Celestia couldn’t help but giggle to herself every time she thought about her date for that night. She was excited for it and she had made sure to have all her duties done before seven that evening, so that she would have time to get ready and arrive early to Twilight’s selected venue.
Remembering the events of last night, Celestia was amused by the younger alicorn’s restaurant of choice. She couldn’t remember the last time she went on such a public date, and she was certain that this was the first time somepony had asked her out to eat at a fast food restaurant.
The thought of eating at a fast food restaurant excited her even more, as it was a nice change to the traditional fine dining restaurants her previous dates brought her to.
The Solar Princess had to admit that she always had a certain part of her that wanted to eat at such a place, and to be able to do so now made her quite happy. Having lived in royalty for thousands of years, it was a nice change to dine somewhere more casual.
No meals with small servings, no overbearing waiters, and no need for formal etiquette, all the things she wanted to experience at a fast food restaurant. Hay Burger may not be a fancy place, but it was the place Celestia could lay back and be herself. She wanted to enjoy her food and she could care less for the proper eating decorum when she was hungry.
Nopony, except her sister, knew that she was such a slob when it came to eating. Although she wasn’t embarrassed with her eating practices, she knew that her advisors, as well as the nobility, would frown at the idea that the most senior princess ate in such a messy manner. Because of that, she had to abide by the royal image.
To be able to eat the way she naturally did, and to do so out in public, was exhilarating for her. The thrill wasn’t even reduced by the fact that she would be doing it in disguise. Just the act itself was enough to make her feel like her real self.
That was one of goals after all, to express her real self, and not the princess facade that she had always held in front of everypony.
But no matter how much this goal excited her, the other goal of getting to know her date excited her even more.
Thinking of Twilight, Celestia couldn’t help but make a wide grin. She wanted to know so much more about that pony, and it was strange how she knew so little about her despite having known the younger mare for most of her life.
There had always been a connection between them, and it seemed like the wall she built up as a princess prevented that connection from growing further than the boundary her duties set. She could be wrong about this, but the feeling seemed to have always been there.
Celestia cared for Twilight, yet the other pony seemed to see it as nothing more than the obligatory care of a mentor and princess. Although this was true at first, it seemed that over time this care had grown to something more.
She hated how the barrier prevented them from knowing more of each other, as she yearned more and more to express her true self, while taking in who the true Twilight was. The Solar alicorn wanted to get rid of the formalities, to be gone with all the suppression of thoughts and feelings.
As interesting as they were, Celestia didn’t want their conversations to just be about friendship problems and little facts that she just learned. She appreciated that Twilight was always telling her these things happening in her life, but the older princess could sense that she was holding back, as if she wasn’t deserving to know more about mare. What she wanted, however, were more heartfelt talks, more emotions. She wanted to hear her talk about her feelings, her inner interest, her true self.
Celestia wanted Twilight to open herself to her, but she knew that it would never happen as long as the younger mare was blocked by the wall of her being a mentor and princess.
Hopefully tonight the wall of the facade will start to crumble.
Before Celestia could get lost in her thoughts, the sound of the large doors of the dining room opening suddenly brought her back to reality. Immediately knowing who it was, the white alicorn quickly got up from her seat and made her way to the entrance, where she greeted her former student.
Smiling broadly and standing perfectly by the door, Celestia found it hard to see that this lavender alicorn presented before her now was the same one from last night. No bright red blushes, no nervous glances left and right, and no stuttering speech, this was a completely different pony.
“It is good to see you again, Twilight.” Celestia said, as she gave her a quick hug.
“It’s good to see you too, Celesita.” Twilight replied. “Sorry it took me so long to visit you again.”
“No need to apologize, Twilight, it’s perfectly understandable.” Celestia replied, ushering the other mare to her seat. “Royal duties always take up a Princess’ schedule, and with all those friendship problems you and your friends always have to resolve, I’m sure that you have been extra busy.”
“Well, the map can be quite a hoof-full sometimes. “Twilight said, as she took her seat at one end of the dining table. “The Cutie Map has this habit of sending us off into distant lands. For example, just the other day, me and Fluttershy were sent to the Smokey Mountains.”
Taking her sit at the other end of the, Celestia couldn’t help but give a slight frown when she saw the distance between her and Twilight. Although she knew that the table would separate the two ponies by a bit, it seemed that the distance was far greater than she remembered it to be. Inside, she couldn’t help but wish for the distance to disappear.
There was no intimacy with this kind of sitting, and for a short second the white unicorn couldn’t help but remember how close she was to Twilight last night. Bar fronts provided no distance and no barriers, and Twilight had been up close with her.
Then another memory came before her, one that made her ever regal image falter, as a small blush formed on her cheeks. In her drunken state, Twilight had pulled her face close to hers till their noses touch and eyes stared closely to each other. Never in a thousand years had she expected that mare to do something like that, and yet she did so with careless disregard and complete joy.
The thought of that memory made Celestia’s heart beat fast, and she couldn’t help but think how she would like it to happen again.
However, she was once more snapped away from her thoughts when a confused Twilight stared at her from the other side of the table, wondering why the older alicorn was blushing and looking distracted. “Princess are you alright?” She asked.
Looking at Twilight, and realizing how careless she was to allow herself to be lost in thought, Celestia shook off any remaining hints of what she was thinking, knowing that there was time for it later. For the moment, the thoughts of intimacy should be placed aside. There would be plenty of time to think, talk, and maybe even do, later on their date.
“Yes...yes, Twilight, I am quite alright.” Celestia said, before deciding to change the topic. “Now then, our appetizer should arrive soon. I hope you don’t mind, but I took the liberty of choosing our meals for the day.”
“Sounds good to me, Princess.” Twilight said, smiling politely.
Celestia smiled back. “So, Twilight, how are things with you?”
“Oh, you know, like you said, friendship problems and paperwork, with the occasional late night research splurges. It’s great to get a momentary break from that though and visit my friends here in Canterlot. By the way my Ponyville friends are interacting with my Canterlot friends; I think they’ll get along just fine.”
“That’s nice to hear. I’m glad that you and your friends are bonding well. How long do you all plan on staying in Canterlot by the way?”
“Oh, well, the girls plan to go back to Ponyville later tonight, since some of them have some personal business to attend to tomorrow, so they’ll catch the six o’clock train back to town.”
“Just the girls?” Celestia said, raising an eyebrow in feint curiosity. She already knew the answer to her next question. “Won’t you be joining them on the trip home?”
For a brief moment, Celestia saw Twilight pause and think. Looking directly at her, Twilight seemed to be confused on what to say, as if she was debating with herself on how to proceed.
“Well you see...” She began, before pausing, thinking, and then darting her eyes left and right. Celestia had to suppress a smile for a second, as the flustered look of the younger alicorn reminded her of Twilight’s drunken panicking last night. This amusement, however, did not last long, as she suddenly felt disappointed, as the other mare hesitated in telling her anything about the deeper parts of her life. This was understandable and she respected Twilight’s privacy, but it only served as a reminder how Princess Celestia was locked out from this part of her mind and heart. “...you see...I...I have plans with...Moondancer... Yes! I have plans with Moondancer, to do some research so we can finish my speech for the seminar with your magic students.”
“You mean the seminar scheduled for next month?” Celestia asked.
“Yes, that exact one! You can never be too early in preparing, right?”
“I guess so.”Celestia said, frowning slightly. She was definitely holding back, but Twilight still did her best to move the topic away from herself.
“How about you, Princess? I’m sure you do speeches like that all the time? How many days before the event do you usually write your speeches?” She asked, a nervous laugh trailing in the end.
Deep inside Celestia felt frustrated.
No matter how many times she told Twilight, the other mare always seemed to forget that she didn’t like being called ‘Princess’, especially now that they were equals. It always annoyed her to be referred to by her title when it came from somepony she considered close to her.
But that wasn’t the only thing that got on her nerves.
What annoyed her more was that Twilight was staying firm and was once more not letting her in. Just like always, doing the same pattern again and again, the mare would rather talk about trivial things than allow her to hear more important parts of her life.
Celestia didn’t want Twilight to know about her speeches, she wanted to talk about things like her life, her likes, wants and desires, the little things that make her smile, she wanted to know the Twilight that was never shown to her.
Before her thoughts raged into a storm, Celestia managed to remind herself that this wasn’t their date yet. As much as it hurt her, Twilight will never open up to Princess Celestia. But a certain hint of hope did raise her spirit, thinking that she might open up to Sunny.
Regaining her composure and giving Twilight her usual warm smile, the white alicorn nodded towards the young mare and passed off her long silence as she was just thinking the question through.
“I prefer to make my speeches at least a day before the scheduled seminar or ceremony-” Celestia finally replied. “-just so I can add in some points on current events.”
Looking somewhat relieved that the topic was off of her, Twilight smiled at the other alicorn and nodded. She was about to speak again when the doors to the Royal Kitchen opened up, revealing the Royal Chef, Fancy Garnish, who levitated two covered trays ahead of him. Moving gracefully towards them, the unicorn looked proud and quite happy to be able to serve his first course to the two alicorns.
“Your Royal Highnesses...” He said, as he walked towards the table and gently placed each tray in front of the two princesses. “I present to you your soup...” Pausing dramatically, he lifted the tray’s covers with his magic, revealing a warm and yellow colored soup, with chunks of green spread out, beautifully presented in a porcelain bowl. “...Broccoli Cheddar Soup.”
“My, this looks marvelous, Chef Garnish.” Celesita said, looking down on her soup with a smile. Glancing towards Twilight though, a small frown formed on her face to see the other alicorn cringing and seemingly terrified.
“Is everything alright, Twilight?” She asked.
Almost immediately, the mare switched to a fake smile, as she nodded her head all too eagerly. “Y...yes! I’m definitely fine, never better! Wow, this soup looks so....so delicious.” To add more to her statement, the lavender pony tried to give her biggest smile.
Celestia was far from convinced by this, and after thanking Fancy Garnish for the soup, she decided to further question her guess once the chef was gone.
“Are you sure you’re alright, Twilight? Are you not happy with the soup?”
“No!” Twilight said in a panicked tone. “I mean, no, there’s nothing wrong, Princess. The soup is good and I’m...I’m happy with your choice.” To try and prove her point, Twilight then levitated her spoon and cautiously took a scoop of the liquid. Staring at it as she slowly brought the spoon to her mouth, the younger mare took one glance at Celestia before sipping its contents.
Watching with concern, Celestia saw Twilight do her bet to control her expressions, as she brought down the spoon and made motion to take another scoop. “Mmmm...yum. So...cheesy...”
Confused at what was happening, and unsure what was wrong, Celestia continued to give Twilight a worried look. “Are you sure there’s nothing wrong?”
“Yup!” Twilight chirped, as she continued to slowly eat her soup. Occasionally though, she caught the young alicorn fight off the urge to gag.
“Well...alright.” Celestia said. She was sure that everything was definitely not alright with her, but she was also sure that whatever it is, Twilight wasn’t going to tell her.
But then a mischievous idea came to her mind. If alcohol was enough to loosen her up last night, then maybe it can do the same now. With a grin and a quick teleportation spell, a bottle of champagne from the Royal cellars suddenly appeared on top of the table.
“Just to spice up our meal, how about a glass of champagne, Twilight?” Celestia said, as she levitated two glasses and began pouring the rich liquid into it.
Grinning widely, Celestia studied Twilight to see the other alicorn’s ears fold back in fear. This didn’t come as a surprise to her, as she had expected the mare would be scared of alcohol after last night’s events, although it did disappoint her that her plan wouldn’t work.
“Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!” Twilight said, wings flaring as she stared at the floating glass of champagne. Then, realizing how improper she was acting, she suddenly straightened herself to a more proper posture. “I mean, I couldn’t possibly drink...” The rest of her sentence was lost, as she muttered out her words.
“Oh?” Celestia said, the mischievous grin still on her face. If she couldn’t convince her to drink, then she might as well tease her then. “Are you afraid that you might get too tipsy and end up doing something? Don’t worry, Twilight, you may be an alicorn, but I am more than enough to handle you.”
“Wha....what?” Twilight asked, baffled as an eye twitched in confusion. It was clear that she didn’t know how to respond to this, as she sat there and stared. This made Celestia giggle, and once more she was reminded how nice it was to see Twilight blush.
“I’m just kidding, Twilight.” Celestia said, before taking a sip of her champagne. “You’re so easy to tease, you know?”
Twilight only blushed even harder from this, keeping her gaze away from Celestia. The form on her face, however, showed that she was not enjoying it. “Can we just talk about something else please?” The lavender pony nearly begged, as she blushed and continued to look away from older alicorn. “I’m not really comfortable talking about stuff like this, Princess.”
“Very well, Twilight.”
Relenting for the sake of her former student, Celestia soon changed the topic to a subject less stressful for the mare. This meant the two ended up talking about the Princess of Friendship’s recent trip to the Smokey Mountains which, although really entertaining, seemed more like a friendship lecture than anything else.
What Celestia wanted was deeper conversations, but based on Twilight’s hesitance and avoidance about such topics, she knew she wouldn’t be getting it now. She just hoped that the Twilight later that night would offer up a better conversation.
Later that day, as she walked through the halls of the castle, Celestia couldn’t help but let out a long sigh of relief, as she finished the last of her Royal duties for the day. The meeting with Griffon ambassadors took longer than she had expected, but at least now she can relax knowing that a decent trade deal had been achieved.
With her work for the day done, and thirty minutes remaining before her expected date with Twilight, Celestia trotted as fast as she could back to her personal chambers. She would have preferred to gallop or teleport, but she didn’t want to look like she was in a rush, so that the Royal Guard and palace staff wouldn't be concerned thinking that something was wrong.
Getting nearer and nearer to her chambers, Celestia couldn’t help but think of the upcoming date. She was excited, and she couldn’t wait to get it started. She soon began wondering how it would go, and how Twilight would act throughout the night. Inside, she hoped that she would at least be more open and comfortable, since she didn’t want a repeat of the lunch they had earlier.
Knowing how first dates often went, she knew that it began with both ponies getting to know more of each other. This was what she was excited for, since she was about to learn a new side of Twilight that she hadn’t known before. However, remembering the side that she did know about, she realized that Twilight would probably be a bit shy because of her nervousness. This was her first date after all, at least that’s what she assumed. This shyness might become a problem, and Celestia knew that she would have to find a way to calm down the mare.
Thinking of ways, she began to consider using alcohol again. But she quickly decided against this, remembering the mare’s negative reaction to champagne earlier.
Letting her mind search for solutions, she soon realized that the best way to get Twilight to open up is by making the first move. If Sunny was the first one to talk about herself, then maybe Twilight would become comfortable enough to talk about herself too. The logic in it seemed good enough, and Celestia was pleased with the idea.
But the solution soon opened up another problem, one that Celestia felt foolish for not solving earlier. Who is Sunny? Where does she work? Who is her family? What is her life story?
She knew that she should think of something fast or else end up having a story with too many holes in it.
With that she began creating her persona in her mind, as she began filling in the blanks in every bit of Sunny’s character. She did, however, make sure to make them as close to the truth as possible. Aside from her work and home address, everything about Sunny was essentially the same as who Celestia was. She was going on the date to finally express her true self after all, and completely lying would make things counterintuitive. Because of this, Sunny shared a lot of Celestia’s own characteristics. The same favorite color, the same favorite music, the same favorite food, and many other little details which she hoped to tell Twilight later on and in the long run.
By the time she reached the Household Wing of the Castle, Celestia had more or less finished building Sunny’s character. Satisfied that it was similar to who she was, Celestia felt ready for the date.
All she had to do now was get back to her chambers, freshen up a bit, then put on her disguise and teleport away.
But before she could reach her chambers, a familiar dark blue alicorn encountered her in the hallway.
“Sister, what are you doing back here so early?” Luna asked, as she stared at her older sibling with curiosity. Looking back at Luna, Celestia could tell that she had just gotten ready for the night and was probably out to get dinner before starting her duties.
“Oh, Luna, it’s good to see you.” Celestia said, greeting her with a warm smile as they got closer. “I’m just about to head back to my quarters.”
“But it’s just seven thirty in the evening, Tia.” Luna said, clearly surprised. “I can hardly remember the last time you ended your day before nine o’clock.”
“Indeed, Luna. But my day has not ended yet. I still have a lot of paperwork waiting for me in my chambers.” The last part had been a quick excuse, and Celestia hoped that Luna didn’t see through the lie.
“Ah, yes, that makes sense.” Luna said. For a second, Celestia thought that she saw a hint of sadness in Luna’s face. Her inner instincts as an older sister immediately made her concerned, as she studied her sibling with worry.
“Is everything alright, Lulu?”
“Yes...everything is fine, Tia.” Luna began, before pausing and hesitating. “I just...I just hoped that maybe we could have dinner together, and maybe after that watch the stars like we used to...” Then a hopeful look formed on Luna’s face, and the white alicorn could see a bright shine on her sister’s eyes. “Maybe your paperwork isn’t too much, dear sister, and you can spare some time having dinner with me? My schedule for the night isn’t too busy, so if you can spare some of your time, I can spare some of mine.”
At that moment Celestia felt her heart tear, knowing that she was being forced to choose between Twilight and Luna. Seeing Luna’s excited expression made it hard to say no to her, but imagining Twilight’s reaction to being stood up on a date sanded her also.
What Luna said hit Celestia emotionally, and the elder sibling knew that they rarely had time to spend with each other. Aside from breakfast, the two alicorn sisters had almost no time with each other. It hurt her knowing that her sister missed her so much, since Celestia knew that she missed her too.
But she also knew that Celestia couldn’t miss her date with Twilight. Despite being drunk, she could sense that what Twilight said last night was true, and she really did like Sunny. For Sunny to ditch her would most likely devastate the young alicorn, and it might break her emotionally to the point that she won’t become so open to the idea of dating anymore. Celestia couldn’t do that to Twilight, she cared too much to allow that to happen.
This was a difficult decision, and for a moment it felt like time stopped as her mind felt lost and confused. She didn’t want to hurt any of the two, but the position she was in meant that somepony had to be.
She knew she had to choose, and in the end she chose Twilight. She can make it up to Luna tomorrow, but it would be impossible to recover from any mistake she would do to Twilight now.
Biting her lip, Celestia had to suppress a sigh, as she gave her sister an apologetic look.
“I’m so sorry, Lulu, but the paperwork I have can’t be delayed.” Celestia managed to say, trying to hold back any hint of sadness. “How about next time, maybe tomorrow?”
A frown formed on Luna’s face, but Celestia could sense even greater sadness within. Trying to hide this though, the younger sibling tried to give an understanding nod. “I shall see, sister, I might have a busier schedule for that evening.”
“Oh, alright. But be sure to tell me as soon as you can, so I can clear up mine.”
“I will, sister. Although do not fret too much, I understand your circumstance and know that duty comes above anything else.”
Celestia tried to give a small smile, as she hid the sting her heart was feeling.
“Thank you, Lulu. But I really am sorry.”
“Don’t think too much about it, Tia, there are plenty more opportunities in the future.” Luna said, as she began to take a step forward. “I wish you well with your work tonight, sister. Goodnight, Tia.”
“Goodnight, Lulu.” Celestia said, as she watched her sister trot away before disappearing from sight.
Once the other alicorn was gone, Celestia let out a long sad sigh, before shaking her head. Then, trying her best to cheer herself up, she began thinking once more about her date as she headed towards her chambers.