Chapter 29- Warmth Against the Cold
Thanks to him witnessing Luna playing her role as Nightmare Moon, and seeing what Nightmare Moon looked like for the first time, the rest of Nightmare Night was filled with a sense of gloom for Sol. Thankfully for him, after they returned to the others and explained what happened to him, Sol quickly found himself in the middle of a group hug with his friends and family, minus Spike and Rarity, with the latter having fainted from seeing the condition of his costume, and the former having to carry her back to her home.
Unfortunatly for Sol, during his moment in the statue's clearing, he forgot that there were others around besides his friends and family, which led Zecora and Mayor Mare to discover who Sol truly was. Though both were rightfully shocked, Zecora recovered quickly and took the news well, while Mayor Mare was buzzing with the knowledge of Celestia secretly having been a mother for all these years. It wasn't until she was ordered by both Celestia and Luna to keep quiet that Mayor Mare finally calmed down. As for the foals who'd been with them, thanks to them running scared after Luna's appearance as Nightmare Moon, they were too far away at the time to witness Sol's moment, and remained unaware of his secret.
On the bright side, following up on his word, Sol gave Nightmare Night a second chance, and tried to enjoy the rest of it as best he could, considering the mood he was in. And like she said, Twilight stuck by his side and tried to help him, along with the rest of their friends, and Celestia, who'd turned back into Sunshine. As much as Luna wanted to be there and help him as well, she had an appearance to keep up.
As the rest of the night went on, Sol had slowly found his mood to be lightened. By the time everyone started to call it a night and head home, Sol had a small smile that found its way on his face. After saying their goodbyes to their friends, Twilight led Sol, Sunshine, and Luna back into her castle, where Sunshine returned to Celestia, teleported her banana costume away with a loud sigh of relief, and said their goodbyes to Sol and Twilight before flying back to Canterlot. With the two sisters gone and now alone, Sol turned to Twilight and took her by surprise when he suddenly hugged her and whispered his thanks to her.
Weeks passed since Nightmare Night, and since then, things have been a mix for Sol. On the one side, for the first week since, Sol had nightmares where Luna would turn back into Nightmare Moon. Sometimes it would involve her sealing Celestia away in the moon, sometimes it would have her enslaving everypony, and at one time, he even dreamed of everything dying as a result of the cold, sunless nights brought on by Nightmare Moon.
On the other, with the changing of the seasons, Sol got to see how the ponies of this age changed fall to winter. As he helped his friends with winter, they told him the story about Rainbow's first winter involving her pet tortoise, Tank, and the lengths she went to in order to stop winter and prevent him from going into hibernation. Thankfully this time around, Rainbow was prepared and took it better than last time, though, once Tank was buried, she made it a point to sit down and read him one last bedtime story before saying goodbye to him for the next few months.
Once they were finished and winter had officially settled in, the effects of the winter cold were immediate prompting everypony into wearing their winter clothing, including Sol. While his dragon-half and fire sac did help keep him warm, since he was still half-pony, he was required to wear some clothes to help keep him warm, albeit less than the normal pony would need. Being introduced to new winter activities that he'd never heard of before during his time, Sol found himself taking a break from the Underkingdom and spending his days outside with his friends ice skating, playing hockey, sliding, building snow forts, and having snowball fights with them. But, best of all was what happened afterwards.
Into the second week of December, Sol found himself laying down in front of the fireplace in the library, with a blanket draped over him, and a small stack of books from his personal library beside him, one of which he had sitting open in front of him. While he didn't exactly feel like he need the blanket, it helped bring a sense of warmth and comfort to him after spending all day outside in the cold. Although, if he were to be honest with himself, thanks to today being by far the coldest they had so far, he did feel a little chilled after being outside all day and into the tonight.
"There you are."
Ears perking at her voice, Sol looked back and saw Twilight approaching him with a pair of mugs levitating alongside her.
"I was looking for you," she continued. "Spike made everypony some hot cocoa, so I thought that I'd come and bring you some."
Sol looked at her curiously. "Hot cocoa? What's that?"
"You know, hot cocoa?"
"...?"
"Hot chocolate?"
Sol raised an eyebrow, which Twilight rolled her eyes at. "Oh, just try it. You love chocolate and other sweets enough as it is, so I promise that you'll like it."
Taking the mug she held to him in his own golden magical aura, Sol brought it down and looked into the mug were he saw the steam from the chocolate. Bringing the mug to his lips, he took an experimental sip and immediately found it to his liking.
"Mmmm. This is really good," he said, feeling himself being filled with warmth before taking another sip.
Happy to hear it, Twilight then spotted the book in front of Sol, along with the small stack beside him.
"What are you reading?" she wondered.
"Hmm?" Sol swallowed the hot chocolate and licked his lips. "Sorry. They're just some books from the Underkingdom. I went down to my personal library and decided to pick up a few books from there."
"You have a personal library?!" she exclaimed. "Where?! I went through the Undercity's entire library and didn't see any restricted sections or anything to indicate a personal library."
"That's because it's in the castle," he said with a chuckle.
Thoroughly interested now, Twilight laid herself down alongside Sol and took a sip from her mug before she started reading over the book Sol had before them, completely unaware of how close she was to him.
"Umm... Twilight...?"
"Hmm?"
Looking up from the book, Twilight turned her head and came nose-to-nose with Sol. Surprised by the close proximity, Twilight let out a yelp and jerked back with a blush.
"Sorry! I didn't mean..."
Blushing himself, Sol looked away.
"I-It's fine," he stammered, clearing his throat right after. "Umm... do you... er... would you like to read it with me?"
Her blush calming down a little, Twilight gave a small nod and took her spot again, this time being more wary of how close she was to him. Once she was settled, Sol moved the book over for them to both comfortably read. As the minutes passed by, Sol glanced over to Twilight when he noticed her give an involuntary shiver.
"You alright there?"
"Huh?"
"You were shivering. Are you cold?"
As if to answer for her, Twilight's body shivered again. "Maybe just a little. Guess I got a little chilled with how cold today was, but I'll be alright. I'll just go and grab myself a blanket... to..."
Twilight's words faded as she saw Sol lift the blanket he'd been covered with and draped it over her. Shivering from the comforting warmth it brought, Twilight pulled the blanket tighter and blushed.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
Returning to the book, the two continued to read it until they finished it and went on to the next one. When they got into the third chapter of the book, Twilight noticed Sol's body shiver, and paused from her reading as she subtly looked him over. A few moments later, he shivered again.
Looks like he got a little chilled too.
Clinging to the blanket, Twilight blushed again as her thoughts drifted to a when Sol had previously offered this blanket to her after he caught her shivering from the cold. Getting an idea that warmed her cheek's up at just the thought, Twilight lifted the blanket up off of her with her magic and scooted closer to Sol. Once she could feel her coat was lightly brushing up against his, she draped the blanket over the both of them.
"Uhh, Twilight?" Sol said with reddened cheeks.
"Yes?"
"Um... what are you doing?"
"Well, it looked like you were cold, so I thought that we could share the blanket." With a hint of shyness, Twilight looked him in the eyes. "T-That is, if you're okay with that?"
Put on the spot, Sol gulped. "N-N-No. I-It's okay. Thanks."
Though they were both still feeling a bit awkward with their close proximity to each other, they pushed it down and re-directed their attention back to reading. As time passed, they began to relax and the tension between them faded, which eventually led them to making small talk as they read, and to occasional let out a laugh or two. Soon enough, the small gap between Sol and Twilight was closed as the two had subconsciously scooted closer to were they were now lightly leaning against each other. The funny thing, though, is that with how relaxed and comfortable they both were, neither of them had noticed it. That is, except for the three pairs of eyes that were spying on them through the crack in the open door.
"So? What do you girls think?"
"Trixie is curious if Sparkle actually planned this out," Trixie whispered in open thought. "I mean, it is something she would do, right?"
"Honestly, it's kinda hard to tell," Starlight whispered back. "On the one hoof, she did wake up with Sol-"
"She what?!" Spike quietly asked in shock. "When did this happen?!"
"It was during our trip to the Dragon Lands to visit Ember. You were still asleep, so you didn't see it."
Spike shared a surprised look with Trixie before peeking back to the pair beneath the blanket.
"Huh."
"Yeah. But as I was saying, on the one hoof, she did wake up with Sol, has been spending noticeably more time with him, and look like they've grown closer, but on the other hoof, I'm not so sure that Twilight actually planed for this part. I mean, yeah, it is possible that she did, but I don't think that she's ever planned for something involving anything romantic."
"She hasn't tried something like this before as far as I know, and I've lived with her my whole life."
Trixie hummed as she and the others continued to quietly watch. "So, what should we do?"
"I say we should leave them be," Spike decided. "They seem like they're enjoying their time together, so let's let them have it."
"I suppose," Trixie yawned. "Trixie is tired, so I think that I'm going to call it a night."
"Alright. I'll be there in a bit, Trix. Goodnight," Starlight said, watching Trixie wave at her as she tiredly trudged down the hallway.
Once she was out of sight, Spike let out a small yawn himself. "I think Trixie's got the right idea," he muttered. "I'm gonna call it a night too, Starlight. See ya in the morning."
"Alright. Goodnight, Spike."
Hearing Sol and Twilight laughing again, Starlight glanced back to them and smiled before she quietly closed the door and let them be.
"So, are you still planning on heading off to Canterlot tomorrow?" Twilight asked as she and Sol paused from their reading.
"I am," he nodded. "I'm going to be helping mother and Aunt Luna with planning for the Hearth's Warming Eve Ball, and help oversee some of the preparations." Sol blushed at a certain topic. "You're still coming, right?"
"Of course. My family and I have all been invited to go. Besides, mom and dad live there in Canterlot, so it won't be much of a trip for us. It's just too bad that the others won't be coming."
"I'm surprised as well. I thought that Spike would've wanted to spend the holiday with Rarity. I mean, I get it with Ember not wanting to come since it's a ball and she'd probably be bored with it, not to mention the decorations that I have planned, but the Hearth's Warming Eve Ball would seem like something up Rarity's ally."
Twilight nodded. "It is, but as much as she and Spike wanted to spend Hearth's Warming together, they agreed that their families came first."
"And yet, Sugar Belle is staying here in Ponyville with Big Mac and his family for Hearth's Warming."
"I know, but we both know that that's a different situation. Perhaps next year Spike and Rarity can spend Hearth's Warming together."
Sol chuckled. "As far as we know, by this time next year, those two and Ember might be engaged, or even married for all we know."
"Maybe, but for now, this is how it is." Twilight smiled at the thought. "You know, it occurs to me that you seem to be awfully interested in their relationship."
Sol shrugged. "After hearing of all the stories about what Spike's done for everypony, all of the struggles he's gone through, his efforts to gain Rarity's affection, and seeing him final succeed... I just want the guy to be happy. From what I understand, he deserves it after all that he's went through, both with Rarity, and everything else."
"I couldn't agree more."
There was a moment of silence before Sol spoke up. "So, you were talking about your family?"
"Yes. Spike and I will be heading over to mom and dad's for Hearth's Warming, and best of all, Shining Armor, Cadence, and Flurry Heart will be coming as well!"
"I take it then that they'll be attending the ball?"
"As far as I'm aware they are."
Sol smiled and let out a small sigh. "That's good. I was actually hoping to talk to Cadence about something."
"What about?"
"... something..."
It was easy for Twilight to see how flustered this was making Sol, and judging by how vague his answer was, she figured that he didn't feel very comfortable talking about it at the moment. Putting it aside with the belief that he would tell her what it was when he felt more comfortable about it, Twilight returned to reading. At least, until Sol spoke again, but with a more hesitant and unsure tone.
"... hey... Twilight?"
"Yes?"
"... at the ball... will you be dancing with anypony?"
"I wasn't planning to," she answered before letting out a sigh. "Many of the nobles and other ponies have tried asking me in the past, but I turned them all down. Back when I was living with Princess Celestia in Canterlot as her personal student, I could tell that they were more interested in my being her personal student than me personally. It then grew later on for my reputation as the Element of Magic, and most recently, my becoming a princess."
"Oh..."
Noticing the dejected tone in his voice, Twilight shot him a sidelong look. "Why do you ask?"
Sol bit his lip as he was hesitant to speak. "Because... I was going to ask if you would like to have a dance with me."
Twilight felt her heart flutter at Sol's admittance. She had a small idea of what he wanted to ask after she gave her reason, and was a little worried that it might've dissuaded him. But, now that he had admitted it to her, she could barely keep herself from squealing in joy. She also knew that unlike the other stallions who've asked her before him, Sol didn't ask her because of her crown, her closeness to Celestia, or heroic status, but because he saw her for the pony that she truly was behind it all. It was with that reason, and the fact that she trusted him far more than any other stallion besides those in her family, that she had no problems with it.
"Yes. I would be happy to dance with you."
Surprised by her answer, Sol looked to her with confusion and hopefulness in his eyes.
"Really?! B-But, you just said that you weren't planning to dance."
"I know," Twilight calmly said before smiling at him, "but I also said that those ponies only asked me because of what I am. You are different from them. When you asked me, I could see, and hear, that you didn't do it with the same intentions that they did. When you asked me, you didn't ask me as the Princess of Friendship, or as the Element of Magic, but as just regular old Twilight Sparkle, correct?"
Seeing Sol blushing and giving a small nod, Twilight's smile brightened, knowing that she made the right choice in choosing to accept his offer to dance with him. Leaning against him with a small sigh, Twilight shared a smile with Sol before the two went back to their reading.
Sol groaned from the library floor as he felt himself starting to awaken. As he did, he recalled the last thing that happened, which he remembered was him and Twilight reading some of his books together. Cracking his eyes open, he saw that it was still dark outside, and that the only source of light in the room was coming the dying flames in the fireplace. Feeling like getting up and heading off to bed, Sol began to move, but immediately froze when he heard a moan coming from above him, along with the feeling of another's body against him. Blinking his eyes awake, he tilted his head as best he could to see what was going on. When he did, his heart jumped when he saw Twilight's form out of the corner of his eye, and from what he could see, he could tell that it was her head that he felt atop his neck. And, judging by her breathing, she had drifted off to sleep as well, and had decided to use him as her pillow. Whether she knew or not, Sol wasn't sure.
Surprised by this development, Sol froze in place as he wondered how to best get out of this situation. Then again, he'd be lying if he said that a part of him didn't like this feeling. As the months went by since they first met, he and Twilight had become closer, but it was after Nightmare Night that he realized that he'd taken a fancy to her. Heck, there had even been a few times where he'd even considered courting her. But in the end, he couldn't bring himself to do it.
Then again, I guess I did technically ask her out to the ball, he thought, but shook his head right afterwards when thoughts about his previous relationship surfaced, and more specifically, how it ended.
But she's not her, he mused, sadly looking at Twilight's peacefully sleeping form. And from what she and Spike have told me, her parents are kind and respectable ponies, so I doubt that they'd do anything like what he did... I wonder what mother and Aunt Luna have to say about them?
Sol was brought out from his internal musing when he felt Twilight shifting around. Remaining still, Sol waited for her to stop moving, which ended up with Twilight burying her head against his side, and her forelegs wrapping around his barrel as she snuggled against him in her sleep.
While this admittedly did feel nice, Sol figured that the proper thing for him to do would be for him to get Twilight to her bed, before he would retire to his own. Lighting his horns, Sol gently wrapped Twilight up with his magic and began to slowly pull her away, but stopped when she grumbled and clung to him tighter.
"No. Warm."
Worried that any further attempts would wake her, Sol surrendered to the fate of his situation with a flustered face, and laid his head back down on its previous spot the floor. As the minutes rolled by, Sol soon became relaxed again, and with the warmth from Twilight, and the sounds of her gentle breathing, he found himself being lulled back to sleep.
Twilight winced as she felt the sunlight shining through the window onto her face. Groaning from being awoken, she opened her mouth to yawn before trying to hide her face from the light in hopes of gaining a little more sleep. Burying her face into the warmth and out of the sunlight, Twilight let out a content sigh as she felt herself relaxing again... until she felt that warmth steadily rise and fall with each breath it took.
Remembering the events of last night, and that she'd accidentally fallen asleep, when Twilight's eyes shot open, they were met with a wall of white.
Oh, no. I did it again!
Looking over her situation, Twilight saw that she had indeed fallen asleep with Sol again, but this time she somehow ended up with his wing draped over her, providing her with another layer of warmth in addition to his own body heat, and the blanket covering them. And, now that she thought about it, she didn't feel the least bit cold, unlike last night when she and Sol first started reading together.
Feeling the steady rising and falling of Sol's chest against her, and hearing the beating of his heart, Twilight blushed and figured that now would be a good enough time as any to get up and begin her day. Though, she found it to a bit hard to do, especially when she saw the content smile on Sol's muzzle as he slept.
As nice as this feels, we should really get this day started, she rationalized, despite her not wanting to leave the warmth that had enveloped her. Besides, Sol will need to leave soon for Canterlot.
Peeking her head up and spotting nopony around watching them this time, Twilight slowly slid out from beneath Sol's wing, shivering as the cooler air touched her coat before making her way out in front of him to wake him.
"Sol. It's time to get up," she quietly said, gently nudging him as she did.
Hearing her soft voice piercing through his veil of sleep, Sol groaned and cracked open an eye to see. Feeling the warm yet empty space where he remembered Twilight had been, he looked around and saw her standing in front of him with a smile on her face.
"Good morning, Twilight," he said, groaning as he stretched his stiff limbs out from his spot on the floor.
"Good morning," Twilight returned, blushing at how the two of them ended up last night. "I want to apologize."
"Hmm? What for?"
"For... well, this," she said, gesturing to him and the blanket with a hoof.
Understanding what she was meaning, Sol stood up and smiled as he draped the blanket back over Twilight, who gave him a quiet "thank you" when he did.
"It's alright. I mean, it's not like either of us planned on it, right?"
"No, it wasn't planned."
The two turned and made their way towards the door.
"Although," he admitted, "I'd be lying if said that I didn't like it."
Twilight's head snapped in his direction. "R-Really?"
"Yes. That was probably one of the warmest and most comfortable nights that I've slept since I was a foal."
"Really?"
"Really... well, apart from falling asleep on the floor that is."
Twilight cocked an eyebrow as they walked down the halls now.
"You didn't like it? I mean, as the Lord of Earth, I just figured that you sleeping on the crystalline floor wouldn't be a big deal for you."
"No, you're right. It's not a big deal. But even so, I do prefer to sleep in a nice soft bed."
As the two continued down the halls, they turned the corner leading them to the kitchen where they saw Spike about to walk in.
"Good morning, Spike," Twilight called, gaining his attention before he entered.
"Morning, Twilight, Sol," Spike returned. "I didn't hear your door close last night, Twilight. Did something happen?"
Twilight paused before she answered. "I... fell asleep while reading."
Rolling his eyes in good-nature, Spike let loose a chuckle. "Of course you did."
Holding the door open for them, Spike let Twilight go in first, but Sol didn't enter, instead standing outside with him.
"Hey, Spike. Mind if you come with me for a moment?" Sol asked. "I need your help with something."
"Oh. Sure."
"In that case, I'll go ahead and get something started for us," Twilight called out to them.
"Thank you, Twilight. We won't be long," Sol assured her.
Leading Spike away, Sol made his way down the hallway and around the corner, where he then looked back to make sure that Twilight wasn't following.
"Alright, so what's this really about, Sol?" Spike asked, folding his arms across his chest with a grin. "Does it have something to do with you and my big sis falling asleep together last night?"
Sol looked back at Spike in surprise. "How did you-"
"I saw you and Twilight reading together last night, and when I saw you two walking to the kitchen together with her wearing the same blanket from last night, along with what she said about how she fell asleep while reading... well, it wasn't hard to put two and two together."
Sol blushed at being caught. "Okay. First off, that was an accident."
"Sure it was," he chuckled.
"And second, no, this doesn't have to do with last night."
Spike raised a curious eyebrow. "Okay then. I'm listening. What is it then?"
"I was wondering if you could do me a favor?"
"I don't see why not," he shrugged. "What do you need?"
Lighting his horns, Sol teleported down to him a pair of wrapped boxes. Both of them were two feet big, but one was wrapped in purple wrapping paper with a pink bow on top, and the other was wrapped in green wrapping paper, and tied down with a gold ribbons. Holding them in his magic, Sol levitated them over to Spike for him to take.
"Since I'll be leaving for Canterlot today, and seeing as how I probably won't be able to hand these out during the Ball, I was wondering if you would give this present to Twilight for me on Hearth's Warming?"
Eyeing the purple present in his claw, Spike grinned at Sol.
"I take it by the lack of a nametag that you don't want her to know who it's from until she opens it on Hearth's Warming morning?"
"... preferably."
"Alright. I'll make sure that she gets it," he chuckled.
"Thanks, Spike," Sol smiled, getting up afterwards and heading back to the kitchen.
"Hey! What about this other one?!"
Sol looked back with a small smirk of his own. "That one's for you. Happy Hearth's Warming, Spike."
Curious, Spike eyed his present and gave it a couple of sniffs.
"Oh, and don't bother trying to figure out what they are, Spike," Sol said, peeking his head from around the corner. "I enchanted both of those presents to prevent Twilight from using a spell to see through the boxes, and another to keep you from trying to smell them."
Hearing Sol walking away, Spike grumbling under his breath as he took the two presents to his room to hide.
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YAY
New chapter.
Very sweet and very fluff
Wow. 'Fluttershy' Twilight is cute Twilight
I also really want to say that I absolutely LOVE how their romance is progressing. Just giving these characters time really helps appreciate there togetherness all the more. Not that there was really much wrong with how the romance paced in the other story; this one just feels a little more... natural.
Also, looking forward to how you'll be writing Twilight's parents here. (considering after Season 7 Episode 22)
Anyway, keep up the good work my good man
And so it begins
Some small things i noticed
"own"
"others"
Nice work as always!
Awww, this was great
Let the ship sail! Beware of icebergs please
Cocoa. I think, maybe it's just a British thing but I've always spelled it as cocoa.
Others
Do you mean Sweetie Belle?
Oh no! Twilight is a gender bender
8495882 I agree. The biggest thing that I like about this fic over my other one is the progression of their relationship. To me, the other one feels a little bit rushed, while this one has time to grow.
8495955>>8496578>>8496770 Thanks for bringing those typos up.
8496749 Nope. It's Sugar Belle.
vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/9/95/Sugar_Belle_and_Big_Mac_nuzzle_affectionately_S7E8.png/revision/latest?cb=20170528220309
*implodes from cuteness*
dude i love these, I am eagerly waiting for more my good sir!
edit: Time to reread from the beginning once more! FROM THE TOP BOIS!!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO PLEASE DONT END!!!!!!!! I have just read everything from start to finish, one of the BEST STORIES ON THIS SITE EVER! cant wait for more
You know there's nothing wrong with relationships staying platonic right? It wouldn't be some huge problem if they didn't get together romantically.