Chapter 30 – A New Beginning
“You know, Twilight, I’ve been staying at the library so much that I almost forgot these existed at all. I’m sorry I never actually mentioned them; they kind of slipped my mind after we first met.”
Derpy smiled over at the shocked unicorn, who was gazing around the room in a mixture of wonder and bewilderment. The eye charts adorning Derpy’s room stared back at them, seeming to dare the ponies to take them down. Regardless of the eeriness of the makeshift shrine, it needed to be removed, and in Twilight’s mind, they couldn’t be removed fast enough.
“I just can’t believe you kept all these around for so many years…” she mused, glancing at the pegasus standing next to her.
Derpy nodded, but a smile crossed her face. “Well, there’s no need for them now, and we don’t want to make Cheerilee’s first class field trip here creepy.”
Twilight smiled as she began magically removing charts from every area of the wall she could. There had been an immense amount of progress in Derpy’s abilities over the months that had passed since the vision spell had succeeded, leading her to take part in far more jobs, athletics, and hobbies than she had ever thought was possible. Their current project was one Derpy had suggested, much to the delight of both Twilight and Cheerilee.
They had followed up on Twilight’s initial idea to move Derpy’s cloud home to the library, and the cloud home gently floating at the library’s balcony was a nice addition. The one thing they had not counted on, however, was that Derpy rarely used her home any more.
She had moved fully into the library, sharing Twilight’s bedroom, keeping an extra coat rack on the wall for her mailbags and hat, moving the remainder of her meager possessions over into the large tree, and selling anything she no longer needed for a few extra bits here and there.
The realization that she was no longer living in her old house, however, had sparked an idea in the pegasus while she was in one of her many flight lessons with Rainbow Dash. During one of their few breaks in training, Rainbow Dash had recounted the trip her friends had made to Cloudsdale, including the spell Twilight had found allowing non-pegasi to walk on clouds. The idea fully crystallized as she made her way home – she lived in Ponyville, where a majority of the population were not pegasi, and even less pegasi were being taught in the elementary school there.
Cheerilee had almost leapt from her seat when Twilight and Derpy approached her, suggesting the idea to permit field trips for her students to tour an actual cloud home – courtesy of one disused and highly accessible home at the library and a highly skilled unicorn who knew a spell to allow anypony to walk on clouds.
Twilight became even more excited at Derpy’s suggestion when she thought over the consequences of regular field trips – students would be given a rare chance to walk on clouds, and all the while they would be touring the library as well. It may even be possible for the students to be allowed to tour the cloud home outside of school trips, and for Twilight, the thought of attracting colts and fillies to the library of their own volition was nothing more than exhilarating.
Of course, this meant cleaning Derpy’s cloud completely for the students, but it was a short day’s work, considering most of her possessions had already been removed from the fluffy home. All that remained were the posters in Derpy’s room, and they were removed with a small amount of time and seemingly less effort.
The pair trotted back across the surface of the cloud, exiting Derpy’s old home and entering the library through the balcony. Derpy slowed, halting Twilight just inside the terrace and giving her a quick kiss on the tip of her muzzle.
“Thanks, Twi. You really made the job of cleaning up in there so much easier.”
Twilight grinned, returning the kiss, lingering slightly longer than Derpy had. “I doubt I made all that much of a difference. With the way your coordination, speed, and flight are improving, you’d have raced around the room about as fast as my magic did – you know my magic takes a bit more concentration and time now.”
That much was true. Though Twilight was still amazingly powerful, the portion of magic she had given Derpy made her reactions a bit slower, and some of the more strenuous spells took an immense amount of her energy. She would often be left feeling quite fatigued after such exertion.
Twilight pouted slightly, unsuccessfully trying to appear jealous. “You even rush through work so fast that sometimes I wonder if you get to spend more time with Fluttershy than with me.” Her pout broke out into a fit of giggles as Derpy rolled her eyes at the melodramatics.
“I don’t rush – I just get done fast.” Derpy countered. “You know as well as I do that I was fast before; now that I can see perfectly and I’ve improved athletically, it just goes by even more quickly.” She grinned. “Post Haste still isn’t thrilled that I turned down the position of assistant postmaster, but I like my job already, and I’m good at it.”
She paused, building a little tension in the silence. “Besides, then I get to spend all afternoon at Fluttershy’s cottage for tea, and Angel is so cute…”
Twilight gave Derpy a playful jab at the taunt, but she quickly returned to thoughtfulness, giving the pegasus an impressed look. “All joking aside, I’ve been watching all the activities you’ve done over the past few months, and I’ve never seen anypony make so much progress in so many areas. I really am proud of you.”
Derpy blushed at the compliment. It really was true that she had been extraordinarily busy, and she was enjoying every minute of it. To be honest, she was simply taking pleasure in learning many skills she never had the chance to learn before, and her passion for self-improvement made her strive for excellence in everything she did.
She ran a hoof down Twilight’s side, expertly finding the areas on the mare that were the most pleasurable, eliciting a shiver and soft moan from Twilight. The unicorn gave a relaxed sigh, melting onto Derpy’s shoulder as her knees buckled.
“Okay,” she said, speaking softly, “seriously, how did you learn to do that? I mean, when we first were together, you were an amazing lover, but now you can literally sap all my strength with a few simple touches. I know I gave you some of my magic, but that doesn’t explain how you can do that.” She poked Derpy softly. “It also doesn’t explain how you managed to get so good at cooking, either.”
Derpy shrugged and smirked a little. “I guess somepony’s tendency to obsess rubbed off on me a little.” She gave Twilight a peck to the forehead, as the unicorn looked back at her with amused skepticism.
“Okay, and maybe I’ve been studying and taking lessons, too,” Derpy finally admitted with a grin. She snickered a little at Twilight’s confused expression. “You know how we like to relax on the couch together with our books?”
Twilight nodded. It had become something of a nightly ritual for them. Twilight would lay across Derpy’s lap, levitating her own book above her while Derpy would read, resting her forehooves across Twilight’s belly. Occasionally her hooves trailed elsewhere, but that wasn’t what she was thinking about. At least, it hadn’t been until now. She grinned lazily, feeling her body warming up against the gray coat and feathers of her marefriend.
Derpy draped her wing over Twilight’s back, hugging her close. “Do you know what I’m usually reading?”
Twilight nodded once again. “Usually some fiction novels, and the occasional Daring Do book, when Rainbow Dash has the decency to return them.”
Derpy caught Twilight’s eyes and gave her a sly smirk. “Nope.”
She now had Twilight’s full attention, and confusion was written clearly over the unicorn's face.
“I was having some fun keeping it a secret. I’m usually studying massage techniques. I’ve been switching the jackets of the books so you wouldn’t notice.” Twilight nearly fell over in shock as Derpy continued, giggling throughout the exposure of her little secret.
“I usually ask Aloe and Lotus for tips when I’m at the spa with Rarity and Fluttershy, too. I had them Pinkie Promise that they wouldn’t tell you. They thought it was too funny keeping you in the dark about it, anyway.” A glint ran through her eyes. “And you can’t tell me you haven’t enjoyed the benefits of it.”
An involuntary shudder ran down Twilight’s spine as she thought about their many nights of passion and excitement; she couldn’t deny the fact that Derpy had far surpassed being a wonderful partner – she was an amazing partner. She shook her head slowly, nuzzling into Derpy’s neck.
“So, what other surprises are you keeping hidden from me?” Twilight jabbed jokingly.
“Hmm, what indeed…” Derpy swatted Twilight on the flank with her wing as she slowly started walking again, throwing a mysterious and mischievous glance over her shoulder at the unicorn. Twilight smirked at her marefriend’s coy behavior and walked along behind her.
“Well, the cooking part you can thank Spike and Pinkie for. Spike taught me your favorite dishes – I think it was fair enough of a tradeoff for us. He gave me lessons, and in return he gets to take breaks from having to cook so often. Pinkie…” she trailed off, giving a little giggle.
“It took me a fair bit of courage to ask Pinkie for lessons in baking, what with those horrendous muffins and all. But, she works at Sugarcube Corner, so I finally decided she must be at least good at baking other things.”
She glanced back at Twilight again. “And she did convince me to try a muffin she made, though it took her quite a bit of pleading. I’ll be honest – I was surprised, but it was amazingly good; nothing like those wormy nasty things she made the last time I had one of her muffins.”
Twilight giggled. “She really is amazing at making sweets and desserts; she does live and work with the Cakes, after all. It’s just that sometimes she can get a bit… adventurous. In her defense, though, those ‘wormy, nasty’ muffins were mostly Applejack’s doing.”
Derpy stopped cold at hearing that, turning around quickly with a look of astonishment. “How in Equestria was Applejack responsible for those… things?”
Now it was Twilight’s turn to burst into laughter. “It was in the middle of Applebuck season, Derpy. She was so exhausted that she didn’t know which way was up, and she just happened to have promised to help Pinkie bake muffins around that time. I don’t think you were in the same hospital wing as she was, but you were probably just as sick as Pinkie was from those monstrosities. I still don’t know how Spike kept eating them.” She stuck out her tongue and grimaced in disgust.
Derpy looked thoughtful for a moment, recognition dawning on her slowly. “Now that you mention it, I do remember Pinkie saying something at the award ceremony about Applejack helping her bake.” She facehooved at the thought.
“I definitely owe Pinkie an apology, then,” she said sheepishly, though her face suddenly regained its mischievous grin. “And I owe Applejack some extra teasing the next time I’m helping out at Sweet Apple Acres.”
Her grin widened as an idea occurred to her. “Maybe I could tell her that her cute little doctor guy developed an allergy to apples.”
Twilight looked skeptical, but still laughed. “You mean Sterling? I don’t think she’d fall for that. They started going out just after he started studying your cutie mark – he’s probably eaten more apples in the last couple weeks than you have in your entire life.”
Derpy seemed to deflate slightly, and she and Twilight resumed walking back through the library. “You’ll have to help me come up with a better prank then, Twi.”
Twilight giggled. “I guess I will – just give me a while to think on it.” She cast a sidelong glance at Derpy, her gaze lingering over the light glow of the magic that showed in the pegasus’ cutie mark. “Are you going to start getting ready for the celebration that Pinkie Pie put together for us tonight? I still want to see that formal dress Rarity made for you.”
Derpy gave her a sly grin. “Good things come to those who wait, Twi. I’m not putting it on until we’re ready to go, just to increase the suspense, but she made it the most gorgeous shade of arctic blue to contrast my mane, with pale orchid accents and mane clips.”
Derpy smirked as Twilight’s eyes glazed over slightly as she tried to imagine the mastery of Rarity’s fashion combined with the beauty of her pegasine lover.
Her smile softened, and she brushed past Twilight seductively, tickling the unicorn’s muzzle with the tip of her tail as she passed. “I’m going to start my letter to Princess Celestia. You know I still don’t do very well with writing them; I just can’t seem to feel comfortable sending reports to the princess. It will still probably take me at least a couple re-writes this time.”
Twilight sighed, walking past Derpy as the pegasus stopped at a desk to retrieve a pencil and some parchment.
“Alright, Derpy, if you say so. If you’re going to write that letter to the princess, I’m going to go take a shower to get ready for tonight. Does that sound like a plan?”
Derpy looked up from the seat she had taken, pencil already held at the ready in her mouth. She gave a quick nod and a muffled ‘mmhmm’. She looked back down to the parchment as Twilight wandered off toward the bathroom. Her brow knitted in concentration as she tried to come up with an eloquent way to describe how Twilight had just recently proposed to her, and her heart skipped a beat as she remembered the moment with deep emotion. She set her pencil to the parchment.
Dear Princess Celestia,
I am writing to you today because yesterday Twilight gave the most beautiful gesture of friendship I have ever rece-------------------
Derpy’s pencil skidded across the page as she fell victim to a playful tackle from Twilight, who had decided to pounce on her fianceé rather than head to the bathroom.
Twilight looked down at the pegasus who was laying beneath her on the floor with a stunned expression etched on her face and a broken off eraser still clenched in her mouth. Twilight brushed the eraser aside and followed the move quickly with a deeply passionate kiss. She then lifted her partner to her hooves, giving her a playful rub over the shimmering cutie mark.
“Come on,” she purred. “Letters can wait, and the shower’s big enough for two.”
Derpy recovered quickly from the surprise and trotted off happily after Twilight, a warm flush creeping over her. She had a feeling this would be a long, long shower.