//------------------------------// // Dawn // Story: High Maintenance Alicorn Fillies and You. // by FaelaArts //------------------------------// Celestia flared her wings, and prepared to take off. She was not letting Twilight go. Glancing to the sky she realised it looked like a storm was brewing, but she ignored it. A single flap sent her into the air, and as she prepared to take a second a gust of wind caught her and tossed her back in her room, sending her skidding to the opposite wall thanks to her carpet. Standing up, she shook the hair out of her face and glared at the window that bared her way. “No” she commanded, her horn glowing with magic. Wrenching the window open, she walked back onto the balcony and prepared to take off again. The wind picked up, and she braced against it as it tried to push her back into the room. Gritting her teeth, she flared her wings and took off quickly, the wind fighting her every wingbeat. It twisted and turned, she growled and grunted, and then finally it ceased and she settled into a cautious glide. The clouds above rumbled ominously, and the rain began to fall slowly. For a moment it was calm, and then nature decided she deserved to be beaten to a pulp. The wind picked up, even stronger than before and she was slammed into the castle wall before it changed direction, smashing her through a window and into the chocolate room. Celestia fell straight into a huge vat of melted chocolate, dying her fur brown. Her mane’s magic caused it to remain spotless, but that didn’t protect the rest of her. Clumsily, she stumbled out of the vat and fell to the floor with a resounding splat. “Princess, if you wanted a midnight snack could you please use the door next time” spoke the cook, in the middle of making fudge. The chocolate room was a guilty pleasure of Celestia’s, and the kingdom’s secret. It was filled with every kind of candy imaginable, chocolate included. There was an entire section designated for cake.There was a separate room for cakes of the non-chocolate kind of course. “Please pardon my rudeness Chocolate Chef.” Celestia was a stickler for formality, even when covered in rapidly hardening chocolate. Standing up, most of the chocolate that had dried cracked and fell off her body, leaving her now-brown body looking worse for the wear. “I shall take my leave.” Heading for the door, she saw the chef glance to her and merely roll his eyes. She snorted as she closed the door behind her, honestly he treated it as if it happened every month or so. It wasn’t like this was Luna’s chocolate room. “Flying seems to be out of the question” she mused to herself as she headed through the castle. She ignored the strange and wary looks as she walked. She would have to walk all the way there. “Halt, imposter!” Celestia paused as an entire guard blocked her way, and blinked in shock. She wasn’t sure what she was most insulted by: their audacity, stupidity, or serious looks. “Imposter, how can I be an imposter?” As she spoke their eyes glanced to each other, and mutters of changelings spread through the guard. “You got the disguise wrong, Celestia’s coat is white, not Brown! And her mane isn’t that pure pink colour either.” Celestia glanced in the window and blinked at her appearance, even her horn had gone a muddy colour. She cursed the fact her mane tended to go pink in time of extreme fashion emergencies. “Oh for my own sake, I can’t be anyone else than myself, and I have to go, I’m busy.” She waited for them to let her pass, and her frown grew deeper when she realised they weren’t going to move. “I’d love to stay and chat, but I really don’t have time for this.” She flared her wings, and her horn sparked to life.If she wasn’t a princess she would have chucked a Rarity at her fur’s shoddy brown colour. Teleporting past them, she glanced back once before breaking into a run. “Get her!” Must not kill the guards, Must not kill the guards. Must remember to install shower in Chocolate room. Must not kill the guards. Dancing around the corridors Celestia made a beeline for the room where Cadence was staying. Opening the doors with pure ferocity, they crumbled to ash. Gazing around the room she could deduce one thing: they weren’t here. “Halt, we have you surrounded!” Celestia paused, glancing at the guards and quickly thinking. Where were they, they must have left- “The train station!” She teleported behind the guards and continued running away. She had to get Twilight before they left. She dodged guards, even evaded the Wonderbolts as she eventually made it to the clearing where the path to the train station showed a clear getaway. Near the train we two ponies, and a certain filly. “Twilight, don’t go!” Her anguish cry resounded through the clearing, and the three turned. Celestia didn’t notice the guards start to dive for her, all her eyes were on Twilight’s face as it broke into a radiant smile. And then she was smashed into the ground by over three dozen ponies roughly the weight of earth ponies, or maybe six dozen if it was a mix of Pegasi and unicorns. Celestia knew these things. As she was held down, the three approached. “Release her you idiots, that’s Celestia!” Her ears flicked as she heard an argument about how she was an imposter and whether or not she tasted delicious, before finally she was let up. Celestia didn’t notice at first she could stand, because as her head rose she met Twilight’s eyes, and she practically melted. “Oh Twilight, I’m sorry please forgive me.” Twilight paused, musing for a moment. Celestia barely noticed that she hadn’t grown. Unlike how she had when they had been together: all she could see was Twilight giving her request some thought. Finished musing, the filly put her hoof down and locked eyes with Celestia, and nodded, tears brimming and her face breaking out into a smile so great. She would forgive Celestia. Celestia didn’t wait a moment further, leaping to her feet and picking Twilight up in her arms and hugging her as hard as she could. Tears began streaming down her face, mixing with Twilight’s own and a radiant light surrounded them. Celestia sobbed openly, and she only ceased when two arms wrapped around her waist, and she opened her eyes. Twilight was back to normal, but she was crying openly too. As their eyes met all Celestia could see was the loving gaze of her daughter. They embraced again, and the clouds faded under their brilliance, the moon lighting the clearing just as radiantly as the sun could. “Celestia” she began, and Celestia forced her eyes open to look at Twilight. Her smile was so radiant, so blinding even to the sun. “I love you.” Celestia felt herself break into a smile, and fresh tears fall from her face. It felt as if her chest was going to explode from the emotion welling inside. “I love you too, my dearest dear Twilight.” They embraced once more, and the light began to fade. Luna glided down, meeting the group as Celestia and Twilight managed to fulfil the emotional desire to just hug each other to death. “So sister,” began Celestia, “The cure, it was a mothers love, wasn’t it?” Luna smiled, and chuckled, she had expected Celestia to understand the moment Twilight was cured. “Yes, but the mother had to have been the first pony Twilight had seen. And that was us. It wouldn’t work with me, because I knew the cure, so it had to be you.” Celestia smiled at her sister, and they glanced to the sky as they began to lower the moon and raise the sun. “I never realise how much Twilight meant to me,” Celestia spoke, gazing at her dawn, somehow more radiant than any other dawn she had made. “We never do.”