Muse
“Flash?”
“P-Princess Twilight! What brings you here?”
“No reason. Just, you know, visiting Princess Cadance, wandering around and totally not having any ulterior motives.”
“I...see. Did you come to the privates’ quarters in search of somepony or something?”
“In a matter of speaking, but don’t worry about it. Anyway, what’s that you’re trying to hide behind your wing?”
“W-wha-hiding? Me? N-nothing at all, Princess!”
“Is that a sheet of paper? What are you—”
“W-wait! It’s not what you—”
“Hey, is this a story? You like writing, Flash?”
“I kinda, sorta dabble a bit here and—Wait, how do you know my na—”
“What kind of story are you writing?”
“Um. Well. It’s...err...you see, the library has a freewriter section where you can donate stories for foals to read. They call it ‘Friendship is Fiction’.”
“That’s really thoughtful of you! May I see?”
“It’s not very good. Or finished. I’ve been stuck on this idea I’ve had for a long time now. Just can’t seem to get the words right, and it doesn’t help that I’m not too good at writing.”
“Hmm. You have a bunch of dialogue here, so I guess that’s a start to a decent foundation. Well, if you’re stuck on an idea and still trying to learn, you should start bit by bit and build your way up to a great story. Dialogue is great, but you may want to consider adding a few dialogue tags.”
“Dialogue tags?” Flash asked.
“Yep,” Twilight nodded, “they help readers identify who is talking. Do you have an idea of the characters and the type of story you want to write?”
“I had a, well, romance story in mind. Wanted to tell a story about a stallion and a mare who meet up somewhere and build up chemistry together.”
“S-so you like romance, Flash?”
“Um,” Flash gulped nervously, “I-I’m just trying it out. You know, experimenting.”
“Mind if I help? I have a friend named Rarity who lends me her books time to time. They’re mostly romances, so I have some good experience I can share.”
“Really? I mean, I’m sure you have much more important things to do than help me write a story.”
“I took care of the important business earlier, so I have some time to spare.”
“In that case, I would be honored if you could help me, Princess.”
“Please, just Twilight will do for now. I prefer to leave work at work, you know?”
“Heh, I know what you mean. I really appreciate this, Pri- um, Twilight.” Flash smiled meekly.
“Of course! Alright, now that you’ve added some dialogue tags, let’s fill out some of these dialogues with some action and a little bit of descriptions. Let them flow naturally,” Twilight said. She then scooted over a little closer to Flash.
Flash swallowed nervously, and complied with Twilight’s instructions. His quill moved slowly, distracted by the princess who was practically rubbing shoulders with him. Minutes crawled by as he made the adjustments.
“Like this?”
Twilight paused to judge the added words. She nodded, satisfied. “Good. It’s a start. Let’s flesh out these interactions a bit more. Try adding some thoughts the characters might have at the moment. Maybe even a few extra descriptions here and there to spice up the scene.”
A little difficult when a Princess is practically hanging all over me, Flash thought. As if fate saw fit to punish his mentality, an image came to mind that caused him to facehoof, his tangerine cheeks flushing crimson.
“Are you alright?” Twilight asked, a twinge of worry in her voice, “you seemed stressed out.”
“I’m fine. Just a little stiff—m-my imagination I mean!” Flash added quickly.
Twilight tossed him a curious look. Suddenly her eyes lit up. “Setting! Can’t forget that in a romance!” With magic sparking in her horn, Twilight pulled one of the nearby chairs in the dull-colored room towards her, and took a seat.
Flash could feel her wing brushing against his own, every touch spiking his heart rate. “Go ahead and add some descriptions about the setting where the story will take place. You don’t have to do too much, just enough to paint a reasonable mental picture.”
Flash nodded as he began writing. A mental image fresh in his mind, he wrote about the silver drapes that allowed a crack of Luna’s moonlight to slip through. Pictures, medals and certificates were strewn across the beige dresser. An armor bust holding royal guard armor stood next to the dresser. The royal armor glistened in both the moonlight and the candle that burned on the wooden desk.
As he wrote, Flash did his best to avoid thinking too much about the soft feathered bed in the corner of the room, as his thoughts risked escaping from his mind and—
“Did you just describe your room?”
Flash snapped back to reality, realizing that he did indeed just describe the room they were in. As his eyes found hers, he struggled to come up with a viable excuse.
Don’t just sit there staring at her like a creep, make something up!
“I...just made something up?”
For the love of…
“Oh. Um, okay? I guess we can make it work,” Twilight said as she offered a tiny ‘you tried’ smile.
For a moment, Flash considered throwing himself out the window to save himself from further embarrassment.
“There’s not a lot two ponies can do in a room. Maybe they’re playing a game? Or engaged in some sort of activity?” Twilight asked.
Unconsciously, Flash’s head slowly began to turn.
Flash, for the love of Celestia, do not look at the bed!
Catching himself, Flash refocused his attention at Twilight, his face flushed. “The mare is a mentor who is helping out the stallion student.”
“Ooh, so this is a teacher and student kind of romance? Those can be great if they’re done well. Tell me more about them!” Twilight beamed with excitement and curiosity, putting Flash on edge.
“Ok, um… The student is a stallion who is constantly struggling with his studies. I had in mind that he was tasked with a research paper on creative thinking and literature. He doesn’t have a lot of friends, and tries to handle a lot by himself, so his scores suffer because of that.”
“Awww, poor stallion.”
Poor stallion, indeed.
“The teacher is a very wise and pretty mare who is well respected by her peers. She finds herself focused on the struggling student more than any other student. I’m still trying to think why that would be the case.”
“Hmm.” Twilight tapped her chin in thought. “What if… the stallion reminded her of an old flame?”
“An old flame?”
“Yeah. Like, the stallion she’s so focused on reminded her of a pony she used to be attracted to. Maybe she’s having a hard time separating the two and wanted to seek out the student, both to help him and to try to find a way to separate them in her mind. To escape her past and move on.”
Flash stared at Twilight for a moment, stunned. “Twilight, that’s brilliant!” Already, he could feel the creative inspiration flowing through his mind a mile a minute. His quill scribbled furiously as he began developing and refining the dialogue of the characters in the story.
“Maybe the stallion just so happens to also look a lot like the old flame. So much it distracted the teacher, so she couldn’t get him out of her mind.” Just as the thought came out of his mouth, Flash stopped himself. “Hmm. Maybe that’s a little too unrealistic.”
“Not as much as you might think.”
“What was that?”
“Nothing! T-that’s a fine idea, Flash.”
For a second, Flash pondered if he merely imagined Twilight’s voice quivering. He shrugged off the idea.
“Uh, great! So we’ve got the teacher’s motivation for helping him.” Flash said.
“What about the student? What does he see in the teacher?”
Flash paused as he thought on it. He had a vague idea of what he wanted of this character, but when trying to find the words for it, it came off disjointed. “He… always found the teacher to be attractive, but never really acted on it. She was simply an attractive teacher.”
Something felt missing there. There was a line of thought to follow; it was just a matter of turning the abstract idea into something solid. Something a little closer to home.
“I think,” Flash began, speaking more to himself than Twilight, “he began to realize these feelings as the teacher worked with him. Her warm smile, attention to detail, striking beauty, and kindness won him over. Of course, he’s not head-over-hoof in love or anything, but just a little bit of love might be growing in him.”
It was Twilight’s turn to give him a surprised look. “That’s wonderful, Flash! Where did that come from?”
Where did that come from? Flash asked himself. “I… just kind of thought of it on the fly, to be honest.”
Twilight smiled widely. “That’s great! Now that we've established some starting points of the characters and the scene, let’s start adding some details. Oh! Maybe even add some twists and turns to keep the reader guessing.”
That gave Flash some pause. “Twists and turns?” he asked. What kind of twist and turns could he give a story like this? Surely he couldn’t just throw in something random in the middle of the scene for the sake of surprise. As much as he was still learning to write better, he knew better than to add something in just for shock value. “Did you have something in mind?”
Twilight took a moment to ponder on that question. After awhile, she shook her head. “Can’t think of anything that wouldn’t come off as cliché. Don’t want to be random.”
“Heh, I was thinking the same thing.” Speaking of random, a thought came to mind that seemed irresistibly unique. “What if the project the two were working on somehow tied into what was happening between them?”
“What do you mean?”
“Let’s say, for example, the idea of the project was to exercise creative writing. The student lacked the inspiration and skill to come up with something. But as the teacher helped him and the project they worked on together developed, so did their feelings for each other.”
“Huh. So it’s a story within a story? And the progress in the project shows the progress with their relationship?”
“Exactly!”
“Interesting. Very interesting,” Twilight nodded to herself as her hoof tapped against her chin. “I think that could work for an interesting twist. Now we just need to figure out what would bring them together. Ignite the spark that gets them thinking about—”
THUNK!
The two jumped, Flash twisting in his seat and throwing a protective wing around Twilight as he faced the the window. Twilight had done the same, her horn sparked and ready to cast magic in case of an emergency.
The two watched the grey pegasus at the window blush fiercely, rubbing her sore forehead, which was barely covered by her blonde mane.
“Sorry, you two! Still getting used to the night shift.” The cross-eyed pony yawned. She floated away from the window, only for another loud thud to echo through the wall in the upper floor. “Sorry! Still getting used to the night shift!”
Flash groaned as he facehoofed. “Dang it. We just got Derped.”
“Come again?”
“Oh, right. That’s a term somepony at the base coined whenever Derpy swings by to deliver mail. She would always pop up out of nowhere, and usually at the wierdest time. So yeah, Derped. It’s pretty silly, ri…” Whatever Flash was about to say was cut off as he turned to look at Twilight.
Their wings had looped around each other’s backs, unconsciously pulling them closer to the point their muzzles were only a breath away from contact. An uncomfortable silence fell between them as their muzzles burned hot, coats turning deeper shades of red. Flash’s heart pounded in his ears as his eyes slowly trailed down to her muzzle.
If I tilted my head and moved just a little bit, I could—
“S-sorry, Twilight!” Flash balked in horror, both at the situation and the thought that entered his mind. “I didn’t know what that was at first, and I—it was a defensive reaction, I didn’t mean to—”
“It’s fine, Flash.” Twilight reassured with a surprising amount of calm.
“I’m sorry, I… wait… huh?” Flash blinked.
Twilight smiled gently as she retracted her wings. “You’re a soldier for the Crystal Empire. It makes sense that your initial reaction was to protect the Princess. After all, there was no telling if that glass would have shattered, right?”
“R-right.” Flash nodded stiffly and removed his own wing. Despite Twilight’s reassurance, he couldn’t help but notice her lavender muzzle darken with color.
They stared down at the partially written story, falling into an awkward silence.
“So—”
“Anyway—”
They started and stopped simultaneously, glancing at each other as they shifted uncomfortably. Flash couldn’t help but ponder when the atmosphere suddenly gotten so—
“Atmosphere!”
“Wah!” Twilight barely caught herself as she almost fell off the chair. She sent him an irritated glare. “Warn me before you shout like that.”
“I’m sorry, Twilight.” Flash apologized, helping her realign with her seat. “It just occured to me to write about the atmosphere. Almost forgot how important that is.”
“Hey, that’s a good point!” Twilight grinned. “A good atmosphere would really pull readers in.”
“I know! Just thinking about the two working together on a project…” Flash trailed off.
“Alone. In a dark room.” Twilight continued.
“A room that seems to be getting warmer every second.”
“The air feels charged. Tense.”
“Their hearts race. Time slows down.”
“They… feel something is off. Something strange is happening. Almost wrong.”
“But at the same time, it feels so right. Exciting. Frightening, even.”
“They’re caught in a trance as they look into each other’s eyes.”
“Their breath catches and their hooves touch.”
“They move closer.”
“And suddenly hesitate, drinking in the moment.”
“They know what this is. What this means.”
“But don’t know why or even how it happened.”
“There’s little doubt they even care.”
“All that matters…”
“Is the now...”
“And what it can be...”
“What will hopefully be...”
“What...they want it to be…”
“And then comes…”
“The moment they never expected…”
“But perhaps always wanted…”
Silence.
“Um...Twilight?”
“Yes, Flash?”
“Are we still talking about the story?”
“I… don’t know anymore.”
They pause.
“It’s getting pretty late.” Flash said.
“It is.”
“I don’t want to keep you up if you—”
“It’s a little too late for that, Flash.”
“Oh,” was all Flash could think of to say. He shifted anxiously, breaking into a nervous sweat. “Um. S-sorry.”
“Don’t be. I’m not.”
A wing unfurled and slipped around the other’s shoulder.
“Does...this mean what I think it means?”
As if to answer, the other side mimicked the previous action, the two wrapped in each other’s wing.
“I think it means we’re going to need a lot of coffee tonight.”
Tearing his eyes away from Twilight for a moment, Flash made a snap decision.
On the story titled Muse, he added one line in the story’s summary.
Based on a true story.