Opt Out

by Rambling Writer

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

So apparently I’m going to be a princess.

Me. A princess.

Me.

A princess.

I mean, what the friggety.

I stop pacing around Golden Oaks and lightly poke my wing again. I shudder at the perfectly normal feeling of being poked; I’m still adjusting to having feelings in places I didn’t used to have places, like missing a tooth applied in reverse. Somehow.

“Twilight?” Spike asks. “Is someth-”

“How am I supposed to be a princess?” I start pacing again. “I’m going to be helping to rule Equestria. I don’t know how to be a princess! I don’t know ruling! I don’t know law-making! I don’t know how to hold court! And those’re just the basics!”

“Twilight, you’re gonna sta-”

“I don’t even know how to be an alicorn! Like, my wings itch. Is that normal? Are wings supposed to itch? Is there something wrong with them? What if they don’t stop itching? Is the itching just a harmless side-effect of spontaneous limb generation like phantom limb pain is for amputations? What if it’s normal for pegasi but not for alicorns and I go to Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy for help and they say ‘oh, there’s nothing wrong with you’ and there is something wrong with me but they don’t know that because it’s normal for them and I-”

C-cr-rack.

I wince at the sound of a book’s spine breaking and whirl on Spike. He’s guiltily holding a brand-new third edition of Advanced Transformative Magic and opening it way too far. “Sorry,” he whispers, gently setting the book down, “but you need to calm down. Take a few deep breaths. Just- stop freaking out.”

Okay. Deep breath in. Deep breath out. “I know, Spike, but-” Deep breath in. Deep breath out. “-I am really overwhelmed by this. I’m all of a sudden in a position of power, I just grew wings, my back is aching a little from their added weight…” I look down at my hooves. “…and I swear I’ve already grown an inch or two. How am I supposed to react?”

“Erng…” Spike kneads his claws together. “Well, I… I dunno. You could-”

The doorbell rings. Glad of something to take my mind off this, I scurry to the door; the unfamiliar feeling of the wind across my wings makes me shiver. I hope it’s one of my friends; I don’t want to have to explain this just yet.

But, as if to aggravate my feelings all the more, Princess Celestia’s the one standing there when I open the door. My heart catches in my throat. I’m almost royalty now, so what do I do? Do I bow? Do I not bow? Is there some royalty-exclusive thing I need to do that I’ve never heard of? I try to split the difference and end up twitching for a second, probably looking like some kind of broken bobblehead. “Hello, Princess,” I squeak. “Come in.” I step aside.

Celestia ducks a little so her horn doesn’t catch on the lintel. “Twilight. Spike,” she says, nodding to us.

“Um, uh, hey, Princess,” said Spike. At least he doesn’t have problems with whether or not he needs to bow; he just goes and does it.

“I hope I’m not intruding,” Celestia says to me, “but I would like to take a moment to speak with you.”

“Um, I…” My brain’s still nearing rainboom speeds. I have to force it to slow down and talk with her. “Yeah, I’ve got the time.”

Spike conjures a distraction to give us privacy. “I’mgonnagomaketeanowokaybye!” And he’s gone.

Celestia and I are left looking at each other. I rub one hoof against the other. I swallow. What, exactly, am I supposed to say?

Eventually, Celestia clears her throat. “When you became a princess, I imagine it was a bit of a shock, particularly with no warning.”

I click my teeth together and nod, almost guiltily. I can’t let her know how stressed her actions have made me. She can probably guess, but it’s the principle of the matter.

“So, now that you’ve had some time to think it over, do you want to stay one?”

Something about that doesn’t seem right, even though I don’t know why. I flick an ear and cock my head. “Huh?”

“Are you okay with becoming a princess?” Celestia asks again. “Or would you prefer to go back to the way you were?” Her voice is infinitely patient, not pushing me one way or the other.

“You’re giving me a choice in the matter?” I feel like if I say “oh, heck no, make me back into a unicorn”, I’m letting her down somehow. She planned this. She’s been planning it for… I don’t know how long. Ever since I got my cutie mark? That’s almost two decades. And to throw it all away just because I didn’t want it seems wrong. I can’t let her down; she’s Princess Celestia.

But what if I truly don’t want it?

Celestia tilts her head slightly. “Why would you think I wouldn’t? This isn’t something you or I should take lightly.”

“Well, you…” I shuffle my hooves and look away. It feels strange, questioning Celestia like this. “You… kinda laid it on a bit thick back there.” She’s already thought this over thousands of times, surely. She knows what she’s doing. Right? “All that talk about… fulfilling my destiny. It didn’t really sound like I had a lot of options.”

“I never said what your destiny to be fulfilled was.”

I’m caught by surprise when my wings flare. “That’s a cop-out and you know it,” I snap.

I regret the words before I finish the sentence. Even if it’s true, there are better ways of saying that. Less harsh, less accusatory ways. It doesn’t feel like I’m questioning her, it feels like I’m attacking her. Whether she’s right or wrong, I can still be civil with her. She’s a princess. She is (was? The thought still feels strange) my mentor.

But Celestia doesn’t notice and lets it pass. “I suppose it might be,” she says, inclining her head. “But how would you have reacted if I had asked you beforehoof?”

“I… I don’t know,” I mumble. I ruffle my mane, look down, and fold my ears back. “I… probably would’ve panicked and said ‘no’ out of pure reflex. Never thought about it again, maybe.” It was just so big. I don’t think I ever would’ve really considered it, even with prodding from Celestia. Looked at the idea, yes, done a bit of speculating, yes, but only in a distant “this is the dream I know I’ll never have but I like to think about” sort of way.

“Precisely,” says Celestia. “When you set out on a new journey in your life, the first step is always the hardest. Sometimes, that step can seem impossible and you need a push.”

“That’s one way to put it,” I say. I don’t look up. A push I need or not, it’s a very demanding push, a push down a cliff I’ll never be able to climb back up. She’s made me an alicorn; how easy is that to take back? What if I say “no” and I’m left looking with this as a remin-

“Twilight.”

I look up.

Celestia is looking at me in a way I’ve never seen before. I can’t describe it. It’s softer. It’s less distant. If there was a glass wall between us, it’s gone now. But for a few moments, I can’t put my hoof on why. And then I realize: she’s taken her crown off; her symbol of authority is sitting at her hooves, apparently forgotten. Right now, she’s not Princess Celestia. She’s just Celestia, just a pony. Just like me.

“Twilight,” Celestia says, “if you choose not to be a princess, I will not be disappointed in you. I admit I may be piling too much on you all at once, and if that’s case, I apologize. The fault would lie in my own judgment, not in you.”

“But you’ve ruled Equestria for thousands of years. Your judgment can’t be that bad, can it?” It’s probably this point, in particular, that I can’t just shake off. I keep coming back to it over and over, thinking she knows best and I should just go and be a princess. Although it’s hard to keep thinking that when she doesn’t have her crown. I’ve never seen her without her crown.

“I know this might surprise you,” Celestia says with an iota of wryness, “but even I can make mistakes from time to time. If I am making a mistake now, I would rather you go against my wishes and be honest with me than do what I want and be miserable for it.” She flexes her wings, as if she’s somehow uncomfortable. “I’ve watched you for a long time, Twilight. I’ve read every single one of your letters and those of your friends. I’ve seen how much you’ve grown, and I think you’re capable of it. But I don’t know everything about you. Do you think you’re capable of it?”

I look at her for a few more moments. I should probably say something, but nothing comes to mind. Then I start pacing and thinking.

Why choose me, of all ponies, to be the Princess of Friendship? Yes, I’m one of the Elements of Harmony. Yes, I’ve formed strong bonds with my friends here in Ponyville. But if I’m being honest with myself, that’s not all that much. I still don’t interact a lot with other ponies outside of Spike and the girls. I still spend a lot of time reading alone; it’s just that now, I don’t care as much if I’m interrupted.

I still have problems in social situations. I still find it hard to just walk up to somepony new and start talking to them. Heck, sometimes I have trouble relating to the other girls. I know that they don’t like hearing about, say, some of the statistics that make Ponyville a very unusual place, but whenever I have a chance to bring them up — such as the time last week I was able to compare how well the Apples were growing apple trees compared to other apple farms — I keep forgetting that. I get excited and I keep going on about them and somepony else needs to pull me back to reality.

Yet, at the same time… why not me? How many ponies have been in my position: a self-absorbed loner who found out how friendship was so much more than just ponies sticking their noses into your business? I’ve seen the benefits of it firsthoof, benefits a pony who’s had friends from day one would take for granted. I’ve never been one to suffer from loneliness, but now I know who having a friend around brightens up the day just a little bit more. It doesn’t need to be all that much; just somepony to talk to is enough.

I’ve gone from having a single strong friendship to having six, and I’ve been keeping track of them every step of the way. I’m not all the way there, but so what? I can keep going forward. I don’t think I could go backward if I tried. My friends are too much a part of me now. It’s easier to keep going when I know they’re right there with me.

I’m not who I ought to be. But I’m not who I used to be. I am what I am.

And I think that’s enough.

I stop pacing. “I’ll do it,” I say. “I’ll be the Princess of Friendship. I think I can handle it. And if not… I’ve got my friends. We’ve handled insane alicorns, the spirit of chaos, armies of changelings, megalomaniacal shadow dictators, and the Grand Galloping Gala together; we can handle this together.”

Celestia smiles and bows her head. “Thank you, Twilight.” She puts her crown back on. “I know you’ll be an excellent example for all of Equestria.”

I try to grin. It comes better than I expected, but not as good as I wanted. Decision made or not, there’s a long way to go. “I sure hope so.”

Spike clears his throat and leans around the doorframe. “Does this mean I can come in now?” He holds up a tray with three steaming teacups. “I have tea. It’s peach.”

“Do you want to stay?” I ask. “We could talk a little about… everything that’s coming.”

“Peach tea sounds lovely,” says Celestia, taking a cup. “And, yes, there are some details that I could use your input on.” She takes a sip. “Mmm. Wonderful tea, Spike.”

Spike just smiles and bows.

“Thank you.” I retrieve my own cup and sip. “So, when’s the coronation going to-”

“Hey, Twilight?” asks Spike. “If you’re gonna be a princess, do you think you could get some extra help around here?”

I look over my cup at him and frown. “Spike, if you think I’ll hire servants so you’ll be able to lay around all day, every day…”

“I don’t want every day off. Just the ones that end in ‘y’.”

I chuckle. So does Celestia. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Comments

[RainbowSparkle3]

Good one shot story! My only problem is Twilight wasn't the Princess of friendship until after season 4, but otherwise, great job!

[QueenMoriarty]

do want to stay one?

do you

if you I’ll hire servants

if you think

Nice little thing.

[Foals Errand]

Very sweet

[EmberLight]

“I don’t want every day off. Just the ones that end in ‘y’.”

That doesn't count tomorrow!

Nice, interesting story.

[Metool Bard]

...

Why couldn't we have more fics like this back in Season 3?

Seriously, a nuanced discussion about Twilight's ascension is much more compelling than outright demonizing the concept. And, well, that's what this is. Twilight and Celestia having a meaningful discussion about this new direction in life. Not unlike the Season 7 premier, now that I think about it. Anyway, yeah. This is pretty good.

[Alex Warlorn]

Props just for Celestia actually offering Twilight a choice.

[PiercingSight]

but now I know who having a friend around brightens

*how ?

Also, I agree with RainbowSparkle3. I half expected Celestia to respond "The Princess of what now?"

Ragardless, this is a really good story. Seriously, we should have had this kinda stuff back after season 3. Well done!

[Sky Feather]

I'm probably going to get a lot of hate from this comment, but I think she should've stayed a unicorn. If she was to be crowned the princess of friendship (which I am sure Celestia had it planned), she would stay a mortal with her friends. Not with Celestia. Yes, she's Celestia's student, but she should've given her a choice (which is why I'm glad you made this story.) I just think if she would be the princess of friendship, she should be mortal, with her friends. But that's my opinion. I am glad you made this story, it definitely allows people to think about the situation.

[Alondro]

8315336 And then one day mortal Twilight's 5 friends all go for a train ride and it suddenly explodes because lazy plotting reasons and she's alone anyway.

But really, denying life because of fear of other people dying is quite paranoid and pathetic. It's also irrational. You have no way of knowing if they'll die before you regardless.

[Alondro]

8313764 My problem with it wasn't the ascension itself... more that her final test amounted to her messing up a spell and somehow fixing her own mistake with a really stupid-sounding spell.

It wasn't well-handled.

Frankly, facing Tirek should have been the real test, and her ascension shouldn't have been administered by Celestia (which reinforced Celestia's 'divinity'... only to then obliterate it by Celestia's frequent easy defeats by everything... including a snowstorm.) and instead by some undefined 'force' or 'spirit' which is never seen. Keeping those sorts of things cleverly vague usually works out best.

[Mahtan]

8315397
I would agree if Tirek has been "reformed" instead of defeated, this way it would be some prove of how much she understand the "magic of harmony/friendship", as it was she has not presented a greater capacity than she already had at the start of the show just more magical power.

[Anonymous Jackalope]

8315336

Immortality is pretty hard to turn down. In addition, if it eases you, it's canon that Twilight does not outlive her friends, although it's unknown what exactly that means. Likely the others, being bearers, are immortal (after all, the previous bearers are immortal), or perhaps they all get on the same ill-fated voyage across the ocean.

[Stellar Light Sparkle]

8315780

I would agree if Tirek has been "reformed" instead of defeated, this way it would be some prove of how much she understand the "magic of harmony/friendship",

Some people simply cannot be reformed, not without them losing either themselves or their free will. I suspect Tirek is one of those people.

8315397

Frankly, facing Tirek should have been the real test, and her ascension shouldn't have been administered by Celestia (which reinforced Celestia's 'divinity'... only to then obliterate it by Celestia's frequent easy defeats by everything... including a snowstorm.)

I think Celestia would be the first to point out that while she is powerful, her only claim to divinity is that she is immortal, not omnipotent or infallble. This story agrees with this statement. Even she prefers that her ponies do not worship her as a god (albeit only in hints in the show). So asking Twilight if she wants to return to her former self, without the responsibilities of her new position, also shows how much she cares for Twilight. Celestia has shown Twilight what she is capable of, even if it 'pushed her over the edge' as Twilight was considering. Giving her a choice, the chance to turn around and go back; to give up her new form and status... shows she doesn't want to force Twilight to do something she truly doesn't want to do, just to make her consider everything she could do as a princess, as well as what she might be leaving behind by going back again.

I do agree that, sometimes we need a push to find out that we can be capable of far more than what we think. Celestia's 'pushed' Twilight more than once in the series; the first episode was a 'push', with Celestia making Twilight leave Canterlot and head to Ponyville. We all know how that turned out. Maybe if Twilight thought about all the times Celestia pushed her to advance beyond her comfort zone, then it might help her realise that Celestia has never truly asked her to do more than she was capable of succeeding in doing. That Celestia hadn't put Twilight in any situation she wasn't sure Twilight didn't have the capability of handling. There was always uncertainty that Twilight might not act in time, or do things the correct way, but Celestia always had confidence that Twilight had the capacity to rise to the challenge and come through. The faith Celestia has in Twilight is a big part of this series.

[Alondro]

8315780 Nah, I was talking more about the willingness to throw aside all her power to save her friends.

Some people can't be reformed. Some people are just complete assholes. Being one, I know this personally.

I AM RICK.

adagio.com/images2/custom_blends/90599.jpg

[Alondro]

8315981 Dude, if we had a dude on this planet who was over 1,000 years old, could fly, and moved the god-damned Sun, pretty much everyone would be worshipping it.

Sheesh, people worship King Jung Un just with a little application of brainwashing and information control. It doesn't take much.

[Stellar Light Sparkle]

8316032

Dude, if we had a dude on this planet who was over 1,000 years old, could fly, and moved the god-damned Sun, pretty much everyone would be worshipping it.

That's dudette, dude. And we don't need a physical being to do that, just someone who came up with the concept of a divine being ages ago, and convinced others they had control of their immortal destinies beyond this world. As i heard someone say once "Religion was born when the first con-man met the first fool". Note: 'belief' and 'religion' are two different things to me. You can believe in a Divine Being without being in Organised Religion.

Sheesh, people worship King Jung Un just with a little application of brainwashing and information control. It doesn't take much.

Don't forget fear. Fear goes a long way in keeping people 'believing' that mortal beings are some kind-of divine figure. Hellfire and brimstone, anyone?

[Posh]

You had my upvote at "what the friggety."

[Alondro]

8316055 Nah, religion didn't come from that. That's just a saying from atheists who just hate religion a little more than they hate themselves. Religion came from the first moment someone decided to ask 'why' about the reason they could ask questions.

Oh, that and the weird white space aliens with the black goo.

[Arzoo]

8316069

"Atheists hate religion". I've seen that expressed by lots of religious nutjobs, but not many atheists. And implying they hate themselves? What? Do you know ANYTHING about atheists besides the bullshit spewed by the likes of Jack Chick?

[IronySandwich]

8316032
Nah, I don't see it.

It's all well and good to have a super powerful absent being to worship, but as soon as this actual being exists it does inconvenient things, like mention that it doesn't want or need worship, or that the men in silly hats asking for money don't speak for it, or really know anything more about it than the average person does.

[Stellar Light Sparkle]

8316069

Nah, religion didn't come from that. That's just a saying from atheists who just hate religion a little more than they hate themselves. Religion came from the first moment someone decided to ask 'why' about the reason they could ask questions.

hah! The funny thing is it was a Baptist Pastor who told it to me.

"Atheists hate religion". I've seen that expressed by lots of religious nutjobs, but not many atheists. And implying they hate themselves? What? Do you know ANYTHING about atheists besides the bullshit spewed by the likes of Jack Chick?

I have no idea who Jack Chick is. Most atheists I know don't hate themselves, what they hate is the way truly fundamental (Heavy on the 'mental' part) think they have the right to 'convert' you to their own religion, and that you're crazy if you don't.

To get back on topic, in my stories I had Celestia come up with a faith-based religion of her own after taking over the Rule of Equestria, to give those ponies who wanted to deify her something else to focus on. She used Faust as the basis of an 'All-Mother' type of deity, and had the tenets about loving and serving everypony else, reducing conflicts and promoting friendship. It's fairly simple, but it serves Harmony very well. The princesses are sponsors of the religion, not it's heads, either.

[videomaster21XX]

but now I know who having a friend around brightens up the day just a little bit more.

I think that was suppose to be 'how'

[FanOfMostEverything]

You do compress some of Twilight's alicorn concerns (aliconcerns?) into a single ultra-stressful package here; no one's said anything about a Princess of Friendship quite yet. Still, this does do a good job of setting up later seasons gradually giving Twilight more and more royal responsibilities.

There's really only one other issue I have here: The idea that Celestia could take back the wings. Honestly, I'm not even sure if that's what she meant. Take back the title, sure, that's obviously within her power. But Celestia never actually did anything during Twilight's ascension. The magic came from within Twilight herself; Celestia just sang a song and summoned a bunch of flashback windows.

Eh, that's largely a matter of clashing headcanons. Putting those aside, this was some lovely Celesta-Twilight interaction, including a few clean shots from the latter on the former. A rare sight, but nice to see when it's merited. In all, thank you for this story.

Oh, and to any and all reading this, ignore Alondro. You'll find you'll lead a much happier life that way.

[PiMan]

8313083
This. This is the biggest problem with the story.
There are other problems, but Twilight made her decision here based in part on her title despite that title not existing yet.

[Sky Feather]

8315894
Oh, that's interesting. Where'd you hear that?

[Sky Feather]

8315390
1, Lol.
2, I mean I guess it depends on how one thinks of it. But I see what you mean.

[Fwelin]

While going back to unicorn isn't possible (that's her species now, and changing species is out of Celestia's capabilities as far as we know), it's entirely likely that if Twilight had decided in the episode "no, I don't want to be a princess" that Celestia would have been sad, but would have not made her one.

In a way, becoming a princess is what Twilight had been hoping for, without even knowing it. Ever since she saw Celestia as a filly, her life's goal was to basically be as much like Celestia as possible. Since, in her eyes, becoming a princess or alicorn was either impossible or nearly impossible (depending on whether she knows Cadance used to be a pegasus), her studying magic was the best way to imitate her idol. Personally, I don't think Twilight would have ever seriously considered declining a way to get closer to her mentor in both their relationship and their status.

[Fwelin]

8315894
Yeah, there's lots of different ways to interpret that statement and still have it be true:

1: Twilight isn't immortal.
2: Twilight is immortal, but finds a way later to remove her immortality.
3: Twilight is immortal, but her friends are or will be too.
4: Twilight is immortal (lifespan wise), but she kicks the bucket from injury or disease before her friends do.
5: Twilight is immortal, but as some of her friends are immortal too (Celestia, Luna, Cadance, maybe Spike), she won't "outlive her friends" because some will always be with her.
6: Twilight is immortal, but she goes crazy and turns her friends into undying liches/locks them in stasis/abuses time travel/etc so that they never die.
7: Twilight is immortal, but she won't outlive her friends because of the meta reason that the show will end long before any of them get close to their maximum lifespans, so none of them ever actually "die" in terms of the franchise.

Personally, I find it kind of suspicious that McCarthy was specifically asked "Is Twilight immortal?", but she dodged answering the question directly and gave a tangentially related answer, so I think it's likely that either Twilight is immortal, or the writers haven't decided one way or the other.

[Anonymous Jackalope]

8317103

Was confirmed in these tweets:
https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RmYt62Kb2NI/UWsPEjxnomI/AAAAAAABYS8/vA-Ozmk7LTU/s1600/Capture.JPG

8317217

Good ideas, canonically I could see 2, 3, 4, and 7 being the most likely, although 6 would be... interesting, 5 would be a complete cop-out resolution. I definitely believe as an alicorn she is currently immortal, and her and her friends dying to a disease or accident seems too dark for what the writers would reasonably produce, so I think it would probably be between 2 & 3 (she revokes her immortality, or her friends are also immortal).

[Xanderfox]

8317217
She isn't immortal unless/until it's stated otherwise in the show. Pretty much how it's always worked, show cannon automatically overwrites anything stated in other materials. FIM is still a "living fiction", bits can be added and changed but still be in official cannon. Though lets not forget it's never been outright stated any of the Princesses are immortals, just that Celestia and Luna are at least 1000 and change years old, we're not even sure what the base lifetime of a pony is. Hundreds of years might be normal for ponies, in lots of settings magical creatures live very long lives and all ponies have magic, maybe ponies live to be 100 or 500 years old. Maybe the Equestrian year is significantly shorter and in earth years the Royal Sisters are only a few hundred years old.

[Fwelin]

8317391
Her status with regards to immortality is unknown until stated in the show; she's not mortal by default when we have reason to believe she might be immortal.

Also, >1000 year lifespans with no sign of aging past prime is close enough to immortality that it can be spoken as thus in most contexts.

[Rambling Tree]

Surprise!

[IronySandwich]

8317217
7 is the real reason, regardless of cannon. The show might deal with death tangentially, but this simply isn't the sort of show where a main character dies.

Head-cannon-wise I'm partial to 1 or 3. I don't really like 2 since while it isn't necessarily a good thing to seek immorality, I've always felt that intentionally throwing it away was a form of delayed suicide. Understandable if you're ancient and tired, but incredibly short-sighted if you haven't even gone through a longer than normal lifespan yet to see for yourself if it's really so terrible as you're imagining.

[Sky Feather]

8317245
Awesome, thanks!

[Alondro]

8316202 You haven't seen that from many atheists?

You obviously don't watch any network television, or attend college campuses, or frequent social media... or generally associate with the human race in general.

There is OUTRIGHT, BLATANT, VERY VOCIFEROUS hostility against religion from the atheist groups. Only someone in utter denial or just plain lying could deny it.

[Arzoo]

8319723

I might believe you were seeing something I wasn't had you not paired that with the blatantly obviously dumb "atheists hate themselves" thing. The only hate I saw at Penn State was a man who hung outside a building every day telling everyone who passed they were going to hell.

If you want to tell me all about how atheism is about hating god then do it in pm so this story has comments about the actual story in it.

[Arcelia]

Thoroughly enjoyed this, especially the part where Celestia removed her crown and necklace. It was almost a way of saying that for a moment, she was just a regular pony. I really loved the interaction between her and Twilight, it felt true to their characters and had a really heartwarming softness to it.

I do agree, that Celestia would never take back the wings, just the title. Cause taking away the wings feels like a bit too much. Like an amputation rather than her giving Twilight a choice to be a unicorn or an alicorn. Bu

But I'm really happy I read this, it was an interesting little insight to a conversation that could've happened and I think you do a great job. Keep it up.

[Harwick]

It's always interesting to me to compare how different people interpret Twilight's ascension. For me, I've always seen it as something that Celestia was a guide to rather than the cause of... It fits with hints from Amy Keating Rogers' Journal of the Two Sisters that Starswirl may have left Celestia with information about Twilight's future existence. So she may have known that completing Starswirls spell triggers her ascension... which I suppose begs the question about how much culpability she has in giving Twi Starswirl's journal to start the process. But contemplating that gives me a time travel induced headache...

From a straight "Celestia did it" viewpoint, this was a great little addition, giving both of them time to really examine the momentous change. I liked Twilight's viewpoint throughout, and the very human(Pony) discussion between them.

[WannaFlugelHorn]

I love the way you ended this story, and the whole thing was immensely well written. Good job!

[Moonatik]

Heh, this made me smile. Great job!

[River Babble]

What a lovely story! I like how, rather than changing the existing canon, you added a plausible scene to it. It's very true to the kind, understanding, humble Celestia we know and love from the show, and giving Twilight a chance to logically reason things out is nice and makes her decision feel genuine. I also like the point about how those who have been without can have a greater appreciation for something they gain, much like how those who have been through hard times or tragedies are better able to relate to and comfort others who have been through tragedies. (It's not an exact parallel, one just reminded me of the other.) Very nice job, and wonderfully written!

[MixMassBasher]

This feels like an after the fact addition to the episode. Nicely done.

[Draco Dei]

8315336
No hate, despite my downvote, it is simply that I consider rejecting immortality to be committing an especially slow form of suicide. If the wings had to come with that... so be it.

And, yes, I know that the show doesn't say she is immortal, but it was a basic tenant of your statement, and a common enough fanon.

[dragon_slayer]

I mean, what the friggety .

Before reading this line, I didn't notice who wrote this. After reading, it I instantly knew.