//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: A Changeling Heart // by Rocket Lawn Chair //------------------------------// *** A slow procession of grey daylight slid through the curtains, lighting the room in an overall quality of gloominess that would be better reserved for a rainy day. The window was open, letting fresh air spill in, rustling the curtains with a sweet hint of lilacs and freshly-mowed grass. Twilight awoke to the outside smells, and remembered that Saturday was usually when the gardening was done around the castle. She tried sitting upright in her bed, and found that she couldn’t, even in spite of the enormous mountain of clean pillows that had been propped beneath her; they seemed more apt to absorb her body than support it. Celestia and Luna were sleeping beside the bed. Celestia had her hoof next to Twilight’s side. Twilight smiled and lightly touched Celestia’s hoof. “Hey, I’m awake,” she said weakly. Celestia snorted and stirred. Her flowing mane appeared tarnished and unkempt, as though it hadn’t seen a decent shower in a few moons. Her face instantly lit up when she saw Twilight, still feeble but alive. “Oh!”she gasped, then flung herself upon Twilight. She suddenly sat back and hesitated. “Oh, s-sorry, couldn’t help myself. Too much?” she stammered. Twilight shook her head stiffly, shifting her position upright as best she could. “Nah, go for it. My body doesn’t feel sore everywhere,” she chuckled, then winced as Celestia wrapped her hooves around her and kissed her deeply on the forehead. “Good,” asserted Celestia. “Because I’m just going to keep doing this until you feel better, and there’s nothing you can do about it.” “Just what the doctor ordered,” replied Twilight. “I’ve missed you so much, Celly.” “We’ve missed you too, Twilight,” yawned Luna, who’d just awoken. She smiled. “It seems like you had quite an adventure with Alya.” “I…..We did,” said Twilight, her face suddenly downcast. Slowly she looked over to Celestia with tears in her eyes. It was wonderful, and very confusing, finally seeing her wife again after so long, and realizing she probably hated Twilight for what she had tried to do. “Celly, I…..I just want you to know…..there aren’t enough words…..you deserve so much more than an apology. At least an explanation.” “Knowing that you two are safe with me is enough for now,” Celestia replied, tears forming in her own eyes, and she squeezed even tighter. “Mmm, feels like a lifetime since I hugged you.” For the moment Twilight felt a wash of relief with Celestia’s forelegs so warmly wrapped around her, sore as she may be. She couldn’t deny, however, that she didn’t know quite what to tell her wife and sister once she’d returned to Canterlot. The truth, obviously—but hadn’t they already figured that out? Would it bring more consolation to hear it from Twilight’s own mouth, or just more discomfort? She put her hooves around Celestia. “You’ve no idea how much I’ve missed you—and Alya….” she trailed off. “Where is Alya?” “With her nurse, Maybel,” answered Luna. “Would you like me to bring her in?” “Yes, please.” “Good. Be back in a jiffy.” “And Luna? One more thing?” Luna paused at the door. “Yes, Twilight?” Twilight thought for a moment. “Could you, umm, not tell Alya that I’m awake? Don’t want to spoil the surprise for her.” Luna smiled and nodded. “I’ll figure out some excuse.” Then she left, closing the door behind her. The room was silent for several moments while the two ponies remained alone together, hugging each other for the first time in what had felt like years. For Twilight it felt much longer, like she’d been to the edge of the universe and turned back at the very last moment. She shuddered as Celestia gently caressed her mane. At last she could feel Celestia’s hooves again, no longer cold and unfamiliar, but like a kiss of sunshine on a summer afternoon. With all her heart she wanted to take all her feelings and put them into the perfect words, let Celestia know how sorry she was and how much she loved her. It took her a very long time to find what she wanted to say. “Your mane smells good,” she said at last Celestia laughed. “Recognize this smell?” she said. Twilight sighed and buried her face deeper into Celestia’s mane, that glittering playground of silky textures and stunning auroras. Celestia still hadn’t told Twilight the trick she used to make it so wavy and flowing all the time, like it was caught in a perpetual photogenic breeze. “You must be using that sunblossom-scented shampoo I got you for our anniversary a few months ago. Didn’t think you liked it. Wasn’t the smell too fake for you or something?” “It grew on me,” said Celestia. Twilight took a deep breath. She felt faint all of a sudden, like she was about to vanish right out of the pillows. “Whatever you think—think of me,” she said, staggering like she was out of breath, “I certainly deserve it. But please, don’t ever think that what I did was your fault for any reason. It was selfish of me to think that I knew what was best for the two of us, and what was best for Alya.” “I can’t blame anypony,” said Celesia, “not that I want to anyway. I don’t care about what happened then, only what’s going to happen now. I look forward to our future as a family, and I love you and Alya, no matter what.” Twilight’s face fell, then she broke into fresh tears, which caused Celestia to be taken aback. Twilight knew all this, even without Celestia saying it out loud, and it was exactly what she needed to hear. Yet, after all she had done to make it look like she had hated their daughter, she worried that Celestia might be making some kind of mistake. “You’re way too good to me, you know?” she sobbed into Celestia’s shoulder. “Comes with the territory, I’m afraid,” replied Celestia, chortling a little. “Aren’t you worried that I’ll—you know—slip up again?” Then Celestia laughed a trickling laugh that felt like warm raindrops against Twilight’s ears. “Hah! I think you need a little lesson in love, my ‘star student!’” she said. “I’ll always be worried about you, I can’t help that. I’ll be worried if you’re safe when you’re off protecting Equestria from some world-consuming evil. I’ll be worried when you storm in from a tough day and say that ‘Everything’s fine.’ I’ll worry about you when you cry in your nightmares, and I’ll worry about you when you leave and I don’t know to where. I worry so much, that I don’t know what I’d do without you, Twilight!” There was a knock at the door. Celestia rose from the bed. She strode across the room to the door, and held her hoof on the handle. “But,” she added with a wink, “did I worry that you would stop loving Alya—or me? Never. I knew you couldn’t give up on us that easily. It’s not in love’s nature to give up.” She opened the door. Luna stepped through, then Alya a moment later. If I could put into words the feeling of fresh morning dew on your legs that’s not too cold, or the sensation of wind through your feathers the very first time you fly, or the smell of home-baked apple pie in the kitchen that makes you realize it’s finally Hearth’s Warming Eve, then I would. However, those experiences are very unique to you, and I very much hope that you have them some day. But, if I was able to take those glorious feelings and wrap them up into a joyful little bundle bursting inside a tiny changeling’s body, then you would be halfway to understanding how Alya felt upon seeing her mother, alive and well. Twilight had at least all these feelings when she saw her daughter, and for a beautifully fleeting moment, wondered how she’d ever forgotten them.