Chapter 3
Celestia was being tugged along by a hoof, she had gathered that much. Her mind was still focused more on what Twilight had said than on where she was going or by what means. Comprehension of what Twilight had said came to her within the first few minutes, of course. The problem lay in her attempting to grasp just how poorly the pair of them–if she was to confess to her pragmatic side, mostly Twilight–had communicated their desires. Perhaps worse, her original response to Twilight’s question, and the thoughts and visions that had come with it, rushed around her mind like a seething ocean.
She had interpreted Twilight’s questions as an offer for a date between the two of them, and the speed at which she jumped to that conclusion frightened her. Was she really so quick to jump at the nearest offer for love from a trusted source? Had she learned nothing in a thousand years? She wasn’t sure why she was feeling so flustered at the moment, but those feelings were quickly purged when she was brought back to reality. Twilight had stopped her in front of a large door, and was rambling on about something to do with dresses and the importance of them looking their best.
“...and I really think we should ask Rarity to help us out! She knows a lot more about this stuff than I do, after all,” Twilight concluded with a blush.
“...Would you mind repeating that, dear? I am afraid I was a bit distracted. This is all very sudden, you see.” Celestia bit her cheek, hoping that the drop in her tone did not betray her worries. She imagined she would be much more ready to present her thoughts to Twilight and prepare for a date between the two of them if she was given but a moment’s peace of mind. As she always did in these cases, she began to form a plan. She listened to Twilight’s explanation with half an ear open, taking the information in without focusing on the emotion behind it. Her eyes hovered over the walls, taking in the soft whites, tall windows and gold foil trimmings of the hallway outside the royal eatery. It was because of this quick, general thinking that she didn’t see the shine in Twilight’s eyes was brighter than when talking about the pair of them and their bond than the plan she had for finding their dates.
“I was thinking that the two of us could go get dresses made over at Rarity’s, if she doesn’t have a date for tonight, that is. However, that strikes us with a dilemma in finding dates and having to prepare for them all in one evening.”
Seeing that she had set Twilight to thinking on the dilemma, Celestia took a few moments to prepare her proposition. “Perhaps you could travel to Rarity’s while I find a selection of dates here in Canterlot. After all, you are more familiar with Ponyville than I am, and vice versa.”
Twilight gave a happy nod, her smile widening at the suggestion. “Perfect! I find the dresses and you find the dates! Do you think you have enough makeup? Should we do some work on our lines? Maybe a quick rehearsal? I should get the cue cards and– agh! Right, okay, we’ll just keep things simple and grab the dates and the dresses. That sounds like a good plan. Hopefully this turns out okay,” Twilight said, finishing her sentence with a wince.
“Alright then,” Celestia said, her tone sounding a bit more relaxed. This’ll give me time to figure things out… “Would it work to meet back here in, say, half an hour at my quarters?”
“Sure! I’ll just, well, oh! I guess that works, yeah.”
“Twilight,” Celestia said, seeing that the proposal had, mysteriously, awakened a new bout of anxiety in her companion. “It’s alright if this doesn’t go well. We still have several hours to try again. And like you said before, if all else fails, we will have spent the night as two…” Celestia trailed off, her mind reeling at the cacophony of conflicting feelings. She still felt a bit tense from misinterpreting Twilight’s invitation, and she couldn’t shake the nebulous feelings of romantic desire that toyed with her in that moment. Deciding to play it safe, though, she continued. “...friends exploring their friendship, and perhaps have shared a good experience together.”
Twilight sighed. “Yes, Princess, it’s just… Well, I can tell you later. We don’t have time right now!” Twilight straightened herself up, preparing to cast a quick teleportation spell.
“Twilight, remember,” Celestia laid a gentle hoof under her friend’s chin, tilting her head so they were locking eyes. “I don’t judge you any more than you judge me. I want nothing more than for this date to just be us going out, not Princess Twilight Sparkle and Princess Celestia Everfree embarking on a royal missive to find dates because another noble has told the world we need to. Alright?”
Twilight blinked. “Wait, hold on a second. Your last name is Everfree?”
Celestia felt her heart start to race. “Did I say that?” Celestia opened her mouth and took a deep breath. It was as if her emotions were oxygen and she was trying to find a way to suck them back in. Her full name. A name she’d stricken from the records generations ago so her enemies could never find her loved ones and descendants. A name she mentioned haltingly even in front of Luna and Cadence, even though they had known it for years, and without thinking, she had just freely given it to Twilight as if it were the time of day. “I…” She began struggle to come up with some sort of excuse or lie to weasel her way out of this rather awkward situation, but ultimately decided against it. WIth a sigh of defeat, she said, “Yes, that is my last name. Funny, is it not?”
“Funny? What’s funny about your name?” Twilight asked, cocking her head to the side.
“The irony behind it, of course. My last name is Everfree, yet I am exactly the opposite of that. The royal courts keep me occupied with their incessant bickering all day, and to be honest, sometimes I can barely restrain myself from snapping at them.”
Twilight looked down. “You’re right, that does sound kind of ironic. But, uh, if I could just say…” Twilight swallowed. This wasn’t her idol, her political or magical superior, or her ruler. It was her friend, and she was opening her heart right in front of her. She knew she had to be careful with what she said, so after a couple moments of hard thinking, she slowly said, “I think it’s a perfect name for you.”
Celestia paused, her mouth gradually, carefully parsing the next sentence with methodical movement. “Why is that?”
“Because you make it so everypony else is everfree. Even if you don’t feel free, everyone else can be because of the sacrifice that you make every day. And that’s who you are, Princess. I don’t think you’d feel very free or happy if anypony else wasn’t, either. That’s… well, that’s my favorite thing about you. Every problem you see is something you want to fix, no matter how small, and you do what you have to do to make sure everyone’s happy and enjoying themselves. It makes me feel… cared for. Safe, I guess. Like the guard thing, but a lot more special. Something just between us. Or, a–at least, that’s how I see it.”
Celestia blushed at this, her cheeks lighting up in a way they had not done in over five years. She cast her eyes to the side, murmuring, “You’re a Princess too, Princess Twilight.”
At this, Twilight, paradoxically, blushed herself. “Well, yeah, but… I really l-like calling you Princess. I don’t think of it as a title or anything. If it were, I’d just say Your Majesty. Or something. Even if you stopped being a Princess, I think I’d probably keep calling you one. Because, um… you always feel like one to me. I dunno, I guess it’s like Twily, or how Applejack calls me “Twah”.”
“You mean a pet name?” Celestia found it surprising just how luscious a red her cheeks could turn with sufficient prompting. It had certainly been a while since she had been this flushed.
“Umm… yes?” Twilight squeaked.
By this point, both ponies were completely scarlet and pointedly avoiding each other’s eyes. Celestia swallowed, ignoring the desires to coo, embrace, or snuggle up against Twilight that her traitorous emotions put forward. She had to think this through before acting rashly, or else she might ruin one of her most treasured friendships over some submerged feelings she had thought she had abandoned years ago.
“You know, I suppose I should start my search,” Celestia said, internally scowling at how disappointed she sounded.
“Right!” Twilight added. “We wouldn’t want to waste any more time...” she said, externally scowling at how disappointed her own voice sounded.
The two ponies made their way towards parting company in that bittersweet state, preparing to leave as slowly and silently as they could.
At that point, Celestia was hit with the realization that she would be dating a pony she knew nothing about for the first time in over a hundred years, with the caveat that she had to be herself–and worse, reveal her true self– in order to please Twilight, to boot. Suddenly, she felt much less certain that this plan was to be a success. “Twilight, wait,” Celestia called out, her mouth working before her jaw muscles could stop it.
Her perpetual companion’s ears perked up at this, and she stood stock still in compliance. “Yes, Princess?”
“It is… well, rather, the two of us are not very experienced in dating yet, and I am concerned about being thrown into a situation we aren’t comfortable with. Perhaps we might rehearse a little first? If only to put ourselves into the correct mindset.” Celestia breathed out the last sentence like a kettle letting out steam, her lips curling back to rest in as relaxed a smile as she could manage.
“That… okay. Yes, that sounds like a good idea, actually. I–I wouldn’t really know where to start, though. I wouldn’t want to walk up to some random stallion and talk about how fascinating I find the use of magical refraction and refinement in polygonoid crystal casting-aid purification to be, but I could talk with you about it without thinking. I guess, maybe, we should just try to act like we’re just meeting? I had some cue cards for this back at the lab, but that’s in Ponyville. I tried them before building the magical date replicator but after the polygraph tests. I suppose they weren’t really appropriate at that point, but they kind of work now. What do you think?”
Celestia chuckled, glad to be back in the role of the reassuring elder. The previous conversation and the dynamic it generated had made her profoundly uncomfortable, and she was relieved to at last have some familiar ground beneath her hooves. It helped fight back the feelings of anxiousness, giddiness, and fear that had been consuming her for the past half hour. And yet the same sense of disappointment hung over the departure of the equally unwelcome turmoil she had been suffering not a moment ago. She bit the feeling back. “I think that it would be best to take time now making sure we do not waste any on the dates themselves, so I do agree we should perhaps try to get some experience in the field and perhaps some practice. However, I also think that perhaps it would be best if we did this while we went to find potential dates for ourselves. Do you agree?”
Twilight nodded, happy to be managing the situation once again. “Time efficiency is of the essence! Let’s get going!”
“So… you said you were thinking of a guard, right? Shall we head to the barracks to see if anypony is off-duty and interested?”
Twilight thought for a moment. “I guess I don’t have any better place to start. Alright. After that we’ll have to find somepony for you, though. If you’re feeling as lonely as you say, you deserve somepony who will take those feelings away and make you feel like the mare you truly are.” Twilight blushed and looked down before mumbling, “Special.”
Celestia fought down a dozen questions that the latter statement had brought to the forefront of her mind, not the least of which being, Did you miss the moment where I said that pony was you? Instead, she said, “Then let’s get started.”
“So…”
The two mares made their way through the courtyard, noting with some uncertainty that it was already noon and they had yet to make any significant progress. Twilight was very intently focused upon the walls of hedges that lined them on either side, but Celestia was more interested in the rest of their surroundings. She had always had a great fondness for the statue garden. It was full of happy memories. Sculptures of ponies from both ancient and modern times stared at them with a mixture of stern, wearied, adventurous, and commanding expressions. A pedestal where Discord’s statue once stood was covered in a mountain of confetti topped with a note saying, “Oh contraire, ma rene, he’s back!” Beds of flowers from all around the country and beyond its borders bloomed happily from between the hooves of old friends and rivals Celestia still cherished the memory of. She at last gave an answer once Twilight had decided to break from her nervous staring contest with the shrubbery.
“So?”
Twilight swallowed. “Tell me a little bit about yourself. What do you, uh, do, I guess? I m-mean, so long as you don’t mind sharing. But–uh–if it’s something illegal or hurts other ponies or something, I would like to know now so we can get that out of the way. ‘Cause, um, I don’t think it would really work if that’s the case.”
“Don’t assume the worst, dear. You’ve only just met him, after all.”
Twilight blushed. “Right, sorry. Just… stress. Yeah. Stress. Okay. Okay. Your turn.”
“Good evening. My name is Princess Celestia, though I suppose you might already know that. What is yours?”
“Err–My name is… Grey. Grey… Hoof? Pleased to meet you, Princess Celestia.” Twilight paused. “This… doesn’t sound like me. I dunno… I’ve never really been a great actor.”
“You did a fine job in the Hearth’s Warming play.”
Twilight gave a deadpan stare. “Yeah, because you cast me as a historical carbon copy of myself. If you’d given me the part of Princess Platinum or something I would have been a disaster. Have you ever seen me try to lie? It looks like that, but with a bad accent.”
“Point taken. I’m sure we can come up with a solution, though. Maybe a conjuration would help you detach the pony from yourself?”
Twilight’s eyes brightened. “Princess, you’re a genius! Okay. Yes, I can work with this. Let’s see…”
Celestia watched with a familiar mixture of pride and admiration as Twilight set her mind to casting. A column of purple smoke materialized from her horn, then began to spin in a circular motion. Eventually, an earnest but slightly aged earth pony’s face materialized within the smoke. Eventually, the smoke became transparent, leaving a spectral projection to face Celestia “My name is Grey Hoof. A pleasure, your majesty.”
The pair of them giggled at the very proper sounding voice, then resumed their trot with the spectral pony in tow. “You based him upon Professor Wistful Thinking, didn’t you?” Celestia smiled at the memories her statement conjured.
“He may have been an influence. You always seemed close.”
“We are.” Celestia confirmed with another smile. Twilight, for her part, noted that even when in an earnest conversation Celestia enjoyed smiling. “Close, but not as intimate as you and I are. Nevertheless, today’s a day for merriment and celebrating. I can pretend for now.”
Twilight nodded. “Let’s get back to the practice, then. We’re burning sunlight.”
Celestia turned back to the image. “You aren’t intimidated of both me and my position?”
The visage shifted, then returned to life.“I’m a little nervous, but, well, you were the one who asked me, so I guess I’m not… not all that worried, I guess?” The image froze, and a concerned Twilight began to whisper to Celestia.
“I don’t know, would he be?”
“Perhaps not, though most ponies would be nervous in my presence. Though anypony with the courage to chance a date with their country’s absolute di–well, technically a triarch now–would likely be made of sterner stuff than to back down when confronted with me in the flesh. Of course, we won’t know that until we try.”
“Right… right. Okay.” Twilight whirled her horn, and the image opened up the conversation again.
“I wouldn’t say intimidated, I mean, it’s a chance to meet a new pony and she’s not at all bad looking, either.”
Celestia smiled in response, simply replying. “I’m glad we have our priorities straight. Now, was that last bit still in character?” She gave Twilight a playful nudge.
“No. Yes! Um… I don’t know.” Twilight gave a blush and giggled, rubbing the back of her head. “Does it matter? You are good looking. Anypony can see that. I mean, saying you have a spectacular horn or an enticing shade of teal in your mane could be in or out of character, too.”
“Quite right, dear.” Celestia felt a twang of disappointment, finding herself frustrated that the taste of being vexed came both from the joke falling flat and from the nature of Twilight’s answer. The seed Twilight had unknowingly planted was making her exceedingly uncertain with how exactly she wanted her relationship with her former student to develop. “I do enjoy the compliment. I get rather tired of all the jokes from Luna and Cadence about the shape of my flank, and most of my servants just give me platitudes.”
Twilight smiled up at Celestia, then let the image clear his throat. “Why don’t you tell me a little bit about yourself, my dear?”
At this Celestia gave a brief pause, considering. “What would you like to know?” she asked with her usual serene smile.
Twilight shook her head, jerking it towards the image silently at the end of the last set of shakes. “I was hoping you might tell me where to start.”
Celestia sighed. “You aren’t going to make this easy, are you?”
Twilight simply replied with a firm shake of her head, freezing the fake head again as she did so. “I want to make sure the real date goes along smoothly, and I can’t do that if we still have all these stumbling blocks in place.”
“Curse you and your concern for my well being, Twilight Sparkle,” Celestia responded, softly prodding Twilight with a wingtip.
“You’ll get your turn,” Twilight said in return, a teasing smile on her face. “For now…” And again, the head sprang back to life.
“What are your hobbies? Tell me what you do in your spare time, maybe a bit about your work? What’s your favourite color? You know, stuff like that.”
“Very well. I suppose that, well, in my off time I like to teach. There is something about foals that I can’t help but admire. The way they have such a strong drive to learn so much about their world, the way they trust that things cannot help but go right. Perhaps it makes me feel younger, but I think it is simply the reward of helping a pony reach their potential in a rich and rewarding life that makes me want to teach. I keep flowers for the same reason.” Celestia fought down the urge to blush, knowing that Twilight was Twilight and not some strange stallion with their own prejudgements. “I love seeing them not in bloom, but just before. They look so gorgeous in the moments before they are ready, the time when they are so very fragile. Knowing I helped them reach that stage is a great reward.”
“Uh huh, uh huh.” Twilight nodded, mentally ticking off a checklist, no doubt.
“Well, I’m not much of a gardener, but I do like to–uh… um, paint!” The spectral visage responded. “Yeah, I like to paint. And while I don’t really get your whole ‘nurturing everypony’ thing, I do see what you mean–er, I get it–when you say that you like to watch that moment when all that work is about to pay off. I like that feeling.”
Twilight finished the illusion shakily, but with a comforting nod. After taking a moment to collect her thoughts, she asked, “So what do you think? Would you date that pony?”
Celestia hummed. “Perhaps, though I would consider their equivalent of ponies to paintings somewhat discouraging. It would depend upon the rest of the date.”
“What about…” And at this, Twilight changed the face to a young, pink stallion with a bright, fluffy mane.
“Oh, no way, I love foals, too! They’re so fun to talk to and I completely understand what you’re saying.”
Celestia smiled. “Unless it later turned out that they were only saying that for my sake, I am sure the date would progress at least pleasantly enough.”
“Hmm. How about…” And at this, the stallion grew bright blue, with a pale teal, flowing mane combed back in a parted style.
“Did you say something? Why don’t we talk a bit about me for a while?” At this Twilight’s illusion took on a cocky smirk and tossed its mane.
Celestia smirked in return. “A definite no. I am out of practice, Twilight, not a foal.”
The pair of them giggled, then exchanged a look. “Do you think you’d be able to handle it from there?” Twilight looked at Celestia with a shine in her eyes.
“I would assume so, yes. If something does go wrong, I am sure I can depend upon you to support me, and vice versa. That was your thinking in doing a double date, yes?”
“Yes! So, uh, are we going to do me now?” Twilight pushed a hoof through the back of her mane, all of a sudden every bit as bashful as before she had been before.
“Would you like to use the illusion?” Celestia prodded, looking at Twilight with the compassion and understanding she was so famous for.
“We could, though I would be more comfortable just talking to you… but… I suppose that I should get used to talking to a strange stallion. Guess I’m eating my words now, huh?” She gave a nervous laugh. “So that’s a yes to the illusion, then.” Twilight delivered this proclamation in what Celestia had decided was her checklist voice.
“Very well.” Celestia took charge of the illusion, which shifted to a stallion with a tall, solid brow and a heavy, square muzzle. He opened his mouth, brushing back a teal mane streaked with grey to reveal more of his white coat as he did so. “Your Majesty. How are you this evening?”
“Oh! I’m fine. But, uh, just call me Twilight, if you please. I’d rather just date you as a normal pony, if that isn’t too much to ask of you.”
He gave a faltered smile back. “Uh, sure, your Hi–Princess Twilight.”
“Um… Just Twilight is fine,” Twilight said with a small giggle.
“Uh… yes. Sure. As you would like, Princess.”
Twilight looked over at Celestia with a coy grin. “Are you sure you aren’t just playing out some of your own old frustrations, Princess?”
Celestia was even to the tease. “Perhaps. But you did say you expected me to make this as hard on you as you made it on me. Shall we continue?”
“Absolutely! Where were we?”
“You were just finishing introducing yourself, your Hi–Princess Twilight.”
“Just Twilight, please. I’m not wearing my crown, and I’m not even on the job. I’m not Princess Twilight any more than you are Captain whatever your name is.”
“Twilight?” Celestia froze the image. “I think that is one thing we may have to work on. You have a habit of trivializing others’ emotions when you get caught up in your own, and while it is innocent and endearing to those of us who know you, to a date it could be hurtful. Try to shift your worry from calming yourself down to pleasing them. I know you cannot remove the worry, but you can at least direct it.”
Twilight looked down through Celestia’s admonishment, shame writ large across her face. “I-I don’t mean t–”
“I know you don’t, dear. And I don’t hold things you cannot fully control against you, any more than you hold my tendency to distance myself from others against me. But if I am to pursue a date, I must be more open, as you have said. And you must be more considerate, or else you may offend your date without meaning to. Remember to shift your concerns to them, instead of towards your anxieties. Rather like you do when you’re with me…” Celestia mused this last point, looking past Twilight and the illusion. Abruptly she pulled herself out of her thoughts, then looked back at Twilight with a smile. “If you feel that that makes you uncomfortable, we don’t have to go through with this. As I said earlier, finding a somepony is about personal happiness and what feels right for you and your partner. You don’t have to force that.”
Twilight’s brow hardened, her stance becoming firm and tall. “No. If this is a problem, it’s one I should tackle on a relaxed day, not in a crisis. You’re absolutely right. Let’s continue.” Twilight waited for the head to return to life, and then addressed it. “I’m sorry, Captain. I guess I forgot to ask your name while trying to get you to use mine. I’m a little out of my comfort zone…”
“That’s alright. My name is Captain… Greengrass. Also, how did you know I was a captain?”
Twilight smiled. “Oh, that one’s easy. My brother was in the guard before he moved with his wife, Princess Cadence, to the Crystal Empire. Only captains don’t have to trim their manes back to fit all the way inside the helmet.”
The image known as Greengrass straightened. “Oh, that’s right. Captain Armor. Sorry to have forgotten, yo–”
“Your Majesty may see all and know all, Greengrass, but Twilight Sparkle forgets things all the time,” she said, a light scold in her voice. She took a moment to compose herself before continuing in a softer tone. “How am I supposed to get to know the real you if you don’t get a chance to see the real me?”
The guard straightened, then gave the slightest hint of a blush. “Right…Well… why don’t you start?”
“Ice successfully broken!” Twilight gave a hoof pump, then came back onto all fours to look over at Celestia. “Well, I think that should be enough to get us through to the “talking and getting to spend time with them” phase effectively. I guess now we need to go look for a date. Oh! I know where to find yours!”
Celestia tilted her head. “You do?”
“Ponyville! I know everyone there, and I’m sure I can find somepony you’d like to try a date with while I’m talking with Rarity about the dresses! What do you think?”
Celestia gave a bittersweet smile. “That sounds wonderful, dear.”
“Is something the matter?” Twilight blinked, the sight of a slightly strained muscle in the smile on Celestia’s face being more than enough of a sign to tell her something was wrong.
Celestia came to a stop, once again checking to see who could possibly overhear them. It was only then that she noticed the barracks were just a few feet up ahead. While the pair of them had been talking, they had already passed several rows of housing, their path changing from a dirt one to a cobblestone one. She had noticed none of this, and that worried her, but she knew that she could not afford to think on why time with Twilight was dulling her senses. This had to be shared if Twilight was to find her a date she could truly appreciate. This had to be put forward, because it was something that the two of them could never skirt around if she was to talk honestly about her love life.
Celestia hesitated. She had trusted Twilight thus far, but for some odd reason, fear flooded into her, probably because she was about to divulge a secret that nopony knew about. The thought that she might ruin something as magical as their friendship had become was a crushing weight upon her tongue. This was something that Twilight deserved to know. Besides, she knew all of Twilight’s fears, all of her insecurities and quirks. She knew of all of her weaknesses and private dreams. If Twilight was so willing to share all of those with her, and if she was interested in tightening their friendship, Celestia felt that it was time to practice what she preached.
“Twilight, I… well, to put it bluntly…” Her cheeks flushed and she bit her lower lip as she leaned a little closer to Twilight. Lowering her voice to within an inch of a whisper, she said, “Twilight, I’m… I’m not interested in stallions.” Seeing the look of confusion on her former student’s face, Celestia looked her right in the eyes and said even more softly, “Twilight, I’m… gay.”
Stats
Page generated in 0.032 seconds
Total duration
866 users online
1,121,065 hits today, 2,156,967 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
When are they going to admit that they want the other to be their special somepony??!!!!
Might be just me, but 'fillyfooler' sounds better than 'gay'.
4567766
Actually, its probably better to slowly introduce the idea of them dating each other. Slowly being relative of course.
4567861 At least it still happens! Right now they're not saying anything about it.
4567861 4567766 What aduck said. It's better to make them start dating at a realistic pace, and that means there has to be a slow build up. In addition, there's more layers to the story than just them getting together, and if we resolve that conflict first the other loose ends that are important to theme and characterization will fall by the wayside. If we went with my original framework for the story, I am sure there would be a riot in the comments by the sixth and probably final chapter. In the meantime, you will just have to wait for Abyss' chapter. It will contain Rarity!
The fourth wall seems to be getting a tad wobbly.
...Wow. Never saw a story do it that way before. Nice. Can't wait to see Twi's reaction though. That should be fun
You know, I almost want Celly to end up in a bar drowning her sorrows in a bottle because Twi is just that dense,
4567922 That's something, I guess.
Dun dun DUUUUUUN!
4567952 Besides, they at least know that they love each other. Do you think the chapter would really be all that different if they were a couple? There might be one or two extra cuddles, but this story is full of cuddles anyway. Just remember that just because two people are not in love doesn't mean they don't value the relationship they have at the moment more than any other in their lives. Part of the point of the story is exploring two close friends compared to two lovers, and seeing how many changes there really are between them.
4567981 'Kay then. I just want them to acknowledge it out loud. Even as just a slip of the tongue or something. Out. Loud.
4567985 You will find the ending glorious, in that case. The story has its title for a reason.
4568011
This chapter was well done, thanks for helping Abyss with this
. And I can't wait for the next chapter to come out. Both of y'all are doing a great job on this fic.
4568011 'Kay then. I hope it is as good as you promise it to be.
4567830 But that wouldn't be as funny!
I wonder if there is Celestia and the Everfree outside Ponyville?
You're sighted in! Fire for effect Celestia!
This seems to be coming along nicely. I don't know if I can handle another story with a 10 chapters of ponies hiding their feelings.
Don't worry, Celestia. Gay princess ponies are the best ponies.
Twilight's reaction to this will be interesting, and hopefully either hilarious or having complete nonchalant acceptance (hm... is homosexuality even a problem in modern Equestria? Celestia's behavior makes it look like it was in the past, but as an immortal/near-immortal it would be easy to keep hold of old fears past the time when they should have died away).
But even knowing that isn't going to clue Twilight "Will You Go On A Date With Me" Sparkle in on Celestia's crush, is it? Sense Motive roll: natural 1. Poor Princess...
But at least is looks like Twilight reciprocates Celestia's feelings, to at least a small extent.
At least Celestia said this BEFORE the actual date plan was put into effect!
Instad of saying
Shouldn't she say
I don't know it's just a though since "gay" is for guys and lesbian is for"gay" girls.
4569616 A lesbian is a gay woman. Referring to herself as gay is perfectly fine and works better in a story set in a universe where the etymology of the word 'lesbian' makes no sense.
Awesome chapter and the recap deserves mention first and foremost. It's an often overlooked tool, to use a few keystrokes to recap the previous chapter. I often struggle with the longer stories here on Fimfiction, because they update after weeks with the expectation that the reader can just pick up the story where it left off with a clear memory of how far the narrative had gotten. Being reminded of what Celestia and Twilight were doing at the end of the last chapter spares me the trouble of re-reading that part.
Celestia's last name is epic and I think it's one of the better fanon interpretations I've seen.
The long walk and Celestia's wandering mind painted a crystal clear image in my mind of how their world just shrinks down to the ground they're walking on and Twilight being slightly behind and beneath her mentor. First they are in the castle and then during the long walk they end up in the gardens and eventually outside the barracks. Twilight is adorable all the way through and Celestia calling her out on trivializing others is so perfect, I didn't even notice this among her flaws in the show itself, but now that I think about it, yeah, she does tend to brush off other ponies like what's-his-face.
The spectres and the roleplaying is cute and finally the realisation of just how many secrets Celestia knows about Twilight, and the follow-up realisation that she has been sharing nothing whilst calling herself Twilight's friend. Finally admitting that she's gay is a perfect way to end the chapter on a light note and leave us anticipating Twilight's response.
Also, I don't get why other comments take issue with the word gay. It's adequate for describing a lesbian and Celestia seems like the kind of politically correct pony who would use a gender neutral expression. Filly-fooler never sat well with me. I get that it's funny to ponify everything but the expression is about as crass as calling someone a dyke. I don't see the Princess using such a word.
4567766 When Celestia finally says 'Buck It!' and leans down to kiss Twilight deeply, with tongue and everything!
Knew it would be Twiestia as soon as I saw the cover image.
Huh. So, Celestia is... insecure about the fact that she's homosexual? That's a new take on the issue, usually she doesn't give a damn, either because no one cares or she's bisexual with a lot many a lover in her past or similar.
I must say, it's something new and I kinda like it. Now I'm looking forward to how Twilight will react to her mentor's admission.
4570064
Seriously? Are you seriously serious?
Kiss! Kiss! Kissssss!
Goddammit they aren't going to kiss, are they? Goddamn good stories having to take forever to get to the kiss. Been waiting on the kiss in Composure for, what, two years?
Can't wait for more, captain! Woo!
4570495 Must not read a lot of ship fics, That's usually how it ends up starting out. One just grabing the other and kissing them deeply with tongue
4570494 It only makes sense to me that Celestia would be uncomfortable with revealing such a personal element of her life to anyone. After all, even Twilight never even knew she had dated in the past up until Chapter 2
4570705 That's stupid. What if the feeling isn't mutual?
4569616 While "lesbian" is exclusively female, "gay" is actually the gender-neutral term for homosexuals. But because women are almost exclusively referred to as lesbians and guys don't have a term of their own, the word is getting to be more associated with male homosexuality (by simple dint of not having anything else to call them).
Giving the ladies a term of their own is, so far as I'm aware, due to the double standard of female homosexuality being more acceptable than male homosexuality. The separate name distances the two. Ladies also have "sapphic" and its variations.
4571143 No arguments from me. I'm just so used to Celestia being quite blase about it in most stories, so it's a nice twist to have it actually be personal and something she's not comfortable talking about with just anyone, even Twilight.
4570035 Thanks for all the praise. Do note that Twilight does not intend to be so mean when she ignores other people's perspectives. Any time somebody points out that she's being rude, she's horrified. You have to feel sorry for her. It's kinda tragic that she's so upset with herself whenever she hurts somebody, but she hurts people by accident all the time just by virtue of being so worried something she's doing is going to hurt them.
I must, however, confess that Celestia's last name is not my invention. It comes from a story called Ascent Book I: Twilight. Arguably the most underrated gem in the entire Twilestia fleet, if you have the time for it.
4571655 That's an issue I have with several Twilestias, actually. They assume Celestia is super self confident and has no personal issues whatsoever. If you watch her closely you can notice nothing could be further from the truth.
4571710 This is one of the reasons I'm keeping a closer than usual eye on this story... It makes Celestia seem more human (yes, I know but I can't be bothered to come up with some clever ponyfication) rather than this, as you put it, super self-confident individual with no personal issues whatsoever.
She might be a +1000 year old, possibly immortal royal, but she's still a person with everything that entails, including flaws and insecurities of her own and I like it when authors keep this in mind.
Edit: I've read Ascent Book I: Twilight. I remember enjoying it quite a bit... Now that I think about it, maybe I should go and read it again?
4571215 Then it cause lots and lots of drama for us to read about, and for Rarity to gossip about
4571787 I bet she enjoys that.
4571731 It really is worth a second read. It seemed rushed in its initial run of publication because, as you said before, there were huge gaps between updates and the story felt choppy without the reminders of what had occurred in the previous chapters.
4571710
I'ved tracked the story 'Ascent Book I: Twilight.' I look forward to reading it. I hope to see this little piece continue as well. Twilight is adorable when she's ashamed and Celestia is one of the only ponies who knows the magic words that soothe her. My friend always made jokes about Twilight's adoration of her Princess and I think stories that explore this are often quite enjoyable.
4572118 We should have six chapters and an epilogue by the end of the story. And yes, Ascent is certainly worth the re read.
wow i love it! you two did great at this chapter!
4569616 i dont agree, i think its fine to say im gay because they arent woman, but ponies.Gay means your attracted to someone of the same sex so id have to say, when she came right out and said it was my favorite part. it worked better than if it had read" Twilight....im a lesbian.
and i got this definition gay adjective GAY: same sex
: of, relating to, or used by homosexuals - off of websters. It applies to all types of homosexuals. just especially male, but it works either way.
ok, im done now.
4571405 oh... well ok, sorry then I didn't know
She's inches away from Twilight's muzzle, so why doesn't she just kiss her!
4573029 Sorry if I came off as offensive or ouch-fluttershy-worthy. I only intended to be factual.
Good chapter!
4576224 Thanks!
4573212 Because then the conflict of the story would be over, silly!
4572999 It was just me for this one. Abyss will be doing the next one. But thanks for the praise anyway!
Ahahah! Nice ending!
Can't wait for more
4577114 Um... That's not the end.
4569616
Drynwhyl is correct.