//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: Stargazing // Story: Together Again and Forever // by Wahtiff //------------------------------// Celestia sighed, utterly exhausted. She loved caring for her subjects, her little ponies, but the nobles who always were constantly asking for an audience with her were anything but representatives of said subjects. After more than a thousand years of rule, she absolutely hated being confined, unmoving, to her throne room while everyone vied to get her approval on certain projects and petitions, not that she found them ALL unreasonable. As she walked back towards her chambers, the sun long ago having neared the western horizon, she began thinking back to her thoughts that morning, and she almost wished she had cancelled court for that day to spend her time with Twilight. She was not going to beat around the bush, she could honestly, bluntly state that she and Twilight’s time together that day had been the most enjoyable that she’d had in awhile.            She chuckled to herself, fondly remembering the library and the foiling match.            “Is there something funny?”            Oh, no. Celestia facehoofed, “Good afternoon, Luna.”            The Princess of the Night herself stepped out of the shadows, a smile that Celestia did not like at all plastered across her muzzle .            “Luna?” Celestia asked, nervously, “Why are you smiling like that?”            “Oh, no reason, dear sister.” Luna was obviously trying to keep from laughing, “I just want to ask how the second-most skilled horn-foiler in Equestria is doing.”            “Oh, well-“ Celestia was interrupted as Luna dropped the punchline.            “Be sure to ask her for me, won’t you, THIRD-best horn-foiler?”            Celestia groaned. Losing it, Luna doubled over, laughing like a madmare at the look of contempt in her older sister’s eyes.            “Who told you?” Celestia deadpanned.            “No one told me.” Luna’s tone sounded completely honest, though her smirk remained, “I just happened to wake up from my nap, and was taking a walk through the halls, when I just happened to also stumble across your battle of the ages with your ‘most faithful student’.”            At that, Luna started laughing again. Celestia just shook her head.            “Who else?”            “Just the guards, but I DO have a few friends in Ponyville who might be up for a good tale…”            “Do it,” Celestia warned, “and that story about a certain little sister of mine in a bunny suit goes with it.”            Luna looked horrified, “You wouldn’t!”            Celestia smirked, “Try me.”            “Touché, sister, touché.” Luna slowly applauded, “However, speaking of your ‘most faithful student’…”            Celestia sighed, knowing that the conversation had just turned serious, “I know, Luna, I’m going to tell her, just…not yet.”            “No, that is not what I wanted to speak of.” Luna stood and put a comforting hoof on her shoulder, “I wanted to know how YOU were feeling.”            “Huh?” Celestia looked at her in confusion.            “Tia, listen, I know I might have been a bit forceful in convincing you to tell Twilight the truth she seeks,” Luna admitted, “and that’s why I’ve been lenient with you. However, I figure that you might be breaking up inside, holding that secret,” She paused, “especially after having such a good bonding moment like today.”            Celestia nodded, “I feel guilty, keeping it from her when I know she trusts me more than anything. Frankly, I trust her almost as much, and I wasn’t lying when I said I was proud of her.”            “Do you honestly think you can ever work up the courage? That you can risk losing her friendship with you over the truth?” Luna asked, concerned, “She views you as a teacher, a friend and fellow princess, and a surrogate mother. Could you really work up the courage with so much at risk?”            Celestia thought back to all those years ago, a memory that Twilight’s investigation and Violet’s earlier death had dug up once more, “I didn’t want to tell her, yet it was too tempting to do so. Now,” She thought back to just hours before, to their conversation in the library, to how Twilight had listened and understood her words, and how they had pushed that aside to have fun together as friends for a change, a bond that she might ruin by bringing up answers which she had kept from her the whole time, “I’m not sure. Regardless, she deserves to know. If she hates me from that moment forth, I’ll be sad, yes, but at least I have the memories.”            Luna smiled, and then embraced her, whispering into her ear, “You have seen many forms of heartbreak and loss over the years, Tia. Let me ask, what makes you think this will be one of those times?”            With that, Luna broke away and nodded in the direction of her sister’s chambers, “Now go, and lower the sun. It’s almost time for MY fun to begin.”            Celestia nodded with a smile, still thinking about her words, and then her eyes lit up, “Lulu?”            “Yes?”            “Twilight’s considering becoming the best horn-foiler in Equestria.” She smirked, “Expect her to challenge you.”            Luna grinned, “I cannot wait. Perhaps at the Gala.”            Both sisters parted, more or less reassured of themselves, though Celestia still wondered if she would be willing risk everything in her and Twilight’s relationship come the next night. …….            “Celestia?” Celestia awoke to a hoof tapping her on the cheek. Groggily, she opened her eyes and saw Twilight standing next to her bed. For a moment, she was surprised that Twilight had grown bold enough to enter her room without permission, but she was more curious as to what Twilight wanted.            “Another nightmare, Twilight?” She asked, sitting up. Her pink mane, hanging without any enchantments, was bedraggled when she looked in the mirror and saw her reflection.            Twilight shook her head, “Not tonight. I was just wondering if I could ask you something.”            That’s when Celestia remembered her promise to Twilight, even though Twilight hadn’t come to her when the Day-Court was out of session, “Oh, I’m so sorry, Twilight! I forgot-“            Twilight shook her head, “It’s alright. I was actually planning something for tonight, that is, if you want.”            “What do you want to do?”            Twilight shifted her wing, revealing a telescope underneath it, “I was wondering, if you want, we could go stargazing.”            Celestia looked outside, to where the pinpricks of stars were just barely sparkling amidst the dark-blue of the sky, “Are you sure? Canterlot’s not the usually the best place for that.”            “With the naked eye,” Twilight agreed, “but we’ll be using this, just like we used to, remember?”            Celestia did indeed remember, and she had enjoyed looking at the night sky through her telescope, taking joy in the fact that she could at least do a fair job of somewhat recreating Luna’s artwork, as crude as it had been.            She nodded with a smile, and got up, “In that case, the usual spot?”            Twilight nodded, and bounded out the door. Celestia looked at her regalia on her vanity for a moment, and just shook her head, following Twilight out the door and through the hallways of the castle, heading to the royal gardens. Once outside, Celestia sighed at the feeling of her pink mane blowing in an actual nighttime breeze without magic enchantments. Like Luna, she always loved her natural look, though she could never remember when she had last been seen outside of her room as such.            Twilight was waiting, her telescope set up on the grass near a bed of Celestia’s favorite red roses, their scent wafting to her nostrils even from where they were. Sitting next to Twilight, she looked up at her sister’s night sky and let the scent of the nearby flowers bring her peace until Twilight spoke again.            “There. It’s all set up. Here,” Twilight motioned her over, “you can have the first look.”            Celestia peered through the eyepiece, and her breath was taken away.            Even after Luna had returned home, all of the light around Canterlot had prevented her from truly noticing her sister’s nightly masterpieces. Through the telescope, however, she could look in awe at the night sky up close. Every star within her sister’s control had been carefully placed, forming shapes, clusters, and swirls in JUST the right spots. Above them, the light of the full moon only seemed to enhance the beauty Celestia could see through the telescope. Luna’s stars, in addition to the stars that were beyond her domain, only succeeded in adding variation to what Celestia realized was an-all work of art.            And those stars are suns, too, She thought, yet I only raise and lower the one…            It was, in every sense of the word, AMAZING to her.            “Oh, oh, I just thought of something!” Twilight waited for her to pull away before adjusting the telescope once more, “I found something you might like, just a few days ago.”            “What is it?” Celestia asked, her gaze shifting between the younger alicorn in front of her, working on the telescope, and the night sky, which had seemed to lose all of its glorious luster the second she had stopped viewing it through the eyepiece.            Twilight shifted the telescope, slightly, and made sure her calculations were correct before motioning Celestia to the eyepiece,“Look.”            Celestia looked through the telescope again, and saw…the Horsehead Nebula?            “Twilight?” Celestia looked at her, confused, “Isn’t that just the Horsehead Nebula? The same thing we’ve always looked out for after our lessons?”            Twilight shook her head, excitedly, “No, I mean, it LOOKS like it, but,” Twilight motioned for her to look through the scope again, “you can clearly see that the head-shaped cloud is thinner, resembling a mare’s, and it is a slightly different color. Plus, it’s not too far outside our galaxy, not charted of course, while the Horsehead Nebula is light-years away closer to the Milky Way.”            Celestia looked at Twilight, mouth agape. Her student had actually DISCOVERED a new nebula in her stargazing? Celestia was both impressed, mainly that one of the ponies most dear to her had done such a thing, and jealous in the fact that Twilight now seemed to know more than she did about astronomy- something she had studied up on, immensely, after Luna had first been banished for a thousand years. She wondered if LUNA, of all ponies, even knew about Twilight’s discovery.            As if reading her mind, Twilight’s smile grew wider and more mischievous, her wings fluttering excitedly, “I haven’t told Luna yet, but I think she’ll be jealous when I do.”            Celestia cast the lavender alicorn a stern look, “If I have to send her to the moon AGAIN, because you did this…”            Twilight sat, raising her forelegs in mock surrender, “I’m sorry, but you don’t know that she’ll be THAT jealous. Besides, YOU look more envious right now."            Celestia stared at her. Twilight stared back.            Then they both burst out laughing. Celestia couldn’t help but once again think that, whenever Twilight was around, she could truly act like herself. In court, even her laughing was forced, yet out here, she and Twilight were fooling around like a couple of school-fillies, and she could drop her porcelain political mask.            A soft breeze blew, and Twilight shivered slightly. It was only a slight tremor, but Celestia still noticed.            “Are you cold?” She asked, concerned for her friend.            “No, I’m fine.” Twilight said cheerfully, but another breeze blew by the second she finished speaking, and she shivered again.            Celestia rolled her eyes. Despite the blush that appeared on her cheeks at her next thought, she still managed to stay strong, and push it aside.            “You ARE cold.” Celestia said, accusingly.            “Am not.” Twilight pouted.            “Are too.” Celestia smirked.            “Am no-brrrrrr.” Yet another breeze, stronger this time, and Twilight’s teeth chattered.            “It IS a bit chilly tonight.” Celestia said, matter-of-factly, not that it made any difference to her. Her alicorn wings, slightly larger than those of a normal Pegasus, were more than enough to protect her body from the cold winds, yet when she looked at Twilight, she could clearly see that, while she DID have wings, they were more like a Pegasus in that they were smaller than hers, reducing the amount of warmth she received from their feathers and down. Even if Alicorns were less prone to hypothermia and frostbite than normal ponies, that did not necessarily mean that they were completely immune to the elements.            “M-Maybe we should go inside.” Twilight suggested, “I wish we could stargaze more, but-“            “No. I have a better solution.” Celestia blushed again, her previous thought back, but this time she decided to act upon it, “Come here.”            Twilight’s face flushed, before she gingerly took a step forward and sat a few feet away from Celestia, but the princess would have none of that and with one big feathery white wing, she wrapped Twilight up and pulled her closer. Instead of pressing Twilight against her side, as she usually did, Celestia surprised the smaller alicorn by lifting her up in her hooves and placing her between her forelegs.            “C-Celestia?” Twilight looked up at her former teacher. Celestia simply smiled down at her with the look of motherly affection.            “Comfy?” The older princess asked.            Twilight had to admit, the feeling of Celestia’s warmth surrounding her on three sides definitely served to make her feel more comfortable and, more surprisingly, safe. She quickly decided against arguing with the older alicorn as she knew that she was enjoying it and even if she didn’t, she figured she wouldn’t have been able to get Celestia to let her go as the older princess now had her front hooves wrapped around her to pull her close.            Twilight gave a contented sigh and leaned back into Celestia’s belly fur, answering her finally, “Very.”            For the next several hours, they simply enjoyed the company of each other as they looked through the telescope at various constellations and celestial objects. Twilight did most of the talking, as always trying to impress the already-impressed Celestia with her deep knowledge of the stars. Celestia sat and listened, once in a while asking her trivial questions and offering her own opinions on something. It was so much like their stargazing sessions of the past, but was it the fact that it was Luna’s night-sky they were looking at that made it better than those times, or was it something else?            Inside, Celestia frowned, once again worried about what she would have to tell Twilight come the next evening. She didn’t want to end what they had between them, yet she knew that the secret had been held long enough, and that Twilight would probably find out on her own if she failed at the Gala…            No, Celestia decided with finality, if that happens, then she’ll REALLY hate me. I HAVE to tell her tomorrow.            “Princess?”            “Huh?” Celestia was snapped out of her thoughts by the sound of Twilight’s voice. She suddenly remembered that this was not the usual day-court, where she could just zone out. With Twilight, she just HAD to pay attention, “Yes, Twilight?”            “I was just asking if you wanted to go back inside. I mean, you seemed to have lost interest in what I was saying…”            “No, no! I am sorry, Twilight, I just zoned out for a moment.” Celestia hugged Twilight tightly against her, lavender feathers brushing up against alabaster fur, “What were you talking about?”            “I was talking about Orion. You know, the ancient story about him.”            “What about it?” Celestia asked, smiling.            “Well, I was wondering…”            Twilight started to speak again, and this time, Celestia made sure she was listening to every word and answering whatever question Twilight had. She inwardly chuckled to herself, knowing that despite everything, the student-teacher relationship they shared for the past several years would never fade. And if Celestia was honest, despite her secret, she wouldn’t have had it any other way in moments like this. They didn’t go to sleep until much later, and for the first time in a long while, it was Luna who was generous enough to raise the sun for Celestia that next morning, while two alicorns snuggled up against one another in bed, fast asleep and still in dreamland.