> A touch of youth > by Raised_on_Shoegaze > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Something special > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Are you sure this is what normal ponies do?” Princess Celestia asked Scootaloo as she lay on a small bed in the attic of the Ponyville library. She was presently the size of a small, school age pony due to one of Twilight Sparkle’s spells backfiring during one of her frequent visits to Ponyville. Her student had left, along with most of her friends to go into the Gnippihs forest in order to find a rare plant that emitted a type of pollen that would be able to change her back to normal, and since somebody had to stay and watch the young princess, Scootaloo had volunteered. The orange filly happily nodded as she crawled beside the princess in the soft bed and smiled. “Of course, what possible reason would I have for lying to you.” Scootaloo said with a smile as she leaned her head towards the princess and started to nuzzle her neck. The princess backed up slightly at the contact between them, which only served to make Scootaloo lean in closer towards the princess. Upon seeing the distress of the princess the orange filly temporarily paused her advances on the princess and gave her a compassionate smile. “Relax, everything will be fine, I’ve done this before you know.” Scootaloo said as she silently hoped that the princess’ mind had truly been erased when Twilight cast her spell and that she wouldn’t be able to use her magic to tell her that the young filly was currently lying to her. Celestia looked down at her hooves for a second in what seemed to be contemplation, which also served to make the youthful princess seem a little more enticing to the equally young Scootaloo, before raising her head and giving a minuscule nod. “Okay, tell me what you want me to do.” Princess Celestia said with a timid smile that seemed to blend well with her already adorable face. Scootaloo allowed herself to stop for a second and admire the cute expression on her princess’ face, before leaning towards the princess’ flank with her eyes beaconing the princess to imitate her action. The princess did, and within the space of three seconds Scootaloo’s mouth was pressed against Celestia’s in a kiss. Both ponies eyes widened in surprise as a feeling equivalent to an electric shock overtook them both as they pulled their bodies apart from the brief kiss. Scootaloo’s eyes started tearing up as she looked away from the princess with an expression of guilt evident on her face. “I shouldn’t have done that.” Scootaloo admitted after a few seconds of silenced passed after the kiss. A confused expression graced Celestia’s face as she started moving her body closer to the young pony who had chosen to spend the day with her. “Why not?” Celestia asked with a voice that reminded Scootaloo of the gentle ringing of a bell. The orange pony sighed before turning her head to face the hurt expression on the princess’ face as tears started to form in her eyes. “Do you not love me?” Celestia asked, causing Scootaloo to shake her head before wrapping one of her forelegs around the princess, who seemed to melt into the touch. “Of course I love you princess.” The orange pony said as an ocean of tears started to form behind her eyes as she pulled the princess into a tight hug. “I didn’t even know what love was until I met you.” Scootaloo said as her tears started running down her face as she continued to hold Celestia in a protective embrace while the princess allowed a small sob to escape from her mouth. “Sweetie belle always talks about love, she always said that once you meet your soul mate you’ll realize it right away.” Scootaloo continued with her arms still wrapped around the princess, who’s sobs were increasing in frequency with every word the pony spoke. “But then, when I walked into the library and saw you, I understood what Sweetie Belle meant.” Scootaloo said as her tears started to drip onto the princess’ shoulder. She then released the princess from her hold and adjusted her position on the bed so that her eyes were staring into the eyes of the princess. “And that’s why we can’t be together.” Scootaloo said with a defeated expression on her face as she turned her head away from the princess. “Because when Twilight and her friends get back from the Gnippihs forest, you’re going to change back to normal and I’ll never be able to see you again.” Scootaloo said in between tears, as Celestia placed one of her hooves upon her shoulder. “Why not?” Celestia asked, causing Scootaloo to violently turn her head to face the pony behind her. “Because you’ll be different!” Scootaloo shrieked, unknowingly pushing the young princess unto the bed where she had quite recently experienced her first kiss. “You won’t be the same pony who I spent the entire day showing around town. You won’t be the same pony who laughed at my jokes and listened to my stories, and you won’t be the same pony who captured my heart.” Scootaloo said, before her expression changed to resemble that of an injured kitten as she sat down on the bed where Celestia had fallen down upon. “You’ll change back to the princess you were before, then you’ll go back to the castle and I’ll never see you again.” Scootaloo said as a fresh batch of tears started to run down her face. Celestia stared at her newfound friend sobbing for a brief second, before moving closer towards the young filly and running her tongue against her face in an attempt to remove the tears from her face. “Wh-what are you doing?” Scootaloo asked as Celestia’s small tongue started to consume the tears that were strewn all across her face. The princess gave her friend a reassuring smile before continuing her work. Once she was sure that all the tears had been removed from Scootaloo’s face she gave her friend a smile, before giving her a brief peck on the lips. “I couldn’t just sit here and allow my fillyfriend to cry now could I?” Celestia said with a smile on her face, before lying down the bed and silently beckoning her friend to imitate her action. The orange filly gleefully accepted her silent invitation and lay her head on one of the two pillows on the bed, making sure her face lined up with Celestia’s. “Thank you.” Scootaloo said with a smile as a yawn escaped her lips and her eyelids threatened to darken her vision and bring her into the realms of sleep. Celestia smiled and gave the orange filly a brief kiss on her cheek before she too let out a yawn and closed her eyes, allowing her body to fall asleep beside her newfound friend. Scootaloo gave a smile and started absent-mindedly running her hooves over Celestia’s sleeping form before she too was overcome by sleep. Twilight and her small group of friends trotted into Ponyville with disappointed expressions on their faces as they made their way towards the library to tell Celestia the news of their failed adventure. “Who knew that one little plant would be so hard to find?” Applejack said to the rest of the depressed ponies as they continued walking. The other ponies nodded in silent agreement as they continued on their path with their faces pointed towards the ground. “Well, look on the bright side, that means we get to go on an adventure again tomorrow!” Pinkie Pie said with an ecstatic expression on her face as she started happily hopping around the slow moving ponies. Twilight gave a groan before turning her head to glare at the pink pony who was attempting to boost the morale of the group. “I don’t want to think about tomorrow Pinkie.” Twilight said with a stern expression on her face. “I’m more worried about what Princess Celestia is going to say when she finds out that she’s stuck as a filly for at least another day.” Twilight said before her expression turned to face the ground as she continued her imitation of a depressed funeral-goer. “I don’t think she’ll mind.” Pinkie said with a smile on her face that provoked a reaction from every member of the mane six who lifted their heads to stare at her with expressions of both confusion and disbelief. “What do you mean by that?” Rainbow Dash asked, earning an even bigger smile from Pinkie Pie who started hopping around. “Oh man, you’ve got to see this, it’s so cuuuute!” Pinkie said with an unnaturally large smile on her face, before she dashed away, leaving a pony-shaped puff of smoke where her form had occupied less than a milli-second before. The rest of the man six gave a collective sigh before quickening their pace to follow their hyperactive friend. After a brief chase the group of ponies found themselves insid of the Ponyville library, and were greeted with Pinkie Pie standing on the stairs leading towards Twilight’s bedroom with an excited expression on her face. “You guys have to come see this, but you gotta promise to be quiet.” Pinkie whispered to her face who had started to follow her up the stairs. Their curiosity as to what Pinkie had a desire to show them seem to overcome their depression as they followed her up towards Twilight’s bedroom. Once they got to the room they were all shocked at the scene that awaited them. “Aaaaw.” Rarity cooed when she saw the sight of the two ponies sleeping beside each other in bed with contented smiles on their faces as they appeared to be locked within an embrace. Their shallow breathing appeared to be the only sound in the room as the mane six collectively stared at the adorable sight in front of them for a few brief moments before their view of the scene was block as Pinkie gently shut the door to the room. “They need their rest, they’ve had a long day.” Pinkie whispered as she led the mane six away from the room. The ponies followed her away from the room with confused expressions on their faces as they attempted to make sense of the scene they had just witnessed. “I suppose finding the flower can wait until tomorrow.” Rainbow Dash said with a smile on her face as she followed her friends downstairs. “Or maybe we could put off finding it for another week.” Fluttershy said with a smile on her face. “Why would we want to separate them? Let’s forget about the flower and let them enjoy their newfound love.” Rarity said with a grin on her face that was returned with an expression of disbelief from the purple pony standing beside her. “Are you insane! We can’t leave her as a filly forever, she’s one of the two leaders of Equestria for crying out loud!” Twilight exclaimed, causing Rainbow Dash to chuckle before placing her hoof on her friend’s shoulder. “Come on Twi,don’t be like that. Celestia took Luna’s job when she was sent to the moon, why can’t Luna do Celestia’s job while Celestia’s a filly.” Rainbow Dash explained. Twilight glared at her friend for a few seconds before letting out a sigh. “I suppose we could probably wait a few days before we go out looking for th flower again.” Twilight said with a defeated expression on her face as the other ponies in the room celebrated with silent cheers and high fives passing between them. Twilight allowed a small smile to grace her lips upon seeing her friends happiness at the prospect of the two lovers upstairs being granted a little more time together. “I’ll tell Scootaloo’s parents she fell asleep on the couch.” > Consequences > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “What do you think Twilight told Mr. And Mrs. Hoo?” Fluttershy asked her rainbow-maned friend as they trotted down the road which conveniently led to both of their homes. Rainbow Dash turned to her friend and gave her a slight smirk. “I’m more concerned with what she’s going to tell princess Luna when she asks where her sister is.” Rainbow Dash said with a slight chuckle. “I was thinking that maybe we could stage an alien abduction. Maybe we could use Twilight’s magic to disguise orselves as space aliens and kidnap Celestia in front of Luna when she comes to ask Twilight about...” “But don’t you think that would be a little bit scary for her.” Fluttershy asked, interrupting her friend in the middle of describing her idea. “I mean, she’s already gone a thousand years without her sister. So don’t you think that seeing her ponynapped right in front of her eyes and having to live without her again would be traumatizing for her?” Fluttershy asked, causing Rainbow Dash to stare at her with her mouth agape for a brief second before lowering her head. “I guess that would probably be a little scary, especially for somepony like princess Luna.” Rainbow Dash admitted. “She might even transform into nightmare moon again when she sees her sister being abducted.” Rainbow Dash said as a slight expression of fear appeared on her face at the thought of battling nightmare moon in a space alien costume flashed through her mind. “Well, what do you think we should tell her?” Rainbow Dash asked the shy pony beside her, who lowered her head to the ground in both embarrassment and contemplation. “I don’t know.” Fluttershy admitted. “But I’ve always believed that telling the truth is always better than telling a lie.” Fluttershy said quietly, earning her a chuckle from Rainbow Dash. “You didn’t seem to think that way when you stole the princess’ pet bird.” Rainbow Dash said with a smile that was returned with a glare from Fluttershy. “That was different!” Fluttershy exclaimed as loud as she could, which truthfully wasn’t all that loud, as Rainbow Dash gave another chuckle. “No it wasn’t. Celestia was worried about her pet just like Luna will be worried about her sister.” Rainbow Dash said, which caused small tears to form within the shy pony’s eyes. “I said I was sorry.” “I said I was sorry!” Twilight pleaded to the princess of the night who sat in one of the chairs on the first floor of the library with a look on her face that Twilight noted seemed to resemble a brick wall. “My sister is a filly.” Luna spoke with apparent disregard to the young apprentice in the room, as well as the many guards who had followed her to Ponyville and the infant dragon currently hiding in the kitchen. “Yes you’re sister is a filly. But we know how to fix her.” Twilight started to explain. “We just need to find the rare Aitselec flower and it’s pollen will return her to normal.” Twilight continued explaining, which went unnoticed by the catatonic princess who continued to stare at one of the library walls with a blank stare. “My sister is a filly.” Luna repeated with a dull monotonic tone of voice as she did so. Twilight gave a sigh before attempting to walk over to comfort the princess, and being stopped by two of her guards. “All ponies must stay at least 15 feet away from princess Luna until princess Celestia is able to assume her place on the throne.” One of the guards recited, while the other guard remained silent while giving Twilight a tern galre. “My sister is a filly.” Luna repeated once again a monotonic voice as her eyes continued to remain fixated on a specific spot in the library wall. Twilight sighed as she took a step backwards. “I said I was sorry.” Twilight repeated. “No you’re not.” The princess spoke as she lifted herself from the chair in the library and turned her head to glare at her sister’s former student. “You’re not sorry, and you probably never will be.” The princess said as a look of anger started to appear on her face as she started moving towards the purple magician. “It wouldn’t surprise me if you purposefully cast that spell just so you could spend more time with her.” The princess explained through nearly clenched teeth as she continued to move towards the purple mare who appeared to be shaking slightly with her face facing away from the angry princess. “You probably spent hours searching for a spell that could transform my sister into a filly so you could have the relationship you’ve always wanted to have with her.” Luna continued speaking, now towering over the cowering purple mare who now appeared to resemble a terrified filly being chastised by a stern teacher. “You wanted to show her that age didn’t matter in matters of the heart.” Luna explained. “You wanted to make her younger than you and then sweep her off her feet and carry her into the sunset whilst whispering sweet nothings in her ears.” Luna said with a sarcastic tone of voice as she continued chastising the scared mare in front of her. “But things didn’t work out as you planned did they? Your friends saw Celestia transform and realized that they had to transform her back into the beautiful mare she once was, and for fear of your friends finding out about your feelings for my sister, you decided to reverse your spell.” Luna finished speaking and paused for a brief moment to apparently study the filly cowering on the floor with a small amount of yellow liquid forming a puddle underneath her. “I don’t hear you saying I’m wrong.” Luna said with a slight smile on her face at her apparent triumph of her sister’s student who merely nodded her head, before covering her face in shame. The princess gave a low growl before trotting towards the door of the library. “If my sister isn’t back to her normal age within a week.” The princess said as her horn glowed a dark blue and the door in front of her opened wide to allow her to step though. “I’ll have you and your friend’s locked away in the castle dungeon for the rest of your lives.” Luna said with a final glare directed towards Twilight, before trotting towards the royal carriage. Once she had left the house her guards exchange nervous glances before leaving the house as well to protect the princess. Once all the guards had left Twilight collapsed on the ground and started whimpering to herself, seemingly oblivious to the yellow puddle she found herself laying in. "She's right." Twilight said to herself with a whimper. > Jealousy and movies > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “I don’t think this is what Twilight wanted us to do.” Fluttershy said to her pink friend who sat in front of her in a folding chair staring at the kitchen table where Scootaloo and Celestia sat with a camera placed beside her. The pink pony seemed to pay no mind to the shy pony beside her and continued to stare at the two fillies in front of her eating the breakfast Spike had made for them before he left with Twilight and her friends to locate the Aitselec flower. “Come on!” Pinkie shrieked into a megaphone that seemed to appear out of thin air. “This is supposed to be a heart-wrenching documentary slash romance movie, and you’re giving me nothing!” Pinkie Pie yelled at the two fillies in front of her who started to exchange nervous looks with each other. “Should we...kiss?” Scootaloo asked the youthful princess who blushed and looked down at her hooves beneath the table. “I would prefer it if our romantic activities were done in private.” Celestia said, before casting a glare towards the pink pseudo-director and her unwilling accomplice. “Without any witnesses or cameras present.” Celestia said as her horn started to glow. “This is pure movie gold.” Pinkie Pie whispered excitedly to her accomplice, unbeknownst to the look of apprehension on her face as she stared at the small alicorn in front of her. “I think we should put the camera away.” Fluttershy said to her friend, who gave her an over-dramatic look of shock, before wrapping her forelegs around the camera in a protective embrace. “Are you crazy! I can’t get rid of the camera, it has to be filming at all times in order to capture every heartwarming moment and tragic twist in their doomed relationship! I can’t just...hot..hot...HOT!” Pinkie pie screeched as she removed her forelegs from the camera as it burst into flames in front of her. Scootaloo let loose a giggle at the sight of the pink pony running around the room, presumably searching for water to extinguish the small fire on the end of her tail. Celestia, seemingly oblivious to Pinkie’s distress, turned to the scooter enthusiast on the end of the table and gave her a smile. “You asked about a kiss earlier if I remember correctly?” Celestia asked the filly in front of her, who lowered her head as a blush formed upon her face. “We don’t have to If you don’t...mmmf!” Scootaloo started to say before her lips were captured by Celestia’s in a kiss which Scootaloo participated in with glee, and possibly a little more enthusiasm than the current situation required. “This is pure movie magic!” Pinkie Pie shrieked as she poured a cup of water from the kitchen on the small fire on her tail to extinguish it. “And I can’t film it!” Pinkie Pie shrieked again, before dashing towards her charred camera and started randomly banging on various places on the machine in a futile to force it to film the scene in front of her. “What does she have that I don’t?” Luna asked herself as she lay on her sister’s bed with warm tears sliding down her face as she sobbed. She considered calling a guard or a servant and asking them to bring her a box of kleenex to dry her tears, but decided against it upon realizing that she probably didn’t want anypony to see her in her current state. “It’s not fair!?” Luna sobbed, possibly a little louder than she should have as another wave of tears started flowing from her eyes. “I deserve to be the one sleeping beside her, not that scooter-obsessed brat!” Luna said with a sneer as the thought of the orange filly sleeping contently beside her sister flashed into her mind. “Scootaloo Bue Hoo.” Luna said with a sneer as her face started to heat up in anger and evaporate the tears on her face. “Even her name sounds stupid.” Luna said as a small smile formed on her face before she started to lay her head on the bed. “What am I so worried about?” Luna said to herself as a yawn escaped her mouth as the fatigue brought on by sobbing for most of the night started to take control of her body. “She’s probably just confused by the situation and when she changes back into her old self.” Luna paused, snickering slightly at the pun she had made. “She’ll abandon that filly and come crawling back into my loving embrace.” Luna said with a smile as she started to close her eyes to let sleep claim her. “And I’ll live happily ever after.” Luna said with a smile as she allowed herself to dream of her and her beloved sister playing in the garden enclosed within the walls of the castle, away from the judgemental eyes of her many subjects. Author’s note: I apologize for the briefness of this chapter. > Party invitations > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pinkie had lived a short but nonetheless very good life. She had made many friends, gone on many adventures, and felt many emotions during her life and it was safe to say that if her life ended at this very moment she would go into the afterlife without any regrets. “YOU LOST THE PRINCESS!” Twilight shrieked for what could have been the hundredth time within the last fifteen minutes as she tipped over a bookshelf and allow it to fall onto the floor. Pinkie Pie huddled in fear alongside her friends in a corner of the library staring fearfully at the purple unicorn, silently hoping the unicorn would continue to direct her anger towards the bookshelves instead of at them. “She said she was sorry.” Rainbow Dash said timidly, earning her a fiery glare from the apprentice magician currently tearing apart the inside of the library. “Oh yeah, sorry makes everything better doesn’t it!” Twilight said with a strong dose of sarcasm as she did so. “You’d better hope it does.” Spike muttered to himself from the kitchen where he was hiding, the purple unicorn turned her head towards the room and started stomping angrily towards her assistant. “What was that?” Twilight hissed at her assistant, who started to shiver violently in fear. Twilight gave a low growl as her horn started to glow. “If you don’t tell me what you said in five seconds I’ll roast you alive.” Twilight growled at her assistant, who continued to stare at his master in fear. “Five...four....three...two..” “You’d-better-hope-saying-you’re-sorry-makes-princess-Celestia-forgive-you-otherwise-she’ll-get-creeped-out-by-you-turning-into-a-filly-so-you-could-make-her-fall-in-love-with-you-and-she-ll-probably-never-talk-to-you-again!” Spike frantically yelled, before placing his claws over his head protectively. “Please don’t kill me.” The dragon begged as he held his claws over his head and closed his eyes, expecting to be roasted alive at any moment. After a few seconds past the dragon timidly opened one of his eyes and to his surprise, he found Twilight standing in front of him with her head facing the ground and a few sobs escaping her mouth. “Are you okay?” The dragon asked the purple unicorn in front of him, who appeared to ignore him and continued sobbing. The purple dragon let out a sigh, before turning his head towards the kitchen’s entrance, where Twilight’s group of friends had gathered. “I think I broke Twilight.” “What’s a slumber party?” The princess asked her newfound friend, who was presently seated at a desk in her room making invitations out of construction paper for the aforementioned slumber party. The orange pegasus looked up from her work and gave the princess a smile. “It’s like a sleep over, with more than one friend.” Scootaloo said, before diverting her attention back towards the two invitations on the table, mentally commenting to herself that it would be a lot more difficult to make the invitations if she had more friends. The young princess seemed to think about the explanation her newfound friend gave her for a few seconds before she opened her mouth to speak. “So...kind of like what we did last night?” Celestia asked her friend, who paused in her work as a blush formed upon her orange cheeks. “Kind of like that, except with more ponies.” Scootaloo explained, hoping that the explanation would be enough to satisfy her friends curiosity. “So, will I have to kiss all your friends as well?” Celestia asked nervously, causing Scootaloo to chuckle before turning her head away from her work to face her fillyfriend. “We might play spin the bottle later and then you might have to kiss one of them.” Scootaloo said with a smile upon her face. “But, unless it’s part of a game, you won’t need to kiss anyone but me.” Scootaloo said with a somewhat seductive smile on her face as she stood up from the chair in front of her desk and walked over to her fillyfriend laying on her bed. “Afterall, kisses are special. You only give them to the ones you love.” Scootaloo said, as she leaned in and laid a gentle kiss upon Celestia’s lips. The princess gave a smile which returned by the pegasus before a contemplative expression overtook her facial features. ‘But what if I fall in love with one of your friends?” Celestia asked. “Or one of Twilight’s friends? Or one of the ponies in town?” Celestia asked again, earning a look of confusion from the pegasus standing in front of her. “I’m afraid I don’t understand what you’re saying.” Scootaloo said with the same look of confusion evident on her face. This caused Celestia to let a sight escape from her mouth as she attempted to find the right words to explain her previous inquiry. “What if I fall in love with more than one pony?” Celestia asked, earning a mildly shocked expression from Scootaloo. “Is it possible to love two different ponies at the same time?” Celestia asked, earning an even greater look of shock and confusion upon Scootaloo’s face. “You’re referring to Twilight aren’t you.” Scootaloo said with a look of anger starting to form on her face, as Celestia’s eyes widened. “Of course not.” Celestia said, which seemed to calm down the orange pegasus slightly. “I’m just asking if it’s possible for a pony to be loved by two ponies at the same time.” Celestia said, causing Scootaloo to pause for a few seconds and contemplate what her fillyfriend had said. After a small amount of contemplation Scootaloo opened her mouth to speak. “I wouldn’t call myself an expert on the subject, but I do know that I probably wouldn’t be able to share you with another pony.” Scootaloo said as she started to nuzzle the neck of her princess, mentally making a note of how soft the skin on her neck felt as she did so. “The jealousy would probably destroy me.” Scootaloo said with a minuscule smile, before she kissed the soft skin on Celestia’s neck, which caused Celestia to emit a sound similar to a cat purring that caused Scootaloo to grin. “What’s jealousy?” Celestia asked, earning her a sigh from the red pegasus who turned her back towards the princess and moved back towards her desk. “If Twilight tries to flirt with you, then you’ll probably find out.” Scootaloo said with a bitter expression on her face as she continued working on the invitations for her slumber party.