Romance and the Fate of Equestria

Chapter Thirty

Twilight and Snicker-Snack walked through the streets of Ponyville in the crisp evening air.

"…And Fluttershy's work with Iron Will is really coming to a head," Twilight said. "The first seminar debuts in a month or so."

"That's neat," Snicker-Snack said. "So, Twilight…"

"What the—oh, for crying out loud…"

Twilight marched into the town center, where the Cutie Mark Crusaders were zipping around with reckless abandon. All three were winged, all three were horned, and Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo bore pins in their hearts. The three chased each other through the air on their rapidly-beating wings.

"Hey!" Twilight snarled. "What part of 'absolute secrecy' don't you three understand?"

Apple Bloom responded with a yellow beam of magic, blackening the cobblestones under Twilight's hooves.

"Oh, is that how it's gonna be?" Twilight said darkly. "Fine, that's the way it's gonna be…"

Twilight shot at the Crusaders with her own beams; Sweetie Belle dodged and produced a pale green jet of flame, which Twilight deflected with a shield.

An ethereal pink whip appeared at the end of Twilight's horn, cracking through the air and catching on Scootaloo's horn, reeling her in. Apple Bloom produced a similar whip and used it to sever Twilight's connection to Scootaloo.

The Crusaders pelted Twilight with shimmering electric orbs of yellow, green, and purple. Twilight absorbed each one into her own horn, and zapped the Crusaders with three simultaneous magenta bolts of lightning which hit their targets flawlessly, bringing all three tumbling to the ground.

Twilight created a lasso of pure energy, tightened it around the three hysterically laughing fillies and tugged them effortlessly to her, standing over them.

"There, you see?" Twilight said, grinning. "All your Golden Thread and Crusaders Mecha is no match for my lifetime of training and discipline. Now get that stuff back to the barn! It was hard enough to convince Cheerilee not to wear it everywhere she goes. Now do as Princess Luna said—don't bring it out in public until a decision can be made! Understood?"

The three of them nodded fearfully, still giggling.

"All right, buzz off."

The Crusaders darted off toward Sweet Apple Acres.

"What was that?" Snicker-Snack demanded.

"Nothing, just that those three little squirts are tampering with things that should be beyond mortal comprehension," Twilight muttered.

"They made that stuff?" Snicker-Snack said with wonder. "Are… are they geniuses of some sort?"

"I don't know, it zig-zags. They're smart enough to navigate the Everfree Forest better than anypony else and invent this miraculous stuff, but they can be so dumb sometimes… parading it right in the middle of town…" She shrugged. "Anyway, can I… can I tell you something?"

"Sure. Tell me what?"

"Oh, just a piece of information you might enjoy learning," Twilight said nervously, feeling her mane with her hoof, finding it had been ruffled in the skirmish with the Crusaders, and straightening it out with magic. "When… when you came in the spa door earlier today, it… well, it made me very happy. Happier than I've been in a long time. It was… electrifying." She quivered with excitement at the memory. "The only other time I've ever been that happy was… was when my friends came to rescue me when I was facing Nightmare Moon."

Snicker-Snack's eyes widened. "That's… that's big."

"It is," Twilight said, touching her horn to his nose. "That kind of joy is revitalizing… empowering… it makes me feel like I can do anything. You see, when it happened way back then, it wasn't that I was being rescued. It was the realization that, for the first time in my life, I had friends. True friends. And to feel that again, when I saw you, that makes me think—from a purely scientific standpoint, of course—that… well, that this can only be true love."

He inhaled deeply. "You know… I reckon it pretty much has to be."

"I love—"

Snicker-Snack zapped her between the eyes, blasting her backwards.

Twilight tried to speak, but found that she couldn't remember how. She searched her memory frantically, but no matter how hard she concentrated, the powers of speech escaped her comprehension. She stared at Snicker-Snack in horror.

His normally empty eyes were full of tears. "If you think…" he choked out. "If you think for one minute that I'm gonna let you say it before I do, you've… you've got another thing coming."

He stepped up to her and looked her in the eyes. "I love you, Twilight Sparkle."

Twilight tried to answer, but found herself simply staring at him in complete silence. She made a pleading expression, and when he didn't respond, furrowed her brow in concern.

He laughed. "You know, that's cute, the way you try to talk to me with your face. I think I'll keep you like this for a little while."

She scowled.

"Okay, okay," he said, casting another spell on her.

"What kind of 'healing' was that?" she demanded.

"Healing under an extremely lenient definition, I suppose," he said, chuckling. "It's the first thing I ever learned how to do. You try to speak, but the mechanics of talking just sort of… slip your mind."

Twilight shrugged. "Hmm. Okay, then." She flung herself upon him, her arms wrapped around his neck. "I love you too, you devilishly handsome and sinister… package."

"Package?"

"Oh, just shut up."

She kissed him, violently, hungrily. He responded in kind, and the pair of them were soon gasping for breath between lengthy exchanges.

"Your place or mine?" Twilight breathed.

"Um… uh… I don't know, you pick," he said, dazed.

"Okay."

In a flash of pink light, they vanished from the town center.