"It's okay, you can do this," Twilight Sparkle whispered in a low voice, finding herself in front of a familiar door. "Okay, there is no need to be freaking out like this, just do it, Twilight!" she quickly said, giving the door a few hesitant knocks.
Wait, how do I look!? Twilight thought, quickly doing what she could to make herself presentable just as the door opened, revealing the intimidating form of Princess Celestia. She smiled amused, catching Twilight in the progress of fixing her tiara.
“P-Princess! Good evening! I’m so honored you invited me for tea so late!” Twilight greeted her nervously, quickly putting her hoof down and giving Celestia the biggest grin she could muster. Is it working? Twilight thought.
“Good evening, Princess Twilight, come on in,” Celestia greeted back with a courteous bow.
“P-Please, you don’t need to do that!” Twilight nearly shouted, not knowing how to react, rushing inside in an attempt to stop her. “It’s okay, we are just friends!”
“Indeed we are,” Celestia giggled, closing the door behind her. “There is no need to be so formal on your end either, and please—just Celestia is fine.”
“R-Right Pri-, er, I mean, C-C-Celestia!” Twilight struggled, trying to get the words out.
Celestia couldn’t help it, barely holding back a small laugh. “You’ll get used to it in time, I assure you. In any case…” she continued, moving aside and revealing the table behind her. “I believe we should get started, don’t you think?”
Twilight’s embarrassment seemed to disappear the moment she caught sight of the table waiting for her in the balcony, noticing the assortment of tea and pastries laid on it. Eagerly taking a seat, an earthy, yet pleasant scent filled her senses, bringing a smile to her lips.
Without a word, Celestia joined her, and the rest went by without incident. They talked, and talked, sharing stories for hours, until finally, they settled into a lull, simply enjoying the silence in each other's company.
“This is… nice,” Twilight noted with a blissful grin. “But you know, er, Celestia!” she said loudly, catching herself. “As much as I’m enjoying tonight, I’m really surprised you invited me to drink tea so late—don’t you need to sleep for tomorrow?”
“…”
“Um, Celestia? Hello?” Twilight called, noticing Celestia gazing into the distance. “Princess Celestia!”
“O-Oh!” Celestia jumped surprised, quickly realizing what had happened. “Oh, Twilight, my apologies! I didn’t mean to ignore you like that.”
“It’s okay,” Twilight assured her, and yet, her mind filled up with questions. “Excuse me, Celestia?”
“Yes?” Celestia sighed.
“If you don’t mind me asking,” Twilight began her question already reconsidering it, but despite her best efforts, unable to stop herself. “W-What were you looking at?”
“Of course,” Celestia laughed. “You must think I’m strange to look away when I have a guest, don’t you?”
“That’s not it,” Twilight said, quickly shaking her head. “It’s just that I do the same thing when I’m focusing on something—mostly reading—and I sometimes end up ignoring Spike when he tells me I haven’t eaten anything all day,” she giggled. “I'm actually wondering what you seem to be focusing on, Princess.”
“Oh my,” Celestia said, unable to hold back a laugh. “I must say, you never fail to impress, Twilight,” without warning, she sto. “If you truly want to know the reason, would you care to follow me?”
Confused, but no less curious, Twilight followed, flying over the castle after Celestia. She didn’t have to go too far however, quickly reaching their destination in the tallest tower of the castle.
“This is the observatory,” Twilight realized as they landed, noticing the various artifacts filling the room. “Are we going to be using the telescope to look at what you meant?” she asked, quickly taking note of the telescope nearby watching them intently with its lifeless eye.
“Perceptive as always, Twilight,” Celestia pointed out just as she positioned the telescope with her magic for optimal viewing. “There. You can go ahead and give it a try.”
“Ooookay…” Twilight muttered hesitant, but still peeking into the telescope, not knowing what to expect out of it—would it be something fantastic? Perhaps a discovery that the Princess had kept for herself? The possibilities were endless!
And yet…
“Well, what do you see, Twilight?” Celestia finally asked several seconds later.
Nothing but stars! Twilight panicked silently, carefully looking over the area for the thirtieth time, hoping to see what the Princess meant. Is this another test!? Twilight considered, breathing harder at the thought of failing something as seemingly simple as stargazing.
“Twilight,” Celestia called, snapping her out of her ongoing breakdown. “Trust me, there is no need to overthink it.”
Minutes passed without an answer, until finally, a frustrated Twilight pulled herself away. “Nothing. I see nothing but stars,” she finally said, turning away from the telescope in defeat. “I’m really, really sorry, but I just don’t see what you are referring to.”
Instead of the look of disappointment she had expected, Twilight was met with a comforting smile instead. “No, that is exactly what I wanted you to see.”
“… What?” Twilight asked, now more confused than ever. “What do you mean?”
“Well, perhaps this was a bit of a roundabout way to get to my point,” Celestia laughed, joining Twilight on the balcony. “You see, almost every night I come up to this very observatory. All I do is look and look, hoping to see something. Anything. But just like you now, I never really do; instead, all that I come across is stars, the occasional meteor shower, or just a passerby comet. Not that I’m complaining, really.”
Twilight listened silently, taking Celestia’s words as more questions came up: “But I don’t understand, what are looking for, Princess?”
“You… are going to think this is very silly,” Celestia half-laughed, mincing her words to Twilight’s surprise. “You see, I’m always stargazing because, honestly: I’m just afraid of what might be out there.”
Twilight opened her mouth to say something in response, but failing miserably. Realizing that, she said the first thing that came to mind. “Really?”
“Is it that difficult to believe?” Celestia sighed, looking away from Twilight. “Well, I suppose that a long-lived ruler like me shouldn’t be afraid of anything, right?”
“N-No! It’s nothing like that!” Twilight tried to assure her, the tone in Celestia’s voice not gone unnoticed. “I’m sorry if it sounded like I was doubting you, I just didn’t think you feared things like that.”
“Of course,” Celestia chuckled. “In all honesty, I find it a bit silly myself.”
“You do?”
“Yes. You see,” looking down into Canterlot, Celestia took a deep breath before continuing. “I have fought superpowered beings, dealt with plagues, even spoken with politicians most of my life. Yet, whatever is beyond our planet just terrifies me.”
“Whatever is beyond,” Twilight muttered. “Isn’t that just natural, though? I’m sure everypony has some semblance of that fear.”
“It’s not quite that,” Celestia explained calmly. “It’s not just that I’m afraid because I don’t know what could be out there; I’m afraid because of the possible threat it may place upon everyone’s lives.”
Of course, Twilight thought instantly. Celestia was a ruler who had always cared for her citizens. A pony that wanted everyone to be happy. A pony that believed in the best qualities in others.
A pony who, for the greater good, would give her life to save others.
Celestia then continued. “It’s the reason I’m out here nearly every night, searching the heavens for anyone—or anything—far out there that might put the lives of that which I care about in danger. Is it paranoid? Yes. Is it crazy? I often think so. But somehow, I feel it’s something that I must at least attempt whenever I get chance.”
“I,” Twilight muttered, resisting the urge to run up to her and give her a hug. “Princess? Just how long have you been doing this for?”
“Probably over a millennium now,” Celestia answered, smiling sadly. “Honestly, the mere thought used to keep me awake at night.”
Twilight shook her head in disbelief. “Princess, you know you don’t have to bear with this yourself, right? I can help you. We can help you! The girls could, or even your sister!”
“Luna knows,” Celestia replied matter-of-factly. “And when you do something like this for as long as I have, you just learn to live with it. Besides…” she sighed, looking up at the moon. “She was a big reason as to why I first began this mad quest of mine.”
~~~~~
The pair of princesses returned to Celestia's room, saying nothing on the fly back.
“Princess Celestia,” Twilight finally spoke again as they landed.
“Yes, Twilight?”
“Did you invite me just so I could figure this out?”
Celestia remained silent for a few seconds before replying. “As I said earlier, I invited you because I felt that your new Princess duties deserved a reward; however, I’m not too sure if it wasn't that at least on a subconscious level.”
Mulling over her answer for a moment, Twilight continued. “Princess Celestia?”
“Yes?”
“Would it be okay if I came to drink tea with you every so often? Maybe just talk about things?”
For the first time that entire night, Celestia showed Twilight her most genuine smile. “Yes, Twilight. I would love that very much.”
“Princess?” Twilight called once again.
“Hmm?”
“Will you be alright?”
“Yes,” Celestia said with a nod. “If it helps, letting somepony else know about it lifted a huge weight. I’m glad it was you, Twilight.”
Twilight shared a grin of her own. “Of course! We are friends, right?”
“We are,” Celestia said, taking a deep breath. “Well, we’ll surely be the best of friends once you finally learn to just call me Celestia.”
Even if just for a moment, the sound of laughter could be heard through the castle.