Chapters The wind whistled through the barren streets of Ponyville, rustling the dying leaves of dormant trees with a cherubic playfulness that starkly contrasted with the otherwise solemn silence of the night. There wasn't a single light that dared to disturb the darkness, for the township's inhabitants had long gone off to bed to dream their dreams of hope, love and the opportunities that tomorrow may bring. Fantasies of muffins, magic and never ending parties filled the slumbering minds of the ponies, life-rafts which never failed to steer their owners towards a brand new day.
However, not everyone was asleep. For the fourth night in a row, a lonely heart stood at the window of one of Ponyville's homes, one sculpted from clouds. Staring into the dark room unblinkingly, she desperately tried to steal a glimpse of the creature that was the object of her heart's desire. Tentatively she cast a spell, dimly illuminating the room she was struggling to see into, and bit her bottom lip as her heart skipped a beat.
He's not here either.
With a pained sigh she withdrew her head from the window and extinguished the light, hoping that she still remained undiscovered - she knew that below her the township was well and truly asleep, but feelings of trepidation still gnawed at the back of her mind. After a momentary surveillance of her surroundings she felt satisfied that her venture remained unexposed and with the powerful upward thrust of her alicorn wings she ascended towards the next window, hopeful that this next room may hold the object of her heart's desire. She found herself holding her breath as her horn illuminated the room, staring into the cave of dancing shadows before her as her mind wandered.
This... this can't be right...
Her heart spoke otherwise.
He's not even a pony!
Her heart knew no such objections.
She hung her head down, staring helplessly at her hooves as she inwardly wept, conflicting thoughts racing through her mind before retracing their steps, taking her back to the day she met him. Quietly seating herself down on her haunches, memories flooded back and obscured the night before her like a veil.
Twilight had always insisted that she come to one of their pet playdates, she recalled, but running her kingdom left her with little time for such things, no matter how much the idea of a picnic out in the idyllic hills of Ponyville's outskirts with her pupil and her friends made her smile. But after considerable coaxing on the part of Twilight, she managed to fudge her schedule around enough to afford her one day off to spend with the ponies that she treasured so much. After raising the sun on the day of the playdate she quickly made arrangements to have any business that might come up during the day heard by Princess Luna - the Princess of the Night having begrudgingly agreed after considerable 'nagging' - and bundled a few blankets, some of Canterlot's finest hoof-food and Philomena into her carriage before setting off.
A soft smile graced her lips.
The flight to Ponyville was as cathartic as could have been expected for a Princess as busy as her, and her eyes blissfully followed the autumn landscape passing below her as her carriage continued along its path. The skies were unblemished by clouds - the pegasi around here were amongst the finest in Equestria at what they do, and she wondered somewhat whether the ponies who live around here might take that for granted - and the air was crisp, with the soft smell of rural life accentuated by a hint of the apples this region of Equestria is known for. Eventually the carriage drew close to its destination and the pegasi pulling it descended, touching down on the crest of one of the many rolling green hills.
"We finally arrived," she whispered to nobody in particular, "and it was beautiful."
Indeed it was. The land seemed to stretch on forever in a sea of green, peppered by a sparse population of trees. And before her was Twilight Sparkle, accompanied by her friends and their companions. Fluttershy was sitting with her rabbit, who was later revealed to be 'Angel'; a peculiar name, given that it was beating her over the head with a carrot in protest of something. Pinkie Pie was dancing wildly with an absent-minded looking alligator called Gummy. Twilight Sparkle was lecturing her owl, Owlowicious, on some important magical matter. Whether the owl understood any of it is anyone's guess, though. Rarity was desperately trying to get her cat, Opalescence, out of a nearby tree, while Applejack's dog, Winona, was barking energetically at it as her owner tried to encourage the excited pup to show a little restraint with panicked words.
The alicorn suddenly looked up, the moonlight illuminating her timeless features as the wind cheekily tugged at her mane.
"Then..."
Then there was him. A stolid creature, unassuming in appearance but with a soul burning as brightly as the sun she raised each morning. A rock to lean on. A shoulder to cry on. His piercing, roguish eyes washed away millennia of loneliness imposed by royal duty, exposing a naked, crying filly looking for something so simple, yet so intangible and indescribable - love. And she knew that this creature knew love; that it knew that it was to be totally devoted to another - a feeling which was merely cemented when Rainbow Dash told the tale of how the tortoise - who Rainbow identified as Tank - had saved her life down in the bowels of the earth itself. The alicorn had approached the tortoise with a trembling hoof, gently stroking the creature's head as she found herself holding her breath for what seemed like eternity. Tank had flicked up his radical little aviator goggles and returned her gaze; she felt herself blush as those eyes stripped away layer after layer, finding his way deep into her mind and packing up all her problems and insecurities away like a child's set of blocks, if only for that single moment.
She blushed, just like she did in that endless moment echoing once again in her mind.
She knew that she was his, as he was hers. Closing her eyes softly she leant down, pressing her lips--
"Princess Celestia! What're you doing here? This is the fourth time this week!" cried out a voice, the time of night definitely having made a considerable contribution to its strained, frustrated tone.
"R-Rainbow Dash? I'm s-so sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you!"
"Look, Celestia. You can't have my turtle-"
"Tortoise."
"Whatever. You really creeped everyone out last week, you know? I don't mean to be rude or anything, but maybe you should seek some help. Like, real soon. Twilight had to wipe her own memory after the things you did."
A window slammed shut, and Celestia let out a soft, exasperated sigh. Her train of thought shattered, she looked to the endless expanse above as an expression of incomprehensible sadness became the only distinguishable feature on the ghostly visage cast by the moonlight.
"Someday, somewhere, I will have you, my love."
Time.
The amber radiance of the dying day flooded Canterlot castle, accompanied by the sombre reminder of opportunities lost to the implacable march of time saturating the air. Ponies hurried about their tasks, fearful of the impending night as the once-angelic beauty of the palace assumed the much more subdued hue of a farewell. It was still much quieter now than it was merely a few hours ago; typically a day's work would be completed well before the setting of the sun and many of the ponies were now at home, cradling their loved ones in their arms and their hearts burning with the undying flames of devotion.
Why does time mean so much to me now?
On her bed the alicorn lay, her forelimbs crossed tightly across her chest as she examined the four poster's canopy. Sunset's otherworldly sentinels stood guard against the wall furthest from her window, giving unwavering audience until the inevitable rise of the moon. Sighing, she closed her eyes shut tight, searching herself for the answers to the monologue playing in her mind.
I can feel my heartbeat. I've never really noticed it before.
She felt tired. Sleepless nights were taking their toll on her, both physically and mentally. She recognised this of course: her normally agile mind had been replaced by a sluggish caricature of itself; clarity obfuscated by the tempest of emotion introduced by the events of the past few days. Tasks she had once enjoyed, such as conversing with diplomats from places far beyond the shores of Equestria and mediating disputes between her subjects had become exercises in tedium, with the resounding exclamation mark being the utter disinterest telegraphed by her slumping shoulders and wandering gaze. Some ponies close to her had approached her, concerned by her recent change in demeanour. To them she only smiled, waving a hoof and laughing at such silly notions whilst secretly wishing that she only had someone to confide in. Someone like him .
Love was not a concept that was unknown to her: each day as she rose the sun she could feel the radiant warmth of those closest to her in her heart reflected back at her. And yet, ever since she had met him an alien facet of the once-familiar emotion had awoken. Ravenous in nature, she knew that nothing but the one thing that had been on her mind for what seemed like forever could pacify this overwhelming desire. She thought of Princess Cadence and Shining Armor, smiling in wonder at the air of contentment that had been about them as they endlessly danced at their wedding, her head resting against his beating heart whilst he nuzzled lovingly at her ear, whispering to her passionate words as the crowd looked on. It was the celebration of a love that transcended all laws, becoming the keystone of their very existence.
We.. we share that love, too. A bond that ties us together, strings inextricably entwined in the rich tapestry of Equestria.
Rolling onto her side, she faced the declining shadows cast by the sun and smiled. Innumerable photographs collected over the past few nights adorned the wall, each featuring the likeness of he who condemned her a captive of her own heart. Each individual picture silently spoke of a strength, a weakness, a vulnerability; a patchwork mosaic of her beloved. She raised a hoof and pointed it towards one of the many pictures on the wall, tracing it through the air along his features. Stopping momentarily, her hoof lingered on his beak. She found herself longing to kiss it once more.
I wanted to surrender myself to you. I wanted you to hold me close, claiming me as yours and never letting me go. I wanted to feel the warmth of your breath wash over my neck, teasing me with kisses. I... I know that sounds silly, and silly is something I can't afford to be. I'm certain of that. But love... isn't love silly? How it draws two souls together without rhyme nor reason, betwixt them a force that transcends all others? How can something so beautiful, something so fundamental to the fabric of our world be considered wrong, even for a princess?
She giggled softly to herself and blushed, a little embarrassed by her introspection.
"Look at me, thinking about love like a little schoolfilly."
That half-hearted denial of her thoughts betrayed the sincerity of her feelings. Her mind wandered back to that day, that moment. An ocean breeze had flown far from the west, scattering the last of the remaining leaves from the lonely, skeletal deciduous trees over a landscape that seemed to engulf the entirety of the world.
I bet I looked terrible, covered with dying foliage like that. I didn't care though. I felt like I belonged there, at least for a little while. That was when we kissed, too.
Her lips pressed against his, the longing touch of a princess met by a rough reptilian beak. Around her the world disappeared, although she thought she could hear Twilight and her friends shouting at her - not that she could tell for sure, as her mind focused solely on the creature before her. Even though her partner was hesitant to return the kiss, she could feel the fires of passion radiating from his eyes. Her legs trembling, she stared into those eyes for what seemed like forever. Black, like onyx. She could feel them piercing her soul, a gaze far more intimate than any physical expression of love could ever be. There was no escaping him, for it was her he had chosen and nothing she could do could deviate him from his path.
I wanted to run away right there and then, with you. Together. It felt so right, and I'm sure you'd agree, my love. I could feel it in you. A desire to take me away, to hold me close in the seclusion of the shade; to whisper in my ear as Shining Armor did to Cadence. We would be just like them, in an endless dance of our own with only the stars as our audience. And they'd smile down on us.
She smiled faintly as her hoof dropped softly to the bed, the shadows subsiding as the moon began to rise. That they were meant to be together was a foregone conclusion - that much she knew. Whether it took her tonight, a week or a lifetime.
"And nothing," she said faintly, "can stand in our way. Not even Rainbow Dash."
Ker-puff!
Rainbow Dash woke with a spluttering start, coughing violently as she sat up in her bed. With the realisation that her sleep had been cut short came a vicious scowl, one made all the more gruesome by the drool that had accumulated on the side of her mouth over the course of what had formerly been a wonderful night's sleep. Muttering sleepy obscenities under her breath that would make even the dirtiest sailor blush, she mentally chastised herself for allowing Pinkie Pie to force-feed her all those damned cupcakes yesterday afternoon. As delicious as they were, the fact that Pinkie had a tendency to pour about five times more sugar than necessary into the things wasn't really good for her sleeping pattern, not to mention her pancreas. Wiping the drool off her cheek with a hoof before sleepily ruffling her disheveled mane, she eased back into her bed and closed her eyes, coughing fit subsiding just in the nick of time.
Ker-puff!
She shot up in her bed again, her heart beating a mile a minute as that sound, whatever it was, captured her undivided attention and drove whatever fatigue she was previously afflicted by right out of her - the Wonderbolts would have to wait another night for Rainbow Dash, unfortunately for them. Suddenly alert, her ears pricked up to listen for the source of the strange noise as she rolled to her hooves and lit the lantern hanging above her bed. There was something or somepony in her house, in the dead of night . The walls of her room basked in the dim glow of the lone light as she scrutinised her surroundings, trying to come up with some reasonable plan of action before she struck across a most brilliant idea.
"Hey, who the flying feather is in my house!? " vehemently shouted Rainbow Dash before taking to the air and bolting into the hallway outside her room, lantern shaking wildly in her hoof. Glancing left and right, she peered down the narrow passageway suspiciously. After waiting for a few more seconds and getting no response from the intruder, she thought for a bit as she stared off into the eerie murkiness of the corridor before remembering which direction the sounds came from. Turning left, she quietly and slowly (relatively of course) flew towards the retreating gloom down the hall. Anger slowly turned into apprehension as the creepiness of the situation began to gnaw on her mind.
"L-look, if you come out now and apologise I won't have to beat one out of you! Just tell me why you're in my house, whoever you are!"
Ker-puff!
The gravity of what was going on began to dawn on Rainbow Dash as she reflexively hugged her forelimbs to her chest, inadvertently burning herself with the lantern she was still holding. Biting her lip hard and rattling the lantern away from her body, she averted the inevitable and managed to keep herself from giving away her gradual approach to her intruder - an intruder she was quickly becoming more and more worried about meeting. To her, the reasoning behind her apprehension made absolutely perfect sense: she's the coolest, toughest pony in all of Ponyville, so it would have to take one mean customer to even consider bothering her. Given that said customer was rummaging around her house in the middle of the night , it would have to be one really mean customer. The possible ramifications of this irrefutable line of thought made her shudder.
"H-hello? Whoever you are, I won't hurt you," squeaked the suddenly squeamish mare. Continuing her Odyssean journey down the hall, she peeked into every doorless entrance as if Discord himself would be waiting there for her in the shadows. While each room contained nothing more than her possessions and a whole lot of cloud, the lack of any kind of confirmation of her suspicions merely served to compound her dread. However, as she gradually eliminated each room one by one and reached the end of this long, terrifying journey her resolve began to return, and she soon found herself facing the last couple of rooms in the hallway. With her newly-found vigour, Rainbow Dash fired off a final warning.
"That's it, enough games! Get your flank out here or I'll just have to drag it out!"
She heard a surprised gasp coming from somewhere ahead of her - or at least she thought she heard one. Her vitriolic outburst had obscured the exact origin of whatever it was that made that sound, but she was dead certain that there was something in her house just ahead of her and that they were up to no good and that they almost certainly deserved one of her patented Rainbow Dash flank-kickings. Holding her lantern high, she looked to her left and then her right before mentally shrugging and deciding to check out the room on the left; after all, that's where she kept all her most valuable things such as her Best Young Flier award and her secret stash of Daring-Do novels. Obviously it'd have to be the first stop for any nefarious individual looking to ruin her (and hey, if she's going to be up all night there'd be no harm in grabbing a book to help while away the hours).
But there was nothing. Nada. Sweet, sweet bupkis. The absolute opposite of 'everything'. Rainbow Dash's gaze wandered across the scene of perfect normality as her left eyelid began to shutter slightly.
As an aside, it's important to realise that even the coolest ponies have their boiling point. A point where a pony may be totally and utterly broken, their mind just quietly packing away any notion of sanity like a foal's blocks being put away into a box and then just deftly slinking away, whistling innocently as it decides to go on a holiday and vacate the premises. Equestrian physicians tend to call this particular phenomenon quite a lot of names, each more esoteric and confusing than the last; however, the simplest nomenclature is often the best so we'll just keep it simple and refer to this as 'going bucking insane'.
Fortunately for Rainbow Dash, she did not get to give 'going bucking insane' the old college try. Dropping her lantern as she slowly descended to the floor, she looked about at her valuables laying around untouched in their designated places as an unfathomable wave of anger and sense of injustice rose to the surface. She ground her teeth and was about to say something titanically foul about having to suffer through five nights straight of needlessly lost sleep before a familiar sound interrupted her.
Ker-puff!
Suddenly, in the corner of Rainbow Dash's eye was a white alicorn, standing in front of an entranceway which had been forcefully widened to accommodate the uninvited equine. Clad in a black, all-body outfit, Princess Celestia looked down at the dumbstruck form of Rainbow Dash in shock before backing away, turning to reveal some straps around her abdomen securing something to her back. It was a turtle.
"Tortoise ," the alicorn princess corrected the ignorant narrator.
In the infinite expanse of space above, the stars burned brightly. Some say that they're the souls of ponies long departed, well on their journey to the fields of heaven above. Over periods of time unfathomable to all but those afflicted by immortality's double-edged blessing they flicker, burn out and finally die, the blazing trails of the departed finally finding their place amongst the golden fields of Elysium. They serve as reminders of those lost within the convoluted twists and folds of Equestrian history, lovingly guided towards their home beyond the mortal plane by the princess that raises the moon and sculpts the night sky.
It was under these stars that the cold, desolate landscape basked. A world known to nopony bar those upon which fate cast had her most hateful glance, condemned to be denied of everything that keeps a pony sane. A world which felt not the sun's loving caress, nor the charming laughter of foals rejoicing in the dawning of their day before the sobriety of adulthood dare rob them of their innocence and boundless mirth. Instead, it was a world upon which the twisted, decaying remains of life would feel at home, shunning the light to hide from the wretched stench of inevitable putrefaction the cascading warmth would bring. It was not a world for ponies; yet within one of the weeping welts which scarred this world one stirred.
"Ugh, so this is what Applejack's trees feel like after bucking season."
The cerulean mare shakily lifted herself to her hooves, forgoing opening her eyes as she took a haggard, laboured breath. Whatever had transpired to bring her to this wasteland had not treated her kindly. Her coat was matted with sweat and dust and her feathers, normally elegant in appearance, stuck out at obtuse and broken angles upon her spread wings. Screams of agony shot to her brain from the shattered instruments of flight, each feather awry the tip of a knife just puncturing her skin and digging into her flesh in time with even the most subtle movements. Unsteadily she stood, praying to some unknown entity that her legs wouldn't give way as she grimaced at what she was about to do. Then slowly she began to draw her wings to her filthy, pain-racked frame.
Rainbow Dash bit her lip tightly as she struggled to shoulder the indescribable torment. She wouldn't sob. She couldn't afford to. Not now, not ever. No matter how much every neuron in her brain screeched at her nor how violently her legs quivered and threatened to give way, it wouldn't break her. But oh, how it tried . Every fibre of her being protested against her actions, wishing for nothing more than to simply drop down into the dust and grit below her hooves and let it consume her. Her eyes were clenched shut, desperately trying to disguise the weakness she feared they would betray as hellfire followed in the wake of her waning wingspan. This was something she had to do, though. Leaving her wings open would be running the risk of permanent damage, not to mention that even the slightest breeze could send her convulsing on the ground in pain. So with morbid determination she saw her task through and her wings soon hugged her sides protectively. Every breath she took now painfully bristled her feathers but, as Rainbow Dash reasoned, 'it sure beats option B'. It was only then that she opened her eyes.
If there was anything comparable to what lay before her eyes at that very moment, Rainbow Dash couldn't think of it. Before her stood an expanse of grey that stretched on unhindered almost as far as the eye could see, crowned by a dark night sky. Far off in the distance she could just barely make out what looked like a cliff. Rocks and mounds of dirt occasionally marred the otherwise pristine surface, though they were insignificant in stature and offered her no clues about where she was. Slowly she turned her head, feeding her brain a featureless panorama which was as uniform as it was unsettling. Her brow furrowed deeply as she tried to comprehend what it was she was looking at. She came to the conclusion that it was... well, not much of anything really. The landscape was not a comforting one, however, and she couldn't pinpoint what it was that made her feel that way. She had surmised that there weren't many ponies around here when she was looking around, but that wasn't what bothered her.
No, it's something else , she thought to herself.
She sat down on her haunches, trying to recall what had led to her ending up in this place and winced as she accidentally ground her side against the inside of her right wing. She took a moment to let the pain subside and once she was comfortable she started to organise her thoughts as best she could, absentmindedly circling a hoof around in the dust as she did so. The events prior to her finding herself in this alien landscape were hazy at best, but bits and pieces flitted about in her mind. She imagined herself flying about in her own consciousness, dressed up as a Wonderbolt as she chased down the elusive pieces to her puzzle. This made her giggle a little. It was the first time she had in a long while.
"Alright Rainbow, you've gotta focus if you want to figure out what the hay is going on here!"
She got down to business. Even though her recollection of the previous twenty-four hours was muddled and probably not the most reliable, she eventually managed to piece together a series of events which made sense to her. There was an intruder in her house that night and without an ounce of fear she had leapt out of her bed and dashed down the hallway to confront the individual that had broken into her home. The intruder was somepony important apparently, because Rainbow recalled being stunned that anypony could possibly have the gall to break into the house of Equestria's best young flier. When she had encountered the intruder... she'd had a fight with them? A verbal stoush? She wasn't sure what the nature of it was, but there was definitely some heat between herself and the individual that dared to break into her house in the middle of the night. Then she woke up here. Her face was twisted with confusion.
Rainbow puzzled over these memories for a long while, her mind unaccustomed to weaving so many threads of thought into a meaningful tapestry. Not that she was stupid, of course, but she admitted even to herself that she wasn't exactly Twilight Sparkle.
Twilight Sparkle . A strange memory suddenly jumped out from her subconscious, a fragment of a conversation she had with someone:
"Look, Celestia. You can't have my turtle-"
"Tortoise."
"Whatever. You really creeped everyone out last week, you know? I don't mean to be rude or anything, but maybe you should seek some help. Like, real soon. Twilight had to wipe her own memory after the things you did, you know."
Rainbow's mind opened like a floodgate, memories of the traumatising play date and the sleepless nights she had to endure at the hands of one particularly delusional alicorn pervading every corner of her mind. She recalled spending hours trying to calm Twilight down, her friend in hysterics over the brazen display of alicorn-tortoise relations put on show by Princess Celestia. She remembered night after night of the alicorn skulking about her house in the dark, trying to catch a glimpse of the tortoise. A terrifying realisation then began to dawn on her and Rainbow Dash looked up into the night sky, her face pallid with dread. Lo and behold, against the backdrop of sempiternal starlight she saw a place that she knew and had called home all her life.
She then, in no uncertain terms, opined that Princess Celestia should go get fucked.
Dawn still waited a small stretch of eternity away when Celestia was roused from the fitful sleep of newfound lovers entwined, and her mind struggled to catch up with itself as the gentle susurrations of her lover nestled against the hollow of her throat teased a gentle gasp from her, entirely unbidden. She shimmied closer to her beloved even as the sheets, sodden with sweat and other remnants of the night's exertion, clung to her frame. The silken fur of her chest pressed against the hard surface of her companion's plastron. The alicorn felt her heart pause a moment upon contact.
"Oh, Tank..."
The night of their long-denied union had gifted them both a whirlwind of passion the likes of which they had never experienced before. She had given herself to him, utterly and irrevocably, and he in turn had drank from her so, so deeply. Under the passionate cries of the moon itself she had bared herself wholly to her reptilian other, and he in kind to her.
Totally and completely.
It was funny. While she had rendered herself vulnerable, she had never felt safer. Celestia smiled at the seemingly paradoxical thought, the resolution of which now seemed so simple and trivial. She tilted her head down, looking over the slumbering form of her lover for affirmation that, while not strictly necessary, was something she desired more than anything else in the world.
Ah, yes, there it is.
Celestia gazed lovingly at her twin flame. His scent, thick with ecstasy, wafted oh-so-gently across her nose and the urge to wake him, to surrender herself to him once more was almost irrepressible. She scrunched her eyes tightly and bit the inside of her cheek. As much as she wanted to, it would be nothing but selfish if she disturbed him now. He needed his rest, so rest he would.
What is time to me, to us, anyway? A second is just as much a fraction of the rest of forever as a century. I can wait.
And she certainly was capable of doing so even if her willingness hinged on whether necessity were to demand it of her. She sighed softly before momentarily illuminating her horn. A gentle light sprung to life atop the bedside candle, casting her lover's features into stark relief, and she silently took it all in with eyes that smouldered with millennia of longing.
He's so strong, so sure of himself. But there's also an underlying gentleness, a burning need to love others even if his outward appearance seems entirely indifferent. That's why I fell in love with him, I think.
Celestia closed her eyes and crooked her head down further, no longer being able to resist as memories of the night before smashed away her self-restraint. Her delicate features brushed against Tank's tough reptilian hide, lips meeting scales, and she nuzzled softly against the conical protrusion that stood atop Tank's forehead. Tank, finding his sleep suddenly disturbed, instinctively retreated back into his shell only for his horn to impede his progress at the very last moment. Celestia's hooves tenderly ran themselves through the fluffy down of his newly-formed wings, eliciting a strange grunt from the tortoise. The princess nickered lovingly into his ear in turn, holding herself closer to her beloved as their forms meshed together.
Or maybe , Celestia thought with a smitten grin, maybe it's just simply magic.
Author's Note
Well this is basically what I always had in mind for the last chapter, but I could never really get it the way I wanted it to be. So last night I basically thought, 'screw it, I'm just going to punch this chapter out in one go, the way I want it, regardless of the word count'. So here we are!
