Perchance to Dream

by David Silver

52 - Or Not

Twilight suddenly perked her ears. "You know, there is another option?"

"Yeah?" She had my full attention. "What?"

She shrugged. "We have control over this whole thing. We put the mirror among our more... dangerous collection and be ready to close it if things go poorly. Have you seen how large the mirror is?"

I hadn't, and said as much.

She held out her hooves. "On a good day, maybe two ponies could squeeze through at a time. If it's anywhere as dangerous as you suggest, then we just shouldn't have it be open except when we want it." She thrust a hoof at me. "Say, when you give us the specific go-ahead, preferably in your current form so no outside force can be actively pressuring you."

I sank to my haunches. "Can you do that? I mean, opening the portal exactly when and for as long as you want?" I felt silly asking, why couldn't they? "So we could get ponies back home, without opening the way for random human tourists."

Twilight flashed a bright smile. "Except the ones we like. Kevin's still waiting to visit, is he not?"

He certainly was. I felt better about the whole thing. Maybe I was just getting worked up over nothing. "Thanks, Twilight. I was getting carried away on a tide of unexpected events keeping me thoroughly off-balance."

Twilight waved it away. "Usually it's Spike helping me recover from a freakout. It's nice to be able to return the favor for a change. It happens to the best of us. Now that we've settled that." She turned in place. "Want to get something to snack on? Teleporting that far is a draining effort."

I wasn't especially hungry, but hanging out with Twilight seemed like a fine idea, so I followed after her. While we went, a question came to me. "You know Celestia, right?"

Twilight twitched an ear at me. "Princess Celestia? Of course. She is... was... my mentor. What about her?"

"Have you ever thought about her wishes, as a mare, rather than a princess or teacher?" I spoke purposefully and clearly, knowing I was touching on what could be a sensitive topic.

Twilight stiffened. "N-no, not... really?" She quirked a smile. "I know she has interesting thoughts. She enjoys cutting loose when she can, but that's not really my speed. Have you... seen me dancing? It's a shameful display, as fun as it might be."

I tried to envision what dorky pony dancing would be. "I'd like to see that, if you're ever up for it. But Celestia..." I leaned in and lowered my voice, "I like her."

"We all like her," said Twilight in a charmingly innocent way.

"Like like her." With the pressure of the portal abating, other thoughts had resurfaced. "Would you be angry if I asked her to be my girlfriend?"

Twilight froze dead a moment before slowly turning to me. "I..." She swallowed heavily. "That's a friendship lesson I haven't had yet... So long as you are honest with her, and she is with you, then... I would want you both to be happy." She gave the most nervous smile before pointing ahead. "We can eat there. They serve the best oat spaghetti I've had in Canterlot."

Oat spaghetti? Why not. It was a grain. I imagined it could be made into spaghetti without issue. The specifics were well beyond me. I was not a chef. I followed Twilight inside and we filled out bellies and talked about a lot of nothing that terribly important.

"So, about Kevin," she suddenly detoured the conversation. "He is aware he will become a pony on arrival? The only world-travel that doesn't have this issue is how Starlight got stuck in your world, so he can't come that way."

I bobbed my fuzzy head. "I think he's looking forward to it, provided it's a visit and not an immigration."

"I just wanted to be sure." She smiled a little, her snout messy with bits of sauce. Fine eating habits were clearly not part of Twilight's training. "I don't believe so, but has he ever experienced species dysphoria?"

I didn't know what that was, but I could guess. "You mean feeling he wasn't the right species?"

"Precisely." She looked pleased that I had figured it out.

"Not that I know of?" I gave a shrug, a motion I was sure normal horses could not accomplish. "He never mentioned it, but I've only started getting to know him, really know him, over the last few weeks."

Twilight pointed a hoof at me. "Well, you seem to be safe. You're not only comfortable in different bodies, but you're seeking a romantic partner that doesn't match your trained phenotype by quite a wide margin." She chomped what looked like a meatball but I guessed had no meat. "I'm almost jealous, but then I remember when I did the same thing. Are you sure it isn't that, not your body talking and your brain just following along?"

She was basically asking if I was being led around by my genitals. Bigger and better people than I have fell for that trap. I couldn't refuse the possibility, not without living in denial. "Maybe a little. She does... She's pleasing to the senses, but there are parts of her I like outside that?"

"Like, sure. Everyone likes Celestia." She slurped up a few strands. "But there's a difference between like and like like. Now, I'm not trying to say you're doing anything wrong. As I said before, so long as you're honest with each other, I wish you both the best, but... that includes being honest with yourself."

I sat up, trying to face that question, but how? I decided to go over what about Celestia made her a person worth approaching that way. "She is tall."

Twilight blinked at me.

"I want a romantic partner to be larger than me. As a woman, that wasn't as hard to come by. As a stallion..."

Twilight gave a soft 'ah'. "That's a physical thing though, isn't it?"

It was, and I frowned. "She's kind, knowledgable, and patient, all good characteristics for anyone."

"And reasons to admire her as a princess, but are those what you seek specifically in a romantic partner?" she asked as she grabbed a napkin with her magic and got to dabbing herself clean.

That was a question that seemed much harder to answer when just put to me like that. Did Celestia share any of my hobbies? It seemed unlikely. Did we share tastes in music? Also unlikely. She wouldn't get a single pop reference I made. She was, in fact, an alien... A pretty alien, sure, but... "Oh..."

Twilight reached a hoof and rest it against me. "Yeah... I'm sorry."

"But she deserves a person."

Twilight perked. "I am no expert on... that, but that seems like a bad reason to make someone your special somepony."

She wasn't wrong, even if my emotions angrily claimed she was. "Why are alicorns all female?"

"Oh! Well, I've done some research on that." She brushed the food aside suddenly and a sheet of paper popped into existence. "Alicorns require the magic of all three tribes, ultimately. Females, by default, have that. A mare can support a child of any tribe safely and encourage its growth." She was busy showing pony anatomy on the sheet, tapping as she went. "A stallion, on the other hoof, only produces a single tribe's magic, whatever one he happens to be. The leap for a stallion to become an alicorn is, thusly, much higher. Considering how few alicorns we have in general, it seems to be of no great surprise that males, while not technically impossible, are just vanishingly unlikely."

I blinked slowly at the dizzying array of pony innards being offered. Twilight really knew her stuff when it came to that. "I... see..." I didn't, entirely, but I grasped the important part. There would not be a stallion alicorn for Celestia to bond with, likely ever, but at least not for a long time. That sucked. "Thank you, Twilight. You've been very helpful."

"Anything for a friend." She waved the waiter over and soon surrendered a small bag of bits towards him. "Did you want anything else?"

I huffed softly. "I'd like..." That's when it hit me. I was right in True Shot's hooves. I wanted Celestia to have a true companion. I loved her, in a sense, but knew I wasn't really 'the one' for her. I had truly become True Shot...

Twilight must have seen the epiphany and horror flow over my face. "Are you alright?"

"I just saw a ghost." Of a sort. I shuddered from my ears down to my tail. "It's a lot to digest, and I have a lot in there rattling around. Thank you, again. You've been nothing but good."

We stood up and walked out of the moodily lit eatery out into the bright sun of the mid-day Canterlot. She glanced down. "Time to go. I'll make sure you're safely brought back to the castle."

I looked down and saw the grey stone creeping up along my legs. "I never have enough time to look around."

Twilight flashed a smile. "That may change when we get the portal working. I'm actually dying to know what happens if you go through it. Will you become True Shot, or a pony reflection of Linda Frohein? We simply must--" Stone had overtaken me as she excitedly spoke.

I sat up in bed. I was rested, if mildly annoyed. There was so much to go over...

Starlight poked her head into my room. "Morning! Today we go to your work, do we not? I've selected an outfit for the occasion."

She was still a pony. "How do you plan to wear it like that?" I asked as I slid to my feet off the bed and started preparing for the day. Ugh... We needed water! I was happy that they'd be coming later that day and getting that turned on. Life without water was barbaric at best.

"Easily fixed." Starlight vanished into the bathroom and came out quickly, dressed and appearing as a human. She had selected one of my business attires and looked quite the proper business lady. "How does it look?"

I smiled. It was like I had suddenly gotten a sister, and she wanted to be just like me... It was adorable. "You look perfect. Kevin?"

He emerged from the kitchen, a platter in hand. "Breakfast's ready."

He was making breakfast? My estimation of him increased. I went to claim my share. "I'll take Starlight with me and we'll meet at the office."

"No problem." He had his own smaller plate that he was picking at. "They'll give less odd looks if you're the one bringing Starlight in. How was pony land?"

Author's Note:

The tension is dialed back a few steps. World war three this isn't.

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Comments

[Booster Spice]

I get this image of Discord placing Spike on Twilights back and squeezing him to make him sound like one of those dolls that goes Ma-Ma.

[badninja]

Yup Twilight needs either a marefriend or a coltfriend badly. Maybe Kevin would work.

[tsaukpaetra]

Well, it's not like love can't blossom just from mortality restrictions (speaking from second-hand experience). Despite all the other things going against them it could still work! For a while at least... And now we're sad.
Going through the portal might actually snap the link actually, we believe there's probably a reason that only one can be awake at a time (and not just for the mind driven thing)...
Keep going! ;)

[Snow]

Not the pragmatic choice, but at least a smart one I suppose. Good on Linda for being frank with what would likely happen.

[RadicalDishonesty]

Well, I guess my "nobody brought up the Celestia is immortal and this is an obstacle" thing was immediately stuffed, and that's nice.

I mean, True Shot was still a sight more effusive in how much she wanted Celestia... which I think speaks to how attracted Linda was to Celestia vs Kevin, which is already what I suspected in the first place, and possibly... other more metaphysical stuff.

[Sylica telca]

OH!!! I just realized that She's the avatar XD !!!!! She's the bridge between two worlds.

[Autumn Maize]

Twilight flashed a smile. "That may change when we get the portal working. I'm actually dying to know what happens if you go through it. Will you become True Shot, or a pony reflection of Linda Frohein? We simply must--" Stone had overtaken me as she excitedly spoke.

I'm wondering what happens if she goes through the portal then falls asleep. Which I suppose may have happened in an already-written chapter. Actually, probably nothing much more interesting than when she's in another world... Seems pretty likely that either she sleeps like a normal pony, or True Shot wakes up and can turn himself to stone by poking her.

[David Silver]

8225317
SPOILER: She has not hopped through any portals yet.

[Greenhorn]

I sank to my haunches. "Can you do that? I mean, opening the portal exactly when and for as long as you want?" I felt silly asking, why couldn't they? "So we could get ponies back home, without opening the way for random human tourists."

It is just occur to me... but what is the status of EQG mirror in this story? Didn't it already on thanks to the magical diary?

[Luckyfanisaac]

Twilight inside and we filled out our bellies and talked about a lot of nothing that terribly important.

All I can think of doing is breathing into a paper bag.