Sometimes, Princess Twilight Sparkle couldn’t sleep.
Her thoughts would race each other like glittering fireflies in the Everfree Forest, sudden bright bursts of consciousness piercing through the black night. Although she’d now ruled Equestria for close to sixty years, with a reign that had mostly been very peaceful, being the monarch of Equestria did come with its fair number of day-to-day challenges. Usually, it was nothing a walk or midnight flight couldn’t solve, when she was concealed in the world’s ethereal nighttime shadows.
And now, Twilight’s mind was yet again flickering with the fireflies — but unlike most times, it wasn’t because of worries or concerns— and it was certainly a lot more intense. For tonight, the moonlight cast its glow on the most beautiful sight in all of Equestria. Nestled next to her in the royal bed was an alicorn with a coat of pure alabaster, her ivory cocoon of angel-feather wings lightly fanned around her body. In the silvery darkness, it was as if she had been cut from shining marble. Her long, dark eyelashes left soft shadows on her cheeks, fluttering with dreams, and she mumbled happily in her sleep.
Celestia Everfree.
Gentle. Graceful. Gorgeous. There was no question about it.
Goddess.
She’d seen her imperfections. She’d seen the smear of dark circles after late nights, the soft lines from centuries of smiles, even her slightly poor temper when her morning coffee was a splash too weak. The wild, unbrushed fur on her fetlocks that she sometimes forgot to tame, the imprint of spots and pink scars from long-forgotten injuries, hell, even the slightly manic grin she had around desserts in general.
Regardless, she would always think of Celestia as one.
Twilight was as tall as her, as powerful. She knew she was revered as much as the Two Sisters, that she was at the level of a deity to as many ponies as Celestia (and eventually Luna) had been. But in fleeting pangs of uncertainty, it was still like she was a schoolfilly again, next to her unattainable teacher crush who left her mind scrambled and her body red-hot. It was like they’d never travelled around Equestria together, bathed together in churning silver oceans, kissed, shared a bed. Like they never would. Like those were still the things that only happened in those fleeting candlelight dreams, after she fell asleep on late restless nights reading every history book she could find with Celestia’s name in its pages.
She was living in those long-lost daydreams now. Today had been a peaceful day of rest at the castle, ending with Celestia falling asleep by her side after a quiet night of reading. The two alicorns lay together, breaths synchronised, manes and tails intertwined in glowing cascades of violet and teal.
Yet Twilight was still wide awake, and her heart ached. Celestia had only returned to the castle a few weeks prior, after they’d reunited over a long weekend at Silver Shoals where the former princesses sometimes stayed during their retirement. One thing had led to another (alcohol, old feelings for each other, a disastrous trip to uncharted lands and a kiss amidst a near-death experience may have been involved) and Celestia had returned with Twilight to Canterlot— not as a Princess of Equestria, but as… well, Twilight wasn’t sure where they stood, though it was certainly more than a friend. They’d kept it under wraps for the most part, stating it to the public as an “informal” visit by the old Princess of the Sun.
And that was exactly what Twilight feared. That an informal visit was all it was.
The trip had brought out a side of Celestia she’d never seen. A restless, yearning side, a part of the mighty alicorn that was a bird that could never be caged. A part that liked Twilight, but would eventually want to leave her in pursuit of the world Celestia craved to explore.
“The Sun and the winds are two coils of a rope, ” she’d once said. “And I suppose I’m the wind as much as the Sun. Sometimes, I live for change. That’s one of the reasons I retired, and I hope someday you too will be able to leave Equestria in as capable hooves as yours.”
But I’ve lived a normal life, Princess. And now I live for Equestria, and for you, Twilight thought as she looked upon her. I was never the type of pony that could keep up with the wind, and I may not ever be enough for the eternity we have ahead of us. And I don’t think I could bear it if you left.
She realised her hoof was reaching out to Celestia’s face. As it brushed against her pearly fur, her lover shifted and Twilight instinctively darted back. Even in the pitch-black darkness, she could see Celestia’s crystalline eyes open slightly.
“Twilightttt…” Celestia whispered softly, half-awake. “Are the pancakes still on the stove? I wanted to… hhh… breakfast…”
She then let out the cutest high-pitched snore Twilight had ever heard, and promptly fell back asleep again, dribbling slightly.
She’s dreaming of pancakes again. Dear Celestia, I think I love her… love you.
But I can’t say a thing, she might get uncomfortable and just leave. What if she already wants to?
What would my friends say?
Twilight recollected the last afternoon she’d spent with Fluttershy at her cottage, back in her Ponyville days right before her coronation— or was it back when being the ruler of Equestria wasn’t even something she’d dreamed about? The memory was a dream-like remnant, but Fluttershy’s words still resonated clearly in her mind.
“It’s never just what you think and say, Twilight. I’m usually too scared to speak my mind, so I do my best to show it. Actions— they’re always much louder than our words.”
Cogs turned in her mind as Twilight watched Celestia’s chest rise and fall as she exhaled with small, delicate puffs of breath.
“More caramel please…” Celestia murmured.
And the cogs clicked.
There was probably just about time left before she had to raise the Sun. Though it wasn’t the most significant thing, there was just enough time to show Celestia how much she cared.
“Are you sure you don’t need help, Princess Twilight?” the head cook, a stallion with a distinctive purple coat and orange mane asked. Though most of the general staff were on short holidays for the Equinox Festival, Sweet Macintosh was an extremely loyal worker who had insisted upon remaining by Twilight and Celestia’s side and ensuring that they ate healthy meals during Celestia’s stay. He was an honest-to-goodness pony just like his aunt Applejack, and an especially excellent pastry chef like Sugar Belle, his now elderly mother. Twilight was especially fond of him, still being in close contact with the Apple Family since her arrival in Ponyville a lifetime ago.
“I appreciate it, but I’d like to do this myself.” Twilight said urgently. “I need to prepare a special breakfast for Princess Celestia—“
“I could always do it for you if you instructed me…” he trailed off, noticing Twilight getting antsy as she stared at the rapidly approaching time of daybreak on the clock. He noted that she’d come here in a hurry and had forgotten to put her regalia on, and decided it would be best to leave her to her own devices.
“I shall take my leave, Your Highness,” Sweet Macintosh saluted. “My service is available at any time should you need it.”
“Thank you, Sweet Macintosh.” Twilight smiled. “It’s still rather early, I should hope that you’re able to get back to resting.”
With a brief nod, the cook headed back to his quarters.
Twilight sighed in relief. She’d barely cooked before, but this meal was very special to her, and she didn’t want anypony to lay a hoof on it except herself. She leafed through the array of cookbooks in the mahogany bookshelf cabinet until she found a leather-bound tome titled “THE QUEENLY GUIDE TO COOKING”. It had been a birthday gift to Celestia from Luna millenia ago, and included Celestia’s classic pancakes recipe which she’d made several times a week during her rule. For Luna, for guests, for Twilight herself— no matter what, Celestia had been there every morning with the beautiful sunrise, beautiful fluffy pancakes and an even more inviting smile. And now, it was Twilight’s turn to put that smile on her face.
Twilight flicked through the book until a well-loved, dog-eared page:
BEST BREAKFAST PANCAKES
INGREDIENTS:
-1 teaspoon baking soda
-16 teaspoons baking powder
-8 cups flour
-1 cup sugar
-2 teaspoons salt
-8 teaspoons vanilla extract
-7 cups milk
-4 large eggs
-1 cup butter (melted)
-Toppings: Finely ground oats, cinnamon, whipped cream, fresh fruits, honey, chocolate sauce, maple syrup etc. (optional)
Makes: 45
INSTRUCTIONS:
1) Mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl.
2) Create a well in the centre- add the milk, butter, vanilla extract and beaten egg.
3) Whisk the wet ingredients in the well together before folding them into the dry flour mix, until mostly smooth. The batter should be thick and smooth in consistency.
4) Allow the batter to “rest” while heating up a pan. Lightly grease it with butter.
5) Pour a quarter cup of batter onto the pan and spread it into a circular shape. When the other side turns golden-brown and the top side begins to bubble, flip and cook until both sides are golden. Repeat with remaining batter. Serve with toppings if desired!
And a hoof-written note by Celestia herself at the end of the page:
N.B: “SOLARAS QALORUS” combined with “IEUNSCEORD” at Step 5– tap the batter bowl and pan three times after reciting. A nice way to speed it up and sate Luna’s waxing-phase appetite. She’s partial to blueberry smiles and whipped cream. Take extreme care.
“That isn’t too bad,” Twilight muttered. Using a collection spell, she quickly levitated all the required ingredients to the kitchen counter in her pink magical glow, and did her best to pour them simultaneously into the required cups. She couldn’t quite differentiate between the five different white powders— though the flour was pretty distinct, and the salt and sugar could be told apart from the others if not from each other. As for the baking powder and soda, well, those were practically one and the same, right?
***
Ten minutes later, Twilight was stirring an extremely doughy, lumpy batter with a spatula. “Thick”, it certainly was, “smooth”, maybe not so much… but she didn’t have time to worry. Celestia was an unusually early riser, leaving Twilight about twenty minutes to ensure that she woke up to a towering stack of pancakes with her favourite toppings.
As the clock struck the next hour, Twilight tried not to despair. She calmed herself down by looking at Celestia’s handwritten instruction— just a simple recited spell to speed up the cooking process. It would all be ready for her in good time.
Taking a deep breath, she whispered the incantation under her breath.
“Solarus Qalorus Ieunsceord.”
She tapped her horn between the bowl and pan once, twice, three times—
Nothing.
Well, that was uneventful.
“Guess I’ve got to do it by hoof…” Twilight muttered.
She turned to grab the bowl to at least make a few pancakes before Celestia rose from her slumber— and met red-hot steel. It crackled viciously, the batter bubbling and popping like volcanic lava.
Oh. Oh dear.
Suddenly the pain struck, sending shooting burns up Twilight’s bare hooves.
Oh hellnonononono—
Fire. Flames. Rippling waves of heat burned with a feverish bite against Twilight’s coat, so hot it felt freezing. It hit her so fast she couldn't react, couldn’t teleport. There was only the blinding nightmare agony as her body burst at the surface and she let out a guttural scream—
And then coming through the flames like a phoenix reborn was a towering pony, her eyes blinding portals of white.
“C-Celestia!” Twilight howled. “Celestia, run—“
But Celestia did not falter. She swam through the blaze as if it was liquid, extending her limbs as a magical flare built up at her horn. The next thing Twilight knew, the entire earth was rattling with the force of a million storms as a gargantuan yellow dome of magic burst over them, and her tears were evaporating as fast as they fell as she buried her muzzle into an angel’s feathers.
As the force field took a stronger effect, another burst of energy rattled the kitchen windows. In a flare of piercing light, Celestia quickly dove out through them, swooping upwards into the sky and out of sight.
“I’m so sorry, Sweet Macintosh,” Twilight sighed. They stood outside the castle grounds looking at the charred ruins of the kitchen wing. Sweet Macintosh’s coat was slightly singed, as was Twilight’s— though the extent of damage to her mane was much greater. Luckily, the disastrous spell had only taken out that one part of the castle and not reached anypony else, but Twilight had been cooled with magic towels and taken care of by the royal doctors until they deemed her fit enough to return. She had her alicorn biology to thank for her speedy recovery. Though most of her mane was already beginning to heal, some of it hung limp in blackened strands.
“There’s no problem, Princess,” he said wryly. “It’s all for the better that most of the kitchen staff’s on leave for the Equinox. And I’m sure the management team will have it fixed in no time—“
“Not if they’re busy fending off the reporters, they won’t,” Twilight sighed. Indeed, heckled royal employees and guards were at the gates, warding off a hoard of journalists from The Daily Fail and The Manehatten Sun Day News who had sighted Celestia’s force field and instantly arrived from celebrating the Spring Equinox at all corners of Canterlot.
“Oh, well.” Sweet Macintosh sighed. “There will always be news, and it will usually be forgotten. Hardly anypony remembers, but I still have a cutout of my parents’ engagement— something about giant pony-eating apples that terrorised Ponyville and made headlines for weeks…”
Twilight smiled tightly as she recollected the chaos that had ensued before Big Macintosh and Sugar Belle’s wedding. It was true that no one had spoken about it for years, and that the memory was admittedly quite rusty to her as well.
But this was different. Even if everypony forgot (and she doubted they truly would), there was one pony who wouldn’t. The one pony who mattered the most. Twilight’s stomach clenched as she pictured the look of shock, incredulity, even disgust on Celestia’s face—
“Hello, Twilight,” a melodious voice called from behind them. “Would you care to take a flight with me?”
Twilight whipped around to see Celestia right behind her, wings outstretched. Her mane was rather unkempt, but mesmerising eyes twinkled as usual.
Speak of the Devil. Or rather, think of the Angel. Of her.
“So,” Celestia asked quietly, “care to tell me why you harnessed the power of the Sun to make breakfast?”
As she landed next to her on an amber cloud in the flame-coloured sky, Twilight felt her face burn with shame.
“I just wasn’t thinking, Princess— uh, Celestia.”
There it was. There she was again, stumbling over her own words. A monarch of Equestria, yet no more than a disappointment of a filly, making mistakes that there was simply no room for as a pony of her position.
But Celestia wasn’t looking at her with contempt or ridicule. Her expression was neutral yet understanding.
“You were trying to make pancakes, weren’t you?”
Twilight nodded.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking of, even trying it— trying that spell at the end…”
“I’m to blame, I suppose,” Celestia replied. “I guess I forgot after so long. I really shouldn’t leave it in books like that. Solarus Qalorus is rather potent, as it takes magical energy directly from the Sun, and it needs to be controlled so you only take what you need and no more. It’s a power I’ve always had. I never taught it as an average unicorn wouldn’t even be able to attempt this. But with you, I should have known…”
“What have I done?” Twilight said, voice shaking slightly.
“Made a mistake.” Celestia smiled softly. “And I daresay, a pretty innocent one at that. You were just trying to cook, weren’t you?”
Twilight nodded. There was a long, heavy pause.
“Celestia, I… I did it for you.”
Celestia’s eyes widened as Twilight’s ashamed gaze met hers.
“I did it for you,” the purple alicorn continued. “I did my best to do what you always did— take care of me in ways that made me feel so special, during all those years as my mentor, as my friend, as… well, now— I really, really tried. But it just didn’t work.”
“Twilight,” Celestia said, “I’m already indebted to you. It’s because of you I can live with the freedom I never had—“
“I know, Celestia!” Twilight’s eyes were beginning to well. “And I love it. I love that you can see the world, and I love that you chose to spend some of your freedom with me. But I’m not you. I’m not a pony of legend and myth that can make others feel like their world in even the smallest of ways. I can’t be. I just know that soon being with me won’t be enough, and I’ll have to watch you leave again—“
“Princess Twilight Sparkle.” Celestia interrupted firmly. “I implore that you stop thinking this nonsense at once.”
She drew herself up to her full height, wings spanning out behind her. For a moment, Twilight blinked, wondering if this was real, or they were sunlit caricatures of alicorns in ancient art.
“What I love, Twilight, is that you’re so you. And your self is something that, no matter where life takes me, I cannot live without. Every day we spend together, I learn so much more about you, and myself—and about magic time, life, love… things I’ve had so many lifetimes to learn but never did. You say you can’t make me feel like your world, when you’ve gone above and beyond to make me happy and taken control of Equestria and led it into its most beautiful period of existence. I… I never wrote to you those first few years, because I feared the apathy you could feel about me…”
Celestia’s eyes glittered more brightly than the evening Sun as she trailed off.
“Celestia, I’ve wanted to be with you my whole life,” Twilight breathed through tears. “And I waited for so long. I’ve wished every night that these few months could be…”
Celestia didn’t need to hear the rest of the sentence to understand what she wanted to say. They sat in silence as chaos continued to ensue in the castle a hundred feet below them, watching the darkening clouds and incoming battalions of faint stars.
Eventually, Twilight smiled tightly, using her magic to levitate a plate stacked with two small golden-brown pancakes towards Celestia.
“Anyways, if all this had to happen, at least it was during the holiday when the castle is the most empty. And that you were there to save me. And I guess did manage to salvage something,” she sighed.
Celestia’s eyes brightened and she smacked her lips, then covered her mouth in embarrassment when she realised Twilight was watching— and then tentatively licked them again, unashamed.
“Sorry, Twilight. Long-forgotten centuries of state dinners do leave a mare with some rather fusty decorum at times.”
“It’s alright, Celestia,” Twilight chuckled. “You don’t ever have to be polite around me.”
Grinning, Princess Celestia eagerly took a large bite out of a pancake— and instantly, a bitter wall of salt hit her tongue. Next to her, Twilight spat out the other pancake and looked at her sheepishly.
“I… may or may not have confused a few of the ingredients. Aside from the method.”
Celestia raised an eyebrow, and then suddenly, the two alicorns were doubled over giggling in the clouds. And they laughed. Not with the laughs of princesses, ones that were polite or rehearsed as they always had to be. It was truly, completely theirs— the music of their joy, hearty, golden choruses of chuckles that filled their hearts with a glittering resonance.
“Talk about an understatement,” Twilight wheezed, “I should probably write a decree banning myself from the royal kitchens—“
Celestia leaned forwards and silenced her with the tip of a snow-white feather, looking into Twilight’s eyes. Her gaze slowly moved downwards towards her muzzle— and then, she kissed her softly on the cheek.
“Twilight Sparkle. I love you.”
Twilight opened her mouth to reply, but the white alicorn leaned in again, and no more words were said for a while as they kissed amidst the silence of the scarlet heavens.
This is freedom, Celestia felt her heart sing. It’s with Twilight.
The crowds could be pacified and the kitchen tended to at a later time, and the pancakes could wait for another morning. For as Twilight felt Celestia’s warm lips on hers, she knew she was here to stay.
Author's Note
This is an episode of a bigger Twilestia story I’m working on (it’s not in the actual story though, just in its timeline).
Also, here’s the pancake recipe: https://cafedelites.com/best-fluffy-pancakes/ I loosely based Twilight’s around. (If you follow the instructions *carefully* and without a hurry, I promise it won’t be disastrous! I tried it myself and it was pretty good).
