Twilight stepped off of the reviewing stand and finally let the perfect princess smile slip from her face. She took a deep breath and released it, though she didn't bother with the little hoof gesture anymore. Most of her tension went out with her breath. The rest was at least reduced by the fact that from behind the stand she could no longer see the twenty-foot-tall statue of herself in the middle of the Canterlot plaza—though as she began walking towards the palace she knew it was once more coming into view behind her, if she were to look back.
She didn't; instead, she took to the air. The sun's position told her that Celestia would be just finishing day court, and if Twilight hurried she could have a few moments alone with her before the afternoon cabinet meeting began.
Twilight arrived at the throne room just as Celestia was hearing her final petition. She waited impatiently in the private passage behind the throne, and when Celestia was at last done Twilight practically pounced on her, throwing her hooves around the taller alicorn in a warm embrace. Celestia returned her hug and added a kiss, brief but sweet. "Trying morning?" she said when Twilight finally let go.
"A bit. Nothing really dire, just..." Twilight shrugged.
"Walk with me," suggested Celestia, and Twilight nodded, falling in beside her. The pair strolled through the palace corridors together. Twilight had always wondered why Celestia's office was so far from her throne room, but perhaps contemplative walks like this were part of the reason. She could always teleport there instantly if she was in a hurry, after all.
"Tell me about your day. There was that unveiling ceremony, yes?"
Twilight heaved a sigh. "Yes. A twenty-foot statue of me, rearing triumphantly, on a ten-foot plinth carved all over with the 'enemies of Equestria', even if at least half of them are reformed allies by now." Twilight made a face. "The whole thing is completely absurd."
"I saw the artist's sketches," said Celestia with a small smile, "and I thought it was rather well done."
"Oh I'm not complaining about the artistry. It's fine as far as that goes. It's just... I'm not sure I belong thirty feet high in the middle of Canterlot, Celestia."
"No? I seem to recall a great deal of heroics that more or less line up with what’s on the plinth," she paused, and her smile broadened from a sly tease to gentle affection, "and you’ve done many other worthy things, besides."
Twilight frowned, trying to put what she felt into words. "It's not that, exactly. But... There's this idea of me that ponies seem to have, where I'm some all-conquering hero and never make mistakes. I make all kinds of mistakes! I mean I nearly destroyed Ponyville with a mind-control spell on a toy, just for starters. And even when I'm not messing things up on an epic level, I put my horseshoes on one at a time, like any pony. I don't like the way ponies put me up on a pedestal since I became a princess, I guess is what it amounts to."
Celestia nodded, her face solemn. "I am familiar with the problem. A former student of mine used to rather over-idolize me, in my opinion."
Twilight blushed just a little. "Heh. Yeah."
"One cannot make ponies stop doing such things, unfortunately. Believe me, I've tried. Perhaps were I to in some way utterly betray them, their regard would cease, but the price would not be worth it."
Twilight nodded. "I know. I don't have to like it, though. It feels... I don't know. It feels wrong. And not just because I know I'm not perfect. It's more that it seems... restrictive, I guess. They expect all these things from me. I don't want to stop being a good pony, but sometimes it makes me want to just... I don't know."
"Do something outrageous, just to buck their expectations?"
"Yes!"
"Well, why not, then?"
"What?"
Twilight halted for a moment, and Celestia stopped too, looking back at her with an expression of mild amusement. "You may know I have a bit of a reputation as a prankster."
"...Yes."
"Those pranks, those little things I do to play with ponies' expectations, are my way of refusing to stand on the pedestal. I don't play about with diplomatic situations, and I don't prank ponies who can't handle a prank, but when the opportunity comes to step off of the pedestal in a harmless way, I take it." Celestia started walking again, and Twilight trotted for a moment to catch up.
"I'm not... I mean, I've never been super into pranks. Pinkie and Rainbow are always pranking, and it seems like they get themselves into trouble a lot that way."
"Well," Celestia considered, "I try to exercise more care than Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash do when it comes to selecting a target and an appropriate joke... though I seldom can resist messing with ponies in small ways. But! There is a reason why Luna and I so often prank each other; we're each a safe target for the other, since both of us enjoy a good prank."
"I see." Twilight considered this.
They walked on in silence, Twilight thinking hard about pedestals, and whether Celestia's way of dealing with them was something she wanted to try. They were different ponies, that was part of what made their relationship work, but they had many things in common, and this might well be one of them.
They arrived at Celestia's office. "I'm afraid I have some preparations to make for this afternoon's cabinet meeting, so I must bid you goodbye for now," said Celestia as she opened the door.
Twilight gave a little sigh but nodded. "I understand."
Celestia smiled. "You do, and it's one of the things I love about you. In any case, I have no duties this evening, so if a certain lovely alicorn were to be in my bedchamber just at sundown, why—the whole night would be ours to do with as we please."
"That sounds lovely." Twilight leaned in and stole one last little kiss (though it was not much of a theft, for Celestia gave it up willingly) and then went on her way. Her own various duties would keep her busy enough until sundown.
She watched the sunset from Celestia's private balcony, and when the last golden sliver had slipped beneath the horizon she settled herself on the edge of Celestia's huge cloud bed in a carefully chosen spot. It was hard to not grin wildly in anticipation as she waited. She was very much looking forward to Celestia's arrival.
Still, she managed to school her expression to something that would hopefully pass for normal by the time Celestia actually arrived. She came via the balcony, landing on it with a graceful sweep of her broad, white wings. "Ah Twilight. I'm glad you were able to make it," she said as she stepped inside.
"I wouldn't have been elsewhere for the world," said Twilight, once again having to rein her grin in slightly. She patted the cloud beside her and said, "Come on up. I'm sure you could use some nice, relaxing Twilight Time."
Celestia smirked, "Indeed." She went to fold herself onto the bed with all her usual grace... and disappeared straight through the cloud with a sudden, startled squawk. Lying on the frame beneath the cloud-bed, her head popped back up above the surface, cloudstuff clinging to her mane, which was blowing in three different directions at once. Her head swiveled until she fixed Twilight with an expression of complete and utter bafflement. "What the...? How are you...?"
Twilight couldn't hold back any longer; she broke into peals of hysterical laughter. Celestia's expression had been even better than she'd anticipated. She started picking herself up, attempting to gather her rather scattered dignity, which only made Twilight laugh harder. Celestia started laughing as well, a delighted chime of amusement. "I see you took my advice today to heart. Although I have no idea how you’ve done this." She poked at the cloud bed and her hoof went right through it, as though she were an earth pony.
Twilight managed to still her laughter enough to attempt to catch her breath. "I—" she had to pause for more giggles "—I denatured the aetheric mana in the bed with a bit of earth pony magic!" She broke up into laughter again, unable to help herself. "Your face when you fell through!"
Celestia shook her head, smiling wryly as she lit her horn and prodded at the cloud with her magic. "I hope you stop laughing enough to fix this soon; I do still want that cuddle, and I also am going to want to sleep eventually," she said, still smiling. "And I'm not sure exactly how to fix what you did. I'd rather not spend the night figuring it out."
With a last few giggles, Twilight finally calmed herself enough to restore the cloud to its normal self. "There." She reached out a little further this time and patted the center of the bed, rather than the unaltered bit she was sitting on. Celestia tested it with a hoof, though, before climbing in next to her, which almost sent Twilight off into another laughing fit. "You were so right about how nice it is to let loose and be undignified," said Twilight, grinning at Celestia.
"I suppose it serves me right for putting the notion into your head." Celestia grinned back. "Now where's my Twilight Time, hmm?" She lifted one large wing, and Twilight happily snuggled up next to her. Celestia folded the wing over her rather firmly. Next thing Twilight knew, Celestia had reached around with one hoof and poked it under her foreleg, tickling her armpit mercilessly.
"Ack!" Twilight flailed, but Celestia's wing was quite strong enough to pin her.
"Ha! So suffer pranksters to the crown!"
"No! Help! Mercy!"
Celestia stopped tickling, but didn't lift her wing. "I will accept your surrender, but only if you pay a ransom."
Twilight, panting, gave her a wary look. "What kind of ransom?"
Celestia leaned close, and planted a kiss on the tip of Twilight's horn, which made a sudden little shiver run through the smaller alicorn. "I think I'll take payment in parts. First, I believe I'm due some cuddles, and at least a few kisses."
"And the rest of your payment?" asked Twilight.
Celestia gave Twilight's horn a slow, lascivious lick. "Nothing you won't enjoy paying," she said with a wicked smile. "Will you yield?"
Twilight, feeling her brain humming with a wonderful static, found herself answering eagerly, "I surrender."