Chapters Twilight in the Sky with Sparkles
Okay, you finally have your chance with Twilight. Best not mess it up. you think as you aimlessly wander the streets of Ponyville, holding only enough attention on your surroundings to not bump into anypony as you walk. Getting a yes from her of all ponies is like hitting the lottery, and you shouldn't expect to win it twice if this fails... Gah, you're overthinking this. Better find somepony to hear your troubles...
And suddenly, you find yourself changing course and heading for Sugarcube Corner, with a very specific somepony in mind...
You'd been living in Ponyville for six months now, but the ponies have grown accustomed to your presence way sooner than expected. Equestria was home to many strange creatures. Yeah, humans are unusual, but they're not exactly threatening. The only thing about you they consider even slightly scary is the vast amount of personal knowledge about them that you shouldn't know, had you not learned it from a certain girl's cartoon on Earth. Fortunately, you've gotten better at knowing when to keep certain things to yourself, and when to confess what you know but also explain how.
Even with that obstacle, you've managed to make a surprising amount of fast friends, but none faster than the Mane Six. At first, you thought it would be best to focus on ponies you didn't know that well, and let legends be legends, but the magic of friendship works in mysterious ways. You're basically their latest member, but... maybe it was the lack of humans in Equestria, or maybe she's just that charming, but you've developed certain feelings for a certain member of your new friend group.
For a while, you felt that you had no chance with princess, to say nothing of the species barrier, and made an effort to balance out your time with the Mane Six to avoid suspicion. But the longer you held onto these feelings, the more they built up. Eventually, you had to confess. Twilight's reaction was... well...
"I... you... I... what?" Twilight said as you both stood there in the main hall of the castle of friendship.
"Ugh, forget I said anything." you said, taking her response as a no. "I was being dumb. Can we just--"
"Wait! It's not like I don't like you, don't think that. It's just... I don't wanna do anything that ruins our friendship. And besides, I'm a pony, and you're a... well..." What am I saying? Spike's been pining after Rarity for years and I've never told him any of this. Granted, he never really had a chance with her, but...
"Yeah. I know. But really, my mind went through a million reasons why I shouldn't have done this. I'm a human and you're a pony, I'm a civilian and you're a princess, our friendship, the children, yadda yadda yadda. But you know what? I did it anyway. So at least I don't have to dwell on what might have been. ...look, I'm only asking for one date, and I'm totally prepared for a no. But at the very least, I'm just hoping that we can remain friends af--"
Twilight only looked more thoughtful and afraid than ever after your little speech.
You sigh. "Loud and clear. I'm genuinely sorry, but I hope one day we can put this behind us." You turn around and begin to walk away.
"...Anon?"
You turn back around to hear what she has to say.
"...one date. We'll give this a shot, and if it doesn't work out, still friends." Suddenly, a weight is lifted off your heart. "...assuming you don't go too far, that is?" she says teasingly, trying to take the edge off.
You chuckle a little. "Come on, I think you know me better than that."
"I don't know. You've been full of surprises lately, big guy."
You both laugh for a bit, feeling significantly relieved. "Alright." you say. "Tomorrow night. See you then!"
You both wave at each other as you walk out. You feel relieved... and suddenly afraid again. Wait a minute...
"...where am I gonna take her? I've thought out everything about the confession itself, whether I wanted to even go through with it or not... but I didn't think of where to take her."
"Oh, I'm sure it'll be fine." Mrs. Cake said as she delivered your blueberry muffin. "You should've seen how sweaty my husband was when we started dating."
"He wasn't entering an interspecies relationship with you. I have to try my hardest to impress Twilight if I really want this to work out."
"I think you're focusing too much on the whole 'different species' thing. Just look outside. You see unicorns with pegasi, earth ponies with unicorns..."
"That's different. They're all ponies."
"Maybe so, but I still think you'll find it's less of a problem than you think. Don't worry about it, pre-date jitters are always normal. But if you're really stuck on a location, I guess the best advice I can give is to show her that you're genuinely interested in her, and care about her."
Suddenly, your creative juices start flowing. "...actually, that does help. Thanks!" you said as you left a bunch of bits behind and returned to the streets.
"Oh, uh... deary?" Mrs. Cake called out to you as you ran for the streets. "You paid too much!"
"Consider it thanks!" you replied as you dove further into whatever direction you chose. OK, something that shows I'm genuinely interested in and care about her. Best way to do that is to appeal to what she likes. Library? Too easy. She really likes friendship, maybe a double date? ...no, bad idea. I'd prefer to be alone with her.
And suddenly, your gaze found a tall, towering hill, with a lone tree on top. Inspiration then hit you over the head like you were the centerpiece of a whack a mole table. It's perfect...
You then rushed over to the castle of friendship, knocked on the door, and started to catch your breath. When the door opened, you had composed yourself, only to find...
"Spike! Great! Listen, can you tell Twilight not to wear anything nice tonight? We'll be spending it outdoors."
"Uh... sure, but--"
"Great! Thanks!" you said before rushing off to get things ready for tonight.
"...but where are we going!?" Spike called out, still standing in the doorway.
Twilight in the Sky with Sparkles
You watch the moon rise, and look at your handiwork on the hill. A good distance away from the lone tree, a picnic blanket was set up, which had a basket that contained daffodil and daisy sandwiches for her, and grilled cheese for you. Satisfied with the basic setting you'd constructed, you decided to stare intently at the clock on your phone, which you brought from Earth.
"Come on Celestia, we're waiting on you..."
"Did you invite her along too?"
You must've jumped you own height. "Twilight! I, uh... I didn't think you'd be here so soon!"
"Well, getting ready for a date becomes a whole lot easier when you're told not to dress up too fancy. I will admit though, I was a bit worried when you said we'd be outdoors. But picnics are always nice! Even if it is a bit late in the day for one..."
"Well, I just figured--"
Suddenly, the sun started dipping below the horizon.
Thank you, o benevolent princess...
As the sun disappeared from the sky, countless white dots began shining through the dark, decorating the night sky. Twilight looked around as she realized what you were up to.
"A stargazing picnic... Nice move."
"Thanks. You want a sandwich?"
She took her seat beside you and began manipulating the flower sandwich with her magic, all the while staring up at the night sky.
"You know, I'll confess." You said as you grabbed your own sandwich and she took a bite out of hers. "We had our own constellations on earth, but I don't recognize any of them here."
"Mmm?" she hummed as she looked at you, a bite of her food still in her mouth.
"I wasn't here that long..." you reply defensively.
Twilight responds by swallowing her bite, and gently shoving you to the ground as she lies next to you. "Just stay right there and keep looking up. This is how I get all my friends interested in astronomy." Her horn started glowing, and suddenly, the sky was filled with images of creatures outlined by bright purple magic, and looking as if they were taken out of a book detailing old myths. You could only drop our jaw at this wondrous sight, only turning to look at her halfway through her own peek at your reaction. Suffice to say, she was amused. "So, that right there is Starswirl the Bearded, who's standing with the rest of the Pillars of Old Equestria to fight the Pony of Shadows..."
As she explained, the images came to life to act out the very events she was describing. Many of Equestria's constellations detailed ancient events in Equestria. The Pillars of Old Equestria, Celestia and Luna's rise to power, the fall of the Crystal Empire, the banishment of Nightmare Moon, it was all there.
"...wow." you say, completely dumbfounded. "And here I thought I'd be impressing you tonight."
That last line earned a giggle from her. "Can't expect to do all the heavy lifting, you know."
"Well, luckily I still have my own ace in the hole." you say as you pull various papers from your basket. Thank Celestia I downloaded that ebook before I came here.
"Oh? And what's that?" Twilight asks, now fully interested in what you were doing, which broke her concentration on the night sky. As you rolled out the papers, she started looking confused as they only looked like hand drawn star charts. Then it dawned on her. Those stars didn't look like Equestria's.
"Like I said, Earth had it's own constellations. ...well? Care to learn about the stars above an entirely different plane--"
"YES YES YES!!!!!" Twilight said excitedly as she knocked you down and climbed onto your chest. "How different are they!? Does your night sky still have comets and meteor showers!? Tell me everything!!!"
"Alright, alright!" you say with a laugh as you shove Twilight off of your body. "So, that right there's Orion..."
You then spend some time explaining Earth's constellations to a very eager alicorn, as well as the myths behind them. You really were lucky you had downloaded that ebook, because without it, you wouldn't have a clue what you were talking about. All of the myths, legends, and seasonal changes fascinated her, but then you got to one particular legend...
"Altair and... Vega?"
"Yes. The story's been told by many cultures in many different ways, but essentially, a peasant and an angel meet and fall in love, but the heavens forbid their union. So the separated them with a celestial river now known as the Milky Way. But the magpies grew sympathetic for the star crossed lovers, so every year, on the seventh day of the seventh month, they use their wings to form a bridge so that the two could be together for a single night of passion."
You look towards Twilight, who's already looking at you. You stare at each other for a moment, when suddenly, she leaped for you. You both land in the bush, and have your single night.
Twilight in the Sky with Sparkles
Author's Note
WARNING: The following chapter contains spoilers for the game Xenoblade Chronicles X. I felt the need to warn you about that, but honestly, the game's plot isn't much anyway, and it's all to make a point. TBH, one of the "spoilers" has so many hints dropped beforehand I doubt it even counts as a twist. But that's beside the point.
If none of this bothers you, then enjoy the conclusion!
The walk home
Walking down the hill was quieter and tenser than you expected. Where did things go wrong? you thought. I mean, I impressed her to the point of... oh no. Should I not have let her done that!?
"So, uh..." you say, desperate to break the silence. "How was... that?"
Twilight doesn't answer.
"...did I do something, or..."
"Oh!" Twilight exclaimed, realizing what was going on, and looking at you apologetically. "No no, the date was great. Fantastic." She then turned away again. "...I was just thinking, is all."
"About what? Or is it something I can understand."
Let's find out... she thinks before turning back to you. "The date was fantastic. It's just... should we really be doing this? I know different species of Equestria sometimes fall in love, but well... don't take this the wrong way, but you're not really from Equestria. And..." She looks away again. "...I'll admit, I've fallen for a human before. Then, when he wasn't himself, he hurt me. Oh, we're still friends, it's just... it wasn't the same after that."
"Well, for what it's worth, mind control is something I try to avoid."
She looked back at you. "When did I mention mind control?"
"...I'll tell you later." You look off yourself. One thing she was right about, the species barrier could be a problem. But after thinking about the issue all day, you think you've finally found an answer. "...can I say something that may involve a lot of nerd talk?"
"You're asking me ?"
"It's not that kind of nerd talk. More like... the kind of stuff you'd find in Spike's comic books." You rub the back of your head, hoping that you're not digging a hole for yourself.
Twilight laughed a little, but not in a mean way. "Oh, no..." she said, still laughing.
"I promise, it's relevant."
"Okay, fine!" she said, her laugh dying down a little as she said it so she could listen. "You may speak."
"Thank you. Where I come from, there's this video game called Xenoblade Chronicles X."
"You weren't kidding when you said it would sound like one of Spike's comics..." she said with a smirk, genuinely interested in what you had to say. Even if what you were talking about didn't exactly appeal to her typical tastes.
"Hear me out... It's about humanity trying to make a new home for themselves after Earth is destroyed, but the relevant part is about halfway through, when we learn that only the player but every human on the planet is actually a robot being remotely controlled. We're told that our actual human bodies are waiting in a plot device known as the Lifehold Core, but towards the end, we learn that this whole time our consciousnesses were stored on a computer, waiting to be put into new bodies grown biologically."
You knew you were using some terms completely foreign to Equestria, but Twilight lived through the first two Equestria Girls movies, and you saw her do it. You had faith she could follow along.
"One of the characters asks if this is going too far." you continue. "If humanity is even... human anymore. Say what you will about the plot and writing, but it does get you thinking about some deep questions. The game doesn't tell us an answer, at least not a satisfying one, but it does give one nonetheless. After all, when you think about it, for the whole game we've been playing not as a robot, but as a consciousness driving a robot. It's an excellent reminder that if you believe in souls, that's what we are, not what we have. What we have are bodies. I can explain the concept further, but... it honestly gets a bit morbid."
"No, it's fine." Twilight says with a thoughtful look on her face. "I understand what you're saying. Honestly, I'm surprised all of this could come from something like that."
"Yeah. It's something that's also unintentionally reinforced with the game's real selling point: piloting giant robots."
"There's the camp I've been expecting..." Twilight says with a little laugh.
"My point is..." you say with a bit of an eye roll. "that at the end of the day, we're all souls in bodies. You told us all about your time in Canterlot High, did you act any different when you were a human?"
"Not really..." she said with a smile, remembering her time with her friends.
"Well, there you go. I don't know what nature has to say about a pony loving a human or vice versa. All I know is that I really like you. And hey, if nature doesn't approve, there's always magic! I'd be more than willing to swap teams, it'd be nice to fit into this town for once anyway."
"Yeah..." she said, still apparently thinking about something.
"...well, that's enough video game philosophy for one night. There's the castle, anyway."
"Oh! Yeah, we probably should..."
"Yeah... well, have a good night." you say, starting to walk away.
"You too..." Twilight said, also starting to walk to her home before she stops and turns around. "...hey, Anon?"
You turn around to look her way. "Yeah?"
She gave you a warm smile. "You mind if next time we keep things simple with a library date?"
Incredibly relieved, you returned her smile and nodded. "Sure thing. Well, see you tomorrow."
"Yeah. See you then."
You both return to your homes incredibly happy, and significantly more confident in your relationship and your friendship.
Until then, Altair.
See you then, Vega.