Fallen Eagle

Chapter 34: Tears of an Alicorn

Firstly, I apologize for the seemingly long wait, but I started college last week and I'm still getting adjusted to the life there. I just want to let you guys know that my class WILL come first, but I've calculated that I will have at least 30 hours combined Monday through Friday of free time plus weekends to write and I will do my best to update at least twice a month or more if I'm ahead of schedule.

Second, yes this chapter is quite a bit shorter than the previous three chapters, but I talked it over with a good friend of mine who suggested this scene between Twilight and Ivan is special enough to warrant its own chapter, and I agreed. Plus, the Celestia and Ivan mini-chapter proved popular, so I decided to try it again.

Lelouch-Strife: Alaska's great, always has been to me. A few earthquakes here and there don't bother me.

OBSERVER01: Things are looking good for Cougar, yes, but who knows what awaits him at Twilight's castle.

UpgraderIsAwesome489: Thank you :) I try to update as often as time allows me. It makes me feel bad when I pass a certain number of days without updating.

Sassymouse: And ruin keyboards if you spill it from what I've heard ;P It'd be out of character if Applebloom DIDN'T react like that. Sure in Hearts and Hooves day she was a little iffy at first about Cheerilee and Big Mac, but she came around. Grandparents LOVE to make things awkward, but that's why we love our grandparents.

Random Guy: My dad told me if I wanted to mess up my life, just piss off a few MPs. He moved around from California, to Alaska, North Dakota and Guam while growing up because my grandfather was in the Air Force, so he knows what it's like. BTW, while I like your name, I think it should be 'Guy Incognito.' If you get the reference I'll give you a shoutout.

StacheKing: Once again, I am always nervous about your reviews, but I really appreciate the honesty and how you are trying to help me; that really means a lot. Now I don't know if you've re-read the last chapter, but I've updated it and I think it flows much better. Also, I know you told me you like to review countless other stories, but if you have the time, would you like to be my Beta reader? I think you would be a valuable asset for this story and I'd be honored if you could. However, if you can't that's understandable. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

theflammablefiredragon: Well, she won't be all sunshine and lollipops, I can guarantee you that.

Dixie Darlin: Lol, thinking of how the Apples and Cheerilee would react was fun to come up with. And Applebloom's just being her adorable self. But writing in the antics with the Crusaders was even more fun. Try picking the cutest Crusader, it's IMPOSSIBLE!

adhdluke: No, I may stray down some dark themes like with Ivan's parents, but I don't think I'll ever tackle suicide; I'm not that good of an author yet. If you want dangerous situations, just be patient; there's a couple of chapters coming up shortly that's right up your alley.

Anyway guys, PLEASE read and review. I'll catch you next time.

Also, the next project I'll be working on is another one shot for my vault! Here's a little spoiler: It's called 'No Strings Attached' and it involves my other OC, Casey from Long Live Rock 'N Roll, helping Applejack get back at the Flim Flam brothers for the banana suit incident from A Case for the Bass. If you're interested, be on the lookout for my one shot collections story.

---

(Friendship Castle. Ivan's POV)

My knuckles rapped on the crystal door of the Ponyville castle several times, making my fingers go temporarily numb from how hard I hit the surface. I was wishing that Twilight's scientific mind would at least be curious enough to see who it was, possibly thinking it would be Celestia or Luna. However, I found out quickly that Spike had left the door unlocked, or maybe Twilight always left it open for her friends or important guests, I couldn't remember. Giving it a gentle push, the door slowly swung open to reveal a ghost town of a foyer. With all of the lights off inside, this place was kind of creepy I had to admit. My hand fumbled around on the wall for the light switch, finally flicking it upwards and flooding the entire room with light, only to show the remnants of the party from the night before. Most of the tableware and foods were indeed gone, but the tables themselves and some silverware were still strewn about, making Twilight look lazy and careless to someone entering the castle for the first time.

The pile of glass shards from my outburst still lay below the wall where I had thrown the punchbowl. In fact, there was a large scratch on the wall where the glass object made contact, making me feel slightly guilty. I knew that there was very little reason for me to feel guilty about what happened to Twilight, but she wasn't out to hurt me or anyone else purposefully; how could I hold that over her? She annoyed me yes, and that certainly made me not exactly thrilled to be around her, yet I didn't outright hate her like to did Prince Blueblood. Taking my eyes off the pile of glass shards with a tiny shake of my head, I moved forward, considering the possibility that maybe Twilight was up and sulking in a bathrobe in the kitchen; Spike mentioned he made a tiny breakfast for her. I couldn't help but get slightly hypnotized by the sounds of my boots scraping against the crystal floor being that those were the only sounds in the huge fortress.

"Kitchen, kitchen," I scanned a few of the doors in the area I was currently pacing around. 'I should really come over more often to see Spike,' I thought, still trying to pick a door. It then dawned on me that one of the doors in the room had no door handle or knob at all, indicating that it was a swinging door, which most, if not all, kitchens had. "Duh," I muttered, sucking up some oxygen, puffing out my chest and marched my way over to the door. Yet, as my hand pressed against the door, pushing it slightly ajar, a thought raced across my mind. 'What if she's still crying?' I could handle Applebloom crying enough to soothe her and dry her eyes, but I've never tried to comfort a grown mare before.

I could potentially make things even worse with Twilight; she didn't deserve that, and I might make AJ mad at me. A shudder went up my spine at the thought of Applejack angry at me, though I was probably overthinking that part. A shift in my legs caused me to lean towards the door, further opening it with a quiet creak that was amplified due to the emptiness of the castle. It kind of freaked me out a little to be honest. Since I couldn't hear anything coming from the kitchen, I knew I couldn't just assume that Twilight wasn't in there; the alicorn could just be quietly brooding to herself with her head resting upon the table for all I knew. I took one look behind me, for whatever reason, and continued to push the door open, mentally crossing my fingers that I could find her and quickly get this over with.

"Dammit," I said when darkness met my eyes once again. The window shades were drawn for whatever reason, even though Spike implied that Twilight had at least been in the kitchen at some point. There was clearly evidence that a meal had been made; the dying aroma of oatmeal was stilling clinging to the air. I actually had to cover my eyes for a second or two when I found the light switch and engulfed the kitchen with bright light. "Great," I muttered when I saw a perfectly clean kitchen, as if no one had ever set foot inside with the exception of a few spoons and a pot in the sink. That left only one other place she could be, or possibly two places in the castle, but I'm NOT checking the bathroom. With a quick flick, the light within the kitchen retreated and surrendered to the darkness. The door swung back and forth several times as I spun around and resumed my search for Twilight Sparkle.

Since this was a castle, I assumed that the largest pair of doors would more than likely lead to the master bedroom, so that's what I looked for specifically. Strangely enough, some doors had my friends' cutie marks on them, more proof that I really should spend some more time at the castle. At least this narrowed down my search some, leaving two pairs of large doors with no cutie marks on them. "Here goes," I turned the handle on one of doors and pushed it open, only to be greeted by stacks of comic books, posters of power ponies, Daring Do and various Hoofball teams by the looks of it. I had to admit that Spike's room was surprisingly clean for a both a boy and a dragon his age which I'm guessing was late teens by now. "Yeah, that's not weird," I muttered before shutting door, spotting a Rarity plush on Spike's pillow. I knew how much Spike cared about Rarity, but I wouldn't be one to have an Applejack plush made. Leaning against the wall, I was now face to face with the last room I knew I had to check, being the final door without a cutie mark imprint.

Immediately, however, I found myself standing just a few inches away from the surface, barely having any recollection of walking across the hall. Yet, I knew there was no good reason to back down, no reason to quit and that it was time to prove one more reason why I enjoyed the Christmas season. "Twilight, are you awake?" I knocked softly on the door, trying not to scare her if I knocked too loud. Just as I had expected, there was no answer, but nothing was going to stop me from the mission I volunteered myself for. I knocked a little harder this time, just experimenting if I ever will get an answer of some sort. "Twilight, come on, we just want to see if you're alright," I explained.

And so I waited, and waited, and waited for about three minutes. I know it wasn't that long of a wait, but I was growing more and more worried about her each second she didn't respond. "You know what Twilight?" I finally called, "if you're okay with me coming in, don't say anything," I placed my hand on the handle, pressing my ear against the door for any kind of sound to reply. I jumped when I heard a sound from the room, but not one I was expecting.

"Hoo."

The owl. Twilight's owl responded to me, or he was just reacting to the noise. Whatever he was doing, I didn't care and swiftly opened the door, but I was careful enough to not bang the door open against her wall. Surprisingly, Twilight's room wasn't completely enshrouded in the dark; her window shades were open, allowing Celestia's sun reflecting off the white snow to brighten up the room quite a bit. Despite the room being slightly brighter than I had expected, Twilight's bed was partially hidden within the shadows of the room that the light couldn't reach. I could, however, see Owlowicious' silhouette sitting next to the silhouette of Twilight's body, rubbing the top of her mane softly. Still hesitant, I quietly shut the door and winced with every footstep on the hard floor.

"Hoo," Owlowicious greeted me as I got closer to my destination within the room. Twilight's body rose and fell, breathing softly with her back to the doorway. Thanks to the darkness, I had to shield my eyes once I stepped into the path of the window, still trying to focus on the purple alicorn in the bed. I had reached the side which Twilight's back was facing, but I couldn't go any further. Like my feet were suddenly stuck in a puddle of glue, I stood on one side, looking at Twilight as she slept, or appeared to be sleeping.

"Hey Owlowicious," I replied to owl, watching him flap up into the air and onto a perch next to the window. "How's Twilight doing?" I asked the avian rhetorically. Owlowicious folded his wings against his body and appeared to shake his head, though that could've been a trick of the light. His right wing then slowly raised itself, pointing directly at the pony laying in the fetal position in the King sized bed.

"Spike, not now, please," a tired and depressed voice came from the lump. That quite possibly had to be one of the saddest things I have ever heard in my life. I understood that I should still be upset at Twilight, but the way she sounded shattered all of the anger I felt towards her. These weren't crocodile tears or a fake shaky voice, this was a mare who did in fact feel awful, and I'm the one who had to help her. With a strong gulp, I rounded the foot of the bed and sat down gently on the end, making the mattress depress and squeak. I took one final look at Owlowicious whom was watching the scene unfold from his perch before aiming my gaze back the alicorn. She lifted up a foreleg and rubbed her eyes with a sniffle, still laying down but turning over onto her back.

"M-morning," I stuttered, completely concerned about how to approach this situation. From the shadows, Twilight's magenta magic illuminated her horn before a second beam of her magic engulfed a lamp string, pulling it and revealing her face and the rest of her bed. Her normal purple eyes were now red and puffy, her cheeks stained with dry tears with more threatening to burst. Twilight's lower lip quivered as if her mouth was having its own earthquake and her nose was also a little puffy, not to mention her mane was disheveled.

"C-Cougar, what are you doing here?" She barely managed to croak out after what seemed like an eternity, sounding like it hurt her throat. I scooted down a little closer to the pony, trying to give off the feeling of comfort to her.

"Well, when you didn't show up to-" I began, getting cut off by the alicorn clenching her eyes shut, not daring to look at me. A tiny cry escaped her mouth as her foreleg covered her puffy eyes.

"How can you stand to be in the same room as me?" she questioned, not removing her foreleg at all from her face. I had to choose my words extremely carefully; one wrong word could drive Twilight further down the road of depression, and I haven't had much experience with this before.

"Because," I gingerly touched her shoulder with my hand. Her body froze and then began to shake, but I didn't let go. Instead, I gently traced my hand over her fur, not massaging, just softly rubbing her like a father would his daughter if she were sad or sick. "It's Hearth's Warming, and everyone was hoping to see you," I explained quietly. Twilight choked while trying to breath, making her small whimpers turn to sobs. She then wiped her nose before turning closer to me.

"I understand you're angry at me, Cougar," she whispered, "but making me feel worse by lying won't help your anger go away," Twilight added, keeping her eyes shut as a tissue box levitated over to her and she blew her nose. I sighed and continued to rub her fur, even though she was still shaking.

"Twilight, I'm not lying," I replied, staring intently at her. "We're all genuinely concerned about you, even me," I admitted, reaching up towards her foreleg that still rested against her face. The leg went stiff when my fingers curled around it, but she didn't resist my intention. Her eyes were revealed once again to me, puffier and redder than before, with rivers of tears flowing right out of her tear ducts.

"D-don't patronize me, Cougar. Nopony wants to see me after last night; you shouldn't even want to be in the same town as me, let alone in my room!" She exclaimed, only to disintegrate the tissue she was using with a burst of her magic. I squeezed her foreleg a little harder, upset at her statement.

"No one wants to see you?" I asked, releasing the leg, "no one, wants to see you?" I repeated, much slower this time, trying to help her key on on the ludicrous statement. "What about your son?" I questioned, leaning a bit closer to the alicorn, "he's in just about as bad a state as you are!" Twilight finally scooted onto her back, propping herself up on her headboard, holding more tears back, clearing her throat a little.

"W-when did you talk to Spike?" Twilight inquired. Her voice sounded much clearer, but I wasn't betting that it would last.

"About ten, twelve minutes ago," I explained. "He came over to Applejack's house all distraught and downtrodden," I cast my gaze out to the window to the road leading in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres, thinking how everyone, Rarity especially, would be trying to cheer up the poor dragon.

"I-I didn't even know he left," Twilight's mouth emitted a whine once again. I had to think fast or else I'd be faced with the Niagara Falls of tears. However, all I could think of to say was what Spike explained to us; I was damned if I did nothing and damned if I didn't.

"Well he did," I turned back to the alicorn whose lip was quivering, "and he told us about how he stayed up with you all night when he found out you'd been crying." That was it, Twilight's puffy eyes squeezed more and more tears out at the painful memory as her wings covered her eyes, trying to wipe them, but I was not done. "He said he laid in bed with you, trying to make up for ignoring you when you wanted nothing more than to be close to him, but you were too out of it to talk." Twilight replaced her wings with her forelegs, but instead of covering her eyes, she held her head in her hooves, shaking it back and forth.

"What is wrong with me?" She asked herself pitifully. It pained me to have to keep repeating what Spike had told me, but at least I was getting Twilight to talk. All I had to do after that was help her pick up the pieces of the last ten hours. Yet, I returned my hand to her shoulder, attempting to calm her down at least a little bit.

"And not only that, he also said he cuddled with you well past the point where you fell asleep, and that he made you breakfast which you didn't eat," I then spotted the full bowl of untouched oatmeal on a nightstand. The purple pony sniffled, darting her eyes over to her nightstand before returning to her blanket in front of her.

"Sp-Spike….didn't….cry, did he?" the Princess of Friendship swallowed the lump in her throat hard.

"He tried his damnedest not to," was my explanation.

"I made my own son cry?" Twilight quivered, "I'm a terrible friend and mother!" her eyes exploded. Before, she was an emotional wreck, now she was an emotional nuke. A seemingly endless stream of tears shot out of her eyes, soaking her blanket and leaving a lake on the floor, soaking the bottom of my shoes. I thought about getting a bucket full of towels, but I had no clue what she would do if I left her alone; I had to stay by her side until she was coherent enough to talk again. Owlowicious 'hooed' again, trying to get me to keep going.

"No, you're not," I assured her, "but if it helps, Spike wasn't the only one that cried. I mean I couldn't check everyone's eyes, but most of the ones I saw weren't dry at all after Spike's story," I explained. That didn't quite work out; Twilight was still crying rivers of tears and taking short spurts of breaths, except she didn't seem to believe me.

"JUST STOP IT!" She screamed, scaring both myself and Owlowicious. The bird jumped up from his perch, flapping wildly from the outburst. I flew back as well, though I was careful enough to not fall off the end of the bed. Her tears stopped flowing, but a few remained within her eyes. "Nopony except Spike cried for me because why would anypony care about me less than a day after my poorest hour!" She yelled some more. I never liked being yelled at; there was a fifty/fifty chance on whether or not it would make me sad or angry.

"Well they care about you very much, Ms. Princess," I sneered, close to being done playing the comforting guy. "I had but a few friends that I could entrust my life with back on Earth; we cared about each other, no matter what any of us did to mess up or piss everyone else off," I explained. "And your friends care deeply about you, not matter what you do because they're your friends," I leaned in closer to the pony, "that's the only reason you need for why they cried for you." Twilight had to wipe her nose with another tissue before she could respond at all.

"I would understand if they were concerned about me if all I did was yell at Spike and overreacted, but this," she flung her legs in the air, nearly punching me in the jaw. "This can't be forgiven in a day! They should detest me, hate me and only talk to me for regal matters until I've regained their trust," the volume of her voice began to decrease slightly until she was murmuring. But all of this negative thinking made me wish she was stallion; then I could slap her in the face so she could get ahold of herself. Alas, I couldn't hit a mare unless she was threatening to kill me or harm my friends. "And I'll work to regain their trust, but they shouldn't just up and forgive me so soon; I don't deserve it," she was sounding both saddened and stern at the same time, a dangerous combination to me. Finally, I couldn't take her self groveling anymore and I grabbed ahold of both her shoulders, squeezing them like a vice.

Twilight's puffy eyes widened as I bore my own eyes deep into hers, grabbing ahold her attention. "You mean to tell me that after ALL you've been through with them, all you done FOR them and how long you've stuck by their sides they should hate you!?" I screamed right into her face. She'd stopped crying, but the shaking didn't stop. "Twilight," I continued, gathering my composure to not scare her any more than I had to, "this one little mistake doesn't even make a splash against all the good you've done as just a normal citizen of Equestria and as a princess," I shook her just a little bit, praying she would see the light and accept my truth.

Everything went silent. I couldn't even hear breathing from either one of us, nor was there the ticking of a clock within the room. Even the brief gusts of wind outside didn't make a sound. Owlowicious' eyes were staring at us; I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck standing. Sure, no response was discouraging, but I felt a tiny ray of hope. Maybe, just maybe, I had finally gotten through to Twilight and she could rebuild herself, talk to her friends and mentor and patch up everything. Maybe she could see I was telling the truth and that she'd finally be able to trust herself again. And then, something happened. Her face which was frozen with her puffy eyes and a sad frown twitched. Under my own power, I released her shoulders and prepared a proud look on my face for her, but that was all for naught. Twilight's face transformed into an evil scowl; her barred and clenched like fangs and her nose was blowing a little steam like a raging bull. That's when my face fell and she tackled me.

I fell backwards, somehow managing to not topple over the side and onto the floor. The alicorn shoved me to the end of the bed, forcing me in the center. As long as I had known Twilight Sparkle, she was a kind and intelligent pony who never seemed like a physical pony, at all. This was a completely different Twilight Sparkle. This Twilight was full of rage like a rabid wolverine and ready to beat up someone (mainly me) like Ivan Drago. And in that moment, I was afraid of the Princess of Friendship. "Don't you understand, Cougar?!" She yelled into my face like I did to her. "I'm the Princess of Friendship! I'm supposed to help create friendships, help build friendships, patch rough friendships and make them as special as they can be!" She exclaimed, pushing her nose against mine and forcing my head back into the mattress as far as it would allow. The weight of her forelegs on my chest nearly made me cough; her wings even flared out, making her look even more menacing.

"Yes," I gulped, "I understand all of that-" Twilight cut me off before I could continue.

"NOT just forcibly push two friends to be closer together without thinking of the consequences." What scared me more now was Twilight's breathing. Her breaths were long, deep and a little wheezy like Michael Myers' breathing from behind his mask. With all the new angles that Twilight had thrown at me, all I could do was brace myself for another onslaught of anger and try to hold mine back before doing something regrettable in retaliation.

"Twilight, just keep breathing and calm-" I was interrupted by the alicorn once again. I couldn't complain too much though; she was talking more than I anticipated.

"I was a selfish friend," Twilight mumbled, her anger starting to evaporate, "I took your feelings for Applejack for granted and tried to shove them out of the way so my party that I was hosting could be perfect." The pony then did a double take, realizing what she was doing to me and leapt backwards, allowing me to sit up. "That's why everyone should hate me, Cougar." Oh fuck, she was going back to the hate train again. But I couldn't say anything, lest Twilight's mood take another 200 mile per hour swing. "I-I even turned my own son against me," her eyes began to shed tears once again. And thus, my fuse was lit.

"NO!" I screamed, "No more tears, no more crying and no more BLUBBERING!" I yelled, jumping off the bed and standing on my feet, towering over the quivering alicorn. "Listen to me, and you listen good!" I grabbed her shoulders again, holding her down so she couldn't move. Her wings drooped sadly to the bed, not even trying to fold back against her torso. "You wanted your party to be perfect, right?" I asked, simmering down my rage.

Twilight blinked a few more tears out of her eyes, "W-what?" She questioned, surprised.

"Just, answer the question, please," I said under my breath. The alicorn gulped, turning her head away from me before coming up with her answer.

"Y-yes, okay? Are you satisfied? I wanted to have the perfect holiday party with all of my friends and the royal sisters," she explained, her eyes starting to dry up. "Who wouldn't want everything to be perfect, especially with royalty such as Luna and Celestia visiting?" She asked.

"Okay, that I completely understand, I really do," I placated and spoke calmly, causing her to give me a little smile. "And I'm positive you have been told this before, but you need to hear it," I announced. Twilight's face fell again, knowing that I wasn't going to make her feel better. "No matter how hard you or anyone tries, no one will ever be perfect, do you understand me?" I asked.

"I-I know that," she croaked, "but that doesn't mean I can't try to be as perfect as possible," she countered. I sighed, clicking my tongue against the roof of my mouth and darting my eyes around the crystal floor before looking back up into the purple eyes of Twilight.

"And there's nothing wrong with that, but there's a limit, Twilight. If you try to make everything too perfect, you will start to lose touch with reality," I explained.

"Now wait a minute, Cougar," Twilight smacked my hand away, "that's absolutely preposterous," she argued, though she was still straining her voice.

"Is it?" I questioned, folding my arms across my chest, "not everything can be perfect; everything can have little imperfections. Like what you did, it was a mistake even though I know you had good intentions."

"Where are you going with this, Cougar?" Twilight tiredly asked me.

"Like how everything has imperfections, everyone, or everypony makes mistakes, Twilight," I revealed. "And that only makes you human," I know it wasn't the correct terminology to use, but it was the first thing that came to mind. "I know making mistakes suck, but it's a part of all us. All of our imperfections make us perfect," she lowered her head, allowing tears to succumb to gravity's pull and fall onto the floor. Owlowicious flew off of his perch and landed next to Twilight, nuzzling up against her side.

"But a mistake like this?" She whimpered, wiping away at her eyes with her wings again.

"Twilight, even the most trusted of friends mess up, and you did fuck up a lot last night," her whimpering grew louder, but I had but a few words left to say, and I wasn't turning back now. "But a true friend comes to terms with their mistakes and learns from them, talks to their friends to get back on equal ground and to wipe the slate clean, just like your friends want to do with you. And the only way to do that is to admit you fucked up and talk with them about it, not sulking in your room, beating yourself up and coming up with bullshit reasons why your closest and truest friends should hate you."

I was then in for a shock of a lifetime: Twilight lunged at me, wrapping her forelegs around my torso, bawling her eyes out. Somehow managing to not pierce my chest with her horn, she buried her head against me, muffling her wails."I-I he-never wanted t-to hurt anypony!" She cried into my stomach. "I-I'm sorry, Cougar!" she apologized, wheezing hard as she attempted to breath in between her cries.

"Uh, it's okay," I said uncomfortably, looking towards Owlowicious for help. The owl only lifted his wing, pointing towards Twilight. I've been in Equestria just a little over seven months; I never thought I would be holding and comforting Twilight Sparkle in her room. Gently, I raised my hand and rubbed her back, trying to calm her down so she could talk again. "I know you didn't, just let it out; you'll feel better," I whispered.

For the next ten minutes, Twilight continued to use me to muffle the sounds of her crying, stopping every so often to get some air into her lungs. I only felt comfortable doing this sort of thing with Applebloom, but strangely enough, I didn't want to abandon Twilight like this. Not because she was a blubbering mess, but because she needed a friend to be there for here after finally opening up, and I was her only option. With her still clinging to me, I reached over and grasped the box of tissues in my hand, bringing them over so she could stop using my shirt to dry her eyes. "Hey, need a tissue?" I asked softly, jostling the box in my hand for her to hear. My shirt stuck to her eyes while she pulled away, only to release and fall back to my body when she looked up at me. Weakly, she grinned and levitated a few kleenex over to her nose and eyes.

"C-Cougar?" she stammered, still regaining her serenity.

"Yes?" I replied, setting the box down in between us.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" She questioned, laying down and curling up on the bed, "even after what I did, how could you forgive me so soon?" she added. I already knew my answer, having it be the biggest reason why I volunteered to come down here and talk to her instead of letting Celestia go. It was also my second favorite part of Christmas and the holidays, something else that helped bring humanity closer together as the weather got colder.

"Because Christmas is not only a special time for us to spend with loved ones, Twilight. It's also the season of hope and forgiveness," I moved a stray hair from her eyesight, "a time when we look past the mistakes of our friends and rejoice in what we love about each other instead of holding grudges," my arm found it's way around Twilight's neck, pulling her closer to me.

"R-really?" She raised her head up to look me in the eye.

"Well, if you'd let me get to my speech last night, that would've been the closer that I'd saved," I teased her. It brought a smile to my face to hear her giggle, standing up and stretching her wings. However, my moment of joy and accomplishment ground to a halt when the memory of talking to AJ in the Crystal Empire reared its head back in my face. Guilt soon flooded me and I looked up at the alicorn that was waiting for me to get up from the bed.

"Is everything okay, Cougar?" She asked me. The bed creaked as I sat up, stuffing my hands into my pockets. The bill of my hat rested against the glass, holding me up whilst staring out of the window. Things between myself and Twilight seemed okay, but they weren't, not as long as I still had that now guilt filled memory sucking on my conscience.

"Twilight, I have to apologize to you," I admitted, not moving from my spot at the window. In the reflection, I saw the purple princess freeze before conjuring up a q-tip to clean out her ears.

"What? What in Celestia's name did you ever do to me, Cougar?" she demanded.

"I judged you before I truly got the chance to really know you, and for that, I apologize," I turned around to face her. "When I first got here and heard you say you wanted to study me, I just assumed you were the kind of snoopy person that only wanted to know everything about private lives, so I did my best to ignore you, even think negatively of you. I, I even told Applejack that I didn't like you back when we visited Cadence and Shining Armor," I admitted. Twilight's reflection revealed that she looked hurt; her head drooped to the ground.

"Oh..."

"But I was wrong. I was afraid some ponies would judge me based on what I look like, and I judge you based on a first impression; that was terrible of me to do," I felt a warm body nuzzle my sides.

"It's okay, Cougar. I did treat you like a study subject rather than a friend," she sheepishly swung her foreleg around. "Since you mentioned it, how about we wipe the slate clean and start over?" she suggested, offering me her hoof.

"Twilight," I took her hoof, "it would be my genuine pleasure," I smiled, shaking her hoof. "Now come on, our friends miss us," I grinned. My hand relinquished itself from her hoof as we then journeyed out of her room, out of the castle and into Ponyville where we set off for Sweet Apple Acres to set everything straight.

End Chapter 34

---

I hope you all enjoyed this mini chapter between Ivan and Twilight. The next chapter will be full of surprises, and not just for the characters who don't know of AJ and Ivan dating or Ivan's real name yet. There's a few surprises I'm saving for you guys!