//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: Alicorn Switcheroo // by Fuzzyfurvert //------------------------------// Alicorn Switcheroo Chapter 5 The draconequus, Discord, vanished with a flash of light and a loud pop, only to appear almost immediately on the other side of Twilight and Celestia, his mismatched feet settling on the balcony’s marble floor. “Come now, let's not dawdle out where other ponies might see!” He chuckled, his lion’s paw held up in front of his face in mock scandal. “What would they think if they saw somepony else raise the sun, and not their precious Princess Celestia? Although, I for one welcome our newest alicorn overlord!” Discord walked backward through the door that lead back into Celestia’s personal chambers, bowing to Twilight. “Alicorn Princesshood looks good on you, Twilight. The wings really bring out the pink mana lightning in your mane!” Twilight whirled on her hooves to face Discord, keeping a wing spread to shield Princess Celestia from him. “For the last time, I am not an alicorn or a princess!” She grit her teeth, grumbling under her breath for a moment. “Discord, we don’t have time for your tricks, or teasing. Can’t you see we have a real problem on our hooves here?” “Oh?” Discord squinted at Twilight, her brows narrowing. He stopped walking and snaked his head closer to the tall pony, looking her up and down. “Then answer me this, Miss Smartypants: who just moved the Sun?” Discord smiled wickedly, the beard on his goat-like chin animating and pointing at Celestia. “I have it on good authority it wasn’t Princess Shrimpy over there.” There was another flash of light and Discord pulled a cord that hung in midair, snapping Twilight’s wing closed. Celestia whinnied in surprise and fell back into a seated position. Discord pushed a sputtering Twilight aside and stage whispered. “Oh, by the way Celestia, I approve of your choice for a successor. Sparkle here will keep the kingdom running like clockwork for millennia. I must admit I was surprised you made this decision without consulting me first, but now I see why you did! You get a vacation and I get the best pony to throw wrenches into the works of! I can just see her face now!” Discord giggled, hooking his thumb at Twilight. “It’s a lot like the one she’s making now.” “Discord, please, understand, I did not choose Twilight as my successor!” Celestia stood again, looking back and forth between Twilight and the chaos spirit. “There is still some sort of mishap going on. We need to figure out what has happened to us and make things right.” “Yeah!” Twilight shoved her face between the two of them, her eyes wide and nostrils flaring, and pushed Discord back. She kept pushing him deeper into the royal chambers with each word. “I’m not her successor! Thought I would be totally flattered to be picked for that, and Princess Celestia does totally deserve a vacation for all she’s done for me...er...for Equestria! But that’s not what’s going on here!” Twilight walked Discord back until he bumped into the Princess’ desk, his body conforming to its contour easily. She continued to glare at the draconequus, but gestured with her hoof at Celestia. “We’ve got a serious situation here and your antics won’t help. She moved the Sun, I was just the tool used in her time of…” Twilight grimaced, her mouth fighting the word. “...weakness. Princess Celestia is more important than anything else! I have to get her back to normal!” “For the good of all Equestria.” Twilight added as an afterthought. “Oh! And don’t call her Princess Shrimpy!” “Twilight, please.” Celestia followed the two into her bedroom, her now shorter legs forcing her to trot to keep up with them. “I’m a big pony. Discord’s jabs haven’t been particularly bothersome in a long time now.” “But...I can’t just let him walk all over you.” Twilight looked down at her mentor, her expression softening from her angry outburst. “Not now. Not ever! Nopony should ever look down on you, Princess.” Discord chuckled, his long serpentine body slithering up to sit on the edge of Celestia’s desk. “It’s kind of hard not too right now, wouldn’t you say?” His earlier smirk faded. “I told her I liked her new look before you even got here, so don’t get mad at me for pointing it out.” Twilight snorted in exasperation, hanging her head tiredly. Inside her, her tiny imaginary horde of viking-ponies-turned-gangsters roared, firing their tiny tommy guns upward as they surged into the dark depths of her gut. Thier goal to capture the last elusive bits of energy her breakfast latte had given her. A less-given-to-whimsy portion of her mind rolled its metaphorical eyes at that and kicked her mouth back into gear. “Princess...I just...I just have to do my best for you. Sometimes, I don’t know what is best, and that bothers me.” She sighed, looking at Celestia without moving her head. “Everypony says I’m smart. That I’m talented. But sometimes I feel I’m not smart or talented enough to deserve everything you’ve done for me. So...I feel it’s my duty to protect you. I didn’t mean to imply that you were t-too...too w-weak or soft skinned to face down Discord by yourself.” Celestia sighed, shaking her head and reached up to touch Twilight’s cheek gently. “My student, you are the smartest and most talented pony I know. There is no other I would want looking after me in my time of need, but as I told you before Twilight, you aren’t in this alone. Together we can figure out this situation and get it resolved. Trust in that.” Twilight smiled, leaning into Celestia’s hoof. She opened her mouth to say something when there was a bright flash and she suddenly found herself flopping back onto a fainting couch. Across from her, Celestia seemed surprised to find herself similarly dumped into a new couch. Discord appeared between them a second later, wearing a tweed jacket and glasses, a small notebook in his paws. The chaos spirit took a seat on a stool that hadn’t been there a moment earlier, chewing on a smoking pipe as he opened the notebook. “Zo, tell me, ven did you first notice des emotions?” He wiggled his eyebrows, squinting through his glasses at Celestia. “I tink der iz zometing more going on here between you. More than friendship, perhaps, hmm?” Celestia blinked, leaning away from Discord. “I-I don’t know what you are talking about. Our relationship is the s-same as it’s always been! Our teacher-student bond is just strong…” “Oh Celestia, your issues go zo much deeper zan zat! Be honest with yourself!” “Discord.” Twilight rolled onto her side, her tone stern. “Stop messing around.” The draconequus snorted, his clothing and the furniture they were seated on vanishing. Twilight hit the floor, but managed to catch Celestia in her aura and set her down gently. Discord rolled his eyes, pacing between the two ponies. “Fine! Whatever, it’s not like I had a reason for showing up and talking to two of the most magically knowledgeable beings in the world or anything.” Celestia slinked around behind Discord, slipping her arms around Twilight and helped the now larger mare to her hooves. “Well, what did you come to tell us, Discord? Perhaps if you dispensed with the theatrics we could get to the point? You are upsetting Twilight, and I need her mind working at full speed to solve our crisis.” “Oh just shoot a rainbow at it. Or banish it to the moon...oh wait, you can’t.” Discord looked back at them, not quite turning around fully. He smirked again and then looked down at his paw and rubbed his fingers together. “Don’t worry, I’ll be out of your manes in just a moment. It’s not even all that important, I just seemed to have misplaced some of my magic, and I can’t find it.” He snaked back around, floating in mid-air until he was facing the both of them again. “You wouldn’t happened to have seen it, would you?” Twilight shook her head to clear the stars dancing at the edges of her vision. She raised an eyebrow, looking back and forth between the chaos spirit and her mentor. “Missing magic? Just how much are we talking about here?” She leaned down to Celestia’s ear and whispered. “Can magic just go missing?” Celestia shrugged microscopically, whispering. “With Discord, anything is possible.” She sighed and looked around the room. Besides her current predicament and Twilight’s apparent risen state, everything seemed just as it was supposed to be. “I have been here all morning, Discord. I’ve not noticed any sign of wild magic. Are you sure you didn’t just...leave...it somewhere? Like that time you forgot your antler and left it under the sofa for two hundred years?” “I suppose I could have.” Discord tapped his chin thoughtfully with one claw. “Perhaps I should go check around some more. It’s not like it’s enough to do anything with...so I guess it’s not that important I find it immediately.” “Well then, why don’t you go do that and let me deal with the Princess in private?” Twilight glared at Discord. “If we find your...magic, or whatever...we’ll send it back to you.” “Well, see that you do, Miss I’m-not-an-alicorn-princess!” The draconequus snorted dismissively and vanished into thin air with a muffled pop noise. Twilight continued to glare at the spot where the spirit had been floating, as if she could set the very air on fire. “Why does he have to butt into everything? It’s like he thinks the world revolves around him!” Celestia gently touched Twilight’s shoulder. “Don’t be angry, Twilight. Discord is a hoofful, but his antics are at least mostly harmless these days.” She smiled and leaned in conspiratorially. “Though, to be fair, the world did once revolve around him. Thankfully, that stopped after Luna and I threw the moon at him.” Twilight snorted, pressing her hooves against her muzzle to hold back the bray of laughter building up in her throat. Her annoyance at Discord vanished like the morning fog before the dawn as the Princess snickered daintily along with her. Oh gosh, I don’t think I’ve ever heard the Princess snicker! Laugh,certainly. Maybe even a chortle here or there, giggles aplenty, but a snicker? She grinned behind her hooves, focusing on the way Celestia’s smile made the coat around her eyes wrinkle. Her coat never wrinkled before either. It suddenly occurred to Twilight that if they didn’t resolve things soon, her Princess might develope smile lines. A split second later, a voice in her mind asked if that would really be so bad. The Princess was so much more...mortal... in this form, and she wore that mortality well. Very well. “Thank you.” Twilight blinked, realizing she was staring. Again. Part of her wanted to pull back, act like a grown mare in front of her mentor. However, another part of her was loath to end the special moment they were having. “What for?” “For jumping to my defense earlier.” Celestia remained close, the edge of her smile changing from mirth to something sweeter. “I may not need it, but I am very glad to have it, Twilight. It’s been so long since a pony stood up for me directly.” “Well...who wouldn’t?” Twilight shrugged, confusion playing across her face. “You’re so important. You deserve to be protected at all costs.” “Not everypony shares that outlook.” Celestia glanced down at herself, her smile taking on a touch of melancholy ruefulness. “Normally, I am far from defenseless. I’ve not been bested in many centuries, Twilight. It’s the classic conundrum of why I even keep guards, let alone need any sort of protection.” “You keep guards because you are a single pony, for all your power, and cannot be everywhere or listen to every problem a pony has. It takes a team of dedicated equines to run a castle, let alone a nation. The common ponies should feel safe and secure, no matter if you are near or far.” Twilight recited the answer to the guard conundrum by rote. It was technically a paraphrasing of a quote of Celestia’s from four centuries early when asked about her habit of employing able bodied ponies to don the Gold and Silver Armors, but that was neither here nor there. Celestia shook her head, chuckling under her breath. “Maybe I said something like that, but I mean really standing up for me. You just stared a god in the eye, Twilight, and told him off for speaking down to me. That’s special.” “Well...I st-still think anypony w-would do it.” Twilight swallowed raggedly, her nerves returning in full force. “You’re specialer—more! More special...I mean.” She tried to smile at her own gaff, but just ended up grimacing unconvincingly. “Twilight.” Celestia felt her smile return to it’s former brightness as she breathed out her student’s name. She felt her own chest swell, watching Twilight’s nervous discomfort melt under the soothing tone she used. “Calm down, please. We are going to need your sharp mind if we are to get through this together. Now that we’ve handled the pressing problem of the sun’s continued course across the sky, I feel our next task should be to examine the spell that you miscast, see if we can figure out how to reverse it. Once that is done, I think I may require you to cast it again.” “Again?” “On me.” Celestia tossed her pink mane over her shoulder. Disregarding the weight and mass of it, she had to admit it felt nice against her coat and skin. “So we can avoid another panic while we diffuse the first one at the front gates.” Twilight nodded, narrowing her eyes in thought. “Hmm...good point. If we can figure out a way to accelerate the morphic properties of the enchantment, we could have you looking much like yourself with enough time left over to get to the bottom of this.” She tapped her chin with a hoof-tip, her annoyance at Discord’s interruption and embarrassment moments ago forgotten in a glorious haze of critical thinking. “Yeah, that could work! Good thinking, Princess! And we can use Pinkie as a distraction in case anypony looks too closely since she’s already privy to the fact that you’re not as goddess-like as usual. This is perfect. We can even use the lab on the third floor, where we used to test my theories on micro spell matrices! There shouldn’t be anypony there at this time of morning.” Twilight clapped excitedly, her wings flaring out to keep her balanced on her haunches. Her internal horde of metaphorical viking gangster ponies let out a whoop, tiny axes flying and tommy guns firing into her imaginary ether. She beamed at Celestia, eager for her mentor’s approval, but drew herself up short when she noticed the smaller unicorn was frozen. Celestia was looking off to the side, one hoof poised to smooth back her new gorgeous locks, eyes wide. Twilight blinked and turned to look, her gangster vikings equally freezing as a sense of dread, like the breath of some ancient beast from the depths, blew over them all. “What are you looking...oh. Oh no.” Part of her wished she were truly surprised, but with just how colossally poor her morning had thus far been, her mind just couldn’t be sussed. Across the large chamber from where they stood, Princess Celestia’s bed sat empty. The sheets were still rumpled, possibly still warm, but they contained not a single piece of Pinkie Pie. Pinkie was not on, or under, the couch. She was not at the desk, or out on the balcony. Twilight severely doubted that the pink earth pony would have slunk off to the bathroom while they weren’t looking either. “We have to find her before she spills the beans to one of the guards.” “Or one of the cleaning staff.” Celestia added, her voice flat. “Or to your sister!” Celestia shuddered, her eyes still locked on the bed, and swallowed audibly. “Yes. We have to make sure this doesn’t reach Luna, or I will never hear the end of it!” Elsewhere “One picnic basket stuffed with yummy snacks, check!” Pinkie Pie grinned and nudged the little wicker container slightly to the right of the glasses and the punch bowl. “Perfect!” “You can also check off the red and white checkered blanket. It has been placed just so, between the rosebushes, as per your instructions. However, are you certain that we should not also include wine, or champagne, on ice?” Princess Luna eyed the blanket critically. “It would be a pittance to retrieve one from my personal stores. I have a two hundred year old bottle of red that would—” She blinked, her eyes crossing to look at the pink hoof pressed against her snoot. “Princess, Princess, Princess!” Pinkie tsk’ed. “Wine is great for a romantic picnic, but it’s not even noon yet. We want them to make out, not get them drunk! We save the booze for later. That’s why we packed plenty of early lunch type sandwiches and crunchy veggies! I know Twi will really appreciate a healthy, balanced meal, on top of the romantic gesture!” The pink pony giggled, sliding up to Luna and throwing an arm over her shoulders. “Trust me, Princess, I’ve been planning Alicorn romance for years now! They called me crazy! They said it would never work! They all laughed, but look who's laughing now!” Pinkie Pie snorted, guffawing madly for a moment before suddenly throwing them both into one of the nearby bushes. Luna was glad it was one of the less filled with thorns variety. “Shhhh! Twi and the Princess Celestia imposter will be here any minute looking for me, so we need to be sneaky and unseen.” “Like spy ponies?” Luna ventured, pulling a stray twig out from behind her ear. “Fair Pinkie, is this truly necessary? Hiding in the bushes is not something We...er...I should be doing. As a Princess, you understand.” She grimaced and shifted, her magic pulling a much larger twig out from under her royal backside. “Additionally, as I already explained, that ‘imposter’ is in fact my sister.” Pinkie made a quiet yipping noise, her face splitting into a huge smile before she clamped her hooves down on it. She hunkered down and provided a couple pairs of binoculars from her mane. “Quiet! They’re here!” “Really?” Celestia raised an eyebrow, looking up at her former student. “She has an...Alicorn fetish, you say?” Twilight nodded, her mystical mane of mauve colored mana moving in its own ethereal wind. Or maybe it was trying to reach down and play with the Princess’ lighter pink hair? She honestly couldn’t tell at this point if the spell was mimicking Celestia’s former glory poorly or if it it really did have a—grabby—mind of its own. Just to be on the safe side, Twilight leaned a little to the right, trying to keep it away from groping Celestia in some of her more tender areas. Again. She warmed at the memory from several minutes previous, just after Celestia (who was safely hidden behind her chamber door) ordered the guards in the skybridge hallway to turn their helmets around. Once the stallions had all complied with the command with only a little grumbling, and they had stepped out of the room, her mane came to life and did that tentacle thing like it had with the door. Its touch was so light, neither of them noticed at first, but then the tingling had started as the little searching pseudopods arced with little jolts of pink colored energy. Twilight learned two things then: Celestia was ticklish right at the base of her tail, and that her hair could apparently transmit tactile sensations fine enough that she felt the muscles under the Princess’ warm coat flex. She smiled lopsidedly. “Well, it wasn’t ever important before. What with there being an extremely limited supply of Alicorns to go around. Then I started to look like one and well…” Twilight shrugged. “That’s why Pinkie followed me here all the way from Ponyville. Now she’s somewhere in the castle and trust me, Pinkie can’t keep a secret! She’d try, I’m sure, but I know she’d overheat from the pressure of keeping it in. Sadly, Pinkie doesn’t even know that she’s supposed to keep your condition secret!” “We’ll find her. Don’t worry, Twilight.” Celestia smiled, feeling more buoyant with each step. She’d feared that moving around her own home would be harder than it appeared to be. Simply asking the staff and guards to not look had saved Twilight from constantly exerting herself to render them invisible or something. Now that she was adjusting to her smaller form, she didn’t feel so weak, more so light on her hooves, like a feather. Though, if she were being honest with herself, if was more Twilight’s company that was lifting her to cloud nine. It was a strange mix of nostalgia for those bygone days when she would walk with her student through the halls and out into the gardens for tea and a study session of advanced arcane theories or a conversation on harmonic ethics. Plus the new sensations of their new forms and the tingle of excitement she felt deep in her heart of hearts. I’ve never experienced something like this before. That alone is novel! To be helpless, in a manner of speaking, but under the protection of Twilight? I feel I should be more concerned. More upset or something similar. Yet...I do not. I feel safe. Celestia’s smile widened, their unhurried stroll taking them around the corner of the garden hedges where their many tea breaks and talks from years past took place. I have walked this route a thousand times and more, but everything is fresh! New! And I get to share it with Twilight! Celestia let the happy feeling grow within her, wash away all of her earlier anxiety and crowd her concerns into the back of her mind. She could scarcely recall a time when she’d been able to be carefree and just enjoy her chosen company. Usually is was in the small moments, a decade past, when she tutored Twilight in some bit of math or history, that she felt such a deep right-ness with the world at large. Everything was as it should be and was the best possible way it could be. Now though, that she reflected on it, the feeling was a little different. Back in those small moments, she had been filled with the sense of accomplishment at teaching, ensuring that the next generation would have a pony to look up to. Somepony that was smart, talented, compassionate, reasonable, and brave. A pony that would make a fine leader some day. She was fulfilling her role as a guardian, a guide, and a shepherd of her ponies. This was more akin to a close friendship between equals. Similar to what she shared with Luna, but infinitely more…intimate. Is that the correct word? It feels right. Celestia’s smile slipped a little as she tried to think of a more correct term for what she was feeling. The closeness of it. That ‘almost family’ level of openness and care she had with Twilight by her side. The only word that came close was ‘love.’ It was definitely not the familial variety, but certainly it wasn’t the romantic kind either. A quiet voice in her mind that sounded suspiciously like her own whispered stop lying to yourself. Celestia blinked, chasing the little voice away, and ran face first into Twilight’s enlarged cutie mark. “Oof!” She took a step back, scrunching her snout. Twilight stood still, her ears tilted back. “Twilight? Is something wrong?” “Is that your china set?” “What?” Celestia raised an eyebrow, leaning around Twilight’s large form. Am I getting smaller, or is she still growing? Is this how everypony sees me? To her, Twilight seemed to be as large as a house. Her cutie mark was easily as big as Celestia’s hoof if not more so. The flank under it was enormous, the taut muscle there easily visible under Twilight’s soft coat. Suddenly every joke, compliment, soliloquy, ballad, and epic poem about her own backside took on a new light and Celestia felt her cheeks warm. She did a lot more blinking and finally rounded the stunning mare her student had become. “Er...what were you asking about my china…?” Celestia faded off, her eyes widening at the sight before them. In the middle of the courtyard gardens, in the very spot where she had sat and taken tea thousands of times with a much smaller and younger Twilight Sparkle, there was a picnic. A red and white checked blanket rest on the grass in the clearing under their favorite willow, complete with a basket and indeed, her personal china set. She could smell the tea from the little pot now that they were close, and the basket seemed to be filled with little haycakes and granola treats. “Um...yes, this is my tea set.” Celestia walked up to the edge of the picnic. “I take it you didn’t plan this?” “No...” Twilight shook her head, her eyes and ears flicking back and forth, searching for anything else that might be amiss in their surroundings. Finding nothing, Twilight joined her mentor a moment later at the picnic’s edge. “Whoever packed this must have been planning on a busy day. Those are all good energy foods and snacks.” Celestia opened her mouth to say something when her stomach rumbled violently. Twilight tensed at the sound and then turned sheepishly toward her. She tried to grin, but the gnawing hunger in her belly was supremely distracting. “Um...apparently, my body actually needs food now? A-heh...haven’t felt this hungry in forever. You don’t suppose we could stop for a moment, Twilight? I know we need to find Pinkie Pie…” “No! Of course!” Twilight sat down forcefully, her new bulk rattling the china tea set when it slammed into the ground. “We can stop, please...have some breakfast! I just realized you only got that one bite of cake I brought. I should have let you eat before we left. I’m sorry! I’m not thinking correctly again!” Twilight laughed nervously, tapping her forehead with a hoof. Celestia shook her head, chuckling softly and took a seat next to her former student. She glanced over the spread again and settled on a honeyed haycake. Biting her lip, she concentrated and fired up her horn. The haycake felt like it weighed as much as herself, her magic was still so weak, but it did move—albeit slowly and wobbly—toward her. She gasped at the effort when it finally dropped onto a small plate in easy hoof-reach. “Let me handle the tea.” Twilight smiled and in a flurry of light and motion, had two cups of tea heated and set before them in no time at all. “Two lumps of sugar, a dollop of cream and heated to just under steaming. Just like you like for breakfast.” “You’ve been paying attention.” “Of course!” Twilight lowered herself onto her belly, so she could look Celestia in the eye. “I know all the ways you enjoy your tea prepared and served. We’ve shared it together enough times, I could probably pass for an expert on it by now.” She blinked. “Well, I could pass if there are tests on the subject. Are there tea tests?” “Not like that, there aren’t.” Celestia giggled again, lifting her cup carefully to her lips. It smelled heavenly and perfectly brewed. “I would accept your expertise, Twilight. You always surprised me by learning things I wasn’t even intending on teaching you. Little things like the tea...or how I like my cake. It flatters me sometimes, to know how much of an influence I’ve had on one of the most amazing ponies Equestria has ever known.” Twilight smiled, feeling like the filly she once was, at Celestia’s ankles and desperate to please. Now that their situations were reversed, she felt a strange sort of peace within herself. Something about seeing Celestia with the crown off, and not just as Celestia, but as a normal pony too, registered with her. It brought her own feelings about Celestia into focus. She admired the Princess, certainly. She wanted to be like Celestia; she wanted to be as confident and wise. Smart and able to talk to ponies without stumbling over herself or wandering off into tangents. But it was more than that. Far more than just admiration. More than mere friendship. The horde of viking ponies in Twilight’s mind fell into a quiet hush, all of them staring in anticipation as the conscious part of Twilight’s mind worked its way toward realizing the obvious. They readied their tiny axes and swords, shields held tight to rush forward as soon as the emotional walls came down. Twilight’s smile softened, watching Celestia sip tea and nibble at the haycake. Even without the crown of leadership or the physical stature, she still found the alicorn fascinating. Watching Celestia eat and be a pony like any other made her tummy knot in the most pleasant of ways. The more she saw, the more Twilight could imagine those lips touching and feeling something other than breakfast. The walls cracked. Slowly at first, but with ever increasing speed, their collapse imminent. Weapons on shields, the horde clacked and rattled with the song of battle and victory. Twilight shifted, getting comfortable on the soft grass of the gardens, her back warmed by Celestia’s sun. She spared the fiery globe a glance, turning her head slightly to check its progress. She could still feel it, if vaguely, in the back of her mind. Like some sort of immense weight that counterbalanced the entire world. Which, when she thought about it, was pretty close to the scientific truth. Thankfully, the work she and Celestia had done earlier to get it moving again seemed to have worked, though the sun was still lagging slightly from where it should be in the sky. Twilight sighed, more of her tension flowing from her, and flexed her wings to resettle her feathers. Whatever spell she’d cast on herself was really holding strong and she had to admit, the wings felt oddly natural. If time weren’t such a factor, she might enjoy trying to actually fly with them. It’s too bad Celestia doesn’t have hers at the moment. We could go together. She could show me how...teach me to fly...catch me if I fall. Twilight sighed, feeling her cheeks heat with the mental image of Celestia catching her mid-air, wrapping her wings around Celestia and burying her muzzle in that warm coat. Breathing in the Princess’ scent and being supported by the most important mare in her life. The mental and emotional walls crumbled, the broken rubble of all her rationalizations and deflections of her own feelings falling to the floor of Twilight’s mindscape. Her horde of imaginary viking ponies roaring in success and surging over it into the new dawn of Twilight’s love. She felt her heart swell at the thought of Celestia holding her, comforting her as Celestia had always done, but no longer as a little filly. But as a mare. As an equal that was worthy of love. Love was what she felt when she looked at the pink mane and those purple colored eyes. Love was what she felt when she thought about the way Celestia moved, the way Celestia spoke, the way Celestia looked back at her. The way their eyes would meet and hold there for just a moment before moving on. The little gestures in private, the shared secrets and laughter. She, Twilight Sparkle, was in love with Princess Celestia. Twilight swallowed, turning the thought over in her mind, examining it from every direction for weakness and imperfections. She found none. She loved the Princess, had always loved her, but never with the courage to realize it. Now she had the unique opportunity to act on that love. She could actually tell Celestia and perhaps, the Princess would be receptive. Celestia certainly seemed to enjoy their time together, now more than ever, despite the circumstances. Twilight cleared her throat, reaching with one hoof toward the Princess. “C-Celestia…” In the nearby bushes “This is it!” Pinkie Pie hissed frantically, barely keeping her voice within whisper volume levels. She grabbed Luna with her hooves, shaking the Moon Princess vigorously. “I told you my romantic picnic plan would work! Can this pony plan a party for two or can this pony plan a party for two?!” “I-I-I c-c-concur, Miss P-Pie, but please-ese stop sh-shaking m-me!” Luna hissed right back at Pinkie, gripping the pink pony in her own hooves and pulling them even closer together within the tight confines of the bush. “We must not let them discover our position or this ruse will be for naught! Becalm thyself!” Pinkie squeezed Luna, vibrating with anticipation. “How can I be calm? Alicorn level make-outs are about to happen right in front of me!” Pinkie’s head lolled back, making a drooling, near animalistic sound of want usually reserved for fresh doughnuts. Luna rolled her eyes. “I doubt they will move directly to a make-out, dear Pinkie. My sister is far too reserved, and so is the young Twilight.” Pinkie Pie blinked at that, her grip relaxing and vibration stopping. She looked at Luna, her eyes growing large. “But...but...will there at least be alicorn level hoof holding?” Luna sighed and petted Pinkie gently. “Verily, there shall be.” “Yay!” The honeyed haycake was making the tip of her hoof sticky, but it was better holding them physically than with her substandard magical grip. They tasted wonderful, however, so Celestia didn’t mind the minor inconvenience. The cakes were fresh and complimented the hot tea Twilight had made for her, both of them making her belly feel pleasantly full. Celestia eyed her hoof, chewing on the last bite of cake. It was only a small spot, and there didn’t seem to be any napkins within easy reach. Twilight won’t mind if I lick it clean...will she? Celestia’s flicked over at her companion. The taller mare was looking back and up at the sky. She probably won’t even notice a tiny breach in etiquette Celestia brought her hoof up to her muzzle, extending her pink tongue to test the light sheen of honey residue. Her heart sped up when the sweetness hit her taste buds, the audacity of her action surprising even herself. Under any normal circumstance, I would never do this...but today is hardly normal, now is it? What would the courts think if they saw me doing this? She smirked, lathing her hoof-tip with the flat of her tongue. I mean...it’s not like they would recognize me, would they? So what if any of those stuffy old goats saw me? Celestia’s flashed back at Twilight, to see if she was being watched. Twilight still seemed distracted by the sun, but she knew all it would take to draw attention was to make a big enough movement or sound. The idea of being caught by her former student at doing something so crass as licking her hooves clear made Celestia tingle. Would you be upset? Would you admonish me, Twilight? She leaned forward, employing her lips to get every last scrap of flavor from her hoof. Would you just stare, unable to believe your eyes? Would you offer to clean it for me? The tingling sensation got stronger as she imagined Twilight taking her hoof and licking it clean. Celestia blinked rapidly, putting her hoof back down, startled by the strength of her imagination and how much her heart was pounding. The movement must have gotten Twilight’s attention, as the larger pony shifted and turned to look at her. Did she notice after all? Celestia froze, her fantasy blossoming in her mind once again when Twilight extended a hoof toward her. “C-Celestia…” Celestia started to lift her unlicked hoof when there was a flash in the air just above them and Discord fell to the ground, his serpentine body piling on top of itself between them until he all but covered the entire picnic cloth. She grunted, struggling to extricate herself from under Discord’s furry coils, the chaos spirit completely blocking her sight of Twilight. “Discord? What is going on here?” “Hmm?” Discord rose up slowly, just head and shoulders, and lifted a dainty teacup to his lips to sip noisily. “Am I interrupting something?” “Yes!” Under the spirit’s elongated body, a pinkish purple glow started to grow until he was shoved bodily off the picnic and an angry looking Twilight Sparkle and into a nearby shade tree. Twilight snorted when he didn’t so much as spill a drop of his pilfered drink. “What do you want? We haven’t found your missing magic yet!” Discord raised an eyebrow, unmoved by Twilight’s outburst. “I can see you’re both looking really hard, aren’t you? Don’t sass me, Princess, you wouldn’t like me when I’ve been sassed.” Taking another polite sip of tea, Discord unwound himself from the tree, his body shrinking back to his usual proportions. “Really, Tia, you should see about setting up Miss Sparkle with some anger management classes. If she’s going to take over, we can’t have her going off the deep end every time I place a whoopee cushion on the throne or replace all the air in her lungs with pudding. This relationship doesn’t work if we both do the crazy schtick.” “I am not angry!” Twilight surged to her hooves, her mana mane whipping about like a kraken with a grudge to settle, pink lightning arcing off it into the garden around them. “You just landed on us for no reason and interrupted us…” Twilight faltered, her mane calming down while she searched for the right words. “We were...uh…” Discord snorted and tossed his teacup aside, leaning out of the way when an oversized Twilight dived headfirst into the azaleas to catch it. “Besides...I’m not here to stop you two from playing picnic. I have important news to share!” He winked through the air, rematerializing next to a stunned Celestia. “Are you aware of the crowd of responsible ponies that gathered at the gates when the sun stopped moving? Well...let’s just say I won’t be able to describe them so charitably for much longer.” “What!?” Celestia shot to her hooves, turning to look toward the front of the castle. “Why wasn’t I informed about this?” “Oh, I don’t know…” Discord reached down and plucked the tiara off Celestia’s head and twirled it around in his talons. “It might have something to do with you being a little less ‘princess-y’ this morning.” The spirit smirked, sliding closer to Celestia so he could whisper into her ear. “I know how you love those little teachable moments. Why not let the new filly on the royal block handle things?” He chuckled, glancing over at the bushes where Twilight was still extricating herself from the foliage, a teacup held daintily in her teeth. Like he was using a horseshoe, Discord flung Celestia’s tiara, catching Twilight’s horn so that the crown spun around it and settled perfectly on her head. “She looks cute in it, hmm?” “Discord!” Celestia bristled, but her cheeks warmed, watching Twilight tilt her head back and forth to get a look at the crown on her head. Goddess save me...she does look cute in my crown. “No, it’s ok.” Twilight caught the cup she’d been holding in her magic and set it down with the rest of the tea set. She looked up, trying to see the crown that sat snugly between her ears. It felt light, its weight perfectly balanced. When I was a filly, this thing always seemed to weigh a ton. Now, it’s nothing. Feels...right, somehow. “We don’t want the public to see...uh...the Princess like this. So I guess I need to go make an appearance to ease their minds.” “Where is my sister while all this is going on?” Celestia frowned thoughtfully down at herself. “Perhaps I should have told her about this…” Meanwhile, in the bushes “Ooohh! Diiiiisssscccoorrrddd!” Pinkie Pie hissed, brows narrowed and staring daggers into the draconequus’ back. “They were soooo close! Just like..a minute more! Gaaahh!” “Pinkie, our plan has failed.” Luna sighed, slumping onto the earth pony in her hooves. “Mayhap twould be best to come clean to my sister about these things?” “Nuts to that, Princess!” Pinkie clapped her hooves on either side of Luna’s face, squishing the alicorn’s cheeks and directing Luna to look her in the eyes. “Did you give up when your sister banished you to the moon? No! You held that grudge for a thousand years and got her back!” “Er...I don’t think that’s supposed to be taken positively…” “Did Sombra stop trying to get the Crystal Heart even after he lost his entire body? Nope-a-rooni! He came back as really bad gas!” Pinkie Pie stood up, holding Luna’s face close until their eyes were practically touching. “Did that pony that one time let that thing stop him from doing that other thing?! No, he—probably—did not! And we’re not gonna let this get in the way of romance! My alicorn level make-outs will not be denied!” “But...how are we to salvage this debacle?” Luna tried to look in the direction of the ponies in the garden clearing, but Pinkie’s grip held her firm. “Clearly, we’ve been routed from our goals of forcing my sister and yon Twilight to accept their affections openly.” Pinkie’s snarl flipped into a bright smile, her entire tone changing. “We just need to try again! But harder this time! We need to pull out the big guns! Forget what I said earlier, go get the best bottle of wine you have! I’ll go get the rose petals! We meet back here ASAP and plan ‘Heck Bent for Romance’ commences!”