//------------------------------// // Emotional Connections // Story: TD the Alicorn Princess // by BronyWriter //------------------------------// Oh it was on now. The blow was admittedly more powerful than I thought, and my head snapped to the side as I stumbled backwards. I heard the Mane Six and Spike gasp. I glared up at Celestia, who had a hoof raised like she planned on hitting me again. I could see vague hints of what appeared to be rage in her eyes, but instead of hitting me again, she let out a deep, frustrated breath and lowered her hoof. "TD, I know this is shocking for you, and I'm sorry that I did that. You must understand that punching me repeatedly has consequences." I regained my balance and fixed her with a fiery glare that was hopefully a new alicorn power that I could hurt her with. No such luck. Instead I shouted a war cry and rugby tackled her, knocking us both to the ground. I repeatedly slammed my hoof into her side. Her front hooves pressed against my chest, and she shoved me off. I went flying and, with a surprising amount of speed, she was on me in a second. She used one of her forelegs to hold my neck down, and pummeled my chest with her other hoof. I began flailing around, trying to get her off of me. Her strength meant that I couldn't wiggle away, but I managed to uppercut her. Her flinching gave me enough time an momentum to push her off with my hind hooves and roll to the side. Her hoof came down a fraction of a second too late to hit me, and it cracked the ground where it impacted. Well as you may have guessed, the Sun Goddess of all of Equestria getting into a brutal fight with another alicorn that nobody had ever seen before drew some attention. A lot of it, actually. A crowd of wide-eyed, open mouthed ponies had gathered to watch a fight that both sides felt was a long time coming. I tried to stand up to get some space to plan another attack, but Celestia returned my rugby tackle with one of her own. The force of her tackle knocked us backwards into one of the walls of the library. The whole building vibrated with the force of the impact, and I would be rather surprised it none of the books fell off the shelves. Celestia began punching me right in the kidneys, but I punched her right where I think her ovaries would be. She flinched back, allowing me to get a few more shots there. She recovered quickly enough, and slammed both of her forehooves onto the sides of my head. I fell to the ground, clutching at where she made the impact. She stood over me, breathing heavily from our fight. "As I said, TD. Punching me repeatedly has consequences. I must ask that we stop this." The ringing in my head subsided, and I fixed her with another glare. "NEVER!" Thus began round two. I was ready for her blows to my head, so I knocked her hoof back whenever she tried and returned it with punches right in her mouth. To compensate, she moved to punching me in my soft underbelly. I forced myself to ignore the excruciating pain, and I kept hitting her in the face. "Is this kinda hot to anybody else?" I heard one of the townsponies mutter. "Yep," Spike replied quietly. That stopped the fight for a second as both of us glared at the ones who had spoken. I growled at the townspony, who turned out to be Caramel, while Celestia leered at Spike. That must not have been very fun for him. First Celestia gets mad at him, then Twilight will probably chew him out for making Celestia mad. On top of that, Rarity will be hurt that he said something so boorish. The lull in the fighting doesn't last too long, and I restarted it with the same double hoof slam that Celestia used on me. She squealed in pain, something that's odd to hear, let me tell you, and I punched her in the shoulders, hoping to disable her legs to gain a full advantage. She batted one of my hooves away, and we locked eyes for the first time since the fight began. I have to say, I had never seen her so angry. Her eyes were literally glowing white, and it was bright enough that I couldn't look into them. "ENOUGH!" Her Royal Canterlot Voice was more impressive than Luna's by far. For the first time since the fight began I felt a little nervous. Celestia's horn ignited, and I was thrown back into the library once again by the force of her spell. Yep, books definitely flew from the shelves that time. In fact, I even left a small impact crater. I slid down on the ground, the pain in my back preventing me from moving. I groaned, but managed to look up at her. She was glaring at me with the intensity of a thousand suns, but I was satisfied when I saw that I had succeeded on some level: she was bruising. Purple and black marks were appearing underneath her pure white coat. I had no doubt that I had dozens of my own, but seeing her like this was very gratifying, even if she was about to obliterate me. "TD, I expected better from you!" Celestia snarled. "I know that this is a shock to you. It is to me as well!" She stomped a few steps closer to me and powered down her horn. "This isn't the way to behave." Celestia sighed and closed her eyes, the fight draining from her. "However, I know that I didn't act in a manner befitting my royal status myself." "I wouldn't worry about it," I said through clenched teeth. "We all have those moments of weakness." I slowly pushed myself to my hooves and raised my head to her level. "Though if you're going to be using magic, I am too!" I squeezed my eyes shut and, with all of my mental might, I began channeling all of my energy into my new horn. Now, I imagined that I would produce a beam of magic that would send Celestia flying back to Canterlot. What I got instead was a few blue sparks. "Oh come on!" I glared at my new horn. "How does this stupid thing work?" "You're new to magic, TD," Celestia explained. I glanced over at her and saw the slightest of smirks on her face. "Learning magic takes time." I scowled and flared out my new wings. "Whatever. This isn't over." I jumped into the air, expecting that my wings would carry me high in the sky and I could attack Celestia that way. I really should have learned that my expectations aren't always met, and I figured out what happens when you crash into the ground after a few feet. "You have got to be kidding me!" "Flight isn't natural, even with wings." Celestia gave me a sad smile and extended a hoof. "Come now, TD. Let's go to the library and discuss this like rational alicorns." "I'm not a rational alicorn," I spat. I groaned and laid down on my side. "But I am an alicorn. Fine way to start out." Celestia's hoof nudged my side, and I reluctantly took it. She pulled me up before turning to address the crowd. "I am sorry that this has just occurred, but Princess TD and I had some differences to work out." Ever the politician, aren't you Celestia? And also don't call me that. "As you can see, TD is now an alicorn princess by means unforeseeable to any. It is unknown at this time what that means exactly, but rest assured I will do everything in my power to make this unexpected event as smooth as possible for everypony." "And if anybody even thinks about bowing to me I will raze Ponyville," I growled. "I mean it." "Yep, that's TD alright," Mayor Mare muttered. Celestia raised a hoof and motioned to the crowd. "I ask you now to return to your business. Princess TD and I have some things to discuss." The crowd began murmuring amongst themselves, but they weren't exactly going to argue with the pony who raised the sun each morning. I began limping into the library, and I was satisfied to see that Celestia was doing the same. Twilight opened the door for us, and I was vaguely amused to see that she looked absolutely furious. Celestia and I entered first, and promptly sat on the ground when we were far enough inside. The floor was absolutely covered in books, but Celestia managed to use her magic to put them all back on the shelves. Twilight and the rest of the Mane Six plus Spike all entered the library behind us. Twilight scanned the bookshelves, checking to see if they were all in the right place. If she didn't re-shelve later I would eat my wings. The rest of them had expressions on their faces ranging from awkwardness to plain old shock. Doubtlessly they had never seen Celestia like that before. It was Celestia who cleared her throat to get the conversation going. "I imagine what has happened today has shocked all of you. Between TD's ascension and our little scuffle, things haven't quite gone how I had planned them." "Understatement of the millennium," I snarked. I stared down at my new hooves and flapped my wings. "I mean geez, I woke up today as a human whose house was about to be struck by lightning and now I'm a female alicorn princess." "I know this must be difficult, TD," Celestia said. "So I want us all to be as comfortable as possible before we delve into the heavy topics." Celestia turned to Twilight with a small smile on her face. "Twilight, I don't suppose you have any liquor around." Twilight groaned and facehooved. "I never thought I'd say something like this to you of all ponies, but I'm not sharing my liquor with you!" I raised an eyebrow and cocked my head. "You have alcohol here?" "I drink a glass of scotch socially on occasion," said Twilight with a wave of her hoof. "That's not important right now. What is important is what I saw from both of you today." Twilight fixed Celestia with a sad stare, and flattened her ears. "I never thought that I'd see you like that. If you'll pardon me for saying so, it looked almost... animalistic. You two looked like lions fighting each other for a piece of meat." Twilight bowed her head. "I never thought you were capable of acting like that." Celestia and I exchanged an awkward glance, and I lightly cleared my throat. "Uh, Twilight, if it makes you feel any better, I was the instigator and I kept it going. I think that she could argue self-defense." Celestia held up a hoof and shook her head. "As much as I appreciate your attempts to repair my reputation, I erred as well, TD. I could have stopped that fight whenever I desired." Celestia fluttered her wings and poked at the ground. I have to say, it was odd seeing her in a position of vulnerability like that. She almost looked like a kid with her hoof in the cookie jar. "Why would you do that?" Twilight alternated her looks between the two of us. "I mean, hitting you is just kinda something that TD does when he's past his breaking point, but why would you retaliate when you knew he wasn't a threat?" "I suppose it was because I was scared." Twilight gasped softly, and Celestia looked back up at her. "I may regret saying this, but TD was not meant to ascend today. You were." Twilight's jaw dropped, and her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. She took a small step backwards. "M-me?" "Indeed." Celestia spotted the journal on the bed and motioned over to it. "A lot of what you have accomplished has been leading up to this point. I had great plans for you, and I was excited to see what kind of pony you would be after became the Princess of Friendship." Celestia's gaze flickered over to me, and she sighed. "I suppose that when I saw TD I resented him a little. I felt that he had taken something important from me: you. When he hit me for a third time, I lost myself for a little while." Despite the situation, I chuckled slightly and put a hoof on Celestia's shoulder. "It's okay. I've resented you since I came here." Celestia shot me a sideways glance, and my smile fell. "But I know it doesn't look like it, but I've been trying to get over it. I mean..." I spun my hoof. "It's not like you planned all of this for me. I just lose my temper sometimes and since my angry self blames you the most it comes out against you the most." "I understand that, TD," said Celestia. "I know that my actions have not always benefited you." "And I haven't always handled it the best." I sighed and ran a hoof through my hair... er... mane. "But I guess the question is: what now?" Celestia pushed herself to her hooves, wincing slightly as she did. "I do not know. I think it might be prudent for you to come back to Canterlot with me so that we may discuss it with Luna." Celestia looked over at Twilight who still looked absolutely shocked by what she had heard, but there seemed to be a hint of sadness in her eyes too. I don't think that I could have blamed her. This is a pretty big thing for her to miss out on. I motioned over to the other six in the room and jerked my head to the door. They silently nodded and filed out of the library. I left last and closed the door behind me. I think that they needed some alone time, and what was going to be said was just for them.