Minding the Gap

Chapters

A hop
And a subversion of expectations
Epilogue: A belated jump.
A skip

A hop

As the day drew to a close and the last few rays of the sun disappeared behind the horizon, Celestia let out a satisfied sigh, and she allowed herself a smile while she walked through the castle hallways. Over the last couple of months, evenings had returned to being a time she looked forward to. Being able to simply take a step back and leave the evening duties to her sister was a blessing. It gave her a chance to take up some of her old hobbies once more, even though the staff might not have appreciated the dissonant tones of her violin.

That was not to say that it was the only reason she was glad to have some time to herself. While it was nice to be able to paint when the mood struck her, or read a book before she went to bed rather than falling asleep the moment her head hit the pillow, the real reason was more purple, and had a lot more feathers.

She always described her room as ‘overly ostentatious’ which was a diplomatic way of saying that it was too big and horrendously empty. Her idle musing at the time it was being built had sadly been interpreted as a challenge by the architect. As a result, her room was of similar size and stature as the grand dining hall, which had made it feel empty for the longest time. What truly made her look forward to tonight was the fact that she would have company.

Celestia hummed a little tune as she pranced up the steps into the hallway that lead to her personal chambers. Sparing a sympathetic smile for the few tired guards who still had a few hours to go was something she always did; tonight, however, it came easier than usual, to the point where she had to stop it from turning into a happy grin. She held her expression in check just long enough for the guards to round the corner, after which she let out a little squeal of excitement.

Before Luna’s return, all she ever wanted to do after stumbling into her chambers was sleep until it was once again time for the sun to rise. Now, she had somepony to keep her company; somepony to cuddle up with, and time enough to do it.

She closed her eyes and, with the image of a lounging purple pony in mind, grasped the wooden doors with her magic, giving them the same gentle push she always did. Enough to open them, yet not enough to make the hinges squeak; she didn’t want to spoil her chance of surprising her marefriend, after all. She drew herself up to her full height, flared her wings, and stepped forward...

...only to walk face first into the doors that for some reason hadn’t done their job.

Reaching up with a hoof to rub her muzzle while blinking at the obstruction in front of her, Celestia wondered what exactly had gone wrong. I could have sworn I opened them... She examined the doors, giving them another push with her magic and noting that an equal force was being applied from the other side, keeping them shut tightly, and keeping her out of her own room.

She brought her hoof up and knocked, acutely aware of just how strange it was to be knocking on her own bedroom door. “Twilight? Are you in there?”

After a few seconds, in which she could clearly hear somepony tripping over their own hooves, the doors opened; just enough to let Twilight’s head through, frazzled mane and all. Twilight simply looked at her for a long moment before saying: “Didn’t you see the sign?”

Celestia had expected her marefriend to say many things. ‘Hello, Princess’, ‘how was your day’, ‘I love you’... ‘Didn’t you see the sign’, however, hadn’t been among those expectations.

“What sign?” she asked in confusion, looking around for the mentioned object.

“The sign on the door! It’s right—” Twilight looked left and then right “—there...” She scowled at the empty wall as if it was the cause of all her problems before popping back into the room. Celestia started after her, but Twilight was back already, holding a wooden plaque in her magic, which she slapped on the side of the door before giving Celestia a quick kiss and disappearing inside the room once more. The doors were still as treacherous as a few moments before the encounter and swung closed seconds after Twilight had vanished.

A brief glance at the plaque revealed a rather unsettling message that belied the floral looking script it had been engraved in. That was, besides the fact that the plaque wasn’t being held up by magic nor glue, yet didn’t succumb to gravity.

No Princesses allowed.

I mean it!

The irony of the plaque wasn’t lost on her, but Celestia realised that she had been left standing in the hallway. Not once in her entire lifetime had she been barred from her own bedroom in such a bizarre fashion. Well, there was the one time Blueblood had locked himself in there after four of his marefriends had found out he had been dating all of them at once, or the time... now that she thought about it, that had been the only other time she couldn’t freely enter her own room. There didn’t even appear to really be a reason beyond her marefriend just doing... whatever it was she was doing in there. Celestia shook her head and squared her shoulders before knocking again. Twilight wasn’t going to get rid of her that easily. “Twilight? Open up.”

Her resolve was tested when Twilight returned to the door, a few more strands of her mane sticking out in seemingly random directions, which clearly indicated that she was treading on thin ice. Perhaps I should simply come back later... She realised that Twilight was staring at her impatiently and cleared her throat.

“Twilight, why am I not allowed inside?” she asked, trying to ward the concern she felt from her voice. “You’re not experimenting in there, are you?”

Her marefriend gave her a smile which only looked a teensy bit manic, which didn’t do much to reassure her. “No, I’m—” Twilight stopped mid-sentence, tilting her head and then looking back through the doors for a second. “Actually... yes, but you have nothing to worry about... I think. I’m just... not done yet.”

“Not done with—”

The rest of her sentence was lost in another altogether too short kiss, and the doors had slammed shut before she found her voice again. Drat. What could she possibly be doing in there?

Back in the day, Twilight had been known to the castle staff as the most curious, and nosey, pony in existence. The unicorn had driven more than one of them to frustration with her constant questioning. Several appeals had been made to Celestia regarding the filly’s antics, specifically if she could put a stop to them. What the staff didn’t know was that Celestia shared that very same spark of curiosity, asking Twilight about the things she had learned every evening, which carried the added benefit of keeping her appraised on the happenings in her castle.

For a few long minutes, Celestia regarded the doors and tried to imagine what could be happening on the other side, briefly sidetracked by the question of how Twilight could have even reached up high enough to kiss her on the lips. That is, until curiosity got the better of her. Trying to force through the doors would only result in a struggle she wanted to avoid, but they weren't the only way into the room, and that’s where she had an edge over Twilight; the protective runes that normally prevented teleportation and other movement-displacing effects were keyed to her magic and wouldn’t pose the same obstacle for her that it did for other ponies.

With a smile that bordered on the edge of being a smirk, she lit up her horn once more and engulfed herself in her magic. Ready or not, Twilight, here I come.

The grand dining hall was lively as ever. Although it was officially past dinner time, the hall was nonetheless filled with ponies. Cooks were still walking back and forth between the kitchen and the various tables, serving meals to the staff that had just finished their shift, or a drink to the off-duty guards who used the short time they had to relax before returning to the barracks.

“Oh my... what in oven’s name happened to you, Princess?”

Celestia lifted the ice pack from her forehead and regarded the speaker. Honey Mead was a heavy-set earth pony with a light brown coat and messy flax-colored mane; as the head cook in the castle, he was jovial, goodnatured... and currently looking at her in concern.

“Magical troubles,” she said, forcing a smile that quickly turned into a grimace, making her clutch the icepack a little tighter.

Honey Mead laughed a full belly laugh which made his entire form shake. “Say no more, say no more. I know just how much of a hoof-full she can be. Though I would have made sure to stock up on red daisies had I known she would be visiting again.”

“How did you...?”

“The only time you are ever troubled by anything magical is when she’s around.” Mead sidestepped to allow one of his underlings to pass and made use of the opportunity to sit down at the table. “So what is it this time? Gravity spells? Living statues? Has she been fiddling with the sun again?”

Celestia let out a groan and placed the ice pack back on her head. “She changed the locks.”

“She what?” Mead scratched his head while eyeing the ice pack, likely wondering just how hard she had hit her head.

Celestia realised that a bit of explanation might not go amiss and started before he could ask if she’d gone crazy... again.

“Over the last two thousand or so years, and after several failed assassination attempts, I’ve inscribed runes into the walls of my room to stop anything from teleportation to molecular phasing from being used to get in,” she said, drawing a simplistic picture in the air with her magic. It only aggravated her headache a little bit, which she supposed was a plus.

“So it’s like a magical lock, then?”

Celestia nodded. “Exactly. Several magical locks that took me a thousand years to graft and perfect so that they would only let my own magic through...” she faltered and took a deep breath, “...and she changed them in an afternoon.”

“And now you can’t get into your room. That makes sense.” Mead nodded and stroked his chin, at least until he noticed Celestia’s staring. “I mean—”

“What do you know about my student’s intentions, Mead?” Celestia asked him with a heated expression, although it was somewhat diminished by her current posture. It was bad enough that she couldn’t get into her own room, but now her head chef knew more about what was going on than she did? It meant that she didn’t have the whole picture, and she hated not knowing what was happening.

Perhaps it was the fact that she was slumped over holding an ice pack to her head that diminished her commanding presence, or perhaps it was the fact that Honey Mead had been a friend for several years, but her pointed look did not seem to phase him in the slightest. He merely shrugged and smiled. “Nothing I am allowed to share by orders of Equestria’s youngest princess. Would you like me to get you some more ice? Or perhaps something to drink while you wait?”

Celestia thought it over, deciding that she might as well take him up on his offer if she was going to be stuck here, though the bitter part of her mind kept reminding her that she could have been well on her way to snuggling with Twilight by now. She made a mental note to appropriately reprimand her marefriend for her bizarre behaviour, and make up for lost snuggle time at some later date. “Actually... I would like a salad... Hell, could you make me a three course meal? And some good wine to go with it?”

Usually the first words out of Mead’s mouth were to berate her for not eating properly, but this time he remained oddly quiet after she had made her request, though not without softly shaking his head. She caught him smiling to himself before trying to present her with a neutral expression. “She has really gotten under your skin this time, hasn’t she, Princess? I would like to make you that meal, but I’m afraid my hooves are tied.”

“I assume that a meal is a part of whatever Twilight is doing in my room then?” Celestia asked. Whatever Twilight was planning, Mead had given away that it was something for her, and with the zipping motion he made across his lips, he added a meal to that list. Knowing that she had managed to uncover at least that much put her in a slightly better mood, though it helped little against the headache. “Very well, I’ll settle for another pack of ice then,” she finally said. “The rest can wait until Twilight’s surprise dinner.”

“Glad to hear it, Princess. I’ll be right back.”

Celestia had a problem. Only half an hour had passed since she sat down at the table, and already she had to deal with a rising sense of something resembling panic. Everything had felt just fine during her conversation with Mead, but ever since he had disappeared back into the kitchen, she didn’t know what to do with herself.

Normally she had things she wanted—or more likely, needed—to do. Even after handing off the official business over to Luna, there was always some missive she still had to read, or a draft to be made. Failing that, she still had her hobbies... all of which were locked inside the one room she couldn’t get into.

After catching herself looking at the clock for the fifth time that minute, she decided to go for a walk. It had to be better than just sitting around waiting, and perhaps Luna could use a helping hoof.

Through the door, right, down hallway, another right, up the stairs, down yet another hallway, first two lefts, stop. Just like that, she was standing in front of the throne room, hoping that there was something she could do to help out her younger sister, or anything at all, really.

To say her hopes were dashed the moment she opened the door wouldn’t be quite right; there was more than enough of a cacophony in the room to suggest that there were things to be done. Luna seemed to be handling herself rather well, however, only stumbling on her words once or twice while talking to a dozen different ponies at the same time. It reminded Celestia of herself when she had just gotten used to ruling on her own.

Her presence did not go unnoticed, and before long Luna excused herself and made her way over to where Celestia was standing. “Is something wrong, sister?” she asked, looking even more anxious than a moment before.

The first thing that came to Celestia's mind was asking Luna why she looked so anxious; that is, until it occurred to her that she might have been the cause. The only times she had come to see Luna before had been because of mistakes or oversights on Luna's part, and the fact that Celestia hadn't been smiling supportively had likely done little to convince her sister otherwise.

“Nothing is wrong, Luna,” she said, belatedly putting a smile on her face. “I was merely checking to see how things were going, and check if you perhaps needed any help.”

Luna looked around the room, briefly halting on each pony she had been talking to in turn before turning back to Celestia and shaking her head. “Nay, sister, everything is going sple—just fine.”

“I’m glad to hear it, Luna,” Celestia replied, giving her sister a heartfelt nuzzle which was only returned after a moment of hesitance, and with a good deal of embarrassment.

“Sister,” Luna whispered urgently. “Not out here! Ponies are watching.”

For a moment, the prankster in Celestia reveled in the discomfort something so innocuous had caused her sister. “And where is the problem in that?” she replied with a devious smile. “Are they not allowed to know that I care for my sister dearly?”

That tipped the scales, and Luna took a step back, which caused a small tinge of pain in Celestia’s chest. “’tis unbecoming of royalty to behave with such familiarity in public.”

Celestia’s smile saw an opportunity and slipped from her face just before she sighed. “Perhaps so in the past, but that is no longer the case.”

“Excuse me, Princess...es?”

Both of the alicorns turned to see that not only had some of the guards had formed a perimeter around them, but that many of the evening court's petitioners were starting to form a crowd, though it had been one of the night guards that had spoken up. Out of habit, Celestia began thinking of ways to explain their conversation in way that would satisfy their audience, but Luna's more blunt approach beat her to the punch.

“Yes, my little pony?” Luna said simply.

“Your Highness,” the guard said, turning all of his attention to Luna whom he was obviously more comfortable with. “Perhaps it would be best if you were to take the rest of the conversation somewhere more private?” The guard inclined his head towards the gathering crowd. “It’s hard to close one’s ears to what is playing out in front of them; there are more than enough rumors surrounding the castle already.”

Luna nodded. “Quite right. Tell them that Night Court will be in recess for a quarter of the hour whilst I interrog—talk to my sister.”

The guard bowed. “Yes, Your Highness.”

While the guards kept the onlookers occupied, Celestia and Luna ducked into the conference room, which was only ever used for the more private diplomatic conversations anyway.

Luna rounded on Celestia the moment the latter had closed the door. “What is going on, sister?”

Celestia tested her smile again; it came easier after seeing how well Luna had been doing in the throne room and she turned the full force of it on Luna. “I wanted to come by and see how my little sister was doing as regent, and congratulate her on a job well done, given that nothing has exploded, audibly or otherwise.”

“What is really going on?” Judging by her tone, Luna wasn’t buying any of it.

“What makes you think that something has to be going on?”

Luna gave her an ‘are you kidding me’ look. “Because you have never seen fit to ‘check up’ on us—me, unless something has gone considerably wrong.”

“Well...” Celestia paused, looking for the right words to explain away her reasons. “Today, I decided that it would be a nice change of pace.”

A slow smile spread across Luna’s face as she examined her sister. “’tis Twilight, is it not?”

This time Celestia shushed her sister. “Not so loud.”

Luna giggled and playfully bumped her sister's nose with her own. “Oh, ’Tia, thou art adorable when thee are flustered.”

“I am not flustered!” Celestia replied indignantly. “I’m just... just…”

“Yesss?” Luna's cheeky grin could have, and probably would have, split a lesser pony’s face in half.

“...antsy,” Celestia finished with a sigh.

There were a few moments of silence before Luna burst out laughing. “Hah! Celestia the Stoic? Antsy? The last time you were anything other than ‘gentle and strong’ was eons ago. So long, in fact, that I cannot remember its semblance.”

“It was last week actually,” Celestia said with another sigh, making Luna’s laughter redouble in strength.

“Let me guess...” Luna pursed her lips and made smoochy faces, which lasted only until Celestia caught up with her and they collapsed into a tangle of limbs on the floor, biting and kicking like a bunch of bickering foals. Their little tussle came to an end as quickly as it had begun, with two out of breath alicorns that had coats like they’d just gotten out of bed.

Celestia eyed her younger sister while trying to catch her breath. She was having trouble choosing between the urge to lunge at Luna again, and finding out how exactly her—their secret had come to light. “How did you find out?”

Luna smiled, though it held no mockery this time. “Your dreams betray you, ‘Tia. I have seen things that I probably should not have, and some I don’t think I ever wanted to know.” Luna shivered. “Is it true that you would like her to...?”

Celestia nodded, wondering if it would be political suicide to turn herself invisible and slip away before Luna realised what had happened.

Luna ahemed and picked up the pieces of her composure, putting them together in a slapdash attempt to appear somewhat like a ruler rather than a young filly. “I shall let it slide for now; our subjects are waiting for me. But I want to know everything in the morning, especially the parts I cannot reach in the dreamrealm.”

Celestia groaned, but nodded once again. It was about the best she could’ve hoped for, given Luna’s propensity for dramatic revelations, and she silently cursed herself for promising her marefriend that they would tell other ponies when she felt comfortable enough. “In the morning, then, as long as you don’t come barging in. Twilight can be a little grumpy if woken up too early, and I myself would much prefer a good night’s sleep.”

“Splendid!” Luna pranced around the conference table and came to a halt in front of a vanity mirror which she used to check her appearance and make sure she was presentable before going back into the throne room.

Celestia, meanwhile, looked around the room. A few months ago she wouldn’t have thought twice about the feeling a room gave off; it was as practical as it had ever been and had everything needed to serve as a conference space. However, it felt... bland, uninteresting... empty, just like her own room, and just like that, she found herself wondering what Twilight was up to once again, though it was tainted by a hint of trepidation.

“‘Tia?”

Celestia looked at her sister who had one hoof on the door and was looking at her with a kind smile. It made her seem like the older sister for a change, although Celestia wasn’t sure she liked the implication that came with it. Youth was something she often equated with inexperience and missing the answers to obvious questions. Not that she regarded those as flaws, but she felt really uncomfortable when it applied to her. “Yes?”

“Enjoy your time with Twilight, and stop worrying about ruling the country. I am sure that the nobles will get over my innocent comment about their posteriors soon enough.”

The words out of Luna’s mouth did not line up what Celestia had expected her to say. As a result, it took her a moment to interpret their meaning, followed swiftly by a feeling of dread. The nobles in Canterlot weren’t known for their sense of humor, and a scathing remark would only serve to make them that much more opposed to whatever either princess suggested. Whatever she could’ve said to dissuade Luna from her ideas was lost, however, as echoing giggles were the only thing of her sister still in the room.

She shook her head and smiled. The mere fact that she had fallen for a joke she would have seen through in seconds showed just how badly being denied entry into her own room had rattled her. Which was to say, much more than she would have liked.

Perhaps she is almost done? It was better than sitting around waiting for something to happen, and between Mead and Luna, she had already exhausted her patience for ponies asking questions she couldn’t answer.

She used her magic to bend light around herself. Interrupting Luna in court hadn’t been her intention, and her sister deserved to be respected on her own merits, not simply because Celestia was hanging around all the time.

So far her day, or at least her evening, had been... interesting. She’d always believed that new experiences were things to be treasured, especially at her age, and the things she had learned today were no exception. Though it was rather disconcerting to know that having a marefriend could unbalance her so thoroughly.

After Luna’s ‘rebellion’, Celestia had learned control, and for a thousand years she had exercised that control to make sure that nothing befell her little ponies. She was used to it, which meant that it was safe. Safe, however, was not always the way to move forwards in life.

Celestia was willing to accept that, though she still didn’t like not having all the answers. With changes in lifestyle also came changes in perspective, and no matter where she looked, everything she saw was big, ostentatious, and empty.

She had spent the better part of a week cooped up in her room when she had finally realised that she cared more for Twilight than merely as a student. It explained her preference to visit Ponyville on many an occasion, even when she could have simply summoned Twilight to the castle.

But it wasn’t just Twilight, or perhaps it was the fact that she equated the homely, snug and sometimes cluttered interior of the library with Twilight that made her look at everything differently. Or perhaps it was because the last thousand years of her life had basically been spent in servitude to the nation, without really living herself?

She wasn’t sure anymore. The only thing she was sure of was that she was starting to become annoyed with the fact that she couldn’t get into her own room. She wanted to kiss and cuddle with her marefriend, whisper sweet nothings into her ear and make her blush in that absolutely adorable way when Celestia reminded her of some of the passages in...

She almost walked face first into the doors once again and broke off her train of thought, filing the idea away for later examination. The doors hadn’t changed, and it made Celestia wonder why she had come back at all. It can’t hurt to try again at least.

She didn’t make another effort to look her best. Odds were she’d have to wait another hour anyway. She immediately regretted it when she grabbed the ancient oaken doors and flung them open, cracking one of them against the marble pillars at the sides and leaving her face to face with an equally surprised-looking Twilight and a room that didn’t even draw a comparison to the one she had called her own.

“Princess! I was just coming to get you.”

Celestia’s joy at seeing that she could finally spend some time with her marefriend was overshadowed by her astonishment at the state of her room. Without a word, she stepped past Twilight into a space she no longer recognised. The only thing remotely familiar was the bed in the center of the room and even that had been moved and redecorated. Where the rest of her chambers had once been spotless and empty, however, there was now a labyrinth of items and furniture that did away with that feeling of desolation.

The room had meticulously been divided into six roughly equal spaces, each with their own color designation and assorted items. The closest one of these spaces appeared to be an office. Her desk had been moved from the other side of the room to right next to the doors, and aside from a pathway through the middle, the rest of the section was littered with official papers, quills, and what Celestia assumed to be inkwells, though bigger than any she had ever seen.

Letting her gaze drift across the rest of the room she saw a distinct central zone which held the bed and so many pillows it was hard to make out the floor, an art studio close to the balcony, an area that stored many if not all of the magical artifacts she had collected over the years, another that held more bookcases which were probably for Twilight’s own use, and even a fully stocked kitchen near the hearth from which a wonderful aroma made its way towards her.

Celestia had been turning slowly while taking it all in, a fact she only became aware of when she came face to face with a Twilight who was avoiding her eyes and instead staring at the floor while her wings twitched and her hooves shifted.

“D-Do you like it?” she stammered. “I remembered you talking about how much you loved visiting me in the library and that your own room was so big and made you feel alone, so I made a plan and requested all the items be carried here, but the maids couldn’t handle some of the magical instruments you owned and the cooks cracked a pot in the kitchen so they couldn’t spare one like they’d promised, and then I found out that the guard I had asked for paint had dropped it off in the wrong place so I had to find a spell to change the color of the walls... then you arrived and I said no because I wasn’t ready yet and then...” She had to pause to take a breath and drew tiny circles on the floor with a hoof. “I tried to finish it up quickly enough, but I realised that I wouldn’t even get it done in time and keeping you out of your own bedroom was very rude and I... well, I…” Only after all that did she seem to realise that she was rattling on and shut her mouth.

Celestia scooped Twilight up in her forelegs, holding her tightly and peppering her with kisses. “Stop. Rambling. Twilight,” she said, punctuating each with another kiss which got a soft squeal from her marefriend in turn. She considered forgoing the tour and simply taking Twilight to bed right away, but the idea was tempered by the knowledge that Twilight wanted to do everything right; and if she could put her marefriend at ease by doing the same, then she would.

She put the young alicorn down and gave her one last kiss which she was content to linger in for a minute before turning back to the room and regarding the... mess.

“Sorry, I didn’t have the time to clean up.”

Celestia ignored the apology, stepping into the library section of the room and looking around to see which kinds of books Twilight had seen fit to store there. To her surprise, she found a great deal of books she had enjoyed throughout her life, almost as if somepony had been keeping track of it, as well as a section dedicated to a dozen of books she had written herself, under a pseudonym, of course. None of them had been a great success, but they were special to her nonetheless. The only question was how Twilight had found out about her writing days.

She left the thought behind in that particular section and moved on to the balcony doors and the painting supplies stacked there. Painting on canvas seemed arbitrary, or perhaps mundane when one painted the sky on a daily basis, but she relished the freedom it gave her to paint whatever she wanted. Opening the doors, she stepped out onto the balcony, looking to sort out her feelings while appreciating her sister’s painting in the sky. Before long, she felt a slight pressure in her side, and smiled as a soft wing tentatively descended on her back; it would take a couple of years before Twilight grew big enough to comfortably hug her with a wing, but they had all the time in the world.

“So... do you like it?”

“You already asked me that.”

“I know, I know, I just... you always say things to put me at ease, but I don’t want platitudes, I want to know how you really feel about it.”

Celestia had seen what she wanted to see already, but for Twilight’s benefit she made slowly another round through the room, deliberately inspecting everything again. When she did finally return to the balcony and came to face a very nervous Twilight, she smiled. “I think—” she began, leveling a gold-plated hoof to Twilight’s nose “—that you worry too much.” She bopped the aforementioned nose playfully.

She left Twilight there, open mouth and all, and walked back inside. Examining the rest of the little touches in the room could wait until tomorrow; right now she just wanted to lie down on her bed and perhaps entice her marefriend to cuddle for a while. It took her slightly longer than normal to find her bed, which she felt very silly about. Slow and deliberate though her inspection of the room may have been, it wasn’t easy to change a routine that had held for so long. After a quick detour, however, she found what she was looking for and let out a content sigh when she finally sank down onto her bed.

“You didn’t answer my question...” Twilight settled down next to her on the bed. The confusion that had been written on her face just a few moments ago had been wiped away, replaced by an accusatory frown.

Celestia shook her head, flipping her mane just enough that its flow would change direction and billow against Twilight. “Indeed I didn’t. Not everything you do needs a ‘yay’ or ‘nay’ from me, Twilight.”

Twilight swatted at the strands of magical hair when they rippled across her coat and got into her face, a snort of suppressed laughter escaping her before she called on her own magic to keep it at bay. “This does,” she said with an annoyed huff when she noticed Celestia’s sly smile.

“I don’t believe my feelings on the new layout of my room can be quantified and put into a chart,” Celestia said playfully, her smile growing a little wider when Twilight’s eyes narrowed, though the blush on her cheeks suggested she had indeed been planning on doing just that. “But if you must know,” she continued, “just today I was thinking about how much I enjoyed my time in Ponyville. You were a big part of that, of course, but I liked the feeling of the library as well. It felt... cozy, although having a system chronological by height seems so unlike you.”

Having cycled through all the expressions available to her, Twilight came back to confusion, although she was quickly catching on that Celestia was toying with her. “That still doesn—”

“—And since you’ve managed to recreate that... ‘lived in’ feeling here, I think it’s safe to say that I like it.” That finally earned Celestia a smile from her marefriend, which she reciprocated by lifting the wing closest to Twilight; an unspoken invitation to cuddle.

Twilight accepted the invitation gracefully. So gracefully in fact, that Celestia was startled by the power that lay behind Twilight’s aggressive cuddle attack. The force pushed her over, landing her on her back after which Twilight jumped with a flap of her wings. Whatever flight plan Twilight had in mind, however, became a mess when Celestia nudged her out of balance with a subtle application of magic, leaving her to crash on top of the solar princess. Physically, it left Twilight in a better position, but they both knew who was really pulling the strings.

The mood changed in a flash; the first indication Celestia got was a set of lips trailing along her throat before planting a kiss just below her chin. She wouldn’t have minded. In fact, more than once had she had to coax Twilight into a place where she would be comfortable enough to treat her as an equal rather than a teacher. The pace Twilight was going in now, however, was not like her.

It was something Celestia had wanted to happen, and all she had to do was lay back and let Twilight do as she pleased. It didn’t feel right though. What if Twilight was behaving like this because she was afraid Celestia was getting bored? That would be much more likely, and wasn’t something she was about to allow.

Simply dismissing Twilight’s affections could backfire however, and part of Celestia whispered to her to just give in and leave the ever ready responsibility for another time. Not to mention the way her wings and haunches agreed with the way Twilight was kissing her neck. She needed an out, some way to distract Twilight and give herself some breathing room.

The answer was presented to her on a silver platter. The delectable smell of food cooking on the stove, which had permeated the air since she had stepped into the room, was changing into something decidedly less pleasant. “Mmm... Twilight?” she asked breathlessly.

Her marefriend was altogether too occupied with one of her ears at that point to respond with anything other than a muffled ‘hmm?’

“Do you smell something as well?”

The question caught Twilight completely by surprise, as evidenced by the look she gave Celestia. She regretfully let go of the ear she had been making nice with and sniffed the air, which was followed by a very different look less than a second later. “The stew!”

She flew towards the kitchen part of the room, which was rather impressive given that she didn’t so much as flap her wings once.

Celestia sighed once and rolled off of the bed, using her magic to straighten out the sheets, which she noted had Twilight’s cutie mark on them now. She used the mundane chore to her advantage, taking the time to straighten out her thoughts as well.

First redecorating the room as a surprise and now this... What is she afraid of?

Settling back on the bed, Celestia wondered if she wasn’t overreacting. It was possible, even likely, that Twilight simply felt comfortable enough in their relationship that she was willing to take the next step, in which case the unwillingness to let it go that far had been entirely hers.

It is an important step, so a little hesitance is to be expected… isn’t it?

She hated not having all the answers, but there it was; she was afraid of how fast the relationship was going and was, at least subconsciously, trying to slow things down. Thinking about it, she realised that during the very first time they’d had talked about their relationship, she had led Twilight along like it was a dance, guiding her through the conversation and making her think and say almost exactly what Celestia was comfortable with.

“I... ehh... I hope you like slightly charred vegetable stew,” Twilight’s voice said, making Celestia look at her marefriend who was offering her a steaming bowl of rice mixed with sweet potatoes, onions and several other vegetables she couldn’t immediately identify.

“Twilight...” Celestia took the bowl in her own magic and set it aside, “I think we need to talk.”

Seconds ago, she had been certain that she was the one holding the relationship back, but seeing Twilight’s fearful expression made her reconsider; she wasn’t the only one, and at least some of it wasn’t orchestrated.

“Will you at least try the stew first?”

The bowl came floating back up on the bed, and had somehow acquired a spoon from heavens knew where. Celestia was certain it hadn’t been in the bowl before. She offered Twilight a small smile and brought the spoon to her lips.

The best stew she’d ever had it was not. Truth be told the entire thing was rather bland despite the aroma that had wafted through the room. Being left on the stove for too long had mingled the flavors, and from the taste of things, Twilight had forgotten to add any spices or seasoning. Still, it was a meal made especially for her, and she had been pretty hungry for a while now. Not only that, but even though Twilight didn’t ask her anything outright, her expression spoke volumes.

“It’s not bad at all,” she said before taking another bite, “though I think you forgot the salt.”

“Oh, right... I’ll just—” Twilight turned around, but reaching her destination became a lot more difficult when Celestia devoted part of her magic to pulling her marefriend back onto the bed as well.

“It’s fine, Twilight. Sit.”

As if she had returned to the time of being a filly late for her first class with the princess, Twilight hesitantly sat down the bed and fidgeted for every moment thereafter. Celestia kept silent and pretended to focus on her meal. It was a practice she’d had a lot of success with in the past, as Twilight could never handle the fear that arose in her by having to wait, which made her blurt something out to get a conversation going. Which, in turn, made getting to the core of things much easier. Of course, that expectation made what she said next more jarring.

“Do you... love me?”

The food turned into a choking hazard in Celestia’s mouth and she coughed several times before getting enough air to from a reply. “W-what?”

“Do you really love me?”

The ‘by the books’ response to that question was ‘of course’, but Celestia knew that Twilight wouldn’t be satisfied with something sounding like a platitude no matter how true the sentiment behind the words may have been. Instead she asked, “What have I done which makes you ask that question?”

Twilight shrugged halfheartedly. “I don’t know... you just seem to keep everything at a distance...”

“Keep everything at a distance?” Celestia looked down at the bed with a small frown. “When have I ever said no?”

Twilight nodded, pursing her lips as she thought of how best to express her feelings. “Never. You just... I have a hard time telling how you really feel. Sometimes I see glimpses of it when you laugh.” She sighed in frustration. “I worry you... you want to keep what we have a secret forever. That it’s something you’re ashamed of like the magazines under my be—” Her mouth shut like a steel trap but she couldn’t undo the words she’d already said, nor the blood from rushing to her cheeks.

Note to self, check under Twilight’s bed at some point. Now was not the time to press Twilight for her collection of naughty literature, however. “Twilight, I wasn’t the one that said she wanted to keep it a secret from her parents—”

“You don’t even have parents! Or, not ones I can visit anyway... I really want to know how that works at some point.” Twilight’s face scrunched up in frustration and she shook her head violently. “But that’s not the point. I said that because it felt like you wanted me to say it.”

It was a stab at her heart, and not solely because of Twilight’s accusation. What stung the most was the realisation that she was right. Thinking back on the times they talked about it before, there was always something that seemed more important and when that wasn’t the case, she changed the subject, or talked in such a way that she coaxed Twilight along a path she was comfortable with. “You may be right,” she said at length. “I have never done this sort of thing before, and I guess I was rather more hesitant than I should have been, but it was for your benefit as well.”

“So does that mean that we can...?”

“Yes, when you’re ready for it, we will tell your parents about... us.”

Twilight broke into a gleeful smile and tackled Celestia to the bed, rolling them over so Twilight landed on top. This time, Celestia made no effort to resist. “I was hoping you’d say that,” she said, punctuating the sentence with a kiss. “I’ve already booked the restaurant, so we’ll tell them tomorrow evening.”

Celestia was stunned for a moment, laughing when she realised that she had just fallen victim to the same conversational herding she had used on Twilight before. “You devious little mare,” she said, giggling when Twilight responded with more kisses.

They kissed, touched and caressed each other for some time after that, making silent promises and showing just how much they loved one another. They didn’t get much farther than that, however, no matter how aggressive Twilight had been just a few minutes prior. Before long she was yawning, and when Celestia draped a wing across her back, she snuggled up against her lover’s side like she’d done when she was a filly and mumbled a ‘love you’ before giving up the battle against her exhaustion and drifting off to sleep.

Normally, Celestia enjoyed any time she had to herself; Thinking and reflecting on things done and things to come was something she valued. Unfortunately, this time she had been left alone with the prospect of meeting her lover… marefriend... student’s parents, whom for some reason she couldn’t see being entirely pleased with their developing relationship.

Stop worrying, Celestia. You’ve talked circles around a delegation of Zebra ambassadors. How bad could two ponies possibly be? She nodded firmly to herself, planted a kiss on Twilight’s horn, then curled herself around her snoozing lover and let sleep claim her as well.

Author's Note

This is one of the two winners of the fourth Twilestia Bi-monthly contest.

Many thanks to Steelresolve, Dianwei32, Squinty mudmane and Bluepaladin42 for all their help in getting this readable.

And a subversion of expectations

The walk back to the house was torture for Celestia. After her slip-up, the demeanour of Twilight’s parents had cooled considerably. They were still polite enough, and yet she couldn’t take a step without imagining them discussing which accusations to hurl at her the moment they got to the house. Although she was under the impression that her worries paled in comparison to the ones Twilight was being weighed down by; her marefriend walked ahead listlessly, her wings drooping close enough to the ground that there was a chance she would step on them. Seeing Twilight like that hit Celestia like a hammerblow to the chest; a heart that ached to help the one she loved more than all others.

She wanted to cheer Twilight up... Actually, she wanted to do a whole lot more than that, but keeping some semblance of public decency prevented her. Besides, after the way Velvet and Nightlight had reacted to her slip-up, a romantic gesture might only cause more problems for them later down the line. Then again...

An idea presented itself to her when she looked at the way Twilight trudged along, like she was carrying the figurative weight of the entire world on her back. “Do you have permission for that?” she asked the dejected mare with a soft smile.

It took Twilight a lot of effort to even lift her head enough that she could look Celestia in the eyes, and the expression she wore only served to add another hammer blow. “What?”

Celestia didn’t let her smile falter. “I asked if you had permission for that.”

Rather than go along with her little play, Twilight merely frowned. “Probably not.”

“Because it seems to me,” Celestia continued like she hadn’t heard Twilight at all, “like carrying the weight of the world is my responsibility, not yours.”

Finally she saw the faintest of smiles from Twilight; it was so brief that she almost missed it, and was likely more of a placating gesture than something joyful. It wasn’t enough, and for the third time in as many minutes Celestia wished she could somehow make Pinkie Pie materialize out of thin air to help make Twilight smile. She spared a brief glance for the parents who were a few dozen paces ahead, softly conversing amongst themselves, and then looked back at Twilight while another idea formed.

It was guaranteed to make ponies in the street regard her with strange looks, more so than they already were, anyway. And it would almost certainly mean more trouble for her when the interrogation finally got underway. But she couldn’t stand to see Twilight depressed like she was any longer.

Oh, to Tartarus with it.

In one fluid motion, she wrapped one of her comparatively gigantic wings around Twilights barrel, and before Twilight could so much as yelp, tossed her marefriend several feet into the air.

Twilight flailed and frantically flapped her wings. She had been so busy worrying about the coming scolding that would happen when they got home that she hadn’t paid any attention to her surroundings. The downy softness of Celestia’s wings was unmistakable, however, and despite her eventual yelp, she felt safe enough. Before gravity got enough of a hold on her to pull her back down to the stone pavement, her back landed on something soft, supple, and smelling of rose shampoo. Her landing zone shook a little, accompanied by four hooves hitting the pavement mere seconds after that, and she needed only look to the side to confirm what she already knew: she had landed on Celestia’s back.

With a grunt, she twisted herself around so that she could sit up and give that idiotic, irresponsible, two-faced... beautiful... softly laughing marefriend of hers a stern... smile in return. She didn’t know if the sudden adrenaline had made her giddy, or that all of her worries had simply fallen out of her head at the highest point of her launch, but she couldn’t help but smile and laugh along with Celestia.

“There you are,” Celestia said after their laughter had run its course. “I was wondering if you were going to sulk for the rest of the evening.”

Twilight found that she couldn’t wipe the stupid grin off her face, so she took the only recourse available to her and buried her face in Celestia’s coat. “I wasn’t sulking.” The sentence was muffled, and for a moment she thought Celestia hadn’t heard her. That was okay, though, she could spare a few seconds, minutes, hours... anything to avoid having to have the conversation with her parents.

“You’re worried about what your parents are going to say,” Celestia said after a minute.

Twilight brought her face up again, the worries and fears we starting to return and she no longer felt like laughing. “Aren’t you? You saw the way they reacted when...” She groaned and tried to bury her head again, only to be stopped by Celestia’s magic. “They’re going to be even more angry because of this you know?”

If she hadn’t been convinced that Celestia was hiding her own doubts and worries, she could have sworn that her marefriend was the epitome of nonchalance. Celestia merely shrugged and asked, “And what if they are?”

“They’ll be angry, they will shout and will want to keep us apart and then I’ll never see you anymore because it will become a scandal and the press will call you the worst princess ever and… and… and…”

Celestia craned her neck a little further and locked horns with Twilight, shushing her. “Twilight, your parents aren’t as bad as you make them out to be.”

With a sigh, Twilight rested her forehead against Celestia’s. “I know.”

“And if they have a problem, they can take it up with me.” Celestia nudged Twilight and looked back in front, finding the parents waiting for them a few paces ahead. She gave them a smile and waited for them to move on.

The rest of the trip passed in a semi-comfortable silence. Having Twilight so close gave Celestia peace of mind and made thinking about the coming confrontation less scary, although Twilight was trying her best to disappear into Celestia’s coat. She would likely have succeeded had Celestia not looked back from time to time to prevent her marefriend from successfully finishing a ‘coat lengthening spell’. Heavens knew where she had come up with that.

Their arrival at the house was a little confusing for Celestia. She had visited a few times, but never had that house seemed as big as it did now. She half expected to have had some shrinking spell cast on her, but after failing to find any magic beyond the usual, she was forced to conclude that it was all due to perception. Velvet waited for her at the door, her stern expression making going inside an even less appealing prospect. Still, this was something Twilight wanted, and Celestia would be damned to the sun and back before she left her marefriend to fend for herself.

“Are you sleeping with my daughter?” Velvet asked her immediately after closing the door.

Celestia had been dreading the question ever since Twilight’s parents had arrived at the restaurant, and yet, somehow, it still managed to catch her by surprise. She skipped right past looking for the proper response and scrambled for something coherent. “I... well... uhm... I—”

“Mom!” Twilight shouted. She rolled over, using one of Celestia’s wings as a makeshift slide and landed on her hooves with a few flaps of her own wings to maintain her balance. “How... why did you...?”

Velvet smirked. “You’re not as subtle as you think, young lady, and I have some questiouuahh!” Her sentence devolved in a yelp as Twilight swiftly picked her up with her magic and stalked into the living room, leaving a very confused Celestia standing in the hallway.

Well, that couldn’t have gone any worse, she thought with a sigh. Things would have been a lot less awkward had she simply schooled her expression as was second nature in court, but at the same time, she knew that it would be next to impossible. Pulling on a mask of serene indifference was easy if one was at peace with herself, but right now... Celestia wasn’t.

Being without a mask made her feel vulnerable. Exposed. The idea was made more unsettling by the scope of what she had lost the last time she hadn’t been thinking clearly. Her only hope was that this evening wouldn’t end in a similar disaster; she didn’t know if she could live through another one.

“—t your mother down, Twilight.”

“Only if she promises not to embarrass me anymore.”

“Twilight...”

Celestia caught the tail end of a sigh coming from Nightlight when she stepped into the living room. The room itself was just like she remembered it from her previous visits; a dinner table with a few simple chairs, a pair of old but comfortable couches near the hearth which was accompanied by a single lounge chair. The walls were lined with bookcases, the rug was a vibrant red, and it felt like the house itself was wary of her presence. One interesting and amusing addition was the scowling unicorn mare currently floating near the ceiling. She had her forelegs crossed and was wrapped in a solid looking magenta aura. The aura was being disturbed by flashes of light and dark blue magic, trying to break it apart, which might as well have been mosquitoes attacking an elephant for all the impact it had. It was clear that Twilight outclassed both her parents severely in the magic department, and the young alicorn looked as determined as Celestia had ever seen her.

“Twilight?” she called out, making all three ponies look at her, though Velvet didn’t appear to have any agency in her facing. “You told me that you wanted to have this conversation, and embarrassing questions are going to be a part of that. Can you please let your mother down so that we can actually talk?”

Nightlight smiled gratefully and turned to his daughter. “Why don’t you make us some tea, Twily? I got some calming jasmine flavours from the store yesterday.”

Twilight looked between Celestia, her father, and the floating lump of magic that held her mother prisoner. She let out a sigh and gently lowered her mother back to her hooves before disappearing through the kitchen door.

The first thing Velvet did when she touched down was dust herself off and collect the remnants of her dignity from the floor. After finding the relevant pieces and gluing them back together, she sat down next to her husband and gave Celestia as piercing a stare as she could muster. “Have you slept with my daughter?”

“Honey... this is the Princess we’re talking to,” Nightlight interjected, “I’m sure she wouldn’t—”

Velvet shook her head. “No, Night. I need to know.”

“I don’t think that’s a relevant questionnnn...” Celestia watched Velvet’s eyes narrow dangerously and cut herself off with a sigh. “Yes, we have.” Before Velvet could start sputtering Celestia held up her hooves defensively. “It was only cuddling, nothing more.”

Velvet took a couple of deep breaths and with her husband rubbing her back she managed to regain her composure. “How long have you two been seeing each other?”

“It’s been—” Celestia briefly closed her eyes to recall how long it had been “—almost six weeks.”

Velvets mood soured a little further. “Six weeks... That... that was around the time she grew wings, isn’t it?”

Celestia nodded softly. “A week after that, give or take a day.”

“How could you?” Velvets lower lip trembled, and her eyes, though hardset brimmed with tears.

Celestia frowned. She felt like she was missing a small but important piece of the conversation. Anger, she had expected, but seeing Velvet on the verge of crying was in a different ballpark. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand...”

“We trusted you to take care of her, and yet when she’s afraid and confused after having been thrust in the position of a princess, not to mention growing two extra appendages she’s never had... you decide to proclaim your love?”

“Honey...” Nightlight grasped his wife’s head and held her against his chest while she sobbed quietly. When he looked at Celestia, it was like he had been replaced by an entirely different pony; the easy smile he usually wore was gone, replaced by a look of focused determination which was aimed squarely at her. “Could you tell us how it started?”

After shifting her weight to find a comfortable position Celestia began “For me, it all started when Spike handed me a stack of four dozen or so letters during the preparations for Twilight’s coronation.”

“Just letters?”

“Yes. He told me that they were important, and that I should keep them somewhere safe. I didn’t consider it out of the ordinary, even though he usually sends them to me by way of dragon smoke.” Celestia closed her eyes and sighed softly. “I thought they were simply copies of Twilight’s friendship reports and left them on my desk. I would probably have forgotten about them altogether if he hadn’t sent three more stacks like it a day later.”

She could see Nightlight looking up, doing some quick calculations in his head. “That’s... one-hundred and ninety-two letters...”

“There were a little over two hundred, actually.” Celestia said with a small smile as she remembered reading through some of them. “I couldn’t find the time to look them over until after the buzz surrounding the coronation had died down."

“How so? What was in the letters?” Nightlight asked curiously. Even Velvet had stopped crying and was listening intently though her lower lip still quivered from time to time.

“They were love letters, from Twilight.” Celestia smiled endearingly. “When I finally did read them, I was so shocked that I didn’t leave my room for two whole days, during which I kept poring over the letters wondering how I could have missed it.”

“So... Twilight was in love with you long before...?” Velvet’s voice was a little hoarse but nopony paid it any mind.

“For several years, if I am to believe Spike,” Celestia answered her with a nod. “Apparently she burned most of the love letters eventually, but had hidden the first two hundred away behind a bookshelf in her room, which was where Spike found them.” She noticed the parents looking at each other with expressions of equal embarrassment and shame. “Is something wrong?”

“Twily—” Velvet swallowed heavily and cleared her throat before she continued. “I suspected that there was something bothering Twilight, but every time I asked her about it, she would make up some excuse that she had to be somewhere and left.”

“I think she almost told me once,” Nightlight said with a twang of regret. “But I was too busy grading papers to really pay attention to her...”

“If it makes you feel any better... she wasn’t very good at telling me about it either, as the letters will attest.”

“How many do you think she’s written?”

“Nine thousand three hundred and seven. Though most of those were drafts.” Twilight’s voice made all three of them jump. She was standing in the doorway to the kitchen holding not just tea in her magical grip, but a box of tissues and a plate of simple appetizers as well.

“Twilight... how long have you been there?” Velvet asked.

“A while.” Twilight strolled into the living room, looking like nothing could touch her. Those ponies closest to her, however, (three of which were seated in said living room) could tell that she had likely heard more than she let on. “You never told me that you spent two days in your room.”

“I didn’t think you needed to know,” Celestia replied, resisting the urge to wrap her wing around her marefriend when Twilight plopped down next to her on the couch. The situation was still delicate and she didn’t want to upset the tenuous balance.

“And what happened after that?” Velvet asked, having auto piloted through pouring everypony a cup of tea and sipping from her own.

“I needed to decide how I felt... which I did in record time all things considered... and then I needed some way to tell Twilight... preferably in a place she felt safe in.” Celestia took a sip from her own tea and nodded in approval. “An excellent Zebraean blend.”

“You lured her to the library with the promise of a few first edition books, didn’t you?” Nightlight laughed and scarfed down one of the crackers.

“She said it was a review copy of the next Daring Do...” Twilight muttered darkly before she turned to Celestia. “I still haven’t forgiven you for that.”

“There’s one more answer I want to hear from you, Princess.” Velvet said, setting down her cup and walking across the room to the couch where Celestia and Twilight were seated. “And I want you to look me in the eyes when you answer me.”

“Mom... could you please stop already?”

Velvet smiled weakly. “This is the last question for now, Twilight, I promise.” She turned to Celestia. “Do you really care about her?”

Celestia relaxed, having subconsciously tensed when Velvet came closer. She felt relieved. That one question lay at the heart of any such talks, making it both the simplest and the hardest one; It was the first question where she didn’t have to doubt her answer: “Yes,” she replied with conviction, looking Velvet straight in the eyes. “With all my heart.”

Velvet finally smiled again, and nodded before she turned to her daughter. “And you?”

Twilight blushed. “You know. I told you when I was like... ten.”

Nightlight and his wife shared another look before laughing in unison. “I remember, you came into the study one day, all dressed up in your princess costume for the school play.” The stallion cleared his throat and continued in a mock high pitched voice. “Mom, Dad. When I grow up, I’m gonna marry the princess!”

Twilight’s blush multiplied tenfold and she buried her face in the crook of Celestia’s neck, employing a tactic similar to many foals: if I can’t see it it doesn’t exist. It made her parents laugh and drained some tension from the room.

“You will have to forgive me for not taking you seriously; you said so many things when you were that age.” Velvet giggled. “Like when you told us you were going to turn gravity upside down in school, or the time you wanted to turn all those bullies into oranges.”

Twilight remained quiet for the moment, content with turning her hiding tactic into a soft nuzzle and Celestia had to suppress a smile. She knew for a fact that Twilight had turned gravity upside down more than once, which meant that it wasn’t a stretch to assume that she had given those bullies what they deserved.

“But Mom... Shining told you that he wanted to marry Cadence long before it happened. Why is it so different for Celestia and me?”

“Well, for starters, Cadence was only a few years older than Shining was, and she wasn’t his teacher.”

“Oh, I am sure she has taught him a few things about love.” The moment it registered that the words had come out of her mouth, Celestia put a hoof to it, preventing any more unexpected surprises; though it couldn’t hide the red tinge on her cheeks. “Forgive me, I don’t know why I said that.”

“With the way he was in school... I think they learned a lot from one another,” Nightlight said, snickering.

“Euwh, dad, I did not need to know that.”

“Yes, well, you did ask, sort of...” Nightlight responded, stifling his laughter as best as he could. “But that’s how it’s different. She’s about the same age he is. Princess Celestia... Well, I have no idea how old she is.”

“Night!” Velvet said, punching him in the foreleg. “Don’t be rude!”

“It’s quite alright... though I’m afraid I don’t really have an answer for you.” Celestia emptied her teacup and before smiling apologetically. “I usually just tell ponies that I am old enough.”

“You don’t know?” came the question from beside her.

“Not exactly I’m afraid. It wasn’t until some three thousand years ago that ponies started keeping track of the seasons and numbering the years. I am likely at least twice that old.”

Silent awe filled the room though none more obvious than on Twilight’s face. The young alicorn chuckled and said “Wow, talk about an age gap...”

“I do hope you won’t think me too old...” Celestia joked.

“Never.”

The rest of the evening went by quickly, and before long it was time to set the sun, which Celestia made use of to explain to the parents that she had some unfinished business to take care of. They exchanged goodbyes and left, though not before Velvet pulled Celestia aside and promised her solemnly that she would rain hell down if Celestia ever hurt her child. It was something which Celestia, despite knowing how magically powerful, or rather weak, Velvet really was, believed immediately.

Both alicorns were silent on the way back to the castle, each lost in their own thoughts which only the occasional greeting from bystanders pulled them out of, only to be returned halfheartedly. Celestia, for her part, was happy how well things had gone. She had expected more difficulties, but then, she had expected the ground to open beneath her feet and drop her straight into Tartarus before Twilight’s parents accepted her. So perhaps she had erred on the frantic side of things.

She briefly considered scooping up Twilight a second time but abandoned the idea when she noticed Twilight’s unfocused gaze. It hardly matters anyway, she thought with a smile, we’ll be back at the castle soon.

As it turned out however, ‘soon’ wasn’t soon enough.

One of the infamous spots in Canterlot was Pony Joe’s. Many ponies attributed their round flanks or flabs to the place, as Joe himself made most, if not all of the best pastries in Canterlot. So when Twilight suggested they stop by Joe’s to say hi, temptation pulled at Celestia to say yes. But in the end, the day had made her more tired than hungry, and while convincing Twilight that she didn’t want to give Luna another reason to call her rump fat sounded easy enough in theory; it was severely complicated by a booming voice from inside the establishment

“Neigh, we say! NEIGH! Bring us more of these delectable sugary treats! Your princess demands it!”

Twilight and Celestia came to a halt at the side road that ran towards Joe’s. “Is that... Luna?”

“Yes,” Celestia said, letting out a long-suffering sigh. “Yes, it is.” She groaned softly and set off towards the place, Twilight following close behind.

The inside of the establishment looked like a warzone, or perhaps it was more akin to the living quarters of the monkey ambassador. The tables and chairs, which were normally neatly positioned around the room had been tossed, thrown, knocked over, and were even being used as makeshift barricades. Joe himself was nowhere to be seen, but despite that, or perhaps because of it, a dozen guards and one lunar princess had free reign over the place.

Their only opposition came in the form of three stalwart and somewhat more sober guards, though that resistance amounted to little more than huddling behind a makeshift barricade near the entrance. Getting to them would prove difficult due to the sheer volume of sugary donuts flying through the air, but with a little luck they knew what the hell was going on.

The very first thing Celestia encountered when she stepped across the threshold was an extra large jelly donut flying towards her at full speed, and the drunken cackle from her sister when the filling dripped off her face.

“Here thy will meet thine comeuppance, sister mine!” The lunar princess shouted, following it up with another cackle.

Celestia wiped the filling off of her face with her magic, unable to resist sampling some of it before she threw the rest to the side and frowning at her sister. She conjured a simple deflection shield and made her way to the guards. “Right, who can tell me what happened to my sister?”

“I... uh... I think she’s drunk, Your Majesty,” one of the guards said before catching one of the runaway projectiles with his face.

Celestia only barely resisted the urge to put a hoof to her face and settled for a sigh instead. “I can see that, guardsman. How did she get to be drunk?”

“Princess.” The highest ranked of the three guards nodded respectfully. “We were ordered to accompany Princess Luna while she investigated the disappearance of her ‘undercover detachment’, as she put it.”

For his troubles, he got a raised eyebrow, which silently exclaimed the need for more information, followed by the more informal question. “And what happened when you found this ‘undercover detachment’, Sergeant?”

“Well, Princess... When we found them at the restaurant La Petie Dajeneer? They were...” The sergeant trailed off wincing.

“Secure more ammunition! We shall need plenty to best our adversary in single… no, PLURAL combat!”

The other private who was seemingly the only pony enjoying himself in the bizarre situation laughed and pointed at the counter. “Drunk, your majesty! Wasted. One might even call it plast—” He got cut off by a hoof connecting with his helm making it and his ears ring and smiled sheepishly at his commanding officer. “Sorry, Sarge.”

“That’s all well and good, but how did that disaster end up here?” Celestia said with a sweep of her hoof.

If the room had looked like a battlefield before, now it had more in common with a disaster area. Donuts, pretzels, éclairs and even simple batter was stuck to the ceiling, the windows, and drooping off of Celestia’s shield. The ground was equally inhospitable where it had all merged together into some slightly damp mush that made a loud ‘squish’ when stepped on. Only three places were relatively unharmed; the entrance, where Twilight had thrown up her own shield and sat down with a book, though heavens knew where she had gotten a hold of that; the spot behind three tables and a magical shield currently occupied by Celestia and the guards, which was under ever greater fire; and last but not least, a counter with behind it a dozen drunkenly singing guards and a princess who was using her not inconsiderable power to create more projectiles to fling every which way.

“Well, Your Highness...” the first guard began after his superior kept silent. “At first she was furious that the guards had failed in their mission; at least, until one of them told her that you and Twilight... sorry, Princess Twilight, had had a successful night, after which she proceeded to order rounds for everypony and emptied the entire liquor cabinet herself.”

Celestia closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. Losing her composure now would only result in more troubles, and she had to make sure Luna didn’t make any more of a spectacle than she already had. At least there hadn’t been any press outside when they arrived; maybe things could still be resolved out of the public eye.

“Sergeant,” she said, eying the room. “I want you to take your men and go back to the castle where you will gather every available guardspony and bring them back here. This place needs to be spotless before seven in the morning sharp... and take your drunken comrades back to the barracks before they embarrass themselves further.”

“As you wish, Your Highness. However...”

“Yes?” Celestia replied absentmindedly as she surveyed the room again, worried about Twilight who had disappeared from the entrance, after which it had promptly been pelted with pastries.

“What are we supposed to do about Princess Luna?”

Celestia looked back at the guard and allowed herself a grim smile. “Don’t concern yourself, Sergeant. I’ll take care of her.”

Three salutes later and the guards dodged and weaved their way to the exit, though even that did not prevent them from being hit by several projectiles. Celestia for her part had had enough. She layered three shields around herself and made a beeline for her sister.

“Foul treachery, sister mine! Thou shalt not defeat me so easily this day!”

Celestia exited the store three minutes later, using her magic to drag along a groaning sister by her ear.

“Ow! I said I was sorry, Sister. Ow...” The lunar princess was clutching her head with one hoof and dancing to try and keep up with her sister with the other three.

Her pleas fell on deaf ears, as Celestia was worried about both her marefriend and the public relations disaster she would no doubt have to deal with in the morning. And while curing a state of drunkenness from an Alicorn was as easy as blasting them with a high power low yield magical blast, it did in no way reduce the effects of a hangover; which she felt Luna more than deserved at that moment.

“Hello, Luna.” Twilight appeared out of nowhere, smiling at the hungover princess as she carried two medium sized pastry boxes in her own magic.

Celestia stopped walking, allowing Luna a few seconds to herself while she frowned at Twilight. “Where have you been?”

Twilight smiled and held up the boxes. “I decided that since we were there anyway, I might as well take a few with me.”

“Twilight...” Celestia sighed. “Nevermind.”

“I left money for everything!” Twilight pouted. “I just thought it might make for a nice breakfast.”

Luna groaned softly but managed to produce a smile none the less. “I heard that everything went well with your parents?”

“It went better than we could have hoped for.” Twilight walked over to Celestia and leaned against her.

Using both head and wing, Celestia shared a somewhat private nuzzle with Twilight before finally smiling at her sister. “Indeed, although I have learned that mothers are among the scariest creatures in Equestria.”

Luna started towards the castle before her sister could decide to resume her punishment. “I am glad."

“Oh, Luna?” Twilight began as she and Celestia followed at a somewhat slower pace “Do you know how old you are? Exactly?”

“No, I was never as good at keeping track of it as Celestia was... but I would say around... probably around nine million moonrises.”

Twilight stopped on the spot and gaped before leveling an accusing gaze at Celestia. “I knew you weren’t telling my parents the truth.”

Celestia stopped as well and smiled at her. “I would rather it not become public knowledge if I can help it. The semblance of mortality is a better shield than any number of guards could ever be."

Twilight wasn’t taking no for an answer, however, and stepped closer. “But how old are you?”

“Promise me you won’t think me old?”

“I already said that I wouldn’t.”

“Ten million, eight hundred and sixty-one thousand, seven hundred and eighty-one sunrises.”

“And... Am I the first...?”

“You are the first one who I ever cared about enough to go and meet their parents, frightening as it was.”

Twilight jumped up against Celestia with her full weight, but before she hit the ground both of them disappeared in a flash of light. Luna was left alone in the empty street with nothing but two boxes full of donuts which she had to save from from certain doom as Twilight’s magic suddenly faded from them.

“At least Twilight knows how to get what she wants...” Luna giggled and glanced around before shrugging, popping one of the donuts into her mouth, and continuing onward to the castle as if she were taking a stroll.

~fin~

Author's Note

I hope you all enjoyed the story, and I also hope that you'll try writing your own Twilestia stories sometime (we need more!)

Epilogue: A belated jump.

Things quickly returned to normal in the Sparkle household, although both Velvet and Nightlight decided that they could use a holiday, and perhaps go on their second honeymoon. None of that was possible before the scheduled visit by Shining and Cadence had come and gone, however.

Luckily for them, that visit was today.

Unluckily for them, Shining was a mess.

Much like his younger sister, the stallion had a big problem with unruly hair whenever the stress got to him, and now, sitting in the living room on the couch where Twilight had been sitting just a week before, it looked like a bird had made a nest in his mane.

“So how are things in the Crystal Empire, Shining?” his father asked him with a smile. “Still no problems since that Sombra fellow?”

“Eh, no, Dad. No problems there,” he answered looking around the room like the walls were closing in on him.

“When we heard that you had something important to tell us, we were so happy!” Velvet exclaimed, entering the room with a pot of tea and several small chocolates. “We were planning on going on our second honeymoon, but we decided that we wanted to hear you out first.”

“We’re very happy you would do that for us, Velvet,” Cadence replied warmly. Unlike her husband, she had a glow of happiness about her and looked completely relaxed. “I only wish we could have gotten here sooner so that you wouldn’t have had to postpone, but ruling an empire is more exhausting than I would’ve thought possible.”

“Oh, please,” Velvet waved a hoof. “It’s not a problem, real—.”

“Mom, Dad, please sit down,” Shining interrupted her. “There’s something important you need to hear, but you need to promise me you won’t freak out.”

“Shining, honey, I was talking to Cadence.”

Cadence smiled apologetically. “You’ll have to forgive him. He’s been like this all week.”

“What’s wrong, son?” Nightlight said, sitting down at Shinings insistence.

Shining Armor took a deep breath and briefly looked to his wife for support. When she smiled at him he exhaled and said: “Twilight is in a romantic relationship with Princess Celestia. Cadence thought she felt something in her magic two months ago, but she couldn’t be sure until last week.”

“Well, I think that—”

“Please don’t be angry with them! You know how Twily was always going on about the princess, and for them to find each other like that really is the best thing that could’ve happened to them!” Shining looked more frantic by the second, and as he didn’t bother to breathe in between sentences, it seemed like he would pass out before he could finish his plea.

Nightlight got up and put a comforting hoof on his son’s back. “Don’t worry Shining, we’re not angry.”

“You’re... not?” he asked, genuinely confused.

“No we’re not,” Velvet said, smiling. “We knew that they were together. They told us as much last week. I’ll admit it was a little difficult to accept at first, but if they’re happy together, why should we complain?”

All at once, Shining seemed to deflate. “Oh...” He took a deep breath once again and walked back to the couch to nuzzle Cadence, whispering: “Thank my lucky stars.”

“Although we’re relying on you for grandchildren now, Shining,” Nightlight continued, smiling at his son before directing his next question to his daughter in law. “So tell us, when are you due?”

“Uhm, Mom... Dad...” Shining turned around to regard his parents again. “You know that we’re not even trying yet, don’t you?”

Velvet giggled. “Come now, don’t play coy. When is it due?”

“Uhm... Mom? Are you even listening?” Shining asked, feeling ever more confused. His mother nodded, though it still did not see like she was listening to him.

“Yes, honey, and we’re asking when it will be born.”

“We. Are. Not. Trying. For. Foals.”

“July,” came Cadence’s voice from behind him.

Shining spun around and gaped at his wife. “What?!”

“Early July,” Cadence said again, barely suppressing a gleeful squeal. “It was a surprise to me as well, but when the doctors told me I couldn’t wait to tell you.”

Shining Armor, former captain of the Royal Guard of Canterlot and stalwart prince of the Crystal Empire, couldn’t take it anymore. He blinked at his parents, blinked at his wife again, and then sank to the floor with a slow groan. The last words he heard before passing out were: “And it’s not just one; we’re having twins!”

A skip

Celestia had been alive for twenty-nine thousand seven hundred and fifty-eight years. An exceedingly long time in anypony’s book if there had been any ponies around to make note of it, or books for that matter. During that time, she had fought and beaten beings like Discord and Nightmare Moon, which meant that she wasn’t unaccustomed to fear and despair. As it turned out, however, not even banishing her own sister came close to the dread she felt at the prospect of having to show her marefriend’s parents that she was a flesh and blood pony with wants and needs, rather than a distant and immortal goddess...

...and they hadn’t even arrived at the restaurant yet.

“Twilight, you know I love you, yes?”

“Of course I do!” Twilight said happily, walking alongside Celestia with a little bounce in her gait and apparently completely oblivious to the looks they were getting.

“Well...” Celestia paused, choosing her words carefully to avoid upsetting Twilight. “I was hoping we could put some more th—”

“—ey’re very nice, but you know that, and I’m sure they’ll love you as much as I do.”

And there goes my last way to get out of this without upsetting Twilight, Celestia thought with a frown. Waking up tired after her sleep had been filled with nightmares, an entire morning answering every question Luna could think of and several hours thereafter stuck in a board meeting for her school of the gifted unicorns; she hadn’t had any time to eat, much less plan. Coupled with an entire afternoon spent making sure none of the dignitaries were feeling left out of the new trade partnership and Twilight’s insistence that they would be ‘tardy’ if they waited any longer, she simply hadn’t found the time to prepare herself for arguably the most important meeting of her life.

Even the few blocks they still had to walk in order to get to the restaurant on time didn’t provide her with the opportunity to do anything about her predicament, mainly because she was trying to look inconspicuous. Or at least, she was trying to look as inconspicuous as an alicorn that stands head and shoulders above everypony else could look; she had briefly considered an illusion spell, but with a dozen royal guards following them, even that wouldn’t have helped matters.

At least she could take solace in the fact that they were almost at the restaurant, at which point she could probably rescind Luna’s orders and send the unwanted escort back to the castle without too much of a fuss. She also made a mental note to pout at Luna for doing this to her.

Celestia and fortune had never been on the best of terms. It had a tendency to complicate any plans she devised for better or worse, though mostly for the worse. Today, however, it seemed fortune favored her as they encountered one of Twilight’s old professors on the street who stopped and called out, no doubt wanting to see some of his questions regarding her new physiology answered.

It was the perfect opportunity for Celestia to buy herself some time. With Twilight distracted talking to the professor, she quickly stepped into the nearest shop, greeting the shopkeeper with a smile and looking around the place for a conversation topic. Antiques, perfect. Even if Twilight managed to convey to the long-winded intellectual that she was in a hurry, Celestia could still stall her by throwing out trivia on the various items in the shop. If she was lucky, it would get her marefriend intrigued enough that she could have a few minutes of rest in which a plan could be formulated.

“Princess?”

Drat. That was far too quick. She silently cursed her escort once again. If it hadn’t been for the six guards standing outside the entrance, and another six cooped up in here with her, it might have taken Twilight more than a second to locate where she’d run off to. “In here, Twilight,” she said belatedly.

Twilight wormed her way past the guards and gave Celestia a cross look. “What are you doing? We’re supposed to be at the restaurant in less than three minutes!”

“I was just... looking for a gift for your parents.” It hadn’t been part of her plan, but it seemed to have as much of a chance of succeeding as anything. “Your parents wouldn’t mind if we were a few minutes late, would they?”

“I mind!” Twilight replied, looking more agitated and dangerous by the second. “If we are minutes late, the dinner will run late, which will make the dessert late, which will mean that we get back to the house a few minutes late and that will ruin the rest of the schedule!”

“But I—” Celestia didn’t get any further than that, her voice cut off by a squeak when a magenta wave of magic surrounded her and lifted her into the air. It felt like she was a petulant little filly forcibly being dragged along by her mother.

“I’m sorry for the fuss, sir,” Twilight said, beaming a smile at the thoroughly confused shopkeeper before marching out of the shop, followed by an inverted levitating solar princess and six equally befuddled-looking guards.

Outside, Twilight got the rest of the guards moving with a simple combination of her expression and a tilt of her head in the direction which they had been going. “Double time,” she barked in a tone that apparently reminded them of their drill sergeant. “Please.” The guards turned as one and fell into step with Twilight’s forced march tempo.

If Celestia had been embarrassed before, it was nothing compared to how she was feeling now. Not only was she being dragged along through the air for everypony to see, but it was all due to the fact that she had forgotten to take into account that Twilight could really be rather aggressive when something threatened her carefully planned schedule. That, and the fact that Luna had done everything in her power to make it all but impossible for Celestia to get out of it. She revised the mental note she’d made earlier and swore to herself that she would devote all of her free time into hatching a plot of vengeance upon her sister.

“Twilight, please, put me down. I’m perfectly capable of walking on my own.”

Twilight either didn’t hear her, or didn’t care, and none of the guards seemed to be willing to incur her wrath, either. They sped through the streets, with more than one pony being set aside by Twilight’s magic in her desire to be on time.

They arrived with seconds to spare, and Twilight visibly relaxed. She gently put Celestia down and brushed away any dust she might have floated into with her magic. Being groomed with magic, especially by her marefriend, was perhaps a little more intimate than something that should happen out in the open, and Celestia had a hard time suppressing the shiver that crawled up along her spine.

“Are you ready?” Twilight asked her.

Celestia regarded the restaurant entrance hesitantly. “Well... actually, I—”

“Great! Let’s go.”

Being cut off once again was mildly annoying, although the soft kiss that came with it was preferable over being marehandled. With that in mind, she stepped forward when Twilight did, having weighed the options and finding that she really, really did not want to be levitated into the restaurant.

The inside of the restaurant was opulently decorated, though Celestia quickly considered it gaudy. From the marble floor, to the gold-plated chairs and tables, to even the domed ceiling, everything seemed to be encrusted with gemstones. It made her think about the dresses Rarity had worn during her stay at the castle, if less tastefully designed.

Everypony in the room fell silent and turned to look at them when they entered, making Celestia realise that she had forgotten one very important thing. She looked back and saw that her guards had posted themselves in two neat rows of six near the entrance, standing so still in their gold-plated armor that they looked to be a part of the decor.

“Silverwing?” she called out, making one of the statues in the entrance move like it had been a flesh and blood pony all along. The guard walked up to her and dipped his head in a show of respect. “I understand that my sister has given you orders regarding our safety, but given that Canterlot is already one of the safest cities in Equestria, I do not believe that your services are required at this point.”

Silverwing bowed again but didn’t move otherwise. “Respectfully, Your Highness, even if that were the case, our orders are very clear. We aren’t to let either you or Twili—I mean, Princess Twilight, out of our sight.”

Celestia let out a sigh. Either Luna secretly resented her for her relationship with Twilight, or her sister simply wanted to make things difficult for her. “Your concern is appreciated but no longer needed.”

“I am sorry, Your Highness, but orders are orders.”

Although she had expected many difficulties regarding this particular evening, dealing with her guards hadn’t been one of them. She was already tired and stressed, and had enough problems without her own guards adding to them. Before she opened her mouth to tell him as much, however, she felt a wingtip trail along her barrel which made her glance sideways. Twilight had turned around and smiled at her, and then at the guard, though that smile was apparently different enough from the one Celestia had received to make him shiver.

“Silverwing,” she said in a honeyed voice, “I know that Princess Luna’s orders are important to you, but what we will be discussing here is private. Is it possible that you keep an eye out from somewhere that's a less... conspicuous?” She indicated the bar at the back of the restaurant with her horn and smiled at him again.

“Well...” Silverwing hesitated and looked back at his fellow guards, none of whom were behaving like a statue any longer. They were all looking at him with various degrees of hopeful expressions. “I... I suppose that...”

“And of course, anything you needed to drink to maintain your cover as a casual observer would have to be added to the crown’s tab for the evening, wouldn’t it, Princess Celestia?” Twilight nudged her marefriend, and Celestia hastily nodded her assent, glad that Twilight had a solution.

“I don’t know... Princess Luna was very specific.”

“Look,” Twilight said, dropping her voice to a whisper so that only Celestia and Silverwing could hear her. “Wouldn’t it be better to sit down and have a drink than it would interrupting private conversations? Because at this point, I’d just as happily send you all to Gryphonia.” Only after he nodded hesitantly did she smile again. “Good. Now... at ease.”

With their most obvious problem moving towards the back of the establishment and the liquid refreshments being served there, Twilight walked over to a lectern which stood at the center of the entrance hallway. The stallion behind it looked particularly dignified due to the large handlebar mustache he was sporting, though a tad overdressed as well. He smiled at the both of them. “Good evening, madam. Will your companions be joining you for dinner?”

Twilight shook her head. “No, they’re not with us, I had a reservation for four under the name ‘Sparkle’?”

The maître d’ took a quick look at his ledger before nodding. “Quite right, madam. This way please.” He lead them through an archway into an adjacent room which turned out to be their booth. Being the size of an entire room, it was spacious enough to hold not only the normal dining table and chairs, but a lounge area and even a small dance floor. “Here you are, madames. The cook will be with you shortly after the rest of your party arrives. Would you like anything to drink while you wait?”

“They’re not here yet?” Twilight began pacing around the room and Celestia was sure she could see a few of her marefriend’s hairs escape her carefully maintained mane. “What if they were robbed? Or ponynapped, or worse... what if they decided not to come?”

Celestia gave the maître d’ an uneasy smile. “We’ll have two light red cherry wines, please. And if you could inform us post haste when the others arrive?”

“Most certainly,” the stallion replied, shaking his head at Twilight’s pacing and swiftly making himself scarce. He untied and closed a pair of heavy curtains behind himself when he stepped out of the room, which really made it feel like a private room.

Celestia watched Twilight pace around the room for another three laps before stepping in front of her, stopping her dead in her tracks.

“Twilight,” she began, trying to focus Twilight’s attention on herself. Having Twilight worry about her parents wouldn’t help as they were likely just late. Celestia didn’t know either of them to be as concerned with punctuality as their daughter was. When Twilight did finally look up at her, however, she saw worries and fears reflected in her eyes that had nothing to do with her parents. Twilight, it seemed, was as apprehensive of the coming conversation as she herself was.

As much as Celestia loathed to admit it, Twilight had become very adept at hiding how she felt. It made her cringe to think that she was likely the reason for her marefriend’s expertise. Although, worrying as it was, knowing that also brought some measure of relief; Twilight hadn’t turned into a confident, take-charge kind of princess overnight. Then again... perhaps having her take charge like that in the bedroom sometime might not be a bad idea.

“Celestia?” Twilight’s voice brought her out of her musing, blinking twice and regarding the alicorn in front of her. Twilight looked more frazzled with every minute that passed and her wings were drooping so low they nearly touched the ground. “Do you think this is a mistake? I mean... is it too soon?”

The devil on her shoulder laughed and whispered: This is without a doubt the easiest out anypony has ever provided you with... what are you waiting for? Unfortunately for him, an angry shake of her head was all it took to be dispelled. “No, Twilight, I don’t think it is.”

“But you were so against it...”

Celestia feigned a chuckle “Ah, so because I’m older than you are, I am no longer allowed to be afr—apprehensive? Or is it because everything I do has to have some hidden meaning?”

The pair of eyes staring back at her blinked in disbelief. “You’re scared? But you’re never scared...”

“Quite the contrary, I’m afraid.” She smiled at her own play on words and made her way over to the lounge area where she sat down on a few pillows, beckoning Twilight with a wing. The offer was gratefully accepted and Twilight plopped down next to her, leaning against her like a... well, like a lover would. “I was afraid when Luna and I fought Discord, I was afraid when L—when Nightmare Moon happened... and I’m afraid now—” Twilight’s cheek scraping against her coat in a silent show of support was comforting and made her crack a smile “—but it’s the right thing to do. I want this to happen as much as you do.”

Twilight agreed, though she seemed less interested in talking about her—their worries, and more in receiving comfort from Celestia herself. Her supportive nuzzling had turned into a much more sensual combination of reassuring touches and comforting caresses. Celestia was only too happy to respond in kind.

They hadn’t gotten as far as sex in the few months time they’d been together, though there was no shortage of sensual cuddling. Twilight had, In her characteristic fashion, set about discovering and cataloguing every one of Celestia’s weak spots, and it was that bit of knowledge that she currently exploited for personal gain. Like a young cat, she had somehow crawled onto Celestia’s back without notice and was now nibbling at a particularly sensitive spot behind her ears which made it very difficult for her to keep her pleasure to herself.

Celestia was going to have to find a way to turn the tables on her marefriend, and quickly. She found it when Twilight overbalanced and toppled over, falling off of Celestia’s back and landing on her own. Celestia capitalised on the mistake immediately. She swooped down onto her recovering marefriend and used her superior mass—My rump isn’t that big!—to pin the young alicorn down. It put her in the perfect position to smother Twilight in kisses and, with one or two adjustments, allowed her easy access to Twilight’s wings as well.

They spent several minutes like that, Celestia doing everything in her power to make Twilight give up and accept the ministrations she was being subjected to, and Twilight trying to keep some semblance of composure. Finally, Twilight turned the tables once again with her magic, or at least she would have if her parents hadn’t chosen that very same moment to step into the room, accompanied by the maître d’.

“Excuse me, Your Highness? We have rules against public fornication here in Le Petit Dejeuner.” He regarded the two disheveled alicorns for a second, promptly looking away after a nudge from the older mare next to him. “Although... I suppose we can make an exception since you are not technically in the public area of the restaurant.”

“Mom? Dad?” Twilight stumbled to her hooves after she was released and tried to push a few strands of mane behind her ears. “You’re... uhm... well...” She looked over a shoulder, and for a split second, Celestia saw pure unadulterated horror on her marefriend’s face. And just like that, the expression was gone and Twilight smiled sheepishly when she turned back to her parents. It was a little eerie to see, knowing just how scared Twilight was. Even with a false mask of levity on her face, however, she couldn’t hide the little cracks and tremors in her voice. “Y-you’re late.”

Twilight’s father replied before his mind had made sense of the image before him. “Yes... your mother lost her reserv—what were you doing?”

“I... I...”

“She was worried that you wouldn’t show up,” Celestia helpfully supplied, making subtle adjustments to her own coat, feathers and mane. “It was a sort of relaxation technique.”

“Aha...” Nightlight didn’t seem convinced but made no further attempts to dispute the possibility that that was all it had been.

Twilight Velvet wasn’t as easily swayed. “And what is this relaxation technique called?”

The maître d’ cleared his throat, forestalling any response to the burning question. “Would you like me to go and fetch the cook, or will you be informing me of your dinner plans at some later time?”

“Yes, please,” Twilight said hastily.

“And do you know what has been keeping the waiter? We still haven't had any…” The rest of Celestia's sentence drifted off into silence when her eye fell on the two glasses of cherry wine on the dining table which the waiter had dropped off some time during their... relaxation technique. She gave the stallion an uneasy smile which he replied to with a curt nod.

“If that is all, I shall bid you a pleasant evening.”

After the stallion had disappeared behind the heavy curtains, Twilight ran up for a hug and a nuzzle with her parents, which was at least returned heartily and shifted the mood towards something more amicable. Twilight’s parents seemed to have written off their cuddling session as a fluke, or at least hadn't thought on what it could mean. They exchanged respectful nods with Celestia, though she had the sneaking suspicion that they didn't really know what the occasion for the dinner was.

“I’m glad you could make it,” Twilight said, leading them to the table while using her magic to push back the comfortable looking sofas that were being used in lieu of chairs. “I was worried something had happened or that you might’ve forgotten or something.”

Nightlight cracked a smile for the first time since he arrived. “Well, you're half right. That's what you get when you tell me about important events when I’m grading papers.” He looked at his wife and laughed before continuing. “Twilight remembered perfectly, as always, but when it became time to leave, she’d somehow lost her inv—”

“Night!” Velvet interrupted her husband with a look that spoke of equal parts embarrassment at having lost something so arguably important, and anger at him for simply telling others about it. Even after he had shut his mouth, Nightlight was still smiling, which made Velvet huffy for a little while. Eventually though, she found her smile again and turned to Celestia. “When Twily told us that you had something important to discuss regarding her education, I knew that it had to be about her having grown wings. Is she going to have pegasi tutors, or will you be teaching her how to fly yourself?”

“Ehh... mom?” Younger Twilight’s wings showed just how agitated she was, twitching against her sides as if plotting to fly away without the rest of her. “This isn’t really...”

“—And how much stronger is she in terms of magical power? Will she need help learning how to properly levitate cutlery again?” Twilight Velvet continued, giving no indication that she had registered her daughter talking to her.

“Mom...”

“I recently read a great book which talks about dealing with imbalances in life and how an imbalance in magic and lead to all sorts of stress and discomfort.”

“MOM!”

Velvet stopped talking and looked at her daughter whose chest was heaving. “Twily, how many times have I told you that shouting is never the solution, not to mention impolite?”

Twilight slumped with a muted “Sorry... But the cook is waiting.”

They all looked over to the entrance where a young, grey stallion with a white, if frumpled, hat and a light green mane had politely been waiting for them to finish their conversation. He bowed deeply when they looked at him and spoke with a light Prench accent. “Good evening, Princess, Princess, madame, sir. My name is Délicieux, but you may call me ‘Chef’ and I shall be your cook for tonight.” He smiled at the group. “Do you have a specific request for zhe starter, or may I flex my culinary skills?”

The flourish with which he ended his sentence got a smile from Twilight and Twilight, though Celestia and Nightlight were less impressed. Twilight, the elder one, took charge almost immediately, looking at each pony in their little group and smiling at Chef when she turned back to him. “I believe a simple salad with cheddar, tomatoes, a hint of saffron and a light yoghurt dressing for me and my husband. Mozzarella, sweet peppers as well as some hot ones for my daughter, and...” She turned to Celestia. “Princess?”

“I usually take a royal salad,” Celestia told him, noting the downcast air Chef had about him. “Though,” she continued, “I think that, given the opportunity, I would like to try one of your personal salads, Délicieux.”

That seemed to perk the cook up. “Yes, madame, right away,” he said happily before bowing and stepping back towards the entrance.

“Oh, uh, Chef?” Velvet called out to him before he had a chance to disappear.

“Oui, madame?”

“Could you get us a bottle of the same wine the princesses have, and glasses for me and my husband?”

“Of course, madame, it would be my pleasure.”

A few seconds after he had left the room Twilight hummed thoughtfully, which to the other three ponies, was a clear signal that a question was in the works. Sure enough, a few seconds later still, she sat up a little straighter and asked: “If he is the cook that’s making the meal, why is he also serving us? Isn’t that what waiters are supposed to do?”

Nightlight shrugged. “Apparently they do things differently here, sweetie.”

“But it doesn’t make sense.” Twilight’s wings seemed to take on a life of their own, flaring in reaction to her increasing intensity whilst she made motions with her hooves for further emphasis. “Having a cook bring in the food is horribly inefficient, not to mention wasteful if another dish burns while he’s away.”

“I’m sure there’s a good reason for it, honey,” Velvet said, patting her daughter on the back and carefully removing a purple wing from inches in front of her face. Twilight opened her mouth to reply, but Celestia beat her to it.

“There is,” she said, earning herself the attention of everypony at the table, Twilight being the ever eager student and motioning for her to continue. “It is a small part of changes in tradition which came about when the zebra tribes formally declared themselves a country some eight hundred years past.” She was pleasantly surprised when she noticed that Twilight wasn’t the only one listening attentively; both of the older ponies seemed to be enjoying her explanation just as much, so she smiled, took a breath and continued. “When we began trading with them, a lot of transient tourism sprung up. Zebras were curious as to what Equestria was like, but due to their very different outlook on life, ponies often mistrusted them.”

“Like Ponyville with Zecora,” Twilight said, nodding to herself. Celestia looked at the parents, but they seemed to understand what Twilight was talking about then. She had probably told them all about it as well, given how lengthy and in depth her friendship report on the subject had been.

“Exactly,” Celestia continued, “and that’s where the tradition started. Back then there were a lot of small inns run by single families where the mother was the cook, the father the one cleaning the rooms and the children helped out with small tasks like serving the food.” Celestia sat back and looked at the ceiling, smiling to herself as she remembered one such an inn she had visited. “When Zebras passed through, the mothers would often serve the food themselves because they didn’t trust the ‘strange creatures’ around their children, but after over two hundred years of peaceful coexistence, the mistrust faded and the gesture took on a whole new meaning.”

“Which was?” Twilight was leaning forward with sparkles in her eyes, still as excited to learn more about history as ever.

“It became a sign of friendship and trust between the innkeepers and the travelers, and on the whole forged the political friendship into what it is today.” Celestia smiled at the three ponies who were all looking at her in awe. “Or perhaps the owners of this restaurant are simply a little pretentious.”

They shared a laugh and with Twilight and Celestia both sipping from their drinks; Twilight even offered her mother her glass. Though her offer did come with an accompanying question.

“Mom, have you heard from Shining recently?”

“Of course.” Velvet accepted the glass and took a sip herself, nodding appreciatively before giving it back. “He sends us a letter every other week. Which reminds me, did you know that he and Cadence will be coming over to visit next week? Apparently they had a very important something they wanted to share with us.” She smiled at her namesake and winked. “With a little luck, you’ll be an aunt soon.”

Twilight nervously glanced at Celestia, likely thinking of her own very important something she wanted to share. That is, right until the moment what her mother had said sunk in and she all but jumped on the table in surprise. “What?!”

“What did I say about shouting?” Velvet said, getting up and gently helping her daughter back onto her sofa.

“B-but but... but... Cadence might be pregnant, and they didn’t tell me?”

“I’m sure he sent a letter. Perhaps it simply got lost in the post system.”

“You mean like how he informed me that he was getting married a week before it was due to happen? I didn’t even know he and Cadence were dating!”

“Well...”

“And my postal system is a firebreathing dragon who can transport letters near instantaneously. If I didn’t get any letters, its because they didn’t send me any!”

“Twilight?” The frazzled alicorn looked over at Celestia who was smiling at her serenely, “What if they simply wanted to surprise you?”

Twilight opened and closed her mouth a few times before taking a deep breath and pinning her ears to her skull. “I hate surprises,” she muttered, which got a laugh from the rest.

“Ladies and gentle... sir!” Chef apparently had perfect timing, because just as there was a lull in the conversation, he stepped into the room with a flourish, followed by several domed plates, a few appetizers, and even a bottle of wine and two glasses. The items floated past him and settled down onto the table with a soft thunk. “Zhe food has arrived.”

Of course, they were all looking forward to the meal, but none more so than Nightlight, who perked up and sat a little straighter at the mention of food. “I for one can’t wait to taste your excellent cooking, Chef,” he said, ignoring the pointed look his wife gave him.

“And as promised, I also have a bottle of excellent cherry wine, and of course two glasses,” Chef said, setting them down and pouring each of them a glass with an experienced dexterity.

“Thank you for the service, Chef,” Velvet said, turning away from her husband to nod at the other stallion who returned a small smile.

“It is my pleasure. Sir. Madame. Zhe main course will consist of a light bisque, followed by an extra special Niçoise, and finally a hearty crème brûlée. But for now... Bon appétit.” And with that he lifted the domes, exposing the mouthwatering salads hidden therein.

The room became silent for a while after that as Nightlight and the two Twilights enjoyed their salads. Only Celestia didn’t have much of an appetite, looking down at her plate thoughtfully as if it held some secrets the rest weren’t privy to.

“Something wrong, Princess?” Velvet asked her after having enjoyed the majority of her own food.

Celestia smiled, although it was a bit of a sour smile. “Délicieux is a friendly host, but it seems he is a little... liberal... with his use of vinegar.”

“We can share mine!” Twilight had been eating at a slightly more sedate pace than her parents, yet it seemed like she hadn’t even started yet with the amount of green that was left. Her glass of wine was also curiously empty. Before any of the other ponies at the table could object, she magicked her plate over to Celestia’s side of the table before picking up her father and floating him and his plate over to her side.

Nonplussed would be the best way to describe Nightlight during the entire ordeal. He continued eating his meal as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening, though Velvet looked at her daughter disapprovingly. “How many times have I told you not to levitate anypony without asking, Twilight?”

Twilight smiled guiltily and replied: “Three thousand seven hundred and six... no, seven times now.”

Velvet’s disapproving look melted into a grim smile before the older mare shook her head. “Then perhaps it is time you started listening to me, young lady.”

“Yes, Mom. Sorry, Dad.” Despite her words, Twilight didn’t look the least bit repentant, shooting a sidelong smile at her marefriend.

Celestia smiled back, although she had a hard time not bursting out into laughter, glad she wasn’t the only one subject to Twilight’s magic. Furthermore, Twilight’s move had placed them at the same side of the table which, while not a big deal, put them closer together. It seemed silly, but she drew comfort from Twilight’s proximity and realised that Twilight probably felt the same way.

Despite the front she put up, Twilight was having a hard time keeping up with the conversation between her parents and Celestia. It took most if not all of her willpower to keep her mind from running away with the idea that her life would be over the moment they told her parents about the two of them.

How can she be so calm? Looking at Celestia from the corner of her eye, Twilight couldn’t find any trace of the fea—apprehension she had shown to be suffering from earlier. Celestia was all calm smiles, polite nods and subtle digs at either herself, or Twilight, most of which passed her by, busy as she was trying not to freak out.

Even less attention went to her salad. Though Celestia was taking little bites every now and again, Twilight had all but given up on trying. It has too many hot peppers anyway, she thought with a sour look at the offending meal.

“Is something wrong, Twily?”

She looked up at the curious face of her father and forced a smile. “No. Well... I mean...” she nodded toward the salad, the size of which had taken a significant hit since Celestia had gotten involved with it. “They put in too many hot peppers.”

Nightlight just smiled at her. “Mine had too much dressing as well, and it was delicious.” He put an emphasis on smacking his lips which earned him another glare from his wife, but also a giggle from his daughter, which seemed like a fair trade to him. “It seems like Chef is a little green himself, but everypony’s gotta start somewhere.”

Velvet dabbed away a few smears of salad dressing with a napkin. “You’d think that they would assign a more competent cook to tend to a party that has a princess in it.”

“Honey... they couldn’t know that Princess Celestia would be joining us...”

“I was talking about the other princess we have here at the table,” Velvet said with a nod to her daughter before turning to Celestia. “No offense to you, Princess.”

Celestia smiled. “None taken.”

“So,” Velvet sat up a little straighter on her sofa. “Now that we’ve arrived at the important part, what do we need to know about the changes in Twilight’s education?”

“Excuse me?”

“That’s why we’re here, isn’t it? To talk about Twilight’s duties and education now that she’s become a princess?”

Celestia picked up her wine glass and took a sip, buying herself some time to form a proper response. “Her duties, and possibly her tuition, will remain the same as they have been in recent years. For the most part, at least.”

“And why is that?”

“Contrary to popular belief, growing wings doesn’t automatically make one a great ruler. Nor does a horn, as was the case with Cadence,” Celestia said, chuckling softly to herself.

“Oh?” Velvet’s expression made her disbelief palpable. “I was under the impression that Cadence is doing a stellar job with the Crystal Empire?”

Celestia’s mirthful smile only became wider. “Yes, she is...”

“But?”

“Well...” Celestia paused to empty her glass and pour another one. “Let’s just say that when Cadence first became an alicorn, all her orders were for ice-cream and cookies. And she tried to banish anypony who put her to bed.”

Just the mental image was enough to make Nightlight laugh, and although Velvet succeeded in keeping her composure intact, the corners of her mouth twitched upwards a few times before she could force them back in line. “And you’re worried that Twilight might do the same thing?”

“Of course not. I am merely trying to say that, before I make Twilight do anything, she receives a few lessons in ‘princessing’ as it were... which will hopefully help her avoid making the same mistakes I have.”

“I’m right here, you know?” Twilight said, trying to decide whether she should be frowning at her mother or at Celestia. The entire conversation was taking place like she wasn’t even there, and she didn’t like it one bit.

“So... will you be teaching her about politics?” Velvet asked, completely ignoring her daughter. “Or will Luna, or even Cadence, help her with something like that?”

Celestia set down her empty glass for the second time and had the bottle floating in her magic before deciding that too much alcohol probably wasn’t a good idea. “I was actually thinking about lessons on poise and composure first. She’s a very mature mare for her age but she’s still more than a little prone to letting her feelings run away with her.”

Twilight was becoming increasingly agitated by the fact that they were talking about her like she wasn’t even there, and hearing that she apparently didn’t have enough self control did not sit well with her at all. “No, I’m not!”

“Just like that.” Celestia smiled and poked Twilight in the side with a wingtip before leaning in to give her a nuzzle as well. “My little firecracker.” She realised her mistake roughly two microseconds after Twilight’s cheeks turned bright red. “Ahem...” She sat up and looked at the two curious parents. “At any rate, shall we...”

Nightlight and Twilight Velvet’s expressions had changed ever so subtly. The suspicion was back, and Nightlight in particular was regarding them through narrowed eyes. “What was that about?” he asked.

“Forgive me...” Celestia said, thinking quickly. “It’s an in-joke between the two of us... There was an incident in which your daughter apparently got so angry with one of her friends that her magic made her appear to burst into flames.”

Twilight looked at her marefriend blankly for a second before what Celestia had said clicked in her head. “Oh... uh, yeah. I’d almost forgotten about that.”

Velvet nodded. The suspicion remained but she no longer seemed poised to jumping up and interrogating them. “I see...” Just then, Chef returned to take away the mostly empty plates and replace them with ones holding the bisque. “Perhaps we should talk about this later and focus on our meal right now,” she said with an especially pointed look at Celestia.

The two older mares seemed to come to an understanding in the space of about three seconds. One made entirely through a look with nary a word spoken until Celestia finally said; “Perhaps that is best.”

The rest of their stay in the restaurant passed in relative silence. Everypony focused on his or her own food, and the conversations that did take place were short and to the point.

It didn’t feel right to Twilight. On the one hoof she had been looking forward to telling her parents about her relationship with Celestia. But their reactions to a simple nuzzle only served to confirm all the fears her overactive mind came up with.

What if her parents didn’t want to see reason? What if they never wanted to see her again, or forbade her from going back to the castle? You’ve been living on your own for close to three years now... They can’t forbid anything, the impetuous part of her mind told her.

But what if they never want to see me anymore?

Then you’re going to have to make a choice...

Next to her, Celestia wasn’t doing much better. Though the mask of serenity held, under the surface she was busy with kicking herself for her colossal mistake, rather than worried about the immediate future. The thoughts were there, but they would have to await their turn. How did that not occur to me? She knew the answer of course, which was a very simple ‘you didn’t think about the consequences because you are in love’ but that just made it harder for her to swallow. Thinking of the consequences was how she kept the country together and she had potentially ruined breaking the news to Twilight’s parents because she had simply acted. She observed the two ponies on the other side of the table, both of whom were still trying their best to be friendly, but couldn’t pull it off without an undertone of tension and the circle of self-chastisement began again.

The bisque and the Niçoise had quickly vanished from the table without conversation to forestall eating, and by the time the crème brûlée had been consumed as well, all of them wanted to get out of the restaurant where the air would be less oppressive.

The only respite came from Chef who was still all smiles and flourishes. He tried to make a little idle conversation while floating away the last of their plates, but settled on a silent smile when he realised something had changed. “Is there anything else I can do for you?”

“No, thank you, Délicieux,” Celestia replied.

Velvet got up from her sofa. “We are already a little late for an important discussion.”

Chef nodded and pulled the curtains to the side, attaching them to the wall so that the separate room was open once again. “It was my pleasure to serve you and I hope you have a pleasant evening.” The four of them got up, bid Chef a good evening, and left the restaurant.

Velvet took charge the moment they stepped outside. “Let’s go somewhere we can talk a little more privately.”

Celestia indicated the castle with her horn and said. “I have a conference room wher—”

“No.” Velvet cut her off. “We are going to our house, and then I want to know exactly what this is all about.”

Twilight watched both Celestia and her mother draw themselves up to their full height, which only really served to illustrate how much smaller her mother really was. She’s smaller than I am now... she realised with a shock. The battle of wills between the two of them played out silently, and for a moment she was worried that her marefriend would simply decline and make an even bigger problem out of it in the process. Eventually, however, Celestia sighed and relented. “Very well, I just have to make sure that my guards know where I’ve gone.”

“They’ll figure it out by themselves,” Velvet snipped. “Come along now.”

Seeing her mother like that made it hard for Twilight to see any positive outcome to the conversation. I should never have insisted we tell them… With a heavy heart, she followed her parents.

If there was one thing that gave her a piece of mind, it was the wingtip brushing against her barrel, and Celestia’s reassuring smile when she looked up; but she also knew that Celestia was as scare—apprehensive as she was.