//------------------------------//
// The Beginning 
// Story: Adventures in Homeownership with Sunny Skies and Dusky Sparks 
// by Honey Mead 
//------------------------------//


Adventures in Homeownership with Sunny Skies and Dusky Sparks: The Beginning



Celestia and Twilight gazed into each other's eyes, and the world fell away.
Or it would have if Luna hadn’t cleared her throat and whispered, “Psst, that was your cue, sister.”
Celestia blushed, and the smile she’d worn for the past month, already far larger than even she realized, grew.  
“I do.”


— — — Five years later — — —


“All I’m saying is that it would be nice to take a break for a few years.”
Celestia’s office was one of the most spartan rooms in the palace. More a nook than a room, if truth be told, it was scarcely large enough for herself and her desk. Thus, the presence of one, Princess Twilight Sparkle did not do the space any favors.
“I agree,” Celestia said, not even glancing up as her quill scratched across a scroll, “but—”
“No buts!” Twilight all but growled. “We need this. Three months! It’s been three months since we spent more than an hour together that wasn’t either sleeping or some function or another.” Celestia tried to butt in, but Twilight wasn’t having it. “Tia, You are the greatest princess Equestria could hope for. Without everything you’ve done, I don’t even want to think about where we would be.”
“Thank you, love.”
“But, it won’t all fall apart if you step aside a little while.”  Twilight did her best to say the words softly and with as much love as she could, but that did not keep them from stinging her wife. “It is not because you are unnecessary, but because you have done such a wonderful job,” she continued, nearly pleading for the words to be heard in the spirit they were said. “Equestria’s government is so stable you could probably leave for three or four generations and it would still keep chugging along, but only because of how well you’ve tended it. Besides, Luna is perfectly capable of running the country while you and I spend a few years, you know, as a couple. Just you and me. No servants. No advisors. No politics. Just us.”
“Just us?” Celestia asked, finally meeting her wife’s eye with an almost predatory glint. “So, No studying then? No experiments? No three days without sleeping just to—”
“Alright. Alright. You made your point. And…” the hesitation was small, but Celestia caught it, she always caught it, “Yes, I can agree to that… to a point. I can still read journals. And you can still follow events, even correspond with and help Luna, to a point. All I’m asking for is a decade or two, living like normal ponies, with normal lives. We’ll get regular jobs. You can teach foals, I know how much you’ve missed that. And I can… I can be local administrator… or something, I haven’t worked that bit out yet. And we can live calm average lives, away from all of…” she motioned to Celestia’s desk, “this. Please.”
Celestia stared into those pleading, violet eyes. She sighed, defeated. Not that she ever stood a chance. In the end, she knew that Twilight was right. They hadn’t spent nearly enough time together and if there was one pony who deserved her attention, it was Twilight Sparkle. That didn’t make it easier, just inevitable. Still, she wasn’t one to go out without a fight. “On one condition.”
Twilight’s wings shot-out in excitement. “Of course, anything.”
“You will never, ever,” she paused, then decided to add one more, “ever, go anywhere near my kitchen.”


— — — Three months later — — —


Dusky Sparks glanced at the white coated, pink maned pegasus mare beside her before facing forward again. “Well, Cel—Sunny, this is it. What do you think?”
Sunny Skies didn’t respond right away, all of her attention focused on the building in front of them.
It was not a cottage, it was the idea of a cottage made physical. No real cottage ever constructed was that exactingly perfect. From the white walls cross-hatched by sepia beams to the thatched roof with a brickwork chimney that appeared to be attached as an after-thought—though it most certainly was not—it screamed ‘I am a Cottage!’. If a foal were asked to draw a picture of a cottage, this was the house they would draw, right down to the paving stones that wound their way from the gate to the door instead of making a straight, sensible line.
Celestia shook off her disquiet, deciding that had more to do with her misgivings about the entire situation than the house itself. “It looks… nice.”
“Nice?”
“Yes… nice.”
“Nice as in exact, or nice as in adequate?” Sunny gave her a look that said more than words ever could. “You know, if you don’t like it, you can just say so.”
There were a great many things that Sunny could have said, but being an intelligent mare who loved her wife, she ignored them and instead said, “It will be fine.”
“Fine as in—”
“Twili—”
“Dusky.”
“Sparky.” Dusky Sparks huffed adorably and Sunny smiled at the tiny victory. “If you are going to cite synonyms for all my adjectives, we are going to be out here all day.”
“Fine.”
“Fine as in fare, or fine as in exact?”
Dusky Sparks glared at her wife. Grumbling to herself about wisecracking pegasi, she levitated her luggage in her field and pushed through the barrel high gate that separated their property from the street.
Sunny sighed as she trailed after ‘Sparky’. As funny as it had seemed at the time, she was already regretting the petty snipe. Then again, make up sex was always fun, so maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.
She’d made it halfway across the lawn before realizing that her own luggage was not, in fact, floating beside her in a golden aura. Her wings ruffled at her sides and she sighed again. That particular inconvenience was going to take some getting used to.