//------------------------------// // Confessions pt. 2 // Story: Prominence // by TheOldPonyFromScene24 //------------------------------// “Y-you...You what?” Twilight asked, staring in confusion. Celestia walked forward as she spoke, and at the same time, enchanted the room against the ears of the ponies outside. “I thought you were straight! I was wrong, and I'm sorry, but I'm not used to that! I can read most anypony in the world like a book, and then out of nowhere you throw me this curve ball!” “Why would you think I was straight? Have you ever even seen me actively display interest in a stallion!?” “No, but have I ever even seen you display interest in a mare!?” “Yes! You! I have been trying to make my intentions clear for over a week!” “Well, excuse me for thinking you were just incredibly sweet to your friends, I had no idea you were trying to be romantic!” “Are you mad at me!?” “No! Are you mad at me!?” “No! Why are we yelling!?” “Who cares?! We can be as loud as we want anyway, the room's soundproofed!” “Well, what about you!?” “What about me!?” “Are you straight!?” “If I was, I wouldn't have had to remind myself that you were straight every day since you gave me those chicory flowers, so I wouldn't have to worry about the heartbreak of confirming that you weren't interested!” “You liked the flowers!?” “I loved the flowers!” No more words came, as they stood, staring at each other, each breathing a bit heavily, each trying to regain control from their emotions. “Twilight, I am so sorry I hurt you,” Celestia finally told her, “And I'm sorry that I may have to do it again.” “W-wait, what?” Twilight hadn't even had time to consider that perhaps there could still be a chance, but even with her ignorance of its presence, having that chance suddenly taken from her caused a chill of fear to run up and down her spine. “Have you considered the complications that could arise from an attempted courtship?” “Uhh, if we had a falling out, and broke up, the bad feelings occurring as a result could cause you to turn Luna and Cadance against me, and Cadance could change my brother's opinion of me, and Shining Armor could then turn my parents against me, and my whole family and all of my fellow princesses would hate me forever." “Well, that's certainly a possibility, but I assure you, a very unlikely one. Imagine this scenario: We start dating. My vacation ends. I go back to Canterlot. You visit me, or I visit you, for romantic outings. Ponies thought Twilight was in a relationship with Prominence. Now they see she's in a relationship with Celestia. Ponies begin to assume you left Prominence for me because you are either fickle or elitist. Your name is dragged through the mud, and mine as well for stealing you away from Prominence.” “Anypony who would think that badly about us isn't anypony whose opinion matters to me.” Twilight responded with a fierce determination and an underwhelming stomp of her hoof. “Twilight, that mindset will only serve to hurt you in the world of politics." Twilight sighed, turning her eyes downward. “I don't want to talk about politics. I just want to talk about us. It isn't even anypony else's business.” “I may have managed to make things easier for you and Cadance than they were for Luna and I, but you will still be under scrutiny.” Celestia told her, moving closer and putting a hoof on her shoulder. The door burst inward, and the princesses each turned just in time to see Applejack's hooves return to the floor. Four ponies (and a dragon) stood ready for combat, glaring at Prominence. One pony cowered in the back. “Alright, 'Prominence!'” Rainbow said, making her way toward the unicorn. “That voice in the dining room. Explain. Now!” “And while you're at it, you can tell us just how you can cast something as complex as a teleportation spell!” Rarity added. “...Prominence?” Twilight asked, turning toward her. She shifted awkwardly, frowning. “I may have panicked. And lacked discretion in how I behaved. I had to talk to you,” She told her, her voice once again that of a slightly skittish personal assistant. “Oh. Um, we may have to come clean.” She told her, lowering her ears. Celestia bit her lip, looking away for a moment as she grappled with the idea, backing away from the ponies in the doorway. “I smell a secret!” Pinkie shouted. “Uh, yeah. Thanks, Pinkie. We got it.” Spike said. "We can trust them." Twilight said through her small frown as she rested a reassuring wing on Prominence's back. Prominence sighed, looking to the ground. “This is not entirely easy for me. I've kept this closely guarded for a long time. But,” She looked to Twilight, “I trust you. I trust in your judgment. I will trust the ponies that you put your trust in. The same ponies I've trusted with the fate of the kingdom.” After taking a breath to prepare herself, she spoke to them in her true voice. “The transformation magic I have used on myself would take three hours to undo, and another three to recast once we're done here, so I hope you will take Twilight and I at our word. I, that is to say, Prominence is...” She looked back to Twilight again, clearly struggling. “This was a lot easier when I just wrote you a letter.” Twilight's eyes lit up as she ran over to her desk, pulling the drawer open and grabbing a scroll, unrolling it and thrusting it in the faces of her friends. “Wow, um, nice...Blank sheet of paper?” Rainbow said, looking to her friends for help. “What're you...” Twilight looked at the paper herself. “Oh, right. Enchanted. Can we disenchant it?” “That would be too time consuming, I think.” She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “There's nothing else for it. I am Princess Celestia.” It became very quiet in the bedroom. The only sound was the dull tok. tok. tok. of a wall clock as the seconds ticked past. “Prove it!” Spike said, arms crossed defiantly. “I'm vouching for her, Spike.” Twilight told him, fixing him with an annoyed glare. She then turned her gaze to her friends. “You all have my word, as Princess of Friendship. And as your friend. I swear to you, this is, and has been, Celestia. This whole time.” Silence again, for a short while, before a pony finally spoke. “But what's the secret?” “That is the secret, Pinkie.” Twilight told her with a sigh. “Pff. Not much of one. I thought it was obvious.” As Celestia opened her mouth to question Pinkie's knowledge, Twilight raised a hoof to keep her silent. “Trust me, it's not worth it.” She took a deep breath as she looked at the rest of her friends, watching for the second time that day as she revealed a hidden truth and caused ponies to grapple with their perceptions of reality. Rainbow raised her hooves in objection, finally coming up with something to say. “Wait, wait, wait, I thought Celestia was sleeping in the sunnnnnthat sounds a lot more stupid when I say it out loud.” She frowned. “Yes, well, my sister has been known to be more than a little eccentric at times.” Celestia replied with a weak and worried smile. "I'd say your word's probably the best proof any of us could ask for, Twi." Applejack said, lowering her head in deference to Celestia. "Applejack, please, that's exactly the kind of behavior I'm trying to avoid during my vacation." The farmer stood up straight and offered a sheepish smile by way of apology. “Wait. Just one moment.” Rarity walked over to Twilight. “She's Celestia. You knew she was Celestia. And you were going to take her to the Castle of the Two Sisters to tell her you were in love with her?” Twilight nodded. Rarity stared at her in disbelief. “And you don't see anything wrong with that!?” “...I do now.” Twilight said, looking down. “Rarity, on that note, do you see anything wrong with not warning Twilight of the misconceptions I held regarding her orientation?” “...You knew she thought I was straight!? And you didn't say anything!?” Rarity shrank down under the rage of Twilight Sparkle. “Um, eheh...oops?” Twilight sighed in annoyance, holding her hoof to her forehead. “...We do have something a bit more important to discuss at the moment.” Celestia said, patting Twilight on the back. “I need all of you to swear to me that you will keep Prominence's true identity secret. The ability to spend time unrecognized by the masses is very important to me. I will be deeply indebted to each of you if you will only help me protect this secret.” Celestia was met with a chorus of, “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” “....I...I don't...” She looked to Twilight, desperate for explanation. “Your secret's safe with them,” Twilight said, smiling. “They know they'll have to answer to Pinkie otherwise.” “I beg your pardon, but that doesn't seem like a very intimidating prospect.” “Pinkie! Show me your war face!” Rainbow commanded. “GRRR” “I stand corrected. And terrified.” Celestia slowly moved behind Twilight for protection. “...Now that this is all sorted, I think these two need some more private time to work things out.” Applejack mused. “I think we, uh...interrupted. Sorry I broke down your door, Twi.” “It's fine, it'll be back to normal in a few hours anyway.” “...Well, that's a load off! Means I don't gotta fix it.” She calmly trotted out of the room, followed by Rainbow Dash and nopony else. Turning back to the others, she cleared her throat. “Come on! If she wanted everypony to just sit around gawkin' at her, she would've just come to town as Celestia.” “Wait, wait, I have one question I have to ask before I leave!” Rarity protested. She then let out a startled yelp as a rope fell around her, Applejack holding the other end of her lasso and pulling Rarity out of the room, Fluttershy following, and Pinkie hopping along with her friends. The halls echoed Rarity's question back into the room. “If I could cast that spell, could I stay young and beautiful forever!?” Twilight paused as the words bounced their way back and made it to her ears. “...I can't lie, that's something of an attractive prospect.” “You might be one of the few ponies I know who can both harness the power required for that spell, and wrap her head around the complexities of the formula. I'll try to let Rarity down easily.” “So, um...Wait, Spike, what are you still doing here? Give us some privacy, please.” The baby dragon walked up to Celestia and glared into her eyes. “You made Twilight cry. I'm watching you.” “Spike!” Twilight forcefully pointed to the door. “Out!” The dragon backed away from Celestia, pointing two claws at his eyes, and one claw at her. He missed the opening of the door, backing into the wall, and adjusted his heading, but never once stopped staring at Celestia. “I'm sure she's very scared, Spike.” Twilight told him, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “Maybe we should move this to your room while the castle fixes itself. It still has a door.” Celestia nodded, they each teleported, and Twilight cast the sound proofing spell. “...I'm sorry, I do want to return to the prior topic, but...'Fixes itself?'” “Oh, uh, this castle was borne from an eruption of the energies of the Tree and Elements of Harmony. I've seen Spike sneeze on a wall, and the scorch marks, well, I guess 'healed' is the best word, in a few minutes. Rainbow's crashed through a window, and that window was mended in an hour. This palace obviously isn't brick and mortar. I've chipped some off and examined it and it's definitely not even a mineral. I'm fairly certain it's composed entirely of magical energy—no, magical matter, condensed to a crystalline structure.” “An interesting idea. One that I hope to discuss with you more once we're done sorting out our relationship.” “...Our relationship? You mean the things that are keeping us from having a relationship.” Twilight sighed. “Nonsense. I'm entirely open to the idea. There's just so much to talk about, and I don't want you to get your hopes up. At the end of this, we might both end up deciding that trying anything now would be more trouble than it was worth.” “Yeah, I—wait, why did you specify 'now'?” “Twilight Sparkle never misses a trick, does she?” The corner of Celestia's mouth turned up. “Praise later. Explanation now.” “The political and societal fiasco that I outlined for you earlier would only be an issue if we didn't put things on hold until my vacation is over, and I've returned to Canterlot as Celestia.” “Oh. So, waiting would solve all of our problems!” Twilight smiled brightly. “Well, it would solve one of our problems.” “gruuuuh” The smile vanished as quickly as it came. “What else did I miss?” “A lot of ponies have always cried out about favoritism regarding you, ever since I first took you as my student, and did nothing about the fact that you caused massive damage to the roof of the testing room and transformed several ponies against their will. Some ponies still don't accept that teaching you to control those powers was the correct action, and believe you should be punished for your transgressions, along with many other bits of havoc you've stirred up.” “I...Havoc? What?” “Remember the Smarty Pants incident?” Twilight's face turned red. “And the parasprites? After the fact, I learned about how you changed the nature of a group of them, arguably making them far more dangerous.” Redder now, as her head sunk. “And, let's not forget the unauthorized use of a time travel spell. That could've had very serious repercussions, and I count all of Equestria very lucky that no such thing occurred.” “You, uh, you knew about that?” “The point is, I often look the other way when you make a misstep. I would for most any pony who is almost always able to repair the damage she causes, and who is simply trying to do the right thing. But you are already singled out by the populace. They think I play favorites, because you are my student. What would they think if you were my lover?” The word sent delightful tingles down Twilight's spine, and her response came unbidden. “That I'm the luckiest filly in Equestria?” Celestia blinked a few times, as these words registered and a blush formed on her cheeks. “Where did that come from?” Celestia asked. “Uh, I'm not sure. Sorry, that was kind of cheesy, wasn't it?” “Well, yes. But I do like a bit of cheese, now and then.” Twilight stared at her for a moment, lifted a hoof to her mouth, cleared her throat, and looked Celestia in the eye. “Edam.” Celestia let out a chuckle, shaking her head. “We're getting off topic, Twilight.” “Camembert?” “Twilight, we have issues that need addressing.” “Roquefort.” “Twilight, I need you to stop whatever it is you're doing, and explain to me what you think you're doing, please.” Celestia said with a soft grin. “Flirting? Rarity's been teaching me.” “Well, I think you need some lessons on when it's appropriate. Now, I have managed to routinely dissuade ponies from thinking you have special privilege at times, and at other times, I've had to admit that I was attempting to groom you for a throne. But if you're able to bend my ear during a romantic rendezvous, ponies will cry out that I am letting somepony else sway me in my decisions as princess.” “...Celestia...I know you tried to keep this stuff away from me my whole life. But you didn't.” Celestia frowned a little. “Are you certain? What little managed to slip through the cracks may have been just a taste of--” “When I was little, I'd be approached no less than three times a week by ponies trying to get me to get you to implement various policies. It took five years for everypony to actually believe I was well-read enough to know better in most cases. I hated doing it, because grown ups were always annoyed with me after, but I trusted my books more than most grown ups, and my books said that their ideas were bad ones. I used to get teased and picked on, too. Nothing was ever as bad as magic kindergarten, but I got really good at catching stuff that other ponies threw at me in my magic.” Celestia frowned at a memory of a sniffling Twilight insisting that the blood on her forehead was, in fact, nothing. “Oh, Twilight, I had no idea...All those bruises and injuries, I thought you were just bumping into things because you walked while reading...” “Uhhhh that was actually the case more often than you'd think.” She sighed. “Look, Celestia, I understand that you want to protect me from my detractors, and ponies who would use my connections for their own gain, but I learned to deal with that a long time ago. So, maybe some ponies will accuse you of favoritism if we start going out. You can't tell me there's no feedback from the fact that the Princess of the Moon is your sister. Or that the Princess of the Crystal Empire is your niece. Is it really that much worse for the Princess of Friendship to be your fillyfriend?” Celestia looked up at the ceiling, and took a deep breath, standing silent for a moment as she thought. “I've never looked forward so much to having a vacation end.” “...Does that mean...?” “It means you've quelled my fears. For now.” There was a loud crash as Rainbow smashed through Twilight's window, the frantic clopping of hooves as she ran to Prominence's door, a loud bang as she burst in, proceeding to grab Celestia by the shoulders. “I'm so sorry I didn't know I was slapping a princess please don't execute me!” “I was wondering when that would finally click.” Celestia said with a grin. “Wait, she slapped you?” “Only to snap me out of a stup--” Celestia was cut off as Rainbow was tackled to the floor by a furious lavender blur. The words 'Harmony Crusher' echoed through her mind as she pried Twilight off of her friend with a golden aura. The pegasus would be fine. She assured the princesses, after both had calmed down, that she'd gotten much worse than a little black eye from trees and buildings suddenly jumping into her flight path. Once she left, at the insistence of Twilight's grumbling stomach, annoyed over two missed meals, they went back downstairs and reheated their lunch. As they ate, things were quiet. But it was a peaceful, amiable quiet, interspersed with friendly comments, and the occasional utterances of various types of cheese. Twilight was happy. Celestia desperately prayed that both their passion and patience could last for a little over two more months.