Counsel and Confession...

Counsel and Confession…

I trotted down to the bottom floor of the foyer, looking for Twilight and Spike. As I walked toward the center of the entrance room, I heard quiet sniffling noises coming from the other side of the front door. Instantly, I knew I found who I was looking for and opened the door to see Twilight, sitting on her haunches on the top doorstep with her back facing towards me. Spike was sitting on her right and rubbing her back. Both of them turned to look at me with expressions of grief as I exited the castle.

“Hey, y’all…” I said, unsure of how to approach the saddened unicorn.

“Hey…” was all Twilight said. Her eyes were still glassy with fresh tears. Her face was drenched in them. Evidently, so was her right fore leg.

“How’d your word with Celestia go?” Spike asked.

“I’ll… tell y’all on the way back.” I answered. “I’ss kind of a long story…”

“Are you ready to depart?” asked a Pegasus guard, already hooked up to a carriage alongside another guard.

“Y-yes…” Spike answered. We subsequently made our way to the chariot, and soon, we were on our way back to Ponyville. The ride was eerily quiet at first, seeing as I figured Twi was too upset to speak, and Spike was just as unsure of how to go about comforting her as I was. I was feeling the familiar chill and decrease in air from being so high up, but given that I’d already gotten my first experience, coupled with the fact that there was a more important matter to focus on, I managed to ignore it. It took me a short while of thinking of a conversation opener, but eventually, I decided to break the silence.

“…Princess Celestia at least allowed me t’ say goodbye t’ the girls before I left…”

“That’s good…” Twilight sadly answered, looking at the floor of the chariot.

“We talked to each other and we came upon an agreement. She says she’s jus’ lookin’ out for the best interests of Equestria…”

“As a Princess should do, I suppose…”

“She… told me t’ tell you she’s sorry…”

“I’m sure she is…” Nothing I was saying was making the unicorn budge. I was at a loss for what to say next, so I went on a whim and scooted close to her and hugged her. At first, she didn’t respond, but she slowly found it in herself to return the hug, albeit halfheartedly.

“Please tell me you ain’t lettin’ this hurt you THAT badly… I mean, it hurts a lot for me, too… I don’t like this any more than you do… I hate it… But le’ss not forget that I woulda had t’ leave anyw—!”

“I didn’t want you to leave so soon…” she gloomily began. “I already acknowledged that I’d have to take you back eventually… but… what I wasn’t prepared for was that… *sniffle* by order of Princess Celestia, I’m not allowed to see you or go back to your world anymore after I take you back…” She was right about that.

“I… I know,” I answered with a hint of sadness. “But… we’ll always have the memories of our times together, at the very least. At least Princess Celestia didn’t say we had t’ get our memories o’ the last few days wiped… right?”

“That’s true…” she said as she put more effort into the hug. “But… there’s something… I was going to tell you before you left… I just thought I’d have more time to confirm it for myself before I did, though…”

“What’s up?” I asked with my curiosity piqued.

“Well… I… I think I…” she was hesitating, losing her words.

“You… what?” I asked again, wondering what was keeping her from answering me.

“I… kind of… L… L… *sigh* Ohh, why is this so hard…?” She went silent and started to feel warmer in my fore legs. I tilted my head slightly to get a look at her face to see her cheeks turning a bright pink. Whatever she wanted to tell me, it must’ve been big.

“Twi… what is it you’re tryna—!” I was cut off as she turned to me and pressed her lips against mine, which froze me in complete surprise. Shortly after, she pulled her head away. I got the message right away, but I was dumbfounded. I looked at her, but she was looking down at the floor of the chariot once again; not out of sadness, but out of embarrassment. “Umm… I-is that… your way of tellin’ me… that you like me…?” I asked, still taken aback by her unexpectedly brash action as I impulsively licked my lips.

“Wh-what if it is…?” she sheepishly asked.

“Then… then I don’t think I heard you very well…” I slyly retorted with a smirk. “Mind repeatin’ that?” She giggled and looked back at me with that same dreamy smile she gave me before we went to see Celestia. “Y’know, this is gonna make it a LOT harder t’ say goodbye…”

“I know… but I had to get that off of my chest… Cadence told me that I should’ve waited to make sure my feelings were genuine, but since there’s no time left to wait… Better now than never, right?” My eyes widened in realization.

“So… that IS what you an’ Cadence wanted t’ be alone for… I shoulda figured… Even Spike saw it before I did… This is kinda ironic, too…”

“What is?”

“All the time we spent tryin’ t’ either ignore or deny that silly rumor about us bein’ together that way… Yet look where we are now…” We chuckled a little.

“True… I just wish Princess Celestia would’ve made it clearer as to why she made her decisions on you leaving…”

“She explained it to me after you left… she said she had to, basically because was scared that what happened while she was away could happen on a whole different scale had someone evil got ahold o’ the knowledge you acquired o’ my world.” Twilight’s eyes widened in shock.

“What happened…?”

“Turns out that trade dispute started cuz somebody from one country invited somebody else from the other country over. The guest turned out t’ be usin’ the first person as a way t’ sneak into that country an’ start messin’ everything up for both of ‘em. Celestia managed t’ stop ‘im when she got ‘im t’ spill all his secrets out to a spy she appointed. The guy was plannin’ t’ cause a war that started off with the trade dispute so he an’ a group o’ rebels would be able t’ take over. She told me that she didn’t want that t’ happen if somepony here learned your spell and got some of your info on my world with those kinds of intentions, so her only reasonable choice was t’ keep you from usin’ it or lettin’ anybody else know anything…”

“I see…” Twilight replied as she thought. “But… what about you?”

“As for me, she didn’t want me t’ accidentally say somethin’ that would wind up givin’ either of us away in some form or another… that pretty much sums up why we ain’t allowed t’ do this anymore… she’s jus’ lookin’ out for everypony’s best interests. That don’t go t’ say she ain’t feel bad about it, though… after you stormed out, she started cryin’ herself…”

“Oh… well now I feel horrible…” Twilight said, now remorseful. “I lost my temper and yelled at my mentor because of a crush, and it turns out she was just worried about everypony’s safety… she must hate me…” New tears began to stream from her eyes. “How could I be so selfish…? *sniffle* I wouldn’t be surprised if she never wanted to see me again…”

“She doesn’t hate you,” I assured. “There ain’t no way she could hate you. I’m sure she understands your feelin’s, but unfortunately, they had t’ take a back seat t’ her duties as ruler of Equestria. If anything, she prolly thinks YOU hate HER an’ don’t wanna see her again… But i’ss jus’ like I told your brother; you’re family. No arguments as small as that is gonna change that. She might be the Goddess of the Sun and the leader of Equestria an’ all, but remember… she’s also your aunt and your teacher.” I smiled at the unicorn as we held each other firmly in our fore legs.

“Thank you for that…” Twi said as she looked back at me and gave me a tearful smile.

In the rich orange light of the radiant, clear-skied sunset we were flying in, Twilight looked even more beautiful than ever. Her mane flowing freely in the unreasonably frigid wind as the waning sunlight hit her in just the way that made her large, gorgeous purple tear-stained eyes glimmer as she smiled warmly at me. In that moment, all my worries about me being human and from a different universe temporarily washed away as I smiled back at her. It still hurt that we’d never be able to share our true feelings like this again, but I was more focused on the little lavender unicorn I was holding than anything. After we stared into each other’s eyes for a few seconds as we hugged, we closed our eyes, moved in and locked our lips together once again. She tasted faintly of sweetened lemon, which I guess had something to do with the last thing she ate or drank while I wasn’t around. I also tasted the salt from her tears. I lost myself in the euphoria of it...

“*AHEM!*” Spike interrupted, clearly feeling a bit uncomfortable.

“*pop* Oops! Heh, sorry, Spike,” Twilight apologized, flustered and withdrawing from the embrace.

“Yea, my bad…” I added as I scratched my head in embarrassment. While Twilight was blushingly staring down yet again, I looked at Spike. He turned to look back at me, smiled and winked so as to convey the message, “I told you so.” I laughed, but I was still a bit resentful of him at that moment.

“You little mood-killer…”

The rest of the ride was awkwardly silent, but I couldn’t help but frequently glance at the object of my affections. I tried to avert my gaze, so as not to be tempted to flirt with Twilight and make Spike feel more unsettled than he already was. Twilight hardly moved from her position of discomfort, but I did catch her staring back at me a couple times, where she would swiftly look back at the floor of the chariot. She was adorable. Spike must’ve noticed our little game, because every time I looked at him, he seemed more and more annoyed as he stared off into space with a furrowed brow, away from Twi and I. Eventually, Twilight’s library came into view as we approached.

“Finally! I was getting tired of sitting here with you two flirting with each other…” Spike complained. I laughed at the dragon’s agitation.

“Don’t worry, Spike,” I began. “I promise that we won’t do nothin’ else in front-a you...” He looked at me and smiled. “’Cept this,” I quickly added as I kissed Twilight on the cheek, causing her to giggle and blush. I gave him a purposefully goofy smile. He shot daggers at me with his eyes before turning away. I was wondering if he felt… jealous, in a way. Nonetheless, we finally landed in front of Twilight’s library where, surprisingly, all of her friends were waiting for us.

“And you said you and Miss Sparkle were just friends…” I heard one of the guards say as we climbed out of the chariot. I cringed at that remark, seeing as I wasn’t expecting the same guards who took us to Canterlot to be the ones to bring us back to Ponyville, much less the ones to witness everything that went on during the way here… or were they the same guards…? They all looked alike… Damn…