//------------------------------//
// 4 - From the Heart 
// Story: Queen of Equestria 
// by BlackWater 
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And finally return once more from despotism to the rule of the common pony!” Twilight exclaimed as a triumphal end to her strategically detailed speech.
There she stood along with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy on the quickly put-together stage that a group of Las Pegasus volunteers has assembled so fast that even Rainbow was impressed. The mic and loudspeakers had done their job to broadcast her speech to the densely-packed city square at the heart of the crowds.
Speakers running throughout the city had carried her message down the other streets and smaller squares closely filled with ponies too far away to otherwise catch it. Technically, it had not been in their authority to hack into those speaker lines the way they did, but Twilight had resolved to take over the city anyways and waived the legality of it.
The roaring cheers of pegasi in the air and stomps of hooves of ponies on the ground revealed to the queen her success. Las Pegasus was charged up and no rulings from the council back in Canterlot could change this even if there was a desire for it. Using the information relayed by Sunburst through Spike and Rarity as well as additional information Twilight had ordered from Chrysalis, her message was clear.
And thus was the new government initialized. Twilight had to encourage the excitement to calm down enough for her to say something more, but it was a good half hour or so until it was quiet enough for her to speak over the masses again. This next part had only been possible through an earlier section of her message where she exposed the machinations of the Elite party and warned of possible infiltrators in the crowds who might try to take control of nominations.
“Now please form your groups as discussed prior!” Twilight ordered and looked down to the group of volunteers below the stage who nodded back and went out to assist. “I will be releasing the public aid now and review the new councils afterwards to ensure they match your interest.”
With a bow, she turned from the stage. In spite of her orders for special public assemblies, the crowds could not help a second wave of cheering. The stomping of praise was so loud and intense that it made Twilight’s head rattle. Fluttershy’s teeth were chattering as her body vibrated away, which was stopped when Rainbow Dash put a hoof around her to keep her in place.
Twilight turned to them first when she spun around. Fluttershy was the closest to her since the unbelievable size of the crowd had terrified her into hiding behind Twilight as much as she could. The alicorn’s dark blue tail had been used almost as a blanket due to Fluttershy’s proximity. As bold as the mare had become from their connections, parts of her remained unaltered by hive conformity.
Have the aid teams started yet? Twilight inquired in the hivemind, since talking aloud was likely to have been drowned out by the roar of the masses.
Rainbow Dash nodded proudly. Like yesterday, she reported with a grin.
Midnight Strike and Flash Sentry were on duty on the stage with her and followed her off in protection. Since the crowds were so thick, no pathway could be maintained on the ground. This made Princess Celestia’s decision to nominate a full pegasi guard all the wiser. The group, all with wings, flew calmly from the stage. It took the guards some time to keep the many adoring pegasi flying from the crowd from swamping the queen.
There was one other guard still in Twilight’s immediate service that was, in fact, also on duty. The loss of Centurion meant that they could not swap shifts as they used to and so a fourth guard was now in request – position not yet confirmed by the queen. Direway, however, had a unique position in the Royal Guard before his assignment to then-Princess Twilight Sparkle. His past experience as a special forces guard made him ideal for being the loose agent in the crowd around the stage.
He had detected no direct plot to threaten the queen’s physical safety and rechecked the pegasi approaching her on her departure. Still nothing. His contacts he made with the volunteers, on the other hoof, had indeed revealed an attempted action by the Elite plants to grab power positions in the forming assemblies. He had been charged to follow up on that by his queen and thus went right to it after her safe leave of the square.









The next period of time was unusual. It felt like that space of time one might have after finishing a test with an excellent grade and having no work left to do. And yet also knowing that there was plenty more homework to be assigned on the horizon. In other words, it was a brief lull. Las Pegasus would not likely sleep that night, so the lull was not for it but rather for the queen and most of her hive. The maids carried on as usual and the guards had to stay extra alert, but a couple of ponies found themselves with free time otherwise not planned for.
Two pegasi walked through an empty field near the inn Twilight stayed at outside the city. As much as Fluttershy wanted to stay with Twilight to keep her company while she worked on certain government scrolls in their room, she also wanted fresh air. The air in Las Pegasus had not been the most fresh since the dense and energized crowds had only made it feel close, uncomfortably warm, and quite a bit unsettling. At least for her.
Rainbow didn’t seem to have a care in the world, though.
“It feels like forever,” the rainbow-maned mare remarked as they walked along at a leisurely pace on the ground. Gone was the warm air of the crowded city and in its place was the cold chill of an autumn either starting or ending without a Cloudsdale to progress it. “Since we did this,” she added as if she only thought now to tack it on.
“Did what?” Fluttershy whispered back in her normal tone. She had brought her saddlebags just in case they needed to put on some clothes for warmth or in case they stumbled across some small critter that needed food or perhaps a hoof-knitted sweater. In fact, she had hoped that would wind up being the case.
Rainbow put an arm around her friend the way she had back on the stage. It felt warmer now than it did then. “Just hung out.”
“You didn’t have to join me,” the shy mare said. “I would be okay-”
“To Tartarus you would!” Rainbow challenged but didn’t lose her friendly mood. “What if there were some bad guy just waiting for you to be away from the guards? Then pounce! Zoom! Fluttershy is gone! Foalnapped by Sombra!”
“I’m not a foal,” Fluttershy objected but also shivered, not from the chill this time.
Rainbow chuckled to herself. The grass crunched beneath their hooves as they walked. It had lost its vibrant green of summer and been replaced by the dull wheat-like hue of fall. It was dry, both from natural cycles and from the reduced rain around Las Pegasus. Snapped pieces of the grass tumbled in the occasional breeze that blew by, but it thankfully didn’t rise as high as their faces to make them sneeze.
Gray rain clouds were packed dense above, giving the land a melancholy if not sad shade. Like autumn, the clouds were frozen too. Almost all in place, but not moving or dumping their heavy loads for lack of pegasi to guide them. It was an enormous visual testament to the problems the city had been crippled by. Problems not long to remain after what had just transpired.
The pair kept walking and then diverted off from the side of the field down to a trail that wound up and down like a roller coaster as the banks of dry dirt and grass dictated. They ascended back from one of the dips to a crest that housed an old tree. Leaves of orange and brown hues remained on it in plenty. They paused there as a squirrel peered down from the tree and came down to greet Fluttershy. The small animal hugged the mare’s hoof when given a tasty nut as a gift.
When the squirrel left to stash the nut, Rainbow felt she had no better opportunity to breach a special topic with Fluttershy. It was one they both were aware of because of the hivemind but too timid to address. Even Rainbow felt like she was out of her element. Twilight’s acceptance of her true self might have given her the extra strength to put her feelings into words.
“Shy,” Rainbow said the name with a tiny wobble and looked in her greenish-blue eyes. She felt like these words were new for her and she felt strange for saying them. Sure, they had connected in the hive. But what was connected was the past, not the future. It was the future she was now treading ground with. How ironic that Rainbow had comforted Fluttershy in crowds but it was Fluttershy who soothed her when alone. “You’re a calming pony. We all know it. What you do for Twilight...well...you kind of do it for me too...you know?”
Fluttershy blushed and looked down to poke the ground. She knew what was coming. Rainbow Dash couldn’t hide things in the hivemind and neither could she. At least not well. “I try to be supportive,” she replied, feeling she wanted to say more but not sure how.
Rainbow Dash stepped closer to her. “I never thought I’d be in this kind of spot in life. I mean, loving somepony that other ponies did – I mean, being loved in return by that pony with, um, darn it. How do I even say this?”
The other pegasi heard the stumbling and badly phrased words not as a lack of eloquence but rather a lack of confidence. They knew they had to come to terms with each other in a way they had never done before. Twilight’s love for both of them was what truly made this moment possible. 
Fluttershy felt that knowing Rainbow through the hivemind had opened her up to her long-time friend as somepony more than just a friend. If Twilight would be with them for the rest of time as somepony romantic to them then that meant that obviously there would be a special relationship between them as well.
A soft yellow forehoof came up to rest on Rainbow’s lips. “Shh,” she cooed gently. “I know, Dashie. I’m lucky to have you in my life too. I love all of you for who you are and I’ll try my best to be as loving to you as I am with Twilight, even though she’s the one we both fell in love with first.”
Rainbow nodded and her eyes softened to the kind expression Fluttershy seemed to always have. Her lips slid into a serene smile behind the hoof that now dropped with a clop back to the ground. The squirrel remained in her house within the tree, looking down at the two ponies below and knowing to give them some space. The blue one’s words were not as sensible as the kind yellow one that had given the gift. Her speech was as understandable as another squirrel’s and so the small critter hid back in her tree with a blush at some of the words that followed.
The Element of Kindness leaned forward and kissed the Element of Loyalty on her cheek. Rather close to her lips.
“I’m excited too,” one of the ponies whispered.









“Fluttershy!” Twilight cried out happily when the mare entered their room. She knew the mare had been coming but enjoyed greeting all the same. Truly some things that had been made useless because of the hivemind would not be abandoned merely for their lack of utility. The alicorn stepped to meet her special somepony halfway and embraced her with the warmth of one who had been near a fireplace.
The pair of pegasi had retreated back to the inn when groups of other pegasi could be seen flying out from the city to return to local weather work. Thousands of jobs put back into motion by the queen’s actions and that meant rain. Lots of it. The pip-pip and drip-drip of the skyfallen water had already begun to be heard in the fireplace-warmed inn room.
The dark woods of the old room glowed from the fire due to the lack of natural lighting blocked by the blankets of clouds above. If not for Twilight’s close embrace of the shy mare and the somewhat lavender-like scent of her pink mane, she would have smelled the crackle of the fire and the fresh bottle of cider she had opened on the room’s sole table.
“You didn’t have to leave Dashie, you know,” Twilight said while stroking the mare’s mane and then going back to the table.
“She wanted to make some cookies for you again,” Fluttershy remarked with a giggle. “There haven’t been many sweets around, especially with Pinkie gone-”
I will have my revenge! Pinkie shouted dramatically over the hivemind.
“-and only the inn’s main kitchen has the oven for it.”
Twilight poured two glasses of cider and glanced back to the mare. “And she wanted to give us some time to relax by ourselves before having me.”
Cider! Come on! Rainbow complained from the kitchen several rooms over. You didn’t have to break out the cider while I’m not there!
Fluttershy gave a big cheesy smile to that. 
You’ll get plenty, Dashie, the queen tsk’d. We won’t even drink half of it and I have a second bottle here just for you.
I think I’m in love, Rainbow joked with a hearty spirit in return.
Better not be, Applejack joked over their mind. She was idling her time away while taking a long train ride to Ponyville. I got a whole case of it saved for you down at the farm. I don’t want no mare fallin’ for me over that!
Can’t take the heat, AJ? Rainbow countered in an old mood of rivalry.
Twi ain’t my type and, sorry filly, but you ain’t either. No offense.
None taken, Rainbow crossed her forehooves and leaned against the kitchen counter while waiting for the cookies to bake. I’m drowning in mares already~
And one changeling, Dashie, a familiar voice of a shape-shifter intervened.
Rainbow gulped. She had squared her feelings with Fluttershy and how she felt with Twilight was apparent. She could live quite happily in her relationship with both mares at the same time. Chrysalis, however, was another dimension entirely. She wasn’t sure how she was going to feel if they ever got intimate. It would be a unique experience to say the least.
If Twilight had not assigned me to help watch over the assemblies, Chrysalis noted with a disturbingly sweet tone, I would be there with you now, Dashie. Bonding deliciously so that our future time together with our queen will go smooth and…slick.
Rainbow Dash might have been mistaken for a purple rather than blue mare since her blush was mixing the color of her coat. It felt as weird as it probably should given their relationship was not as close as with some others. But she felt a stiffness form in her wings and moaned at herself for being so easily affected.
Twilight facehoofed and then sat on the edge of the bed with her glass. Fluttershy joined her and they tapped glasses together. With a nod of her head and a quiet order in the hivemind, the two maids in the room left so that Twilight and Fluttershy would be alone.
“Is it really okay to be relaxing after what we just started in the city?” Fluttershy asked meekly, the last bit of nervousness showing itself.
Twilight beamed. “Yep!” she responded simply. “I did my part of the organizing, orders, and oral presentations. I won’t be needed until tomorrow, which is approximately eleven hours from now. So all I want to think about is...you.”
Fluttershy blushed and giggled when her queen tapped her on the nose with a forehoof. “Is there something specific you had in mind, my queen?”
“Tease,” Twilight stuck her tongue out.
“Twily,” Fluttershy stuck her tongue out as well.
It was merely a joke of the moment, but Twilight leaned forward fast enough to lick her tongue before it retreated back into the mare’s mouth. Fluttershy’s glass dropped from her grip and was saved by Twilight’s magic. Both of Fluttershy’s hooves went to cover her now closed mouth. She followed Rainbow’s earlier example in blushing as her eyes stared forward in a shocked stillness.
“I’ve been wanting to try that,” Twilight smirked and took one more sip from her glass before placing both on the table with her magical aura. “Though it is rather less involved than an actual kiss.”
Fluttershy finally looked back over to Twilight as the mare leaned back fully on the bed with her head against a pillow that was propped up on the headboard. The pegasus started with a stutter. “I k-know it’s okay with the others, but-”
Did I say that? Chrysalis joked.
“-I still feel-”
“Shy?” Twilight asked, her tone kept gentle for the soft mare.
“Yes?”
“No,” Twilight giggled. “I mean that you felt shy. It’s okay. I believe I’ve mentioned this before but I’m trying to manage our hivemind better so that we retain a piece of ourselves and not lose what makes us unique. Of course, I could allow integration to occur if-”
This time it was Fluttershy who interrupted her. “No,” she shook her head after crawling over the bed and putting her warm yellow hooves around her mare’s neck. “I’m glad you’re doing that. I know that I’m me and you’re you. It makes me feel like these are my own feelings that I’ve felt for years.”
“Hopefully stronger now than before,” Twilight gave her a wink.
But instead of some clever reply, Fluttershy placed upon her queen’s mouth her lips and the ensuing taste of cider. Twilight breathed in suddenly from the contact, both expecting it because of their hivemind and also surprised by the naked sensation of it. Their bed, though no luxurious changeling sleeping ring, was the best the inn had to offer and far more comfortable than any conventional bed Twilight had experienced before.
Sleepiness might have been induced either by the warm softness of the bed or the equal sensation of Fluttershy, who embraced her from above. But no drowsy feeling could come after the sparks of love ignited in her from that contact. Queen Twilight wrapped her forelegs around her special mare and deepened the kiss.
Fluttershy felt loved in that moment. Even more so that she usually did as Twilight’s wings joined her hooves in holding her. Twilight said she would be everything Fluttershy needed and she knew it to be true. This moment was a sweet reminder and a physical reinforcement of what she understood in her mind and in her heart.
The sunny yellow mare relaxed completely in her queen’s hold. Her pink mane draped over one side of both their faces but bothered them little. Fluttershy sighed into the ongoing kiss and even hummed happily when Twilight’s tongue met hers and danced. The pains of her past were forgotten and the worries of the future swept aside.
Now was the present.
Here they would simply enjoy each other.