Fizzlepop Berrytwist has been exploring new lands to learn about herself and her place in the world for months. She still hasn't come to any huge revelations that she might have wanted to. But now, exploring an alien world unlike any she had ever imagined, she meets a pony who sees a kindred spirit in her...and perhaps something more than that, too.

A just-barely-entered-on-time entry for the May Pairings contest

This story is a sequel to Opening Twilight's Heart

Princess Celestia has never been fond of decorum. The pedestal she is placed upon always seemed more prison than palace to her. But it was safe. It helped her subjects. It was her place in that one beautiful constant, Equestria. And so the matter was decided. But when Twilight convinces her that the kingdom's defense requires her to leave her dusty old throne and make friends, Celestia must try to balance her duties

There's one problem, though: Any bonds Celestia makes will have to last an eternity. An eternity the friends she makes them with will not have.

Can Twilight bridge the gap between the old mare's heart and the world outside her palace?

Celestia, sacred paladin of the Solar Knights, has been on many journeys to the perilous Everfree Forest in the name of defending her kingdom from all kinds of magical menaces. But when she takes on a mysterious witch in the heart of the forest, she finds the values at her very heart challenged by the treacherous venture. Her quest to defend faceless subjects from a dangerous entity becomes one to save a troubled soul from its own misery, and, in the process, perhaps heal the pain buried deep within her own.

Transformation magic is a powerful, dangerous tool, a lesson Princess Celestia has taught time and time again. But when a miscalculation of her own warps her body into a new and terrible form, an avian form her oldest enemies held millennia ago, Celestia learns these dangers from an entirely new perspective. Now she must find a way to reclaim her old body and manage the killer instincts of her new one. Of course, in order to do that, she'll have to climb off her dusty old throne and make some friends with the knowledge to help her, with some prompting from the more-than-friend who sent her the spell to begin with.

Edited and proofread by the marvelous JKinsley

Covert art by the lovely Fuzzyfurvert

Collab with The Abyss (Chapters 1 and 2)

Proofread by Neko Majin C and edited by The Abyss (Chapters 3 onwards)

Twilight Sparkle has always ignored Hearts and Hooves Day, seeing it as just another normal day with extra chocolate and the occasional broken-hearted friend to comfort. But when Rarity convinces her that not having a date during the holiday is contrary to proper princess protocol, Twilight rushes to do everything in her power to live up to the expectations presented to her.

There’s just one problem, though: Twilight has never been on a proper date before.

After a few rather disastrous attempts to find a date in Ponyville, Twilight goes to her mentor in Canterlot in a last ditch effort in the hopes of finding the answers she seeks. Princess Celestia, however, may have something more for her than either of them had anticipated.

It's time for Reading Day With Rainbow Dash, item #22 on Twilight's big checklist. Spike's never really thought much of these afternoon meetings with the Pegasus; or at least, he hadn't until today. Something's troubling the ace flyer, something she's only really comfortable talking with the baby dragon about. But what can Spike do to help a pony he barely ever talks to?