Author's Note
This work serves as a soft-sequel to this piece. It is not a necessary prior read although the context certainly helps.
The Alicorn Problem
“Celestia… Do you ever think about dying?”
Cherry Berry asked with such an abruptness that Princess Celestia could only sputter and choke on her latest sip of wine. In fairness, it wasn’t the type of question that was generally asked over brunch in the royal gardens nor was it one that Celestia had to field often. Chery, also, hadn’t wanted to ask but the building nausea inside gave her two choices: out with the question or out with the contents of her stomach.
Celestia frowned and Cherry Berry felt at once like clouds had rolled in overhead. “This mare I have come to know, she has only ever laughed in the face of death. What troubles you my little pony?”
Cherry nursed her own glass of wine as if a mouthful of alcohol would suddenly exempt her from the new conversation topic. “It’s… a little silly.” Celestia was right, laughing in the face of death was Cherry Berry’s second favorite pastime. Something had changed these past few weeks, however… Ever since she started seeing the princess regularly.
“Then let us laugh together,” came Celestia’s quick reply with a beaming smile to match. That smile was radiant, infectious even, and Cherry couldn’t help but match it as her cheeks flushed with alcohol.
“I was just thinking… well, you’re an alicorn,” Cherry began slowly, meandering.
Celestia ruffled her wings slightly and gave a slight bow of the head as if to say “yes, here are my wings and horn”.
“And I am a regular old earth pony.”
The wine glass hovered near Celestia’s muzzle and she took a long, thoughtful sip to finish off her third glass. “Goodness, you had me worried it was something serious!” Her horn sparked faintly again and their two chairs slid away from their table. “This was an inevitable conversation and I am glad we get to have it here,” Celestia explained as she rose from the table.
Cherry followed, shakily standing and taking the hoof offered to her. Much like the rest of her, it was so much bigger than Cherry’s. Even holding hooves felt like an embrace from the bigger mare. She liked it a lot.
The berry wine had left them a little uneven and wobbly and the giggles spilling out from both of them led Cherry to temporarily forget the topic she had brought up. Their walk brought them a short ways away from where they had been relaxing, to a patch of sunflowers that towered as high as Celestia herself. “Death does not worry you, could it be you’re worried about somepony else?” The princess pressed her muzzle up against one of the brilliant yellow flowers and inhaled then gently bent the stalk down so that Cherry could do the same.
“That’s one way of putting it,” Cherry admitted after admiring the flower’s scent. “Fine, I’ll just say it- you’re an Alicorn. I’m an earth pony. One day, I’ll be old and grey and wrinkly and you won’t be. One day I’ll… pass on, and here you’ll be as if nothing happened or mattered. I don’t care about dying, I just… I worry that you’ll…” Cherry’s voice trailed off and she mumbled the next part. “I worry you’ll forget me.”
“Did you know that sunflowers were not originally native to this region of Equestria?” It was not the response Cherry had expected and her face burned with a mixture of embarrassment and alcohol. “Early on in my reign, a family had travelled far to celebrate the Summer Sun. The daughter, a young foal, had brought me seeds as a gift, much to her family’s chagrin.” Celestia reached down to once again take Cherry’s hoof in her own. “It wasn’t a proper gift for a princess they had told her.” The pair took another moment to admire the flowers drinking in the sun before Celestia tugged her off towards another part of the garden.
“Oh! Look there, can you tell me what that is?” Celestia asked as they stopped before the trunk of a great tree. Up in a lower branch chirped a bright blue ball of feathers, no larger than a pony hoof.
Cherry knew the answer would not be so simple as ‘a bird’. Celestia continued.
“That is known as a Crystal Chime. I had met a unicorn in the Crystal Empire and though our time together spanned no more than a few days, he taught me the names of many birds and their calls.” Celestia reached her hoof up towards the branch and the bird flew down to the new perch for a closer inspection. “This little one is a wintering bird, I suspect it will be taking up residence here over the spring in search of a mate.” It gave a few inquisitive tilts of the head before flapping back up to its original perch.
Even through the wine buzz Cherry was beginning to notice a trend. Each new stop came accompanied with a story and not all were happy. A patch of blue clover commemorated the sudden passing of a friend and an unfulfilled promise, a tree grown from a sapling that came from a village decimated by war- every single plot, plant, or patch held a deeply personal memory for the princess. By the time they had circled back round to the sunflowers, Celestia’s eyes were red and her nose sniffling.
“Cherry,” Celestia said, turning to meet the mare’s gaze. “I tell you these things because I enjoy your company- immensely so.” The strong hoof that had strung Cherry along on a beautiful afternoon garden stroll now wrapped around the back of her head and pulled her into a close embrace, Cherry’s face burying right into Celestia’s fluff. “I like this, I like us. I would be overjoyed if this continued- if you felt likewise, of course. I would be happy to leave the alicorn worries to the alicorn so that we might enjoy the gift of today together."
Nuzzling a ‘nod’ against Celestia’s fluff, Cherry broke the embrace and matched the alicorn’s sniffling. She had been right, it was a silly worry after all.
Back at their table, the wine had been wisely replaced with a porcelain tea kettle. The two resumed their brunch as if nothing had occurred even though both mares felt a little stronger about the one across the table.
Celestia grinned a wicked smile fueled by the alcohol in her stomach. “You know, Cherry,” she began, elbows resting on the table with her head resting atop her hooves. “Most suitors feel that way after some time with me. We’ve only a few moments together and here you are already wondering how I’ll remember you after a lifetime together. At least court me a moon before you go and start fantasizing about marriage.”
Cherry’s stomach dropped faster than their free-fall flight together. “I- I wasn’t thinking about THAT, just- ah…” Hooves hid her pink muzzle and the mare shut her eyes tight, much to the amusement of Celestia.
The princess laughed harder as Cherry’s cheeks and the tips of her ears darkened. “Oh sweetheart, you’re looking… berry cherry!” Celestia commented before the alicorn was racked with another wave of laughter, this time coupled with snorts and a slamming of her hoof down on the table.
It was a royal attendant bearing a platter of pastries that came as Cherry Berry’s savior from the merciless ribbing. After a quick bow and an even quicker apology for the wait, the attendant scurried away leaving the mares alone again.
“Delightful!” Celestia remarked, eyeing the teacakes before her. The platter was stacked high and each cake was drenched in a decadently thick red syrup. “You know, a wonderful little mare just recently taught me the joys of a deliciously tart cherry,” Celestia said before unceremoniously popping an entire pastry into her mouth.
Cherry Berry wasn’t sure if it had been the cherry syrup that had done it or their afternoon together as a whole- either way, the mare found herself falling head-over-hooves again; this time in love.
