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// Chapter 28 - Journey To The Past 
// Story: Teatime - A Novel Of Twilight & Celestia 
// by bigbear 
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	Almost a week later, Twilight and Celestia flew side by side through a beautiful blue sky. They cruised in a jet stream, high above the puffy clouds dotted below them. The sun was warm on Twilight’s back and comforting within her. Celestia had suggested another outing in place of teatime and Twilight had jumped at the chance. Now, she was almost regretting it.

It wasn’t the sky or her friend the sun that was the problem. It was Celestia. The light would glint off her regalia. Or her mane would billow just so. She would stretch the primaries in her amazing wings to grab a little more of the air. Or the steely muscles working beneath her glistening coat would stretch and flex. And when she looked at Twilight with half lidded eyes or licked her lips! It was all so… distracting.

Twilight remembered puberty. She’d grown a couple of hoof heights over the summer. Between longer legs and bigger hips, moving got complicated. Twilight had to learn to walk, canter, and gallop all over again. When her horn grew almost as much as her legs, even levitation had been a chore. She’d dropped her utensils and her books more that summer than over the previous dozen. And she’d been ravenous all the time, eating as if she had four hollow legs. Twilight’s one comfort was that her growth spurt occurred over summer break. She hadn’t embarrassed herself in front of Princess Celestia.

Becoming an alicorn princess had been like going through puberty a second time. She’d gained wings, grown a hoof height, and gotten a longer horn overnight. Flying had been a disaster to start. But misestimating her new earth pony strength had been at least as much of a problem. Having friends with amazing physical abilities like Rainbow, Applejack, and Pinkie made her feel doubly clumsy.

Twilight tackled the problem, like she did so many, with study and practice. And her hard work paid off. After surviving many embarrassing incidents, Twilight was soon galloping and bucking better than ever. And once she figured out how to do it right, flying turned out to be lots of fun.

Puberty and princesshood had both been emotional roller-coasters as well. Over that first summer break, Twilight first realized how pretty her ex-foalsitter Cadance was. She was hoof-in-hoof with her brother Shiny at the time. But that didn’t keep Twilight from noticing Cadance’s extremely long horn. Pegasi obsessed about wings, earth ponies about flanks. With unicorns, it was all about horns. Luckily it had all passed before anypony could find out. At least Twilight hoped Cadance hadn’t found out. She did have all those ‘love’ related powers. At a minimum, Cadance never said anything, so Twilight didn’t either. And by the end of the summer, things were back to normal.

Becoming a princess had also been distracting. Thank goodness, Twilight hadn’t been around Celestia much after her initial transformation. After her coronation in Canterlot, Twilight had come straight back to her trusty library home in Ponyville. She tried to ignore princesshood as much as possible. And her friends had been supportive. She was trying to live her life as before. So everypony else did their best to act as if nothing had changed.

And if Twilight’s eye lingered on the gentle arch of Fluttershy’s neck or on Rarity's almond eyes, she didn’t raise either subject in conversation. If Rainbow’s athletic flanks, Pinkie’s round tushy, or Applejack’s rippling haunches drew her gaze, Twilight never said a word about them. And if the girls noticed her attention, none of them brought it up either. Fluttershy did ‘meep’ once. But she did that all the time, so Twilight convinced herself she hadn’t been the cause of her friend’s distress. And like the effects of puberty, the emotional rollercoaster of princesshood had passed.

But after embracing Future Twilight and being saturated with magic, she’d shot up another hoof height overnight. Twilight had almost tripped going down the stairs at her castle a couple of times. Both flying and levitation took extra concentration to avoid embarrassment.

And her emotions were on overdrive once again. This time she was obsessing over Celestia. Thinking about her made Twilight melt a little inside. And watching Celestia move! Distracting. That was the right word for it. She glanced at Celestia flying next to her to see if the effect still held. The view of her extraordinary wings pumping up and down made Twilight gulp. It was very hard to sigh and flap your wings at the same time. But Twilight wanted to find a way.

It wasn’t like this was the first time she’d become obsessed with Celestia. The last time had been a long time ago. And it had been more hero worship than… whatever this was. But it had happened and she’d gotten over it. She would get over this too. In a few days, or weeks, or months, this phase would pass. And Twilight would go back to treating Celestia as a platonic friend, like she treated everypony else.

Why did that idea make her so unutterably sad?

“There’s our destination,” Celestia called. She pointed a hoof at a ruined castle in the Everfree Forest.

“The Castle Of The Two Sisters?” Twilight started. Celestia never liked visiting or even talking about her and Luna’s old home. And after the revelations about the battle for the Everfree, Twilight understood why. But now Celestia had brought her to the castle to show her a ‘surprise’.

The two alicorns angled down and landed before the stairs to the front entrance. Two multi-story towers on opposite sides of the grounds were mostly intact. But areas of the roof had long since caved in. Many of the exposed walls had crumbled.

From previous visits, Twilight knew the castle still held many ancient secrets. Tricky trap doors were everywhere. She and her friends sometimes came to search for ancient tomes or relics. Once, Celestia had sent Twilight to find a book in the castle’s thousand-year-old library.

The front doors opened easily. During a visit, Applejack had put oil on the hinges. Celestia and Twilight went through the doors and into the great hall. There was a giant hole in the ceiling and the hall was open to the sky. Along the sidewalls, archways lead to stairways and corridors. Twin flights of stairs at the back of the hall lead to an elevated walkway. In the center of the back wall was a tall arched window whose glass had broken long ago.

Flanking the window were a pair of tattered tapestries. Like many of the objects in the castle, time was slowly defeating their preservation enchantments. The tapestry on the left represented Luna. It was in shades of blue, had a half moon surrounded by four stars, and a stylized blue alicorn. The one on the right represented Celestia. It was in shades of yellow, had a sun surrounded by rays, and a stylized yellow alicorn. The tapestries retained great majesty, even a millennium after their creation. Surrounded by crumbling walls and rubble they were a sad reminder of what had been lost.

Twilight looked at her companion. Celestia was staring at Luna’s tapestry. At first glance, she seemed as calm as always. But Twilight could see cords of tensed muscles in her neck. Coming to her old castle was very hard. After a moment, Celestia looked away. She headed toward an arch in the right wall. “The surprise is this way.” Twilight followed her through the arch and down a corridor.

Much of their route was in deep shadow, but occasional holes in the ceiling cast pools of light. Tattered purple tapestries with tarnished golden tassels flapped in an occasional breeze. Empty sconces indicated where lights once blazed. Wrinkled purple rugs with tattered golden edging muffled their hoof steps.

Celestia moved through the hall with familiarity, not stopping to peer up stairs or down connecting hallways. She wrapped her magic around two of the empty sconces at the same time and pulled down. An empty wall rotated a quarter turn, creating an opening to a hidden side hall. Further on, Celestia walked on three specific tiles on the left side of the hidden hall. The floor in front of them lowered and became a staircase.

After descending the stairs, Celestia stopped and put out a wingtip to stop Twilight as well. She put a hoof forward and tapped a tile. A trap door in the floor fell away before them with a bang. Twilight jumped, then steadied herself. The echo made it sound like the opening was deep. Celestia extended both wings. She half hopped, half flew over the opening in the floor. Twilight teleported next to her with a ‘shring’.

“All these machinations were to slow infiltrators,” Celestia said. “To give the defenders of the castle a chance to respond if somepony broke in.”

“They caused my friends and I some trouble in previous visits,” Twilight replied. “We’ve mapped the trap doors and hidden passages we’ve found. But I know there’s many of them we’ve missed.” Twilight looked around the hidden hall they were in. “For instance, we’ve never been in this section before.”

“Then it will still be a surprise.” Celestia stepped up to a pillar by the side of the hall. “Do not attempt to move this with magic. It is protected. This final barrier is designed so only a single pony with great physical strength, like Luna, I, or someday yourself, can open it.” Celestia reared up on her hind legs and flared her wings for balance. She placed her forehooves on flattened spots that were higher on the pillar than Twilight could comfortably reach. There was only room for one pony to push at a time.

Celestia took in a great breath, massively expanding her barrel. She grunted - a sound that Twilight had never heard her make before. Steely muscles bunched and flexed across her body, as she pitted alicorn flesh against a mass of stone.

Stone was the first to give way. There were no enchanted hinges or clever mechanic levers here, only a block of stone two pony heights in each dimension. Celestia pushed the block forward to the sound of stone scraping on stone. Sweat ran down her neck and barrel. After each breath, she would make another long grunt to accompany her effort.

After three great pushes, the massive block of stone moved enough so a crack opened up between the wall and the chamber behind. Two more titanic heaves and the opening was large enough for Celestia and Twilight to squeeze through.

Celestia blew out a powerful snort and took two deep breaths to regain her calm. She was lathered and her coat was matted with sweat. Celestia smiled at Twilight. “I haven't had to do that in a thousand years. I’m out of shape.”

Twilight eyeballed the block of stone and did some mental arithmetic. She looked at Celestia with wide eyes. “That block weighs more than a house!”

“Two or three houses, actually.” Celestia stopped and closed her eyes. Twilight felt the power of the sun rise within Celestia. The sweat boiled away in a cloud of steam and Celestia was left pristine. She opened her eyes and smiled at Twilight. “That’s better. Come, your surprise awaits.”

They circled the block of stone. Twilight surveyed the large room. It was circular, with red brick walls blending into a high domed ceiling. In the center of the dome was a circular portal. Twilight knew they were in the bowels of the castle. But she could see the sky through the opening. It radiated powerful magic.

Below the portal was a tall furnace made of the same red brick. Stairs lead to a platform next to a hole in the top. The remains of great bellows hung on the side of the furnace, but their air bags were tattered. The skeleton of a block and tackle hung over the platform. The pulleys were cracked and no rope remained. The furnace radiated magic as well.

Twilight looked to Celestia, but any questions she had died on her lips. Celestia’s eyes were closed, and she was wincing in pain. Tears trickled from her eyes. Twilight rushed over and put a wing on her back. “Are you alright?”

Celestia swallowed hard, then deployed a mask of calm. “I’m fine.” The tears that still leaked from her eyes ruined the effect.

“No, you’re not,” Twilight countered. “It hurts you to be in the castle. I don’t care about any surprise. It’s not worth your pain.” Twilight wiped a tear from her cheek with a wingtip. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Twilight. Wonderful, good hearted Twilight,” Celestia wept openly. “I’m not doing this just for you, but for me as well. I have a gift for you. Giving it will help give me closure.” Celestia shuddered. “May we stay, even if staying is hard?”

“I would do anything for you.” Tears welled up in Twilight’s eyes. “I always have and always will.” She swallowed hard and laid her neck along Celestia’s. “If this is what you want... if this will help you... we can stay.”

Celestia enfolded Twilight in great white wings and held her tight. “Thank you,” she whispered. The two remained embraced for many minutes, tears flowing freely from them both.