Stepping Off
Twilight stepped off of the reviewing stand and finally let the perfect princess smile slip from her face. She took a deep breath and released it, though she didn't bother with the little hoof gesture anymore. Most of her tension went out with her breath. The rest was at least reduced by the fact that from behind the stand she could no longer see the twenty-foot-tall statue of herself in the middle of the Canterlot plaza—though as she began walking towards the palace she knew it was once more coming into view behind her, if she were to look back.
She didn't; instead, she took to the air. The sun's position told her that Celestia would be just finishing day court, and if Twilight hurried she could have a few moments alone with her before the afternoon cabinet meeting began.
Twilight arrived at the throne room just as Celestia was hearing her final petition. She waited impatiently in the private passage behind the throne, and when Celestia was at last done Twilight practically pounced on her, throwing her hooves around the taller alicorn in a warm embrace. Celestia returned her hug and added a kiss, brief but sweet. "Trying morning?" she said when Twilight finally let go.
"A bit. Nothing really dire, just..." Twilight shrugged.
"Walk with me," suggested Celestia, and Twilight nodded, falling in beside her. The pair strolled through the palace corridors together. Twilight had always wondered why Celestia's office was so far from her throne room, but perhaps contemplative walks like this were part of the reason. She could always teleport there instantly if she was in a hurry, after all.
"Tell me about your day. There was that unveiling ceremony, yes?"
Twilight heaved a sigh. "Yes. A twenty-foot statue of me, rearing triumphantly, on a ten-foot plinth carved all over with the 'enemies of Equestria', even if at least half of them are reformed allies by now." Twilight made a face. "The whole thing is completely absurd."
"I saw the artist's sketches," said Celestia with a small smile, "and I thought it was rather well done."
"Oh I'm not complaining about the artistry. It's fine as far as that goes. It's just... I'm not sure I belong thirty feet high in the middle of Canterlot, Celestia."
"No? I seem to recall a great deal of heroics that more or less line up with what’s on the plinth," she paused, and her smile broadened from a sly tease to gentle affection, "and you’ve done many other worthy things, besides."
Twilight frowned, trying to put what she felt into words. "It's not that, exactly. But... There's this idea of me that ponies seem to have, where I'm some all-conquering hero and never make mistakes. I make all kinds of mistakes! I mean I nearly destroyed Ponyville with a mind-control spell on a toy, just for starters. And even when I'm not messing things up on an epic level, I put my horseshoes on one at a time, like any pony. I don't like the way ponies put me up on a pedestal since I became a princess, I guess is what it amounts to."
Celestia nodded, her face solemn. "I am familiar with the problem. A former student of mine used to rather over-idolize me, in my opinion."
Twilight blushed just a little. "Heh. Yeah."
"One cannot make ponies stop doing such things, unfortunately. Believe me, I've tried. Perhaps were I to in some way utterly betray them, their regard would cease, but the price would not be worth it."
Twilight nodded. "I know. I don't have to like it, though. It feels... I don't know. It feels wrong. And not just because I know I'm not perfect. It's more that it seems... restrictive, I guess. They expect all these things from me. I don't want to stop being a good pony, but sometimes it makes me want to just... I don't know."
"Do something outrageous, just to buck their expectations?"
"Yes!"
"Well, why not, then?"
"What?"
Twilight halted for a moment, and Celestia stopped too, looking back at her with an expression of mild amusement. "You may know I have a bit of a reputation as a prankster."
"...Yes."
"Those pranks, those little things I do to play with ponies' expectations, are my way of refusing to stand on the pedestal. I don't play about with diplomatic situations, and I don't prank ponies who can't handle a prank, but when the opportunity comes to step off of the pedestal in a harmless way, I take it." Celestia started walking again, and Twilight trotted for a moment to catch up.
"I'm not... I mean, I've never been super into pranks. Pinkie and Rainbow are always pranking, and it seems like they get themselves into trouble a lot that way."
"Well," Celestia considered, "I try to exercise more care than Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash do when it comes to selecting a target and an appropriate joke... though I seldom can resist messing with ponies in small ways. But! There is a reason why Luna and I so often prank each other; we're each a safe target for the other, since both of us enjoy a good prank."
"I see." Twilight considered this.
They walked on in silence, Twilight thinking hard about pedestals, and whether Celestia's way of dealing with them was something she wanted to try. They were different ponies, that was part of what made their relationship work, but they had many things in common, and this might well be one of them.
They arrived at Celestia's office. "I'm afraid I have some preparations to make for this afternoon's cabinet meeting, so I must bid you goodbye for now," said Celestia as she opened the door.
Twilight gave a little sigh but nodded. "I understand."
Celestia smiled. "You do, and it's one of the things I love about you. In any case, I have no duties this evening, so if a certain lovely alicorn were to be in my bedchamber just at sundown, why—the whole night would be ours to do with as we please."
"That sounds lovely." Twilight leaned in and stole one last little kiss (though it was not much of a theft, for Celestia gave it up willingly) and then went on her way. Her own various duties would keep her busy enough until sundown.
She watched the sunset from Celestia's private balcony, and when the last golden sliver had slipped beneath the horizon she settled herself on the edge of Celestia's huge cloud bed in a carefully chosen spot. It was hard to not grin wildly in anticipation as she waited. She was very much looking forward to Celestia's arrival.
Still, she managed to school her expression to something that would hopefully pass for normal by the time Celestia actually arrived. She came via the balcony, landing on it with a graceful sweep of her broad, white wings. "Ah Twilight. I'm glad you were able to make it," she said as she stepped inside.
"I wouldn't have been elsewhere for the world," said Twilight, once again having to rein her grin in slightly. She patted the cloud beside her and said, "Come on up. I'm sure you could use some nice, relaxing Twilight Time."
Celestia smirked, "Indeed." She went to fold herself onto the bed with all her usual grace... and disappeared straight through the cloud with a sudden, startled squawk. Lying on the frame beneath the cloud-bed, her head popped back up above the surface, cloudstuff clinging to her mane, which was blowing in three different directions at once. Her head swiveled until she fixed Twilight with an expression of complete and utter bafflement. "What the...? How are you...?"
Twilight couldn't hold back any longer; she broke into peals of hysterical laughter. Celestia's expression had been even better than she'd anticipated. She started picking herself up, attempting to gather her rather scattered dignity, which only made Twilight laugh harder. Celestia started laughing as well, a delighted chime of amusement. "I see you took my advice today to heart. Although I have no idea how you’ve done this." She poked at the cloud bed and her hoof went right through it, as though she were an earth pony.
Twilight managed to still her laughter enough to attempt to catch her breath. "I—" she had to pause for more giggles "—I denatured the aetheric mana in the bed with a bit of earth pony magic!" She broke up into laughter again, unable to help herself. "Your face when you fell through!"
Celestia shook her head, smiling wryly as she lit her horn and prodded at the cloud with her magic. "I hope you stop laughing enough to fix this soon; I do still want that cuddle, and I also am going to want to sleep eventually," she said, still smiling. "And I'm not sure exactly how to fix what you did. I'd rather not spend the night figuring it out."
With a last few giggles, Twilight finally calmed herself enough to restore the cloud to its normal self. "There." She reached out a little further this time and patted the center of the bed, rather than the unaltered bit she was sitting on. Celestia tested it with a hoof, though, before climbing in next to her, which almost sent Twilight off into another laughing fit. "You were so right about how nice it is to let loose and be undignified," said Twilight, grinning at Celestia.
"I suppose it serves me right for putting the notion into your head." Celestia grinned back. "Now where's my Twilight Time, hmm?" She lifted one large wing, and Twilight happily snuggled up next to her. Celestia folded the wing over her rather firmly. Next thing Twilight knew, Celestia had reached around with one hoof and poked it under her foreleg, tickling her armpit mercilessly.
"Ack!" Twilight flailed, but Celestia's wing was quite strong enough to pin her.
"Ha! So suffer pranksters to the crown!"
"No! Help! Mercy!"
Celestia stopped tickling, but didn't lift her wing. "I will accept your surrender, but only if you pay a ransom."
Twilight, panting, gave her a wary look. "What kind of ransom?"
Celestia leaned close, and planted a kiss on the tip of Twilight's horn, which made a sudden little shiver run through the smaller alicorn. "I think I'll take payment in parts. First, I believe I'm due some cuddles, and at least a few kisses."
"And the rest of your payment?" asked Twilight.
Celestia gave Twilight's horn a slow, lascivious lick. "Nothing you won't enjoy paying," she said with a wicked smile. "Will you yield?"
Twilight, feeling her brain humming with a wonderful static, found herself answering eagerly, "I surrender."
Also LikedSimilarAuthor
- SPark · 1.6k words · 301 10 · 5.5k views
- SPark · 3.8k words · 265 9 · 3.8k views
- Rocket Lawn Chair · 4.3k words · 340 20 · 6.1k views
- SPark · 4.8k words · 418 12 · 7.6k views
- Knight of Cerebus · 103k words · 202 12 · 4k views
- Art de Triomphe · 2.6k words · 96 9 · 3.8k views
- Dark0592 · 19k words · 274 16 · 6k views
Stats
Page generated in 0.042 seconds
Total duration
896 users online
1,712,320 hits today, 2,139,894 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
This was a cute little fic. I got a bit of a chuckle out of Twi pranking Celestia, too. I figured Twi has set her up somehow, but I didn't quite expect that.
The squawk and bits of cloud in her mane sounds especially amusing.
7999886 Glad you liked it! The squawk was all mine, but I have to credit my editor with the mane description.
I'm glad it happened. It's lovely!
7999915 Aww, thank you!
I don't usually read fluff like this, but I liked it. I'm glad I gave it a shot.
8000368 He he he. I'm glad too! It's not as fluffy as some of the fluff I've written.
This was very cute, in a good fluffy way.
8000420 Thank you!
love seeing stories that show Celestia is just like the average pony. She is a person and can't be prefect all the time.
8000427
I think she's just very good at looking perfect all the time. If somebody hadn't already done basically THE perfect epic story about that, I might write one myself. 
It was a cute un, that it was!
8000457 Thanks!
This was fluffy and cute.
8000550 He he. Thank you!
I love writing Celestia.
8000550
Your profile picture makes me uncomfortable.
This is great. You get the solemn and empathetic mentor/student dynamic down and then the squawk comes out of nowhere and everything after is sweetness. The story might be short but it feels nicely full from the different tones.
Only quibble:
That wording doesn't sound quite right, if that makes sense? The expression is "Wouldn't have missed this for the world", which could've doubled as Twilight looking forward to some alone time and also the prank. "Elsewhere for the world" sounds awkward if you say (or think of someone saying it I guess) out loud.
Fun little bit of fluff! And it shows that Twilight can prank with the best of 'em if she puts her mind into it.
8000721 Glad you like it! Not sure I agree about your quibble with "elsewhere", I can say that aloud myself and it sounds fine to me. Possibly it's a word I use more than you do so it seems more natural to me? Either way, thank you for the comment.
8000746 He he he. Indeed! Glad you enjoyed it!
8001350 Yeah, part of why I use "quibble" is because no one else on the planet would care. And it doesn't get in the way of enjoying the story, so.
I like it.
And a new challenger approaches the eternal conflict. The castle janitors awoke from their slumbers in a cold sweat. And when Luna was informed, she giggled maniacally, for there is no more brutal prankster than a lover spurred. Besides the fact that Twilight could probably twist the fabric of reality in pursuit of her pranks.
8001609 He he he. Yeah, Celestia has created a monster here.
Not bad at all! This was an enjoyable read!
8002732
Thank you.
Man, this was fluffy as HECK! 10/10 would fall for Twilight's prank again
8003184
Glad you enjoyed it.
This was definitely a good, amusing read. Sweet too.
Twi's prank was great. How you described what happened... ah, that made me chuckle.
And my, my, Twi did surrender rather fast there, didn't she?
For what it's worth the initial bit makes me think they should get Discord involved or something. It'd be pretty hilarious if the twenty foot statue got off the pedal, stretched, and went off to take a walk. It'd be even better if it could talk with Twilight's voice.
8005273 Well, that'd certainly make the title quite literal.
8003631 He hehe. Indeed! Glad you liked it.
To the cute folder with this one! I find myself lowkey enjoying these kinds of stories a little too much.
8005321 They're fun to write too.
Sup, SPark? I'm here to do my judging for the Twilestia mini contest. Give me a few minutes to gather my thoughts and write it out.
8005626 Excellent. I look forward to your input.
8005635
My apologies for taking forever with this. Life has been busy with me and I needed a little downtime to catch back up.
Here are my notes.
Hook & Presentation
Uses the prompt in the description. Cover art implies a literal take on the prompt. Description is minimal with a hook that works like good clickbait, i.e.: what did Celestia tell Twilight about being put on a pedestal?
Technical
Zilch: It’d take a better editor than I to find anything wrong here.
Pacing & Style
The pacing is just a hint on the quick side, but it works in this story’s favor that it remains consistent throughout the whole 2.5K length. It’s urgent without being breakneck and the small time-skip keeps it from tripping up while waiting on Celestia to finish her princess business.
Overall
This is pitch perfect. It addresses both the literal interpretation and the spirit of the prompt in a very realistic way that, frankly, gobsmacked me. Characterization for both Twilight and Celestia is spot on. I really liked the idea of the romance angle being pushed to the background while Celestia did her actual job as Princess of Equestria. The comedy is actually funny, in character, and timed just right.
This plus your scores can be found on the contest thread here.
8008159 And here I was expecting "cute but mediocre." I'm pleasantly surprised you enjoyed it so much.
Nice interaction between the 2 princesses but it didn't need the kisses and stuff. The two are already close enough for this interaction, and the romance stuff doesn't really bring anything to the story.
8012860 Shipping, my friend. Shipping. That's the point.
8013348
Shipping out of the blue, for the sake of it and adding nothing to the story, doesn't make said story better. Too many authors make this mistake, only caring for kisses and "I love you" and not for background and believable, progressive evolution of the relationships.
8013427 I never said it made the story better. But I don't feel it makes it worse, either. People with relationships have things *other* than kissing happening in their lives, and I don't think there's anything wrong with depicting those interactions in a realistic way.
8014153
Shipping 2 characters suddenly without any explanation of how it came to be doesn't make it realistic.
8014709 You obviously just don't get it. This is a story about two ponies who love each other, and how they help each other. I don't have to write the story about how they fell in love (for the millionth time, most Twilight/Celestia stories are about that) for their relationship to matter. But we're obviously not going to agree, you seem to think that romance should be only in certain kinds of stories, and should be banned from stories that aren't centered on it, and I disagree wildly with that premise, so I think this conversation is going nowhere.
8014730
You're wrong in assuming this is what I seem to think.
You aren't obligated to add a backstory for shipping, but I think that giving no explanation makes it look like superficial, gratuitous shipping just for the sake of writing kisses and marefriends. It doesn't have to be centered on it. Writing just one sentence about how 2 characters fell in love can suffice to make it more solid.
I didn't say your fanfic was bad, and I was just offering an advice. I didn't mean to get into a quarrel, so let's agree to disagree and stop this here.
8014773 Yeah, I disagree pretty profoundly with your "advice". Calling choosing to have two characters have a loving relationship in a story I wrote specifically for a shipping group contest a "mistake" isn't advice, it's just nonsense. And you didn't seem to object to my having Twilight get a statue with no explanations on why to make that part of the story "solid". Or to any of the other little things that are just assumed in this story. Why is their relationship any different?
8014794
Again, this is not what I said. But let's stop there.
8014802 You said that their relationship brings nothing to this story. I say it brings something absolutely vital to this story: it makes it what the audience I wrote it for wanted. Writing to a specific audience is a very useful author skill. You continue to insist that you are simply trying to somehow help, but I really doubt that's the point. And you're quite free to stop any time you like.
8014802
It sure sounds like it is.
In any case, you're wrong about it not bringing anything to the story. Their relationship status colors how Twilight approaches the subject with Celestia. Twilight in the show is not remotely as comfortable as the Twilight in this story with treating Celestia as an equal. Pairing them off is one of several available ways to make it work, and you're objecting to it because you're holding relationships in a story to a different standard than you hold any other modification to the setting an author would make for the sake of a story. You're unusually skeptical about relationships, and that's your issue to deal with, not everyone else's.
8014806
Ok, I didn't see this was written for a contest for a specific audience. Let's agree to disagree and stop there.
8014956 You know you're still free to stop this any time you like, I'm not making you comment. But seriously? It's okay because I wrote it for a contest? That's allowed, hmm? But what if I'd written it just because I enjoy TwiLestia shipping? That would make it terrible? Why? What's the difference, if my audience is a group, or if my audience is just... I don't know, people here who like shipfics? That's a pretty big group, contest or no contest. What's wrong with catering to them?
It's perfectly fine if you didn't like the story. Hell, it's perfectly fine to comment and say you don't like the story, though I generally don't recommend it, it tends to not go well. But to comment and say that the story would be better if I'd written it the way you want it written... what is that supposed to accomplish?
I reviewed this story as part of Read It Now Reviews #103.
My review can be found here.
Roll credits!