When teatime and naptime overlap...
With an almost graceful flap of her wings, Twilight Sparkle touched down upon the soft grass of the Royal Gardens. There was an almost fearful expression upon her face as she looked about, and had anypony observed it, it might have appeared as though she feared for her own safety. Ears perked, she looked ahead, then to her left, then off to her right, then whirling around, she checked behind her.
The coast seemed clear, but she did not relax her guard, because this was a dangerous place, a terrifying place fraught with peril. In the distance, she heard the honk of a swan and very nearly jumped out her lavender hide. Now looking sheepish and afraid, Twilight let out a snort of self-disappointment while trying to regain her lost composure.
She had been summoned here by Princess Celestia and Twilight suspected that it had something to do with the friendship report she had sent after the Appleloosa Friendship Festival. Friendship reports were no longer required, but she had felt the need to write one anyway. It was comforting, it allowed for some reflection, and while writing, Twilight had realised just how much she had grown.
Still checking for danger, Twilight trotted off for where she needed to be, for she was expected at the Hibiscus Gazebo that overlooked the swan pond. She was to be there no later then three of the clock for light afternoon tea. The invitation had been signed by Celestia herself, and not by an assistant.
Coming to the end of a hedgerow, Twilight looked left, then right, then all around her. One could never be too safe when coming here. She spotted a guard, whom she was quite glad to see, and asked, “Is it safe? Is it clear?”
Lifting his head, the guard replied, “The Royal Brood is experiencing naptime.”
“Whew!” Twilight let out her exclamation with a huff of relief and her whole body sagged as she relaxed.
“Princess Celestia is expecting you and you should hurry,” the guard suggested.
“Right.” Twilight stood straight once more, and this time, looking far more confident, she trotted off to be with Princess Celestia. “Thanks!”
“Don’t mention it.” As Twilight departed, the guard saluted with his wing.
When approaching, Twilight came to realise that this was a private meeting. Celestia was alone at the table, waiting, sitting on a bright orange square cushion with sunny yellow tassels, one at each corner. A closer inspection revealed that Celestia was not wearing her crown, her regalia, or her shoes. Her former mentor was… naked for lack of a more appropriate term.
Tilting her head, Twilight stood there, puzzled.
Then, much to Twilight’s dismay, Celestia began chortling, and Twilight realised that she must have looked a little silly, standing there while looking confused. She felt her cheeks grow warm and her dock tensed when she realised how much she still worried about what her former mentor thought of her.
“Greetings, Twilight.”
“Um, hi.” What sort of greeting was that? she thought to herself as her cheeks grew even warmer. What sort of a dork am I?
“Come sit with me, my former student,” Celestia said as she gestured to an inviting, comfortable looking cushion laying on the grass. “I received your most recent friendship report… about your experience with the quesadillas.” A wry smile appeared on Celestia’s muzzle, and one eyebrow lifted into a graceful, regal arch.
A monarch’s measure could be discovered in the raising of their eyebrows.
Still feeling sheepish, and not knowing why, Twilight licked her lips and glanced over the Hibiscus Gazebo. The roof was stained glass, and the panel facing her showed a stylised image of a white alicorn pulling the sun as well as a blue alicorn pulling the moon, and both were flying in a circle around a black and silver pegasus. Her mouth went dry and she remembered when she and Flurry Heart had worked together to create that very panel of stained glass.
The Royal Gardens smelled lovely, and the scent of tea filled Twilight’s nose. She looked at the table for a moment, still feeling awkward, and then she went over to sit down. When sitting, she bumped up against the table and caused everything to rattle. A hiss of embarrassment shot out from her lips and lifting her head, she looked Celestia in the eye.
She saw amusement and felt awkward.
“My student, all grown up… and now, dating from what I understand.”
A searing hot prickle crept up Twilight’s neck and she felt her back muscles go tense. Somehow, she managed to keep looking Celestia in the eye, but it was very, very difficult. Sweat trickled down from behind her ear and Twilight fidgeted on her cushion, unable to find a comfortable way to sit, no matter what, her tail seemed to be in the way.
“Twilight, do relax,” Celestia said, her voice calm and soothing. “I called you here so that we might have a talk. Our relationship needs to change, Twilight. I fear that our previous relationship no longer suits us.”
“It doesn’t?” Twilight squeaked, and then she covered her mouth with one hoof.
“No, it doesn’t.” Celestia leaned forwards and began pouring Twilight’s tea. “Twilight, you have grown so much in some ways, but so little in others. It pleases me to see you take an interest in romance. With this most recent development, I fear our relationship boundaries must change.”
More sweat poured down from behind Twilight’s ears and it soaked into the fine hairs of her neck. One ear twitched as Celestia stirred her tea with a delicate silver spoon. All of Twilight’s stomach muscles were rigid, tight to the point of being painful. Worst of all, she didn’t understand why she was even having this reaction.
“Twilight Sparkle, do you know the meaning of the word ‘compeer’ and what it means?”
Focusing on the question, Twilight gave it some thought. In doing so, some of her anxiety eased. She was unfamiliar with the word, but it sounded a bit like compare, or peer. The word was unknown to her, and she looked Celestia right in the eye when she replied, “No, I’ve never heard of it before.”
“It is a very old word,” Celestia began, and she drew in a deep breath. “It means equal rank. Equal status. It means a companionhood based upon equality or an association based upon egalitarian principles.” Blinking once, Celestia took another deep breath, and with her eyes narrowing, she leaned her head forward over the table. “Twilight Sparkle, you are my compeer.”
Dumbfounded, Twilight sat on her cushion, attempting to take in what her former teacher had just said. She sat there, blinking at the white alicorn that was sitting across from her, not knowing how to respond, nor did she even begin to comprehend what had just been said, due to her brain going blank.
“You have grown and reached a place of maturity where I can finally say that to you, as I have longed to do for quite some time. You have grown so much, Twilight Sparkle. First, you learned to look after the needs of your friends. Then, with time and much learning, you learned to look after the needs of your subjects. With more time and learning, you’ve learned to look after the needs of your demesne, and on your own, you broadened your own horizons to the point where you look after the needs of your nation.”
Flummoxed, Twilight hiccuped and almost fell over.
“Now comes the most difficult bit of learning so far… and something that I myself am struggling with… something we share in common. Learning how to look after ourselves after so thoroughly looking after the needs of others and the nation that we both rule.” Celestia lifted up her teacup, inhaled the fragrant steam, and smiled at Twilight. “In looking after ourselves, we are both equally inept.”
This was a good time to respond, Twilight felt, and save herself from foalish follies. She nodded, hiccuped again, and managed to say, “Yes! Yes we are!” Head bobbing up and down with enthusiasm, Twilight let out a squeak when she realised just what it was exactly that she had said.
Even worse, she knew that it was true. This knowledge caused her barrel to tighten and she let out squeaky whinny of panic, feeling as though her soul had just been stripped bare. All of a sudden, she was eight years old again, having tea with her teacher, Princess Celestia, and she was getting her mind blown. Just as she had done when she was eight, she grabbed a cookie from the tray and crammed the entire thing into her mouth.
Chewing the whole cookie gave her an excuse to be quiet and reflect for a time, without the onus of having to reply to a question, because one shouldn’t talk with their mouth full. During her youth, she had considered scarfing down a cookie to buy time an act of utter genius, but now, as a full grown adult, she was having some second thoughts. She watched Celestia sip some tea and found that her own mouth was quite dry at the moment.
“I am old, set in my ways, and slow to change them, Twilight Sparkle.” Celestia pulled her teacup away from her muzzle and with a merry twinkle in her eye, she said, “I propose that we work together on this issue. As equals. We should talk, as equals, able to say anything that is on our minds, we should be open with one another, we should be able to share our secrets, our thoughts, and we should be able to do so without fear… as equals.”
Biting into a tough piece of crystalised ginger, Twilight stared at Celestia with wide, almost unblinking eyes while she gnawed the rubbery treat between her molars. With about ninety-nine percent certainty, Twilight reasoned that this was not a joke. Oh, Celestia was being playful, but she was at her most playful when she was nervous or scared. Twilight had known the wily white alicorn long enough to be aware of some of her quirks.
Celestia too, picked up a cookie and nibbled on the edge. She also poured Twilight a much needed glass of milk, an action she had done far too many times to keep track of. This scene had played itself out so many times over the years that everything now felt like reflex. Twilight found all of the old familiar actions comforting.
“The day that Cadance became engaged, she and I had a similar conversation.”
“They never even told me about the engagement!” Twilight cried, spewing crumbs everywhere. She snatched up her glass of milk in her fetlock, too irked for even simple magic, and she took a long drink. Now, with a milk mustache, Twilight sat there, stewing over that particular part of an uncomfortable past.
“Mistakes were made,” Celestia said.
“Yes they were,” Twilight agreed, and she found that it felt just as good to say it as it was to hear it from Celestia’s lips. She licked the milk from her lips and discovered that, much to her own surprise, she felt better about it now, though she could not say how or why.
“It caused me so much fear and doubt.” Celestia’s voice was low and somewhat halting. “When Mister Mariner brought down our country, I suffered a bit of a breakdown and a loss of my self confidence knowing that you were right once again.”
“I… I don’t know what to say,” Twilight said as a strange new pain blossomed in her barrel. It was an awful pain, new, unknown, and unwelcome. “I’m not right all of the time… I make mistakes too… and when I do, you’ve always been there to pick me up and get me on my hooves again. There’s been so many times that you’ve been right… and you could have lectured me… you could have gloated… you could have chewed me out and talked about how your thousands of years of experience was worth more than my mere decades of life.”
“We both make mistakes.” Celestia’s orange tongue flicked over her lips to lick away a few crumbs that were brave enough to linger. “I’ve come to respect your intuition, your hunches, and your guesses, even if it unnerves me to act upon them and throw caution to the wind.”
“And I’ve come to respect your methodical approach, seeking facts, laying low, and gathering every shred of knowledge available before engaging the enemy and revealing that I am more than ready to deal with them. Some of my most satisfying victories have come by following your example.” It felt good to say these words, and some of the strange pain in Twilight’s barrel abated a bit.
“We have changed,” both alicorns said together while they looked into each other’s eyes.
A low chuckle came from Celestia, but Twilight lapsed into silence as she held her milk. They had changed, and Twilight hadn’t realised it. How long ago had this change settled in? How long ago had Twilight’s hidden resentments faded away, only to be replaced with something else? Twilight came to a surprising realisation that she hadn’t processed or evaluated her relationship with Princess Celestia for quite some time, trying to determine if she was living up to her former mentor’s standards.
No, Twilight realised, at some point, without her realising it, they had become equals.
Compeers.
Hunching over, she finished off her milk, set down her glass, and then lifted her teacup with her telekinesis. She looked into Celestia’s eyes, the very windows to her teacher’s soul. In the pond, a swan let out a trumpeting cry and then began to swim after his mate. Turning her head, Twilight watched them for a time, marvelling at their beauty and grace.
For reasons unknown, she thought of Seville.
“Ah, we have company,” Celestia murmured.
Turning her head a little more, Twilight saw a guard approaching, and walking beside him was Corbie. Twilight felt her heart skip a beat because little Corbie looked quite upset. It was clear that she had been crying, and this knowledge made Twilight’s heart ache in a way she was unaccustomed to.
The guard came to a halt some distance away, but little Corbie kept going, flapping her wings as she hurried over the grass. Twilight stared at the foal, feeling a hollow ache. Corbie was like her father, charcoal blackish-grey, somewhat dappled, but she lacked his silver highlights, though she had his silver mane and tail. She had her mother’s soft pinkish white highlighting her wings.
The filly stumbled and tumbled over into the grass, knocking her thick glasses askew. Lower lip now protruding, she got up, almost bawling, and resumed running for the table. Much to Twilight’s surprise, Cobie didn’t run to her mother, and Twilight had an almost sobbing filly hanging from her neck.
All these years as a teacher and she still had trouble in times like these. She settled her weight on the cushion, balanced on her haunches, and wrapped her forelegs around Corbie, who shook with raw, unbridled emotion. With her wing, Twilight brushed some stray bits of grass out of the filly’s mane and then bounced her a bit to try and cheer her up.
“What happened?” Celestia asked, her voice firm and maternal.
“NUANCE!” Corbie spat out, and then she exploded with tears.
Twilight heard a sigh from across the table. Nuance. Twilight wasn’t fond of him either, though she would never admit it. He was mean, he was bossy, he was aggressive, and he had a raging sense of entitlement. Even worse, Nuance hated her, and ambushed her at every opportunity he found, determined to prove once and for all that he was a worthy wizard.
The problem, in the most simple of terms, was that Nuance was terrible at magic.
With her foreleg, Twilight rubbed Corbie’s neck and looked over at Celestia, waiting for instruction, but none seemed forthcoming. She was on her own, it appeared. Across the table, Celestia looked a bit upset, and more than a little frustrated. Twilight imagined that it was like being frustrated with a student as a teacher, but worse.
“You know,” Celestia whispered, “I might just have to send Nuance off to your school. Your magical kindergarten has proven quite successful over the years.”
Twilight didn’t know how to tell Celestia that she didn’t want and wouldn’t accept Nuance.
“Corbie, sweetie, where is Nuance now?”
“In the corner!” Corbie sobbed.
“Well, that’s a good start.” Celestia let out a frustrated snort. “I suppose he woke Luna.”
“Yes!” A ribbon of snot dribbled from Corbie’s nose and with a sniffle-snort, she sucked it back in as tears poured down her cheeks. “He called me Fat Stupid Four-Eyes again!”
Twilight ground her teeth together and gave the filly a squeeze. It was difficult for Corbie to be her father’s daughter and Twilight knew all about the little pegasus filly’s insecurities. She was a little… pear shaped and she wore glasses. She worried all the time if she was pretty and spent a lot of time upset that everypony stared at her father, and not her.
“And then what happened?” Celestia sighed the words and all traces of her good cheer were now gone, vanished.
The filly did not reply right away, fearing her mother’s anger. Sniffling, she shuddered in Twilight’s embrace, and after a few seconds she replied, “Radiance bloodied his nose.” After speaking, she turned away from her mother and closed her eyes.
Rolling her eyes, Celestia let heave a sigh so powerful that Twilight was dead-certain that the sun had just moved a tick in the sky. Twilight cringed. The two brothers really, really hated one another. Nuance was hostile, arrogant, and thoroughly convinced of his own superiourity because he was a unicorn. Radiance on the other hoof, was quiet, soft spoken, loved his sister, and strong. He was also smarter than Nuance and reveled in every opportunity presented to prove it.
“Twilight Sparkle, can I ask you a favour?”
Fearful, Twilight worried about how to tell Celestia no, that she would not take Nuance and board him in her school. Everything had been going so well, this new relationship between them as equals. Panic tightened Twilight’s throat, and she nodded.
“Twilight, can you take Corbie home with you for a few days?” Celestia asked.
“Why?” Twilight blurted out, baffled by the question.
“Because, I am about to lay the law down upon her brothers, and she is far too tender hearted to deal with seeing them get punished.” As Celestia spoke, Corbie’s sobs renewed themselves. “The poor dear loves Nuance, awful as he is, and she doesn’t like it when he gets what is coming to him.”
Blinking, Twilight tried to parse everything that had just been said. She also deduced that some real punishment was about to happen, not just being stood in the corner. Tilting her head, she looked down at Corbie, and found the filly looking up at her, her rose-pink eyes bloodshot from crying. All of this left Twilight quite confused.
“Sure,” Twilight said to Celestia, surprised by her own answer that came out of her mouth.
“I’ll have her bag packed for you.” Celestia put a few cookies on a plate and poured another glass of milk. She then placed both the plate and the glass in front of Twilight for Corbie. “She has to wear her dental retainer at night when she sleeps. She’ll probably cry and try to bargain to get out of it, but her underbite is pretty severe and needs correction. Be firm, Twilight.”
She nodded, but didn’t know what to say.
“She’s scared of the dark—”
“No I’m not!” Corbie shrieked at her mother.
“—and she needs a night light.”
“No I don’t.” Corbie’s lower lip now protruded quite a bit, and was exaggerated by her underbite.
“I’ll send Seville to help,” Celestia offered, and a mischievous twinkle returned to her eye. “She adores Seville and will happily spend all day attached to his leg.”
To this, Corbie had nothing to say, but her cheeks bulged as she gave her mother a huffy, puffy stare through her tear-smudged glasses.
Twilight felt her cheeks ignite and she knew exactly what sort of dastardly tactics Celestia was resorting to. The heat from her cheeks spread upwards, rising up into her ears, and she could hear the slobbery sound of Corbie slurping on her own grass-stained hoof. Twilight had no doubt that her mother and father would show up at some point, and would compliment her and flatter her… and… ugh!
Though equals, Celestia was far better at playing the game of Alicorn Princess.
Not one opportunity wasted. Somehow, Celestia had wrangled this situation to help out with Twilight’s own self-improvement, and her romantic aspirations as well. Squeezing Corbie yet again, Twilight found that she couldn’t be mad, and she knew that once she got over her initial panic, she would enjoy this.
“Celestia, can I ask you an equinal question?”
“Sure, Twilight.” Celestia’s ears leaned forwards, angling out over her face, eager for Twilight's question.
“You were so eager to have an army of foals. What happened?” Twilight asked, and then after a hesitant moment, she added, “Did things just not turn out as you expected? I’m only asking, because I don’t know what to expect myself, and, um, well, one day, perhaps someday soon, I uh, might, um, well, you know… try my hoof at this.”
“A moment of realisation,” Celestia replied as she smiled at Twilight and Corbie. “I could have had myself an army of foals by now… and I’ve been tempted, but I wanted to be more involved in the lives of the foals I have, and I want Gosling to be able to do the same. It just felt right to stop at three… for now.”
“Oh.” Twilight didn’t know how else to respond. For some reason, she had believed that Nuance’s troublesome nature had changed things, and Twilight didn’t quite know how to deal with the idea that if she became a mother, her foals might not quite turn out as she wanted them. In the back of her mind, Twilight suspected that it was selfish self-interest at work. She wanted introverted, nerdy bookworms like herself, because that would make it easier.
“I think Luna approaches the point where she wants to try—”
“But then Nuance acts like a jerk and scares her away from mommy-wants!”
Celestia’s face became a stone mask and her eyes went utterly blank. “Yes. Little Nuance, who was Luna’s favourite when he was born, scares Luna away from mommy-wants. He has gone from being her favourite to being the bane of her existence.”
In a rare moment, Twilight witnessed a crack in Celestia’s mask when the corner of her eye began twitching. She didn’t know if Celestia wanted to laugh or cry, that was unknown, but she was certainly having a strong reaction, because she failed to hide it. Averting her eyes, Twilight didn’t feel right intruding on something so private, so visceral.
“Little Nuance is great at scaring mares away from mommy-wants.” The corner of Celestia’s eye continued to twitch a bit, and her nostrils flared. “I’ve found that if I make my students foalsit him as project, they stop snogging for days at a time and inappropriate contact is greatly reduced. Little colts and little fillies no longer go sneaking into each other’s rooms, trying to get past the wards, and getting into trouble when they get caught.”
Lips pressing together, Twilight considered this tactic, and thought of Sumac and Pebble for some reason. In her forelegs, Corbie squirmed and then pulled a cookie off of the plate. Twilight heard her eating, and the little filly had better than average manners for a foal her age. She wondered, were the students in her school snogging? Was she ignoring it, pretending it didn’t exist, because she was uncomfortable with it?
“So… Twilight Sparkle… Seville Orange and Pinkie Pie… do you want to talk about it? I must confess, I am baffled by your interest in Pinkie Pie, if you don’t mind me being honest.”
She felt her cheeks grow warm again and tighten as a smile spread over her face. Twilight looked Celestia in the eye, considering her question, and realising that it might be nice to talk about this… as equals. She might even learn something… not from her former teacher, but from the mare that was her friend… her confidant… her compeer.
Taking a deep breath, Twilight got ready to tell Celestia all about it…
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Finally we get a look at the Royal Brood.
YES! ALL OF THE WORLDBUILDING!
What is radiance, an earth pony? You specified what Corbie and Nuance are but i don't think i saw what their brother is. Im only guessing earth pony since you labeled him as strong.
8014536
In Swans, it is revealed that Celestia always gives birth to a pegasus, a unicorn, and an earth pony.
So, by deduction, Radiance is an earth pony. A very, very strong earth pony. Smart too.
Oh wow. I am strangely happy for your Twilight that she has reached this point.
And finally the trio is revealed!! A filly and two colts.
8014544
I think I'll like Radiance.
Good name too.
Corbie is a beautiful cinnamon roll too good for this world, too pure.
Sounds like Nuance is one hell of a problem child. I feel so bad for Luna, who wants to have some foals of her own, only to be discouraged by the little hellraiser of the family. I do hope that Celestia puts her hoof down and gets him in line before that type of behavior settles, or she'll have some serious issues down the line...
8014402 I'm not impressed.
8014544 my bad i forgot you had mentioned that. But at least my mind went the way it was supposed to and assumed the right pony type.
Not snogging for days.
Oh dear, and I thought my siblings were bad. Sounds lile we've got a young tribalist. A miniature show-accurate blueblood. How dreadful.
The Brood is at the age where they will learn some of the most important lessons they possibly can. And what is perhaps one of the most important lessons a little colt can learn?
DODGE!
Very nice wonder is Nuance is suffering from middle child syndrome while they are triplets one would still be the first born and one the last.
Guess Twilight has a motivate to bring Nuance to her school. Maybe a project for Peeble and Sumac. Though not sure how superior Naunce would feel tangling with Tarnished and what his talent does to magic
I really like this story. It's so nice to see Twilight reach this point. She's slowly overcoming her own foibles and becoming a more well-rounded individual.
I'm having another one of those things that I'm having trouble wrapping my head around because I'm probably overthinking it the way I do everything. I don't know how I feel about engaging in romance as a form of growth, but only because I'm not sure how to process romance myself. And then there are people that don't date and never want to. If I really wanted to, I could almost interpret this as suggesting that not being interested in romance made her somehow inferior. But that's not accurate, is it? She's a leader and looks over the needs of countless subjects. By engaging and learning how to understand romance will make her better able to empathize with the needs of her subjects. So, it really is a growth.
Geez, you see what I mean by overthinking things? Life is complicated, I don't get it most of the time, and then I take it out on a set of stories that invoke the incomprehensible nature of life together with characters I care about and try to understand the world through them. I can't ever just come in and be happy about everything. This is a relatively simple story out of you and I'm going on and on about whether people should have to date or not. I must frustrate you something fierce.
Especially since about 99% of the time, I have no idea what I'm talking about.
I wonder if Twilight will ever talk to Celestia about her past resentments, or if she already has. I feel like it would be good for her to be able to talk about such things. In the past, I've felt bad for her since she never got a formal chance to say 'no' to princesshood. I still kinda wish she'd openly be given the option, simply as a formality, but she's making it more and more clear that she loves the life she's found herself in. Years have past since Sumac joined her school. I wonder what other hardships she's overcome since. I wonder how she's grown. I wonder if she's stopped hiding her feelings from those she looks up to, or at least is trying.
There is so much more to come, and I can't wait.
It occurs to me that since the palace guard nonchalantly refers to them as "the royal brood" they must be notorious far and wide.
Finally some more information on the process of alicorn breeding! I've been wondering how Celestia's pregnancies work. Now we know that her triplets are fraternal. So I guess her body always provides one egg cell of every tribe.
I had previously guessed that they are identical, one ovum automatically dividing into three, one of each tribe through alicorn magic. Mostly because Pollux and Castor where both male.
Yes, yes, pursue that line of thinking.
Now that's going to be an awkward conversation.
So much snogging. It kind of seems like everyone could use a turn at sitting Nuance.
How old are the royal triplets here?
8015236
The math is possible if you know the stories.
8015328
Takes place 6 years after the events of Perilous Romance and Twilight's School where Sumac and Pebble were 5 since in Quesadilla they were 11, it takes 11 months for equines to shoot out foals, so they are 5 give or take a couple of months.
While I agree that it is more responsible to just focus on this small batch, I'm a little disappointed that there isn't an army of foals, and that Luna is waiting so long to indulge in mommy-wants.
I find it interesting that the child of Celestia is really, really bad at magic. I sense an inferiority complex in the making.
I find it distressing that the child of Celestia has a bad sense of entitlement. I would've hoped that she and Gosling could work to prevent that, especially given Gosling's origins, but I suppose this sort of thing will happen sometimes.
Also, Twilight, you've already spent most of your life dealing with a baby dragon who's much more extroverted than you are. I feel like you're better prepared than you give yourself credit for.
8015807
As stated in another story, Luna's always been the one to birth gifted magelings.
The Perilous Romance of Swans, Chapter 69
So, to recap. One dud unicorn, one relatively average pegasus, and one exceptional earth pony.
Par for the course.
8015824
Huh. Well, there you go, then. Sheesh, whenever Luna has kids, that may aggravate the aforementioned inferiority complex, won't it? Ah well, that's a problem in the future. Besides, I'm sure they have plenty of experience dealing with such things by now.
Ahh, some nice relationship developments. Meeting the Royal Brood vaguely for the first time is great too!
8014780
Don't forget, Twilight was confirmed to be demisexual (+ demiromantic?) in the Weedverse, rather than completely asexual like Trixie, and had been carrying a torch for Cadance for however long it had been.
So... it's not that she was never interested in dating/romance/anything else, it's that she only ever had one pony to focus all of those feelings on. Without any friends to form an emotional connection with, she went without anypony who might stimulate romantic/etc feelings in her. Plus with her fixation on Cadance, she probably figured that one day, eventually, things would work out between them - only to have that low-key fantasy shattered when Cadance married Shining Armor instead. And quesadillas got mixed up in all of those feelings too.
Twilight probably assumed after that that if she hadn't had any feelings for anyone else she might never develop them. She might have been friends with the rest of the Mane 6 but not for long enough, especially after that blow to her trust after everyone disbelieved her about Cadance. She might well have forgiven them but that stuff hangs out in the subconscious and by that point she'd thoroughly smothered any and all feelings on that matter with those cheesy, cheesy quesadillas. It was only after admitting everything to herself and her friends that she was able to embrace her actual identity and start exploring that side of herself.
So her character-growth through relationships isn't 'she was inferior because she wasn't dating and now she is', it's more 'Twilight becomes more self-aware, embraces her sexuality and as a result decides to start dating'. At least, that's how I interpret it!
Fun times growing up on the aro/ace spectrum.
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And you are correct in your statement. It is an accurate summary of the situation.
img06.deviantart.net/24c2/i/2014/087/1/f/elegant_creatures_by_xilenobody143-d7bxmcs.png
..and now this image has merit, albeit one extra....Run, Aunty Twilight, RUN!
Aww... here i was expecting 9 or 12.
And yes, please, please! have a fic where they drop Nuance on Sumac and Pebble, it could go so much either way that i must know!
Like you wouldn't believe.
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Just say the Extra is either Flurry or her currently unmentioned in these future fics sibling.
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And I guess going by that, their Pegasi foals are always pretty much average between the two of them.
This is definitely some quality writing as per Kudzu tradition. Also really looking forward to seeing how this little side story progresses!
Since Nuance clearly suffers from an inferiority complex, as well as a penchant for challenging Twilight, I honestly think Trixie has the best chance of getting through to him
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8017361 I'm not really sure what that means. I'm guessing either exactly right or dead wrong
8015846
First off, let me apologize for not replying to you sooner. Between being at work and being tired, I wasn't really up for an in-depth conversation on anything.
Secondly, I'd like to thank you for replying to me in the first place. 
Apart from Kudzu, it's rare to get a response that isn't asking me why I wrote a ridiculously long post. 
So, a recurring problem I have while reading the Weedverse is my tendency to read way too deeply into things. Sometimes, I find myself with two different ideas that I have a difficult time reconciling in my head. In this case, it was "Twilight's foray into romance is a form of growth for her" and "People don't necessarily have to engage in romance in order to have whole, happy lives". Of course, when you say it as flat out as you have, it becomes increasingly clear that I was overthinking it again. I was already aware of all of that, but I guess I just needed a kick in the pants to sort my thoughts out. So thanks for that.
And sorry to you, Kudzu, for making a mountain out of a molehill.
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Don't worry about the response time, heh, I know how busy real life can get.
As for reading into things, well, no problem with that! The Weedverse stuff is always multifaceted and there is plenty to think about. Different contexts than what one might be used to, character traits and motivations that aren't always apparent at first, situations that don't seem to make sense until you take a step back and look at how things got there... And of course everyone has their own personal standards to measure things by, and their own interpretations to measure in the first place!
Sometimes I guess it can just take a fresh perspective to sort out what's in your head!
Hey Kudzu, I have a really minor question. How do Celestia's children refer to Luna? Normally it would be 'aunt', but since she's also married to their father, do they just call her 'mom' as well? Just curious.
Also, I just realized that Radiance shares his name with a super heroine. I imagine this is not relevant in any way.
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They call her mom.
Radiance was named by Celestia because of the power of his smile. He inherited just a teeny, tiny bit of his father's magic, or so it is believed. Gosling's specific magical talent is making others happy. Radiance's smiles do much the same. With a smile, he can cheer up just about anypony, or anybody, even Luna in one of her blacker moods.
Nuance was named by Luna due to his coat colour. He is such a pale shade of blue that he could be mistaken for white. There was an argument about what colour he was, Gosling was actually incapable of seeing the blue, but Luna and Celestia's alicorn eyes could. Luna said that the colt was a pale shade of nuance.
Corbie was named by Gosling. At birth, she was entirely charcoal black and grey, just like he is. Corbie means crow, raven, or rook. Her soft, pink-white accents didn't come in until later. Corbie tends to caw when she laughs and like her father, tends to be overly birdlike, even by pegasus standards. A fact that Nuance constantly uses to tease and shame her.
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See, the fun thing about you Kudzu, is that I never know what part of my post you're going to reply to, and in what amount of detail. I was not expecting to have an offhand observation responded to with character bios.
Not complaining, mind you. Just saying.
I actually wish I had said that sooner, so that more people would see your comment.
So, I hadn't realized that pegasi had specific magical talents like that. I'm sure you mentioned it, I must've missed it. Now that I think about it, earth ponies have them, too. At least Pebble does. As I'm sure you've noticed, I can sometimes miss the obvious unless it's spelled out for me. Back in middle school, I read the entirety of the Chronicles of Narnia without realizing they were an allegory for Christianity.
Here's a thought I had today: Celestia and Luna have a quirk where they always give birth to triplets, and Cadance seems to have a quirk of giving birth to alicorns. I wonder what sort of birthing quirk Twilight will have. My first guess is that she will literally give birth to a book.
I imagine having natural born alicorn cousins won't do any good for the inferiority complex I'm predicting Nuance will have. Is it bad that I'm worried for a character that has literally not been properly introduced yet?
More importantly, how is it that I'm reading two stories that feature Twilight and Pinkie in a three-way relationship with someone else?
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It may have to do with Twi and Cads being entirely different beasts than Cel and Luna, but I dunno how it works in the Weedverse.
So Nuance is getting a cutie mark in birth control? I mean he sounds really effective if Celestia is to be believed.
Oh, that's not good. The unicorn son of the most powerful caster of ponykind, a goddess whose essence spans the cosmos, the former Element of Magic.
Is one of the crappy-at-magic variety unicorns. Makes me wonder.
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She’s always had rather weak unicorns. Luna is the one that makes exceptional unicorns. Historically speaking.
Celestia makes powerful earth ponies.
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Despite all that and being the saint-goddess of wizards, she makes better earth ponies? Peculiar! Do you have some grand reason, or is it just how she was designed, or just some unique quirk of hers?
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She makes many, many Honest Apples.
Just a quirk of outcomes. Celestia tends to value certain attributes over others.
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Oh, so she favors her earth pony side more despite her godly magic? Oh goodness, gotta see her HIT something sometime. :D
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Subconsciously, Princess Celestia favours honesty and everything associated with it over the power of magic.
Which is fascinating, seeing as how she can be one of the most deceptive ponies around, with the most secrets, and yes, the most lies as well.
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Anything for the greater good of her little ponies, and the world in general. What's lying to help ponies after you've banished your only beloved sister to save them? Even just handling that juxtaposition must stress her.
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It was said on "Quesadilla" that Celestia is the undisputed master of Shatterstone (punching a rock to make a sculpture or item out of it, in a single hit).
There was an old Earth pony in that story that made a sculpture of Celestia so detailed that Pebble could see individual plummage on the wings, and Celestia is supposedly even better. He died directly afterwards, though.