Chapter Thirty Eight: When Dinners Conclude
Written by TheCrimsonDM
Dinner/breakfast tonight was another extravagant meal. From prized salmon and fluffy pancakes, to everything inbetween. There was even haybacon on the table. Though it was oddly red and fatty for hay bacon. Twilight assumed this was probably some rare fancy form of haybacon, and after tasting it her mouth melted. It was probably the best thing she had ever eaten in her life, and it should be a crime to make something so delicious.
She sat next to Celestia who was smiling as she ate some of the rare bacon herself. Seemingly happy to share it with Twilight. Luna had taken one bite of it, her eyes widened and a pleasurable groan escaped her lips. “My word, sister it cannot be, is this real bacon?”
Celestia smiled. “I am getting married to six different mares tomorrow… seven if we count you. I think even I can break the rules sometimes.”
Everypony ended up having a share of the so-called ‘real bacon’ whatever that was. Everypony ate it and loved it. Well except for Fluttershy. For some reason Luna took the piece off of Fluttershy’s plate and ate it before she could even do more than smell it. That was rude as there was hardly any of it here to begin with… or maybe Celestia and Luna had just grabbed so much of it that it was gone before anypony even noticed it existed.
Considering how rare it must be, Twilight assumed that it would be another century before Fluttershy got her chance to eat it. She instead was forced to eat the salted and grilled salmon. Twilight as did most anypony loved their salmon, but had eaten enough of that for one lifetime. She instead was focusing on the lighter and fluffier disk shaped pancakes which she could absolutely drench in syrup, caramel, chocolate, butter, and even this new concoction Pinkie came up with, peanut butter syrup… the last of which was probably the best thing she’d ever eaten. Pinkie had well earned her ability to stay in this marriage… not that Twilight was going to hold much jealousy anymore. After Celestia’s confession to her sister, she realized that by being so jealous she only hurt Celestia and her friends, two things she couldn’t easily forgive herself for.
At the very least they were all still friends, somehow.
Rainbow Dash was busy eating as much cake as she could. It seemed she and Pinkie were almost having a contest over it. Of course the real winner would always be Pinkie, ain’t nopony could keep up with that mare’s appetite for the sweeter things.
Rarity was busy flirting with Applejack. “Darling, you would look absolutely wonderful in both a dress or a tuxedo.”
Applejack was blushing. “An all Ah want from you is to wear the most beautiful dress you can.”
Rarity rolled her eyes. “Of course I am, would I ever do anything other than look fabulous?”
Applejack leaned in. “Not if yer life depended on it.”
Oddly enough Twilight had seen them talk like this many times before in the past but she never once thought there could be more to this than simple friendship. The fact they were so close had just felt like natural friendship, but knowing better now made so many things more clear to her.
Fluttershy was still near Luna, but was not quite touching her this time. The scare of becoming a batpony for the second time probably was still clear on her mind. The fact that one of her teeth was still a noticeably sharp fang only cemented the fact that yes, Fluttershy had been permanently scarred by Twilight’s magic and her power to ruin the laws of nature and twist them into shapes they were never meant to be in… something she knew Celestia would be fairly upset to hear.
Actually Twilight had a lot of things she felt like she needed to discuss in detail with Celestia later. After the wedding and perhaps even after the honeymoon. The parasprite swarms came to mind as a lie she had told Celestia and still felt guilty for. How in the world Celestia still wanted to marry her when she was an unstable mess was beyond her, but Twilight felt a lot more calm now all things considered.
Luna was casting an awkward glance at Twilight every now and then. Her smile would falter and there would be a flash of pain in her eyes. Twilight eventually felt she had to say something. “Luna, I still love you.”
A few ponies looked at Luna and back to Twilight expecting more. Luna smiled and shook her head. “Thank you, Twilight… love. I shall try and respect your personal space a lot more in the future. Perhaps I was overeager with all of you.”
Rainbow Dash stopped stuffing her face just long enough to say, “Oh you think? You did just declare us to be your brides out of the blue you know. Ha, I don’t blame you though, I mean with mares like us just waiting to be taken, you had to step up your game somehow. Claim your turf and what not.”
Rarity snapped at her. “Rainbow Dash, she is trying to be considerate of our feelings. Of course I feel everyone of us is committed to this so there is no fear, Luna. We all love you. Both you and Celestia.”
Luna smiled. “Thank you all for being so understanding. I know I can be a bit passionate sometimes, I hope you’ll all continue forgiving me for it.”
Applejack tilted her hat down. “Aw shucks, Sugarcube. Ah think that might be one of yer best qualities, don’t go feeling bad now, ya hear.”
Celestia smiled. “See, Luna. It’s far too late to change your mind even if you wanted to. They’re all enamored with the both of us.”
Luna smiled. “I see, so then, let the jolly dinner of romance continue!”
Twilight nearly whispered to herself. “Well that’s one way to look at it.”
Celestia’s wing wrapped around Twilight. “Oh come now, I feel that is only an appropriate title for this dinner. Don’t you agree?”
Looking around the table and seeing happiness, joy, love and not an ounce of the awkwardness or the jealousy that had been there the past few days… “Yeah, I guess I do.”
Pinkie Pie raised a hoof. “Oh, Princesses, we’re all getting married to each other right? Does that mean we have to like, have sex with everypony here on the wedding night because that’s a lot, even for Rarity.”
Rarity snapped. “Pinkie Pie, I am not some kind of floozy!”
Celestia put a wing to her chin. “Now that is an interesting question.”
Cadance and Shining Armor came in, Spike was on Shining Armor’s back. Cadance seemed to have caught that question as she explained. “Of course not. Technically the law says that the six of you are to wed the two princesses. So by royal wedding laws Celestia and Luna are the only two who have to consummate the marriage with each of you.”
Shining Armor nodded. “We checked and double checked the laws revolving around them.”
Spike laughed. “Guess you two are going to be pretty tired by the end of that night.”
Celestia let out a quiet sigh. “I apologize to whoever gets me last. I may be a bit sluggish by then.”
Luna beamed. “I will have enough endurance to make up for any lacking abilities on Celestia’s side. She is quite a bit older than me, you know.”
Celestia fixed her with a sharp stare. “I’m a year older than you.”
Luna laughed. “But you have had many more years of experience than I. For me this has been the first time I’ve been intimate with ponies in well over a thousand years. My energy and anticipation are boundless!”
Celestia rolled her eyes. “Good for you.”
That brought a few laughs around the table as Cadance and Shining Armor took a seat. Spike jumped onto Twilight’s lap and she levitated a bowl of gems over to him. He grabbed one and popped it into his mouth.
Twlight was probably the only to hear Celestia whisper to herself. “Assuming she can still become a stallion, I’ll save my last round for her.” Twilight quickly pretended she never heard that.
Twilight looked around. All the years she had dined in this room as a foal and during her teenage years, not once had this particular dining room been so full of life, of laughter, and of warmth. Thinking about this she looked at Celestia and saw a smile that she’d rarely ever seen at the dining table. One of such comfort and warmth that it actually raised the temperature by a degree or two. Maybe this really was exactly what Celestia needed.
She was also secretly happy she didn’t have to give her virginity up to every single one of her friends. She was already going to have to give it up to Celestia and then Luna. Anymore than that and she figured she’d probably end up in the hospital from overuse. If that was a thing, she really hoped it wasn’t.
Cadance smiled as she wrapped a wing around Twilight pulling her away from Celestia. “Oh my little ladybug is all grown up, getting married tomorrow and going to lose her virginity soon after! If you still need any tips or advice just let me know there is plenty of time.”
Twilight groaned. “The last time I asked you for advice, I might have gotten a bit too into the educational procedure.”
Cadance rolled her eyes. “This time I won’t use illusions of you and Celestia, I’ll use illusions of Celestia and Luna instead.”
Luna choked a laugh and Celestia fixed her with a stare that said, ‘if you do, I’m sending you to the moon.’
Cadance laughed. “Or maybe not.” She whispered in a tiny voice. “I’ll still do that if you want to see it.”
Twilight eeped.
Shining Armor looked at Rainbow Dash. “So, Knight-Princess-Wonderbolt I hear?”
Rainbow Dash smiled smugly. “Expect any less from the one and only Rainbow dash?”
“No, not really. I hear me and Rarity might be working together to craft you a suit of armor and a sword to match it soon.’
Rainbow Dash grinned. “Really? The ex captain of the royal guard, working on my armor… even I have to admit that’s awesome.”
“No problem, I might advise we use some odd materials though. So let me ask, would you rather be decked out in a rainbow of dragon scales or have flaming wings?”
Rainbow Dash’s jaw dropped. “Um… can I have both?”
“Well you’re going to be a princess soon, so why not?”
Rarity groaned. “Shining, please, those materials will be a nightmare to work with. Can’t we just use something simpler like the feathers of a roc? Or perhaps the silken aura of an Ursa Major?”
Shining Armor smiled. “We could, but Ursa Major anything is pretty much impossible to find. Rocs are common enough. Oh, and I think we might be able to use the essence of a windigo to keep the armor cool and from getting too hot in the sun.”
Rarity beamed. “Oh, I’ve always wanted to work with such a substance but I’ve had neither the luck nor the funds to acquire Essence of Windigo.”
Shining Armor smile grew. “Welcome to princesshood, credit limit, higher than the sun.”
Celestia shook her head slowly. “She’s not even a princess yet and I can see the bit signs in her eyes. Wait until she realizes just how much she can get as a princess.”
Twilight looked up at Celestia. “Um… sorry about all the books I bought when I first became a princess.”
Celestia laughed. “Oh my, Twilight. You hardly spent a thing on them. The only one I even noticed was that first edition copy of the Theory of Friendship by Starswirl. His understanding of friendship was… awkward to say the least.”
Twilight nodded. “It truly was, but his record keeping of spells that unraveled and twisted reality was pretty good, and my ability to pretend like I understood anything of what I was doing when I turned myself into an alicorn is even better.”
Celestia grinned and gave her a dirty look. “Now who says you turned yourself into an alicorn? Are you quite certain that some, perfectly reasonable, princess didn’t just decide to pluck you up, give you some wings and put you back because she was sick of being lonely?”
Twilight stared at her. “I… h-how?”
Celestia smiled. “I’ll let you help the next time it happens and you’ll find out. Looking at our mutual brides here that might not be all that long in the making. Babies first, godhood second.”
Twilight smiled. It was one of the few times she really considered it. Looking around she realized with them all marrying the Princesses, it meant two very important things. Things they might struggle with but a selfish Twilight was going to be selfish about it anyway. One: Equestria was going to be safe forever as the power of the elements of harmony would always be with them. Two: she was going to keep her friends for an eternity.
Those were two things Twilight could live with. After all, if Doctor Hooves and Starswirl could be immortal, why couldn’t her five best friends?