//------------------------------// // 111. Courage by ArguingPizza // Story: The Sun and the Stars: A Twilestia Prompt Collab // by Fuzzyfurvert //------------------------------// by ArguingPizza *** Nopony under the sun could honestly call Princess Twilight Sparkle a coward. She had stood horn-to-horn against an evil alicorn goddess returned from a thousand years of imprisonment, banished an Ursa Major by sheer will alone, and conquered a draconequus that had bested the Princess of the Sun with a snap of his talons. To include all the deeds she had accomplished with the help of her friends would be the work of a lifetime. Despite these accolades, Twilight Sparkle had never been more afraid than standing in front of those very same friends in her own library. Knees shaking, sweat matting the hair on her brow, and heart pounding in her chest, Twilight Sparkle struggled to even remain upright, much less look her loved ones in the eye. The other Elements of Harmony, her parents, and Spike sat crowded together in her admittedly too-small living room. Even Princess Luna had answered the Royal Summons she had sent via Spike the day before. At her side, Princess Celestia draped a comforting wing across her back and gave her a supportive nod. The warmth across her back settled her nerves, the sensation of white down tickling her fur calming her in the same way it always had. Twilight inhaled deeply and steeled herself for the moment of truth. Her friends and family straightened expectantly, their eyes focused on her like hungry predators. “E-everypony…I’m…” Twilight faltered. The wing on her back tightened the smallest amount, and she swallowed hard. Princess Twilight Sparkle raised her head, met their gazes defiantly and spoke the hardest words she’d ever said. “I’m gay.” There was a long, tense moment of silence that dragged on far longer than is should have. Ever second that nopony spoke, Twilight’s resolve dimmed. The wide, unbelieving stares of her loved ones tore at her and made her regret her decisi- “Yeeeeeeeah, and?” It was Rainbow Dash who broke the silence, because of course it was. Twilight sputtered indignantly for a moment before she could speak. “W-what do you mean ‘yeah, and?’ That was the most difficult thing I’ve ever done and you’re making a joke?!” Tears threatened to spill down her cheeks as she struggled against the urge to deck her best friend. Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened as she backpedaled. “Whoa, that’s not what I meant at all!” she insisted. “I just meant-“a well-manicured white hoof interrupted her defense. “What she means, darling,” Rarity interjected, shooting a harsh glare at Rainbow Dash from the corner of her eye, “is that your confession, while brave, is perhaps not as…unexpected, as you perhaps thought.” The maelstrom of conflicting, half formed thoughts that flashed through Twilight’s mind at that moment could best be summed up in four letters. “What.” Applejack pushed herself to her hooves and stood beside Rarity. “Sugarcube, I’ve known since the day you showed up at my farm for the Summer Sun Celebration that your barn doors swung out, if ya know what I mean.” No. No she did not, but apparently the rest of her friends did as they all nodded in agreement. Her eyes turned to Spike, who shrugged. “I’ve lived with you for my entire life, almost entirely in the same room. You’re not as quiet as you think.” Red blossomed across her face, and she decided at that moment that Spike was old enough for his own room immediately. Horrified, she looked to her parents, who nodded sheepishly. “We found the magazines under your bed in your old room, sweetheart.” Twilight was dead, she was positive. She was dead, and being punished for some horrible deed. There was no way her parents had found the stash under her bed. The magazines, the artwork, the body pillow! “Lots of Frisky Princess Paradise, though I suppose that’s not surprising,” her father quipped with a glance towards her mentor. That single line brought Twilight’s mind to a screeching halt. Had it not been for her mentor holding her upright, she would have tipped over. Even frozen in place, she saw the blush across Celestia’s face out of the corner of her eye. Later, she would realize that the wing on her back had pulled her significantly closer. “Oh, that’s a good one,” Fluttershy agreed softly. “Did you see the December spread?” “Enjoyed that, did you?” Princess Luna purred as she enveloped the smaller Pegasus in her wings. The amount of blood that flooded Fluttershy’s cheeks would have given a doctor fits. “That was very brave, Twilight,” Princess Celestia whispered in her ear, “Perhaps after we’re done here, you’d like to retire somewhere…private, to recover from today’s events?” It was at that moment, with her parents and friends discussing her incredibly transparent attempts to conceal her sexual preferences, Princess Luna nibbling seductively on Fluttershy’s ear, and Princess Celestia’s wing lightly treading towards her tail that Princess Twilight Sparkle checked out. As her head hit the floor, Twilight resolved that courage was overrated.