Escaping from Celestia

Three months had passed and both Twilight and Celestia were becoming less and less like themselves. Twilight could no longer make it through a whole day before her paranoia caused her to shut herself in the library and Celestia pretty much only came out of her room for meals and raising and lowering the sun, which caused those who care about them to want to find out what is really going on.

In Ponyville, Twilight had begun to shut herself in the library pretty much everyday after she ate lunch with her friends at the cafe. Her friends were very worried about her so one day at lunch Rainbow Dash decided to find out. She asked, "Twilight, why the hay are you shutting yourself in every day now? Are you starting to care more about books than friends?"

Applejack added, "Yeah and why is your mane and tail always a mess before the day is even half over? It seems like you are really nervous about something."

Twilight replied, "It's really complicated. It is something that is still ringing in my head from when Celestia and I had that meeting."

Rarity asked, "Still? That was three months ago. The way you are acting we would think that she is going to force you to go back to Canterlot."

Twilight began to tear up a bit. She still remembered Celestia talking about how her liking the meals would make her want to go back. She began to cry, "I'm so sorry I've been shutting myself in girls. Celestia did say something about me going back to Canterlot."

Applejack asked, "Why didn't you tell us sooner sugar cube?"

Fluttershy added, "You know we all love you Twilight. We would do anything to make sure she doesn't make you go back."

Twilight replied, "Thank you so much. I simply said something about how I missed the large meals up there and she asked me if the meals would make me want to come back."

Pinkie asked, "What did you say?"

Twilight replied, "I firmly told her no. I told her that I loved it down here and that I would not leave my friends over huge meals."

Her friends breathed a sigh of relief but still wanted to know why she was shutting herself in after lunch. They asked her about it and Twilight told them that it was because she had horrible dreams about Celestia swooping in some afternoon and taking her away. She believed that if she was hiding, that Celestia couldn't get her. Little did her friends know that her dreams did not involve that at all, that her dreams involved Celestia taking her off somewhere to study and forcing herself upon her.

Very soon lunch was over and Twilight, like always, headed back to the library and shut herself in. Rainbow asked, "What is REALLY up with her? I don't know about the rest of you, but I think she is hiding something."

Applejack said, "Y'all know, I think Rainbow is right. After we told her that we wouldn't let Celestia take her away, I would have thought she would stay out with us."

Fluttershy asked, "Do you think she is still shutting in because she knows we couldn't stop the princess from taking her away from us?"

Pinkie replied, "Well maybe we should all be in the library after noon. That way, we could keep her company!"

The rest of her friends agreed and decided to head over to the library. When they got there they knocked on the door only to hear Twilight shout, "GO AWAY! NO VISITORS ALLOWED AFTER NOON!"

Rainbow replied, "Hey Twi, it's us, your friends. Why don't you just let us in so we can talk. We know there is something more going on than you're letting on."

Twilight opened the door and her friends quickly rushed in. Rarity said, "Look at it this way Twilight, with us here we can still visit and you don't have to worry about Celestia swooping down and taking you away from us."

Twilight had a stunned look on her face. She felt as though maybe they knew she was lying. Rainbow asked, "What's with the look Twi? You are acting like we caught you in something."

Applejack, who can sometimes tell when somepony is lying, stared into Twilight's eyes and asked, "Twilight, what are you hiding from us? A fear of Celestia coming in and taking you away isn't the real reason you are hiding, now is it?"

Twilight hung her head in defeat and replied, "No girls, it is something else entirely. It does involve Celestia though."

Applejack asked, "And what is that?"

Twilight replied, "Well you remember when I went up to see her that day? She had her wing around me pretty much the whole day and it just felt weird."

Rarity asked, "Twilight, do you think the princess has special feelings for you?"

Twilight replied, "I wouldn't think so. If she did I don't think she would have let me stay here. She probably would have wanted me to return back up there with her."

Rarity said, "Well if she truly does have special feelings for you I would think she would want you to be happy. After all, when somepony loves another pony they would want the one they love to be happy."

Twilight smiled and asked, "So I probably don't have to worry about her swooping in and taking me away?"

Rainbow hugged Twilight and replied, "No Twi, I don't think you have to worry about that. If she feels that way about you, she wouldn't do anything to make you unhappy."

Twilight sighed and said, "Well girls, let's go out and have a picnic."

All of her friends began to celebrate while they headed out to have their picnic. While Twilight appeared to have fun at the picnic she just couldn't get the horrible dreams out of her mind as Celestia was becoming more aggressive in them as time passed.

In Canterlot Celestia's despair was becoming so bad that she could barely even raise and lower the sun. There were even a couple of days where Luna had to raise the sun. No matter how much Luna asked Celestia, she would not tell her. Luna was becoming more and more upset. Finally on one morning when Luna had to raise the sun she yelled at her sister, "CELESTIA, WHAT IS WRONG? YOU CAN'T EVEN RAISE THE SUN THIS MORNING!"

Luna's tone of voice angered her older sister. Celestia replied, "Look, I don't think you could ever understand. We have different personalities."

Luna's eyes began to shine a bright white, dark clouds began to shroud the sky and she shouted, "Look, I am not this out of touch night owl, I am a concerned sister. Just tell me."

Celestia finally broke down crying. She sobbed, "Luna, it involves Twilight. I love her. I have loved her since she matured. I just wish she could be with me all the time the way she was before she went to Ponyville."

While under the surface Luna thought Celestia was letting this destroy her on the surface she seemed understanding. She replied, "I have some advice, how about you send her another message saying she is needed up here alone for a few days. Maybe that would help."

Celestia smiled a bit and replied, "But I would want it to be just her and me with nopony else around to bother us."

Luna rolled her eyes and sighed, "Well you could always take her out to our old castle and study some of the advanced material there."

Celestia got a huge smile on her face and Luna sighed and continued, "Look, I will even do my best to stay awake as much as I can so you and her can go out there alone."

Celestia grabbed her sister and asked, "Really?"

Luna replied, "Yes, really. Now send her a message telling her you want her up here alone."

Celestia wrote a scroll that read, "Twilight, I really need to discuss some things with you. We need to do some high intensity studying for you to fulfill your ultimate destiny. I need you up here for a week alone. If at all possible, please be up here for breakfast tomorrow morning. Sincerely, Princess Celestia."

Celestia sent the message. In Ponyville Twilight and Spike were sitting down to supper when BELCH, Spike coughed up a message. Twilight read the scroll and said, "Well Spike, I am needed up in Canterlot alone tomorrow morning before breakfast."

Spike asked, "So I will be alone again tomorrow?"

Twilight replied, "Yes but Celestia told me she needs her and I to do some high intensity studying so I will be gone for a week."

Spike gasped, "A WEEK?"

Twilight replied, "Yes Spike, a week."

Spike was kind of irritated that Celestia would want Twilight away for that long but also realized that perhaps he could spend more time with Rarity. Twilight was irritated at first but then as she turned in for the night she began to wonder what Celestia meant by fulfilling her ultimate destiny. She was unsure if it meant her becoming a princess one day or at least having some sort of power over the region surrounding Ponyville. Regardless of what she meant, she knew she had to leave early the following morning.