A Blooming Flower.

by Lake

Rating: everyone
Tags: Romance, Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 4056

Twilight has to take care of Princess Celestia while she slowly recovers from an age regression spell.

Twilight and her books endure the chaos of Celestia's fillyhood, witness her maturing as a teen, and marvel at the blooming of this beautiful princess.

But things are a little strange in Ponyville. She can't believe how quiet it is...

Part of "The Flower Series."

Published 2013-10-14 03:00:03 UTC
Last updated 2013-10-19 22:14:55 UTC

A Blooming Flower.

“Twilight!” the filly bounced up and down, but Twilight Sparkle didn’t say a word.

“Twilight! Twilight! You have to roar! Roar as loud as you can! …Okay. A mute dragon is better!”

Everything was a mess.

Princess Celestia had never felt more alive in the past thousand years.

Twilight Sparkle was now afraid of motherhood and children in general.

Her library was now a ‘bloody’ battlefield. The small filly ran across the room screaming incoherencies, with a wooden sword, shield, and a cape which was actually Twilight’s blanket. She shot magic beams at some piles of red books that in her imagination were fierce draconic subjects of the Great Empress of Dragons, which was poor Twilight.

Our poor lavender librarian had given up long ago. She was sitting in the middle of the room with disheveled mane, her eyes lost in emptiness. She had clearly been hit by a couple of beams and some swings of that wooden sword. Twilight had entered this unresponsive state when she saw her books being covered by tomato sauce. The shock was just too great for the bookworm.

“COME, MY FAITHFUL SUBJECTS!!” Celestia ordered to the piles of brown books, reviving what truly had been one of the bloodiest battles in pony history. This just made the small Celestia’s innocent game a little… disturbing “WE JUST HAVE TO FINISH THAT EVIL DRAGON! WE WILL BRING PEACE UPON EQUESTRIA! AND WE WILL EAT ALL THE DOUGHNUTS WE WANT!!”

There was a fierce battle cry, and after a blow directed towards her chest, Twilight fell unconscious. Not because of the blow, it wasn't meant to do any real damage at all, but because of how tired and shocked she was. Now, how would a little filly take a full grown mare into her bedroom upstairs?

“Twilight”

“Huh?” Said waking mare slowly sat up on her bed, feeling confused. How had she ended up in her bed? Wasn’t she…? Oh, right “MY BOOKS!!”

“Don’t worry” Celestia sat beside her bed… and Twilight was awestruck once more. But this time, because of the teenager Celestia’s beauty. Her voice did wonders calming Twilight down “I cleaned them up and put them in order. It’s only… fair after all the trouble I caused.”

“You cleaned up tomato sauce from parchment?” The skeptical scientist could not believe it. She simply couldn’t.

“Hm, well…” her giggles sounded even sweeter than one of Fluttershy’s bird orchestras. And Twilight thought it was absurd to fall in love twice with the same mare. “I have a couple of tricks under my sleeve, of course…”

Obviously, Celestia may have still pink mane, immature adorable expressions, a sweet voice and a slightly lower stature than Twilight, but she was still a very old mare. A powerful, immortal, and exceptionally smart mare.

“I’m really sorry Twilight. It can be really stressful to forget how to be a child.” She was smiling, but Twilight knew her apology was sincere. Oh, she would forgive her as much as she wanted… as long as she left her books untouched.

“I-it’s fine… I think”

“No, it’s not! You should have seen your face when I sprayed all that tomato sauce on your books, and shot them, and stabbed them, and…”

“Okay, okay! You’re forgiven!” Sweat began to trickle through Twilight’s forehead; was the princess telling the truth, or was she just playing another prank on her?

Twilight stood up and dashed downstairs… Thankfully, everything was in order, sparkling from cleanness. A relieved sight escaped Twilight’s lips. The ‘more-destructive-than-the-Cutie-Mark-Crusaders’ phase was over. Those were some awful 6 hours of madness, three which Twilight used to find the magical spell that would slowly return Celestia back to normal.

“It seems I’ll have to clean my reputation.” Celestia said as she walked to her student’s side “Do you not trust me anymore, Twilight?” This statement and the question accompanying it were like daggers piercing poor Twilight’s heart. How in Tartarus could Celestia do this so fast and without trying? As a filly, teen and adult! Twilight sighed, but with frustration. It wasn’t like she didn’t trust the princess, but that she was afraid of her prankster abilities, in many ways. She needed to elaborate this answer properly…

“I-no-I-just…” she sighed “I’m sorry” her head hung low. She wanted to shut off her brain for the first time in her whole life and cry, thinking how love could be so cruel, yet so precious. She felt so lonely, so cold, so naked and unprotected… until she felt something humid, soft and warm on her cheek.

“Twily?” This was new. Celestia was calling her like that? It kind of bothered her when her brother Shinning called her like that, but spoken by the princess’ lips… She didn’t mind it at all. “Stand up straight, please”

Twilight did as she was told, and could actually see how awkward it was that Celestia was not the tall one now. The perspective was so different! Twilight’s blush became even more intense when the princess nuzzled her chest.

“’Tia?”

“Relax” she cooed gently “I really caused you a lot of trouble. How about we go to your friend Pinkie Pie’s pastry shop?”

“Sugarcube Corner?” Twilight wanted to confirm if she was referring to the right place, Celestia nodded.

“Twilight?”

“’Tia… your sunsets are so beautiful”

They walked through the empty Ponyville streets. Not a single pony could be in sight, which was just perfect. They enjoyed their time together, and they could actually notice Celestia was growing taller slowly.

But they ignored it, just like everything else. They ignored the buildings surrounding them, the wind blowing their manes, the silence in the town, everything. They soon arrived to Sugarcube Corner.

“Hm. We arrived faster than I thought” Twilight commented, slightly confused, standing in front of the local.

“Don’t worry about such things, Twilight” Celestia walked past Twilight, who noticed her mane was now flowing and she had grown significantly taller now. “Maybe the time went faster because of our chatting.”

When they entered Sugarcube Corner, they saw a everything was dark, except for a small table for two occupants which was in the middle of a spotlight. There were two milkshakes on either side of the table and a huge doughnut plate on the center. Twilight was speechless.

They sat on either side of the table, and began drinking and chatting. Twilight was incredibly nervous and couldn’t stop stuttering. She desperately wished she could hide herself behind, or even inside her milkshake, if possible.

Suddenly, a light began bathing Celestia’s mane, and it acquired the other three colors it was missing. Thus, Twilight was shocked for the umpteenth time in that day.

“’Tia… you’re… so beautiful.” She was so bewitched by Celestia’s unmatchable beauty she couldn’t control her words; she just spoke from the depths of her heart. Twilight just had the honor of witnessing Celestia slowly bloom into the full grown beauty right in front of her eyes.

“Is that what you think…?” Celestia asked teasingly, knowing her student’s state.

“…Of course…”

“Twilight?”

“Yes, ‘Tia?”

“I lov—“

With hurried breath, unkempt mane and confused mind, she shot up from her bed…

“It was just a dream…”

Author's Note

Just a small one-shot I wrote...
I hope you enjoyed it.
Also, there is a question.
Who's dream was that?

Nurturing our Flower of Love.

Twilight Sparkle searched through her library any book that could talk about dreams, sleeping, or psychology in general. It wasn’t because she had a dream and wanted to search for its meaning, but the other way around.

“Ah… What are you doing Twilight? I can’t sleep with all this noise!” Spike asked while walking downstairs, scratching his eyes due to his sleepyness.

“I haven’t had any dreams lately.” Twilight answered while still looking for her book “I mean, it may sound foalish, but I kind of miss dreaming. It can be quite interesting to find out what my brain can make up without me controlling it!”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever.” To Spike it had all sounded like a bunch of babbling. He didn’t really care anyways, he just wanted to go to sleep “Can’t you do that tomorrow? Not even Princess Luna’s up at this hour.”

“What do you know about the princesses’ sleeping cycles?” Twilight defied and bit her tongue. She didn’t want to go talking about how both princesses now followed a diurnal cycle, not like the old days when Luna used to stay up at night and sleep at day. Spike was right anyway. It was around four in the morning and the baby dragon needed his sleep.

Spike sighed, shrugged and went back upstairs, slamming the door behind him. Twilight made a mental note to ask Rarity for some earmuffs.

“Luna? Are you awake?” Celestia could hear some groaning behind the giant doors of her sister’s chambers. Of course she wasn’t awake, but Celestia simply couldn’t resist playing with her a little. Asides from that, she wanted to know about something she just saw while asleep...

The doors opened, revealing a rather grumpy princess.

“No. I wasn’t awake, sister.” Her answer was genuine. Celestia admitted that she had felt a slight suspicion about her sister; she thought she had something to do with that dream…”Whatever it is that made you disturb my sleep at four in the morning better be important.”

“I am really sorry, Lulu.” Celestia grinned. Luna gritted her teeth; her sleep was supposed to be sacred. “Can I… come in?” She gave Luna her sweetest of smiles, almost pleading. "Remember all those times your screaming would wake me up in the middle of the night, and then you came running to my arms crying and yelling about a monster under your bed that wanted to eat you?" Luna sighed. Celestia had a point, but she didn't have to summon back such embarrassing memories from Luna's foalhood.

“Yes.” How could she say no? “Yes you can, dearest sister.”

Luna sat on her bed, and Celestia remained on her hooves. Once the door closed, she finally had the privacy she needed to discuss these matters.

“It’s about a dream.”

“A dream? What kind of importance-“

“About Twilight.” The room remained silent. After a brief sisterly eye conversation Luna understood the real nature of Celestia’s current troubles.

“Oh.”

“Yes.”

“…I see.” Luna grinned. This was definitely worth her precious hours of sleep. “Care to tell me the details? Or perhaps I’ll have to get to them myself?”

Hearts and Hooves day arrived. Twilight was alone again, not like she minded. Not alone physically though; Spike was with her in the library, playing with Owlowiscious. To Twilight it seemed like Spike was finally getting over his crush on Rarity, seeing that there probably wasn’t really any possibilities with her. Oh, the poor dragon.

Twilight was just there, reading some old book from her foalhood. There, little Twilight used to write every dream or nightmare she used to have. It was really exciting, and Twilight now felt desperate to revive this abandoned habit of hers.

She was currently reading a dream where she had become a royal soldier and was watching her brother sparring with another soldier. It was obviously for practice, though. Shinning was defeated, so Twilight had obviously run to help him up, but while the winner left with his head high, another soldier grabbed a practice spear and tried to stab him from behind. Before anything disastrous could happen, however, Twilight was quick to stop the spear with her magic.

The dream took a rather strange turn of events, and the rest was about her dad talking to her about some puppets, and another filly telling her that these puppets were evil.

Twilight giggled at the strangeness of the dream, feeling old memories flood into her. It was a warm, comforting sensation.

“What are you reading?” Spike asked, still playing with Owlowiscious… or better said, Owlowiscious was playing with him.

“Oh, just some old silly book.” Twilight rolled her eyes and passed the page into another old dream.

“Hm… Say” Spike began after some minutes of silence. “I know you’re like… 20 something and you’ve been single all your life…”

“…Thank you very much for reminding me.” She said with bitterness, her eyes still glued on the book but her attention towards Spike.

“I-I’m sorry. Oh, whatever. That’s not the point. What I wanted to ask you was… if you had to choose somepony you know to date, who would it be?”

“Huh?” Twilight understood the question, but she just wanted to make sure she had heard well.

“I mean… who would you prefer to spend Hearts and Hooves day with? Like… Big Mac? The Doctor? No, he’s too weird and I think he’s with Derpy-“

“I get the point, Spike… Let me think…”

Twilight didn’t know that many stallions. Then again, she never stopped in the middle of the street to drool at any stallion that passed by like a certain friend she had liked to do. There were many reasons for this; not interested, studies, not that attracted to stallions…

And the main reason… She had always, since her foalhood, had this teeny tiny crush… on…

“Oh for the love of… no.” Twilight whispered to herself, and her head fell flat on her book in an attempt to erase the image her brain had summoned. She had forgotten it! Yes! She had!

But noooo! Stupid Hearts and Hooves day had to remind her!

“Theeen… Who is it?!” Spike looked at her with expectant eyes.

“Nopony, Spike.” Twilight closed her book and glared at him.

Spike shrugged, and Twilight made her way to her room. He would try to persist, but he knew Twilight better now; it was no use.

“Mares.”

Twilight rolled her eyes as she went up the stairs. She shouldn’t have even considered to answer his silly question; she knew this would happen, she knew all her forgetting efforts would have been in vain…

Oh, probably she had stopped having any dreams precisely because of her forgetting process. She had searched her whole library a couple of weeks ago when she had the answer right under her nose! Her dreams used to be occupied only by…

“Hello there, Twilight!”

Right there, on her bed, without her regalia, laid Princess Celestia. Had Twilight accidentally teleported there by thinking about her that strongly? Or was she hallucinating?

“H-hello?”

“Do you know how to clean tomato sauce form parchment?” Just what kind of question was this?

“You… can’t?”

“Why is it so empty and quiet today?” Twilight asked, looking at her surroundings. There was not a pony in sight and not a sound to be heard. It was around six in the afternoon, almost time to lower the sun. Twilight was only paying attention to these details because she was ridiculously nervous and confused. The princess was walking right beside her and she looked more beautiful than ever. Without all the golden jewelry, she looked so... natural.

“Twilight.” A golden flash teleported them right in front of Sugarcube Corner “Don’t pay attention to those things.”

“…Alright, prin-“

“’Tia”

“…What.”

“After you.” Celestia walked ahead and opened the doors for them. Twilight found everything was dark, the only thing being lit was a table with a pair of milkshakes and a giant doughnut plate in the center. Also, instead of the Cakes she found Princess Luna wearing and apron and cleaning plates and glasses nonchalantly.

“…H-hello, princess…” Twilight greeted, but Luna ignored her with a grin.

Am I dreaming now? This is too weird!

Is it possible for a dream to be scary without being a nightmare?

“Please, Twilight. Take a seat.”

Both mares took a seat at either side of the table. Celestia immediately began munching on a doughnut, but Twilight sat there awkwardly staring at her milkshake.

“Twilight?”

“…Y-yes?”

“I’ll go straight to the point with this. I do not wish to be interrupted again.”

“'Again'? Princess, what-”

“’Tia.” She was asking too much of poor Twilight.

“…Yeah, right. ‘T-Tia. What do you mean with 'again'?”

“Twilight, I’m in love with you.” It took Twilight several minutes to process this new bit of information.

It all made sense to Twilight now. This was a confession… or a date. She didn’t know, but what she knew was that she never expected this to happen at all. Or at least to happen like this. It felt like a dream. One of those filly dreams that took an unexpected turn of events. For the weirdest, or for the best. She was actually expecting to wake up as a little filly right now and run to her 'Dreams of or with the Princess (Super Secret)' diary before she forgot it, but no such thing happened.

So Twilight sighed of relief. She wasn't going to be disappointed again, or stain her diary with her tears just like she used to.

“Twily?” Celestia pleaded for an answer with those puppy eyes. Twilight facehoofed; it was obvious! After all, she was the only one who could make that nickname sound right.

“W-well…” But it was just too embarrassing to say. “I’ve… Prin… bluh. ‘Tia. Yes. I’ve… I’ve always been in love with you!”

“So… would you accept to be my special somepony in this evening?”

A squee could be heard in the background. It temporally caught both mares’ attention and dissipated the atmosphere.

“Forgive me for my overwhelming enthusiasm.” Even in the darkness, Luna’s blush was visible. Still, she just kept ‘cleaning’ with a grin, rolling her eyes. Both mares turned to look at each other again.

“Well, Twily?” That was enough to recover the romantic air.

“Uhm… It’s kind of logical for two ponies that are mutually in love to start a relationship, unless there are… certain inconveniences that may prevent-“

“Twilight Sparkle.” Celestia interrupted before Twilight could start talking endlessly about things she read in books. She sounded dead serious. “It is responsible for me to warn you about these inconveniences that will lie ahead. It won’t be easy, but I am willing to go through with this. I can feel you are one of those few ponies that appear once in a lifetime and are worth anything and everything in this world. The real question is… are you willing to walk this treacherous path...with me?”

“I’ve… saved Equestria three times…” Twilight chuckled nervously. Somehow, she felt at ease with this warm, fussy feeling Celestia's words give her inside her chest. No matter the warnings or the problems she knows will arise, she felt unstoppable now. It was all going to be alright… Yes. It was nice to believe in that. “Why not?”

“Is that a yes?”

“That’s more like an… absolutely.”

KISS ALREADY! The one-pony audience mentally demanded.

“Um… What now-“ Of course, then, the new couple sealed the date with a kiss. Celestia had to do everything didn’t she? Not like she minded.

It was awkward, inexperienced, stiff, nervous, short… but sweet. Just like any first kiss… Celestia wanted to express her shock; was this really Twilight’s first kiss? She felt like a monster briefly. A monster that sealed a princess inside the highest tower of a castle. Celestia had to ask. But before she could, somepony else asked for an explanation. Or… somebody.

“Twilight?”

“Spike?!”

“HOW DARE THOU INTERRUPT OUR DELIGHTFUL SOURCE OF ENTERTAINMENT?!”

The couple walked under the starry sky back to Golden Oak Library. They took their time, however. It was valuable and they both knew they wouldn’t be able to see each other very often from that point on. Twilight was the happiest she could have ever been, but was still surprised and slightly confused. Why not asking a few questions to clear some of that confusion up?

“Um… ‘Tia?”

“Yes, love?” Yes, it was going to take Twilight to take some time to get used to this.

“How did you… why?”

“I must say, that is certainly one of the most incomplete questions you’ve made me, Twilight.”.

“I mean, I have so many things to ask… Okay. First. Why did you do it like this?”

“Oh… I had a lovely dream a few weeks ago...” Celestia giggled, looking up to the stars almost as if they could show her that cherished dream. “I won’t say anything else about it, though. At least not now.”

“O-okay… Then… Where is everypony?”

“At a party” Twilight thought how ironic it was that Celestia didn’t like Twilight’s questions to be incomplete and her answers were even more. They only made more questions to pop into Twilight’s head. “Or at least most of them. Others left for a vacation. See, Pinkie Pie did us a favor. Mind thanking her for me, my dear?”

“You're going to kill me..." Literally; her heart was pounding hard against her chest with every new nickname. "Of course, I'll tell her. Next-"

"Before you continue..." Celestia interrupted "I'd like to ask you a little question."

"Um... go ahead." Twilight said hesitantly.

"Answer me with honesty." Twilight nodded nervously "Was that... Back at the bakery, your first kiss...?" She looked away and remained silent. Celestia didn't want to irritate Twilight by pressing further, so she accepted the answer. "That's honest enough... and, are you okay with that?"

"Y-yes! I'm actually very glad...it was you..." She sighed "This is so embarrassing... M-my turn to ask." Celestia nodded to tell Twilight she was listening. “It’s kind of silly, but… Remember what you asked me earlier?"

"'Would you like to be my special somepony?'"

"N-no! I mean.. yes! Or... ugh I already answered that! No, it's not that question." Twilight was flushed red "Earlier than that!"

"I'm sorry, Twily." Celestia giggled uncontrollably, but it didn't bother Twilight; she actually loved how it sounded "Could you be more specific?"

"Can you clean tomato sauce from parchment?”

“Oh! That question... It's a secret.”

Celestia was still thankful. Thankful for the dream that had sown the seed of love in her heart once more. Thankful for the sister that reminded her how to nurture and guard it correctly. Thankful for the pony that helped her grow and maintain it ever since that day long ago. A little seed of hope that became a beautiful flower of happiness.

This was a flower unlike any other.

A flower that Celestia thought she could only dream of.

A flower that bloomed to never wither.

Author's Note

As you may have already noticed, those who said it was Celestia's dream were right. I'll list the reasons:

Some say dreams are representations of one's desires. I am pretty sure anybody that has had the obligation to rule an entire kingdom for thousands of years would want to go back to childhood, when they had the time to play and relax, free of such huge responsibilities.

Celestia was replaying an intense battle she once fought; probably only she knows exact details about this event.

Also, there are magic spells kept in secret from ponies because of the consequences they may have; I believe an age regression spell and its cure, which would obviously be an age acceleration spell (or something like that) can have terrible consequences.

Also, Twilight doesn't know how to clean tomato sauce from parchment.

Celestia is generally given a sweet tooth in fanfictions, specially with cake or doughnuts. :trollestia:

I've read in many other Twilestias that it may be kind of difficult for Celestia to get Twilight to call her by her name or nickname: 'Tia.

The silence and absence of ponies in Ponyville can be another wish of Celestia's, but the short distance it required them to arrive to Sugarcube Corner means that Celestia can't remember where Ponyville's buildings are exactly located, or only knows a few of them. Twilight's question means Celestia is conscious of this.

This is what I think. Also, the dream's setting doesn't really have anything to do with the dreamer, generally. I've dreamed with desserts, Egyptian temples, labyrinths... even elementary school. Places I've never seen while awake or that I haven't visited in years.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Even though I was too nervous and scared to publish it.:fluttercry::fluttershyouch:

Please, let me know if I made any mistakes, specially in the Luna shouting part. My first language isn't English.:twilightblush: