• Published 21st Sep 2013
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The Sun and the Stars: A Twilestia Prompt Collab - Fuzzyfurvert



Student and Teacher, Servant and Mistress, Citizen and Ruler, Friend and...Lover?

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123. Civilisation by Pearple Prose

***

It had been a long time since Twilight had seen the sun as it rose over the peaks of the Spindels, the mountains that straddled the borders of Equestria. So long, in fact, that she stopped, and looked, and let her mouth fall open slightly in shock, for the first time in...

How long had it been? How long since she'd experienced something as mundane as awe at a sight yet unseen?

The rays of light struck the razor peaks just so, creating the silhouette of the clawed hand of an ancient beast reaching up towards the sun.

A rare smile split Twilight's wrinkled lips. Too long.

A rich voice spoke from beside her, echoing throughout the valley. "Oh? What's that I see on Her Royal Visage? Could it be...?"

In all the centuries she'd lived, Twilight swore that Celestia hadn't changed a bit. Sure, her ethereal mane was done up in a simple braid instead of flowing freely as it had, and sure, her crown and vestments had been abandoned in favour of a travelling cloak and saddlebags, but, as ever, her pearly white coat remained pearly white, and her beautiful magenta eyes still held that damned look of irrepressible good cheer.

And to her eternal irritation, the smile just wouldn't leave Twilight's face.

Celestia grinned at her. "By the gods, it is."

"Shut up," Twilight huffed. She attempted to march off up the dirt track with her usual grumpy efficiency, and to her horror, she found a spring in her step.

There was a loud 'pffft' from behind her. "I swear, you look like a little unicorn mare again. Impressive."

"Or maybe," Twilight said, stopping to check her bob, "you're trying to get me to brighten up. Which is more likely?"

"Oh, I don't know." That damned grin. "Miracles can happen."

Twilight thumped her staff into the dirt. "So is this the only reason you brought me on this little sojourn of yours? As a foolish attempt to 'remove the stick up my plot'?"

"Maybe," Celestia said dismissively, checking her hoof idly.

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "I think you underestimate just how far the stick is buried, Tia."

Celestia smirked. "Oh, I don't know. You've always been damn good at clenching."

The two stared at one another. Then they fell into each other's arms, laughing so hard there were tears in their eyes.

It had been a while since Twilight had laughed like that. After expelling centuries worth of pent-up mirth in one giggling wheeze, she found herself lying in the mud, her bob undone and her old, faithful robe sullied. She turned, just as Celestia did, and the two looked at each other.

Celestia's eyes crinkled, and a spark of gentle maternity returned to those eldritch eyes. "It has been so very long, my dear."

Twilight's smile came easier this time. "Mmm," she hummed.

The two pulled themselves to their hooves. The relaxed air became somewhat brittle once more, and Twilight looked at Celestia with a serious edge as sharp as the peaks before them.

"Really, now. Why did you bring us here?"

"Quite simple." Celestia, for her part, simply pointed at the sprawling metropolis of Canterlot, far off on the horizon. "What do you suppose lives there, Twilight?"

Twilight's brow raised once more. "An enormous amount of paperwork. Speaking of–"

Celestia snorted. "One can only do paperwork for so many centuries, Twilight darling. Even you." She sighed, and Twilight could feel the exhaustion that went with it. "But really, now. Ponies. Civilisation. Have you not felt a little... Overwhelmed?"

Overwhelmed? Overwhelmed implied she was being swamped. Outdone. Overtaxed.

"Nothing I can't handle," Twilight's smile had vanished into stoney purgatory, once again. "Now, if that was all..." She turned away from Celestia, unfurling her wings and preparing to take flight.

"Twilight Sparkle."

Twilight froze, and immediately hated herself – hated Celestia – for doing so. "What?" she barked, glaring at that beautiful white alicorn, the one that had been there, just behind her, for so very long indeed. "If you haven't noticed, I do not have the time to go off on flights of fancy with you. My ponies need me."

"Do they?"

Twilight froze again. "What do you mean?"

Celestia looked at her now, and Twilight recalled her age, and just how many zeroes it featured. "Ask yourself. Do they need you? Do you need them? Or do they overwhelm you? Do they march ahead of you, into the future?"

Overwhelm. Implied that she was vulnerable. Weak.

Princess Twilight Sparkle, Archmage of Harmony, was not weak.

But she was not strong enough to answer that question.

She looked away, and heard the beating of hooves as that insufferable mare walked closer. "Face it. You're old, Twilight. A relic of the past. You are an alicorn. They don't need you, not anymore."

A familiar white wing swept Twilight up into a hug. How long had they been the same height, now?

"And nor you them. It's time, Twilight. Time to move on."

Twilight looked at Celestia. Then she looked back at Canterlot, at the centre of civilisation, the civilisation that marched forever onwards.

And she looked forward, towards the Spindels, at the path that led beyond this continent, beyond all that she knew.

"We've known each other a long, long time, Tia," Twilight said. "And we've had our disagreements over things. Some of them small. Some of them... rather large. But..."

Twilight reached up with a hoof and, slowly, undid her bob. Her mane fell across her face, and Celestia gasped in wonder at the hues of dawn and the stars that sparkled within its lustrous curls.

Twilight the Alicorn looked at Celestia, at the mare that, for so many years, had stood beyond her, leading the way.

"You know, I never liked that stick up my butt anyway." Twilight smiled.

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