"Twilight, could you give us a moment?" Silver gestured to the door.
Twilight rose to her hooves. "Sure, just call me back if you need me."
She departed shortly, and Celestia looked at Silver curiously. "What did you need to speak privately about?"
Silver wobbled a hoof. "You want her."
Celestia frowned. "She is perfectly happy as she is. You had best treat her perfectly."
Silver shook her head a little. "You want her, badly. I'm in the way."
Celestia set a hoof down on the table. "You're not the only one that can see a pattern, Silver Stars. You're about to try giving her to me. I won't take her. It... humbles me, that you would, but worries me at once." She leaned over the table towards Silver. "She does not see me as somepony she can love, only admire and worship. I will not hurt her in breaking this perception."
Silver snorted softly. "It's still stupid as hell. You're both princesses. The only differences between you are in her head."
Celestia gave a sad little smile. "Her adorable head, dense as it can be at times. What do you suggest, Silver? That I sweep her off her hooves, proclaim my fire for her, and demand her hoof?"
Silver tilted her head one way, then the other. "Yes? She's an adult, a full-grown mare. Heck, she has a foal, odd as it may be currently. Trust her to make a decision on her own instead of making it for her."
Celestia frowned and the hoof on the table began to smoulder as her heat built to the point of burning the wood. "Perhaps you have a point. I have been told I don't allow my ponies to decide things, and she is not my pony, she is my peer. But what of you? Do you not love Twilight?"
Silver sighed softly. "With all my heart, as far as I can tell, but I know she would be so happy if you got through to her. I can't even imagine standing in the way of that. You have an uphill battle, but if you did get through that..." Silver rolled a hoof slowly. "I do think she would be ecstatic beyond reason."
Celestia reached over the table and poked Silver on the snout. "You are too kind, and I mean that literally. If my sister did not still have her eyes on you, I might be tempted."
Silver warmed dangerously. "I... does that mean you don't hate me then?"
Celestia shook her head. "No... I think I never did. You just reminded me of things that angered me, and forced me to see what I did not want to see. Do you wish to be my friend?"
Silver bobbed her head with a bright and fanged smile.
"Good." Celestia looked to the door and raised her voice. "Princess Twilight, do come in."
Twilight stepped back in and closed the white door behind herself. "Everything alright?"
Celestia rose from her cushion and stepped towards Twilight. "Princess Twilight Sparkle, I have an announcement to make."
Twilight recoiled a little in surprise. "What?"
Celestia bowed, the front of her body dipping to the floor. "I would suit you, Princess Twilight Sparkle, that you would find me acceptable."
Twilight's mane went from freshly brushed to frizzy instantly, and she collapsed to her haunches. "W-what? I... What?"
Silver smiled from her seat, even as a new pain lanced through her. "Celestia wants to bid for your hoof, Twilight. She deserves the chance, does she not?"
Twilight grit her teeth a moment before giving a stiff nod. "I... suppose? I... Celestia? You..."
Celestia reached forward and plucked Twilight off the ground, nuzzling her. "Think of me not as your mentor or teacher. Those days are past. As I said when you ascended, you are a princess now, and we are peers."
Twilight began to wriggle uncomfortably, becoming more and more overwhelmed by the moment. "But..." Her words refused to come out of her snout as she flailed mentally.
Silver smiled with a bit of building sadness. "You two will make a lovely couple..."
Twilight suddenly snapped, teleporting back to her hooves. "No! No no no! I accepted Silver Stars and her herd's engagement. This isn't right! I mean... I'm flattered, beyond flattered. I don't even know how I feel right now. Do you... like me that way?"
Celestia smiled gently. "I would be your eternal partner, gladly and forever."
Twilight shoved a hoof in Silver's direction. "Then you'd better court her herd, because I'm not abandoning them. That is not how a friend behaves. You helped me know that."
Celestia sighed gently and moved to reclaim her seat. "Then we proceed as we stated. Go, speak with your herd. You will either have to learn the ways of royal herds and obey the laws, or separate from them for a time. I don't predict the nobility will cede to our demands quickly or easily. They know who is involved in the only royal herd, and Silver has earned little love from them."
Silver nodded stiffly, glancing between Twilight and Celestia before looking back at Twilight. "We've made up. We're friends now."
Twilight smiled gently. "Now that's great news I can stand behind. Good. You're both wonderful ponies." Twilight moved to settle on her own cushion. "I hope we can all be good friends to one another, above and beyond any... romantic feelings."
Celestia looked away. "I'm sorry for troubling you."
Silver frowned at the exchange. "No." She tapped the top of the table with a hoof. "Twilight, she means it, and that's OK. She isn't your teacher anymore. You're a mare, not only an adult, but a princess."
Twilight nodded at Silver slowly. "I... understand that." She smiled at Celestia with worry. "This is just all so sudden. I'm not... angry, Celestia. Please, just give me a little to... process it? I do mean it." She pointed at Silver. "You either join the herd or not at all. I've already agreed and that would be... I'm not even going to consider breaking that. That would..." She hung her head then, unable to continue.
Celestia reached out a wing, brushing Twilight's cheek lightly, "Take your time. I can wait. Time is a resource I have in abundance. You should be truthful in your dealings. If you deny me, I will still be here, and I will still be here for you. If you threw aside Silver's herd, you would not be the wonderful mare I've grown so fond of."
Soon they departed the room, Silver carrying the weighty book of herd laws in her saddlebag. They spread their wings and soon Silver and Twilight were on their way to Ponyville. Luna stepped free of another room closeby. "You said more than I thought you would."
Cadance stepped out of the same room right after her. "I may have helped."
Celestia's eyes widened. "Niece!" She trembled, flames licking over her form a moment before it fizzled off. "She took it better than I thought she would."
Cadance gestured at the shrinking forms of the two alicorns. "She is a grown mare, as you said. Aunt, trust her, and yourself."
Luna snorted softly. "I was flattered when you thought of me, sister. Why did you not take Silver's offer?"
Celestia raised a brow. "Didn't you hear Twilight? She would not have accepted my taking her away from that herd. I am not in any hurry to do that to her."
Luna snorted softly and ruffled her wings. Cadance looked to her with a raised brow. "You are the mare of her dreams."
Luna barked out a laugh at Cadance's words. "I do suppose that is the case. Ugh, when did our life become a poorly-written romantic novel? I'm going to bed. Wake me when it is time to get actual work done."
When Luna had left, Celestia settled her eyes on Cadance. "Well, do you feel that was worth it?"
Cadance pointed back at Celestia. "Do you?"
Celestia rose to her hooves and moved to walk down the hall. "There is much to prepare for. You should return. Your ponies need you."
Silver and Twilight landed lightly on the balcony of the castle and moved inside. Night was there, writing something out. She looked up on their entry. "Back so soon? Did it..." She looked over their expressions with a frown. "What happened?"
Silver pointed at Twilight. "Celestia wants Twilight."
Twilight went red quickly. "You can't just say it like that!"
Night raised a brow. "I... see? So should I expect her to turn us all to ash or quietly move us to some forgotten outpost?"
Twilight turned on Night, wings flared wide. "Don't say that! Celestia isn't like that. She's good and kind..."
Silver shook her head at Night. "I think she'll try approaching us, maybe."
Night sank in place. "Great..."
Silver quickly moved up to Night, nuzzling her cheek. "You sound disappointed, not scared."
Night leaned against Silver. "The writing's on the wall. If she means it, there's no way you'll turn her away. She's already Twilight's idol, and Fast is hardly much of a gatekeeper. It's... Come on, you have to see this."
Silver considered a moment before it came to her and she sagged a little. "And you're going to be overshadowed more."
Night tapped Silver on the nose with her fuzzy wing. "Bad enough with two alicorns and a very talented unicorn. Now you want to throw the ruler of all Equestria in there? Seriously?" She sagged. "The bite thing didn't even last long."
Silver tilted her head. "It wore off?"
Night nodded slowly. "Tested it with Fast. I'm not a pure breed, it's just not in the cards. I'm just a bat pony with good eyes."
Silver winced at 'bat pony'. "Night Watch! Never say that about yourself. You are not just 'an' anything. You got me here. You stood at my side. You helped heal me."
Night brushed gently across Silver's snout with a wing. "And now you are much better. You don't need me. Nopony in this herd does. I'm just a big fat mare. I... I'm glad we've had this time together, but I'm just in the way now."
Silver wrapped a wing around Night, squeezing her. "You are the mother of my foal, and I love you. You don't need special powers to hold onto my heart. Did you see about the town hall job?" She looked up for Twilight, but she was nowhere to be seen.
Night sagged. "Pushing papers around? That's not what I imagined for myself. I want to use these eyes of mine. I want to tackle intruders and criminals. I'm a guardian, Silver. I want to guard. This castle has its own guards, it doesn't need me, and I'm just getting fatter, so that scratches out tackling anything, except maybe you. You're easy to tackle." Silver began to object, but was suddenly thrown to the ground, and Night settled over her, belly-to-belly.
Silver warmed as she felt Night's bulging belly press against her. "You are a wonderful pony." Silver brought in her legs, rubbing across the bulge. "Swelling with our love. I'll do anything for you, just... say it."
Much feelz and Night is sad.
come on "Night Watch! you are a vary gorges mare, it is just the hormones talking right now.
the surprise in this chapter is that Celestia told Twilight her true feelings.
the tension is mounting for our herd will it survive or tare it's self apart.
night watch really needs some personal time with her herd she is feeling down all she sees is her self getting fat not the new life growing in side her body.
Harts Fire
If she did not have "her" eyes on her.
That first word needs a hyphen, rather than a period, between its letters.
There are two spaces between "more" and "and."
Silver has earned little love "from" them.
There are two spaces between "and" and "that."
Fast is hardly much "of" a gatekeeper.
There are two spaces between the two sentences.
But "she was" nowhere to be seen.
5917168 Fixed for the royal documents.
5914226
For what it's worth, I once did some back-of-a-napkin calculations that the gender balance in Equestria is roughly 60% female / 40% male.
Of course, that completely flies in the face of Fisher's principle, but I'd assume that can be chalked up to magic.
5917208 For what it's worth? Recent episodes seem to be trying to portray much closer to 1:1 than the early ones.
5917219 Well, I didn't do an exhaustive study or anything, but that 3:2 ratio held up when I looked at, for example, "Twilight Time" in season four.
5917257 I haven't been counting, but season 5 -feels- like I see more stallions around. I could be way wrong. What be your thoughts on yon chapter?
5917264 I enjoyed this chapter, as things finally seem to be proceeding in a direction where everypony isn't stepping on everypony else's hooves (or tripping over their own) trying to figure out what they want. There are still rough patches, of course, but they're the normal ones that go with having so many tricky issues to deal with, rather than being somepony else inadvertently (or actively) acting as opposition.
It was nice to see that Celestia was not only willing to listen to Silver about how she's being overly controlling by not trusting her little ponies to make their own choices (not to mention admit the real cause of her passive-aggressive attitude towards Silver for so long), but admit that and then turn around and act on it. Of course, she at least partially has Cadance to thank for that, but Cadance is (usually) very careful about when she uses her power, and it's little more than a nudge towards something a pony already feels anyway. While Celestia's confession to Twilight about how she feels was rather formal, and quite stilted, it was still earnest, and fits with what honestly looks like a lot of personal growth in the last couple of chapters.
Indeed, Celestia's recent actions have largely started her on the rode to redemption, in terms of how I look at her as a character. She's basically, if subtly, admitted that she's been in the wrong, and worked to try and change that, even when it's been difficult for her. While it took forever to get that message across (though to be fair, it was only Silver saying that for quite some time), she seems to have finally received it. More notable is that, once she accepted that, she's been willing to take steps to try and improve herself, specifically with regards to Silver and Twilight. She still hasn't truly apologized, or formally admitted that she was wrong...but for the first time, it really seems like she's willing to listen to others, rather than just "killing them with kindness" until she gets her way.
In other words, the sun is finally emerging from behind the clouds.
Of course, whether or not she joins the herd is something of an open question. Night Watch is right in that it'll be difficult to actually say no to her. Twilight, despite her (slightly surprising) moment of announcing that she and the herd are a package deal, still seems likely to acquiesce if Celestia pushes hard enough. Certainly, Silver would, and in her current state of mind I'm not sure Night would be willing to go against the group's desires. I half-disagree that Fast isn't much of a gatekeeper; Fast will do whatever Silver wants him to do, and would absolutely salivate at the thought of getting to climb on top of Celestia...but at the same time, Fast doesn't like Celestia very much as a pony, for what she's put Silver through, and has shown no hesitancy in standing up to her before. So I think that Fast might surprise Night in terms of how much he's willing to tell Celestia to take a hike.
More germane to the situation, however, is how Twilight feels. Simply put, the onus of what comes next is on her, and I'm a little concerned about how much she'll give Celestia an honest chance. Putting aside an idolization that she's held ever since she was a filly won't be easy...and Twilight has a history of being frightened and running away from big changes to existing social paradigms; look at how hard Silver and the herd had to work to get her to accept them.
Silver's going to have to mare up here, and that's going to be hard for her to do in this regard. That's because the truest thing she can do to help Twilight is to aid her in discovering her own, genuine feelings for Celestia...without making it seem like she (Silver) is pushing for any particular result. That might be difficult because Silver isn't so great at accepting her own feelings, let alone helping others be true to theirs. Her attempt to fall back into martyrdom and let Twilight and Celestia be together was a lapse back into bad habits, and I was glad that Twilight put her hoof down on that one. In that regard, they seem to have a dynamic of being each other's saving grace - neither is able to judge what they want for themselves very well, but are very keen on what's best for the other. Hopefully that will avail them again here.
This also throws a bit of a monkey wrench into the idea of Luna and Silver being together. The same herd with two sisters in it? Let alone two sisters that are the immortal rulers of Equestria? Wow is that going to be awkward!
Also, the political aspect of how this plays out is not to be forgotten about. The nobility has control of the laws regarding royal herds, and that means that not only can they decide not to change things to become less onerous, they can actually make it worse if they want. Remember Carrot Plate and her mom? I suspect they're going to be less than cooperative. Better take the time to talk to Fleur and Fancy Pants again, Silver.
Then there's Night Watch. While it's not the source of her problems, I suspect that some of her despair is hormones talking. She seems pretty far along at this point, and there's no way that it's not screwing with her emotions by now. That said, the source of the problem runs deeper than that. She's right that there's really no need for her in Ponyville. If she has nothing special to offer, then she's not going to be happy. Obviously, that can't be helped while she's pregnant, but the problem will only get worse, not better, after she gives birth. Her statements now sound very ominous, as though she was considering withdrawing from the herd, something that would absolutely shatter Silver (and Fast); Night is the only one who has never abandoned or betrayed her; more than any other member of the herd, Night is needed.
There is an answer to her despair, and it's to give her a project, preferably one that's big and with some danger. That would give her the self-respect she needs to feel like she's making a contribution again. Ponyville is near the Everfree Forest, and the ponies seem to go into it often enough, despite its dangerous creatures. Maybe it's time to have somepony oversee making a road through it? Either way, Night needs something to do; let's hope she finds it soon.
5917334 But... should Silver end up with most of the princesses gathered around her? That would be one mighty herd indeed. In terms of Equestria as a nation, it's an extremely unified ruling body, with all the co-rulers bound by marriage and apparently happy about it. It would certainly be a positive marker on Silver's turbulent life, but only if Night could be soothed somehow, because an unhappy Night is an unhappy Silver, always. She is far too precious to neglect.
Coaxing Twilight to continue growing takes a backseat to this more immediate problem. Night isn't going to cheer herself up, even if they don't get more alicorns involved. This is a serious concern.
Glad you liked the chapter, and, as always, love exchanging ideas!
5917469 Certainly, that's an idea worth bringing up, if not at this point then in the near future, simply due to how logical an extension of the current situation it is. Twilight loves Silver and the others. So does Luna. Celestia loves Twilight. It might be time to just throw their hooves in the air and caution to the wind and say "why not? Let's all get married!"
I can already see Fast Change wondering just how drunk on cider he'd need to get Luna and Celestia before he could take them both to bed at the same time.
For that matter, why not bring in Cadance and Shining Armor too? I'm sure after looking over Silver, Night, Fast (in female form, of course), Celestia, and Luna, Shining Armor would suggest to Cadance that they give it some serious consideration, even if he would be marrying his sister, technically. Of course, I'm not at all sure Cadance would be quite so receptive to the idea, Princess of Love or not.
5917818 Sometimes I'm not sure if you're kidding or not.
If for whatever reason Cadance and Shining Armor were convinced, they have a nation that's quite some distance away to manage. That would be a strained relationship at best. Of course, there are other ways. Other evil ways.
I have plans.
5917851 Distance is going to be a problem one way or another. Twilight is the princess of Ponyville, but Night Watch isn't happy there, and Celestia and Luna rule from Canterlot. One way or another, the logistics are going to be a bitch (hint: move the capitol, mares).
You are not 'just' an anything.
6214920 Fixed.