//------------------------------//
// Chapter Eleven: A Dream Come True (Heartbreak Version) 
// Story: The Trials and Tribulations of Trying to Date Twilight Sparkle 
// by Codex Ex Equus 
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	“Sister, please! You must lower the sun!”

“NEVER!”

“It is your duty!”

“MY ONLY DUTY NOW IS TO MAKE TWILIGHT SPARKLE MINE!”

“Celestia, I'm not kidding.” Luna rubbed a hoof on her forehead. “It's like... three hours until dawn.”

“Oh.” Celestia lowered her head, ashamed.

“I know you're excited for today, but you can't just raise the sun to make it happen sooner. For one thing, just imagine how Twilight will react if she sees the sun has risen several hours before it should.”

“Ah. Good point.” Celestia's horn glowed briefly and the hall darkened again. She then shuffled her hooves nervously, glancing around. “So, um, while we wait, do you want to—”

“Sister.” Luna gave Celestia a flat stare. “While we appreciate your excitement, we have much to do ourselves. Such as, for example, spending time with our own love, whom we have not had years to get to know. My suggestion would be that you go and get some sleep to prepare for the big day.”

“Oh. Um. Yes, okay.”

Luna shook her head as she watched her sister trot back down the hall, nearly prancing with nervous energy.

“Well, at least now when she's exhausted at lunchtime, she can't say I didn't tell her to get some rest.”





Celestia killed some time back in her bedroom, leafing through the Treatise. The first edition was a lot more raw than the later versions, and reading through it was almost like talking with Starswirl again. She smiled sadly as she read one of his theories on the Elements of Harmony, a theory that he had removed in later editions: that there was some power in friendship which fueled the Elements. It was a shame that Starswirl had never managed to learn that lesson, despite all his other discoveries.

Putting the book down, she frowned to herself and wandered over to her wardrobe. She should probably wear something special, but what? A dress didn't seem right; it would be too fancy, and she didn't want to be intimidating. Despite her feelings, she wanted to approach this day more casually.

Rummaging through her things, she finally picked out a bright yellow ribbon. That was, naturally, her favorite color. And with a bow tied firmly on its end, her mane would calm its waving down. Hopefully that would be less distracting.

Pacing about nervously once again, Celestia finally tried to settle down and clean her accoutrements. Removing one of her hoofcovers, she got the polish and a rag and gave it a good scrub. This was an important day, and she needed to look her best, so she made sure to polish it extra hard.

Holding up the bent and twisted piece of metal, she sighed, remembering why she typically had servants do this sort of thing. Throwing the former hoofcover into a corner, she picked a new one out of the box she kept in the closet. Maybe her regalia was fine the way it was.

Once more with nothing to do, she made her way to the balcony and tried to calm herself by staring out over Canterlot. But no matter how beautiful it was under Luna's moon—and it was beautiful, very much so—she still couldn't find that sense of serenity it usually inspired.

Still, she forced herself to stay there, as the current year passed into the next, then another, and another, until they became centuries, then millennia, and then eternities began flowing past, one after another, an eternity of eternities.

And then, finally, she realized it was time to raise the sun and begin the next day.

She did so, then stood there, blinking in confusion. She had been so excited for the day to begin that she hadn't even thought about the fact that there were still several hours to go before they all were to meet up with Twilight for the picnic.

With a little whimper, she fell back to the balcony again.





"My most faithful student, I have another exciting project for you to work on. This time, instead of learning about the magic of friendship, you'll be doing some more... advanced studies."

Celestia studied the words she'd written for a moment, then shook her head and crossed them out. While it makes a cute pet name for her, I may want to downplay her role as my student, she mused. Especially during an invitation to enter into a deeper and more equal relationship with each other.

"Twilight Sparkle, as the sovereign ruler of Equestria, I hereby declare my intention to court you."

Another pause for consideration, and then another shake of the head. Too formal. I sound like Luna did the first year or two after she came back. I don't want to be too intimidating to Twilight, either.

"So Twilight, you doing anything Friday night? I thought maybe we could go catch a play, get some dinner..."

Ugh, too casual now! And it doesn't even sound like a date, we used to do that kind of thing all the time when she still lived in Canterlot.

"Twilight, though my sun does burn bright, my love for you burns ever fiercer. It would make my heart soar if you would do me the pleasure—"

She stopped writing in the middle of that sentence and crossed it out. That's the kind of speech Cadance would come up with.

"Hey Twilight, wanna bang?"

Augh, now I sound too much like Chrysalis!

The sheet of paper, covered with doodles and scratched-out sentences, was crumpled into a ball by her magic and tossed across the room. Her horn pulsed briefly, incinerating the paper before it made it halfway, and she pulled another sheet towards herself.

Why is this so hard?!





Celestia's head suddenly jerked up, and she blinked rapidly.

She'd almost fallen asleep! That would have been a disaster of tragic proportions; after all, there were only a few more hours until it was time for the picnic, and if she fell asleep now she might sleep until it was time to leave and her sister would have to wake her up, and then she'd have to run around in a rush trying to get ready, and then she'd show up late and Twilight would be disappointed and think less of her, and she wouldn't want anything to do with her, and—

Celestia did her best impression of Twilight having a panic attack, finally managing to calm herself down with a few deep breaths, mirroring the motion of her chest with one foreleg—the same calming technique she'd taught Cadance all those years ago. She hadn't had to use it herself since before Luna's banishment, but it worked as well as ever.

She looked down at the papers still spread out before her and froze. While dozing, she had apparently started doodling. Several sheets were now covered with hearts, many of them containing the letters 'T + C', others with crudely combined drawings of her and Twilight's cutie marks. Even worse, scrawled about the papers were the words 'Celestia Dawnbringer-Sparkle', Twilight Sparkle-Dawnbringer', and 'Mrs. and Mrs. Dawnbringer-Sparkle'.

Face flaming red with embarrassment, she ignited all the papers to destroy the evidence. When the rug caught on fire as well, she spent a few moments panicking, thinking she'd have to call in the guards, before finally just lifting the whole thing into the air with her magic and letting it burn itself out there. Then, just to make sure, she carried the remains to her balcony and scattered the ashes to the winds.

There. Much better. Celestia marched back into her bedroom contentedly. It had been an old rug anyway, a few centuries at least, and no one beside her even remembered the civilization it had come from. She didn't remember much about them either, but surely cremation had been one of their traditions. They probably would have been happy about this.

She paused in the center of the room, looking around. She needed a less... potentially dangerous way to pass the time. Pacing about, looking through what seemed to be the endless bookshelves lining her bedroom, she ended up finding a photo album and settled down happily on her cushion to page through it.

This album had pictures of Twilight in it, naturally, and a small smile settled on Celestia's face as she looked at each photograph in turn. Here was Celestia hugging Twilight after accepting her into the School for Gifted Unicorns, here she was hugging Twilight after she had passed her first major exam, here she was hugging Twilight after she graduated, here she was hugging Twilight for... what seemed to be no reason at all, here she was hugging Twilight—

She paused. There was a definite theme going on in these photographs. Did she always hug Twilight that much? Only when her student accomplished something amazing, she finally decided. It was just that Twilight had done so many amazing things. And they also hugged when they said hello, of course. And goodbye. And... okay, maybe it was a lot.

They weren't exactly friendly hugs, either. Well, they were, but they always went on longer than was comfortable. Except they never became uncomfortable; not once could she remember an awkward hug with Twilight. It was just their thing, and maybe that said something about how good of an idea it was to ask Twilight to be her special somepony.

She turned the page and her frown of thought melted back into a smile. There was another picture of her hugging Twilight, except this time Luna was also included in the embrace. This had been the first picture taken of the three of them together after Luna had been freed, and the joy and love of that moment still lifted her heart. She knew now that that had been the moment her feelings for Twilight had really begun to take shape, and that just made her happier.
        
There were less pictures of the two of them hugging now, too. Instead, the photographs focused more on Twilight. Twilight running off to the Crystal Empire, Twilight from behind as she looked out a window in the castle, Twilight reaching up to get a book on a high shelf, Twilight bending down to get a book on a low shelf, Twilight—

Celestia paused again. There was another theme in these photographs, and it seemed to be Twilight's rump. Every picture managed to be from behind Twilight somehow, and in each picture her rear grew larger and larger, taking up more of the image, until the last few were nothing but the alicorn's backside—

Celestia slammed the album shut. There were probably plenty of other things she could be doing right now that wouldn't put her in such a disconcerted and distracted state. She started to float the book back to the shelf where it belonged, then paused. Glancing around furtively, she lifted her mattress and slipped the book inside through a slit in the bottom, resting it next to a well-worn notebook and a recently purchased novel.





After another interminable length of time—nearly more than half an hour—Celestia decided to see if anypony else was awake yet. Luna, at the least, should be free now. Just after dawn was her typical dinnertime. The dining room was empty however, so she made her way to Luna's bedchamber.

“Sister, would you like to—” she started to call, pushing open the doors with her magic.

“MMMPH?!” cried Chrysalis, trying to look back at Celestia from a very intimate location.

There was a long, awkward silence.

“Well, I did say I was going to get to know her better,” said the Princess of the Night finally, with a sly grin. “And look, I found something she likes—”

“EWEWEWEWEWEW!” cried Celestia, slamming the doors behind her as she fled.

She grimaced as she trotted quickly down the hall, sticking her tongue out, shaking her head in a desperate—and futile—attempt to forget what she had just seen. Slowing up as she came to the door to Cadance and Shining Armor's guest room, she let out a relieved sigh as she heard voices coming from within. Maybe those two would help her—

“MMMPH?!” cried Cadance, looking up as Celestia opened the door.

“MMF?! Aah! C-Celestia?!” sputtered Shining Armor, peering past Cadance's tail.

“AAAAUGH!”
        
Eyes squeezed shut from the force of trying to block the last five minutes from her mind, Celestia ran through the palace halls. There were spells that could lock off parts of one's memory, but she ruled that idea out quickly. Those spells had to have something that would trigger them later, to bring the memories back. No matter what she chose as the trigger, over the course of her eternal life it was guaranteed something would set it off. But good old fashioned denial and repression... well, that lasts forever.

Pushing open the door to the kitchens, Celestia stumbled inside. The strain of the last few minutes had reminded her of how little sleep she had gotten the previous night. Opening the cupboard doors, she made grumbling noises upon finding it devoid of coffee. Making her way to the pantry, she pushed the door open.

“MMMPH?!” cried the Royal Guard, trying to look back over his shoulder.

“AAH! P-Princess Celestia?!” cried the cook, his face turning a bright red.

“OH, COME ON!” Celestia slammed the pantry door and stomped out of the kitchen. “Am I the only pony in this castle not getting any?!”





“Is everybody ready?”

All five ponies had gathered in the hall outside Celestia's room and, after an uncomfortable few minutes, had collectively decided they were all going to pretend the morning's events hadn't happened.

“We've got everything, right?” fretted Celestia. “I know the food is good to go, I made Twilight's favorite, but if we don't have the rest of the things for the picnic then—”

“Then we'll pop back here and get them,” finished Cadance soothingly. “It's not like forgetting the blanket would ruin everything.”

“You're right, you're right,” sighed Celestia. “I just want everything to be... perfect.”

“Trust me, I know exactly what you mean,” said Chrysalis. “But as long as there aren't any pesky ponies around to ruin things when they are going perfectly, everything will be fine. You just need to relax.”

This earned the changeling a frown from Shining Armor. “While I don't exactly agree with all of that sentiment, Chrysalis does have a point,” he said. “It's Twilight. If anyone is going to understand and accept you, it's her.”

“Thank you all, so much,” said Celestia, eyes starting to get teary. “For all your help...”

“It's what we're here for, sister,” said Luna, laying a gentle hoof on Celestia's shoulder, and they shared a quick nuzzle.

“Now, you didn't forget the book, did you?” she continued, in a teasing tone.

“Of course not! I have it right here—” Celestia stopped in mid-sentence, staring in horror at the book held in her magic's golden glow. “I-I forgot to wrap it! I've ruined everything!” She collapsed to the floor, tears starting to flow from her eyes.

“Really, sister? Really?” said Luna, rolling her eyes.

“Ugh, she's making me sad now, too,” complained Chrysalis, ears drooping. “I can taste her sadness.”

“Celestia, just go wrap it,” said Cadance, nudging her with a hoof. “We'll go on ahead and tell Twilight you just got delayed a little bit. I mean, the picnic's not going to be canceled just because you spend fifteen minutes wrapping a gift, right? For one thing, it will give us time to explain the little... addition to our family.” She gave a head nod towards the depressed changeling being comforted by Luna.

“Oh! O-of course.” Celestia stood up, shaking her head. “I'm sorry, I'm just a little bit anxious, I guess.”

“No problem,” said Cadance, moving away to stand next to the others. “We'll meet you there.”

“Goodbye!” called Celestia, waving a hoof. 

The moment they disappeared in the flash of multiple teleportation spells, she was gone, racing off into the castle. Finding the wrapping paper was easy, but finding the wrapping paper she wanted wasn't. Birthday, Hearth's Warming, even Nightmare Night papers were all present in abundance, but there was a distinct lack of 'I Want to Date You' paper.

Finally, she settled on plain brown paper wrapping tied with twine. It was efficient and practical, just the kind of thing Twilight would appreciate. Something was missing, though. Appreciate it she might, but you don't give something so plain to a pony who means so much to you.

Inspiration struck and Celestia pulled open the door to the ribbon closet. After digging herself out of the avalanche, she dove back in and swam through the pile until she found the perfect color: a shade of magenta that, to her eye, perfectly matched the brightest streak in Twilight's mane.

She twisted it around the string binding the book and held it up in front of herself. Perfect, she thought, then lit her horn and disappeared in a flash of magic.





Blinking away the residual effects of the teleportation spell, Celestia looked around and spotted the familiar figures gathered in front of Twilight's castle. Trotting forward, she opened her mouth to shout a cheerful greeting.

That greeting died in her throat, and she slowly cantered to a halt as she fully took in the scene before her.

Twilight and Chrysalis were snarling at each other, reared up onto their hind legs. Chrysalis looked merely indignant, but Twilight's face held a fury Celestia had rarely seen upon it before. Her mane and wings were larger than normal; Chrysalis's sudden appearance had, it would seem, prompted Twilight to break out the Rainbow Power.

Luna stood in front of Chrysalis, clearly pleading for reason, while Cadance was doing the same before Twilight. Both seemed to be nearly begging for their respective pony friends to calm down.

But there was no yelling, no shouting and screaming, no pleas for peace. Only silence hung over the courtyard.

All four ponies were motionless stone statues.

Slowly, Celestia began to walk forward. The wrapped book dropped from beneath her numb wing, falling unnoticed to the cobblestones. Equally unnoticed went the seven ponies and small dragon she trotted past, despite the fact that five of them were blazing with Rainbow Power.

“Um, Princess, we might have a bit of bad news for y'all...” started Applejack, rubbing the back of her head nervously. "There was sort of an incident with the Rainbow Power. See, Queen Chrysalis surprised us, and..." She trailed off as she realized the Princess wasn't paying attention to anything but the statues.

Celestia trotted up to the silent tableau before her. She went to her sister first, running a hoof sadly along the now unmoving and opaque mane. That same hoof was gently placed against the side of Cadance's stone head, and even Chrysalis got a pitying glance.

And then, finally, Celestia turned to Twilight.

For a long time it looked as though five statues stood before the palace, as Celestia stared at the pony she loved. Despite the rage on Twilight's face, despite the pit of loss Celestia could feel opening up inside herself, all she could think of was how beautiful Twilight still looked.

Movement came, after a time. At first it was her shoulders, a slight shaking. Then she raised a trembling hoof, trying to reach Twilight's face. Before she could make it, the dam finally burst. Celestia Dawnbringer, Princess of the Sun and Monarch of Equestria, threw herself at the hoof of the statue that was all that remained of her love, her crown falling from her head and tumbling away as she wept bitterly.





The wind howled through the courtyard in front of Twilight's crystal castle. At the courtyard's center stood four ponies, all royal, all frozen in a moment of time, their flesh turned to stone. And at their hooves lay the fifth monarch of Equestria, utterly despondent.

How long she lay there, Celestia never knew. She had wept for what seemed like forever, until the tears had burned hot in her eyes and finally dried up, refusing to come no matter how hard she sobbed. Her eyes, squeezed closed after she first collapsed, still stayed firmly shut, as though by not viewing the scene before her she could deny it had ever happened. Even now, driven to exhaustion by sorrow, she still tried to weep, body wracking with a few futile sobs.

The other ponies were watching her, she knew. What was left of her friends and family stood on the edge of the courtyard, a respectable distance away but still looking on, no doubt confused by the power of her emotions. They couldn't understand how she felt, what she had lost, and she wanted to scream at them to get away, to leave her alone... but even in her grief she knew not to do something so cruel and unforgivable. They had lost friends and family, and a love, as well.

Finally, though, one of them decided to come comfort her. She heard the pony's hoofsteps, metal clanging on cobblestones, and curled herself up at the foot of the statue she clung to. Viciously, she screwed her eyes shut tight, willing whoever that pony was away, but her wishes went in vain and the hoofsteps stopped next to her.

A resigned sigh came from the pony, long and ethereal, cold air blowing briefly over Celestia's back. The sound of hooves scuffling on the cobblestones came to her ears, and then suddenly the pony was sitting next to her, leaning up against her side. Celestia tried to squirm away, but the pony draped a wing over her body, pulling her close and holding her in place.

"Shh, you'll be okay," said the pony, voice echoing. A hoof stroked hesitantly at Celestia's mane, then the pony removed their hoof and began to hum instead.

Celestia found the tune to be oddly relaxing. It was an old lullaby, she realized after a moment. It was so old she marveled at the fact that anypony remembered it; she had sung it to Luna when they had been very young.

After a short while the humming faded away, as the pony noticed Celestia's crown lying upon the cobblestones.

"Well, we can't have that," the pony murmured, using their bluish-green magic to pluck the crown from its resting place. Giving it a few shakes to clear the dust and dirt from its golden surface, they moved the crown behind Celestia's horn, gently nestling it back into its rightful spot in the monarch's hair.

Something was wrong here. The clues had finally penetrated Celestia's gloom; she knew who the pony laying next to her was, but her mind was trying to reject the evidence. It was important, though, and so reluctantly she forced her eyes open.

Cobblestones were the first thing she saw, blurry in her tired eyes. She blinked a few times, getting her vision back, then turned, head still drooping down, to look at the pony next to her. When she did, her field of view—filled by that pony's body due to their proximity—went midnight black. Slowly she raised her head, and met the gaze of a pair of teal eyes with dagger-slit pupils.

“Don't you worry about a thing,” said Nightmare Moon, pointed teeth on full view as she smiled widely. “Why, with me here to help, nothing in Equestria can stop us from saving them all.”







PRINCESS CELESTIA WILL RETURN

IN

Princess Celestia and Nightmare Moon Team Up to Save Everyone