Golden Oaks Library is many things. A place of learning, a home to one of Equestria’s princesses, a familiar hangout for certain ponies, a research lab (basements are perfect for experiments), and much more. Today, however, it was the single most well defended location in all of Equestria.
To an outsider, it may have looked as though Ponyville was preparing for war. Multitudes of golden-clad stallions patrolled the streets, fearsome bat-winged pegasi provided a watchful eye from above, and more crystal ponies than most ponies would ever see outside the Crystal Empire were entrenched in various fortifications around a certain tree-turned-library. To the citizens of Ponyville, however, this was the least unusual occurrence that week.
The importance of the library on this day was known quite well amongst the townsfolk. This was the third Friday of the month, and as such, Golden Oaks Library was set to host a most important meeting between the four Princesses of Equestria. That this meeting was scheduled to occur once every four months only served to make matters even more routine for Ponyville.
Most of the citizens had learned to simply ignore the arrival of the other three princesses by now. None actually knew what these special meetings were, or why they had first began, but the citizens were certain it was something of monumental importance to require four princesses.
Inside the library, the secret meeting was just beginning.
Twilight Sparkle spoke with the odd combination of a stern voice and a positively giddy expression. There was a literal twinkle in her eyes as she announced, “I hereby call this meeting of the Royal Princess Book Club to order!"
Luna was the first to respond, “I fear I must raise a concern about your choice of reading material for this past month.” Twilight’s giddy expression slipped in the opposite direction as Luna voiced her concerns. “This main character, Skybreaker, is supposedly a demon hunter, yet this cannot be true. Everypony knows that Celestia and I sealed all the demons away in Tartarus, so what exactly is this fool hunting?”
Cadance answered the question with a groan.
“Tis a legitimate question!” Luna snapped back at her niece.
“Auntie, the book is a fictional novel. Just like the last three books in this series.”
The older mare was quick to reply, “This does not mean that the author should be allowed to make up whatever fantasies fill his head and put them to paper!”
Cadance felt her jaw slacken as her mind refused to comprehend the sheer void of logic Luna had presented as an argument. Thankfully, Twilight swiftly interrupted the conversation, “Actually, Luna that’s precisely what a fantasy novel is.”
The midnight princess found eye contact difficult to maintain. “Well, fine. I shall rescind my complaint.” The slight giggle from her sister did not escape Luna’s notice.
Twilight took the lack of further complaints as her cue to continue. “Now then, why don’t we start by talking about our favorite sections of the book. Cadance, I believe it is your turn to start.” Twilight motioned towards the pink mare who nodded in acknowledgment.
“Personally, my favorite part was the romance—”
“I think we already knew that,” Luna interrupted. Before the midnight mare even had time to savor her niece’s expression, she was pelted from all sides with pillows.
“Now, now, Luna. You know the rule about interrupting other club members,” Twilight said with absolute authority. “The first strike is subject to pillow assault. Let’s hope you don’t get a second strike.”
Celestia grinned slyly. “Oh, don’t listen to her, Luna. By all means get a second strike.” Luna felt a shiver run down her spine.
“Ahem.” All eyes returned to Cadance as she continued. “I really enjoyed how Skybreaker slowly grew to love and care about the demon girl, Silvertail. Call me crazy, but I could just feel the chemistry between them, even from the moment they first met.”
All eyes suddenly turned to Luna, as if waiting for her to say something. Refusing to take the bait, Luna settled for returning the pillows to their rightful owners faces. After a brief silence, the group was able to share laugh.
Cadance promptly took the opportunity to continue discussing the book’s romantic subplot. “Well, I just have to say it was an interesting spin on a lover’s tale. And with Skybreaker’s eventual transformation into a demon wiping the slate mostly clean, it felt even more touching that he fell in love with Silvertail again as his memories of being a pony returned.”
“An excellent observation, Cadance,” Twilight commented. “I enjoyed that aspect of the story as well. Even more so than the previous books in the series, this one truly felt like a romance story with all the adventures as a mere backdrop.”
At this moment, Celestia decided to interject. “I also agree with that statement.” She smiled before continuing, “And if it is alright, I’d like to take my turn now.”
Cadance nodded, followed by Twilight. With the stage all hers, Celestia allowed her signature warm smile to grace her lips. “My favorite part was the way Skybreaker and Silvertail showed their love for each other through their constant teasing and verbal jabs.” Purple ears twitched as mental gears began their work.
“So, you like it when lovers tease each other?” Twilight asked, unable to hide her curiosity.
“Of course she does,” Luna answered with an unusual amount of enthusiasm. “Tis one of Celestia’s greatest weaknesses. And it works even better if you can weave physical teasing in with thy verbal remarks.”
“Luna—” Celestia tried to protest, but she was promptly derailed as her vision filled with purple. Something warm and wet slid across her nose. White wings flared reflexively as Celestia tried to retreat to safety.
“What’s the matter? You’re not afraid of my tongue, are you?,” Twilight quipped coyly. The purple princess made a deliberate show of pretending to lick something in front of her, slowly dragging her tongue along an invisible surface before playfully curling the tip as her tongue withdrew back into her mouth.
Celestia glanced from one pair of eyes to another, and then to one more. They sly twinkle in each pair of eyes was more than enough information to tell her she’d been tricked. She released a happy chuckle as her mind caught up to the game being played. Three against one was hardly fair for her fellow princesses, but what worried her most was the chance that Cadance and Luna might not be actual players in this game. If it was just a matter of herself against Twilight, Celestia wasn’t sure how long she could hold out. It was hardly a secret anymore that Celestia was jealous of her sister’s courting of Twilight, but to think that Luna had made Twilight into this much of a prankster… Celestia shook her head. She was getting distracted. There was no sense dwelling on anything that might cause her to lose her calm. It didn’t matter that her former student was using Celestia’s crush to tease her. It didn’t matter that Luna and Cadance were being cruelly supportive of Twilight’s uncharacteristic behavior. It didn’t matter that Twilight had suddenly pressed her lips against Celestia’s…
No, that one did matter.
Celestia fought with herself for several moments before she was able to overcome her own desires and break free of the tauntingly passionate embrace. She stammered for words as she tried to come to grips with the situation. “Twilight! That… that’s not funny.” Even as she chided her former student, she became acutely aware that there wasn’t a single bit of laughter anywhere in the room.
Celestia's gaze darted to Luna’s only to find disappointment. Quickly, she turned her gaze to Cadance who refused to even look at her. Finally, she turned to Twilight, who was sadder than she’d ever seen her. Everything about the situation was wrong. This wasn’t teasing. Something else was going on, but she just couldn’t see what it was. She couldn’t see anything past that devastated look in those lavender eyes.
Luna broke the silence, “Sister, I think it is time for everypony to be honest.”
Slowly, Celestia tore her gaze away from the lavender voids. “Then allow me to start.” Luna nodded. “Luna,” the elder sister hesitated, “I’m jealous of you. I’m jealous of what you have with Twilight… I’m jealous that you have Twilight, and that I do not.” Before Luna’s expression could even change, the solar mare found herself embraced by the one thing she wanted more than anything else.
“Princess—” Twilight cut herself off. The purple pony craned her neck to gaze upward, meeting Celestia’s gaze with watery eyes. “Celestia, I’m sorry, but you were just too stubborn.”
“I was… too stubborn?”
“Too stubborn to admit your own feelings for me.”
Celestia felt tears welling up in her own eyes. “What I feel doesn’t matter anymore. I’ve already lost that chance—” Once again, Celestia found her lips locked with Twilight’s. Tears flowed like rivers down a mountain in spring. When the kiss ended, the two ponies gazed into each other’s eyes. “Twilight, this isn’t fair. Not to me, or to Luna.”
“Sister, cease thy blubbering. If thou hadn’t been so stubborn in refusing to admit thy own feelings, we shan’t have required such a ridiculous ruse to get through to you.”
It was a rare occurrence when Celestia was wrought speechless, and Luna took every bit of pride from doing so that she could. “Tis not to say I wouldn’t enjoy keeping Twilight to mineself, but we can all see, clear as thy day, where her heart truly lies.”
“But—”
Celestia was promptly interrupted by Cadance. "You can be remarkably stubborn at times, Auntie. Not even my magic could open your eyes. Then Luna came to me with a, let's call it a proposition. I must admit, it sounded rather fun.”
A brief flash of confusion crossed Celestia’s face. "You went through all this just to get me to confess to Twilight? What if it hadn't worked?"
"Well, plan B was Twilight taking you to a nice restaurant, get you stinking drunk, and then make out with you, so we figured we were covered."
"Twilight apparently decided to skip parts one and two," Luna remarked amusedly
"What can I say, I'm efficient. I also don't like wine," Twilight retorted.
The solar princess looked back to Twilight, a smile shining through her tears. “Twilight, I’m sorry. I just couldn’t fathom that you’d actually reciprocate my feelings. I was afraid you’d think I was being creepy and that I’d only end up pushing you away.”
Twilight giggled. “I might have if I didn’t love you so much.”
“That wasn’t entirely reassuring, Twilight.”
Cadance and Luna stood up in tandem. “I propose this meeting of the Royal Princess Book Club be postponed until tomorrow,” Cadance exclaimed.
“Why?” Twilight swiftly protested.
The only response she received was a sly wink from Cadance. Luna and Cadance quickly ushered Twilight and Celestia upstairs to the former’s bedroom, shutting the door behind them.
“I think they’re tired of being subtle about us,” Twilight stated sheepishly, finally releasing Celestia from her embrace.
The white mare was struck with two major realizations at this point. The first, was just how little she had actually seen of Twilight’s bedroom before now. The second, was that during her glance around the room, for some unknown reason, her gaze was met by a life sized version of herself… made entirely of chocolate. “Twilight…”
Purple ears splayed against her head. “Oh, that…”
To call the silence awkward would have been a massive understatement, one akin to calling Pinkie Pie happy while at a party.
Celestia couldn’t resist giving the chocolate statue of herself a closer inspection. After walking around the thing a second time, her eye caught a rather questionable detail. “I have to be honest Twilight, the level of detail on this is… more disturbing than the item itself. It even has proper anatomical features.”
Rather than the hard blush Celestia had been expecting, Twilight’s expression took on an almost predatory edge. The purple alicorn crept close, then circled around Celestia’s side. A wing brushed over her croup briefly. “Oh, well, you see… we weren’t sure if our plan would work. However, I’ve been more than a tad pent up from having to fake a relationship with Luna, so tonight I was determined to have a taste of you one way or another.”
“And I was worried that I was being creepy,” Celestia deadpanned.
Twilight circled back around to Celestia’s front. The younger mare licked her lips sensually. “Why don’t we do something to ease the tension in our moods, then?”
Celestia raised a brow. “I take it you have an activity in mind?”
“I’d like to test which one of you is sweeter.”
Before Celestia could even react, her vision was once more filled with purple. This time, however, she wasn’t the least bit startled by her lover’s tongue.
Author's Note
Written for the third bi-monthly Twilestia contest over at the group Twilestia is Bestia.
