Chapter IV: Enough
Chapter IV: Enough
“This is a joke, right?” Flash wasn’t smiling as he looked back and forth between the two alicorns who were also not smiling.
Princess Celestia was known for being a bit puckish, but her pranks were usually harmless. No, they were always harmless. Flash couldn’t imagine that this was the type of joke that she would play on him, yet he was desperately hoping that she had somehow turned evil. Yes, that would be a net benefit, for the world to fall into a perpetual tyranny of sunlight, if what the sun goddess had just told him was a horrible, cruel joke.
But nopony was laughing. Twilight Sparkle’s silence filled the claustrophobically large room. Flash wasn’t even sure that she was breathing. She hadn’t lifted her head since Princess Celestia had looked inside Flash’s mind. He wished he could see her eyes, he wished that he could leave his seat and comfort her, talk to her, tell her everything was going to be okay.
The cheerfully stoic Princess Celestia was waiting out Flash’s panic attack with a concerned smile that conveyed amusement and a bit of disappointment, but more pity than anything else. The tough guard pegasus was doing his best to avoid whimpering as he shut his eyes and counted the beats of his heart. After he had subdued his pulse enough to vocalize the questions that had been rattling around in his head, they all came out at once.
“Sh-She… How… We-we never—” Princess Celestia held up a hoof to stop the stream of stuttered half-questions.
She actually chuckled. “Countless ponies throughout history have asked those questions. The answer to the ‘how’ is the same as it always was. However,” the elder princess turned her head to look disapprovingly at the younger princess, “princesses are necessarily held to a higher standard than the countless ponies.”
Twilight gave a single, shuddering sob, and Flash winced along with her. He felt pain at the furrowed brow, narrowed eyes, and tight frown that Twilight was ignoring. Even those midnight bangs could not shield her from the shining disapproval of the sun. She undoubtedly felt that gaze penetrating all her defenses and searing into her soul.
A late night campfire and some painfully introspective honesty on Flash’s part had at one point encouraged Twilight to be honest about the single most horrifying moment in her life. She and Flash had both faced deadly monsters, and Twilight had saved all of Equestria from apocalyptic villains on several occasions, but none of that had traumatized her.
King Sombra’s door protection spell was a cruel one, and up till that camping trip Twilight had only ever shared its effects with her assistant Spike and — of course — Princess Celestia. ‘Your worst fears, come true.’ Twilight didn’t say what Spike’s fear was, but her own terror was coming true again right now; only it wasn’t a magical deception that could be broken by a friend shouting one’s name, or a nightmare from which one could be rescued by the benevolent princess of the night.
Princess Celestia spoke again to the wordless couple. “Now, I know that modern sensibilities have changed what is acceptable for normal ponies.” She paused briefly to glance at Flash and back again. “Twilight Sparkle, you and I are not normal ponies.” Twilight’s wings twitched, the tips curling underneath as if trying to hide themselves from the world, and more importantly from her. If Princess Celestia noticed the movement, she gave no indication. “You seem to be two months along. Is that about right, Twilight?”
If Twilight responded to that, it was drowned out by Flash’s own outburst. “Two months? That’s after we got engaged. Th-that means…” Flash’s voice left him when the rest of his breath did.
Princess Celestia nodded, in the way that ponies nod when they agree that you think you have a valid point but they’re about to tell you why you’re wrong. “The fact that you were engaged when it happened might ameliorate the issue somewhat, if you were engaged to a normal pony. Even a more traditional family might overlook this sort of indiscretion for an engaged couple, but for a princess who must bear the responsibility of leadership? That requires a great deal of self-discipline.”
Turning again to address her protégée, the stately alicorn continued in a painfully patronizing tone. “Twilight, even in your short tenure as princess, there has been more than one time that both my sister and I were incapacitated. In an extended emergency, you might need to control both the sun and the moon for some time. A princess with that much power cannot allow herself to fall victim to her passion.”
Flash Sentry had only been half-listening. His ears were ringing and the room was spinning around his head almost as fast as the questions were spinning around inside his head. He had been a perfect gentlecolt. Princess Celestia was right; there was only one ‘how’ that a mare could get pregnant, and they hadn’t done that. At least he hadn’t. Apparently she had. After she told him yes. What other secrets was she keeping? Twilight Sparkle had agreed to spend the rest of her life with him, to start a family with him. And after she agreed to this, she had been with another stallion.
But what Princess Celestia said next was enough to lift that train of thought right off of the rails. “I’m sorry Twilight Sparkle, but for this type of indiscretion, you will abdicate. Furthermore, you will be reverted to your original unicorn body.” The calm evenness of her voice only reinforced the authority it carried.
Flash could no longer prevent himself from whimpering. He had been injured in training, and once in battle, but Velvet was right when she had said that what hurts the pony you love hurts you even more. Perhaps he and Twilight could work out whatever mistakes were made, he was hopeful about that, but what Princess Celestia was doing to Twilight right now, that was going to devastate her.
Before Flash could stew too much, Princess Celestia turned to face him. Flash recoiled from the benevolent ruler as if her gently billowing pastel mane had become a mass of venomous serpents. She looked genuinely apologetic, and if her speech to Twilight Sparkle had been any indication of what was in store for him, then he was truly terrified of any pronouncement for which she could be apologetic.
“Flash Sentry, had your fiancée had been any other pony, this would be unnecessary. For defiling a princess, you will be discharged from the guard, with none of the honors or benefits to which you would be otherwise entitled.” She paused for a moment, putting on her disapproving face again. “You were in Princess Cadance’s personal guard, and you knew what was expected of you in your relationship with Princess Twilight.”
And with that, Flash’s train of thought was back on course, and sparking down the track fast enough it didn’t matter that it was moving sideways. Princess Celestia narrowed one eye and pinched her eyebrows together as she watched the pegasus open and close his mouth like a fish, confusion as evident on his face as shame was on Twilight’s sagging head.
There wasn’t much that dawned on the princess who raised the sun, but if there had been anypony in the room who wasn’t in the midst of a life crisis, it would have been easy to pinpoint the moment when it happened. Her eyes widened as she pulled her head backward, silently mouthing the word ‘oh.’
Taking a moment to straighten her posture and blinking several times with raised eyebrows, Princess Celestia turned her eyes down to her student, seeing her in a new light. She cleared her throat and suppressed a sigh. “There are many…” She cleared her throat again, speaking with an unsteady rhythm and inconsistent pitch that made her statement almost sound like a question. “Some ponies choose to… overlook an indiscretion for the benefit of their new family.”
Blood rushed in Flash’s ears, drowning out all other noise until Twilight let loose a single, quiet sob whose echoes made Flash realize how silent the room had truly been. He dragged his gaze over to his left and watched as Twilight began trembling.
Seeing the way his shoulders slumped to match Twilight’s, Princess Celestia softened her posture. “Flash, nopony would blame you if you chose not to claim another stallion’s foal as your own. You would be reinstated in your old position in Princess Cadance’s personal guard, unless working so closely with Twilight’s brother would make you uncomfortable. I believe that you have shown enough personal integrity that I could promote you to an equivalent position in my own guard.
“Unfortunately, public knowledge of Twilight’s more egregious indiscretion means that her punishment must be somewhat more severe. Such infidelity on the part of a princess would require her to spend a year in the dungeon, in addition to her abdication and descension. The foal would of course become a ward of the state, as the father is obviously untrustworthy.”
Before the princess had finished her explanation, Flash was already flaring his nostrils and shaking his head. “No. I won’t let Twilight be locked up. I… I still love her. I can’t let you do that.”
Twilight’s ears perked up at that comment, and her wings relaxed enough to lay smoothly against her side. She still did not raise her head, though Flash imagined that her eyes shifted in his direction.
Flash remembered buying a sword immediately after he signed up for the guard. He had thought it would be a good idea to become familiar with the feel of a blade under his wing before he embarrassed himself in front of the other recruits. Instead, he had stabbed himself in the back of his foreleg. It was nothing life-threatening, but he had needed stitches. The most painful part of the experience was not the steel edge separating his muscle tissue, nor the blade twisting in his flesh as the grip fell to the ground. The worst pain was knowing that it was his own damn fault that he had hurt himself.
And now he was turning down a promotion, and getting himself fired, just to protect the mare who had betrayed him? He just stabbed himself in the leg all over again. Why? Why would he do that?
Because he loved her.
He remembered all the things that Twilight Velvet and Night Light had said about love. He could see himself and Rainbow Dash, watching the sunset together while reclining on a flaming orange cloud, discussing what it means to be loyal. He recalled the early morning sun peeking through a window as a weary crew of ponies assisted a haggard seamstress who mistakenly overcommitted. Flash also remembered a pony who gave up on love, crawling into her own little glass prison.
No, he wasn’t going to give up on love.
“Princess Luna didn’t lose her wings.”
Even if he had to anger the sun goddess to fight for his princess.
Head-on, just like any other problem in his life. He lifted himself to a standing position, kicked away the comfort of the soft warm cushion from underneath himself, and rooted all four hooves on the floor. As Flash lowered his head and narrowed his eyes, Princess Celestia screwed her mouth into a thoughtful frown. After a few moments of staring down the tiny pegasus, she inhaled sharply through her flaring nostrils, and spoke very slowly.
“My sister had millennia of responsible rule to her credit before her ‘indiscretion.’ Twilight Sparkle fell to her own passions a few paltry years after her coronation. My sister was banished to the moon for a thousand years. Would you prefer for Twilight to watch from a distance while all of her friends die of old age?”
Flash deflated, his anger turned inward as he remembered that Princess Celestia was perhaps the one pony who loved Twilight Sparkle as much as he did. He sank lower and lower to the floor as she lectured, until his belly was pressed against the cold marble floor. Although his ears were flat against the back of his neck, he had no trouble hearing the quiet anger in the alicorn’s voice.
“Or maybe I should turn her to stone? Banish her to the arctic ice?” Princess Celestia returned to a sitting position and took a deep breath, releasing it slowly. She closed her eyes, and when she reopened them, she was again wearing the regal smile that Flash was beginning to despise. “Flash Sentry, I care a great deal for Twilight. She is my most… She is my beloved student. I cannot allow her to remain a princess, but I can give her back the life she enjoyed as a librarian, surrounded by her friends.”
Twilight’s ears perked up at the last part, and she raised her head, sniffling. Although still trembling, she managed to look up at her mentor, who benevolently smiled down at her. Flash raised himself to a sitting position on the floor and leaned forward in an attempt to make eye contact with Twilight, but the best he could achieve was being able to see the tear-stained corner of one eye.
Princess Celestia addressed the pony who had been silent for so long. “Twilight Sparkle, you have learned a great deal since you moved to Ponyville. I want to give you a second chance, because I know for absolute certain that you will continue to learn and grow. Some day, you may grow to be the pony that I had thought you were.”
Upon hearing those last five words, Twilight broke down again, this time collapsing onto her seat cushion and curling into a ball, covering her face with her wings. Her unrestrained sobs were directed into the red velvet cushion, but they still echoed loudly around the room, wounding Flash with each trip between the walls.
Flash saw Princess Celestia looking briefly down at her gold-shod hooves, noticing that she did not completely avoid being injured by the sharp cries. She looked back up with moist eyes that betrayed her unwavering voice. “Flash Sentry, your future and hers are both determined by your answer to this question. Is Twilight carrying your foal?”
This was the part that was going to hurt. He had already been wounded by her, and it would be a long time before he would even know the extent of the damage, but now he had to choose how to wound her. Flash shuffled his hooves, trying to think of any decision that was more than refusing to make a decision.
Princess Celestia stomped one hoof, the brass shoe ringing clearly and pulling Flash’s attention up toward her ancient, hardened eyes. She ignored Twilight’s continued whimpering and spoke words like a brick wall. “Twilight Sparkle has disrespected herself, the nation of Equestria, and you. As harsh as it may sound, her choices led to the situation she is in now, and there are consequences to her choices.” Letting her pristine white shoulders droop slightly, she relaxed her brow and burned through Flash’s soul with gentle eyes. “You are in the unique position to lighten her punishment, should you still love her.”
Flash sat up straight, steeling himself for the pronouncement he was about to deliver. Blinking away the tears as fast as they were produced, he summoned his stiffest military bearing. “I demand to accept Twilight’s punishment in her place.” Keeping his eyes forward, he put every ounce of his will into not looking toward Twilight.
The princess gave that damned smile again, softly replying, “I’m afraid that is not how this works.”
He had expected that. “You said that her choices have consequences. What if she did not have a choice in the matter? Her pregnancy was the result of my choice, without her consent. She would not be punished, correct?”
Princess Celestia froze. Her face decayed into a paler shade of white as she began to understand what Flash Sentry had proposed. Her wings twitched as her heart wavered between anger, pity, and awe. “We all know that is not what happened. Even if you wish to confess to such a heinous crime, that does not change the fact that Twilight lacks the self control to rule Equestria.”
“You said you wanted to give her a second chance. Give her a chance to grow and learn, without taking away her wings or shaming her in front of the world. Take my wings instead, and throw me in the dungeon.”
The elder princess was genuinely confused, taking several moments to collect her thoughts as she squinted at the stallion who was standing rigidly at attention, eyes locked forward as if he had just refused a blindfold before the firing squad. Princess Celestia squeezed her eyes closed and reached up to massage her forehead with one hoof, inhaling for a long-winded speech. “Why…” She opened her eyes and dumped the rest of her speech along with the contents of her lungs, then continued. “Flash Sentry, you could have a promising career and a chance to find another special somepony, or you could have a quiet life with the mare you love.”
“I could let you send her to a dungeon cell for a year, only for her to return to her friends and family a shameful and broken shadow of the magnificent creature I asked to marry me. Or, I could claim another stallion’s foal as my own, and pretend that we’re a happy family. She would be stuck with me, not because she loves me, but because I kept her out of the dungeon. I don’t think Twilight can ever have happiness with either of those two options. So I know that I can’t.”
Flash was doing all he could to keep his voice level, though he couldn’t stop his eyes from watering. “But I can give her a chance to be happy; a chance to keep her wings, be with somepony she loves, and forget about me.”
Standing up and taking two steps to stand before Flash, Princess Celestia was the first pony to move since the conversation had started. She leaned down to look him face-to-face, then smiled, gently and lopsided, putting both her eyes and her whole heart into it. Flash wondered if she had ever been a mother, and if this was how a mother was supposed to make a pony feel.
She placed one wing on his shoulder. “The way a pony treats those who have hurt him speaks a great deal about his character.” Bringing up her other wing to bracket his shoulders, she pleaded with him, “But Flash, this is not the ancient sea; you do not have to go down with the ship. I know that you are very hurt right now, but this is a decision that needs to be made with logic, not emotion.”
Flash looked at his hooves and blushed. “I, uh, I actually made a decision matrix in my head.” Twilight snorted a quick laugh, then buried her face in the pillow again. Flash didn’t turn his head, but his ears twitched and he almost grinned. “All three options end up with me being unhappy. Options one and two make Twilight unhappy. Only option three gives Twilight a chance to be happy.”
“Why does her happiness matter so much to you?”
“I. Love. Her.”
“She has violated your trust. She must be punished.”
“What?” Flash couldn’t believe what he was hearing. She was definitely not acting like herself. He could only stammer a reply. “You don’t… You can’t… A relationship isn’t about punishing, it’s about, well, love. And stuff.” Calming himself for a few seconds, he thought back to Night Light and Twilight Velvet. “It’s about putting her happiness above my own.”
Princess Celestia grew a motherly smile, sighed, and leaned back to sit up straight again. “That is true, my little pony, but what you propose is not a relationship.” The motherly quality of the look remained, but it was no longer a smile. “Your confession would be more akin to suicide.”
Flash looked down at the floor, pulled his shoulders back, and resumed his forward gaze as the princess continued her lecture. “Such a horrifically violent crime is nearly unheard of in Equestria. And there has never been one recorded against a princess. You wanted to accept Twilight’s punishment in her place, but the punishment for this crime would be far more severe than for her crime.”
Squeezing his eyes shut and grinding his teeth, Flash listened to Princess Celestia’s sentence. “In addition to losing your wings, you would become a permanent resident of the dungeon.”
He thought of all the things he would lose: his friends, his family, his career, his love. Essentially all of his friends were her friends or family, and at this point were already lost to him. His family had been lost before he met Twilight. And his career was either working for her brother or working for her mentor. He had nothing in this life except for Twilight, and he’d lost her before he ever had her.
There wasn’t much he would actually be giving up. “I understand.”
Princess Celestia quietly mumbled, “Very well.” She then took a few steps backward and settled back into her regal demeanor as a pair of unicorn guards quickly shuffled in to stand at her sides. They glanced down at the purple princess curled up on a tear-soaked pillow, and then to their fellow guard stallion who was standing at attention but breathing in panicked gasps. Their confusion was evident as they looked to their princess for the reason they had been summoned.
In her official voice, the regent of Equestria announced to all present, “Flash Sentry, for the crime in question, your sentence shall be the loss of your wings, and permanent imprisonment in the dungeon.”
The unicorn guards shot each other identical looks, and immediately marched over to Flash, standing imposingly close to him on either side. Trembling, Flash realized that even if he were to turn his head to try and see Twilight, he wouldn’t be able to get a glimpse of her around the gold-armored unicorn who was glaring at him.
Princess Celestia looked directly at Flash with ice-cold eyes, and seemed to grow taller, filling up the entire parlor. The terrified pegasus recalled stories of explorers who had become trapped under a falling boulder or log, and were forced to cut off a limb to escape. He wondered if he would be able to maintain his resolve if the princess took any longer to ask the question.
She took one more deep breath, and asked the question. “Do you confess?”
Flash gulped one time, licked his lips, and returned her cold gaze. “I do.”
Princess Celestia smiled. A genuine, happy smile. Her shoulders relaxed with relief, and she released the breath she had been holding. For an instant, Flash thought she might hug him. Before his confusion could rise past the level of his panic, she said, “So be it.”
The instant those words had left her mouth, the princess disappeared. The room shrank and retreated from Flash’s senses. The world bowed and spun, shuddering, causing ripples in the walls of solid marble as Flash fought back the bile rising in his throat. The unicorn guards, unfazed by Celestia’s abrupt teleportation, placed a sturdy canvas wing wrap around his chest, securing it with their magic before pulling him toward the door.
He walked willingly, as well as he was able in the spinning room. As he was turning the corner, he realized that there was nothing left for him, no reason for him to look back. He looked back anyway. Twilight didn’t even glance in his direction.
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This had better be a test. That is low. Really Really Low.
I think it was an elaborate test. 1. It is not in Twilight's character to cheat or sleep around. 2 there is no way with how seriously Twilight takes her responsibilities to consider that option. 3. Celestia's proposed punishment seems extremely aimed at punishing Twilight and letting Flash keep his "honor" which means Celestia was seeing if Flash would continue to love a pony who had both cheated and been demoted. 4. I have a sneaking suspicion that since the writer mentioned Sombra and his "Door of Fear" when Flash "left" the room to give them privacy, the door activated not to project Flash's personal fears, but to create the scene we just saw. 5. I would understand completely if Flash grew angry after this test. 6. If this post contains too many spoilers, the writer is encouraged to delete this post.
4175303
You certainly have some interesting theories.
This story feels all timey wimey. So.......I think Twilight really is pregnant and I blame Dr. Hooves. See after Flash proposes Twilight starts traveling with Dr. Hooves. They could have traveled together for a really long time since Twilight is immortal and wouldn't really age. They developed feelings for each other even possibly married thus Twilight is pregnant. When she returned to the time she left her and Flash were about to meet with Princess Celestia so Twilight didn't have any time to explain what had happened.
4175971
25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lthph6HaFU1qdmzwao1_500.jpg
How long were we standing outside? This fic has me on the edge of my seat.
While that would certainly send this fic down a dark and "interesting" route, I can't quite imagine Twilight cheating on Flash and sleeping around. As such, I am inclined to believe this is "probably" some sort of a test, however it is being brought around (an illusion of some sort perhaps, as I can't quite imagine Twilight playing along with this charade).
One thing I am very interested in, however, is - what consequences is Celestia going to face after all is said and done? Because by no reasonable measure does she have the right to be putting Flash (and Twilight) through all this crap, and a mere apology isn't going to cut it. The very least she deserves is a hoof to the eye and to lose Twilight's trust and respect for all of foreseeable future. Indeed, the price Celestia is going to have to pay (and it better be real and bite deep) for all that is happening is probably the biggest question I want to see answered at this point.
4193013 That does seem to be a popular theory (although, apparently, there is a competing Doctor Whooves theory
), though it does seem like you have to make a choice between Twilight being unfaithful ('Twilight is really pregnant' theory), or Celestia being cruel ('Celestia is testing Flash' theory).
In any case, somepony is going to have to deal with consequences.
Holy crap.
I didn't know what to expect from the summary (which I'm pretty sure has been expanded since I added this story to my Read Later list), but it wasn't this.
I thought I could get fully caught up on this one tonight (the other fics high up on my list are both over 100K words), but now I think I have to cool off, if I even continue reading from here. Frankly, I enjoy the ambiguity of the situation a little too much ((1)if this is for real, we need to know who the heck was capable of seducing Twilight (2)we still don't know what the point was of Celestia's spell last chapter- I assumed at the time it was checking Flash's memories to confirm whether or not he and Twilight had made love, but no, apparently not if it took seeing Flash all shell-shocked to clue her in). Certainly Celestia suddenly being all “She has violated your trust. She must be punished.” seemed a bit suspicious.
I will say that you did a fantastic job of fleshing out Flash's POV; it only occurs to me now that this is actually the first fic I've read with him as a central character. The domestic scenes were hilarious, too. So, don't misunderstand my rant there, this isn't even close to a bad fic, just... odd.
4675652 You are correct, I did re-write the description quite recently. Mostly because of well-reasoned comments from those who stuck with it.
And yes, you are correct, that was a particularly uncharacteristic thing for Celestia to say. If you do continue on, you can re-read this chapter and everything will make perfect sense.
Thanks for reading!
Ok, you've managed to write so OOC that it hurts
For now, I give a downvote
5151888 Yep.
Did not see that coming.
Any of it.
Total blindside.
Next chapter. After lunch. I love me a good cliff hanger while I eat. Gives my brain something to chew on.
Oh shut up, princess! Luna tried to overthrow the frickin' country—twice! Her crime was infinitely worse, and she didn't even really get punished the second time around!
Your argument is like saying "Well, you've worked as a very friendly kindergarten teacher for ten years, so let's ignore this one knifing a five year old, alright?"
Anyway, it's probably not really happening. Celestia probably zapped him with a nightmare spell like Sombra used.
Because if she really read his memories, why would she assume he knocked up Twilight when he can't remember doing that? She would've seen that he can't.
6054760
6054767 That's... a very interesting way you worded that. Rather than saying, "he didn't," you said, "he can't remember." That's... odd.
Well, this chapter has been one hell of a ride through emotional hell. My feels can be found here. It is quite accurate. media.giphy.com/media/11a7Ty4OHMvouQ/giphy.gif
You actually fleshed out Flash well, had me invested, and to be honest, with the canon weirdness and vacuousness of the Twilight Flash thing I was half expecting something bizarrely meta or him discovering he was the second choice thing to human Flash. Heck, even changelings! Not this! Gonna be brutally honest and admit I cried. over a character I never thought I would care about.
well then
The cheerfully stoic Princess Celestia was waiting out Flash’s panic attack with a concerned smile that conveyed amusement and a bit of disappointment, but more pity than anything else.
-This is where it occurred to me that she could be lying to test his resolve too... Actually, now that I think of it, maybe Twilight ended up in a political situation where the only way to save thousands of lives was to bend to the seduction of a visiting diplomat. I could see her making that sacrifice... not using a contraception spell, at least secretly would seem less likely... maybe she intentionally never learned any before that so she wouldn't be as tempted with him?
“Sh-She… How… We-we never—”
-I am very relieved!
The answer to the ‘how’ is the same as it always was.
-So much for some of my theories... yay for narrowing the field! I just sincerely hope that "We never" is "we never had sex" and not "we never had sex without precautions"...
‘Your worst fears, come true.’ Twilight didn’t say what Spike’s fear was, but her own terror was coming true again right now;
-Oh dear... I'm still holding out faint hope that this was all an ill-thought-out sacrifice on her part, but it is a very faint hope. I'm thinking she cheated on him, as unlikely as that seems.
“Now, I know that modern sensibilities have changed what is acceptable for normal ponies.”
-Seems a bit of a cop-out from the standard I was hoping this story was going to cling to, but I'll take what I can get.
In an extended emergency, you might need to control both the sun and the moon for some time. A princess with that much power cannot allow herself to fall victim to her passion.
So... she can't become pregnant lest she lack the power to serve as a back-up for the Sisters? Or she just needs to arrange it in advance so that other measures can be taken to account for it? Because she HAS that power, regardless of if she is ever called upon to use it. Unless it means political power rather than magical power, but the mention of sun and moon would tend to argue against that interpretation.
-
there was only one ‘how’ that a mare could get pregnant, and they hadn’t done that.
-This relieve me. This can definitely be a story about returning from a fall from grace (just like the first two episodes of the series were). I wonder if SHE will be expected to surrender HER wings to marry him? Or have the foal secretly and give it up? The first could make this into an "all just a dream" test of if he values her love or her life more if it is revealed that she is immortal.
“I’m sorry Twilight Sparkle, but for this type of indiscretion, you will abdicate. Furthermore, you will be reverted to your original unicorn body.”
-Well, that is that... I guess this still could lead into the "her love or her life" test if this turns out to be all in his head... or just a test of if he would still love her if she were in great disgrace and stripped of most of the things that would make her attractive to a status-seeker.
For defiling a princess, you will be discharged from the guard, with none of the honors or benefits to which you would be otherwise entitled.”
-What, no trial? Yeah, this has GOT to be all in his head... either that or a changeling impersonated him (and probably used mind-control on her) just to set this whole thing up.
Her eyes widened as she pulled her head backward, silently mouthing the word ‘oh.’
-"Oh." Indeed! Well, that makes me think a lot more of her, although she did still jump the gun a bit.
“Flash, nopony would blame you if you chose not to claim another stallion’s foal as your own. You would be reinstated in your old position in Princess Cadance’s personal guard, unless working so closely with Twilight’s brother would make you uncomfortable. I believe that you have shown enough personal integrity that I could promote you to an equivalent position in my own guard.
-Making this conditional on his rejecting her seems wrong.
“Unfortunately, public knowledge of Twilight’s more egregious indiscretion means that her punishment must be somewhat more severe. Such infidelity on the part of a princess would require her to spend a year in the dungeon, in addition to her abdication and descension. The foal would of course become a ward of the state, as the father is obviously untrustworthy.”
-Yeah, more and more evidence piling up for my theory. Of course, I could be wrong and that is just the moral of the story to the readers, rather than something that Celestia is creating.
Flash also remembered a pony who gave up on love, crawling into her own little glass prison.
-Is this story set in some pre-existing story universe or is this from an episode I missed? A comic perhaps? I would guess "The Glass Princess" from Generation 1, but I don't think romance was part of that plot.
“Princess Luna didn’t lose her wings.”
Even if he had to anger the sun goddess to fight for his princess.
-Didn't think of that angle, and it works... I do wonder if the stories title refers to the length of the banishment she will endure, and which he will wait for her over, or even go with her on? Also, while it would make the title a big spoiler, I could see them only being told at the END of the decade that the loss of her wings and/or their confinement was temporary... bonus points if he is allowed to leave any time he wants, but can never return if he does. And this could still all be in his mind... it could be a variant of Sombra's door spell that you reminded us of. One thing that argues for that in my mind is the question: What part of his privacy she was invading if she DIDN'T know he wasn't the father?
“My sister had millennia of responsible rule to her credit before her ‘indiscretion.’ Twilight Sparkle fell to her own passions a few paltry years after her coronation.
-Potentially a valid point, but I'm not so sure... we expect less of children, not more.
My sister was banished to the moon for a thousand years. Would you prefer for Twilight to watch from a distance while all of her friends die of old age?”
-Story title justification incoming soonish...
“Twilight Sparkle, you have learned a great deal since you moved to Ponyville. I want to give you a second chance, because I know for absolute certain that you will continue to learn and grow. Some day, you may grow to be the pony that I had thought you were.”
-Hint of possibility of re-earning her wings and crown? Also, I note that immortality is never specifically mentioned either way. I also have been wondering if he (and Shiny) will be granted immortality... perhaps the technique to do that requires a young alicorn and was only discovered in the last century or so... or perhaps it requires Love based magic, and so Cadance will be enchanting the Sister's eternal mates as soon as they VERY CAREFULLY select them. Perhaps Shining Armor was tested similarly, and there might already be subtle cues as to his agelessness... this is getting into my own fanon, but another possibility that could make careful screening even more necessary is that it works like the movie "Dragon Heart" and the only way to kill the husband is to kill the wife... or as per my specific idea, killing the husband the wife (or either kills both), because their lives are that closely bound. This would make claiming an eternal spouse a massive security risk for Equestria by giving their best fighters an Achillies heel (and makes it a good thing that both of those two are soldiers who can defend themselves... perhaps a subtle manipulation on Celestia's part?), so it had BETTER be worth it.
-General side note for a theme I expect to see: "Princess of my heart, I pledge to you that if it is within my power you shall never lack for a court, for I shall always attend you. Alicorn who controls my soul as Celestia the Sun and Luna the Moon, you shall never lack for wings upon your back, for mine shall bear you where-ever you would go.... or perhaps have HER say the equivalent to HIM.
Is Twilight carrying your foal?”
-Is she asking him for the truth, or for what they will tell the public?
“You are in the unique position to lighten her punishment, should you still love her.”
-I was going to say that Celestia is making it too easy, but then I realized that she is merely resolving the question that Flash was asking himself "Which one will hurt her the least?"... which makes me all the more sure this is all just a test.
“You said that her choices have consequences. What if she did not have a choice in the matter? Her pregnancy was the result of my choice, without her consent. She would not be punished, correct?”
-And Flash goes for the "S" Rank rather than merely the "A" Rank... although it will be interesting to see how strongly Twilight rejects this... I doubt it will go through, unless "decade" refers to his prison sentence... I wonder if the punishment will technically include gelding, but that that will be pardoned?
She would be stuck with me, not because she loves me, but because I kept her out of the dungeon.
-I think she was, by default, planning on being "stuck" with him regardless...
She was definitely not acting like herself.
-Indeed she is not...
“In addition to losing your wings, you would become a permanent resident of the dungeon.”
-Still looking for that title relevance... Perhaps his sentence would be communted? Perhaps a decade is as long as Celestia will extend the illusion (taking hours at most outside the illusion) before deciding that she has tested him enough and anything further would only test his ability to acclimate to being in a dungeon further even after it sinks in full and at all levels that it IS for life.
Princess Celestia smiled. A genuine, happy smile.
-End of test? But we still have many more chapters to go I think...
Her shoulders relaxed with relief, and she released the breath she had been holding. For an instant, Flash thought she might hug him. Before his confusion could rise past the level of his panic, she said, “So be it.”
-Yeah, I don't think she wouldn't be grave for his sacrifice, even though she loves Twilight more personally than him... I dunno.
The instant those words had left her mouth, the princess disappeared. The room shrank and retreated from Flash’s senses. The world bowed and spun, shuddering, causing ripples in the walls of solid marble as Flash fought back the bile rising in his throat. The unicorn guards, unfazed by Celestia’s abrupt teleportation, placed a sturdy canvas wing wrap around his chest, securing it with their magic before pulling him toward the door.
-Uh... that doesn't seem like what her teleporting would feel like to him. Did Celestia simply end the mental illusion to save her energy? I doubt she can re-grow his wings, so and a false trial would be a bad thing, and keeping the disappearance of the royal financee under wraps would be hard... then again, even Twilight didn't know about Shining Armor's engagement until she got the letter... I dunno...
6953659
That was more along the lines of, "you've shown that you can't control yourself, and it's therefore unsafe to allow you to have this much power."
6953669
In that case I would suggest considering something more towards "you have the power, and it will be sadly missed because <stuff about need for a back-up given the Sister's tendency to get neutralized together historically>" rather than "you might need to control". Emphasize the power level, rather than one of the uses for that power level.
The more I read of this the more I wonder about the downvotes. This is some good drama.
I don't believe that Twilight actually did that. That's ridiculously out of character for her. Something else is definitely going on. Especially considering with this choice, she'll live the rest of her life with excessive guilt, there will still be a scandal, and everyone she knows will hate Flash.