5 A Private Function
The table had been prepared exquisitely; crisp linen bearing the seal of Equestria topped with silver tableware, fine cut crystal glasses, delicately folded napkins and menus for both place settings.
Lights from a pair of three candle candelabra danced provocatively from the highly polished silver and reflected from every delicate facet of the crystal glasses, creating a living tableau across the table.
A serving pony stood discretely to one side while Twilight took in the splendid scene and Celestia motioned her guest to review the menu.
Twilight suddenly appreciated how long it had been since she had last eaten and allowed her eyes to float hungrily down the list of culinary delights available for her choosing, as Celestia stood impassively.
“Oooh, carrot crepes sound nice to start and a daffodil sandwich entrée; oh and a berry pie would be very nice for dessert, thank you” she ordered.
“Make mine the same” concurred Celestia, “And a bottle of Chardonneigh.”
The serving pony scribbled furiously, then bowed respectfully and exited to load the orders onto the kitchen, leaving a white pony and a lilac pony alone on the balcony.
They just stood together in the warm evening air, the wind barely even causing the candles to flicker. Another shooting star arced across the sky, and this time Twilight saw it.
“I have heard you can make a wish on a falling star” she prompted softly.
“It is better to have loved and lost ...” recited Celestia sadly.
“Want to tell me?” asked Twilight gently, drawing close to the lovelorn mare.
“I meddled with time and I paid the price.”
Celestia sighed before continuing:
“A great danger faced Equestria; an evil creature that I didn’t have the courage to kill, but instead kept incarcerated in the hope that it would die, but it didn’t; it just grew stronger until my only option was to go back in time and do what I should have done in the beginning, but had always been too weak to do. I had to enlist the help of another pony with extraordinary powers to help me …“
“Rainbow Dash?” enquired Twilight, putting two and two together.
“Yes, Rainbow Dash. She taught me to perform a Sonic Rainboom, an essential ingredient in the spell and she and I developed feelings for each other, deep feelings. Then, I went back to do what had to be done …” her voice faltered as the pain hit her in a savage wave of raw emotion.
“But when you came back” prompted Twilight gently, “History had changed and she wasn’t the mare you had left behind?”
Celestia nodded, draping her forelegs onto the balustrade and resting her head on them, covering her eyes so Twilight didn’t see the tears spill. As Celestia dared to allow her guard to drop, Twilight watched her trying to cling to the last remains of her pride, but as her white body quivered pitifully with each round of fresh sobs, Twilight felt her heart break too.
She had always looked up to Celestia, the ruler of Equestria who had admitted her personally into her School for Gifted Unicorns, presided over her education, her welfare and ultimately trusted her to retrieve the Elements of Harmony and confront Nightmare Moon. For all her strengths, this same pony who had always appeared so omnipotent was now choosing to show herself at her most vulnerable. Twilight had escaped the torture of personal heartbreak, but had seen it manifested in others and from her observations recognised it must be deeply unpleasant; indeed it had brought down the most respected pony in Equestria. She reached out and held the desperate Princess, not knowing how much good she could do, but unable to deny her in her despair.
“It’s alright, Celestia” she cooed softly, holding the trembling body beside her, “I’m here.”
They stayed locked together under the glittering panoply of the night sky. At one stage there was a gentle chink as one of the plates being served clipped the cutlery at one of the place settings and Twilight simply waved the waiter away, not even bothering to look up or turn around.
Celestia stirred eventually and tried to rub the tell-tale tear streaks away from her muzzle, but failed. She raised her head, even the darkness unable to hide how bloodshot her eyes had become.
“Come Twilight, I have indulged myself enough” she said turning to look at the table set for two.
The candles had burned out long since and everything was cold.
“Perhaps the wine isn’t yet spoiled?” she mused.
“Oh, nah – ah!” chastised Twilight, “We’re not going down that path again, not unless you eat something first.”
Celestia took the slightest of nibbles from the corner of her daffodil sandwich and looked at Twilight defiantly as if to say, “Well there you are – I’ve eaten; now I’m allowed to finish the wine. You said so.”
“No, Celestia” pleaded Twilight, “I wouldn’t be a good friend if I let you.”
Celestia stopped for a moment and looked at Twilight, as if sizing her up for the first time and then smiled.
“You are a good friend Twilight, but I would still like the wine please.”
“No Celestia. It isn’t the answer.”
“You don’t know what I’ve lost!”
“Perhaps not, but I know what more you can lose, so no.”
With that, Twilight levitated the tempting looking bottle and lobbed it as far as she could over the balcony. Celestia looked shocked, but Twilight remained resolute.
“I know you can levitate another bottle from somewhere, but I’m not going to let you” asserted Twilight, “And I intend to stay with you to make sure you don’t destroy yourself.”
“Oh alright!” replied Celestia grumpily, “But I snore.”
“I know” giggled Twilight softly, “I heard you earlier.”
“So, it seems I have no secrets from you then?”
“Oh, I’m sure you have plenty” suggested Twilight, “But I don’t want to hear them right now.”
Twilight helped guide her friend past the sad remains of their dinner on the perfectly set table and into her bedroom where she nudged her gently up onto the bed and then went back to shut the large ceiling to floor doors, principally to stop any illicit contraband being levitated through them by a mischievous yellow aura.
“Twilight” confided Celestia, “You have never loved, have you?”
“No, Celestia” she replied, standing closer to hear better, “I guess I’ve just been too busy with my studies to get involved with anypony.”
“It’s a marvellous thing. It gives your whole day a purpose to see a smile on the face of your special somepony; to have somepony who understands you to talk with you about everything and nothing at all; somepony from whom you don’t have to hide your true self. Can you imagine?”
“Well, yes. From what you’ve said, I can understand that perfectly well. Is that what love is about?”
Celestia chuckled softly, Twilight’s soft innocence was so uncomplicated.
“Who can you possibly feel like that about, Twilight?” she asked absent-mindedly.
“You” replied Twilight.
Celestia sat bolt upright. What had she just said?
“Well” reasoned Twilight, “You make me feel special when I see you smile at me, I love talking with you about anything, I don’t put on any act when I’m with you and … I’m always here for you.”
Celestia analysed what she had said and didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Twilight had been honest as Applejack and loyal as Rainbow Dash, Oh that dear Rainbow Dash …
She sank back down and began to cry again.
Twilight couldn’t reach to give a reassuring cuddle from where she was, so climbed up onto the bed alongside Celestia and placed a foreleg tenderly around her, and if she was surprised to feel Celestia reach out to hug her in return, she didn’t show it.
Many hours later, Celestia’s nose twitched as a warm shaft of sunlight played across her face. She casually opened one eye and noticed sunlight coming through the join of the drapes, but she hadn’t raised the sun!
She was going to jump out of bed and get to the bottom of what was going on, but then she saw the form of the lilac unicorn next to her in bed, smiling contentedly and cast her mind back to the night before; a few more minutes probably wouldn’t hurt now, Luna had clearly got everything under control. She snuggled back down to feel the warmth of Twilight Sparkle next to her and felt the first happy smile cross her face since she had returned.
It was time to move on.
The Rainbow Dash in this timeline would never be hers, but Twilight had been there for her all along; it had just taken this seismic jolt for her to appreciate it. There was nopony better suited to her in all of Equestria and she was happy to make the best go of it, but only if Twilight wanted of course.
She couldn’t wait for her to wake so she could ask that one question that would make it official:
“Twilight, will you be my marefriend?”
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Oh geez, this can ONLY go well. (He said, knowing something is going to go dramatically wrong.)
My prediction: Rainbow Dash of the previous timeline gets tired of waiting and travels back in time to just after Celestia left. When she doesn't find her, she travels forward in time again to find Celestia with Twilight and the soap opera ensues.
Sequel, please? It can't end there.
9312408
Thanks for the interesting ideas - weird things start to happen when you play with timelines!
Cue theme of your favorite soap opera …
9312409
Oh, there’s a number of ways this could go, but you’ll have to wait and see …
Thanks for your support!
9312529
No problem. Do you know how long it'll take before the next part?
Loving the story so far (I'm not done with it), but do you have a full sized version of the image you used in the description? Your source only leads to a picture of the bed itself.
9312764
It took me six months to get around to writing this sequel, so no promises ...
9313418
Glad to hear you're enjoying the story!
When I do the cover art for my stories, I typically combine a variety of images from different sources and draw them together as a collage. When I have to complete the link to the source, this presents a bit of a problem, so I link to the piece that formed the majority of the finished image, and that's generally the background.
Sorry I can't give you a better answer.
...
Huh.
Neat
9315744
I enjoyed this story also I put it in my favorite
9315746
Thank you for your kind words - I'm glad you enjoyed it.
9315762
you are a great writer
No problem
Instead will you write another rainbow dash x celestia, because I can't wait to see your writing style 🌈 x ☀
9315850
I haven't done any more Celestia x Rainbow stories, but I have written other romances you may like, such as Twilight's Dawning, Written in the Stars, A Dash of Rarity and Above All Others.
Please feel free to have a look through these stories or any others in my back catalogue that catch your eye, and I hope you enjoy them too.
9315979
Well I got great ideas for a story
9321363
Excellent news, I'm so pleased for you!
I hope you enjoy the thrill of writing a story and that it all works out well for you - good luck!
9321491
You know it