Chapter 14
Pre-Chapter Author's Note: If you didn't read my blog post, there has been a change of plans. This story is not ending in this chapter. There will be more chapters to follow. That is all. Enjoy Chapter 14.
Twilight glanced down at the calendar on her desk as she moved a small stack of papers off the side. It had been two full months since she had woken up from her coma, and three weeks since she had her last encounter with Princess Luna in her dreams. She didn’t want to jinx herself, but the last three weeks had been wonderful. She quickly fell into a new routine with Celestia: Getting up before sunrise to share a bath before enjoying breakfast together. Those few hours before they had to go be Princess and Countess were some of Twilight’s favorites moments of the day.
But once it was time for court, they became professional and restrained. Celestia would occasionally lean over and nuzzle Twilight after a long discussion, but that was as far as she ever went. The Princess had taken her out on a few more dates, which were all great, but most of their time together was spent around the palace. Spike seemed to be happy about their new relationship as well. He would offer to do paperwork for Twilight so that she and Celestia could have time together at the end of a busy day.
The only thing Twilight had to complain about was how routine her life was. She wasn’t off on a weekly adventure with her friends and there wasn’t any ultimate evil out to destroy Equestria that she needed to stop. It wasn’t a bad thing—she certainly didn’t miss putting her life in danger—but she did somewhat missed the excitement and fun she had with her friends on those adventures. Then again, if she was still with her friends she never would have found herself in a romantic relationship with Celestia.
A loud knock at her door drew her attention back to reality. “Come in,” she called out, straightening out the items on her desk. The stack of papers left to review was about the same as the stack she had finished, giving her another good two hours of work left for the day. She hastily grabbed the top most sheet and moved it in front of her, so to appear like she was working and not sitting lost in thought.
The door cracked open and a familiar white head peeked in. “You busy?” The tone was friendly, but with a formal edge to it. She needed Twilight for something.
A large grin wormed its way onto Twilight’s face. She was always happy to do something for her special somepony. “Of course not, Tia. Come on in.” Using the nickname she had come up with for Celestia always gave her a little feeling of butterflies in her stomach.
The Princess walked into the room and quietly closed the large door behind her. Twilight got up from her desk and walked over to embrace her special somepony. They shared a quick hug, one of Celestia’s large wings gently resting on Twilight’s back. Celestia smiled warmly at Twilight as they pulled apart. “As much as I want to spend some time with you tonight, your parents are here to see you. They’re waiting in the lounge.”
The mare’s eyes widened to the size of saucers. The butterflies in her stomach returned, this time for all the wrong reasons. Twilight hadn’t seen her parents for over a month, and she wasn’t sure what to expect from a sudden visit. “T-They are? I haven’t seen them in weeks! Oh, I’m sure they’re angry at me for not stopping by more often! They were angry, weren’t they?!”
Celestia cut off her panic attack before it could get into third gear by grabbing Twilight in another hug. “They weren’t angry, Twi. They just wanted to see you.”
Twilight nodded on instinct before shaking her head to clear her thoughts. The embrace was like a switch, draining all the pent-up energy in one smooth gesture. After they parted, Twilight looked visibly relaxed. “Right. Thank you for that. I... guess I’ll see you later tonight.” With a quick peck on Celestia’s cheek, she quickly left the room and wandered through the halls until she came to the open doorway for the lounge. She wasn’t sure why she hesitated, but she came to a stop and peered around the doorway. Her parents were sitting on a sofa, chatting softly.
Her mother glanced up just at the right moment to spot her, ruining any chance to eavesdrop on their conversation to get a feel of their mood. A confused, but stern look was sent towards the Countess. “Twilight Sparkle! Are you hiding from your parents?”
Trying her best to not look guilty, Twilight entered the room slowly. “Of course not, mom.” She approached them and gave them each a hug. “It’s good to see you.”
Once the round of hugs was over, they all sat back down and everything was amiable. Her parents took their places back on the sofa and Twilight sat in one of the chairs nearby. Twilight’s father spoke up first. “How have you been doing, Twily?”
“Really good, actually. I’ve really gotten the hang of things, and I love being the Countess. Working in court is something I’m really good at,” she explained with a smile. “I know hearing that probably sounds weird, but it’s just so different from what I was dreaming about in my coma.”
Her parents exchanged awkward glances, her mother voicing their concern. “We’ve talked a bit about that. You suddenly dropped that on us and then we didn’t see you for quite some time, after all.”
Twilight chuckled nervously. “I’m sorry about that. I just got so caught up trying to adjust to my role as Countess and the nightmares I was having… It just slipped my mind.”
“Well, Spike took some time last week to come visit us,” her mother continued. “He explained everything about your nightmares and your memories. So, we thought we would bring you something.” Her horn lit up as she levitated a large book out from a saddlebag sitting on the floor next to the couch. Hesitating for the briefest of moments to run a gentle hoof over the binding, she passed it over to Twilight.
There was nothing on the cover aside from an image of her cutie mark. She opened the cover and was greeted with several pictures of her as a newborn foal. Twilight’s brows furrowed in interest. “A photo album?”
Her parents smiled. “We put it together for you; it has photos from your birth to you becoming Countess. We thought you might enjoy seeing them.”
Twilight flipped through a few more pages, her face growing slightly flushed as she looked at her baby pictures. Each one had the faint edge of familiarity, and she recognized the extremely young Shining Armor instantly. But a small voice in the back of her mind told her that she didn’t truly remember any of these. The events might look similar to her memories, but they are not the same. She will never remember the events of the photos as anything more than pictures in the book.
She closed the book, tucking it safely into the seat next to her as she attempted to banish those dour thoughts. “Thank you. I… I don’t know what to say, that was very thoughtful.”
Her mother laughed. “You’re welcome, Twily. I figured that Celestia wouldn’t have thought to show you any baby pictures. She probably only has photos of the two of you together,” her voice rapidly shifted from polite and warm to rather cold.
Twilight resisted the urge to groan at her mother’s sudden change in tone. “Mom, really. She isn’t as bad as you think she is. She’s not trying to take me away from you.”
“Twily, dear, I think a mother knows when somepony is taking their daughter,” she chastised lightly. “You’ve been cooped up in the palace for weeks now. She’s just keeping you all to herself.”
“If you must know, I have left the palace recently,” Twilight countered, taking a slightly smug tone. “Celestia and I went on several dates, out to fancy restaurants in the city—”
A chilled silence quickly fell over the room as Twilight realized what she had just admitted to her parents. Her mother’s left eye started to twitch, and her father had his mouth slightly ajar. “Twilight. Please tell me that was just a figure of speech and not you just confessing that Celestia has been pursuing you romantically. Again.”
All Twilight could do was laugh nervously and mentally prepare herself for casting the strong shield spell she knew. The lack of response only seemed to have an adverse reaction. Her mother’s voice grew more frantic by the second as she started to mumble and rant about Celestia, denouncing her and becoming livid at ‘the audacity of that mare to prey upon my Twily while she has amnesia.’
It very quickly grew into the usual rage her mother expressed whenever something like this happened. Twilight winced as her mother grabbed a pair ofl decorative vases off one of the shelves in the room with her magic and smashed them against the floor. Guards making their rounds down the corridor took one look at the scene, and did an about-face while briskly trotting away in veiled terror. Her mother was only a few steps away from foaming at the mouth, her explicit swears and curses aimed at Celestia no longer making any sense.
And like a saving grace, her father attempted to calm down his wife before a catastrophic meltdown could fully occur and she left to go attempt to murder the Princess. “Honey, honey.” Three more pieces of pottery met their end as they were hurled across the room and smashed into the wall. Twilight watched as her father temporarily lost his nerve at the display, before his resolve hardened. “Stop and think about this for a moment. Twilight’s a grown mare and she can make her own choices now. You know that she still loves you. Right, Twily?”
Twilight jumped as she got put on the spot, but seamlessly flowed into the opening her father gave her. “Right! Of course I love you, mom. Celestia could never take that away from me. Really!”
The impending explosion of utterly righteous anger never came. Instead, her mother simply deflated with a loud sigh of defeat. One final vase that was floating in her magic was gently placed back on the shelf it came from. Twilight thought it would be rude to mention the increased indentation of her wrinkles. “You’re right. You’re... you’re both right. I’ve been acting silly about this, haven’t I?”
Feeling safe from any more shards of broken glass for the moment, Twilight got up and jumped onto the couch next to her mother. She hugged her tightly, whispering into her ear. “I love you, mom. No one will ever get between me and my family.”
Her mother eventually returned the embrace strongly. “I love you too, Twily.”
“Why don’t we meet up for dinner, twice a month, just the three of us,” her father said suddenly, nervously glancing around at the huge mess his wife had made. “Just so we all have a set time to get together as a family?”
Twilight smiled and nodded. “I’d like that, dad. It’d be good to have some home-cooked meals every now and again.” She stayed sitting on the couch next to her mother as they started to work out the details of the Sparkle Family Bi-Monthly Get Together Dinner Day. Twilight insisted that everyone call it the SFBMGTDD as it was an easy-to-remember initialism. Every time she used it, her parents would start to laugh. They found her need to give things complex names only to reduce them to strange acronyms just as funny now as when she was younger.
The night vanished quickly, and Twilight walked her parents to the front doors of the palace. The first group of maids that they passed, Twilight stopped and quickly explained that the lounge would need cleaning, leaving out any details or reasons for the mess. Their departure left several baffled mares, before they dejectedly sighed and made their way towards the crime scene. Twilight carried her new photo album in her magic, careful not to let it bump into anything and treating it as if it was a fragile piece of porcelain. A warm hug and a promise to see them at the first SFBMGTDD sent them on their way back down the road. Twilight decided to head back to her office and flip through the photo album some more.
Celestia was long gone, and all her paperwork was finished and piled neatly on her desk. Twilight would have to thank Celestia for that once again; she really hated doing those reports. Idly, she began flipping through the pages of the album. Every few pages, she would appear to be slightly older. A timeline of a life she only vaguely recognized. Her first steps, being potty trained, her first day of magic kindergarten...
She was about to flip another page when something caught her eye. A particular image nestled between a picture of her and Smarty Pants, and a photo of her giggling joyfully as she swung on a pair of swings. She was still a foal, in that frozen moment of time—probably still in magic kindergarten—holding up a drawing she had made.
Her name was scribbled on one edge of the paper, meticulous writing even at such a young age. The drawing was of a large pink pony. With both wings and a horn. Her mane was tri-colored yellow, pink, and purple. And on her flank, was a large blue heart. There was no mistaking who this pony was. Twilight had drawn several of these in her dream past for the greatest foalsitter in the history of foalsitters.
It was Princess Cadance.
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(Insert picture of me smiling that I don't want to put on the internet here)
Dun, dun, dun!
You're cruel. The best kind of cruel!
Also, consider editing your FiMFic profile to add a link to your Tumblr.
I like it, I love it, I need it!
The plot thickens...
Yo kill
Wait so was Cadence real or Twilight's imaginary friend?
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And there is a link to my tumblr in my profile. In two locations.
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Momentary blindness strikes again, sorry. I forget you can't see the icons when looking at a story, only on the author's page.
Slapped a follow on that Tumblr in case you ever decide to post the original Epilogue.
4608022 The epilogue probably won't be posted until closer to the end, but I'll be posting stuff from the past drafts.
Oh this is getting intense. Can't wait to see where this is heading.
Mayhew's Log: Chapter 14... Well Softy, you've done it this time... I love this story, I really enjoy reading it every time and at every plot twist and little bits of the other world cropping up I get more invested... Lady and the Tiger be damned! I will not stand for Twiception! But more and more the world Twilight is in now feels less and less real. It is just too perfect. So yeah... let's see chapter fifteen before we make any cruel judgements. So until next time, allons y!
HOLY CRAP WHAT A TWIST!!!
4608230 "Cruel" judgments.
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Buck you and the pony you rode in on. I read this entire fic only for the chapter to end on THAT!?!?!
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I love reactions like that. Guess you know what is coming at the start of next chapter.
I have returned to once again give you my expert opinion. I kid I kid but really the point that you're not going to stop this made me cheer, lots of people looked at my strangely.
That twist was massive as well and I can't wait to see how this goes.
My advice, make sure to make everyone go slowly. You have so so so much that you can do. Don't rush anything. You have countess stuff, relationship stuff, coma dream twist stuff, family stuff, maybe friendship/magic stuff, Luna stuff. Don't let it all get sidetracked for one thing. Keep a wide view and continue weaving your magic.
4608436 That's the current plan for chapters, a slow build up towards the new ending I've planned out.
4608385 Yeah... I don't think I spelled "cruel" wrong... Though that is a pretty sweet band name, "Now opening for SunFish and the Electric Sponge, straight from Compton, Illinois, Cruel Judgement!" Worry not, I do not fear any threats from Pinkamena Diane Pie.
4608461 I was just more interested in your choice of adjectives.
4607954 and the thick plottens... and the clopth kittens... and the Charles Dickens.
That was one of the best-done twists I've ever seen. Twilight's had her new certainty about her memories for just long enough that she's going really feel having it taken away. I also loved the hints that Celestia may be a lot more manipulative than she seems, keeping Twilight in the castle except when they're out on dates. Not that it has to go in that direction, but I like that you make us wonder.
4608455 Pfff endings are overrated. Never end it just have continuing plots which lead off one another until you've written 99999 chapters and my little pony is a forgotten fandom of times gone by. (Hopefully this will never happen!)
4608539 this made me smile. Thank you.Truly thank you.
4608471 Oh... Wel adjective are something I play with at times... and cruel might have been out of place... I am after all, rarely cruel.
4608502 Glad you're enjoying it!
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4608571 Well I do have other stories I want to get around to writing. Eventually I must finish this one and move on.
Well, that was a strange little twist at the end. Cadance, eh?
This... could get awkward.
Any chance that it counts multiple times when I hit the like button over and over? Because this story is really good.
I'm not sure why Cadance in a picture is significant but it clearly is. :)
Hopefully, Twilight will come to her senses and go back to where she belongs and is needed.
The romance in this fic feels kinda forced
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because in this world cadence never existed.
i want twi to meat her friends....but they don't do the thing that they do in her dream
rarity is a hobo.(a very dirty one at that)
pinkie is a lawyer, or something along thoughts lines.
Rainbow hates racing, and anything to do with fast, and will ditch you at any moment.
Fluttershy is leader of a gang.
AJ is a gambler who always tries to lie and cheat ponies out of bits.
Change the names to reflect this
4610414 Yay! Possibility of Twilight going back to reality have increased slightly!
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LEVEL UP!
4609734 Thanks!
4610308 This isn't a everything is wonderful, love is in the air sort of romance. This is more Twilight is emotionally and mentally unstable from having been told her entire history was just a dream and Celestia is pressing for a relationship anyway.
True love?
4610844 I'm trying to keep my E for Everyone rating on this story, so I don't want to get particularly detailed about some of the more M for Mature aspects of a relationship. Celestia made a big push to get Twilight to agree to date her, now that she's agreed Celestia is willing to slow back down. But expect more details on it as the chapters progress.
As for the anomalies, of course if I could go back there might be a few more implanted in the details of previous chapters. But I'd rather move forward. So perhaps I'll start squeezing them in future chapters instead of worrying about how I could have done previous chapters different.
4611969 Wow, Celestia is really trying to keep being a cunt
4612252 I do try to take your comments in as friendly advice coming from someone who just wants to help. But there are days when I just feel bad and I take everything in with a bad light. So please, feel free to leave what comments and feedback you want. If I listen to it and manage to work it in to my writing is another issue entirely that isn't really suitable for the comments here.
Please continue with this wonderful story of yours!
4619950 Check back every Friday for a new chapter!
Oh god.
Oh God.
OH GOD.
OH GOD!!!
Cadence.
Just...Whoa.
Is she real....Hmmm.....
I dunno...
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I prefer the Twilight Sparkle Happy Family Happy Hour.