Seashell (print rewrite)

SEASHELL

Excerpt VII
From the journal of Sunburst, June 5, YS 1329:

Today as I write, I’m feeling confused. I’ve seen something I know wasn’t meant for my eyes. In some ways it sheds light, but in others it only raises more and deeper questions.

What would a palace be without all the extras to make it just as elegant on the outside as on the inside? A house needs a yard, after all, and of course this palace has one. The grounds are very well-kept with extensive gardens. There are a lot of good places to just sit and think in the quiet splendor of nature for a while and soak up Celestia’s sun. That is, for somepony with the time to spare for such things.

The morning guard shift starts at 6am, about when the sun rises. Today, in the first light of the morning, the rose bushes at the center of the gardens revealed a profusion of the first newly opened fresh blooms of the year. All of the central bushes were white roses. They were shining brilliant and clean, with morning dew glittering on their petals like the shards of myriad diamonds.

All those white rose hedges surround a single tree, also blossoming with smaller and plainer flowers, almost white but tinged with a delicate pink. It’s not a tall tree, but its beauty is unmatched by any other I’ve seen.

But most surprising of all was to find Captain Dash and Princess Twilight out there in the morning, enjoying the same sight. The two of them were standing side by side in front of the rose bushes. I’m sure they thought they were alone. That part of the garden has a lot of hedging around it and from the ground it’s just about impossible to see in from outside.

Still, the hedge-walls didn’t stop me from noticing. I was observing this from the air, flying around the grounds on a security patrol. My being a scout trained to spot and observe didn't help their privacy either.

Captain Dash is confident and outspoken, the kind of pony with a tough skin. Nothing seems to get her down. It really threw me, then, to see her staring so sadly the way she was at the roses and at the blooming tree. Even at the distance I was from her, I could tell she wasn't her usual self, and I couldn't understand it at first. It seemed to have to do with the flowers, because the princess was staring at them too, and also seemed very morose. I wondered, was something wrong with the roses? But how could that be? They were so beautiful, and the response just seemed so out of place.

And if that seemed strange, what happened next was downright shocking. The princess said something quietly into Captain Dash’s ear. Captain Dash looked at her and nodded, and I swear, tears started to fill the captain’s eyes. Yes, Captain Rainbow Dash, a hero of the Wonderbolts, toughest of the tough, fearless, invincible… and she was on the edge of outright crying, in front of our princess no less!

The princess hugged the captain and nuzzled her cheek, then kissed the side of her head in a gentle, caring way. They embraced for a long moment, while the princess cradled the captain’s head against the side of her neck just above the shoulder and softly stroked her rainbow streaked mane. Then they stood side by side again, close together, and the princess put one wing over the captain and rubbed her back comfortingly.

My blood almost ran cold. It was so unexpected. I’d only ever seen the Princess as a high, isolated, distant figure: nopony touches her, and she doesn’t touch them. The only exception I’ve ever seen is the occasional brief contact with her personal student, momentary hugs of comfort or affection. Nopony else. Especially not a mere member of the guard.

But here it was, happening.

Seeing it awakened something in me. I think in this moment I suddenly understood; I started to truly and deeply feel the reality, beyond a mere superficial intellectual book-fact kind of way, of her being living flesh and blood like all the rest of us. It should have been obvious, but I guess after seeing the façade of regality for long enough it becomes hard to tell from the truth underneath. I needed the jarring blow of seeing an unexpectedly tender moment to shock me out of it and set me right again. She’s a real pony after all, and she’s not always made of ice, at least not in the few short moments when there’s nopony around to demand for her to be. Empathy for her came over me for the way she has to hide her real self. I felt in my own heart how hard it must be on her, to have these feelings, to want to be real, to want to reach out and touch, to want to be connected, and to be held back from doing so outside of a rare few brief private moments like this one.

Some part of me ached from the realization of how much it must hurt her.

After a minute or two, Captain Dash said something to her quietly. When she did, the princess reluctantly withdrew her wing and folded it. I knew without hearing the words what was being said. The sun was getting higher, edging up on the horizon to set the morning sky on fire. Royal court business would be starting soon, and it was almost time for Twilight Sparkle to turn back into the shell of ice and go be a princess for the day. The captain was reminding her of that, and Princess Twilight begrudgingly nodded slightly in agreement. Then they parted from each other and walked out of the garden in opposite directions. I immediately understood why. It was so that nopony would see them leaving together. It wouldn’t be dignified, after all, for a rumor to spread of any undue familiarity.

I blinked a few times, once they were gone, and shook the surprise out of my head. I couldn’t help but let it wash through me, but I also couldn’t get lost in it entirely. Whatever I’d just seen, I still had my own work to do. There was still guarding to be done. I kept on with the security patrol, methodically monitoring the perimeter of the palace grounds.

I tried to get through the watch without being too distracted. It was tough, but the rest of the day wasn’t very eventful, fortunately. For that, I’m thankful.
 
 
It’s been eventful enough for today.