The one and only chapter(Edited)
“Today is the day! Today I’m going to prove to Celestia that I’m good enough!” Twilight exclaimed as she got out of bed. She never really was a morning person, but today she could not help it. She was wearing a huge smile as she rose with the sun. “Today I, Twilight Sparkle, shall prove to Celestia that I am worthy of her love!”
No you’re not.
I’m you. How can you not listen to me?
First of all, you can’t shut me off. Secondly, I’m not talking. You are! All these love thingies make you illogical. Look at yourself; you’re even using words like ‘thingies’.
“YOU said ‘thingies’, not me! Oh wait, you are me. Gah shut it brain. I don’t want to be logical today!” Twilight answered with a groan.
Because deep inside you know that you’ll never make it. Celestia is a princess. You’re just a simple unicorn.
“I’m a simple unicorn. I’ll never be good enough for Celestia.” All of Twilight’s former energy had disappeared and she now frowned as she trotted slowly down stairs in the library.
Don’t listen to your brain. You are a special unicorn. You’re the Element of Magic and you know Celestia loves you. You just gotta show her that she does!
“My heart can talk as well?”
Exactly. You’re a mentally unstable unicorn librarian in a small town. How could you ever expect the Princess to love you?
“You’re right. I need to become more powerful. Then I’ll be ready.”
As Twilight finished the sentence, Spike came bursting through the front door of the library. In his hand was a letter with the royal seal.
“Message... from the... Princess!” He said, gasping for air between the words. Twilight levitated the scroll over to her and read it.
My faithful student Twilight Sparkle,
After weeks of insisting from my sister, I have finally decided to take a vacation. I plan on taking this vacation in the secret royal summerhouse and I want you to join me. You do not have to reply to this letter. The royal chariot will land in the Ponyville Town Square at 1:00 PM. If you don’t show up within ten minutes I will consider it as a declination.
Yours truly, Princess Celestia of Equestria.
“Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes!” Twilight sang out in delight while doing her little victory dance.
“Are you okay, Twi?” Spike asked.
“No. I mean yes. No, wait, I’m not okay. Faust help me! What am I going to do?” Twilight panicked at the thought of a vacation with the Princess in her private summer house. There was no way she could spend a... How long was the vacation going to last? The Princess had forgotten to tell her.
She knew that she was going to act strange, making the Princess suspicious. She couldn't skip out of it either. It was a holiday with only the Princess and her. Alone. In a royal summerhouse. There was no way she could say no, was there?
What should she bring? Her mind went into full meltdown. She sat down on her haunches and just stared at the floor for a few seconds. That is until she snapped.
“It’s going to be okay. You just have to research a spell that can make you tell perfect lies.”
“But what if I can’t do it?”
“You can Twilight. You just gotta stick it together!”
“What if she sends me to the Magic Kindergarten?”
Before her rambling could continue, Spike poked her shoulder.
“Twilight, you’ve been panicking for two hours now. I packed everything you need in this saddlebag.” He handed a saddlebag over to her.
“Three of your favourite books, a picture of your friends, a raincoat and some chocolate cookies for the journey. I also talked to Rarity. She’s willing to let me stay at her place while you’re gone. Owlicious is staying with Rainbow Dash, and because the school is closed for a while, Cheerilee has agreed to watch the library. Now you have two minutes before Celestia leaves, so you better hurry up and get to the Town Square!” Spike said and gave Twilight a quick hug.
“ThanksSpikegottagobye.” She said hastily before rushing out of the front door, almost knocking over three ponies in her rush. When she finally reached the town square she could see the chariot in the distance.
“No. Nonononono, no no! This can’t be happening! I’m too late! Wait, I can still-” She stopped her frantic rambling mid-sentence and started conjuring a spell. Her horn glowed brightly before she disappeared in a purple flash.
“Twilight?” Celestia looked puzzled.
“I’m so sorry I was late Princess. I lost track of time while packing and then I saw the chariot in the distance and panicked and teleported. I’m so sorry,” Twilight almost begged.
“Twilight, I’m the one who was late. We were just about to land in Ponyville when you teleported up here. We don’t have to land, it seems then. Guards, would you mind switching the route to the summerhouse?”
The pegasi guards nodded and changed the direction.
“May I ask... Um, how long... w-will this vacation last? If you don’t mind me asking, that is,” Twilight stammered.
“Are you alright Twilight? You sound like your timid friend. Is something on your mind?” Twilight was looking away from Celestia, furiously blushing.
“I’m just a bit worried about Spike...”
Dammit Twi, you need to do better than that.
“And I think I left the fridge open?” Twilight tried. She hated lying to the Princess and it could be seen. She mentally facehoofed at her own stupidity
“Ah, the vacation lasts for one week, though you may go home whenever you wish if you become too worried.” Celestia smiled. Twilight knew that Celestia had spotted her lies, but she did not seem to approach it further.
The trip was about two hours and Twilight managed to relax a little more when they started talking about magic. She had recently came up with a new theory on long range teleportation, which she had somewhat tested when teleporting to the chariot.
When they finally stopped, Twilight was speechless. There was a small valley in the mountains with a medium sized lake. By one side of the lake was a huge mansion which she guessed was the royal summerhouse. Her jaw dropped.
“I haven’t been here in a thousand years. A lot has changed. I’m impressed with what they have done to this place. Originally I was not planning on restoring the place, but when Luna returned she was really eager to do so. This is also where your brother and Cadence had their honeymoon.” A smile formed on Celestia’s face as some of the memories of this place returned to her. The vacations Luna and her had spent here were some of the best times of her life.
“It’s amazing.” Twilight’s brain was going into overdrive. She was spending a whole week with the Princess in this paradise? There was no way she could do it. Her panic was interrupted as the chariot came to a halt by the main entrance. The guards grabbed the luggage and trotted inside, Celestia and Twilight after them.
Once inside, one of the guards put the luggage on the floor.
“Where do you want us to put the saddlebags, Princess?”
“You can just place them here. Thanks for the assistance my guards. However, you are no longer needed. You are dismissed for a week. Take it as a paid holiday.” The guards hesitated with leaving the Princess for a second, but obeyed.
“It seems like the layout is the same as it was a thousand years back.” Celestia noted to herself. “Would you like a quick tour?”
Twilight gave her a little nod. First it was the hallway. The hallways were big enough for four ponies to stand side by side. In the end of the hallway was a door leading to the main room.
The whole house was made of marble. The main room had two huge stairways rounding the entrance from the hallway. The room itself was huge and empty. It only had some statues of Starswirl, Celestia, and Luna in it. There was a glass door on the other side, leading to the outdoor area. To the left was the kitchen, which Celestia did not take her into yet. To the right were a living room and a study.
Upstairs were two main bedrooms. One of them had the solar emblem and the other one had the lunar emblem. There were two guest bedrooms to the right and left of the main chambers as well.
“You will be sleeping in Luna’s chamber. She personally told me to give you that room,” Celestia said with a smile. “Take your time to settle in while I cook us some dinner.”
Twilight was so lost in the beauty of Celestia that she did not hear what her mentor said.
“Twilight? Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m perfectly fine, Princess,” Twilight said with obvious doubt before she opened the door to Luna’s chambers. The room itself was painted in midnight blue. The roof was different; it was painted as the night with a perfect replica of the constellations. In the middle of the room was a huge bed matching the decor. To the right was a door which seemed to lead to Celestia’s bedchamber.
Twilight checked the saddlebag Spike had packed for her. Inside were six chocolate cookies, three books, a raincoat and a framed picture of Twi and her friends. She made a mental note to thank him. As she was about to leave the room, she noticed a note lying on the bed. She trotted over and picked it up with her magic.
“Dear Twilight. Being our friend we gave you permission to stay in our room. We just wanted to leave this note to wish thou and Celestia a good time at the vacation. We also brought a little gift. It’s in the bottom drawer. The bathroom is across the hallway to the right (Tia always forgets that part). Oh, and we’ve learned how to write in proper Equestrian. Huzzah! Thous, Luna.”
A gift for her? Was it not enough that Luna had made all of this possible by making the pony she loved take a vacation? Twilight trotted over to the dresser and opened the bottom drawer. Inside were three items. The first item Twilight picked up with her magic was practically a pamphlet. It looked like it only had a couple of pages. The book was titled ‘How to admit your love to my sister 101’, written by the author Luna.
Twilight opened the book. On the first page the words ‘Just tell her’ was written over the whole page. Same with the next two pages. Twilight closed the book with a sigh and levitated it into the drawer again. She picked up the second item with her magic. It was a picture of Twilight and Celestia with a frame in the shape of a heart. She looked at it for a long time before levitating it onto her bed upside down.
The third item was a bottle of some of the finest cider from Sweet Apple Acres. It had a little note on it that read ‘In case you need more courage.’ As much as Twilight knew Luna was right, she simply could not do it. A single tear shed from her eye.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It had been a long time since Celestia had cooked dinner. There were several meals which just needed heating, prepared ahead of time for the vacation, but Celestia wanted to do things herself for once. She single-handedly ruled Equestria for a thousand years, cooking dinner should not be that hard, should it?
Twenty minutes and several burnt hayfries later, Celestia gave up. She had smuggled some hayfries into the house in hope for a normal meal for once. A bit disappointed, she pulled a neatly made salad (probably from one of the master chefs in the castle) out of the icebox and set it on the table. She looked at it and noticed the pattern in it. It had roses on the outside in the shape of a heart. On the inside were lavender and white daisies in the shape of Ying and Yang.
“Twilight, dinner is ready!” Celestia shouted. No response. “Twilight!” She tried again, just a bit louder this time. No response this time either. Maybe Twilight had fallen asleep. She often did stay up past her bedtime to study when she was a filly. Celestia guessed that the habit hadn’t changed much, so she decided to go check on her.
She felt good not having to keep her regal pose. If any of her subjects would see her when she was alone, they would probably start a riot. There was a reason why only a few selected ones were allowed to enter her bedroom. She liked to think of it as an organised mess.
She was getting worried now. It seemed that the rational part of her mind shut down whenever she was around Twilight, but not tutoring her. She knew why and she hated to admit it. It was a selfish desire. All of her little ponies needed her; she could not dedicate her love to just one. At least that was what she told herself. The truth was that she was afraid. She had never loved before. It was kind of ironic; ruling longer than one could remember with a private rule of loving and tolerating all her subjects, and not having ever actually loved somepony.
That was until she let Twilight live in Ponyville. They say that you don’t realize how much you appreciate someone until you lose them. When Twilight moved to Ponyville, it had felt like Celestia had given away her most precious friend. Later she had realized just how much she liked the mare she had sent away to defeat her sister and have a new life.
Being lost in thought, Celestia opened the door without knocking. In the middle of the room stood Twilight with a closed bottle of cider in her magic. Celestia was taken back from the scene. A short moment later she saw a tear shed from Twilight’s eye.
“Twilight?” Celestia asked carefully. Twilight winced as she was startled. She turned, tackled Celestia into a huge hug and started weeping into Celestia’s chest. Celestia just hugged her back and waited for her to gather up enough to talk. They stayed like that for a couple of minutes before Twilight let out a small whisper.
“I can’t hold it in me anymore Princess. I- I--.” Twilight trailed off as she started sobbing again. Celestia knew exactly what to say. It was just a matter of saying the words. Why was this so hard? Over thousands of years she had practised public speaking, but still bringing herself to say these words to Twilight was the hardest thing she had done since banishing her sister.
“I-I love you, Twilight.” Celestia finally managed to spit out. It felt like a thousand suns had been lifted off her back. Twilight visibly froze. Celestia began to feel nervous. Was she wrong? Did Twilight not love her back? Every moment felt like an eternity and Celestia became more and more worried every second. She was about to speak, when she felt Twilight’s lips press against her own.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back in the castle sat Luna, Cadence, and Shining all staring excitedly at a new invention, known as ‘the television’. It could broadcast pictures from a recording crystal and transfer them to a screen quicker than the eye could spot them, so it seemed like the ponies on the picture moved. Luna had hidden one of those crystals into her room in the summerhouse before sending Celestia on her holiday, knowing that she would bring Twilight.
As Twilight and Celestia kissed, the thick tension in the room melted.
“I was starting to worry we were wrong about their feelings, that would had been horrible!” The alicorn of love was visibly relieved.
“Hah. I told you that the Sparkle family is good with royalty,” Shining joked.
“Huzzah! The royal love has been doubled!” Luna shouted in excitement. Both Shining and Cadence were grinning at her.
“What?” Luna looked confused.
“What about you, Luna, don’t you have a special somepony?” Cadence asked with a smirk. Luna started blushing heavily. “So you do have a special somepony! You will have to tell me all about her.” Cadence grinned like a mad pony now.
“I’ll have to get back to work. The new recruits won’t train themselves. See you later, Princesses.” Shining gave a quick salute to Luna and a peck on Cadence’s chin before trotting off towards the training grounds. As he left the room, he could hear Cadence whispering to Luna like a teenage filly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Celestia was the first one to break the kiss. She gasped for air before looking over at Twilight.
“Twilight?” She asked in a serious voice. Twilight winced at the tone. Had she done something wrong?
“Y-Yeah?” The nervousness was clear in her voice
“If we are to go through with this relationship, I don’t want to lose you. There is one solution to this and I want you to think about it for as long as you need to. Being my lover, I can grant you immortality in form of becoming an Alicorn. This means, however, that you will outlive your friends and family. Please give this decision time.”
“If this is true, why have your other lovers not accepted?”
Celestia knew better than to underestimate her faithful student, but she did not expect her to pick up on it so quickly.
“You’re the only lover I’ve ever had,” Celestia replied, a bit calmer this time. She was answered by another passionate kiss.
“Being with you makes immortality worth it.”
“I love you Twilight.”
“And I love you.”
They moved over to the bed and lied down. For hours they just lied there, simply enjoying each other’s company. There was no need to do anything. All they needed right now was each other. After a while, they both fell asleep in the embrace of the other. For now, everything was perfect.
