Of Heaven and Earth

by Garuda IV

Chapter 43- A Peacefullly Chaotic Morning

Light shown through the windows as Celestia's sun shined down upon the sleeping forms beneath the bedsheets. Like most mornings, Sol felt the warmth of his mother's sun and was inclined to rise with it... but not this time. This time, Sol found himself with another source of warmth, one that warmed him in a way that no other thing could. And thanks to this warmth, Sol, who would normally rise with his mother's sun, forewent his normal routine in favor of remaining as he was.

Unfortunately for Sol, despite him wanting to remain asleep, the sun was shining unusually bright this morning, causing Sol to grumble in protest before he buried his face in something soft, silky, and smelling of lavender.

Hmm...?

Finding that last part unusual when waking, Sol took another sniff, and was rewarded with another breath of lavender. Curious, Sol cracked open an eye, and was met with a familiar purple mane with a pink stripe. As memories of last night began flooding back into his mind, Sol smiled as he recalled how he had brought a sleeping Twilight back to her room with the intent of putting her to bed, but instead ended up being dragged in to bed with her. While that was surprising enough, he found it even more surprising that she did it while she remained asleep.

Guess I rolled over in my sleep, he thought, remembering that he'd fallen asleep with his back turned to Twilight.

Having no intention of getting up from his current spot, Sol relaxed as he held Twilight close. Feeling her steady breathing against his neck, her forelegs wrapped around his back as she held him in her sleep, and the occasional murmur from a dream she seemed to be having, Sol couldn't help but feel like he was the luckiest stallion alive. After the date having gone without a hitch, falling asleep with his fillyfriend afterwards, and now waking up and watching her sleep as they cuddled, he began to truly believe that this relationship could work for them.

As time passed with Sol watching Twilight peacefully sleep, he began to idly stroke her mane, eliciting a soft coo from his fillyfriend.

"Mmmm. That feels nice."

Hearing her soft, quiet, and pleased voice, Sol, having no reason to stop, continued to stroke Twilight's mane, much to her pleasure. Content with doing nothing but spending this peaceful moment with his fillyfriend, he closed his eyes and relaxed, idly continuing his motions as he focused on the warm body snuggling against him.. and he wasn't the only one who felt that way.

After their date last night, Twilight had no intention of letting Sol go. If anything, she wanted to be as close to him as she possibly could. And right now, with the stroking of her mane, and the warmth and security she felt from Sol's embrace, Twilight felt the safest and most content she had in a long time. It also had the added benefit of helping her forget about the danger that had presented itself just a few days ago, allowing for her to have a pleasant, restful sleep. Unfortunately, as much as she wanted to just lay in bed all day in her coltfriend's arms, Twilight knew that they had a duty to perform, and were going to run late if they didn't get up soon.

Slowly, and reluctantly, Twilight began to pull away out of Sol's embrace and slowly open her eyes. When she did, she met Sol's soft, loving gaze for a short moment, before he closed them and leaned towards her. Wanting what she knew was coming, Twilight leaned up to Sol and met his kiss half way, letting out a pleasant moan as she felt the softness of his lips.

Guess it wouldn't hurt to stay a little longer, she reasoned to herself.

Maintaining their kiss, Twilight tightening her hold on him and pulled herself back up to Sol, who hummed pleasantly as his arms wrapped back around Twilight. For the next minute or so, the two laid in each other's embrace as they kissed, neither wanting the moment to end. But, as much as they didn't want to, they had a job to do and couldn't put it off... at least, until Celestia and Luna returned from their trip.

With great hesitation, Sol drew his lips back from Twilight, earning him a displeased whimper as the two opened their eyes.

"Good morning," Sol said, smiling with a small blush.

"Good morning," Twilight returned with a satisfied sigh. "I could get used to this."

"Yeah. Me too."

"It's just too bad we have to get up soon. Wish morning could wait a little bit."

Sol smirked. "You know, if you wanted me to, I could lower the sun back down."

Twilight blinked in surprise. "You can do that?"

"Mhmm. Mother did teach me how to move the sun. Although, I'm not so sure if she would appreciate it if I did that."

"Maybe, but I'm sure I could convince her it was for a good reason."

"Heheheh. Maybe, but if it's alright with you, I'd rather not find out." Sol let out a sigh and settled his head back down. "It is too bad, though."

"What is?"

Sol planted a quick peck on Twilight's nose. "That I didn't ask you to be my fillyfriend sooner. All that time we could have spent together like this..."

"I know, but now we are, and I couldn't be any happier."

"Me neither." Sol paused for a moment. "... well, maybe if we didn't have to get up. As much as I love them and don't mind covering for them, I do hope that mother and Aunt Luna will get home from their trip soon. I would very much like to get back to cuddling with my cute fillyfriend."

Twilight blushed at his comment, but could completely relate to him. Of course, the thought of Sol cuddling also led her mind to wander off to something else. It was something that he barely spoke about, but knew that she would have to be careful with asking. She just hoped that he was in a good enough mood to open up to her a bit.

"... hey, Sol?"

"Yes, Twilight?"

Twilight nervously bit her lip before asking, "... before the breakup, how was your relationship with your ex?"

Not having expected Twilight to suddenly ask him that, Sol found himself a bit surprised by her question, but not too put off by it. He didn't like to talk about his ex, or even bring her up, especially around Twilight. But, since it was Twilight herself who was asking him, he felt less reluctant to do so... that, and the look Twilight was giving him wasn't helping him, either.

"It... actually didn't last too long. About a month at least," he slowly admitted. "Of course, we didn't take things as far as you and I did."

Twilight's ears perked up. "Really?"

"Indeed. Sure, we would hug, and there were a few times where we cuddled, but other than that, it was mostly her flirting and teasing me... mostly the flirting... actually, she would flirt with me a lot. And I'll admit, I did find it cute and rather alluring, but in the end, I suppose it was for the best that we didn't become any closer."

"I see," she mumbled, feeling just the tiniest tinge of jealousy, but quickly squashed it down, knowing that there was no need for her to feel jealous over a mare from over a thousand years ago. "So, you like it when your fillyfriend flirts with you, huh?"

Sol frowned, having an idea of where she was going with this. "That was her thing, Twilight. While flirting is considered to be another part of being in a relationship, I'm not going to ask you to change who you are just for that, nor would I expect you to. You are you, Twilight, and I would hope that you'll continue to be the smart, strong, beautiful mare that you are now."

Twilight gave Sol a peck on the lips. "Thank you. I won't, then. I promise," she said with a small smirk. "But that doesn't mean that I won't try. Not to be like her, but because I want to."

Sol Shrugged. "If that is what you wish, then I won't stop you."

"... and to see you get all flustered," she added, causing Sol to blush, just as she had hoped it would.

Happy that he had opened up a bit, Twilight was feeling rather pleased and accomplished of herself. However, there was one more thing that she wanted to talk to him about. It was something that she knew he would not like in any way, but she also knew that it was something that she needed to ask him, before it was too late and he found out himself. And so, Twilight steeled herself for what was to probably come.

"Hey, Sol? Can I ask you one more thing?" she cautiously asked.

"Of course, Twilight," Sol replied, completely oblivious as to what was coming his way.

"Now, this is purely out of curiosity, and in no way meant to upset you, but hypothetically speaking, what would you do if... uhh..."

Sol raised a brow. "If what?"

"... if Discord was free?"

The feeling was instantaneous. No sooner did Twilight speak Discord's name did she feel Sol's body go ridged with a slight tremble.

"He'll never be free again," Sol growled. "At the very least, a stone prison is what he deserves. If it were up to me, I'd reduce his statue to dust and be done with him, but mother has already asked me that I not."

Twilight gulped. "Well... just humor me for a moment, will you?"

Sol directed his glare down to Twilight, and quickly found his hardened expression softening upon seeing her sad, almost fearful, expression.

"... very well," he huffed. "If he were to somehow free himself, I would put him right back in his stone prison and bury him deep beneath the Underkingdom. Maybe even seal him in crystal like how mother did to me, and leave him in my old hidden chamber to be forgotten for all in time."

"... even if he saved us?"

Sol gave Twilight a questioning look. "What do you mean?"

"Hypothetically, what if the princesses, our friends, and myself were all ponynapped, and Discord was one of the only ones left to save us and Equestria? And to top it off, he managed to do it all without the use of his magic?"

"Completely absurd. If all of you were ponynapped and there was nopony left to pose a big enough threat to challenge him, Discord would take advantage of the situation and take over Equestria once again. He did it before you and the others turned him back to stone, and I promise you, Twilight, he'll do it again."

Yeah. We noticed. "Please, Sol?"

Though he didn't like the thought of it, Twilight's pleading was easily getting the better of him. Closing his eyes and taking a few deep breaths to calm himself, he took a moment to think it over.

"I don't know why you're so interested in this, but if Discord somehow did save you, mother, Aunt Luna, the others, and Equestria... then he would still owe me."

Twilight blinked in surprise. "What? But he saved us. Wouldn't you owe him by that point?"

"After all that he's done to us in the past? No. He would have to do a lot more to come even close to us being equal."

"And the thousand years of stone imprisonment?"

"It's a start, but not nearly close to enough for me to forgive him, even if you added that list of what you just said."

"I see..."

Noting her crestfallen expression, Sol let out a small sigh. "Although... as loathed as I am to admit it, he would, at the very most, earn my thanks for saving you, mother, and Aunt Luna."

Guess I'll take what I can get, Twilight thought with a small smile. Hopefully in time he'll start to come around and forgive Discord. I just wish that Princess Celestia would let us come clean with him about Discord already, or at least tell us why Sol hates him so much. She did tell me that I could try and ease him in, but I could easily see that she wasn't comfortable with it.

Giving him one last squeeze, Twilight slid out from beneath the covers to get ready for the day.

"Just give it some thought," she said back to Sol, who began getting out of bed as well. "I know you don't like him, but it's been over a thousand years since then. For all you know, he could have changed, and be a completely different draconequus than what you remember him. I mean, Princess Luna changed, Starlight Glimmer changed, Trixie changed, the changeling race has changed, Queen Chrysalis notwithstanding, so why couldn't he?"

Sol frowned as his gaze shifted through the window towards the sunrise. He didn't want to think that way, especially when comparing him to Luna, but he couldn't deny that Twilight did have a point. After all, he did remember a time when Discord wasn't evil, so the possibility was there, small as it might be.

"I don't expect it to ever happen... but I'll keep it in mind."

Happy that he was willing to give it a thought, Twilight walked over to Sol and kissed him on the cheek.

"That's all I ask. Thank you."

"Mhmm."

Turning back around, Twilight began crossing her room to get herself ready for the day when a series of knocks echoed throughout her bedroom.

"Excuse me, Princess Twilight?"

Twilight paused as she recognized the voice of Celestia's assistant. "Yes, Miss Hoof?"

"Is it safe for me to come in?"

Twilight glanced back to Sol, who was silently looking at the door. "... yes? Why do you ask?"

"Because, Princess, I know that Sol is in there with you."

Eyes bulging and ears burning, Twilight lit her horn, opened one of the doors, and promptly drug Helping Hoof inside, followed by her swiftly closing the door behind her. Regaining her composure upon abruptly being levitated into Twilight's room, Helping Hoof adjusted her glasses and looked between the two.

"I figured as much," she said.

"H-How did you know?!" Twilight stammered, her face flushing red in embarrassment for having been caught with Sol in her bedroom.

"Captain Night Wing informed me this morning. His guards saw you two."

Sol's eyes widened. "... I forgot to close the door last night," he said with a facepalm. "No wonder they found out."

"Actually, Sol, they spotted you two exiting the throne room last night with Twilight clinging to your back. They didn't think much of anything when you brought her to her room, but after five minutes had passed without you leaving, they went to investigate and found you both asleep in her bed. I should also mention that it's not just Captain Night Wing and his guards who know at this point. The rumor about you two last night has already spread throughout the entire castle, so everypony knows about you two by now."

Twilight let out an embarrassed groan. "Oh, great. This is just what we needed."

"And it'll only get worse when it reaches the general public," Sol added.

Helping Hoof lit her horn and opened the door slightly, where she levitated a rolled up newspaper from and presented it to Twilight and Sol.

"Actually, it already has," she said with a small grimace. "We tried to run damage control before the rumor made its way out of the castle, but it spread too quickly for us to contain. After all, it's not every day when a princess gets romantically involved with somepony, and for it to be true no less."

"Yeah. I remember when Shining Armor started hanging around with Cadence. They weren't romantically involved back then, but that didn't stop ponies from gossiping," Twilight said, blushing as she looked at the front cover of the newspaper that had a picture of her and Sol sitting on the throne during open court. "Well, on the bright side, at least there isn't a picture to prove it."

"Maybe not, but I'm still expecting a whole herd of ponies to come asking you about it come open court today. Now, we already ordered the guards to not let in any newsponies, but I have no doubt that they'll still try to get answers. Most likely they'll try to send somepony in for them."

As the two read over the news article, Sol glanced over to Twilight.

"What of you think?"

"Honestly, I don't know. We tried to keep it a secret from everypony outside of our friends and family until we felt like we were ready, but now things are going to be far more difficult."

Sol's ears wilted. "I'm sorry, Twilight. If I had been more cautious and aware of my surroundings last night, we might have been able to avoid this."

Twilight shook her head. "Maybe, but unless we went back in time to change it, which we're not, then there's not much we can do. What's done is done."

"Heh. Believe me, I have no intention of tampering with time. Grandmother would have a fit when she found out." Sol let out a sigh. "But you're right, what's done is done. Now the question is what do we do from here?"

"You mean whether we try to keep us a secret or come out and admit the truth."

Helping Hoof raised a hoof. "Just keep in mind that if you do decide to tell everypony that it will almost certainly cause an uproar amongst the nobles."

Sol scoffed. "It's not like they liked me very much to start with. Honestly, I don't really care what they think. All I care about is what you think, Twilight. Tell them, or keep it quiet. The choice is yours. Just know that no matter what you choose, I'll be right there and support your decision."

Twilight nodded with a small smile. "Thank you, Sol. I'm not really sure right now, so would you be okay if I had some time to think it over?"

"While I'm sure he would," Helping Hoof began, "I doubt that the other ponies will be so generous. At most, I'd say you have until you and Sol reach the throne room to decide."

"... not quite the time I was hoping for, but it'll be fine. I should have enough time to think it over."

"Very well. Speaking of which, I shall leave you two to get ready."

With a bow, Helping Hoof exited the room, leaving Sol and Twilight alone once again.

"Well, I suppose I'd better return to my room and get ready for the day as well," he said.

"Okay. See you in a bit."

Sharing a brief kiss, Sol left Twilight's room to herself. However, as soon as he closed the door to her room and turned around, he was greeted by eight guards, all of whom bore a small smirk on their normally stoic faces.

"... not a word."

Comments

[Speculore]

You know, from the title of this chapter, I was expecting Discord to make himself known to Sol and have them interact with one another for a bit. However, this was rather pleasant so I will let it slide, especially with the prospect of everyone's reaction to Sol and Twilight coming out with their relationship.

[Stellar_]

Was expecting Discord, got something cute instead.

[TexasDragon1995]

That was cute

But don't try to fool me Garuda IV, I STILL sense a Sol vs. Discord coming along

We shall wait and see.

But keep up the good work my good man

[Zapper Frost]

yay new chapter... time to wait about a month for the next one

[ShadowLight96]

Author you put "Tired" instead of "Tried" a few times in this chapter. Once towards the end and anither between the beginning and middle i think.

[Asolem2]

"I see," she mumbled, feeling just the tiniest tinge of jealousy, but quickly squashed it down, knowing that there was no need for her to feel jealous over a mare from over a thousand years ago. "So, you like it when your fillyfriend flirts with you, huh?"

Yeah about that... i get the distinct feeling that his ex is still alive and kicking, and that she'll show up at some point... wonder why

Well... next chapter is gonna get interesting

[Garuda IV]

8842377 Found them. Thanks.

8842689 8842085 8842227 Don't worry, Discord will show up eventually. As for when, only I know.

[ShadowLight96]

8843794
Np

[PrinceOfDoom]

Delightful morning after chapter! I love the way their relationship is growing. I really enjoy Sol as a character and his relationship with Twilight is very pleasant. I am, though, honestly looking forward to seeing Discord and Sol reunite.

Considering Discord actually felt Sol when he regrew the library, I'm surprised Discord hasn't come by already. Especially if he has learned about what is going on. Makes me wonder what he is up to.

I wonder where Eris went off to...

[alkarian]

'Twas a good read I found some typos for you:

"Actually, Pinky," Twilight began to correct - chapter 11 => Pinkie
Princes Sol is with Princess Twilight - chapter 39 => Prince
and the Princes of Love - chapter 42 => Princess
his began to idly stroke her mane - chapter 43 => he

[Garuda IV]

8867769 Glad you enjoy it, and thanks for informing me of those typos.

[a3boy]

In the title there is 3 L's in a place where there should be two. Honestly I think the typo fits if you ask me.

[PinkDragonJr]

Welp, find the two guards that blabbed and post them to the tundra.