"May I have this dance?" Luna asked enthusiastically. She tried not to show it, but she was nervous, and she didn’t know why. She had carefully planned and debated to herself how she thought the night should go, and she was confident Twilight would say yes to her question. But the feeling of worry and fear of rejection was still there. She felt her heart beating faster and faster, pounding against her chest. Her new friend was beginning to feel like more than a friend to her, and she didn’t want to ruin making this night as special as she could. Twilight deserved it after everything she had done for her.
Twilight relaxed in Luna’s embrace, resting her forelegs on top of Luna’s. She gazed into Luna’s adoring cyan eyes. The unforced grin across Luna’s face revealed her true delight towards the thought of dancing with the lavender pony now just a leg’s length away. The shine of the sparkles in the Princess’s flowing mane and the faint scent of vineyard expressed her delicate care and preparation for this exact moment. But her eyes exposed more about the Lunar Princess than Twilight could ever hope to comprehend.
At first glance their appearance reminded Twilight of that of a filly; innocent, eager to learn and enjoy life. But looking deeper, Twilight could tell there was so much more to Luna. She felt as if she could see straight into her, but she couldn’t put her hoof on making sense out of any of it. Twilight tried focusing her efforts on answering the question instead. She looked from one eye to the other, trying to gather her thoughts, but she couldn’t. The only thing she could focus on was what Luna’s eyes were telling her.
‘You have to say something, Twilight!’ she thought to herself. ‘You can’t just leave Princess Luna hanging like this!’ Twilight tried to gather her thoughts once more. ‘Of course she could have this dance! Come on Twi’, say it! Just say it!’
“...Yeah...” she managed to express softly in awe. She had meant to be more formal, really. She just couldn’t believe what was happening right now. Princess Luna was at her house once again, asking to dance with her. Not even Princess Celestia had ever made her feel as lucky as Luna did right now. She also couldn’t deny her growing feelings for Luna that had been building ever since last night. She was beginning to wonder if this was what the first steps of love felt like.
Luna took a step towards her, and Twilight took a step back in reflex. Luna took another step forward with her other hoof, and Twilight again stepped back. Quickly determining that she had never heard of a dance that consisted of a three-step-backwards motion, she went with her instincts and took a step forward this time. Luna took a step backwards, compensating Twilight’s movement. Twilight was relieved, until it hit her that she still had no idea what the next motion was going to be. She tried to look down at her hooves to anticipate the next move, only to find Luna raising a forehoof to her chin.
“Don’t think,” Luna expressed delicately. “Dance.”
‘Don’t think?...’ She looked upon Luna with confused eyes. Luna took a step towards her, just as she had before only with her other hoof, and Twilight took a step back. They took another step backwards, followed by another step forward like before. ‘Don’t think...’ Twilight cited to herself. They continued these steps, over, and over. Twilight then realized what dance they were doing. It was a simple pegasus swing taught in the Dancing With Ease book, meant to lead into more complicated dance routines. There was only one problem with this, one she was sure Princess Luna was aware of: she wasn’t a pegasus.
Twilight felt her weight leaning more into Luna for support. Twilight was not used to standing on two hooves, let alone dancing on them. Luna was at least able to support herself up with her wings. Luna’s grin grew slightly larger, and her horn began to glow. Twilight felt herself becoming lighter on her hooves. Her body began to glow with a moderate blue aura. Twilight had never experienced this magic before. It was similar to levitation, but she wasn’t weightless. She began to imagine all the other uses this magic could obtain.
“Don’t think,” Luna repeated, noticing Twilight’s increasing thoughts.
‘Dance,’ Twilight thought to herself. She continued to go with the motions, finding it much easier and relaxing now with Luna’s help. She gazed into Luna’s eyes, her grin visible just below her muzzle. Twilight grinned back. It wasn’t the same grin she was used to giving. She was genuinely happy. She had never experienced happiness like this, not since she first began learning to control her magic.
Twilight felt herself becoming even lighter. Luna pressed her hooves into Twilight, slowly lifting her into the air. Twilight grasped harder onto Luna for reinforcement. Unicorns weren’t meant to be in the air, not like this. Twilight continued with the same motions, just as the book said to do, except for the part where she was supposed to be keeping herself in the air with her wings. To her surprise, she found the motions just as easy to perform without the support of the ground. She wasn’t sure how to explain it other than it was like sliding on air.
She slowly loosened her grip, putting her trust in Luna. She was beginning to realize why so many ponies enjoyed dancing so much. She felt like Luna was guiding her. ‘Don’t think,’ she repeated to herself. She let the flow of their dance overwhelm her body unresisted. For the first time in her life she felt as if she was actually flying.
And in an instant, everything changed. The aura that was around her vanished. Luna flew forward and pulled Twilight over her so that they were facing the same direction. Twilight wrapped all her legs around Luna and held on as tightly as she could. She closed her eyes, the fear of being in the air returning to her. She heard what sounded like the balcony windows opening, and a breeze of air began rushing against her coat. It was warm at first, but quickly transitioned to a much colder temperature, accompanied by the sound of the night’s wind.
Twilight buried her face into Luna’s back, hiding it from the blasting wind. She could feel Luna’s muscles contrast with every flap of her wings. She focused on her grip, making certain it was not slipping. She felt the air getting colder and her breathing becoming heavier. “Do you not trust me?” she heard Luna quarry almost rhetorically.
“Mhm,” Twilight muffled, nodding her head against Luna’s backside. She tightened her legs for a second, trying to assure the Princess that she was okay. Technically, she was freaking out, but she knew she could trust Princess Luna. She knew everything was going to be all right in the end as long as she just held on. She felt the wind weaken and Luna slowed her pace before collapsing her wings. Twilight didn’t understand. She knew they were still in the air, but they weren’t falling.
“You can open your eyes now,” Luna assured her.
Twilight opened her eyes. They were on a small cloud overlooking Equestria. Ponyville was visible below them, with Canterlot and Cloudsdale far in the distance. Twilight wrapped her forehooves around Luna’s neck and looked around. “It’s beautiful,” Twilight exclaimed. Twilight noticed the night sky reflecting in the nearby lake. There were a few buildings still lit up in Ponyville, the rest were uneventful and ready for the night. The Everfree Forest was pitch black as usual, apart from a small highlight in the trees, presumably coming from Zecora’s hut. She could still notice the rainbow waterfalls running in Cloudsdale even through the dark of the night.
Canterlot let off a soft glow, one Twilight had never noticed before. All of the castle city lights appeared to be off, but still it shined. The streaming waterfalls along the mountainside ran much farther than any of the ones from Cloudsdale. The rest of the clouds casually drifted across the night sky. “I’ve never seen Equestria like this before.” She gazed around for a few moments more before closing her eyes and resting her head against Luna’s. “Thank you, Princess.”
“Please, Twilight, call me Luna,” she quietly requested.
“Thank you, Luna,” Twilight corrected, squeezing Luna tighter at the delightful change. Twilight let out a sigh, not out of emotion, but tiredness. The night had been more exhausting than she first realized, and she began to feel herself slowly dozing off.
Luna stretched her wings out. “Hold on.” Twilight slowly wrapped her legs around Luna just as before, keeping herself rested on Luna’s back. Luna took off into the night back towards the library. Twilight kept her focus on her grip once more, making sure not to fall asleep. It didn’t seem long until she felt warm air again and the wind vanished from her hearing, replaced by the sound of the balcony windows closing.
Luna hovered them both in the air, slowly descending towards the ground. Twilight felt the moment Luna landed onto the ground, and then she opened her eyes. They were back in the main library room where they started. Luna tilted her body over to her left side, letting Twilight easily slide down onto the ground. Luna laid beside her, grinning just she had at the beginning of the night. She placed her wing over Twilight and stared into her eyes.
Luna slowly brought her muzzle towards Twilight’s. Twilight froze in shock, unsure of what was about to happen. Luna continued to move closer until their muzzles touched, and Luna wiggled them together shortly before lifting hers back up. Twilight stared blankly up at Luna, her eyes as open as could be.
Luna noticed Twilight’s shock, and thought back to her question from the other night. “Do friends not muzzle?”
Twilight’s shocked gaze quickly turned into one of confusion. “I... We... I mean, they can... I was just expecting...” Her cheeks burned rose flower red. She couldn’t force herself to finish her sentence.
Luna looked at her with a soft confusion before giggling to herself. “Twilight Sparkle, thou art so amusing, I love it.” Twilight blushed even harder at that comment. “Thank you.”
“Thank you?” Twilight questioned. Luna was the one that had made the night so amazing, not her. She interrupted herself with an abrupt yawn before continuing. “For what, Luna?”
“For being my friend.” Luna’s grin spread wider once more before she brought her attention to the window and got up to walk over to it. “‘Though I do not wish to keep you from your sleep.” As Luna proceeded towards the door, Twilight tried to quickly get up to stop her.
“Wait, I-” Twilight quickly tried find the right words to say to make her stay.
Luna paused at the door and turned towards Twilight. “Goodnight, Twilight Sparkle,” she softly said. She proceeded out the door, closing it behind her.
“I don’t want you to go...” Twilight sat down onto her flank. She couldn’t fully understand what had just happened. She didn’t want to understand. ‘Don’t think,’ she repeated to herself. ‘It was a good night. She just didn’t want to keep me up...’ She tried to reassure herself that everything went well, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that it ended all too quickly, and that with her simple yawn she had thrown everything off.
She yawned again, this time more deeply. ‘Perhaps I am a bit too tired, though...’ Twilight walked over to the stairway and began her climb up. ‘Luna did seem to enjoy it. But why did she feel the need to thank me?’ Twilight walked to her bed and slid underneath the blankets. She rested her head on her pillow and stared out the window. The moon was almost full, and the stars brightly sparkled in the sky. ‘Don’t think...’ Her eyelids began to close as her tiredness overcame her. She closed her eyes, reminiscing back to when Luna was laying next to her with her wing wrapped around her. She gazed up at Luna, still not believing everything that was happening. It all seemed too good to be true. As Luna brought her muzzle down towards her, Twilight lifted hers up in return.