Chapter Six: Like a Dream

A princess can be a figure of sernity which inspires peace and a utopian mindset amongst the people they serve... just be sure not to overdo it.

A cool breeze gently lifted her from slumber, she awoke to warmth and comfort and a sense of deep peace. Her first thought was to greet the day by stretching out and opening her eyes but something stopped her. Subconsciously she knew if she were to do so she would disturb this wondrous feeling.

Instead she simply abided, her face pressed against something soft... if she were a cat she would purr... which she conceded would be a nice ability but a complete waste of magic, plus she doubted it would impress any of the other unicorns.

They were a stuffy people sometimes, it was considered an improper use of magic to make such alterations to the body even though it harmed nopony to do so... she sighed softly, why was she even thinking about it? Oh well, it hardly mattered, right now all that mattered was how good she felt.

She wondered if she should wake Spike, the fact she couldn’t smell something cooking was a sure sign the little dragon had yet to awaken. Twilight couldn’t help but smile at the conflicting realities of her faithful friend, he was both lazy and hard working at the same time.

Her eyes flickered open to reveal nothing but the color blue, closing them again she sniffed finding that this mysterious sky before her smelled of the wind and storms… an oddly pleasant tang that made her mumble something about flying later.

Twilight moved by instinct, snuggling closer to the body she was pressed to…

Her eyes widened.

Thus the princess awoke, it was not the sky but instead a pegasus she knew all too well. Hooves wrapped Twilight in a fierce but reassuring embrace and warm breath gently stimulated the nerves of her ear.

Her horn lay upon another’s neck, which to her was strikingly romantic and stirred her natural unicorn instincts. She wasn’t sure why but all of this felt right, as if it were meant to be… however the fact still remained that the result did not absolve the incident that had preceded this near perfect moment.

The war resumed…

Twilight moved as slowly and gently as possible to untangle herself from the pony that had wrapped itself around her. As much as she wished to remain in that place there were factors that needed resolving and she had yet to even scratch their surface.

With regret once more she freed herself from the situation.

Sitting up upon her bed Twilight regained herself, memories flashing back causing a terrible blush to burn her cheeks. Feeling light headed she climbed off from the bed. Once on ground it took a moment to stabilize her legs, not that they ached but they certainly weren’t entirely awake yet.

Such issues were annoying but hardly at the forefront of her mind right now, instead she took the time to peer back at her friend.

The pegasus lay curled up amongst the sheets, her wings slightly out and twitching as if she dreamed of flight. Her hooves that had held the alicorn not a moment ago fidgeted, trying to grasp hold of something that was not there.

Rainbow Dash still slept, the pegasus frowned and murmured something unintelligible. The sight was one Twilight felt she would always remember and once more she dragged from the vast library in her mind the word ‘adorable’…

A small smile formed on Twilight’s lips, it had been good aside from the conditions of said event , it had brought to her a sense of ease that gave the world around her a dreamlike quality. Once more that serene satisfaction stole her away.

Nodding to herself she made ready for the day, she would hold court once more though it would be short, there were only three people who wished for some of her time. She wondered how it would all go in the end but nothing seemed able to distort this new sense of peace.

Not even the threat of impending war could ruin this… she would have to get on that soon of course otherwise all kinds of bad things would occur, no matter her emotions she had a job to do and one far more important than she had ever had before.

It may have been common for the old princesses but it was an entirely new experience to the new princess and it was one she took seriously!

Warden was a proud stallion, a self conscious stallion, a driven stallion. He understood the importance of keeping an appearance and the need to protect the privacy of the royal sisters. They were ponies too after all.

Since Shining had gone he had been left running certain areas that he had thankfully retired from… now he was back but it wasn’t so bad he supposed. His wife was going through the motions of another child and the extra bits would pay for… well things they would need.

Maybe save up and try to get this one educated too… not that he held high hopes, it was the curse of the bloodline that the youths of the family found little interest in study… and more interest in arms training and causing a ruckus.

Foals… he smiled at the thought of them, he had been a bit of a rebel too he couldn’t deny… didn’t mean he wouldn’t cuff them across the back of the head occasionally, his own head had been near perpetually bruised back during his youth, he had deserved it too and it never did him any real harm… though he certainly wasn’t as rough as his father had been!

He marched towards the throne room at a leisured pace, it was early so nopony was really around. The next hour however would see activity, the maids and servants would explode into work with a ferocity that would make a battlefield look mundane.

He didn’t like it too much, it gave him flashbacks of a particular scene involving a cheese wheel and his mother’s kitchen…

Battle did that too…

He turned a corner, thinking that it was a beautiful day when he spotted her. She was swanning down the hall, eyes lost in thought, a warm blush and a gentle smile… she was humming too, some gentle tune that inspired feelings of joy.

He blinked in confusion as she angled past him without a look or a word, she was meant to appear in early court within ten minutes but… she was going the wrong way.

“Erm… Princess?”

“Hmm?” She paused, pulling out from whatever world she had been in to look around with confusion. She turned and saw him, a bright smile lit up on her face. “Oh! Good morning Warden!”

He blinked, this wasn’t the princess he had come to know at all… she just seemed more… radiant than before.

“Is something wrong?” The Princess asked, a worried self couscous expression forming on her face.

“Princess?” He frowned, then shook his head clear, “No, nothing wrong my lady.”

“Oh…” Twilight nodded, not so reassured.

“You just seem happy this morning.”

Twilight’s blush took on new heights, he was sure he could feel the heat emanating from those cheeks, “Oh… yes… thank you!”

“You’re heading for the throne room?” He asked.

It was her turn to blink with confusion, until of course realization struck like a gryphon assassin, “That’s right, its court today!”

“Why don’t I accompany you there?” He offered.

“That would be lovely thank you Warden!” She beamed at him.

She quickly caught up with him and they began walking, though Warden found himself quickly guiding the princess on their journey.

Twilight lowered herself onto the throne and sighed happily, from this angle the light from the window behind her warmed her back… it was quite relaxing. Everything seemed brighter today, the colors were more vibrant and everything seemed to glow angelically.

On days like this she would feel compelled to study outside, or conduct an experiment that involved not being cooped up in her tree house… she may have even given Spike the day off, after all he always worked so hard.

“If you don’t mind princess…”

Twilight looked down at the young mare who stood before her, she seemed cute with a light smile and bright eyes… oh drat, had Twilight missed that? That’s unfortunate, this could be embarrassing.

There was only one thing to do… the young girl had asked a question… kind of…

“Oh,” Twilight responded, smiling back, “I don’t mind.”

The small mare brightened even more so, and was that a silent squee? “Thank you princess! I won’t take much of your time it’s just… I’m from the Lost Fillies and Foals Foundation, we deal with poor unfortunates who rarely get the chance to do anything… fun…”

Oh dear… Twilight’s sympathy rose tenfold.

“Well… you see they’ve been working so hard to perfect their performance this year for the Celestial Hall Charity Ball but…”

The pony hesitated, Twilight motioned her to continue. Shyly the mare did so, “Well… we had reserved our placement for the event but… our reservation was cancelled.”

Twilight was shocked, who would do such a cruel thing!? “May I ask why?”

“The event itself has been cancelled,” The mare answered, “Nopony would tell us why…”

She looked truly crestfallen, Twilight sympathized with her greatly, every fiber of her being wanted to help. Twilight considered it for only a moment. “Very well, I shall look into this myself, you have my word I will do everything in my power to see this charity ball back on schedule!”

The small mare broke out in a massive smile of gratitude, “Thank you princess, I’m sorry to have bothered you with this…”

“Think nothing of it!” Twilight announced, feeling her heart soar, “The welfare and happiness of Equestria’s unfortunate deserve our greatest attention!”

“Thank you princess!” The mare bowed, then backed away quickly.

Twilight’s smile was radiant, she was making progress, yes indeed this was progress!

Rainbow Dash snorted awake, blinking furiously against the… wait there was no sun… okay fine she just blinked, might look stupid but she didn’t care, not one bit! Rolling onto her back she stared up at the ceiling, not a ceiling she was too familiar with but… oh yeah! Twilight!!! It was obvious to her that a certain pony had vacated the area and although it disappointed her she understood why.

Not that she cared… nope… not one bit…

…

Whatever, it’s not like it mattered anyway.

“Wow, just woke up and full of crap already.”

“Shut up.” Dash muttered, she wasn’t in the mood to listen to her conscience today. No… this day was a new day and by her amazing ability to know these things by instinct alone, and maybe a quick glance at the sunlight streaming in from the open window, today was a beautiful day and nothing would stop her from flying!

“I wish Twilight would fly with us today…” A small voice echoed.

“Yeah, well you know she’s busy,” Wisdom responded to console the ill feelings.

Loneliness continued in an even smaller voice than before, “I know but…”

Cunning moved in quickly, “It’s understandable that we feel like this but… she’s a princess, she has her duty to the kingdom.”

“Hah!” Rage snorted, “Like that means anything! She was quick enough to leave us for her throne!”

“Be nice,” Loyalty growled in warning, “You know she didn’t want to leave us.”

“Whatever…” Rage muttered.

“I’m hungry,” Appetite commented.

“True,” Wisdom agreed, “We will need to gather food if we are to fly well today.”

“Hmm… maybe we should check in on Twi, see if she's okay…” Instinct suggested.

“If it makes you happy," Wisdom sighed.

“Food, Twilight, skies… are we forgetting anything?” Instinct asked.

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“Shower!” Cunning yelled triumphantly.

“Oh yeah, shower!”
“Of course how could we forget that again!”
“Don’t wanna stink up the sky!”

“Very well!” Wisdom nodded to itself, “All those things but shower first, agreed?”

“Agreed!” They all responded in unison.

Dash nodded to herself and climbed out of bed, stretching out her body and wings like some mutant winged cat creature... and maybe this time she wouldn't catch herself singing one of Pinkie's songs in the shower... again.

Author's Note

Well... I thought I would go easy on this one considering what is about to happen... yes.

Not that that's a hint of something more emotionally driven to come.
Honestly...
Maybe a little...

It is a story about love after all.
Love between a timid prude and a sex crazed adrenaline junkie...
...
... yes.