All was silent between them. Finally Celestia spoke up.
"I am sorry my faithful student, But I had promised I would never speak a word of this to anypony." Celestia admitted, ashamedly. Twilight's eye twitched.
"Just how long ago did you make that promise?! I've never seen the two of you together before! Did you even take care of her as a filly?!" Twilight shrieked. Celestia hung her head.
"Hey Twi, let up already! You wanna know the truth!? You wanna know what happened!? I RAN! I ABANDONED MY OWN MOM AND FAMILY! ARE YOU HAPPY?!" She screamed. The ponies fell silent as Rainbow panted a little from her outburst.
"w..why..." Pinkie asked softly.
"I never wanted this. Any of it. As a little filly...before I met Fluttershy at Flight school. I was just another pony being pampered in the castle and I hated it. I couldn't fly anywhere without guards dragging me around or telling me it was improper to be flying around like a foal when there were royal whatevers to be done. And to top it all off I rarely even had anytime with Celes..my mo...the Princess..." she mumbled. It was still hard to speak up about such a thing.
"One day...we went to a Wonderbolts show...it was amazing. I got to sit right next to her and watch all the tricks they did and they even offered to teach me some. But the guards wouldn't allow it cause I was so small and had to be the princess everypony was expecting me to be. I was sick of it. So...I left a note and ran..."
Celestia bit her lip as her eyes scanned over a stack of papers. Her thoughts were elsewhere, on her daughter who had thrown a massive tantrum that day when the guards refused to let her fly with the wonderbolts. She could have told them to leave her be, to let her fly. But she worried that the pegasus was too young to fly just yet. She could hurt herself and there was too much riding on that young pony's back.
She felt horrible thinking that way. She had to be the mother that foal needed and she was going to start doing the right thing, right now. She shoved the papers aside and threw her doors open, taking a detour through the kitchens to snatch up two cupcakes and matching cups of hot cocoa. There would be no work, just a mother and daughter enjoying an evening together. She stopped at the doors to her daughters room. She smiled at the rainbow stripes that marked the door and gave a gentle knock.
"Its me, may I come in? I brought you a cupcake." she said gently through the door, though she heard no answer.
"Are you awake?" she gently nudged the door open and gasped, the cupcakes and cups falling to the floor. She stared in horror at the empty room and open window. Her eyes scanned the room frantically for any sign of the pegasus, hoping that it was just a prank. But deep in her heart she already knew her daughter was long gone. Her eyes stopped on a note on the bed. She lifted it in her magic and began to read.
Mom...I can't take being here anymore. I wanna fly, I wanna have fun! You're always so busy helpin' everypony an doin' court stuff...I'm sorry but I just can't do it anymore. I dun' wanna be a princess, no dresses, no makeup, no shoes, none of it! I wanna be a Wonderbolt! I'll show those guards and I'll make you proud someday. Just...promise you won't come after me...Not until I've become a Wonderbolt and made you proud.
I know I can do it. I can make it to the flight school in Cloudsdale and I'll become a really amazing flier and then I'll show the Wonderbolts' what I can do! You'll see! But I don't want anypony coming after me. so...please don't tell anypony who I am. I wanna do this myself without getting my way 'cause I'm a princess. I wanna earn it and prove I'm not just a pretty face stuffed in a clingy dress. I wanted to say goodbye...but you were busy...so I just left this for you. Goodbye...
The paper was soaked with tears in several places and at the bottom a single tiny blue feather had been stabbed into the page. Just after the word goodbye was a kiss mark from the lipstick her daughters maids had put on her. She could see a smudge of it on the side of the bed where she had wiped it off before leaving. She folded the letter with her magic and composed herself as she left the room with the feather and letter tucked under her wing.
"Guards, remove everything from this room, including the door. Nopony is to ever know it was here. Do not speak of the one who lived in it and do not search for her. She is away performing her duties and is not to be bothered by anypony and you are not to come near her, make sure this is known to everypony in the castle. Am I understood?" the guards nodded, making quick work of the young princess room.
Celestia managed to keep her calm facade until she reached the safety of her own room, slamming the doors shut and collapsing onto the floor as she held the letter to her chest. It was impossible for her to hold back the flood of tears any longer as the realization that she had lost her only daughter set in. If she had only acted sooner, she could have kept her from leaving, if she had only seen the signs.
She had been so blind, so stupid. She should've learned her mistake when she lost Luna and now she had lost her daughter. Finally the tears subsided, leaving her whimpering and sniffing as she pushed to her hooves. She opened a small chest with her magic, tucking the feather and letter inside, placing a magical lock on the chest and hiding it under her bed.
"I promise...make me proud..."
"It was only two years later that I discovered you Twilight. I had known your parents already, with your brother training in the royal guard and quickly proving his worth. But I never thought another star would come from your family so quickly. I had lost myself in wandering that day and a certain sonic rainboom as well as a giant dragon caught my attention.
I must admit...I became quite attached to you Twilight. I wanted a chance to make things right, to raise the daughter I never had a chance to raise. You are very special to me Twilight, I do not think I would have made it through the years without your compainonship."
"So...you...used me...to fill the emptiness Rainbow Dash left?" Twilight asked in shock. Celestia hung her head once more and sighed.
"I admit I did, though I still wished to teach you to control your magic. Yours truly is the most powerful I have ever seen. None since Starswirl the bearded possess as much magic as you do, not even Starswirl himself. If left alone it could have been dangerous, hundreds of thousands of ponies could've been hurt."
"So ya'll fixed two problems at once, nothin' t' be mad 'bout Twi'. Ah'm sure ya'll woulda done th' same in her place." Applejack said to ease the tension in the air.
"Ok so this still isn't adding up I'm afraid. We know you took in Twilight as your student and in a way your daughter and that Rainbow Dash is your...real daughter? As in...well..blood related?" Rarity asked.
"Yes..." Celestia said, not sure what Rarity was getting at.
"Well what about her dad?!" Pinkie Pie interjected.
"Well..." Rainbow began, her head low.
"Lets not dwell on it. When the time comes we will tell you. There is much to be done. We have only a week to prepare."
"A week? Why is this reunion of yers so gosh darn important Princess?"
"Its not just a reunion AJ. This is the time when they gotta redo all those peace treaties and keep everypony happy so they don't start a war. If a treaty is broken before the fifty years is up then basically you just declared war on everypony and they are all comin after you. But this is when all bets are off and anypony can do anything. If i'm not here then the Gryphons will take advantage of us not bein on even terms." Rainbow explained, a little proud she knew at least this much from her forced studies as a filly.
"While a few things have changed since you were here, you are for the most part correct Rainbow Dash. The Gryphons will attempt to seize more land, seeing it as rightfully theirs to begin with but if we are on even terms it will be a bit harder for them to push us."
"To be honest Princess...I don't understand." Twilight said.
"Gryphons see power in numbers my faithful student. They have a king, a queen, and a princess. The king and queen see Luna and I as their Equals but as we have no other with us they believe that since they are the greater number..."
"That they should have more than everypony else." Rainbow finished. Twilight sat down, letting it all sink in.
"So...what do we do?" she asked.
"Well Twilight, unlike Rainbow Dash, you have experience being in royal gatherings. As her friend I will need you're help to prepare her for the Reunion." Twilight was silent for a moment, looking at her friends, noticing for a moment that Fluttershy had been extremely quite during the entire conversation before turning back to Celestia.
"Alright, lets get started." She said quietly. Celestia nodded, Rainbow gulped. It was going to be a long week.
As they entered the castle, Rarity paused and pulled Fluttershy aside. It didn't take much, a simple flick of her magic and a gentle yank of the pegasi's tail was enough to get her attention.
"Fluttershy, I've known you for quite a while and in that time I have learned to tell when there is something you are hiding from us. You knew about Rainbow Dash, didn't you?" she asked softly. The pink maned pegasus lowered her head, hiding behind her mane and squeaking quietly.
"Fluttershy, I am not angry with you dear, just a little peeved that you would hide something like this." She admitted. Fluttershy seemed to shrink a bit more, trying to back away from the unicorn. Rarity sighed and chanced a glance around the corner, smiling when she saw their friends hadn't noticed them yet.
The unicorn stepped forward, placing her hooves on either side of the pegasi's face and gently pressing her muzzle to hers, unable to hold back the moan that coursed its way through her body as the mare before her gave a squeak of surprise. She smiled as she pulled away, looking into her marefriends eyes.
"I understand your reasons darling, I just wish you could've said something about it sooner. Then we might've been better prepared for this."
"B..But Rarity..." the pegasus said softly, her back to the wall and her wings giving a light twitch as her eyes met that of the unicorn.
"I...I just couldn't tell anypony...Rainbow didn't even mean to tell me...it was an accident. I couldn't betray her..." she managed to say, her voice falling into squeaks and mumbles near the end. Rarity sighed with a smile. Fluttershy would always be Fluttershy, but thats why she loved her.
"Fluttershy, its ok. Its simply a sign that you are indeed a true friend" she said comfortingly, gently nuzzling the pegasus until she smiled.
"Now, we have work to do dear, our friend needs our help." Rarity smiled, walking alongside Fluttershy and quickly catching up with their friends.
It must have been difficult for Rainbow to admit such a thing...she truly is a brave mare...now if only Fluttershy and I can tell the truth about our own relationship...