//------------------------------//
// Chapter Five: The End of the Princess of Love 
// Story: Being The Princess of Love for a Day 
// by Foal Star 
//------------------------------//

Later that afternoon, Princess Celestia slowly rose from her nap and gave her mouth a few taps, and stretched her limbs; the princess then groggily trotted to the bathroom where she went to work combing her long strands of light rainbow-colored mane, redid her makeup, then went back to Rainbow's bedroom. The alicorn then stood on her hind legs and dressed herself in the toga, having the soft fabric fall over her body. She clipped the bronze oak leaf cluster, fastening it onto her right shoulder, and watched the material drift around her body. The princess looked up at her reflection and couldn't help but admire herself for a minute. Seeing how sexy she looked in a toga and how it showed off her flank and shoulders. The princess couldn't help but wonder if she should ask her seamstress if she could make her a toga or two for her. The alicorn then turned to face Rainbow Dash, who was looking squeamish, "You don't have to do this. I'm sure you can just tell everypony what happened through the press or something."

Celestia considered holding a more formal press conference. But seeing how much chaos her enchanted arrows caused to the citizens of Ponyville, and said, "No, Rainbow Dash, I need to confess to what I've done."

"But come on!? You have to admit it was also funny; I mean seriously there's no reason to punish yourself."

"It's not punishment; it's taking responsibility for my actions; rumors will spread if I try to hide behind a press conference. Ponies could blame Princess Cadance, and I won't allow her to take the blame for my foolishness."

"Alright I guess," Rainbow Dash sighed and stood aside as Celestia flew off from Rainbow's house and was escorted to Ponyville. In the middle of the town, the place was crowded, and everypony seemed to be still recovering, with many having rushed apologies and some spouses having to explain why they were kissing other ponies. Celestia was feeling more squeamish as she came to the middle of the crowd and stood atop a podium. She was looking upon the crowd all gazing up towards her. Many started to shout and ask for answers to the "love curse." The cacophony of voices got rather loud. Seeing no other choice the princess has to use her Royal Canterlot voice, "PLEASE, CITIZENS OF PONYVILLE, PLEASE CALM YOURSELVES!"

Soon everypony in the town stopped talking amongst themselves and turned their attention toward the princess. Celestia then cleared her throat and proclaimed, "Fillies and gentlecolts! I am here to explain what happened today! Earlier this morning, I discovered an old artifact: a bow and quiver of arrows that cause ponies to fall madly in love with each other." 

The alicorn grimaced as she was going to explain what happened, feeling like a foal explaining why they broke their mother's priceless vase, and said, "In a rather foolish notion to play matchmaker and having ponies fall in love with other ponies. I came to Ponyville to find somepony to match with my student Twilight. However, I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings and crashed into Rainbow Dash, which caused a bunch of arrows to fall out of my quiver. They then rained down on you, which caused the love curse. Luckily, alongside Rainbow Dash I was able to retrieve most  of the arrows, and Princess Cadance collected the rest, and she has locked away the artifacts to keep them from being miss used." 

The princess knelt before the crowd in an act of humility and said, "For my actions, I humbly accept whatever punishment you deem fit."

The princess bowed her head, and then this caused a rise of laughs from the crowd and then a round of applause as Mayor Mare came forward, "Princess Celestia, please, it's quite alright; Twilight has done her fair share of magical mishaps, let alone we just recently went through Discord's chaotic magic spree. I think I'm speaking for most that we are all just relieved that the love curse was caused just you being goofy and not some monster or evil unicorn.

Most of the ponies within the crowd nodded in agreement, and some even were still laughing. The princess had to admit that these Ponyville ponies were quite flexible regarding the shenanigans magic can cause. "I appreciate your candor and forgiveness."

"There's no need! You're the princess and have saved Equestria Faust knows how many times; just please take this as a lesson to stick to being the princess of the sun and not the princess of love."

This got another round of laughter from the crowd, and the princess couldn't help but laugh with them. Meanwhile, Twilight ran over with her eyes wide with disbelief as she said, "Princess Celestia, you um...uh you look good in that toga…"

The princess's cheeks flushed pink as she said, "Thank you, I've taken a liking to it."

"Um…would you want to come over to Golden Oaks? I wouldn't mind hearing about what happened over a cup of tea?"

Princess Celestia nodded, seeing it would be nice to talk things over with her student after such a nerve racking speech. "Of course, I would love to relax and talk with you!" As Celestia followed Twilight to Golden Oaks, she couldn't help but feel a weight was now off of her shoulders.







For the rest of the evening, Princess Celestia chatted with Twilight in her library, sitting in some comfy chairs and sipping steaming cups of tea as they talked about the enchanted bow and arrows. Twilight was fascinated by the history and how the pegasi created them using some unknown magic; they also got a good laugh over Prince Blueblood and Luna falling in love with some royal guards. 

While sipping her cup of tea, Twilight asked, "So you came to Ponyville to have me fall in love with somepony?"

Princess Celestia still feels guilty and embarrassed for her actions, but seeing she already confessed what happened to everypony in Ponyville, telling the truth to her most faithful student wouldn't be as bad and said, "Yes, I did. I wouldn't have chosen somepony you didn't like…I was just trying to see if there was somepony that you were interested in and just give you a push."

"Well, It's nice to see your intentions were good, but please don't worry about my love life. I'm still trying to focus on learning about friendship. I'm not looking for a relationship right now." 

"I understand, and it was not my place to do so, even if the magic from the bow and arrows influenced my decision-making. It was still wrong of me."

"I understand; I've heard how depressed you are during Hearts and Hooves Day…I mean, have you tried looking for a new special somepony?"

The princess looked longingly upward, thinking about her love Prince Sombra from an alternate Equestria. It still hurts knowing they may never see each other despite being away from him for over a thousand years. She then let out a depressed sigh and said, "I apologize, but my heart only belongs to one pony. Maybe we can be together one day, but that won't be for some time."

"This pony must've been somepony you really loved…could you tell me about him or her?"

Princess Celestia chuckled, seeing her student was trying to be polite, and it was nice to see same-sex couples in Equestria were so common that ponies weren't phased by the idea that she could be gay. Though she had some same-sex crushes, with Rainbow Dash being one just recently, she was still in love with a stallion. The alicorn looked over towards her student and said, "It's a him, and that's a difficult conversation. Maybe one day we can talk about it…but it's too painful to bring it up even now."

"Ok, we can change the subject," Twilight quickly added, sipping her cup rather nervously. Celestia couldn't help but feel guilty putting her student in such an awkward position. Twilight finished her cup and then said, "This whole story reminded me of when I put that "want it, need it" spell on my old doll."

Still embarrassed, Princess Celestia agreed, "Yes, even I have spouts of bad ideas. Maybe we both should go back to Magic Kindergarten."

Twilight groaned, slammed a hoof to her face, and said, "Please, don't remind me about that. I feel so dumb thinking you would do that to me."

The alicorn couldn't help but chuckle, "Trust me, the idea of turning you into a kindergartener crossed my mind. I couldn't help thinking how cute you were on your first day of school."

Twilight threw her hooves over her face from sheer embarrassment and cried out, "Please stop! You're sounding like my mom!"

Celestia burst out laughing as tea squirted out of her nose then they both heard a knock at the door. Twilight got up and exclaimed, "I'll get it!"

The violet unicorn trotted over to her door, and it wasn't long until Celestia overheard Rainbow Dash's voice, "Hey, is Princess Celestia still here?"

"Yes? Did you want to talk to her?"

"Well yeah..sort of…"

The alicorn's face was a bright red as she rose from her chair and said, "Twilight let her in; we should talk before I leave."

Twilight was confused but let her friend walk in, looking somewhat embarrassed with her cheeks flushed with a shade of pink; she casually waved a hoof, then said, "Hey princess, I was scared you went back to Canterlot already."

"I was, but Twilight offered some tea and cake, and she was rather curious about what happened and about the magic bow and arrows."

She paused, seeing that Rainbow Dash wanted to talk about their kiss. Seeing how personal the subject was, she turned towards Twilight and asked, "I apologize. Could you give us a moment?"

"Sure... I'll go make some more tea!" Twilight chirped, eyeing Rainbow Dash as she trotted off the kitchen. 

Celestia set up a barrier around herself to ensure Twilight didn't overhear; she then turned to Rainbow Dash. "So, how are you doing?"

"Me, oh, I'm fine! Uh..yeah, um, we should maybe talk considering we uh…"

Celestia was starting to get flustered remembering when she was making out with Rainbow Dash and whispered, "Kissed?"

“Yeah…look even before um the arrows…I..I actually have a uh…”

"A crush?"

"Yeah, a crush, I don't think you're into me, but I just thought you should know."

She was somewhat surprised and held a hoof over her chest and said, "Well, Rainbow Dash, I have to say I am touched you love me in that way…and maybe in some other universe we can be together…but I still am in love with somepony else."

"Right, I get that; I guess I can go back to saving Equestria and you ruling it."

Celestia bowed her head slightly to Rainbow Dash and said, "Of course, thank you."

The princess lifted the barrier, and Twilight came over with a fresh teapot. They then all settled around the coffee table as Twilight asked, "Soooo, what were you talking about?"

"Uh, nothing, just um…making sure we got all the arrows."

Twilight eyed her friend seeing her suspicions were growing. They then all sat down together and started to sip their tea together. Still, the tension over Celestia and Rainbow Dash's secret discussion said, "We were talking about how two arrows struck us and made us fall in love."

Rainbow Dash threw her wings over her eyes and cried, "Seriously!"

Twilight's eyes widened, and she spat out her tea, then shouted, "What!?"

"It was merely us being in love from magic Princess Cadance found the arrows and undid the magic, so it's over."

"Ok, but did you two…"

"Kiss?" Celestia finished with a squeak.

Rainbow groaned as she threw her wings over her face and cried, "Please don't!"

The princess bowed her head a little, feeling somewhat uncertain about telling her student the whole truth. But at this point, she was this far. "Well, yes, but only for a brief moment."

Twilight snickered, "Too bad I wasn't there. If one of my friends fell in love with my teacher, I think it would be great! And out of all ponies, Rainbow Dash? For some reason, I always thought you would be more Rarity's type."

Celestia couldn't help but chuckle and said, "I could see you assuming that, but I think I was always captivated by Rainbow Dash's free spirit and cocky nature."

Rainbow flew over, lifting the toga and shouting, "Are you still enchanted!? You have another arrow stuck in your butt!"

Celestia lit her horn, levitated the toga down, and said, "They're just compliments, Rainbow, don't read too much into them."

"Fine! Let's just move on to another topic please!"

The alicorn princess rose up and said, "I would love to, but I was absent for most of the day, and I should make sure that my Castle is in order." She turned to Twilight and bowed, "Thank you for the tea and the company."

"It was my pleasure; please come again!"

"Of course," she then turned to the somewhat flustered and embarrassed Rainbow Dash and said, "It was also nice to see you before heading off…I apologize for everything, and you can ask anything of me."

Rainbow Dash looked up at her and sighed, "It's fine, princess…just don't mention us to the press or anypony else for that matter."

"Of course, everything that happened between us today will remain our little secret."

She then spread her wings and flew off into the air towards Canterlot. During the flight, she watched as Luna rose to the moon with the sky now filled with glittering stars. The princess still felt that if she did retire; which could happen seeing Twilight's progression woth her studies on friendship, she should pursue love. However, if she learns once and for all confirms there's no way ever to see her Prince Sombra again, maybe she and Rainbow Dash could work something out…but that would be for another time.