Why She Serves

by Natedogg2006


Love.

Knockknockknock.

"Come in."

The sounds of a large door opening and closing.

"Good morning."

"Good morning."

"....."

"Fizzlepop Berrytwist, Have you taken part in any action that will either directly or indirectly lead to a plot to conquer Equestria or do you have any knowledge of any individuals who might have?"

"No"

"Then would you please thoroughly read over and sign the document on the table?"

The sound of quill on parchment could be heard a moment later. 

Twilight stood in front of one of the large windows of her room looking out over the courtyard that had been co-opted for training new recruits. At the sound she turned to her guest, giving her a tired expression. 

"Even after all this time you still don't read your paperwork." Her smile was of a mare that hadn't slept well the night before. 

Fizzlepop gave her a smile to match. "There is very little I fear in this world, and bureaucracy is not one of them." She managed a smug smirk at the declaration. 

Twilight seemed to perk up some at the remark. "Are you sure about that? Honestly, some of the scariest things ever done have been done with quill and parchment."

Fizzlepop managed to make her smirk even more smug. She sauntered forward, approaching Twilight in what could be mistaken as a threatening manner. "Unless there is some way legal jargon could manage to take me away from your side, I don't think I have anything to fear."

Fizzlepop felt her own cheeks heat just a little as she noticed that her actions seemed to have had their desired effect. Just a little color came to Twilight's cheeks, but she did not back down as Fizzlepop came to be just a step away from her. She did let out a sigh as she raised a hoof to try to rub away the color. 

"You really have become a lot more open with your feelings haven't you?"

"For the first time since I can remember, my feelings haven't been painful. You allowing me to indulge my silly crush on you has done me more good then I think either of us could have imagined. I've been holding onto so many bad memories for so long, and yet in just a week they no longer hurt so much to think about. You and the others have helped me to realize, just how afraid I was to move past them. It's something I'll be forever grateful to you all for."

"And that 'silly little crush'?"

"What about it?"

"I... I feel like we might have lost the point of this week, but I still have to ask. Did you... get over that crush?"

"...... Yes."

Fizzlepop put an air of finality in the single word. It was the statement only an individual who was very sure of themselves could make. 

And yet; "There's a lot more to that answer, isn't there?"

"........ Yes."

Twilight realized she was holding her breath while waiting for the reply. She let it out with a sigh, giving herself a long moment to decide if she wanted to proceed. "I want to hear it. Everything you have to say."

"Are you sure?"

Twilight lit her horn. Fizzlepop felt a tug at the book she had tucked under her leg opposite her dagger. She released it and watched as it floated over to sit in front of a familiar pile of pillows. It was joined a moment later by a pile of snacks. 

"I'm sure."

Fizzlepop took a deep breath as well, deciding how she wanted to do this. 

"Then Ariel too." Twilight seemed taken aback by that. "I'm very sure of myself right now. I don't need her for comfort at the moment. I want this to be all me."

Twilight nodded. Fizzlepop lifted her leg and allowed the other mares' magic to envelop her companion, carrying her to sit next to the book she had brought. She felt naked and exposed, but she stood tall with confidence. 

"A silly crush was all I was able to have for you before, because it was the only type of emotion I hadn't taken the time to beat into submission during the course of my life. It was something so insignificant that it would never have affected me. Until you came along. The only emotions I've been able to feel for the longest time that were strong enough to affect me were anger and contempt. And yet, because it was for you, that silly little crush was able to bypass all my defenses. And there was a lot hiding behind that which I would have never known about if you hadn't given me the chance. It was honestly never about a silly crush, that was just the one thing I allowed myself to feel for you."

Fizzlepop paused. She looked over to her first and best friend, expecting to see her blushing like she had the week before. But Twilight stood tall and strong at the words Fizzlepop had been dumping onto her so far. It made her chest flutter, and the next words came out as easily as taking her next breath. 

"Sparky. I've fallen deeply in love with you. And it doesn't matter to me at all if you don't feel the same way. I have no intention to live my life through you, and you have no obligation to return my feelings. You are the strongest pony I've ever met, in ways I didn't even know a pony could be strong. And I know this because no pony else could have ever pulled me out of the place I was before. Others helped, but you were the only one who was able to initially break through. That strength of will, strength of character, strength of integrity, strength of trust in others. All of it, it's made me love you like I'm sure I'll never love another."

Twilight had not backed down during the entire declaration. However at the moment both mares noticed that both had begun to breathe heavily. If Fizzlepop focused closely she was sure she could hear the sound of Twilight's heart beating hard and fast, just over the sound of her own doing the same. 

The princess finally allowed her eyes to break contact with the mare confessing their deep feelings for her. She closed her eyes to take a deep, steadying breath. 

"Thank you Fizz. You've been very open with me, and I think it's only fair for me to do the same for you. But... I just want you to know that I don't think there's any way for me to be nearly as concise with you as you have been with me. There's some things I need to tell you, some are really good, some not so much,  and some I'm still not sure about. The first one is not so good, but please give me a chance to finish."

"Of course." Fizzlepop had to focus on not holding her breath as Twilight steadied herself again. 

"Ok. I think it's important for me to tell you before anything else. I.... have never been attracted to mares." She seemed to pause for a minute to see if Fizzlepop would react, but the mare remained stoic. "In my entire life I have never seen a mare and had any inclination that I might come to have romantic feelings for them, not even any of my best friends. I've always felt that love is love and that anypony should feel free to love anypony else. I mean, did you hear about Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy?"

Fizzlepop couldn't help but to smile a little. She had heard the news. "If nothing else, at least somepony got a happy ending out of this."

"I'm happy for them too. But I've just never felt like that could ever happen for me with another mare. So when you started to describe your feelings for me last week, I honestly thought that if you got the chance to explore those feelings that you'd realize we didn't have anything in common romantically. I mean, why would we connect romantically if at least one of us isn't into it, right?"

"You don't need to justify your feelings to me Sparky," Fizzlepop said with a half hearted smile. "I already told you that it doesn't matter if you don't feel the same about me. If me being a mare is a deal breaker, then there's nothing that can be done about that." It was the truth, and she had arrived there today fully prepared for this outcome. That didn't mean it didn't currently feel like there was a knife in her gut. But that twisting pain subsided as she focused on the mare that apparently couldn't love her back who currently wasn't looking at her. 

"You know, I wasn't lying when I told you you looked great in that suit Rarity made you. You are a very handsome mare, and it's not like I can't tell that."

"But that's not really the problem, is it? If you aren't attracted to mares then it's a deal breaker, right?"

Twilight now seemed more frustrated then she was before, bringing her forehooves up to rustle her own mane. "It should be more of a deal breaker than it is honestly, but there's more I need to tell you and I really hope you don't hate me for it."

"I'm not going to hate you just because you can't be attracted to mares. You don't need to fully explain why it won't work out between us."

"No, not that. I am honestly sorry that you being a mare is an issue for me, but honestly there's something worse I need to confess." Twilight seemed to take a minute to organize her thoughts again. "I'll just say it in the worst possible way, since I already feel bad about it. I didn't want to see you thrown in a dungeon for the bad things you did, and then I went and tried to keep you trapped for all the good things you did."

".... What you just said made no sense at all. How have you tried to trap me in any way?"

"I've been worried for months now that you'd leave. That the day you finished your community service you'd say thanks, turn around, and be gone for good. And I told myself that if you left, if I let you leave, something bad would happen. I don't even know what that would have been." Twilight's voice seemed strained. Fizzlepop tried to give her some comfort. 

"It wouldn't though. You truly have shown me the error of my ways and I have no intention of going back to how I lived before. Even if I didn't have to stay, I have no reason to leave."

"But you don't have any reason to stay either. I really was just trying to open you up to the idea of Friendship, but I think I was pushing extra hard because I thought it was the only way to make you want to stay. Even this whole week I've been doing it. I've been hoping you'd let me get you things, things I could... anchor you down with. Oh sweet Celestia, I really have been horrible to you. Even yesterday, after you've told me in several different ways that you'd never just leave, I was still trying to think of ways to get you to stay. I tried to bribe you with free cider for Luna's sake."

Twilight only seemed more distraught at this point. Fizzlepop decided she needed to get her friend off of this line of thought. She stepped forward, placing her hoof on the other mare's shoulder as she tried her best to speak comfortingly. "Sparky, none of that is important. You and the girls have become more important to me than anything else in my life." She gave a half hearted laugh as she continued. "And even if that somehow weren't true, even if somehow you weren't the most wonderful pony I've ever met, I still couldn't leave."

"And what if you could?"

"What?"

"What if you could leave? What if there was no longer anything that was keeping you here legally? Just a spa membership and a room full of stuff I bought you to try to guilt you into staying." Twilight became  more downcast saying this, pulling away from the contact as she did. 

Fizzlepop once again tried to be comforting. She put on a light hearted smile she knew would look fake if Twilight actually focused on her. "Sparky, stop worrying about that. When is that ever even going to be relevant?"

Fizzlepop was surprised when Twilight's horn began to glow. She heard the telltale pop of teleportation. She turned to the source, feeling her eyes widen as the papers she had just signed now seemed to be gone. 

"Fizzlepop Berrytwist." She turned to look back to Twilight. The mare before her seemed completely defeated, unable to raise her head as she spoke with no life to her voice whatsoever. "By the powers vested in me as a Princess of Equestria: I hereby declare your debt to the nation to be paid in full. You are a free mare."

Fizzlepop could only stare for nearly a full minute. "... How? There's no way. I had so much time to serve. I thought I'd never..."

Twilight let the unfinished statement hang until she couldn't take it anymore. Her ears folded and her eyes closed as she forced out her words. "I'm sorry, it was supposed to be a surprise. And then it started to happen so quickly and I realized I didn't want it to even though I didn't want to admit why. Please don't hate me."

"For what? This isn't even possible. I should be paying my debt off for... I don't even know how long. I never bothered figuring it out because it didn't seem like a number that would go away no matter how long I worked at it."

Twilight seemed to have calmed some after her outburst and managed to explain. "Ten thousand hours of community service. Most ponies do community service while living their normal lives, so they usually only do the bare minimum. Doing it like that, it would take nearly ten whole years. But you're dedicated, to everything you do. Your community service is your job, and you put in a lot more than forty hours a week. Between working most weekends, staying after hours, pulling all nighters with me to set up the training facilities... I've been watching, and making sure you got all the credit you deserved. I wanted everypony to know just how dedicated you are, just how much you have changed. You've put in nearly two thousand hours in just over six months."

"But that's still..."

"And the part I should have told you." Twilight cut in, losing her cool for a second again. "Celestia has been so pleased with your efforts retraining the guards that she's been rewarding you for every group you send back. Eight rounds of guards, eight thousand extra hours. You started this week off with less than twenty hours left. And the conditions of your parole mean that the moment your hours are completed, your rank as the interim commander of the royal guard is also officially revoked. As of this moment you have nothing that is legally keeping you here."

Fizzlepop suddenly realized she hadn't inhaled in a while. She hastily did so while closely watching the wilted mare before her. "You're...serious."

"I promise I didn't want to hide it from you. Even if this week hadn't happened I was going to tell you when you finished your time." She was suddenly frantic, stepping in close to the other mare with a desperate plea for understanding in her eyes.  "I know I was trying to manipulate you into staying, but I would never have lied to you. I can't force you to stay if you don't want to. I can't force you to do anything, even if I am a princess."

Fizzlepop's mind was racing as fast as her heart. She knew what she wanted, but she already knew she couldn't have it. Right?

"But will you stay anyway?" Fizzlepop's breath caught at the words. Twilight finally managed to look back up to her. "Will you stay here, with me?"

"But I thought you said..."

"Fizz, I really don't think that matters anymore. I've gotten so used to you being here. I've told you things about myself I've never told anypony before. I've always believed that love is love, and I think I know what that really means now. Because even though I've never been attracted to a mare before in my entire life... if you had kissed me yesterday, I would have kissed you back."

"Is that true?" Fizzlepop's breath had come back to her and she was now breathing rapidly. 

Twilight sauntered forward, approaching Fizzlepop in what couldn't possibly be mistaken as a threatening manner. "How about you try again and see."

Fizzlepop's chest was hammering, but her fight or flight instincts refused to trigger. Having no idea what she was doing, she stepped forward with confidence. The shorter mare craned her neck up to her. Their eyes met and their cheeks flushed. The moment their lips met both their eyes fluttered closed. Fizzlepop thought it would be over after a moment, but at the point she felt she should pull away she instead felt herself pushing closer. Even if she wanted to pull away, she suddenly felt hooves wrap around her shoulders pulling her deeper. Her chest started to burn before their lips finally parted. Still, neither mare pulled away. They both leaned forward, pressing their foreheads together as they both recovered their oxygen supply. Sparks tingled pleasantly where Twilight's horn rubbed against the side of the remains of Fizzlepop's, sending shots of pleasure straight into both mares. 

"Fizz. I love you too. I'm sorry I spent so long trying to convince myself I didn't."

Fizzlepop felt something building in her chest. She offered no resistance as it traveled up her neck and out of her mouth. "Yes! Woohoo." Twilight was caught off guard at the sudden outburst of joy. The former tyrant Tempest Shadow, now her special somepony Fizzlepop Berrytwist, lunged forward. Their embrace caused them to topple back into a waiting pile of pillows. She could only laugh as Fizzlepop's explosion of emotions compelled her to embrace her harder while trying to nuzzle her and kiss her all over at the same time. 

Fizzlepop seemed to catch herself but refused to be embarrassed by her show of emotions. She pulled away, but offered the brightest smile Twilight had ever seen. "You know, for such a serious soldier, you're so adorable when you let yourself be."

Fizzlepop leaned forward where they lay side by side surrounded by what was left of the pillows to nuzzle their noses together. "Nonsense, if anypony is the adorable one in this relationship it is you. But since you bring it up. Who's the new head of the royal guard?"

Twilight quirked an eyebrow at that. "It would go back to the previous head, from the first group you retrained. Why?"

Fizzlepop began to try to untangle herself from her marefriends legs. "Because I still refuse to be a burden to you. I now have no job, so I'm going to go challenge him for the position."

Twilight playfully put up resistance to Fizzlepop's attempts to leave. "The position was allowed to be here only by very special circumstances. If you wanted that job back, you'd have to either move to Canterlot or commute every day. And your princess denies both."

"Then do you expect me to get a regular job or something? Because I refuse to not bring something to this relationship."

"No, you'd go crazy at a regular job. As sweet as you actually are, you're still a soldier and I'd never deny you that. So since I'm not going to let you walk out on our first reading date as an actual couple, here's something for you to read."

A small stack of papers floated over from Twilight's desk and was set in front of them on the floor with a quill. 

"What's this? I thought you said I was done with all my service."

"Princess Celestia has been telling me for a while that I should have my own guard with how many world ending threats I encounter. My own guard as part of the royal guard. Like her Solar Guard or Luna's Moon Guard. The Friendship Guard, as weird as that sounds. But I'll need a qualified commander. If you're interested, then you should thoroughly read over and sign this..."

Fizzlepop slammed the quill down, having already signed and dated the documents. "File them now."

"You know you really should read official documents before you sign."

"I trust you."

Twilight smirked mischievously as her horn lit up. "Ok, if you're sure." With a flash and a pop they disappeared. "But you should know I added a little something to those, and now there's no way out."

"And exactly what do you think you can threaten me with at this point?" Fizzlepop demanded with challenge in her voice. 

"Oh nothing much, just an entire extra job that's going to demand your full attention on top of your duties as the head of my guard."

Fizzlepop was now curious. "And what exactly would that be?"

"I just put in a stipulation that the head of the Friendship Guard would also have to carry out the duty of being the personal bodyguard to the Princess of Friendship. They'll have to escort me everywhere and basically never leave my side." She smiled triumphantly. "So, Commander Berrytwist. I look forward to working very closely with you from now on."

Fizzlepop's smile felt like it might push past the confines of her face. "I look forward to serving."