Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot

by Equimorto

HHW

"And so we still managed to get the traditional play, after all."

"Did you have any doubt?" Twilight smiled, looking at Celestia, while the crowd cheered and the actors on stage bowed.

Celestia smiled back. "I suppose you do have a point." She stood up and joined the cheer, politely tapping her front hooves on the ground.

Still smiling, Twilight did the same.

It was a few minutes later, after much cheering and much standing up and moving of groups of ponies and other creatures who'd also gotten curious and chosen to go watch the play, when Celestia and Twilight finally had a moment alone for themselves again. The former had carefully avoided any particularly excited admirer, the latter had postponed her duties, and both had managed to dodge journalists on their way to the backroom.

Celestia sighed, drinking from a spare bottle of wine she'd fetched somewhere along the way as she looked out the window.

Twilight didn't need to follow her gaze to know what she was looking at. The Behemoth stood visible from anywhere in Canterlot, unnervingly even from those places where it shouldn't have been.

"Do you think ponies are getting used to it?" Celestia asked, setting the bottle down.

"I think ponies still aren't used to me being the sole ruler of Equestria," Twilight replied. "Some might not even be used to Luna being back, from what I've seen. But we've always been good at getting through the bad stuff together. Because even if things are bad out there, we still have each other. That's what Hearth's Warming is about, no?"

"Too bad hugging and loving each other other won't be enough to end this crisis," Celestia replied, taking another sip. "Have you tried rainbow blasting the thing away?"

"I've tried regular magic on a scale and it blew up in my face. I'd rather not risk razing Canterlot to the ground. No magic rainbows until we're sure it's safe to try." Twilight eyed the bottle, trying to see how full it still was. "That's not the first one today, is it?"

"I'm tall," Celestia replied. "And large. I can take it."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "I'm not sure we can use the rainbow blasting anyway, actually. It seems to need some inciting factor, going from experience. Without the Elements to wield I'm not sure how it would work, it would be awkward to just walk up to the thing and start a speech."

"You could try asking the sparkly treehouse spirit that looks like you," Celestia replied.

Twilight pursed her lips. "I've tried. She doesn't want to talk to me, apparently."

Celestia chuckled. "If it's any consolation, she never talked to me either. Though it might have been very confusing if she'd looked like you when doing it." She looked out the window again. "Do you think it's good to pretend that problems aren't there?"

"I think it's good to recognise that just because problems are there that doesn't mean we can't still be happy and still have nice things," Twilight said.

Celestia smiled. "We made the right choice letting Equestria in your hooves. Just... Sorry about this whole mess, we'd have waited if we'd known it was coming."

Comments

[The_Chill_Author]

Happy Frieza Day!

[FanOfMostEverything]

Twilight honestly has a very good attitude on all levels here. Rainbow blasting them all and letting Harmony sort them out isn't the best way to approach outside context problems, and living in the shadow of the colossus doesn't mean you have to be monomaniacally focused on it. There has to be some degree of rest and respite, a reminder that there's more to life than worrying about the specter of uncertain death.

... This story isn't just one big Covid allegory, is it?

Whatever the case, it is interesting that the avatar of Harmony refuses to speak to her template. I have to wonder what the story is there.

[Saix]

Twilight didn't need to follow her gaze to know what she was looking at. The Behemoth stood visible from anywhere in Canterlot, unnervingly even from those places where it shouldn't have been.

On one hand I'm curious about how that would look, on the other hand I think I'd prefer not to know.

Twilight pursed her lips. "I've tried. She doesn't want to talk to me, apparently."

Odd, wonder what the story there is. Given the circumstances you'd think the tree would pinch it's nose.