//------------------------------// // Chapter 25 // Story: The Perilous Gestation of Swans // by kudzuhaiku //------------------------------// “Twilight Sparkle, you are looking well.” Celestia smiled, beaming with radiant sunshine, and looked down upon the much smaller alicorn. Twilight wore a scarf, a cap, and a smile warm enough to keep the winter chill away. “So, forgive me for asking, but have you found a date for the school holiday gala? As one of the alumni, perhaps our most successful alumna, you are expected to attend.” While she spoke, she saw the little alicorn’s face turn red, and she knew, she knew that her former student did not have a date. Her smile shrinking only just a little, Celestia heaved a sigh. “I’m not involved with anypony,” Twilight said, almost—but not quite—stammering. Her scarf and hat vanished, stored away in some unseen, almost unknown coat room. “Come, walk with me, little Miss Sparkle.” Celestia turned about, her stomach growling, begging for lunch, and she was pleased to hear the sound of rather dainty hooves clattering against the stone tiles just behind her, just as it had been when the mare had been her student. She wished that Twilight would pick up the pace and walk abreast, but Celestia said nothing. It was her most sincere hope that one day, Twilight would work up the courage to be her equal, but for now, Twilight was content to follow along behind, just as she had always done. There were, however, times when her former student slipped up, due to excitement or some such reason, and would rush ahead while chattering away. Celestia treasured those moments most of all, as an excited, happy Twilight was also an endearing, adorable Twilight. It had also been great fun to watch the chattering filly bump into doors or walls, because she was too busy looking up and behind to pay attention to where it was that she was going. “I do hope that Trixie makes it this year.” “Celestia, I don’t think Trixie will come.” “Why not, Twilight?” No doubt, her protégée was now chewing on her lip, wondering if she should reveal a private issue, and it took all of Celestia’s willpower to not look back over her withers at the little alicorn mare behind her. “She’s having a rough time,” Twilight began, hesitant. “I mean, she’s hiding it well, and she’s holding together, she is doing an admirable job of that, but she’s staying with Tarnish right now so she can let her guard down and feel safe and not have to constantly worry about another foalnapping. She was on the verge of a breakdown when she finally decided to stay with Tarnish. But she is holding it together. She doesn’t want Sumac to worry or think anything is wrong. She is somehow giving him the illusion of normality, which might just make Trixie the greatest illusionist of our age.” “Any word about Catrina?” Celestia asked in a low voice. “Anything from your network?” “She has been sensed prowling around down near Appleloosa and Dodge City Junction.” Twilight’s voice also dropped, and a hardness manifested. “If she makes a move, if she thinks we’ve let our guard down, she will be in for quite a surprise. Tarnish has been bored, and knowing him, he’s just itching for a fight.” “The Queen of the Bumbles is back in Manehattan,” Celestia said to Twilight. “Our intelligence is convinced of that, but we can’t actually find her. But she is looking for mercenaries and wizards for hire for some bit of dirty work. Sumac, no doubt.” “Hmm, I don’t like that, not one bit.” “I don’t like it either.” Celestia’s smile had a bit of difficulty, but somehow persisted. She kept her gaze forward, looking for holiday decorations in the halls. “Come, let us talk of more pleasant things, shall we?” “Okay.” “You could ask Seville to the gala, Twilight.” “I couldn’t do that!” was the squeaked reply. “Oh, come off it, Miss Sparkle. You’ve danced with him before. For all of your awkwardness, you liked it. Don’t you dare deny it.” This time, Celestia did look behind her, caught a glimpse of a flustered red face in the corner of her eye, and began to snicker. “I remember when you asked your father to the school dance—” “Celestia!” Twilight whined out her teacher’s name and cringed.. “He said no. He was busy. End of story.” “So you cried and you cried and you made your brother take you—” “END OF STORY!” Not only did Twilight raise her voice, but her hooves now clopped against the floor with a heavy staccato rhythm. “I have a framed picture in my study—” “OH MY GOSH! WHY?” Somepony sounded mortified. “Why would you do this to me?” “Because, you clinging to your brother’s leg while Cadance poses awkwardly in the background is a treasured memory. Plus, seeing Cadance smile while wearing braces is hilarious.” Celestia resumed looking forward with a toothy grin. “She pulled her lips away from her teeth for the photo when she smiled… she didn’t look natural. There was something unsettling about her, like a shark.” Behind her, Celestia heard giggling and knew that everything was going to be fine. “Shining Armor really is the best big brother ever.” Twilight pranced along, picking up her pace, and pulled up abreast to Celestia. “I can’t believe he put up with me… he’s always been so… good to… me.” Hearing distress in her former student’s voice, she asked, “Are you okay, Twilight?” “The night of the school gala, my parents were out of town.” There was a long pause when Twilight made the connection, and she sucked in a deep breath. “No doubt, my brother was looking forwards to spending time with Cadance… spending time alone with her… with my parents out of town. Now that I’m grown up, well, you get the idea. My brother had plans, really important plans, and he gave them up for me.” This realisation almost gave Celestia the giggles, but she somehow contained herself. Twilight had realised what her brother had given up, but had she made the connection as to why her parents went out of town on that weekend? At her own insistence, the two lovebirds had gone on a little much needed vacation, and had stayed in one of Celestia’s private cottages, a secluded location hidden far away from civilisation. Cottages in which she seldom stayed in. Coming to an intersection in the hallway, Celestia paused, hearing quite a clatter. Yes, yes, a commotion was coming this way. Ears perking, Celestia wondered if what she was hearing was a guard running down the hallway, maybe because they were in a hurry? This was more than a ruckus; it was approaching a full blown cacophony. “HUZZAH!” That single utterance was enough to cause Celestia’s blood to curdle in her veins—very much like milk left out in a bucket under her sun—and she backed up to where Twilight had already stopped. “Sodding git!” a feminine voice cried out, and echoed through the halls. Then, Celestia saw it. Two chariots approached, and in them were Gosling and Luna, along with two older foals. Beans was with Gosling, and Toast was with Luna. The twins were taking whacks at one another with padded batons, the kind the guard used for training. Two guardsponies were pulling each chariot, four unlucky privates no doubt press ganged into service by two decadent, depraved royals. The chariots smacked, banged, and clattered against one another in a high speed fight for dominance. It was a classic race of colts versus fillies, stallions against mares. Sparks flew from the chariots’ wheel hubs as they clanged together, and Beans took an opportunistic whack at his sister’s head with his foam-padded baton. The chariots went whooshing by, and all Celestia could do was stand there, stunned, with her mouth hanging open. “You manky, good for nothing honker!” Toast screeched at her twin brother. “I’ll do you for that!” “I think not!” Beans took another whack at his sister, but clobbered Luna instead. The chariots departed with the squealing of rubber tires against the stone tile floor, leaving Celestia standing there with her mouth agape. Beside her, the smaller alicorn watched the chariots go, the little mare’s mouth was a perfect round ‘O’ of startled surprise. A sharp corner was coming; Celestia could not bear to watch, but she could not look away, either. Gosling would be on the inside of the corner, and she expected him to make his move, if he was smart. “Hey, Twilight, are you up for a race?” “No!” The voice that replied was more of a frightened whinny than anything else. A sincere sense of disappointment settled over Celestia, like an incontinent raincloud just itching to ruin a picnic. Twilight was just not the sort of pony who would have chariot races in her castle. As for herself, Celestia was almost certain that she could fix the economy if she charged for admission. Somehow, the two charioteers took the sharp corner without crashing, and Gosling did indeed pull ahead. As his teacher, Celestia was proud of her student. Plus, Luna was annoying and needed to be knocked down a peg. All that huzzah-ing got on a pony’s last nerve. “I envy them,” Celestia said, and she was all too aware of how wistful she sounded. “You what?” Twilight asked. “I envy them,” Celestia repeated, this time sounding even more wistful. “Gosling and I are lovers… while we do play around, most of our play is foreplay.” She sighed, shook her head, and ignored Twilight’s red cheeks and flatulent, lip-flapping sputtering. “Gosling and Luna though… besties. Best friends. Playmates. There is no sex to get in the way of a good time, no performance anxiety… they are free to play without reservation. And I envy them, Twilight.” “I don’t… I don’t… I don’t understand…” Twilight stammered, and her words trailed off. “Twilight… in every pony’s life, there is a time when they are innocent. They are free to play. On the odd occasion where a little colt and a little filly do play with one another, they can do so free of complication and tension. It is a magical, wonderful time in a pony’s life. Then, at some point, sexual desire awakens, and play becomes something else entirely. In my many long years, I have watched this happen, time and time again, and still I constantly mourn the passing of innocence in my students as play becomes charged with sexual tension.” “Bwhah,” Twilight bwhahed, exhaling and almost—but not quite—forming a word. Having suffered utter failure, she stood there, bwhah-ing over and over, perhaps hoping that practice might make perfect. “One day, Twilight, you too shall notice this in your own students.” Celestia looked down at Twilight, winked, and clucked her tongue before adding, “Keep an eye on Sumac and Pebble. Those special, tender relationships always start early, just like for your parents.” “UGH, NO!” Twilight squeezed her eyes shut. “Your dad used to walk around on his front hooves to impress your mother.” A wide grin appeared once more on Celestia’s face. “She used to push him over and laugh at him. For some reason, I like to imagine that Night Light still likes to walk on his front hooves to impress little Twilight Velvet—” “NO!” Twilight’s eyes flew open and she now bore an expression of manic fright. “One time, little Dandelia, she cast a grease spell and your father went skating around, fighting to keep his balance, still desperately trying to impress both little fillies. He went shooting right past me on his two front hooves, looking terrified. He had this awful, pleading expression on his face. He knew that he couldn’t blow it, not if he wanted a chance with both of them.” Twilight Sparkle burst out laughing so hard that she started wheezing. “One day, Twilight, you will watch young love bloom, and it will become something you cherish. It means that your subjects are making new subjects. The more love that is fostered, the greater the prosperity and growth you will have in your demesne.” Celestia slipped from teasing to teaching with no effort at all. “You will look forwards to infatuation and crushes in your school. You will learn to cultivate it, to encourage it without encouraging it, and you will learn the fine art of restriction, saying no just enough that they rebel against you to do it anyway, and in these conditions, if you are lucky, the sort of love that blossoms will last a lifetime.” At these words, Twilight fell silent, and her ears stood straight up. “You should never make it too easy on them, Twilight, you have to make those first tender moments in love challenging and difficult. Like with anything else in life, little lovebirds need to feel a sense of accomplishment… that their love is meaningful, and worth taking risks. It is one of the most difficult things you will ever have to learn. Too little risk, and you get little fly-by-nighters that go from filly to filly, breaking hearts, and little fillies that lead little colts along, teasing them endlessly.” Celestia turned her head and looked down into Twilight’s eyes. “Too much restriction, and you crush a tender bloom. But if you do it right, you’ll have little lovebirds like your parents, who will stay together for the entirety of their lives. If you can do this with the coming generation that you are educating, Ponyville will prosper.” “Thank you…” Twilight breathed the words, and her head bobbed up and down. “This actually means quite a lot coming from you… thank you.” “Don’t mention it.” Celestia gave the smaller mare beside her a loving nudge with her wing. “I do this for the benefit of our empire… if you prosper, all of Equestria prospers with you. Come, let us get lunch, and maybe we can continue this enlightening conversation. It’ll be like old times.” “I’d like that… I miss the old times,” Twilight replied.