and I don’t want you losing the water you’ve already got by eating too much.
Twilight nodded and went to light her horn, but nothing happened. She leaned against Celestia and felt up to her forehead, finding an inhibitor ring on her horn. Celestia noticed it at the base and gave Twilight a questioning look. Twilight nodded.
Celestia’s muzzle slowly made its way down her horn, her teeth clamping down on the ring. Gently twisting, she unlatched it and pulled it free.
Twilight took the apple in her magic, shakily. Celestia looked over to the dragon as she crushed the inhibitor ring in her teeth, and spat the fragments out at the corpse. Afterward she heard a small crunch and looked to see Twilight following her instructions. She restrained herself from just devouring the most delicious apple she ever had, heeding Celestia’s instructions.
Minutes later, with the apple eaten, Twilight gently stood, using her wings to balance. Celestia stood slowly behind her. “We can get a prosthetic.” She swept around Twilight and nuzzled her cheek. “It won’t be the same, but it will be better than nothing.” Twilight looked up to Celestia’s eyes, seeing her much more normal again, the vibrant violet irises carefully watching her.
Twilight choked up, a hoof making its way to her stump and she flinched. She stumbled softly, Celestia catching her.
“It fills me with so much joy to see you alive.” Celestia’s ears pinned back. “Everypony else had given up, but I refused until I found you. Dead or alive.”
“Even my friends?”
“Reluctantly. I expect them to be ecstatic when you return.”
Twilight’s voice was small. “Celestia?”
“Yes?” She nuzzled against Twilight’s forehead.
“Can… can we rest a bit before heading out?” Twilight yawned. “I… am so tired.”
“Of course.” Celestia gently guided Twilight to the floor, wrapping herself around Twilight.
A soft, “Thank you,” came from Twilight as she succumbed to sleep.
Twilight woke draped in warmth. Looking up, she saw Celestia still cuddling against her. She scooted closer and wrapped her good foreleg around Celestia’s neck hugging her gently.
The older alicorn seemed to stir softly, looking down at Twilight in her forelegs. ‘Thank goodness you are safe now, Twilight.’ She slowly brought her muzzle down to kiss the top Twilight’s head, above her horn.
Twilight squeaked adorably.
“Good morning, Twilight. Are you feeling better?”
“Y-yes, Celestia.”
“Do you feel up for moving out today, or do you want to wait?”
Twilight sat up slowly, leaning on her sole foreleg. “Let’s go home.”