Chapter One

To Be A Princess

Chapter One

“No, no, no! You’re not paying attention! Watch what I’m doing, then try it again!”

Twilight picked her head up off the ground and crossly spat a few blades of grass from her mouth. She had been paying attention. Just because she hadn’t mimicked the action correctly, didn’t mean she hadn’t been paying attention.

She allowed herself a few seconds of quiet reflection before gradually struggling to her feet. Her body ached all over. Each movement sent waves of insistent throbbing through every inch of her body. Her eyes watered as she attempted to hold herself steady.

Yet none of the pain bothered her as much as the criticism she was getting. The wholly unjustified criticism. She looked straight ahead, blinking very slowly and taking several deep, calming breaths.

At last she turned and tilted her head towards the sky and the palisades of the cliff from which she had mercilessly thrown herself. Staring down at her with an irritating mixture of amusement and frustration, was Rainbow Dash. Twilight mustered all of her self control and gave the pegasus a weary smile. Rainbow took this to mean that she could commence her display.

She stepped away from the edge and disappeared, giving Twilight an opportunity to roll her eyes. She knew she wasn’t going to learn anything from this. It was the same thing she had already seen countless times. Rainbow wouldn’t explain what she had done, how she had done it or what it was that Twilight was doing wrong. She would simply jump into the air and fly, taking no notice of her would-be student’s bewilderment.

This clearly wasn't the way forward. It wasn’t as though Twilight had never seen a pegasus fly before. It was just that she had never attached any importance to learning how they did it. After all, she could never have envisaged a scenario in which she would need to know.

She unfolded her wings and gave them a gentle little flap. They truly were unwieldy big things; unwieldy and completely useless. Yet she was determined to get this right. She folded her wings back against her side and watched the spot on the cliff where Rainbow had been.

Within seconds the pegasus had reappeared, galloping at full speed with her wings spread out impressively by her sides. A look of anticipation and delight adorned her features. Her run up complete, she gave a final, explosive kick of her hind legs which propelled her over the edge of the cliff. Once she was airborne, Rainbow gave two quick flaps of her wings before holding them perfectly steady and using the momentum she had already accrued to glide seamlessly through the air.

“See? Like that!” Rainbow bellowed, looking down at the ground to see if Twilight was watching.

The lilac pony's mind was struggling to make sense of what she had seen. Was it something to do with her speed? That kick off the edge and those flaps of her wings after takeoff had looked important. Or perhaps it was the angle of her wings at the start of the glide?

Twilight continued to watch as Rainbow performed a half barrel roll and began a diving descent. Upside-down and plummeting dangerously towards the earth, the pegasus’ face was knit with concentration. Just as it looked as though she might crash, Rainbow twisted her body so that she was upright once more and rapidly fluttered her wings, sending a burst of air beneath her to slow down. She brought herself to halt, hovering mere feet from the ground and only a few paces away from Twilight.

“Did you get it this time?” Rainbow beamed, clearly still under the illusion that her teaching methods were effective.

“Uh, I think... maybe,” Twilight shrugged, unwilling to admit that she hadn't.

“Awesome! Let’s go back up and try it again, then.”

With that, Rainbow darted off. Twilight swallowed hard, watching the pegasus go. At the very least, she had some new ideas. Who knew? Perhaps she would turn out to be right this time. Before she could back out, Twilight spread her wings and started flapping them energetically.

This, she could do. It was just a matter of rotating her wings properly and moving them quickly enough to stay airborne. There were plenty of books in the library which had covered this.

She tilted her wings slightly and made her way clumsily towards the cliff. If she could learn to do this, she could learn to do what Rainbow was showing her. It couldn't be that much harder.

Besides, this was important. Now that she had wings, she would have to learn to use them. It was necessary, Rainbow had told her, that she be able to fly, especially as a princess.

A princess.

Twilight found the very idea of it laughable. No matter what Celestia said, she wasn’t a princess. Nothing about her fit the description. She wasn’t wise; she wasn’t powerful; she wasn’t regal and she certainly wasn’t rich. About the only thing that did fit was her appearance and even then she didn’t have the long legs, sweeping wings and slender body that Celestia, Luna and Cadence had.

She still felt like a regular old unicorn, through and through.

Regardless of how she felt, though, she was still due to be crowned the newest member of Equestria’s royal court and the pressure was already mounting on her. She had so much to learn and no time in which to learn it.

Her coronation was the most talked about event in the land. In precisely three weeks’ time she was to be the subject of a lavish ceremony at Canterlot castle followed by a reception, a parade and a gala in her honour.

Speculation was rife about the specifics. Rumours flew about here, there and everywhere. Everypony seemed to know more about it than Twilight did and she found this slightly unnerving. She rarely went out in public any more. It seemed that any time she did, she was bombarded by crowds of well-wishers, many of whom were ponies she knew well; ponies who had no reason to treat her any differently than they had the day before.

The only ponies who weren't acting strangely around her were her five best friends, but even they seemed to have huge expectations of her.

Twilight felt Rainbow’s eyes boring into her skin as she came in for a wobbly landing atop the cliff. The pegasus watched her expectantly while she prepared herself for another attempt at the running takeoff.

Twilight cursed the fact that rainbow was probably right about this being something she would have to learn to do. She could see why it would seem peculiar if an alicorn princess couldn't fly properly.

She eyed up the drop nervously. It was no more than about forty feet, but the prospect was still daunting. She had already failed a few times before and she didn’t relish the idea of taking another tumble. After a few deep breaths and a few dozen steps backwards, she launched her assault.

Her hooves pounded roughly across the soft soil, sending shock waves through her legs. As the edge approached, a feeling of intense fear and excitement gripped her. Her stomach turned over and she became blind to all but the task immediately at hoof. When she reached the precipice, she gave one last powerful thrust from her hind legs and threw herself into the air.

Once she had left the ground behind her, Twilight beat her wings as hard as she could, trying to push herself forwards. When she felt as though she might be going fast enough she held her wings out to her sides; she kept them as level as possible and tilted slightly upwards. When she felt streams of air rushing under her feathers she thought, for a few brief moments anyway, that she had finally figured it out.

Soon afterwards, however, she began to fall. She flapped her wings frantically, but she couldn’t move them fast enough. The ground raced towards her at an alarming rate and despite her best efforts, there was nothing she could do. She was already falling too quickly.

With an almighty thud and another wave of searing pain, she crashed into the ground. The physical pain of the impact was soon followed by a feeling of utter despair.

She would never be able to do this. Surely it was impossible. Her wings, large and annoying as they might be, weren't nearly large enough to create enough lift to do what she expected of them.

Twilight rolled over, groaning, her eyes closed tightly. Moments later, she felt Rainbow land softly next to her.

“Y’know, I’m not sure you’re getting this,” the pegasus said condescendingly, looking at the loose pile of limbs that Twilight had become.

“Ya think?” Twilight retorted, her irritation getting the better of her.

“It’s not all that hard. Really. All you’ve gotta do is… I mean, you’ve seen me flying, right? There’s nothing to it. Flap your wings, don’t flap your wings, point your head up, down, hold yourself steady. Easy. Are you sure you’re paying attention?” Rainbow asked, sounding incredibly frustrated that her charge was so inept.

This statement, and the manner in which it was delivered, made Twilight’s blood boil. Did Rainbow think she was stupid? Of course she had been paying attention. It was just that she wasn’t doing a very good job of explaining things. Before she could stop herself, Twilight found herself yelling.

“Easy?! You think this is easy?!” she spat, wincing slightly as she sprang to her feet.

Rainbow stepped back, surprised by Twilight’s sudden intensity.

“I guess. I only meant that I’ve never seen you take this long to pick something up. Especially not something it didn’t take me very long to learn,” she replied, more gently, though not completely without scorn.

This didn’t help. Twilight’s shoulders slumped. She felt tears welling up behind her eyelids which she quickly blinked back. All of a sudden, she felt rather useless; rather impotent and distinctly unprincessly. It was exactly as Rainbow said. It had never taken her this long to figure something out.

On instincts alone, Twilight stood up and began walking away. She had to get out of there before she lost her composure. It wouldn’t do to let anypony see her as anything other than strong willed and imposing. She had to live up to her title. In her entire time as Celestia’s student, she had never once seen the princess cry.

She cantered blindly away from the cliffs.

“Wait! Where are you going?” a sharp voice called after her.

“Home,” Twilight answered.

She turned to face Rainbow, swallowing heavily. She wouldn’t let the pegasus see how much this was getting to her. She stared at Rainbow, trying to look formidable, silently challenging the pegasus to try to stop her.

Rainbow looked contritely at Twilight. She stretched out a hoof as though she was in fact going to try to convince Twilight to stay but then she appeared to think better of it.

Good, Twilight thought. Some time alone was all she needed. A chance to think. A chance to reflect.

“Oh… well that’s cool. Same time tomorrow?” Rainbow asked.

Not a chance.

“We’ll see.”

* * * * *

Twilight could think of nothing worse than finding a conundrum to which even the most studious research didn't provide a solution. It was typical, then, that learning to fly just happened to be one such problem. She sighed, putting her copy of Flying For Foals atop a growing pile of irrelevant textbooks. No matter where she looked, she couldn't find a book that adequately explained what she needed to know and she was growing increasingly frustrated.

It wasn’t as though she had asked for this. It had been thrust upon her. She had been quite happy being Twilight Sparkle, the librarian and unassuming resident of Ponyville. She had been quite happy learning about friendship and practising her magic at a pace that suited her. She had been happy reading her books and spending time with her friends.

Twilight stood up and walked over to a large glass case which contained the six Elements of Harmony. She opened the case and removed her crown, looking at it impassively before resting it gently upon her head. It felt much heavier than she remembered. It also felt distinctly uncomfortable. As she fretted with the crown, she caught sight of her reflection in the glass.

Staring back at her was a pony who looked distinctly scared.

The more she thought about it, the more she realised that she wasn’t ready to be a princess. It wasn’t just the fact that she couldn’t fly that worried her. There were a myriad of other reasons why she couldn’t do this. What if Celestia expected her to rule someplace or other, like she had with Cadence? What if she messed that up?

What if she had to help out with some of the royal duties that Celestia regularly performed? Meeting dignitaries from other nations or the like? Twilight was certain that she couldn’t do that. She had no idea what it would entail and much like her flying problem, there weren’t any books that she knew of which would explain it concisely for her.

She was on her own.

Twilight turned away from her reflection and trotted up some stairs towards a window on the second story of the library. She had always liked looking out of this window. It had views out towards the edge of town and the wilderness beyond.

She rested her muzzle on her hooves, staring wistfully into the distance. As she surveyed the horizon, she was grabbed by the overwhelming urge to run; to leave Ponyville behind and hide where nopony would ever find her.

She toyed with the idea, wondering where she might go and what she might do when she got there. Certainly, she would have to leave Equestria. There was very little chance that she could go unnoticed in any town or city in the country. There weren’t too many lilac alicorns around, after all.

No, she couldn’t do it. It had been a stupid idea anyway. If she had learned one thing from the time she had spent with her Ponyville friends, it was that running away from your problems is never the answer.

Before she knew what she was doing, Twilight had begun pacing. What could she do? She was trapped. There was no way out of this. She would have to go through with it and what then? What would happen after? Would she have to leave Ponyville? She couldn’t bare to move away from her friends. What if she had to go back to Canterlot? She would hardly ever see them.

Then there was her countenance. She had to be the very picture of a princess. Everything would have to be done just so. She had to be as everypony expected to be. She had to be prominent, attentive, sensible: infallible. It was her duty.

It was her destiny.

Twilight stopped dead and took a deep breath, holding her hoof to her chest. Then, in the manner Cadence had shown her, she let the breath out, extending her hoof in front of her. Her mind went blank for a moment and when it restarted, her thoughts came to her more slowly and appreciably less garbled.

Perhaps she was being a little irrational. Giving it a little more consideration, she realised that she didn’t actually know what other ponies would expect from her. These were her expectations of herself. There was nothing to say that this was how everypony else would feel. Perhaps they would be more forgiving. She was new to this, after all. They would probably understand that. Wouldn’t they?

Even so, they would expect to see some reason why she had been chosen for this position; some form of authority or a great talent for leadership. Something more tangibly royal than mere appearance.

With this in mind, Twilight trotted back to the library, searching the shelves for another book to aide her. Perhaps something on law? Or how to make speeches? Would there be something in the library that gave her some kind of insight into what Celestia actually did – that was, when she wasn’t saving Equestria from varying degrees of peril?

It wasn’t as if she could just ask Celestia. That would come across as being very rude, not to mention selfish. It would show just how wrapped up she had been in her own life, that she hadn’t even bothered to ask the princess about hers.

Twilight frowned as she perused the titles. There had to be something. If she had had any idea that this was where her life had been leading, she might have made more of an effort to learn about it before now.

All of a sudden, she heard a small knock at the door. She looked over her shoulder, startled by the interruption. If she was honest with herself, she had become somewhat wary of answering her door. It wouldn’t be the first time she had been accosted by somepony – usually a tourist from out of town – who simply wanted to shake her hoof and tell her friends that she had met Twilight Sparkle.

Bracing herself for the impending barrage of congratulations and requests for photographs, she grasped the door handle with her magic and cautiously opened it. Given her expectations, she was delighted to see that her visitor was a welcome one.

Standing on the doorstep, wearing a set of saddlebags across her back, was Fluttershy. The pegasus’ teal eyes sparkled softly from behind a lock of her pale pink mane. She smiled brightly at Twilight, who immediately stepped aside, allowing her to enter. Fluttershy accepted the silent invitation, trotting merrily across the threshold.

“So! To what do I owe the pleasure?” Twilight asked, turning to face her friend.

A short silence followed, during which Fluttershy simply stared at Twilight, as though something about her was utterly mesmerising. The smile she had worn earlier had been replaced by an expression which could only be described as… Quizzical? Perplexed?

Bemused by this behaviour, Twilight began tilting her head in an attempt to catch the pegasus’ eye. When Fluttershy finally noticed what Twilight was doing, she immediately averted her eyes, letting out a little squeak as she did so. How peculiar?

“Oh, um, nothing in particular,” Fluttershy answered, awkwardly tracing circles on the ground with her left forehoof.

Twilight continued watching the yellow pony, trying to assess the situation. Fluttershy was acting very strangely. She looked guilty, as though she had been caught doing something she ought not to have been doing.

“What was… never mind. Nothing? Are you sure? It’s an awfully long way to have come for nothing,” Twilight stated, trying to keep the conversation natural.

Fluttershy shook her head.

“Oh, no. It wasn’t nothing. That is to say, it was something. See, I was talking to Rarity and she said that Rainbow Dash had told her you were struggling – I mean that she was trying to teach you to fly.” She smiled vaguely and flapped her wings, as if to illustrate what she meant.

“So I thought that, I mean if you’re not busy or anything, and because Rainbow had said you weren’t finding it so easy. Maybe I could help?”

She looked nervously at Twilight, as though she had reevaluated the situation since originally making the decision and now wished she hadn’t said this. She blushed and looked back at the ground.

“Oh. Well, I’d be grateful for any help,” Twilight responded apprehensively.

So, Rainbow had said she was struggling? That was a little upsetting. Although maybe some good might come of it. A fresh perspective could be useful. Though what exactly Fluttershy might be able to offer, Twilight didn’t know. The pegasus usually preferred to keep her hooves on the ground.

Fluttershy perked up again, clearly happy to see that her help was appreciated. She opened her bags, rummaging around inside with her muzzle and eventually withdrew a small dark blue book. She offered it to Twilight, who took it and began leafing through the pages.

There was a great deal of text on each page, all written by hoof, as well as a number of diagrams of wings and feathers. There were even a few drawings of entire ponies, their bodies formed into a variety of different shapes.

“It’s my notebook from flight camp,” Twilight heard Fluttershy explaining quietly.

She nodded, not looking up from the pages of the little blue book. It was fascinating. She stared at one diagram of a wing which had all of its feathers labeled immaculately. Below this was a small block of writing, explaining what the purpose of each individual feather or group of feathers was for.

On the next page, there was a paragraph outlining something to do with flight speed and direction. Further on, there was an explanation of how to counteract crosswinds using the position of one’s wings and body.

Twilight closed the book and looked up at Fluttershy, who immediately began trying to explain herself.

“I know Rainbow Dash has probably told you most of this already. I just thought that maybe having it all written down might help. I mean, I’m not the best pony to teach you this. I was never a very strong flier, but I always gave it my best. It was so embarrassing when everypony else was able to do all this and I wasn’t.

“Anyway, I guess I was just a slow learner, but I got there in the end and so will you. Everything I ever learned is in there. So maybe it’ll help. And don’t worry if you don’t get it right away – not that you won’t. I just mean that it’s really hard. So just take your time, okay?”

Twilight had never felt as grateful for anything in her life as she felt for this notebook. It may have been written by a filly, but it was written by a filly who had been in exactly the same position then as she was in now.

Twilight walked over to Fluttershy and threw her forelegs around the pegasus’ neck.

“It’s wonderful, Fluttershy. I don’t even know what to say except, thank you,” she exclaimed, her voice catching a little.

Fluttershy blushed again and started idly twisting her mane around her hoof.

“Oh, it’s no problem,” she muttered.

Twilight trotted over to her desk, giving the little book pride of place upon its surface. She was so excited to read it. As much as she had appreciated Rainbow’s help, this promised so much more. She could hardly wait to get started. It would have to wait though. She had a guest to deal with at the moment.

The rest of Fluttershy's visit passed in a flurry of conversation. They spoke about everything from the weather, to the happenings in their friends' lives and, although the pegasus did make a passing comment about the coronation, it was only to say that the five of them had received their formal invitations.

When evening began to fall, Fluttershy announced that she had better leave in time to give her critters their last meal of the day. Twilight rose to see Fluttershy out.

“Goodbye, Fluttershy, and thanks again for the notebook,” Twilight said as she held the other pony in a friendly hug.

“Oh, that’s alright. I’m just glad I could help. See you soon," Fluttershy replied softly as the two separated. "Oh, and um, you look nice in your crown. Very royal.”

With that, she smiled broadly and began trotting off back towards her cottage, leaving a flustered Twilight to hastily remove the Element of Magic from her head.

Chapter Two

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Chapter Two

“Hold still, darling, please! This will only take longer if you don’t let me just...” Rarity repositioned Twilight’s haunch brusquely, treating her as though she were no different from one of the many dress forms dotted around the room.

Twilight seethed. She felt like her muscles would give out at any moment. Although she did appreciated Rarity’s offer to make her dress for the coronation, she hadn’t anticipated that it would require quite as much effort on her own part. Finishing touches, Rarity had said. A few small alterations, she had said, it won’t take long.

Two hours later and Twilight was still stood statuesquely on a dais while Rarity pinned back fabric here and there, fixing the most minor of minor flaws. In fact, Twilight doubted whether anypony would even notice if these alterations remained undone.

As Rarity continued to work, Twilight looked at her reflection in the mirrors surrounding her. Impatient though she was, she truly admired the dress. It was probably the most beautiful and the most intricate article of clothing she had ever worn.

A bodice of vibrant fuchsia charmeuse flowed across her back, falling gracefully over her tail where it was met by a train of pure white chiffon. This extended a few feet behind her and was attached to the dress with a series of unobtrusive stitches hidden beneath some carefully placed white bows.

The sleeves were capped just below her shoulders with cuffs of pale yellow satin. These cuffs were shaped to match a sash which ran loosely across the length of her body from her neck, around her hind quarters and back to her neck. To set the whole thing off, a single teardrop pearl hung from an ornately patterned pink clasp midway down her chest.

The overall effect was quite enchanting.

“There we are. That’s the last one,” Rarity said, taking one final walk around Twilight to check her handiwork.

Twilight sighed in relief. At last. Rarity unfastened the clasp with her magic and lifted the dress over Twilight's head. With the dress hovering in front of her, she trotted off towards her workroom.

Twilight sat back on her haunches and stretched out her shoulders. It was good to be able to move again. Yet strangely, she now felt a little disappointed to have her dress taken away from her. Having satisfied her need to relax her muscles, she got to her feet and cantered off in search of it.

When she arrived at its location, she spotted Rarity sat at a workbench with a pair of red spectacles balanced primly on her muzzle. She was carefully hoof stitching a small area of the dress, tugging daintily at the material to straighten out any creases as she did so.

Twilight joined her, sitting on a nearby stool. She watched as Rarity used her magic to pull pins out of the dress and stitch the fabric into the shapes she had decided upon during the fitting. This process always fascinated Twilight; she knew how the spell worked but the level of control Rarity exhibited over that needle was incredible. Watching the regular motion of it was thoroughly entrancing, almost therapeutic.

By the time Twilight realised what she was doing, she had been silently staring at the other pony for a good few minutes. Coming to her senses, she finally broke the silence.

“Thank you for making this dress for me, Rarity,” she said, smiling broadly at her friend. “And I’m sorry for being so fidgety. It’s just that it was an awfully long time to be standing still...”

Rarity finished of one of the alterations before turning to face Twilight, her features resplendent with a mixture of accomplishment and satisfaction.

“Not at all, darling. It has been an absolute honour to work on this. It’s not every day you get to design a coronation gown for a princess, now is it?” she said warmly.

Twilight blushed at the remark.

“I suppose not…” she answered distantly.

Of course Rarity would think of this as an honour. For as long as Twilight had known her, it had been the unicorn’s dream to design for royalty. This was a momentous occasion for her. It was little wonder then, that she had agreed to do it at such short notice. It also explained her desire to make the dress absolutely perfect. It wasn’t just for her friend, but for a princess, for herself and for every pony in Equestria.

Twilight paled as she thought about this. Thousands of eyes would be watching her every move for the entire day and probably for the years to follow too.

“Whatever’s the matter, dear?” Rarity asked, noticing Twilight’s sudden lack of colour.

“Nothing. I’m alright,” Twilight lied.

Rarity raised her eyebrow, rightly unwilling to believe this.

“Something is clearly the matter. You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Now, why don’t you tell me what’s wrong and I’ll see if I can help?” Rarity insisted.

Twilight looked away from Rarity. She didn’t imagine that the other pony could even begin to understand how she felt. She was terrified of being the centre of attention. She was afraid that she would put one hoof wrong and everypony in Equestria would see it.

Rarity, on the other hoof, would be in her element. She would simply adore the attention, the grandeur and the occasion.

“It’s just, what if something goes wrong? What if I make a fool of myself? What if I trip over my dress? What if, after the ceremony, I’m expected to make a speech? What if I say something stupid? What if Celestia decides that somepony who says something that stupid isn’t fit to be a princess? What if she’s right? What if I’m not fit to be a princess? What if this was all some big mistake?” Twilight exploded.

Rarity's eyes widened as she listened to Twilight's list of concerns. However, her expression quickly turned from shock to amusement and she went back to her sewing.

“Don’t be so ridiculous, Twilight. Of course you’re fit to be a princess. I don’t see how anypony could think otherwise,” Rarity said as she knotted her thread, and began working on another area of the dress.

“As for making speeches, you should find that easy. You have a real way with words. All you have to do is say whatever comes into your head. I’m sure that on the day, you’ll be hit by some incredible inspiration. That usually works for me. And you can’t trip over your dress, it doesn’t even come near your hooves. You’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”

Twilight forced herself to smile when Rarity eventually looked back across at her. She had known the unicorn would feel this way. She was the epitome of poise and social grace. There was no conceivable situation in which she would be anything other than confident and comfortable.

Twilight, on the other hoof, felt completely ill at ease at even the most intimate of social gatherings. She remembered how uncomfortable she had felt at her big brother’s wedding and she hadn’t even been expected to do anything other than stand next to him. The same was true of the Grand Galloping Gala, when she had merely had to shake hooves with a line of guests and introduce herself as Celestia’s protegée.

Neither of those roles had been particularly strenuous and yet she had felt incredibly nervous about them. On top of that, she had managed to make a complete fool out of herself at both of those events. And this was bigger. There was more that could go wrong and there was far more focus on her than she had ever experienced before.

“There, all done, would you like to try it on for me?” Rarity said, lifting the dress up magically.

Twilight nodded her assent, allowing Rarity to slip the dress back over her neck and fasten it. When she was done, Twilight walked carefully over to a mirror which stood in a far corner of the room. When she saw her reflection, she couldn't help but smile at Rarity.

“It’s perfect, thank you," she said.

Rarity glanced bashfully at the floor, while Twilight continued to admire herself. It was a beautiful dress. When she had finished checking herself out from every available angle, Twilight turned back to Rarity who was looking at her proudly.

At that moment, the unicorn let out soft gasp, her eyes shimmering.

“Oh, I almost forgot to mention, I have one more surprise for you, but I’m afraid it won’t be ready until we arrive in Canterlot. I’m sure you’ll love it, though!” Rarity exclaimed, thoroughly excited.

“What is it?” Twilight asked, her curiosity piqued by the unicorn’s tone.

“I can’t tell you, that would ruin the surprise,” Rarity smiled, mischievously tapping her nose.

Twilight dearly wanted to argue, but that would just be playing into Rarity’s hoof.

"Okay, okay. Keep your secrets," Twilight laughed.

Sobering up, she turning back to the mirror and imagined herself stepping into the great hall at Canterlot Castle wearing this dress and walking towards her destiny. She couldn’t pretend she wasn’t excited by the prospect. When she was younger, she – like every other filly the length and breadth of the land – had often dreamt of being a princess.

“So this is it?” she said thoughtfully as her vision dissipated.

Rarity stepped forward, resting a reassuring hoof on her shoulder and giving her a small squeeze. Twilight swallowed hard.

“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine,” Rarity said firmly.

Twilight looked into Rarity’s eyes, reflected in the mirror. She wished she could believe that.

Her flying practice with Rainbow had been coming on a lot better since she had started reading Fluttershy’s book, but that was just about the only solace she had. Time was marching on, drawing her coronation closer and closer and still she didn’t feel any more ready than she had on the day she had become an alicorn.

She smiled weakly at Rarity, but couldn't hide her fear. The other pony furrowed her brow in consideration. All of a sudden her eyes lit up.

“You know, if you need a little help relaxing, I’m meeting Fluttershy at the spa this afternoon. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind if you joined us. It really is a wonderful day out. You can have a hooficure, a cornicure, a seaweed wrap and a nice relaxing massage to get rid of all that tension. My treat. What do you say?” Rarity asked, imploringly.

Twilight pondered the invitation. She still had a lot more reading to get through and she had already fallen behind her schedule with the dress fitting. Then again, she hadn’t allowed herself to relax at all in over a week. Perhaps this would do her some good. Besides, Rarity didn’t look like she would take no for an answer.

“Thank you. Yes, I’d love to,” she replied.

“Excellent!” Rarity cried. “I’m due there in just over an hour. That’ll give me time to iron out the creases on this dress then we’ll leave.”

Twilight bowed her head in deference. Perhaps this would do her some good.

* * * * *

A small bell tinkled as Rarity pushed open the door to the spa. Twilight followed the unicorn into the waiting room and was immediately overpowered by a heady mixture of strong perfumes and humid air. She looked around the small room, quickly spotting Fluttershy who was sat comfortably on a green sofa not too far from the vacant reception desk.

Twilight waited awkwardly by the door while Rarity ventured further into the room and made her way towards Fluttershy. The to greeted one another by way of a brief hug.

“Hello, Fluttershy. It’s good to see you again. I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve brought Twilight along with me. She’s feeling a little stressed and I thought she could do with a little pampering,” Rarity explained.

Twilight smiled sheepishly and waved.

“Of course I don’t mind,” Fluttershy said softly, returning the wave. “The more, the merrier.”

Twilight walked over to join the other two as they spoke about their respective days. A few minutes passed like this before one of the spa’s proprietors, a stunning blue mare with a slick pink mane, came into the room. She looked at them all expectantly.

“The usual!” Rarity proclaimed.

The spa pony clapped her hooves together twice in quick succession and almost instantly, the three mares were being dressed in bathrobes and whisked off towards the sauna.

That one small room appeared to be the source of all of the humidity Twilight had noticed upon entering the building. The heat inside was almost unbearable. Twilight sat down on a wooden bench which ran around the perimeter of the room. Fluttershy sat next to her and Rarity opposite.

Once they had settled in, Rarity nodded at their hostess who ladled a small quantity of water onto a pile of hot coals in the centre of the room. A hot plume of steam erupted into being and enveloped them in its misty depths.

Twilight couldn't help but close her eyes and drift away amidst the heat. She allowed herself to stretch out comfortably on the bench. Her mind was completely blank. It was an interesting feeling, one to which she was not accustomed. Rarity had been right, though. This truly was a fantastic way to release your tension. It felt wonderful.

Through her blissful dégagé, she overheard snippets of the other ponies’ conversation which had carried over from the waiting room. Most of what was being said washed over her until she heard her own name being mentioned.

“And then Twilight came by so that I could put the finishing touches to her dress,” Rarity was saying.

“Wow. So is it finished then?” Fluttershy asked.

“At last, I think it is. And she looks absolutely fabulous in it if I do say so myself.”

“Oh my. That’s wonderful. I can’t wait to see it. How long is it now?”

“One week and three days,” Twilight answered abruptly, opening her eyes.

Fluttershy flinched as Twilight spoke, her pale yellow cheeks filling with colour. She looked to have forgotten that Twilight was in the room. Rarity, on the other hoof, was splayed out on the opposite bench, her eyes still closed, looking very serene.

"Oh. Is that all?" the pegasus asked delicately.

"Yes, ten days. And we leave for Canterlot in six. And we get to stay at the castle!" Rarity interjected.

Twilight looked at Fluttershy, rolling her eyes and bobbing her head in the unicorn's direction. Fluttershy's eyes sparkled with mirth. She raised a hoof to cover her mouth, her shoulders shaking gently with silent laughter.

That was just like Rarity. Designing a dress for royalty and a stay at Canterlot Castle: Twilight's coronation was the best thing that had ever happened to her. Of course she wouldn't be confined to the castle grounds for four days straight. She would be able to visit Canterlot like any other time they had been there.

Twilight, on the other hoof, would not be extended this privilege. She wasn't entirely sure what the reasons behind the restriction were. All she knew was that Celestia had insisted she not leave the castle. She was suddenly reminded of Rarity's words when they had arrived for her brother's wedding.

These types of things do bring out the strangest ponies.

Twilight had never felt unsafe in Canterlot. It was her home town, after all. She knew everything and everypony in it. Celestia was just being cautious, she supposed. Then again, Celestia never left the castle herself without an escort of at least two royal guard. Nor did Luna for that matter. And Cadence had Shining Armour with her much of the time. Was this what awaited her too?

This thought plagued her as she lay down on a cushioned table to receive the hooficure Rarity had promised. Two ponies applied a facemask to her and positioned a pair of lush pillows under her legs before beginning to file her hooves.

Days like this one would become a non-starter if she was forced to go everywhere with a host of guards in tow. She watched the reposed forms of Rarity and Fluttershy as they enjoyed the attentions of the spa ponies. As she did so, she realised that she was already somewhat jealous of the simplicity of their lives.

She forced these thoughts out of her mind, silently reprimanding herself for feeling that way.

Once her hooficure was complete, a young mare approached her with a larger file and began moving it towards her horn. Twilight flinched and put her hoofs up, shaking her head vigorously. She didn’t like other ponies touching her horn. It made her feel uncomfortable.

“Sorry. No, thank you. I’d rather not,” she said.

The mare retreated and Twilight looked over at Rarity who had accepted the treatment. The alicorn shuddered: she couldn’t watch. Even the thought of it gave her the willies. She turned round to face Fluttershy instead and found that the other mare was already looking at her.

Fluttershy blushed and looked away as Twilight met her eyes. Why would she be embarrassed? Perhaps she wanted to move on to the next treatment, but didn’t want to upset Rarity. Neither she nor Twilight was having a cornicure. When the pegasus eventually looked back up, Twilight flashed her a broad smile and nodded her head towards the door.

Fluttershy glanced at the door, then at Rarity, then back at Twilight, clearly torn between wanting to go with Twilight and not wanting to leave Rarity on her own. Taking one last look at Rarity, the pegasus bit her lip and nodded at Twilight.

“Um, Rarity? Do you mind if Twilight and I head off to the mud baths?” she asked nervously.

Twilight looked at Rarity, awaiting her reaction. The unicorn opened her eyes and looked questioningly at Fluttershy. Twilight looked back at the pegasus whose eyes were wide. She appeared to have just finished shaking her head. Twilight looked back at Rarity who had her eyebrow raised but when she spotted Twilight looking at her, she quickly rearranged her features.

“Of course you can. There’s no point in you staying when you’re not having anything done,” she said.

Twilight looked back and forth between the two mares, utterly bereft. She had no idea what to make of this exchange but she suddenly felt as though she were intruding; as though she were an interloper, trying to impose her own wishes upon a long standing tradition.

If Fluttershy usually stayed while Rarity had her horn filed, Twilight decided that she had better not leave. She was only there as a guest. It wasn’t her place to try to force her own agenda.

“Are you sure? I mean, we can stay if you want,” Twilight said, hoping to avoid causing any friction.

“No, no. Don’t be silly. You girls go on. I’ll catch up to you,” Rarity insisted, bowing her head magnanimously.

Twilight shrugged her shoulders. Perhaps she had been reading too much in to it. Rarity didn't look remotely concerned. In fact, if anything, she looked like she wanted them to go. Twilight stood up to leave and Fluttershy followed her lead, springing from the table and trotting over to her side.

The spa pony led them from the room and along a lushly decorated corridor to another room in which there were a half dozen baths filled with viscous ‘mud’.

She and Fluttershy disrobed, immersing themselves in the warm, dark water of two of the baths and Twilight let out a soft sigh. Physically, this felt even better than the sauna, though she couldn’t quite relax here as she had there. Her mind was still fixed on the exchange between Fluttershy and Rarity.

“I'm sorry if you wanted to stay,” Twilight said, trying to make it clear that she hadn't intended to make her move if she hadn't wanted to.

“Huh?” Fluttershy asked dreamily.

“I was just saying, I'm sorry for getting you to leave if you would have preferred to stay with Rarity,” Twilight repeated.

The pegasus looked at her, confused.

“Oh, no. I wanted to go. Between the two if us, the sight of somepony getting their horn filed makes me squeamish,” Fluttershy said.

Twilight giggled.

“Yeah, it is a bit…” she gave a little shudder in place of the last word, being unable to find one which adequately described her feelings.

The two shared a laugh before a silence descended between them and they were left staring wordlessly at one another. Twilight enjoyed spending time with Fluttershy. It was amazing how much they had in common, even silly little things like their opinions on a certain beauty treatment. After a while, though, the silence became increasingly awkward. At long last, Fluttershy leaned forward as though she wanted to say something and eventually, she did.

“So, um, how do you like your dress?” the pegasus asked, a touch of excitement in her voice.

“Oh, it’s nice. It’s a little too grand for me, but then it is for a big occasion. I suppose I had best look the part. She really has outdone herself. It is beautiful. It’s just, when I think about what it’s for…” Twilight mused.

“So, do you feel like a princess in it, then?” said Fluttershy, letting out a little squeal.

“I suppose, maybe. I guess I look like a princess, I don’t know that I’ll ever feel like one. Rarity is good with a sewing machine and all, but I doubt if any amount of fancy needlework could change that,” Twilight said.

Fluttershy looked at her searchingly.

“Well, not that it makes any difference, but you’ve always felt like a princess to me,” the pegasus said, after some consideration.

Twilight blushed, looking away from her friend.

“Thank you, Fluttershy. That means a lot to me,” she said quietly.

It did mean a lot to her. It was good to know that somepony had confidence in her, but even if what Fluttershy was saying was true, Twilight still didn’t feel much better about the things. In fact, knowing that somepony so close to her had so much faith in her almost made her feel worse. She didn’t want to disappoint anypony, much less her friends.

“What’s wrong, Twilight?” Fluttershy asked, clearly sensing that something was up.

“Oh, it’s nothing. I was just thinking about a conversation I had with Rarity earlier,” Twilight said.

She told Fluttershy the same things she had told Rarity earlier. How she thought that maybe somepony had made a mistake somewhere along the line. That perhaps this wasn’t what she was meant to do. She told the pegasus about her fears of making a speech and what Rarity had said. That she would be fine; that things would work out.

“Whether I have a way with words or not, I’m still terrified that I’ll mess up,” Twilight finished, barely able to stop herself from shaking.

“Oh, I see,” said Fluttershy, once again looking at Twilight with that searching gaze.

“Well, I mean, if you ask me, you’re already pretty brave for going through with it. I could never stand up to speak in front of that many ponies,” Fluttershy said, cowering as though even the thought of it was too much.

“I’m sure you could if you put your mind to it,” Twilight replied.

Fluttershy shook her head.

“No. I know you might not notice it, but I’m really rather shy. If you want my opinion, though, I think you’ll do a wonderful job. Just go up there and speak from your heart and you’ll be fine. I mean, I know I couldn’t do it, but you… you’ll be fine,” Fluttershy said with a reassuring smile.

Twilight looked at her skeptically, still not convinced. Fluttershy bit her lip and swallowed heavily.

“I’ll tell you what, if it comes down to it and you absolutely can’t go through with it, I’ll give you a helping hoof, okay?” she added nervously.

Twilight raised her eyebrow at the pegasus. Surely not.

“I’m serious. I promise,” Fluttershy said, crossing her heart, flapping her arms and putting her hoof over her eye.

“A Pinkie promise? I might hold you to that,” Twilight said with a mischievous grin.

The pegasus looked both terrified and amused in equal measure. She probably understood that Twilight was just kidding around, but she also seemed fairly resolute and Twilight got the impression that if she did ask, Fluttershy would keep her promise. She wouldn’t ask, of course, but she suddenly felt that with Fluttershy in her corner, she could take on the world.

For all the pegasus could be very introspective and demure, she was also incredibly strong and insightful. Somehow she always knew just what to say. If Fluttershy could swallow her fear and offer to do something she was frightened of just to help out a friend, Twilight was sure that she could swallow her own fear too.

“Thank you, Fluttershy,” she said warmly.

“No problem,” the pegasus replied.

The mares smiled at one another for a while, though this time the silence was anything but awkward. Twilight felt incredibly touched by Fluttershy’s gesture. She was so lucky to have a friend like her.

Suddenly, a loud noise erupted from somewhere in the room. Startled, Twilight almost jumped out of her bath. Her head snapped round to find the source of the ruckus and she saw that Rarity had just arrived. At once, two spa ponies began wrapping her in seaweed.

“So sorry it took me so long girls. I hope I didn’t miss anything,” Rarity said, casting her gaze over them both.

“No, you didn’t, we were just talking about Twilight’s dress,” Fluttershy responded softly.

Now thoroughly ensconced in the seaweed, Rarity leapt into another one of the mud baths and began pontificating about her fabric choices and the influences on her design. Twilight was only half listening, nodding along and pretending she understood what the unicorn was talking about. In truth, though, she was still thinking about what Fluttershy had said.

She took one last glance over at the pegasus who appeared to be captivated by Rarity’s discourse. For the first time in weeks, Twilight felt calm and carefree. First the book and now this. If it wasn’t for Fluttershy, Twilight wasn’t sure how she would have made it through the last couple of weeks.

She closed her eyes and sank a little further into her bath, letting the warm water surround her. She was so lucky to have a friend like her.

Chapter Three

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Chapter Three

The new day broke. A dramatic flash of scarlet burst forth across the sky to mark its arrival. The first ray of sunlight to escape over the horizon glinted stunningly off one of the many golden domes of the Equestrian capital. The fluttering of a myriad of banners in shades of cerise and lilac brought a burst of colour to the city's normally subdued streets. A cool breeze blew over the vast metropolis, bringing with it a sense of freshness and new beginnings.

Twilight assessed the scene from her vantage point upon a balcony atop one of Canterlot Castle's tall towers. Everywhere she looked within the city walls, there was evidence of the celebratory atmosphere that had gripped taken hold. Every bridge; every tower and every spire had been dressed to mark the occasion. Bunting crisscrossed every street. Every garden and window box was decked out with pink and violet flowers. Everywhere she looked, Twilight's cutie mark was emblazoned on a banner or a flag.

Even outside the city walls, the sheer scale of the occasion was plain to see. An entire town of marquees and tents had been erected to accommodate the many hundreds of visitors who could not be housed at one of the city's plentiful inns. Indeed the only view that afforded any relief from this barrage of overwhelming festivity was to the far Southwest, where Twilight could just make out the bright red slates of Ponyville Town Hall’s beautiful belled roof.

Home.

It was a view Twilight had never taken notice of in all the years she had spent in Canterlot, yet now it was the only view worth seeing. She squinted harder, trying to make out a little more detail, but she couldn’t distinguish one building from another in the sea of yellowish, hay-thatched roofs. Instead she resorted to watching the spinning blades of the windmill as they traveled in lazy circles around their mount.

Perhaps they had been stirred into motion by the same breeze that had bustled past her as she looked out from her lofty position. It was a comforting thought, though quite unlikely, she deliberated. Even the wind couldn’t travel that far that fast. In any case it wasn’t blowing towards Ponyville and if it were, it would probably lose its way before it had covered half the distance thence.

As Twilight stood lost in thought, she heard three resounding and very deliberate knocks echoing from within her bedchambers. The alicorn sighed, turning her tail on the scene, and made her way slowly through her rooms. Upon reaching the imposing oak doors, she stopped and took a deep breath. Then, forcing her features into what she hoped was a convincing smile, she opened one of them and poked her head out.

Standing before Twilight with her pristine white coat glistening and her violet eyes warm and radiant was Princess Celestia. Startled, the lilac alicorn immediately stepped into the corridor, bowing deeply before her one-time tutor. Celestia waved away this reverent greeting, causing Twilight to blush as she stood back up.

“Good morning, Twilight. I trust you slept well?” Celestia asked politely.

Twilight looked surreptitiously over her shoulder, casting her eyes across the untouched sheets of her bed and hastily closed the door before Celestia could do the same.

“Yes, Princess, very well indeed,” Twilight answered brightly.

“Excellent, because we have a few things to do this morning,” Celestia said, smiling at Twilight before starting her slow procession down the spiralling staircase.

Twilight stood apprehensively for a few moments, staring blankly at the spot where the princess had been. Things to do? Nopony had mentioned anything about this to her before. She trotted to catch up with Celestia and soon fell into step beside her.

“What things?” she asked nervously.

“Well I had hoped that you might accompany me to breakfast, then that you might sit alongside me during Court this morning. I know it doesn’t sound like much fun, but Princess Luna tells me that perhaps you are feeling a little uncomfortable with the idea of performing official duties. I thought this might help,” Celestia explained, as though nothing could be more normal.

Twilight froze, standing on the final step of the staircase. Luna had told her that? Twilight hadn’t even seen Luna since arriving in Canterlot. In fact, she hadn't seen Luna since her return from the Crystal Empire. When was she supposed to have spoken to her about this? The last time they had spoken was at her brother’s wedding reception. It wasn't possible that she knew.

“Pardon me for asking, but how would Luna know… I mean, why would she think that I was worried about that?” Twilight asked, stumbling over her words.

“Are you telling me that she is mistaken?” the princess said, turning to face Twilight.

“Yes! Well, I mean, no. Well I guess, maybe? I just wondered where she might have gotten that idea,” Twilight responded.

“You would have to ask her that. Luna has her ways,” Celestia said cryptically.

Twilight was left frustrated by the lack of a reasonable explanation, but years of experience in these matters told her that there was no point in pressing the princess further. She wouldn't get an answer anyway.

It was just so annoying. She didn’t recall telling anypony about this particular worry, but she must have said something at some point. Then somepony must have said something to Luna. Or perhaps Luna hadn't known at all. Perhaps Celestia had been bluffing.

The two alicorn's began walking again, Twilight still musing over the princess' puzzle.

“Am I to take it that you do not wish to attend the Court, then?” Celestia asked, sounding a little disappointed.

Twilight was shaken from her thoughts. She had no idea what to say. On one hoof, accepting the invitation would be as good as admitting that Luna had been correct in her assertions and what that implied was that Twilight wasn’t ready to deal with this responsibility. She dreaded to think what Celestia would think of that. On the other hoof, the princess hadn’t appeared to be upset at her and this might be useful. In fact, if anything, it seemed very much like Princess Celestia wanted Twilight to go to Court with her. And despite the princess’ suggestion to the contrary, it did sound rather exciting.

Twilight weighed up her options and eventually, she nodded her head.

“I’ll go,” she said resolutely.

Celestia smiled warmly at her.

“Good. I must admit, I had been looking forward to your company. Now, to breakfast!” she proclaimed, walking a few lengths further down the corridor and opening a vast set of doors.

Twilight walked past her and into the room. Therein sat a long table laden with a variety of breads, fruit and grain and surrounded on all ends by a number of very plush chairs. Twilight looked with rapture at the food on offer, forgetting for a moment about everything the princess has said.

She sat down next to Celestia, who took her place at the head of the table, and with her magic, she picked up an apple and a few grapes. She placed these on a small plate in front of her along with a slice of sweet brown bread and a smattering of oats. This truly was a breakfast fit for a princess.

She gave Celestia a last glance and began to eat. Despite her nerves, she looked forward to the day ahead.

* * * * *

Several hours later and the opulent breakfast seemed like a distant memory. Seldom had Twilight ever been so supremely surfeited of any activity as she was of Celestia’s Court. Every minute of it had felt like an hour as pony after pony had presented themselves before the princess, spoke at length about some issue or other and besought her intervention. This endless parade of captious petitioners was far from what Twilight had expected, though quite what she had expected, she couldn’t recall.

It wasn't that the Court had been boring. In fact if anything the opposite was true, although exciting wouldn't describe it either. Nor was it particularly interesting even if it had held her attention. When she thought about it, were she to have been asked for one adjective to describe the experience, she would have chosen 'eye-opening'.

Twilight had never considered that so many ponies could have so many problems, given how happy the vast majority of the population seemed most of the time. It was even more amazing, taking into account how joyful the city had looked that morning as it prepared for a grand celebration.

She felt incredibly mixed up by the whole debacle. At first she had been taken aback by the issues but as the morning had worn on, the surprise had dissipated to be replaced by a discomfiting melancholy.

Celestia, on the other hoof, had appeared to be far less affected by it. Perhaps she had grown accustomed to hearing these tales of woe. That wasn't to say she hadn't been thoroughly sympathetic. Twilight had been in awe of how well the princess handled each scenario. Every word she spoke appeared to have been perfectly chosen and delivered. Almost every last pony had left looking far happier than when they had arrived.

Every pony except Twilight that was.

Despite the princess’ best intentions, she had left the Court feeling much, much worse. Almost every story had left her feeling incredibly upset. There had been news of bereavements; losses of livelihoods; numerous disputes between friends and a brace of family feuds. There was no way that she could have done what Celestia did.

Even the few ponies who had come to praise Celestia for something she had done for them earlier or to wish Twilight well for her coronation had done nothing to improve her mood. How had the princess listened to all of that and not been reduced to tears? How had she been able to stay so composed for so long? And how had she known what to say?

These were the types of question that were best left to sages, Twilight concluded. She couldn't dwell upon them or she would end up depressing herself even more. She was just glad to be out of that room and free to engage in other, more cheery pursuits. She was mentally and emotionally exhausted. She desperately needed some release. Just as she had this thought, her stomach bellowed its approval, so she went in search of the castle's kitchens.

Twilight hoped she wasn’t overstepping the mark or exploiting her hostesses' generosity. Lunch wouldn’t be for another couple of hours and she simply couldn’t wait that long. She needed some sustenance, and soon. When she eventually found the room she was looking for, she was surprised to find that somepony else was already there.

Applejack hummed quietly to herself as she dodged her way around the many chefs and porters preparing the afternoon meal. Twilight watched the earth pony as she returned to her small section of the worktop carrying a pastry tin, some butter and an egg. She was finishing off an apple pie. What else? The process was all too familiar to Twilight.

Applejack greased the tin and laid her pastry in it, filling it with apples, sugar and spices then covered the filling with yet more pastry. The edges were crimped by hoof and a layer of egg wash was applied before some air holes were poked into the top. Once she was finished, the earth pony looked proudly at her creation and put it in one of the ovens to bake.

All this time, she was oblivious to Twilight’s presence, but as she made her way over to the counter to clean up, she noticed her friend staring at her through the doorway. The orange pony looked as though she had been caught in the act of doing something she ought not to have been doing.

“Well howdy, Twilight! I didn’t see you there. What in the hay are you doing down here?” she asked guiltily.

“I should ask you the same question. I was hungry. Why are you baking a pie? I'm sure one of these nice stallions could make you one if you asked,” Twilight responded.

Applejack glanced over at the cooks who, having heard Twilight's remark, drew daggers at the earth pony. She looked sheepishly at them, then at the oven wherein her pie sat baking and finally back to Twilight.

“It was supposed to be a surprise, but I guess the cat’s out of the bag now. It was meant for you. I thought y’all might appreciate it. All this fancy food is fine and dandy but it ain’t exactly filling if you’ll pardon my saying so. And nothing beats a little taste of home,” the earth pony answered, receiving another haughty glance from a chef.

Twilight was touched by the gesture. It was very nice of Applejack to think of something like that. She did appreciate it. Applejack’s pies were always satisfying. Even the thought of it made her stomach groan in anticipation. She blushed.

“Sorry, I’m still hungry. How long until it’s ready?” Twilight asked, suddenly coveting the taste of the sweet pastry and tart apples.

That was the very comfort she had sought in coming here.

“It’ll be about a half hour. I was gonna go looking for you after clearing up but seeing you’re here already, that won’t be necessary,” Applejack answered with a grin.

“Oh goodie! Well I can’t wait. Thank you so much,” Twilight smiled.

“No problem. So… I reckon we better talk about something while we wait. What have you been up to today?” Applejack asked, brushing some pastry crumbs and flour onto a dustpan.

Twilight’s smile faded as she was forced to recount the happenings of the Court. She told Applejack about the parade of distressed ponies, even daring to relate one of the less upsetting tales to her. Applejack's face fell at the description.

“Well that doesn’t sound too great,” the earth pony sympathised.

“It wasn’t. I honestly don't know how Celestia does that every day. I couldn't. Some of the stories were just awful. And don't even get me started on the arguments. I couldn't even begin to help with them like she did. She was so reasonable and fair,” Twilight said, admitting to the biggest worry she had come away with.

Applejack looked put a consoling hoof on Twilight's shoulder and adopted a pensive look.

“Sure you coulda. It just takes practice is all. You've gotta remember, she's been doing this for hundreds of years. And as for being fair, I suppose you have to take everypony’s problems into consideration. You gotta take a step back and look at the bigger picture.

“I mean, I knew two ponies - brothers, potato farmers from Trottingham. Well, their papa died and left them his farm thinking that they would just keep working it like they always did. He couldn’t of expected what happened.

“Neither brother wanted to share. So they decided that they should split it up between them. The problem was that they couldn’t agree on how to divide it up. The argument got so heated that eventually they couldn’t agree on anything. They argued about the sizes of fields and how fertile they were and so on. In the end they lost so much time to the argument that they plain forgot about the harvest. So they decided they would ask the princess what to do. They really had no other choice,” Applejack said.

Twilight looked at the earth pony as she told the story. That sounded like the type of thing. She pondered this scenario, her mind whirring as she tried to figure out a solution that would be acceptable to both parties. At first, she supposed they could just draw a line straight down the middle, but what if they both wanted the same half? She could always have picked for them but then that might just end up fueling their resentment for one another and that would be the worst outcome of all.

“Well?” Twilight prompted, eventually giving in.

“Well, what?” Applejack said distractedly as she opened the oven to check on her pie.

“What did the princess say?” Twilight asked, desperate for the solution.

“Oh. Well if I remember rightly, she said that the older brother should divide up the land into two sections and the younger brother should get to choose which he wanted,” Applejack recalled, closing the oven door again.

Twilight felt the pieces of the puzzle falling into place. It was almost like being told the answer to a riddle. Such an elegant solution it was too: the same thing she had seen all day.

“I would never have thought of that,” she said, scratching her head.

“Sure you woulda. You're a clever mare, you'd have figured it out eventually,” Applejack said.

“I don't know about that. And what if there's nothing to figure out? What if I were to have to choose one pony over the other?” Twilight asked.

“Well, in that case, you’ve just gotta do what your conscience tells you,” the other pony said with a certainty that unnerved Twilight.

Applejack busied herself whipping some cream, leaving Twilight to deal with her thoughts. She had made it sound so simple, but it couldn’t possibly be that easy. Twilight didn’t trust her conscience. It would be alright if she was as sensible as Applejack, but she wasn’t. If she made a wrong decision, somepony would feel hard done by and she didn’t want that. She wanted everypony to be happy just as she had previously imagined them to be.

It occurred to her now how sheltered her life had been. She had never experienced problems like these. The biggest troubles she had experienced were being late on an assignment and having to choose which of her friends was to receive a spare ticket to a dance, both of which had turned out to be non-issues in the end.

Applejack took her pie out of the oven and set about cutting a slice for Twilight which she topped with a spoonful of soft whipped cream which instantly began melting as soon as it touched the pastry. Twilight attempted to smile gratefully at the orange pony, though even as she ate, she felt dissatisfied. There was an all too familiar pit in her stomach which food, no matter how moreish, could not fill.

It was the same pit she had felt whilst Rainbow had been teaching her to fly and whilst Rarity had been fixing her dress. Only this time it felt deeper. The severity of this issue and the proximity of her coronation made her feel far worse than she had even as little as three weeks ago. She had been worried about performing these duties before but the morning's Court had brought home to her just how thoroughly unprepared she was

She poked at the small amount of apple pie left on her plate.

“Is everything okay, sugarcube?” Applejack asked, her voice shaking Twilight from her wakeful slumber.

“Of course. It tastes great, as always. It's just, I'm not that hungry,” the alicorn replied.

“That ain't what I meant. I meant with you. Are you okay?” the other pony insisted.

Twilight had known what Applejack meant. She had simply been attempting to skirt around the issue. She didn't want to talk about it any more.

“Yeah, I'm fine. Just nervous, I suppose,” she said, feigning indifference.

“You'll be fine. Ain't no point worrying about something you can't change. Besides, you're plenty clever. If there's a problem needing solved, you're the first pony I'd ask,” Applejack said, failing to understand the problem.

“Well thank you. I'm flattered,” Twilight said, forcing a smile and hoping that would be the end of it.

Applejack looked at her uncertainly but appeared to have decided to let it drop, something for which Twilight was incredibly grateful. Really, all she wanted to do was get out of there. The castle's walls felt suddenly oppressive.

“Well, thanks for the pie. It was really kind of you to do this for me, but I think I'm going to go for a walk now,” Twilight said, already making her way hastily towards the door. “I'll see you at lunch?”

Without waiting for an answer, she made her escape, practically galloping through the castle towards the exit. Usually Applejack's calm, sensible advice was reassuring. This time however, the conversation had just caused her to think more about something she had wanted to forget.

Her footfalls echoed into the castle's cavernous depths. Corridor after corridor, twist after turn she ran, until eventually she emerged in the grand entrance hall. She needed peace and solitude. She needed to be somewhere that nopony would be, and she knew of only one place to find that without leaving the castle grounds.

She hurried across the hall and out of the main doors which stood ajar. Once outside, she slowed her pace and took a deep breath, drawing in the fragrant air of the spring afternoon. She felt the watchful eyes of the dozen or so guards who were posted by at the gates and on the battlements following her as she made her way across the lawn.

She sought to evade their gaze now. She walked calmly and composedly towards the castle gardens, attempting to look as inconspicuous as she should have felt. The guards appeared to lose interest in her movements as soon as her course took her away from the gates and once she had slid past the outermost hedge, she felt invisible to the world.

For what must have been hours, she walked in a state of solitary reflection, surrounded by the immense beauty of the blossoming trees and fledgling flowers of the spring garden. The only sounds she could hear were the mellifluous melodies of a menagerie of majestic birds. They serenaded her softly with a series of sweet symphonies, accompanied only by the wind's whisper as it wandered through the trees.

Yet despite the tranquility, the space and the freedom that the garden had seemed to promise earlier, Twilight still felt trapped by the unforgiving weight on her mind. She felt besieged; surrounded on all sides by her own fears and uncertainties.

Her burden had grown heavier and heavier with every day that had passed. She invariably found some new responsibility to worry about or some new inadequacy of character for which she would soon be exposed. And now, with her coronation only two days away, her burden had at last become unbearable.

She couldn't do this. She couldn't go through with it. Every last ounce of vitality drained from her as she realised that this was how she felt. Her mind felt tired; her body felt tired. Even her heart felt as though it may stop beating in despair.

Twilight collapsed into a heap on the ground, shaking convulsively as silent tears ran down either side of her muzzle. She realised that whether or not she felt as though she could go through with it, didn't matter. Fate had conspired to make this happen and happen it undoubtedly would. There was no hope of flight, no hope of escape.

She had come to Canterlot, spurred on by her friends’ advice and offers of assistance. She had felt almost confident about the whole thing. She had been assured that everything would be okay and she had willfully thrown herself forwards. Yet now, it appeared that this confidence had been a trick of her mind, and a very cruel one at that.

Her fears had been shrouded by a complacent fog and now that that fog had lifted, they appeared clearer and closer than they ever had before: inadequacy, ineptitude, isolation, humiliation, failure.

She pressed her eyelids closed as tightly as she could, blocking the entire world from her sight and wishing it away. Or else wishing that she could just lie there for the rest of time and sink into oblivion.

* * * * *

A brisk breeze blew over Twilight's back, rudely wakening her from her slumber. She didn't remember falling asleep, but given the lack of sleep from the night before and the toils of the day, it was hardly surprising that it had happened.

Her body ached as she lay , opening her eyes briefly. The sun had set and the sky above her was dotted with the sparkling light of a hundred or more stars. Yet for once she was completely unmoved by the heaven's display. How could she appreciate its beauty when it had so conspired against her?

Twilight closed her eyes once more, just in time to shield them from another chilling gust of wind. She welcomed its icy touch. Its coldness was befitting of her melancholy; the discomfort a perfect accompaniment to her sorrow.

As time wore on though, the air itself seemed to freeze at the wind's behest. It was perhaps because of this that Twilight gradually became aware of a subtle warmth emanating from a spot just to her right. She wasn't sure for how long it had been there but when she listened carefully, she could just make out the sound somepony breathing.

She had, of course, anticipated somepony coming to find her although she had hoped that it would take them a little longer than this. Her ear twitched, unbidden, responding mechanically to the sound and betrayed her cognisance to the intruder.

“Twilight? Are you okay?”

The voice was quiet, barely a whisper. Twilight didn't answer it. She didn't look at the other pony. She didn't even open her eyes. She just lay there, shivering in the cold evening air.

There followed the sound of earth being trodden down and the sensation of the pony laying down next to her. There was a brief pause, then Twilight felt the soft touch of feathers upon her back and flank as she was enveloped in a pegasus' wing.

“You'll catch your death out here you know," the voice informed her. "I've... we've been so worried about you. When you didn't show up for dinner, I thought you might have run away.”

Twilight felt incredibly guilty all of a sudden. She hadn't meant to worry anypony.

“What are you doing out here, all alone, in the dark?” the pony asked.

Twilight finally turned to face the other pony and found a pair of large, teal eyes looking back at her. Fluttershy looked as though she were afraid of what the answer to her question might be.

“It's quiet here,” Twilight responded.

Fluttershy smiled kindly and gave the briefest of nods, then silence descended again. There was no insistence on conversation; no questions as to why Twilight had wanted to go somewhere quiet. Just a comforting squeeze from the pegasus’ wing and her comforting presence. Why couldn’t everypony be so considerate?

Twilight slid a little closer to the other pony, no longer feeling like she wanted to be cold or alone.

“I'm sorry for worrying you,” Twilight mumbled.

“It’s alright. I’m just glad to have found you,” Fluttershy said, giving Twilight another little squeeze.

The two ponies sat in silence for another couple of minutes, during which time Twilight considered telling Fluttershy what she had told Applejack. In the end though, she thought better of it. She didn’t want to upset the other pony any further. Nor did she want to allow herself to become upset again. Her mind wandered away from the thought very quickly, instead resting upon something else.

As she lay closer to Fluttershy, she noticed that she could feel the pegasus’ heart beating. She had begun counting the rhythm even before she had apologised to her. Its regularity had been just as comforting as the warmth radiating from its owner. However at some point -Twilight wasn't quite sure when - Fluttershy's heart rate had increased markedly.

At first Twilight had thought the other pony was embarrassed by their proximity to one another, or else by something she had said. However this theory was contradicted by the fact that she hadn’t attempted to move away. Nor had she stuttered anything she had said. It was very peculiar indeed…

After a few more minutes of contemplation, Twilight was suddenly hit by the solution. It had been staring her in the face the entire time, though she hadn’t seen it.

Darkness.

Fluttershy was afraid of the dark. Wasn’t she? Well, she was scared of so many things and so many ponies were afraid of the dark. She was shaking a little too. Twilight had originally put that down to the cold, but it could also fit with this hypothesis. In any case, what other possibilities were there? Twilight muzzled Fluttershy’s neck softly.

“We should go back to the castle,” she said, reluctantly.

She didn’t particularly want to go back to the castle. She dreaded the other ponies' reprimanded for being out so late. Also, sitting quietly with the Fluttershy had calmed her down immeasurably. She didn't want to leave now.

But Fluttershy had been so kind in allowing her to do so that she felt she should return the favour. It wasn’t fair to ask her to stay when it was making her feel so uncomfortable.

It was as she thought this that Twilight had an epiphany. Fluttershy had come looking for her even though it meant putting up with something she hated. She had shown kindness in the face of her fear. She was doing exactly what Twilight didn’t was afraid to do: putting somepony else’s feelings above her own.

While this realisation didn’t immediately wave away her doubts about her duties to the ponies of Equestria, it was very humbling. Fluttershy’s example was one to be admired. If she could behave so kindly and so selflessly, Twilight was determined that she could do so too.

The pegasus retracted her wing slowly, allowing Twilight to stand and the two ponies walked side by side out of the garden and back to the castle. On the way, Twilight stole the odd glance at the pegasus. She had no idea how Fluttershy had managed, with barely a word, to change her outlook on her situation. It was incredible. Even more so because it wasn't the first time.

It seemed that with every new problem Twilight found, Fluttershy was there to provide the solution. Their eyes briefly while they walked but both ponies immediately looked away, blushing as they did so. For her part, Twilight was embarrassed to have been found brooding over what amounted to just about nothing. As for Fluttershy, Twilight didn't know. She had nothing to blush about. She has been wonderful.

“Thank you, Fluttershy, for coming to find me…” Twilight said. “And for sitting with me. It was very kind of you.”

Fluttershy blushed again, more deeply this time, but said nothing. Yet that reddening of her cheeks said everything that needed to be said. It said ‘you’re welcome’; it said ‘any time’; but more than anything, it said ‘that’s what friends are for’.

Chapter Four

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Chapter Four

“Oh good heavens, no! Stop! Stop!”

The words echoed around the castle throne room, bouncing off its marble clad interior until they found themselves ringing in Twilight’s ears. The alicorn rolled her eyes and glanced towards the tall, white stallion who had spoken, drawing him the most scathing look she could muster. He turned his nose up at her, tutting under his breath, and continued in his stride.

“Darling, please! This is your coronation day! Hundreds of ponies have travelled from miles around to see you being crowned a princess. This hall will be filled with royalty and nobility from across Equestria, not to mention your own friends and family. This is as proud a moment for them as it is for the entire kingdom. Could you at least try to look happy?!” he implored.

Twilight looked away from him, biting back the retort she would so dearly have loved to give and nodded curtly. It wasn’t that Twilight didn’t want to smile. She was simply sick to the hind legs of hearing this pony’s voice telling everypony else what to do. She had only just him and already she was sure that he was somepony she wasn’t going to like.

His task, as Twilight understood it, was to oversee the smooth running of the ceremony. It was a job that he seemed determined to take far too seriously. The rehearsals had been going on all morning and there was to be a final, full dress rehearsal in the evening too. At this rate, Twilight wondered whether or not they would have time to rest in between.

This stallion never seemed to be satisfied with anything. He had spent at least ten minutes deciding on the order in which Twilight’s Ponyville friends should stand and whether or not they should curtsy when Twilight entered the room. On more than one occasion, it had taken a stern look from Princess Celestia to silence him. At these junctures, he would invariably sulk and start muttering to himself about how his creativity was being stifled.

“Once again! Places, please!” he cried, clapping his hooves together.

Twilight sighed and walked back out of the hall in the company of her entourage: four milky white earth pony mares and four jet black unicorn guards. Once they were all in position, the doors to the throne room were closed once more and she stood waiting for what felt like the hundredth time.

From the anteroom, Twilight could hear the muffled sound of Princess Celestia’s voice as she made her speech to the empty room. She fussed with her mane and stepped from hoof to hoof as she waited for the cue. There was a quiet hum of conversation behind her as the rest of the ponies planned their movements. After a few moments, a hush fell so that Princess Celestia’s words were clearly audible. At last, Twilight heard what she was waiting for.

“May I present, for the very first time, Princess Twilight Sparkle!”

The doors were cast open and instantly, the ponies behind Twilight began to sing.

“Yes, yes. Well done Your Majesty. Very nice. Now, Ms. Sparkle, walk forward: remember chin up, wings back and smile.”

Twilight did as she was bidden and took her first steps forward,spreading her wings out by her sides. She was determined that she would get through it this time. She held her chin up and forced her mouth into a broad smile. She hoped that it would come more naturally tomorrow. No, she was sure it would.

After weeks of nonstop worry leading up to the coronation, she was finally able to look forward to it. She was still nervous, of course. Nothing could change that. It was still one day, one event that would change her life forever. She still had her fears about making a fool of herself, she still worried that she would be unable to fulfil her duties and she still wasn’t quite as confident a flier as she hoped to be. Yet she knew that with all of her friends behind her, she could do absolutely anything.

She looked into each of their eyes as she approached the front of the hall and they each looked back, giving their own little signs of encouragement. Rainbow gave her a small nod; Applejack tipped her hat; Pinkie Pie gave a broad wink; Rarity a discreet smile and Spike positively beamed with pride. At last, Twilight's eyes settled on Fluttershy.

Of them all, Fluttershy was the one to whom she felt she owed the greatest debt. For every obstacle that had stood in her path, Fluttershy had been there to help her overcome it. For every worry that had assaulted her mind, Fluttershy had been there to help comfort her. For every fear that had struck her heart cold, Fluttershy had been there to help wave it away.

When she looked at the pegasus, she no longer felt like she was forcing her smile. In fact, she didn’t think she would be able to stop smiling if she tried. Fluttershy looked back at her with the same look in her eyes as she had had in the garden the night before, blinking vacantly and holding Twilight’s gaze as though she knew exactly what the alicorn was thinking.

Twilight forced herself to look away as she approached the front of the hall. She stood before Celestia, waiting for something to happen. The Princess gave her a warm smile and a nod of her head, before looking at the white stallion, awaiting his direction.

“Excellent, Ms. Sparkle. That wasn’t so hard, now was it? Okay young dragon, you will then offer the crown to Princess Celestia. And Your Majesty, you will levitate the crown and place it atop Ms. Sparkle’s head," he said.

Spike stepped past Princess Luna holding an empty red cushion out in front of him. The Element of Magic was still in Twilight’s rooms along with her dress. Celestia had a mischievous look on her face as she looked at the empty cushion. She took it with her magic and tapped Twilight’s crest with it. Twilight smiled, swallowing her laughter as she heard Cadence and Pinkie giggling.

“Hmm, yes. Quite,” the coordinator drawled, drawing daggers at the two pink ponies.

“Now, Your Majesty, you will step aside and Ms. Sparkle, you will take centre stage. You will then turn to face the congregation. Remember, big smiles from everyone.”

Twilight complied and the assembled ponies stood still, facing an imaginary crowd with smiles plastered across their features. Twilight imagined cheering and applause. She imagined confetti and streamers raining down from the rafters. She imagined the sound of bells ringing in jubilation. She imagined the look in her parents’ eyes, and her brother’s eyes. She imagined how proud they would be of her.

“And that’s a wrap. The hall will then be cleared and you will all step out on to the balcony while Ms. Sparkle addresses the crowd outside. For the sake of tradition, we won’t be rehearsing that part. I trust you already have an idea of what you’re going to say?” the coordinator asked Twilight, barely concealing the doubtful tone in his voice.

Twilight glanced around the room at Celestia, then Cadence and Luna and finally at Spike and her Ponyville friends. With certainty in her heart, she looked the stallion straight in the eyes and spoke with great conviction.

“I do.”

* * * * *

Twilight lay at the foot of her bed with a small blue book propped open against her pillow. In her haste to pack, it was in fact the only book she had brought with her from Ponyville. She was glad to have it all the same. It had been far too long since she had had a chance to just sit and read. Everything had been so up in the air over the past few weeks that she had forgotten all about little indulgences like these. Even now, she wasn't reading the book so much as flipping through it and staring at its pages. Occasionally she would read the odd passage but mostly she was content to have the inked paper in front of her.

Whatever the case, she had to do something to keep her mind off of the evening ahead which was destined to be filled with hours of tedious repetition. She looked up from her book and glanced at her crown lying on the dressing table in the corner of the room. This time tomorrow, she would be welcoming guests to her coronation gala as Princess Twilight Sparkle. How bizarre?

She looked back down at her book and spotted something she remembered.

The left wing should be fully extended and tilted backwards while the right wing should be marginally more relaxed and allowed to pitch slightly forwards. The air will catch the feathers on the underside of the right wing and slow down causing a banking curve to that side. Revert to position one to level off.

That was exactly what was supposed to happen. Though she couldn't help but laugh at a young Fluttershy's tiny annotation in the margin.

Don't panic when you right side drops or you'll fall.

That was what had actually happened. The first few times anyway. She was getting much better now. The margins of the notebook were littered with little observations like these. It amazed her just how often she and Fluttershy had encountered the same problems. Yet the pegasus’ notes provided just as much, if not more insight than the instructions themselves.

With one last glance at Fluttershy's looping hoofwriting, Twilight closed the book and stowed it under her pillow. She would come back to it later. The last light of the day was quickly failing and it wouldn't be long before everypony arrived to help her get ready for the rehearsal. She rolled off her bed and walked over to her dress where it lay, draped over a ponyquin in the corner.

She examined the material. It would be the first time anypony other than Rarity had seen her in her dress. What if they thought she looked ridiculous? Or worse yet, what if they thought she looked like a princess?

She didn’t want everypony to think she thought herself better than them because of some crown or some title. She wanted them to remember who she was; who she was supposed to be. Deep down, she was still the same Twilight Sparkle she had always been and she had to prove it.

She caught herself pacing and immediately stopped. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, attempting to rid herself of all of her tension as she released it. She knew what she was doing. Her speech would say everything she needed to say. Everything would be just fine.

A sudden rap at the door interrupted her thoughts. She gave her head a clearing shake and held her tail high as she went to answer it. However just as she grasped the handle with her magic, the door was thrown open, forcing her to take a few steps back to avoid being knocked flat on her back.

Seconds later, Pinkie Pie sprang across the threshold, bouncing excitedly over to Twilight's bed and quickly making herself at home. Applejack and Rainbow Dash followed close behind, laughing and joking with one-another about something Twilight couldn't quite make out. A few moments later, Fluttershy poked her head around the door and made her way gingerly across the room towards a small chair in front of Twilight's dressing table where she sat quietly, looking around the room.

Lastly, bringing up the rear, was Rarity who walked primly to the centre of the room carrying Spike upon her back and levitating a small parcel in the air in front of her.

They were all already dressed for the rehearsal, looking resplendent in their finery. Pinkie and Applejack wore dresses of blue with slightly lighter hems and adorned with bows of pink and red respectively. Rainbow wore teal with a gold border and trimmed with something resembling clouds. Rarity’s consisted of mauve and violet stripes which complimented her mane. Fluttershy’s dress was lime green with a slightly darker frill at the hem and a red ribbon tied around the waist.

The themed appeared to be feathered hats, though the style of hat and type of feather varied greatly. The exception to this was Fluttershy who wore a garland of red and white flowers around her crest instead. They looked magnificent: fit for any high class event in the kingdom.

“Come in,” Twilight said redundantly grinning at them as they chatted merrily amongst themselves. Pinkie's ear pricked up.

“We already are in, silly,” she laughed, clearly missing Twilight's meaning. Twilight shrugged and rolled her eyes.

“I know,” she said flatly.

Despite a busy morning and an equally busy evening ahead, everypony looked to be in high spirits. Even the usually subdued Fluttershy was enthusing effervescently over Pinkie Pie's dress. Twilight watched them all, beaming. They had brought with them an infectious air of optimism. Twilight felt suddenly invigorated, ready to take on the world. Tonight would be a good night. She could feel it.

With the confidence came a certain excitement which was only added to by the presence of the parcel, now standing by Rarity's hooves. Her surprise, she supposed: the one Rarity had spoken about back in Ponyville. Suddenly, she had to know.

“What's in the box, Rarity?” she asked.

“I can’t tell you that. You’ll find out later,” the unicorn answered with a mischievous sparkle in her eyes. “Right now, we must concern ourselves with getting you ready for this evening. This is a dry run for tomorrow and we need to decide what we're going to do with your mane.”

Twilight's ears drooped a little and she raised her eyebrows at Rarity, her curiosity unsatisfied. She dearly wanted to argue, but she didn’t get the chance. Before she could open her mouth in response, Pinkie Pie had leaned forward, looking as though she might burst.

“Aww, but you said we’d get to see once we got to Twilight’s room and we’re in Twilight’s room now, she even said so herself. So we should get to see, right? You promised,” she pleaded.

“I did not promise. I said ‘maybe’. Anyway, you will see. In a moment. First thing’s first,” Rarity insisted, hastily trotting to Twilight's side. She lifted Twilight’s mane and examined it as though inspiration might burst forth from its midst.

Eventually, after much humming and hawing and playing with hairs, Rarity seemed to have come to a decision and got to work. First came the dress: she had Twilight stand on her hind legs while she pulled the dress delicately over Twilight’s head. There were an abundance of ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ from the other ponies as Rarity fastened the dress at Twilight’s neck. The alicorn blushed, saying nothing.

Next, Rarity had Fluttershy vacate the seat in front of the dressing table so that she could begin work on Twilight’s mane. She didn’t seem to do very much; something for which Twilight was immensely grateful. She left Twilight’s fringe largely untouched, simply curling a small strand of it behind her left ear. Her tail, she left too. The only difference she seemed to have decided upon was to have the main drop of Twilight’s mane curl up across her back rather than forward around her chest. It was simple, but rather pretty, Twilight decided. She was happy with it like this.

At last, she lifted the Element of Magic from its resting place on the dressing table and placed it daintily upon her crest.

“There we are, all done. What do you think?” Rarity asked.

Twilight looked at herself in the mirror, but she didn’t know what to say. She looked… well, she looked wonderful. Of course she did. Rarity had a keen eye and a fantastic sense of style. Anything the unicorn did would have left her looking fantastic. Yet she also felt that she didn’t look like herself. The differences in her mane aside, she felt as though she was looking at somepony else entirely. It was surreal. You Her mouth worked, but still no words came. A tear began to form at the corner of her eye.

“You don’t like it?” Rarity pressed, her eyes wide with worry.

Twilight shook her her head.

“No, Rarity. I love it. It’s just… wow. You did an amazing job,” Twilight answered.

“Well, don’t leave us all in the dark, Twilight. Turn round so as we can see you. We ain’t been waiting here close to a half hour for nothin’,” Applejack laughed.

Twilight did as she was asked, turning to face all of her friends. There were gasps and shrieks of excitement. Spike simply looked on with his jaw hanging loosely. Twilight noticed Rarity blushing as they all complimented her efforts. Twilight felt her own cheeks growing warm too. She didn’t like being the centre of attention, but she was and it was for the right reasons.

Her eyes drifted from friend to friend, the warmth from her cheeks spreading to her heart. These were the best friends a pony could ask for. Her mind wandered back across the past few weeks and months and years spent with them. She thought about all of the adventures they had been on, all of the lessons they had learned and all of the fun they had had. She remembered their differences too, but what mattered now was that they were still here on this night, together.

As her thoughts strayed away, she caught sight of something she had almost forgotten and another broad smile pulled at her lips.

“So, what’s the surprise?” she asked Rarity, nodding towards the box the unicorn had brought with her.

“Ah, yes. Of course. It’s a gift. From the Princess. I wanted to wait until you were dressed to give you it. Celestia asked me to design them and then she had them commissioned from the best goldsmith in all of Canterlot. I hope you like them,” Rarity said handing Twilight the box.

A gift from the Princess? Designed by Rarity? Commissioned from a goldsmith? Twilight's hooves shook as she undid the ribbon. She wondered what could possibly be inside. Usually Celestia gave her gifts to help with her studies, but this promised to be something quite different.

When she lifted the lid, a glimmer of gold lit up her face and she gasped. Everypony gathered around looking into the box and voicing their own approval.

“Rarity, they’re beautiful! Thank you!” Twilight exclaimed, giving the unicorn a tight hug and lifting her gift carefully out of its box.

Four dazzling gold slippers now sat upon the floor in front of her. They were identical down to the last detail. Set into the front of each one was a six-pointed star in polished fuchsia, echoing her cutie mark. The shape of the arches at the front mimicked the shape of her crown. The design was impressive as was the workmanship. They were perfect.

“They’re made to go with your outfit. Go on, try them on,” Rarity suggested.

However, before Twilight had the chance to slip even one of them over her hooves, there came another loud knock at the door followed by a very brash, very rude stallion’s voice.

“Ms. Sparkle, if you’re quite ready, everypony is waiting on you. Could we please get this show on the road before it’s time for the real thing?” the voice drawled.

Twilight glared at the closed door. Him again. Could he not give anypony a moment’s peace?

“Okay, we’ll be right down,” Twilight answered tersely.

“Thank you,” the stallion said.

“You girls go on ahead, I’ll just put these on and catch up with you.”

Everypony left the room, slowly, leaving Twilight alone to finish getting ready. She placed one slipper on each hoof, admiring them as she did so. They were so perfect, so beautiful. Taking one last glance at herself in the mirror, and making one final adjustment to her tail, she trotted towards the door. Just as she grasped the handle with her magic, though, the door was thrown open in her face for the second time that night. This time, however, she wasn’t quite quick enough in stepping out of the way and somepony walked straight into her, knocking her to the floor.

“Oh, my goodness! I’m so sorry, Twilight. I didn’t mean to… I was just… I left my…” Fluttershy let out a small squeak and helped Twilight back to her hooves.

“That’s okay, Fluttershy. We were both in such a hurry. It’s nopony’s fault. What did you leave?” Twilight asked.

Fluttershy flew over to the dressing table, picking up the garland of flowers she had been wearing around her mane when she had arrived. She held it up, showing it to Twilight and smiling sheepishly. She flew back over, landing in front of Twilight and positioning the garland upon her head.

“How does it look?” she asked quietly.

“You look great,” Twilight answered, giving her a reassuring smile.

Fluttershy blushed and looked at the floor. Her eyes lit up when she spotted Twilight’s shoes.

“Wow, those are amazing. They really match your coat,” she said nodding at Twilight’s hooves and smiling demurely.

“Thank you, Fluttershy."

A short silence followed in which Fluttershy stared at Twilight's shoes and nopony moved a muscle. Eventually, Twilight came to her senses.

"So… Are we ready to go?” she asked.

Fluttershy didn’t answer. Instead, she continued to stand in front of Twilight, her teal eyes averted and her muzzle pointed timidly towards the floor. She repeatedly crossed and uncrossed her forelegs and gave her mane a few gentle flicks. For some reason, her behaviour was like that of somepony who was unspeakably nervous, yet that bashful smile remained on her face the entire time.

Twilight could make heads nor tails of it. A simple yes or know would have done. In the next instant however, the pegasus' entire demeanour changed. She took a quick breath and suddenly she was looking straight at Twilight. Her eyes were filled with an unfamiliar confidence. Her cheeks were flushed. Her smile was gone. Instead she wore an expression of the utmost severity.

Twilight stared bewilderedly into Fluttershy's eyes, trying to decipher what this sudden change of character meant. Before she had worked things out, however, she felt warm breath on her muzzle. Followed by a muzzle on her muzzle. Then by the thoroughly unexpected sensation of a set of lips landing softly against her own.

Twilight's eyes sprung open in alarm. Her heart beat so hard against her chest that she was certain the other pony must hear it. Her mind reeled as she tried in vain to make sense of it all. The problem was that it didn't make any sense. She had no idea what to do or how to react. This was just so sudden; so unexpected.

Seconds later, Fluttershy was stepping back, her eyes half lidded. The blissful, serene expression marking her features was completely at odds with what Twilight felt. Part of her wanted to scream and run away, part of her wanted to cry and part of her wanted to scold the pegasus for doing something so incredibly stupid. She did none of these things though. Instead she stood stock still with her mouth slightly agape and her eyes wide, breathing shallowly.

When Fluttershy's eyes finally slid open and she caught sight of Twilight, her reaction was horrifying. At first she blinked her eyes rapidly as though she couldn't believe what she was seeing but then the realisation seemed to dawn. Her shoulders dropped and her tail made its way between her hind legs. Her ears went limp and her eyes widened. Her legs began to shake. She looked distinctly ill. Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes and her mouth worked soundlessly.

Twilight watched all this happening without the slightest idea of how to prevent what she knew must come next. However, the instant it took for her to perceive the problem turned out to be too long. Silent tears began cascading down Fluttershy's cheeks.

“Fluttershy, what—” Twilight began, but she wasn’t allowed to finish.

“No. I… I have to go,” the pegasus said, finding her voice at last and cutting across Twilight's question. Even in interrupting, she still only managing to whisper the last few words and with that, she fled the room, galloping down the stairs.

The sound of her sobs echoed back up through the tower filling the air and stealing away its warmth. Twilight stood for a moment, unsure if whether she should go after her or not. Her friend was upset and she wouldn't usually hesitate but something told her this wasn't the time. Instead, she stormed over to her bed and threw herself upon the mattress.

Why had Fluttershy had to do that? What could possibly have led her to believe that it would be a good idea? She must have known that as likely as not, this would have been the result. If she was crying, it was her own stupid fault.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid!” Twilight screamed at the top of her lungs, raining down a salvo of punches on an unsuspecting pillow.

She turned over onto her back trying to sulk, but it was no use. Soon she was overcome by tears of her own. She tried desperately to get back to blaming Fluttershy for it all, but something kept telling her that this was her own fault.

Looking back on it, she didn’t know how she had missed the signs: all of those little blushes; the nervous glances; the discrete compliments. It had been so obvious. If she had been paying attention, she might have been able to prepare for this. If she hadn't been so caught up with her own concerns, she might even have been able to avoid it entirely.

However, once again her thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door and an urgent voice.

"Ms. Sparkle, we're waiting!" it said.

This did nothing to improve her mood. She picked up the pillow-cum-punching-bag with her magic and threw it at the ponyquin in the corner, knocking it to the ground.

"I'm coming!" she screamed, wiping her eyes with her hooves and getting to her feet.

Without another look at the room, she kicked the material of her dress out behind her before storming across the room and out of the door past a rather frightened looking white stallion and his clipboard.

Tonight would be a long night. She could feel it.

Chapter Five

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Chapter Five

Twilight could hear tentative hoofsteps behind her own as she cantered briskly down the stairs of her tower. In her mind’s eye, the contrasting volumes of the two sets of clops conjured up the image of a mouse chasing a cat. The stallion on Twilight’s tail seemed determined to keep up with her yet too frightened to pass, lest she catch sight of him and snap again. She felt a certain satisfaction and power in knowing she was responsible for him behaving like this. She smiled malevolently to herself as she continued her descent of the stairs.

It served him right. He had been hurrying and harrying her all day. His constant picking and criticism had left her feeling very small indeed. Well, now it was his turn. He could feel small. He could feel scared. He could feel stupid.

Twilight lifted her head, feeling triumphant. At last, somepony could feel just a fraction of what she had felt for the weeks and weeks leading up to today. It was only fair. Twilight sped up slightly, feeling very assured; very confident; very pleased with herself. It was good to know that somepony else could experience what she had. It was something of a relief.

Just as this feeling began to settle in, Twilight felt something tugging at her left front hoof and she was thrown off balance. In her haste, she had caught her hoof in a fold on her dress. She tried to frantically to find something solid to grab a hold of but it was already far too late. Her nose had been so high in the air as she had cantered proudly that she had no time to react and she began cascading head over hoof down the remaining steps.

She landed at the bottom with a thud and a small whimper before being struck on the back of the head by her crown which had obviously come off as she tumbled. Her dress lay splayed out around her and a small clang echoed around the tower as the Element fell to the floor. There was a few seconds of silence which seemed to taunt her for being so careless. This was followed by the sound of hooves galloping down the stairs towards her. A frightened voice cried out to her.

“Princess?! Are you alright?!”

The white stallion bounded in to view. His eyes were filled with concern as he approached her, extending a hoof to help her stand. Twilight’s face burned with embarrassment. She looked at the stallion for a few moments before turning her head towards the ground. She chose to remain lying where she was not out of anger, nor spite, nor even pride. She refused the proffered hoof out of shame.

“Yes,” she said quietly to the her own hooves, tears welling up in her eyes. “Yes, I’m fine. Just leave me alone. I’ll catch up to you in a moment. Please, just leave me alone.”

She watched the stallions hooves as he faltered. He stepped towards her briefly seemingly unsure of what he should do. After a couple of seconds, though, he had obviously decided that he had better heed Twilight’s words and his white legs left her sight and his hoofsteps receded down the corridor which led towards the throne room where the practice was to take place.

Twilight snatched at the material of her dress, pulling it towards herself and sat up, allowing its folds to pool around her forelegs. She felt almost as bad at that moment as she had when Shining Armour had uninvited her to his wedding. How could she have allowed herself to get so angry? How could she have felt any sort of pleasure in making somepony feel so horrible about themselves? What kind of pony did that? What kind of princess did that? She lifted her hooves up to her face, almost expecting to see the claws of a monster. She wasn't herself. This wasn't her. She would fix this.

Suddenly, finding Fluttershy became the most important thing in the world. Picking herself up off the ground, Twilight hurried into the corridor. Part of her hoped that she might not be too late to see where she had run off to – a silly notion given how many minutes had passed since the pegasus’ departure. There was no sign of her, nor any lingering echo of her tearful flight. Just the austere silence of the castles corridors, devoid of life.

Twilight felt panicked and terribly alone. She didn't know what she should say. She didn't know what she should do. All she knew was that she had to find Fluttershy and attempt to make things right. Whether what had happened had been the pegasus' fault or not, she was a friend and she deserved her friends to be there for her.

A friend who kisses you completely out of the blue? On the eve of the biggest day of your life? With no consideration for how it might make you feel? Or whether you wanted her to or not? What kind of friend does a thing like that?

These thoughts made Twilight shudder. She pushed them from her mind. They weren't important. Now was not the time to be questioning Fluttershy's character. She had, after all, never been anything but kind and helpful with Twilight. She was anything but inconsiderate. She must have had her reasons for doing what she did, even if they didn't make any sense.

Twilight shook herself mentally and began trying to fathom out where Fluttershy might go under these circumstances. Surely she wouldn't go straight to the hall. Would she? She would want to be alone, like Twilight. She wouldn't want anypony asking her any uncomfortable questions. She would go to her room. Twilight took off in that direction hoping she was right.

When she arrived, she found the door closed. There was no sound coming from within, but that didn't mean anything. Fluttershy was a very quiet pony after all. Twilight hesitated briefly, composing herself before pushing the door open. The lights were out and the room was still. Her shoulders slumped. She had been so sure that this was where Fluttershy would go. Now she was at a complete loss.

She walked over to a large window which overlooked the castle gardens. That was a possibility. She would like to be around the animals. But it was already dark. Perhaps not. There were too many solitary places in the castle. There was the library, any of the studies, her bedroom, the other ponies' bedrooms, the gardens. The dining room would probably be empty by now. In fact there were so many places to look that she couldn't do it alone.

If she wasn't in the throne room with everypony else maybe Twilight could persuade the others to help her search, though that might lead to some awkward questions. Still, it was the only plan she had so she decided to go with it.

Time seemed to speed up in an attempt to spite her for her apprehension. She dreaded her arrival. What would everypony think if she told them what had happened? What would her friends say? What would Celestia say? The doors loomed large in front of her as she imagined what lay in wait beyond their imposing forms. She approached one of them and pushed it open with her magic, taking a deep breath as she backed cautiously into the room. She closed the door behind her and swallowed a large ball of nerves that had worked its way into her throat.

“She’s here!” Pinkie’s excited voice carried over the general hubbub.

Twilight turned around in alarm, stirred by the sudden ruckus. She hadn’t noticed quite how quiet the corridors had been until that moment. As soon as she turned around, she was surrounded by her friends, all of whom greeted her as though they hadn’t seen her in weeks despite the fact that they had seen her only a short while ago.

“We thought you had gotten lost. What took you?” Rainbow laughed.

“I… um… I… I fell down the stairs and it jarred me a little,” Twilight answered, looking away from Rainbow and blushing.

“Oh my. Is everything okay? We knew there must have been something. Fluttershy said that you were fixing your shoes when she left, but that was nearly twenty-five minutes ago!” Rarity looked Twilight up and down as she spoke.

“Fluttershy’s here?” Twilight asked with a little more urgency than she ought to have. Her muscles stiffened and her eyes darted around the semicircle of ponies.

Pinkie Pie was bouncing on the spot, her dress billowing out around her with every descent. Rainbow was standing with her front legs crossed, watching Pinkie and Applejack was laughing at Rarity, who had begun walking around Twilight to checking her dress for tears and scuffs. There was no hint of yellow. No teal eyes poking out from behind somepony's back.

“Well, of course she’s here, darlin'. In fact she's right over there talking to the Princess.” Applejack pointed towards the front of the hall. “Has been ever since she got here.”

Twilight craned her neck to see over the gathered ponies; her eagerness to see the other mare consumed her. Sure enough, Fluttershy stood just a few yards away. Ostensibly, she was locked in a deep conversation with Princess Celestia but something about her manner told Twilight that all was not as it seemed.

For one thing, she hadn't greeted Twilight when she had entered the room. In fact, it wasn't entirely clear if she even realised that Twilight had arrived. For another, she conversed with the type of single-minded determination designed to create the illusion of preoccupation. Her ruse was working a little too well, perhaps. Twilight got the distinct impression that, should the walls have crumbled at that very moment, Fluttershy would have carried on regardless.

"They look–" Twilight paused, continuing to watch the two ponies with interest while carefully choosing her next words. "Very involved. Any idea what they're talking about?"

Applejack looked over her shoulder, then back at Twilight. "Nope. You wanna find out?"

"No!" Twilight yelped, her eyes growing wide. "I mean, well, it looks a little private, don't you think? I wouldn't want to interrupt them."

Applejack raised her eyebrows and shrugged her shoulders. "If you say so."

"It looks like we got lucky. Not so much as a pulled thread," Rarity said popping up in front of Twilight. "Interrupt whom?"

She turned to face Twilight, who immediately forced herself to look away from Fluttershy and Celestia, turning her gaze upon Luna instead. Rarity put her head next to Twilight’s in an attempt to ascertain where she had been looking. A moment later, she withdrew her head.

“Oh, I see,” she intoned.

Rarity could be a very subtle pony, when she wasn’t concerned with some huge catastrophe or working herself in to a frenzy over an unfilled order. She often noticed subtle changes in a pony’s mood and had subtle ways of eliciting information about said changes. She understood ponies in a way that Twilight couldn’t.

And right now the pony Twilight couldn't understand was Rarity herself.

“What? What do you see?” Twilight asked. A note of incredulity framed her question. There was no way Rarity could see anything. Twilight fixed her with a gaze that could almost be described as a glare and raised her eyebrow challengingly.

Rarity blinked, her eyes vacant, staring into the middle distance. She didn’t reply. She didn’t even acknowledge the question. She betrayed nothing about what she might be thinking.

“What?” Twilight insisted, growing increasingly worried.

“Yeah, what?!” Pinkie squeaked loudly, bouncing in between Rarity and the distance. Rarity shook her head vigorously, the pupils of her eyes moving in time with Pinkie’s bouncing. Twilight looked nervously towards Fluttershy, fearing that she might be disturbed by this sudden, loud noise and work out what he was being spoken about.

It was in that instant that their eyes met.

It was only a short moment, but it felt like an eternity. The moment she noticed that Twilight was looking back, Fluttershy dropped her head and hid behind her fringe. Twilight felt her heart wrench. She didn’t want this to be awkward. It was already bad enough that one of her best friends felt too uncomfortable to talk to her. Put on the spot and unsure of what to do, she raised her hoof and gave a small, hesitant wave. Fluttershy blushed and waved back, blowing her fringe out of her eye and smiling sheepishly. Their gaze lingered for a few more moments before Fluttershy turned back to Celestia.

Twilight continued to watch her for a second or two, wishing she would look back. She didn’t. When Twilight eventually turned away, she saw a look being shared between Applejack and Rarity. They both had broad smirks which they attempted to hide the moment they noticed Twilight looking. Twilight shook her head at them, her brow furrowed.

“Don’t you worry, Twilight. I’m sure she’ll come around,” Applejack said, sincerely. Rarity nudged her roughly, narrowing her eyes and pursing her lips. Applejack nudged her back and furrowed her brow. “What? You said—”

Rarity cleared her throat loudly. “Yes, Applejack. I remember what I said. There’s no need to be so forward about it.”

Twilight’s eyes bulged as she realised what they were talking about. A noise somewhere between a squeal and cough escaped her throat. “What? No, wait. She… I—”

“Okay, ponies! Now that we’re all here, let’s get this show on the road. And might I add how fabulous you all look.” The organiser pony walked into the middle of the room, levitating a clipboard in front of him. The room descended into silence and Twilight’s protest was cut short.
“Places, everypony!”

A host of dignitaries made their way to the front row of seats. Musicians began tuning their instruments. The vocalists started singing exercises and there was a flurry of movement, during which Twilight was swept towards the back of the hall.

The next time she was able to focus her eyes on anything, Twilight attempted to find Rarity amongst the crowd. When she did, she saw that the unicorn was walking along next to Fluttershy, whispering something in the pegasus’ ear. Twilight’s stomach turned. If Rarity was telling Fluttershy what she thought she was telling her… she shuddered.

This couldn’t possibly get any worse.

* * * * *

Twilight lay flat on her back with her wings and limbs splayed out around her, still trying to work out whether or not this was a comfortable position. The room was bathed in moonlight and the only sound was the distinctive drone a baby dragon humming in his sleep. Twilight thought about the evening’s events as she stared at the ceiling.

As it turned out, things hadn’t gone quite as badly as she had imagined. The rehearsal itself had gone swimmingly. More so, in fact, than anypony could possibly have hoped. Nopony had been reprimanded for anything. There had been a few do-overs for certain part – the actual crowning being one of them – but the vast majority of it had progressed exactly as it would the next morning.

The success of the run-through had led to Twilight’s apprehension giving way to a mildly unwelcome sense of anticipation. Well, perhaps not anticipation so much as an eagerness to get it all over and done with which, she supposed, was much the same when it came down to it.

As much as she still had her doubts about life after the coronation, the event itself no longer felt like one big opportunity to make a fool of herself. It now felt like a duty; an event being held solely for the purpose of announcing something that everypony already knew; the kind of frivolous tradition that these occasions always seemed to demand. For that reason, it had begun to feel rather ridiculous and singularly unintimidating.

The only hurdle she still had to overcome in her mind was the thought of giving a speech to the thousands of ponies who had come to Canterlot, probably for the sole purpose of hearing her give that speech. She still felt reassured by the presence of her friends, but the main thing that had given her the confidence to stand up and deliver the address felt a little diminished.

Fluttershy hadn’t revoked her promise to stand in for Twilight should she falter during her speech. However, she hadn’t reaffirmed it either. Twilight doubted whether she would feel quite as kind after what had happened between them and with that doubt, all of her doubts came flooding back.

It wasn’t that she thought that Fluttershy wouldn’t still consider her a friend. It wasn’t that she didn’t consider Fluttershy a friend. It was just that she knew that she felt a little awkward around the her now. Even during the swift goodnight she had exchanged with her five pony friends, she hadn’t been able to look the pegasus in the eye. What if Fluttershy felt the same? Would she still feel like backing Twilight up? Would she still feel like doing something which terrified her to save her friend’s blushes?

No. She would probably feel as though she had put herself through enough on Twilight’s account.

Twilight twisted around again, coiling the bed sheets around her having finally found a position that, while not comfortable, was also not uncomfortable. She lay there, trying to push these thoughts from her mind, instead focusing on her breath in an attempt to relax. After all, she had a big day ahead of her.

Chapter Six

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Chapter Six

Shafts of bright sunlight shone through dozens of stained glass windows and created an array of colourful patterns on the ground. These patterns appeared to shimmer and dance as though they were a mirage given life by the muggy warmth of the room. Twilight felt rather faint, not only due to the heat but also the heady mix of terror and excitement which hovered around her, invisible but inescapable.

She listened carefully, trying to hear past the thrum of blood rushing through her ears. Celestia was speaking. It was only moments away now. Weeks of waiting; of preparation; of worry, nerves and latterly, anticipation were going to reach their culmination in just a few brief moments.

Twilight started breathing very heavily, trying to keep herself conscious for at least another five minutes. Everything looked so very blurry. Unusually so. It was as though the whole world were out of focus. Then she realised that this was because she wasn't focussing her eyes. She blinked a few times trying to bring the world back into sharp relief, to no avail. Nothing could help. She considered closing her eyes but that seemed likely to make the fainting problem worse, so she decided instead to stare front and centre.

Celestia had been speaking for quite a while now. Or perhaps it had only been moments. Like everything else, that fact wasn't entirely clear. Everything seemed so far away; so distant. She wasn't sure whether her cue was coming up or not. She hadn't been paying attention. Or rather she hadn't been able to pay attention. She looked at the mare to her left and attempted to catch her eyes. Somepony had to know where they were and what they were doing. When the mare finally noticed Twilight looking at her, she merely cocked her head and turned back to face the doors.

So much for that then.

Twilight focused every ounce of concentration she could muster on the murmur coming from the hall. Celestia's voice was so much quieter today than it had been during any of the rehearsals. Why didn't she speak louder?

Suddenly, without warning, the doors sprung open. Twilight panicked, forcing her wings from her side and hurriedly trotted to get back in front of her party.

At last, the hall came into view, though it too seemed out of focus. Twilight blinked another few times. A hundred or so ponies stood, in haphazard rows creating between them a central aisle down which she began to walk. The chorus being sung by her entourage masked the sounds of a few surreptitious coughs and the low murmur of conversation as the gathered ponies clamoured to compliment the new princess' appearance. Twilight looked at them craning their necks and standing on their hind legs in an attempt to get a glimpse of her royal procession. She didn't recognise a single one. Though all of their faces were – like everything else – completely out of focus.

She turned to face the front again, her heart still being through her chest. This walk was taking an eternity. She couldn't remember it having taken so long before. She stared at the dais upon which the three princesses stood along with Spike and her five Ponyville friends. It seemed so far away. She pleaded with it in her mind, beseeching it to come closer quicker.

Sweat began pouring down her brow from the exertion of keeping herself conscious. She looked at each of her friends in turn as she approached. They all gave her little nods of encouragement or smiles or winks. All except Fluttershy, whose gaze was somewhat indifferent, though pleasantly so. It was serene, in a pretty kind of way. Twilight was transfixed. So much so that she almost tripped as she stepped up onto the dais.

She blushed a little as she stood before Celestia. Her former mentor gave her the subtlest of nods before her horn was surrounded by a magic aura which she cast upon the crown Spike held out on a pillow. The crown floated high in the air, shimmering as Celetia presented it to the crowd. Then, in a moment that stretched out beyond the usual boundaries of time, she planted it on Twilight's brow. The hall erupted in applause causing Twilight to grin sheepishly. She turned to face the crowd, taking in their jubilation.

Confetti and streamers rained down from the ceiling. Ponies stomped their hooves in approval. She saw her mother and father beaming at her. Her brother appeared to have a tear in his eye. She waved to the crowd, suddenly on auto-pilot. All she could think was, it's over, it's finally over. She looked over her shoulder at Cadence, who gave her a discrete wave and lastly her glance fell upon Luna who looked surprised.

Surprised?!

Surely not. They had all been preparing for this for weeks. She shook herself mentally and looked away. It must have been a trick of the light. She looked back and, sure enough, Luna was applauding too. She looked quite as jovial as the rest of the audience, if not more so. Twilight smiled at the princess, who smiled back.

When she returned her gaze to the hall, the assembled ponies had begun to file out the doors. Some remained, however, watching on as the new princess allowed herself to relax. Everything seemed to fly past so quickly at that point, in stark contrast to how it had almost ground to a halt before and during the ceremony. Within what felt like seconds of the ceremony ending, she was being ushered out onto a balcony. This balcony overlooked the castle grounds and beyond, over all of Canterlot and thence, Equestria. Further confetti and streamers fell from above, being dropped in vast quantities by a team of pegasus guards.

Twilight approached the edge, flanked by Celestia and Luna. When she looked past the balustrades, the sight she saw humbled her: a crowd, thousands strong at least, packed every last foot of available space as far as the eye could see. Each one of them gave out a huge cheer as she stepped forward. The sound of it was deafening, even from a distance. Twilight looked away from them all, her face burning. She turned back, raising her hoof and gently waving at them.

After a few moments, she turned to head back indoors, but a hoof on her shoulder stopped her and a warm voice filled her ear. “Say something, princess.”

“Oh right, the speech.” Twilight cleared her throat and raised her hoof, calling for silence. A hush fell. It was by no means complete, but it was quiet enough that she felt she could make herself heard over it.

“I…” she began, but regardless of how often had thought about this moment and thoroughly she had prepared for it, her mind was blank. Her speech didn't even begin with the word 'I'. She cleared her throat once more in an attempt to cover for her false start and began again.

“It's been some time since… I mean, some time ago I went to… That is to say Princess Celestia sent me to… To Ponyville so that I could… I could… Learn about! Learn about the… The…”

She faltered to a stop. Why can't I remember this? She watched as the crowd began to mutter and shuffle around as they nudged one another. There were a few nervous laughs. Cue cards! If only I'd made cue cards! She could feel her chest tightening. Even if she did remember her speech, her mouth was now so dry that it surely wouldn’t help.

She looked back into the hall which now took on the appearance of sanctuary, rather than the dragon's den it had felt like earlier. In the doorway, peering out at her were six familiar faces, yet the looks on their faces were a true indication of the gravity of the situation. Spike bit his lip, Rarity wouldn't meet her eyes, Rainbow looked crestfallen. Applejack's mouth hung agape, her eyes were round as plates. Pinkie didn't move a muscle, just stared blankly at her. Fluttershy looked close to tears. She bit her hooves frantically.

Twilight caught her eyes, imploring her to come out and help her but the pegasus just shook her head almost as frantically as she had been biting her hooves. Twilight bristled. You promised! she thought vehemently at the her friend, her eyes filled with fire. Fluttershy looked down at the ground, cowed and stepped away from the doorway.

You promised. Twilight's shoulders dropped and tears began to well up in her eyes. All of the faces had now disappeared from the doorway and, even with Celestia and Luna by her side, she felt alone. She turned despondently back to the crowd, her tail hanging limply between her hind legs and her ears pressed flat against her head. When she raised her eyes, what she saw was horrible. Frightening.

Where the jubilant crowd had been seconds ago, there was now an angry mob baying for her blood. Their dissenting voices told Twilight just what they thought of their useless new princess. Their faces were split between anger and stunned disbelief. Twilight panicked. She had never, even in her darkest moments, imagined that this might happen. In her panic, she decided to make a quick exit. She would fly away and hide somewhere and never show her face in Equestria again.

She spread her wings and looked skyward. She prepared to take off, but the moment she bent her knees to jump, the heavens – which the pegasi of Cloudsdale had ensured would be beautifully sunny for the occasion – began to close over. The sun was obscured completely and the clouds were a horrible, fiery shade of orange. What kind of magic was this? Twilight shook her head, unwilling to believe what was happening. A freezing gale blew across the balcony, making her shiver involuntarily.

That was it. There was no escape. She was trapped. She sank to her knees. A number of long sobs escaped her throat. She covered her face with her wings letting her tears be absorbed by their feathers. The sound of the angry ponies left her feeling hollow. The hotel of the wind became louder and louder. This was worse than anything she had ever feared. Why hasn't Fluttershy helped her? Why hadn't Celestia stepped in to calm the crowd down? Where had her friends gone?

She couldn't understand what had gone wrong, why her mind had gone blank, why nopony had come to her assistance. She lay curled up in a ball on the balcony, shaking and shuddering, overwhelmed by the most excruciating and paralysing fear she had ever experienced. She felt like her entire world was about to collapse.

Just as she began to wish for that; to wish for the world to take her; to wish for her own demise, a loud, booming voice rose up above the cries of the wind and the derisive shouts of the crowd.

“ENOUGH!”

It was a voice Twilight hadn't heard in a long time, but at that moment she was more grateful to hear that voice than any other. It echoed into the distance, the single word repeating again and again until it faded to nothing. There was complete silence. Even the wind had taken heed. As far as Twilight could tell without her eyes to assist her, nothing moved, nothing spoke and nothing breathed apart from her.

At last, she looked up, still afraid of what she might see. When she opened her eyes, she was stunned. She observed the world, confusion taking over from fear. She crawled to the edge of the balcony and looked over the edge. There was no crowd of ponies, no breath of wind. The sky was now black, though there were no stars. Just a huge, full moon. The biggest she had ever seen. She rolled onto her back. She was alone on the balcony, or she would have been except for one other pony.

“Princess Luna! What did you do? Where did everypony go? What's going on?” Twilight sputtered.

Luna looked at her kindly, offering her a hoof to help her to her feet. Twilight took it gratefully.

“Perhaps it is I who should be the asking you those questions.” Luna said cryptically, looking around at their surroundings. “This is your dream, after all.”

“My dream? No, that can't be…” Twilight mused, her brow furrowed. “It was exactly like the rehearsals. Everything was just as I expected it to be.”

Luna kicked one of the balustrades lightly and walked over to smell some flowers which hung from a trellis by the door. She closed her eyes and smiled. When she opened them again, she looked Twilight in the eyes.

“It is remarkably detailed, I’ll admit, but imagined nonetheless. How often are things exactly as you expect them to be? Or as concise? Consider this: do you remember waking up? Dressing? What you ate for breakfast? Do you remember how you came to be at the ceremony? Who you spoke to? What they said?”

Twilight stared blankly at the princess. She did as she was bidden, thinking back over the events of the day and sure enough, she couldn't remember anything before the ceremony itself. It was beginning to sound plausible. Except… “Then what are you doing here? Or are you here? Are you just part of my imagination? Am I still dreaming this?”

Luna looked thoughtfully up at the moon.

“I am here. You can see me, can you not? As for what I'm doing here, it is my duty as Princess of the Night to go where I am needed. That often requires me to enter other pony's dreams. So, here I am. I cannot say that I'm sure whether or not this is a dream. I suppose that depends on how you define a ‘dream’. You are still asleep. Yet you will remember our conversation, as will I.”

Twilight looked up at the moon too, trying to make sense of what Luna was saying. To her, this felt very real. But then so had everything which preceded it.

“I'm still not sure I understand,” she spoke softly. “How did you know to come to me? How did you know where to find me? How did you even get here in the first place?”

At the same moment, they turned towards one another. Luna cocked her head and gave Twilight a condescending smile of the type Celestia would often give her. It meant she was asking too many questions. Or rather that she was asking questions which were too deep. It was a reaction she knew all too well and she knew that she wasn't going to get an answer. At least, not the one she wanted.

“That is not what is important right now. What is important is what we have witnessed here this evening. Tell me, what troubles you?” Luna asked, kindly.

“Is it not obvious?” Twilight asked, her frustration at the lack of an answer adding an unintentional barb to her tone.

Luna's features hardened, though her demeanour was no less friendly. Her eyes searched Twilight’s as though an answer might spring forth from therein.

“The apparitions of our minds are not always what they seem, Twilight Sparkle. Forgive me for asking. I am only trying to help.” Her voice was gentle and warm, far removed from the echoing bellow which had dispelled the nightmare. There was something calming about it too.

“I know, I’m sorry. It’s just…”

Twilight held the princess’ gaze, uncertain about what she should say or, in fact, if she should say anything at all. Not that she didn’t want any help. Quite the opposite. Yet her thoughts were hazy. She had felt out of sorts for such a long time that pinpointing any one particular thing as the cause was incredibly difficult. Yet something was definitely wrong. Something big.

Luna continued to stare into her eyes as she chased errant thoughts around her mind. There were a few obvious things which leapt out at her immediately. Her concerns about the coronation for example, or what she might have to do in the aftermath. Yet she felt as though she had gotten past the worst of these fears. She felt ready for the challenges ahead, if she could ever describe herself as being ready for something so monumentally life-changing. Somehow, this didn’t feel like it was problem any more.

Twilight continued to lunge around in the fog of her mind, searching everywhere for the answer, but it would not present itself. She thought about her friends and how her relationships with them might change. Yet that wasn’t right either. They had all shown Twilight their unwavering support through every aspect of this, whether it were Rainbow’s flying lessons, Rarity’s pep talk or Applejack’s reassuring stories. Nothing had changed between them. Not one bit.

Luna blinked for the first time in what seemed like an age, causing Twilight to focus on her eyes. She had never really looked at Luna’s eyes. Now that she did though, there was something familiar about them: the shape of their irises, their colour, the quiet kindness which, at that moment, seemed to spill from their depths.

They were just like Fluttershy’s.

In an instant, she knew what the problem was. Or perhaps not what it was but rather, from whence it stemmed. In her mind’s eye, she relived the encounter with Fluttershy, from the moment the pegasus had started acting strangely right up until her tearful departure.

“Yes?” Luna prompted her.

“Fluttershy kissed me,” she blurted out.

Almost immediately, she wished she could suck the words back into her mouth. Her cheeks burned and she looked resolutely at the ground. She surreptitiously stole a glance toward Luna then averted her eyes once more. The princess stared blankly into the distance, apparently lost in thought. That probably hadn’t been what she was expecting, Twilight supposed.

“I see,” Luna mused. “And you are upset by this?”

“Yes! Well, no. Not really. I mean I can’t believe she would, you know, at such an important time and everything... I’m really not… I’m not upset at her or anything… because it was… I mean I’m sure she had her reasons… I don’t, um…”

Twilight’s thoughts all ran into one another, clashing and fighting until her mind became a pitched battle between them. Her articulation of it was no better. She started breathing heavily. She couldn’t talk about this. She had to get away. Silently, she urged her real life self to wake up so that the conversation would be over.

No such luck.

“Do you wish that she would do it again?” Luna asked. Twilight’s head shot up, startled by the abruptness and straightforwardness of her question.

“Of course not!” she protested. “Why would you even ask such a thing?”

Yet even the conviction with which she spoke these words didn’t convince her mind to stop arguing. Surely, she told herself, her reaction had been enough to confirm that she hadn’t wanted it, nor would she like it to happen again. Even if Luna didn’t know what her reaction had been, it was enough to assure herself that her words were true.

But it wasn’t all that bad, her mind shouted her down, you were just caught by surprise. Do you not wonder how it might have been if you weren’t so busy thinking about other things?

Luna looked at her questioningly, a small smile pulling at her lips.

“No!” Twilight screamed, half at the princess and half at her own mind. She didn’t need this. She didn’t want to have this conversation. She didn’t even want to think about it any more. She searched the balcony frantically for a way out, her eyes flitting here and there until at last she had her solution.

Gathering all her resolve, she charged straight at Luna, who stood directly in front of the balustrades. The princess’ eyes opened wide in surprise. Twilight only increased her pace. At the last possible second, Luna stepped aside, and Twilight launched herself from the balcony. She fought the urge to spread her wings forcing them steadfastly against her haunches and she began to fall.

Please let this work, she prayed as the ground came speeding towards her. Her heart beat thundered in her ears as she fell, faster and faster. She screwed her eyes shut, bracing herself for the impact. Just as she thought she must hit the ground however, the world went black.

The next thing she knew, she found herself jumping off of the mattress of her bed at Canterlot Castle, breathing heavily and holding her hoof across her chest as her heart fought to escape. She looked around the room, terrified, half expecting to see Princess Luna standing in a corner, waiting to tell her how stupid she had been. She scrambled out of bed, checking every closet and every last hiding place she could think of until she was satisfied that she was, in fact, awake.

Yet even her arrival at this conclusion didn’t serve to calm her down. Her mind now had other things to dwell of. Just as Luna had promised, she could very distinctly remember the conversation they had been having. It was all that she could think of. She used her magic to turn on the lights. She would read. That would take her mind off of things. She sprang back onto her bed, reaching out with her magic for the first book it could find. When she felt she had a hold of one, she flicked through its pages, stopping randomly somewhere in the middle and brought it in front of her.

“Ah!” she screamed, as she read the first hoof-written sentence.

Typically, she had picked up the book closest to her and of course that had had to be a little blue bound notebook from the very pony she was trying not to think about. She threw it away and curled herself into a ball on top of her duvet, shivering lightly and muttering incoherent words to herself that even she couldn’t understand.

“Ouch!” came a yelp from the other side of the room. “Hey, what's the big idea? Throwing books around when some of us are trying to… Twilight? Are you okay?”

Twilight felt Spike climbing on to the bed and then a claw resting on her shoulder. She didn’t move, just continued to lie in her safe little cocoon, shivering and muttering.

“What’s wrong, Twilight? Why did you throw Fluttershy’s book at me? Why are you curled up like that? Why are you shaking? Are you sick?” Spike asked feverishly, the worry in his voice becoming more and more pronounced with each question.

Twilight shrugged the dragon’s claw off of her shoulder and sat up sharply. Something had snapped within her. Something she didn’t even know had been there to begin with. She stood up on the bed and felt her wings spread, unbidden.

“I’m fine! Why does everypony feel like they have to pry? They’re my problems! I’ll deal with them myself! I don’t need any help! Just leave me alone!” she yelled, springing from the bed and pacing as she spoke.

“What? What are you talking about? You just looked unwell,” Spike said, scratching his head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it. I can leave you alone if you want.”

Twilight deflated. “No, Spike, that won’t be necessary. I’ll go.”

With that, she turned and fled the room, bursting through the doors to the balcony. She galloped right to the very edge before stopping to look up at the moon and the stars. She needed to be alone, she needed time to think and she wouldn’t get that in this place. She stepped back from the edge, concentrating as hard as she could. After a brief pause, she galloped full tilt towards the drop and threw herself into the air, spreading her wings wide. The air caught under the tips of their feathers and she soared into the night sky.

Chapter Seven

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Chapter Seven

The cold night air whipped mercilessly against Twilight’s face as she flew into its inhospitable depths. She welcomed the icy touch. Uncomfortable though it was, it left her feeling invigorated, alive and absolutely certain that she was awake. Despite the claustrophobic darkness and the freezing wind, the open expanses surrounding her afforded her a very real sense of freedom.

She was no longer reigned in by paths or walls. Her mind – which usually buzzed with a million thoughts and tidbits of information – felt light, suddenly liberated from the weight of her concerns as though they had been bound to her by the same obstructions as her physical body. She felt relieved that at last, she could go wherever she pleased on whatever whim struck her.

As she glanced beneath her, she saw the castle grounds sweeping past, barely visible through the darkness. Looking back towards where she thought she might be going, she could make out battlements approaching. The nearer she drew to them, the louder she head Celestia’s warning her that she ought not to leave the castle grounds. The exhortation rang ominously in her mind. The princess had never given Twilight any bad advice; not once.

Yet her newfound freedom and the desperation with which she sought out escape from her troubles overruled the nagging apprehension she felt as she prepared to defy her mentor. She could go wherever she pleased.

As she crossed the boundary walls and entered the city of Canterlot, she prayed that any guards posted at the perimeter would not notice her passage. She hoped they might be more concerned with the possibility of nefarious ponies attempting to gain entry to the grounds rather than somepony attempting to leave them. She heard no shouts emanate from the walls, no call to arms, no command to halt.

What did she have to be worried about anyway? This was her town. Its people were her people. She had grown up there; she had lived for her entire life there. Nothing was any different from how it had been then. She scanned the streets as they passed below, seeing their familiar forms flowing around the capital, winding and crossing one another with no logical order. She remembered how she used to trot along them when she was a filly, always rushing to be on time for some lesson or other. Or how she and her brother used to watch the clouds as they meandered along their length.

Just as she had this thought, she saw a light blue mare looking up at the sky. She didn’t appear to notice Twilight at first, but seconds later she was rubbing her eyes in disbelief. Within moments, she had galloped away and returned with a pale yellow stallion, pointing at Twilight excitedly. Twilight looked away from the pair. She had expected the city to be asleep. In an instant, her freedom was gone. It seemed that she could go nowhere without somepony knowing she was there.

She flew gradually lower, deciding that she should get out of the sky in order to avoid prying eyes. After a short descent, she felt the cobbled path of Whinny Way brushing against her hooves. She stumbled a little as she made her landing, but recovered in enough time to prevent herself from falling over. The hard stones of the street felt harsh against her hooves.

Twilight examined her surroundings. She stood in an avenue between two rows of terraced townhouses which towered above her head. Each one was built out of solid, white stone and accented in various shades of purple. The windows were framed in brass, though not one of them had a light shining through it. The owners were probably asleep, just like Twilight ought to have been. Only she couldn’t have slept, even if she had tried. She shuddered in the breeze and decided she had better start moving.

The gentle clicking of her footfalls echoed loudly in the silence. She had seldom been out this late before and she began to realise that she had been terribly unlucky to have been spotted flying over the city at all. She must have flown past the only ponies in the kingdom who were still awake. No matter how many dwellings she looked at, she couldn’t find a single one which emitted the flickering glow of candlelight.

She progressed along her makeshift route, now paying more attention to the streets themselves than the houses. The decorations she had noticed while looking at the city from the castle a few days earlier were even more overwhelming close up than they had been from a distance. Banners adorned with her cutie mark hung from every lamp post she passed. The flowers of every blooming plant in the town had been turned lilac or cerise or midnight blue. Everything was designed to remind the ponies viewing them of the upcoming coronation and it was certainly having its desired effect on Twilight. Her thoughts began to bombard her once more, making up for lost time. However she was reminded not only of an event to come, but also of one which had already passed.

The ceremony from her dream had been perfect, exactly what she had expected it to be. She remembered the nerves and the apprehension she had felt, but also the excitement and the relief. The dream had been a reflection of everything she felt when her wakeful mind thought about it. In many ways, it had gone better than she thought it would.

Yet the moment she had stepped up to make that speech, everything had descended into chaos. Why had that happened? She knew what she was going to say. Even at that moment, she could have given her speech flawlessly. It seemed bizarre to her that her mind should invent a scenario where she had forgotten it. She could have understood it if she had spent hours pouring over what she was going to say, but she hadn’t. The words had simply come to her in one splendid moment.

In fact, Twilight reasoned, if she had suspected that any one part of the occasion was going to go wrong, this would have been the very last thing to cross her mind. It was the most natural part. There would be no heirs and graces or façades put on for the purpose of ceremony. There would be no pretense or condescension. It would simply be her telling everypony about how wonderful friendship was and how her friends had shown her this every day since she had moved to Ponyville. It was straightforward and heartfelt. You don’t forget something like that.

Yet something gnawed away at her. Luna had gathered from seeing her collapse in terror on that balcony that something was wrong and she had known it too. She had even guessed at what it might be, but Luna’s parting question still remained unanswered.

Do you wish that she would do it again?

On the face of it, it was a fairly simple question; the type of question to which somepony should have a fairly simple answer. Anypony should know whether or not they wanted somepony to kiss them, right? You either felt that way about somepony or you didn’t. There really was no middle ground. Not that she’d ever really though about being kissed. Not seriously anyway. She had never truly expected it to happen.

She had thought about kissing, however, but that was mostly from the perspective of an interested spectator. She had seen other ponies kissing: her parents, her neighbours in Canterlot and Ponyville, her brother and Cadence. They all seemed to enjoy it very much. Yet in her musings on the subject, she had come to the belief that it wasn’t the kiss itself that they enjoyed, so much as what the act represented: friendship, trust, devotion, passion, romance.

Love.

The fact of the matter, then, was unavoidable. In order to have kissed her, Fluttershy must have felt some or all of these things towards Twilight. In the heat of the moment, she hadn’t really thought much about these things but now that she could think of nothing else, she began to wonder what it was about herself that had led Fluttershy to feel this way.

She couldn’t remember treating Fluttershy any differently from the rest of her friends. They didn’t spend any more time together than anypony else. In fact, most of the time Twilight had spent with the pegasus, they hadn’t been alone together. There had been the odd occasion, of course, such as their walks together and the picnics with her and her critter friends. They had lunch together sometimes and they would visit one another, but no more often than anypony else.

She had continued to walk through the mazy streets of the capital as she thought, letting her hooves take her wherever they pleased. Now that she looked around her, she found that she was in the middle of a small park. The soft turf under her feet felt more like the dirt paths of Ponyville: softer and less jarring than the stone roads of Canterlot. She stopped to lie on a small white wooden bench and stared up at the stars, still pondering her situation.

Perhaps she was looking in the wrong places. Her experience with romance was almost non-existent. She really had no idea where the feelings came from. Even her own feelings were confused. She knew that she loved Fluttershy. They were very close friends. She trusted the mare implicitly and she would do anything for her. It seemed to her that the line between friendship and romance was incredibly blurry. These were all things which could be associated either

Perhaps this was what the dream had meant. Perhaps it was supposed to tell her that she shouldn’t be talking about friendship when she couldn’t make a distinction between it and something so vastly different. Yet that didn’t feel right.

She thought about the kiss again. At the time, it had been so unexpected, so completely out of the blue, that she hadn’t been able to comprehend it. Her reaction had been one of absolute confusion and Fluttershy had interpreted that confusion as rejection. If she had known beforehand what was going to happen, if she had been able to prepare for it and think about it, would she have rejected Fluttershy?

She had always enjoyed the pegasus’ company. Of all of her friends, Fluttershy was the most down to earth, save perhaps Applejack. Yet she was more subdued than Applejack: more relaxed. Their time together always felt like down-time, whereas with Rarity or Pinkie Pie, there was always so much drama. Even her shyness and indecisiveness, which so irked Rainbow Dash, seemed endearing to Twilight. She was pretty, too. In fact, if she were to choose one of her friends to feel romantically attached to, it would definitely be her.

That still left the question of whether or not she did have romantic feelings towards Fluttershy. Upon this, she couldn’t decide. It certainly occurred to her that, should Fluttershy have attempted to kiss her right then, at that very moment, she wouldn’t have stopped her. That had to mean something. She then asked herself another question: if Fluttershy were here right now, would I kiss her? The answer to that question surely meant more than the answer to Luna’s.

She stood up and began to pace. When she thought about kissing Fluttershy, her stomach felt funny. It was a knot of excitement and nerves: almost exactly the same feeling she had had about becoming a princess. She couldn’t answer the question of whether or not she would actually do it, but that alone was strange. When she thought about the same question, substituting Fluttershy for any of her other friends, her answer was a flat ‘no’.

What did that mean?

Twilight walked over to a small, still lake and stared at her reflection in its surface. Why did everything have to be complicated and why did it all have to happen at once? This was exactly the reason why she had been upset at Fluttershy in the first place. Now, instead of thinking about her coronation as she rightly should be, she was left considering the implications of her feelings towards her friends.

She looked past her reflection at the moon and the stars which were behind her in her watery mirror. They seemed so peaceful, so calm. She lay down on the soft grass crossing her front legs and continuing to stare at the night sky. She wished that somepony would just come along and give her an answer: any answer. She wished she knew what was wrong with her, or at least how to find out.

Only a matter of weeks ago, she had left her home in Ponyville with a spring in her step, ready for whatever the world could throw at her. She was so calm; so assured that nothing in her life could possibly go wrong; so certain that everything was going to be just fine. It seemed like the world was punishing her for her hubris. Twilight looked back at her reflection. Even to her own eyes, she didn't look like the same pony she had been that day.

Her wings fell limply by her sides. Her shoulders hung low and loose. Even her mane appeared wilted. She had shown everypony else their true selves that day but somehow, she felt as though something about her had changed. Not just the obvious physical changes, but also something deeper. So many ponies expected her to be so many things that she felt as though she had forgotten to be herself. In a bout of frustration, she flapped her wings wrathfully at the pond, creating a small wave to disturb its calm surface.

Her reflection was obscured by the turbulent water and she hoped, even though a part of her knew that it was a ridiculous notion, that when the ripples cleared again she would see her old self staring back. She blinked a few times, waiting for the flurry of colour to straighten itself out again. When at last it did, her eyes began to well up with tears.

Before they spilled, however, she noticed something else in the water. Just behind her left shoulder, a second set of eyes looked at her from the surface of the pool. Twilight's heart skipped, both in excitement and fear. In spite of herself, a smile she could not fight back spread across her face. She stood up swatting away her tears, her eyes locked on the other pony's the entire time.

She couldn't believe the other pony was there; that she had found Twilight again. How had she even known that Twilight had left the castle? That she would have flown such a long way? That she would be in that park, by that pond? It seemed impossible, yet she was there. Fluttershy was there to make her feel better again, just like she had so many times over the past few weeks, the past few months, the past few years.

In that instant, Twilight knew what she hadn't before. She knew what she had to do. She had to let herself be happy instead of trying to please everypony else; let herself enjoy being a princess instead of fearing it; let herself learn from her mistakes, her challenges and her experiences instead of trying to hide from them. She had to let life come at her. She had to let herself do what she had always done up to that point and that was to trust herself. She had to take a leap of faith.

As one realisation dawned upon her, another was slowly forming in the back of her mind and as it did so, Twilight's heart continued to beat faster and faster. She didn't know what would happen if she did this. She didn't even know if it was the right thing to do, but it felt right. It felt like the only thing she could do. She took one last glance into Fluttershy's eyes in the pond before turning round to look into the real thing. She had to do this before she lost her—

“Princess Luna!” she screamed, stepping backward in alarm.

Luna reared up, startled by Twilight's sudden outburst. She too stumbled back a couple of steps on her hind legs before losing her balance completely and collapsing on her back with a small whimper.

Twilight cringed. It had been very lucky that she had noticed who she was looking at before she had carried out her plan. Trying to explain to Luna why she had kissed her would have been beyond awkward. But of course it was Luna and not Fluttershy. Who else would have known she was awake?

Twilight offered Luna a hoof to get to her feet.

“You were expecting somepony else, perhaps?” Luna asked with the calm composure of somepony who hadn't just fallen on her rump. She grabbed hold of the proffered hoof and allowed Twilight to pull her up.

“No,” Twilight said quickly, hiding her face.

“Then why, pray tell, do you appear so shocked to see me?” Luna continued, dusting herself down.

“I thought I was alone,” Twilight lied.

“Yet you appeared to be looking straight at me for some time, unless am I mistaken,” Luna raised her chin triumphantly.

Twilight kicked at the turf with her hoof, refusing to look the princess in the eye.

“I- I thought you were Fluttershy,” she muttered.

“Thought? Or hoped?” Luna asked.

Twilight began nervously picking clumps of grass out of the ground.

“Both,” she whispered, finally looking back at the other pony.

Luna smiled. She didn't say a word, just smiled as though she had heard what she had expected to hear. The silence between the two ponies extended for some time. Nothing else had to be said. Luna had her answer and Twilight had hers.

Chapter Eight

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Chapter Eight

Twilight landed on the balcony outside of her room with a great deal more grace than usual. She skipped lightly forward a couple of paces, her hooves barely making a sound and folded her wings neatly and confidently by her sides. Everything felt so simple, so effortless. She could scarcely believe how happy she was at that moment. She felt as though she had floated back to the castle rather than flown. Somehow, her body felt lighter than air. Her skin tingled beneath her coat and everything seemed distant and far away, almost dreamlike.

Without thinking, Twilight whipped herself on the back of the leg with her tail. The spot where the tip made contact stung for a moment. She was most definitely awake. Not that it would have mattered so much, but it felt good to know that it was her conscious mind that had come to such an important conclusion.

As she trotted effortlessly towards the door which led back into her room, she felt a small chuckle rise past her throat and escape into the silent night. The only time she could ever remember feeling this excited about anything was the moment she had first seen her cutie mark, and while this did not surpass that, it was all she could do to stop herself from bouncing around in circles as she had on that day.

She loved Fluttershy. Well perhaps not quite loved. She had nothing upon which to base her reasoning; no benchmark against which to draw a comparison. She had very strong romantic feelings for Fluttershy, certainly. Was that love? It might have been. She had never felt like this about anypony before and for all she knew, this was what love felt like. Though perhaps she was overthinking things. Did it really matter what the feelings might be called by somepony other than herself? Whatever the feelings were, she had them and she was overjoyed by them.

When she reached the door, she paused for a moment, turning around once more to stare into the beautiful starry sky. It seemed incredible that she had never thought about this before. She was a fully grown mare after all, and young though she was, she knew many ponies her age who had already met a very special somepony. Why was it that she had never considered it? She had seen Rarity chasing after stallions before and Rainbow Dash had an inordinate amount of pictures of one Wonderbolt in particular. Hay, she had even been the best mare at her brother’s wedding. She had just never wanted that for herself before.

Now, it was all she wanted and it was all she could think about.

She walked distractedly towards the edge of the balcony once more, looking out across the city. Canterlot looked truly beautiful at that moment. She couldn’t wait to show Fluttershy around. That would be a fantastic first date: a moonlit walk through the streets of the city she had grown up in. She could show her all of her favourite places: the secluded parks, the quiet cafes and the spot at the top of her street where she used to sit and watch the sunrise. A broad grin spread across her face and the tingling returned as she imagined it.

Still lost in thought, she turned away and made her way back to her room. She closed the door quietly behind her, being careful not to make any loud noises. She hoped to get back to her bed unnoticed. She didn’t want to disturb Spike. He could get cranky if he was woken up before morning. The latch clicked almost soundlessly into the frame and she began tiptoeing across the dark expanse between the door and the bed. She heard the slow, deep breaths of the sleeping dragon, trying to time her movements so that they coincided with them.

She had successfully traversed almost half the distance and was beginning to think she would make it the whole way when she felt something booklike catch on her ankle. Unfortunately, by the time she had realised that the booklike object was in fact a book, she was already too far off balance for that information to be of any use. She kicked the book away and pranced awkwardly from one hoof to the other like an inept ballet dancer. She was still trying desperately to be quiet but despite her best efforts, she eventually tied her legs in a knot that even she couldn't escape from. With a clatter, she fell to the floor.

The moment she hit the ground, she held her breath. Even though the damage was undoubtedly done, she felt like being utterly silent now might make the difference between waking somepony up or not. She closed her eyes, as though this too might help.

“Twilight? Is that you?” No such luck.

Twilight ducked her head, embarrassed to have been so careless. She felt almost as though she had been caught sneaking back into her parents’ house after one of her late night study sessions at the castle library. After a moment or two, she picked herself up and lit her horn, pointing it in the direction of the voice. Spike's bleary-eyed form came into focus.

“Yes. It’s me,” she whispered contritely.

“Where have you been? It must be almost sunrise,” Spike croaked, rolling over in his basket and blinking rapidly.

“I was out,” Twilight answered.

“I know you were out,” Spike muttered, rolling his eyes and sitting up with his arms folded. “What I meant was, where did you go? I was so worried when you took off like that. You just kinda freaked out and flew away. I was going to try to find you but then I ran into Princess Luna and she said that you’d be back and not to worry and that I should try to get some sleep so I came back here. Are you alright?”

Twilight bit her lip and bowed her head. She hadn't even been thinking about how Spike might feel when she had flown off like that. She hadn't been thinking about much at all if truth be told.

“I just had a really strange dream. I needed some time alone to calm down. I'm fine now though. In fact I'm better than fine. I didn't mean to scare you, Spike. I'm sorry,” she said.

Spike didn’t appear to doubt her story, though he clearly suspected that she was omitting some key part of it. He continued to stare at her, waiting for some further explanation. For her part, Twilight suddenly felt very conscious of what she was saying. One part of her was desperate to tell Spike everything. She was so excited about this that she could barely hold it in. However another part of her wanted to keep it a secret. Not because she was embarrassed, she just felt as though saying it out loud might take away from the novelty of it.

“Did I mention that it was a really strange dream?” Twilight repeated lamely.

Spike threw his claws in the air with an exaggerated sigh, flipped his pillow and lay back down with his back facing her.

Twilight felt her stomach clench as Spike pulled his sheets up a little further. He had told her about his crush on Rarity. Although it had been so obvious that he might as well not have. That said, it wasn’t so much what he was telling her as it was the fact that he had been thoughtful enough to do so. She didn’t want him to feel as though she didn’t trust him. She did. It was just that she wanted to keep it to herself for a little longer. Somehow it felt more special when she was the only one who knew. Well, Luna knew too, but she seemed to have known all along so it wasn’t really the same.

She looked over at Spike. She would tell him tomorrow, after the coronation and before she told Fluttershy. That way she could get his opinion on how she should do it. She picked up the book she had tripped over and walked towards her bed. With one last look over her shoulder, she let the light from her horn go out and climbed beneath the covers.

She lay back in her bed, staring at the ceiling. Only then did she realise how exhausted she was. It had been a very long day. So much had happened and she had barely had any time to process it all. She wanted to lie awake for a while longer and make plans for how she would tell Fluttershy about this, but even as she began to imagine the first of many possible scenarios, she felt her eyelids drooping.

Tomorrow promised to be quite as exhausting a day as the one that had just been. She supposed she should get some sleep if she was to face it with any kind of composure. With a resigned sigh, she turned over and hugged herself with her wings, smiling contentedly as she drifted off to sleep.

* * * * *

The morning of the coronation had arrived. The grounds and public rooms of Canterlot castle were awash with dozens of highly influential ponies. Amongst them, one could have counted every last member of the Equestrian royal family as well as a large section of Canterlot's aristocracy and several politicians of varying rank from towns and cities across the country. They had been traipsing around the castle and its grounds since very early in the morning and their number was swelling gradually as the morning progressed.

Twilight, on the other hoof, hadn't left her dressing room since before the guests had begun to arrive. She had spent the two hours following breakfast perched on a small plinth, surrounded by a collection of grooms who, having just finished buffing each of her hooves to a flawless shine, were now meticulously brushing every inch of her coat.

The truth was that Twilight only knew what was going on outside that room because one of the grooms, a very excitable unicorn mare with a peachy coloured coat and a gently curled cream mane, had taken it upon herself to provide a continuous stream of unsolicited reports. She would trot back and forth between Twilight and the windows, taking note of the newest arrivals and passing this information on to everypony else. She didn’t actually seem to be doing very much grooming.

Each time she came back, she would announce the names of the ponies and look at Twilight as though she were expecting to hear her opinion on this news. Most of the time, Twilight had no idea what to say. She would just nod her head and continue staring into the middle distance. She recognised some of the names as royalty and others she remembered from greeting them with Celestia at the Grand Galloping Gala. However recognising their names and knowing anything about them were two separate issues.

Rarity would have been better at that, but she wasn’t there. Nor was anypony else Twilight knew for that matter. She didn’t really know why she had expected them to be sharing a dressing room but the fact that they weren’t there left her feeling at loose ends. She had barely spoken a word since they had gone their separate ways. It wasn’t that the grooms weren’t being absolutely accommodating. It was just that she didn’t really feel like talking them.

For all she had convinced herself that she could do this and that everything would be just fine, the proximity of the coronation itself was beginning to take its toll. Her nerves were back with a vengeance and they looked set to stay. Despite all the advice her friends had given her and all of their moral support, it still came down to the fact that she didn’t feel like she was ready for this.

So much had to change. If she had had to choose one thing that had been worrying her the most, this was it. The more tangible aspects had been addressed but even if she knew how to be a princess, she wasn’t sure if she wanted it. Nopony seemed to understand this. They all seemed to be more excited about the prospect than Twilight was herself. For her part, she just wanted to remain the quiet librarian; to practice her magic and read her books just as she always had.

Now it felt like that would never be possible.

Then there was her relationship with her friends. If the lead up to this day had shown her anything, it was how much she needed and relied upon them. She didn’t know what she would do without them. If her royal duties took her away from them, she would be lost. Yet she worried that this might be what would happen. She knew she would still see them. She would make sure of that, but she liked things as they were before or even as they were now, where she could be sure that they would always be around when she needed them.

She looked around the room, trying to find some modicum solace in her surroundings. Her eyes eventually came to rest upon the door. Rarity had promised to come by at some point to make sure the grooms had all done their jobs properly. She couldn’t come quickly enough.

“Are you okay, Miss Twilight?” one of the grooms asked.

Twilight nodded her head and continued to stare at the door.

“Good. Well that’s your hooves and your coat done. We’ll just get your gown on and we’ll make a start on your mane, okay?”

Twilight nodded again and stepped down from the plinth, blindly following the groom behind a set of changing screens. The groom levitated her dress across the room on its hanger and hooked it over the edge of the screens. Then another groom approached carrying a pair of shoe boxes on her back. They both looked intensely excited about this.

“Okay, so if you could lift your forelegs and tuck your wings behind your back.”

Twilight did as she was bidden, crouching down a little on her hind legs to keep her balance. The groom lifted the gown from its hanger and slid it deftly over Twilight’s hooves and head.

“Good. Now, if you would, stand up straight and hold your wings steady.”

The second groom held Twilight’s wings held gently whilst the first groom slid them through two small gaps near the shoulders of the dress. Once this had been accomplished, they went about straightening the material and fastening it at the neck. Twilight stood while they checked for any creases in places where they ought not to be. After much pulling and smoothing out, at last they appeared satisfied.

“Now your shoes,” the first groom said, taking one of the boxes from her companion’s back and opening it.

“Oh, I’m sure I can manage these myself,” Twilight said, smiling politely.

“Of course, Ma’am,” the second groom responded, taking the other box from her back, opening it and sitting it next to the first one. The two of them left her alone behind the screen.

Twilight stood still for a moment, watching the spot where the grooms had been. She wished they wouldn’t call her Ma’am or Miss or anything of the sort. She could never get used to that. It was rather uncomfortable. They were probably older than she was or at least of a similar age. Even if they were attempting to be polite, there was no call for it.

Would everypony start doing that? Treating her as though she was somepony important? Calling her Miss and Ma’am and Princess instead of simply Twilight? She very much hoped that they wouldn’t. At the very least, she imagined her friends wouldn’t. They would know better than to make a big deal out of it. Although...

Twilight shook her head and tried to focus on the task at hoof. Everything would be just fine. She was nervous, that was all. Pre-life-changing-event jitters, that was it. She would be okay. She would get dressed, have her mane styled and she’d be ready. It would be easier once she was in the hall. It had to be. Everything always appeared more daunting imminently before it happened. She had felt just as nervous right before confronting Discord and before fighting off the Changelings and as she had prepared her magic to defeat Nightmare Moon.

Yet at each of these junctures, she had had her friends with her. Their fates on each of those occasions had been pooled together. What befell her would also have befallen them. She had taken strength from knowing that. She would never have let anything bad happen to them. Today wasn’t quite like that, though.

She was alone.

Perhaps not truly alone: everypony would be right there by her side. They would be beside her on the dais; they would be watching as she was crowned; they could help her and they could offer their support, but in her fate and what might become of her afterwards, she was most certainly alone.

She paused as she looked at her shoes, polished and gleaming in their boxes. They had looked so beautiful the day before, a representation of the generosity and kindness of her friends and of her mentor, but at that moment they looked nowhere near as inviting. They were now an ominous reminder of what was about to take place. They looked, to Twilight's eyes, more like shackles than shoes. She lifted one out of its box with her magic and examined it.

No. They were most definitely shoes. Very pretty shoes at that. Why was she thinking like this? How ridiculous? She shook her head at herself. Nothing would go wrong. At least, she has no reason to think that it would. Everything would almost certainly be fine. All this thinking about being alone and the like would get her nowhere. At last, she placed the shoe on one of her hind hooves then repeated the process three more times. Once she was satisfied that they would stay on when she walked, she stopped to admire them. Fluttershy was right, they did look amazing.

Shackles, indeed!

After a moment, she walked out from behind the screen and was immediately whisked away to stand in front of a mirror. She didn’t know what she was supposed to be looking at. The two grooms who had helped her to dress were watching her expectantly. Twilight looked away from them, staring instead at her reflection. She turned on the spot so as to check herself from every angle. There was nothing she could say. She looked as she should.

“Princess? Is everything okay? Is there anything you would like to change?” one of the grooms asked nervously.

Twilight looked over her shoulder, bringing the grooms back into focus. There it was again. 'Princess'. She turned around to face them and smiled.

“No. No, thank you. It's perfect.”

She made her way back to the plinth and hopped up, preparing to have her mane styled. Just as she did so however, there was a delicate knock on the door. Twilight practically leapt towards it, galloping halfway across the room before realising that everypony was staring at her. She stopped abruptly, gave her dress a quick tug and cleared her throat before proceeding at a more dignified pace.

It was going to be Rarity, she just knew it. Perhaps the rest of the girls would be with her, and Spike too. She needed them right now. Any of them. All of them. It hardly mattered. Though if she had brought anypony with her, Twilight hoped it would be Fluttershy. Though, of course, if Fluttershy was there, there would be no time to speak to her alone. No, it was probably best if it was just Rarity.

Twilight stopped in front of the door and grasped the handle with her magic, pulling it inwards. Even before she had opened it fully, a very glamorous, very excited Rarity had bounded across the threshold. Her eyes shone with delight as she examined the room and the grooms. And her eyes glowed all the more when she finally caught sight of Twilight. The moment she did, she let out an excited little squeal and grabbed Twilight in friendly hug.

“Oh my goodness! You look absolutely beautiful, Twilight. I can't believe this is actually happening. I'm so excited! Are you excited?” she asked, holding Twilight at arms length after releasing her from the hug.

Twilight found herself laughing. She had never seen Rarity so worked up about anything. Not even the gala. Her mood was intoxicating. This was why she had wanted her friends. No matter how upset or nervous or worried she was, they always had a way of cheering her up.

“Thanks. You look wonderful too. I guess I'm excited, though I'm still pretty nervous. They're about to do my mane, come and talk to me while they get started,” Twilight said, walking back to the platform where the grooms were waiting.

After a few steps though, she realised Rarity wasn't following her. She turned around to find out what was wrong, but she needn't have bothered.

“What? Do you mean to tell me you haven't even started on her mane?” Rarity shrieked, looking accusingly at the grooms.

“We were just about to—”

“You do realise we are due downstairs in less than an hour?” Rarity said, cutting across the unfortunate stallion who had dared to answer.

“Yes, but the style will only take a few min—”

“I'll take it from here. We've no time to lose!”

“With all due respect, we are perfectly capable of—”

This time, a glare was all it took to silence him and a second was enough to encourage the grooms to head for the door. Twilight gave them all apologetic looks as they were ushered out of the room by a suddenly flustered looking Rarity. She wasn't really sure if this was necessary. They had done a fine job up until now.

Twilight stepped up onto the plinth once more as Rarity muttered to herself manically about the situation. She watched as the unicorn flitted about the room gathering all manner of brushes and curlers and hair drying apparatus.

“Calm down, Rarity. There's still plenty time before we're due to arrive,” Twilight said cautiously. Rarity’s continuous movement was beginning to make her feel dizzy. Having collected everything she needed, Rarity cantered briskly to Twilight’s side.

“Plenty time? Plenty time! It should have been done by now!” she ranted as she selected a suitable brush and began pulling it through Twilight's mane.

Twilight wanted to laugh at the situation: she had thought she was stressed out about this. It appeared that Rarity was taking it far more seriously. Certainly, she looked far more nervous and uptight. Twilight was pretty sure she would have been ready long before time anyway. Rarity was just being dramatic, surely. It had taken well under an hour to style Twilight’s mane the night before. And if it wasn’t perfect, what did it matter in the grand scheme of things? Yet she didn’t dare laugh. Rarity probably wouldn’t see it like that. She looked absolutely serious. She wouldn’t see the funny side.

With the brushing complete, Rarity sprayed a small portion of Twilight’s mane with water and began curling it. Her features were knit with concentration and the silence between them was starting to become uncomfortable. The sound of dozens of conversations carried up from the grounds on the other side of the window along with the echoes of hoofsteps from the corridor outside. Twilight tapped her hooves nervously, glancing around the room without moving her head.

“So, um, Rarity?” she said carefully, when at last the tension became unbearable.

Rarity didn’t speak. She didn’t even appear to have heard anything. She simply continued rolling the wet segment of hair until it was tightly pressed against Twilight's head just behind the right ear. She removed a hairpin she had been holding in her mouth and affixed it to the roller. Twilight wasn’t sure if she should just stop trying. She had been looking forward to Rarity coming so that they could have a conversation. Not so that they could stand in silence. She decided to try one more time.

“Rarity,” she said, louder this time.

“Hmm?” Rarity intoned as she grasped a hair-dryer with her magic and switched it on.

Twilight groaned. The sound would have been deafening, even if it weren’t pointed directly at her ear. As it was, she couldn’t even hear her thoughts, never mind the sound of her own voice. She stood still while Rarity worked, staring quietly into space and becoming more and more frustrated. This wasn’t at all what she had had in mind. On top of that, the roller was becoming very hot. She tried to tune out the slight sting of it.

Moments later, when the sound of the hair-dryer stopped, she gave a sigh of relief. Rarity touched the hair with her hoof and checked a clock which stood just by the windows. She nodded her head, seemingly satisfied that there would be enough time for her to finish up.

“So, Twilight, what was it you wanted to ask me?” she said, smiling.

Twilight stood, slightly dazed. She hadn’t really been meaning to ask anything of any importance. She had just wanted to break that uncomfortable silence. In fact, she hadn’t really considered what she was going to say.

“Um… oh right. I was just going to ask you… How was your morning? And how is everypony?” she asked.

Rarity became far more animated now. Her eyes sparkled as she recounted everything that had transpired since breakfast. It seemed she had spent the morning living her dream while Twilight had been cooped up in a dressing room. Meeting and greeting had made up a large part of it. After getting dressed she had spent the morning in one of the larger drawing rooms, talking to ponies she had met on her last visit to Canterlot. There were far too many names being bandied about for Twilight to keep track of, so she just nodded along.

This was more like it. In truth, she had only really wanted somepony to help take her mind off things and this was certainly helping.

“And of course Fancy Pants was absolutely delighted to see me. You know he’s such a gentlecolt; always so glad to talk to everypony and anypony. It was strange seeing him without Fleur though, I must admit. Word has it that they’ve been seeing a lot less of one another since your brother’s wedding. What a shame. She was such a lovely mare too. I don’t know if she’s here. I haven’t seen her in any case.

"And that just about wraps it up,” she finished.

“Well, you certainly have been busy! What about everypony else?” Twilight asked, far more interested in hearing what her friends had been up to than about a million high society ponies she had barely even met.

Rarity looked over at the clock again and began to unroll Twilight’s mane.

“I’m not sure about Rainbow Dash and Applejack. They went off to the grounds together. I only hope they aren’t making a mess of their dresses. Pinkie Pie spent most of the time galloping back and forward between rooms. I think she might have been doing something to do with this evening’s gala, but you know how she is. It’s impossible to tell what’s going on in her head,” Rarity explained, removing the curler and admiring her work. She led Twilight over to the mirror again.

“There, what do you think?” she asked.

Twilight looked at her mane distractedly, flipping it about and trying to get it to sit as it usually did before she remembered that it wasn’t meant to do that. In that case, it was fine. Had it been worth all the fuss? Probably not, but it was pretty all the same. She had never been overly fussy about her mane-style. She usually just let it do what it wanted to do. Something else was bothering her though. Something far more important than hair. Rarity had left somepony out of her recollection. The somepony Twilight was most keen to hear about.

“It’s lovely. Thank you so much,” she answered quickly without even really considering it. She had more pressing concerns. “What about Fluttershy?”

“Hmm? What? Oh, her mane looks lovely. I don’t think she did much with it, but its always lovely, don’t you think?”

Either Rarity was playing dumb or she had completely missed the point of the question. Twilight decided to try again, making herself clearer this time.

“Yes, it does. But what I meant was, what was she doing this morning?”

Rarity smirked.

“Oh. Well she doesn’t really like meeting new ponies. You know that. She’s not very good in crowds either. She did come along with me for a little while but I don’t think she felt comfortable. I think she went back to our room,” she answered.

Twilight smiled. That sounded about right. Sometimes she was okay meeting ponies when she was with somepony else, though Twilight was given to thinking that she only really put up with this through necessity. Perhaps she had caught up with Rainbow Dash and Applejack. She hoped that was the case. She didn’t want to think that everypony would leave her on her own.

“Oh, and that reminds me. What with one thing and another, I completely forgot. Here,” Rarity said. Her horn glowed with magic and she produced a small piece of paper from somewhere, presumably beneath her dress. She passed it to Twilight.

Twilight looked at the paper. It was incredibly small and folded once in the middle. It also appeared to be gummed together at the opposite end to the fold.

“What is it?” she asked, already attempting to break the seal without tearing the paper.

“Oh, I don’t know. Fluttershy asked me to give it to you. I don’t see why she didn’t just give it to you in person,” Rarity said, bouncing lightly on her hooves.

Twilight's heart skipped when she heard this. She fumbled a little more with the paper before eventually managing to pry it apart. Sure enough, Fluttershy's hoofwriting was immediately visible on the inside. She would recognise it anywhere. It was a note. However, upon reading the words the pegasus had written, she felt as though she had been doused with cold water.

I'm sorry. Good luck.

That was all it said. There was a light hoofprint on at the bottom of the page which took up more space than the writing. Twilight stared at the page, her mind racing. The ‘good luck’ was fine. If that had been all it said, there would have been nothing to worry about. It was the rest of it she was confused by.

‘I’m sorry’. What was she sorry for? Was she saying she was sorry that she had kissed Twilight? That wasn’t good. At the time, that might have been what Twilight had wanted to hear, but now that she had had time to think about things, it was the last thing she wanted to see. On the other hoof, she might just have been saying she was sorry that she hadn’t considered how Twilight felt. Given how she had reacted, that would be a reasonable conclusion. In that case, Twilight would have to apologise for her behaviour too.

Then there was the fact that she had signed it with a hoofprint rather than her name. That was interesting to say the least. The only time Twilight knew of that ponies did that was when they wanted to remain anonymous. Usually on hearts and hooves’ day cards. In fact, nowadays, that was pretty much the only occasion that it happened. Yet she must have known that Rarity would tell her from whom the note came or at least that Twilight would recognise her hoofwriting.

That being the case, what did it mean? Was she trying to subtly tell Twilight that she still had feelings for her? That it wasn’t too late.

“So? What does it say?” Rarity asked, trying to walk around Twilight and read it over her shoulder.

Twilight folded the note up immediately. She didn’t want to have to explain the situation to Rarity. Not right at that moment anyway.

“It says ‘good luck’. I guess she realised she wasn’t going to see me before the ceremony,” Twilight said.

Rarity raised her eyebrow, making Twilight panic. She obviously knew that Twilight was holding back. She opened her mouth to speak, however the moment she did so, there was a knock at the door.

“I had better get that,” Twilight said quickly, thanking whatever forces had conspired to let her escape that situation.

She opened the door to find the white stallion from the day before standing in the hallway outside. He gave Twilight a curt nod and cleared his throat.

“Everypony is taking their seats, Princess. If I could take Miss Rarity away from you, that would be wonderful. I’ll be back in a shortly for you and then we’ll begin. If you could be ready in five minutes, that would suffice,” he said, casting that same air of authority. Twilight stepped aside and nodded at Rarity. The unicorn trotted across the room, giving Twilight a quick hug as she passed.

“Good luck!” she said pointedly with a wink. Twilight smiled and watched them go. When she closed the door, the silence that surrounded her was complete.

The time had come.

Chapter Nine

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Chapter Nine

Two months had passed since Twilight had become an alicorn. Two months of planning and preparation for the ceremony; two months of learning and practising everything she could think of that she might need to know and two months of doubting herself and her ability to handle her new role. Two months had passed and it all boiled down to ten minutes of intense, paralysing fear and one very long wait for it all to begin.

A dull buzz emanated from behind the doors of the castle’s great hall. Everypony who had been invited to the ceremony was now inside and the sound of their many conversations was spilling through to the anteroom. Twilight stood therein, flanked by the eight ponies who made up her guard. She tapped her hooves restlessly on the floor. Her eyes darted back and forth between the ponies surrounding her and the room itself. They never lingered for more than a few seconds in any one place. Rather, they sought to perceive and document every last detail of her environment.

The four white mares who made up one half of her procession stood just behind her. Each wore a red velvet dress from which their straight, cream-coloured tails protruded. Upon their backs, they carried large cast iron polls which held silken banners the colour of Twilight’s coat. These were emblazoned prominently with a likeness of her cutie mark and had been enchanted to shimmer slightly as the ponies carrying them moved.

The stallions who made up the rest of the party had been drawn from Princess Celestia’s own royal guard. Their cladding, though similar in shape and colour to the standard issue armor that royal guards always wore, was intricately engraved with images representing each of the elements of harmony. Each plate had been polished to a magnificent shine and the guards themselves stood to attention as though they expected that they might have to spring into action at any second.

The mares whispered excitedly amongst themselves, glancing towards Twilight from time to time when they noticed that she was looking. Each time this happened, Twilight would look away immediately and pretend that she had been looking at something just beyond them. Nopony said a word to her. Twilight couldn’t decide whether that was a blessing or a detriment. On one hoof, she didn’t really feel like talking. On the other, perhaps doing so might ease some of her nerves.

The walls of the anteroom had been decked out with a plethora of bouquets containing flowers of violet and lavender, white and cerise, gold and cyan. Off-white ribbons of varying widths and lengths connected the bouquets to one another in long, flowing lines across each wall. Yet more banners like those being carried by the mares of Twilight’s procession hung from the ceiling, alternating with those displaying the Equestrian coat of arms. A long, gold trimmed, scarlet carpet ran the length of the aisle in the centre of the room, covering a thin section of the otherwise hard marble floor.

After a few minutes which felt to Twilight like a few hours, the hum from the other room became gradually more subdued until eventually, it disappeared entirely. At that moment, one could have heard an oat drop. Twilight closed her eyes and held her breath, standing as still as a statue, afraid to move lest she bolt. About the only things she could still feel was the pounding of her heart against her chest and the absolute stillness of the air.

At last, Twilight became aware of a sound other than that of her own heartbeat. It was loud and clear yet it still sounded distant and other-worldly. It was a familiar sound: a voice she knew and had known for many years. It usually brought with it a sense of comfort and peace. However on this occasion, it was precursory to the realisation of her fears.

Twilight opened her eyes a slither, still listening intently to the melody of Celestia’s voice as it cascaded around the room. With each word the princess spoke, the urgency of the situation became more pronounced. Twilight stared at her hooves, feeling her stomach jumping around inside her. She drew several deep breaths, trying to rid herself of all of the unpleasant sensations. It wasn’t working.

There could only be seconds now. She watched the doors intently. Her chest felt as though it might burst asunder. Her mind buzzed with all of the things she had to remember. Big smile. Eyes forward. Wings out. Walk slowly. Keep smiling. Don’t trip over your dress. It was too much. She was bound to forget something. What if she forgot her speech? What if she forgot how to talk at all? What if—

“Princess? Are you feeling alright?” a concerned voice asked.

Suddenly, the world shifted back into focus. She hadn’t realised what she had been doing but somehow she had ended up on the floor with her tail in the air and her hooves covering her eyes. Twilight sprung back to her feet and looked sheepishly at the mare who had asked the question. Instinctively, she brought her right forehoof up to her chest and took a single deep breath. She extended her hoof out in front of her and exhaled purposefully.

“Yes. I was just… stretching. Everything is just fine,” she answered calmly. After all, everything would be fine. She would be fine. She had to be. And at the very least, she could pretend to be. She proved this to herself by forcing a broad smile onto her face.

The mare smiled back at her warmly, clearly not noticing the insincere nature of her Twilight’s smile, before turning to face the doors once more. Twilight watched her for a few moments longer before following suit. She had been through all of these worries before. She had resolved them to the best of her ability. They were still there at the back of her mind, obviously, but the fact that she was still giving them any attention could only be a result nerves.

I’ll be fine. I’ll be fine. I’ll be fine…

Twilight repeated the mantra over and over in her head while focusing on the sound of Celestia’s speech. At last, the princess’ voice came to a familiar crescendo. Twilight took one final, calming breath before spreading her wings. This was it. This was her moment. This was what she was meant to do.

Her destiny.

Her destiny! Twilight’s eyes shot wide open, a sudden realisation dawning on her. Just what was her destiny? She was meant to become a princess, but was that really her destiny or was it just a circumstance? She hadn’t become an alicorn because she was supposed to be a princess. She had become an alicorn because she had written new magic; because she had understood the magic of friendship like nopony else before her ever had.

When she thought about the journey that she had been on throughout her life, nothing stuck out as being more important than the day she had been sent to Ponyville by Princess Celestia. On that day she had met her friends. Over the next few years, she had gotten to know them, to understand them and she had grown to love them. They were the most important thing in her life. They supported her, they guided her, they grounded her. She was so glad that she had them and she wished that everypony knew how wonderful friendship could be.

That was it! Her destiny was to show everypony what it meant to be a good friend and teach them about the magic of friendship. With everything she had learned from her time in Ponyville and everything she had come to understand about her friends and their friendships, she could teach other ponies and guide them in the same way that Celestia had taught and guided her. She was becoming a princess so that she could fulfill her destiny, not fulfilling her destiny by becoming a princess.

As Celestia finished her speech and the doors to the hall opened, Twilight found herself smiling with no effort at all. At last, she felt like this was the right thing to do. She had a spring in her step as she walked through the doors. Looking down the aisle towards her friends, it was all she could do to stop herself from galloping full speed towards them.

She knew now that they could never be separated as a result of this coronation. How could she teach others about friendship if she didn’t have her friends around her to help her do it? If it wasn’t for them, she wouldn’t know anything at all about being friends. Each one of them had helped her to learn something new. In fact, they had shown her just about everything she knew. But more than this, she still had so much to learn from them. To be a good princess and a good teacher, she needed them now more than ever.

Twilight took a step up onto the dais. Her heart was still beating very hard but at last, it was out of excitement rather than nerves. She watched as Spike stepped forward with her crown and gave him a small nod before facing Celestia and bowing her head. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a magic aura appearing around the crown as Celestia lifted it. When at last she felt the metal touch her brow, she was overcome with a sense of both elation and relief.

After such a long time and such a lot of worry, it was finally over. Yet really, it was just the start of a new chapter in her life. She had spent such a long time as the student. From here on out, she was going to be a teacher. It was such a great responsibility. She hoped that she could be a good example, that she could show everypony just how amazing it felt to have so many good friends. She hoped that she could help everypony to experience what she had. It was now her duty to make sure that they did.

Before she turned to face the crowd behind her, she looked over at her friends. They all gave little gestures of congratulations. She looked at each of them individually, trying her best to wordlessly convey her thanks for their support and for everything they had taught her and for everything they had done for her since the day they had met.

As she did this, she found that her eyes lingered unintentionally longer on Fluttershy. One of the lessons she still had to learn was sure to come from her. For all she understood about friendship, she still knew next to nothing about love. Yet she had had no understanding of friendship when she had arrived in Ponyville and she had learned all about that. And there was no pony she would rather learn about love from than Fluttershy.

The pegasus blushed when she noticed how long Twilight had been looking at her but rather uncharacteristically, she didn’t look away. Instead, she determinedly held Twilight’s gaze looking both serious and carefree at the same time.

Twilight tore her eyes away from Fluttershy’s and turned towards the crowd. It was just like in her dream. The gathered ponies stomped their hooves and cheered; confetti rained down from the rafters creating a multicoloured haze and Twilight stood in the middle of it all, smiling contentedly as she looked around the room.

After a few moments had passed and the cheers of the crowd had become a little quieter, Twilight heard a whisper in her ear. With barely a though, she nodded her head and began to make her way back up the centre aisle. The other princesses followed her: Celestia to her right; Luna to her left and Cadence directly behind her. Behind them, in two neat lines, followed Spike and Rarity; Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie and finally Applejack and Rainbow Dash.

The group made their way through the castle. Nopony said a word. Their hoofsteps echoed against the deserted walls of the castle. They walked through the room in which Twilight had waited before the ceremony and into a long corridor. If they had followed that corridor to its end, they would have been in the castle throne room, but they didn’t. Instead they took a left and continued onwards.

After what felt like an eternity, they reached much smaller chamber than the throne room, though one which was no less regal. It was flooded with light which spilled in from both sides through six huge stained glass windows. At the opposite end was a large archway which led outside into the blinding daylight. A warm breeze swept into the room through the opening along with the excited buzz of a thousand or more distant voices.

“We’re going out there?” Twilight asked, her voice quivering slightly as she spoke.

Celestia gave her a small nod, her smile just as warm and calm as it always was. Twilight swallowed heavily as she continued her slow approach to the archway. She knew this room. She knew where it led. She had been there as a filly on the odd occasion. In fact, she had often pretended that she was doing what she was about to do at this very moment. It had been a bit of fun then, but now that it was actually happening…

Twilight hesitated slightly right before she stepped outside. Her nerves were back just on time. She wasn’t allowed to linger, however. Luna gave her a small nudge forward and before she knew it, she was outside. The loud buzz turned into deafening cheers as she stepped nervously towards the edge of the balcony.

The scene was a familiar one, reminiscent in every way of the previous night’s dream – a thought that she tried desperately to push from her a mind. She looked out over the castle grounds and the castle walls. Every square foot was packed with ponies screaming and shouting and stomping their hooves. The noise was incredible. When she reached the edge of the balcony, she stared dumbly at the crowd, afraid to do anything other than look at them all. Luna gave her yet another nudge, prompting her to do something.

At a loss for what else to do, she raised her left hoof and waved at the crowd, smiling sheepishly as she did so. She turned to face the right, repeating the process, then the left. Each time, the volume of the cheers from those parts of the crowd grew in magnitude. She knew what had to come next, but for the moment, she was happy just to continue waving. The ponies seemed fairly content just to see her. However, no sooner had she had this thought than she heard Celestia’s quiet voice in her right ear.

“Say something, princess.”

* * * * *

Twilight lay on the balcony outside her room with her eyes closed and her forehooves crossed over one another. She felt positively exhausted and it was only mid-afternoon. The sun’s rays felt wonderfully warm on her back. The sound of the birds chirping was a welcome relief from all the loud music and cheering.

Her speech had gone down well, even if it had been a completely different speech to the one she had had in mind the day before. It had just come together in an instant. What she had planned on saying before opening her mouth had been entirely different to what had come out. It was almost as though she had been channeling somepony else.

The moment she had caught sight of her friends watching on from the archway, she had a sudden flurry of inspiration and the words seemed to speak for themselves. After realising her true destiny, what better opportunity to begin fulfilling it? What better time to give her first lesson on friendship than when presented with a forum to speak to all of Equestria?

It was a short lesson, but one which she felt summed everything up very nicely. She had spoken about the importance of friendship in her life and how it had led her to where she was that day. She had thanked everypony for everything they had done to help her and, in particular, she had shown her gratitude to her own friends for helping her to get there. When her Ponyville friends had joined her on that balcony, she had felt like the luckiest pony in all of Equestria.

With that in mind, even the parade had been more enjoyable than she had anticipated. She knew she would never get used to being the focus of that much attention, but it had been kind of fun to be pulled around Canterlot in a chariot and to see her old town in all of its glory for the first time since passing Celestia’s test in the Crystal Empire.

A great deal had happened since then and she had learned so much. She had been crowned a princess; she had come to terms with her future and she had begun to do what she now knew she was meant to do. Although perhaps she ought to have known what she was destined to do for a long time. Perhaps, deep down, she had known. Ever since that night in the Everfree Forest when she and her friends had harnessed the power of their newly formed friendship to defeat Nightmare Moon, she had begun to understand and value the power and the magic of friendship.

Twilight mused on this for a moment but the heat of the sun and its effect on her already tired mind made it difficult to concentrate. She could decide on this some other time. For now, she was just glad for the few hours of respite she had been afforded between the parade ending and the opening of the evening’s gala. The castle and its grounds had emptied surprisingly quickly as everypony retired for their evening meal.

It was a strange lull in an otherwise hectic day and, glad though she was for the break, she was left at loose ends by the lack of direction. Somehow, she just didn’t feel quite right. Perhaps it was all this lazing around. She wasn’t used to being idle. Her mind was made up. Twilight stood, stretching her muscles as she did so. Lying around and basking in the sun, no matter how appealing, was hardly a constructive way to spend her time. With a small yawn and a shake of her head, she walked back into her room.

She had no idea what she was going to do. Perhaps she would pay a visit to the castle library. Although two hours was hardly long enough to scratch the surface of even the simplest of texts. Maybe a walk in the gardens? Then again, that was hardly better than lounging around on her balcony. Her eyes darted around the room, searching for inspiration. Nothing jumped out at her. Nothing demanded her attention. It appeared that there was, in fact, nothing left to do. There was nothing else for it. All that was left was to wait for the gala to begin and it promised to be a lengthy wait.

This wasn’t just because it was a huge occasion, but because of what she had planned. Now that everything else she had been worrying about was in the past, the most pressing issue of them all could finally take centre stage. It had barely been a day since Fluttershy had kissed her, but the way she felt about it had changed completely.

With a wistful sigh, Twilight reached into her dress and retrieved a small, folded piece of paper. For what must have been the dozenth time that afternoon, she opened it up and read its message and rereading it until the words lost all meaning. She placed her hoof on top of the ink hoofprint at the bottom of the note, willing it to turn into Fluttershy’s hoof.

A part of her felt nervous about what might happen, given the way she had reacted the night before. She desperately hoped that she hadn’t ruined her only chance. Fluttershy was very timid and it must have taken all of the courage she had had to kiss Twilight. What if she didn’t want to take that chance again? Would that be it? And the words of the note made things that little bit more scary.

I’m sorry.

What did it mean? Was she sorry that she had kissed Twilight at all? Was she saying that she didn’t want to do it again? Was she sorry that she had run off crying? Was she sorry for the way Twilight had reacted? Was she sorry that she had done it on the eve of the coronation? Did the note even relate to the kiss at all? Was it possible that she had done something that Twilight didn’t know about for which she was sorry?

Twilight stared at the note, swallowing a big clump of nerves that had collected at her throat and began tracing the hoofprint absent-mindedly. She was probably being ridiculous. After all, it had been Fluttershy who had initiated things in the first place. Even if she had felt guilty for it afterwards, she wouldn’t have done anything at all if she hadn’t felt something. Chances were she still felt it.

In any case, it hardly mattered. There wasn’t a herd of stampeding cattle that could hold Twilight back from doing this. She had to know and she had to know soon. If things ended badly, they could simply go back to being friends. It might be a little awkward at first, but they had been friends for so long that they could never let something like this come between them. And if it all worked out, all the better.

She read the words of the note one more time before putting it away.

Good luck.

She would need it.

Chapter Ten

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Chapter Ten

“Her Royal Highness, Princess Twilight Sparkle!”

A chorus of trumpets played a magnificent fanfare as Twilight made her way down a grand, red carpeted staircase which led into the main hall of Canterlot Castle. Her eyes darted around the room as she attempted to see everything at once. A broad smile spread unbidden across her face. With all of the pressure that had been heaped upon her all day and the nerves that that had caused, she finally had reason to be excited. This gala was going to be magnificent.

The hall was decorated beautifully with fresh flowers and brightly coloured ribbons adorned every surface. Dozens, if not hundreds of ponies were packed into the room. They were all dressed in their finest gowns and tuxedos for the occasion and, not surprisingly given the introduction, everypony was staring at her. She was getting used to this, having been subject to it all day. It was still rather unnerving but it was only for a moment. She willed herself to keep going; to put one hoof in front of the other and not to make a fool of herself.

Twilight searched the crowd for familiar faces. Or rather one face in particular. And despite the vast number of ponies present, it took her only a few seconds to find it. Fluttershy was standing at the very back of the hall with Princess Cadence. A far away smile adorned her features as she watched Twilight descend the stairs; a smile that filled Twilight with a warm glow. The pegasus didn’t seem to notice that Twilight was looking right back at her. She looked like her mind was somewhere else entirely. That didn’t last too long though. Cadence had nudged her gently and whispered something in her ear, at which point she coloured and looked away. Her lips moved quickly as she replied to whatever it was the Princess had said and Cadence gave her a pat on the shoulder, whispering in her ear again as she did so. Fluttershy smiled and looked back up at Twilight, waving slowly.

Twilight waved back. What was that? That hoof on the shoulder had looked like an attempt at consolation. What were they talking about? Maybe she was just being paranoid, but she couldn't help but feel that they were talking about her.

As she reached the first balcony though, all thought of this left her mind. She looked out over the hall again. There was a great deal of movement: a sort of jostling for position. Even before she had reached the foot of the stairs, a queue had begun to form. Well, not a queue per se, but rather a strange sort of linear crowd. A queue which wasn’t supposed to look like a queue. Almost all of the ponies present had arranged themselves into a makeshift order and stood waiting for their turn to speak to the new princess.

Twilight swallowed hard, glancing over towards Fluttershy who was now deep in conversation with Cadence. There would be time to talk to her later. For now, she had duties to perform. With a deep, calming breath, Twilight stepped off of the staircase and into the waiting throng. Her eyes glazed over as she attempted to assess the size of the queue. There were a lot of ponies there. Although she had anticipated that he would have to greet ponies when she arrived, she hadn’t counted on the sheer number that were present. She glanced over at Fluttershy again: there would be time. She would make time.

The couple who had fought their way to the front of the queue made their way forward. Twilight froze. Now that it came down to it, she realised that she had no idea how she was supposed to greet them. Should she bow? Should she expect them to bow? Would a simple hoofshake suffice? Would they expect her to know their names? Her nerves were back with a vengeance. She had seen Princess Celestia do this a million times. What was it that she had done?

“The Duke and Duchess of Whineybridge, ma’am.” Twilight jumped a little when she heard the whisper in her ear. Her head whipped around sharply. She had been joined on one side by a young hoofpony with a grey coat and a black mane. She mouthed her thanks to him and he gave her a respectful nod.

Twilight’s heart pounded as the couple drew ever closer. What would she say? At least she knew their names and where they were from, now. That was a start. But what would they want to talk about? Perhaps they wouldn’t want to have a huge conversation anyway. Perhaps they would just want to say hello and get on with their evening. Although that hardly seemed worthwhile. Perhaps she could talk about magic. They were unicorns, they might be interested.

There was no time to think though. Before she knew it, they had arrived in front of her and were bowing deeply. Twilight blushed and bowed back. The couple looked at each other awkwardly. Twilight smiled nervously at them. Had that been wrong? They certainly looked like that wasn't what they had expected. There was a short pause before the Duchess smiled back and nudged her husband lightly in the chest.

“Congratulations, Princess! It’s so wonderful to meet you,” he said with a surreptitious glance towards his wife.

“Thank you,” Twilight said meekly.

There was another short silence. For her part, Twilight had absolutely no idea what she was supposed to do and, having made one mistake already, she felt terribly uncomfortable. She shifted her weight gently from one forehoof to the other, waiting for the Duke or Duchess to break the silence. Neither appeared like they wanted to do so, although the Duchess looked to be growing rather impatient. Twilight cleared her throat and decided she ought to go for it.

“So, um, how was your journey from Whineybridge? That’s quite a distance to have come,” she ventured, deciding to go with her initial idea.

“It was quite alright, thank you ma’am,” the Duchess answered in the plummiest voice Twilight had ever heard. “And you are originally from Ponyville, we are told. How are you finding Canterlot?”

“It’s great! You know, I actually lived here for most of my life,” Twilight said, trying to provide an interesting talking point, although she immediately wished she hadn’t. The Duchess bit her lip and blushed profusely. She looked like a filly who had given the wrong answer in class. Not only that, but everything suddenly felt incredibly tense. Twilight pulled at the neck of her gown and cleared her throat so that she could continue.

“It’s wonderful to be back though. I might have been born here, but I’m a Ponyville pony at heart,” she added hastily, trying to keep things natural.

The Duchess’ shoulders relaxed slightly but she looked as though she didn’t dare open her mouth again. Silence descended once more, the gap being filled by the murmur of distant conversations. Twilight looked back and forth between the Duke and Duchess, hoping that somepony would say something.

“Well, um, I hope you have a good evening. I look forward to speaking with you again,” Twilight said carefully after a few seconds. She didn’t want to offend them any further, but it was quite clear that he wasn’t much of a talker and she didn’t feel much making any conversation. It wasn’t that she wanted rid of them, either. It was just that she had hundreds of ponies to meet and she couldn’t afford to keep them all waiting. Besides, she had other important things to be doing.

As the couple bowed and walked off, Twilight glanced around the beautifully decorated hall, trying to find Fluttershy again. She desperately wanted to speak to her before she lost her nerve. There she was: she and Cadence had obviously parted ways. She was now standing with Rarity and Applejack smiling and laughing at something one of the others had said. Her eyes always sparkled so prettily when she laughed. Twilight’s mind wandered off, getting lost in images of Fluttershy laughing: some real, some imagined. She touched the spot on her dress where she had stowed the little note that Fluttershy had written for her, hoping that it wasn’t already too late.

“Pony Giuliani, the Mayor of Manehattan,” the hoofpony whispered in Twilight’s ear, bringing her back to the present. Twilight smiled at the approaching pony. She could get through this. It would only take an hour or so, then she could get on with her plan. She looked wistfully back over at Fluttershy. It would be worth the wait.

* * * * *

“Lord Toffeenose of Fillydelphia.”

Twilight was growing more and more impatient. Easily three hours had passed and she was still standing in the same spot, greeting ponies she didn’t know while everypony else danced, drank fancy champagne and chatted amongst themselves. Despite a somewhat positive start, it now felt like it would never end. She had had good intentions. She had wanted to speak to all of the guests, but none of them seemed to want to spend any real time at all with her.

“Madam Buttercup of Trottingham.”

To make matters worse, she had lost track of Fluttershy just over an hour ago and that was making her much more nervous about, well, about everything. The last time she had seen the pegasus, she had been dancing with Pinkie Pie. Then Twilight had had to speak to somepony new and when she looked back, Fluttershy was was nowhere to be seen.

“Lord Whooves of Gallopfrey.”

And whilst she was glad to meet all of these ponies, it was beginning to look a lot like the evening would be over before she had a chance to do anything she had planned to do. Or anything at all for that matter. At least the line was beginning to thin out a little. There was probably only a dozen or so ponies left. That said, given how long the rest had taken, a dozen might take her the rest of the evening.

“Prince Blueblood of Canterlot.”

Twilight continued to scan the hall for signs of her friends. Pinkie Pie, of course, was still dancing much to the displeasure of a few of the guests. Rarity was stood at the centre of a large group of ponies, many of whom had had fancy titles when they had been introduced to Twilight. She looked to be in her element. Applejack was milling around at the hors d’oeuvre table, guiltily putting five or six of each item onto an empty plate. The others were nowhere to be seen.

They were probably outside somewhere. Most likely they would be together. Neither Fluttershy nor Rainbow were very keen on fancy parties.

“Princess Celestia of Equestria.”

“Huh?” Twilight’s head snapped round to look at the hoofpony and back. Sure enough, the Princess was walking towards her with a mischievous smile pulling at her cheeks and a mirthful glint in her eyes.

“Good evening, Princess,” Celestia laughed, stopping in front of Twilight and bowing politely. Twilight smiled and bowed back. It was good to see another familiar face. The only other pony she had recognised thus far had been Mayor Mare.

“I saw that you were almost finished here and I thought I would come over for a quick word. How did you find it?” Celestia said, whispering the final question.

“I’m not really sure,” Twilight whispered back. “Is everypony always so formal?”

“In a word, yes. Between the two of us, I’m not overly fond of it either,” Celestia said glancing surreptitiously around to make sure nopony had heard. “It’s always the same faces. I try to have a bit of fun with it sometimes, but usually I just let it wash over me.”

Twilight nodded her head. She had been doing the same thing. After the first few conversations had gone pretty much the same way, she had just let herself drift away into her own little world. She had wanted to talk to everypony and to listen attentively, but nopony wanted to have a real conversation. They just wanted to give her their regards and get on with their night. None of them seemed to be remotely concerned about anything Twilight had to say.

“To be honest, I much prefer court. There’s a lot more to it. Luna was always better at this,” Celestia continued, indicating the two or three ponies left waiting to speak to Twilight.

“I wouldn’t have thought she had the patience. Where is she anyway? I haven’t seen her all night.” Twilight craned her neck over the crowd, searching for Luna’s dark, flowing mane somewhere in its midst.

“You wouldn’t think so, but Luna is full of surprises. You must have been busy if you haven’t seen her. She’s barely left the party since it started. She went outside a moment or two ago to raise the Moon. She’s probably still out there. She always liked to show off when other ponies were around. She’ll be playing around with the stars or something. I’m sure you’ll see her before the end of the evening.

“However, I should go. You’ll want to greet your last few guests. Oh, and congratulations, Princess,” Celestia said with a wink.

“Thank you, Princess.”

* * * * *

Every step felt precarious as Twilight left her place at the foot of the stairs, not least of all because she had been standing in the same spot for well over two hours and her legs were stiff and tired. But there was also the lingering expectation that there were still ponies left to meet and that, with every step she took, the chances of one of them stopping her increased. That couldn’t happen. There was so much left to do. She quickened her pace, despite the aches.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to speak to anypony. She had been speaking to them all night, after all, and they were all interesting in their own ways. It was just that she had been speaking to them all night and that meant she hadn’t been able to speak to the one pony she had wanted to speak to. Meanwhile her friends had been off enjoying themselves with the rest of the guests. Of course, being a princess, she had acquired certain duties and obligations but that didn’t mean that she couldn’t expect a little time to herself.

Strangely, nopony even seemed to notice her now. Or if the did, it was only to nod at her and move out of her way. The room felt even fuller when she moved around it than it had looked when she was stationary. It was too full: too busy and too loud. She had to get some fresh air. She could find Fluttershy once she had had a chance to collect her thoughts.

The castle’s great doors stood ajar, allowing Twilight to quietly slip out and onto the stone path which led to the main gate. There was still a smattering of ponies outside, but not one of them seemed to have noticed her presence. She quickly removed her crown, stowing it safely under her dress and with that she began walking, not along any of the paths that existed between the castle and its walls, but straight across the lawns.

It was a mild night. The air was cool but not cold and the breeze was soft and gentle. A full moon hung low in the sky, making it appear larger than usual and its light cast everything in a wonderfully pale glow. The stars in the sky sparkled like fireworks which had just burst open. Twilight couldn’t recall ever having seen a more beautiful evening. Perhaps this was the result of Luna’s showing off.

After a few moments, she reached the place she had been walking to. She hadn’t really been paying attention to where her hooves were taking her but now that she had arrived, she realised it was exactly where she had wanted to be. A small tree with long hanging branches stood alone by edge of a still pond. The buzz of the party going on at the castle had faded away into the distance to be replaced by the quiet chirping of crickets. Twilight sighed as she lay down under the tree and looked out across the water.

She used to read here as a young mare, growing up under the tutelage of Princess Celestia. She had passed many a summer’s afternoon in the shade of this tree learning everything she could about unicorn magic; about the history of her kind; about Equestria and the lands nearby; about the ponies, like Starswirl, who had contributed to the arts and sciences, politics and diplomacy. It had been in this very spot that she had first read about the tale of the mare in the moon and the elements of harmony. Indeed, that had been the last time she had lay here and she hadn’t been back since.

That had been such a long time ago. She took her crown out from under her dress and placed it carefully on the ground in front of her. How long had it been? Two years? Three? It felt strange to be back after everything that had happened. The pink stone in her crown glinted in the moonlight.

Time changed everything.

It was hard to imagine that in only a few short years she had gone from being a completely unremarkable unicorn filly, struggling to learn the basics of levitation by candlelight in her parents’ study to an alicorn Princess of Equestria whose magical power surpassed that of even the greatest unicorns in history. Yet she felt no different now from how she had then. She felt as though she still had everything to learn.

Her friendships had taught her many lessons and led her on many adventures. She had learned how to trust other ponies and how the powerful bonds she had with her friends had shown her how to be generous and kind, loyal and honest and optimistic. She had learned to have faith in what other ponies were telling her even if she couldn’t understand their reasoning. She had learned how ponies’ differences can make their friendships closer. She had learned to accept others’ help even if she felt like she didn’t need it.

Yet she didn’t feel like she knew the first thing about love. She withdrew Fluttershy’s note from under her dress, unfolding it and laying it in front of her. She picked up her crown and put that on top of the note to stop it flying away in the breeze.

“I’m sorry,” she read aloud. “Good luck.”

Then there was the hoofprint. There was definitely something in this. She had obsessed over the meaning of the note all afternoon between the coronation and the parade and between the parade and the start of the gala. It was only four words, but buried somewhere within the subtext was a deeper meaning and she still couldn’t fathom what that was. Twilight stared at the note, reading the words again and again.

It frustrated her that she couldn’t see this for what it was. If somepony had given her a page of complicated mathematics or a picture of the sky with one star missing, she would have had the answer and found the star in seconds. It was the flying problem all over again, except that she was absolutely certain there wasn’t a book in all of Equestria that could solve this problem. The only person who knew what Fluttershy meant was Fluttershy herself.

Twilight stood up and walked to the edge of the lake, picking up a few stones with her magic and skimming them across the water of the lake. Ripples disturbed the clear surface with each bounce. Twilight watched as the tiny waves worked their way to the banks, lost in thought. Perhaps the lessons she had learned about friendship could also be applied to love. Sharing your blessings, accepting one-another’s differences, not jumping to conclusions, being there to support one-another at the best and worst of times.

Twilight threw one last pebble across the water. It bounced merrily along the surface before finally giving up and dropping to the bottom with a small plop. She watched the last set of ripples until they disappeared and the pond reflected the sky once more. Fluttershy was her friend, though. It was true that they had kissed and that friends didn’t kiss friends – except perhaps on the cheek. She knew how she felt about that and how she felt about Fluttershy and she was happy with that. What was leaving her in this predicament was that she didn’t feel like she knew how Fluttershy felt about her.

She would have liked to believe that the fact that Fluttershy had initiated the kiss meant that she felt the same way. She was certain that that must have been the case in the first place, but given how timid the pegasus was and how Twilight had reacted to it, not to mention the apology in the letter, she was worried that she might have blown her chance.

That depended on a great many things, though. She wondered how long had Fluttershy felt like this about her. Twilight turned away from the pond, her eyes immediately falling on her crown. When she looked back, she was amazed that she hadn’t realised how Fluttershy had felt sooner. She could see all the little hints that the pegasus had been dropping. She remembered back to the day Fluttershy had brought her notebook to the library: the looks she had given Twilight; the little compliments she had casually slid into their conversation and the rather obvious one as she had left.

Then there was her visit to the spa with Rarity. She remembered how Fluttershy had sat next to her in the sauna and how she had been embarrassed when Twilight had noticed her looking at her after their hooficure. She had been fairly reticent about what she had wanted to do as they had gone to the mud baths without Rarity and there had been more of those hidden little compliments.

The dead giveaway, however, was only a few evenings ago when Twilight had run away from the castle after sitting at Celestia’s court. The night when Fluttershy had come out to the castle grounds to look for her. When they had lay next to one-another in the castle gardens and she had noticed Fluttershy’s heartbeat. She hadn’t been afraid of the dark. Of course she hadn’t. How ridiculous?

The more Twilight thought about it, the more she could see. The amount of time they had spent together was probably no different to the amount of time she had spent with the rest of her friends, but the amount of time they had spent alone together seemed significantly higher. And Fluttershy had always seemed very shy around her, even years after they had become friends.

If she had felt that way for such a long time, it was unlikely that she would change her mind about it so quickly. Twilight smiled, her heart filling up with confidence. Perhaps she hadn’t blown it. There might still be time. She would have to apologise to Fluttershy for how she had acted before, but there was every chance that the pegasus would accept that apology.

The fear of rejection that had been troubling her ever since she had realised her feelings for Fluttershy seemed to disappear. She remembered another lesson that she had learned, aptly enough from Fluttershy herself when they had both been trying to keep their feelings hidden: that you should never be afraid to share your true feelings with a good friend. Well, she would hide her feelings no longer. She would find Fluttershy and she would tell her everything and Fluttershy would be so happy and they would kiss again and then they would tell all of their friends and Celestia and Luna and—

“Oh, um, hello Twilight.”

Twilight jumped, her wings spreading involuntarily. It wasn’t because the voice had been loud or abrupt, but rather because it had been unexpected.

“Fluttershy! Hi!” she squeaked.

She felt her cheeks flush as she looked at her friend. Rationally, she knew that the pegasus could have no idea what train of thought she had just interrupted, but that didn’t change the sudden cringing sense of embarrassment that she felt. In fact, she felt almost guilty. She hadn’t even heard Fluttershy coming.

Fluttershy looked nervously at the note on the ground, then at Twilight and then anywhere but at Twilight. At last her eyes settled on a point on the horizon not far from the lowest hanging branch of the tree under which Twilight lay. She bit her lip and kicked the ground lightly with her right forehoof. Then there was silence into which the chirping of the crickets and the scuffing sound of Fluttershy’s hoof as it prodded at the turf sounded like a deafening cacophony.

Fluttershy seemed terrified, as though she wished she could be anywhere else but where she was at that moment. This only increased Twilight’s guilt. She had a good idea what had caused this awkwardness. She would have felt awkward too if she had been in Fluttershy’s position, but every time she opened her mouth to say what she had decided she would say, her throat tightened up just enough to prevent the words from coming out.

After a few more seconds, Fluttershy squeezed her eyes shut tightly, flicking her fringe over eyes with a jerk of her neck and let out a high-pitched whimper. She was clearly trying to say something that she was finding it very difficult to say and whatever it was didn’t feel like it could possibly end well.

Twilight held her breath, tears prickling behind her eyes as she watched the other pony struggling to bring herself to either speak or to fly away. After all of Twilight’s optimism only a few moments ago, she suddenly felt like a disaster was about to unfold. She had to be the one to speak before Fluttershy could find the words to end their chances of being together, but despite the urgency she felt, she too was afraid.

Fluttershy continued to whimper. Despite the fact that she couldn’t see the pegasus’ eyes, Twilight was sure that Fluttershy was on the verge of tears too. The almost-silence stretched on and on, with neither pony able to break it until at last, one of them managed to pluck up the courage to speak and, much to Twilight’s dismay, it wasn’t her.

“Can we talk?”

Chapter Eleven

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Chapter Eleven

Fluttershy’s words evaporated into thin air almost as soon as she had spoken them, yet they continued to echo around inside Twilight’s head for what felt like an eternity. The opportunity for her to take the lead in this conversation had come and gone. She had had no idea what she had been going to say, but she almost certainly would not have lead with, ‘can we talk?’ There was something inexplicably menacing about those words.

Twilight’s throat tightened as she stared into those sad teal eyes. Princess or not, she felt completely powerless. There was nothing she could do or say which would change what was about to happen. Her heart thundered against her ribs. It was all she could do to retain her composure and stop herself from running away. She felt more frightened about what Fluttershy might say than she had about her coronation.

At last, she bit her lip and nodded slowly, hoping for the best but fearing the worst.

Fluttershy closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The folds in her beautiful green dress shivered. She was visibly shaking and yet still she looked more confident than Twilight felt – an incredible feat given her usually shy and reserved nature. Nothing else moved save for the gentle lapping of the water on the bank of the pond. It was as though the whole world had paused to see hear what she had to say.

“It’s about last night,” Fluttershy said quickly, her words running together in her haste to get rid of them. She looked away from Twilight the moment she had finished speaking.

It was testament to the sheer level of tension in the air that Twilight almost laughed when she heard those words. Of course it was about last night. What else could it have been about? What else could have created this amount pressure in a conversation between two such close friends? It was almost too obvious to require saying.

“I thought maybe you’d want to talk about that,” Twilight said, not quite whispering, but very close. Under any other circumstances her words would have been inaudible, but the silence of the evening amplified them such that she felt as though she had shouted.

Fluttershy walked towards the edge of the pond, refusing to look at Twilight as she passed. Her ears were pressed firmly against the sides of her head and she flicked her mane so that it fell over her face. When she had reached the bank, she stopped and stared at her reflection in the water. Twilight stood up and walked slowly over to join her.

“I’m sorry,” the pegasus said very firmly. “I shouldn’t have done that. It was so stupid of me. I don’t even know what I was thinking.”

Twilight’s heart, which had been doing its very best to escape her chest, suddenly stopped. This was probably what she had been expecting, but that made it no less painful. She had to say something. She had to stop this from happening. Unsure of what prompted her to do this, she reached out a wing and wrapped it around Fluttershy’s shoulders.

“Why are you sorry?” she asked, a slight quiver in her voice as she tried to stop herself from succumbing to tears.

Fluttershy continued to stare at her reflection in the pond. She didn’t say a word. She didn’t mention Twilight’s wing around her. She didn’t even move. Neither of them were prepared to have this conversation, it seemed. For her part, Twilight just wanted to know how Fluttershy felt about her. If her feelings had changed since the night before, she could hardly tell the pegasus that she wanted something more from her.

“Fluttershy? What are you sorry for?” Twilight pressed, turning her head to look at the pegasus, a note of desperation seeping into her voice.

“For kissing you.” Fluttershy shrugged her way out of Twilight’s feathery embrace, twisting around to look straight into her eyes.

“I don’t really know why I thought it was a good idea. You just… you looked so pretty in that dress. I mean you look pretty without it too but you looked particularly pretty – I guess I’ve always thought you were kind of pretty. Anyway we were all alone and you looked so, so nervous and I didn’t like seeing you like that. It reminded me of how I felt the first time we met. Actually, I often feel quite nervous around you.”

Twilight blinked rapidly; from no answer at all to this? It wasn’t a whole lot of information, but the suddenness of it left her struggling to keep up. Perhaps because of this, she found herself hearing the same word over and over again.

Pretty.

If she were to have chosen one word to describe her appearance, it certainly wouldn’t have been pretty. Presentable – if she had had the time to fix her mane. Perhaps even cute if she had one of Rarity’s dresses to draw the eye. But pretty? Definitely not. She didn’t spend nearly enough time preening herself to be considered pretty.

“N-not that you scare me or anything. That didn’t come out right. I just feel nervous around you. Like if I said something silly, you’d notice. And I guess I was just so excited for your big day and I wanted you to feel as excited as I did. I didn’t even realise what I wanted to do it until I did it. I just, I don’t want this to come betwe—”

Twilight raised her hoof and pressed it gently against Fluttershy’s lips. She couldn’t bear hear any more. It wasn’t making things easier. In fact, if anything it was making matters worse. On one hoof, Fluttershy was saying that she was sorry she had kissed Twilight, but on the other she was explaining why she had done it. There was no indication of what she wanted or how she felt.

Twilight put her hoof back on the ground, her brow furrowed in concentration as she tried to piece things together. If she made the other pony feel nervous simply by being there, that had to be a good sign, didn’t it? After all, you didn’t feel nervous around a friend unless you didn’t think of them as just a friend. And she had said she thought Twilight was pretty. Then again, this was Fluttershy. She was a very nervous pony at the best of times. Perhaps it was just a strange quirk.

Twilight bit her lip. Every time she tried to make a case one way or the other, she ended up making an equally good counterpoint. After some very quick deliberation she came to the conclusion that, no matter how much she questioned and how deeply she probed, she was unlikely to achieve the level of certainty she was looking for. She had to take a chance and it was now or never. If she let this go on much longer, there would be nothing left to say.

“Don't be sorry,” she said hesitantly.

Fluttershy looked down at her hooves and back again. She tilted her head questioningly, her fringe falling sweetly across her face. Twilight swallowed, still unsure of herself.

“I'm the one who should be sorry,” she continued. “I just didn't see it coming. If I had seen it coming, I don’t think I’d have let it happen at all.”

Fluttershy stepped backwards, her eyes now fixed on the ground. It wasn’t until after she had said it that Twilight realised how that sounded. She stepped forward to keep close to the pegasus, who continued to back steadily away.

“I didn’t mean that!” Twilight cried, trying to fix her mistake. “I mean, yes, I wouldn’t have let it happen. But I've thought a lot about it since then – in fact I haven't really thought about much else – and I'm still not quite sure how to say this but…”

She faltered. Her thoughts were all muddled up. Even more so given how much depended upon what she said next. Fluttershy had stopped backing away. Instead, she crouched on her hind legs with her face completely hidden in her mane. Twilight’s hoof shook as she reached out and pushed her mane aside. There were tears in her eyes: tears that broke Twilight’s heart.

“I’m glad you kissed me, Fluttershy.”

The words erupted from her mouth like a shot from a cannon. The still air had been punctuated by her abrupt admission. The silence which followed could only have been fleeting, but waiting for the pegasus’ response made it the longest moment of Twilight’s life. She somehow felt both lighter and heavier at once. She was no longer holding anything back but that in itself was terrifying. Her body felt weak, as though her legs might give out at any moment. Her mind buzzed. Her pulse raced. Her eyes were fixed upon Fluttershy and she couldn’t have looked away if she had tried.

Everything in her entire world rested upon what happened next.

Fluttershy looked up at her, her eyes were open very wide indeed. Her mouth was moving, but no sound came out. This wasn’t what Twilight had expected. Her chest tightened. Fluttershy didn’t look like somepony who was happy with what she had heard. On the contrary, she looked utterly bemused. Twilight felt herself blushing. She looked around, seriously considering throwing herself into the pond. Or attempting to hide in the tree. Or simply flying off into the night.

This surely had to be the most awkward situation that had ever been created anywhere in Equestria.

“I don’t understand,” Fluttershy muttered.

“What?” Twilight squeaked, turning back around to face the pegasus.

“I… I don’t understand,” she repeated, even more quietly. Twilight watched nervously as she started picking daisies out of the grass. Her eyes looked incredibly far away.

A part of Twilight wanted to ask her what it was that she didn’t understand, but another part wanted to watch her pick those daisies forever. At least then she wouldn’t have to face what was bound to come next. Would they pretend that none of this had ever happened? Would that even be possible? What would their friends think?

They would probably be a more than a little surprised. It wasn’t as though this kind of thing never happened between friends, but it was bound to make things awkward. It had been a little awkward already considering that she and Fluttershy hadn’t spoken since the other night. Yet even if they were fine talking to one another, somepony was bound to notice something. What would they say?

Fluttershy was now threading some of the daisies together into chain. Twilight watched the process absentmindedly, remembering how she used to do this with Cadence when they went on picnics together when she was a filly. She remembered thinking her foal-sitter was doing some kind of powerful alicorn magic to get them to stick together, and Cadence spending hours showing her how to pull the stems apart just so…

“How are you doing that?” she asked, crouching down in front of the other pony. Fluttershy flinched, dropping the daisies she had in her hooves.

“Doing what?”

“Making that chain?”

Fluttershy looked down at the string of daisies and picked it up, continuing where she had left of.

“You just have to clip the bottom of them gently with your hooves,” she murmured, concentrating hard. “Then you push the stem through the little hole.”

Twilight picked up one of the daisies and held it on the edge of her hoof, completely forgetting the conversation they were supposed to be having. She eyed the stem and tried to clip it between her two hooves but she was obviously far too clumsy. Instead of creating a space to push the other stem through, she had just chopped the daisy in two. She picked up another and tried again. This time, a breeze blew it out of her grasp before she could even bring her hoof down. She looked over at Fluttershy, trying to see what it was she was missing, but there didn’t seem to be any difference in the what she was doing compared to the pegasus.

Six more times she tried, but she just couldn’t get it. There must have been some knack to it that Twilight didn’t have. She would probably be better sticking to the magical method, though Fluttershy would probably consider that cheating. Maybe she would be too busy to notice Twilight using magic. When she glanced up to check, though, she found the pegasus looking straight at her.

“You didn’t seem awfully glad that I kissed you after I did it,” she said rather abruptly. In fact, she seemed to have startled even herself and hastily resumed work on her daisies.

Twilight was completely taken aback by the sudden revelation. She felt like she had been doused in cold water. There was something about the way in which Fluttershy had said it that made Twilight dreadfully uncomfortable. It was a valid point, though. If their places has been reversed, she would probably have said the same thing.

“I know. I was just so surprised. If I’m honest, I wasn’t too glad at the time. I just had so much going on with the coronation and everything that went along with that. I just didn’t know how to react. But I’m glad now. If we could go back and do it all again, I wouldn’t act like that.”

Fluttershy didn’t say a word, though Twilight could tell she was listening. Her ears were perked up somewhat. Even to Twilight's mind, that had sounded too much like an excuse, and not a very good one at that, but it was true. Her thoughts had been too full to think about anything more. Bad timing and the element of surprise. There was something in her eyes, but Twilight couldn’t work out what she was thinking. She just kept clipping away at her daisies.

“I guess it too late for that now, though,” she sighed picking up her own failed attempts at making a chain and blowing them from her hooves. Fluttershy looked up at Twilight and with a sympathetic smile and crept a little closer. She picked up one of the daisies Twilight had blown away and examined it

“You know, you’re not too far away. All you have to do it make sure you’re clipping along the length of the stem instead of the width. Take this and I’ll show you,” Fluttershy said giving Twilight one of her daisies. Twilight took it in her hoof.

“Now hold it really steady,” she said, holding Twilight’s leg in her left hoof.

Twilight felt herself shaking. Not because she was trying to concentrate on holding still but rather because Fluttershy was touching her. It was delicate, it was warm, it was kind. It was everything Fluttershy’s touch should be. She found herself wishing that that moment would last forever. Yet at the same time it felt incredibly strange.

Perhaps this was what it would be like if they went back to just being friends. Much like it had always been, but with the implied agreement that it was weird. That wouldn’t be so bad. And they had been friends for years now. They could get through this. They were grown mares, not little fillies. Things like this were bound to have happened to other ponies. Perhaps there was a book on it? If not, she could write one. Changing the names of course.

Fluttershy’s other hoof came down upon the daisy in Twilight’s grasp. There was a tiny bit of pressure then she let go of both hoof and leg.

“Like that, see?” Fluttershy said, smiling. Twilight looked down at the flower in her hoof. It had a tiny little split in it, just as though it had been clipped by magic.

Twilight looked back up at Fluttershy who was now standing up in front of her. That smile would have lit up all of Equestria. She looked so beautiful in the moonlight. Her mane and her coat looked even paler than usual and her eyes sparkled like stars. She looked so calm, as though nothing could phase her. Deftly, she plucked the daisy out of Twilight’s hoof and trotted back over to where her chain lay on the ground. She attached the final daisy and closed it into a circle, picking it up in her mouth. Before Twilight knew what was happening, she had placed it on top of her head.

“You left your crown on the grass over there,” she said, giggling and pointing towards the tree.

Twilight had no idea what to say. This was beyond weird. She was kidding herself if she thought they could go back to being friends after all of this. She could tell herself otherwise but in the end, she was bound to keep treating everything they did together like a date. She could already feel herself doing it. Or else she would hold out hope that there was still something between them. This simple act was proof enough of that.

“Fluttershy, what is this?” she asked, unable to hold it back any longer.

Fluttershy stopped dead, her eyes springing open in alarm. Twilight cringed. That had come out a lot more straight forward than she had intended it to.

“Wh-what do you mean?” Fluttershy stammered, yet her tone and her expression betrayed her. It was clear for anypony to see that she knew exactly what was being asked. She looked frightened – trapped into a situation that she had been carefully avoiding.

“What is this?” Twilight asked again, pointing to the daisies on her head. “What does any of it mean? What am I to you? Am I your friend? Or is it something more? Please, just tell me.”

Fluttershy stepped back from Twilight. She bit her lip to stop it from trembling, but that didn’t help. Her entire body appeared to be shaking uncontrollably. There was a moment or two where Twilight thought she might take off crying, but to her surprise, Fluttershy looked back at her very seriously. It was, in fact, the most serious look that Fluttershy had ever given her.

“I... I don’t know,” she breathed.

Twilight wanted to scream. This was frustrating. How could she not know? Twilight knew exactly how she felt. There were only two possible answers. And yes, the question was difficult but Fluttershy had to have some idea. The pegasus looked down at the ground and back up, clearly sensing Twilight’s frustration. She swallowed hard and stepped forward.

“Would you kiss me?” she asked.

Twilight shook her head. Had she heard that right?

“I mean, if you could? Because I'd let you. You know, if you wanted to, that is.”

Twilight stared at the pegasus, her heart pounding in her chest. This was as good as she could have possibly hoped for. She should have been jumping around for joy but all she could manage was one word.

“Yes?”

With a loud squeak – which had it come from any other pony, might have been described as a squeal – Fluttershy threw herself at Twilight, knocking her onto her back.

“Really?” she asked, looking down at the princess with her wings spread in excitement. Twilight looked back up at her, laughing happily, and nodded.

She wondered for a moment why it had taken Fluttershy so long to tell her how she felt. Perhaps she had feared that Twilight didn’t feel the same. Or perhaps she simply couldn’t bring herself to say it. In truth, it hardly mattered now anyway. In an instant, the whole situation was transformed. It was like something out of a dream. Fluttershy wrapped her arms tightly around Twilight. She too was laughing; laughing and crying at the same time. Her wings were flapping uncontrollably too but she wouldn’t let go of Twilight. As a result, the two of them ended up floating a few feet into the air.

Still holding the pegasus tightly in her arms, Twilight began flapping her wings too in an attempt to keep them steady. With the combined power of their two sets of wings, they rose higher and higher. They must have been well above the height of the nearby tree before they stopped climbing. When Fluttershy’s grip finally loosened, the pair held one-another at arms length. Twilight stared at the pegasus.

Her head partially obscured the moon and she was surrounded on all sides by a haze of brightly twinkling stars. Despite this, nothing shone more brightly than she did herself. As they flew there, it occurred to Twilight what it was that Fluttershy must have been expecting and suddenly it was the only thing Twilight could think of. With one last glance into Fluttershy’s beautiful eyes, she closed her own and gave in.

A rush of blood shot straight to her head as she nudged her muzzle gently against the other pony’s. Her mind, for the first time in her life, was utterly blank and she was lost in a world of pure sensation. Minutes could have passed. Hours even. Or days. Or no time at all, for that matter. It was impossible to tell. Nothing else existed in Twilight’s world other than the soft, warm feeling of Fluttershy.

Before long the muzzling became more urgent. As though they were searching for something. And with each passing moment, their search became more frantic. The reality of what was about to happen made Twilight shiver. Her stomach leapt around with anticipation. There was nothing between them. Nothing stopping them. She held her breath and nudged Fluttershy’s lips.

Fluttershy nudged back.

That was all it took. The next thing Twilight knew, she had pressed her lips against Fluttershy’s. The fear, the doubt, the relief, the joy, the anticipation – everything Twilight had felt from the moment the pegasus had first appeared that evening – spilled out of her in a fit of passion. She held Fluttershy tighter, as though letting her go would mean never holding her again.

This kiss was nothing like the last one. It felt wonderful. It felt relaxed. It felt expected, perhaps even inevitable. There was no confusion; no surprise; no need to wonder what the other pony was thinking. It was the most natural thing that could have happened.

Twilight felt grass under her hooves again. In the heat of the moment, she had evidently forgotten to keep flapping her wings. She broke the kiss, though the feeling of Fluttershy’s lips lingered for a few moments longer. And then there was nothing. The stillness of the night was interrupted only by the thundering of her heart against her ribs and Fluttershy’s deep breathing.

When she opened her eyes again, Twilight found herself looking at the most beautiful sight she had ever seen. Fluttershy stood in front of her, her pastel pink mane highlighted by the pale glow of the moon. Her eyes were distant, yet focused. It was as though she was looking not at Twilight, the pony, but rather something deeper. A gentle smile pulled at corners of her mouth. A beautiful smile. A perfect smile.

It took Fluttershy a very long time to notice that Twilight was staring at her. She coloured and looked down at her hooves. Twilight felt herself laughing internally. It was endearing that, despite what had just happened, she was just as demure as ever. Twilight ran her hoof through Fluttershy’s mane and across her gentle features. Fluttershy smiled again and lifted her gaze to meet Twilight’s.

“So, um, what do we do now?”