Enchanted to Know You

by Teal

Chapter 11: Hurt

With a bright flash of magic Twilight appeared in her bedroom. Tears were streaming down from her eyes and she didn’t waste time burying her face into the stack of pillows on her bed. She felt like her heart had been torn to pieces, as the sadness and betrayal within grew and spread throughout her body.

Wailing into the pillows, she desperately tried to push away the pain she was feeling inside her. Her emotions were boiling within her and she was having a hard time understanding the feeling it was creating. She hated it. She hated it so much. The sensation was terrible, yet she couldn’t get rid of it.

It was hurting her so much and she was unable to control herself as she continued to cry out from the pain. She felt lost and she couldn’t find any escape to the sadness she was drowning in.

The night had been a roller coaster of events. However, she could care less about the kidnapping, and she could care less about Starlight. She didn’t think or worry about those at the moment. The only thing that was bothering her was the sight of Sunny transforming to Celestia.

No, it wasn’t that. Sunny didn’t transform into Celestia, because Sunny was Celestia the entire time. That revelation was still shocking and unbelievable, yet she saw it happen right in front of her.

Shutting her eyes and trying to control her tears, she repeatedly muttered to herself over and over again.

“Please…please let this be a nightmare…” She told herself. “Please let this be a nightmare…”

There was nothing more she wanted than to wake up from the terrible nightmare she hoped she was in. Holding her eyes shut, she wished that once she opened them she would see that she was still wrapped in Sunny’s grasp. She wished to feel her warmth next to her and see that face she loved so much. She wanted to leave the nightmare and be with her marefriend.

Twilight didn’t know how to get rid of the pain, but if she woke up to see Sunny next to her, then she knew she would be alright.

However, as she opened her eyes, all she saw were the pillows around her, as tears soaked her cheeks.

Desperate, Twilight closed her eyes again, only to open them to see the same thing. Frustrated, she kept on closing and opening her eyes, hoping to be next to Sunny. But it didn’t happen. She was alone in her room with only her pillows hugging her.

It hadn’t been a nightmare, what she witnessed was true. Suddenly the images of that terrible moment began flashing in her mind. Right in front of her Sunny had revealed her true self. The white unicorn that she dated, shared secrets with, and loved turned into the alicorn princess whom she had always acted professionally in front of.

Sunny was Celestia. The Solar alicorn had been her marefriend. Twilight had been lied to. Slowly accepting the truth, she couldn’t help but burst into tears once more.

As she cried, the terrible feeling inside her began building up again, before hitting her with an intensity worse than before.

She felt betrayed. Celestia had lied to her. The Solar alicorn had pretended to be somepony else and told her lies about her life. The lavender pony couldn’t believe Celestia would do such a thing, yet she did. She deliberately lied to Twilight for more than a month. That was what hurt the most.

Thinking of it hurt so much and all the crying didn’t make her feel better. However, as she cried, a new feeling began building up inside of her. Suddenly, Twilight felt angry.

Screaming, the lavender pony started flailing her hooves in rage, as her anger focused on the pony who had hurt her. She couldn’t believe that Celestia did this to her. She couldn’t believe that the alicorn she had looked up to the most would do something like that to her.

Unable to control her actions, she soon began using her magic to levitate and throw around the pillows that surrounded her.

She hated Celestia. She hated her for lying. She hated her for breaking her heart.

Twilight had really thought that Sunny was the pony meant for her. She had thought that Sunny was the most wonderful mare in Equestria. She had really thought that she was safe with Sunny. However, it turned out that Sunny was not real. The lavender pony felt like she was just part of a game the Solar Princess had been playing.

She wondered what their relationship was to Celestia. Was it just a game, a brief moment of fun while getting away from her duties at Canterlot? Had she really loved her or had that been a lie also? Why hadn’t she just told her the truth from the start and saved her all the embarrassment?

Screaming, Twilight slammed her head on the bed. Still feeling the rage within her, she kept slamming her head as her tears kept on streaming. She was angry, she was sad, she was confused.

Eventually, the alicorn felt tired and stopped. She felt tired, both physically and emotionally.

Sighing, she tried to wipe away her tears, but they just kept on coming. Deep inside, she was missing Sunny. For a moment, she thought that maybe she could turn back time and enjoy one last moment with her.

But this thought was quickly thrown away. There was no Sunny, she didn’t exist. Sunny had been nothing but a lie and it hurt knowing that.

Sighing, she buried her head under the last pillow left on her bed.

The alicorn kept her head buried until the sound of her door opening caught her attention. Suddenly she felt her heart stop, as she wondered who it could be. Deep inside she hoped that it wasn’t Celestia standing there.

Feeling hesitant, she stayed still and kept her face covered.

“Hello?” The alicorn heard Spike’s voice call out. At the sound of the young drake, the lavender pony lifted her head from under the pillow and turned towards him. Looking at Spike, she saw the shocked expression on his face the moment he glanced at her and saw her bad state. “Twilight! Why are you back early? Are you okay?”

“No…I’m not alright…” She said, as she felt that she would never be alright again.

---

Twilight didn’t know when Cadance arrived, but one morning she was surprised to see the six-month pregnant alicorn standing by her bedside. Pulling her head up and looking at the pink alicorn standing in front of her, the lavender pony stared at her with bloodshot eyes.

She was tired. She couldn’t remember how long she had been feeling miserable in her room, but she knew that it had been days. Unable to feel anything but sadness she had shut out both Spike and her friends. She was in no mood to talk and recount the pain she felt. All she wanted was to be left alone. Although she appreciated her friend’s efforts to comfort her and make her feel better, the alicorn knew that she wasn’t ready yet. She needed time and space.

For the most part they respected her wishes. Aside from occasional visits to check on her and drop off some food, they mostly left her alone. However, the presence of her sister-in-law told her that one of her friends decided to call in reinforcements.

“Who told you to come?” Twilight eventually asked, trying to wipe away the tears still on her face.

“Spike told me, he sent me a letter.” Cadence informed her. Then, moving forward, she sat on the bed next to the lavender pony. “He was getting worried about you. He said you haven’t left your room for three days now and that you refuse to tell him or your friends what’s wrong.”

The lavender alicorn merely gave a grunt in response, as she planted her chin on her pillow. “I’m fine.”

“You’re not, Twilight.” The other alicorn said, as the young alicorn felt a gentle hoof on the lavender alicorn’s back. “You’re hurting…” Then there was a pause, as if the pony was hesitating. “I’m guessing that Celestia finally told you?”

This caught Twilight by surprise, as she suddenly lifted her head and turned to face the pink alicorn. Staring at her with disbelief, she felt a familiar sensation rise up from within her after what she had heard. Once more she felt betrayed.

“You…you knew?” The lavender alicorn nearly shouted, as she stared at her with accusing eyes. It seemed like everypony was keeping secrets from her.

Slowly, Cadance nodded her head. “I did, Twilight, I’m sorry. I would have told you, but Celestia made me promise not to.”

“Great…” The younger alicorn muttered before burying her head under her pillow as she tried to hide her shame. “Who else knows?” She eventually managed to say.

“Just me and Luna.”

‘Luna knew it too?’ Twilight thought with surprise and embarrassment.

Thinking about it now, she couldn’t help but frown as she began to realize who Aurora truly was. She felt like a fool for not realizing it sooner.

The thought of the two other alicorns knowing, while she was left clueless, made her feel embarrassed. She hated the idea of being out of the loop. All that time, while she had felt happy being in a relationship, the three alicorns held back the truth from her.

Sighing, a tear started dripping from Twilight’s eye, as she felt a new wave of sadness cover her heart. “Just leave, Cadance. I don’t want to talk about this anymore. I want to be alone.”

Cadance did not reply to this, but Twilight felt her lift herself from her bed. The sound of hoofsteps then echoed from her room as the other alicorn trotted away.

Twilight wanted to be left alone, that felt like what she wanted. She didn’t need anypony by her, that’s what she told herself. But she didn’t like it. She hated being alone.

She felt so sad inside as her heart and mind wanted to understand what had happened. But it felt so hard doing it alone.

Just as the sound of her door opening hit her ears, the lavender pony let out a shaky cry.

“I…” She let out, unable to continue as she felt her body shake from uncontrollable sadness. “I don’t understand why she did it. I don't know what she wanted from me. I don’t understand why she lied to me...”

With that her floodgates broke again as she began crying uncontrollably. It always felt too much, she couldn’t describe the feeling inside her, but it always felt too much for her to handle. She had never felt this bad in her entire life and she wondered if the feeling would ever fade. It seemed to only get worse as the minutes passed by.

Feeling torn and helpless got lost in her tears. However, the sudden sensation of a hoof on her back momentarily halted her sobbing, as the lavender pony looked up to see Cadance sitting next to her again. Without hesitation Twilight quickly sat up and wrapped her hooves around the pink alicorn.

After all the years since the elder princess had babysat her, Twilight still felt some comfort at the other alicorn’s warm hug. It felt like it was exactly what she needed during that moment.

“It’s okay, Twilight, just let it all out.” Cadance said in a soothing tone. “I’m just right here.”

Allowing herself to get lost in her emotions, Twilight held on to Cadance and kept on bawling out the pain she felt. The hurt, the fear, the sensation of betrayal, and the confusion she felt all merged and came out as tears.

She didn’t know how long she cried, but once it began to slow down, she felt exhausted. Pulling back from her hug, she looked at Cadance and saw the alicorn give her a concerned look.

“Feeling better?” She asked.

“No…” Twilight responded, slowly shaking her head. “I…I just can’t believe she did that to me.”

The pink alicorn slowly nodded at this. For a moment Twilight saw another moment of hesitation from the other alicorn, who eventually let out a long sigh.

“Celestia wanted to experience true love.” Cadance began, as the lavender pony listened intently, although a frown still lingered on her face. “She wanted to be herself and not some princess everypony looks up to and praises all the time. If she hadn’t put on the disguise, then you would see nothing but Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria, not Celestia, the pony. She was afraid that she would not experience the true love she wanted if you couldn’t see past her title.”

Twilight nodded, but inside she still did not feel at ease. She still felt hurt, especially knowing that Celestia didn’t believe she was capable of seeing past her position. It gave her the impression that the Solar Princess thought that she was incapable of treating her as a real pony. Did she really think Twilight was that shallow?

But wasn’t she right?

This caught Twilight by surprise, as a part of her argued in favor of Celestia’s thinking. For a moment a voice in Twilight told her that Celestia’s actions made sense. Afterall, the lavender pony often looked up to Celestia as a princess more than anything else. Remembering their past interactions, she recalled the times where she would always treat her formally and please her request no matter what. Wasn’t that exactly what she was avoiding?

Although she had toned down in recent years, Twilight still held back when it came to her. There was still this imaginary barrier that separated them, a wall that excluded Celestia from seeing the other half of her life. This barrier also prevented her from seeing Celestia’s other half, one that didn’t involve formality and royal duties, but was instead filled with love for camping and pastries.

Was that what Celestia wanted? Did Celestia want to get rid of the barrier, so that Twilight could see her side and vice versa?

“She never wanted to hurt you-” Cadance continued, pulling Twilight away from her thoughts. “-I can promise you that the love she gave you was real. I felt it and it was intense and concentrated all towards you.”

Still unable to say anything about what she was learning, Twilight merely nodded her head. She had a lot to think about, yet she didn’t know where to begin.

Cadance started at Twilight for a couple of seconds before giving her a serious look.

“I’m not telling you to forgive her, but I just want you to understand her perspective.” She said. “Take your time deciding, take as much time as you need. You’re a strong mare and I know that you will eventually get through this. But always remember, you don’t have to be alone, Twilight. You have me, your brother, Spike, and your friends. You’re hurting and we all want to help you feel better.”

Twilight nodded once more, before staring at Cadance. Then, with a quick movement, she pulled the alicorn into another hug.

“Thank you.” She said, feeling grateful to have a sister-in-law like Cadance.

Twilight was still hurting. She was still angry at Celestia. However, for once since that terrible night, she no longer felt alone.

Comments

[The Weaver]

I suppose the knowledge of you asking her out matters nothing in your brain?

I suppose we shall also ignore how she was troubled the night before?

While I don't expect the feelings to go away it is tiring to see the brain get shut off... it is not even this site that does it...

[Deynarth]

Twilight, keep in mind you have a dragon that can mail shit directly to Celestia...
Find a chicken coop, pepper Spike, and see how she likes them chickens.
Then I say you are even

[stag the story teller]

Screaming, the lavender pony started flailing her hooves in rage, as her aner

I think you wanted to spell anger there.
Still you should make Celestia having this situation rubbed in her face by at least Starlight if not both of them, at least in the epilogue as a prank by them and the rest of the alicorns to annoy Tia

[stag the story teller]

11798428
and gets a free Nmm permanently as her roommate, considering how protecting is Luna when it comes to matters of Celestia being in distress

[Stahlseele]

11798428
That is ... cruel and unusual ...
I kind of approve somehow ...

[Ralanost]

Just found this story. Really enjoying it. Though right now is obviously a pretty low point in the story. And as bad as Twilight feels, Celestia probably feels worse.