II-XIII. Introducing...!
Had Twilight ever done this before? She didn't think she had. She'd relaxed before, but never this completely. She'd never admit it, of course, but she had one thing deeply in common with Rainbow Dash: she was very easily bored. However, unlike Rainbow, Twilight's preferred methods of alleviating her restless need to expend her energy depended far more on cerebral pastimes such as reading and gaming than anything as physically exhausting as her Angel friend's carousing.
Well, that wasn't quite fair; Rainbow was also a surprisingly prodigious sports enthusiast. In addition, thanks to Spike, she had also just become a devoted Chess player whose obsession with the game rivaled Twilight's own. Over the past few days, Twilight had played several matches against Rainbow, and she was certain she'd never encountered a faster learner of Chess strategy in any other student of the game.
In fact, while the two girls were deepening their friendship with each other over that week, it was slowly dawning upon Twilight that Rainbow Dash was- along with Spike- one of her most intellectually gifted companions. She didn't look it, but Rainbow Dash was incredibly bright, even if she only rarely demonstrated it. The young Angel put a great deal of effort into cultivating for herself the image of the "cool, non-nerdy sports star," but it was quickly becoming apparent to Twilight that Rainbow was brilliant enough to become one of the top students in Athens University, should she ever have the desire and put in enough effort to do so. Rainbow's grades from her childhood school days were... pitiful, quite frankly. However, Twilight was now more than certain that this was solely due to a lack of motivation, rather than an absence of raw ability, on Rainbow's part.
Twilight was honestly rather frustrated by how much Rainbow had been squandering her latent mental talents, though she quickly realized a highly alluring silver lining to this: Rainbow Dash was, for Twilight, a secret treasure of untapped potential whose hidden gem of a mind was known only to her, and was therefore exclusively hers to study and mold. This pleasure was much alike to that Twilight had felt when she had first begun her tenure as Spike's mentor.
A faint blush crept onto Twilight's cheeks. She'd also, of course, swiftly noticed another strong parallel between Rainbow Dash and Spike, her academically-sanctioned ward: for both of them, she had discovered that by far the most effective method of motivating them to excel in their studies was to harness their obvious and intense physical attraction to her.
When he first began his apprenticeship under Twilight a year ago, Spike had been immensely clumsy and awkward around his mentor; especially when she was clothed only in her undergarments or nightwear, when like clockwork he would always fail miserably to disguise his lingering gazes at her breasts, legs, and backside. Spike's sense of shame must have only been amplified by the fact that Twilight's parents and brother had treated him, for all intents and purposes, as a member of their family; almost as though he were Twilight's little brother.
Twilight, for her part, didn't mind at all. On the contrary, she had found Spike's admiration of her to be nothing but endearing, herself- at least before he began to show the first major signs of physical maturity, at which point Spike swiftly noticed that Twilight began to show identical attention to him. Initially, Spike had- of course- been utterly baffled by this; after all, his sister Sunset had always described his new tutor as a deeply introverted and shy girl who had never even had her first kiss. That such a seemingly-prudish girl would show only flattery or outright pleasure at Spike's erotic visual appreciation of her was, naturally, a possibility that had never even occurred to him.
However, once it had become clear that Twilight and Spike shared mutual attraction, and that each one was fully aware of the other's interest in them, their friendship had rapidly become highly flirtatious and even borderline romantic. Twilight privately observed to herself that this was likely one of the variables that had made their weeks-long masquerade as a couple as successful as it was; they were arguably all but a couple, already. Were it not for Twilight's consummate professionalism and resulting refusal to compromise the integrity of their teacher-student relationship, neither they nor any outside observer had any doubt that they'd happily go much farther with each other than merely Twilight giving Spike the occasional peck on the cheek as reward for putting extra effort into his studies.
If Twilight was honest with herself though, even that was very questionable in terms of ethicality; not only was she arguably "leading Spike on" as a reward for good academic performance, doing so was almost certainly inflaming her own desire for Spike, as well. Twilight had also just demonstrated that she did have a breaking point, and under sufficient pressure she was seemingly capable of breaking any rule. In practically every variable regarding Spike's apprenticeship under her, Twilight was constantly in extremely dangerous waters. Further, to violate the conditions of this tremendous privilege that Celestia had granted her would not just be an unbearable weight on her own conscience; it would be an irreparable betrayal of the High Princess's trust.
In retrospect, Twilight wished that she hadn't refused to make any friends outside of her family besides Spike or Cadance until that summer. She hadn't realized how agonizingly lonely she'd been until now, having believed until the last few months that she didn't need any more social connections than the ones she already had.
Before she had met her five new companions in Avalon, Twilight had neglected her emotional needs in the name of dedicating herself wholly to her studies. It had been short-sighted and foolish, looking back on it; even as she became a teenager and began to intensely feel the aches of sexual need, she had refused to even casually date anyone, despite the concerned protests of her parents and brother.
Twilight was well aware that she was a stark anomaly in one regard; especially in comparison to other Elves: she was almost sixteen, but she was still a virgin. It was nigh-unheard of for a Being her age to have never shared her bed with anyone else even once; particularly since she was an Olympus-born Duchess Elf. The "hard" age of consent within Equestria was fifteen, but sexual contact was legal for Beings as young as eleven, so long as their partner was no more than one year older than them. At thirteen, the boundary was extended to two years, making unions between thirteen and fifteen-year-olds acceptable within the eyes of the law- although fifteen-year-olds engaging in such relationships were viewed socially with suspicion and wariness.
Celestia had designed and issued these so-called "allowances for natural early sexual exploration" statutes for two reasons; first, she said, children did have sexualities, even if their parents weren't comfortable with that fact. Repression of one's own fundamental instincts is deeply perilous, she'd added, and it is far more damaging to forbid the exploration of them than to allow it.
The second reason Celestia had made these strange decrees was to facilitate her Elvish mentor/apprentice Magic educational program. She knew that the danger of potential sexual misconduct that could arise when assigning any two young teenagers to live as roommates together for four years was quite high, and so she'd enacted multiple safeguards to disincentivize it as much as possible. The most immediately apparent policy she'd implemented towards this end was her forbiddance of cross-gender apprenticeships, except for those granted special permission by the students' local Divine Pantheon lord; Rarity had only been allowed to become Grand Finale's student after Princess Athena had signed off on the letter requesting her permission they had jointly sent to her, and Celestia had personally signed the orders allowing Sunset Shimmer to study under Shining Armor; Spike to study under Twilight; and Twilight's father Night Light to study under her mother, Twilight Velvet.
Setting the age of consent to fifteen was Celestia's other major safeguard against potential student sexual misconduct; this, in conjunction with Celestia's complete legalization and regulation of prostitution within the borders of Equestria, allowed all of her Elvish mentors to freely utilize alternate channels to sate their libidos aside from their apprentices.
Twilight now realized that she had not taken advantage of the liberties Celestia had granted her in order to neutralize the perilous temptation caused by her attraction to Spike, and she was beginning to gradually understand just how foolish that was. Celestia hadn't just insisted that Twilight make friends during her journey to Avalon for her own benefit, or even just as a precaution against the possibility that Luna might get unsealed; Celestia had also done it to protect Spike.
Twilight was constantly amazed at how far Celestia would go to personally maintain the well-being of her subjects. As a matter of fact, Twilight Sparkle's parents had been "matched" together by Celestia herself as a peacekeeping measure between their feuding families.
Twilight Sparkle and her elder brother Shining Armor were the children of the two most prestigious families of Beings throughout the entire world, aside from the Divine Pantheon itself. As well-known as the names of Pie, Apple, and Rainbow (which three of her friends carried) were, even their fame shone dully next to the magnificent wealth and regard commanded by the two lines the greatest Magic Grandmaster of all time had founded: House Dawnbringer, and House Lulamoon.
These two Houses were named for the son and the daughter of Starswirl the Bearded, the legendary Court Magician and Royal Consort of Princess Luna and High Princess Celestia. With Celestia, Starswirl had sired Prince Dawnbringer, the first Elvish Grandmaster pyromancer; and with Luna, he sired Princess Lulamoon, the mother of the science of astronomy. Dawnbringer's claim to glory was that he was the most decorated knight in the Second War of the Gods, serving as the Captain of the elite Phoenix Squadron that had overwhelmed and captured the Dark Goddesses Chrysalis and Sonata. Princess Lulamoon had composed the first complete accurate maps of the stars, Moon, and Earth, and with her father Starswirl had co-designed the elegant calendar that all Beings still used to that day.
The demigod brother and sister each became the head of their own two massive families, siring dozens of children and hundreds of grandchildren. Dawnbringer's children, of course, were initially considered the more "regal" of the two; in addition to sharing more blood with the High Princess herself than their Lulamoon cousins, the Dawnbringers also quickly became a fearsome clan of warrior-kings who earned the nickname of "the Dragons" by winning a dozen fortunes slaying the great lizards and seizing their treasure-hoards. However, the most well-remembered of Starswirl's grandchildren was the youngest daughter of Lulamoon: Clover the Clever, one of the six mortal co-founders of Equestria and her grandfather's immediate successor as the Royal Court Magician of Olympus.
The Houses' rivalry only became truly vitriolic after the Sealing of Luna. As High Princess, though Celestia knew Equestria as her home, her duty of overseeing the rest of the world prevented her from ruling the capital as attentively as it needed to be. Before rechristening herself Nightmare Moon, Luna had acted as the Princess Regent of Equestria, consulting Celestia only concerning the most sensitive and difficult decisions she faced.
When her sister was Sealed, however, Celestia was forced to choose and entrust a new Lord Regent with the task of overseeing the people of Olympus and Equestria. Naturally, the two Beings who immediately came forward and asked to receive the honor were the then-current heads of the Houses of Starswirl: Spartacus Dawnbringer, and Velvet Lulamoon. However, though Spartacus represented a far wealthier and princely family than Velvet's, the Dawnbringers had since become the world's most notorious and powerful criminal dynasty. The international mafia they ruled from the opulent Promethean Manor in Olympus was infamously friendly with the cultists of Sealed Gods, and had for over a thousand years continuously maintained the most enrichment from the world's black markets and criminal underworlds of any people, as well as the most influence over them. The House Lulamoon, on the other hand, had quietly become a far more respectable (though albeit far less glamorous) clan of scientists and scholars of trivially superior repute.
Without hesitation, Celestia named Velvet the Duchess of Olympus, making her the Lord Regent of Equestria. Of course, Spartacus angrily protested this decision, asserting that Velvet was the direct descendant of the same traitor who had made selecting a new Lord Regent necessary in the first place. He shut up, though, when Celestia asked him if that meant he thought that Beings ought to be held accountable for the crimes of their ancestors.
However, the Dawnbringers' grudge at this perceived "snub" did not die with Spartacus. The House Dawnbringer had since nursed a deep resentment towards Celestia and the House Lulamoon, regarding itself as the "rightful" ruling dynasty of Equestria. That grudge swiftly evolved into a burningly lethal feud between the two Houses which had claimed countless lives from both families over the centuries.
The feud between the Houses of Starswirl came to a head about thirty years ago, when a minor disagreement on one of Olympus's streets sparked the bloodiest battle to ever come about from their mob war. The outraged Princess Celestia separately summoned both of the Houses' heads to Camelot Castle, where she confronted both patriarchs and presented an individualized ultimatum to each.
To old Duke Mountainpool Lulamoon, who was soon expecting a grandson who would be next in line for the Equestrian Regency after Mountain himself and his eldest son (the grandchild's father) had passed away, the High Princess offered him two choices: first, he could swear his grandson to an apprenticeship under a mentor of Celestia's choosing, stipulating that they would both live and study together under Celestia's personal supervision in the Castle Camelot. Celestia explained that she intended to teach the Duke's still-unborn grandson how to be a good and peaceful Duke who could guide his Lulamoon clan into a lasting truce with the Dawnbringers. If he refused, Celestia threatened to strip Mountainpool of his title, and to revoke all of his descendants' claim to it after him. Mountainpool immediately accepted, and that same day he swore under the Oath-Taking Ritual that he would allow Celestia to pair his young grandson with a mentor she had chosen for him when he turned eleven years old.
Celestia then dismissed Mountainpool and summoned Cometlight Dawnbringer, whose second-in-line heir was his four-year-old granddaughter, Twilight Velvet. Celestia made a similar offer to him; he was commanded to relinquish Velvet over to Celestia when she turned eleven, so that Celestia could mentor her personally and then choose for Velvet her own apprentice when she turned fourteen. The shrewd mafia don Cometlight of course immediately deduced that Celestia intended to pair Velvet with one of the children of Lulamoon, but before he could turn her proposal down Celestia revealed a harrowing piece of knowledge to him.
Celestia revealed to Cometlight that she had covertly obtained extensive evidence of his family's criminal activities and enterprises, and blackmailed him into turning Velvet over to her by threatening to confiscate every copper piece of his House's ill-gotten wealth and to prosecute him personally for every crime he'd looked the other way from for the benefit of his kin.
Thus, Cometlight was strong-armed into swearing the same Ritual Oath that Mountainpool had taken, putting the last seal on the intertwining destinies of he and his rival's blood.
With the apprenticeship of Night Light under Twilight Velvet came a fragile truce between their Houses that neither of their parents expected to persist past the end of the children's studies together. Of course, Celestia had planned for this, and planned brilliantly; she had chosen the subjects in her precarious experiment well, as Velvet and Night did precisely what Celestia hoped they would.
They fell in love.
Of course, there was nothing the two young teens could do about it during their studies together; Celestia's ever-watchful eye ensured that. Unsurprisingly, though, they immediately gave their virginities to each other on the eve of Night Light's graduation; they never expected to see each other again, and so their last farewell to each other was the most passionate, adoring, and tearfully mournful one imaginable.
After they made what they expected to be their last goodbyes to to each other, Twilight Velvet and Night Light braced themselves for their Houses' bloody war to resume. However, their last night of passion together had resulted in a more perfect binding on the Houses' ceasefire than any treaty could have been: Velvet had become pregnant with Shining Armor.
The instant that Velvet realized that she carried her former apprentice's child, she panickedly returned to her old mentor Celestia to beg her to tell her what to do. She was shocked to learn that Celestia was delighted; in fact, the High Princess told the young Elf-woman that this was even better than she had hoped.
Celestia invited Velvet to stay at Camelot until this situation could be sorted out, which she immediately accepted. Celestia then summoned Night Light to her court, where she told him that he was about to become a father; she then suggested to the young couple that they consider raising their child together as husband and wife. Needless to say, the young Elves eagerly agreed.
Celestia promised her newly-betrothed subjects her protection from the wrath of their Houses, and then she publicly announced their engagement. Their families were (of course) initially outraged, but Celestia swiftly quelled them by pointing out to the Lulamoons that the uniting of their families would bring a permanent end to their Houses' feud, and to the Dawnbringers that this marriage would result in their clan finally sharing claim to the Duchy they'd coveted for the past millennium.
Thus, Twilight Velvet Dawnbringer and Night Light Lulamoon were wed; uniting their families, ending the feud between Starswirl's Houses, and making the young couple the Heirs Apparent of Equestria's Regency. Peace and order were restored to Celestia's kingdom, and the High Princess granted permission to the newlyweds to continue calling the Castle Camelot their home to show her gratitude.
The story of her parents' courtship was the very spitting image of romantic and heartwarming, but it still presented an unavoidable problem for Twilight: because of it, the sexual tension between her and Spike was undeniable.
Just like her mother had done before her, Twilight had taken a male apprentice with the recommendation and blessing of Celestia herself. Twilight still couldn't think of why Celestia would do this; as far as she could tell, Shining and Twilight being assigned to be the mentors of Sunset and Spike didn't serve any peacekeeping measure like the pairing of their parents did. Still, Twilight couldn't dismiss it as a possibility; Celestia worked in mysterious ways, after all.
Celestia also seemed to always know best, Twilight observed. She wondered if Celestia would have been so insistent on her coming to Avalon and making friends, had Spike not been assigned to her; in retrospect, Twilight realized that their move here had been for Spike's benefit as much as for her own. Twilight and her apprentice were both at the age when most Beings had begun dating, and yet Twilight's insistence that the both of them dedicate themselves fully to their studies had not left any time for either of them to. The perils of this would have been obvious to Celestia: due to their self-imposed isolation, Twilight and Spike were all but guaranteed to violate the laws forbidding them from fraternizing together sooner or later.
It had been immensely foolish of Twilight to believe that she could go this far without intensely testing the limits of her own sanity; after all, not even the Gods themselves could remain perpetually celibate, so why in the world should Twilight think that she would fare any better? Even notoriously disciplined Gods such as Kong, Athena, and even Celestia herself had to sate their physical cravings from time to time; that Athena was the daughter of Celestia and Horus was, in itself, proof of this. Granted, Athena had been born just before Discord was Sealed, but it had been less than twenty years ago that the High Princess had given birth to a daughter sired by Poseidon, the eldest of her (unsealed) younger brothers.
Twilight's blush again intensified at the thought of Cadance. That she had been apprenticed to her for four years didn't help things at all, either.
Unlike mortal Beings, it was always immediately clear what a God's Soul was the personification of from the moment they was born. Only other Gods could explain why this was; as best as they could describe it, this intuitive certainty was like feeling a "piece" of the Mana permeating the universe be "cut" from the edge of the spiritual firmament, like a section of fabric being severed from a seamstress's bolt. There were infinite potential Gods, the Pantheon explained; after all, there were always going to be aspects of nature that didn't yet have avatars in the physical plane.
When the Princess Cadance was born on April Ninth nineteen years ago, as the Sun was setting on the oceans at Atlantis's coast, the Divine Pantheon all felt the same realization the very instant the sweet, infant Princess emerged from Celestia's womb at Poseidon's Palace: the world had just received its Goddess of Love.
It took no time at all for Cadance to demonstrate the truth of this; every Being who ever laid eyes on her was forced to admit that they couldn't help instantly feeling overwhelming paternal adoration for her, as she was the most gorgeous and sweet little baby that they had ever seen. Even Celestia's Divine siblings commented that only her other Goddess daughters- Luna and Athena- could match Cadance's immeasurable allure when they were babes.
Throughout her infancy, Cadance was always happy, but this came at a steep cost: she always had to be held by someone. Whether awake or sleeping, Cadance would not remain in good cheer if she wasn't in physical contact with another Being at all times. Of course, Celestia and Poseidon were her favorite caretakers, but she was always contented so long as she was receiving a contact stream of affection from whomever's arms she was currently cradled in. She wouldn't sleep in a crib; it had to be with her parents on their bed, suckling at Celestia's breast throughout the entire night. It seemed as though Cadance depended more on Celestia's touch and presence than even her milk for sustenance and survival, despite the fact that she was immortal.
Like all other Gods, Cadance grew her Marks immediately after her first set of teeth and the ability to walk and talk. A Mark signified the destiny of the Soul of its owner, and a God received the Markings that signified what they personified the instant they could fully comprehend what that thing was. Cadance therefore perfectly understood every potential form of love there was from a very tender age, and as a result became one of the most difficult children Celestia had ever had to raise.
As it turned out, Cadance fell in love with everyone else just as easily and inevitably as everyone else fell in love with her. To declare that one had fallen completely for the young Princess was to declare that one had ever met her, even for an instant. The very moment she learned what marriage was, Cadance immediately declared that she would marry Celestia and Poseidon, only for her heart to break for the first time when her parents responded by explaining to her that they would never marry anyone, as they did not personally believe in it- on top of the fact that Cadance was far too young to wed in the first place.
However, though no Being's heart broke more easily than the little Love Goddess's, no heart healed more rapidly than hers, either; within a few days, she finished mourning the eternal death of any possibility that she would ever be her father or mother's bride. She then innocently declared to her personal maid as she was bathing her that she wished to marry her when she came of age.
This caused the poor servant immeasurable distress; Cadance's naive proposal caused her maid to realize that she returned the child's affection and desire, despite the fact that she'd never harbored any attraction of any kind to another girl, fully grown or little. The maid guiltily confessed her attraction to Cadance to her parents, and was stunned at their acceptance and understanding of it; they replied that all of the other servants had confessed to the same unwanted desire for their daughter. There was no helping it; Cadance was the Goddess of Love, after all. However, they offered to bind her to a Ritual Oath to never reciprocate Cadance's advances, if she was worried that the temptation would become too strong to bear.
The servant was relieved to hear she was not alone in her troubles, and immediately took the Ritual Oath. Celestia had now realized, however, that this would only grow worse as the little Princess grew older; as a result, she decided to mentor Cadance personally so that she would be guaranteed to have a teacher who would never allow herself to take advantage of her.
Twilight suspected that Celestia had gone on such a lengthy visit to Poseidon in Atlantis in relief and celebration of the end of the Olympian mob war between the Houses of Starswirl, secure in the knowledge that her newly-appointed young Duke and Duchess could handle any troubles Equestria experienced in the meantime. Twilight Velvet and Night Light acted as Regents of Olympus and Equestria for about five years, during which time they had had Twilight Sparkle, as well. Celestia returned to Camelot with Cadance at this time, where her niece was enrolled at the Olympus Magic Academy while Celestia reassumed the role of Equestria's Regent so that the Duke and Duchess could devote their time to raising their child.
Naturally, now being Cadance's upperclassman at the Magic Academy, the seven-year-old Shining Armor immediately fell in love with the little Goddess, and she with him. Of course, this was exactly the same with all of Cadance's other classmates; Shining would later remark that it had been sheer luck that he lived in the Castle with her, and had thus been the one ultimately chosen to be her lover. Twilight had to admit that she harbored some jealousy towards Shining for this; their romance had blossomed when she was only a newborn, and therefore never had the chance to compete for the Princess's heart.
Of course, Twilight had tried, anyway; aside from her parents and brother, her favorite caretaker by far was Cadance, even from infancy. Cadance also acted as Twilight's babysitter as she was growing up, showing only restrained (but loving) affection to the younger girl, even as Twilight constantly displayed the most transparent crush of all time on her. Though Twilight never successfully stole her mentor's heart from the grasp of her elder brother, she still received from Cadance the assurance that the Princess's love for her was no lesser than the bond she shared with Shining.
As a result, during their Magic studies together, Twilight found that the dynamic between her and Cadance was borderline identical to the one now present between her and Spike: flirtatious, overly affectionate, and thick with sexual tension. Twilight had no doubt that her parents had been unusually tolerant of the fact that their fifteen-year-old son had spent almost every night with Cadance for this very reason; it allowed the Love Goddess to control the flames of her lust enough that they wouldn't be in danger of being targeted at Twilight herself. Twilight still harbored a sliver of subconscious resentment at her parents for this.
And to top off the decade and a half of sexual frustration she had accumulated from being around the literal divine attractiveness of her mentor, the words that Cadance had whispered in her ear on the day she had met Spike had practically doomed her to her current fate:
"And besides... you can still raise him to be a perfect lover, right? After all, I raised you, didn't I?"
"I need to get laid. Damn you, Cadance," Twilight murmured to herself with a sardonic chuckle.
Twilight stretched, rested the back of her head on her hands, and deeply exhaled as she crossed her legs, lounging across the surface of her bed. It was about nine in the morning, and Spike was still asleep. Twilight had- of course- gotten up, brushed her teeth, and made her bed hours ago, but she had ultimately decided against waking Spike up; he deserved a break. They both did.
She was now wearing a light pink sundress, leaving her shoulders and legs bare. She usually dressed more modestly than this, but she knew Rainbow Dash liked sundresses; if she was going to ask her out today, she might as well improve her odds as much as possible, right?
Twilight didn't expect to end up between the sheets with Rainbow after their first date, but it would be relieving to know it was a possibility. The fact remained: she needed to start dating, and who better to start with than her friend who had displayed the most obvious interest in her thus far? And besides, Rarity had told her what Rainbow had said on the night she had been arrested and then the seven of them had formed the Order of Celestia; if Twilight decided she did desire to lose her virginity to Rainbow, she knew her Angel friend would be more than eager to oblige.
Spike stirred, groaning, and Twilight turned to face him with a gentle smile. "Good morning, Spike!" she said.
Spike's eyes opened slightly, he opened his mouth in a wide yawn, and he he asked groggily, "What time is it...?"
"About nine in the morning," Twilight cheerfully replied.
Spike's eyes widened to the size of dinner-plates. "Oh, SHIT...!" he exclaimed, throwing his blankets off and darting to his dresser. "I'm so sorry I overslept, Twi!" he cried, throwing aside articles of clothing as he assembled a day outfit. "I promise, to make up for it, I'll-!"
Twilight heartily laughed, interrupting Spike and prompting him to turn confusedly back to her. "It's alright, Spike!" she assured him, sitting up. "You don't need to worry!"
"W-why not...?" Spike asked.
Twilight shrugged. "I've decided we should have the day off," she answered, simply.
Spike blinked. "... Are you serious...?" he said suspiciously.
Twilight smirked. "We've earned it," she replied. "We can do whatever we want today. Enjoy it, Spike; you've earned it!"
Spike made breakfast for the two of them, Twilight read for a few hours while Spike went to the skate park with Scootaloo and Rumble, then she made herself a cup of tea before saying to herself as she sipped from it at her kitchen table, "Just gotta clean up, and then walk over to Rainbow's then."
However, just as Twilight was standing back up, she heard the voices of dozens of migrating men moving past her library. She turned to the front windows perplexedly, and saw that a small herd of male Beings were gathering towards Town Square. She shrugged, and made to move towards her sink; however, before she could, her eye was caught by the bright green of Spike's hair, as well as the prismatic hues of Rainbow Dash's.
Twilight immediately set her teacup back down and rushed to the library's front door, throwing it open. "Spike! Rainbow!" she cried.
Her two friends turned surprisedly to her. "Oh! Hey, Twi!" Rainbow cried.
"Hi, Twilight!" Spike added with a little wave.
"Where're you two going?" Twilight said, before gesturing towards the river of men and teen boys moving past them. "Are you following them?"
Spike's face flushed as he grinned and looked away sheepishly, but Rainbow burst into laughter. "Haven't you heard?" she said. "It's all over town: the Great and Powerful Trixie has come to Avalon!"
Twilight's mouth opened in surprise as Rainbow gestured for her to follow them. "You're into girls, too, right Twi? Why don't you come, too? It's gonna be awesome!"
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making a comment soon
Nice to see this story is back.
Happy that your back!
I'll say this. When it comes to Twilight on having romantic feeling for either Spike or Rainbow Dash. The best case it'll go naturally and accept her feelings for them, the worst case she will "Freak Out"
So hope for them and their endeavors.
Glad to see you’re back :), with a pretty decent chapter too
Perhaps you should TALK to her?
Lulamoon? As in, Trixie? Does that mean that...
Yup. Boast Busters. Hoo boy. I'm, gonna be honest, I'm a huge sucker for Trixie so this is going to be interesting.
No, its the spitting image of stupidity and dumb luck, like all too many of Celestia's "plans"
The oaths were exacted under duress, which legally makes them null and void, as for the "magical oath" part, absolutely nothing in those oaths prevented either Velvet or Night Light from having an "accident" the day after they were declared master and apprentice, which would still completely fulfill the Lulamoons' or Dawnbringers' obligations under the magical oath.
Grandpapa Dawnbringer had seven years to pour poison into Velvet's mind, and absolutely no reason not too. Its only pure dumb luck that he (or other members of the family) didn't.
Considering their families history, Velvet and Night Light regarding each other with resigned, temporary, tolerance would be hoping for a lot but sunbutt-no brain thinks they'll "fall in love" purely by dumb luck and hormones?!
As for uniting the houses, Dawnbringer got exactly what they wanted, but what did Lulamoon get? The "feud would be over" and nothing else! And after almost a thousand years of blood feud, there is no way in hell that the Lulamoons would settle for anything less than the complete and total annihilation of the Dawnbringers.
There is no reason any of this BS plan should have worked.
Forgetting Sunset & Spikes' mysterious father and completely unknown mother, are we Twilight? They are heirs to a "dangerous" lineage and, having seen this idiocy work once, Celestia is hoping that it will work again.
If this is Trixie Lulamoon, then this is far more likely to be awkward than awesome ...
Glad to see the chapter come out- I've followed the story for awhile, really liked the characterization and pacing, but never commented- but there are a few things in this chapter that I'm not too sure about:
a) People can mentor those of the opposite gender without without sexual feelings get in the way. This is true even of teenagers, especially when they have a large age gap and one is in a position of authority. I realize that she's only sixteen, but it makes more sense for her to see Spike as a younger brother- especially since we've seen little evidence of any romantic chemistry between them, aside from "girls are nice, and this one's hot." There's also the personality differences between them- Twilight's a neat freak, while Spike keeps his room rather messy- something to push Spike into "sibling" territory. Not to mention, didn't Spike have other friends in Camelot, in the first few chapters? This plot twist just seems to come right out of nowhere, with little buildup, and adds little to the relationship.
b) Cadence is the goddess of all love? Not just romantic? Then wouldn't it make more sense for those around her to feel as though she's their daughter or sister, and her likewise? Cadence as a daughter would me more natural for her caretakers to feel, and her caretakers as parents, and the others as siblings, are more natural feelings for a preteen girl and those around her to feel. As written, she seems to be linked only to romantic love, and possibly lust (no platonics here! Or chivalric romance.) Not saying that she shouldn't have any romantic connection, but toning it down- and contrasting it with other loves- would not only create a far more unique interpretation of Cadence, as compared to both the fandom itself and love deities more generally, but would also create a greater contrast with Chrysalis, the goddess of Lust- for whom, 'lustfully follow this little girl' makes far more sense.
c) Overall, this seems to be (one of?) the most "tell, don't show" chapters there is in the story. Usually, these are rather interesting, or otherwise show something about the world that would be hard to show- and, as in Chapter 7 (about the Gods), the character learns at the same time as the reader, and it affects the story down the line. It doesn't hurt that it doesn't go on for most of a chapter, either. Here, though- we could have seen the family patriarchs barely able to stand each other, or courtiers trying to keep a brawl from erupting, or read a letter from Velvet and Night saying that their families still won't talk to each other, or are feuding over property taxes or unrelated inheritances, or something. This information could also have come up in a conversation with Trixie. That way, this worldbuilding would be more relevant, and would help propel the story forward.
Thanks for your comments, everybody!
Even if I don't respond to them all, I do read them all, and they've actually helped me a lot in growing and improving as a writer!
9599504 Thanks especially to you, J! I hope you comment again; you've actually pointed out flaws I haven't noticed! Particularly your suggestion that I should have perhaps used a letter from Twi's parents or something similar as an instigating plot device; I wish I had thought of that before.
Just out of curiosity, do you just know the meaning of "Hundun"/"Konton" or do you know more about the Chinese/Japanese characters and/or language?
9601198 I know Japanese at a fairly fluent speaking level and I've been studying kanji for a couple years.
9601376
Just out of curiosity, were you ever taught the Mandarin pronunciations of the characters or just the Onyomi, Kunyomi, Nanori, Ateji, etc. pronunciations?
9601445
I know a bit about the Mandarin pronunciations; my grandfather is fluent in it.
9601452
If you tried using the Onyomi readings and he tried using the Mandarin readings, could you communicate with one another or would you just use English?
9601510
We just spoke in English.
Once again, an update happens to coincide with one of the most insanely busy periods I’ve ever had... well, as usual, this was worth the wait. I get what some have said about this being rather “tell-y”, but I’m a sucker for backstory and overall history. Not to mention shedding some light on how Twilight’s parents’ “forbidden” relationship worked out so well, contrasted to Twilight not wanting to entertain that bit of history repeating itself.
Also I get the impression that this Trixie is known for a little more than sleight of hand....
WHY DID YOU CHANGE THEIR NAMES?!?
9737185 So I can work on this full-time.
9738212
Sadly the change broke my immersion in the story and killed my interest. I wish you'd kept the fanfic version intact and only edited the one meant for publication.
9739882
Sorry to hear that.
9737185
Not doing it anymore.
9763562
Any reason why?
9785321 No one liked it, so we've decided to make it a personal project instead.
How's the next chapter coming along?
9824005
Have writer's block atm. All of my projects are at hold for the time being.