//------------------------------// // 442. Yex by Ashi // Story: The Sun and the Stars: A Twilestia Prompt Collab // by Fuzzyfurvert //------------------------------// by Ashi *** Princess Celestia rolled over onto her side, one of her forelegs snaked out, searching for a Twilight Sparkle to snuggle in her sleep; the bare white hoof tapped at the empty spot where the unicorn should've been a couple of times, then slowly the sleepiness began to drain from Celestia's body as she realised that her lover was not there. She pulled herself into a seated position, her ears perking up, and listened. There was a muffled, scratchy sound coming from the next room over. Using her magic to levitate her dressing gown from its perch on the wall, Celestia got up out of bed to find out what was going on. The door to the other room was open just a hair – Twilight normally left it like this so that she could get in and out of the study without having to undo the heavy iron deadbolt which, in the dead of night, would've made an awful racket – and Celestia peeked in: sitting at a table, surrounded by books, as well as numerous beakers, mugs and other detritus which seemed to have been appropriated from a school science lab, was the purple unicorn. Her violet hair was in disarray, and her face looked haggard and worn. Clearly, she had already been at this, whatever it was, for some time. “Twilight, honey,” Celestia said quietly, pushing the door open a fraction further, “is everything all right?” Taking a deep breath, Twilight replied hurriedly, “Icouldn'tsleep.” “Sorry, what was that?” Celestia frowned, wondering why she was talking so quickly. “I said-” she paused for a moment and Celestia noticed the tiny involuntary spasm that her body gave before she spoke again “-that I couldn't sleep.” “Are you all right?” the princess asked quizzically, stepping further into the room and approaching Twilight. “I have -hic- the hiccups.” “I see.” Celestia was unsure as to what the problem was. They were annoying, sure, but they didn't require all this. “Have you tried a glass of wat-” “No, you -hic- don't understand!” Twilight said plaintively, interrupting the princess with a frustrated cry. “I don't get them -hic- very often, but when I do they last for -hic- hours and I've never been able to -hic- find a way to stop them. None of the-” Twilight gestured to the plethora of books scattered across the worktop “-cures, old mare's tales or -hic- spells seem to work for me. Drinking water -hic-, traction on the -hic- tongue, even sneezing.” Celestia took another look at the equipment Twilight had gathered around her and began to connect the dots. “So. You've been trying to make one of your own?” “Uh-hic-huh.” “And they're so bad that they rob you of sleep?” asked Celestia, her eyes going wide with concern. She'd heard stories about chronic hiccups, but she'd always assumed that they were just that. With all the healing magic in Equestria, it was difficult to believe that such a condition could exist. That such a condition had befallen her best friend and lover, and she hadn't known about it until now. Either her observational skills were failing, or Twilight was a lot better than she'd thought at keeping secrets from her. “Yeah,” replied Twilight with a nod of her head. She only got halfway into the bow before her chest heaved again. “It's not the hiccups -hic- themselves that are the problem, per se. It's the cramping in my neck, the -hic- pain in my back, and the fact that -hic- if they go on long enough, I start to throw up.” She remembered how, as foals, Shining Armour had thought her hiccup-attacks were so hilarious and he teased her constantly about them ... until he'd become the unintended recipient of her outpourings. “I'm sorry,” the Princess of the Sun said, wincing slightly at the mental image. “May I sit with you?” “Sure, but it isn't -hic- much fun to watch.” She'd rather Celestia went back to bed; it wasn't fair for both of them to be robbed of sleep because of her little problem, but equally she wasn't that fond of suffering in silence either. “I imagine it's even less fun to have.” “Well, yeah, that's -hic- true.” Celestia sat on the stool opposite and studied Twilight while she poured through her books. The spasms would come every six-to-eight seconds and from the way her breast disgorged with each one – to say nothing of the little cry she would give – they had to be pretty powerful. “Have you been to a doctor?” “Mm-hm,” Twilight replied, not looking up. “A couple -hic-, actually.” “And?” The unicorn sighed irritably. She knew it wasn't right to get angry at Celestia, and she wasn't, not really. Just these maddening jerks made her so exasperated. Exasperated and tired. “Sorry, right, you probably don't really want to talk.” Exhaustion had made her impolite. She stood up, “Would you like me to get you anything from the kitchen? A drink? A snack?” Twilight held up her hoof in apology. “No, I'm sorry. It's just -hic- incredibly annoying. Yes, I've been to -hic- doctors. They said that short of severing the -hic- phrenic nerve in my neck there wasn't much that they could do,” Twilight said. “That -hic- can cause breathing problems, so I decided -hic- against it.” “Why didn't you ever tell me about this before?” asked Celestia, sitting back down. “Because it's so -hic- silly,” replied Twilight, her face reddening slightly. “Plus, there's nothing you can -hic- do about it, so I didn't want to bother you with something you couldn't change.” The Princess of the Sun got up off her seat again and walked around to Twilight; she pulled the unicorn into a tight embrace, just as another hiccup rocked her body. She felt the powerful jerk twitch against her own chest. “Twilight, there may be some things in this world that I can't change, but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't tell me about them, anyway.” Her grip on Twilight intensified. Trying to lighten the mood, she added, “Hey, did you know that, in some cultures, hiccups are said to be because someone is talking about you?” Twilight's response was to hiccup again and utter a groan of agony. “Are you okay?” asked Celestia, concern radiating from her voice, loosening her grip on the unicorn. “Yeah, I just -hic- felt that one is all,” Twilight replied, rubbing her sore chest. “Uh, -hic- excuse me for a moment!” She dashed out of the room, clutching her stomach. When she returned a few minutes later, she looked even worse than she had done before. As she wiped away a few remaining stains from the sides of her muzzle, Twilight shot Celestia a don't ask look. The princess didn't. The unicorn returned to her seat and picked up another book. “You don't need to -hic- stay if you don't want to.” “I do want to, though.” “Celestia?” “Hm?” “Thank -hic- you.” “For what?” “For being with me. Right -hic- now, I mean. I appre-hic-ciate it.” Celestia cuddled the unicorn close to her again, feeling yet another contraction; maybe she couldn't do anything useful to help, but she could be there to share the pain, and sometimes that was enough.