by Donraj
***
Princess Cadance smacked Twilight Sparkle across the back of the head.
"Oww!"
"That was for thinking the whole charts and cue cards thing was a good idea," Cadance said severely.
"You didn't complain when I helped you get Shining to dance with you at the prom that way," Twilight groused. Cadance smacked her across the back of the head again.
"Oww! That hurt!"
"And that," Cadance continued without missing a beat, "was for not bringing me in on the whole thing from the beginning."
"But it worked!" Twilight protested.
"Especially since then I could have told you that deliberately trying to remind Aunt Celestia of past lovers is a very commonly used tactic among ponies trying to cozy up to her for political, social and financial benefits and that she is very sensitive about it as a result."
"...Oh," Twilight said, suddenly deflated. Cadance took that as her cue to wrap a comforting wing around her sister-in-law.
"But she knows you aren't like that, so it wasn't a deal-breaker," she told the younger princess soothingly. "Otherwise she never would have agreed."
"Well," Twilight hedged, "It's probably a coincidence, but I did tell her the other day that I had managed to reverse engineer the method Luna used to transform herself into Nightmare Moon. She wrote back saying that my hypotheses were 'insightful' and also that I should maybe go on a picnic with my friends or something."
Cadance gave Twilight a look. Twilight quickly amended, "But I'm sure that had no bearing on her decision."
Cadance smiled. "I'm sure it didn't," she said. Twilight couldn't detect any trace of sarcasm or falsity in the other alicorn.
"Do you think..." Twilight began hesitantly, then stopped. Cadance began tickling Twilight with her wing feathers until Twilight gave in and continued, now with a slight hiccup from all the giggling.
"Do you think I have a chance?" Twilight blurted anxiously.
Cadance took a moment to reply. "I don't know if she's ever thought of you that way. Aunt Celestia is hard to read, even for me. But she knows you and she knows she's important to you, so I think the fact that you made the first move like that will tell her you're serious enough about it that she needs to respond in kind."
Twilight took that in. Finally she said, "It's just...she's the Princess. She could have her pick of everypony in Equestria. What do I have to offer that's so special next to that?"
Cadance bumped her shoulder into Twilight's in a playful gesture.
"What could everypony in Equestria offer that's special next to you?"