Lyra helped me carrying the groceries back to the library. On our way she told me she had been friends with Twilight, back when she lived in Canterlot. She had moved here only a few days before Twilight arrived, because of her relationship with Bon Bon.
"... I hadn't talked to Twilight yet since we both live here.", she concluded.
"I'm sure she will be happy to see you, but I don't know how much of the preparations for our dinner she has completed, so she may not have much time to chat."
"That's okay.", Lyra replied. "She has always put her studies and responsibilities first. Pretty much the opposite of me." She laughed.
...
I opened the door to the library and was instantly impressed by how clean everything was. 'In this condition, we could eat right of the floor.', I thought.
"Hey Twilight, look who I have brought with me.", I shouted and looked around.
She came from another room and looked surprised at Lyra. "Wow, we haven't seen each other for some months now.", my marefriend said. "How are you doing."
"Great, thank you.", Lyra answered. "I'm living with Bon Bon here in Ponyville now. I don't think you remember her. I heard you got your own 'special somehuman' now." She flashed a huge smile.
Twilight showed a slight blush. "Yes, I have.", she said and kissed my cheek.
Lyra giggled. "I heard you have things to prepare today, so I will be out of your way. Just one last question. What's my name?"
Twilight looked like a deer in headlights. "I..."
I was quite surprised she didn't know, with all these facts she knew, I had expected names wouldn't be a problem.
After a few seconds, Lyra laughed again. "That so typical Twily. She remembers every book she read, but the names of her friends..." She turned sideways and wiggled her flanks to highlight her cutie mark.
"Sorry Lyra.", Twilight replied, her head lowered and still having a huge blush.
"It's okay.", Lyra said smiling. "I know how you are. I will try to visit more often, so you can remember it." With these words, she waved goodbye and left the library.
"I visit you soon to have a closer look at these books.", I shouted after her.
"Books?!", Twilight asked.
'Of course this triggers her.', I thought.
"It's a bit of a long story that I wanted to bring up with the princesses as well. I would like to start the curry first since it's getting better the longer it cooks."
"Okay, you can tell it at dinner, no problem. We have almost everything cleaned, and the table is set."
"Say, how could you forget her name?", I asked her.
See looked very embarrassed. "I never was good with names and to be honest, friendship wasn't important for me back then. It's nothing I'm proud of but books and learning had been pretty much my only priority."
"Well, seems like you changed quite a lot since then, Twily.", I said smiling.
"You noticed the nickname.", she replied and seemed in a happier mood again. "My brother Shining Armor had started it, and my friends picked it up."
"Is it okay for me to use it?", I asked her.
"Sure, I like it, but I like all the things you call me.", she said with her sexy voice.
I smiled at her while I remembered our happiest times together. "I guess I should start the curry now."
"Right, I should get back to cleaning too, don't want Spike to do everything alone.", she said and left while I entered the kitchen.
...
I had to cook for more ponies this time and I wanted to keep some for Dashie. I searched for the biggest pot she had in the kitchen, it was just large enough. We should buy some bigger ones soon.
I was frying the sliced vegetables and added my new blend of spices, I was very satisfied with the smell of it. I always cooked by smell for dishes I made before and only tasted them at the end. There was this wonderful sizzling sound when I added the coconut milk, and everything blended. After five minutes I had a first taste test.
'Wow, the princesses are in for a real treat here.', I thought to myself. I added just a little more pepper.
"Hi there."
I nearly dropped the pepper mill in the pot.
I looked outside the window where Rainbow Dash was hovering. "Dashie, you shouldn't startle me like that.", I scolded her.
"Sorry. I was just flying above when I smelled something nice and familiar, so I decided to say hello.", she said with the most innocent face.
I smiled at her obvious try to invite herself. "I haven't forgotten about you Dashie. We have invited the princesses tonight, to talk about some things. I'm making a lot more curry than we would need for tonight and had planned to invite you to lunch tomorrow if that is okay for you."
"That's cool. I can wait another day. I will just grab some hayburgers instead. What are you talking about with the princesses?"
"About possible research on a new field of science that could..."
"Egghead stuff.", she interrupted me.
I sighed. "Yes, egghead stuff and also we want to inform them about our relationship."
"That's at least more interesting, tomorrow you have to tell me how they reacted. Really looking forward to that lunch." She kept staring at the curry. "Maybe I..."
"See you tomorrow Rainbow.", I said.
"Okay, okay 'til tomorrow.", she said and flew away.
...
We sat together on the couch and waited for the princesses to arrive. Spike had decided to go out to have ice cream instead since we 'only would talk about boring stuff anyway'. I felt how nervous Twilight was and put my hand on her hoof in an attempt to calm her down. It didn't help much, but she gave me a thankful smile anyway.
When there finally was a knock on the door, we both got startled by it. I stood up and opened the door. Both princesses stood before me, two royal guards behind them. I had expected more guards, but since Celestia and Luna had the most powerful magic in Equestria, the guards were decoration anyway. While the sisters tried to be as casual as possible, they still were an impressive sight.
"May we come in?", Celestia asked.
I realized how long I had just stared at them. "Sorry, of course." I stepped to the side to make some room.
"We both had been very sorry to hear of your loss.", Luna told me as they entered, while the guards stayed outside.
"It's... it's okay. I gained more than I lost.", I answered. That got me puzzled looks from the sisters, but none of them pushed the subject.
"I must say, it smells delicious in here.", Celestia stated.
"Thanks a lot, I'm thankful the plants in our world are mostly the same, I'm quite happy with the result of my experiments."
Twilight led them to the table, every item was in perfect angles to each other and with shining silverware. I'm not sure how she did it, but even the sliced bread looked high class.
We all took our seats while my marefriend used her magic to fill our plates. I saw Luna's eyes widen after her first spoon of curry. "What a great blend of spices and heat, it reminds me of a dish we were presented when we visited Saddle Arabia. Very delicious, my compliments to the cook.", she addressed me.
"Thank you, princess.", I replied.
"While we are very honored by your courtesy, please just Celestia and Luna.", Celestia said.
"I'm happy to obey that wish, Celestia.", I answered with a smile.
There were some minutes of silence while we all enjoyed our meals, in special Luna seemed very happy with this meal and the dipping of the bread. She was almost as eager as Dashie was the day before.
"So what is it you wanted to discuss with us?", Celestia finally asked, while Luna still kept going on the curry.
We had decided to start with chemistry first. "It seems a form of science from my world isn't present here.", I told them. "It is called chemistry, and it's about what things are made of."
I explained it to them the same way I did with Twilight before.
After Celestia had taken some time to think about all this, she asked: "What would be the benefit of this chemistry, if it works like in your world?"
"There are many different things I could do, like batteries which are a way to store electrical energy. There is also a way to produce pills that are very effective in eliminating pain and a lot of other possibilities. I would just need a little money to build a lab, so I can test if things work these same in this world."
They looked at each other and nodded. "I think we would be happy to provide that money plus a monthly stipend.", Luna told me.
"Oh thank you so much.", I replied.
I was quite relieved to hear that and decided to insert another topic before we told them about our relationship. "I got a question before we speak about our other topic... do you know Indigo Nightshade?"
All three looked at me surprised.
"Yes, of course. He was a famous wizard living about 400 years ago.", Celestia explained with a puzzled look.
"Today I was shown a book that makes it very clear he visited the human world for an extended period."
It was the kind of announcement that got everyone speechless. Celestia recovered first. "He was always very secretive about his experiments... I'm sure Twilight will be happy to help you find out more about this, I am quite curious myself."
Twilight nodded so fast I was afraid she could hurt her neck.
"Okay, I think that may be the best way to do this. I leave the start of the last topic to Twilight.", I said.
The princesses shifted their attention to her, and I felt how nervous she was. She took a few deep breaths before she finally was able to speak. "Me and Stella... Stella is... she is my marefriend."
To say the princesses had been surprised would be the understatement of the century. Celestia opened her mouth several times to say something but didn't seem to find the right words, while Luna just stared. Just when I started to get nervous about it, Celestia managed to speak up again. "Well... that wonderful news, I'm so happy for both of you."
"Thanks.", we answered in unison and I held her hoof smiling.
"Is mare with mare normal now?", Luna asked. "1000 years ago it still was something happening in secret, also talking about sexuality was taboo as well, so I haven't asked since I was back."
"It is absolutely normal now.", Celestia explained. "The same goes for talking about sexuality. Things have quite changed since then."
Luna leaned back in her chair. "That's a relief.", she said. "We have always been very open to all kinds of experiments. I remember one time I surprised Tia while Sunflower's horn was nearly all the way inside..."
"That doesn't mean you have to talk about my sexuality.", Tia interrupted.
"Oh sorry. It seems I have misunderstood.", Luna apologized. "Okay, about me instead. When I was still pretty young, I abused the amount of control I had on the guards. Many times I called a night guard inside my room and ordered him not to move at all, then I..."
Celestia had her head buried in her hooves, while me and Twilight stared at Luna, mouth open wide.
My impression of Princess Luna changed quite a lot that evening.