You know, you can miss someone in your head and not really appreciate the full breadth of it until they’re right in front of you again. Or, in my face, right up in your face and kind of also on top of you.
All that detail just comes rushing back! Like, I’d missed her presence but I’d forgotten the sheer force of the why! You know? Just, ah, man, she’s there - no, she’s here! If I blink she might not be anymore! If I let go she might not be anymore!
Also she smells nice and has pretty eyes. Hey, I’m not especially complicated.
And hey, Twilight’s here too. I like that. Makes me happy. She’s even more adorable than I remembered. Even when she is, uh, bawling into my side and apologising whenever she isn’t sobbing incoherently.
I gave her a stroke but I couldn’t really tell if she noticed or not. I kept it up, hoping it might soothe her, before looking back up to Celestia, whose face remained more-or-less an inch from mine.
“I heard you were in town,” I said. Casual-like.
Her smile basically just filled everything I could see, and even if it was one composed mostly of relief it was still just there, being basically everything.
“Just passing through, you know,” she said.
I nodded but I sure couldn’t look away.
“Ah, makes sense. Just thought you’d track me down to fill up a day?”
“Something like that.”
It was probably Twilight being attached to me that was keeping Celestia from really breaking down, I reckoned. Certainly what was holding back what I suspected was a lot of, ah, relieved smooching. I could see the urge in her eyes, but she held back. Wise, probably. I held back too. Time and place, people, time and place.
She did, though, go in for a nuzzle and while doing that ask me quite quietly and right in my ear:
“Are you okay?”
Ah, shivers. Why does she do that she knows that happens.
“I’m fine, love, honest. Totally fine,” I said, giving her side a pat with the hand not at that moment attempting to calm Twilight down. Twilight, for her part, had at least gone quieter. So that was nice.
Celestia pulled back again, looked at me closely.
“I’m fine, really. Totally fine. Kind of a weird episode I’ll admit but I am totally fine. Probably just need to stretch my legs and I’ll be right as rain. You ever been stuck in a room for an extended period? I know that’s kind of my thing but it’s not great.”
I’m getting more of a serious look from her, now.
“What did she do?” She asked, going for quietly but not managing to go quietly enough to keep from setting Twilight off again. Ack, more stroking!
I’m not going to bother getting into asking how they know this or that or what they know. I’m just going to assume everyone knows more about what happened to me than I did. I am a leaf on the wind, bubble in the stream, just going along with everything, wherever you go there you are and all that. Story of my life.
More to the point I really don’t have the energy to even think about answering that question.
“Can I have a sit down before we get into that? Sorry. It’s just been kind of my whole deal for a while now. Ooh. How long has it been, by the way? I kind of lost track.”
Seemed like a good question to ask and certainly made the serious look go away, though what replaced it was mild concern. Never a fan of that, myself.
“You don’t know?” Celestia asked me.
“Like I say, kind of lost track.”
A second perhaps of hesitation, then:
“It’s been nearly two months.”
“Two months?! Fuck me sideways. I thought it was, uh…”
I actually had no idea how long I thought it might have been. Less than that! Fuck me!
That’s a lot of wasted days of hanging around in a room doing sweet FA, Jesus Christ!
Damnit, Umbra! I had shit to do! Probably.
“Time flies when you’re locked in a room at the top of a tower that’s apparently not - you know what, no, no I am not talking about this I am done with this for right now. Let’s, uh, anything else. Sound good to you?”
“Tea?” She suggested.
I did give her a kiss then. Just a little one. Couldn’t help myself! Twilight wasn’t going to notice anyway and it did make Celestia go a wonderfully light shade of pink.
“I could do something far more hot and heavy than that were we not in public,” I said, getting another nuzzle for my troubles, probably just an excuse for Celestia to hide her blush.
“No need to hold back on their account,” she said right into my ear. More shivers, agh.
“Oh you,” I said, reaching a hand up to just trail along her neck to her ears. This sort of thing came naturally, I realised. Barely even had to think about it! Gratifyingly it meant I got a shiver out of her. Take that, Celestia!
Then she pulled back out and, again, I got to enjoy that smile. No relief in it this time. Just straight-up smile.
“No, you,” she said.
I, uh.
I am extremely happy.
Probably this is the point that the rug gets pulled out and the whole thing turns out to be some sort of high-falutin’ illusion, right?
...nothing? Ah, that’s better.
“Hot and heavy?” Piped up a voice from somewhere below my chin.
Oh yeah. Twilight. Oops.
From the looks of things I wasn’t the only one who had temporarily let it slip that Twilight was still there as Celestia gave me a wide-eyed looked too before looking down.
“You feeling better?” I asked. Seemed like a good pre-empt.
“I should be asking you! I’m so sorry John! I’m so-”
“Hey, none of that. Not your fault at all, okay? And anytime you try to suggest it was I am going to prod the tip of your horn. I don’t know if that does anything but I like to think it will, so watch it, right?”
“But it was-”
“None of that,” I said, prodding the tip of her horn. Not as sharp as I might have expected it to be and - for some reason - she sneezed almost the instant I did so. That’s amazing! Does that happen every time? I want to try and see if it was a fluke but I also don’t want to push my luck.
Twilight gives me a sour look but doesn’t say anything else. Success! Back to normal!
Ah, lovely girl, Twilight. I am fond of her.
“We should probably stand up. I do believe a crowd is forming,” Celestia said, looking about. From where I was - on my back and largely wrapped in wings - I couldn’t see this, but I took her word for it.
Awkwardly untangling ourselves we stood, me getting help from the both of them. There was indeed a crowd, being kept at a respectful distance by guards - handy! Everyone was so shiny, too.
Also nearby was another alicorn who made me jump because I turned and she was just there. Kind of pink? Crown? Take a wild guess?
“Ah! Hello. You’d be...Cadence, wasn’t it?” I asked, on the off-chance I’d misremembered her name.
“Yes. You’re John?” She asked as I took her hoof in some kind of weird two-handed shake. I really have no idea how to greet ponies. The bump? One-handed shake? Hug? Nothing seems to fit best!
“I am indeed, keen eye on you. I must say, Cadence, the Northern style of welcome is certainly memorable - I’ve got an anecdote out of this trip, let me tell you!”
She looked horrified.
“He is joking,” Celestia said, leaning in to my rescue. Cadence looked slightly less horrified.
“Oh. Oh right, heh. Sorry,” she said, sheepishly. Was she apologising for not getting the joke or for the whole situation in general? Or both? Or neither? I was unsure so, hell, why not double-down? I just got liberated, damnit!
“Nothing to apologise for! I can’t imagine you roll out the evil queen for every guest,” I said.
Cadence stared at me briefly, then to Celestia for clarity.
“He is still joking. Though he should probably stop,” Celestia said, stepping around to stand next to me. Very close next to me.
“Should probably have stopped a few sentences ago,” I said. Celestia nodded.
“Probably, yes,” she said.
“Should probably stop now,” I said.
Celestia gave me a bump with her hip which set me wobbling but which wasn’t enough to topple me. I got the message. Hard not to grin though. Tee hee. Her tail then wrapped around my leg which, as always, felt a little bit weird given the nature of her tail. Nice though. Comforting, you know?
“You mentioned something about tea?” I asked.
“Yes. We could go to the palace or anywhere you might like. It’s up to you,” Celestia said. She seemed to be taking the lead on this, with Cadence and Twilight just watching on.
“Well I’d pick a place but I haven’t really had a chance to get to know the layout here yet. Don’t know where’s good.”
“John…” Celestia said, mild warning tone.
I was getting the impression that my flippancy about what had happened was not universally appreciated. Celestia was probably the one liable to be most patient with it, and so if she was starting to move toward the mild warning tone that was probably a good sign to stop.
Should probably take that on board! Not everyone can shrug things off as easily as you! Even if they’re things about you.
Concern for the feelings of others. Tsch. What an onerous burden!
“Uh, palace, why not? I’ve been known to be in a palace from time to time. And it’ll be private, eh?”
“Excellent choice,” Celestia said. “Would you like to walk there?”
“Limp there, rather. You know me. And that depends. Is it miles and miles away? If so then yes.”
“It’s not far,” Cadence chipped in, probably just so the poor girl didn’t feel quite so much like a bystander. I gave her a thumbs up, which probably just confused her. I think I heard Twilight whispering an explanation afterwards.
“I suppose that’ll have to do, then,” I said with a long-suffering sigh.
Jokes! All the time jokes! The jokes never stop! The tone never darkens! If the jokes stop and I treat things with even an ounce of seriousness then bad things’ll probably happen I bet. And that would be, well, bad. Can’t have that.
And so off we went. The crowd had - miraculously, such good manners- mostly dispersed by this point and the streets seemed clear-ish, though the guards maintained a cordon. Ugh. I hate being the centre of fuss.
Though I suppose I was at that moment also surrounded by the very CREAM of Equestrian royalty. Barring Luna. So guards were probably more for them than for me and were, probably, a good idea in general terms.
Rounding a couple corners and we were soon on a nice, big, wide road walking up towards a nice, big palace. Very glitzy. I let out a whistle.
“I do get to see the best places,” I said.
A sniffle from closer to ground level caught my attention and I saw Twilight shuffling along beside me, still looking incredibly downtrodden.
“Twilight…” I said and her ear flicked and she looked up. “Are you still coming up with meticulous arguments about how this is all somehow your fault?”
“...no,” she lied. I sighed.
I couldn’t in good conscience poke her horn again. She meant well, and some people are just worriers. It’s how they’re put together! Can’t hold that against them.
“Ah, come along, you. Come here,” I said, stooping quickly to sweep her up. She squeaked in alarm but didn’t even wriggle overmuch as I settled her in my arms and kept on walking, Celestia’s tail resolutely wrapped about my leg and the palace getting closer with every step.
Now this was more like it! Could practically smell the tea already!