Celestia nudged Twilight as they crossed onto the road that led into Ponyville, Celestia having taken on what she called her civilian form. "Twilight, just how much do you remember of our talk before your ascension?"

Twilight blinked. "We talked? I remember drinking the water and then I had wings."

"I see."

She turned to Celestia. "What'd we talk about?"

"Many things. Whether you wished to stay on Equus or not. Then we danced among the cosmos."

"Sounds fun. I'm sorry I don't remember it."

"It will return to you in time. Many things will."

That's when Derpy flew by, a satchel filled with letters in her pack. "Hi, Twilight! Great costume!" Then she stopped and flew down for a closer look. "Wait! Those are real!" Reaching out a trembling hoof, she touched them. Twilight jumped back, shocked by a burst of sensation.

Derpy, misinterpreting the gesture, went down on her face. "I'm sorry!"

Twilight panted, stunned by how sensitive her wings were. No wonder Pegasi are so selective about who touches their wings. Then she patted Derpy's shoulder. "Derpy, please get up. Don't bow to me."

Derpy did as Twilight told her though she didn't look Twilight in the eyes. "How did you get to be a princess?" Her voice was filled with wonder.

"It's a...it's a really long story. But I'd like it if you and everyone would treat me just like you always have."

Derpy nodded and saluted. "I gotta go deliver these letters! Oh!" She paused just after she jumped into the air and returned to the ground. "Oh! Here's a letter for you!"

Twilight took the letter in her aura. "It's from Shining."

Derpy saluted again, this time straight at Celestia and was off once more. Celestia sighed. "Should I even disguise at all?"

Twilight patted her withers and carefully opened the envelope, sliding it open. Celestia peaked over her shoulder. "What does it say?"

Twilight blushed and hid it. "Um, it says, 'Hi LSBFF, What's this about you getting married? Why weren't me and dad told?' Wait, what does he mean? Mom didn't know either."

Celestia scratched at the ground with her hoof. "I, um, might have announced our coming nuptials in court."

"Why would you do that? I thought we agreed to tell Ponies together."

"I was going to! But I fear I let the Nobles get me upset. Your mother was present."

Twilight shrugged. "It's not a big deal. There's um, actually something about the guest list I need to discuss with you."

"Oh?"

They started walking towards town again, treading through the market place. It was getting toward evening time. The merchants were busy taking down the white tents which they had put over their stalls. As they walked through, many gasped. Roseluck pointed a hoof and jabbered excitedly. Applejack was whistling to herself while she took down her own stall and placed the apples she hadn't sold into a brown bag. That bag dropped from her grip and Applebloom scrambled to push the apples back into the bag.

Applejack turned on her hooves and nearly galloped to her friend, slightly bowing to Celestia. "Alright, is this one of them here situations that call for us gettin' the Elements?"

Twilight shook her head. "Nope."

"So you just...um, are you a Princess now?"

Celestia spoke up. "Alicorn, not Princess. I would need to coronate her first and there's a lot of paperwork involved."

Applejack took off her hat, a nervous habit that meant she was deep in thought. "How did you manage this one? Why?"

Twilight stepped beside her and walked with her back to the stall. "It has to do with the wedding. I...I made a decision to stay with her. Forever."

Applejack sighed and took the bag of apples from her sister. "Sugarcube, I hope this ain't gonna be a decision you'll regret later."

Twilight nuzzled her. "I thought of that. Thought of it a lot."

"Fancy wings or not, we'll always be friends, right?" She flipped the hat back on her head.

"Of course." They bumped hooves.

"You know Pinkie's going to throw you a party, right?"

"Wouldn't surprise me if she'd already ordered the cake."

Applejack chuckled. "It'd surprise me more if she hadn't."

The merchants of Ponyville, used to such oddities since the scholarly Unicorn had moved to their town, continued their tasks. In a few minutes all the tents had been taken down and the market closed. Applejack slung the sack of apples over her shoulder. The sun went to its rest behind a bed of clouds painted crimson and violet by its dying light. Celestia, having hung back to let the old friends talk, trotted up to them as they left the marketplace and strode up to Twilight.

Applejack nodded to her. "Princess-both of ye-you're coming to supper."

"Oh, I wouldn't want to impose."

"No imposn' about it, Yer Highness. Twilight always has a place at my table and so do you. The harvest has been good this year and we've got plenty."

Celestia smiled. "Well, I never turn down apples."

"Danged straight."

They left the marketplace behind, turning onto the dusty road leading to Applejack's ancestral lands. The rolling hills were shrouded in shadows, the waves of apple trees dark shapes in the gloom of evening time. The grass was soft, swirling around the pasterns of the three. Applebloom trotted by her sister's side and bounced up to Twilight. "Now that you got wings, can you take me flying?"

"Applebloom!"

Twilight giggled and patted her head. "When I figure out how to fly."

The fence surrounding the farmhouse came into view. Applejack unlatched it and they crossed onto the farmland. She knocked open the door and the others followed her inside. "Granny we got company!"

The scent of baking apple fritters and roasting grains wafted in from the kitchen. Twilight's stomach growled in response. Granny Smith shuffled into the living room and gaped. "Twilight Sparkle?"

The new alicorn nervously ruffled her wings. "That's me."

"Now, how in the world...? Come into the kitchen, Child. Applejack come in here and help me with supper."

Twilight hadn't realized how hungry she was until she caught whiff of the scents of suppertime. Her head swam with the delectable smells, the steam rising from the bowls full of roasted grains with apples cut up into them. Applejack and Granny Smith moved in tandem, transitioning them from the unadorned, wooden counter top to the equally plain table.

"A princess!" Granny Smith muttered to herself. "Two of'em! I ain't never...wish I'd made somethin' fancier..."

Twilight shared a glance with Celestia and then crossed the floor, picking up a plate of apple fritters which she laid on the table. Applejack smiled at her. Celestia picked up the last bowl of grains and laid it next to the fritters. Granny Smith sat and the others did as well. That's when Big Mac trotted inside, the door squeaking when he opened it. He stared at the guest, nodded in greeting and sat down. "So, um..."

He tried not to, but he stared at the wings.

Twilight flapped her wings, self-conscious and then forced them back down. "You want to hear the story."

He scooped up some grains, chewed. "Eyep."

"I chose to become an Alicorn-fulfilling my soul's destiny-in order to be with Celestia."

He nodded. "Huh."

Twilight chomped down on the apple fritter, almost fell from her chair when the explosion of sweetness covered her taste buds.

"So, you're an Alicorn now." Granny Smith scratched her chin. "I honestly liked havin' you help on the farm."

Twilight's ears drooped ever so slightly. "I'm still going to do that."

Granny Smith made a noise halfway between a scoff and a laugh. "Ain't you gonna be too busy?"

"I've always made time. I'm always going to."

Granny Smith stirred her grains. "Strange times I'm livin' in. In my time, a Princess-well only the one in those days when Dinosaurs roamed Equestria-"

Celestia interrupted. "I'm not that old."

"Well, excuse me Princess. But in those days, a princess stayed in the castle. Times are changin', times are changin.' How long's it been, Princess? Since we bought this land from ye?"

Celestia shook her head. "You mean since I recognized your claim to the wild land? The Crown never has and never will claim land."

Granny waved her hoof. "Technicalities. First time I ever did see a Princess. I'm pretty sure you shaved a few years off my husband's life that first time you visited to see how things were goin' in the new settlement."

Celestia blushed, ever so slightly. "Just from looking. Glad I never gave him..." She trailed off.

"Primae Noctis?"

Celestia and Twilight looked at her. Granny rolled her eyes. "I got some learnin'. Right of First Night, though it was beyond our first night ta be sure."

Twilight and Applejack simply looked between the two matriarchs, speechless. Applebloom continued eating, unaware and uncaring of adult discussions.

Celestia rolled her eyes. "That bit of propaganda against the Griffons was the best lie my spies ever came up with. If there's anything I regret from my youth...well, I have much to choose from."

The silence descended like a shroud.

"You ever miss him?" Celestia muttered into her glass of (mercilessly non-alcoholic) cider.

"Every day. You?"

Celestia eyed Twilight. Granny chuckled. "Don't be jealous of the dead, Child."

Applejack's jaw was nearly hanging loose. So was Twilight's. Big Mac was watching them intently and even Applebloom was starting to take interest.

"It's been seventy years. Happy 101st."

"Thank ye kindly, Yer Highness. More fritters?"

"Please."

She slid one over. Twilight leaned into Celestia who wrapped a foreleg around her. If Celestia could choose one word for the look on Twilight's face it would be troubled.

She straightened up. "I don't know what Alicorns were like back then. But I'm always going to be there for my friends."

Applejack raised her glass and Twilight tapped it with her own. Granny and Celestia did the same.

Twilight put it back down. "And, wings or no, crown or not, I'm still me. I'm always going to be."

"Hopefully not!"

Twilight looked over at Celestia. Celestia swallowed a bite of her fritter. "You will change, Twilight even as I have. You will look back at some things you did and shudder in horror. Hate the Pony in the mirror."

"You talkin' from experience?"

Celestia sighed. "You know I am."

Granny sipped her own cider. "I think we all have. I ain't the Pony I was fifty years ago. Not ten years ago. We all got our regrets, got our sins."

"We get better, though, don't we?"

"Some of us do."

Twilight was once again silent in the conversation.

"I think we all do."

"Once again, some of us do."

Celestia narrowed her eyes. Granny offered her a cheeky grin. "Don't be lookin' like yer about to throw me in a dungeon."

Her shoulder slumped. "You know I'd never-"

"He didn't get better. He bedded one mare after one another. Weren't just us. But I do miss him. Old bastard."

"Miss Smith, you know me and your husband never...we just..."

"Shared a few kisses by moonlight?"

If Celestia could have crawled under the table, it looked like she would have.

Twilight flared out a wing before she knew what she was doing, running it down Celestia's back like Celestia had done to her so often. "Granny Smith, maybe you should let this conversation go?"

"Alright. Fine. Me and your husband...if you hadn't caught us there exists the distinct possibility..."

There was no triumph in Granny Smith's face. Only a long, sad sigh. "The only mare in Equestria my husband never mounted-"

"Granny!"

"Oh, hush Applejack. Applebloom here knows the facts of life."

Applebloom nonchalantly shrugged and returned to her fritter. Adults were strange and she had nothing to add to the discussion she only half-understood.

Celestia stood, the meal hurriedly finished. "I thank you for your hospitality. I need to get some fresh night air."

Twilight only hesitated a few moments before she ran after her.

...
Celestia wasn't sure how she could remember her way around the Apple's farm. It had been a very long time since...since...her chest heaved. Her sister's moon danced silvery light on each leaf on the long stretches of Apple trees. There was not another Pony around. The trees enveloped her on all sides and the stillness was only broken by the call of a night bird to its mate.

She nestled into the soft grass. The moonlight conjured memories of a strong stallion's touch, exploring her, their lips meeting, a bond breaking, a vow shattered.

Upraised shouts. A threat. Get out of here before I find out if Alicorns can bleed. The knife she was pointing at their faces.

Sailing away in disgrace. The branches of the trees embraced each other and obscured the lights of the stars. The moonlight illuminated a winged figure who was clearly struggling with some great emotion, seeing as how she was trying to force her wings down. Twilight strode through the trees, managed to make her wings go back to her sides and sat beside her, so close that their fur was touching.

"You don't have to tell me."

"Alright. I won't."

Twilight shifted. "I was hoping you would though."

"What's the use of calling up ghosts?"

"I can tell it still hurts you. You must have loved him."

A hollow, bitter sound akin to a laugh rang from her throat. "It hurts me because I didn't love him. It was crass and cheap and awful."

Twilight shook her head. "I don't believe that. How could you-"

"How could I?" She jumped to her hooves and her wings flared out. "How dare you!"

Twilight stumbled back in surprise.

"How could you be so judgmental!"

"I wasn't-"

"You don't think I know about the things you've gotten up to? The want it-need it spell? You drove Ponyville into chaos!"

Twilight grit her teeth. "I'm choosing to ignore that because you're angry!"

Celestia stamped her hoof. "I have a right to be! It happened a damned long time ago! How could I what, Twilight? How could I be such a trollop? What are they calling it these days? How could the dignified ruler of Equestria be a skank? Well, guess what, I was!"

"That's not what I meant! This is your problem! You don't listen!" Twilight's own wings flared and stiffened and she lowered her head in an instinctive threat display.

Celestia stalked towards her. "Well, what did you mean? What were you going to say? Just finish that sentence!"

Twilight took in a deep breath. "How could you be with somepony and not love them? I know you. The heart gets involved."

"You didn't know me back then. You might not have-you wouldn't have-liked me back then."

"You weren't a tyrant. The personal records of that era show you were known for kindness and fairness, just like you are now."

"It was all fake." Celestia's mane and tail snapped in their eternal, ethereal wind. Twilight could have sworn she saw a few lashing tongues of fire in the normally dawn-colored strands. She forced a smile. "It was the past, My Little Pony. I understand how such revelations could make you unsettled, but we all make mistakes."

"I preferred it when you were yelling at me."

"Nopony's ever said that before. Well, Luna did. Once." She kept the smile plastered on, the tone of her voice perfectly even. "When you put on the mask, Twilight, it gets very difficult to take it off."

Twilight reached up, touched her face. "Take it off. Yell at me. Something."

Celestia drew away, turned. "You don't want me too. Not really. You don't understand how I could give into lust? After not being touched for longer than you've existed in your present state? I was lonely."

"I know that." Twilight walked around her so she was facing her. "I'm sorry. I messed up. I came out here to comfort you and I made you feel worse. I'm so sorry. I'll go."

Twilight expected for Celestia to stop her as she crossed the grass, her hooves crunching fallen apple leaves and branches. Her heart felt heavier with each step across the land. Just as she got to the two ancient trees that stood sentinel to this grove, Celestia spoke up. "Don't go. Please."

Twilight turned.

Celestia walked towards her. "My past keeps getting in the way, doesn't it? I think you should know by this point that my public face is false. I have to be strong for my subjects. Inside...inside..."

Twilight stared at the ground. "I hurt you. I can't forgive myself for that."

Celestia lifted her head. "I'm still on that damned pedestal, aren't I? "

"Maybe."

"This isn't going to work unless I fall off of it in your eyes. Never think I'm perfect. It'll lead you to having expectations for me that I can't fulfill."

Twilight crossed her forelegs with Celestia's own, lifting them. "Can you forgive me?"

"Only if you can forgive me."

"For what?"

"I lied. I did love him. I was so vulnerable that I nearly threw myself at the first one to come along and be bold enough to ask. He was handsome, Twilight. Brave. He could have been a guard had he not been a farmer and more dedicated to his crops than to the wife who loved him."

"Is that why you were so closed off? When I first tried to court you?"

"Yes. I realize that now. Keep everypony at a distance. That's what I learned."

Twilight sighed. "Nothing to forgive. If I hadn't tried to pry..." She grumbled. "Dear Princess Celestia, today I learned the same lesson I learned in Mustangia about respecting boundaries. I do not learn lessons."

Celestia couldn't help but laugh. "Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle, neither do I. Let's get married so we can have the same fight for the next several thousand years. The lesson should stick eventually."

Both of them laughed, a deep belly laugh. They fell to the ground in the sudden mirth, rolling around on the grass. Twilight pounced onto Celestia's belly and Celestia cloaked her with her wing. Twilight nuzzled beneath Celestia's chin and Celestia nuzzled her back. "Um, Twilight, during that tiff I brought up some things I shouldn't have brought up. I apologize for that."

"You thought I was about to call you a slut. Which I would never do, by the way!"

Celestia stroked her soothingly, running her wing down Twilight's most sensitive spots. "Let's not go back to arguing."

"Still, how could you even...oh. N-no. No distractions." She lifted herself up. "Think I would say that?"

"Your tone of voice? The fact that I have no defense if you did? Twilight, I almost slept with a married stallion. What would you call it?"

Twilight sighed. "Someone who was hurt. Who'd lost their way. Who was lonely."

"You have a way with words."

Twilight laid her head back against Celestia's chest. "I was more surprised than anything else. And it did hurt when you brought up the want it-need it spell."

"I promise I won't do it again." Celestia turned her eyes away, unable to look at the mare on her chest. "So, now you really have heard my darkest secret-well, there are probably some others I don't remember. Still want to be with this neurotic mess?"

Twilight snorted. "Still want to be with this neurotic mess?"

Her answer was the press of Celestia's lips to her own. Twilight enthusiastically returned the affection. She broke apart. "I should say good-bye to Applejack."

"Of course, but first there is something I'd like to discuss."

"What?"

"That was a rather serious argument. Pegasi have a custom I've always found charming regarding arguments. After reconciling, they preen each other to show their renewed trust." As she said it, she leaned down and took Twilight's right wing in her mouth, brushing through it.

Years of preening experience told her that Twilight had no broken feathers. Twilight was still as Celestia continued the brushing. She leaned up and took Celestia's wing in her mouth, kissing it. "I forgive you for bringing it up. I know you were hurt, lashing out."

Celestia pulled her lips from Twilight's immaculate wing. "I forgive you for prying into my past. I know you had good intentions."

Twilight buried her muzzle into Celestia's wing as she often had before, nudging and nosing each feather, the ticklish sensation familiar to the sun princess. One feather was bent. She flicked it with her tongue and gently put it back in place while Celestia started brushing her muzzle through Twilight's left wing. Twilight moved onto Celestia's other wing, teasing out a broken feather.

Celestia buried her muzzle into the cloud of purple feathers. Though each one was straight, she still ran her mouth over each one. Twilight, in turn, softly took a twisted feather in her mouth and righted it, nosing a feather that was broken right next to it. She moved her mouth over it, delighting in the squeak of pleasure that came from her beloved's parted lips. Twilight sighed in similar rapture as she took the feather in her mouth and slid it out as gently as she could, placing a kiss on the now empty socket. "If this is how we're going to make up, we should fight more."

Celestia snorted. "I know a Pegasus couple who fought like cats and dogs, but stayed married for fifty years. I know why."

Twilight giggled. Both Ponies' sensitive ears perked up at the sound of approaching hoof falls. Twilight blushed and very reluctantly got up from Celestia who stood, her flowing mane like a beacon in the dark night. That beacon had guided Applejack and Granny Smith to this clearing on their land.

Applejack looked down at the ground, studiously avoiding her friend and sovereign's gazes. "Uh, did we just interrupt somethin'?"

Granny Smith held back a laugh she knew would make the situation more embarrassing. "Princess, I got ta say that...I'm awful sorry about what happened inside tonight. I was reminiscin' and I didn't mean no offense, but I said some things that weren't proper especially not in front of Applebloom or Twilight. My own grand daughter had to remind me of that."

Celestia released a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding. "I couldn't help reminiscing myself. Don't worry about it. And I understand if you're still angry. I deserve it."

Granny Smith shook her head. "I ain't angry at you no more. I was, at first. I thought you were tryin' to steal my stallion! But then I realized he had no self-control. He was never mine except in those last years of his life. He got to be so helpless at the end there. Relied on me." She looked up to Celestia's face for the first time since she'd come out here to make things right. "He was truly mine right up until he died. Was that...was it wrong of me to feel that way?"

Applejack shuffled her hoof. "Uh, I think I'm gonna tuck in Applebloom."

"You do that, Child. Goodnight."

"Goodnight. I love you."

"Love you too, Child."

Applejack walked off. Celestia approached Granny Smith. "Was it wrong of you to expect fidelity? Absolutely not."

"That ain't what I meant. That illness, it took away his independence. And I was happy. For the first damned time, he was mine and I didn't have to share him."

Celestia put a hoof on her shoulder. "It wasn't wrong to feel that way."

"Wish I could convince myself of that."

"I think we can be far more severe to ourselves than we can be to others."

"Maybe you're right, Princess. Are we still on for tea Friday?"

"Of course."

To Twilight's surprise, the two nuzzled like old friends. Granny Smith parted from her. "I'll let you get back to your fiance."

"Do you want me to help you back to the farm?"

"Not an invalid. I can get back. Been walkin' this land so long, it knows me and will guide me home if it comes to it. Thanks for askin' though."

Celestia nodded and Granny Smith faded into the darkness.

"You two are friends?" Twilight asked.

"Many time I've had an enemy become a friend. Me and Granny reconnected a while ago."

"I see." Twilight pawed at the ground. A leaf poked her frog and she grimaced in discomfort. "Celestia, we need to talk."

"I've lived many centuries and no conversation starting with those words has ever ended well."

"Just listen to me straight through."

"Oh, dear. Last time you said those words, there was a large hole in the chemistry lab."

"And hopefully, this won't end with me getting yelled at." She paused, unsure of how to proceed.

Celestia lifted her chin. "I want you to be honest with me. Also, I don't remember yelling at you."

"You know that thing you do where you yell without raising your voice?"

"I do? I never realized that. But I feel we're getting off topic."

Twilight steadied herself. "I invited Chrysalis to the wedding."

Celestia closed her eyes. "Why did you do that?"

"Cadence told me you two used to be friends."

"I never gave her permission to do so. She had no right-"

Twilight touched a trembling hoof to Celestia's chest. "Please don't be angry with her. She told me how sad you looked when you told her about it. If we can get her to the wedding, maybe you two could just talk?"

Celestia bit her lip and weighed her words. "Twilight, I have tried to talk with her. I have gone to her and begged her-practically on my belly-to renew our friendship. After being rejected so many times even I gave up. Chrysalis can not be reached."

"I once thought the same of Discord."

"You raise a point, but Discord is different. He is amoral, a force of nature. Chrysalis is actively malevolent."

"I could uninvite her."

"Such would risk her ire. She'll plot something, but if she feels slighted, it'll be much worse. We must simply prepare."

Twilight lowered her hoof. "The guard will be on high alert. Shining and Cadence will be there and my friends."

"Dainn will be coming and I can ask him to bring along a few members of his guard."

Twilight's ears wilted. "I hope this doesn't ruin our wedding day."

Celestia nuzzled her. "Nothing can ruin that. You had good intentions-"

"That's what they'll put on my headstone. She had good intentions."

Celestia didn't respond to that. "Perhaps we should get to the library. It's getting late."

"Yeah, it is." She leaned against Celestia and yawned. Celestia spread her wings and Twilight spread her own and both lifted into the air, two silhouettes crossing past a moonlit field of clouds.

Author's Notes:

On my belly=on bended knees.

Does that work?