It didn’t hit Starlight until she saw the princesses walk by. Everything before almost felt like a dream. Sure, she had had a panic attack earlier, but this was on a different level. She was about to revealed to the rest of Ponyville as the next princess. Thankfully, it wasn’t the entirety of Equestia; yet. As she realized this, everything slowly started hitting her again but before Starlight could start panicking again, Twilight grabbed her and pulled her into a hug. Twilight knew what was going through Starlight’s mind because she had gone through it before, even thought the circumstances were much different.
“Starlight, don’t you dare. This is your night! Stop worrying!” Starlight was still hesitant, even though the hug really did help. “I’ve been organizing this part of the Celebration for moons! The princesses and I have it all under control!” Moons? Starlight thought that it had been something that had come up recently, so she pushed out of the hug and glared at Twilight.
“You said you talked to the princesses recently about me becoming a princess; Just how long have you been plotting this Ms. Sparkle?” Starlight knew Twilight was just trying to cheer her up, so she decided to poke a little fun. She didn’t like that Twilight had been plotting behind her back, but Starlight knew that Twilight only had Starlight’s best interests at heart.
Twilight laughed nervously. “Nearly 6 moons...?” She said this hesitantly because Twilight was unsure how Starlight would react. Starlight continued to glare at Twilight but after a short pause to look around the room they had just entered, Starlight looked back at Twilight and laughed. It was safe to say that Twilight was VERY confused. “Why are you laughing Starlight?” She tilted her head in confusion as she asked her question.
Starlight continued to laugh for a few seconds before she responded. “Twilight, I’m just messing with you, I know you were trying to help me relax by reassuring me, so I decided to have a little fun with it.” Twilight just stared straight ahead for a while. Now it was Starlight’s turn to be hesitant. “Twlight…?”
“Oh.” Twilight had not been expecting that from Starlight. She wasn’t one to usually pull small pranks like that. “Sorry, I guess you just threw me for a loop is all.” Then Twilight remembered she had to be somewhere. “Are you going to be ok to get yourself ready for the reveal? I’m needed to help the princesses with the ceremony. I’ll come and get you once everything is all set, ok?”
“Yea, I think I’ll be ok Twilight.” Twilight got up and turned to leave but Starlight stopped her one last time. “And Twilight. Thank you. For being there to help me through this.”
Twilight responded with an overly large smile. “You’re welcome Starlight.” As Twilight left, she could feel tears falling down her face. Twilight thought nothing of it because she knew what they were. They were happy tears. Twilight had dreamt of this years ago when Starlight first became her pupil, and now, the student had surpassed the master. As she walked down the hall to get to the stage, all Twilight could do was think about all the amazing things Starlight had done. It made her cry tears of joy. Starlight deserved this honor above everypony. She was one of the most kind-hearted ponies Twilight had ever met. When she finally reached the stage, she was stopped by the princesses who held a look of concern on their faces.
“Twilight, are you ok? Why are you crying?” Celestia looked like she was on the verge of tears herself simply because Twilight was crying.
Twilight sniffed. “I’m fine. I’m just… so happy.” Both of the other princesses looked at each other confused looks upon their faces. Twilight said she was happy, yet she was crying a river.
“Ok…? Then why are you so happy?” This time it was Cadence who spoke up as she walked towards them. She had never seen Twilight like this, so she looked the most concerned out of all of them.
“I’m happy because Starlight finally got what she deserved after years of being my pupil. She became a princess. I couldn’t be more proud of her. I never thought I’d have a student and see them excel even more than I ever did.” That line spooked the princesses, because Twilight liked to think of herself as a perfectionist, but now she was saying that somepony was more perfect than she was?
“Are you feeling ok? You basically just called Starlight perfect.” Celestia spoke up.
“Of course I’m feeling ok, And everything I just said is true. Starlight is even more perfect than I could ever be.” After hearing that, it set off alarm bells in Cadence’s head. Then it clicked. Cadence smirked.
“Ok, if you’re sure you’re ok. Are you ready to begin Twilight?” Celestia spoke once again, making sure that Twilight was ready. Twilight dried her eyes and responded with two words.
“I’m ready.”
“Then let us get started! Cadence, you and Twilight know where you need to be. Let’s make this the best we possibly can for the newest Equestian princess!” Luna said with excitement. Twilight wondered if she was as excited as she was about the reveal.
Celestia and Luna went up on stage to begin the ceremony with a speech. While they started the festivities, Cadence leaned down and whispered in Twilight’s ear. “Don’t think that I don’t see what’s going on here.” Twilight blinked.
“What do you mean Cadence?” Twilight was both confused and nervous. On one hoof, she hoped that Cadence hadn’t picked up something she would rather keep to herself at the moment, on the other, Twilight secretly hoped she had so that she could ask for advice.
“You’ve got a crush on Starlight, don’t you?” Cadence said in a hushed whisper. Twilight froze. She had picked up on it! Twilight chuckled nervously.
“Hahaha… ha… ha, what makes you say that…?” Twilight continued with her nervous chuckle and adorned an almost goofy smile.
“Well for one, you spoke of Starlight as if she was literally the most perfect pony on the planet, and that’s hard to take coming from you! You’re miss perfect, so hearing you say that made me realize something that I hadn’t picked up on before. You’re crushing on Starlight. Hard.” Cadence put on a goofy smile of her own. “That, and you’ve also had this almost dreamy look on you face ever since you got back up here.”
Twilight froze once more and looked at Cadence nervously. She chuckled again. She knew she had been caught. “Yea… I do… pleaseddonttellherimnotready!” Cadence was confused. Not ready? They had been living together in the castle for years, surely tonight would be perfect for it.
“What do you mean you aren’t ready? Twilight, tonight, one of the biggest nights of Starlights life, would be the perfect time to tell her. I would never tell her without your consent. I wouldn’t do that to my sister-in-law, or anyone for that matter.” Twilight looked unconvinced. Cadence sighed. “Just think about it, ok?” Twilight just nodded in response.
“And without further ado…” Twilight and Cadence froze. That was there cue to be ready! They raced to their spots and got ready to do their yearly flyby, radiating their specific magics to provide a lightshow for everypony in the crowd.
The Celebration had begun.
Starlight watched the lights show from the window in her room backstage. Everything was so break taking. The princesses had outdone themselves this year. She was so enthralled by the show that she almost didn’t hear the knock at her door. “Who is it?”
“Stage manager miss. You’re wanted outside by Princess Twilight. Seems everything is ready for you.”
Starlight sighed. “Alright, tell her I’ll be out in a few minutes.” She wanted to make sure she looked presentable. As much as she wanted to impress herself, Twilight was the one she really wanted to impress. She didn’t want to disappoint her best friend, and secret crush. After she was finally satisfied with her looks, she went outside to meet Twilight for the reveal.
“There you are Starlight! Are you ready?” Twilight asked excitedly.
“I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. I just hope everypony likes me.”
“You’ll be fine Starlight. Come on! Celestia is about to announce you!” Twilight grabbed Starlight and pulled her towards the stairs to get on stage.
As they got closer to the stage, Twilight wrapped a wing around Starlight. Starlight thought it was to try and hide her wings until she was fully revealed to the crowd. Twilight however, did it for two reasons. She did it because she just wanted to embrace Starlight like that, because she thought it wouldn’t happen again for a long time. She also did it to hide Starlight’s wings.
“Fillies and Gentlecolts, tonight, events are going to go slightly different. Normally we would disperse at this time to have fun playing games and mingling, however, there have been some events that have taken place recently that require us to inform you. This morning, Cadence, Luna, Princess Twilight, and myself cast a spell, one that has never been cast before, to bring you all something special.” Celestia turned her head and motioned for Twilight to bring Starlight to the front of the stage. Both Twilight and Starlight took their place in between Celestia and Luna. The crowd was muttering between themselves. What was Starlight doing up on stage with the princesses? They started to quiet down as Celestia started speaking again. “This is Starlight, Princess Twilight’s pupil of the last few years. She has shown promise and growth in multiple areas, especially magic.” This got the talking once more. “Twilight came to me close to a moon ago, and she approached with a proposition, one I quickly agreed to. After planning to coincide this proposition with the Summer Sun Celebration, we got to work. The aforementioned spell was cast on Starlight, which leads us to now.” The crowds muttering started to rise in volume, only to be quieted by Celestia raising a hoof.
Celestia continued. “Starlight has more than once proven herself to be worthy of what she was granted. She saved us all from the clutches of Queen Chrysalis, as well as saved the pony known as Stygian from the being known as The Shadow. These acts showed just how ready she was for what you are about to see. Ponies of Ponyville, put your hooves together for…” Celestia motioned one more for Twilight to move, only this time, to the side. “Your newest Princess, Starlight Glimmer!” Starlight unfurled her wings and the crowd gasped, but beyond that, everypony was silent. She waved nervously to the crowd and gulped. As she did this, the crowd erupted into cheers.
Starlight was speechless. She hadn’t expected that kind of reaction. Twilight poked her in the side and just said “See? I told you that you had nothing to worry about. They love you!” Thankfully for Twilight, Starlight didn’t pick up on the “and so do I” that Twilight whispered to herself. Starlight just stood there. A goofy smile upon her face.
“Nothing.” Starlight thought. “Could ever top this feeling.” How wrong she was.
2 HOURS LATER
Back at the friendship castle, all of Twilight’s friends and the princesses were relaxing and talking after a long day.
All of them had said their congratulations earlier, but now, it was Twilight’s turn to speak. “Starlight.” Twilight started, sounding kind of sad. She had realized that Starlight would be ruling over her own place by tomorrow afternoon, and she had to say her piece now, or she may never get to say it. “I have a confession to make. I normally would have waited longer, but I’m not sure where you princessdom will take you. So, I might as well say this now, as well as my congratulations. Over the past few months, I’ve felt something, but up until recently, I didn’t know what it was. Now I do. I hope you understand what I’m about to say.” Starlight just tilted her head in confusion. What could Twilight possibly mean? The only one in the room other than Twilight that knew what Twilight meant, was Cadence.
“Starlight. I love you. I don’t what brought these feelings to me, but today, seeing you in that dress, and the way we bonded today, I just couldn’t stop thinking about you. I understand if you don’t feel the same, I just had to get it out.” Twilight looked almost like she was crying. Oh wait, she was. Why was she crying? Because Twilight knew that Starlight didn’t feel the same. How could she?
Starlight looked at Twilight in awe. She had not been expecting that, and apparently, neither had her friends or most of the princesses. They all looked similarly shocked. Twilight loved her? She could hardly believe it. Starlight had liked Twilight for some time now, and had no idea that Twilight felt the same. Starlight sat there for what felt like forever just thinking about what she said.
“Twilight.” Twilight looked up. Tears stained her face. Everypony else in the room looked nervous. What was going to happen? The unexpected is what happened.
Starlight grabbed Twilight and kissed her. Twilight’s eyes opened wide. Twilight couldn’t believe it. Starlight kissed her? After it ended, they just looked at each other. After a minute of nopony saying anything, they both spoke up.
“Why didn’t you tell me?!?” they said in unison.
Everypony else in room must have thinking the same thing, because they all decided to leave and let Twilight and Starlight talk. After another short silence, Starlight spoke up.
“Twilight. I have a lot of questions, but the biggest one is, Why now?” At this point Starlight just wanted answers. She may not have shown it, but she was beyond happy that Twilight liked her.
Twilight’s response was “Why now? Because I don’t know where you’ll be tomorrow. Celestia could send you halfway across Equestria and I’d be sitting here wishing I could have told you sooner! I couldn’t wait any longer! I saw how happy you were up on the stage and I just wanted to help make this day better than it already has been!” Twilight was crying at this point. She was distraught. Even though Starlight had kissed her she was still so confused. Did Starlight really like her in the same way she liked Starlight?
Starlight took this as the cue to get up and hug Twilight. They just sat there. In Twilight’s throne room. With nothing but the sounds of Twilight sobbing. “It’s okay Twilight, I’m not mad, I’m happier than I look.”
Twilight looked up, her eyes still filled with tears. “You are?”
“Of course! I’ve felt this way for a long time!” Starlight had liked Twilight since the day she had become Twilight’s pupil. She, like Twilight, just never found the right time to say anything.
Starlight sighed. “Come on, get up, it’s early in the morning and we didn’t get any sleep last night. Let’s head to bed. You can spend the night with me if you want to.” Starlight put on a huge smile, trying to get Twilight to get up, but she wouldn’t budge. “Twilight, just so you know, knowing that you like me, has made this already great day, the best day ever.”
Twilight put on a weak smile. “I’m glad.”
“Now come one, let’s get to bed.’
Neither of them knew it, but Celestia had heard everything from outside another door. She stayed behind to make sure there was no fighting. She was happy that she didn’t have to step it. Celestia sighed. Her original plans were to send Starlight back to her old village and hopefully help the area grow larger. Her plans changed after hearing that exchange between the two. She knew what had to be done. Starlight would rule alongside Twilight, as the princesses of Friendship and Magic. “Fitting.” She thought. “Friendship and Magic. Side by side”
Starlight thought her ascension and reveal were good news? Being told that they would rule together, would surely top both of those. “The Coronation” Celestia thought. “Equestria will learn of the arrangement then, as will Twilight, Starlight, and their friends. I must prepare.”
This would be the beginning of success for both Friendship, and Magic.